One of the reasons I follow and read Charisma News and Charisma Magazine is that I find it very interesting — entertaining even — to watch what appears to be a scheduled series of soap operas with a dominant theme of false prophets and bad theology. Yet, it sometimes gets to the point that it’s just depressing that such an outfit identifies with Christianity. The Scriptures warn that the last days will be flooded with false prophets and yet Charisma, the central vestibule for terrible Christian journalism, is filled with them.

Hardly a day, an hour rather, goes by that an article from one of Charisma’s outlets doesn’t flash across my news feed with a headline promoting some false teacher that has something stupid to say about something stupid. I mean, seriously, there is not one contributor on Charisma that hasn’t at some point been exposed as a false prophet according to Deuteronomy 18:15-22 or has been involved in some kind of immoral behavior, be it a sex or financial scandal.

From Rodney Howard Browne to Rick Joyner, from Shawn Bolz to Jennifer LeClaire, the incompetent theological eisegesis and outlandish claims of some conservative resurgence that God is planning to carry out through the Republican party seem to never end.

Let’s just take a couple of examples. One headline today read Shawn Bolz Offers Prophetic Perspective Into Easter Bombings That Killed Hundreds. Now seriously, what Christian in his right mind actually thinks Shawn Bolz is a prophet and has any kind of “prophetic perspective” to offer about anything? The man is literally a cold-reading Google psychic. At any rate, here’s his “prophetic perspective,”

God is going to use the Christian church of Sri Lanka to change the course of the nation. There is about to be a shaking like Hebrews 12: Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, but the good news is that what is of God will stand, and there is so much destiny and purpose on this amazing nation that is oftentimes overlooked or in the shadow of its bordered nations. God is even going to empower some Christians to take political offices and to be in key support roles such as minister of education and minister of peace.

I mean, I could pick that apart except it’s just too dumb. If anyone believes that Shawn Bolz had any kind of direct revelation from God outside of Scripture, they’re dumb too. This is not prophecy, this is political propaganda. Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world.

Here’s another one by Rick Joyner, Is America on the Brink of a Second Civil War? In this article, the author claims that Rick Joyner “was able to see U.S. history from heaven’s perspective.”

And it was very different, radically different,” Joyner says. “We say there’s fake news, but there’s fake history out there to that’s been, I think, colored by prejudices, by political opinions and things like that.

It then goes on to show a video of some ridiculous prophetic vision Joyner claims he had in a dream — which by the way, he’s done often and none have actually come to pass — about some kind of revival that America is going to see after another civil war. Rick Joyner claimed that he visited Heaven. This is a direct violation of biblical truth, God’s word, and an example of the Colossian heresy. (You can read about that here.) Joyner also prophesied about the destruction and devastation that the world would see due to the fake Y2K crisis, claiming God told him these things. They never came to pass. (You can read more about that here.) He’s part of the heretical Latter Rain movement and promotes the Manifest Sons of God theology. Basically, he is a self-seeker and a self-promoter who doesn’t serve God but contradicts Him.

Yet, none of this seems to deter Charisma from continuing to promote and employ such ridiculous stuff. Lack of discernment is one of the defining characteristics of the charismatic movement and Charisma certainly fits the image perfectly.