| 2 i)A call for
Prophet Judges: Joyner believes that Jesus has told him “My
church is now clothed with shame because she does not have judges... I will
now raise up judges for My people,” (p.128). These judges are
the “dreaded
champions” who manage to ascend to the very highest levels of “revelation” on
a spiritual mountain. The book often seems to imply that Joyner will become
the head prophet judge himself. He claims that these judges will acquire amazing
prophetic gifting. In a vision “Jesus” tells Joyner that they
could even begin to “be able to know everything
about everyone they encounter, just as you have begun to experience” (p.
130), and Joyner
claims that sometimes, in trances, he is now already able to “look
at something or someone and know their past, present and future all at once”,
(p.12). We are told that one of the main reasons for the civil war
is so that these “judges", can emerge as leaders of the
last day’s
church. We are told that once this happens they will then start to judge and “decide
between people or issues,” (p.128). Joyner believes that through
them God will “remove all who have been forcing
My people to take sides against their brothers”, (p. 128), implying
the removal of all those Christians who disagree with Joyner’s side
and their new prophetic revelations and spiritual practices.
“Judge not, that you not be judged. For with what judgement you judge,
you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back
to you,” (Mtt 7: 1, 2).
2ii) An earthbound, triumphalist
focus: Joyner claims that the unopposed rule
of these judges will then result in the “exaltation of the church,” (p.38),
which “will begin drawing all men into the kingdom” that “God’s
government is about to be demonstrated as greater than any human government,” (p.
37), without the need for the physical return of Jesus Christ to earth
at his Second Coming. This echoes the false “Manifest Sons of God” teaching
which was so popular amongst the Kansas City Prophets at the time Joyner
was receiving these visions. Whilst we are all called to judge prophecies
and spiritual manifestations according to the bible, only Jesus is called
to judge people and their motives in this way:
“the Father...has
granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to
execute judgement also, because He is the Son of Man
,” (Jn
5:26, 27).
2 iii) The Old Testament prophet judges: Prophets called judges ruled Israel
in the Old Testament era up until David and the time of the Kings. They
judged the nation of Israel though not individuals as Joyner describes.
The bible does not teach that judges are called to rule the body of Christ
either, not in the end times or at any other time. Apostles, elders and
deacons are called to lead the church according to the New Testament, some
may be prophets with that gifting as well whilst others may not be. Prophetic
gifting is not mentioned as one of the things necessary for leadership within
Gods church. The gift of prophecy is also available to all who ask not just
an elite few.
“For you can all can prophesy one by one, that all
may learn and all be encouraged,” (1
Cor 12; 31).
2 iv) Judging
and the Sheppard Rod issue of the 1990’s: When the Kansas
City Prophets Movement, which Joyner has been closely associated with, was
at its height in the early 1990’s, there were cases of so called “prophets,” judging
all the individuals in churches that had received their ministry. They did
this by using “prophetic utterances” to command all the Christians
in those congregations to pass under their own “Sheppard’s Rod,” so
that the “prophet” could then judge whether each person had produced
enough fruit of the Spirit that year or not. Even the pastors and leaders
of those churches were sometimes obliged to submit to the “prophets” judgements
in this way. This caused a lot of criticism from other churches and from people
who felt they had been manipulated and suffered spiritual abuse as a result
of this practice. This sounds very similar to the role being ascribed to the
judges in Joyner’s visions of 1995/6, who he says will “be able
to know everything about everyone they encounter” (p. 130).
“ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to
another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit... to another prophecy...
But
one
and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually
as He wills,” (1 Cor 12; 8, 10, 11).
2 v) Who are these judges
likely to be? Since Joyner believes that these events
will take place in his own lifetime, (all of his visions have himself as
central to the future events he predicts), he is likely to perceive the
other judges to be people he knows and already fellowships with, namely
people associated with the former Kansas City Prophetic stream or their
more recent counterparts. These are the types of people Joyner must surely
believe are climbing the spiritual mountain of new revelations with him,
as described in his visions. Today many of these types are receiving similar
visions and revelations to Joyner that often appear to contradict scripture
just as his do. New forms of spirituality are often encouraged in these
new revelations such as the recent belief amongst some that Christians can
choose to go to heaven, at will, whenever they want, (Bob Jones and Todd
Bentley openly claim they can do this). Some of these other Kansas City
styled “prophets” also believe that they have discovered a new,
superior form of spirituality that eclipses’ anything the Apostles
of the New Testament experienced and which is far more similar to the New
Age than what is described in the bible. Paul Cain is a case in point, he
was considered the leading Kansas City prophet up until 2006. At the time
Joyner was writing “The Final Quest,” in 1995/6, he would surely
have thought Cain was in line to become one of these judges. Both Cain and
Joyner have joined the same Catholic Order called the Knights of Malta,
(see Ch 11), it was in fact a “prophecy” from Cain that lead
Joyner into join this organisation. . Cain’s Mother, Grandmother and
Great-grandmother were all gifted occult mediums and this may explain Cain’s
ability to sometimes predict the future although he made many predictive
errors as well. Cain however fell out of favour with Joyner when he refused
to allow Joyner to oversee his return to ministry after Cain was found to
have been living an active life of homosexuality, alcoholism and illegal
drug use. Another leading Kansas City Prophet at the time Joyner was compiling
his book was Bob Jones. Although Jones had admitted that he had been using
his “spiritual gifts” to manipulate sexual favours from women
in his congregation in 1994 he has since been restored to ministry and is
highly regarded by Joyner. Jones had a vision calling for a Christian Civil
War just a few years before Joyner received his vision which promoted the
same message. Jones must therefore be viewed by Joyner as climbing the same
spiritual mountain of new revelation as himself. Like Cain, Jones has at
times accurately predicted the future although he has also made many predictive
errors as well. Jones first prophetic visions came to him as multicoloured
dreams, sometimes up to twelve a night, whilst he was a patient in a mental
hospital, which is where he believes his ministry first started.
“You will know them by their fruits” (Matt
7; 16)
Todd Bentley was surely
a more recent candidate in line to become a judge in the eyes of Joyner. He
was, however, found to have been having an adulterous
affair during his “Florida Outpouring” revival meetings in 2008,
and to have lied about thirty three people being raised from the dead during
those few months. Unlike Cain however, Bentley allowed Joyner to oversee
his restoration to ministry and still curries a lot of favour with Joyner
as a result. Joyner has promoted Bentley’s ministry since then which
Joyner still claims is tremendously anointed of God. These are likely to
be among the people Joyner believes are moving toward becoming prophet judges
with him in the future. There are also many other candidates today, an ever
increasing number, particularly amongst the New Mystics streams of “Christianity,” people
who are often open to all sorts of strange new beliefs and spiritual practices
even when these contradict scripture.
“test all things” (1 Thess 5. 21).
2 vi) These judges
receive ministry from the deceased: In Joyners visions “great
white eagles", (p. 58), assist these judges in moving on to the
highest level of prophetic gifting and power. One eagle tells Joyner “We
are the eyes of those who have been given the divinely powerful weapons",
(p. 58). These white eagles are not angels though but the spirits of people
who
have died in the past, (see the end of section 5 for conclusive evidence of
this). This is uncanny as it sounds very much like one of Bob Jones spiritual
practices, (Jones has also introduced Todd Bentley into all the same forms
of spirituality). They have both been very open about the fact that they call
upon the spirit of Sundar Singh, (a deceased Indian evangelist), to return
to earth to minister to them and that an angel named Emma has been appearing
to them who looks just like Kathryn Kuhlman. Although Joyner has not declared
openly that he engages in such practices himself he has never spoken out against
this or attempted to steer his compatriots Jones and Bentley away from this
either. His silence therefore appears to be a ringing endorsement. In parallel
to this every year Joyner holds his own meetings to honour the deceased healing
revivalists of the past, such as Sundar Singh, Kathryn Kuhlman, (and William
Branham, see chapter 7 for more information on Joyner seeing Branham exalted
in heaven), and claims that this is the key to receiving a healing revival
in our day. On Father’s Day each year Joyner holds meetings to honour
the deceased male healing revivalists of the past and on Mother’s Day
to honour the female healing ministers who have died. This appears idolatrous
to many who say we are called to honour God alone not man. Joyner claims,
however, that these past revivalists are our spiritual forefathers and that
honouring them is our key to spiritual blessing and empowerment today. This
is similar to the way in which pagans look to their ancestors for help and
spiritual power. Bill Johnson and Cal Pierce also teach the same thing. I
believe this is a subtle way of introducing the Christian public to the practice
of calling upon these deceased ministers as Jones and Bentley openly do already.
This also appears to parallel the way in which the great white eagles help
the judges acquire their amazing prophetic gifting and insights in “The
Final Quest.” This is also how those involved in occult/paganism, spiritualism,
mediumship and anyone involved in necromancy seek help from the deceased and
is nothing like the spirituality from the Holy Spirit that is revealed in
the bible. It is also central to how the judges in “The Final Quest” gain
their advanced revelations and spiritual insight.
“
There shall not be found among you... a spiritist, or one who calls up the
dead,” (Deut 18; 10, 11).
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