What Marcus Rogers saw from Transformation Church’s Easter Play “Ransom” not only shocked him when he saw it online, but it also grieved his soul—deeply.
The play included secular music from those who disrespect the Bible. It featured women in dark clothes and makeup, fire and red lighting to set the set to make it look like a scene from hell. There was another scene where demons were pulling Jesus off the cross, and yet another where women spoke about their “fatty’” backsides.
The senior pastor at Firehouse Church in Chicago, Rogers says he wonders whether Pastor Michael Todd, or any others who participated in the play, realize how dangerous this type of production can be for Christians.
“I know that some people are going to clash with me, and they’re not going to understand, but I really think it comes down to discernment,” Rogers tells Charisma News’ John Matarazzo in a recent interview. “When I’m looking at the clip, I’m not just looking at it and saying, ‘Oh, this looks worldly,’ because then some people could just argue that you’re just being religious.
“But when you truly have discernment, when you really spend time in the private place, and you think about the context of what the Bible says, I think most Christians would agree that we’re living in the last days,” Rodgers continues. “And 2 Timothy talks about how men will become lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, perilous times should come. Strong delusions, many false Christs would arise, the Bible lets us know that there is going to be a great falling away. The Bible lets us know there’s going to be a lot of deception.
“So, if we know that these things are happening, we have to watch and pray and really spend time … we’re living in a world right now where you can’t even say where a man is a man and a woman is a woman,” he adds. “That’s how crazy the deception is. You can’t even say sin is sin, right? And they are getting so crazy with the deception that they’re having surgeries that if you don’t check a birth certificate, they won’t even know. So, the delusion and the deception are strong.”
Rogers is a strong believer in consulting the Holy Spirit before he preaches any sermon or does anything he realizes might be contrary to the Word of God. He says the Holy Spirit has never steered him wrong, and he wonders if anyone at Transformation Church consulted with the Holy Spirit before putting on their Easter production.
“John 16:3 says that the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you into all truth,” Rogers says. “It will show you the truth if you follow it. So, for me, when I first saw the production, it was like, I got a thumbs-down in my spirit, like something is off. And what I want to stress to people is that you ask the Holy Spirit about everything. The Holy Spirit will tell you if something is a little bit off.”
The books of 1 John and 2 John speak of the spirit of Antichrist and how it is already moving throughout the earth.
“Just looking at the clip, what I discern is there is a lot of worldly Christians there [at Transformation Church],” Rogers says. “There’s a lot of people that have a form of godliness, as Timothy says. I feel like the danger of these kinds of churches is … it’s not like, ‘Come as you are.’ We want everybody to come to the church, no matter what your lifestyle, your background.
“But it looks like there’s a lot of these types of churches in America where they’re empowering people to stay in those kinds of lifestyles,” he explains. “And we’ve seen some of this stuff recently with Maverick City and some stuff that came up with them. So, I think that’s why it’s very dangerous. Come as you are, but don’t stay as you are.”
Charisma News attempted to reach out to Michael Todd for comment but did not receive a reply.
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
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