Morris Cerullo mails out literature to preachers and churches all over the U.S., claiming God chose him to be a "worldwide" evangelist and "prophet." "Morris Cerullo World Evangelism, Inc." publishes GVA Today, "Revealing God's Global End Time Prophetic Plan." The January 1997 issue included a "Special End Time GVA Today Section." His "first pastorate" was with "a small Assembly of God church in Claremont, New Hampshire," but God "placed a mantle of power and authority" on him which has resulted in his worldwide prophetic ministry (Special, 2).

Cerullo claims to perform miracles and to receive prophecies directly from God. His first miracle was performed on himself by healing a broken cheekbone some time after doctors had treated it. Once the Holy Spirit told him to go into the woods. There, a red bird flew in front of him. "God spoke: `Son, this red bird is a sign. Tonight, there will be a lady in the back of the auditorium. She'll be wearing a red coat. She is crippled. Tell her to rise and that I am the Lord thy God."' Since then, "miracle after miracle" has been performed (Special, 2).

Such claims are made without any verification, and are made by all sorts of preachers, churches, and religions preaching contradictory doctrines. These are Satan's "lying wonders" because "God is not the author of confusion" (2 Thess. 2:9; 1 Cor. 14:33). Paul and the other apostles of Christ taught "the same thing every where in every church" (1 Cor. 4:17). These genuine miracles were verified even by the enemies of the gospel, who said on one occasion, "What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it" (Acts 4:16).

According to Cerullo, God asked him to name what he wanted, and he answered, "Give me the ability to take what You have given me, the power and anointing that is upon my ministry . . . And give me the ability to give that to others." In granting that request, God said, "Son, build Me an army!" (Special, 3). Such broad powers are "the signs of an apostle" (2 Cor. 12:12). When Philip preached the gospel, confirmed his preaching with miracles, and baptized many people in Samaria, he could not give them the ability he had to work miracles. Peter and John came from Jerusalem for that purpose because only the apostles had such broad powers. "Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given" (Acts 8:12-19). Like Cerullo, Simon wanted to obtain this power which belonged to the apostles alone. It was not given to Simon, nor to Cerullo.

If Cerullo had the power of an apostle, he could strike me blind as Paul struck Elymas blind for withstanding the truth and turning other people away from it (Acts 13:6-12). I am withstanding Cerullo's perversions of the truth and turning people away from him. This article will be published for that very purpose, and I am sending him a copy. I invite him to strike me blind the day it is published. I challenge him to do it. I defy him to do so. He will not because he cannot.

If someone thinks such a challenge is too harsh, let him read the New Testament and learn that God commanded his people, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Christians at Ephesus were commended for doing exactly what I am doing: "Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and hast found them liars" (Rev. 2:4). Cerullo has no anointing from God, received no mantle of power or authority from God, cannot perform miracles, and utters no true prophecies.

Cerullo claims to receive visions and messages directly from God just as Joseph Smith, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and so many others have claimed. Cerullo arranged "an urgent prophetic summit" with men like Hal Lindsay "and prophetically mapped out the Count-down to Armageddon," offered on video for a "gift" of "$30 or more." This prophetic video proves "how the current bloodshed in Jerusalem is just the beginning of an all-out war involving Russia and Israel" (GVA Today, 3). These are the same prophetic events Hal Lindsay proclaimed immanent twenty years ago when he published The Late Great Planet Earth, which has been discredited and disproven by the course of history. The Palestinians and Israel are now fighting, not "Russia and Israel," so the video is false prophecy.

Cerullo claims to be "God's prophet" who reveals "the word of the Lord" (GVA Today, 8). He claims to have received many messages and visions from God. For in-stance, "God also revealed to Dr. Cerullo that Jesus will not return to this Earth until there is a volume of prayer ascending to heaven, bombarding the throne of God, praying for the return of Jesus" (Special, 7). If God is providing such new revelations to Cerullo, they can and should be added to the Bible just like the prophecies and revelations of the first century. We will need a new Morris Cerullo Version of the Bible! Actually, God has already warned us through Paul not to listen to such men: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8).

The caption under one picture says, "Thousands crowded the altar to receive the power of God to defeat the devil in their lives. The crowds stayed at the altar literally for hours, seeking the anointing of the Holy Ghost" (GVA Today, 8). We do not read any such thing in the New Testament. Those who wanted to be delivered from the power of Satan were not told to seek the anointing of the Holy Ghost for hours, but were told, "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).

The Bible warns against men like Morris Cerullo. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. There-fore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be ac-cording to their works" (2 Cor. 11:13-15). Reader, beware of men like Cerullo. This man is an impostor, masquerading as an angel of light. His claim to be a prophet is wholly false and fraudulent. He has never performed a genuine miracle or received a genuine revelation from God in all of his life. If he is willing to put his claims to the test (and he is not!), we will make arrangements for a public debate so that his false claims can be even more fully and more force-fully exposed.

Guardian of Truth XLI: 7 p. 8-9
April 3, 1997