Artificial Testimonies

Artificial testimonies--it's amazing how people can twist things and then believe in them. I've heard lots of phony testimonies like that, nice sounding, very spiritual, but in the end you'd see how things had actually been twisted around to sound good, and then believed by the testifier as real. How did I know that they were phony? Wasn't I just being too judgmental about them? 

It's easy--just be sharp spiritually and you'd see that they are artificial testimonies. Jesus gave us the hint--you will know them by their fruit. They say a lot of nice things happening to them spiritually, how they're growing in their spiritual lives, how they heard God tell them this and that, and how they spend much time with the Lord. But later you see how they really live and behave and react and think, and you'd know that everything they said were just artificial testimonies.

It isn't just a one-time slip into error or misbehavior. You'd see that it's a lifestyle. They tell wonderful artificial testimonies but they live their daily lives differently. During testimony time they sound so inspiring and many people even get "blessed." They know the right words and have a special skill of composing them well so that they form some kind of a spiritual facade, a spiritual mask. And people buy it--both the naive and those benefited by such artificial testimonies. And then the whole tale begins to come alive and circulate around church so that the guy begins to have a religious "reputation." The guy actually becomes a faith icon in that church.

"Beware of wolves in sheep clothing..."

I've seen how people testified of having been blessed by a church person who was a real "blessing" to them. Familiar with the scene? They say a lot of nice things about the guy--a whole lot of them--pastors, church leaders and members, friends, etc., and if you're not spiritual and mentally sharp and careful, you too would be duped. Lots of people in church are easy to deceive. Religion is a deadly opiate. Now, as you see things clearer as time passes by, you'd see the whole picture. They like that guy because they get some benefits liking him and talking good about him. They tickle his weaknesses and he in turn gives them favor. They see it as good, but it's really nothing but corruption.

Thus, as the thing goes on--he favoring them and they liking him--the tale of his goodness goes around and is reinforced and becomes "real." Then naive people who hear about it easily believes, and the guy becomes a church icon. Nobody has enough good sense and sharpness to see what's really going on. They just go along the tide. Now, what happens next us is that the good guy bestows his favor only on his avid fans. If you're not an admirer, you don't just get nothing, you suffer his disapproval. And when you're disapproved by him, other people see you as bad, miserable, and not growing in the Lord. That's what artificial testimonies do to their detractors.

Wise are Serpents, Innocent as Doves

You should be wise as a serpent and innocent as doves. Wise in the sense that you can discern what's really happening. Innocent in the sense that you don't take part in the corruption (also, innocent in the sense that you yourself are not guilty of the same sin, or any sin). Don't applaud fake or artificial testimonies. It's idolatry. Yeah, they will later attribute the "greatness" of the guy to God's doing and praise him for that, but it's all mere lip service. You can see how their egos are being fed well. Artificial testimonies feed the testifier's ego.

Now, do you have to be suspicious of everyone's testimony? Nope. Just be deep in God and the Word of God and spiritual and mental sharpness regarding what's fake or real becomes automatic. The Spirit of God will tell you what's right and wrong, according to how He sees it. A lot of times, the corruption is obvious but church people have become blinded by the god of this world. They don't see in the spirit anymore. All they see is what happens in the material world. They're of the flesh. So they see achievements, accomplishments, awards, recognition trophies, big churches, big income, big membership, big this and that. But they don't see the spirit behind the actions and accomplishments.

Like this guy I know--a church pastor. He's been a rotten church leader, rotten in character and very immature in relationships. He's fond of putting people to shame publicly, disciplining people who's not under his authority, and manipulating people so that they become guilty of not joining his denomination. He even sometimes manipulates his children to forget about their families and join him in what he's doing--like manipulating his daughter so that she joins his ministry even if her husband has his own church ministry.

But a lot of people like him. They say so in their artificial testimonies. Now, if you see what's really going on, you'd see that these are the people who benefit from his doling out money. Yeah, he's a giver, but he sometimes uses it to manipulate you. I've seen him do it. He gives you help but then keeps reminding about it whenever he wants to make you do something for him. You're a victim as long as you receive something from him. Some people like it though, and they are his propagandists come testimony time.

Beware When Invited to Dinner by a Stingy Man...He Counts the Cost

So this guy sometimes invites you to his special occasions to hear you say something good about him in church, an artificial testimony during testimony time. He invites people so they'd say something nice about him, and then they'll later "praise God!" I'm invited to such occasions and I go (often you never know if its an artificial testimony service until you get there), but never to give testimonies like that. I just go and eat and listen to the phony claims and laugh inside, but also shake my head in dismay--these people will do anything just to be rewarded by the world. And they will use and eat each other in the process--and they use the church doing that.

Genuine testimonies are never done by people "invited" to give them in a pre-arranged program. Genuine testimonies just happen spontaneously. In Jesus' time, people just shouted their praises to him from the crowd. There was no invitation or program that says, "And now, we come to our testimony time. Are there any testimonies?" It's so artificial. So man-made. So phony. Sometimes they appoint people who'd give their testimonies. I even saw a pastor once who got angry with his congregation because no one would give testimony during testimony time. So, to please him, they assigned testifiers the next time around. Hahaha.

Phonies.

Should You Be Critical? 

Should you be critical during testimony time? Aren't you just supposed to listen and feel good about everything and praise God? Being uncritical is what leads many people to deception. Nope, you should not be critical if your life in Christ is the pits. But if you're deep in God and in the Word, it comes automatically. It's called spiritual discernment. It's how true prophets of old saw fake prophets and boldly declared and denounced them so. When it comes you have no choice but to get it. No, you cannot will to be spiritually critical and sharp. It happens as the Jesus LIFE gets duplicated in your life--as you live the Jesus LIFE and get his DNA. You should be deep in God and in his Word, living it powerfully daily. That's God's flesh.

Meek Criticism

Prophetic criticism happens as you  become meeker in Christ. You don't mean to be critical--it's just that the judgment or Word of God comes to your hearing and you hear God speak his judgments. And the first thing you do is make sure that you're not yourself being like the guy being hit by the criticism. It's not your own personal opinion of the man; it's how you see the Word of God judging the man. So you pray for yourself and for the guy. And you don't announce to all the world how the guy is in error. You only talk about it when asked to by the person involved--or talk about it without mentioning names for others to learn about--like what this blog, God's Flesh, is doing.

Believe me, a lot of what people are doing today in church are nothing but garbage. They're too blinded by their denomination to see truth. To them it's all spiritual, and they think God is pleased. But to the spiritually discerning, it's demonic. One pastor I talked to says we should be active in church to please God. And probably, he says that a lot of of times to his congregation as a testimony. But how do we please God? By our works? The last time I looked, "It's impossible to please or get God's approval without faith." And many active people in church does not know what faith here is. In its context in the book of Hebrews, it has something to do with Enoch's walk with God. He walked with God 300 years and God snatched him to heaven. And then it says, it's impossible to please or delight God without faith.

You see that? That's the faith that pleases God--walking with God. Not being active in church. Many active church members have never experienced really walking with God--the kind that gets you snatched away to God's very presence, pronto! Even many church pastors have never experienced this. Yeah, they pray a lot and get some of their mundane prayers answered (it's the general blessings of God to both the righteous and the wicked), but many of them have never experienced being snatched away from this life and get a taste of the spirit realms. Anyone who experiences that becomes radically different. And the first thing he does is get out of denominationalism. 

This shallowness in spirit is what makes them fall victims to artificial testimonies. Just attend prayer or testimony time in most churches today and you're likely to hear them--fake but nice sounding religious stories of people's greatness in the guise of praising God.