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AN OPEN LETTER TO A COUPLE OF DECEIVED CHARISMATICS By Wayne Camp
(Editor's Note: In 1973 I wrote the following letter to the parents of a little boy who had died after his parents refused him insulin though he was a diabetic. Supposedly, he had been healed by a traveling preacher who skipped the country when the boy died. I never received an answer of any kind from these folk).
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I read today (Sunday, Sept. 2, 1973) of you and of your son, Wesley, who recently died. The Peoria Journal Star carried an Associated Press story by Linda Deutsch. Please accept my sympathy for your situation, for I perceive by your statements in the paper that you have been deceived by Satan causing you to let your son die when a simple shot of insulin would have kept him alive. Only Satan would have caused you to squirt that life preserving insulin into a wastebasket, ignoring the plain words of Jesus who declared, "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick." Your son was sick and willing to take that which the physician had prescribed for him. Under Satanic deception, you have taken his life into your hands and robbed him of it. As you sit there in a cell, you will have time to think. May you pray for wisdom and spiritual perception. Satan has blinded your eyes to several important truths. May I point them out?
"TRY THE SPIRITS"
Satan had deluded you into believing that the impulses and feelings that you received were of God. You need to be aware that there is a grave necessity to "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I John 4:1). Where is that traveling preacher who "appeared at church, anointed Wesley Parker's head with oil, and prayed in the trance-like mystery of tongues?" (AP article, Peoria Journal Star, Sept. 2, 1973). According to the article, the "authorities are still seeking" this man. Is he of God or is he of Satan? Where is the one who, while this traveling preacher prayed, cried, "Praise the Lord? Wesley is healed!"? Who deceived that individual? Surely it must have been that master of deceit, Satan, whose "false apostles and deceitful workers" have been guilty of "transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:13, 14). Your son was not healed! That person who cried out that he was is an accomplice in his death. God does not lie. That person was lying under the influence of the father of liars—the Devil (John 8:44). That you were and are deceived is revealed by your statement: "God gave us the faith that Wesley was healed" (AP article). Is God a deceiver? Did He lead you to believe that Wesley was healed when He knew all the time that Wesley would be dead in three days? You charge God with a deception. He is not guilty. Satan deceived you again. The fact that Satan had you in his control is again manifest, when as you wondered what would happen if Wesley's daily urine test was positive, you say: "THE HOLY Spirit welled up in me. And I said, 'Even if it's positive, that's the work of the devil, and I won't believe it.'" Well, Mr. Parker, the test was positive, and it was no lie. The Devil used you as his pawn to deceive an innocent 11 year old boy when you declared: "Wesley, this is a lie of Satan." Did you not know, Mr. Parker, that Satan "was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44)? You should have tried the spirit that "welled up" in you. It was not of God. God would not have deceived you or caused you to deceive your son.
THE PURPOSE OF MIRACLES AND TONGUES
The quotes from you folks in the AP article indicate that you have also been deceived as to the purpose of miracles and tongues. The Bible is very specific as to the purpose of each.
MIRACLES
The purpose of miracles was that unbelievers "may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Mark 2:1 12). They were manifest that men might "know" that Christ was "a teacher come from God" (John 3:1 16). They were given for the purpose of "confirming the word" of the apostles. (Mark 16:17 20). When the apostles preached, God was "also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will" (Heb. 2:4). These signs were called "the signs of an apostle (II Cor. 12:12). "And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles" (Acts 2:43). God had men, moved by the Holy Spirit to write down a record of these signs so that those reading the Scriptures "might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing they might have life through His name" (John 20:30, 31).
TONGUES
The purpose of tongues is clearly demonstrated on the day of Pentecost. The Lord's people were commanded to tarry in Jerusalem until they were empowered to be witnesses into all the world. When that power came and a multitude gathered to see what was happening, "they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? . . . we do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:7 11). The gift of tongues was set in the church for the purpose of witnessing to those who speak other languages, not for the purpose of praying over the sick who speak the same language as the one praying. Did anyone interpret the traveling preacher's prayer when he prayed in tongues? ". . . if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church" (I Cor. 14:28). According to the AP article, Mrs. Parker, you "prayed in tongues for the first time" on June 6, 1965. This was on a Sunday, I believe. Was it in the church? "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law . . . for it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church" (I Cor. 14:34, 35). Paul declared: "In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue" (I Cor. 14:19).
THE DURATION OF THE GIFTS OF TONGUES AND HEALING
Mr. and Mrs. Parker, your article further revealed that you have been deceived as to the duration of these gifts of the Holy Spirit that were set in the church. "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant," said Paul (I Cor. 12:1). In the last verse of the same chapter, Paul said: "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way" (v 31.) In chapter 13, Paul tells what this “more excellent way" is. He tells us that when "that which is perfect" was come, all the spiritual gifts set in the church would cease except three—"faith, hope, love" (v 8 13). "That which is perfect" is the Bible, "the perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25). Peter calls the scriptures a "more sure word of prophecy" (II Peter 1:18 21). He declared it is even surer than a voice from heaven. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity [love], these three" (I Cor. 13:13). Not two, not four, but three spiritual gifts remain in the church today. The gift of healing which this disappearing traveling preacher sought to exercise would make five. God inspired Paul to say, "faith, hope, charity, these THREE."
WHENCE THEN THE MIRACLES AND TONGUES OF TODAY?
I am sure you are now asking: "Mr. Camp, what about the tongues? What about the miracles that are worked? If not of God, of whom?"
THE DEVIL IS A MIRACLE WORKER
Many come who work in the pattern of Satan demonstrating "all power and signs and lying wonders" (II Thes. 2:9). "They are spirits of devils working miracles" (Rev. 16:14). They may even make "fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men" deceiving them "by the means of these miracles" which they have the power to perform (Rev. 13:13 16). Paul declares that "such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (II Cor. 11:13 15). Jesus said: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt. 7:22, 23).
NOT A DENIAL OF GOD'S POWER
Mr. and Mrs. Parker, please do construe this letter to be a refutation of the power of God. I believe God is all-powerful. Satan is very powerful, and the evidence is that he has deceived you causing you to believe that Wesley was healed, that his urine test was a Satanic lie, that he would rise in four days after death, that he would rise after four days in the grave. He will rise again. That resurrection will either be at the return of Christ in the air (I Cor. 15:23) or at the end of Christ's reign on earth (Rev. 20:1 15). Mr. & Mrs. Parker, I pray that you might study the Scriptures presented in this letter and give serious consideration to these things set forth. The Bible has the answer (II Tim. 3:16, 17).
Sincerely, Wayne Camp |