Be Wary of Misleading, Controlling, & Apostate YouTube Ministry Channels
1 John 4:1 (all scripture Berean Study Bible) “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
In this piece I hope to shed some light on how to spot the ‘Misleading, Controlling, and Apostate Ministry Channels’ on YouTube. I will not ‘Name Names’ but instead point out some of the ‘Errors’ we should look out for. Seeing how over the past several years I have ‘grown in my discernment’ through the gleaning of sound and even learning ‘what is error’ from the unsound information from multiple YouTube Ministry Channels. Therefore, I feel this is an important topic to write about, especially in these Last Days!
The information gleaned was from things concerning what the Bible has to say about the End Times and the Pretribulation Rapture. After watching and listening to literally countless hours of preaching, interviews, and shows from several ‘reputable ministries’ on YouTube, I feel led to share what I have learned over the years.
Back when I first started out in this ‘gleaning of information,’ it was like I had this ‘voracious appetite’… I absolutely ‘could not get enough’ on the hearing/learning about Our Blessed Hope! One of the first channels I started listening to/watching was about visions and dreams concerning the Rapture. For a while I really enjoyed this channel and even periodically supported their biblical outreach efforts.
Over time though, I started to discern that this channel was more or less ‘Sensational’ in the fact that visions and dreams are just that. One, we really do not have the capacity to interpret them, and two, we ultimately should not look to them for answers concerning our future. So, to base one’s whole ministry on these kinds of subjects tends to be ‘Speculative’ at best, especially when it comes to heeding one’s discernment.
To reinforce this stance, I recently revisited this channel and found out that after all these years, they still interpret visions and dreams, but now they also seem to base a lot of their ministry on ‘certain prophecies’ too. Prophecies, mind you, that come from a ‘Modern-Day Prophet’ who has since passed away in recent years. Basically, the ‘discernment takeaway’ is this: if a book, site, or ministry claims to have ‘certain knowledge or prophecies’ that comes from any ‘Modern-Day Prophet or Prophetess,’ then one would be wise to steer clear of those kinds of claims!
Foreknowledge: awareness of something before it happens or exists.
Synonyms: far-sightedness, foresight, psychic powers, clairvoyance, prediction, prognostication, divination, prophecy, insight, vision, intuition, perception, third eye
Even if some of the ‘so-called modern-day prophecies’ have come true, the fact of the matter is that there will be others that will not come true. The reason that modern-day prophecies will not always come true is because God has already sovereignly given us all the prophecies that we need! Most of His Prophecies have already been fulfilled, and the remaining ones will soon come to pass in the very near future!
God’s Prophecies from His Prophets are already all recorded in His Holy Word! His Word of Truth is all that we will ever need! Therefore, we should not look to ‘Extrabiblical Sources’ much less ‘New Revelations’ to tell us what God has already sovereignly told us through His Divine Foreknowledge!
Deuteronomy 18:22 “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.”
Another Misleading Ministry Channel I started following around that time concerned ‘Stargazing’ as in the observance of the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Stars. This channel used the means of stargazing to search for signs in connection of when the Rapture is to happen. This channel, first of all, should have raised flags right off the bat due to their heavy focus on Astrology, not to mention the ‘constant astronomical observations’ which tended to wear one out over time! Wearing their audience down with their day-after-day surveillance, having us waiting and watching exhaustively for the astrological signs to manifest into the final coming of our King in the Rapture!
Over time I came to discern that this too was mainly ‘Speculation.’ Speculation includes things like Date- Setting, Signs, Numbers, Numerology, Repetition (seeing repeated words and numbers), Dreams, Visions, Astronomy, Astrology, and the like. These are things that create ‘hype and give people things to constantly look for’ without any real substance to go on and/or any sound judgment and/or theology behind it all.
Deuteronomy 4:19 “When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.”
Some other channels had ‘certain heretical pastors’ that taught things like ‘only follow the teachings of Paul and not Jesus’… which obviously makes no sense whatsoever! Also, that when the Rapture happens, all of a sudden there is going to be rivers of blood everywhere because ‘flesh and blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven’ … seriously?! Talk about unsound doctrine and theology! Another one taught that Jesus is Michael the Archangel… Where have we heard that before?! Blatant and obvious heresy, to say the least!
Some pastors raised alarm bells by their ‘heavy affiliation’ with celebrities… it should not take much discernment to see what is wrong with this picture. Also, some with their ‘Avid Globetrotting,’ which showed that they were obviously hardly ever at home, for one thing. Then to compound the issue, they never seem to ‘show much love’ concerning their wives, much less mention them ‘even in passing’ on social media! This speaks volumes to me when I remember God’s command is for Husbands to love their Wives as Christ loves the Church. So, when I see a pastor who does not seem to carry this out, it is pretty discerning and concerning at the same time.
2 Peter 2:1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”
In more recent years, I have been following what seemed like a ‘great ministry’ concerning these Last Days and the soon-coming Rapture, but ‘recent events’ have clued me in to the fact that this ministry is not without its flaws either. ‘Controlling’ would best describe this channel, as in ‘controlling the narrative,’ so to speak. For example, the main premise of this ministry is to ‘call out’ other ministries who are either apostate and/or who are teaching heresy.
On the one hand, this has been ‘highly beneficial’ to the Church in discerning who we should and should not listen to or adhere to. On the other hand, though, when this ministry is also ‘called out’ because they have their own flaws as well, the narrative suddenly changes on a dime! It was as if they had to ‘change the storyline’ in order to ‘save face’ and/or do ‘damage control.’
Basically, when it came time for them to ‘take a little dose of their own medicine,’ all of a sudden the portrayal becomes, ‘we are being attacked, this is not ethical or right, everyone needs to support and encourage one another instead’! So, in essence, they can ‘dish the criticism out,’ but when the shoe is on the other foot, it suddenly becomes unfair. Discernment says that this is a very ‘manipulative and controlling’ practice, to say the least.
Matthew 24:4 “Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you.'”
There are more or less other ‘quack’ ministry channels that I could elaborate on as well, but the examples I mentioned are some of the more pressing ones that we should look out for. In these last days and hours, it becomes imperative that we rely more and more on what God’s Word has to say, and less and less on what certain pastors, ministries, and/or channels have to say.
If turning away from channels or ministries like these is what we have to do, then so be it, no matter how hard it may be. For people like me, these friendly voices have become a ‘sort of companion,’ if you will, over the years, but I ultimately want the Truth and nothing but the Truth! So, my Admonition is to Pray and ask God for His Wisdom and Discernment and for the Holy Spirit to lead you into All Truth! More importantly, deception is running rampant and blatant lies are being told every day throughout our media, news outlets, and television; so we need Truth over Error now more than ever!
The takeaway is this: ‘be wary, be discerning, and be careful of what you allow in’! Secular TV, movies, music, books, and all worldliness is not our friend! Deception has even crept into the Church! New Age, Masons, Witches, Yoga, Buddhism, and Hinduism among other ‘Satanic Practices and Religions’ have all infiltrated! So again, I say be wary, be discerning, and be very careful of what you allow into your lives! YouTube has been a ‘godsend’ in many ways for me, but it can also be very detrimental to some who do not know what to discern and look out for!
Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
Until next time… Maranatha!
(JESUS = THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE)