YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A CESSATIONIST: Prophecy & Supernatural Schools Commit the Sin of Simony

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to the

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Fighting for the Faith YouTube channel and our series that we're starting titled You Don't Have to be a

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Cessationist. The idea behind this series is that there currently is, well, a traffic jam, a gridlock thing that's going on in Christianity as it relates to the debates between cessationists and continuationists.

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It's kind of a winner -take -all approach to this concept. And the idea then is that the question on the table, in fact, like the only question on the table, is it cessationism or is it continuationism?

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Which of them is biblical? And it's kind of a winner -take -all approach to this question.

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And the idea then is that if the continuationist is not convinced that cessationism is biblical, then, well, you know, anything goes.

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I mean, you can wipe people out with a white jacket like Benny Hinn does, and it's got to be from God and you can't criticize it or you're going to blaspheme the

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Holy Spirit. So what we're trying to do in this series is break that logjam, break that up.

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And instead, you know, this winner -take -all approach, we're just going to systematically demonstrate that you don't have to be a cessationist to realize that many of the doctrines and practices that are common within the

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Charismatic and Pentecostal movements are not biblical, and you don't have to be a cessationist to recognize that.

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So today we're going to be looking at how you don't have to be a cessationist to know that prophecy and supernatural schools commit the sin of simony.

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Now, if you're wondering, what on earth is the sin of simony? We will explain it biblically. This is the actual historical name for this.

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You can find it in the book of Acts chapter 8, and you don't have to be a cessationist to recognize there's a serious problem with all of these supernatural schools and prophecy schools cropping up all over the world and being run by very well -known

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Charismatic and Pentecostal churches and leaders. So let's kill the slides here and let's take a look at Scripture.

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We're going to begin by looking at Acts chapter 8, verses 4 through 24. This is the passage that explains what the sin of simony is, or at least historically where it comes from, and biblically where it's grounded in.

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Here's what it says. This takes place immediately after the persecution of Saul of Tarsus takes place.

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Stephen has been stoned to death, he's been martyred, and now the Christians are being scattered because of persecution.

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And here's what it says. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the

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Christ, or you can say the Messiah. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip.

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When they heard and saw the signs that he did, for unclean spirits crying out with loud voice came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

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So there was much joy in that city. But there was a man named

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Simon, and this is the fellow who the sin of simony is named after, who had previously practiced magic in the city, and he amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great.

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They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the power of God that is called great.

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And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed

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Philip as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

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Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip, and seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

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Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them

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Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them.

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You're going to note when you read the book of Acts that when the Holy Spirit doesn't show up with baptism, that's usually a theological sign or actually shows the

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Holy Spirit shows up in different ways than associated with baptism. That's a sign that God is accepting that group.

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So Christianity at this point was fully a Jewish affair. There were no Gentile believers yet, and the

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Samaritans, although genetically related to the Jews, were not truly Jewish. And if you know the history of the northern kingdom and what happened after the ten tribes of Israel were wiped off the face of the map,

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Jews and Samaritans didn't get along. And so God the Holy Spirit literally is having them go and bring the

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Holy Spirit there, and he hasn't fallen, as basically a way of saying that they are also included.

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That's what's going on. So back to verse 1, they sent to them

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Peter and John, who came and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them.

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But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So then they laid their hands on them, and they received the

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Holy Spirit. And now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying,

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Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the

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Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

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You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

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Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven.

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For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. And Simon answered,

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Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me. So long and the short of it is that God the

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Holy Spirit cannot be controlled or purchased with money, and you're going to note that over and again, those who receive legitimate gifts from the

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Holy Spirit don't have to go to school to learn it, and they don't have to pay money in order to learn how to operate in the gifts of the

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Holy Spirit. That being the case, we have a problem. We'll give you just two quick examples in this video.

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This is the website for the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry is run by Bethel Church in Redding, California.

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That is Bill Johnson, the Apostle Bill Johnson. And when you take a look at their website, you're going to note that this is a school that is set up specifically for, well, one of the things is how to learn how to walk in the power and the gifts of the

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Holy Spirit. This is a school to teach you how to operate in the supernatural.

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Another one of their webpages says naturally supernatural, which seems to be somebody else's line, but the idea then is they claim that the school is designed to equip students not just to minister in the gifts of the

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Spirit, but to live a supernatural lifestyle. In fact, I think the right way of looking at this is the very thing that Simon wanted to pay money for is exactly what the students of Bethel School of the

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Supernatural are actually paying for. The whole thing is set up regarding the sin of simony, the paying of money for learning how to wield the power of the

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Holy Spirit. And here's their tuition schedule, by the way, and this is right off their website.

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If you want the ability to operate in the supernatural and to basically command and control and wield the gifts of the

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Spirit, well, first year tuition $4 ,950, second year tuition $4 ,950.

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This does not include housing or food or meals or things like that. And if you're invited for a third year, that's an extra $900.

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All told, you're going to be out of pocket, you know, almost 11 grand.

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Yeah, I would say that's an example of the sin of simony like you wouldn't believe. Now another person who also offers the ability to operate in the supernatural would be

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Jennifer LeClaire, formerly of Charisma Magazine. And Jennifer LeClaire, she runs a

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School of the Prophets, and their most recent session, you could have participated in online, depending on the level you were buying into, paid her anywhere from $60 to $400.

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Yeah, this is the sin of simony, the paying of money for the ability to wield and operate in the gifts of the

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Holy Spirit. And I think what Peter said regarding Simon's sin was,

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May your silver perish with you, because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God with money.

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And Peter rebuked him and said, You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God, repent.

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And so all of those students who want to wield the power of the Holy Spirit by paying money to Bethel or to Jennifer LeClaire or others, they need to repent.

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They have nothing to do with Christianity or the ministry of spreading the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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They are sons and daughters of perdition in the same way that Simon was. This is wickedness.

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And so I think you get the point. So in other words, you don't have to be a cessationist to know that prophecy and supernatural schools commit the sin of simony.

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If you legitimately have a gift from God, the Holy Spirit, you don't need to pay

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Bethel or Jennifer LeClaire or anyone, including Patricia King and a whole host of others, in order to learn how to operate or pay them in order to begin to operate in these gifts.

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I hope that was helpful. If you'd like to support us, you can do so with the information on how to support us by becoming a patron on Patreon or becoming a crew member are down below.

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Of course, please share this video with those you think this would be helpful to. And until next time, may

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God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and His vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.