Contending for the faith | Making Disciples | Equipping the Saints for Ministry

   by Jeannette Haley

Down through the ages few things have captivated the minds and hearts of mankind as GOLD. What is it about this shiny, golden substance that causes such a stir?

The obvious answer is wealth and power. But even so, gold has yet another strange and alluring attraction that has been with us from the beginning of time and that is the association of gold with deity.

A study of the Tabernacle in the wilderness reveals that the gold represented deity. Beaten gold foreshadowed the sufferings of Christ as well as the process many Christians go through as God refines them. Jesus said to the Laodicean church, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich Revelation 3:18a. The Apostle Peter wrote:

“The trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

In the church today, however, we are witnessing a different type of obsession with gold. Reminiscent of historic gold rushes to Alaska’s gleaming peaks or California’s golden shores, this gold rush is taking place wherever the glory cloud manifests.

Tales of real gold falling from heaven coupled with the magical appearance of gold teeth has captured the imaginations of countless sign-seekers. In spite of the fact that laboratory analysis of the gold dust refutes that it is indeed gold, (it is some sort of plastic), nevertheless, people insist it is the real thing, straight from God.

And, what about those shiny, gold fillings and crowns? Research reveals that the majority of these miracles were teeth that had been either previously filled and/or capped by a dentist, or that the metal was not pure gold.

While many may want to snicker at another display of ridiculous religious extremism, discerning believers need to take a closer look.

Where is all of this leading us? To answer that question we need only sweep aside the veil of biblical and historical ignorance to view the entire landscape. In other words, we need to see the whole picture, past, present future in light of biblical prophecy.

Signs and wonders are nothing new. They are as old as mankind. In Moses day magicians and sorcerers with their ability to perform miracles were commonplace in Egypt. The same holds true of the great Babylonian and Chaldean empires. In every civilization, including our own, ruling authorities have employed sorcerers, magicians, astrologers and psychics.

We may consider ourselves civilized and modern but superstition abounds on every level. Be not deceived! Increase in knowledge is never a guarantee of increase in wisdom. Usually the opposite is true because “knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Perhaps that is why pride is increasing in this day of technological advancement while the love of many is decreasing.

Therefore, let us be wise and consider that the signs and wonders supposedly occurring in certain charismatic circles today have always been manifested in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic church emphasizes superstition, relics and idols. Are Christians oblivious to the fact that the many visions of Mary seen around the world also speak of signs and wonders identical to the ones we are seeing today in charismatic churches and even in the cults such as Unity?

Here is a comment of Michael Freze in his book, Voices, Visions and Apparitions: “On June 24, 1987, one lady stated that her rosary had turned gold while she was visiting Medjugorje (a major Marian site of Visitation). This same woman claims that over a forth of the people whom she ministered to have had their rosaries turned to gold. This phenomenon is not at all unusual, thousands have come back from Medjugorje testifying that their rosaries turned to gold the chain or beads often turn to gold immediately during a prayer service in the presence of hundreds of witnesses” [Page 61].

In Conyers, Georgia, gold dust has also been seen upon the worshippers of Mary. There are signs in the sun that accompany this gold phenomena making the link between gold and the sun too obvious to miss (A study of Roman Catholicisms occult symbols and relics reveals worship to the sun god who is also worshipped today in different guises by Masonry, Illuminist groups, false religions and cults). However, the Toronto and Brownsville revival has contributed to this gold rush.

Discerning Christians worldwide have rejected the Brownsville and Toronto events as false. Nevertheless, in spite of doctrines of demons, bizarre manifestations, unruly conduct, exaggerated fruit and division among churches, Christians continue to rush to the gold.

Shouldn’t we be asking why a holy God would stoop to fill teeth with gold when there is ungodly disorder and false doctrines? Should we not ask why there are no recorded dental miracles in the Bible? And why would a God of love fill peoples teeth with gold when they may be dying of cancer, heart disease, diabetes or any number of other disorders such as deafness, blindness and so forth?

Furthermore, according to health experts, such as Dr. Hulda Clark, ANY metal in your mouth, gold or otherwise, is detrimental to your health! (Author of THE CURE FOR ALL DISEASES).

People do perish for lack of knowledge–knowledge of the true God, His attributes, character and ways for He changes not. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the LORD, I change not.”

The problem with countless people today who call themselves Christians is that they have never been properly discipled (made students or followers of Christ). They have been molded into conformity to church creeds, dogmas and religious ideologies, but they lack understanding and knowledge of the real Jesus. Sadly, in His place are many unscriptural false Jesus’s made up of people’s vain imaginations, perceptions and ideas that smack of Disneyland fantasies.

The early leaders of the Manifest Sons of God, such as Franklin Hall, believed in fine gold and silver dustings as being the attainment of Immortal Substance. This substance, according to Hall, would come upon the believer who feeds upon it from within Christ’s now body. A study of Hall and his aberrant teachings reveals heavy occult activity.

The Manifest Sons believe in a Spiritual coming before [or instead of] the physical return of Jesus Christ to this earth. This is known as the Shekinah glory which is now supposedly appearing in church after church throughout the world. They believe the glory will eventually permanently dwell with his people as the manifest Christ on earth. The idea behind the gold dust falling in some churches today is that it is a visible manifestation of this glory. This is totally unscriptural; a doctrine of demons accompanied by demonic lying signs and wonders.

Religion will always set you up to be deceived, deluded and destroyed because religion does not originate with God, the true Giver of life.

Today we are witnessing a shallow brand of Christianity that gives lip service to the Bible, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit but the attitudes, lifestyles, obsessions and fruit belies that there is any true knowledge of Jehovah God whatsoever. In fact, what we are experiencing is a revival of Spiritism or communion with demons and sorcery, which is a practice of the hidden arts.

In the book, EARTHS EARLIEST AGES (1876) G. H. Pember writes:

“The grand aim of Satanic miracles is to bring men under the influence of demons. The Devil would by no means destroy, but rather increase, a belief in the supernatural; he would, however, point out Satan, and not Christ, as the head of thrones, dominions, principalities and powers, and hasten the time when one shall sit as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God (2 Thess. 2:4). To this end is all the teaching of his signs and wonders directed, however carefully they may be disguised, and whether they be appearances of aerial forms, visions, oracles which seldom afford real help, and often lure men on to destruction by the ambiguity of their response, soothsayings sometimes strikingly verified, but never reliable, spirit-writing, voices of the unseen, magnetic healings, or any other exhibition of his power. Nor can we examine the many superstitions confirmed by these miracles without astonishment at the skill with which they are adapted to the purpose of enthralling mankind. For is not this the obvious intent of spirit-communications, auguries, omens, tokens, lucky and unlucky days and seasons, purifications, holy water, spells, potions, amulets, charms, fetishes, relics, images, pictures, crosses, crucifixes, and all the countless prescriptions of demoniacal systems?” (Page 154).

“Now all idolatrous worship is inseparably connected with magic and the exercise of supernatural power. For it is only by a continual display of such power, or at least by a fixed belief in it, that the human race can be held in the grievous bondage of demon-service” (Page 153).

“An example of spiritism in scripture is the Philippian damsel who had a Pythonic spirit. This familiar [spirit] was a subordinate of the great power worshipped under the name of Apollo, the Sun-god, and the inspirer of the Delphic oracle. But this inference is entirely obscured in our version by the inaccurate substitution of a spirit of divination for a Pythonic spirit” (Pages 171, 172).

“We need to be reminded of how very real and powerful the demonic realm is, and how easy it is for Satan to deceive even the most committed and astute believer.

“Tertullian divides the demons who are connected with magic into three classes:

  1. Parabolic spirits which throw men on the ground;
  2. Paredral spirits which keep ever at their side; and
  3. Pythonic spirits which cast them into trances.

“If this be a true classification, the Philippian damsel must have been a clairvoyant or trance-medium.” (Page 172)

Sound familiar? (Note: By these manifestations we are able to see Satan’s ability to counterfeit the gifts and workings of the Holy Spirit.)

The gold rush today is dangerously similar to the practice of alchemy. The aim of alchemy was to transmute base metals into gold. Even though this was attempted as a chemical process, alchemy was satanic by nature and the real meaning behind it was a spiritual transformation of flesh into divinity. There are actual recorded accounts of alchemists being enabled by demons to transmute metals (See EARTHS EARLIEST AGES by Pember).

Christians need to stop and consider that gold is a powerful symbol for New Agers, occultists, astrologers, Gnostics and many in religious cults.

Man’s eyes may be upon the gold that perishes, but Gods eyes are upon the trial of our faith and the gold that endures:

“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:9-11).

Thus we are reminded in our arrogance and exclusivity that supernatural occurrences and bizarre manifestations are nothing new. As our generation becomes more self-possessed, the duller our intellects become to the great events, blunders and truths that the sacred scriptures as well as both ancient and recent history would teach us. In our willing and self-imposed blindness, we stumble ever closer to the brink of destruction. Perhaps in the future one word will sum up the legacy of this age: FOOLS.