I first came across the ministry of Ian McCormack many years ago when he visited my home town of Leicester in the UK. Ian's testimony touched me very deeply; there seemed to be all the right elements present – God’s Word i.e. the Lord’s Prayer, conviction of sin, repentance, forgiveness, acceptance and Ian's experience of God’s overwhelming love. As a new Christian at that time, I had no doubt that his experience was authentic. However I have recently looked into Ian’s teaching in more depth and I have now come to an entirely different conclusion.
Ian McCormack was stung by five box jellyfish whilst diving on the island of Mauritius and eventually ended up in the hospital where he died for approximately fifteen minutes and found himself in hell. He was then lifted out of hell by a brilliant beam of pure white light and he had a very powerful experience of love, peace, joy and forgiveness of sins. He believes that he encountered Jesus and saw a perfect creation -
“the New Earth & New Heavens” - but he chose to return to earth because he saw a vision of his family and thousands and thousands of other people.
“I asked God who all these people were, and He told me that if I didn't return then many of these people would not get a chance to hear about Him….”
Although he tells us that he is not trying to tell anyone what to believe, Ian's testimony is very persuasive and he has widely promoted it in the past. He is promoting it this year through a new film
“The Perfect Wave” http://www.theperfectwave.co.za/ Having seen Ian McCormack for myself on three occasions, I do not think he is a deliberate deceiver; clearly something spiritual did happen to him in Mauritius. What I do now doubt is whether this spiritual experience was truly from the Lord or whether it was from a counterfeit spirit. There are a number of reasons for this.
Ian McCormack:
"When you come to church you have a psalm and hymn a spiritual song a word, a revelation." Ian is quoting 1 Corinthians 14:26 here which is actually: When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Ian: "When you have had a revelation of God you have a testimony that you can testify to, and it is the thing that can open up doors for healing, for encounter…. and when He encounters you, you are changed….. When the Spirit of God fills a man it can become contagious. The fire of God can just jump – the electricity of heaven can literally just jump and ignite - the light that is within you starts to ignite others it gives them hope that they too can enter that heavenly realm.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-seR4z2ZL4
For Ian McCormack
"revelation" is an open heaven experience - he puts the testimony of "
open heaven" on a par with martyrdom and the blood of Jesus:
"Testimonies are very powerful, because it says that: 'We overcome Satan by the word of our testimony - the blood of the Lamb and we do not love our life even unto death.' So Jesus puts our testimony (of open heaven)
up with martyrdom and the blood of Jesus" Notice how Ian puts
"testimony" before the blood of the Lamb in his version of Revelation 12:11. The actual verse is:
And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12:11).
Revelation 12:11
in context refers to martyrdom -
the word of their testimony is the faithful preaching of the gospel – the testimony of Jesus, the Word of God (Revelation 12:17; 19:10). The Greek word for "
revelation" is
apokalupsis which means unveiling, uncovering, revealing, revelation (1 Corinthians 14:26). Paul was exceptional in that he received the gospel by
"revelation" directly from Jesus Christ
and not from any human source (Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 3:3). Further visions of Paul are recorded in Acts 16:19 22:17; 26:12-19; 27:23 and Galatians 2:2. Ananias also had a vision (Acts 9:10), and Peter (Acts 10:17). These visions or
"revelations" were
not experiences of
"open heaven".
God may indeed disclose or reveal something specific to an individual - but this is subject to testing (1 John 4:1; 1 Corinthians 14:19). Considering that Ian has a Bible in front of him, why doesn't he quote the scriptures correctly? Concerning changing anything in the Book of Revelation:
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)
Can someone else’s
“experience” help us come to faith in Jesus Christ?
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
The Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)
The testimony of being raised from the dead is spurious. When the rich man found himself in Hades, he pleaded with Abraham to return from the dead to warn his family to repent. Abraham corrects this error however:
‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:27-31)
Ian McCormack:
“Over the years some people have questioned my experience & so I would like to reiterate this scripture { 2 Cor 12: 2 - 4 } 'I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in his body I do not know, or out of his body I do not know, God knows - such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man - whether in his body or apart from his body I do not know, God knows - was caught up into Paradise.'" http://www.aglimpseofeternity.org/ians-testimony/
Ian McCormack does not complete the above reading to verse 7 which is inexplicable! Paul continues to say that there was
nothing to gain by boasting about this event.
He was forbidden to speak of the things he saw and heard. Paul was caught up into the Third Heaven -
"caught up" in the Greek is
harpazo, which means to seize or to forcibly snatch away, in other words the event was totally initiated by God. Paul's experience was a very rare event, it happened only once in fourteen years. Furthermore, Paul was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him from becoming conceited about this experience:
Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter......................So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. (2 Corinthians 2:2-4,7)
The sphere that Paul was caught up to was paradise (2 Corinthians 12:3).
The book of Revelation tells us that access to paradise is conditional and future - only those who conquer will have access to this place:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ (Revelation 2:7) This is an allusion to
Genesis 2:9 and
Genesis 3:22. Other references to the tree of life are found in Revelation 22:2, 14.
The word
"paradise" occurs three times in the New Testament (
Luke 23:43;
2 Corinthians 12:4). It is the dwelling place of God and the resting place of departed saints (Luke 23:43). The word
“paradise” is often used as a synonym for the Garden of Eden - this is consistent with Paul’s testimony and also with Revelation 2:7 as the location of the tree of life.
After Adam’s expulsion from paradise God took deliberate and extreme measures to ensure that he could not return:
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)
Ian McCormack:
“Some people may not accept this is what happened which is totally fine. I am not trying to tell you what to believe. You may believe it was just a dream or a hallucination. But one thing I do know, is that after following Jesus since 1982, I can't wait to see Him again and step through into the New Heavens & New Earth { Rev 21: 1 - 7 } { 2 Peter 3 : 10 - 18 }. My prayer is that my experience will help you to come to know Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord & Saviour. { Romans 10 : 8 - 13 }. Jesus wishes that none would perish but all would come to know eternal life in Him { 2 Peter 3 : 10 - 18 }” http://www.aglimpseofeternity.org/ians-testimony/
Ian McCormack:
“I personally believe I died & was taken out of my body into the New Earth & New Heavens. That I had what is termed a 'life after death experience '. I believe I stood before the Risen Lord Jesus Christ in His Glorified form { Rev 1 : 13 - 18 }." http://www.aglimpseofeternity.org/ians-testimony/
Ian McCormack claims to have had
“open heaven” experiences many times since his initial experience in Mauritius, and he tells us that we can and should have open heaven. On the Youtube video at The Church@New Bern he speaks about people getting covered in gold, a woman with oil pouring out of her hands who was anointed for healing, experiences of diving into the river and breathing in
“living water” etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-seR4z2ZL4
Ian McCormack:
“The scriptures are full of that. We find that in the Old Testament. We have Jacob going up and seeing the ladder into heaven in a dream. He sees the angels of the Lord ascending the (????) of Bethel meeting with God. We see Moses meeting God face to face............. Ezekiel saw one, wheels within wheels, open heaven and he said there was like a fire in him..... … Daniel said 'I saw the ancient of days, his vesture was white like wool like snow......' Isaiah saw the holiness of God.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-seR4z2ZL4
Certain people were given visions of heaven in the Bible, but relatively speaking they were very rare and they were given for specific reasons. The first time we hear of it in the New Testament is when Jesus Christ was baptised:
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10 says:
he saw heaven being torn open)
Ian McCormack:
“I have access to the kingdom of heaven, I have a passport to heaven and a free right to go up there – any time!”
“It is possible to see what John saw on Patmos.”
“The revelation (open heaven)
comes out of the wellsprings of your relationship and love for Him.”
“.....you have access continually to come in..... to dive into the core of who He is....”
Ian gives the analogy of surfing and
“positioning yourself to catch the wave of the spirit” – catching the presence God and having
“the ride of your life”.
This really does not match up to what we read in the Bible. I hear no warnings or judgements being pronounced by Ian McCormack, it is all about the experience, not about God's intentions and actions as was the case with the prophets. We see John and Daniel overwhelmed with awe and dread, struggling to find words and descriptions.
DANIEL: The whole book of Daniel focuses on God's judgement. Daniel's name means
“God is my judge”. Daniel was given a vision which referred to the appointed time of the end (chapter 8 v 17, 19). The vision was not pleasant, it shocked and terrified him and it made him very ill.
And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king’s business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it. (chapter 8:27)
JOHN:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. (Revelation 1:17) John saw the end time judgements (Daniel and Revelation are counterparts of each other).
EZEKIEL: - Three themes are present in the book of Ezekiel: (1) judgment on Israel (chapters 1–24); (2) judgment on the nations (chapters 25–32); (3) and future blessings for Israel (chapters 33–48). Ezekiel: Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.
And when I saw it, I fell on my face......... (Ezekiel 1:28)
ISAIAH: Warnings of judgement and promises of subsequent restoration for Jerusalem, Judah and the nations (chapters 1-33). Judgement has already taken place and restoration is at hand (chapters 34–66). Isaiah feared that his unclean lips would ruin him, but was cleansed at the altar. (Isaiah 6:5)
MOSES:
And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Acts 7:32-33)
MICAIAH: And Micaiah said,
“Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.” (1 Kings 22:19-23)
STEPHEN: Stephen saw the glory of God moments before his death:
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56)
This happened immediately after he delivered his prophetic speech against the unbelieving Jews:
“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it..... (Acts 7:1-53)
PAUL: - As discussed, we don't know what Paul saw - though he did warn repeatedly about apostasy and the coming judgement.
Does the above sound like these prophets were
surfing to catch the wave of the Spirit to have the ride of their life?
OPEN HEAVEN REPLACES FAITH:
We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:6-7)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? (Romans 8:24)
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Ian's son Michael’s encounter in 2011 when he was ten years old: Michael (read by Ian):
“….. light shone on me and that light had an overflowing love. It lifted me up into heaven in this white light. I saw angels coming around me surround me as I went up. They were clothed in white robes and their faces were shining and they had wings. They were floating around me like they were hovering. Their wings were fully opened and were moving quite slowly……” Ian McCormack:
" ……he was sovereignly taken up...... his heart was ready and God just went ‘now’” Michael:
"…….he smiled at me and I felt loved…… He showed me heavens gate, it was golden and a massive palace in town behind the gates…… Michael claims to have seen
“the old earth that people destroyed…..” This does not add up. Actually it is God who destroys the earth; partial destruction will occur through the first four trumpet judgements in Revelation 8. Finally, the earth and its works will be burned up by fire at the end of the millennium (2 Peter 3:7-13).
Michael:
“I really want to speak and tell people, and I hope that half the church is full of non Christians so that they can get saved.” Bear in mind that the gospel was not preached at all at this meeting. How can anyone get saved without hearing the gospel? It is very concerning that Michael has been so influenced that he too has had an
“open heaven” experience.
Ian McCormack:
“The renewing of the mind is not the same as healing the broken heart – they are two different things……… We must come to God as a small child…... The simplicity that he loves you is the opening door because it is the eyes of your heart to be opened to revelation. The revelation comes out of the wellsprings of your relationship and love for Him. It is a very simple yet a very deep thing to know that God looks across the earth for people’s hearts that are wholly devoted to Him. The heart needs to be healed because the heart can be very broken, the heart can be divided the heart can be in many different places. The Lord is looking for a whole heart……….that is why He wants to heal the broken hearts. That is why he wants to bind up their wounds, the heart needs to be healed….”
Ian McCormack talks about the
“open heaven” experience as being transformational rather than the Word of God. This very subtly puts
“revelation” i.e. subjective experience in the place of Christ – this is the spirit of antichrist. Romans 12:2 tells us unequivocally that Christians are transformed by the renewal of the mind.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
I think there is some confusion amongst Christians about what "
brokenhearted" actually means in the context of Luke 4:18 (Isaiah 61:1; Psalm 147). We should note that in the Bible “
brokenhearted” is linked to contrition, i.e. one is crushed due to the recognition of sin.
Psalm 34:18:
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed (contrite)
in spirit.
Psalm 51:17:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
When we understand brokenhearted as extreme sorrow due to sin, we can understand Luke 4:18 in context:
The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed…. (Luke 4:8) The King James Bible and some other versions say:
to set at liberty them that are bruised. The
Douay-Rheims Bible says:
he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart….. Some other versions say
brokenhearted. The Greek word is
thraúō – break in pieces (shatter). In Isaiah 61:1 and Psalm 147 the Hebrew word has the same meaning.
http://biblehub.com/greek/2352.htm
The reason I am going into so much detail about the word
“brokenhearted” is that this issue was dealt with on the cross – Jesus Christ sets the repentant sinner free who is brokenhearted and contrite because of personal sin. If Christians have a
“divided heart” after the new birth, the answer is repentance. We should not confuse brokenhearted with emotional distress which we all suffer from at times (including the prophets who had open heaven experiences). The miracle of new birth has taken place and Christians are in the
process of being transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18).
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
Christians have a responsibility to make sure that their mind comes into alignment with the new birth - this is a great battleground and something which Ian did not mention. Prior to the new birth, we have no relationship or love for God:
…..the carnal mind is enmity against God. (Romans 8:7).
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
All this rhetoric about broken hearts makes people dwell on the past, the old man and not the new creation. We can go around forever seeking
“inner healing”, but this is not the broken and contrite heart spoken of in the Bible. If we are true Christians then we need to live in the truth that the old has passed away.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (liberty). (2 Corinthians 3:17)
I notice that these experiences of open heaven seem to be very addictive and all consuming. Ian talks about waiting for the
“next wave” or the
"super wave". As Christians it is natural to want to experience the love of God and heaven in much fuller ways than we are now able to, but there are no shortcuts to heaven. We should be very careful that we do not aspire to receiving an illegitimate revelation from an angel of light.
Ian McCormack: .
....there are huge numbers of (people)
who have had genuine experiences with the
love of God. They just haven’t been able to reference who that being of
light is. And you find that the scripture of the Bible is so clear and
so accurate in the understanding that God is love, and forgiving, and
compassionate. http://www.skeptiko.com/255-ian-mccomacks-exclusively-christian-near-death-expeience/
If these people
have not been able to reference who that being of light is, then there is something very wrong (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Jesus Christ does not leave people in the dark - he reveals his identity to those who truly encounter Him (Acts 9:5; John 4:6; John 11:25; Revelation 1:8 etc.)
And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:12-15)
IAN MCCORMACK'S PROOF TEXT FOR OPEN HEAVEN
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)
This verse is difficult, but we should not read something into it that it doesn't say. There is no record that Nathanael actually saw this vision in his lifetime and there is no instance where it is recorded that the disciples witnessed literal ministering angels.
The verse refers to the Son of Man - Jesus Christ replacing the ladder in Jacob's dream and becoming the only mediator between God and man (Genesis 28:12; 1 Timothy 2:5).
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17). Jacob did not know that God was in that place – it was not apparent to him until God revealed it to him. God tells us that he is near and with us – whether we experience it or not we should take it as fact, and notice once again that Jacob was afraid after the dream. Jesus becomes the ladder/staircase, door, gate– the way to and from heaven. Scholars have contrasted Jacob's ladder, God's outreach from heaven to earth, with the Tower of Babel, man's grasping from earth toward heaven – if we are trying to manipulate an
“open heaven” experience then we have drifted into mysticism/occultism.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
We draw near to the throne of grace through faith in Jesus Christ – we cannot draw near by some mystical experience.
In 2008, Ian McCormack prophesied a great revival which would come out of London and spread over the UK and beyond. I must say that this put me in mind of my early experiences of the Charismatic movement when certain people were constantly prophesying that revival was just around the corner. What I have observed since that time is the very reverse of the promised revival. We have had fake revivals infecting the church like Toronto, Pensacola and Florida, and more recently the fake Welsh Outpouring in the UK. Ian's prophecy is not time specific, but it was six years ago and as far as I can see the church has continued to degenerate into an appalling state of apostasy by and large.
ASSOCIATIONS
Ian McCormack endorses of some very dubious
"ministries" and has some very questionable associations:
Links:
Bill Johnson -
Bethel Church in Redding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYA7ZkkutPw
Iris Ministries - the interdenominational mission of Rolland and Heidi Baker in Mozambique:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScRO7sa4uXs
http://www.dayspring.com.au - the website of DaySpring Church Sydney Australia.
www.masterpotter.com - the website of Jill Austin.
Ian has shared platforms with false prophet Bobby Conner and spiritualist JoAnn McFatter.
I recommend that anyone interested in these kind of experiences watch the following video about
Ayahuasca from 2:40. I have no doubt this girls experience was genuine and in some respects it reminded me of Ian McCormack's experience. It demonstrates how deceptive Satan can be:
FOLLOW UP POST: IAN MCCORMACK - THIRD HEAVEN SPIRITUAL DECEPTION
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ian-mccormack-third-heaven-spiritual.html
If these two clowns managed to deceive many so called “Christians”, what will be the outcome when the Antichrist appears? This man will be an evil genius indwelt by Satan himself who will come with wicked deception along with lying sins and wonders. He will make Taylor and Parsons look like mere infants in comparison. God will send judgement - and that judgement will be a strong delusion upon those who reject the truth and prefer to believe what is false.
