Urgent Prophetic Warning: Don’t Be Deceived in These Last Days

We live in a charismatic generation that values experience over the centrality of God’s Word.

The call to pick up our cross and follow Jesus is not very appealing when we can run from revival service to another prophetic conference just to hear what our itching ears want to hear. In the midst of this crisis and deception, God is raising up voices like Parker Green to call us back to the place of discipleship that leads to simple and pure-hearted devotion to Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3). It is such an urgent and necessary call in this late hour.

On my personal journey navigating through my love for revival and awakening, I have made three primary realities the basis for my Christian experience. I share them with you now in hopes that you might consider them in the days ahead.

1. The Church is a culture of truth, not a culture of feelings.

Timothy understood the dangers of building based off of our feelings and not the truth when he wrote and described the church: “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15 NASB). John Piper describes his thoughts so eloquently on the challenge this generation is having concerning our feelings and the truth when he writes and says:

My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s Word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes—many times—my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that hap- pens—and it happens every day in some measure—I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth. [1]

It’s important that Christians understand that the way Jesus’ words make us feel emotionally is not a good gauge of truth (see Matthew 19:22-25). When we hear the Word of God taught and preached, our first question should be “Is this true?” not “How did it make me feel?”

2. You cannot separate Jesus from what He says and still have the real Jesus.

Many in this generation are falling in love with a god of their imagination, not the God of the Bible. They enjoy separating the person of Jesus from the words of Jesus, and this is error. Mark 8:38 (NASB) says, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words…the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him.” In John 12:48 (NASB95) Jesus again says, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” In Luke 6:46 (NASB) Jesus makes it plain concerning this issue when He asks, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

3. At the heart of discipleship is having our lives formed by God’s Word.

In John 8:30-47, we clearly see that the crowds had a lot of admiration and even affection for Jesus. They “believed in Him” as the Messiah, but they were not prepared to yield to the requirements of true faith and to be changed to the core by His words. How we relate to Jesus’ words deter- mines whether we are His disciples or not. Jesus’ words cut across our own desires, ideas, and lifestyles. The test of discipleship is whether we will bow to His truth or hold on to our own thoughts and feelings. Jesus never sacrificed truth for winsomeness. Seven times Jesus mentioned “truth” in John 8:30-47. When winsomeness becomes our highest priority, the truth always gets thrown under the bus. God and the devil are both asking the global church the same questions today: How much will it take for you to sell the truth? The approval of culture? Tax exempt status? Persecution? Proverbs 23:23 (NIV) says, “Buy the truth and do not sell it.”

I encourage you to read Parker Green’s book, Way of the Victorious, slowly and consider what he has written. It’s practical, sobering, and should challenge us all to repent and ask God to take us deeper in him. I have observed Parker’s lifestyle, marriage, and family and can attest that what this man of God has written, he lives! And may that be said of each one of us—that we do not simply practice what we preach but rather we preach what we already practice. Jesus is truly worthy of all our affections and decisions.