Faking-it-in-the-Flesh

Real Verses Fake

My wife and I had belonged to the WOF movement that was centered in Tulsa Oklahoma and many who graduated from the WOF bible school in that place all followed a similar pattern and adopted the same traditions that originated from that place. One of their developed traditions was that of being “Slain-In-The-Spirit” which was when a preacher would lay hands on people they would commonly fall over backward onto the floor (giving the impression that the Spirit of God caused them to do this). This made the preachers appear as if they were “anointed” and that the people could not stand up in their presence. But upon closer examination these preachers actually conditioned people to respond in that manner.

One of these same WOF preachers even said from the pulpit (in front of a large congregation) that he wanted to introduce them to someone who was spiritually sensitive. So he invited a certain lady up to the stage and when he would wave his hand in her direction then this lady would swoon to the floor even though he was standing over ten-feet away from her and did not touch her. The message however communicated to people was that if they would become “spiritually sensitive” they could be exalted before the congregation as this lady had been.

This type of thing is called “conditioning” people to respond in a certain manner and this also took place in most WOF meetings. I know of ushers who were directed to seat special “spiritually sensitive” people in the front rows and these people followed the preacher around to all of his meetings. He would make a whistling sound by blowing air through his teeth and then this bunch of “spiritually sensitive” people would start to act spooky. When the preacher would wave his hand in their direction then this whole bunch would all fall over backward as a group and it gave the impression that the preacher was really anointed and the wave of his hand could cause a whole group of them to fall over without touching them! It however must be clarified that this is called “Faking-it-in-the-Flesh” because it was not the Spirit of God that caused these people to fall over but their desire to appear as being more “spiritually sensitive” than others and their desire to make the preacher look “good” or “appear to be more anointed” than he really was.

In one meeting the daughter of a famous preacher got down and rolled on the floor! This was done to try and make her father look anointed! Then in another meeting we saw someone we know who graduated from that same WOF bible school do the same thing and she also rolled on the floor. My wife knew this woman so my wife questioned her about her behavior of rolling on the floor and this WOF woman said that you have to “yield-to-it” but in fact this “roller-woman” was in the same meeting where the daughter of this respected preacher did the same thing so she was conditioned to imitate the same thing.

On another occasion I was at a meeting and I came forward for prayer but when I did not fall down a WOF woman preacher took me aside and asked if I was ever “Slain-in-the-Spirit” before and proceeded to counsel me to yield to it and basically told me to lay down when she prayed for me (so that she would appear to be anointed). This statement about “Yielding-To-It” was something taught at this same WOF bible school and was repeated by all those who were involved in the WOF movement. It was a polite way of telling them to lay down to make the preacher appear to be anointed.

But in fact, this is really called “Faking-it-in-the-Flesh” because the people are not being knocked down by the anointing of God but were conditioned to lay down to appear “spiritually-sensitive” and to make the preacher look good.

This however gives the unbelievers a great occasion to mock and use this as proof there is no God and these carnal Christians are fake. I agree that these carnal Christians were faking it but I do not agree that there is no God! Yes, there is a God and He can move in power on earth but faking it to pretend God is moving (when he is not) is deception.

We once attended a meeting in St. Louis that was promoted to become famous for a coming move of God! People from all over the world and from every state in the US attended this meeting because it was announced by a famous WOF preacher that God was going to move in that meeting. They even went to the expense of broadcasting this meeting using satellite up-link so that people can see it “live” in every nation. But again, the same dramatic “display” was created with the bunch of so-called “spiritually-sensitive” people being seated in the front rows. These “spiritually sensitive” people were even watching the preacher closely to get ready to respond to his wave of his hand. The preacher gave his usual whistle sound with air through his teeth and the whole bunch got spooky as usual and when he waved his hand toward them, they all went down like dominoes! This was supposed to be evidence of a display of God’s power but in fact it was nothing but “Faking-it-in-the-Flesh” by this “dominoes-bunch” who were conditioned to make the preacher look good (as if he was really anointed) while appearing to be “spiritually-sensitive” themselves.

We were present in that sensational meeting but felt nothing of God’s presence there at all. But when we questioned people, we knew in that meeting they all said that they were blessed! But in fact, those we questioned were afraid to say anything else because they might be deemed as being “spiritually-dull” instead of “spiritually-sensitive” so they all said that it was a real move of God. But in fact, God’s presence was not in that meeting at all and all of the “hype” was empty and nothing good resulted from that meeting.

Group Deception and Story of Emperor’s New Clothes

The mass deception by a large crowd of people who all say that they experienced God’s presence (when nothing happened) is best illustrated by an “allegory” – (a story which illustrates truth). There is a story written by a Danish man in 1837 called “The Emperor’s New Clothing” that was translated into over 100-languages. It illustrates how an entire crowd of people can operate in deception together as a group.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder) is a short tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent – while in reality, they make no clothes at all, making everyone believe the clothes are invisible to them. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his new “clothes”, no one dares to say that they do not see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid. Finally, a child cries out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!” The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.

See the link “The Emperor’s New Clothes” for more details.

SOURCE: “Wiki“

Group Deception

In this WOF movement we saw firsthand this group deception as everyone was trying to please the preacher (who had a large and devoted following). They were conditioned as a group that if they did not respond they would be considered “spiritually-dull” but if they would cooperate in unreserved manner, they would be elevated in that group to be of “spiritually-sensitive” status and may even get preferred seating. Asking anyone in the crowd if they were blessed would produce the same answer that they were really blessed by God’s presence because no one wanted to be considered “spiritually-dull” but in fact God’s presence was not evident in these meetings which were full of self-deception.

Just like in the story of the Emperors New Clothing, where no one wanted to admit that they could not see the clothing (which did not exist), so these carnal Christians also did not want to admit that God’s presence was not manifest in these fake meetings. To say such a thing was to identify themselves as “spiritually-dull” just like the story of the Emperor’s New Clothing where they would be in danger of being considered incompetent and stupid if they said they saw nothing of the non-existent clothing. So, the crowd of people all raved about how nice the clothing looked on the king. It was not until a small child (who was too young to play games with adult pretenses) said that the Emperor has on no clothing whatsoever that others finally admitted they could not see any clothing either. It took a child to break down the group-deception where everyone was pretending, they could see clothing that did not exist!

All of this was done only so that two clever charlatans could get a lot of money and keep all of the expensive material and gold thread they had stolen from this fraud project. They got everyone to pretend they could see clothing that did not exist.

In the exact same way these WOF people all pretended that the Spirit of God was moving in that meeting and that they were really blessed and their lives were changed forever. But not one of them got a thing and it was all “group deception” as they tried to appear “spiritually-sensitive” and make their preacher look good (as if he was anointed).

Herein we have to beware of making at idol out of a preacher in the way these people did. In fact, this preacher was a gifted teacher and the revelation he brought on subjects like faith, inward witness, and healing has blessed generations of believers and these are foundational teaching lessons in my own life. But the same man began to come under financial pressure and started to drift into “Faking-it-in-the-Flesh” in order to fake a move of God to get bigger offerings.

There exists a warning from the lives and ministries of men who start works of their own self-invention. I know of a preacher who borrowed money to build a large church auditorium. The interest payments on this debt amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month and this created untold financial pressure on this man to pay his bills. This caused a once good preacher of great integrity to slip into this game of faking things in order to take up big offerings. This type of thing has also occurred with many preachers in the past as well.

Starting a “Ministry Venture” in the Flesh”

I compare starting a ministry or erecting a large building in the flesh to trying to paddle a canoe upstream. A person can beat the water to a froth with their paddle and barely gain an inch forward but if they relax only a moment they will float backward and lose all that they gained. In the same way, if a man of God starts a ministry in the flesh or borrows money to build a building God has not told him to build then he will have to pay for that in the effort of the flesh because God is under no obligation to provide for the plans of humans. If the plan is not of God, they will not enjoy God’s provision for that plan.

But it is typical of the behavior of these carnal preachers to say, “Thus says the Lord” and declare God told them to do this or that thing when in fact that idea was an invention of their own human imagination and not from God. But once they start down this road it is not easy to admit they missed God and admit it was their own idea. So, they push through in the flesh of self-effort to make things happen to pay off the debt.

Pushing Forward in the Flesh

When they double-down after missing God and continue to “push forward” with their “flesh-project” then it is just like the character in the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Even after this foolish guy was exposed by a child as having been walking around in public (wearing only his underwear) then this guy continued his public parade in order to try to save face and continued his self-deception by trying to walk forward in a “dignified manner” before the people. Instead of running away in shame for having been duped, he instead continued with this fiction. This really illustrates what happens when leaders in are deception and those who follow them blindly fall into “group-deception” and none of them are willing to admit the “hard core” truth of the matter!

Spirit of God Departs from Those who Do their Own Human Plans

The Spirit of God can depart from a man after they fail to repent and they continue to “double-down” on their own self-deception. Such a man becomes like King Saul who was “ex-anointed” after the Spirit of God departed from him. So, in the absence of God’s Spirit such men begin to “Fake-it-in-the-flesh” and employ “flesh” methods like conditioning people to join the charade to make them look anointed (when they all fall down like dominoes at the wave of his hand). Everyone in the meeting actually felt nothing of God’s presence but only the scoffing unbelievers dared to voice that out publicly. Thus, trying to do things in the flesh only gives occasion for unbelievers to blaspheme.

However just because a fallen preacher is faking it that does not mean there is no God! A person does not have to be an atheist to see that these carnal Christians are faking it. This often happens when the preacher starts a work in the flesh and then is forced to raise money in the flesh to support his dead work. When this happens the Spirit of God will depart from them because God will have no part of deception. Preachers who were once anointed can become ex-anointed and even slide into “faking-it-in-the-flesh” just to raise money to keep their fraud system floating.

The warning to all Fivefold ministers is that they should never announce that God told them to do something (if God really has not spoken). If they lie and try to justify their own human plans then the Spirit of God will depart from them and they will be left to resort to human self-effort and playing games to keep their flesh-project afloat.

Real Verses Fake

There is however a real presence of God which cannot be controlled by humans. Humans cannot conjure up God’s presence at will just so they can profit from it. I believe that there is a real “Slain-in-the-Spirit” but this results from humans being unable to stand in the presence of God. It is not about faking it or “yielding-to-it” to lay down or to act spiritual just to make a preacher look good or to fake God’s presence for big offerings.

2 Chronicles 5:14 (7KB)

¹⁴ so that because of the cloud, the priests could not stand up to perform their service; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

This scripture says that the priests could not stand up to minister because of the glory cloud of God’s presence had filled the house of God. This means that in the presence of God these humans could not stand up but fell to the floor. This would be an example of the real “slain-in-the-spirit” rather than the fake example where people are conditioned to lay down when someone waves their hand in their direction.

I also believe that the anointing of God can make humans feel incredible exhaustion because I once did some television recordings for my program called “Divine Order” which aired on LeSea Television in 2003. When I recorded these messages for television at home, I felt the anointing of God so strong that I had complete and utter exhaustion afterward and could barely stand up long enough to make it to my bed (after the message was completed). My experience with this causes me to believe that when the glory cloud filled the temple that the Jewish priests could not stand up to minister because they would fall down in total exhaustion!

Daniel 10:15-17 (7KB)

¹⁵ While he was saying these words to me, I (was prostrate with my) face toward the ground and was speechless.

¹⁶ Then someone who looked like a human being touched my lips, after which I could open my mouth and speak; I said to the one standing in front of me, “My lord, it is because of the vision that I am seized with such anguish; I don’t have any strength.

¹⁷ How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

When Daniel was in the presence of God he could not stand up and felt totally exhausted and did not have any strength remaining and even said that he could hardly breathe! I believe this is an example of the “real” so-called being “slain-in-the-spirit” which is actually when a human being (made of flesh and blood) comes into contact with the presence of God and has utter exhaustion until they cannot even stand up anymore. This is not something that humans can control but if they are in the presence of God, they could feel such exhaustion that their natural body could fall to the ground without strength to stand up!

I have no doubt that if the presence of God filled the temple that the legs of the priests would give out and they would buckle to the floor unable to stand in God’s presence. The response of a natural human body in the presence of God seems to be exhaustion to such an extent that Daniel had difficulty in breathing. I believe this because of the anointing I experienced when recording my television teaching lessons in front of a television camera at home. Never before had I experienced such exhaustion!

Even on the farm we would get up long before daybreak to care for livestock before we began harvesting at sunrise for the harvest season. We would work until late after dark and eat and go to bed with long hours of work and little sleep. But nothing made me feel exhaustion as I felt when the anointing and presence of God was evident during my television recordings. I felt the same as Daniel and it seemed I would hardly stay awake to walk over to my bed and fall down exhausted upon it without getting ready for bed. Working long hours with little sleep in the harvest season on the farm did not make me feel anywhere near as exhausted as this spiritual exhaustion from experiencing the anointing from God.

I most certainly believe that God’s presence can manifest and that it can make human bodies so exhausted that they cannot stand up. But this has nothing to do with the WOF tradition of counseling people to lay down when they pray for them or conditioning them to fall backward when the preacher waves his hand. If God’s presence really shows up, they do not have to fake anything. Faking typically is a result of a preacher falling into a project of the flesh and having to keep it floating in the flesh of human self-effort. Then when they start faking and deceiving then God departs and they become a dead denomination which has lost the real presence of God and so they have nothing but “faking-it-in-the-flesh” left to them.

There are multitudes of denominations that started off with a move of God in past history but humans tried to control it and profit from it so God left them. They however continue for generations later still following the same vain human traditions like the so-called “slain-in-the-spirit” fake tradition of falling over to look spiritual or to make a preacher appear to be anointed. Once preachers start faking it, they have nothing left but a dead religion that is kept going in vain by human self-effort and whose congregation follow empty traditions and rituals they invented ages ago.

Example of Ex-Anointed

1 Samuel 16:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.

The Spirit of God departed from King Saul because of his disobedience to God’s commands. But Saul continued to be religious and thought he could serve God by inventing religious rituals of every kind.

1 Samuel 14:27-30 (7KB)

²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.

²⁸ Then one of the men told him, Your father strictly charged the men with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food today. And the people were exhausted and faint.

²⁹ Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey.

³⁰ How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

Saul would willfully disobey God’s clear instructions but then would invent nonsense rituals of his own and try to keep these rituals as if they were really important.

1 Samuel 14:43-44 (HCSB)

⁴³ Saul commanded him, “Tell me what you did.” Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the end of the staff I was carrying. I am ready to die!”

⁴⁴ Saul declared to him, “May God punish me and do so severely if you do not die, Jonathan!”

Saul made everyone swear an oath not to eat before sundown but Jonathan tasted a little honey for needed energy in his continued pursuit of the enemy troops. But Saul was willing to put his own son to death for tasting some honey! This is exactly what religion will do. Humans will invent some nonsense ritual and then act as if it is so important to keep that they are willing to kill someone for not observing their vain rituals. Men who are void of God’s Spirit will typically invent nonsense rituals and in fact they are void of God’s Spirit because of some point of disobedience in their lives. After the Spirit of God departs from them (like King Saul) then they begin inventing nonsense rituals and entire denominations will follow them in these rituals without thinking.

Most often such disobedience comes from starting a work of human origin and lying and saying the Lord told them to do such and such. But when they say that, then they will feel obligated to keep going in the flesh and raising money in the flesh and this all adds to their sin of using the Lord’s Name in vain to justify their own self-invented human works. They drift farther and farther away from God until there is no presence of God whatsoever in their meetings and they do not even have any revelation left of God’s word. So, they resort to repeating old sermons from 1942 and then try to “Fake-it-in-the-Flesh” pretending to be anointed. It is like putting the “first-button” in the wrong hole and that will result in all of the following buttons being in the wrong holes. Once they start saying the Lord told them to do something (only to justify their own human plans) then they will be left alone to run their own business without God.

See the link “Button Hole Principle” for more details.

There are some real men of God who had real revelation and real presence of God in the past who ended up in the ditch like Saul and were inventing religious rituals and nonsense traditions only because God’s Spirit departed from them. Falling away from God is a process and it starts with disobedience or trying to use God’s Name to justify their own human plans. One thing leads to another until they drift so far from God that they become fakers and charlatans and are no longer anything like they were back in the time before they fell from God.

This is tragic and it can easily happen to any Fivefold minister and the whole point of this teaching lesson is to warn Fivefold ministers to guard their hearts and never disobey God or use God’s Name in vain to justify human plans. If they go in this direction, they will end up like King Saul and become ex-anointed and God will no longer be with them anymore.

Riding a Dead Horse

I know of a famous US preacher who said that he observed a Pastor of a large church in Sweden who did not appoint his own sons as his successors for fear of showing favoritism. But in fact, these sons happened to possess a Fivefold Ministry Gift at birth and would have been better than the layman hirelings he appointed who later destroyed his church after this man passed away. So, this famous US preacher said he would have his own sons become his successors but in his case all of his layman sons had no evidence of any Fivefold Ministry Gift. What happened is that one of the sons was more dominant than the others so he kicked the others out after the death of his father and took over the large ministry for himself. But God was not pleased with his behavior and so judgment fell and this dominant son died an untimely and unexpected death. This left the ministry to his own son who was never saved and is in fact an avowed atheist. The end result of all of this is that the great Christian work left behind by a famous US preacher is today run by an atheist grandson!

This brings up the fact that it is God who calls men into the ministry. A Levite should not keep his son out of succession if he was born with a Fivefold Ministry Gift and a Levite should also not appoint his laymen sons as successors just because they are his sons (but evidence no fruit of a Fivefold Ministry Gift). This is the reason that there exists so many dead religions and denominations which are void of the Spirit of God because humans are running them and humans are appointing successors without seeking God’s direction on the matter. Then they have nothing left but a dead organization run by humans that is void of God’s presence. Such things are evil and wicked and promote dead religion which is void of God. No wonder so many churches are being abandoned. People can tell that God is not among them and so they leave these dead churches. Religion without relationship with God is disgusting and should be put to death and buried!

See the link “Fivefold Not by Lineage” for more details.

But even something that started with a past move of God will often revert into a dead religion after the founder as passed away or if the founder backslides into becoming like a King Saul by disobedience. If that happens there will be nothing left but another dead denomination and a dead religion run by humans which is without God.

There is a real God and there are real moves of God when God’s presence manifests among humans but this cannot be controlled. When men try to control a move of God to make profit off of it then that is when it will die because God will abandon them when they do such things. When God leaves a group of people, they will have nothing left to follow but vain and dead religious rituals. King Saul become vain and invented all kinds of nonsense things and was willing to kill anyone just to keep following his self-invented rituals. This is commonplace with those who become ex-anointed by disobedience and then begin “faking-it-in-the-flesh” to keep their dead works going. This is what it means to ride a dead-horse as they pretend nothing has changed even when in the Spirit of God has departed from them a long time ago!

All Fivefold ministers are to guard their hearts and make sure they utter nothing in public by using the Lord’s Name in vain to say, “Thus says the Lord” when endorsing their own human plans. If they do that it will not be easy to recant and back track because of their pride in having to admit they missed God. But if they proceed trying to save face they will end up as fakers and operating a fake ministry by human self-effort. Again, to keep a fake ministry going by human self-effort is like paddling a canoe up stream. They will labor and labor but if they rest one second they will lose everything they gain. It is much better never to start a dead work of the flesh than to start one and be forced to keep it going by human self-effort like a Martha-type Christian who serves God in the flesh of self-effort.

If a man of God will hear God’s voice and do only what God says (nothing more and nothing less) then they will be able to have God’s blessing upon their ministry. If they seek God they will know what to do about a successor or God will show them if they should close down a ministry that has lived-out its intended purpose. Never should they keep something going just to create a livelihood or to have something to do. They must do no more and no less than just what God commands them to do.

Revelation 21:8 (NIV2011)

⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

All liars will have their part in the lake of fire so if a preacher casually starts a work in the flesh and then starts to deceive people to keep that work going then he will end up in hell. Conditioning people to fall over to fake the anointing as they try to get big offerings will only result in these deceivers going to hell. There is nothing worth going to hell over so all Fivefold ministers must be serious about guarding themselves from falling into human self-effort and projects they invented themselves (which God did not command them to start). Starting works of the flesh can result in them operating in the flesh to raise money to keep it going and the deception can send them to hell like King Saul who was ex-anointed and sent to hell for his disobedience and his fake religious activity he was always inventing in order to appear spiritual.

Fivefold ministers have to be serous with God and honest with themselves or they can end up in hell as being ex-anointed!