The Sentinel Watch

Kris Vallotton is an associate of the highly charismatic false teacher, Bill Johnson of Bethel Church. The church has been feeding spiritual poison to the world since its inception. It’s known for its false manifestations of the Holy Spirit–that which it calls “glory clouds.” They also practice the spiritually dangerous practice of “grave sucking,” where one lays on the grave of a dead person to literally “suck” the “anointing” out of them. In a recent video, Vallotton actually suggests that because he can lay hands on people to heal them (he can’t), that he could also lay hands on cars to fix them, and that God even “tells him” what things are broken on the vehicles when he lays hands on them.

Listen to a discussion about eternal security and you’ll eventually hear this question: “Are you saying that since we’re secure as Christians, we can do whatever we want to?” It’s the “once saved, always saved” idea that says, once you are saved, you’re saved no matter how you may behave. But the question really misunderstands the biblical teaching about our sin and God’s grace in our lives. Pursuing Godliness Christians have struggled over the years with the best way to deal with sin in their lives. That struggle has produced unbiblical doctrines that promise to “aid” Christians along with their own endeavors to obtain personal godliness. Perhaps you have encountered some of them. One of the more notorious false doctrines is perfectionism. It’s the belief that we can obtain perfect sinlessness in this life. In his book,  The Vanishing Conscience , John MacArthur describes the dangers of Christian perfectionism, Church history is littered with examples of sects and factions who

Have you heard of Grave Sucking? Can the  Word of Faith  hyper-charismatic crowd get any more bizarre? What is with this new  occult  sounding practice often referred to as  grave sucking ? When I first heard of grave sucking I assumed it must be a joke.  Surely no one would buy into something so silly.  Well my friends, this is for real.  Grave sucking or mantle grabbing is the belief and practice of pulling the supposed Holy Spirit powers from the dead bones of a previously empowered believer.  It is taught that when a Spirit empowered individual dies their mantle or mission dies with them.  In other words God’s mission for that believer was thwarted when that believer died. “ There are anointings , mantles, revelations and mysteries that have lain unclaimed, literally where they were left because the generation that walked in them never passed them on . I believe it’s possible for us to recover realms of anointing, realms of insight, realms of God that have been unte

…but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6 Two sodomites who say they identify as “transgender men” are raising a child, now 22 months old, named Zo. In the midst of this sexually confused society, these two homosexuals say they use asexual pronouns to refer to the child so that they can choose the gender of this child when the child is older. That’s always the question, “is it a boy or a girl?” and so often we will say to people “we don’t know yet.” This form of child abuse has gone on long enough. It’s one thing to raise a child properly and they rebel against God on their own. But to intentionally confuse a child and to force a child into rebellion against God is not only immoral, it’s disgusting. A society that continues to put up with this has not the blessing of God upon it.

GRAND RAPIDS — On Saturday night Jim Kendall swivels on his bar stool at the Belly Up Tavern, snuffs out his cigarette and says, “Gotta go, guys. I’m gigging tomorrow.” The next morning at 10 a.m. Kendall, dressed in ironed Dockers and a Polo shirt, sings with gusto in the third row at Neighborhood Christian Center. “Praise God!” he shouts, lifting his hands and prompting others to chime in with “amen” and “glory.” His infectious enthusiasm is just what the pastor ordered. Kendall isn’t a Christian, but he and hundreds of other people across the U.S. are getting paid as much as $12 an hour by temp placement agencies to pretend to be exuberant worshipers. “Praise decoy work is great,” says one worshiper for hire who has lent his skills to more than 50 church services. He doesn’t mind sitting through services, and considers the praise movements “good stretching exercise, like Tai Chi.” In the past five years, the worshiper-for-hire industry has flourished as pasto

WINSTON-SALEM — Julie and Bob Clark were stunned to receive a letter from their church in July asking them to “participate in the life of the church” — or worship elsewhere. “They basically called us freeloaders,” says Julie. “We were freeloaders,” says Bob. In a trend that may signal rough times for wallflower Christians, bellwether mega-church Faith Community of Winston-Salem has asked “non-participating members” to stop attending. “No more Mr. Nice Church,” says the executive pastor, newly hired from Cingular Wireless. “Bigger is not always better. Providing free services indefinitely to complacent Christians is not our mission.” “Freeloading” Christians were straining the church’s nursery and facility resources and harming the church’s ability to reach the lost, says the pastor. “When your bottom line is saving souls, you get impatient with people who interfere with that goal,” he says. Faith Community sent polite but firm letters to families who atten

And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” Acts 10:24-26 Chris Oyakhilome, a charismatic preacher in Nigeria recently claimed that the apostles were wrong for rejecting worship from men and not teaching them that they also had the ability to become gods if they “believed in Jesus.” I want you to understand the graduation of revelation. I want you to understand, at a certain periodthe apostles thought they were humans. They said so, they thought so when they tried to stop others from almost worshiping them. They said “look, [unintelligible] we’re humans like you.” No, that’s where they were wrong. Their spirit was right, but their answer was wrong. Their human nature was right, but their answer was wrong. They were supposed to say to them, “don’t wo

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” –  Romans 16:17 The call to be a pastor is a tough call indeed. There are many responsibilities. Everyone needs you. Everyone thinks you have the answers. Everyone has no problem swallowing whatever scrap of time you have scavenged for yourself. At the same time, no one has a problem criticizing you for your shortcomings. Aside from the pressure from needy church members, a pastor must meet certain biblical qualifications:  “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,” ( 2 Tim 2:24 )  God commands pastors to kindness and patience. I can not describe how much a blessing it has been to have pastors who are kind and patient with me. I have been blessed to sit with elders who have poured into my life leading me in godliness with a softness has refreshed my soul. I ha

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21 The Bible has a lot to say about the use of words and its effects on people. The above verse is just a sample of how much the Holy Scriptures has to say about the potency of the words that we speak. Words are very powerful. They can encourage us; spur us to action both in a positive or negative way. Words are a part of our daily lives. We can’t do without words. We pray to our creator using words. We talk to our friends using words. We love with words. We fight with words. Wars are begun with words. Peace is made through dialogue.  So it would be ignorant to say that words do not have power. They are indeed very powerful but the way most people think. WHAT PEOPLE THINK: A lot of people think that words are tools that can be used to create what we want. They believe that if only they use their words just the right way, they’ll be able to get anything they wa