Published by First read the following scripture.
2 Tim 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
(KJV)
When most of us think of fables we think of old stories for children. But if we look at the Greek the word that is translated as fables clearly points to concept of FICTION, not stories of old. It simply says we are turned from the truth to stories that are not true. This is entirely different from how the “new thing” teachers teach this. They show what we know as OLD stories, to carry the idea that any story that is not new is not valid today. Much of our children’s programs in the church have gone away from the teaching of the history of Israel. And in that note, we have ignored the history and have been committed to make the same mistakes. It is ironic that the Preacher, Ecclesiastics, says that there is no new thing under the sun. It is exactly that desire for a new thing that draws many of our children and some of our adults to the cults and the error of them. It is the same thing that draws the learned away from the truth and to error, and it is the same thing that seduces the church to follow the latest fad rather than the word.
Eccl 1:9-10
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
(KJV)
Acts 17:21
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
(KJV)
Isa 43:19
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
(KJV)
Mark 1:27
27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
(KJV)
Note that Isaiah 43:19 talks of a new thing but in context that is a thing that you have not previously heard about. It is interesting to note the number of times that there seemed to be a new thing and yet it was what God had been doing, it was new to us, just as we read in Is 43:19. The first miracle I saw in Oral Robert’s ministry in the 1950’s was not a new thing to God. The first soul saved in Billy Graham’s ministry was not a new thing. It was just God continuing to do what he had been doing. But I can remember people who went to those meetings and were awestruck at the “new thing” God was doing. And I was to. These were reasons for viewing God as an awesome God but they were not new to God. Awesome is not enough to define or describe Him. We can view him as nothing less. But the things we have seen have been happening since Jesus walked this earth.
Let me show this in another way. The “Charismatic movement” was a continuation in the 60’s of what God had done in the first 50 years of the century in other settings. What changed? It was not God and He was still doing the same thing. What changed? The people in churches that in the thirties, forties and fifties had REFUSED the Holy Spirit were now accepting it. God was not miffed by their previous rejection of His overtures. He received those who would call on Him. The “Faith Movement” was nothing more than a continuation of the move of faith and healing in the back woods from the late forties and early fifties. I personally saw that move of men and women toward God – note that God didn’t move, we did. It was a renewal of our interest in His word, interest that had waned. But God again was gracious. And there is such a stir about the prophetic in our midst, yet I personally saw the prophetic word of God going forth over thirty years ago. And this was not done in a corner or hidden. It was hidden from those who refused to see. The men of the FGCBI were exposed to it on a regular basis in the seventies. It mystifies when I note that some of those who are touting it as new were there to see what I saw. Did they forget the things they had seen God do? Some of the same men and women of the FGCBI moved simultaneously in what we now call the Charismatic, Faith and Prophetic ministries and long before the religious leaders of our day put a title to them so they could sell books and tapes about them. But then they were doing nothing but what Jesus talked about when he said, “Greater things than these will ye do because I go to the father.” God is not doing a new thing. His Son did that new thing when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, died on the cross of Calvary, arose from the tomb of Joseph on that morning and left this world from the Mount of Olives. The next new thing he will do is when he splits the Eastern Sky to come back. The only new thing he is doing today is a fresh work in our lives each day if we are open to His grace. If we are to grow we must allow this to happen. He can do it in any church.
