Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Preaching in the name of Jesus is one thing

Jesus himself told the Apostles to not be indignant that others were baptizing and casting out devils in the name of Jesus. Jesus pointed out that those who are not against him (that is, they used his name and therefore obviously endorse his legitimacy) are therefore for them. So I have no problem with many vigorous evangelizers outside the Catholic Church who proclaim the Gospel.

But boy oh boy, do I have a problem with evangelizers who claim that God (or Jesus) appears to them in person, tells them about future events, and then these guys in turn claim to have supernatural powers, including controlling the weather. This ought to be a red flag for you too. Remember there's a difference between proclaiming Jesus and claiming to be part of a cabal that has premium information and powers. That's the temptation of you-know-who. Remember that many will call "Lord, Lord!" in the final days but will be rejected since they were not truly of the Lord and who crossed the boundaries into occultism. God did not have sit down meetings with Moses, for goodness sakes, he certainly is not endorsing people and giving them supernatural powers nowadays. People who "call out names" using "information only God could have given them" and who claim to "stop the rain" and who are "told by God" that such and such will happen (hello Pat?) are in deep, deep trouble and better rethink what is truly of God's and what is not. Signing up "lots of souls" for Jesus does not justify pretending to be a Prophet, either through self delusion or worse through tricks of the trade. Evangelizing is not an election (get in the votes) or a circus (put on a good show and be the ringmaster). Tut tut tut.