DAVID CLOUD'S "WAY OF LIFE"
LATEST ARTICLES
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
KENNETH COPELAND DECLARES AMERICA HEALED
(Friday Church News Notes, April 3, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Copeland has exercised his prophetic “Word-Faith” powers to take authority over Covid-19 and to declare America healed. He said, “Standing in the Office of the Prophet of God, I execute judgement on you, COVID 19. ... I demand a vaccination to come immediately. I call you done. I call you gone. ... It is finished. It is over. And the United States of America is healed and well again, sayeth the mighty Spirit of peace who is also the Prince of War” (“Judgment Is Executed on Covid-19,” Mar. 30, 2020, YouTube). This deluded man is a reproach to the cause of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. I have seen him command a hurricane to dissolve and a crippled girl to be healed, and after the huffing and puffing and commanding and proclaiming was finished, the hurricane was still a destructive hurricane and the crippled girl was still crippled. It’s on video for all to see, just like this present fiasco. Jesus Christ can command storms and heal every disease, and He gave miracle-working sign gifts to His apostles to prove their apostleship. “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Co. 12:12). But Copeland is not an apostle. He is “deceiving and being deceived” (2 Ti. 3:13), like the other Word-Faith hoaxers. I believe in miracles and have seen a great many miracles over these past 47 years of walking with Christ, and I believe in healing and have seen miraculous healings in answer to prayer, but we can’t demand and command these things. In this present time, we walk by faith, not sight, as we wait for the “manifestation of the sons of God” (Ro. 8:18-25).
PENTECOSTAL PASTOR ARRESTED FOR HAVING SUNDAY SERVICES
(Friday Church News Notes, April 3, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Pentecostal pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested on Sunday, March 29, by Hillsborough County (Tampa, Florida) deputies for holding services in violation of county orders. He was charged with a misdemeanor for “unlawful assembly and violating quarantine orders during a public health emergency” and released on bail within 40 minutes. Sheriff Chad Chronister said, “Our goal here is not to stop anyone from worshiping, but the safety and well-being of our community must always come first” (Tampa Bay Times, Mar. 30, 2020). Quoting Mark 12:31, Chronister said, “Loving your neighbors is protecting them, not jeopardizing their health by exposing them to this deadly virus.” I’m not a fan of Howard-Browne, to say the least, who is a Word-Faith heretic, practices the near-insanity of Spirit-laughter and Spirit-drunkenness, and is a conspiratorial nut who has allegedly said that the covid-19 pandemic is a “phantom plague” created by the Chinese and planned at a Bill Gates Foundation event (Tampa Bay Times). But even heretics and nuts are guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom of assembly under the U.S. Constitution. (And the government should not be in the business of deciding who is or isn’t a heretic or a nut.) These are indeed trying times, and it will be interesting to see how this case is decided.
THE ROOT OF AMERICA’S ILLS
(Friday Church News Notes, April 3, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The bottom line is that America needs to repent of her wickedness before God. Radical political action and multi-trillion dollar national debts will not solve America’s ills, because the fundamental issue is her terrible sin against the God that has shown her such light and mercy. And the very root of it all is the apostasy, corruption, compromise, worldliness, and lukewarmness in her churches. And that includes the majority of the most staunchly conservative, evangelical, “fundamentalist,” and even “independent Baptist”! From my perspective, most “Bible-believing” churches in America are lukewarm at best. I believe that the promise of God to Solomon at the dedication of the temple has a proper application to God’s people in America today. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). What happens in God’s house dramatically affects the White House. It’s high time to exchange a frivolous fun and games program, an entertainment program with a thin veneer of religiosity, for a program of serious prayer, serious Bible study, serious Bible preaching with exegetical substance and plain reproof and rebuke, serious holiness, serious separation from the wickedness of this fallen world, serious pilgrim Christianity, serious Christian living in the homes, being serious about the fathers being the heads of the homes and the mothers being the keepers of the home, serious about putting God’s will before economics, serious training of children and discipling of youth, and above all, serious about a regenerate church membership!
ELTON JOHN PREACHING
“BE WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE”
(Friday Church News Notes, April 3, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Rocker Elton John, a prominent gay-rights activist, emceed “The iHeart Living Room Concert for America” on Sunday, March 29. Artists included Alicia Keys, the Backstreet Boys, and Mariah Carey, all performing from their homes. At 73, Elton John has this message for youth: “Just be yourself. Don’t let anybody do you down. ... I love being gay. ... If you’re unhappy at home, leave, Don’t let anybody torture you for being gay or for your sexuality. ... Be proud of who you are. There are so many wonderful diverse people in the world--straight people, gay people [and] transgender people. We’re all God’s kids. People who should know better in places of responsibility [and] attack gay people, transgender people … they claim to be close to God, [but] they couldn’t be further away from God if they tried” (“Elton John Has a Message for Struggling LGBTQ Youth,” Variety, July 5, 2019). It appears that Elton now thinks of himself as a prophet of God, since he speaks on God’s behalf. Elton’s message has been the message of the rock & roll pop culture since its inception. In the 1960s, I was captivated when the Rolling Stones sang, “I’m free to do what I want any old time,” and the Animals said amen to that with, “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want; it’s my mind and I’ll think what I want.” That philosophy resonated with me in those days, but the end of living for oneself is death, because man is not his own God. To live as one pleases is rebellion to the true God who gives us life and breath and all things (Acts 17:25). The “be what you please” message is a lot older than the 1960s, in fact. About 6,000 years ago, in a very nice garden, a serpent said, “Ye shall not surely die ... ye shall be as gods” (Ge. 3:5). It was a lie. We didn’t make ourselves and we aren’t gods and we do die.
