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Rick Joyner....... Prophet ?? Prophet or Heretic? Rick Joyner heads Morningstar Ministries Many supporters of today's controversial Renewal and Revival movements consider him to be a "prophet" and/or "apostle". Others, including theologians, apologists and cult watchers, rightly consider Joyner to by one the most unsound and dangerous teachers around. His error-filled, unorthodox teachings include (but are not limited to) Kingdom Now (or Dominion) theology, extra-biblical revelation, and the denial of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rick Joyner is neither a true prophet nor apostle. He teaches too much error to be either. He holds out (by his many books) an appearance of taking us to higher ground when in reality he robs us of a rich doctrinal heritage as well as the Bible. His dominionism is false and utopian and he confuses the resurrection and reign of Christ with the present state of the Church, thereby misleading Christians with false hope. Joyner's claims of revelation knowledge produce a dulling effect in regard to a desire for the Scriptures. Joyner's books are a jumble of confusion. One has to wade through a lot of sludge to find a few nuggets of truth. The CRN Journal says that Joyner is peddling a ''dark mysticism'' and they conclude: ''Joyner leaves us no middle way. Either we treat him as God's chosen super-prophet for the end-times, or we treat him as a man in the grip of evil deceit and seek to expose him as such'' Source: The Higher Life of Rick Joyner: Chasing the Delusion of Power and Dominion, The Quarterly Journal, October-December 2000, page 14-15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joyner’s false teachings abound and multiply. It may be sloppy writing or unclear theology but it becomes even more serious as Joyner slips into teachings that would be welcome in a Kingdom Hall [Meeting place of Jehovah's Witnesses - AI]. How should we view Jesus? We should view Him as the Bible does. John 2:21-22 and Luke 24:39 make it abundantly clear that Jesus arose in His physical body. The bodily resurrection is a foundational truth in the Christian faith. Jesus, as our mediator, exists in a glorified resurrected body. He is forever the God-man. This truth of the two natures of Christ is called the hypostatic union and has always been defended by the Church. Christ exists in two natures, human and divine (Philippians 2:6-7). Apparently Joyner either denies this or simply does not understand it. He proposes: “There is a tendency to continue relating to Him as ‘the MAN from Galilee.’ Jesus is not a man. He was and is Spirit. He took the form of a servant and became a man for a brief time.”72 Joyner couldn’t be clearer in his declaration: “Jesus is not a man. He was and is Spirit” (emphasis added). Joyner finds himself closely aligned with Gnosticism, one of the most threatening heresies of the early Church. More specifically, he is bordering on a form of Docetism, a view which denies Christ’s true humanity by saying that Christ only appeared to have a physical body. However, based on a multitude of Scriptures, theologian Louis Berkhof summarizes the view of historical orthodoxy: “The incarnation constituted Him a complex person, constituted of two natures. He is the God-man. ... The one divine person, who possessed a divine nature from eternity, assumed a human nature, and now has both.”73 Surely no true prophet of God would deny the human nature of Christ or that Jesus is in a resurrected glorified body. Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 2:5, “There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” How can Joyner say, “Jesus is not a man”? If we accept Prophet Joyner, then we have eroded the doctrinal truths that separate Christianity from the cults. Source: The Higher Life of Rick Joyner by G. Richard Fisher, Personal Freedom Outreach Examples of Joyner's false prophecies abound. For example: In the late 1990s, Joyner jumped onto the Y2K bandwagon as he claimed that the Lord ''finally did begin to speak'' about the issue. According to Joyner, God supposedly revealed that, ''The most severe difficulties will come from the panic generated by the situation'' and '' The Lord told me to observe the problems that Y2K will cause in the natural world as a reflection of the problems we have in the body of Christ.'' Thus according to Joyner's revelation the Church must not have had problems since Y2K was a non-event. Source: The Higher Life of Rick Joyner: Chasing the Delusion of Power and Dominion, The Quarterly Journal, October-December 2000, page 6 Typical of the Joyner/Jones prophecies is this December 31, 1997 this one (RealAudio). It includes the type of judgement prophecies that have become popular in today's so-called renewal and revival movements (e.g. LA is to be leveled by earthquakes AND nuclear bombs; the Mississipi will be 35 miles wide...). Check the date, and the time-schedules hinted at. (Nine months: this movement is always talking about spiritual pregnancy, things born in the spirit, etc. One of the manifestations looks and sounds like someone giving birth). Note that at the time, Joyner was selling cabins at his East Coast ''Moravian community.'' (Morningstar Prophetic Bulletin, April, 199  Prophets? Apostles? Super-Apostles? Like other leaders in the fore- and background of the controversial renewal/revival movements, Joyner rarely refers to himself as a prophet. However, these leaders refer to each other as apostles and prophets - and certainly do not discourage their followers from addressing them as such. In his book "The Harvest," Joyner says: What is about to come upon the earth is not just a revival, or another awakening; it is a veritable revolution. The vision was given in order to begin to awaken those who are destined to radically change the course, and even the very definition of Christianity. The dismantling of organizations and disbanding of some works will be a positive and exhilarating experience for the Lord's faithful servants. A great company of prophets, teachers, pastors and apostles will be raised up with the spirit of Phineas... Self-serving Illusion Though Joyner's doctrinal statement is a rather standard one, we will see that in many places his writings and books contradict and undermine it. One can only wonder if his doctrinal statement is merely window dressing and subterfuge; or if perhaps his allegiance to a movement which views itself as a superlative extension of the Church has moved him aways from a more stable and orthodox foundation. Joyner is like a musician playing many sour notes with the good ones while telling us he is an accomplished prodigy. When we object, he will call attention to the few good notes. Joyner's trumpet is offkey and giving out an ''uncertain sound'' (1 Corinthians 14  -8 . Had he lived in the Old Testament era, he would have been stoned by now (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 , 18:20-22 ) Joyner unabashedly promotes his most bizarre and unrealistic ideas this way: ''In the near future the church will not be looking back at the first century church with envy because of the great exploits of those days, but all will be saying that He certainly did save His best wine for last. The most glorious times in all of history have now come upon us. You who have dreamed of one day being able to talk with Peter, John and Paul are going to be surprised to find that they have all been waiting to talk to you! You have been chosen to see the harvest, the fruit of the seed that they were planting.'' Joyner is so bold as to state that nations will be overwhelmed by the newly appointed apostles and that ''Miracles which exceed even some of the most spectacular biblical marvels will cause whole nations to acknowledge Jesus ... The appearances of angels will be so common that they will cease to be related as significant events. The Lord himself will appear to councils of apostles and elders to give them directives.'' Joyner has two major obsessions: ''Prophetic Restoration'' and ''Apostolic Restoration.'' He explains these as follows: ''A new wave of ministries is about to be released with extraordinary prophetic gifts. Others with revelatory gifting who were sidetracked because of controversy, or other problems, are about to get back on the fast track ... The apostolic ministry that opened the church age will be raised up at the end to complete it. The Lord is restoring the apostolic authority of the church and soon this will become a major emphasis. There will be almost a general openness to this as men of true apostolic authority, with a true apostolic lifestyle, take their place in leadership.'' Glaringly absent from Joyner's agenda is any biblical warrant for his words. There is no Scripture offered as proof for this self-serving illusion. Ephesians is clear that the Church is built on ''the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.'' (Ephesians 2:19 ). Why would God have to lay the foundation all over again? The Church, since the time of Paul, is described as ''God's building. '' (1 Corinthians 3:91-10 ). A building, especially God's Church, is not in need of another foundation. No wonder Joyner gives not Scripture for his grandiose imaginings. Source: The Higher Life of Rick Joyner: Chasing the Delusion of Power and Dominion, The Quarterly Journal, October-December 2000, page 7 Many people involved in the renewal and revival movements have reported that they are told, by Joyner and other teachers, that we can not find everything that's currently happening in the church in Scripture precisely because God is doing a ''new thing.'' Instead, Joyner has prophesied that there will be ''super apostles.'' These apostles are said to be needed to administer the ''new thing'' God is doing. Thus Christians are encouraged to not judge, discern, or even pray about the teachings within these movements. After all, like the apostles of old, who participated in writing Scripture before, the new ''super-apostles'' won't steer you wrong... would they? Joyner Discourages Discernment Not surprisingly, as a false teacher, Rick Joyner not only lacks discernment himself, but also strongly discourages Christians from obeying Scripture when it talks about applying biblical principles of discernment. He tries to silence critics of his ministry and teachings and/or the movements and doctrines he supports by suggesting that critics have what he terms a ''Jezebel spirit,'' or ''religious spirit.'' Even if one takes the liberty to judge the prophet and his message, you are labeled a ''pharisee,'' or worse yet possess a ''religious'' and ''Jezebel spirit.'' PFO director Steve Cannon points out a recurrent theme is Joyner's writings, a concept called ''The Two Ministries.'' Joyner describes the second of the two ministries as ''faultfinders'' and says they are a destructive force.'' Cannon maintains, ''This doctrine ... is used, I think, to intimidate any who may criticize, into thinking that by doing so, they are operating under the spirit of Satan.'' Source: The Higher Life of Rick Joyner: Chasing the Delusion of Power and Dominion, The Quarterly Journal, October-December 2000, page 6 Joyner doesn't stop there in his efforts to escape accountability: Still going further afield, Joyner warns that cult research is dangerous and ought not be be pursued. This would surely keep the discerning off his case. As much warning as there is in the Bible against false religions and heresies (e.g. ''test the spirits,'' 1 John 4:1 ), Joyner's words are ill-advised and foolish: ''Few who devote themselves to studying cults or deviant doctrines are able to distinguis the true word of the Lord, and usually their hearts are immediately darkened by the very evil they seek to expose. We will be changed into that which we are beholding (II Corinthians 3:18 ). There is an implied warning in the Lord's message to the church in Thyatira about 'knowing the deep things of Satan' (Revelation 2:24 |
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I have a problem with some of his words myself. As for chose,,,well...none of us are beyond testing and proving. ’ Jesus is not a man. He was and is Spirit. He took the form of a servant and became a man for a brief time.”72 What does the bible say??? Also the Godhead is three persons in one. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. -1 Timothy 3:16 There is no Scripture offered as proof for this self-serving illusion. This is true. No where in scripture does it talk about an end time restoration...when Jesus comes back HE WILL BRING IN GODS KINGDOM REIGN not by any apostles or prophets.....this is gnostic Latter day heresy.....Jesus will not appear above crowds of people in stadiums ....Luke 13:34,35O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Test the spirits...prove all things..know your word really and I mean really well...study the history of the church...compare spiritual things with spiritual.... Isaiah 42:8 " I am the Lord; that is my name! And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images."
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He is about as chosen as an old sock.
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Dont let the truth get in the way of a good lie
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