Beware of God TV
It is neither Christ centered nor biblically correct…
GOD TV is a global media network launched in the United Kingdom in 1995. It now reaches over 200 countries, including the U.S., and can be accessed via phone apps, YouTube, and DirectTV. The problem is, despite the trappings and jargon of Christianity, God TV is neither Christ-centered nor is it biblically correct.
God TV regularly broadcasts the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR emphasizes emotional experience over Scripture, mysticism over doctrine, and falsely promotes belief in present-day signs and wonders. Its promoters claim they have a special anointing from God to perform miracle healings, utter prophecies about the future, and speak in tongues. They place a greater emphasis on visions and direct revelation from God than they do on Biblical truth. Some NAR leaders falsely claim they have been to heaven and back. Rather than preach the Gospel, they work to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.
NAR teachings typically reject key tenets of Biblical Christianity and teach a deeply deceptive and false gospel. New Apostolic Reformation variations include the Third Wave, Joel’s Army, Dominionism, Latter Rain, and Kingdom Now theologies.
Most of their prophecies are purposely vague and almost always embarrassingly wrong. (The Greek word prophéteia, properly translated as “prophecy” means “speaking forth” and does not necessarily mean predictions about the future.) Deuteronomy 18:20-22 tells us the sign of a false prophet is one whose prophecies do not come true.
The beginnings of the NAR can be traced back to C. Peter Wagner, who appointed himself as an Apostle. He published Churchquake-The New Apostolic Reformation in 1998, a book that planted the seeds of the NAR movement as we know it today.
While not a church itself, thousands of churches and millions of people have bought into the lies of the New Apostolic Reformation movementp. NAR leaders falsely teach that God has restored the first-century offices of Prophets and Apostles to them alone to promote a worldwide church.
One large part of the NAR movement is the International House of Prayer (IHOP), which is based in Kansas City, Missouri. Thousands of people watch their conferences online. Another is the Elijah List, which sends daily emails to more than 138,000 subscribers. Other well-known NAR teachers include Todd Bentley, Todd White, Creflo Dollar, Francis Chan, Lou Engle, Rick Joyner, Brian Houston (Hillsong), and Rod Parsley, among many others. If you want specifics on many of these false teachers, type their names into the search box at The Dissenter.
There is a financial aspect of this as well. For example, Bethel Church, based in Redding, California, charges tuition to attend their Healing School. Sadly, people travel from all over the globe to receive training in so-called healing rooms, where they claim to have the same miraculous power as Jesus. The director of the Bethel School of Healing, Chuck Parry, claims to have seen the dead raised, food multiplied, storms moved out of the way, the financial supply of heaven released, and countless people healed.
Here is an excerpt from their website…
“At the Bethel Healing School, you will be inspired, trained, equipped, and launched into a lifestyle of healing and miracles. This school is much more than just a teaching seminar. It’s a full week immersed into a culture of joy, freedom, and experiencing all that Jesus paid for. It’s designed to be an intense week full of practical activation, impartation, and miracles, miracles, miracles!
In our sessions, you will grow in the awareness of the anointing you carry. You will explore scriptural truth that deactivates lies we have believed about healing. You’ll also learn new ways to cultivate and maintain an atmosphere conducive to healing in your personal lives, churches, or ministries. Each year, many return home with the confident knowledge that the healing power of Jesus is available to all of us today”
Notice how they promise to “deactivate lies”? This is a common tactic of those who peddle gross falsehoods that claim that they have the truth where others are wrong. The Bethel School of Healing is flat-out heresy… an outright rejection of the truth of the Bible.
Cessationism is the view that the “miracle gifts” of tongues and healing have ceased and that the end of the apostolic age brought about a cessation of the miracles associated with that period. The Bible records that only Moses (Exodus 4:1-8), and Elijah (1 Kings 17:1; 18:24) were able to perform miracles to confirm their God-given authority. After Pentecost, the apostles were also given the ability to speak in tongues and the power to heal as signs to unbelieving Jews (Acts 4:10-16). Once their work was finished, the need for authenticating signs no longer existed.
Scripture is clear that the miracle gifts of tongues and healing ceased at the end of the Apostolic Age. That time ended with the first-century deaths of the original apostles and Paul, who were the only ones in the New Testament church ever directly given those gifts by Christ Himself. While God can and still performs miracles today, He no longer uses individual human beings to perform miraculous signs.
Both Ephesians and Romans contain verses detailing the gifts of the Spirit but do not mention the miracle gifts. Romans does note the gift of prophecy in terms of speaking forth… but not predictions about the future.
Christ and His Word are sufficient. There is no need for new revelations from self-appointed apostles and prophets. Ever since the church was established, false teachers have abounded, each with their own brand of heresy. The NAR is just another one of them.
God TV promotes this nonsense…
Avoid it at all costs.
Want to go online and find sound teaching? Consider one or more of these alternatives:
Tom Pennington, is a strong and scripturally sound preacher based in Southlake, Texas. https://countrysidebible.org/
Amir Tsarvati is a brilliant Christian writer and teacher, who focuses on the role of Israel in Scripture. https://www.youtube.com/user/beholdisrael
John MacArthur is the dean of modern-day Bible teachers. https://www.youtube.com/c/gracetoyou
Voddie Baucham is Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia. He is a pastor, author, professor, and conference speaker. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBIpzYhUQY_9ypaS1Rxiasg/videos
Gary Hamrick is a master of faithful Biblical teaching chapter by chapter. https://www.youtube.com/c/cornerstonechpl
Justin Peters focuses on teaching the sufficiency of God’s word and exposes the false teachings of the Prosperity Gospel. https://www.youtube.com/user/justpreach
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Thanks Jim for sharing, I was not familiar with God TV, you bring out some insightful points and provide some good guidance. Good to be Berean like in our discernment of teachers, ministries, and even churches. "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." - Acts 17:11
It seems to me that much of the romantic emotionalism you mention has been a key aspect many American Christian churches since the Second Great Awakening, from, say, the 1830s onward. Mormonism, Christian Science, the Seventh Day Adventists, Dispensationalism, Pentecostalism, tent/street preaching, and endless revivals I would include as part of this awakening. Perhaps the Second Great Awakening has never really ended and its individualist tenets are especially popular since the entirety of traditional western/American culture is under attack, and institutional Christianity is but a distant memory to some, or an alien religion to many "new arrivals" alive now.