book review—Wandering Stars by Keith Gibson

very informative

A few years ago, a church decided to have a circus perform during one of their services. The sad part isn't so much that this happened, but that far too much of the church has become a circus in its own right.

This book gives the reader a good view of one aspect of the unfunny circus that is the church today, with numerous examples of the unbiblical things taught by those who call themselves apostles and prophets, the inaccurate prophecies the so-called prophets have given, and the ways these people who call themselves apostles and prophets try to cover up their bad teachings and keep anyone from keeping them accountable.

This is a very important and informative book. Far too many people in the church today are being deceived, and books like this are there to help people see the deceptions. I highly recommend it.

james goll really needs to just stop

Those commands do not imply that we have to believe that our circumstances are fitting exactly with God’s will for us. We’re just supposed to be thankful. As we worship with words of gratitude, our sacrifice becomes a railroad track of faith and it can carry a payload of prayer:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2 NASB).

In other words, thanksgiving is the key to releasing God’s supernatural power. Even Jesus used this key. Look how He performed the miracle of the multiplication of the bread and fish (see John 6:1-13). First, He picked up the skimpy number of loaves and fishes in both hands. Then, “having given thanks” (John 6:11 NASB) and having lifted them up before God, He was able to distribute to the hungry thousands as much bread and fish as they wanted.

Goll, James W.; Dupre, Chris (2012-06-19). The Lost Art of Pure Worship (Kindle Locations 502-512)

In other words? How do either of those passages equate to Goll's "in other words"? Neither of them even come close to saying that "thanksgiving is the key to releasing God's supernatural power". Then, pointing to the time in John 6 when Jesus gave thanks for the food that was distributed to the thousands is rather weak. Jesus did many miracles, and there is no obvious practice that He went acted similarly every time. Nor does it hint that somehow thanksgiving is the ultimate way to get God to do something.

Yes, being grateful to God is a good thing, that's not being disputed here. But it's not what Goll wants us to think it is. Nothing in Scripture even hints that thanksgiving releases God's supernatural power, that's just silly.

Having read a bit of Goll's writings before, it's not like this kind of thing is surprising. I'm pretty convinced that he's one of those who doesn't so much go to the Bible to find out what it says and then adjusts his own thinking accordings, but takes his own ideas and speculations to the Bible and shoehorns verses and verse fragments to force them to fit those ideas and speculations. Thus, in order to claim that "thanksgiving is the key to releasing God's supernatural power", he simply finds some verses that mention giving thanks, and smashes them into the shape he wants, even if those passages don't.

So, yeah, someone needs to tell Goll to retire. Please, for the love of all of us, please, someone, do that!! I'm sure he's well-off, he's a Word of Faith false teacher after all, surely he has enough holy-hanky and miracle-selling funds stored up to live well for the rest of his days, so long as he avoids Benny Hinn miracle-selling crusades. But I assure you, James Goll has writing quite enough books to make his NAR apostasy influence last for many, many years. At some point, it's just too much. If he goes much further, he'll become a parody of himself, kind of like Bill Johnson.

james goll doubles down on false visions

On one Mother's Day, I decided to give Michal Ann a very special Mother's Day present. The best gift I could think of was to pray for her. As I began to pray, my spiritual eyes were opened for a moment and, over Ann's head, I saw a clear crystal pitcher etched with the numbers "9" and "2" in the mathematical configuration of "nine to the second power." Then I heard the words in my spirit, "We are going for the double this time."

James W. Goll;Michal Ann Goll. God Encounters: The Prophetic Power Of The Supernatural To Change Your Life (Kindle Locations 2143-2146). Kindle Edition.

If you're familiar with math, even from high school, you may have read that started scratching your head.

"Nine to the second power" is not that same as "nine doubled". "Nine doubled" would 9x2, or basically 9+9. "Nine to the second power" is very different, it would be 9x9, or adding nine 9s together. In other words, this spirit talks about doubling, 9x2, but the symbol on the jar stands for 9 squared.

And if you think this may be just a bit of a mistake on his part, read on...

I watched as this beautiful pitcher was tipped down, and clear water poured out upon Michal Ann's head. The fluid seemed to literally go down inside her being. The Holy Spirit said, "I am going to teach you about `the double: You have heard that Elisha asked a difficult thing-he asked for a double portion of the anointing that rested upon Elijah, and he received it. We are going for `the double' this time." I continued to watch as the water poured into my wife, and it seemed that brown sediment was pushed deep down inside her (as it is with all of us!). Then light brown water began pouring out of her, as the clear water kept pouring in from above.

James W. Goll;Michal Ann Goll. God Encounters: The Prophetic Power Of The Supernatural To Change Your Life (Kindle Locations 2146-2150). Kindle Edition.

So, the voice in his vision (it's not the Holy Spiirt) even relates it to Elisha asking for double from Elijah.

Oh, and don't miss the context of his little vision--this is his gift for Mother's Day to his wife, the mother of their children. Funny, when I read that, I thought I had a vision of seeing a bunch of little chicks running about saying "Cheap!"