Redefining the Enemy: Number Eight of Eight Transformational Steps 
to a Global False Church

By Brannon S. Howse

I’ve warned people on radio and television programs and in many books that it will become a great burden for true believers to understand what the Church faces in the coming days. Our struggles have already begun, but they’re going to get worse in the future, largely because of how redefining the enemy is happening. Why? Because Bible-believing Christians are steadily being re-cast as the enemy of good. 

What makes this especially painful is that many who redefine Christians as the enemy are those who, themselves, profess to represent Christ. And even worse, persecution will follow—from the religious Reich.

Scripture is clear in Revelation that during the Tribulation, this Reich will slaughter countless Christians. The Bible even says the killers will think they are doing a favor for God. Even now, I believe the groundwork for this is being laid by many who warn against people like you and me, and some of the folks laying the groundwork are people we’ve already talked about.

Here’s how Beth Moore views the situation:

• [quote] We must be prepared in advance for scoffers. I want to say that again. We must be prepared in advance for scoffers. I want you to look at one another and say, “Be prepared for scoffers.” . . .
   
• And here’s the thing: the unbelieving world scoffing is not going to bother us that much. We are used to them thinking that we are idiots. Can we just own that one? I mean we’re used to, “Of course they think that.” We’ve got that one down. That’s not what’s going to bother us so much. What’s going to bother us—and I believe that God is saying, “Get prepared for it,” so you know in advance it’s coming, so when it does happen, you are not all disturbed and all rocked by it. But it’s going to come from some in our own Christian realm, our own brothers and sisters. We’re going to have people that are honestly going to want to debate and argue with us about awakening and downpours.

          It’s like, “Well, what do you want here?” They’re going to say, “That’s not the way it should look.”

         You know what, dude? I’m just asking you, “Are you thirsty? Are you hungry?” . . .  But I will say to you, “I’m just thirsty, and I’m hungry.”

• But there’ll be scoffers, and they will be the far bigger threat, the one within our own brothers and sisters, our own family of God far, far more demoralizing. And yes, it will come from bullies, and yes it will come from the mean-spirited. [end quote] 

So, the great threat to evangelicalism are the bullies and the mean-spirited. I suspect she means people like me—and perhaps you. Apparently calling her out on unscriptural teaching and on being involved with false teachers is mean-spirited scoffing.  Apparently, when we read Scripture that says not to be involved in things like contemplative prayer or promoting spiritualism, it makes us mean-spirited, scoffers, or bullies. See how this redefining the enemy works?

In case you think I’m reading into Beth Moore’s words, remember the discussion we’ve just had about false unity, and then consider these comments from another Beth Moore video: 

[quote] Unity will be called defection. Brokenness will be called instability. Grace will be called compromise. The genuinely prophetic will be called false teaching. You see if this does not happen. [end quote]

What’s the common denominator among the folks we’ve talked about: Steve Childers, Francis Chan, Tim Keller, Rick Warren, Beth Moore, Robert Jeffress, David Barton, James Robison, Jerry Falwell, Jr.? They’re not Roman Catholics. They’re not Hindus. They’re not Buddhists or New Agers. No, they would call themselves evangelicals. Yet I believe they have all been involved to some degree—whether they know it or not or intend to or not—in helping transform the Church into a false church. 

Resisting Transformation

I’ve detailed these eight, often insidious steps toward a global false church to help you recognize them wherever they show up. I hope you, like me, don't want to play any role whatsoever in these eight steps. We must maintain a vigilant commitment to preach only the Jesus of the Bible and to proclaim the Gospel of grace taught in Scripture.

We want to avoid the slimy ecumenicalism that says, “Oh, well, they’re Christians as long as they believe in Jesus, so let’s just get along.” And we shouldn’t honor someone as a pastor who doesn’t meet the biblical qualifications of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. We can’t accept a mission of the Church that pursues less than the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We cannot go along with the trend of pastors becoming community organizers and their churches becoming community organizations. Even if we lose friends by our stand, we dare not compromise for the sake of unbiblical unity. With the Apostle John, we must declare, “Thy Word is truth,” not mere personal experience. And, if necessary, we must become the enemy, remembering 2 Timothy 3:12, which says, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Jesus, too, had serious words for us in this regard: “If they persecuted me, surely they’ll persecute you.” Yet we can rejoice that, as Romans 8:18 says, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to compare to the glory that shall be revealed in us.” Christ has a Church. He has a Bride, and the gates of Hell will not prevail.

I’ve read the end of the story. You’ve read the end—and we win. But in the meantime, those who teach unbiblical doctrine are promoting the ideas, philosophies, and worldviews that will become the basis for a false global church that will assist in ushering in a global, religious Reich. May God give us the grace and wisdom, the knowledge and discernment to play no part in the coming empire of Satan. Rather, as long as we have the ability, may we be sure to expose it and call it out for what it is: an apostasy in the sight of God.

Copyright 2015 ©Brannon Howse. This content is for Situation Room members and is not to be duplicated in any form or uploaded to other websites without the express written permission of Brannon Howse or his legally authorized representative.