(Deuteronomy 22:9-11) “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled. “You shall not plough with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.”
(2 Peter 2:1-3) “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
Introduction:
Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is a global Christian network today, the largest of its kind in the world that operates networks in the United States and other countries, including Australia via its Pacific broadcasting network. It does support global missionary work and organizations and does supply much need humanitarian aid to those countries that are materially and spiritually impoverished and this is commendable.
Through its media outlets the organization broadcasts a wide range of Christian content including sermons from a plethora of well-known speakers from around the world within wider Christendom from every denomination. Its programing content includes worship services, concerts, interviews, News updates, documentaries and Christian movies.
Its 24/7 programming schedule reaches over 175 nations with Christian programming and content in 17 languages through more than 30 global networks.
According to its website it states that there would be two billion potential viewers that have round-the-clock access to TBN programming via satellite, cable, and over-the-air broadcast, as well as through a wide range of digital platforms on the Internet.
According to the website its vision is “to see the world transformed through the love, hope and grace of Jesus Christ.”
Its mission is “to create and globally distribute innovative Christian programming across a wide variety of media platforms that intrigues, inspires, and impacts body, soul, and spirit leading audiences into a deeper relationship and understanding of the Kingdom of God.”
However, when you look at the very long list of speakers, preachers and ministers from the true Biblical perspective you will see “the murky mixture” of speakers and preachers who have Biblically based ministries placed alongside speakers and preachers who have heretical un-Biblical ministries.
When you consider the massive financial support this Christian global network receives from Christians around the world it speaks volumes as to the lack of spiritual discernment that exists within wider global Christendom today concerning what is being taught through this network.
We also know that God’s Word speaks of the apostasy that will be a conspicuous mark within wider Christendom in the last days which will see the infestation of all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders paving the way for the revealing of the man of sin.
This is the one doomed to destruction, also designated as “the lawless one,” whom the Messiah our Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendour of His second coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3-9).
We are also told that the evil of the wicked one will be so strong that it will deceive those who are spiritually perishing because they refuse to love the truth and be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
Because of this God Himself will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie of that which is not true Biblically, and so be condemned because they have refused to believe the truth and have delighted in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
We also know from God’s Word that God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth who will lead us into all truth and will never lead us into doctrinal error (John 16:13).
With these things in view let’s now look at our texts in Deuteronomy and Second Peter.
Deuteronomy 22:9-11
(Deuteronomy 22:9-11) “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled. “You shall not plough with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.”
In God’s Word in both Testaments the writers took things from everyday life and applied them in a spiritual way by bringing out the deeper spiritual meaning. Even the Lord Jesus used this method in the gospels when using parables.
In these references here in Deuteronomy Chapter 22:9-11 we can see a deeper spiritual revelation and application of the three separate things mentioned that are connected.
Let’s look at these…
“You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled.”
The vineyard represents God’s people and the responsibilities His people have to keep sowing into the soil of their hearts and lives the nutritious grain of God’s Word that they might produce spiritual fruitfulness in their lives for God and for His kingdom. This would also apply to those who are prophets and teachers.
The first kind of seed or grain is that which is spiritually nutritious being the Word of God (Luke 8:11). In fact God Himself also said through the prophet Jeremiah; “Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:28-29).
Within the wider Body of Messiah dreams and visions do have their place (Acts 2:17b).
However, they cannot compare to or replace the Word of God. When compared to the revelation of God’s Word visions and dreams are like straw that has no spiritual nourishment when compared to the solid and dependable spiritual nourishment in the seed of God’s Word.
It is God’s Word, wielded by the Holy Spirit that sets ablaze the spiritually dry and arid hearts of men, and like a hammer that breaks into pieces the rock like hearts that are hardened towards God.
In Jeremiah’s day there were many false prophets in the kingdom of Judah who were feeding God’s people a steady diet of dreams, visions, self-generated visions of one sort or another, and false prophecies that supposedly were from God but were spiritually deceptive, while the Babylonian army were closing in for the kill!
The other type of grain is that which looks and tastes like the real thing but is tainted when the Word of God is misused, and those who do this have no ability to rightfully divide the Word of God. Added to this they add their own interpretations and delusions of their own minds (Jeremiah 23:25-27).
Leaven in scripture represents three things being sin and hypocrisy but also false doctrine.
The message being sent out across the globe through the Trinity Broadcasting Network is a mixed message, a message of two separate kinds of seed being sown together that in the long term will not produce the spiritual fruitfulness that God requires that is affirmed by the Word of God.
The TBN broadcasters in reality are sowing two different kinds of seed and it is “a murky mixture” which God hates because He is jealous over His Word and watches over it to perform it (Exodus 34:14) (Jeremiah 1:12).
His Word is a revelation of His nature, His Character and of His works and that of God the Son who is the Eternal Living Word of God Himself who became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:1-5, 14-15). The whole Bible is all about Him! Tragically many within wider Christendom have the right Jesus historically, but from the Biblical perspective have Him all wrong. As we will see later in Peters second letter truth and error laid side by side has terrible consequences. The problem is “the Murky Mixture.”
And then we read…
“You shall not plough with an ox and a donkey together.”
The ox represents the animal of strength that treads out the grain or metaphorically the preacher or those in Christian service that sow the nutritious grain of God’s Word into the soil of people’s hearts.
The donkey represents the animal of weakness that is the opposite of the ox in that the donkey is a rather undisciplined rather docile animal that can be hard to move and seems not to have sense, and can be a very stubborn animal to control.
The donkey can represent those who are in Christian service but do not have the spiritual discernment they need. When they are affiliated with those who do have the spiritual enlightenment who in turn join hands with those who don’t then eventually it will produce a watered down message being “the Murky Mixture.” The message will be muddied!
Some will say these days that to emphasise doctrine is legalism, however, Rabbi the apostle Paul thought differently on this matter when addressing his protégé young Timothy.
Paul writes; “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). If one’s doctrine is wrong then their lifestyle will be wrong and the tendency will be to malign the Word of God and to even twist it to fit one’s own suppositions and interpretation.
And again Paul writes to the assembly at Rome…
“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Messiah, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people” (Romans 16:17-18).
And then we read…
“You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.”
Linen in scripture represents the righteous lifestyle pleasing to God that is the bi-product of that garment of salvation and robe of righteousness of the Lord Jesus that every born again New Covenant believer in Messiah has had bestowed upon them through faith in Him for salvation (Isaiah 61:10) (Romans 3:21-22) (Philippians 3:9) (Revelation 19:8).
One who is walking with the LORD by walking moment by moment in step with the Holy Spirit, and seeking to rightly divide the Word of God, and allowing it to control and shape the direction of their lives, has no business walking with one who does not rightly divide the Word of God or is allowing it to control and to shape their life.
When you see the hyper faith money preachers and false teachers being promoted on TBN, we see this “Murky Mixture.”
Those who are rightly dividing the Word of Truth on TBN are putting their message out there as faithfully as they know how, however, side by side with them are those who have no ability to rightly divide the Word of God putting their ‘leaven’ of false and spiritually deceptive doctrine out there as well.
The end result will be confusion and uncertainty by multitudes of Christians that have not had their spiritual senses trained to recognise truth from error.
While we are all to sincerely desire the milk of the Word of God in order to grow spiritually, we are to progress to the meat of God’s Word if we are to increasingly grow spiritually and become mature in our understanding of God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2).
We are to progress from being like babies in our spiritual understanding to being adults in our spiritual understanding, and the only way this will happen is if we read and study the Word of God. Every dream, vision, manifestation and spoken word must be tested by the Word of God.
We are not treat prophecies with contempt, but test all things holding fast to what is good, and abstaining from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
As it is also written; “The entrance of Your Word gives light; It gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130). The “simple” are not those who are intellectually impaired, but those who approach the LORD with childlike trust to be led and taught by Him as their Heavenly Father.
The author of Hebrews also writes…
“For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14).
Many sincere New Covenant believers are still on milk and not meat and are susceptible to spiritual deception and seduction which is clearly being broadcast on this global Christian Network! Babies and young children are emotionally unstable and apt to be led astray very quickly.
Babies need purified milk which is nutritious to their growth. They do not need to be raised on a diet of sweets, and chocolate and other fast foods that have no nutritional value. They will still grow but be somewhat stunted in their growth.
Knowing God’s Word will enable us to avoid false teachers no matter how persuasive they are, and most of them are past masters in “working the crowd.” Only God’s Word enlightened by the Holy Spirit will keep us from embracing false and deceptive teaching (Psalms 119:105) (Psalm 19:11).
The doctrine of the Messiah our Lord Jesus is revealed In the Word of God and He Himself is the Living and Eternal Word of God and the Bible is a revelation of Him.
The apostle John puts this matter into perspective for us when he writes about those who do not hold to the Biblical doctrine of the Lord Jesus as revealed in scripture.
John writes; “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of the Messiah does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work” (2 John 9-11).
Today the internet is infested with those who are not rightly dividing the Word of truth but in reality are “profiteering on the blood of the Lamb!” The Trinity Broadcasting Network is promoting them! Indeed it is in reality “the Murky Mixture.”
Having looked at Deuteronomy Chapter 22:9-11; we now need to turn to the New Testament to the second letter of the Apostle Peter.
2 Peter 2:1-3
(2 Peter 2:1-3) “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
False prophets and teachers have always been around and are seen in both Testaments and down through the history of wider Christendom. However, in the last days they will be an infestation within the Body of Messiah as taught by the Messiah our Lord Jesus and by His apostles in their letters. TBN is no exception! Let’s now look at our second text…
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you”
It is one thing for genuine Bible teachers to teach about Biblical prophecy even though in some aspects of it they will differ and those of us who do teach it must base everything on the Word of God in context and in light of co-texts as no scripture is of personal interpretation.
The apostle Peter writes; “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation. For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
We are not to go beyond what is written in the Word of God (1 Corinthians 4:6). However, there are those who categorically go around praying over people saying “the LORD told me personally” and if what they prophesy in the name of the LORD they get wrong, then Biblically they are designated as a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
Today we have many ‘prophets’ going around making personal prophecies over people and while we do see a Biblical practice of this (1 Timothy 4:14), the danger is that it can be misused. It is interesting in the case of Timothy that the elders were involved. It was not a one man show!
In the past there have been those who have prophesied in the name of the LORD and their prophecies were not accurate. When confronted they quote the scripture “For we know in part and we prophesy in part” meaning that “we get it partly right and partly wrong.”
They use this out of its Biblical context in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 which is referring to when we are in our resurrected glorified bodies and we will then know fully as we are known by God. And then Peter continues…
“…who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.”
Several things we notice here. These false prophets and teachers “secretly introduce” by stealth, masquerading as angels of light, professing to have some deep spiritual knowledge only known by and given to them by God. These are very skilled in going under the radar of detection in the local assembly. Peter and Jude write at length about these deceivers.
They are very good at mesmerising those they are seeking to spiritually seduce. Rabbi the apostle Paul mentions this in his second letter to Timothy. The English translations use the word “imposters” to describe them (3:13).
However, the Greek word used is “enchanters” such as a snake charmer, who, by mesmerising music, can hypnotize a snake and control its movements. This is what is going down in many mega churches today where their leaders are promoting false doctrines. The music and emotional euphoria and the antics on stage are enchanting the ‘audience’ and there are many videos on the internet showing the extremes that some of these churches go to. It a disgrace and an insult to the Lord Jesus!
TBN has these prophets and teachers who are very skilled in swaying the masses who watch them on the network channels as these false prophets and teachers ply their wares and these “enchanters” are very lucrative for maintaining and financing TBN’s world-wide network.
Then we read that these false teachers introduce by stealth; “destructive heresies.” The Greek meaning is “laying truth and error side by side.”
For example if you have a regular diet of beautiful gourmet sandwiches filled with all kinds of healthy and nutritious ingredients but in them another person secretly introduces very small amounts of arsenic, an undetectable poison, then over time it will accumulate in the body and in the end bring about physical death.
TBN are in reality secretly introducing to the wider Body of Messiah globally “destructive heresies” and no doubt these false prophets and teachers are preparing the way for the man of sin to be revealed.
As Rabbi Paul writes; “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false (counterfeit) signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
We see this with the magicians in Pharaoh’s court who were able by occult power up to a point counterfeit the miracles of Moses and Aaron, but in the end their dark deeds were exposed and their occult power rendered useless.
Lets’ continue…
“…even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”
These false prophets and teachers will not necessarily deny the Lord Jesus openly and may well profess to have faith in Him as Saviour and Lord; however, what they are teaching disqualifies them from entering His Coming Messianic Kingdom and ultimately barred from entering the New Jerusalem.
One of the main heresies that some teach on the TBN Network is that Jesus died spiritually on the cross, went into hell, was tortured three days and nights by Satan and his demons, and took upon Himself our sinful nature, and had to be born again in hell before the work of salvation was complete. This in itself is a denial of the deity of the Lord Jesus. (Click here to see this heresy refuted).
We also read where these false prophets and teachers that by their doctrines deny the Lord Jesus bring “swift destruction upon themselves.” The word “destruction” used here is not annihilation.
It speaks of something that is no longer able to be used for the purpose for which it was created. It does not cease to exist; neither does it mean that it is completely destroyed. The word used describes an eternal conscious misery in a place of eternal torment.
Again Peter and Jude speak about this in their letters. Our Lord Jesus also spoke about this matter in the gospels. Hell and the lake of fire is Satan’s best kept secret!
And then finally we read…
“Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
We notice several things. Many will follow these enchanters and their enchantments will appeal to the lust of the flesh, being the carnal hedonistic sensual desires of the fleshly appetites for selfish gratification, the lust of the eyes for fame, fortune and personal aggrandisement, and the pride of life in gaining and gathering material possessions and having things good in this world (1 John 2:15-17).
These things are promoted by the hyper faith prosperity money preachers but it is by stealth. These who preach “the health and wealth, blab it and grab it, having things good in this world” doctrines are preaching a form of covetousness (Titus 1:11).
They are not only deceiving others but are themselves deceived (2 Timothy 2:13). In other words these false prophets and teachers believe in their own publicity!
These “malign the way of truth.” These false prophets and teachers speak reproachfully, rail at, revile, blaspheme, and speak evil of the truth, twisting scripture and distorting its meaning for their own selfish end and gratification, just as Satan did when tempting the Messiah our Lord Jesus to give in to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life when He was in the wilderness.
These false prophets and teachers we are also told are greedy and exploit those who are following them. These are “experts in greed, an accursed brood, greedy shepherds feeding only themselves” (2 Peter 2:14) (Jude 1:12).
They were once saved but have apostatised! They were “twice dead” (Jude 1:12). They had been made spiritually alive from spiritual death, but had become spiritually dead once again.
Did not Rabbi the apostle Paul also write; “Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
Their judgement has been foreknown by God and has not been idle. In His love He saved them at one time because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, but they turned away from Him, refused to turn away from indulging their fleshly carnal appetites and desires, rejecting their conscience resulting in it being seared as with a hot iron. Their destruction has not been sleeping. Once again the word “destruction” does not mean that they will cease to exist!
Epilogue:
There is no doubt that TBN has done and is doing a lot of good work globally in supporting missionary and Christian organizations and that they do have many fine Bible teachers on their network, however, they have within their organization “the Murky Mixture” where truth and error are being laid side by side.
The results are that two differing kinds of messages are being preached and the end result is a murky message that is not clear. When two types of messages are coming from the same source then confusion will result! So this is the situation with TBN.
Unless there is a genuine repentance the LORD may well shut the whole organization down which would be a tragedy for all of those genuine Biblically centred missionary and Christian organizations and endeavours that benefit financially from the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
By laying truth and error side by side the pure untainted life giving spiritual water of God’s Word is being muddied, misinterpreted, maligned and twisted by these false teachers and profits (oops! I mean prophets) on TBN.
Unnumbered multitudes of naive and undiscerning believers around the globe are drinking from these murky waters without realising the long term spiritual damage it will produce in their lives.
Indeed it is written; “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18). In other words without guidance or revelation from God’s Word, people will lose direction and moral restraint.
Satan will always try to stop a good thing happening from God’s perspective but he and his cohorts in the atmosphere are already fighting a war against heaven that has already been lost!
The Gospel of the Kingdom will not be hindered because God’s Word cannot be chained (2 Timothy 2:9). He is watching over His Word constantly to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). His Word that proceeds from His mouth will not return to Him empty, but it will accomplish what He pleases, and it will prosper where He sends it. (Isaiah 55:11).
The end of all things is rapidly approaching and the Gospel of the Kingdom is reaching the lost. How far down the road the Messiah’s Second Coming is we do not know but the signs are there that seem to indicate He is coming back soon.
In the midst of spiritual deception, those with a false anointing, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with famines, earthquakes in various places, pestilence, apostasy and betrayal, many false prophets, the increase of wickedness and the love of most professing Christians grown cold, and those who are standing firm to the end that will be saved the Messiah our Lord Jesus said…
“And this gospel of the kingdom (to come) will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come” (Matthew 24: 14).
If the Trinity Broadcasting Network divests itself of its false prophets and teachers and repents and re-organises its programmes and other activities with those who can rightly divide the Word of Truth, then the LORD will surely bless this network abundantly and use it to bring glory to the scriptural Messiah our Lord Jesus and reap a harvest of souls into the kingdom of God!
There will no longer be “The Murky Mixture.”
