• You have David's heart
• You have Elisha's 'double-portion' prophetic annointing
• You have the Solomon's wisdom
• You have the sword of Joshua
• You have the "mantle" of (insert the name of a famous but now dead televangelist here) on your life, sister.
• My child, you are the next (insert the name of a famous televangelist here).
• You are the last-days remnant Christian who serves in Gideon's Army and are a mighty man of valor.
• I am the prayer warrior of Jabez.
• You are the 'armor bearer' of the Lord's anointed
• You have the boldness of Stephen
• We are rebuilding Nehemiah's walls, Joel's Army, Malachi's Storehouse, Solomon's Porch, and Ezra's temple
• You are a student in 'the school of the prophets'
• You are a modern day Joshua leading the 'Joshua Generation' into the 'promised land'
• We named our children after Bible characters to make our children more Holy. Meet my sons Joshua Malachi, Isaac Jabez, Zechariah Jeremiah, Gideon David, Caleb Daniel and my daughters Esther Deborah, Abigail Ruth, Sarah Rachael, and Rebekah Hannah.
• We are giving our money in order to recieve the 'hundred-fold' payback blessing.

In fact we prophecy in the same manner like "Theest thou haddest the mantleth of Elisha O son of Issachar. Thou wilst go forth unto the nations and lead my people into the promise land to partake of the milk and honey. You will defeat the Jerichos in front of you as you call out souls from the north, south, east, and west. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts." The same mentalities but of an equal and opposite extreme. The misuse of scriptures in reference to the examples that were supposed to teach us. The same scriptures that showed us the bad nature of the flesh and carnality also shows us the positive examples of Godly character traits. The first verse of Ephesians 5:1 told us to be a follower to God. 1 Peter 2:21 shows the godly example of how to act during times of suffering. John 13:15 states the words of Jesus in reference to foot washing "For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." The main point is to learn from the good and bad examples and imitate Christ. God wants (insert your name here) to be the best Christian and fulfill the call he has on the life of (insert your name here). Jesus does not want you to be the next Paul, David, and not even Billy Graham. God wants you to be you to fulfill the Great Commission. I love Billy Graham, but there will be only one Billy Graham on planet Earth. Franklin, Anne Graham Lotz, and the other siblings have to be the men and women God has called them into being. Greg Laurie is not the next Billy Graham. Greg Laurie must be the Greg Laurie God wants Greg Laurie to be. Benny Hinn is not the next Kathryn Kuhlman. R.W. Schambach is not the next A.A. Allen. You are not the next Oral Roberts, Paul Crouch, local pastor so-and-so, etc. You may prophecy, evangelize, teach, pastor, etc. in similar ways but you are not ‘the next……’ nor do you possess ‘the mantle/anointing of ……’ You are you. Period

In fact, many televangelists use similar tactics to raise money. One televangelist once sent out cornmeal packets and told people to make cornmeal cakes (based on 1 Kings 17:7-16), eat it, and send a seed faith back to the televangelist to complete the 'miracle'. Another televangelist sent out a two foot length of scarlet thread (based on Joshua 2) and told people to place it outside your window sill and when the judgment of God passed through the land, their house and family would be protected as long as they sent in a faith gift. How many times have you received junk mail from televangelists wanting 'Gideon's Army' prayer partners, money to purchase bricks and mortar to build a church building in the name of building 'Ezra's Temple', 'Joel's Army', and 'Nehemiah's Walls' implying that if you do send money, you will be part of a 'remnant' people set apart from other people and especially other Christians and receive a 'special' blessing other Christians who do not give will not receive? In fact, some of the new televangelists are trying to recreate the anointing of God manifested in previous men of God by trying to recreate the anointings the previous men of God experienced. For example, there is a group of people in Spokane, Washington that believe that God can only move in their city by recreating the infamous John G. Lake healing rooms. In fact, this group went as far as to purchase the same property that Lake had his healing rooms on in the name of 'reclaiming the land' and in the name of 'reclaiming the anointing'. We ask for a move of God to move supernaturally in an area of impossibility and God moves but we try to kick against the pricks and call it 'not God' when it does not happen in the same methods as the Bible described healing stories. God may heal a person of an eye infection using a medical doctor but we call medical science "not of God", and a "lack of faith" because it involved science (that God created) and the miracle did not involve 'putting mud in the eyes'. We are too busy trying to imitate either a Bible story to the exact details or imitate a method of a famous televangelist because that 'must be God'. However, we can not muster enough faith to imitate Christ and move supernaturally when the Lord works in mysterious ways.

In the end of Paul letters to the churches, we see Paul praise certain individuals such as Pheobe (Romans 16:1) for helping many in need, Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21-22) for faithful service, and Demetrius (3 John 12) for his truthfulness. Like the enemies that Paul rebuked at the end of his letters, Paul did not refer to these people as 'having the spirit or trait of a specific Biblcal character'. Paul praised these individuals for posessing character traits described as fruit of the Spirit. Tychicus was praise for faithfulness and not praised for manifesting "the faith of Abraham". Pheobe was noted for her helps and not as possessing 'the spirit of Rebekah'. Like Jesus and Paul who did not did not try to call them 'the spirit of some Old Testament person', why do we do this nonsense by stating "brother so-and-so has the mantle of Elijah?" Very simple, it sounds more 'spiritual' and more 'holy' but in reality, it's an misapplication of the scripture. True Christians desire to manifest Godly character traits. Therefore, a Christian should be encouraged to be Spirit-filled and live out his actions by displaying the fruit of the Spirit in his life.

In Galatians 5:16-22, we see the following scriptures (NLT version):

16So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.17 The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.18But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure,20idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group,21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.22But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.25If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.26Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another.

As you can see, the evil is caused by the nature of the original sin that is present around us. It is the sin nature and carnality that if we allow it to rule in our life will cause us to act in ways as detailed in verses 19 through 21. Even though the verses state the actions of "sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin, we sub-consciously and via the sermons we preach like to state that the sinful nature produces Judases, Achans, Balaams, Sauls, Miriams, Aarons, Cains, Absaloms, Ammans, etc instead of people who manifested traits similar to the sins that the Biblical characters manifested to be the example to us. Instead of getting to the root problem and state to someone to "get rid of that jealousy nature working in you" or pray to God to give you the fruit of the spirit especially in the areas of peace and faithfulness, we tell that someone to "get someone to cast out the 'spirit of Saul' from you". The 'spiritual stereotyping' has caused us to force-fit people to Bible characters instead of dealing with root core issues at hand.

Behavior patterns that this 'spiritual stereotyping' causes us to do are the following:

• Intimidate us into paranoia, fear, and hysteria instead of unity: Instead of being taught basic skills to fulfill the Great Commission, spiritual stereotyping instead creates a state of paranoia and hysteria. Instead of doing the will of God, we live in fear of stepping out to fulfill our call because we fear our pastor disagreeing with God. We then fear that leadership will either behind our back in leadership meetings or publicaly exposed in the pulpit call you out as the "Jezebel", "Saul", "Annanias", etc. The fear of embarrassment, shame, betrayal, and isolation conquers us instead of the Love of Jesus conquering all. Because the calling you may have on your life does not fit the pastor's personal agendas makes one ending up pleasing the pastor instead of serving and worshipping God. Then when you move out into your calling, the pastor then instead of rejoicing over seeing the fruits of his discipleship in action, now feels out of control and feels his authority is being challenged. The same paranoia that may cause us to hold back from manifesting our spiritual gifts is the same paranoia and hysteria that is at work within the pastor leading him to believe that someone wants to 'take control".
• Make us "witch hunters": If we believe and participate in the spiritual stereotyping, then we, by nature, want to go out and find out who the "Absalom" is within our midst. Those who like to "witch hunt" the "spiritual stereotypes" always believe that it is not them nor is it anyone within their inner circle of friends. Therefore, all others outside their sphere of influence are potential candidates of being the "Absalom" within our congregation. Spiritual warfare is done, prayer and fasting is done. Every evil spirit is cast out from the church. Instead of praying that God would help that person change their sinful nature of a rebellious character trait or seek the casting out of demons in necessary cases, these 'witch hunters' are prepared to be the cop, judge, jury, and executioner to not only expose the person, but to excommunicate him even if the person has made attempts or is in the process of changing from the sinful nature to one manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. These people listen to their pastor's sermons from the 'holy high horse' and go out to lunch after Sunday service trying to be a "Sherlock Holmes of the Spirit" and use deductive analysis instead of the spiritual gift of discernment to obtain 'spiritual suspects".
• If the stereotype is from a Godly man of the Bible, then pride and elitism can take control: The pride issue can manifest along with elitism when we enact such mentalities as "I am in the Elijah Company, how dare anyone challenge my prophetic words as false.", "I have stayed through thick and thin in this Church, I am the remnant and you're not.", "Televangelist so-and-so prophesied to me at his crusade and told me that I possess 'the spirit of Esther'. I am a special Kings Kid." What happens is that we have made an office and a seat out of that mentality and we hoard it over people who we considered to be 'less blessed'. We use it to establish false authority and in some cases usurp authority. We deny people who we deem as 'less spiritual' access to our lives fearing that they are there to rob us of our anointing. Arrogance creeps in as we 'strut our stuff' and act cocky calling it "God" when everyone around you can see through the hype and delusion. It gets worse when we become so elitist that a gnostic spirit and mentality comes in and we claim to get the "secret extrabiblical revelation", we are "the only ones who know the true God", we are "the only anointed remnant Christians today on planet Earth". It then becomes an idol of totem that we must chop down in order to fully realize and participate in Holy Temple living.

Instead of being the imitator of Christ, we are now the intimidated who fear fulfilling our call fearing vengeance, embarrassment, shame, scorn, and ridicule because we did it God's way instead of the leadership's (who think their way is God's only way) way. How sad it is when the spiritual potential is locked up because of the fear and because there is someone elses pride and ego to feed instead of the needy, the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the bound, the addict, the homeless, the disturbed, and the impoverished. The fear causes us to instead feed the machines we call 'revival and renewal' instead of feeding the people who really need the spiritual food called "Perfect Love" which will according to Scripture "cast out all fear". We dance our hearts out to look good for our pastor fearing being 'sent out of the camp' if we don't please the pastor. We are in service every time the doors are opened because missing a service is 'failing to take our place' or deems us as being 'less holy' than the one who is there every time the door opens whether the spouse is home for the first time in ages or whether the child is running a fever. We instead are Christians and enact our Christianity out of fear instead of being Christian by God's grace poured out on our life. The fear drives our thinking and our processes into a state of legalism instead of letting the love of God direct us towards his saving grace.

Please Click here for part four of this article.