Teaching “Visualization-To-Abundant Realization” Methods Aint Christian
A quick search on “Visualization-To-Abundant” in Google produces information on the following.
The title for this youtube video is “Secret Tool of Visualization to Manifest Abundance in all areas of your Life” with the following blurb:
“Secret Tool of Visualization to Manifest Abundance in all areas of your Life- Apply this Secret tool of Visualization to Attract ABUNDANCE IN YOUR LIFE , Manifesting with Ease and Joy : Money – Happy Relationships- Success – Achievement -My first Best-Selling Book – Beautiful Cars- Dream homes – Supportive Friends – Loving Partner – Vibrant Health – Wisdom – Happiness – Love – Gratitude Satisfaction – Easy Fun Travel – Giving and Receiving – Sharing – Consciousness – Much More – What Else is Possible?” – EduaPotor, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSy9pQE639U, 01/08/2009. (Accessed 25/01/2013.)
We’ve already discovered how Pringle’s faith is not founded on Christianity at all but on New Age, New Thought and occultic sources. This should concern any genuine Christian who attends the C3 Movement.
While we have examined Pringle’s doctrine on faith, his doctrine on ‘hope’ is no different. In his latest book ‘Hope’ (endorsed by Yonngi Cho and Kong Hee), Pringle teaches readers how to practice the New Age technique of visualisation… through goats.
Yes, from goats. You’ve got to read it to believe it.
Pringle writes,
“Jacob’s Spotted and Speckled Sheep
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” The Greek word for “think” here is no’eo, which literally means “to conceive and perceive.” So, once we are visualizing something, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above it. An example of this “visualization-to-abundant realization” is exemplified in the spotted and speckled sheep of Jacob.”
(Phil Pringle, Hope, South Australia: Hyde Park Press,2011, pg. 40.)
Pringle decides to write a personalised narrative of the Genesis story of Jacob and Laban’s goat/sheep deal. Pringle narrates the following:
“In the heat of the next morning, he calls the great flock of Laban to the watering troughs. However, the goats and sheep arrive to a different scene than ever before. A spotted and speckled wall rises before them just behind the troughs. The larger, healthier, stronger sheep jostle easily to the front. The rams rise on the ewes as they drink, all of them mating with a full vision of spots and speckles before them. When the small and weak finally have their chance at the water, Jacob removes the wall. Every day, morning and night, he follows the same clever procedure.”
(Phil Pringle, Hope, South Australia: Hyde Park Press,2011, pg. 41-42.)
Pringle’s conclusion?
“But Jacob knew that his God had given him hope through a dream, a strategy-and all of it by the power of vision. As Jacob saw the spotted and speckled sheep, and as the sheep themselves saw spots and speckles, their vision had become a reality.
What we see is what we get. What fills our imagination is what will fill our lives. This is the power of hope!”
(Phil Pringle, Hope, South Australia: Hyde Park Press,2011, pg. 42.)
After reading what Pringle had to say on visualisation, do you honestly think Genesis 30-31 is trying to teach Christians how to visualise abundance like Laban’s goats supposedly did? Don’t you think it’s odd that Pringle doesn’t actually quote the biblical story?
The scriptures say that such men are “evil men and impostors” who “will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived”. (2 Timothy 3:13) Pringle says that he doesn’t preach a prosperity gospel.
“And the deal – some people accuse that – just what I said then, saying, ‘Oah! That’s prosperity gospel’ or whetever. I’ve never preached a gospel other than about Jesus my whole life. That’s the gospel: Jesus Christ. Beginning and end. You know I got no other message then that one.” – Phil Pringle, Steven Furtick ‘Stay Behind The Guide’, http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/steven-furtick-%E2%80%98stay-behind-guide, C3 Church Oxford Falls, 15/04/2012.
We have covered in the past that Pringle teaches that Jesus died to make believers materially rich. We also know that the faith he preaches is more occult-centered” than Christian centered. Once again, the evidence seems to point out that he DOES preach the false prosperity gospel and that he doesn’t preach the gospel of Christ and Christ crucified.
From City News.
Phil Pringle in the House
Posted on 14 September 2009
Founder and President of renowned C3 International ministries, Phil Pringle, was in town during the weekend of 29-30 August 2009 to speak at City Harvest Church’s (CHC) English Services.
Phil Pringle, 57, visits the church in Singapore at least twice a year and has never failed to bring fresh messages to the 27,000-member strong church. “(Pastor Phil) never fails to bring a new Word and perspective of God to bless the congregation here at CHC,” says Benny Lin, 24, a facilities officer for CHC. “I look forward to his messages on faith and prosperity and I certainly experience personal breakthrough in my own life when I apply the principles of these messages.”
“God wants to bring freedom and victory to believers,” said Pringle on 29 August 2009, the evening service at the Singapore Expo. His sermon spoke largely of God having a purposeful plan for Christians and how their lives should not be one of fear and destruction.
Pringle added to his point by saying that, “God thinks of many things; but one of the greatest things that He thinks about is His people,” in other words; God will always have a wonderful plan for everyone’s life simply because He loves His people.
PHOTOS: Daniel Poh
Ang Mei Mei, 22, a recent graduate of this year’s City Harvest Bible Training Center (CHBTC) recalls that services with Pringle have always been characterized by a strong “presence of God and His love” felt by the students in CHBTC. “Not only do I come away from the meetings with a new
revelation of God’s character, I also feel a renewed and stronger love for Him.”
The next visit to CHC for Pringle would be for the upcoming Asia Conference 2010, a bi-annual conference organized by CHC.
“If you are the Son of God, speak to these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3
Jesus responded with the following.
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
Just like Satan, Pringle below is teaching the Body of Jesus Christ to speak to their difficulties to become mammon. In fact, we have written in the past how Pringle’s idea of faith is practically connected to the ‘faith’ of the occult.
This video reveals Pringle’s inept ability to handle scripture correctly to justify his pagan faith. Pringle reduces Jesus (the Word of God Himself),to a tool, wand, law and principle, to prophesy (to speak or confess) things into existence. It becomes evident that Pringle’s double speak reveals that his confession is “Jesus is law” not Lord. For someone who doesn’t “box God” or “limit God”, Pringle does a tremendous job of enslaving God to serve his lips and heart. (See more double-speak towards end of the article.)
To Pringle, Jesus is nothing but a pagan entity summoned to fulfill Pringle’s desires. D.R. McConnell and Hank Hanegraaf document how Word Of Faith heretics like Pringle deify man and reduce the sovereignty of Christ, their historical research linking these heretical teachings to the teaching one finds in the occult. As a result of Pringle’s occult teachings, Pringle’s mutilation of the biblical texts is horrendous.
Pringle’s use of John 1 is highly blasphemous. For a start we were never in the beginning with God. To allegorise John 1 to say our beginning is 2011 and we can have the laws of the Word to speak to our future is delusional at best. The use of these biblical passages are so rorted, it is hard to dispute rationally how Pringle is so inept. Nothing in John 1 supports Pringle’s claim that we are to speak to our new year beginnings to get the things we want in the future.
Pringle’s use of Mark 11:12-14; 20-25 is not teaching us to speak to our sickness and debts in ‘faith’. While Pringle also uses “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” (Proverbs 18:21), he treats this to be some kind of magic ritual to summon Jesus like a pagan God to do the things Pringle desires. But this passage simply talks about the influential power the tongue has over our lives and others so we can reap blessing or destruction.
Pringle also shamelessly Hebrews 10:23 here says, “Let us hold fast the confession” and then stops conveniently to continue shaping his loopy origami theology. What’s the context?
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:18-23
He is turned the church’s universal faith confession of Christ’s finished work into a money-grubby, confess-for-gain magic formula. He also unashamedly lies about what Jesus says in the bible. Jesus does not say, “You’re dried up from the roots.”
Different Spirit, Different Jesus, Different Message
Below is the transcript:
“This morning, I want to talk about creating a future. Not just trying to weather forecast what’s going to happen but actually making what’s going to happen, happen. You become partners with God in creating a future. And the greatest tool that I know for making that happen is prophesying.
One of the reasons the bible has- about one third of it’s statements are prophecies- or written by prophets, is because if they didn’t say it, it wouldn’t happen. God makes things happen through words. God created the universe through words. And at the beginning of a new year like 2012, in the beginning was the Word. Amen!
So I want us to be able to have in our lives . . . I believe in our lives we can have this Word. And we find this Word is God. That’s the amazing thing. When you speak the Word of God into a circumstance, you’re not just speaking words. You’re actually speaking God into a situation.
You can never afford to underestimate the power of your words. You have the power of life or death in your tongue. And one of the first things the devil will try and do in your world is destroy your confession or your profession, try and mangle your words or corrupt your speech so that you find yourself constantly complaining, declaring negative things about your life. “I’m to this, I’m too old, I’m too big, not skilled enough, that’ll never happen for me, this modemo [?] doesn’t work, my car’s so old, I never have enough money-“
People say that sort of stuff all day long and wonder why their lives are so awful You have got to change your mouth. You’ve got to let your tonguebe born again. I mean I know that the money issue is a big issue for some people but THIS is even bigger. I think it’s easy to convert my wallet than it is to convert my tongue. God is so specific about it all the way through scripture – ‘In the beginning’ of 2012, what are you going to prophesy about this year? What are you going to say? “Yeah I’ve tried that before but things went wrong.”
Did you keep on saying it? “No. I just agreed with the wrong things.” That’s called walking by sight not by faith. Cos you see the things that are going wrong and you’re saying, “All things are going wrong.”
You’re meant to walk by the Word Of God and speak what it’s saying, no matter how long it takes for that circumstance to conform to the reality you are speaking. Your reality is a higher reality then what’s surrounding you. It doesn’t negate it. I’m not talking about some denial or a Christian Science thinking where we don’t even acknowledge that there is evil. No there is evil. There’s things that go wrong. No denying that!
But you see, one law defeats another law in the worlds of God. Okay, their is a law of gravity. There’s a law of gravity. It’s very powerful law. It works all day long. It works as you get older in a very serious manner, amen.
There’s this gravity that pulls- keeps us on earth! It’s good. But it makes things fall. But you know? There’s a law of aerodynamics. You can overcome the law of gravity. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It just means you found a law that overcomes another law. And if you push the thing forward with a certain winged structure, you lift off and gravity has no power over you. You’ve beaten it.
[5:19] And so when you have things going wrong in your life, there is a law by which you can actually transform that thing. And that’s by understanding that in the beginning of anything that God does, is the Word. At the beginning. It’s the seed of your future.
The beginning of this year, 2012, make sure the Word, the Word of God is in your lips. and the Word about this coming year. OK. Now we suddenly go to a new word here. He was in the beginning. When Jesus was on earth, He went about doing good in healing all who were oppressed by the devil. [6:02] The Word is Jesus. It’s not an ‘it’. It’s ‘He’ was in the beginning with God.
[6:10] As soon as you start speaking the bible, the scriptures, into your circumstance, Jesus leaps out of your mouth and starts walking into your circumstance, casting out demons, healing the sick, stilling the storm, walking on water supernaturally, making things happen that wouldn’t happen unless you did it.
[6:31]Here’s the thing guys. When I first discovered this, which was nearly forty years ago, I- I was nervous about sharing it with anybody. Cos I thought, ‘If they get a hold of this, there will be too much competition. This is really good! It works! Aw! I’m not going to tell anybody! It’s like I got a secret here that-‘
The Lord said, ‘Share it and I’ll give you more’.
‘Alright.’ So I shared it. But I didn’t need to worry. I don’t need to worry at all. Cos nobody does it. You see cos you’re sitting here going, ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah’ but you’re going to walk out of here. You gotta do this!”
It’s not agreeing with me going, “Yeah! Amen! Wow! That’s powerful!
[8:00] “I’m talking about a thing called the Word of God. And it is more enduring and powerful than anything you’ve got within your reach. And when you start to speak that, you’re putting something into your world, into your future that is undefeatable because it’s Jesus Himself. And they tried to crucify him once. It didn’t work. He’s a get-up-and-go kinda guy. And he just got up out of that grave. Death couldn’t hold him. Sickness couldn’t hold him. Killing him couldn’t hold him. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your circumstance, it can’t hold you down if you’ll put the Word of God into your circumstance. Resurrection comes into your finances, comes into your family, comes into your home, comes into your people, into your work, into every area of your life.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Oh- now you got me going. . .
[10:04] All things were made by Him. Not evolved. They were made complete and finished. They were complete. We’re going the other way guys! We’re not going up. We’re gonna- the earth is going to fold up and all be gone. I- and you know I’m just grieving. If it was anybody, I would save the tigers. But the fact is, is- the deal is that the bible says, “Oh! It’s decaying. It’s physical. It’s got a lifespan. It’s got a shelf-life.” He says, “I’m making you a new eternal home.” And he only took six days with this one. He’s taken two thousand years with the other one. The new one. Can you imagine what it’s gonna be like? This place is pretty amazing.
So here He is. All things are made by Him and without Him, nothing was made that was made. Everything’s beautiful in the world. Jesus is beautiful. Mountains, oceans, bananas, pelicans, you. It’s all beautiful! Mostly. Amen! No, you are!
Without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life. The life was the light of men. Light shines in the darkness and the darkness didn’t comprehend it. Or in other versions, ‘did not overcome it’. All right!
So, God’s spoke and said, ‘Let there be light’. That’s how He did it. What are you going to prophesy over your year ahead? What are you gonna say?
And once you’ve stated it, Hebrews 10:23 here says, “Let us hold fast the confession-” that word is also profession, which is a Greek word: homologia. And that means to speak the same thing. I’m writing in tongues.
Let us hold fast the profession- hold it fast cos it slips away. Your salvation is based on this: “He who believes with his heart and confesses with his mouth, Jesus Christ is Lord shall be saved.”
And so here’s the thing. Once you’ve got this profession in your life. This confession of hope or this confession of faith, without wavering, you’ll discover that God is able to bring to pass the words you are speaking. When you combine what you are wanting to happen with God’s Word, you’ll find faith comes on the inside of you to actually bring it to pass.
Jesus did this . . . over in Mark 11 verse- when he’s speaking about a fig tree. It says, “Now in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.” I mean, some of you got some stuff you needed dried up from the roots. But a- he says, “And Peter remembering him remembering him said, Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered him and said, Have faith in God. I say to you, Whosoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea; and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things that he says will come to pass; he shall have whatever he says.”
[13:28] The reason you need to hold fast the confessional profession of your faith, is because once you start speaking it, [it] doesn’t immediately appear to change anything. It’s not a Harry Potter magic wand thing. Woo! BAM!!! And it just changes.
When Jesus spoke to that fig tree nothing looked different. It looked exactly the same. The surprise was the disciples the next day saying, “Look! That fig tree’s now died!” It didn’t look dead yesterday the way- leaves are still waving in the wind. Your debts are hanging around in the wind. The sickness is still waving in the wind. Leaves are still there. The tree’s looking good. But Jesus said, “You’re dried up from the roots.” But it was still there. It still looked alive.
It took a day to take effect. If Jesus’ words take a day to effect, you should not be worried if something you’re saying is taking a year. Amen. He did live on a slightly different plain to the rest of us. So what you are saying with your mouth is forming your world. And if you are unhappy with your would as it is, the thing that changes is not to try to change your world but change the thing that’s making your world, which is your mouth. And you have complete control and government over that thing.
But you know, you know James says the tongue, is very hard to control. Slippery little sucker aint it and you know. Kay. It just comes out. And isn’t it awful when you something and you’re- and it’s gone out and you’re going, “I wish I didn’t say that.” And you want to pull it back. It’s a very powerful thing, your mouth. You don’t want to underestimate it and think, “I can say what I like. But God’s still bigger- He’s gonna make things happen. He’s given you laws to live by, principles to live by- and you can’t blame Him for stuff actually has comes out of our activities.
There’s no good- if you drive on the wrong side of the road and you have a smash, don’t go down to the Roads & Traffic Authorities saying, “Hey! I had a smash you guys!” They’ll say, “What side of the road were you driving on?”
“Well, I drove on that side. I just felt like I wanted to. You know. It’s my time to drive on the other side of the road.” Well that’s – you missed the point. We do it because it’s not our fault. We have got responsibility for saying, “You know what? I’ going to use my tongue as a powerful instrument for creating the future. In the beginning of 2012, I resolve inside my self, that I’m going to control this sucker. And I’m actually gonna bring about all kinds of beautiful things in my life because God has given me the power of creativity. I’m a child of a creator. [15:55] And in my life is the same genetic code that’s in His life. He created by speaking. I am- like a child of His, will create my world by speaking into it in Jesus name.” And every body said: Amen.”
Jesus is Pringle’s wand to get what he wants. His allusions to witch craft (Harry Potter) and Christian Science indicates he possibly knows what he is peddling. If he is dead honest in his confession that ‘God’ spoke to him about this ‘secret’ , then he has heard from a demon. Pringle’s faith is not taught in Christianity. But his teaching is promoted in the metaphysical cults and the occult. Ronda Byrne’s book, ‘The Secret’ reveals Pringle’s true spirituality. Read here.
If you follow this article, we record Pringle teaching people they are “involved with a person, not just a principle, living this Christian life is a whole lot different.” This is clearly double speak again.
Finally, to stress emphatically the source of this teaching, we would like to point out Pringle saying,
“When I first discovered this, which was nearly forty years ago, I- I was nervous about sharing it with anybody. Cos I thought, ‘If they get a hold of this, there will be too much competition. This is really good! It works! Aw! I’m not going to tell anybody! It’s like I got a secret here that-‘
The Lord said, ‘Share it and I’ll give you more’.”
Pringle indeed has “a secret”. Once you compare Pringle’s faith to New Age Rhonda Byrne’s ‘faith’ in her book ‘The Secret’ above, a plausible claim can be made that Pringle is receiving a demonic doctrine. Pringle has made a deal with a spirit that is not of God. This spirit is not the Holy Spirit. It is not God. Why? Jesus says this about the Holy Spirit,
“Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:7-12
The spirit Pringle got this ‘secret’ from simply reduced Jesus to a spiritual law, confined to a sinners lips. It glorifies the sinner and takes glory away from God. This spirit has convinced Pringle that he could be like Jesus and speak to his circumstantial stones to become mammon.
It is sad to see such a man applauded by a congregation who does not test his teachings against God’s Word. If you feel led, please pray for Phil Pringle and those in the C3 movement who are deceived by his false teachings.
PROOF THAT PRINGLE DOES MANIPULATE PEOPLE USING HIS SERMONS
Before reading a CHC article on Pringle, we would like to point out how scheming Pringle is when it comes to approaching Sunday services. He is totally aware on how to control people and say what they want to hear to get what he wants.
“People can become anything under the right conditions.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 267.
“What we preach is what we get. We are farmers sowing seed. If we are unhappy with the harvest we’re reaping, we should sow different seed. If we want different results, we preach different messages.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 215.
“I don’t approach Sundays with an attitude of, “What message shall I preach?” but rather, “What do we want to achieve in our church at this time?” That desired end result determines what and how I preach. Then, within the particular message, I ask myself, “What am I trying to achieve here? What one thing am I attempting to say? What do I want these people to have or do at the end of this time?’
Then I follow the plan.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, pg. 234.
By now, it should be clear that Phil Pringle comes across as a manipulative soothsayer, that will do whatever he can to get what he wants.
CHC members should listen to the critique of the video above. They should be disgusted how badly Pringle manipulates people into giving their hard earned cash to their ‘Elijah’. They should be considered that Pringle unashamedly targets peoples wallets whether they are desperately poor or rich. Also, who can forget how Pringle teaches how to manipulate people into giving money and conforming to his methodologies?
PRINGLE’s REPUGNANT GRACE
Th best way to describe how Pringle treats the grace of God is ‘repugnant’. Repugnant can mean, ‘distasteful, objectionable, or offensive’. Christians should be offended how Pringle abuses the grace of God to manipulate people. In the below article we would like to point people to Pringle’s translation guide, especially how he defines grace and favour as being ‘interchangeable’.
At best, the below sermon is lip service and is nothing but dangerous doctrine and non-Christian teaching. If Pringle is teaching CHC they need to put on God’s favour (grace), then he is cheating them. Why? Because Pringle links God’s ‘Favor’ to fallen works as he has done so in the past. In the past, Pringle has taught we can get grace when we get “a great attitude,” get the “ability to forgive people” get a thankful heart, when we “worship,” “when our hearts are pure,” when you “get yourself ready for the day the set time of favour” and “when you have gone through a trial and you’ve found your whole world getting shaken, but you’ve stayed strong.”
CHC reveals how evil Pringle’s teaching is by saying, “wealth and power are poured out on the people, just as it was poured out on Jesus”. But Jesus was not rich. This is a different Jesus.
If anyone has the audio of this sermon, please email us at c3churchwatch@hotmail.com. In light of all this, CityNews writes:
Phil Pringle: What Being Highly Favored Really Means
Posted on 20 July 2012
Phil Pringle taught City Harvest Church members what favor really is and how to live our lives for God as highly favored ones.
By Annie Wong
“We become highly favored the moment we come to Jesus,” declared Phil Pringle, the senior pastor of C3 Church, Sydney, and the C3 Global Network of Churches, at the weekend services at City Harvest Church. “Once the favor is on us, nothing will take it away. And it will cause us to rise above the difficult circumstances we are in.”
Originally slated to appear in Amsterdam for the opening of a C3 Church there on Jul. 14 and 15, Pringle, who is also the advisory pastor of City Harvest Church, cancelled his appointment to come and encourage the church during its time of trial.
In his message to the church, Pringle proclaimed that the church is highly favored by God. He went on to explain what being a “highly favored one” means. He also encouraged the congregation to dare to “put on” the favor of God in their daily lives.
The Highly Favored Ones
The moment people come to Jesus, they entered into the favor of God and are considered the highly favored ones. This is shown in Ephesians 1:6 which says “To the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us highly favored (accepted) in the Beloved (Jesus).”
He went on to explain that all the wealth and power are poured out on the people, just as it was poured out on Jesus, when they receive the favor of God through Jesus. And when the church has favor, the presence of God is with them.
To illustrate what it means to have favor, Pringle gave the example of how King David looked after Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, in 2 Samuel 9. When David wanted to bless Saul’s descendants, he found Mephibosheth, the sole survivor of his family, and showed him favor. Even though Mephibosheth was crippled, David had him carried to the palace and brought to the king’s table to eat with him. On top of that, David restored to him the land that belonged to Saul and gave him Saul’s inheritance. Mephibosheth did nothing to deserve all these things, but David showed him favor.
Favor Does Not Equate To A Problem-free Life
However, being highly favored does not mean that life is problem-free, that people will like you or that everything will work out well. “In fact, you will live in a problem-filled life,” smiled Pringle.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, faced great difficulties after the angel appeared before her and proclaimed that she was highly favored by God (Luke 1:28). She could not explain to the people around her or make them believe that her child was from God.
“As soon as the angel said to Mary ‘you are highly favored’, the next thing he said was that ‘God is with you’”. Many times this is what God will says to us—He needs to say it because there will come a time when we don’t feel that He is with us at all,” explained the preacher.
He went on to remind the church that even though Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:8), he did not manage to make converts out of anyone in the 120 years he spent building the Ark. However, it was because of Noah, the world was saved.
Using the example of Joseph, Pringle also taught the church not to be ashamed of having God’s favor. In Genesis 39:21, Joseph put on the coat given by his father even when he knew his brothers will be angry with him.
“Joseph was more interested in honoring his father than making his brothers happy. The glory of God is not given for us to reject, but for us to put on,” said Pringle.
How To Live A Successful Christian Life?
Pringle shared with the church his belief for a successful Christian life: to have Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and finally to be part of a Church.
Jesus is the first step into the Christian life; to grow in the Spirit, a Christian needs to be in the Holy Spirit, to pray in tongues. Praying in tongues is the gateway to the supernatural, it helps to build the spirit man within the Christian, which then allow him to build others up.
“Don’t be grumblers, or complainers. It’s not difficult to find bad things to say, but it is when we prophesy to the church, we speak strength to the people. The Spirit unifies, so make a choice not to be amongst the complainers and grumblers, but be the one who speak life to others,” taught Pringle.
“We need a fresh supply of new oil, to strengthen us, and to empower us. Even the apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit again and again, and whenever they encountered difficulties and challenges they would cry out to God again,” he reminded the congregation.
“The walk of God is sustainable,” he explained. “Sometimes we may mount up with wings like eagles but we can’t fly forever; we can run but not forever. To walk is what we are called to, every day of our lives. That is sustainable. We may have great experiences, and fly or run sometimes, but God [always] gives us strength to walk everyday.”
At the end of the service, Pringle encouraged the members to activate the power within them by speaking in tongues. The thick presence of God fell, refreshing those cried out for fresh oil in their lives. The advisory pastor also took time to prophesy over the church leaders and different individuals to encourage and strengthen their faith.
Jace Ang, 32, a make-up artist was blessed by Pringle’s presence at CHC. “He is indeed a friend to us. He came at a difficult time even though it was inconvenient, to edify the church and our leaders. We must be open, to receive the challenges that we face.”
Clara Loh, 28, a human resource assistant, felt encouraged by the message. “I feel very blessed and honored to have our advisory pastor preaching in today’s service. I am reminded to speak strength to one another so as to boost each other to be unified as a church, to be a builder of the church.”
Sales manager Hanson Chua 39, was reminded to give honor to God. “Joseph wore the coat despite knowing the ridicule he would face. It is important for us to keep in mind that we must always give honor to God and not to worry so much about what people may say.”
PRINGLE’S PROPHECY OVER KONG HEE TO HAVE SUNTEC CITY
Kong Hee is the megachurch pastor in Singapore who runs City Harvest Church (CHC). Recently, we have been reporting the shocking allegations from Singapore of Kong Hee’s arrest. Phil Pringle is an advisory pastor and sits on CHC’s Advisory Committee.
If the charges against Kong Hee are true and he gets the unfortunate life sentence, this means Phil Pringle gave a false prophecy in regards to Kong Hee having SunTec City. Pringle in the past has used Kong Hee and the SunTec ‘prophecy’ as evidence to demonstrate that he is a legitimate prophet of God. This article offers a good example of this.
PRINGLE DEFINING ‘FAVOUR’
Before reading Phil Pringle’s sermon ‘Favor’, we need to let Pringle define what ‘Favor’ actually means:
The C3 Connect Notes ‘Favour – Ps Phil Pringle‘, were published around the time Phil Pringle gave this sermon. It is from these connect notes Phil Pringle based his sermon on (which we will publish soon):
“God’s favour and God’s grace are interchangeable.” – Phil Pringle, Connect Group Notes: Favour – Ps Phil Pringle, 02/05/2010.
So favour = grace. Keep this at the forefront of your mind!
OVERVIEW OF SERMON
In 2010, this sermon had:
1. Pringle parade himself as a prophet, using Kong Hee’s recent purchase of SunTec City to demonstrate his prophetic ability. This was so members could embrace his ‘prophetic’ office and his ‘prophetic mesage’.
2. Pringle conditioned the unmerited favour/grace of God to people’s works.
3. Pringle conditioned the unmerited favour/grace of God by teaching “the day the set time of favour” is coming. (Everyday we are already IN God’s unmerited favour/grace so we can be assured of our salvation in Him.)
4. Pringle prophesied financial breakthrough’s over people who suffered through the global GFC.
5. Pringle mangles many scriptures and operates within a financial and Gnostic framework. (We shall look at these scriptures in another post.)
6. Pringle preached a false and dangerous Jesus towards the end.
KEY SNIPPETS FROM THE SERMON
Here are key snippets from the sermon. Please listen to the audio of sermon. If there are typos or if you believe anything is out of context, please contact us at c3churchwatch@hotmail.com. We will fix the comments as best we can.
“I want you to come with me to Psalm 102. Psalm 102. This message is – it has teaching in it– but more than anything this is what I would call, ‘message of a prophet’; a prophetic message. A message for a time. A message that wasn’t for January- Isn’t for August- It’s for now- Today.
God has something to say to us today. I’m not good at a lot of things but I’m not bad at getting the timing of the Word of the Lord right. You heard Kong Hee tell you I prophesied over him about five times that he would have Suntek City. He always dismissed it cos it’s an icon of Singapore. It’s in the main. It’s right in the middle. In the heart of the city. And just four weeks ago he signed to purchase that at a price of $310, 000 000. Amen! [Applause] Ahaha! These things come to pass. Ok. So I’m just saying that to ya. And if I get a word, it’s because it’s- and I say this, you know it’s not because I’m trying to bolster the word or anything like that. I don’t need to do that, I’m just letting you know the nature of this message is that, this is something that is a ‘Now!’ word for you and me.
So in Psalm 102:13 it says “You will arise, and have mercy on Zion”. Zion is the church. In the Old Testament it was the hill of the Jebusites inhabited. They were a Philistine/ Canaanite tribe who felt their position was impregnable. However, David and his men conquered Jebus, Mt Jebus, and renamed it Zion where he built the palace and he built the temple and it became known as the City of David. And in the New Testament, Zion is the church.
So it’s interchangeable. “You’ll arise and have mercy on the church, for the time to favour her-” everybody say ‘for the time to favour her’. [Audience: Time to favour her] The SET time! Yes the set time [Audience: The set time] has come! [Audience: has come!]” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289, iTunes: (00:27), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“Favour is what you prioritise. What you favour; what you distinguish as going to receive higher attention, higher value then anything else. And so when God says, “I’m going to favour you”, He says, “I’m going to distinguish you as somebody that’s going to be getting more attention and blessing on their life then others”. That’s what favour is.” – Phil Pringle, iTunes: (04:19), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“This is the time we are living in when the church will be built like it never has been before. There is approximately one billion- one billion Spirit-filled people in the world today. It’s about eight hundred to nine hundred million. It is astonishing and it is growing and increasing all around the world in spite of all kind of setbacks and things that happen along the way. It just keeps on growing.” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289, iTunes: (05:36), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“We are living in the time the last days where the church will rise to become the chief of all the mountains – all the organisations around the world. You are in the power – the most powerful place that you can possibly be in all the earth. Right here in the house of God you’re gonna find yourself under favour and under blessing because of the set time has come, but on a more focused level right here now in this church. I believe it is the time, a set time of favour, is gonna come upon your life.” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289,iTunes: (06:26), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“What happens when you get favour on your life? You’re going to get some enemies! You’re going to get some enemies on you…” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289, iTunes: (09:58), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“If you don’t want to get blessed for your sake then go ahead then just- just- then at least for His sake! Amen! For His glory! For the honour of God, let’s get a little expansive and ruin all those damaging poverty mindsets that have tumbled along with religion for so long and try to somehow make pious and sanctify some lives that are lacking in resources and lacking in abilities and lacking in all kinds of ways, and to put this word ‘success’ back into ‘The lord was with Him’. “And therefore he enjoyed blessing and favour on his life.”
And I know that crinkles some of us! But let it crinkle you! [Pastors cheer] Let it change your mind here this morning. So do you mind to open up a little and say, “You know what? Maybe that is the very reason why blessing isn’t flowing, cos I got the handbrake on in this concept. I got some allegiance to a traditional mindset to a religious concept and I’m just holding back”. Let it go! Here today and say, “You know what? I’m gonna get set free by the Word of God here today and start seeing this Word in a totally different light [crowd applauds] so that blessing and favour can come upon me”.
“Why does favour come on our lives? Well number one reason I believe is because you got a great attitude. While I was on the way hear this morning, I was thinking about this thing, “I gotta write a book about ten great elements of a great attitude or something like that”, because sometimes we say [clicks finger] “Have on a good attitude!”, but we don’t know what that is. It’s the ability to forgive people; it’s a thankful heart; it’s worship; it’s a whole bunch of things that I won’t go into right now BUT- When you have a great attitude on you, in spite of the challenges coming against you, you’ll find favour continues to live on your life.” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289, iTunes: (18:33), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“Favour on us is a crown on our head. It’s the ability to rule. It’s the glory of God rested on your life in any given circumstance. [Long pause] The way that this crown comes upon you is when you have gone through a trial and you’ve found your whole world getting shaken, but you’ve stayed strong.” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289,iTunes: (24:18), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
“We have seen a shaking in the financial world over the last two years. The global financial crisis of shaking. Many of you have found yourselves getting shaken in the middle of all this. Some of you your spiritual life- the heavens in your world have been shaken. You wondered where God is. You wondered how it’s all going to work out. Some of you wondered whether or not you would still favour the House of God above others. And those of you who have are gonna find yourself in the time of favour right now. That will exceed any kind of blessing that you’ve ever had in your life before. I believe that the time ahead for our church here and for our movement around the world, right now [whacks hands together] a HUGE door of opportunity and blessing are about to open upon us. Simply because there have been times of shaking. And God shakes things so that what even shakes His church (He shakes His kingdom; He shakes His people; He shakes His servants), because what CAN be shaken He doesn’t want to build on. If it can be shaken it will get shaken out. But what can’t get shaken can only get stronger through the shaking. It puts its roots down deeper. It toughens up and says, “You know what? I’m not going anywhere! Amen! I’m planted in the work of God. I am planted in the House of God. I’m planted in the temple”. And some of you have been through the worst shakings of your entire life.
Well I’ve got good news for you: The set time [crowd cheers] to favour you has COME! [applause] The blessing of God is going to break through in your life in very real, in very actual, in very physical circumstances [crowd still applauding]. And I believe that if you endure temptation, the trial, the test, that’s the meaning of that word. Means temptation, trial, test. It’s like an examination…
Then it says “Once you are approved”, God looks at us as we travel through the shaking. Once you are approved, you get this crown of life on you. In the middle of that Haggai scripture he says this amazing thing. He says, “I’m shaking everything so that everybody will come to Christ, the Desire of All Nations”. And then He says, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine”, right in the middle of this. He’s talking about shaking!
What’s this for? He’s referring. He’s referring to financial shaking. That’s why He’s saying- listen: “The silver in the earth is mine and the gold in the earth is mine. It is no problem for me to get a hold of it no matter who’s name is on it right now, and put it into your hands.”
And part of the favour you’ll experience in your life is God shifting blessing over into your hands. I mean there are some unusual scriptures! One of them says “The wealth of the unrighteous is laid up for the righteous”. It’s incredible!”– Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289, iTunes: (25:22-28:10), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
Phil Pringle teaches dangerously on Gnosticism. Is this the Jesus of the bible? Is Jesus incapable of performing miracles? Did he earn God’s favour? Did he earn a crown to perform miracles? Was the devil in the head and heart of Jesus? Did Jesus earn and We encourage you to listen to the audio on this. We believe this is incredibly dangerous doctrine to embrace:
“Let me just talk to you about this enduring temptation. Because I believe it is a lot more specific than a general principle. It says ‘They will receive a crown’. And I was thinking about this and I thought about Jesus, when he got tempted. And I thought ‘You know what? He was tempted to turn stones into bread… but he resisted.’ He said “No I’m not gonna – I’m tempted to, to prove that I am the Son of God. Just imagine if I just go out there and try make some bread and it doesn’t work. Just, just give myself a little assurance… on the side.” He was tempted to do this on the basis of an ‘if’. He knew it was a wrong motivation so he was just – but it must have been hard! Must have been long! But I believe once He came out of that, he got a crown on His head to work miracles. Cos more than once in the New Testament he makes bread… supernaturally!
He laid down that temptation and he comes out with a gift of miracles that walks on water and multiplies bread…
The second temptation he had was to throw Him self off the pinnacle of the temple. Now I don’t know how he got there. He must’ve crawled up there –the temptation driving him so bad.
“I just wanna see if God will look after me.”
And so he’s up there – It’s not like there’s a devil out here. It’s in His head and in His heart He was thinking ‘Just to make sure…’. He’s up on the pinnacle of the temple thinking “I’m going to throw myself down”, but he resisted. He pull’s out and says ‘No. I’m gonna- I’m gonna trust God’. Right then he got the Crown of Resurrection on Him, cos eventually he lays his life down and He’s raised from the dead.
And out of the resurrection comes every other miracle. If you can raise a whole body from the dead, you can heal a blind eye, you can open a deaf ear, you can make broken limbs walk again.
And the final temptation was to bow down to the devil and he said he would give him what? All the kingdoms of the world! So He resisted that as well. It was a feeling inside of him, a temptation to do this. But he pulled out of that. After the resurrection he ascends and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God and He’s got the crown on His head that all the kingdoms of the entire world are put into his hand. He got all those things that the devil was trying to make Him do. It might have been a right result, but it was going about it the wrong way – which is always a temptation of the devil.
So whenever you are going through a trial there is a purpose in it. God wants to put a crown on your head at the end of a trial. And it’s a crown of favour so that whatever you put your hand to, you’re going to find blessing comes through you. How is it that you look at some people and it works and you do exactly the same and it doesn’t work? Something’s on their head. Some kind of crown. Some kind of authority. Some kind of ruler-ship in this life.
Abraham went up to Mt Moriah and God said “Put him through a test”. He said “I want you to give me your son, your only beloved son”- he waited a hundred years for. He was a miracle child! And he’s prepared to do it. He goes almost all the way. And God only- It was only God who stopped him. He pulled through that test and he became the father. He got the crown of nations on him that day. Not just one child back but a family; a nation. And not just one nation but MANY nations. We’re even called the children of Abraham today cos of one act of sacrifice. One act of surviving a temptation of trial.
Moses. His temptation was to- was to stay in the courts of Pharoah or else become associated with the Hebrews: the slaves. He so wanted to stay in the comfort, in the riches, in all the power of the glory of the court of Pharoah. But he resisted that. And he went out there. And he got on him a crown of leadership. Forty years later he becomes the king of the nation of Israel. He becomes the founder of the nation through whom the Saviour of the world would come. He delivers the Law from the mountain, inscribed with the finger of God. This man got a crown on his head because he survived a temptation- Whatever trials you have been travelling through, there’s going to come an end. There comes an end to a trial. It’s over in Jesus name. [Pastors start getting excited] You’re gonna come to the end and as you come to the end you come out of it approved by God and he puts a crown on your head and says: “Today I am going to give you authority. I’m going to give you favour and I’m going to give you glory. In all these circumstances that you have managed [Audience applause] to be victorious in, you’re going to find the favour of God- the crown of heaven, living on your head, in Jesus name!
And do you know the amazing thing is, after Jesus survived all of these amazing temptations, it says in Revelations 19:12, “On His head were many crowns”. He rules in so many dimensions. And even on your head there might be more than one crown after you go through one trial after another. But this is what I believe: the set time to favour you; to put a crown on your head; to bring you out of the trial as somebody’s approved and who can now put their hand on circumstances and see blessing and favour run wild through your life- that time is right now in Jesus’ mighty name. And everybody said! Amen! … Thank Him! Jesus in this hour!” – Phil Pringle, http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/favor/id129622905?i=83970289,iTunes: (29:23-35:07), C3 Oxford Falls, 6pm Sermon: ‘Favour’, Released 10/06/10.
Below is the transcript of Phil Pringle’s Sunday morning resurrection offering talk.
“Well we’re going to receive our tithes and offerings right now. A resurrection offering. And if you look on your seat, you’ll find a card. And obviously we’ve put out more seats this morning. So if you haven’t got a card and you need one to record credit card details to put in the offering bag, please raise your hand. And an usher will look after you. Just raise it up and wave it around and an usher will make sure you got one. That will be great. Thank you.
There’s an Eftpost machine people use at the end of the service as well. Thank you.
Hebrews chapter eleven and verse one says, ‘Now faith is the substance of things we hope for and the evidence of things we haven’t seen’. James also says that, ‘Faith without works is dead’. So to say, ‘I believe’ but not do anything about that faith is- it’s a faith that doesn’t have any effect on your life or for anybody else’s for that matter. When we come to an offering, that is one of the great acts of faith that you can get involved in.
The Bible talks about giving in exactly the same way as sowing seeds. When Paul talks about giving he talks about sowing seeds, he’s not giving an agricultural lesson, he’s talking about the giving of our finances is exactly the same as putting seeds in your garden out the back. Now if you put no seeds in there, put no seeds in your garden and you say, ‘Lord, I’m praying that I’ll have a great harvest of tomatoes over there and potatoes of here and carrots over there, it doesn’t matter how hard you pray, nothing is going to happen, because there are some basic laws that you’ve got to observe when you’re sowing seed. And that is, number one, you’ve actually got to sow the seed. Put it in the ground. And you can lay hands on it, you can speak to the ground, you can do all kind of things. But faith steps out and actually does something. It actually puts seed in the ground.
Now here’s the thing. That scripture we looked at said, ‘it’s evidence of things not seen’. When you go up to Bunnings Hardware store and you buy a packet of seeds, you say, ‘I want to grow some apple trees’. Okay, so you open up the packet and inside you see all these seeds, but on the outside you see the picture of a tree. And you can say, ‘I thought I was buying a tree’. But you look inside and all you’ve got is seeds. You’re saying, ‘I’ve got ripped off. Bunnings ripped me off’. They didn’t rip you off. They said, ‘You’ve got the potential of that tree inside this packet’. There’s the evidence. You’ve got a vision – evidence, visual evidence – of what’s going to happen in the future if you plant the seed.
And so when you and I step out in faith – and faith is measured, often by the level of our stepping out. Paul goes on and says, ‘Look! If you just plant a few seeds here, that’s all the harvest you’re going to have. But he says, ‘If you sow so abundantly, you sow without restraint, no holding back, you’re going to find yourself reaping a harvest of abundance in your life.’
And I know we live in a world where lot of negative news about finance, economy and housing and jobs today. But we live under a different economy. As soon as you ask Christ in your life, as soon as you put yourself under the government of God, you’ve entered into a totally different realm of economics. And his realms are obviously higher than anything earth’s got [scripture please?]. He’s risen from the dead for goodness sake. If He can beat death, He can beat a GFC. If He can beat death He can beat any debt you’ve got in your world. All you gotta know is that it takes the sowing of a seed.
Even Jesus said about Himself when he died, ‘Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it’s going to remain alone. But if it dies it’s gonna bring forth a lot of fruit’. The reason you and I are here this morning is because one seed was sown. That one human life died in the ground and it’s risen again. That exact same principle applies to our giving here this morning. God has such a longing in his heart to bless you, to liberate you from a lot of the anxieties and stresses that come in a world of economics like we’ve got today. And so right now, why don’t you and I get involved in a resurrection offering? A victorious offering! One that rises from the dead!
You might say, ‘My finances are dead’. Well here’s a moment to resurrect them. Here’s an opportunity to take hold of a principle that God’s put in our hands. Step out in faith. Trust Him that that’s going to work just as surely as you putting a seed in the ground at home. This is going to be like that for your life right now. Don’t miss out on the opportunities God puts in our way every week at church. We can take a hold of this and say, ‘You know what? I’m going to break through this week in Jesus name’. Let’s take what we’re giving and get ready to give.
Heavenly Father, right now, what a privilege, what an honour, to celebrate the birth, the death and the resurrection of the greatest life ever lived: Jesus Himself. And we pray here today Lord that as we follow your ways, not our ways, as we opt for obedience, rather than just staying outside in the desert world of people who have never subscribed to the ways of God.
Heavenly Father right now, we come to you with this offering – a generous offering, an offering of faith for a breakthrough in our financial world, for breakthrough in our economics, in our family, in our housing, in our jobs – and we’re believing here today Father that nothing can hold us down in the grave but by the power of your grace, you’ll raise up every area that’s been killed, every area that’s been crucified , every area that’s been dead in our world today, with a mighty victory. In Jesus name.
Please read Genesis 3 before reading the below blog post by Phil Pringle. Next time someone says ‘Look how fruitful Phil Pringle is’, point them to this article.
Phil Pringle blogs,
Beauty
“Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes…”God is not just utilitarian. He is also an artist. He creates beauty pleasant to the eyes. Creation not only gives us food and resources for life but beauty for the soul. We cannot afford to underestimate the power of art to feed the soul with beauty. Christians are like trees. Our congregations, churches, music, preaching should be ‘pleasant’ to the eyes, ears and soul of people everywhere. The idea the church should be austere, ascetic is wrong. Hardly anyone remembers Savonarola and his ‘bonfires of the vanities’, but everyone in the world recognises the enduring witness of Michelangelo’s ‘Sistene Chapel’ ceiling and Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ (considered ‘vanities’ by religionists). God’s thumbprint in creation is ‘beauty’, something man can never match! See you in beautiful glorious church!“ – Phil Pringle, Beauty, http://philpringle.com/_blog/Phil_Pringle_Blog/post/Beauty/, 27/10/2009. (Accessed 13/05/2012)
Phil Pringle in his book ‘Hope’ adds to scripture and believes that Jesus went to hell. In this excerpt, Pringle also apparently believes that Jesus lost his divine nature on the cross. Here is the excerpt from his book:
“Laying him down on the cross means nothing to the soldier. He has executed thousands. It’s just another body. Like the limb of an animal, he stretches out the arm of Jesus, finding the point in the palm of his hand to place the rusty spike. The hammer descends in full force. With just one punch, Jesus’ hand is fastened to the wood. He moans with pain, yet an even greater pain is stealing over Him. By the tim His other hand is pinned, He is overwhelmed with a sickness deeper than flesh. All the murders, lying, corruptions, perversions and depravities of all kinds, betrayals, blasphemies, hatreds, fears, madness and rage all pour into his body like the sourest of bile pouring into the bowl. He screams as the long iron peg is hammered through his joined feet. They hoist Him up, then drop the tall post into the open ground. His weight jerks on the nails, tearing open the wounds.
But even this pain is weak compared to the maladies gathering on His frame. Cancers of every kind, pains and diseases, deformities, deafness, blindness, growths and leprosies, all the diseases of mankind disfigure His body. Then a malignant evil, monstrous rage, approached with a mouth large enough to swallow Him whole. Jesus is hobbled with constriction and bondage burying His mind, emotions and soul into chains of bitter, fiery malevolence. Paralyzed with every kind of evil, God allows every sin, sickness and bondage to fall upon His only Son, so the deliverance of every person ever born will be possible.
Jesus’ eyes flutter open and the eerie feeling of hanging midair, feeling the breeze across His face and seeing His mother weeping far below, briefly brings a quiet across His soul. But then it rages again. All the fury of hell pours on Him like a volcano exploding. Seeing John, He tells him to care for Mary, His mother. Are there no disciples? He searches for friends but only sees mockers and scorners. One though, a soldier, a centurion, sees the peace and hope in the face of Christ. Others see it too. Thieves crucified either [pg 81] side of him see it. One seeks salvation. Jesus gives hope to a hopeless man, right there in the most hopeless of all situations. “Today,” His parched lips mumble to the thief with a strength, dignity and clarity for all nearby to hear, “I’ll see you in paradise.”
Faith rises. He forgives all those taunting and mocking their prey. His heart gathers strength. But then the blackest of moments comes. A presence He has always felt, even through all the scourging and torture, through all the mockery and betrayal, now lifts. He feels something he has never ever felt: alienation from God, from His own beloved Father. He screams. No pain has felt like this pain. His soul is torn like a rag, left dangling without meaning in the universe. The ultimate despair fills His soul. He cries out, asking why God has to forsake Him at this point when He needs Him the most! Alone, alone, so alone. Yet, even here, though severed from His Father and His home, Jesus finds “rest in hope,” knowing His Father’s word supersedes any feelings He has. Within minutes, without the life of God anywhere connected to him, Jesus, as a flesh and blood-only man expires, throwing himself upon God, his Father, with a final prayer: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
He dies in hope-not the hope of wishful thought “hoping” He will rise again-no, He dies in the full assurance that within just three days, He will be back, ready to ascend to Heaven, to His father, to the throne of God.
His hope becomes our hope, without which, Paul says, we of all people would be most miserable, because of the things we must suffer in following Christ. But this hope is supreme. It is the hope of eternal life, meaning that there is a place prepared for us for that is eternal life, and there is a body, the same as that with which Jesus arose, for eternal living.
The sacrifice is complete. In one final heaving breath, Jesus roars, “It is finished!” His eyes close, fluttering with agony. A long moan escapes His lungs. His body hangs limp and lifeless. The weight of the entire iniquities of all humankind has crushed the life from the Lamb of God. His now dead body robbing the soldiers of the final torture of breaking his legs.
Yet, just as suddenly, He’s awake again! The searing red, superheated atmosphere around him eats like acid into His face. Thick blackness, almost like a substance, seems to suck the air from His lungs. Barely breathing, struggling for air, He aches for just something cool and moist. But the heat is inescapable and there is no relief, no water, no cool. Hands are clawing at Him. Powerful hands pick Him up and throw Him down again and again. A chorus of raucous laughter fills the cavern.
Slowly, his eyes adjust. He sees faintly the contorted faces of heavy, powerful and evil figures crowded all around, filled with rage unpacified, a merciless, sour revenge. Jesus finds His feet and stands. The great beasts look bewildered. How could He rise? They rush at Him, but a mysterious light glows from Him. An unspotted purity, something never seen in these dark domains: holiness! No matter how hard they try, it seems each dark demon is weakened, even powerless, in the presence of this One. Before they can reach Him, their knees give way, their legs fail and they fall. The power of His sacrifice fills the cavern like the scent of a million roses, overpowering every stench of the minions of Satan. Gathering strength and His face unflinching, Jesus begins a lone march through the tunnels of Hades, scattering demons in His powerful stride. They screech and howl, clinging to the walls, trying to outdo each other, throwing themselves at the Son of God, but their strength has evaporated in the presence of this One. With every step, Jesus seems to glow brighter. His light blinds their eyes in the deep dark. No matter how many gather, they all fall to the side, Every step Jesus takes sends a shudder down through to the foundations of this endless abyss.
After what seems like a day, He arrives at the core, the very throne of darkness. He strides to the writhing creature filling the seat. For a second there is a dim recollection from eons ago. The beast remembers this one. He sat on the very throne he lusted for. This is the Son-the very son of Yahweh! Fear, rage and a hatred deeper than the abyss itself spews out the mouth of the devil as he runs at Jesus, who simply stands His ground. With every step the great creature shrinks, like wind leaving a balloon, the giant figure cowers before Him. Jesus grasps the beast and throws him like a doll to the ground. Weakened to a bag with a puff of wind, Satan whines in the dust. Lifting his right leg and bringing down his foot with full force, Jesus’ heel sinks into the head of the now feeble creature. Satan’s head implodes. He writhes in pain, screaming and moaning, shaking head to toe. Demons look on in horror, slinking back as Jesus stands tall. A set of keys dangle from the side of the now defeated Satan. Tearing them from their loop, Jesus jangles them above his head, declaring, “I now have the keys of hell and death! I have defeated death, hell and the devil. At My name every knee from this place will bow! When anyone speaks in My name, your power will break. Your authority in every and any domain whatsoever, has been stripped from you today. My servants will enforce this victory throughout the entire Earth and you will be powerless to prevent it! God has spoken!”
Hell shakes, shudders and sways. Jesus rises from the ground and keeps rising, through all the dungeons, holes and caves. A force greater than any felt here before keeps lifting Him higher. His lungs filled with sweet air. His eyes open in the dark tomb, feeling the cool air of Earth in the morning. His heart pounds in His chest. Healing streams through every part of His three-day dead corpse. Sitting up now, strength surges into His muscles. A little giddy, He stands, gains balance and blinks at the bright light streaming past the large, round stone.
Heavenly angels stand by the entrance. The tough Roman quaternion is lying unconscious on the ground. Folding his grave cloths at the end of the slab, Jesus strides from the tomb in to the garden, deeply pulling into His nostrils the aroma of the beauty of the morning, smiling that pain has passed. Joy has come. His first words are, “Thank You, Father.” More than just coming back to life as He had been, He now walks in a newly-made body. He looks different, yet the same. He feels eternal, yet earthly as well. His now-undying resurrection body is alive and deathless. This gift He will give to any who receives Him. Eternal life, conscious and alive, more alive than ever before, with a body equipped for an unending life of unthinkable adventures, creations and discovery!” – Phil Pringle, Hope, 2011, pg 80-84.
revelation of God’s character, I also feel a renewed and stronger love for Him.”
C3 Church Watch 