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Official public
response to
accusations
about "Spiritual Marriage" teachings
from Doug Perry
- 6/28/08
Dear Saints,
Lynn Clark (the
moderator of RevivalSchool's forum and a dear sister who was there
praying for me when this ride started in earnest for me on November
23, 2004) asked me to respond to some of the accusations made against
me on that forum. First, I want to make it clear that this all went
public - and a BUNCH of people started doing videos and supposedly
"exposing" me - immediately after I started posting videos
about the Todd Bentley, Lakeland thing. So far as I know, none
of them are Bentley supporters, but the spirit of antichrist is all
around attacking the remnant that won't shut up. I know that
every time we poke at the enemy there is push-back - and usually from
those closest to us. This is nothing new to me and not a reason for
me to spend my days defending myself all over the internet. I
have let this go without response for many weeks now - as the Lord
has led me to just keep my head down and let them bang their pots and
pans. That changed on 6/21/08.
In the last three
and a half years, I have given up everything. I said that He could
have whatever He wanted and He pretty much took it all - yet I
wouldn't undo any of it. Only God knows the fullness of the tears and
groaning and sacrifice - and that's fine with me. One of the most
important things that He taught me was about how well HE can defend
me and that there are times to turn the other cheek and let those who
insist on useless quarrels spend themselves toward that end without
my participation. We are to turn the other cheek and be led
like sheep to the slaughter. And yet, in our quest to be like Jesus,
there IS a point when He comes back with the Sword of Truth coming
out of His mouth and destroys His enemies. There IS a time when we
stop and respond with Truth - but even then it must be in love
somehow. That is a very hard thing! It is easier for me
to keep my head down and let them say whatever without any response
from me - than it is to respond and risk going too far and drawing
innocent blood.
Behind all of
these allegations is a spirit of murder, manifesting most in one
particular woman who has been stalking me and others here for over
two years. She has been banned repeatedly from our discussion board,
lied, stolen, assaulted and even tried to kill me once by running my
van off the road with her SUV. She is totally unrepentant and
continues to do all she can to poison everyone everywhere against me
(and others here). Comments are disabled on our YouTube videos in
part because her life is dedicated to contacting everyone that we are
in touch with or even comments on our videos and saying whatever she
has to say to get them away from us. In her most recent email to me,
she asserts that I am, in fact, Satan himself. (Just in case
you weren't aware.)
After the most
recent attack, the Lord finally said it was time to answer these
things. And I don't feel like it's just a local thing - I believe the
tide has shifted and it's time for the warriors that have been
turning the other cheek to pull out their sword of Truth and start
taking back the land.
You can see a page
where we have consolidated our responses to some of these things, and
complete copies of her most recent emails so that you can see the
spirit behind it at: http://www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com/june.htm
. Now ... please, PLEASE, be sure that the Lord even wants you
to get into any of this. It may be very bad stewardship of your time
to enmesh yourself in this mess. There are people out there dying in
their sins. I can't help but get tangled in this useless quarrel -
but you don't have to. Just seek Him and if you do feel to get
on there, then put your armor on and make sure nothing icky sticks to you.
As for responses
to specific allegations, since I'm not spending my days keeping up
with all that is being said about me, I don't think I'll be able to
address everything point by point - but let me just respond to the
biggies that seem to keep popping up. If you have a specific concern
or question about my theology, please contact me directly (doug@fellowshipofthemartyrs.com)
and verify what I believe, rather than feeding gossip and innuendo
and spreading all over the internet what you've HEARD that I
believe. If the people that SAY they love Jesus and are seeking
revival and unity were actually ACTING like Jesus, then maybe they'd
contact me directly (or at least verify their information) before
loosing their tongues all over the web. By the looks of some of the
talk on "Christian" discussion boards, it seems real
unlikely that we're going to have the grace and patience and
brotherly kindness and trust in God necessary to bring real lasting
revival. (My thanks to Lynn for doing it right.)
For the record, I
am NOT teaching any such a thing as "Spiritual Marriage"
that is disconnected from or distinct from a "regular"
marriage. I DO NOT believe that a person can be married to more than
one person at a time. I am NOT teaching or believing any kind of
Mormon-ish thing about marriage. I am NOT telling people to pray that
God would kill their spouse so they can remarry. (As if that would
even work! "A curse without a cause cannot alight.")
However, I DO believe that if a marriage is NOT first and foremost a
"spiritual" thing, then you're just shacking up.
What I have been
saying is that "Holy Matrimony" is only "Holy" if
it is a God-appointed, God-directed, God-centered cord of three
strands. Husband, wife and God are required for it to work. It
is absolutely clear that "marriage" as we have been doing
it is a disaster - especially within the "church". So
it deserves taking a hard look and realistically seeing what has gone
wrong and how much of MAN has invaded something Holy. I don't
believe that a "marriage" is a "holy matrimony"
because a judge paid by the State (especially California) says it is
so. I don't believe the State has any business giving you a
"License" to obey God in what is a supremely personal and
religious issue at the core and foundation of the Christian
walk. Getting a license for your pontoon boat doesn't make it
Noah's Ark. Nor do I believe that having a "marriage"
endorsed by a guy with a funny collar and a seminary degree (and a
license from the State) in front of witnesses means that God is
FORCED to bless it. Call it a "civil union" if you
want to join two people (or three or animals or whatever) outside of
the auspices of God - I don't really care what the "world"
does and what it endorses. But STOP leaving GOD out of it and
calling it a "holy matrimony"! And stop thinking that
the Governments of Man (or your fleshly whims) get to decide what is
HOLY and what isn't. We're fighting all the wrong battles by
trying to keep the "world" from claiming a title like
"marriage" that the "church" has already run
through the mud. Just because you were drunk in Vegas, you like the
waitress at the poker table and got hitched at a drive-up chapel with
an Elvis preacher licensed by the Universal Church of Happiness,
doesn't mean God has to acknowledge it as "holy matrimony"
at all! Now, He might. He's big enough to maybe make you do it
that way, for it to have been His plan and not let you out of it -
but He might not, too. But it's more likely you just think that YOU
are big enough to make God endorse whatever fool thing your flesh
thinks is a good idea. He doesn't work that way. YOU don't get
to tell HIM what is "Holy".
As the Lord pours
His Spirit out and more people are hearing God's voice, I am meeting
more and more people who are telling me that they have been in
"legal marriages" for YEARS and heard God before the
wedding say that they were not to do it - and heard God ever since
saying that they were living in adulterous affairs. How can
that be?! Who were they cheating on? God - that's who.
There are those - how many I have no idea - who are in relationships
that are purely their own will or flesh or lust or convenience or
loneliness and are in rebellion to the Lord. And there are
those - how many I have no idea - that may not even know the Lord,
but He brought them together Himself and will be VERY unhappy if they
break up. And there are those who married a "believer" who
then went their own way and stopped believing God - and now they are
unequally yoked. In whatever circumstance a person finds
themselves, they better be REAL sure they're hearing God about what
to do next and not use ANY theological argument as an excuse for the flesh.
I don't believe
that you should seek divorce from a believing spouse. I take
that so seriously that when my wife separated (against the clear
instruction of the Word) and filed for divorce (against the clear
instruction of the Word), I never participated in it at all.
And got the book thrown at me - but the Lord said it was wrong and
unholy and He wasn't going to honor it anyway. I fasted and prayed
for over a year that she would turn, believe God, obey and seek His
will and not her own. In the end, the Lord said, "She's
not going to go. We have to go without her." And I grieved and
grieved. If you have the stomach for seeing how seriously I take
marriage and repentance - watch this video - http://www.livevideo.com/video/AC3F385CCC964ED082C0B5F3B274FF96/sometimes-the-door-closes-all.aspx .
All kinds of
things are wrong. Far beyond what people want to admit. These things
we call "churches" aren't that at all according to the
Bible. These people we call "Apostles and Prophets" mostly
aren't that at all either. Even this thing we call a
"democracy" is hardly that and not likely to be that much
longer. Should we then expect that the enemy of our souls would
leave "marriage" alone? That was the FIRST thing the
snake in the garden assaulted - played to pride, reversed the roles,
got the finger pointing and blame game started and here we are at the
culmination of its effects on a planet. All kinds of things are going
to have to be changed as God REBOOTS the Remnant. People are in the
wrong jobs, in debt to the world, tied to medicines and machines,
blinded by dead religions of Man - and maybe even in relationships
that were never HOLY in the first place and cannot survive what's coming.
The Lord Jesus
made it clear that your love for your family should be HATE compared
to how much you love HIM. He made it clear that obedience and
discipleship may cost you everything - including father, mother,
wife, children, lands. And I can testify to the truth of
that. We are about to see the Tares and the Wheat sorted in a
big way. You may just find that your spouse is a Tare and won't
believe God and has set idols before Him. The Word says that if
the unbeliever leaves (after you've tried all), then you are no
longer under bondage. It doesn't say that you can divorce, it
says you are released. (I Corin. 7:15) It doesn't say you
cannot remarry, it says there is NO bondage. Just because someone
SAYS they are a believer doesn't mean that they are. MANY will say,
"Lord, Lord" and He will say, "I never knew
you." The only way you can get around this is believing
the "Once-saved, Always-saved" lie. We need to show a
lot more mercy and grace - and trust the Lord that He knows the heart
and will guide - if we trust Him all the way and NEVER look to the
flesh to motivate us. But know that it's a pretty sure thing that
obedience to the Voice of the Lord will not conform to the
"world". Praise God.
I propose that we
are entering into a time of maximum pain and suffering. I propose
that God is going to want many of us to have help-mates that will not
turn on us and kill us and think they are doing God a favor. I
suspect that many people are going to start hearing the Lord lead
them into some pretty unlikely pairings just to survive what is
coming. I know many of these "arranged" marriages
where the Voice of God has simply spoken, "Behold your
wife." - and that's that, like it or not. I suspect that
if your wife is killed for the faith, the very next day you may hear
God say again, "Behold your new wife." Things are
going to move THAT fast. In some cases, they are already moving
that fast. That may not be so hard to believe for you, but what if
your wife takes the mark of the beast and the very next day you hear
God say, "Never mind her. Behold your new wife."?!
What do you do with that?! There are all kinds of ways to take
the mark of the beast, even now. All you have to do is refuse
to remain a bondservant of God. (Think I'm exaggerating? Don't
think it's going to get that ugly? Wait and see.)
In the Hebrew
tradition, the man would go to the woman's father and negotiate for
her. Usually even the opportunity to talk with the father about her
would have been arranged by the families. Regardless of the dowry or
anything, if the woman's father doesn't consent, then nothing
happens. But should he accept the offer of the husband-to-be, then
the father would pour a cup of wine, the two would share it, then the
man - who is now technically her "husband" - would go to
his father's house to prepare a place for her. During this time, they
are "betrothed" - and technically officially married.
They might long for each other - and might even flirt through the
lattice as we see in the Song of Songs - but they wouldn't be allowed
to be intimate yet. She would make herself ready, as she might
not know the day or the hour that he would come back for her. When he
comes, she goes with him to the place he has prepared, there is a
wedding feast and the family welcomes their new daughter home. Then
the couple goes into their room and does whatever they do. There is
no preacher, there is no magistrate, there is no blood test or fees
or name-change paperwork. There is simply the Father approving it,
the couple submitting to Him - and that's that.
When we take
Communion, in part it is a renewal of our position as the Betrothed.
Jesus has shared His cup with us, and gone to prepare a place for His
Bride. And we must be ready because we don't know when He will come
for us to take us home for the big party. But when He does come, we
should be spotless and white and without wrinkle - and with our lamps
full of oil. Those who are not ready may not get to go with Him.
Right now, as beautiful as your relationship with Jesus might be -
it's just flirting through the lattice compared to what comes after
the wedding feast! Chew on that for awhile.
There are surely
lots of other accusations out there against me. The enemy is very
creative. I pray that all of us would not just put on our armor, but
weld it on tightly so that we can never take it off again. The days
are evil and getting more so by the moment. Whatever I have suffered
- slander, lies, hate, murder, theft, assault - expect that it's
coming to your house (if it hasn't already). That is, unless you
decide you don't want to be like Jesus.
I know that my
walk is way outside the parameters of what the "normal"
American Christian can handle. Even many leaders, even those seeking
revival, will balk at going as far as I go. In fact, if you are
leader and not suffering constant, escalating persecution and
suffering, then you should start wondering what you're doing
wrong. Yet here I stand, and continue to believe that God is
bringing revival to Kansas City and that whoever gets it done is
going to have to be the most humiliated, spit on, afflicted, hated,
derided, lied about, weeping, broken vessel to have ever tried. I
pray that I will be counted worthy. If not me, then maybe someone
that learns from me and gets it right. But I don't think we have time.
Brethren, if
you're not ready to surrender ALL, then you better get ready real
quick. Your heartbeats are numbered. Know that every word out
of your mouth will be judged before Almighty God. Don't waste any
more. Get about your Father's business.
May the Lord Jesus
Christ richly bless you in whatever way He thinks best. (Which might
include a terrorist attack or a natural disaster if you refuse to
listen to Him.)
Doug Perry
doug@fellowshipofthemartyrs.com
www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
Liberty, Missouri
(Feel free to
post this - in its entirety - on other boards or places where there
is a question about these things. I can't possibly take the time to
put it all over the web. But please don't expect me to be watching
and responding to comments to me or about me. If you want to talk,
there is my email or come visit us in Liberty.)
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