Strange Messages From God’s Throne Room
By David W. Cloud
[ The following is from the Digging in the Walls section of O Timothy magazine, edited by David W. Cloud, Volume 12, Issue 2, 1995. The author holds all rights to this material. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, PO Box 510368, Port Huron, MI 48061 (866) 295-4143 - FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to Bethel Baptist Church, 4212 Campbell St., London, Ontario N6P 1A6 - http://www.wayoflife.org ]
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In their phenomenally popular book Angels on Assignment, charismatics Charles and Frances Hunter (the Happy Hunters) detail the supposed angelic visitations and out-of-body experiences of Pentecostal preacher Roland Buck. It is one of the strangest books I have ever read. Books on angels have zoomed to the top of the charts. On a recent trip to a secular bookshop I noted roughly three dozen titles dealing with angels. Except perhaps for one or two, most of these are new age or charismatic, and they are as weird and unscriptural as they can possibly be!
Roland Buck claims to have visited the throne room of God in January 1977, where he received 120 prophecies which were later fulfilled. He claims to have been visited, since June 18, 1978, by the angels Michael and Gabriel (and many others) on numerous occasions. Someone might question how we can be certain Buck was not actually visited by angels from God. We know this because of the unscriptural counsel he received from these angels and from the personage claiming to be God. Consider some excerpts from Angels on Assignment:
"...His [God's] plan of salvation ... is not just a plan for a single person. He reserves a place for the whole family ... God's plan is a family plan. All of the beautiful ties of home and family are eternal. ... Since God has said that your prayers are already answered, those who have laid their loved ones before him in sincerity and in faith can stop praying right now! The angel said they can start praising God right now. ... I was especially cautious when I gave this message in church because the angel was there, making sure I gave the entire message. ... If you have been praying for a family member who does not know the Lord, and have sincerely laid them on the altar, stop pestering them! Quit preaching at them! They're getting enough pushing and pulling right now from the angels, and the Holy Spirit is doing a thorough job of preaching to them." (pp. 22-28)
This is contrary to the Word of God. God does not promise that our unsaved family members will be saved. Many, sadly, have died without Christ. The Bible plainly instructs us to pray for all men and to beseech them to be saved (Mk. 16:15; 2 Cor. 5:20; 1 Tim. 2:1,2; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; 4:1-6). For a supposed angel to contradict this proves that he is demonic.
"God emphasized to me that we should quit worrying about His responsibilities. He actually let me view people who are trying to serve him by seeing how much they can get their minds in tune with him, by trying to think just exactly right, or trying to say the right word at the right time! God emphasized to me, `This is my business.'" (p. 55)
Again, this is contrary to the Word of God. It is the false charismatic doctrine that God's people should relax and "let go and let God." There is some truth to this maxim, of course, but much truth mixed with a little error is more dangerous than much error mixed with a little truth. God's Word repeatedly instructs the believer to do exactly what Buck claims God told us NOT to do! The Bible enjoins us to strive to have our minds in tune with God (Rom. 12:2; Phil. 2:5; 4:8) and to say exactly the right word at the right time (Eph. 4:29; Col. 3:17; 4:6).
This unscriptural counsel regarding sanctification is akin to that pertaining to spirit baptism in charismatic circles. Consider how people are instructed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They are told to relax their minds and their tongues and let God take control. This is a great danger. The Bible warns that we must be "sober" (Titus 2:2,4,6). This means to be in control of our faculties. The Bible warns that we must continually be sober and vigilant because there are great spiritual dangers (1 Pet. 5:8). The charismatic doctrine contradicts these instructions.
"I have preached that once you quit breathing, if you are not saved, and do not know God, you have missed heaven. God said that was not necessarily so. He said that there is a spot where the spirit of mankind may linger for a little time before going on to their permanent abode. Many people who have been clinically dead know they have had this experience." (p. 59)
It is a very dangerous thing to build one's theology on the experiences of the clinically dead. No one knows exactly what happens to people at such times. The only thing we know for certain about life beyond death is what we read in the Bible, and the Bible says absolutely nothing about there being a spot where mankind lingers before going to heaven or hell. Indeed, the Bible says "the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes" (Lk. 16:22,23).
"God told me the pope has no more influence with him than the least of his saints, and has no greater privileges, but because his influence with man is great, his choice is God's concern. Therefore, in order to help in the restoration of his fragmented body, God had chosen a man named Karol Wojtyla of Poland. This prophecy was fulfilled October 16, 1978, when he began his reign as Pope John Paul II." (p. 70)
This is an obvious deception. The Pope believes Jesus Christ did not accomplish salvation on the cross. He believes salvation is achieved and perfected through the Roman Catholic sacraments. He believes Jesus Christ is resacrificed repeatedly on Catholic altars. We documented this in O Timothy, Volume 12, Issue 1, in the article on the New Catholic Catechism. [see article under Catholicism Topic]
The Pope believes he himself stands in the place of Jesus Christ and calls himself therefore the "vicar of Christ." He takes upon himself titles which are the sole property of Almighty God, including "Holy Father" and "His Holiness." The Pope could get saved by repenting of his sin and trusting the finished atonement of Jesus Christ, but if he did so he would renounce the blasphemies of the papacy.
Buck's "God" promotes ecumenism. Supposedly John Paul II is God's vessel to restore "his fragmented body." What body? The ecumenical, worldwide body of professing Christians--Catholicism, the modernistic denominations, the cults. My friends, it is the "god of this world" who is the one spearheading the ecumenical movement.
"Then I saw Jesus bowed down, with his priestly garments torn and splattered with mud, filthy with the rot and the stench of the world. He came with his shoulders bowed, into the presence of God. My heart broke when I saw that. I saw Jesus in a different light than I had ever seen him before. I saw him coming into heaven from the darkness of the pit of hell, bearing the sins of the whole world." (p. 96)
Jesus Christ did NOT appear like this in Heaven after His crucifixion. On the cross He cried, "It is finished" (Jn. 19:30), and that is exactly what happened. Salvation was finished on the cross. The atonement was complete there and then. Christ did not bear the sins of the world in Hell; He bore them on the cross. We are justified by His blood (Rom. 5:9) and reconciled by His death (Rom. 5:10). The popular charismatic idea that Christ went to Hell to be tormented by devils in order to be punished for our sins is unscriptural and blasphemous.
"The angel said it was more important to be like Jesus in meeting the area of a person's need, than to be witnessing to people about salvation." (p. 137)
The last instructions that Jesus Christ gave His disciples was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mk. 16:15). This is what the Apostles and first churches were consumed with. As important as it is to be kind and gracious and loving toward the unsaved, it is a fact that Christian kindness will not save people. The Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16).
"When God brings truth, we have to forget our little boxes of doctrine, for God can DO what He wants, and KNOWS what he wants to do [emphasis in original]" (p. 167)
This is the popular charismatic-ecumenical heresy that God is not bound by His written Word. The charismatic-ecumenical God calls women to preach, even though the Bible forbids it. He calls for unity between believers and apostates, even though it is forbidden by Holy Scripture. God CAN do what He wants, but the fact is that He has told us in His Word exactly what He will and will not do.
It would be impossible to be too forceful in warning our readers to beware of the charismatic movement. It is a great and fearful deception.BACK Thank you for visiting Cephas Ministry Inc. (www.cephasministry.com)