I remember a story I read back in grade school in one of my early readers. Though it was a simple and amusing story, the image has stuck in my mind as a powerful illustration of the battle we wage today for the soul of the church. It seems that there was this young boy who had captured a leprechaun. As the legend goes, the little person was now obligated to show the boy where his pot of gold was buried.

He led the boy to a tree in the midst of a dense oak forest and said something to the effect, “There, lad; me gold’s buried right under this here tree.” The boy tied a yellow sash around the tree and, being cautious of the devious nature of leprechauns, made the imp swear that he would not touch, change or remove the sash. Obtaining the promise from the leprechaun, the boy went home to fetch a shovel.

When he returned to the area, he found that the little man had been good to his word; he did not bother the yellow sash marking the tree where the gold was buried. Instead, to the boy’s dismay, the crafty fellow had tied hundreds of yellow sashes around the surrounding trees in the forest. The tree under which the wealth of treasure was buried could not be distinguished from hundreds of other trees under which there was nothing.

How the church is in need of a fresh outpouring of God’s precious Holy Spirit! How we need the heavens to be opened again and for God to come down and refresh His people! God’s elect need nothing more today than another Great Awakening, another great revival where God’s people once again turn back to him and Jesus Christ once again reigns in glory over His church.

Unfortunately, true revival today is effectively quenched by the spreading a multitude of imitation revivals. “Revivals” that are being called new manifestations of the kingdom of God are proving to be no more that repackaged wares of the carnal world. What are called by their leaders “movings of the Spirit” are shown by their fruit to be exhibitions of the flesh. What are being hailed as “fresh movings of God” are really the old schemes of the devil. True revival is not being attacked, but the scattering of hundreds of false manifestations of revival has had the effect that few are able or even willing to discern the difference.

Let’s take a look at a period of history from the Bible that would give us insight into this modern phenomenon. We go back in time almost a thousand years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon, the king of a united Israel has died and his son Rehoboam has taken the throne. Because of the new king’s heeding poor counsel, the kingdom splits and ten of the tribes of Israel rebel and form the northern kingdom called Israel leaving two tribes to comprise the southern kingdom of Judah.

In particular, let’s focus on the ambitious new king of that northern domain; a man by the name of Jeroboam. You can familiarize yourself with the details of this man’s biography by starting at 1 Kings 11:26 and reading from there.

The sins of Jeroboam haunted the nation of Israel for years to come as kings are condemned in words to the effect that “they walked in the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat.” His claim to infamy is that he set the bar for rebellion against God.

These were said to have cleared that bar — Nadab (1 Kings 15:26), Baasha (1 Kings 16:2), Zimri (1 Kings 16:19), Omri (1 Kings 16:26), Ahab (1 Kings 16:31), Jehoram (2 Kings 3:3), Jehu (2 Kings 10:29, 31), Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:2, 6), Jehoash (2 Kings 13:11), Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:24), Zechariah (2 Kings 15:9), Menahem (2 Kings 15:18), Pekahiah (2 Kings 15:24), and Pekah (2 Kings 15:28). The only kings of Israel who were not specifically mentioned as following the sins of Jeroboam were Elah, who was assasinated by Zimri while in a drunken stupor (2 Kings 16:8-14), Shallum, who only reigned one month before being assasinated by Menaham (2 Kings 15:13-16), and Hoshea, who was conquered by the Assyrians, rebelled against them and was finally bound over to prison (2 Kings 17:1 ff.).

The northern kingdom of Israel shapes up to be a picture of the apostate church. An apostate church is not a church that has gone into overt tendencies of the denial of God (such as the church of Satan or atheism). An apostate church is one that seeks to imitate the true church in form while catering to the flesh in heart.

An apostate church will not cease to believe in God, preach Christ, or call for the filling of the Holy Spirit. However, its gods will differ from the God of Scripture. He will not be holy in that he will want a person to have all the good things of this life and heaven too, but do nothing about a person’s sins. He will not be a soveriegn king in that he will be forced to carry out the commands and wishes of every man who “claims by faith” whatever his heart lust for.

Christ will be preached, but he will be a weak, ineffectual savior, only there to make us feel good about ourselves rather than a kingly Lord who rules over His people. The cry will go forth to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but this spirit will bring no true holiness, humility and Christ-like fruit. He will bring experiences that cater to the flesh -- laughter, jerking, falling down, unconciousness -- experiences that are cheap imitations of God’s power to save from sin and mold a soul to be like Jesus Christ.

In our study of Jeroboam, it is striking how close this king comes to having characteristics of a genuine man of God. The rise of Jeroboam’s religion contains many parallels to the genuine workings of God in the Exodus of Israel. Jeroboam has many characteristics that parallel Moses, making him a Mosaic anti-type for the northern kingdom. Note the striking similarities:

5. As Moses was met by God and given a commission to take His word of freedom to his enslaved people in Egypt, so God gave a commission to Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah (2 Kings 11:29-39; however, note the conditional nature of this prophecy in v. 38).

Too often, people will discern the qualifications of a self-professed man of God by his testimony. This is a mistake that has cost the church dearly! A man (or woman) will stand before the congregation and boast of experiences he has had in meeting with God. He will awe people with testimony of visions, “words” from God, prophecies proclaimed over him and to him, and manifestations of signs and wonders performed in ministry.

But brethren, WE MUST BEWARE! All of these things may be true about that minister, but this does not establish him as a true minister of Jesus Christ. Remember that false prophets and dreamers of dreams can have signs and wonders come true and still lead people astray (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Balaam was moved by God to bless the people of God, but lead His people astray to where God later had him put to death.

King Saul prophesied, but at the end of his life couldn’t hear the voice of God and sought a witch for guidance. False prophets will say, “Thus says the Lord,” but God claims to have never sent them (see Jeremiah 23:13-22). Judas experienced and lived in the presence of Christ for three years, but was filled with Satan and betrayed Him.

The point is that a minister may give a good testimony of his experience and background, but still lead the people astray if he does not preach and minister the whole counsel of the word of God, and walk in His ways. We must judge a minister of God, not just by what he claims to have experienced, but by the word he preaches; is it the word that has been established by God and revealed already in His infallible word, the Bible?