Preface

I beg your patience and all mercy as you read the following… Things are not always as they appear.

I have taken it upon me now to find out, and thoroughly discover, the sins of all of God’s people; for though they be the native sins of but one sect of God’s people, yet have they, nonetheless, by all of the strength and subtlety of that old Serpent, found their way (with all the pervasive force of leaven) into all the hearts of the present day Israel of God. That “one sect” I am not ashamed to call out forthrightly as none other than the Charismatic Movement (in broadest terms), but (to speak specifically) the Prophetic Movement is where these peculiar sins (that I now seek to detail and expose) are heading up.

O! but let not my reader think to label me falsely with the sect (or sects) that stand in bold opposition on the other side, and have long made it their custom to make drunk their swords with the blood of all (even often of their own brethren) who resist their dogma. My heart breaks for this irresponsible undertaking of such supposed “righteous judgment”, which, no doubt, is often done with the utmost sincerity of heart in the one holding the sword. May God have mercy on those guilty of such grossly uncharitable behavior, and may you, my reader, have mercy on me and hear me, as much as possible, without the blinding influence of prejudice. For God bears me witness, that with good conscience I testify: I cannot bear the sound of such preachers who declare there to be “no baby in the bathwater”. Fearfully, these men recklessly defy the New Testament witness of the power of the Holy Ghost, which most certainly is for today!

It has been my woe to behold these desolations on every side above ten years now in my wanderings through this wilderness so long trodden by my fathers. I have had many a heart-break and many a sleepless night for the sake of the things that I have now endeavored to lay my hands upon (see, Deut. 13:9). My heart is aflame – that is undeniable – but often my eyes have been wet from the clear view and vision of things that are still yet to come, at which (through this work), shall not the ears of all Israel tingle? Will you hear me, my dear reader, and know that my heart is not estranged from you, nor am I yet willing to cast off lightly, or as a thing of naught, any of God's “little ones”! My heart is enlarged for you, my mouth is open to you now!

I settled years ago that I would be used in the hand of my God, with no will of my own, no motive, agenda, personal vendetta of my own, no words of my own, as much as lieth in me and to the utmost of my power - that I would be a mouthpiece for God! And for these years I have proved the veracity of God's word to me, that he would “show himself strong on my behalf” (II Chron. 16:9). I also have found those words true in my experience, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Gal. 4:16). If you say to me now, “I know thy pride,” then I must respond (for I know no other response), “Is there not a cause?” I say not that my heart is free from every silent trace of that wicked principle, but, O! it is the language of my heart to be free in this matter from all its motivating influences.

My prayer is that you would behold this my heart. I hide not behind a computer screen, nor behind paper and ink, but do even now earnestly desire to look upon your faces! Yea, and more, it is my hearty desire that all of God's people be reconciled again together in these last days in “the bond of perfectness”. Not just those of Judah and Jerusalem, but even those to whom my burden is now concentrated: the spiritual Israel of today, the Prophetic-Charismatic Pentecostal Movement. O! that my eyes might behold these two sticks joined together in one hand (see, Ezek. 37:15-28).

This was not taken up in a day, but has been birthed through years of labor and travail. The germ has been present in my heart since 2008, but only in 2013 did I ever set out to write my burden. This developed no further than a title and a single-sentenced thesis. This has now come to the birth by signs and wonders, tears and fasting, and much prayer. May God be praised in the salvation of all his elect, and make this work a part of the fruition of that glad harvest!

Jake Gardner

April, 2015