Predators in Our Pulpits

Predators in Our Pulpits

Invasion of the End Time Wolves

By Todd Tomasella

Predators in Our Pulpits

Copyright 2012 Todd Tomasella

All rights reserved.

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All Scripture quotations deliberately taken from the Authorized Version of the Holy Bible, the King James Version

Cover Design by Charles Williams. Charleswilliams.me

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Acknowledgments

The LORD be thanked for all the friends He has given me who have helped by prayer and in a myriad of other ways. Those friends include

Aaron Moradi, Stephen Michels, Luanne Hisle,

Bill Wegener, Travis Bryan III, Mark Case, Steve Turner,

Kim Kininmonth, and Robert Garcia.

Preface

Reading this book is going to help the reader (student) learn the importance of God’s Word, vastly increasing his or her knowledge and understanding of the counsel and kingdom of God. Do you recall that the LORD says that His own people are destroyed for lack of knowledge? (Hosea 4:6) This volume contains no filler, fluff, or wasted words. The truth it does contain is sure to transform your life.

May God bless us to readily receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)

The aim of this volume is to equip the reader with the essential biblical truth necessary to see what is holy and profane; and to begin discerning the patterns used by the father of lies to ensnare people. Beloved, Jesus is coming soon and as was before prophesied of these last days, we must beware that evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse. (2 Timothy 3:13)

Their teachings are always going to demote and denigrate Christ, while elevating man.

Predators in Our Pulpits is designed to make the reader aware of some of the trends, i.e. winds of false doctrine blowing through the church world in this late hour. The knowledge given will enable discernment to overcome them, helping others to do the same.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, Ephesians 4:14

A wealth of Scriptural knowledge will be gained by reading this book, greatly equipping and preparing the disciple to serve the LORD due to much keener discernment. The reader will be armed with the knowledge and power of His blessed and holy truth.

On Style…

Feeding Jesus’ beloved sheep often requires instilling His truth into their hearts. In accordance with this guiding principle, there will be no hesitation to restate Bible verses in order to teach by repetition and association. This is because there are different occasions where the same verse or passage applies and it is appropriate to show the practical application of His Word as it applies in a variety of situations.

The wisdom of God says, He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. (Proverbs 4:4)

Foreword

At this most critical juncture in the history of mankind, it has been my distinct honor and pleasure to assist the author in the production of this book. Tragically, very few leaders in the Christian community are teaching the full-counsel of God to believers; the kind of teaching so desperately needed during these Laodicean days. Many in positions of authority, have sold out to the god of this world, and, in doing so, are leading countless souls into the abyss of eternal damnation. There are too few watchmen to warn, and too many so-called leaders who are willing to tickle ears that they might build their empires among men. Where are the Bereans in this late hour? My heart is especially troubled for our young people who have no idea what the fear of God means and do not fully understand the eternal consequences of disobedience. If you are concerned about your own standing as a Christian, I cannot over emphasize the importance of the message contained in this volume. If you have loved ones or friends caught up in the deception of these wolves, I urge you in the strongest terms to get this book into their hands. The wounds of a friend are much preferred over the flattery of an enemy. Again, thank you Todd, my brother, for allowing me to participate in the production of this most timely work. My prayer is, and will be, that many will hear the Lamb of God knocking on the door to their hearts and will open them for Him, who is mighty to restore and mighty to save.

Stephen G. Michels

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. History and Purpose of the Pulpit

Chapter 2. Satan’s Fire in the Sanctuary

Chapter 3. What’s Wrong with the Modern Church World

Chapter 4. Fables

Chapter 5. Savior-Centered Servants

Chapter 6. Seminary or the Savior?

Chapter 7. Forever Relevant

Chapter 8. Confessions of a False Teacher Part 1

Chapter 9. Confessions of a False Teacher Part 2

Chapter 10. Confessions of a False Teacher Part 3

Chapter 11. Marks of a True Apostle or Prophet Part 1

Chapter 12. Marks of a True Apostle or Prophet Part 2

Chapter 13. Satanic Cessationists

Chapter 14. The Anatomy of Apostasy

Chapter 15. Intriguing Dialogues Part 1

Chapter 16. Intriguing Dialogues Part 2

Chapter 17. Perfecting the Saints

Chapter 18. Excuse Me Miss Jezebel!

Chapter 19. In Good Company

Chapter 20. Healing the Beguiled

Chapter 21. Covetous Reciprocation

About the Author

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Chapter One

History and Purpose of the Pulpit

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose ... Nehemiah 8:4

Did you notice the words pulpit and purpose in this verse? A reading of this passage reveals that they are mentioned together in this context relating to the issue of corporate worship. Peering into this passage will help us to discover and return to God’s original purpose for the pulpit.  During the gathering together of His people to worship Him, this is vital in order to ensure that we are walking in His truth and escaping apostasy (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The pulpit simply represents a platform of communication and understanding the divine purpose for it is critically important, as it will prevent us from being led away with the error of the wicked who, in our day, use the pulpit for a purpose foreign to the divine intent (2 Peter 3:17).

Nehemiah 8 contains the only mention of a pulpit in God’s Word. Examining the setting where the original pulpit appears is crucial to understanding the divine intention for its’ use. The purpose for which it was established has not changed. God’s purpose when His people gather is, in part, seen just 4 verses down (v4, 8). Verse 8 of Nehemiah 8 says:

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. Nehemiah 8:8

Nehemiah 8:8 sets forth the pattern for the gathering of the people of God. It is to worship the LORD Himself and no other and in doing such, we read His Word and no one else’s. Replacing His Word with anything else is worshiping at the altar of another god. In order to become intimately familiar with this truth and these words of our LORD that we are looking into, let’s read these words again:

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. Nehemiah 8:8

The elders of God’s people Israel stood up and read God’s Holy Word to the people. They simply spoke the divinely inspired Precepts which we now have today in the complete Old and New Testaments. Would to God that men who lead today knew and understood the divine truth in this Nehemiah 8 passage of Holy Scripture!

Nehemiah 8 is a very important Bible text. Today, we must follow the divine pattern set forth here or we will greatly err; which many have done not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)  The Scriptures provide the only divinely ordained instructions for worship and ministry. Anyone not following them has greatly erred. According to Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11, Nehemiah and all of the Old Testament Scriptures were written for OUR learning and for OUR admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Verse 4 of Nehemiah 8 says: And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose ... That day when God’s people gathered, the purpose was for His Word to be read to them from that wooden pulpit. The divinely ordained purpose for the pulpit and for which they built this structure is given in this very text:

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. Nehemiah 8:8

This author is aware he has re-quoted these words more than once, and that is intentional. Reader and friend, are you hearing these words? This is the only time the word pulpit is found in the Bible and we must understand the divinely-ordained purpose for it. Knowing this simple truth will do wonders to help our discernment. 

The wooden pulpit in Nehemiah’s day was for the people to gather and hear the very words of God; and for the leaders to speak them so they could understand the Word and will of God for their lives as a people.

In its most basic definition, a pulpit is merely a venue or central place of communication. It is simply a medium where a message is transmitted and conveyed to a person or people. As we see in this Nehemiah 8 setting, the pulpit was a place to stand and read or declare the written Word of God and nothing else. Notice that the elders stood and read in the book in the law of God distinctly.

Parash is the Hebrew word for distinctly and is defined this way: to separate, literal (to disperse) or figurative (to specify); also (by implication) to wound :- scatter, declare, distinctly, shew, sting. Doesn’t this definition sound like rightly dividing the word of truth? (2 Timothy 2:15) Notice the words separate, disperse, wound, and sting. The words of God separate or sanctify the saints as they are dispersed into the hearts of God’s people (John 15:3; 17:17). Also, the Word of God many times first wounds us, stinging our consciences to convict and bring us to repentance (Deuteronomy 32:39).

The Ezra Example

Ezra and the elders of Israel read God’s written Word and helped the people understand God’s Word and nothing else. They offered nothing else but God’s Word. Do we get it? These God-fearing men had no personal agenda. They weren’t raising money or building a local business called a church. They had no message of their own but were mere conduits to communicate God’s Message which is God’s Word.

Where O where are the Ezras of today?

How important is God’s Word?

God’s Word is our protection:

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Proverbs 30:5

God’s Word is our life:

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Luke 4:4

The importance of the words of God being heard and ingested by the people of God both individually and corporately, cannot possibly be over emphasized. To His people, the LORD says:

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; 10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. Deuteronomy 4:9-10

He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Proverbs 4:4

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Proverbs 4:20-22

"Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. 20 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, 21 That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?" Proverbs 22:17-21

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another … Colossians 3:16

The dilemma today is not the piece of wood our leaders stand behind, or the various mediums of communication we have today, but rather what they are communicating as they use these vehicles to transmit information. We were long ago forewarned of an hour when men who claimed to know the LORD and had a form of godliness, would "turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 3:5; 4:4) And how does this happen?

For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. Isaiah 9:16

The fact that so many people who call themselves Christians sit in front of deceptive wolves and listen to foolish, shallow, empty, non-convicting, psycho-babble stories (fables) today, is an indictment of a whole generation of lost souls who do not fear the LORD and are biblically illiterate (Colossians 2:8). These two soul damning flaws go hand in hand – refusing to know God’s Word and not fearing God (Deuteronomy 4:9-10).

The great apostle warned God’s people:

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:8

Today, in this late hour of great apostasy, the essential Word of God has been replaced with notions, philosophies, psycho-babble, traditions, and the doctrines of sinful men.

When men in leadership do not bow down to the Most High in their daily lives, it will show up in the pulpits. When men don’t uphold Christ in their personal lives, but instead have control of their own lives, the same will transpire in their ministry. They will be in control, not the LORD. This is one reason that the daily cross Jesus commanded is essential to following Christ and leading others in the biblically prescribed pattern of worship.

God surely has ordained the preaching of His Word and yet, very few do so in this late hour. Satan’s desire is to control the pulpit and what is spoken from it, so he has targeted and attacked the seminaries and the personal lives of those who lead. If he can ensnare leaders in sin (living in the flesh), he can thwart the flow of God’s Word to the people. The enemy’s goal is to replace the life-giving Word of God with another gospel, which is no gospel at all (2 Corinthians 11:2-4). Those human emissaries he has enlisted, who wear sheep’s cloaks, are accursed for participating in this rebellion against the LORD (Galatians 1:6-9).

The Pulpit

What most people hear and trust in from the pulpits of today is going to pull them into the pit of eternal hell.

The word and concept of pulpit is found in the Bible but it is so very grossly misused in our day. We see so very few who stand behind a pulpit who are truly and simply preaching the pure Word of God which was what the elders in Israel were doing when we see the word pulpit in Nehemiah 8. Let’s read a larger portion of this revealing passage:

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: 6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. Nehemiah 8:1-8

In verse 1 here we see that all the people gathered themselves together as one man … and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. Wow! These people wanted, desired, and were calling out for God’s Word! These people of the LORD did not want fables, stories, psychology, commentary, or poems. No, they desired the sincere or pure Word of God (1 Peter 2:2). They were ready to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)

Notice in verse 2 of Nehemiah 8 where the Bible says that Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation. Would to God that leaders today brought only the law (or written Word) before the people and eliminated all else from their lives and ministries!

In verse 3 the Bible says the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. We must stop here and ask ourselves just what it is that we desire and want to hear? The answer to this question will plainly reveal just where our hearts are – our current spiritual state. We are told that in the last days that some shall depart from the faith.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. 1 Timothy 4:1-2

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Timothy 4:2-4

The people of God in Nehemiah’s day wanted God’s Word and there is a remnant today that desires the same. When Jesus preached to many of his disciples, many … went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66) Why? John 6:60 says: Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? Only twelve remained, while many of His disciples departed or apostatized. As has been prophesied, many in this last generation before Jesus returns, have itching ears and do not endure sound doctrine because of their own lusts. (2 Timothy 4:3-4) So, they heap up or set up before themselves teachers who do not preach God’s Word which they do not want.

Pulpits in the Dark Ages

But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. … So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Revelation 2:6, 15

What is Jesus really trying to communicate here? After all, the Son of God tells us here that He actually hates the deeds and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Wow! We better look into this.

Let’s begin by breaking down the Greek word from which we get the English word Nicolaitans. In the Greek, nico means to conquer and laitans means the laity or people. So, Nicolaitans means to conquer the people.

You see, the Bible teaches us that if we believe a lie, we are brought under bondage to the person who told us that lie. While speaking specifically of false teachers and false prophets, the Bible says:

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome (using a lie), of the same is he brought in bondage. 2 Peter 2:19

Pulpits became the place of evil men who used their religious myths, lies, and doctrines of demons to control and beguile the masses. The remnant of God’s elect went outside the walls of the visible church and stayed alive in Christ!

In the dark ages after Christ was born, died, was raised again, and