Four12 Elders Meeting

You bet. That's so cool. And then Mr. Pierce, good to see you. Long time. Look at all these guys. Can we kick off? Can we start off with prayer, Christine? Let's come, let's kick off with some breath. I can't hear you, sir.

Yes, thank you.

Let's kick off. Father, thank you just for family, Lord, across the world, that you've joined us, our hearts in your Son, and that you've joined us in this partnership in the Gospel to see nations come to the glory of, and the beauty of, the Church, Lord. I really want to pray over this next hour or so as we just chat through things, that there'd be such a sense of your presence, your spirit, that you would even minister to hearts, and strengthen hearts, and give vision, and sight, and wisdom, and grace, Lord, as we just share together on this platform.

And so, we ask, Spirit of God, for your power and your presence even to be present here, Lord, that you would somehow move and minister, and just bring us together onto the same page, Lord. In Jesus' name, Lord. Amen, amen. I've got my wife in the background going, "Amen, thank you, Jesus." A couple of guys at my house too. It's good to see your faces, man. I didn't get to say hi to all of you, but really, really amazing just to see your faces popping up.

For us to do this, I think it's the first time we've done something like this since COVID, so it really is amazing. I thought it might be good to just chat with the core team. We felt it might be good to just do a catch-up, number one, but also just to hear what God's saying to us as a movement, as well as what's happening in the world. Because I do think as leaders, we've gotta be, in a sense, up to date with what is happening and how do we navigate and shepherd our people through into what God has from now.

I was actually thinking it was a little bit like the time when Paul gathered the Ephesian elders together, and obviously there was relational connection, a bit of encouragement, and also caution for some of the things that are happening.

So, maybe just to start off with a little bit about us. Actually, this Sunday was two years that we climbed on a plane from South Africa to officially move to the United States. And so we've been pretty much locked in. I'm sure most of you are aware of the fact that we are trying to get a green card. It's really difficult to stay here. Hopefully in the next month or three, we should have that all sorted out, and then our hope is that we'll be able to start traveling again. We're hoping to do Europe and South Africa later on in the year, and I'll talk a bit about that later.

Next year, we'll jump somewhere else and start trying to get back into the nations.

We're doing really well, but even in the States, we're doing really, really well. I think we had a gathering this Sunday with the two Californian churches. We had 311 at the meeting, and that was with a number of people missing. Carolina, we planted a church this Sunday, and South Carolina also planted.

Because they never really saw her as she is now. I think America's getting the best of her, with all her grey hairs, and the wisdom that comes with them, and strength. So, she's also here with me. So, she sends love to you guys.

So we're doing really, really well. Churches are doing well. Obviously, feeling there's a transition coming as the green card hopefully comes through, and that means more and more travel and trying to raise up leaders effectively, because it does mean that we'll be on the road more and more and more. So, um, yeah, so it's good, it is exciting.

But I've been following the updates around the world. Globally, it looks like, really is encouraging what God is doing, and I know guys like Nihilus and others moving to just some incredible big moves, and we've been praying much for you guys, and just a…

That…

…you know, what's happening, we know how to respond. And I think, because of the disconnect for two years, we haven't been able to travel, there has been some disconnect with some, and so the hope is that this will reconnect and just kind of bring you into a little bit of our madness while we do what we do, and also help you to learn and to just pick up and to follow what we're doing.

So I'm hoping this session will really set us up for a closer working together.

But it might be good just to get onto social media to keep up with what we're doing, because I do think we're putting things out that hopefully will make sense to you now, by the end of the session, and can hopefully equip you, but also your people, for what I think is probably the wildest storm that has ever been around since I've been a Christian, and how we navigate the storm.

And just a quick update as well. I was chatting with a core team we met recently here in the States. It was an amazing time. And those of you that know me know I'm not strategic at all.

And I'm hoping that this will now spread beyond them into all of us. And so I do want to just encourage you to try and follow what we're doing and saying, you know, through our various platforms.

But just, I wanted to look at the church. Because I think we're living in very, very, very crazy, dangerous times, and I mean, I'm sure most of you get depressed when you look at the news, because it just feels like the world has gone mad, social media's gone mad, it just feels like it's a vomit fest everywhere at the moment.

And the Bible talks about some of these things. And so I do believe we're living in what I believe are end times prophecies, prophecies that are now speaking about things that are going to happen globally before the imminent return of Jesus. And we don't know how soon that is. But we do know that many of these things that we're starting to experience are signs. They're kind of like earth pains or birth pains that are kind of preparing us for what's to come.

And I think if we're not aware of what's going on, and if our people aren't aware of what's going on, there is a real danger that we get taken captive by what will be a rise of an antichrist spirit. You know, the Bible actually says that there's demons that have been trapped in hell since before creation, that God has never let loose on the earth, that God is going to let loose on the earth towards the end because of the increase of wickedness.

And that means that there'll be strongholds and strength that the Earth has never seen before that'll be unleashed in the end times. And I can't say, you know, definitely that we're in that now, but it does seem to me that there are variables that are stronger and more powerful than certainly I think they've been around. I think we're seeing some crazy things.

And the Bible talks about new winds of doctrine. Um, and there's warnings about these winds that come, and part of our role as those that observe in an apostolic way, but also as elders working alongside apostles and prophets and evangelists, pastors, and teachers, is to center our people, that they don't get swept up with the new winds of doctrine.

And I think most of you that know me know I'm quite good at calling things out before they come. I think I was the first that I knew who called out Rob Bell with his, you know, there's no longer eternal hell and, you know, Harper love, universalism. The prosperity gospel, obviously, is well known as being a bit whack, with elements of truth, a word of faith, elements of truth, but a lot of things are not right.

I think the hyper grace doctrine, as you know, we called out a number of years ago, prepared our churches, and we actually navigated the hyper grace doctrine really well. Our churches pretty much escaped unscathed as churches around us were decimated. I literally saw whole regions where churches just fell apart, and there aren't even churches left in some of those areas.

But there is a new wind that is blowing, and it's probably the most dangerous wind for us, specifically. Because it targets the very things that are our strengths. And if you've been online, you've been watching the whole anti-charismatic, anti-Pentecostal, anti-prophecy, anti-apostles, there's a whole new Apostolic Reformation, which is something we've worked hard to divorce ourselves from. But we are being roped into that.

People are not thinking things through. Because we believe in apostles and prophets, they think we're part of that same group. Um, and that's really potentially doing damage to us, and will do damage unless we can divorce ourselves very clearly from the really idiosyncrasies and excesses of that group.

And so one of the things for me that we've got to be very careful of as we go forward is to be aware of how people are perceiving things. Um… And there is definitely a global perception right now that's anti-charismatic. I mean, I can't believe that we left traditional churches because we found Jesus. And in many ways, for me, leaving traditional churches was like leaving dead religion when I got born again, the churches.

…taken captive by Satan, and I'll go into some more detail just now, but the devil has managed to get into the church, into the theology of the church, and he's really effectively using Scripture against the Word of God, which is actually what happened in the New Testament.

It's an assault upon the Godhead. It's literally, it's been said that when the Old Testament, you read the Old Testament, you see the people of God rejecting the Father. When the Son came in the New Testament, we see the rejection of the Son in the first century as the second person of the Trinity.

It's like Christians are distorting scriptures to make prophecy what it's not, and to elevate it, or to exaggerate it, and so in that sense, to actually use the Word of God against it. And so we really do need a wits about us to try and navigate it. Am I making sense to you guys, or am I… It's a time of an assault against the Spirit of God and against those who follow the Spirit, and we have to be very wise in how we navigate this.

In man-made systems. We are a word-based, spirit-led movement. And so we have to reframe the narrative and start to show why we are the answer when the Lord is shaking the church, that we actually are the answer. And I feel it's actually a time of great opportunity for us. But we will need great wisdom, and great… we need to be very wise in how we present who we are, so that we can actually be the light that God's called us to be.

And so Paul then goes on in his letter to the Corinthians, and he gives us a long list of how he commends himself, you know, how he and those working with him are commending themselves to the churches. And then in verse 8 of 2 Corinthians 6, he says this, and I want you to hear this. This was the first-century challenge of the early apostles. He says this, that we commend ourselves through honor and dishonor. Through slaughter.

We are the ones that are standing in the truth. And so as unknown yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything.

And so, Paul understood, even in the first century, that the greatest assault upon the health of the church would be upon the apostolic, upon the prophetic, because they're the two underpinning gifts that hold the church well. And what's happening globally is the Word of God, or teachers, are now replacing the apostles and the prophets.

Of God, we don't go beyond it, but we can't allow the dead Bible to replace the living Christ. Does that make sense? We can't allow the dead Bible to replace the living Christ. Jesus is alive, he's raised from the dead, he's seated, he walks among the golden lampstands, yet most churches are existing now just in the written word and not in the living word.

Now, the written word never contradicts the living word, but we must have Jesus in our meetings. We must have the life and the power of the Spirit, because the Bible warns in the end times there'll be a form of religion, but a denying of the power thereof. And so we have to contend for the faith, we have to contend for the truth of Jesus and the power of Jesus, and we have to use the scripture wisely and well so that we don't get maligned and the obstacles aren't placed in the way of our people.

It's interesting in Romans 3:8, Paul talks in Corinthians about being slandered, but in Romans 3:8, one of the things that was used against him is he says that some were slandered for reporting about Paul's teaching, "Let us do evil that good may result." And so one of the strategies that the devil has used in the first century, and still using today, is to take our words and to twist them to make us say what we're not saying.

As Paul said, slanderous reporting that Paul is teaching, "Let us do evil."

14, at the end of Paul's ministry, this is Paul the Apostle. Now, when you read Paul the Apostle, you think Paul the Apostle. But remember, in his day, he was just a man, just like us. They didn't have the… they didn't have the scriptures as cemented as we do in our thinking. So Paul's just one of many men who are ministering in his tongue, and he said this. And he's secondly to Timothy, this is right at the end of his life, he knows he's about to die, and he looks back over his life, and he says this, at my last trial, no one came to my defense.

And it's profound that Paul the Apostle had no one. Everyone in the… and then he says, everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me. And it's profound about that statement, this is Paul writing from jail, the province of Asia is where he spent the majority of his ministry. He spent three years in Ephesus, that was his Joshua generation, that was the church that he had planted. The one church that he had built, the strongest church in the province of Asia, but at the end of his ministry, he says, everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me.

Which means, at the end of his life, the entire Christian world had deserted him. He said, I've got Timothy left. Everyone had turned away, everyone had thought he was false, there was so much slander, so many things said about him, that people were kind of pulling away from him, and we don't think of it like it. But if you read what he says in his letter, his last letter, this is the language, this is the pain of this man that's poured his life out over the churches.

But I want to say he will also go against you with those same things, because he wants to destroy what looks like Jesus. And I believe, with everything inside of me, that our churches are places that Jesus is free to move in. They're churches that are rooted in the truth of God's Word.

And so, actually, you need to be aware of some of these things that I think we're facing, and we need to navigate our way through. We're living in an anti-charismatic world where the charismatic church is now seen as emotional, weak, pathetic, weak in the scriptures, weak in the word of God, and we have to fight to turn that around.

So the other thing that's happening now…

…demonic. And so he'll use the Bible against the Word of God, against the people of God. He did that with Jesus at the temptation. What did he use when he tempted Jesus? The Word of God. So what's He going to use against us? The Word of God.

And so, one of the things you'll find in our people is, as they're exposed to the internet, as they're exposed to social media, is they are being taken captive by Satan using the Word of God. And they sheep, they need shepherds, and because they sheep, they're really quite dumb. And they actually get taken astray quite easily. They very easily get seduced and very easily believe lies, which is why the Bible gives elders, why they are apostles, to contend and to fight for the truth of the Word of God, because people are very easily led astray.

I think people think way too highly of themselves. They think they can just, you know, eat the meat and spit out the bones. But even eldership-driven churches in the New Testament are being taken captive and are being corrected, as we know, in John's letter in Revelation. It's eldership-governed churches that are being taken astray and are being corrected by the apostolic.

And so there is an assault that's coming, and I don't know if you're feeling it yet, but it's there, it's on your doorstep, it's knocking on the hearts of your people, on the minds of your people. And I'm almost certain many of you are already seeing some people drifting toward traditional churches. Catholic, Orthodox, more, you know, Reformed, Baptist-type churches away from the life of the Spirit, because they're inundated with demonic doctrines that are leading that way.

I hope I'm making sense to you guys, but this is coming, and it's coming everywhere. You know, I was chatting with one of the leaders this morning in Africa. And even in areas of Africa, we're seeing this happening, as people are moving away from these things, as the devil has slandered them, and working hard against these things.

So the Bible warns about a number of things. An increase of false teachers, and an increase of rebellious saints.

The nature of Christ's spirit, but an anti-Christ spirit will attack the humility and the submission, the aspects of submission. And so I think a lot of things that we're seeing in the world now about, you know, women pastors, about, you know, men are evil, about the anti… who don't trust leaders. These are the Antichrist Spirit personified. These are the Antichrist Spirit coming at the Word of God, and they… because God is patriarchal, you know that, eh? God is hierarchical. There is the Father, there is the Son, there is the Holy Spirit. Each one is in some order of authority over the other. There are angels, and there are archangels. Authority and hierarchy are godly, but the world and the church is making them evil now, and so they're perceived as being, um, as perceived as being evil.

And then, the Bible says in Matthew 24, verse 10 to 12, Jesus is talking about the end times, which I do think we're in. And then he says this, and I want you to hear this. This is the words of Jesus as he looks forward to our generation. And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another.

And so, again, that tells us that many Christians will actually fall away. There'll be what's Bible called the Great Apostasy, the Great Falling Away, which means that you're going to see huge chunks of the Christian church falling away, and I don't think they're going to fall away into heathenism. They're going to fall away into false religion.

I believe that what happened in the first century, when Jesus, the Word of God, came to his own people, the last 2,000 years has not been in the kingdom of God. There's been a few that have. The Bible says there will be a revival in the end times, and Israel will be saved, so there will be an outpouring. But for a period of time, Israel has been hardened.

But the Bible goes on to talk about the hardening of the Gentiles, that in the end times, there'll be a hardening, and the great apostasy will be the great falling away of the Gentiles. And I believe, just before the return of Christ, you're going to see exactly what Israel did to Jesus when He came, the Church will do to the Spirit, or to the Spirit of Jesus.

Religions will lead many astray. And so you're going to start to find these gifts emerging, teachers and prophets, who will actually lead many people astray. And then, because of lawlessness will be increased, the love of most will grow cold.

In other words, in the end times, Christians will lose love. And I was just thinking, what is love? Because the Bible tells us what love is, and so we need to now look at, okay, if the love of most is going to grow cold, what does that look like within the church?

And if you look at social media, that's what you're seeing. Love holds no record of wrongs. What is social media doing right now? Anyone that's done anything wrong, anyone that was ever hurt by a leader, what's happening? Their wrongs are being celebrated and shouted from the rooftops, and so the record of wrongs is now being used. It's the opposite of love.

Anyone that's hurt or marginalized is using social media as a platform, and there are these ministries that are emerging all over the world, and all they do is they're just calling out leaders. Leaders being called out is the order of the day, and I want to say to you, be very careful about what you see and who you hear getting called out, because even some of the guys that I vastly disagree with theologically, the slander that's being used against them makes them out way worse than they are, and it's causing factions and divisions in the body of Christ.

And this is one of the end times things of this, um… Yeah, like, I mean, what do you think I would think of Joel Osteen? I'm talking to leaders now, so I'm gonna go a little bit unplugged. Joel Osteen is not… I'm not a fan of Joel Osteen, would you believe me? I mean, I would warn people about Joel Osteen, and I saw recently a thing where he's, you know, prosperity, and he's this, that, and the next thing, and I think a lot of what he says is whack and false, and I wouldn't… I wouldn't join his church.

But I saw an interview with him recently, and do you know that he has not drawn a salary from his church? And since he's laid it. And so you go, flip, bro, they're making him out like he's just in for money, he's in for fancy cars, he doesn't even draw a salary from his church. He doesn't own a jumbo jet or a plane. He drives a 10-year-old car. And yet he's being portrayed in a way that's wrong.

And again, I'm not pro the man, I'm not pro his ministry, or what he says, but the slander that's being portrayed is so much worse than what the situation really is. And so we're living in a time of great slander, of great divisiveness. Um, uh, the Bible… and where record of wrongs are being shouted out.

Uh, love always trusts. People are no longer trusting. They don't trust their leaders, they don't trust anyone they believe the worst of, but the Bible says love believes the best of.

I see.

And so people are now… if there's any hint, if people can read anything that you or I do, and this is for you too, anything that you do is now perceived through the negative lens. People won't believe the best of you, they'll believe the worst of you, which makes it extremely difficult to be a leader, because if you… Even Jesus, they turned his words to the point that they said he was Beelzebub.

And so in the end times, it's gonna be worse. And so you do realize that we are living in times of just huge challenges as we try and lead our people because they won't believe the best of us. They won't trust. They'll listen to the record of wrongs and they'll believe them.

And so, what's effectively happening, and I'm trying to let you know what I think is happening, and then what we're doing to combat this later, is effectively, um, wokeness, or secular humanism, or cultural Marxism, has now infiltrated into the church, into the theology of the church.

Do you remember, um, Black Lives Matter, All Men Are Evil, uh, the whole victim thing? That narrative has now been adopted by the church, um, and it's coming through the wicket of bad theology. You know, speak up for orphans and widows, um, speak up for justice.

Um, and so, I think Francis Frangipani, you've heard me say this, said this years ago, show me what the world is teaching now, and I'll show you what the church will teach in 7 years' time.

The victim has been hurt, their narrative is a true narrative. But the problem is, um… I saw an article recently, um, there was a guy in Bethel, and obviously a leader who sinned, he was 30 years old, he had a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old who was in one of their Bible schools.

And, um… And so the narrative created is, she's a victim. And he's an abuser. And I'm thinking, hang on a minute, she's 23 years old. What he did is wrong. As a leader, he should have been above reproach. His sin is worse. But she is no victim at 23 years old. She climbed into bed, as much as he didn't rape her, she climbed in on her own accord.

And so what's happening now is that the narrative is created that she's innocent, because he used his power against her. But you forget that Proverbs is full of warning to the young leader of the young woman who uses her sexuality to pull him into bed. And so the Bible warns, actually, that she's the danger to the leader, but now he's the danger.

And so they must be held to account. And, you know, the Soviet Union, it's good to see Hansi online, it's good to see you, Bru, and I hear you guys had an amazing time. Hansi's from Russia. But when the Soviet Union came into power, it was underscored in its beliefs around Marxism. And the first thing that it did was it destroyed leaders.

In any country, in any place where leaders were a threat, it killed leaders. It just destroyed anyone that was a threat. That spirit is now in the church. And so there is a spirit active in the world that's going to go for leaders. It's an extremely dangerous time to be a leader in the church.

I was joking with the 412 core guys. The only way to survive this without getting in trouble is going to be to be a seeker-sensitive, man-pleasing, God-loves-you-no-matter-what-you-do kind of leader. Don't lead, and don't challenge, and don't correct anyone, because they will get hurt by you, and they'll create a narrative and go online, and so your head's gonna roll.

And so, at the end of the day, we're seeing the devil try to… this is the Antichrist spirit.

There might be some conspiracy theorists on this platform right now, but whatever you believe about vaccines, you know, there may be some good and some bad, I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. But I would say this. When I was a young man, I had friends who had polio, because they didn't… polio, the vaccine hadn't been developed properly yet. And I haven't seen anyone with polio in years, because vaccines stopped that.

And so, you know, you might have… whatever you believe, but I can tell you now. Vaccines did stop certain things. We're seeing measles starting to emerge now in the States on a level we've never seen. It's been dead for years, and now children are dying from measles because of the anti-vax thing.

And again, I'm not going down that rabbit hole, so let's not go down that. But all I want to say is this. There is a wisdom in giving our people inoculation before they're exposed to the full weight of a disease. And we have to be inoculating our people because there is a wind of doctrine coming at them that is so strong.

Online, you should be following the things we're putting out, because we're not just putting random things out, we are putting vaccines out right now to try and inoculate us and our people from what we see is now a demonic thing that's sweeping across the church, and we have to protect our people from what's coming.

And what that means is, if your people aren't watching what we're doing, you're dead on the water. You need to know that. Because this thing's coming for you. It's coming for your church. It's coming for the people that you're responsible for. And if they haven't been following what we're doing online, they have no… you have no vaccine. This thing's gonna destroy when it hits you.

And so I'm not looking for trying to build a social media platform, but I'm telling you now, if you're not following what we're doing online, you are… you're being dumb. You're being really dumb, because we're picking things up in the spirit that we're trying to protect the churches with.

There's… and even though… does this… hopefully this is all making sense to you, I'm being kind of unfiltered, because I think the times call us to… to… we need to be aware of how dangerous these things are right now.

And so, again, I would encourage you, you'd be following what we're saying.

A while ago that in the framework of today's world makes you look crazy. And 10 years ago, it was fine. It was almost like this, you know, my daughter, a little, I'll tell you a bit about my daughter. California is super liberal. And so, she recently, in one of our congregations in California, was on her way to the ladies' room, and she was wearing a beautiful little dress with flowers on it. I mean, she looked pretty, she looked beautiful, she's a lovely young girl.

And on the way to the bathroom, at a church, two girls stopped her and said, "Are you Amish?"

The narrative changes, what's normal looks weird. And I think the narrative is changing. And so what's normal is now starting to look weird and dangerous even. And so again, we have to be very careful to take the narrative back and to help our people understand that what we're saying is biblical, obedience to leaders is biblical, but we have to frame it wiser and better.

You can't be… if you're not nuanced in how you say it right now, you are going to get crucified, because your people are going to hear you through a very negative lens. And so, I think one of the dangers with us is we're not… we haven't historically carried finesse. We haven't historically nuanced ourselves well.

And I think in this modern culture, if we don't nuance our language, if we're not careful how we say what we say, we are going to put ourselves into traps that are going to crucify us, and really do damage to our own ministries, to our churches, and to the field of churches.

And so we need to, you know, have our wits about us as we speak, and to be aware of the fact that we're living in a hostile environment. You're not living in a friendly environment anymore. You're living in a hostile antichrist environment, and so choose your words wisely, and be careful how you say what you say.

Um, you can't afford to be loose with your lips, and I also want to say this. Part of our job is going to be, when Jesus came and he taught, people did not understand what he was saying. Like, he would teach, and he was a great teacher, and people were confused. Even the disciples, like, what are you saying? We don't understand. Are you saying this? At times, they were offended by him.

Do you remember the one time Jesus taught? And all… the biggest crowd he ever had, 5,000 men, with probably 15,000-20,000 people, and he says something that's offensive to them, they don't understand it, and everyone leaves him. And then he looks at the 12, and he says, are you going to leave me too? And they go, where do we go? You've got the words of life.

The fact is, they were offended by what he said, and he had to explain to them what he was saying. Our communication, my communication, is going to become increasingly offensive to people, because they are being taken captive to believe things that are actually lies.

And so when you say the truth, even if you say it well, people are going to hear it through a wrong lens, and they're going to say, he's saying this! And so part of your job is going to be to get to know your people well enough to catch them when they're wobbling, and to stabilize them, and settle them. Because if you don't catch them soon enough…

And there's actually camps of people right now. Paul had a thorn in his flesh, and… you know, people that are following him, the Judaizers who are following him around, we effectively have people that are hunting us.

I don't know if you guys saw the Ari video that we did. But there are actually groups of people right now who are effectively hunting myself, hunting Jonathan on the Isle of Man. They are effectively hunting us. I was dealing with a scenario this morning in Uganda… sorry, in Zambia, where I… I am convinced there is… that they are setting traps for us, trying to discredit us, trying to find ways to discredit us, to put out social media things against us, to take our words out of context, and so you've got to be aware of the fact that we are being… Jesus said, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves.

And he warned us that our enemies would actually come from where? From within God's house. He actually said that, uh, where did he say this? Um… I've got it on my notes somewhere. I'll find it later. He says something down the effects of, in the end times, brother will betray brother, handing brother over to the authorities. This is a warning of the end times church.

And so these are some of the things that I think are going to be happening more and more and more.

And then, in the middle of all of this. In the middle of all of this, you've got ChatGPT and Grok and all these things, and they are potentially helpful, but also very dangerous tools, primarily because they listen to the loud narratives that are online, and our people are using them more and more instead of Google.

And so there's been a shift happening now where people are asking theological questions to ChatGPT, to Grok, and ChatGPT and Grok are both Calvinists, in case you didn't know, mainly because Calvinism has taken the moral high ground when it comes to universities.

It comes to various things, which means our people are getting a steady narrative from most of these platforms that's against the spirit, that's against emotionalism, that's against experience, and that's more… so effectively, the devil is using these things now to fashion and form our people, and I want to encourage you.

Be very careful when you're using these tools. I have had to correct them so many times, and I've realized now it's not worth correcting because they don't actually change. They just change on my algorithm. They don't change on yours.

But ChatGPT and Grok are whack theologically, and if you're listening to them, you're going to be whack theologically. You need to keep your wits about you. There is so much whack stuff on AI right now, and so be very careful of getting your facts from AI, because AI is… Man, it's… there's some historical things that you can use, but even historically, I've had to work really hard to get facts out of them.

They're great search engines, but even as search engines, they fail dismally. And so I want to warn you guys, be very careful. These things are becoming very dangerous, and again, ChatGPT is not your friend. The devil is the god of this world. I guarantee you, the Spirit of God is not behind ChatGPT, and so be careful as you navigate, and your people navigate some of these things.

Doing, um, and make sure that they are careful. And I would say this as well, um. Be, be careful of, uh, what you're listening to. Be careful of forming opinions around all these, uh, platforms that are… just, just be careful, just be careful.

So, coming to me personally. I had a massive moment with God about a few months ago, and I want to tell you a bit of my story, because I think something shifted over us as a movement, and again, I think it's important you realize this.

Paul, the Apostle, says in Acts 20, verse 23. He says, and now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what'll happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

Paul heard from the Holy Spirit that what was coming to him was imprisonment and afflictions. That's a very profound thing for the Spirit to tell you, isn't it? I mean, this is what's coming your way. It's a bit like when Jesus said to Peter at the end of John, in John 21. That when you're old, basically, you're going to be crucified.

And so sometimes the Lord tells us that things are coming that are going to be very dangerous to us. And I had a time with the Lord where… and I… we're burning time, so I can't give you all the details, but… where the Lord spoke to me and said to me that He was going to destroy me and destroy 412. He was going to take us down, and allow slander and gossip to actually malign us to the point that we would be destroyed as a movement, and my credibility was going to be destroyed.

I want you to know that I do not believe, and with everything in my heart, that we've done anything that justifies the slander that will come, and that has already come at us. I think a lot of people struggled with the fact that we didn't defend ourselves as well as we should have with some of the videos that have been done.

And I want you to know that I wanted to fight that video tooth and nail. I'm a lawyer, man. I wanted to take that guy down. But my core team wouldn't let me. And they felt… they felt that if you… you know, there's two times. Jesus… is silent before he's accusers, but at the same time, at times, Paul defends himself.

My core team was unanimous that we were not to defend. I fought hard to even do the video that I did. It wasn't enough. Some people think that the video did damage because it gave oxygen to those that maligned us. I wish we'd done more, but I want to be a man under submission.

But, uh, so what we did is we didn't actually engage that video properly, because you're just gonna end up with a horrible fight. But what we did do, and we are doing, is putting out defenses.

And so a lot of what we've been doing over the last while has been building defenses so that when the war comes again, we can stand, that we've put out enough information and enough clarification that we can point to things that we've said and done over the last, you know, time, and said, look, we've clarified this thing, go look at this.

And so, again, the need for you to be following what we're saying. We've also had to correct some things, because I do think we've been sloppy in some of the things that we've said and done.

So, at times, we've got away with murder, because our people do believe the best of us, because they are extremely obedient. And so we haven't been wise in how we've communicated some of the things we've said.

I think what we've said, if you understand what we're saying, is true. But because we haven't nuanced those things well, it's created… it's created opportunities for the devil to reframe what we're saying, and actually has made us look like we're saying things that are dangerous.

And so again, I want to encourage us, we've got to be so careful going forward, how we communicate, what we communicate, that we're communicating things very well, very balanced, very nuanced, that we're presenting every side well.

Otherwise, the enemy's going to use these things against us. And again, we've been trying to put out a lot of those things. We've also had to correct some things.

So, I recently did a video, I don't know if you all saw it, on correcting the teaching about the curse of Malachi in the Tithe. I think there's a doctrine that has been through much of the Charismatic Church. We actually are putting out corrections.

If you're not following what we're doing, you're not going to know about these things. You're going to create problems for yourself. Because as a movement, we're needing to draw some clearer, stronger lines to protect the movement and the truth that the movement carries into our people.

And so, a lot of these things we've been doing, oh man, I've burned so much time. We're also trying to encourage guys like Luke Halle, Sean Briderseth, Mark Davies, and others, putting out a lot of video content that will also try and better articulate what we believe, because again, I think we've been sloppy in our language, and we need to be wise in how we say what we say.

So, I want to remind you, and I'll… that scripture I quoted earlier, and then I'm gonna jump. Matthew 10, 16 to 19. Jesus said, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves."

Be wise as a serpent. And as innocent as a dove. Put no obstacle, Paul said, before the people. Beware of men, he said, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues. Notice it's in their synagogues, it's in their religious meetings that you and I are going to be flogged, and you'll be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

It's part of what God is going to do in the end times. And so again, be wise, a serpent, and be as gentle as doves. Be careful as a movement. You know, we've got to shepherd people, but be careful of over-shepherding.

Be careful of fighting so hard for people, harder for people than they want to be fought for. Be careful of putting people into bondage of your faith. Ultimately, you've got to work with their faith, not with your faith.

Be very careful that we don't exercise our authority in such a way that actually our people feel they need to obey us more than they need to obey the Lord. We need to help them hear the Lord. And if they're not hearing the Lord, help them to hear the Lord. But don't you use, "Well, I don't have peace about this," as a way to hold them in bondage.

Ultimately, they're free, they're not yours, they're His, and they need to work out their own salvation with fear and with trembling, and so you need to be very careful as you lead them, that you give them the truth, but you give it in such a way that they're free.

And over-fought for people, and it's actually… it's a dangerous, dangerous thing for us. Is that making sense? So, uh, be very careful of that as you go forward. Yes, you can advise, yes, you can show the scriptures, but you can't lord it over people's faith.

Uh, and so be very careful of stepping over that line as you shepherd the flock of God that is under your care.

Um, alright. Where am I? Um… alright. Okay, so we are working hard now to try and put things out that are going to help us, bring correctives to us as a movement, clarifications, um, where we need to, or communicating things better than we have.

All of these things. It's pretty terrifying to be a leader, isn't it? I mean, they're coming for you, Bru, and Brunette. They're coming for us, and we are gonna be thrown to wolves.

And there is a sense that even if you do this perfectly, like, Jesus did it perfectly, and they threw him, they crucified him. And if I'm right about the end times, which I think I am, they're going to want to crucify you too.

And I want to say, there's a few scriptures that I want to put to you as you navigate this, because you need to be a bold and courageous leader. Remember Joshua, as he's supposed to lead Israel into the Promised Land, and I often laugh, you know, Joshua, the people come to Joshua and they say, as we followed Moses, so we'll follow you.

And that's got to be the most terrifying thing to hear, because they never followed Moses well at all. They wanted to kill him on a few occasions. And now they're like, now we want to follow you the same way.

And then God says to Joshua right at the start, be bold and very courageous. Be bold and very courageous. And as leaders, I want to say this, if you shrink back in fear, you will lose the presence of God.

If you allow the people's voice to become louder than the voice of the Good Shepherd, you will lose the presence of God. You'll become a people's pleaser. And if you're a people's pleaser, you will not please God.

And so I want to say to you, be very careful that you found in the presence of God, that you found courageous, wise as a serpent.

Leads the church, that prophecy is for today, that apostles and prophets lay foundations, that the Word of God isn't just the Bible, it's the living Word. We cannot shrink back from Jesus leading our meetings, from tongues and interpretation of tongues, from believing and… we can't shrink back.

And so I want to say to us, if we shrink back, we're going to be destroyed. Realize that they're falling away from God. In the name of God, they're falling away from God.

And I want to put it to you, brothers, we cannot fall away. Paul says this. Um, and sorry, Jude says as the brother of Jesus in Jude, uh, 3, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.

We must contend for…

And signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Guys, we need boldness like never before. And at the same time, we need the Lord to come and to confirm His Word with signs and wonders and miracles.

And I want to put it to you. That we need to get before God and say, "Lord, unless You go with us, how will they know? Unless You are evident in our meetings, how will they know?"

We need Your presence more than ever before. We need Your power more than ever before. We need signs, wonders, and miracles, that there can be no disputing that God is with us, that prophecy is calling the unbeliever to fall to his knees and say, truly, God is among you.

And I want to call you to be bold and courageous, wise as serpents. But bold and courageous as you lead the people of God to possess the land that's God for them.

We will not shrink back. We will not draw back. We're called to be a prophetic, apostolic people that'll take the land that God has got for us to take.

And so rise up with boldness, man, and lead wisely. Listen to what we're doing, keep yourself up to date with what we're doing, so that you're equipped, and equip your people, so that we can move forward together in unity.

And then I want to say this, guard the unity of the Spirit. Distance is a dangerous thing, you know? How is it that the churches that Paul spent so long working into deserted him at the end of his life? How is it that, you know, they… and I want to say to you, this is not about me, it's not about… this is about unity.

God says where there's unity, I command blessing, even life forevermore. And what's brought us this far has been we have kept the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace, and I want to call you to keep contending for these things.

Be careful of forming into your little factions and making it all about your little field, and not about the big thing of what God's calling us to. I was saying…

It's not about us. It's about the glory of Jesus in the nations of the world. And as we've been united and kept the unity of the Spirit, and as we continue in this, I believe we've walked in the commanded blessing of God. I believe God wants to bring greater blessing. But we're going to have to contend for the unity of the faith like never before. We're going to have to have conversations where we… because the narratives are becoming so loaded and so heavy that we fight to guard the unity that God has given us, and we fight to keep our people with us as we work our way through.

Alright. And so, where am I? Guys, be careful of just… you know, our churches are growing quickly. Most of our churches are doubling and tripling, and I think… I know, Josh, in South Africa, I think it's growing 3,500 people in the last two years. In America, we've tripled in size. The churches… Canada's exploding. People are coming in with bad doctrines, guys. They're coming in with bad teachings. They're coming in like orphans that haven't been trained well. We need to make sure that we are training and equipping our people in what the Word of God teaches.

Be careful of, um… you look at this is church and these things, and again, I'm not into… I'm not trying to sell books and all these things, but these truths were fought for over years. I know it's an inconvenience to go through this is church and to take our people through weeks of what it means to orientate them into the values of this church. But if you're not orientating your people well and rooting them in the truths that God has given us, you're setting yourself up for disaster.

At some point, their beliefs are going to fight against you because they are like orphans in the family. You've got to bring them into the values, bring them into the things that God has… and teach them effectively what God has taught us and what God has given us.

Alright, I want to talk about other things, but we're running out of time. I'm trusting we're going to see more fivefold gifts emerging within the field. We're looking to try and develop evangelists and even look at different kinds of evangelists. We're doing a lot of prophetic training. We've been doing a lot of things on the prophetic because, again, the prophetic and the apostolic are the two that are getting hammered the most.

But we also want to see evangelists emerging, and we're going to… follow us, we'll talk about how that'll work going forward as we try and develop evangelists who'll travel across the field effectively and really help them to do well.

Regarding, um, prophecy, where am I? Um… Guys, prophecy, because of the attack on prophecy and on the apostolic, we've got to be very careful how we communicate prophecy, what it is. We've put out a lot of resources recently on New Testament prophecy because there's a lot of confusion about what prophecy is and what it isn't.

But again, we wanted to draw the prophetic closer to us, bring them through in the conferences, to try and teach people how to walk closely with the prophetic, and to effectively have the prophetic voices in our times together. The Bible says the foundations of the church are laid by apostles and prophets. There is definitely a sense that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.

So we're needing to see the prophets emerging, but I need to say this, not untempered by the Word of God, not kept by the Word of God, but kept, tested. The Bible says, don't despise prophecy, but test it and hold to what is good. We need… if there's ever been a time to test prophecy, it's now, but we mustn't despise prophecy. We must test it and hold to what is true so that the prophetic voices can help us navigate what God is saying.

Of churches. And then I think, is there anything else here? I think that was mostly, I've gone just over an hour, which I was hoping to do. So these are some of the things that we're feeling. There's obviously many more things that God is saying.

But I believe that we're in a time of great danger, but also of great opportunity. I was before the Lord in prayer, and, you know, almost at one point, we were chatting with some of the core guys and saying, do we just go offline, just go off-grid and just try and disappear? Because it feels like there are fires burning across the body of Christ. It's so dangerous to be a leader right now.

I actually feel like it's a time of great opportunity for us because we are Spirit and Word. We are a people who are rooted in the truth of the Word of God. We don't put man-made traditions and man-made systems. We're not denominational. We haven't allowed the traditions of men to infiltrate us. We've kept ourselves faithful to the truths of the Word of God.

It's so funny that those who say they are Word-based have brought in traditions and systems that are actually not in the Word, that are not in the Scriptures. They've ignored what the Bible says about governance. They've ignored what the Bible says about the Spirit being active and alive and moving in the churches. They've just settled for a form of religion and a denying of the power thereof.

But we are of the Holy Spirit. We are a people of the Word of God. And I want to encourage us that we hold going forward, that we're wise and careful. We're obviously needing to see more and more teachers emerging within us that will also help our people understand why we are biblical, why we are the people that you can trust, why our teachings are doctrinally sound and centered, why Reformed teaching and much of its anti-Spirit stuff is wrong, why Catholicism is wrong, why the Orthodox Church is wrong.

While there might be some beautiful truths in each of these things, they fundamentally aren't reflecting the truths of the Word of God. We're going to have to be putting things out to effectively teach these things, and we're not out to try and point at everyone else. But we need to help our people understand that we're in a time of great deception, and we need to be very, very wise as we teach and shepherd and lead people.

The good thing is it forces us all to grow, to become better stewards of the grace and the mystery that God has given us, to be better communicators of what God is asking us to say, because these things will grow us.

The threats can help us if we wisely steward them well to be better communicators, better leaders, more effective, with fewer obstacles in the way as we shepherd the flock that God has put under our care. I want to encourage you. Grow, man, stretch yourself, listen to what we're doing, and learn how to articulate things well, with nuance and balance.

The black and white guys among us, balance yourselves well, communicate well so that we can remove every obstacle from the way of the people. What John the Baptist was supposed to do was remove the obstacles from our people, remove the valleys and the high places, and prepare the way for the Lord.

Jesus is coming back soon. We need to prepare the church to be a pure, spotless bride. The bride of Christ is being ravaged from within and from without. But we are called to shepherd her and to present her beautiful for Jesus in that last day. I want to call you to do that effectively and wisely and well, in partnership with us as we work together as one man to present a beautiful bride to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So work carefully with us. If you're getting flak from people, remember this: if you're doing things that people are wobbling on, bring it to other leaders so that we can not give the devil a foothold, and that we can learn and grow. In other words, if someone's battling with what you're saying or what you're doing, make sure that you are living a very accountable life.

Make sure that there are people that will speak into you because if you make mistakes, you're going to get crucified. It's a dangerous, dangerous time, but it's also a time where you and I can learn to grow to be better.

Yes, I'm here.

Any questions?

Yes. Hey, Andrew, on behalf of all the lead guys internationally, thank you for laying down your life. Thank you for leading us. I think we want to do more of this. We want to hear your voice. We need to hear your voice. We need proximity with you because even through this tonight, the more proximity, the more grace actually flows to us.

So, thank you. Thank you for living a life that looks like Jesus. Let me pray.

Father, thank you for tonight. Thank you for hundreds of men and wives as well, all across the nations. Lord, thank you for a fulfillment of your promise that says, ask and I will give you the nations for your inheritance.

And Lord, with every wind of doctrine about in these last days, we ask that you would fill us afresh with boldness. We speak your word. Elders, be bold. Be courageous. Receive an impartation of fresh courage, the Holy Spirit, tonight. And let us never hold back.

And Lord, I thank you for a kingdom that's advancing and violent men will take it by force. So in this new season, may we walk in that strength. May this word tonight really do a miraculous work within us and protect us and help us to stand against winds of doctrine, help us to shepherd our people well, help us to love them well, the smell of the sheep, yeah, and to lead them through the darkest of times into your presence forever, yeah.

Favor and blessing we ask upon your people, that we would make much of Jesus and glorify His name in all we do through your church. Amen.