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PUBLISHED BYChristian Witness MinistriesMarch 2007 Volume 13.1 • Issue 39AUSTRALIAP.O. Box 353Loch Sport Vic 3851T: (03) 5146 0280F: (03) 5146 0270Email: maureen@christian-witness.orgNEW ZEALANDP.O. Box 15 159Miramar, WellingtonT: (6) 367 0105Email: info@christian-witness.orgUNITED KINGDOM83 Retford RoadHandsworthSheffield S13 9LBT: 0114 269 9554Email: CWM@paulmoore.org.ukWEBSITESwww.christian-witness.orgwww.cwmfellowship.orgMAILING LISTCETF is sent free ofcharge upon request.By Post: Write to yournearest CWM office (seeaddresses above)Web: (pdf version) www.christian-witness.org/joinsearch.htmlLETTERS TO EDITORPost: See officeaddresses aboveEmail: editor@christian-witness.orgRESOURCESFor a full catalogue ofall audios, cds, videos,dvds and books available,contact CWM Australia.DONATIONS: Please makepayment to “ChristianWitness Ministries”EDITORPhilip L. PowellEmail: ppowell@christian-witness.org2007: Pressing On...IWROTE this during the first week of the New Year.By the time you get it 25 percent of 2007 will havegone—my oh my. Although the topic may be mostprominent in our thoughts at the turn of the year,fortunately, it relates to any time.Firstly, I pay tribute to CWM’s army of volunteers whoregularly undertake the huge task of distributing our quarterlymagazine. Only those involved realise how big a job it is. Thankyou one and all.Secondly, in reviewing 2006, a year of increasing confusionand deception in the world and within the “church”, we featurea few “high-points” (or “low-points”) depending on your view.Thirdly, we look to the future and how we plan, God willing,to play our part as a watchman ministry with a growing networkof local churches linked by the grace of God through the tenuousthreads of our literature and websites’ work.2006 IN REVIEW:That was the year that was...Much of today’s confusion is due to information overload. Howdoes one keep up with it all and filter the true from the false?Even the big media boys sometimes get it wrong. According toWorldNetDaily.com posting dated January 2, 2007:CNN 1 is apologising today after the cable news outletconfused Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., with terrorist Osamabin Laden in on-screen graphics last night reading, “Where’sObama?”CNN blamed its graphics department for what it called a “badtypographical error” and offered their personal apologies to Sen.Barack Obama. Tommy Vieto, Obama’s press secretary, said:Though I’d note that the ‘s’ and ‘b’ keys aren’t all that closeto each other, I assume it was just an unfortunate mistake, anddon’t think there was any truly malicious intent. (http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53606)1 Cable News Network—http://www.cnn.comWhy we shouldn't let the worldset our agenda 2Warfare that counts 3A megachurch that makes God smile 4Church growth hormone 5News, views, your letters 6Muslim marauders 8Special report: Not so al-Hilarious 11Senator Barack Obama, D-III., not Osama bin LadenOsama (not Obama) allegedly still can’t be found, which isanother confusion to us all. Maybe bin Laden would resent beingtaken for Barack Obama and would relish the opportunity to sueCNN (or worse) if anyone would give him a chance. It’s not thefirst time the two have been confused in the public arena. Go tothe above link and listen to a parody song about it all under theheading—Click here to listen to the spoof.CONFUSION is bad enough, but CORRUPTION in the mostvisible part of Christendom should ring loud alarm bells. In2006 Rick Warren went to Syria and offended the Christianworld by what he said. When challenged he claimed he wasmisrepresented. Asked for the recording he claimed that noneexisted. He told two barefaced lies as the world now knows bythe widespread distribution of the “non-existent” recording. 2 He2 See pages 14–16 this issue—http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/warrenexplanation.htmlWarren's wanderings 13Success to significance to seduction 16Is there victory over sin in this life? 18The still small voice 20The Toronto deception 23And all liars 25Wesley brothers in Cornwall: part 2 26Children of a Clayton's God: part 4 129

D O N O T L O V E T H E W O R L D • 1 J o h n 2 : 1 5also invited Barack Obama to Saddleback. Obama isa pro-abortionist liberal democrat who could wellbe the key to getting Hillary Clinton into the WhiteHouse as the first woman president. Warren is amember of the CFR 3 , which is the powerful lobbygroup that decides in practical terms who getselected as president of the USA and to some extentwhat happens internationally.2IN CONTINUUMPart of CWM’s biblical mandate is Colossians1:28“Whom [Christ] we preach, warning every man,and teaching every man in all wisdom; thatwe may present every man mature in ChristJesus”.By God’s grace and enabling we will not deviate inspite of the criticisms—and there are many. CETFwill continue to expose evil and evil workers.WARNING: In this magazine several articlesare so dedicated. In addition we start a column ontwo of the big issues: 1) MUSLIM MARAUDERS and2) WARREN WANDERINGS. Both are internationalconcerns. There’s so much material we could fillall 32 pages with it but we’ll merely summarise itwith some key links.TEACHING: In this issue we hope to stimulateyour thinking and challenge your devotion bycarefully examining the truth about victory over sinas taught in Romans chapters 6 and 7 (see pages18–19), and the significance of the “still smallvoice” of Elijah’s encounter with God (pages 20–23).Later we will look at the biblical teaching on divorceand remarriage and how it affects our STANDING inChrist and our LEADERSHIP privileges. We also planto further examine the biblical pattern for Kingdomgivingas an extension to my article on TITHING(CETF 37 pp 21-23), which created some controversy.The non-biblical teaching on this is a foundation tothe heretics’ empires. That foundation needs to beshown for what it is—unbiblical and unscrupulous.The New Testament advocates stewardship basedon personal (individual) responsibility, not tithing,which applied to Israel and not to the Church.WE PREACH CHRIST2006 saw some significant progress within CWMand the CWM-Fellowship (Brisbane). Visit http://www.cwmfellowship.org. Click on onthe top Menu Bar. To be part of this network youonly need to approve our Statements of Faith andMission, tell us that you have no part in the wordof faith or ecumenical movements and send us yourchurch and contact details.God bless you throughout the year,3 Warren’s claim to be a member to the CFR (Council ofForeign Relations) can be viewed at . CFR, the Bilderbergers and theTrilateral Commission have a hidden agenda to bringabout a New World Order. . See page 15.Why weshouldn't letthe world setour agendaBy JOHN LANCASTERRepublished by CWM with written permissionTHE Bible is sometimes an uncomfortablebook. You read it as part of yourdevotions, quietly enjoying its storiesand being blessed by its inspiredwords, and then, suddenly, it pointsits finger at you!It happened to me recently. Reading throughthe second book of Kings, I was fascinated bythe story of the visit by King Ahaz to Damascusfor an “international summit” with the Assyrianking, Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 16). The location andoccasion sounded so much like the politics of ourown day—it was a good read.What followed was even more interesting:in Damascus, Ahaz saw a pagan altar which soimpressed him that he had drawings of it sentto Jerusalem, with orders for a replica of it to bemade in order to replace Solomon’s great altarin the Temple. That set me thinking: how couldAhaz replace a Holy Spirit designed altar (see 1Chronicles 28:11-19) with a pagan one? Surely thatwas copying the world.It was at that point that the Bible pointed itsfinger at me! It seemed to say, “Isn’t the modernchurch in danger of doing the same thing? Isn’tmuch of her life influenced by ‘contemporary culture’causing her to adjust her theology, her methods andher lifestyle in order to meet the ‘challenges’ of thepresent age?”Take for instance, the “altar” of the cross (c/fGalatians 5:11). In some quarters of evangelicalthinking, the old biblical altar of substitutionaryatonement has been replaced with a new onewhich copies the more attractive designs created bypost-modern insights. The uncompromising lines ofthe old altar with its emphasis on the sinfulness ofsin, the unutterable holiness of God, the certaintyof judgement and the need for propitiation andrepentance, have been replaced by the softer,more rounded shape of the new one. This newaltar manages to remove some of the “offence ofthe cross” by offering a revised version of Christ’satonement which is more acceptable to modernsensibilities.The word “contemporary” is a powerful one;it affects the way we “do church”, the way weworship, the way we communicate the gospel,the way we counsel people and the values thatdetermine our lifestyle. The slogan “The churchmust move with the times”, is equally powerful; butwhile it contains elements of truth it also containssubtle seeds of compromise.The church is called to challenge the culture,not conform to it. That is why Paul says “Do notconform any longer to the pattern of this world”(Romans 12:2); and why John writes, “Do not lovethe world or anything in the world… For everythingin the world: the cravings of sinful people, the lustof their eyes and their boasting about what theyhave and do, comes not from the Father…” (1John 2:15-16). In other words, don’t let the worldset the agenda.When preaching replaces careful expositionof the Word of God with popular sound-bites (2Timothy 4:2-4)..., when worship is more like arock concert than the robust, God-centred praiseof the Psalms and Revelation..., when counsellingmethods are more influenced by some of thedubious techniques of popular psychology than bybiblical principles..., when leadership styles seemto turn pastors into business managers rather thanSpirit-anointed ministers..., when churches seemmore like religious factories urgently working tomeet customer demand rather than seeking to bewhat Jesus said it should be: “my Father’s house,… a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17,Luke 19:46, cf. Isaiah 56:7), and when our personalvalues reflect the aspirations of the consumersociety in which we live rather than seeking firstthe Kingdom of God... then we have allowed theworld to set the agenda.If the above descriptions match our experience,then we have replaced the Spirit-designed, biblicalaltar for a pagan one, and we will fare no betterthan Ahaz. Our road to Damascus has led us in thewrong direction and we had better turn back, for“anyone who chooses to be a friend of the worldbecomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4).Perhaps we need to have a fresh look at our‘altars’.About the AuthorJOHN LANCASTER is a respectedsenior minister withover fifty years experience inthe Elim Church of the UK. Thisarticle was originally publishedin Direction Magazine (November2006), journal of the ElimPentecostal Churches.

D O N O T L O V E T H E T H I N G S T H A T A R E I N T H E W O R L D • 1 J o h n 2 : 1 5Editorial Comment: In these faithdestroyingdays when even somemissionaries and missionary organisationsare changing the gospel with their socalledcultural approach, it’s importantthat we present another side. New TribesMission (NTM), with whom CWM isforging an increasingly close link, is onemission that is going against the tide. Weagree with their statement, “Those whostress culturally-felt needs as the key forunderstanding and accepting the gospelare confusing the results and blessingsof the gospel with the gospel itself. Thetrue gospel is never culturally relevant.” 1This column is dedicated to telling thestories of those who have remained trueto the FAITH in their proclamation of theREAL gospel. As long as the stories keepcoming we will keep telling them:Warfare that countsBy DANIEL NEWBOB was a combat marine during theKorean war era, a tough guy. Butsomewhere along the line, he becamea “believer”. He was still a tough guy,and now he had a tough faith. He wasunimpressed with what he called “churchianity” andsought a more meaningful way for him to dedicatehis life to his new Commander-in-Chief.He married, and took his beautiful bride to aforeign country, which I cannot name, becausethey’re still working there. They settled in avalley that had no roads—you trekked in and out.They lived on the same food the locals ate, withthe occasional taste of “home” they carried bybackpack.They began to learn the language and the culture,with the goal being to eventually translate the NewTestament into a language that had never beforebeen written down. Soon their children spoke thelocal language well. In time, a road came into thevalley, and a few years later the drug lords arrived.The locals had a choice—either grow marijuana(MJ) between their corn for unheard of amounts ofcash, or die. They always chose the former.After a few years the colonel of the provincialmilitary base “invited” Bob to his office for “aninterview”. He bluntly informed him that he knewthat Bob knew who was growing MJ in the valley,and he wanted the names of the farmers.Bob looked the colonel in the eye for severalseconds, then said, “Colonel, let me ask youa question. If they kill me for telling you theinformation you want, will you promise me that youwill come into the valley and spend the rest of your1 Firm Foundations Creation to Christ Building According toPlan © 1993 New Tribes Mission—p. 16life translating the Bible for those people?”“Don’t be ridiculous” the colonel sneered, andthen, as calm as a man in combat can be, Bob said,“In that case, Colonel, I’ll make you a deal. You doyour job, and I’ll do mine.”The colonel smiled probably for more than onereason. Perhaps because he recognised a braveman when he saw one, but there was anotherreason. Not long after the “interview” Bob learnedthat the colonel was one of the largest growersof MJ in the province. In trying to discover hiscompetition he learned that day that Bob wouldnot be telling anyone, anything. Indeed, Bob mayhave saved his life and his life’s work by just saying,“NO” to drugs.You will never read about Bob and his stillbeautiful wife in any newspaper, unless somethinggoes seriously wrong; and probably not even then.They have invested their lives in a small groupof despised, difficult, and drunken heathen menand women who have largely rejected them andtheir message for over 25 years, yet, there are afew believers. Through medical work they havesaved the lives of children who have grown up topersecute them and the believers. They don’t havechurches full of happy Christians, and yet their faithis unshaken.I’m reading lots of “feel good” articles thesedays about the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, andI don’t want to take anything away from them—theydo deserve our prayers. But, all things considered,not one of them displays the commitment to theKingdom with their guns and boots that Bob andhis family demonstrate in that lonely jungle valleywith their laptop computer and their malaria andtheir little clinic as they try to save a few lives andintroduce a few souls to a new kingdom. Kingdomwarfare is for eternity.Sure, they could use some encouragement— and they would love to have someone praying forthem daily. But just as important, you can use theirexample to help teach your Sunday school class,or children in your family, that some wars are moreimportant than others, and instead of glorifyingsoldiers who are armed to the teeth, our childrenneed to be preparing their hearts and minds to live,and die if necessary, for the Kingdom of God.About the AuthorDANIEL NEW has been privilegedin his travels and livingin foreign lands to meet manybelievers who are true warriorsin the battle for eternity.He has dined in grass huts withcannibals as well as Washingtonrestaurants with congressmen, and franklypreferred the fun and fellowship and integrityof the former group. He’s been telling stories allhis life, but says the most rewarding is to spreadthe message to this young and uninformedgeneration that the real war, the one that matters,is going on all around them, and there aresome real warriors out there whom they need toemulate. He lives on the family farm in centralTexas, USA raising poultry, cattle, horses andgrandchildren (14 so far). He has written a bookon his son’s decade-long legal battle with theUS government over the question of forcingUS soldiers to serve under the United Nationsagainst their will (that case is now pending beforethe US supreme court). He lectures widelyon issues of national sovereignty and globalisationand has had more guest appearances onradio shows than most talk show hosts have intheir entire career.3

I F A N YO N E LOV E S T H E W O R L D T H E LOV E O F T H E FAT H E R I S N OT I N H I M • 1 John 2:15A MEGACHURCHthat makesGod smileABy WARREN SMITHCOUPLE of days after I got homefrom a recent trip to India I receivedOutreach Magazine’s annual list ofthe 100 largest churches in the UnitedStates. The entire issue was devotedto these churches and their pastors. I couldn’t helpbut notice that the largest was feel-good preacherJoel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. Recently disgracedTed Haggard’s New Life Church was number 37on the list.As I read through that issue, I thought aboutanother kind of church, one whose pastors don’t flyaround the country in private planes and who don’tpay for their vacation retreats with book royalties.These were the churches I saw and the pastorsI met on a recent trip to India with the Christianministry, Gospel For Asia. One of them, in particular,sticks in my mind:About 20 kilometres outside the emerging hightechcity of Hyderabad, you are fully into the Indiancountryside. The road turned to dirt in places. Oxdrawn carts or foot travel were primary modes oftransportation. It took almost two hours to coverthe 20km distance from the city, but we eventuallycame to a small village, where we stopped in frontof a small Believers Church, which is what GospelFor Asia calls all of the nearly 30,000 churches ithas planted over the past 30 years. It is a small butsturdy building with a cross prominently reachingskyward from the peak of the building. The pastorof the church came out to greet us and invite us in.We sat on plastic chairs as he told us, with the helpof a translator, a remarkable story.When he first came to this village to plant achurch, he slept some nights out in the open ashe went from house to house, distributing gospelliterature provided by the Believers Church. Hemet with much resistance, and once was beatenseverely by anti-Christian radicals in the town.During that beating he had teeth knocked out, and“Beware of any man who claims to be wiser than the apostles or holier thanthe martyrs of the Early Church. The best way to deal with him is to rise andleave his presence. You cannot help him and he surely cannot help you.”his ear was nearly ripped off.But the pastor persisted. And when the villagebegan to experience a water shortage, the pastorprayed and drilled a well next to the road in frontof the church.”Everyone told us the well would not bringwater”, he said. “But we prayed, and by God’s graceand for His glory the water came.” The pastor letit be known that it was Jesus who had brought thewater, as it is God who brings all good gifts. Hecalled the well the Jesus Well. He also let it beknown that everyone in the village, even those whohad beaten him, or who had been happy when hewas beaten, could freely use the well.”Seeing the water from the well changed thehearts of many people”, the pastor said. “Soon,a few were coming to the Believers Church forservices, and before long 30 and then 40 and then50 people came”. The pastor explained to thesenew churchgoers that attending church does notsave them. Only by turning from their sins andaccepting Jesus, becoming born again, couldthey be saved. Eventually, ten people made thatdecision, but because it was soon after the pastorhad been beaten, he and others in the leadershipof the Believers Church decided that it would besafer if they were baptized at the Bible collegein Hyderabad. So they made the trip and werebaptized.Today, the pastor is almost fully healed. Onlya scar remains to show where his ear was nearlyripped off his head during the brutal beating. Theten, who were baptized, were followed by more whomade the same decision to turn from their sins andbecome Christians. Now, every Sunday, 65 peoplejam into this small Believers Church for worship.—A.W. Tozer, “How To Try The Spirits” from Man: The Dwelling Place Of GodNo, it’s not a mega-church in the sense that wethink in the West. In fact, this is a typicalBelieversChurch. On average, churches planted by GospelFor Asia have about 60 members. But when youconsider that all of these 60 members are newlyborn-again and baptized believers, and when youremember that there are 30,000 such churches, andthatGospel For Asia is planting them at the rate ofmore than 1000 per year, you begin to realise thetruth. The 1.7 million members in these churchesrepresent more real growth in the Kingdom of Godthan all the mega-churches (a church with morethan 2000 members) combined.It makes you wonder if this method of churchgrowth is not more biblical and more effectivethan the mega-church model touted in “Outreach”magazine and in Western evangelicalism.At least I hope it makes you wonder. As for me,I’m through wondering. After seeing Ted Haggard ontelevision, and comparing that image to my memoryof those pastors in the remote villages in India, I nolonger wonder. My mind’s made up.About the AuthorWARREN SMITH is an awardwinningjournalist, radio andtelevision personality, whocurrently hosts the syndicatedradio and local TV programmesWorldviews withWarren Smith. He is author ofnumerous secular and Christian articles andseveral books, the most recent of which isVoices That Carry, published in 2005. He andhis wife Missy have four children. They live inCharlotte, North Carolina, USA.warren.smith@thecharlotteworld.com4

D O N OT L E T T H E W O R L D P R E S S YO U I N TO I T S M O U L D • R o m a n s 1 2 : 2Church Growth Hormone—a biblically banned substanceThere is a way that seemsright to a man, but its endis the way of death—Proverbs 16:25By RAY BAUMANNAG-USA – Associate pastorFOR the first eight years of my ministry Iwas a church growth hormone addict,thriving on a daily diet of books andvideos centred around the latest fadsand trends that focused on churchgrowth. I was on the cutting edge of ministrythinking, learning more and more about marketingand the psychology of connecting people. I believedthat numbers equalled success, even if that meantchanging the name of the church, offering self-helpprograms, or implementing any other sort of methodI thought would help to boost the numbers.Like many pastors, I could be compared to aprofessional athlete when it comes to how weview success and how we value ourselves. For anathlete, the math is pretty simple; score goals, hithome runs, and nail three-point shots; it’s all aboutnumbers. The more successful you are in makingthe score, in essence, hitting your numbers, thegreater your worth. For pastors, it’s the numberof people that are sitting in the seats that seemsto be the measure of success. This is something,however misguided, that we all strive to obtain.Now, more than ever before, books emphasisechurch growth with the goal of becoming a megachurch.This desire facilitates the thought, “If I growthe church bigger, I’m doing more for God than thenext person.”Recent news has revealed that many professionalathletes have been taking illegal substances tobuild muscle and strength in order to improvetheir performance. They will do whatever it takesto achieve their goals and thus enhance theirperceived value. For them the end result justifies themeans, no matter what the side effects. Similarlypastors around the world have come to believe thatchurch growth equals success. Thousands attendconference after conference, read book after book,and watch and listen to video and audio messagesregarding church growth. They, like the professionalathlete on steroids, are taking “church growthhormones” just for the sake of growth. Havingseen the quick “success”, they have signed on forthe dangerous pill. True they have improved theirperformances on Sundays and Wednesdays, notrecognising that the “church growth hormone”contains some ugly ingredients. Let’s take a look.Ray & Kristi Baumann with their fourchildrenRay and Kristi Baumann with their four childrenIngredients include: man-centred theology;relevant messages to meet people’s needs; eventsand programs that reach out to the community;contemporary music that is entertaining. For bestresults, remove the pews, dress casually, andinstall a 5,000 lumen projector. Take the “hormone”weekly, follow the regimented marketing strategyand you are guaranteed growth. The side effectsmay include unbelievers in the leadership, falseconverts, uncommitted members, and shallowminds.On my own, there is no way that I could have seenthe damaging effects of what I was participatingin. To top it off, I was encouraged in this sin bythe people. If anyone asked how the church wasdoing, what they really wanted to know was howthe attendance was progressing, not how God wasworking or what He was doing in our congregation.My world-view was filled with garbage and I wasblinded. My flesh (ego) craved constant validation.This came directly from numbers and growth, notfrom what God was doing or how He was moving.That’s right, I said flesh, and that was my problem.It was all about me. When I left myself out of theequation, my sight started to become clearer. TheWord had to become my number one reference forall things.After some study, I actually began to bediscerning. Those many books that I owned wentright into the trash and I learned how to study theBible inductively. To use a computer-based analogy,Jesus in effect reprogrammed the hard drive of mymind, steering me away from a numbers-driventhought process. Growing the church is no longer myfocus. Now my focus is on training believers.About the AuthorWearing a variety of hats comes easy tosome ministers. Such was the case with RayBaumann; youth and associate pastor, coach,husband, and father, he wore them all, whilecontinually trying on more. He is a formeremergent, post-modern, relevant, purposedriven,church growth thinker who has beendramatically transformed. Ray spent the firsteight years of his “youth ministry” focusingon “growing the church”, but has recentlychanged his focus to “growing the believer”.He claims, “My senior pastor David Raynaudat First Assembly of God in Belleville, Illinois,USA, where I now serve as family pastor, hasbeen a very big influence in my life and ministryand supports me 100 percent.” Ray speaks onyouth culture and church issues, and enjoystraining soccer players at Belleville East highschool. He and his wife Kristi have taken onthe added challenge of “home schooling” theirfour children to teach them the importance ofleading Christ-centred lives. Their active, livelyhousehold is located in Shiloh, Illinois.5

T H E D E V I L G O E S A B O U T A S A R O A R I N G L I O N • 1 P e t e r 5 : 8News, Views &Your Letters6WE PRINT LETTERS FROM YOU, THE READERS. LETTERS MAY BE EDITED FOR BREVITY.WE REGRET THAT THE EDITOR CANNOT ENGAGE IN PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE.Editorial Comment (Ed) is by Philip L. Powell (PP) or B. Michael Bigg (MB)FROM THE REGULAR (EMAIL) MAILERTo subscribe go to: http://www.christian-witness.org/joinsearch.html and follow the prompts.THE CHRISTMAS THEMEOn December 16 CWM-Fellowship hosted aCarols by Candlelight, which was previouslypublicised in our e-Mailer. This prompted somemoderately critical correspondence. The followingare typical:“Putting Christ Back Into CHRISTmas”But He was never in it: we are commanded toremember His death, not celebrate His birthaccording to the Bible: We live our lives doingthat! See article herewith. (See attached file:The Bible on Christmas.doc) Blessings,GM, South Africa——————————If we are only willing to search and investigatethe information in the Bible, we do knowthe precise day of the year through scripture andthat is Tishri 15, i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles.However I could even give you the year but thatcan be debated out. But unfortunately mostChristians want to stick to pagan feasts thatGod does not approve!SA, UK——————————Philip Powell responded as follows:I would certainly be interested to read theevidence re the precise date. I think you havehighlighted the major problem when you suggestit’s open to debate, which I think will always rageover this issue. Here are my comments to anotherperson who wrote to me. Hope it helps to explainwhy we do what we do in this respect:We simply use it as an occasion to preachthe gospel, i.e. that Christ died for our sinsaccording to the scriptures and that He wasraised etc. We are not specifically commandedto assemble on a Sunday. We do it as a conveniencething. It is legitimate to use ALL occasionsto proclaim the message including whatthe world recognises as CHRISTmas. I can seeno problem.Some object over the pagan links but continueto refer to Thursday, Sunday etc which werenamed after pagan deities. There is no end tothat sort of argument. We cannot change history,nor should we try. Just REDEEM the timeby buying up EVERY opportunity to proclaimChrist and for that we have biblical precedentand principle on which to operate.I appreciate any typical teaching about theJewish feasts including what you attached,BUT the fact of the matter is that “Christ is theend of the law” including the feasts. He is thegreat anti-type of all types. We are no longercommanded or required to keep any of theJewish feasts. It is legalism to teach otherwise.Extrapolate truth by all means, but don’t gofurther than that or you will end in bondage,which many well-meaning exponents from theJewish Messianic camp have done.Some observe Hanukkah as a replacement,but fail to see that simply because Christ as aJew possibly kept all the feasts, HE is the endto all that. Interestingly there is no reference toHis having kept Pentecost. I wonder why? I havealways felt and taught that it is on account ofthe fact that it relates to HIS heavenly ministrynot HIS earthly ministry. If we are not carefulwe will “strain out gnats and swallow camels”over the issue. Every blessing,★ ★ ★AOG – UKHello. Am new to this website (http://www.christian-witness.org); most interestingreading. I had lost contact with AOG here in UK30 years ago (born into it—you will know what Imean) and subsequent Home Missions worker in themovement—I remember Philip Powell when he waspastoring in Manchester. AOG has changed in manyrespects. I am gradually catching up—somewhatconfused about things like the G12 1 —and unsureat this stage as to making further contact andfellowship. I recall people such as pastor CliffordRees in the AOG movement, who Philip Powellwill know and am wondering what his advicemight be! My enquiry comes from a sincere hearttrying to catch up after a long time away from myfellowship roots.I am increasingly concerned to see G12 principlesoperating in AOG fellowships. Whilst recognisingthat their churches are autonomous, it would seemobvious that the AOG national leadership approvedof and influenced it, following one of its boardmember’s visit to G12 overseas. Was it a case ofAOG deciding it was time to try everything, goingin the name of becoming less exclusive and moreinclusive? I might call it, “enthusiasm gone madsyndrome“.For the life of me, I can’t believe that G12 wasGod inspired, from what I now see. What a changecompared to my time in the movement back in the60s/70s, though I do retain reservations about someAOG approaches operating in that era. I think thatAOG in those days would have kept well awayfrom it and been more discerning. I can imagine1 César Castellanos, whose idea was to “disciple”church members, with them holding some degree ofaccountability, initially developed the Government of 12(G12) strategy. The main leader would disciple 12 people(on values, teaching, prayer and ministry on a weeklybasis) until those people themselves were ready tolead their own groups. Each disciple would find 12 newdisciples and so the process would go on until there were144 — and on and on the process would go.the uproar in the 1978 AOG General Conferenceat Minehead, (the last one I attended as a pastor)should there have been any mention of a G12structure then.It would be wrong of me to deny, that numerousChristians have benefited, but the fact remains thatit has seriously affected so many, often with longterm health problems. Only yesterday I was in touchwith a former leader within a G12 fellowship (AOGconnections). He shared the fact that he was rejectedbecause of his differing opinions about the nature ofG12 and of the hurt and injustice done to him.Furthermore, I believe that one can so easily spillout statements such as “the Lord told me this andthat” as casually as dishing up fish and chips...unintentionally maybe, but still misusing theName of our Lord. Sensible discernment is often amissing thread and the church in many areas needsto return to that. Perhaps larger and more regularproportions of common sense would be helpfultoo... Thanks,John Howell, UKdelwin@btinternet.comOF INTEREST: John Howell refers to several“old-time” godly AoG pastors—Douglas Christie,remembered as the official AoG conference organistand George Newsholme well-known AOG-UKcollege principal and his own father Harry Howellan Elim pastor. He writes: “Now that the dark nightsare here, I plough through your [CWM] archives. Lotsof interesting articles. It does give insight …. Mr[Clifford] Rees conducted my wedding (1976) anddedicated my son (1978). Have always thought wellof him. But I wonder how he fits into the currentAOG climate (can’t see him being into G12 and thePaul Weaver/Gerald Coates antics etc). Maybe I’mwrong. I guess Mr Rees would be forthright, butguess he just gets on with fulfilling his ministry,which he is called to do. He is truly a gentleman.”★ ★ ★AG – USAEditorial Comment: The following twoletters were addressed to James Sundquistwith whom CWM is working closely in exposingthe hypocrisy of Thomas Trask and other AG-USApersonnel in supporting Rick Warren’s PurposeDriven deceit and deception. The letters arepublished with the knowledge and approval of theauthors. This was sent to AG-USA officials includingThomas Trask and George Wood on 05/02/07 forcomment prior to publication. As at 15/02/07 therehas been no response from the AG-USA hierarchy.——————————I appreciate the stand you have taken concerningRick Warren’s Purpose Driven stuff and some ofthe other theological and doctrinal errors nowovertaking the Assemblies of God. I am a formerstudent of the late Dr Opal Reddin at CBC. Shewas a great and godly lady who worked tirelesslyto defend the faith once delivered to the saints. Forsome time after her passing I felt rather hopelessabout the Assemblies of God and the PentecostalMovement in general. … Then the Lord remindedme that He has called us to take the torch of theWord and the Spirit that those who have gonebefore are passing to us.

T H E D E V I L S E E K S W H O M H E M A Y D E V O U R • 1 P e t e r 5 : 8I have pastored two A/G in the southern Missouridistrict. I have sincerely thought about leaving theAssemblies of God because I’m tired of the drifttoward liberalism and apostasy. The ecumenicalmovement within our ranks is an abomination that isleading us into the camp of Rome. With the backingthis movement has within our ranks, I doubt we canturn this trend back, but we have an obligation tohold on to all the truth of God’s Word as long as wecan before we either have to leave or are driven out.Right now I am between ministries, and my wifeand I are seriously seeking the Lord as to whetherwe should remain in the A/G.Leading A/G ministers, teachers, theologians,and executive leaders are embracing the EmergingChurch Movement (ECM)—the next logical steptoward Rome and apostasy. Dr Earl Creps at AGTS 2is a huge promoter of ECM. He apparently operateswith impunity and immunity. I recently wrote aletter to Superintendent Thomas Trask about theerrors of Rick Warren, ECM, and the EcumenicalMovement. He wrote back to tell me how he and ourother leaders were doing everything in their powerto preserve and promote sound doctrine in A/Gchurches. A few days after he wrote that letter to me Idiscovered that Creps is involved in this stuff up tohis eyeballs right under the noses of the folks onBoonville Avenue. 3 I try to give people the benefitof the doubt as much as possible, but I find itimpossible to believe that Trask and others at theGeneral Council headquarters are not aware of theactivities of Earl Creps. If Trask is indeed awareof this—as I strongly suspect, then he is eitherdeceived into accepting these false teachings, or helied to me. I think we’re in trouble either way.Dr Creps has just published a book titled, Off-Road Disciplines that promotes many of the errorsof the ECM. Leonard Sweet endorsed it and DanKimball wrote the foreword, both of whom aremajor players in the Emerging Church Movement.In fact, Leonard Sweet is as much New Age as heis anything else.When Tony Campolo spoke at Valley ForgeChristian College I confronted Superintendent Traskabout it. He told me that I should talk to the collegepresident before I talked to him. He quoted Matthew18:15-17. I wrote back to him that this was not aMatthew 18:15-17 issue. The issue was that a rankheretic would be speaking in one of our collegesover which our leaders had the responsibility toprotect the minds and souls of young people. Thisput the responsibility back on him to stop it, buthe didn’t stop it. Yet these same leaders havedestroyed the A/G ministries and ministers whohave done nothing immoral, unethical, or unlawfulbut simply refused to go along with the politicalcorrectness now coming from Springfield.Academia has operated without restraint forat least the past 15 years. I had the opportunity toconfront a lesbian who was an Evangel Universitygraduate when she was attending SMS 4 now2 AGTS stands for the Assemblies of God TheologicalSeminary, located in Springfield, Missouri, USA3 The address of the Assemblies of God headquarterslocated in Springfield, Missouri.4 SMS stands for Southwest Missouri State University,located in Springfield, MissouriMSU 5 as a graduate student. I was the HebrewEditing Assistant, working on the Old TestamentComplete Biblical Library project for World LibraryPress, and she was presenting a paper on “FeministTheologies”. We were in a meeting of theologians,students, and researchers. She referred to “GayTheologies”. During the question and answerperiod I listened quietly for as long as I couldstand it. Finally I asked her a few short questionsincluding whether her interest in and familiaritywith “Feminist” and “Gay” theologies was due tothe fact that she herself was a lesbian. She did notanswer outright, but she did sheepishly confirm mysuspicion. Amazingly, those who gave me the mostgrief for my questions were fellow A/G ministersand professors. However, they found that I was in myusual recalcitrant mood when dealing with wolvesthat are perverting and destroying the flock of God.I have never been easily intimidated, and the moreI am around backslidden and unsaved ministers theworse it gets. I’m just plain intolerant!I will continue to address these issues as theLord gives me opportunity, but I suspect that I willfind myself in trouble eventually. Again, I thank youfor your work—keep it up! It is an encouragementand a great resource to all believers who love theLord and His Word.JL, Missouri USA——————————Brother I want to give you an update on what’sbeen happening here locally with the PDC/PDLMovement. I am so thankful for your books; “WhoseDriving The Purpose Driven Church.” They have beenso helpful. Thank you. My former church of whichwe had spoken about in our first phone conversationhas split and is on the verge of falling apart.This church went down from an average Sundaycongregation of about 2000 down to what is todayabout 600 or less. The senior pastor has resignedand the new pastor is a Rick Warren follower. Ihave started a church, “The Joy of Jesus ChristianCentre”, and I am preaching against this destructivemovement. The Lord has led me to host a conferenceon the 21st of this month to openly discuss theproblems associated with the PDC/PDL. Dr NoahHutchings has agreed to join me that day andspeak on the same subject. If you have any otherinformation you can send, please advise. I thank theLord for you and your ministry. Keep up the goodwork and may the Lord richly bless you now andforever. Sincerely Yours In Christ,JG, Oklahoma USA★ ★ ★Open Letter to Thomas TraskOn January 11, 2007 Steve Svendsenwrote a letter confronting AG-USA GeneralSuperintendent Thomas Trask with the spreadingdeparture from sound doctrine within Assembliesof God as evidenced by the use of the evolvingSeeker Sensitive, Church Growth teachings ofRobert Schuller, Bill Hybels and Rick Warren. MrTrask responded but failed to answer the mostimportant question and hedged the entire issue.5 MSU, which stands for Missouri State University wasformerly SMS and is located in Springfield, Missouri.You can read both letters at: http://contending.org/traskletter&response20070112.htmSteve Svendsen is a former long-term memberof Bethel AG, who has been conducting a surveyamong AG-USA state superintendents, pastorsand members on this matter of growing concern.CETF plans to keep you informed.★ ★ ★THEOPHOSTIC COUNSELLINGElijah House Prayer Ministry– being suedEditorial Comment: Some time backCWM issued a warning about TheophosticCounselling which had been adopted by “DUNAMIS”(Brisbane, pastors Shawn Hanson and TrevorChandler) and by others. We believe that thefollowing report justifies our warning:Go to: www.lyingspirits.com/news2006.html— for an interesting summary of law suitsoriginating in British Columbia, Canada, involvingthe so-called “Christian prayer counselling” ministryof Elijah House, founded by U.S. residents John andPaula Sandford.They use “inner healing” techniques drawn fromoccultism, especially the “recovery” of repressedmemories in order to heal those memories (asthey say). This is sometimes called “TheophosticPrayer Counselling” (TPC). Elijah House counsellorsare, among other things, taught to help peoplerecover emotional wounds and hidden memoriesin order to “apply the healing power of Jesus”through prayer. In my book True to His Ways 6 Icompared this practice with kundalini yoga (whichis actually orthodox Hinduism). In yoga, practitionersuncover repressed memories and then apply thehealing power of kundalini (i.e., the serpent).Eastern thought, not the Bible, is the source ofsuch practice.In the early 1990s a Canadian lawyer, underthe tutelage of John Sandford, left her lawpractice to head up Canadian operations forElijah House. However, they closed down theCanadian offices in the early 2000s. Around thattime a man sued for divorce, saying his marriagewas torn apart as a result of counselling thatcaused his wife to have false memories of sexualand satanic abuse. Recently, the wife apparentlyrealised that she had been deluded and shesued Elijah House. More information is in linkedstatement.In 2005 one of the leaders of Elijah Housepersonally told me they were planning to sendrepresentatives to carry their teaching intoindividual churches, especially in the USA, havingdecided that they need to take their practicesdirectly into church congregations.Christians beware: www.lyingspirits.com/news2006.htmlRuth Davis, Baruch House Publishing Co, True to HisWays: Purity in Christian Spiritual Practice. http://www.truetohisways.com6 True To His Ways available from CWM AU$24 pluspost—see front cover for contact details.7

S U B M I T Y O U R S E L V E S T O G O D • J a m e s 4 : 7TITHINGDear Philip: My brother receives CETF andreferred me to your article on ‘tithing’ (CETF37 Sept 2006—p 21-23). The ‘tithing’ issue becamea saga for us in the Revival Centres Australia (a“cult” really) over many years. Some of the ‘pastors’,often from quite humble beginnings, became multimillionaires(one eventually living in a heritagelisted mansion mainly through their heavy emphasison ‘tithing’—talk about “white-collar crime”!) Ifound your article to be very informative and a‘breath of fresh air’ after enduring years of stonewallingabout a very contentious subject. Judgingthe reactions one gets for daring to even questionit, could it be that this is because it is linked to thechurch’s “$ hip pocket nerve”?Some refuse to countenance the possibilitythat tithing is not supported in the New Testament.Others adopt an off-handed “we cannot tell”(Matthew 21:27) type of response—but we’re goingto keep on promoting it anyway.As we know, exotic species of flora/fauna,freed from the “checks and balances” found intheir native lands, can turn into rampant monsterswhen introduced into another country. In likemanner, tithing found its perfect place in the OldTestament with eleven tribes supporting a twelfth(Levi) and providing “meat in my (God’s) house”(Malachi 3:10) with primary produce for thetabernacle/temple sacrifices and offerings as wellas other aspects outlined in your article. Introducingthe Old Testament law of tithing into the Christianchurch has turned it into a “rampant monster” inmany places, especially where large congregationsfeel compelled to funnel a tenth of their incomes(which can be a $colossal collective amount !) to afew selected individuals—often just one man, thepastor, which makes a mockery of scriptures suchas 1 Peter 5:2 and 1 Timothy 3:3. A pastor in such asituation has no need to be “greedy of filthy lucre”as ‘tithing’ will pour money all over him!Attached (see below) is a question, (obviously‘loaded’—but nonetheless genuine), that Iunsuccessfully attempted to gain an answer toover quite some time. As you observed on page 21(CETF 37), of the three occurrences where Christcommented on tithing, “…He condemns thosewho practised it as being hypocrites”. In Galatians,Paul condemns those who seek to keep any part orparts of the law to the exclusion of the rest of thelaw. His point is that such people, and this mustinclude the proponents of tithing, are “debtors todo the whole law”. Because that’s impossible, theyare automatically “cursed” for “continuing not in allthings which are written in the book of the law todo them”. One can’t pick and choose about keepingthe law! Thanks again for a very interesting and wellthought out article.Observance of Tithingin the Christian Church—THE GREAT CONThe final verse in the Old Testament dealing directlywith the law states that it is to be kept in its entirety:Remember the law of Moses my servant, which Icommanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with thestatutes and judgments (Malachi 4:4).Therefore, previous mention of such laws asthose dealing with sacrificial animals (Malachi 1)and tithing (Malachi 3) have to be viewed in thecontext of keeping the ‘whole’ law (see Gal 5:3).Nehemiah realised that the Law of Moses hadto be kept as a whole when he set about “…towalk in God’s law, which was given by Mosesthe servant of God, and to observe and do all thecommandments of the Lord our Lord…” (Nehemiah10:29) and identified tithing as part of that law“…and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites…”(Nehemiah 10:37).With the emphasis placed by Paul on keeping“all” the law, why does Galatians 3:10 and Galatians5:3 apply to circumcision (pre-existing the giving ofthe law, carried out by Abraham on a type of Christ,Isaac, and subsequently incorporate into the law)but (apparently?) not to tithing (pre-existing thegiving of the law, Abraham again to a type of Christ,Melchizedec, and subsequently incorporated intothe law)? That is my question — why don’t theseverses apply to tithing?All who rely on the works of the law are underthe curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyonewho does not abide by all things which arewritten in the book of the law to do them(Galatians 3:10).For I testify again to every man who becomescircumcised, that he is a debtor to do the wholelaw (Galatians 5:3).MuslimMaraudersLOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC NEWSCollated with editorial comments by B. Michael Bigg (MB)IF anyone is under the delusion thatIslam does not have an agenda, andthat of defeating, overrunning andenslaving all non-Muslims, thensurely the highlights of the followingnews stories from around the world should be awake up call. The incidents, issues and storieshighlighted were reported from 30 September2006 to 6 December 2006, not even two and a halfmonths. The question must be asked, how manyconcessions will the West make for the “religionof peace” (Islam), when it is quite obvious that the“peace” they are really after, is a piece here anda piece there, let alone Israel, until all the worldis Islamic. Sleep and slumber civil libertarians,multiculturalists, for the time will come when theintolerance of the “tolerant” will come to bear, andSharia (Islamic Law) could be introduced. As onepoint of view, quoted in a story below, says, theNetherlands is in peril of being 52 percent Islamic by2015. Islam doesn’t need guns and weapons to takeover the world. The West is inviting them in.★ ★ ★Head of the Church of England and Defenderof the Faith, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II“was praised yesterday after converting a roomat Windsor Castle into a mosque. She took thehistoric step so Muslim staff have a quiet place topray during Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month.” 1 I’mjust glad that the King of Kings maintains the truestandard of faith and faithfulness.★ ★ ★In the United Kingdom, “A hardline Muslimteacher who caused a furore by denouncingpupils for celebrating Christmas, has been made a1 Virginia Wheeler, The Sun, “Ima’am of Windsor Castle”,30 September 2006. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006450503,00.htmlgovernment schools inspector. Israr Khan’s Ofstedappointment was described by a former colleague as‘absolutely astonishing’. Mr Khan, now headmasterof an Islamic school, launched into his tirade duringa concert rehearsal at Washwood Heath SecondarySchool in Birmingham in 1996 after the choirincluding around 40 Muslim youngsters, had sunga number of popular Christmas songs, includingcarols. He leapt from his seat, yelling: ‘Who is yourGod? Why are you saying Jesus and Jesus Christ?God is not your God—it is Allah.’ As children in theaudience began booing and clapping, a number ofchoir members —both white and Asian—walkedout, some in tears.” 2★ ★ ★“IN 1989 Iran’s mullahs accused SalmanRushdie of blasphemy and declared a fatwaagainst everyone associated with publishing TheSatanic Verses. The novelist went underground forthe next decade, followed by a 24-hour securitydetail. The Japanese and Italian translators of thebook were stabbed two years later, Hitoshi Igarashifatally. At the time, the fatwa was seen as anisolated stroke of lunacy by a crazed Islamic regime.Westerners were troubled but few ruminated on thepossible link between this assault on freedom ofspeech and the Islamist bombs that were targetingUS embassies in Africa, or envisioned whatthey augured for the future. Five years after theSeptember 11 attacks the world is a foreign place.Identity is the West’s obsession; one of its corevalues, freedom of speech, is under assault; andEurope is convulsed by the rise of Islamism withinits borders.” According to Dutch-born journalist, Ian2 Wayne Francis, Daily Mail, “Muslim teacher in carolconcert tirade is made Ofsted inspector”, 30 September2006. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=407795&in_page_id=17708

R E S I S T T H E D E V I L A N D H E W I L L F L E E F R O M Y O U • J a m e s 4 : 7Buruma, “by 2015 Muslims will make up 52 percentof the Netherlands’ population. There are fivemillion Muslims in France, while across the EnglishChannel, notes Bruce Bawer, author of While EuropeSlept, polling shows 40 percent of Britain’s 1.6million Muslims would like to see the country undersharia law (sic) 3 ”. Summarising history, the articlestates, “‘Not since the Ottoman Turks were hurledback at the siege of Vienna in 1683,’ writes MartinWalker in The Wilson Quarterly, the journal of theWoodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars,‘has Europe been gripped by such apocalypticvisions of a Muslim invasion’”. 4★ ★ ★This time, in America, another “school hasbeen ‘teaching’ Islam by having studentsstudy and learn Muslim prayers and dress asMuslims, and a lawyer who argued a previousdispute over this issue to the U.S. Supreme Courtsaid such methodologies wouldn’t ‘last 10 seconds’if it were Christianity being taught”. The latestprotests come from Nyssa, Oregon “where oneparent raised objections when the Islamic teachingscame to light. The district there, according to Supt.Don Grotting, is teaching a chapter in a historytextbook Journey Across Time that talks about ‘howcivilization has developed and some of the particularaspects of Islam.’” What is most disturbing though,is that the Superintendent states that “for extracredit” kids can “dress up (as a Muslim)”. 5★ ★ ★On 12 October 2006, Toby Helm, chief politicalcorrespondent of the UK’s Telegraph reportingon a speech by Ruth Kelly, the communities’secretary, stated, “Muslim organisations that refuseto defend core British values and fail to take a‘pro-active’ role in the fight against extremism areto lose access to millions of pounds of governmentfunding”. Of particular note in this issue was MsKelly’s “apparent threat to the Muslim Council ofBritain (MCB), the umbrella group for Muslimswhich has received more than £200,000 fromgovernment in the past two years. Miss Kellyhighlighted its refusal to take part in HolocaustMemorial Day”. Such comments by governmentofficials are in stark contrast to previous efforts “byLabour ministers to tackle sensitive religious andcultural issues previously regarded as politically ‘offlimits’ for the party”. 6★ ★ ★“A committed Christian said today sheplanned to take legal action against heremployers British Airways (BA) after the airline3 “Sharia” means law, so strictly speaking this is tautology.4 Deborah Hope, The Australian, “Fatwa on Freedom”,7 October 2006. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20518020-7583,00.html5 Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily.com, “Brave New Schools.‘Five pillars of Islam’ taught in public school. ‘Educationpractice wouldn’t last 10 seconds if kids told to dress aspriests’”, 10 October 2006. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=523356 Toby Helm, The Telegraph, “Back British values or losegrants, Kelly tells Muslim groups”, 12 October 2006.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/12/nkelly12.xml,ruled that displaying her crucifix breached uniformrules.” The hypocrisy of BA is highlighted all themore since, “she and fellow employees had justundergone ‘diversity training’—including receivingadvice from pressure group Stonewall on howto treat gays and lesbians in the workplace. Theairline’s uniform code states that staff must notwear visible jewellery or other ‘adornments’ whileon duty without permission from management. Itmakes exceptions for Muslim and Sikh minoritiesby allowing them to wear hijabs and turbans.” Notto mention that BA’s chief executive came underfire, himself, for failing to comply with the uniformregulations by not wearing a tie. 7 (Note: BA has nowchanged its rules to allow crosses, etc.)★ ★ ★“A man arrested as a terror suspect forallegedly trying to transport $340,000 froma group tied to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi,and who reputedly had connections to Osama binLaden, helped write the ‘Religious Expression inPublic Schools’ guidelines issued by PresidentClinton during his tenure in office. And that couldexplain why students at a California school weretold as part of their required classes they wouldbecome Muslims and pray to Allah—and a federaljudge approved that, and why an Oregon school thisyear is delivering similar lessons to its students, asWND has reported.” 8 And to think, Hilary Clintonis running for president. What more damage couldthey do?★ ★ ★In 2004, al-Qaida (the militant Sunni Muslimterrorist organisation, whose name means“the Law”, “the foundation” or “the base”) warnedAustralia that it would never be safe from terrorismwith the world’s most populous Islamic nation justto its north. Threatening Australia’s prime minister,John Howard, and foreign minister, AlexanderDowner, the terror organisation for the religion ofsubmission and peace (Islam) warned them not tointerfere in Indonesia, nor take comfort—thinkingthat Indonesia had a moderate president. 9★ ★ ★“The nation’s (Australia) most senior Muslimcleric has blamed immodestly dressed womenwho don’t wear Islamic headdress for being preyedon by men and likened them to abandoned ‘meat’that attracts voracious animals. In a Ramadansermon that has outraged Muslim women leaders,Sydney-based Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali also alludedto the infamous Sydney gang rapes, suggesting the7 Jane Merrick, Daily Mail, “Christian BA employee totake legal action over suspension for wearing cross”, 14October 2006. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=410299&in_page_id=17708 Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily.com, “Brave New Schools,Terror suspect contributed to school ‘religion guidelines’,Issued by Clinton, rules let students pray to Allah, butbanish Christmas”, 19 October 2006. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=525199 Simon Kearney, Australian Defence Report, “Australiawon’t ever be safe, says al-Qa’ida”, 23 October 2006.http://www.australiandefencereport.com.au/10-06/australia_wont_ever_be_safe_says.htmattackers were not entirely to blame,” 10 reportedRichard Kerbaj of The Australian on 26 October2006. In response to the outcry, Sheikh al-Hilali wenton to accuse Australia’s media of misrepresentinghis Ramadan sermon. Unfortunately for al-Hilali,The Australian newspaper provided a transcriptof his speech, which shows that al-Hilali meantexactly what he said:But in the event of adultery, the responsibilityfalls 90 percent of the time with women. Why?Because the woman possesses the weapon ofseduction. She is the one who takes her clothesoff, cuts them short, acts flirtatious, puts onmake-up and powder, and goes on the streetsdallying. She is the one wearing a short dress,lifting it up, lowering it down, then a look, then asmile, then a word, then a greeting, then a chat,then a date, then a meeting, then a crime, thenLong Bay Jail, then comes a merciless judgewho gives you 65 years.But the whole disaster, who started it? TheAl-Rafihi scholar says in one of his literaryworks, he says: If I come across a crime of rape—kidnap and violation of honour—I woulddiscipline the man and teach him a lesson inmorals, and I would order the woman be arrestedand jailed for life.Why, Rafihi? He says, because if she hadn’tleft the meat uncovered, the cat wouldn’t havesnatched it. If you take a kilo of meat, and youdon’t put it in the fridge, or in the pot, or in thekitchen, but you put in on a plate and placed (sic)it outside in the yard. Then you have a fight withthe neighbour because his cats ate the meat.Then (inaudible). Right or not?If one puts uncovered meat out in the street,or on the footpath, or in the garden, or in thepark, or in the backyard without a cover, then thecats come and eat it, is it the fault of the cat orthe uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is theproblem! If it was covered the cat wouldn’t have[snatched it]. It would have circled around it andcircled around it, then given up and gone.If she was in her room, in her house, wearingher hijab, being chaste, the disasters wouldn’thave happened... 11There you have it, in al-Hilali’s own words. Letme suggest that the only time that al-Hilali ismisrepresented, is when he misrepresents himselfby his own blatant lies. He said it, and he meantit. Uncovered “meat” is the problem … uncovered“women” are the problem, not the men who rapethem. How much higher is God’s true standard, thanthe male orientated standards of the Qur’an?Jesus tells us:You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALLNOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you thateveryone who looks at a woman with lust forher has already committed adultery with her inhis heart (Matthew 5:27-28).Let us not play with ideas of covered and uncovered,it is the desires of our own hearts, the lusts of oureyes and flesh, and the willingness to give a place10 Richard Kerbaj, The Australian, “Muslim leaderblames women for sex attacks”, 26 October 262006. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20646437-601,00.html11 The Australian, “Revealed: the Mufti uncut”, 28October 2006. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20656690-601,00.html9

F O R A L L T H A T I S I N T H E W O R L D I S N O T O F T H E F A T H E R • 1 J o h n 2 : 1 6to them, irrespective of what kind of sin, that is theproblem. We are all guilty. It is a shame that weprefer to pass the buck and blame others for ourown weakness, sinfulness and treachery, but suchis the natural man’s self-righteousness and pride oflife (cf. 1 John 2:16).“New South Wales opposition leader PeterDebnam has written to premier Morris Iemmacalling for the state government to withdrawfunding from the Lakemba mosque while Sheikh Tajel-Din Al Hilali remains the mufti”. The AustralianABC article reports that “The Lebanese MuslimAssociation (LMA) was given $122,000 this yearfor social workers through the Department ofCommunity Services (DOC).” Mr Iemma, though,regarded Mr Debnam’s comments as nothing morethan a political stunt. 12“A Saudi court has sentenced a gang rapevictim to 90 lashes of the whip becauseshe was alone in a car with a man to whom shewas not married. The sentence was passed at theend of a trial in which the al-Qateef high criminalcourt convicted four Saudis convicted of the rape,sentencing them to prison terms and a total of 2,230lashes.” Despite being found guilty, one of theassailants received only a one-year imprisonmentand 80 lashes. The victim’s male friend, who wasin the car with her, when they were kidnapped,received 90 lashes for being alone with her inthe car. 13In statements reminiscent of the reformation,or the history of yesteryear when Europe waspreviously under Islamic siege, Jonathan Wynne-Jones of the Sunday Telegraph reported that “aleading church group which represents more thana million Christians has raised the prospect ofcivil unrest and even ‘violent revolution’ to protectreligious freedoms”. Amazingly though, Wynne-Jones says that their comments, “echoes commentsmade by Muslim fanatics” and that, “Only daysago, Islamic activist Anjem Choudary said Muslimshad become radicalised because they were ‘acommunity under siege’.” In stark contrast though,the article’s web page uses the image of a maskedIslamic protestor holding a sign saying, “Beheadthose that insult Islam” (from the Danish cartooncontroversy). And yet, despite the tough wordsby church leaders, no Christian seeks to beheadMuslims, or non-Christians, for insulting our Lordand Saviour Jesus Christ. Islam says Jesus is notGod, and that He did not die on a cross, but Himselfhad a substitute. Amazingly, Wynne-Jones quotesAnjem Choudary, who helped organise the anti-Danish cartoon protests. “The London bombingsshould not have come as a surprise. How else doyou expect Muslims to express themselves? Weare a community under siege. It’s going to blow up10★ ★ ★★ ★ ★12 ABC NewsOnline, “Iemma urged to cut mosque fundingamid sheikh row”, 2 November 2006. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1779747.htm13 The Jerusalem Post, “Saudi court sentences rape victimto 90 lashes”, 2 November 2006. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378314145&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFullone day in everyone’s faces.” If it was a Christianspokesperson, who had made such statements, theywould have been the ones who were blasted. 14★ ★ ★Islam is taking over, piece by piece, city bycity, country by country. All we need do islook at Europe where Jews are an endangeredspecies. Soon enough (it seems), the American Jewwill likewise be endangered. Soon enough, Israelwill be the only, and the unlikely, place Jews willbe safe. We encourage you to read Paul Belien’sarticle, The Rape of Europe 15 (A synopsis from TheGolden Report 16 , 19 November 2006)★ ★ ★In a private email to Philip Powell fromIreland via London (UK) the writer sharedabout Muslims flooding into the Republic of Irelandand given land to build a mosque while they asProtestant believers have been turned down twiceby the town council for permission to build. Theywere given land but denied permits for building, andwere told that they would never be able to build aplace of worship... . She writes: “We just continueto meet in a hotel as we have done for the past8½ years where we rent rooms for worship andfor children’s church. We keep looking for propertythat we can afford but everything is extremelyexpensive here.”★ ★ ★28 November 2006, The Washington Timesreports, “Muslim religious leaders removedfrom a Minneapolis flight last week exhibitedbehaviour associated with a security probe byterrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers,according to witnesses, police reports and aviationsecurity officials.” Furthermore, the article stated,“Passengers and flight attendants told lawenforcementofficials the Imams switched fromtheir assigned seats to a pattern associated withthe September 11 terrorist attacks and also foundin probes of U.S. security since the attacks.” Intheir defence the Imams said they “were merelypraying before the 6.30pm flight on November 20,and yesterday led a protest by prayer with otherreligious leaders at the airline’s ticket counter atRonald Reagan Washington National Airport”.Strange that they had to change seats to pray? “Twoin the front row first-class, two in the middle of theplane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of thecabin”. 17 One might suggest that such action wasintentional, just as provoking the expected responsewas; all for the purpose of getting profiling bannedon US flights. Other reported unusual actions by theImams was, “The Imams” also claimed “two firstclassseats”, saying “their tickets were upgraded.14 “Christians ask if force is needed to protect theirreligious values”, Jonathan Wynne-Jones, SundayTelegraph, 5 November 2006. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nrelig05.xml15 http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/160916 from http://www.thegoldenreport.com17 Audrey Hudson, The Washington Times, “How the imamsterrorized an airliner”, 28 November 2006. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061128-122902-7522r.htmControversial Sheikh al-Hilali, grand mufti of Australia.See next page for Special Report – Not so “al-Hilarious”.The gate agent told police that when the Imamsasked to be upgraded, they were told no such seatswere available. Nevertheless, the two men wereseated in first class when removed” 18 .★ ★ ★“Two Muslim students have been expelledfrom an Islamic school in Melbourne forurinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it onfire. The explosive incident has forced the EastPreston Islamic College to call in a senior imamto tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible andChristianity must be respected. Anxious teachers atthe school have also petitioned principal ShaheemDoutie, expressing ‘grave concern’ about an‘inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towardsnon-Muslims’ at the school, including towardsnon-Muslim teachers.” The article goes on to say,“the desecration incident has shaken the nerves ofthe school’s teachers, about half of whom are non-Muslim. A petition signed by 22 teachers expressed‘anguish and dismay at the grave incident of thedesecration of the Holy Bible’. This whole incidentimplies a deep hatred inculcated in the studentstowards the Christian/non-Muslim teachers’. Thepetition said there had been ‘previous incidentsof students misbehaving towards non-Muslimteachers’. It called on the school to ‘take steps torectify this explosive situation’ to ensure the safetyof teachers.” 19 In reality, one has to question whythis surprises people. If secular society thinks theBible is nothing more than a story book, and thatthe US, for example, has banned, in places, theBible from classroom and courtrooms (eg, biblicalmonuments outside of courthouses), why would anon-Christian think the Bible to be anything special,to be regarded, considered or respected. Who’ssowing? Who’s reaping?18 http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061128-122902-7522r_page2.htm19 Cameron Stewart, The Australian, “Muslim boys urinatedon Bible”, 6 December 2006. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20879483-2702,00.html

T H E L U S T O F T H E F L E S H I S N O T O F T H E F A T H E R B U T I S O F T H E W O R L D • 1 J o h n 2 : 1 6SPECIAL REPORT BY B. MICHAEL BIGG:Not So al-HilariousSheikh Taj Din al-Hilali, the AustralianFederation of Islamic Council’s appointedmufti of Australia, who, it seems, isnever far from controversy, has doneit again.In an interview on Egyptian television al-Hilalimade statements to the effect,‘’The Western people are the biggest liarsand oppressors and especially the English race.The Anglo-Saxons, who arrived in Australia,arrived in shackles. We paid for passports fromour own pockets. We have a right to live inAustralia more than they have. ‘’He also blamed the September 11 attacks on theUSA, which he is reported to have accused ofinfluencing the lengthy sentences handed down inSydney’s Lebanese gang rape cases.‘’Up until then the worst crime in Australiahad received seven years’ jail,’’ he is reportedto have said. He also claimed great insight intothe Australian way of life and ‘’oppressive’’Western mentality since arriving here in theearly 1980s. In a reference to homosexualunions, he is quoted as saying: ‘’I understandthe mentality of the West and especially theAustralian mentality and I understand that theAustralian law guarantees freedom to the pointof insanity.’’ 1Australia’s prime minister, John Howard, laughedoff al-Hilali’s comments about Australians beingdescendants of convicts, saying, “the Sheikh’slatest remarks would bring a ‘wry smile to the faceof Australians who don’t actually feel the least bitoffended that many of our ancestors came here asconvicts.’” 2Despite Mr Howard trying to play down thecontroversy and diffuse a potential war of wordsby making light of the mufti’s comments, there is anunderlying, unresolved issue that needs addressing.An issue which certainly is not “hilarious”.One can understand al-Hilali’s “criticism” ofAustralia, the West and democracy, when oneunderstands that: 1) he was born and raised inEgypt, a land in which Sharia 3 rules; 2) Shariaembraces society, government, law and religion; 3)in Sharia Muslims are regarded as superior to non-Muslims, and are accorded preferential privilegesand freedoms; 4) under Sharia, non-Muslims are notaccorded freedom of speech (though they may beable to practise their religion, if Jew or Christian); 5)1 eBay Forums posting (from The Geelong Advertiser),“Muslim leader slams nation of ‘convicts’”. WWW page. (13 Jan 2007,cited 17 Jan 2007).2 BBC News, “Australia cleric in convicts jibe”. WWWpage. (12 Jan 2007, cited 17 Jan 2007)3 Sharia: Islamic Lawnon-Muslims are dhimmi—the subjugated peoplesof Islam, and taxed for the privilege; 6) in Shariamen are superior to and the masters of women,and 7) making the world Islamic is the goal ofIslam. Understanding this, one can see from whatperspective the mufti speaks—and know that nomatter what apology or deflective comments hemakes—his heart has truly spoken.In retrospect, let us consider the Skaf brothers,who “are serving 46 years and 24 jail yearsrespectively for a series of gang rapes in Sydneyin 2000” 4 , and al-Hiali’s comments from October2006. Remember that the mufti,gained international attention … by sayingthat women are generally at fault if they areraped. Speaking to a Muslim audience in Sydney,he explained that rape (specifically, zina,sexual activity forbidden under Islamic law—aword mistranslated in published accounts ofthe sheikh’s words as ‘adultery’) is “90 percentthe woman’s responsibility. Why? Because awoman owns the weapon of seduction. It’sshe who takes off her clothes, shortens them,flirts, puts on make-up and powder and takesto the streets, God protect us, dallying. It’s shewho shortens, raises and lowers. Then, it’s alook, a smile, a conversation, a greeting, a talk,a date, a meeting, a crime, then Long Bay jail.Then you get a judge, who has no mercy, andhe gives you 65 years”. 5Despite apologising and trying to explain away hiscomments, al-Hilali reiterates the same point ofview. He holds to the belief that it is the woman’sfault, not the man’s, and that racial prejudice playeda role in the case.On Egyptian television al-Hilali said, (transcribedfrom translator’s narrative),“... [Australian] standards are skewed, andthe claims are fabricated. That there is nofreedom or democracy for Muslims. ... I thinkwe can say that Islam in Australia has grownout of this. It has advanced the call of Islammore than it was before. I don’t want to talkabout numbers, but I would like to say a youngman can meet a woman, smile, arrange a rendezvous,and then end up in jail for 65 years.This youth was from Lebanon and was chargedwith rape. But it was just after September 11and he was judged in the name of Bin Laden.He deserved to be jailed, no question, but for65 years? And another youth for 45 years? Thistook place in a public park, at about 2 or 3 inthe morning; when, for the worst crime you can4 Marie Scoutas, ABC Radio, “Legal reforms proposed toenable retrial of Skaf brothers”. WWW page. (4 Feb 2005, cited 17 Jan 2007).5 Robert Spencer, FrontPage Magazine, “Muslim Rape?They Were Asking for It”. WWW page. (31 Oct 2006, cited 17 Jan 2007)get seven years. This is not really about crime, itis about racial prejudice.” 6To al-Hilali’s defence, following his OctoberRamadan sermon, came Kaysar Trad, of the IslamicFriendship Association. In a Sydney Morning Heraldarticle (definitely worth reading) Paul Sheehancomes straight to the point, by calling al-Hilali’s, andTrad’s “spin doctoring” translation, of the interview,“absolute rubbish” and that, “There is a word forthis: lying” 7 .As a side issue, consider the Islamic FriendshipAssociation’s name, and the Qur’anic verse,O you who believe! Take not the Jews and theChristians as Auliya’ (friends, protectors, helpers),they are but Auliya’ of each other. And ifany amongst you takes them (as Auliya’), thensurely he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides notthose people who are the Zalimun (polytheistsand wrong-doers and unjust). 8 (Surah 5:51 TheNoble Qur’an)I ask, therefore, who is the Islamic FriendshipAssociation lying to: Australia or Allah? Thisquestion aside, let us address the issue of whatcrime Skaf and his accomplices actually committed,and the justness of the sentence. During sentencing,the judge stated,The offender was the leader of a brutal gangof rapists who, on three occasions, raped fouryoung women. His activity and those of his gangspread terror in Sydney in August 2000 just beforethe commencement of the Olympic Games.The gang consisted of varying numbers of men,up to about fourteen. Not all of them have beencaught. Those who have been caught and broughtto justice were either identified by the victims orpleaded guilty because evidence had been foundto connect them with the offences.The activities of the gang were organisedby the use of mobile phones, and there was aconsiderable degree of planning and coordinationinvolved in each set of attacks. As is commonwith rapists, the gang members treated eachof their victims with callous indifference andconsiderable cruelty. 9Let us be clear. This is not the case of “a look, asmile, a conversation, a greeting, a talk, a date, a6 The Age, “Mufti Savages Australia”. WWW page. (12 Jan 07, cited 17 Jan 07).7 Paul Sheehan, Sydney Morning Herald, “Sheik tries to liehis way out of trouble”. WWW page. (30 Oct 2006, cited 17 Jan 2007).8 The Noble Qur’an: English Translation of the meaningsand commentary, (Madinah, Kindgom of Saudi Arabia:King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an,1996 (1417AH)), 152.9 Four Corners, ABC, “Sentencing of Bilal Skaf”. WWWpage. (c. 2002, cited 17 Jan 2007).11

T H E L U S T O F T H E E Y E S I S N O T O F T H E F A T H E R B U T I S O F T H E W O R L D • 1 J o h n 2 : 1 6meeting, a crime, then Long Bay jail” as al-Hilaliasserts. This was a calculated crime, organisedand participated in by more than one person.Where “democracy” failed for the Skaf brothers,and (presumably) from al-Hilali’s perspective, is thatit failed to consider Islamic Law (Sharia), in which,as the BBC reports,In Saudi Arabia and PakistanFor example, in Saudi Arabia, a woman’stestimony in court is worth half that of a man’stestimony, according to a Human Rights Watchreport in 2002.Under the so-called zina (fornication) lawin Pakistan, extramarital sex is punishable bypublic whipping or even stoning to death.If a woman is raped, she runs a high riskof being charged with zina, particularly if shebecomes pregnant. In order to prove an absenceof consent, however, a woman is required toprovide four witnesses to the rape, a nearimpossible task. 10Based upon a woman’s testimony being worthonly half that of a man, 14 men (perpetrators) to 4women (victims), means a testimony comparison of28 to 4, and each victim would be required to havefour witnesses to support the claim. Therefore,under Sharia, the Skafs wouldn’t have been guiltyof anything.Al-Hilali has shown himself for what he is, andwhat fundamental Islam means. Al-Hilali, Muslims,civil libertarians, and certain rights groups can jumpup and down and claim foul by trying to play the“race” card all they like, but this has nothing todo with race. It has to do with, not even religionper se, but ideology, an ideology of superiority,self-righteousness, violence and hatred … veilingitself as the victim.In response to al-Hilali’s latest outburst, KaysarTrad apologised—should someone take offence.But what does that really mean?“But I, as a Muslim Australian, do feel theneed to apologise for anyone who is offendedby these comments.” 11Notice Trad’s statement. He did not apologise,as a Muslim, for the comments. He apologised ifsomeone took offence at the statement. What doeshe really mean, “Sorry if you take offence, but that’sthe way it is”? Or is it because a vast PUBLIC (non-Muslim) outcry that they must resort to Taqiya? TheAnswering Islam website states,Taqiya, or not showing their faith openly bymeans of pretense, dissimulation, or concealment,is a special type of LYING which is usedby Shi’a Muslims. “Taqiya” (or taqiyyah) isrelated to the terms “taqwa’” and “taqi’”—allhave the root meaning of “guarding” something,in this case, the Islamic faith. … Some ShiiteTraditions promoting Taqiya are “Imam JafarSadi (R) said: ‘Associate your opponents onlyoutwardly and oppose them inwardly.’(Ft. #1,Usool al Kafi, p.244)” … although taqiya is usuallyseen as a Shia doctrine only, it is practisedand taught also by Sunni Muslims … Herejust one quotation from a Sunni website, Islam10 BBC World Service, “Article 7: Right to equal protectionby the law”. WWW page. (cited 17 Jan 2007).11 National Nine News, “Sheik in hot water again”.WWW page. (12 Jan 2005, cited 18 Jan 2007).12Q&A (www.islam-qa.com), advising in regardto making friends with non-Muslims: “‘Let notthe believers take the disbelievers as Awliyaa’(supporters, helpers) instead of the believers,and whoever does that, will never be helped byAllaah in any way, except if you indeed fear adanger from them’ [Aal ‘Imraan 3:28]. This verseexplains all the verses quoted above which forbidtaking the kaafirs as friends in general terms.What that refers to is in cases where one hasa choice, but in cases of fear and TAQIYAH it ispermissible to make friends with them, as muchas is essential to protect oneself against theirevil. That is subject to the condition that one’sfaith should not be affected by that friendshipand the one who behaves in that manner out ofnecessity is not one who behaves in that mannerout of choice.” 12That al-Hilali and Kaysar Trad openly lie about whatthey say and what they mean should not come as asurprise to us. They are but reflecting the nature ofthe god they serve: Allah (who is NOT the God of theBible). Allah, according to Islam’s own teachings,is the greatest deceiver. By comparison, the Bibleidentifies someone else as the deceiver,“You are of your father the devil, and youwant to do the desires of your father. He wasa murderer from the beginning, and does notstand in the truth because there is no truth inhim. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks fromhis own nature, for he is a liar and the father oflies” (John 8:44 NAU).Thankfully, we are not in a country where Sharia exists.And thankfully we live in a truly democratic and freecountry where freedom of speech exists. Else, whatmight be the result if such comparisons were madein an Islamic land? Maybe a “fatwa” just like that madeagainst Salman Rushie? Unfortunately, Sheikh al-Hilali isnot the only Sydney based imam spewing forth Islam’spoisonous doctrines; Sheikh Feiz Muhammad haspreached from the same page of the same book.“Every minute in the world a woman is raped,and she has no one to blame but herself, for shehas displayed her beauty to the whole world,”Sheikh Feiz Muhammad told a packed publicmeeting in the Bankstown Town Hall last month.“Strapless, backless, sleeveless—they arenothing but satanical. Mini-skirts, tight jeans—all this to tease men and to appeal to (their)carnal nature.” 13See! It truly is the meat’s fault for being out,open in the public, and the fault is not with the catthat happened to wander by for a bite. Both al-Hilaliand Feiz Muhammad are in agreement. Sheikh FeizMuhammad runs The Global Islamic Youth Centre 14(GIYC) in Liverpool, Sydney. A concern is his andthe GIYC’s influence by being “the nerve centre ofIslamic youth in Sydney, setting the tone for 4000youths, their families and fraternities in the city’ssouthwest.” 1512 Answering Islam, “Taqiya”. WWW page. (cited 18 Jan 2007).13 Pamela Bone, The Age, “Religious extremists an insultto our values”. WWW page. (14 Apr2005, cited 18 Jan 2007).14 15 Martin Chulov, The Australian, “Treatment has sheikwary of returning home”. WWW page. (6 Jan 2007, cited 18 Jan 2007).In a 6 January 2007 article from The Australiannewspaper, Feiz Muhammad discusses his concernsfor friends who were arrested in November 2005 inan anti-terrorism raid. In another example of playingthe victim card, the Sheikh claims that Australiahas changed and it is the Islamic community who issuffering. In an attempt to show forth Islam’s “peaceand tolerance”, Feiz Muhammad said,“Islam teaches us you can’t detriment thebody or limb of Muslims, or non-Muslims. If itmeans you are going to harm someone orally, orphysically, it is against Islam and killing one innocent16 soul is like the killing of all humanity 17 .”… “In Australia (the Muslim community is)very moderate, very understanding,” Feiz says.“And that goes back to the Sheikhs themselves.There are no Sheikhs preaching chaos there. Noone is telling people to raise arms against theAustralian community. I honestly believe youhave nothing to fear. “You live in a very, verysafe place. I think the Australian governmenthas become a bit over-zealous and that resultsin a fear within the Australian community,especially among non-Muslims. I have said thesame to some of our security agencies and saidthat this could cause things to get much worse.”… Asked to explain why some Muslims aroundthe world espoused a state of almost perpetualwarfare against non-believers, he says theyhave moved from defensive to offensive roles.“And that is unacceptable to Islam. They maybelieve that the time for combat has come andthat those people are actually fighting us. Theyare unlearned people, ignorant to the ways ofthe religion.” 18Yet, undermining all his Taqiya-based PR-spinninglies, are the Sheikh’s video sermons.A dvd of preachings by a radical Australiansheikh, in which he refers to Jews as pigs andcalls on Muslim parents to offer their children assoldiers to defend Islam, has been labelled “offensive,unacceptable and outrageous” by theacting attorney-general. Sheikh Feiz Muhammad,amir of the Global Islamic Youth Centre inLiverpool, makes the controversial commentson several dvds, called the Death Series, whichare available for purchase in Australia, overseasand on the internet.His preachings drew concerns following theairing of a British documentary, UndercoverMosque. Its producers bought one of his dvdsfrom children selling Islamic cds and dvds ata car park behind a mosque in England. TheAustralian federal police said it was aware ofthe dvds and was making enquiries into thematter.Sheikh Feiz, who is an Australian citizennow believed to be in Lebanon, is shown inthe documentary preaching jihad. “The peak,16 The use of the word “innocent” should be noted well.Islamic writing would seem to disregard non-Muslimsfrom being included in such a group. Therefore one couldsuggest that the words inclusion is a form of Taqiya;deceptively used for non-Muslims to overlay their ownundiscriminating definition upon the word, rather thanthe Islamic definition.17 These words are, in some ways, reminiscent of astatement made in the Talmud, and utilised in a scenefrom the movie Schindler’s List where the Jews whoOscar Schindler saved present him with a ring inscribedwith, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”.18 Martin Chulov, The Australian, “Treatment has sheikwary of returning home”. WWW page. (6 Jan 2007, cited 18 Jan 2007).

T H E P R I D E O F L I F E I S N O T O F T H E F A T H E R B U T I S O F T H E W O R L D • 1 J o h n 2 : 1 6the pinnacle, the crest, the highest point, thepivot, the summit of Islam is jihad,” he said.He criticises Muslim parents for being too cautiousabout letting their children receive jihadteachings. Today, many parents prevent theirchildren from attending lessons. Why? They fearthat they might create a place in their hearts,a love, just a bit of the love, of sacrificing theirlives for Allah. He goes on to talk of his desirethat children be offered “as soldiers defendingIslam”. Teach them this: that there is nothingmore beloved to me than wanting to die as aMuhajid.Put in their soft, tender heart the zealof jihad and the love of martyrdom.In another dvd excerpt shown on UndercoverMosque, Sheikh Feiz makes pig-like snortingnoises when he refers to Jews. “They will be[snort, snort]—all of them. Every single oneof them. 19So much for Sheikh Feiz Muhammad’s claim,reported 12 days earlier, that, “In Australia(the Muslim community is) very moderate, veryunderstanding … And that goes back to the Sheikhsthemselves. There are no Sheikhs preaching chaosthere. No one is telling people to raise arms againstthe Australian community. I honestly believe youhave nothing to fear”. AL-TAQIYA!And, as usual, to smooth things over is IslamicFriendship Association spokesman Kaysar Trad whosays, “he is doubtful the Sheikh’s comments willradicalise young people, but he is concerned it willreflect badly on the rest of the Muslim community.Jihad means different things to different people butthese type of comments do unfortunately create amisunderstanding,” he said. “It’s best to talk to theperson himself and unfortunately I understand he’snot in Australia.” 20 AL-TAQIYA!In another ABC News article, Kaysar Trad says,“As a community, it is quite disconcerting for usthat these comments are found from time to timeand they’re broadcast all over the news … Theycertainly give the public an erroneous impressionabout Islam and Muslims.” 21 Erroneous? Really!Islam says that Muslims are the inheritorsof the world, and Muslims are keen to see thatenacted today. What this means for the West,whether someone is Jewish, Christian, Hindu,Buddhist, atheist or secular, is that you will, asa Jew or Christian, die or become a second classcitizen, a dhimmi; or for other non-Muslims, youwill convert to Islam or die. Sharia exists in manycountries around the world; do we, in the West,really think it can’t, or won’t, happen here? If orwhen Australia becomes 51 percent Islamic do we,the non-Muslims, think that we could stop Islamiclaw being legislated? How?“By 2015, Europe’s Muslim population isexpected to double” and “conservative projectionsestimate that, compared to today’s 5 percent,Muslims will comprise at least 20 percent of19 Jano Gibson, The Age, “Outrage at sheikh’s pig jibe”.WWW page. (18 Jan 2007, cited 18 Jan 2007).20 ABC News, “Rudd says Sheikh’s comments inciteterrorism”. WWW page. (18 Jan 2007, cited18 Jan 2007).21 ABC News, “Sheikh’s martyr, pig comments condemned”.WWW page. (18 Jan 2007, cited18 Jan 2007).Europe’s population by 2050. Some even predict thatone-fourth of France’s population could be Muslimby 2025 and that, if trends continue, Muslims couldoutnumber non-Muslims in France and perhaps inall of western Europe by mid-century”. 22In the Netherlands, the Islamic University ofRotterdam’s website states, “According to the1997 prognoses of CBS, 10.8 percent of the totalpopulation of the Netherlands will be Muslimin 2015” 23 The KeepMedia website reviewed, inSeptember 2006, Ian Buruma’s book Murder inAmsterdam The Death of Theo van Gogh and theLimits of Tolerance. The review notes that, “Burumauses the death of van Gogh 24 as a point of departureto examine the wider issues confronting Europe asits population changes from predominantly whiteand Christian to Arab and Islamic (one statistic he22 Timothy M. Savage, Europe and Islam: Crescent Waxing,Cultures Clashing, The Washington Quarterly, Summer2004. WWW page. (c. Jun 2004, cited 17 Jan2007).23 Islamic University of Rotterdam, “Vision and Mission”.WWW page. (c. 2004, cited 17 Jan 2007).24 Theo van Gogh was an outspoken short film maker, whowas “Not just shot, but slashed across the neck witha machete. And then stabbed through the heart. Theattacker, a Muslim radical, pinned a note with the knifedriven into van Gogh’s chest—a martyr’s manifesto. Heexpected to be killed by police. Subsequently tried andconvicted, he has expressed no remorse for his deed. Infact, he stood in the courtroom and said he would do thesame again.” (Refer footnote 25.)Warren’sWanderingsAN EXPOSÉ OF RICK WARREN AND THE PURPOSE DRIVEN TEACHINGSCollated with editorial comments by B. Michael Bigg (MB)THAT The Purpose Driven Churchand The Purpose Driven Life areunbiblical and unprincipled is, inreality, undeniable. All one had to dowas compare the 40 day examplesRick Warren cites in the introduction, “A Journeywith Purpose, Getting the Most from This Book”,of The Purpose Driven Life with the Bible to realisethat he is either biblically illiterate, illogical orintentionally deceptive. If Rick Warren could noteven truly, accurately or biblically explain the 40day examples he cites, then what chance does hehave of telling us, “What on earth am I here for?”And for that matter, why would you trust him, andcontinue reading the book, relying on him to explainother biblical verses?If anyone is under the delusion of Rick Warren’sintegrity as a Bible teacher and pastor, then considerthe ongoing wanderings of “America’s pastor”. 1 21 Zondervan, “Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods”. WWWpage. (c. 2006, cited15 Jan 2007).cites: by 2015, Holland’s population is projected tobe 52 percent Muslim).” 25So much for the once Calvinist (Dutch Reformed)and Anabaptist nation. But then, can we see God’sjudgement against this once Christian countrynow with the reputation of being one of the redlightcapitals of Europe and the world, particularlyAmsterdam? A country transformed, from wherethe law of Christ once reigned, to a country whereanything goes, a country of lawlessness (talkingof God's laws). Wasn’t Israel judged, in the OldTestament, equally so for its sinfulness andunfaithfulness? This is but one example of manyonce Christian nations that now can not be trulyregarded so.What the future holds remains, in some ways,unseen and unclear; in other ways the inevitableis approaching. Nevertheless, such change in theworld, and especially the West, gives one reasonto reconsider what Jesus said,“I tell you that He will bring about justice forthem quickly. However, when the Son of Mancomes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke18:8 NAU).Will He find faith? Will He find the true faithful?Or will Christianity and Christians truly be a dyingbreed, an endangered species, by that time?25 Steven Rea, “A bloody emblem of Islamic alienation”.WWW page. (17 Sep 2006, cited17 Jan 2007).____________________“Global Summit on AIDSand the Church”or Submitting the Church to thespiritual equivalent of AIDS?“Hosted by Rick and Kay Warren and thePurpose Driven Network, Nov 30–Dec 1, 2006,Saddleback Church Conference, Lack Forest, Calif.,USA” was the “Global Summit on AIDS andthe Church: Race Against Time” 3 The websitestates, “It brings together the leading authoritiesfrom health and relief organisations, governments,international agencies, and ministriesto interact with pastors and church leaders from2 CNN. WWW page. (c. Dec 2006,cited 15 Jan 2007).3 PurposeDriven, “2006 Global Summit on AIDS and theChurch: Time is Running Out”. WWW page. (c.Oct/Nov 2006, cited 13 Jan 2006).13

T H E D E V I L S H O W E D H I M A L L T H E K I N G D O M S O F T H E W O R L D • M a t t h e w 4 : 814around the world who are modelling reproducibleprograms”. Confirmed speakers include Billand Melinda Gates, Bono, Senator Bill Frist(United States senator, Tennessee); SenatorBarack Obama (United States senator, Illinois),Senator Sam Brownback (United Statessenator, Kansas) 4Of concern for many people is the inclusion of proabortion,pro-homosexual, Senator Barack Obama,a fact addressed by an araticle republished onRick Warren's www.pastors.com website outliningSaddleback's response to complaints made aboutSenator Obama’s inclusion at the summit. Thearticle includes,“The name of the seminar at which Sen.Obama will be appearing is entitled, ‘We MustWork Together,’” said a statement signed by 18pro-life groups. “No, Mr Warren, Mr Obama, wewill never work with those who can support themurder of babies in the womb.” 5In response, Saddleback stated,“‘We’re not making an endorsement ofObama or any of the other speakers,” continuedthe statement. “Rather by coming to Saddleback,the Summit speakers are affirming andsupporting the vital role of the Church in fightingthe pandemic of HIV/AIDS.’ Warren respondedto a blogger who claimed he invited Obama topreach in his pulpit to the Saddleback congregation.‘Of course that is untrue,’ said Warren in ane-mail Saturday to the Purpose Driven Network.‘I’d never invite any politician to speakfrom the pulpit to our congregation. Never.’Receptionists at Saddleback had received ‘rudeand vicious’ calls from people complainingabout the claimed invitation. The church, withan average attendance of 22,000 people eachweekend, made clear that Obama is not speakingto the Saddleback congregation, but ratherto a conference comprised of ministry leaders,social workers, and health professionals on thetopic of HIV/AIDS only.” 6Technically, one could say the Saddleback, andRick Warren’s, statement is true. Nevertheless,the conference is being organised, hosted andadvertised by Saddleback. And, the summit’stitle is “2006 Global Summit on AIDS and theChurch”, not the “Global Summit on AIDS”.If this was truly a “ministry leaders, socialworkers, and health professionals” conference,then why publicise it like a church seminar,advertised to congregants and Christians? If itwas an educational seminar for Christians, then(one would hope) you wouldn’t invite personswith the policies 7 like that of Senator Obama.A verse of scripture worth considering, here, is4 PurposeDriven, “2006 Global Summit on AIDS andthe Church: Speakers”. WWW page. (c. Oct/Nov 2006, cited 13 Jan 2006).5 Lillian Kwon, The Christian Post, (reprinted on thepastors.com website—Ministry Toolbox), “Saddlebackresponds to complaints about Obama speaking atHIV/AIDS conference”, (c. Nov 2006, cited 13 Jan 2006).6 Ibid.7 Kevin McCullough, in InvestigateMagazine (), notes Senator Obama’spolicy includes actively working to “preserve availabilityof abortion in all nine months of pregnancy. He opposedparental notification. He opposed any and all bans onpartial-birth abortion … and most damnable of all,what Paul says in 2 Corinthians:Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.For what fellowship has righteousnesswith lawlessness? And what communion haslight with darkness? And what accord has Christwith Belial? Or what part has a believer with anunbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15 NKJ) 8The Berean Call 9 , in response to the conference,makes the point, “Saving of lives is certainlyparamount, but saving of souls is greateryet. We have seen enough examples thatdemonstrate whenever evangelicals join handswith the world, the real “good news” will beset aside. That is part of the demands of theworld.” 10The CampOnThis blog 11 , also raises aninteresting point worth considering,Rick Warren seems like a compassionateman; but one who is a late-comer to this issueof AIDS. He said on an interview with FOXNEWSthis past week that the first priority was to“break the silence of the church on AIDS”. Ibeg your pardon Mr Warren, but there havebeen many churches over for the past 20+ yearswithout fanfare, PR and national media attentionhave faithfully served the Lord and those thatare HIV positive in very sacrificial and profoundways. It is good that Rick and Saddlebackhave finally broken the silence and are gettinginvolved on this issue.But in all honesty, one must logically ask whynow? I mean, where has he been all those yearswhen people were dying with AIDS? I can onlythink in part that this is now due because ofhis PDL fame and subsequent wealth derivedthereof, that he has to have somewhere to useand justify the tens of millions of dollars he hasmade from “being in the ministry.” Thus... hisfascination with social causes.Mr Warren is being promoted, positionedand perceived, mostly by his own public relationsmachine, as a global leader in fightingHIV infection. However, rather than using his“Q” to drive him deeper into pastoral ministry(i.e. prayer, biblical exposition, the discipleshipof God’s people, and the proclamation of thegospel of sola fide) he has turned to socialcauses: global warming, getting rid of poverty,bringing his P.E.A.C.E. plan to Syria, and now ofcourse... AIDS. 12when a brave nurse named Jill Stanek brought aboutnational awareness to a practice at a local hospitalin suburban Chicago that allowed the starvation andneglect of newly born children who had survived abortionprocedures—Obama opposed her. He opposedthe right of those children to be given the chance to liveand he advocates against a ban on such procedures—then known as ‘born alive abortions’”. (KevinMcCullough, “Why is Obama’s evil in Rick Warren’spulpit”, Investigate Magazine, January 2007). Considernow, who, Rick Warren is inviting to Saddleback, a manwho in one breath advocates the right to kill the helplessand innocent—allowing them to be butchered or dieby starvation and neglect; whilst in the next breath hesays we must help the victims of AIDS, and no doubt thestarving, in Africa.8 NKJ—New King James Version9 10 Email, The Berean Call, 9 December 2006.11 A Blog (or Weblog) is a journal or diary style website,chronologically listed by the most recent entries first.12 CampOnThis, “Broke ‘Saddleback’ Mountain...when apastor tries to be a politician”. WWW page. (2 Dec 2006, cited 15 Jan2007).Visit to see and hear Rick Warrendescribe the summit to his church. “This nextweek on Thursday, Friday, we’re doing the Globalconference, The Global Summit on AIDS and theChurch. The premier conference on AIDS and thechurch, in the world.” It seems that in light ofthe criticism he has received over the invitationof certain persons in the summit, he included,following the remarks quoted above, a carefullycrafted warning that one may not necessarilyagree with everyone or everything you hear. On thesame video, Rick Warren presents to his church aclip of his recent trip to Syria. A trip supposedlynot recorded. A trip in which Rick Warren makescontroversial remarks and whose story keeps beingrewritten.Rick Warren’sRoad to DamascusOn November 28, 2006, Berit Kjos, reported thefollowing story on NewsWithViews 13 , summarisingthe furore that has arisen from Rick Warren’s tripto Syria.On November 13, Rick Warren met withSyria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Badr al-Din Hassounin Damascus. Their dialogue was publicised bythe Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) in anarticle titled, “American Priest (Warren) Saysno Peace without Syria:““Rick Warren on Monday said... that 80percent of the American people rejected whatthe US Administration is doing in Iraq andconsidered the US policy in the Mideast aswrong.... Warren expressed admiration of Syriaand the coexistence he saw between Muslimsand Christians, stressing that he will convey thisimage to his church and country. “On November 16, WorldNetDaily founderJoseph Farah wrote, “Rick Warren wrote tome this morning to protest this column. Heclaims he didn’t say anything he was actuallyquoted as saying by the official press in Syria.However, in a video... he says Syria ‘does notallow extremism of any kind.’ In fact, Syria is,in many ways, the No. 1 sponsor of terrorism inthe world.... Here’s what the Syrian Arab NewsAgency reported: ‘...Pastor Warren hailed thereligious coexistence, tolerance and stabilitythat the Syrian society is enjoying due to thewise leadership of President al-Assad....’”Despite contrary evidence, Warren proclaimedwhat the Syrian President al-Assadapparently told him. But the soon-to-followassassination of Pierre Gemayel, a Christiananti-Syrian official in the Lebanese government—therefore a foe to the Syria-backed Hezbollahterrorists—should shatter those public illusionsof tolerant coexistence.Finally, in a startling exposé on November 20,Joseph Farah wrote,“I pointed out to Warren that WND hadindeed attempted to contact him about histrip. No one from his Saddleback Church everreturned our calls the day the story broke. ‘I’msure since you were warned in advance by theState Department that you took the precaution13 . View the articleonline to investigate the details further, by following thefootnoted reference hyperlinks.

A N D T H E G L O R Y O F T H E M • M a t t h e w 4 : 8of recording your own words,’ I suggested inmy response. ‘We look forward to seeing thetranscripts.’...“I really didn’t expect to hear back fromWarren—but, a few minutes later, I did, withan absolutely stunning retort. He let me knowhe is a close friend of President Bush ‘and many,if not most, of the generals at the Pentagon.’He also told me he did not tape anything whilein Syria, ‘because it was a courtesy call, like Ido in every country.’ Warren explained that hehad also counseled with the National SecurityCouncil and the White House, as well as theState Department, before his little courtesycall.... ‘In fact, Warren added, ‘as a memberof the Council on Foreign Relations and OxfordAnalytica, I might know as much about theMiddle East as you.’...“Not one to let lies go unchallenged, I wroteback to Warren with a link to the YouTube video:‘If you didn’t tape anything, what’s this?’... Itmight be that Rick Warren, deep in the bushof Rwanda, never received those last questions,because he never responded—at leastnot in the last three days. He did, however,within minutes make sure the YouTube videohe recorded independent of his meetings withthe Syrian brown shirts was removed from thenetwork.” 14After leaving Syria, and having become aware ofthe furore that his trip had generated, ChristianityToday magazine’s website, reported, in a blogcompiled by Ted Olsen,Rick Warren, criticised for Syria trip,says he was misquotedAfter criticism from the Institute on Religionand Democracy and some other quarters forvisiting Syria and meeting with presidentBashar Al-Assad, foreign minister Walid Al-Mu’allim, higher education minister GhiathBarakat, and grand mufti Sheikh Badr al-DinHassoun, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warrensays his trip was misrepresented both by thegovernment-controlled Syrian media and U.S.bloggers. In a letter to church members andothers, he wrote:“In hindsight, I wish we’d been betterprepared for our visit to Syria. We would havehandled some meetings differently, watched ourwords more closely, and been more aware of theagenda of their state press. We wanted to justslip in and out, but that’s nearly impossible forme to do anymore. It’s been a learning experience.… As we left, the official state-controlledSyrian news agency issued some press releasesthat sounded like I was a politician negotiatingthe Iraq war by praising the Syrian presidentand everything else in Syria! Of course, that’sridiculous, but it created a stir among bloggerswho tend to editorialise before verifying thetruth. Does it seem ironic to you that peoplewho distrust Syria are now believing Syrianpress releases?”Warren’s office has also issued a pressrelease explaining that the visit to Syria “wasneither official nor political, but rather came outof a promise to his Muslim neighbor in California.”There are, however, some political statementsin the press release: recognition of the14 Berit Kjos, NewsWithViews, “Mother of all PurposeDriven Deceptions”. WWW page. (28 Nov2006, cited 13 Jan 2007).Syrian government’s treatment of its Christiansand its welcoming of Iraqi Christian refugees,for example, as well as some encouragementfor more dialogue between the U.S. and Syriangovernments. 15The press release by Rick Warren’s office can beread at: . And though Warren’s officewell spins the graces endowed upon Jews andChristians by Syria, such as,Many Americans don’t realise that bothChristianity and Judaism are legal in Syria. Inaddition, the government provides free electricityand water to all churches; allows pastors topurchase a car tax-free (a tax break not given toMuslim imams); appoints pastors as Christianjudges to handle Christian cases; and allowsChristians to create their own civil law insteadof having to follow Muslim law. Every Christianwith whom Dr Warren’s team met—includingthose in the city of Malula, where they representtwo-thirds of the population—expressedgratitude for the government’s protection of theirright to worship. 16However, Bob Unruh, of WorldNetDaily, notes,Thousands of Christians are fleeing from theviolence in war-torn Iraq to Syria, but their newhome also holds “ruthless” positions againstChristianity which range from life in prisonfor talking about your beliefs to death for aMuslim who converts, according to ministriesworking there.“It’s better than Iraq, but it’s no bed of rosesthere for sure,” Jim Jacobson, president ofChristian Freedom International, told WND.“The Christians (there) are stuck between a rockand a hard place.”While Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Iran and otherMiddle East nations are well-known for persecutingChristians, Syria’s actions are of a lowerprofile. But it is listed among those nationsaround the world that persecute Christians byeveryone from Jacobson’s organisation to theU.S. government.In Syria, the constitution requires thepresident to be a Muslim and specifies thatIslamic jurisprudence is a principal source oflegislation. And sharing your Christian faithwith someone—anyone—is discouraged as“posing a threat to the relations among religiousgroups” and carries a penalty of up to life inprison, he said.“For Christians, one of the core tenets is theability to share your faith, but in Syria that canlead to arrest (and) persecution,” Jacobson said.“We list Syria as one of the top … countrieswhere Christians are facing real persecution.”“Syria isn’t Saudi Arabia, but it’s one of thebig untold stories out there,” he said. For thosewho want to convert from Islam to Christianity,“you’re disowned by your family, if the localmosque issues a death threat, no one is goingto do anything about it, you’ll just end up dead.Nothing is done, no police action, that’s just15 Compiled by Ted Olsen, Christianity Today magazine,“Weblog: Rick Warren’s Purpose in Syria. WWWpage. (17 Nov 2006, cited13 Jan 2007).16 The News Kitchen,“Dr Rick Warren includes visit to Syriaon three-nation pastoral training and Peace Plan Tour”.WWW page. (16 Nov 2006, cited 13 Jan 2007).understood.“If you convert you’d better leave the country,”he said.For those who already are Christian, the governmentallows them to practice their religion—but within harsh and restrictive guidelines.A Christian is not allowed to proselytise—ever.And churches that want to hold an extra servicemust get a government permit. Sermons areroutinely monitored, as is church fundraising.He said the issue for Iraqi Christians is thechoice of being dead soon in Iraq, or takingyour chance in Syria and so they are floodinginto Syria. 17Selectively presenting the freedom and rights ofChristians in Syria is not honest, and is a disgracefulbetrayal of the Christians living in Syria and otherMuslim lands.Joseph Farah, who founded WorldNetDaily 18 ,is “a Christian journalist of Syrian and Lebaneseheritage who has covered and analysed the MiddleEast for the last 25 years” 19 . Concerning the circuswhich is Rick Warren’s Road to Damascus, Farrahnotes the following pattern,Warren went to Syria and recorded himselfpraising the totalitarian police state and itsdictator.Then he denied saying what he said.Then, after removing a video recording fromYouTube, he denied any recordings were madein Syria.Then he told his congregation he had recordedsome 12 hours of his trip through Syriaand Africa.Then Warren apologised to me for defendinghis actions and presumably misrepresentingthe truth.Then he told his congregation in writingthat the controversy over his trip was just beingstirred up by satanically-inspired internetpundits. (I assumed that was meant to be adescription of me.)Then he told me he was a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations.Then his assistant denied membership.Is any of this important? 20Yes, is any of this important? Rick Warren saysthat his trip to Syria was just to promote his GlobalP.E.A.C.E. Plan.‘P.E.A.C.E. is an acronym that stands for“Plant churches, Equip servant leaders, Assistthe poor, Care for the sick, and Educate the nextgeneration,” Warren said. The emphasis callsfor church-based small groups to adopt villageswhere spiritual emptiness, selfish leadership,poverty, disease, and ignorance keep peoplefrom experiencing the kind of life God wantsthem to have’ 2117 Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily, “Christians flee Iraq, findSyria ‘ruthless’: Ministries say believers have no Mideastrefuge”. WWW page. < http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53549> (29 Dec2006, cited 13 Jan 2007).18 19 Joseph Farah, WorldNetDaily, “Rick Warren: Is he or isn’the?”. WWW page. (9 Jan 2007, cited 13Jan 2007).20 Ibid.21 Mark Kelly, PurposeDriven, “P.E.A.C.E. Plan a worldwiderevolution, Warren tells Angel Stadium crowd”. WWWpage. (c. 2005,cited 13 Jan 2007).15

T H E D E V I L S A I D , “ A L L T H E S E T H I N G S I W I L L G I V E T O Y O U ” • M a t t h e w 4 : 9The “kind of life God wants” people to have isNEW LIFE. New life, not just a better life in a fallenworld. Need it be said that the epistles of the NewTestament talk not about experiencing success, butabout being faithful—irrespective of circumstances(cf. Hebrews 11:36-40).Let us consider a couple of alternatives to RickWarren’s acronym, “Plant worldly churches, Equippurpose driven servants, Assist the poor to becomepurpose driven, Care for those who accept RickWarren’s teachings and Educate the next generationof Warrenites” or alternatively, “be Popular withthe world, be Egalitarian to everyone except thosewho hold fast to the biblical line, be Accepting ofIslamic propaganda, Collaborate with the world, bean Enemy of God and His Word”.From$UCCESStoSIGNIFICANCEC W MI N T E R N A T I O N A LC A M Pseduction16FayekIskanderFayek—born inEgypt now lives inSydney, Australia—a leadingauthority on Islam,will contrastMuhammadwith Christ.Other messages onISLAM by Fayek and/or otherspecialist speakersEarly registration advisedSee centre pages for booking formor visit the CWM Camp web page at:www.cwmfellowship.org/camp2007.htmlSunday 9 toSaturday 15September 2007K I N G S C L I F F EA U S T R A L I ABy PAUL PROCTORIWAS again reminded last week ofjust how far the perceived church hasstrayed from the Great Commissionupon reading an article published inthe Baptist Press (BP) entitled: Mid-lifeadults can move from ‘Success to Significance.’ Itbegins by quoting the renowned and now deceasedbusiness management guru Peter Drucker, whosecelebrated concepts and principles came not fromscripture but reportedly from his own observationsand life experience—pragmatic precepts that havebecome the very leaven of today’s church, with thehelp and influence of men like Bob Buford, authorof the book, Halftime. 1The BP article’s writer, Don Beehler, quotedDrucker as having said:“… people now have two lives—life one andlife two.... They are over prepared for life oneand under prepared for life two…there is nouniversity for the second half of life.”He then poses the question: “What exactlydid Drucker mean by two lives?” followed by asuggested interpretation given later in the articlefrom “successful” real estate developer, LloydReeb:“I came to the realisation that each of thebuildings I had built would one day be torndown and be forgotten”, Reeb said. “I beganto re-evaluate life in view of God’s definition ofsuccess rather than my own, and made someserious changes.”So, now, instead of our lives being assessedscripturally as either lost or saved—obedient ornot—it is suggested that we divide them into twoearthly parts: a pursuit of “success” (part 1) and apursuit of “significance” (part 2) under the impliedpremise that the latter is God’s definition of theformer—that the pursuit of significance somehowhas redeeming qualities because it is motivated bybenevolent intent rather than brazen materialism.1 The book—http://www.halftime.org; The author—http://wwwhalftime.org/bobsnotesThe article goes on to say:“The ‘halftime’ concept centres on thegrowing number of people like Reeb who reachmid-life and discover that the pursuit of successisn’t enough. They want their second half of lifeto really count for eternity.”As presented here, “the pursuit of success” isn’tconsidered sinful, rebellious or even contradictoryto the Christian life—just “not enough;” but notenough for what? Our egos? When our pockets areoverflowing, isn’t that about all there is left to fill?And the alternative is what? Pursuing significance?Did Jesus say: “Be significant, for the Kingdom ofHeaven is at hand?” What is the eternal value inthat? Sounds significantly self-centred to me; butthen I was taught that the biblical alternative torebellion was repentance and that what Jesusdemonstrated in the upper room with the basinand towel was that we are to be servants, notsignificant. Then again, I guess the role of servant isa little hard on one’s self-esteem—or if you prefer,one’s self-significance.“Our goal is to cast a vision for church leadersto reach the greatest untapped resourcethat sits in front of them every Sunday—halftimers, marketplace leaders and individualswith experiences, gifts and callings to serveGod,” Reeb said.Cast a vision? Unless that’s the name of some fancynew fishing lure, I’d say we’re getting into pointedhats and flying bats here. Come on folks—let’s putthe crystal ball away. Are we God’s resources orGod’s redeemed? My dictionary defines “resource”as somebody or something “that can be used as asource of help or information.” Since when does theLord need my help or information? If I understandthe scriptures, it is WE who are in need of helpand information—not God. All He wants is ourobedience.…Reeb began speaking to men and womenaround the country about using this period oftheir lives to pause and to redirect time, talentand treasure into something fulfilling and lastingfor Christ…

I F Y O U F A L L D O W N A N D W O R S H I P M E • M a t t h e w 4 : 9Here, true repentance is craftily replaced with a kindof religious redirection and reinvestment of time,talent and treasure “FOR Christ” as if the Almighty,like the marines, just needed “a few good men” toget the job done.“Because you say I am rich and increased withgoods and have need of nothing; and don’t knowthat you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind andnaked” (Revelation 3:17).Shall we now help God by helping ourselves, oris someone just seducing us into co-operationhere by way of our own self-absorbed search forsignificance?In the Baptist Press piece, Reeb cites a Harvard/Met Life study which he claims “shows that half ofall Americans aged 50-70 are interested in workingto help the poor, elderly and others in need. Theywant to transition from lives of success to lives ofsignificance,” adding “the trend is especially strongamong baby boomers”.In other words, this trendy baby boomer interestin helping “the poor, elderly and others in need” hasnothing to do with the Word of God, the convictionof the Holy Spirit, true repentance and faith in Christor even the church, for that matter, and everything todo with “half of all Americans age 50-70” wantingto “transition from lives of success to lives ofsignificance.”If anything is being “transitioned” here, it isthe church being transitioned into that of a benignsocial services organisation for the brotherhoodof man—transitioning churchgoing baby boomersfrom “I am crucified with Christ” to “All for one andone for all” —which, to the spiritual, implies a oneworld religion; and to the secular, a new world order.The result is, not the adding of good works to one’sfaith in Christ, but only the subtle substitution oftrue repentance with self-significance. Very shrewd,and ego-friendly, don’t you think?Instead of repenting from a disobedient life ofself-satisfying rebellion against God to an obedientlife of self-denying righteousness in Christ, we aretaught now to simply “transition” from “success tosignificance”—which in my view is simply movingfrom vanity to vanity since there is no scripturalevidence that significance is any more a fruit of theSpirit than is success.Later in the article we see where this is allheading when Beehler reveals the following:Bill Craig, LifeWay’s director of leadership andadult ministries, said the widespread desire “totransition from success to significance amongpeople reaching the second half of their livescreates tremendous opportunities for churchesto partner with marketplace leaders in theircongregations—and discover innovative waysto improve not only their local communities, butalso the far reaches of the globe”.So, “widespread desire...creates tremendousopportunities...with marketplace leaders…toimprove local communities.” Somebody pleaseshow me in scripture what this has to do with thegospel of Jesus Christ and His eternal kingdom!My trusty creeker-speak 2 decoder ring with itsspecial seeker-sensitive doubletalk descrambler2 Satire—toys with high tech equipment found in cerealboxes in the 1960s to carry out imaginary “secret agent”highly classified intelligence missions.tells me that it means the church has decided tounequally yoke itself to wealth, power and influenceto make the world a better place for everybody—aworld Jesus specifically commanded us NOT tolove —to come out from and “be separate” (2Corinthians 6:17).Thus says the LORD; “Cursed be the man thattrusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, andwhose heart departs from the LORD” (Jeremiah17:5).Once again,grinning wolves areamong us friends,using their warmand fuzzy truthsto decoratively framea cold and deadly lie;that the purposeof the church is tolove the world andmake it a better place.These aren’t pilgrims, folks—these are selfsignificantsettlers making themselves right at homehere in a kingdom built with hands.Beehler eventually ends up leading us rightinto Hollywood’s latest liberal celebrity fashioncraze of preferred charitable endeavours by talkingabout African villages, AIDS, orphaned babies andthe providing of food, clothing and education—eventually mentioning, only in passing and ever sobriefly, the “gospel” (whatever that means to him)as if the afterlife was merely an afterthought, beforegoing on to tell of “another person who made thistransition from ‘success to significance,’” one SandyGriffith of Houston, who “rocks, feeds, soothes and,in prayer, asks God to bless… premature infants andthose struggling to overcome other severe healthproblems” at Ben Taub General Hospital’s high-risknursery unit.So, what’s wrong with Lloyd Reeb speakingto people around the country about redirectingtheir “time, talent and treasure” into “somethingfulfilling for Christ?” and Sandy Griffith rocking,feeding and praying for premmies? Absolutelynothing, unless you’re using good intentions, actsof kindness and the irresistible pull of motherlyheartstrings to replace the real gospel of repentanceand faith—something that is curiously unimportantin the article and, with the exception of one word,missing altogether.Once again, grinning wolves are among usfriends, using their warm and fuzzy truths todecoratively frame a cold and deadly lie; that thepurpose of the church is to love the world and makeit a better place.“Do not love the world, neither the things thatare in the world. If any one loves the world, thelove of the Father is not in him. For all that is inthe world the lust of the flesh and the lust of theeyes and the pride of life is not from the Father,but is from the world” (1 John 2:15-16).The final quote in the Baptist Press article revealseven more about the misguided nature of theSuccess to Significance program:“We hope to ignite lives of adventure andimpact throughout the nation,” Reeb said.Is that what Jesus Christ commissioned us todo?—“Go and ‘ignite lives of adventure andimpact?’” Is that our incentive here? Did Jesusever try and make the Christian life sound exciting,inviting, fun or adventurous to his followers? Whendid He ever dangle carrots of self-significance oradventure in front of them for motivation? So whydo we repeatedly dangle such carrots today?In my estimation, it is because there is no longerany conviction of sin or sense of foreboding aboutthis fallen kingdom we find ourselves in—or evena longing for another. As far as I can tell, the vastmajority of pew warmers today are not passingthrough to a better place—they’re already home.Adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you knowthat the friendship of the world is enmity withGod? Whoever therefore will be a friend of theworld is the enemy of God (James 4:4).I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Jesus Christdid not suffer and die on a cross two thousand yearsago to change the world, but rather to redeem usfrom it. By erroneously embracing the former, onefoolishly forfeits the latter.Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of thisworld: if my kingdom were of this world, thenmy servants would fight that I should not bedelivered to the Jews: but my kingdom is notfrom here” (John 18:36).Related articles:1. Mid-life adults can move from “Success toSignificance” (http://www.baptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=24145)2. The Red 3-legged Stool (http://herescope.blogspot.com/2006/10/red-3-legged-stool.html)© 2006 Paul Proctor — All Rights Reserved republished byCWM with written permission from the Author.About the AuthorPAUL PROCTOR a rural residentof the Volunteer state and seasonedveteran of the countrymusic industry, retired fromshowbiz in the late 1990’s todedicate himself to addressingimportant social issues from adistinctly biblical perspective. As a freelancewriter and regular columnist for News WithViews, he extols the wisdom and truths ofscripture through commentary and insight oncultural trends and current events. His articlesappear regularly on a variety of news and opinionsites across the internet and in print. Paulmay be reached at watchman@usa.com17

T H E N W H E N L U S T H A S C O N C E I V E D I T B R I N G S F O R T H S I N • J a m e s 1 : 1 5Is there victory over sinBy MARK MULLINSIN Matthew 5:48 the Lord Jesus gavethis command to the crowds gatheredtogether to hear His sermon on themount: “Be perfect even as your Fatherin heaven is perfect.” The Greek wordused by the Lord is “teleios” which means to becomplete and includes moral character. The contextof this exhortation to holiness comes as Christapplies the outward commands of the law to theinner man, so that we are told that to be angrywithout cause against our brother is tantamountto murder (v22), and to lust after a person of theopposite sex is to commit adultery in our hearts(v28). How do we fare under this exacting test,brother and sister in Christ?In Romans 6 Paul begins the chapter with thiswell-known rhetorical question: “What shall wesay then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace mayabound?” And look at this surprising answer in verse2: “May it never be!. How shall we, that are deadto sin, live in it any longer?” Paul explains that wehave been crucified with Christ and that the old selfis now dead. In verse 7 he goes on to say that Hewho is dead has ceased from sin! I remember thatwhen I was baptized I felt as if I had gone to mygrave and indeed Paul tells us that this is exactlywhat happens to the Christian when he turns toChrist (v4): “Therefore we are buried with him bybaptism into death: that as Christ was raised upfrom the dead by the glory of the Father, so we alsoshould walk in newness of life.”In verse 11 Paul goes on to tell us to reckonourselves dead to sin: that is to act as if we aredead to sin. It would make no sense to suggestthat this act of reckoning was wholly futile; like theemperor without his clothes on, whom everyone toldlooked wonderful except the innocent little boy whotold him the truth. When we reckon ourselves deadto sin we are to reckon ourselves alive to God. Ifbeing born again means anything doesn’t it meanjust that? As Paul writes (in Ephesians 2:5) we havebeen made alive in Christ!There are many who claim that we can neverhave victory over sin in this life and therefore thatwe shouldn’t expect to. Now I am far from perfect,regrettably. However I cannot accept that the LordJesus would make a demand on his followers thatthey are unable to meet. Many cite Paul’s accountof his battle against sin in Romans 7 as clear andirrefutable evidence that he did not have victoryover sin in this life. Well, let’s have a look at thispassage.Chapter 7 opens with Paul’s illustration thatthose in Christ have been set free from the lawjust as a widow is set free to remarry after herhusband dies (see verses 1-6). This leads on to Pauladdressing the great objection that is raised by thelaw’s barrier to us having life: is the law evil (v7)?18He then explains that the purpose of the law is todemonstrate our sin because it is only when wehave a law that we are able to see that we havebroken it: sin is seen as sin when compared to thelaw (v9). He retorts that it is we who are sinnersand not the law.In verse 12 Paul concludes that the law and thecommandment are holy, just and good. In verse13 he continues his defence of the law showingconclusively that the law’s purpose is to demonstratehow sinful sin is. For us to understand Paul’s logicin the rest of chapter 7 we must start at verse 13which provides us our gateway into all that follows.The Crucial Importanceof the Word “for”The first “for” in verse 14 defends the law on theground that we know that the law is spiritual butI am carnal, sold under sin. Paul is saying thatthe law cannot be at fault because it is holy. I amthe one who is fleshly and sold under sin. He isobviously not talking about the redeemed statebut the unredeemed. In order to bring me to ChristI have to know my sin. My sin is made known to meby the law which, we know from Galatians 3:24, isour guardian that leads us to Christ.In order to further establish this point Paul usesthe second “for” to show that it is sin in me thatis the cause of the problem and not the law. The“I” is the old nature. It illustrates the battle thatoccurs between an awakening mind and a sinfulbody. There is a part of me that knows what is rightbut another part that cannot do what is right. Fromthis in verse 16 Paul deduces that if I know whatis right, and I acknowledge that what I am doing isnot right, then I consent that the law is good: againhe is making the point that it is sin in me that is atfault and not the law.In verse 18 we have a third “for”: Paul explainswhy it is—so that my knowledge, that what I amdoing is not what I want to do, is the root of theproblem and not the law: there is a part of me thatknows that in me (my flesh) dwells no good thingbecause, although I want to do the right thing, Iam not able to do it. He makes this point again inverse 19. I wonder how many of us have had thisexperience before we were converted? I rememberthat there was someone I knew who alwaysseemed to do the right thing and naturally seemedto have a heart for others. Actually she was notthen a Christian although I understand she is nowconverted. However the point is that in my fallenstate I acknowledged that someone was better thanme because she walked more closely according tothe law that I consistently broke. I acknowledgedthis law that it was good but, like Paul, did not havethe power to keep it.The AwakeningConscienceFrom verse 17 onwards Paul seems to be excusinghimself from his sin. Does this mean that Paulis suggesting that, in some way, a person whocannot do anything about his sin is excused fromits consequences? This cannot be so because hehas just concluded at the end of chapter 6 thatthe wages of sin is death and indeed he concludeschapter 7 with the cry in verse 24: “O wretched manthat I am! who shall deliver me from the body ofthis death?” This old nature that was dragging himto hell and separation from God needed to be dealtwith but he was powerless for the task.No, I believe that the first “I” that we see inverse 20 is referring to the mind or conscience thathas been awakened by the law and realises whatsin is and would resist the committing of the sin: itis not that part of me that sins but it is the sin thatdwells within the rest of me. Again Paul returns tohis old theme to show that the law is good and isnot the problem.The Tale of Two LawsIn verses 21 to 23 Paul contrasts two laws: the firstlaw he refers to here is not the moral law of theBible but a sort of natural law of cause and effect. Iwant to do good but do evil because evil is presentwith me (v23). Part of me delights in God’s lawbut there is at work the law of sin that has comeinto me from the Fall: it wars against the mind orthe conscience that knows that sin is wrong. It isimportant to note that Paul describes himself asdelighting in the law of God after the inner man.It is as if he were saying that he desires not onlyto be perfect outside (as every pharisee) but alsoon the inside. You will recall that the Lord’s greatindictment against the pharisees in Luke 11 wasthat they kept their cups clean on the outside butwere filthy on the inside!

L U S T B R I N G S F O R T H S I N A N D D E A T H • J a m e s 1 : 1 5 “ L S D t h e W o r l d ’ s M a g n e t t o H e l l ”in this life?Who can deliver me from the body of this death:who can rescue me from this impossible situationwhere I know what I want to do but am unable todo it? Verse 25 has the answer: it is Christ:I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sothen with the mind I serve the law of God; but withthe flesh the law of sin.The second sentence returns to the formerargument: that the enlightened mind (or conscience)serves the law of God by imposing the plumb-lineof righteousness to show up the fallen standardsof the old nature that serves the law of sin whichleads to death.Deliverance from theLaw of Sin and DeathIn Chapter 8 Paul concludes that we may enjoyvictory over the old nature when we walk in theSpirit and not in the flesh. Indeed he introduces athird law: the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus,which has set us free from the law of sin and death.Those of us who are in Christ Jesus are in the Spiritbecause the Spirit of Christ lives in us (v9).This should not come as a surprise to us. Whenwe become Christians something happens: we havethe assurance of sins forgiven; an understandingof what the Bible teaches; an ability to resist sin:all through the Spirit of Christ that comes into thebeliever at conversion.The question for us is whether we will walk inthe Spirit or in the flesh. If we walk in the flesh thenwe indulge our sinful nature; if in the Spirit then inthe righteousness of Christ. Consider Galatians 5:16which enjoins us to “walk in the Spirit, and you shallnot fulfil the lust of the flesh”.We need then to reckon the old nature asdead. This we can achieve only through the Spirit.In the words of Colossians 3:1-2 we must “seekthose things which are above, where Christ sitson the right hand of God.” We are to set our“affection on things above, not on things on theearth”. If we indulge the flesh how can we expectit to be mortified? Philippians 4:8 encourages usto fill our minds with “whatever things are true,whatever things are honest, whatever things arejust, whatever things are pure, whatever things arelovely, whatever things are of good report”. Howare we doing? Let us take certain steps: be carefulwhich books we read, which (if any) televisionprogrammes we watch, who we spend our time withand what we talk about in general conversation. Ifthere is anything we are involved in that leads usinto temptation then we should stop doing it: it is allpart of the principle at the end of Mark 9 of cuttingoff anything that causes us to stumble.Let us all then put on the new nature andbe full of the fruit of the Spirit which we find inGalatians 5. I end with a quote from F.B. Meyer 1 inhis commentary on Isaiah:We are not bidden to purchase strength, orgenerate it by our resolution, prayers, and agonisings;but to put it on. It is already prepared,and only awaits appropriation. Put on yourstrength, O tempted one! Before passing fromthe quiet morning hour into the arena, which hasso often witnessed failure and defeat, put on themight of the risen Saviour. Do not simply pray tobe kept or to be helped but arm yourself with thewhole armour of God; take hold of his strengthand be at peace; wrap yourself about with themail of Him who is stronger than the strong manarmed. Reckon that it is yours. Dare to believethat you are more than a match for your worstfoes. Say with David, “I will not be afraid of tenthousands of people who set themselves roundabout. The Lord is my light and my salvation,whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength ofmy life, of whom shall I be afraid?”Isn’t it exciting that the new nature is alreadyprepared for us? Putting on Christ is like puttingon a garment! The work of faith is a work of grace:we are after all, “created in Christ Jesus for goodworks, which God has prepared before that weshould walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). As we puton Christ so we find ourselves walking in the goodworks He has prepared for us. So let us all fix oureyes on the Lord Jesus! (Heb 12:1).1 F.B.Meyer, a 20th century Keswick theologian and fameddevotional writerJeffrey L.About the AuthorWhittakerMARK MULLINS became aChristian at the age of 19 in hisfirst year at Durham University.After graduating Mark joinedthe army where he spent sevenyears, leaving in 1993 to studyfor the bar. Mark has been abarrister since 1995, specialising in crime andimmigration. Until 1994 Mark attended a largecharismatic anglican church in central Londonbut left as a result of the Toronto blessing toattend a small traditional pentecostal assemblyin north London where he is now an elder.Mark is on the council of Christian AllianceMinistries which is an umbrella organisationfor pentecostals/charismatics who seek tofollow simple Bible-based Christianity. Markhas been involved with the Lawyers’ ChristianFellowship since 1994. He is now a member ofits governing council, the London chairmanand chairman of the public policy unit whichis active in speaking out on a whole range ofmoral issues which are affected by currentchanges in the law. Mark and his pastor RogerWinter-Smith were speakers at the 2006 CWMcamp and undertook a short preaching andlecturing tour through Australia, and will bereturning in 2007.C W MI N T E R N A T I O N A LC A M PPhilipPowellAeronMorganThe CWM Camp isfast becoming anestablished annualevent that is gaininginternational interest.We enjoy the status of aBIBLICAL CONFERENCEwith the relaxedatmosphere of aCHRISTIAN CAMP inone of the best restortsthat you could choose.Last year a numbercommented that it wasthe best conference theyhad ever attended.This year's conference theme is"JESUS: is altogether lovely”.Details of speakers and booking formprovided this issue — see centre pages —or visit the CWM Camp web page at:www.cwmfellowship.org/camp2007.htmlwhere you can download the pdfregistration form.An AoG minister (USA)for 20 years, Jeff hastravelled in full timemusic ministry,appearing ontelevision andsinging in hundredsof churches across America. He hastaken a stand for biblical Christianityagainst the general trend in the USAand across the world. Jeff is availablefor a short ministry tour throughAustralia after the camp. Interestedchurches should contact Clive & DonnaLeembruggen at CWM-Fellowship:(07) 3423 0089 or email.Sunday 9 toSaturday 15September 2007K I N G S C L I F F EA U S T R A L I A19

W E A R E N O T A S M A N Y W H O P E D D L E T H E W O R D O F G O D • 2 C o r i n t h i a n s 2 : 1 7The Still Small VoiceBy B. MICHAEL BIGGOF incredible value to the Christian isJ.C. Ryle’s 1 masterful work, “Holiness” 2 ,and the abridged edition, “Aspects ofHoliness” 3 . In the chapter “Want of theTimes”, Ryle makes the statement,Oh, that people would remember that it wasnot the wind, or the fire, or the earthquake,which showed Elijah the presence of God, but‘the still small voice’ (1 Kings 19:12). 4And though Ryle and others are right to emphasisethe personal relationship of Christians with God,and use Elijah’s encounter at Mount Horeb to homein on aspects of such a relationship, we must beaware of the background to Elijah’s experience tofully understand the encounter. Furthermore, wemust be aware of the modern abuse of referencingthis scripture to justify an experience. It wasbecause of God’s presence that the experiencehas meaning, and not because Elijah experienceda “still small voice” that God was present. Maywe look to God rather than an experience, for it iswhen we encounter God that the experience willbe of value.The Mountain of GodAfter Israel left Egypt and made their way toMount Sinai, Moses ascended the mountain to Godand God told Moses His intention to enter into acovenant with Israel. On the day that this was tooccur God descended upon the mountain,So it came about on the third day, when itwas morning, that there were thunder andlightning flashes and a thick cloud uponthe mountain and a very loud trumpetsound, so that all the people who were inthe camp trembled. And Moses brought thepeople out of the camp to meet God, and theystood at the foot of the mountain. Now MountSinai was all in smoke because the LORDdescended upon it in fire; and its smokeascended like the smoke of a furnace, andthe whole mountain quaked violently. Whenthe sound of the trumpet grew louder andlouder, Moses spoke and God answered himwith thunder. The LORD came down on MountSinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORDcalled Moses to the top of the mountain, andMoses went up (Exodus19:16–20) 5Exodus also records the reaction of the people,1 J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900. First Anglican Bishop of Liverpool(1880-1900).2 J.C. Ryle, Holiness: its nature, hindrances, difficulties,and roots, (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 1979).3 J.C. Ryle, Aspects of Holiness (London: GracePublications Trust, 1999).4 J.C. Ryle, Holiness: its nature, hindrances, difficulties,and roots, (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 1979),295.5 Unless otherwise stated, verses are from the NewAmerican Standard, Updated (1995).20All the people perceived the thunder andthe lightning flashes and the sound of thetrumpet and the mountain smoking; andwhen the people saw it, they trembled andstood at a distance. Then they said to Moses,“Speak to us yourself and we will listen; butdon’t let God speak to us, or we will die.” Mosessaid to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God hascome in order to test you, and in order that thefear of Him may remain with you, so that youmay not sin.” So the people stood at a distance,while Moses approached the thick cloud whereGod was (Exodus 20:18–21).Both the Old and New Testaments 6 , record not justthat God entered into covenant with Israel and thegiving of the Law (the Ten Commandments and theordinances that followed), but the experience of itby the parties present. God’s presence brought athick cloud upon the mountain with lightning andthunder, but also the sound of a trumpet. But it wasno ordinary trumpet. When a trumpet sounds themusician holds the note, or sound, as long as hecan before the air in his lungs is fully exhaled andthe volume of the trumpet dies away. In contrast,the trumpet on the mountain did not become softer,but “grew louder and louder”. In the days prior tosynthesised digital effects this indeed would bean uncommon, unusual and unnatural event in itsown right; but this was but one of five 7 supernaturalevents at the giving of the law.Horeb, the mountain of God at Sinai, was notjust the location where God entered into covenantwith Israel, it was The Mountain of God, where Godrevealed Himself.Enter ElijahApproximately 800 years after entering intoCovenant with God, Israel, in her usual example ofthe sinfulness of man 8 , was still rebellious againstGod. And just as Israel whined against God andMoses in the wilderness so too did they whine andrebel in Elijah’s day. In 1 Kings 18 Elijah confronted6 Hebrews 12:18-20. “For you have not come to amountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, andto darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blastof a trumpet and the sound of words which sound wassuch that those who heard begged that no further wordbe spoken to them. For they could not bear the command,‘If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.’”7 Thunder, lightning, cloud, trumpet and earthquake.8 In reading the Old and New Testaments one may questionGod’s choice of Israel as a chosen people. But God in Hiswisdom chose wisely; for Israel truly represents the flawedcharacter in all of us: sinful, corrupt, unfaithful and full ofpride. That Israel, the keepers of the Old Testament oraclesof God, rejected the Messiah, Jesus, at His first coming isone thing; but that the “Christian” West (i.e. nations ofChristian heritage, though it is more true to say they aresecular these days, that these nations), in general, rejectJesus Christ—having available to her both Old and NewTestaments—shows that we, indeed, are no better, butrather worse.Ahab, king of the northern kingdom of Israel 9 .Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, beforewhom I stand, I will surely show myself to himtoday.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and toldhim; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahabsaw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, youtroubler of Israel?” He said, “I have not troubledIsrael, but you and your father’s house have,because you have forsaken the commandmentsof the LORD and you have followed the Baals.Now then send and gather to me all Israel atMount Carmel, together with 450 prophets ofBaal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eatat Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent a messageamong all the sons of Israel and brought theprophets together at Mount Carmel (1 Kings18:15–20).In confronting the people Elijah asked, “‘How longwill you hesitate between two opinions? If theLORD (Yahweh) is God (Elohim), follow Him; but ifBaal, follow him.’ But the people did not answerhim a word” (1 Kings 18:21). As ‘fence-sitters’the people would not advocate one point of viewor the other, but rather went with the status quo.Only after God’s sovereign display of His powerwould the people acknowledge, in an urgent doubleimperative, that “Yahweh is God (Elohim), Yahwehis God (Elohim)” (v39).Despite the obvious success on MountCarmel, of which all of Israel and King Ahab wereeyewitnesses, Elijah, following Queen Jezebel’sthreat to have him executed, ran for his life. It ishere, after having prayerfully sought God to answerby fire on Mount Carmel, that we encounter Elijah,the ‘prophet of fire’ 10 .Having escaped from Jezebel and having madehis way past Beersheba, in the southern kingdomof Judah, Elijah entreated God to end his life (1Kings 19:4). God, however, sent to Elijah the Angelof the LORD to provide food and water. Twice theangel visited and twice Elijah ate. On the strengthof these two meals Elijah travelled to Horeb, theMountain of God. 119 Following the death of King Solomon the Kingdomof Israel was divided into the Southern Kingdom ofJudah (comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin)and the Northern Kingdom of Israel (comprised of theother tribes). The Northern Kingdom survived until theinvasion of the Assyrians, and the Southern Kingdomuntil invasion of the Babylonians. For seventy years theSouthern Kingdom was in exile, until the decree wentforth for Israel to return. Upon their return, Judah, asthe Southern Kingdom was called, became the name forIsrael’s inhabitants in “Judea”.10 See also, 2 Kings 1:9-15.11 Rick Warren, in the introduction to his book, ThePurpose Driven Life, ridiculously claims that “Elijah wastransformed when God gave him 40 days of strengthfrom a single meal.” It was not the meal that transformedElijah, but Elijah’s encounter with God at Mount Horeb;let alone that it was two meals and not one as RickWarren asserts.

I N S I N C E R I T Y W E S P E A K B E F O R E G O D I N C H R I S T • 2 C o r i n t h i a n s 2 : 1 7Horeb, the mountain of God at Sinai, was not just the location where God entered into covenant with Israel, it was The Mountain of God, where God revealed Himself.At Horeb, whilst lodging in a cave 12 , the Word ofthe Lord came to Elijah. Elijah’s conversation withGod, at Horeb, is reminiscent of that of Moses. Notonly were these two men prophets of the LORD, theywere both concerned with God’s covenant withIsrael, and the unfaithfulness of the people.Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said,“Alas, this people has committed a greatsin, and they have made a god of gold forthemselves. “But now, if You will, forgive theirsin—and if not, please blot me out from Yourbook which You have written!” The LORD saidto Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, Iwill blot him out of My book. But go now, leadthe people where I told you. Behold, My angelshall go before you; nevertheless in the daywhen I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”Then the LORD smote the people, because ofwhat they did with the calf which Aaron hadmade (Exodus 32:31–35).Then he came there to a cave and lodged there;and behold, the word of the LORD came to him,and He said to him, “What are you doing here,Elijah?” 13 He said, “I have been very zealous forthe LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israelhave forsaken Your covenant, torn down Youraltars and killed Your prophets with the sword.And I alone am left; and they seek my life, totake it away” (1 Kings 19:9-10).Furthermore, concerning their encounters with God,they both had similar, and yet distinctly different,experiences.Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Yourglory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all Mygoodness pass before you, and will proclaimthe name of the LORD before you; and I willbe gracious to whom I will be gracious, andwill show compassion on whom I will showcompassion.” But He said, “You cannot see Myface, for no man can see Me and live!” Thenthe LORD said, “Behold, there is a place byMe, and you shall stand there on the rock; andit will come about, while My glory is passingby, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock andcover you with My hand until I have passed by.Then I will take My hand away and you shallsee My back, but My face shall not be seen”(Exodus 33:18-23).Likewise, at the giving of the Law (as statedearlier) in Exodus 19, accompanying God’s presencewas thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, a very loudtrumpet sound and an earthquake. Like Moses,Elijah too was called to stand on the Mountain asGod passed by.So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountainbefore the LORD.” And behold, the LORD waspassing by! And a great and strong wind wasrending the mountains and breaking in piecesthe rocks before the LORD; but the LORD wasnot in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake,but the LORD was not in the earthquake.After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD wasnot in the fire… (1 Kings 19:11–12a).Elijah experienced the same events that Mosesand the people did! However, 1 Kings 19 notesthat Yahweh (the LORD) was not “in” these things.It was not, and is not, these “things” that are tobe chased or experienced for the presence of God.Elijah, having read the Torah (the first five books ofthe Bible) knew of all these events and experiences,and would have expected them; (not to mention thathe had already experienced God’s revelation by fireand thunder [storm] at Mount Carmel). In contrastto Moses’ experience whereby,When the sound of the trumpet grew louder andlouder, Moses spoke and God answered himwith thunder (Exodus 19:19).God did something completely different for Elijah.The Updated New American Standard Biblerenders it,And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORDwas not in the fire; and after the fire a soundof a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, hewrapped his face in his mantle and went out andstood in the entrance of the cave. And behold,a voice came to him and said, “What are youdoing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:12–13 NAU) 1412 The actual Hebrew says “the cave” which some(including the Talmud) suggest refers to the cleft ofrock where Moses was positioned when God revealedHimself to him (Exodus 33:22).13 It is worth noting that God’s question is not asked forthe sake of informing God, but, seemingly, as a means ofquestioning Elijah’s actions; that is, he was doing whathe had not been asked to do. And just as Adam, after hewas disobedient, was asked, “Where are you” and Cain,after he had slain his brother was asked, “Where is Abel The King James, New King James and Revisedyour brother?” and “What have you done?”, Elijah isStandard versions render the “sound of a gentleseemingly asked to justify his course of action of fleeingfrom Jezebel, when God had been with him throughouthis ministry. 14 NAU—New American Standard, Updated 1995.blowing” as a “still small voice”—the most oftremembered rendering.And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORDwas not in the fire: and after the fire a still smallvoice (1 Kings 19:12 KJV) 15Likewise, the Jewish Publication Society’s 1917translation of the Tanach (Old Testament) utilisesthe same rendering. Other translations, though,render “a still small voice” as “a voice still small”(YLT) 16 , “a gentle whisper” (NIV) 17 , “the sound of alow whisper” (ESV) 18 , “a tiny whispering sound”(NAB) 19 , “a soft murmuring sound” (TNK) 20 , andBrenton’s English translation of the Septuagint 21renders it as “the voice of a gentle breeze” (LXE) 22 . Instriking contrast to the other translations, the NewRevised Standard renders this verse as,and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORDwas not in the fire; and after the fire a sound ofsheer silence (1 Kings 19:12 NRS) 23Similar to Young’s Literal Translation and others,a modern literal rendering of the Hebrew is, “avoice, a barely audible whisper” 24 . The NewRevised Standard’s rendering is an attempt toconvey more deeply what the Hebrew is trying tosay. Following the extraordinary displays of God’spresence and power—though God was not IN thesethings, but the source of these things—was thetangible, palpable, whisper, or silence, in whichGod revealed Himself. It is here, when we compareElijah’s encounter with Moses’, that we appreciatewhat happened.Where God revealed Himself to Moses withthe sound of a trumpet, the revelation to Elijah isin a barely audible whisper. It was not the eventsoccurring around him that caused Elijah to coverhis face (a conscious action of the fear of the LORD15 KJV—King James Version.16 YLT—Young’s Literal Translation (1862/1898).17 NIV—New International Version (1984).18 ESV—English Standard Version (2001).19 NAB—The New American Bible.20 TNK—Tanakh (1985), Jewish Publication Society.21 Septuagint—A 3rd to 2nd Century BC translation of theOld Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.22 LXE—The English Translation of The Septuagint Versionof the Old Testament (LXE) by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton,1844, 1851, published by Samuel Bagster and Sons,London.23 NRS—New Revised Standard.24 Michael Coogan, ed., The New Oxford Annotated BibleNew Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, ThirdEdition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 525.21

W I T H D R A W Y O U R S E L F F R O M M E N O F C O R R U P T M I N D S • 1 T i m o t h y 6 : 5and the awareness that for sinful man to see theface of God means death, cf. Exodus 33:18; Isaiah6:5). God’s awesome displays of power are notmandatory signs of God’s presence and revelation.It is foolish to stereotype God into a set course ofaction, response or display. God acted in a waywhich was foreign to Elijah’s expectation.God is still God, no matter how dramatic and nomatter how innocuous. Elijah covered his face atthe AUDIBLE voice of God, softly spoken, or quiet,as it was. Where Israel trembled at the thundering,booming, trumpet of God, Elijah trembles at God’ssilence.Comparisons and ContrastsFurthermore, Elijah is contrasted to Moses by wayof attitude. The people sinned before God andMoses interceded on their behalf, seeking theirforgiveness. Elijah, however, had virtually givenup, and sought God’s judgment against their sin.Both men encounter God on the Mountain, butboth are very different characters. Another point isthat though we may see God in action at times, alack of visible outworking, by God, does not meaninaction on God’s part.And like Moses, Elijah anointed his successor,Now Joshua, son of Nun, was filled with thespirit of wisdom, since Moses had laid his handsupon him; and so the Israelites gave him theirobedience, thus carrying out the LORD’S commandto Moses (Deuteronomy 34:9).22Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son ofShaphat, as he was ploughing with twelve yokeof oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijahwent over to him and threw his cloak over him(1 Kings 19:19).But unlike Moses, it seems that Elijah missedsomething in God’s revelation in silence. Whenquestioned a second time about his reason forcoming to Horeb, Elijah replied exactly as he didbefore the experience. What was Elijah supposedto learn, what did he fail—at this point in time—tolearn?There he came to a cave, where he took shelter.But the word of the LORD came to him, “Why areyou here, Elijah?” He answered: “I have beenmost zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, butthe Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torndown your altars, and put your prophets to thesword. I alone am left, and they seek to take mylife.” … When he heard this, Elijah hid his facein his cloak and went and stood at the entranceof the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, whyare you here?” He replied, “I have been mostzealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. But theIsraelites have forsaken your covenant, torndown your altars, and put your prophets to thesword. I alone am left, and they seek to take mylife” (1 Kings 19:9-10,13-14).Apparent success or failure in Elijah’s ministry wasnot for Elijah to decide, Elijah was required only tobe obedient to God. In “failure” Elijah sought forGod to end his life (v4); but in a surprising twistGod revealed Himself, not in an awesome displayof His might and power, but in the stillness ofsupposed inactivity. Obedience and not the showof outward success is what Elijah was called for,just as with Moses.The Mount of TransfigurationAnother similarity worth mentioning is that bothMoses and Elijah appeared at Jesus’ transfigurationon the mount, cf. Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9.In a vision, the disciples present with Jesus sawthese two men, figures and representative of theLaw and the Prophets. How apt, that these two men,to whom the LORD revealed Himself, were againpresent, when a cloud covered and surrounded themountain, and God spoke from the cloud, whilstJesus was transfigured — revealing His glory. Athearing the audible voice of God, Jesus’ disciples,“fell face down to the ground and were terrified”(Mt 17:6). Certainly not the response of today’sStill-Small-Voicers.Today’s Still Small VoiceMuch can be said and illustrated by the “StillSmall Voice”, and certainly many a good man hasreferenced Elijah’s encounter with God in regardto relationship and prayer in the Christian life. Butlet us remember the context and setting of Elijah’sday to understand the intent of the inclusion of thisincident in 1 Kings.Unfortunately, many a biblically-illiterate“hireling” today, calls upon 1 Kings 19:12 as merelya proof-text for hearing the supposed “voice” ofGod (i.e., the Holy Spirit). Infatuated by their ownperceptions, and grandiose claims, they repeat thepresumption of Elijah and yet claim illuminationand spiritual maturity. Elijah thought he knew God’spresence—having known the Word of God and readthe experience of Israel at the giving of the Law.But God revealed Himself to Elijah differently thanHe did to Moses. Today’s “ministers”, especiallythe Word-Faith variety and those influenced bythem, talk of the “Still Small Voice” in the sameway: this is how God reveals Himself! Is it? We canNOT pigeon-hole God to a set formula or action: HEis GOD and will reveal Himself as He chooses to,not necessarily in the manner “ministers” expectHim to. But amazingly, the very verse, concerningElijah’s encounter, which “ministers” use to justifytheir ideas, is actually the text which demolishestheir own arguments. It is the voice of correctionand fear of the LORD.Is today’s “Still Small Voice” valid? Is hearingthe “Still Small Voice” the voice of the Holy Spirit?Are the advocates of this teaching, teaching biblicaldoctrine?The Word-Faith ilk talks of hearing the ‘still smallvoice’. To some a literal whisper, to others a voicein their head (to put it plainly). So-called ministersstand upon the platform/pulpit and show off theirsupposed spirituality (and “relationship” with God)by introducing statements with, “Yes Lord, I’ll saythat,” or, “Thank you Lord,” when they sought a wayto word a thought. Then there’s the “ministers” whoprofess obedience to the voice of God by saying,“God just told me to act the fool before you. I’m afool for God. God said to stand on my head.” Andobediently, they follow the directive. Fools, indeed,they are.Kenneth Copeland, talking about “character”,says,Character does what is right when there is noone around to see you do it. For instance, let’ssay you’re in a public restroom—maybe atchurch, at a restaurant or at work—and afteryou wash your hands, you take the paper towelyou used to dry your hands and throw it in thetrash can…but you miss and it lands on the floor.Do you stop and take the time to pick up the papertowel and drop it in the trashcan? Or, do youjust keep on heading out the door, leaving thepaper towel on the floor for someone else to pickup thinking: Well, I was in a hurry…. Besides,they pay people to clean up the bathrooms.Never mind the fact that you heard that “still,small voice” in your spirit say, Go back and pickit up—and wipe off the sink where you splashedwater all over, while you’re at it. 25So it was the “still, small voice” and not ourconscience? And what of the non-Christian who“hears” the voice in his head, that is, his conscience,and does the same? What, the Christian needs to beprompted by God, but the non-Christian doesn’t?Copeland is intent on teaching that the “still,small voice” is what Christians must seek to hear,If we, as believers, are ever going to receiveGod’s specific instructions for our lives, we mustfirst obey the general instructions He has givenus. We must hear and obey the first and secondcommands God has given us in His written Wordbefore we will be able to hear His still, smallvoice giving us more detailed instructions aboutour daily lives. 26The Still-Small-Voicers of today seem to neglectscripture which says that, “your young men shallsee visions, your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts2:17). God did speak to the first century Christiansin dreams and visions. Peter talked with God ina vision, whilst in a trance (Acts 10:10). Throughvisions Paul was instructed and encouraged in hispreaching of the gospel (Acts 16:9-10, Acts 18:9-10).It wasn’t a “Still Small Voice” which guided them.Consider also the Lord’s appearance to Paul(Saul of Tarsus), whilst he was on the road toDamascus; note the experience,Now Saul, still breathing threats and murderagainst the disciples of the Lord, went to thehigh priest, and asked for letters from him tothe synagogues at Damascus, so that if he foundany belonging to the Way, both men and women,he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Ashe was travelling, it happened that he wasapproaching Damascus, and suddenly a lightfrom heaven flashed around him; and hefell to the ground and heard a voice sayingto him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecutingMe?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” AndHe said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,but get up and enter the city, and it willbe told you what you must do.” The men whotravelled with him stood speechless, hearingthe voice but seeing no one. Saul got up fromthe ground, and though his eyes were open, hecould see nothing; and leading him by the hand,they brought him into Damascus. And he wasthree days without sight, and neither ate nordrank. Now there was a disciple at Damascusnamed Ananias; and the Lord said to him in avision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am,25 Kenneth Copeland, Building Character Builds Protection,http://www.kcm.org/studycenter/articles/protection/build_protection.php, cited 16 Dec 2006.26 Kenneth Copeland, Orders from Headquarters, http://www.kcm.org/studycenter/articles/holyspirit/orders_headqrters.php, cited 16 Dec 2006.

W I T H D R A W Y O U R S E L F F R O M M E N W H O S U P P O S E T H A T G A I N I S G O D L I N E S S • 1 T i m o t h y 6 : 5Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up andgo to the street called Straight, and inquireat the house of Judas for a man from Tarsusnamed Saul, for he is praying, and he has seenin a vision a man named Ananias come in andlay his hands on him, so that he might regainhis sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I haveheard from many about this man, how muchharm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; andhere he has authority from the chief priests tobind all who call on Your name.” But the Lordsaid to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrumentof Mine, to bear My name before the Gentilesand kings and the sons of Israel; for I will showhim how much he must suffer for My name’ssake.” So Ananias departed and entered thehouse, and after laying his hands on him said,“Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared toyou on the road by which you were coming, hassent me so that you may regain your sight andbe filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediatelythere fell from his eyes something like scales,and he regained his sight, and he got up andwas baptized; (Acts 9:1–18).The theophany experienced by Saul of Tarsus showsthat the voice of God was certainly not small or still,but rather audible enough for all present to hear.And so, though it is written that, “your youngmen shall see visions, your old men shall dreamdreams” (Acts 2:17), we can not be so rigid as tosay that God can not, or will not, reveal himself inother ways. Nevertheless, the “Still Small Voice” ofpopular conception is not necessarily that way.To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheephear His voice; and He calls His own sheep byname and leads them out. And when He bringsout His own sheep, He goes before them; andthe sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, butwill flee from him, for they do not know the voiceof strangers (John 10:3-5).My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, andthey follow Me (John 10:27).It is a shame that some are so eager to chase the“voice” of “God” that they fail to hear the Wordof God. To such, the experience is more real, moremeaningful, more exciting and more fulfillingthan reading the Holy Scriptures and meditating(studying, considering and reflecting) upon them.About the AuthorB. MICHAEL BIGG For a number of yearsMichael and his wife Kathryn were in theWord-Faith movement. By God's gracethey saw the light and truth of the Word ofGod and now warn others trapped in thatdeception. Michael's passion is the study ofthe Word of God, and his concern is for trueexpositional teaching in the church. Michaelcan be contacted at michael@echad.net(www.echad.net).TheTorontoDeceptionBy PAUL GOWDYformer Toronto Vineyard PastorIT has taken me nine years to actuallycome to the place where I would writethis story. Part of the reason wasbecause I was not fully convincedthat it was appropriate to speak outagainst weaknesses in the body of Christ publicly.Another reason is because it has taken years of soulsearching to become convinced that what happenedin the Toronto Airport Church (TAC later changed toToronto Airport Christian Fellowship — TACF) wasactually all bad or at least more bad than good!For the past number of years I have called it amixed blessing. I think James A. Beverly calledit this in his book Holy Laughter and the TorontoBlessing, 1994. Today I would call it a mixed curse,concluding that any good that came from thisexperience is far outweighed by much harm andsatanic deception. Therein has been my dilemma.I have tried to live my life in the fear of the LordJesus, who told us that the unforgivable sin wasblasphemy against the Holy Spirit, i.e. attributingto Satan what was in fact a work of God. If pressedas to whether or not the Toronto blessing is allGod or all devil I will still be hesitant. However, Iam convinced that Satan has used the experienceto blind people to the historical doctrines of God:producing fruit in keeping with repentance; testingand discerning the spirits; and to test prophecy.After three years of being in the thick ofthe Toronto blessing our Vineyard assemblyin Scarborough (East Toronto) just about selfdestructed.We devoured one another, with gossip,backstabbing, division, criticism etc. After threeyears of ‘soaking,’ praying for people, shaking,rolling, laughing, roaring, ministering at TACF ontheir prayer team, leading worship, preaching andbasically living at TACF we were the most carnal,immature and deceived Christians that I know. Iremember saying to my friend and senior pastorat Scarborough Vineyard Church in 1997 that eversince the Toronto Blessing came we have just aboutfallen to bits! He agreed!My experience has been that the manifestationof spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12was much more common in our assembly, beforeJanuary 1994 (when the Toronto blessing started)than during the period of supposed Holy Spiritvisitation.During 1992-1993, when praying for people,we would experience what I believe was genuineprophecy, deliverance and much grace and favourfrom the Lord. After the Toronto Blessing started, allministry time changed. The only prayers were ‘MoreLord MORE ’, the shouting of ‘Fire,’ the jerky-shakingof the body with the ‘ooh ooh OOH WOOOAAH’prayer. (I am not exaggerating!)On January 20, 1994 about 15 people from ourchurch travelled over to Toronto Airport Vineyardto listen to Randy Clark, a Vineyard pastor fromthe USA. John Arnott had called our senior pastorto invite us. He said that Randy had been to theRodney Howard-Browne meetings and that the“stuff” had broken out in his church in the followingweeks. John was hoping that something mightbreak out with us too. We were only too happy totravel over.Our fellowship was planted, in 1992, out of theToronto Airport. In those days there were threevineyard churches in Toronto. One down townchurch, Scarborough vineyard church to the east andthe airport church. We were one big happy family.Because we were small in number we did specialmeetings, conferences etc, together. The yearbefore, most of our leadership teams joined andhad headed to Nicaragua for a short-term missiontrip. We had genuine love and fellowship with eachother. Since leaving the Vineyard churches I haveread a lot of analysis from the critics. Some allegethat the Toronto Blessing was one huge conspiracyto lead the body of Christ into heresy. Heresy andapostasy I suspect may well be the result, but noneof this was intentional. I am honestly convinced thatthe leaders in the Vineyard churches were genuineborn-again Christians who loved the Lord, but fellinto deception. They did not love the Lord enoughto keep His commandments. They failed to obey thescriptures and have been led astray by longing forsomething bigger and brighter and more excitingand dynamic. I was guilty of this sin also.I have preached renewal in Korea, the UnitedKingdom, the USA and here in Canada. I amgenuinely repentant and in writing this story Iwould ask you, the bride and body of Christ, toforgive me. Especially the Pentecostal\CharismaticChristians among you, for you are my immediatefamily, theologically. I am an evangelical Christian.I always have been, but I do not believe in thecessation of the spiritual gifts at the end of the23

24A N D T H E T I M E S O F T H I S I G N O R A N C E G O D O V E R L O O K E D • A c t s 1 7 : 3 0apostolic era. I believe that it was my evangelicalroots (my family are Baptists and I was born againin the Presbyterian church) that started to open myeyes to problems with this so-called renewal. Inhindsight I wonder how could I have been so blind?I laughed at people acting like dogs and pretendingto urinate on the columns of the TACF building.I watched people pretend to be animals, bark,roar, cluck and pretend to fly as if they had wings,perpetually act as if drunk and sing silly songs. HowI thought that any of this was from the Holy Spiritof God amazes me today.It was loud, irreverent and blasphemous of theHoly God of the Bible. In my mind I reasoned thatas long as they did not teach anything in directviolation of scripture then it was what wecalled the “exotic”. This is a buzzword formanifestations that could not be justified froma biblical perspective. I was taught, from thepulpit, that we had two options. The order ofthe nursery, full of life and messy, or the orderof the graveyard, very orderly but dead! As a youngimmature pastor I wanted life with mess. I failedto remember that God wants us to become matureand grow up in Him.I became disconcerted by the prophetic wordsthat came forth, especially one by Carol Arnott inwhich she had her bride experience where she wastaken into the very presence of Jesus and said thatthe love that she experienced was even better thansex! I was shocked in my spirit and thought howcan one compare the love of God with sex? Whenwe suspected that demons were running riot in ourservices, John Arnott would teach that we shouldask, are they coming or going. If they are leavingthen that is okay! John would defend the chaosby saying that we ought not be afraid of beingdeceived, if we have asked the Holy Spirit to comeand fill us then how could Satan come and deceiveus? This would make Satan very strong and Godvery weak! He said that we needed to have morefaith in a Big God to protect us than in a Big Devil todeceive us. This sounded very convincing, but wastotally contrary to scripture for Jesus, Paul, Peterand John all warn us about the power of deceivingspirits and especially so in the last days. Again, wedid not love God enough to obey His Word and theresult was that we opened ourselves up to lyingspirits. May God have mercy upon us!Finally the penny dropped for me as I was rollingaround one night ‘drunk in the Spirit,’ as we wouldsay. I started singing and as I rolled around the floorthe Nursery Rhyme ‘Mary had a little lamb its fleecewas white as snow’ came to mind. I sang this in amocking spirit and instantly my heart told me thiswas a demon. Instantly I repented and was in totalshock. How could a demon influence me? Did I notlove God? Was I not zealous for the things of God?I knew that an unclean spirit had just manifestedthrough me and I was guilty of great sin. Afterthis experience I stayed away from TACF. I didnot go back there any more. I did not possess theconviction to denounce the whole experience, butthought that we were failing to pastor the Blessingwell enough.Even after I stopped going over to TACF, I had topastor the fruit of it. One example was when someof our people returned from a meeting there askingus if we had all received the golden sword of theLord? I asked them what they were talking about,thinking that it was some prophetic reference tothe Holy Scriptures, but they said, ‘No, its not theBible. It’s an invisible golden sword that only thereally pure can receive. If taken in an unrighteousfashion then the Lord would kill you’. But if youare holy enough to receive it then you can wieldthis sword and it will heal aids, cancer etc. andbring salvation. How one wielded this sword wasby pretending to have this invisible sword in yourhand and motioning to strike people with it whenin prayer! I thought, while even in deception at thistime, that the TACF had become lunatics! This waspurportedly first received by Carol Arnott and thenIf God has forgiven me andopened my eyes then He can do it forall those caught in deception too.given to the ones holy enough to receive it!Another thing was the gold filling in the teeth.We had people in our assembly peeping down oneanother’s throats looking for the gold fillings thatGod had placed there to show how much he lovedthem! In all my time there I only heard one messageon repentance, given by a visiting speaker, JackiePullinger from Hong Kong. It went over like a leadballoon. We were not there to repent. We werethere to party in the Lord! After one year into theblessing I spoke out at a pastors’ meeting and said,‘Guys we have shaken, rattled, rolled, laughed, criedand bought the tee-shirt. But we have no revival, nosalvation, no fruit and no increased evangelism, sowhat’s the deal?’ I was soundly rebuked. Who wasI, to expect to see fruit when the Lord was healingHis broken people? We had been legalistic longenough and God was spending this time restoringHis wounded and freeing us from legalism. I wastold not to push the Lord and the harvest wouldcome in His time.I knew this was wrong because the Lordhad commanded us to go into all the earth andmake disciples! Not, that everyone should takea sabbatical for who knows how long, while Goddoes some strange new thing! Ultimately I leftover something as controversial as the ordinationof women. Personally I believe from scripture thatwomen should not be pastors/elders in a localassembly. I could be wrong on this, and there ismuch debate in the church today, but that is myconviction and in the Vineyard churches they wereordaining all the pastors’ wives to co-pastor withthem. I am certainly for women in ministry butbelieve that the elder/pastor role in a local assemblyhas been reserved for men. We didn’t write scripturebut, we should have the grace to obey it.So there is my story. I could go on and documentmuch excess, folly, sin and latter day rain teachingthat manifested from the prophetic end of thisBlessing but others have already done that. Wesang about Joel’s army and the billion-soul revivalas if it were one of the Ten Commandments, and asalways it was just around the corner, next month,next year etc. Jesus asked, “When the son of manreturns will he find faith upon the earth?” He warnedthat His coming would be hastened “the days willbe shortened” for the sake of the elect. This is afar cry from the dominionism that is being taughtall through the vineyard-prophetic-spiritual-warfaremovement. They think they are going to take overthe whole world! While in the Vineyard I embraceda life-changing verse from Paul, the apostle, thephrase, “Do not go beyond what is written!”To finish, I just want to say sorry for the damagethat I have done, by teaching things that are notcorrect, biblically. I repent before men as I alreadyhave before God. I will not excuse my falling intodeception. I did not test things when the scripturecommands us to do so. Everyone who was therewhen this thing started knows that what I write istrue, they would just come to different conclusionsespecially if they are still promoting the ‘river!’To those in the river I would say, climb out,there are things living in the water that willbite you really badly! I love the people of TACFand the Vineyard movement, but they havemuch to answer for and may the Lord opentheir eyes sooner rather than later. I suspect thatwhen my story becomes public I will get bombardedby emails, some damning me for still believing inthe ministry of the Holy Spirit and still walking indeception and some old friends damning me forexposing dirt or being negative about the Lord’sanointed! Well, the Lord knows my heart and byHis grace He will guide me into all truth as I seekto know Christ and Him crucified!If you believe that I walk in sin and error pleasepray for me, that the Lord would forgive me andopen my eyes. I will study the Word to show my selfa workman approved! I would call on all who readthis to pray that the Lord would open the eyes of allwho have been involved in this deception, whetherleader or follower, we are loved and the Lord is aforgiving God. He says, “If we confess our sins he isfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify usfrom all unrighteousness”. I believe we are like thechurch in Laodicea, we think that we are rich, haveprospered and need nothing, we do not realise thatwe are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.We must take the Counsel of Jesus and buy goldrefined in the fire, white garments to clothe ourshameful nakedness and eye salve that we mightsee again. Jesus is calling us to repentance andthank the Lord that He is, for it will lead us to truerestoration with our Father! If God has forgiven meand opened my eyes then He can do it for all thosecaught in deception too. I will finish with a warningfrom Paul, who said, “If you think you are standingfirm be careful lest you fall”.About the AuthorPAUL GOWDY a native ofNorthern Ireland met his wife,a Canadian, while workingwith YWAM in Scotland. Theymoved to Canada in 1991,married and now have fivechildren. Paul was a pastor inthe Scarborough Vineyard church for four yearsand a member for six. He was never forced outof the Vineyard Movement but is now doingevangelistic work, raising his own support,and working with the Pentecostal Churches ofCanada a sister denomination with AG-USA.

B U T N O W C O M M A N D S A L L M E N E V E R Y W H E R E T O R E P E N T • A c t s 1 7 : 3 0But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderersand immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, theirpart will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which isthe second death.—Revelation 21:8 NASBBy SANDY SIMPSONLYING is a problem for all people(Psalm 116:11). We are all sinners(Romans 3:23). Those of us who areChristians are “sinners saved by grace”(Ephesians 2:8) indwelt by the HolySpirit in our “new self” (Colossians 3:10). But westill live in our “old self” whom we must “put off”(Ephesians 4:20-25) by taking up our cross daily andfollowing Christ (Luke 9:23).The difference between unbelievers and thosewho are truly born again is that believers no longer“practise sin” (1 John 3:9). They have the indwellingHoly Spirit (Romans 8:11) who convicts them whenthey lie (John 16:8). True believers then repent (1John 1:9) and go on to “practise righteousness” (1John 2:29) with the Lord’s help.The unregenerate, the false brothers, or thosewho have fallen away (Galatians 5:4, Mark 4:17),practise lying. They practise a lifestyle of lyingbecause their consciences are seared (1 Timothy 4:2)and the Holy Spirit, when convicting them, cannotbreak through the hardness of their unrepentanthearts (Ephesians 4:17-19, Hebrews 3:13).Such teachings come through hypocritical liars,whose consciences have been seared as with ahot iron (1 Timothy 4:2 NIV).Those we expose as false apostles, false teachers,false prophets and false Christs are hypocritical liarswho practise lying as a lifestyle. They lie when theysay the Lord told them something and it is provennot to be true. They lie when they claim to be ableto transfer the Holy Spirit anointing. They lie whenthey claim to be healing people or raising the deadwhen they are not. They lie when they teach thingsthat are against the core doctrines of the Bibleand yet they claim to have some newer revelation.They lie when they say they either can’t rememberteaching heresy when confronted with the facts,or that they never taught it. They lie about theirassociations with certain groups and individualswhen they think they will get into trouble withbiblical believers. They lie when they are put to thetest and keep on lying without repentance. This ishow you can know your true brothers in the Lordand those who claim to be brothers but are actuallyfalse brethren.Little children, make sure no one deceivesyou; the one who practises righteousness isrighteous, just as He is righteous; the one whopractises sin is of the devil; for the devil hassinned from the beginning The Son of God appearedfor this purpose, to destroy the works ofthe devil. No one who is born of God practisessin, because His seed abides in him; and hecannot sin, because he is born of God. By thisthe children of God and the children of the devilare obvious: anyone who does not practise righteousnessis not of God, nor the one who doesnot love his brother (1 John 3:7-10 NASB).Those who practise lying as a lifestyle, according toJohn, are actually of the devil. They may claim to befollowers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:21-23). Theymay speak high sounding words, have millions offollowers and maybe even perform great signs andwonders (Matthew 24:24). But if they are liars theyshow who their father is (John 8:43-45).They will commit heinous sins and then, afterthey are caught, they confess. But when theyconfess, they only confess to what they werecaught doing or think they might be prosecutedfor, and then they continue to lie about the rest.Their confessions are only political in nature, doneto please men, but are not true repentance. Thenin a few months they are back preaching the samelies and living to please their appetites becausetheir “mentors”, “counsellors” and followers allowthem to continue in the lifestyle to which they havebecome accustomed.But you did not learn Christ in this way, ifindeed you have heard Him and have beentaught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, inreference to your former manner of life, you layaside the old self, which is being corrupted inaccordance with the lusts of deceit, and that yoube renewed in the spirit of your mind, and puton the new self, which in the likeness of Godhas been created in righteousness and holinessof the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood,speak truth each one of you with his neighbour,for we are members of one another (Ephesians4:20-25 NASB).Those who are true believers will stay away fromfalse brethren because they are “wolves”, whichhave entered the church in order to try to bring truebelievers into bondage again to sin.But it was because of the false brethren secretlybrought in, who had sneaked in to spy out ourliberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order tobring us into bondage (Galatians 2:4 NASB).Beware of the false prophets, who come to youin sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenouswolves. You will know them by their fruits.Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes norfi gs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7:15-16NASB).False brethren bring the Truth into disrepute.But there were also false prophets among thepeople, just as there will be false teachersamong you. They will secretly introduce destructiveheresies, even denying the sovereign Lordwho bought them—bringing swift destructionon themselves. Many will follow their shamefulways and will bring the way of truth intodisrepute. In their greed these teachers willexploit you with stories they have made up.Their condemnation has long been hangingover them, and their destruction has not beensleeping (2 Peter 2:1-3 NIV).What is their fruit? Not the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians5:22-23), but the fruit of unrighteousness.The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexualimmorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatryand witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits ofrage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions andenvy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warnyou, as I did before, that those who live like thiswill not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians5:19-21 NIV).A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad treecannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does notbear good fruit is cut down and thrown into thefi re. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them(Matthew 7:18-20).There is a lesson for all true believers in recentevents 1 . Have nothing to do with deeds of darknessperpetrated by false brothers. Reject heresy. Markand avoid false teachers.Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds ofdarkness, but rather expose them (Ephesians5:11 NIV).1 Editorial Comment: See “End Note: Liars” for a number ofillustrations with supporting evidence and URL links.25

R E P E N T A N D B E C O N V E R T E D T H A T Y O U R S I N S M A Y B E B L O T T E D O U T • A c t s 3 : 1 9A man that is a heretic after the first and secondadmonition reject (Titus 3:10 KJV).Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them, whichcause divisions and offences contrary to thedoctrine, which you have learned; and avoidthem (Romans 16:17KJV).END NOTES:Haggard lies to ACT (Apologetics Coordination Team– http://op.50megs.com/act); NAE (NationalAssociation of Evangelicals – http://www.nae.net);about his involvement in the NAR (New ApostolicReformation)—http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/answertotedhaggard.htmlHaggard admits he is a liar and deceiver about sexualimmorality (but continues to lie about his involvement inthe NAR, of which he is still a listed member)—http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/statement_regarding_ted_haggard.htmC. Peter Wagner and Paul Cain lies—http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/addendmNAR.htmlRick Warren’s excuses about statements he made—http://www.fromthelighthouse.com/blog/index.php?p=368&more=1&c=1Rick Warren lies in his response to the Syria statements—http://www.deceptioninthechurch.htmlBrownsville lies—http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/lies.htmlFalse prophecies of the NAR—http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/narfalseprophecies.html26About the AuthorSANDY SIMPSON is a missionarywith Liebenzell MissionUSA in Hawaii, to the Micronesianislands including Guam,Saipan, Yap, Palau, Chuuk,Pohnpei, Kosrae and the Marshalls.He writes: “Many islandgroups have their own established churches onOahu (part of Hawaii) so we provide discipleshipand mentoring for the leaders of the islandchurches. Many who come to Oahu for medicalpurposes or for work, are going back to theirislands equipped to disciple others.” Sandygrew up in Palau where his family settled asmissionaries in 1962. He has written music,translated songs and other materials, done concertsand preached in the Palauan language.Since 1989, as part of the Evangelical Churchesof Micronesia in Guam and Hawaii, he has beenteaching Bible, counselling and visitation totheir leaders. Sandy directs the ApologeticsCoordination Team (ACT) of which the DeceptionIn The Church website is an arm. ACTwas established to help island church leadersgrapple with the onset of the apostate ThirdWave movement. Sandy has written a numberof books, produced numerous videos, and is inthe process of editing a new book, which heco-authored with Mike Oppenheimer of Let UsReason Ministries. This book details the falsedoctrines of the World Christian Gathering ofIndigenous Peoples.www.deceptioninthechurch.com/ditcsignup.htmlThe WesleyBrothersin CornwallBy PAUL SHERBIRD©1994 whilst a Bible College student (1992-96)CARRY FORWARD FROM PART ONE:The west of England of the eighteenth centurywas a wild and lawless place. In the face, attimes, of mob violence and much oppositioneven from the established church the Wesleysbattled on. How can we discern the signs of truerevival? Crime rates fall, immoral standards arebanished and misery and sorrow are turned to joy.The Wesleys portray the physical and spiritualqualities needed to spearhead a true work of God.THE MINISTRY CONTINUES:THE following year (1744) both Johnand Charles visited Cornwall again.John was first, travelling with laypreacher James Wheatley, he arrivedin Cornwall on Monday 2nd April andspent the night at Digory Isbell’s, travelling to StIves the following day to stay with John Nance.John spent two weeks in Cornwall culminatingin a visit to John Bennett’s parish where Wesleypreached to a large crowd at Laneast. Charlesmade his way down to Cornwall on the 12th Julyand reached St Gennys on the 15th where hestayed with “Brother Thomson”. Charles obviouslyPART 2loved his visits to Cornwall. To read his journal ofthis period gives a glimpse into his joy and delight,not just in his ministry but in the friends he madeand in the delights of the countryside. He seems tohave been especially fond of rock climbing aroundthe Cornish coast.Charles went on preaching tours with the rectorsThomson and Bennett. In St Ives the arrival of threeclergymen apparently alarmed their persecutorswho were in awe of such highly respected ministersas Thomson and Bennett. Charles records that the“Brethren were strengthened” by the arrival ofThomson.Persecution continued to be a problem for theMethodists throughout 1744 as John and Charlesboth experienced. The mobs continually causedtrouble. In St Ives stones were thrown throughthe windows of believers’ homes, and thosewho offered the preachers hospitality were oftenunder attack. It was the Anglican ministers whocontinued to stir up persecution; in St Ives, Hoblinthe curate railed against the Methodists as enemiesof the church, claiming they were Jacobites 1 andPapists 2 .1 Jacobite: One dedicated to the return of the Stuart kingsto the thrones of England and Scotland.2. Papist: Used as a disparaging term for a Roman Catholic.

W H E N R E F R E S H I N G S H A L L C O M E F R O M T H E L O R D • A c t s 3 : 1 9In Penzance John first encountered the minister,Dr Borlase who was a noteworthy adversary,and a magistrate who made it impossible for thepersecuted Methodists to obtain justice againsttheir persecutors. Charles said that Borlase was thegreatest persecutor of the little flock in Penzanceand records one of Borlase’s fellow clergymenclaiming “he wished the Bible was still in Latin only,that none of the vulgar might be able to read it.” 3Despite the opposition there was much toencourage the Wesleys in 1744. Their journals notethe forming of new societies in Penzance, Morvaand Gwennap and new preaching points openedin Penzance and Falmouth on the south coast.They continued to preach to crowds of hundredsand thousands. The greatest evidence of the workof the Lord was at Gwennap where for the firsttime in living memory the jail was found empty.Charles wrote, “the whole county is sensible of thechange and not one Gwennap man was availablefor a wrestling match”, they were “struck off thedevil’s list, and found wrestling against him, notfor him.” 4Persecution was a continuing problem for thesefirst Cornish Methodists and the sad thing is thatthe chief protagonists were the Anglican ministers.Borlase as magistrate posed serious problems,along with another minister in Redruth who wasalso a magistrate and determined to “root out thissect”. The next time John returned to Cornwall inJuly 1746 he found lay preachers being arrested on“trumped up” charges; one was even arrested onthe charge of knowing his sins were forgiven.Borlase himself attempted to arrest John andhave him pressed as a soldier. He and the othermagistrates made use of an act passed during QueenAnne’s reign (1703) which allowed them to impressidle persons for soldiers and marines. Though someof the lay preachers found themselves arrested,Wesley always escaped by some mysterious meansalways facing the accusers with calm confidenceand seems to have had miraculous escapes fromtheir hands. Often his prospective captors seemedto let him go without any explanation.Riots continued. During 1746, there was a fierceriot in Falmouth from which John so miraculouslyescaped that he wrote, “I never saw before..... thehand of God so plainly shown as here.” 5A few days later he faced what became knownas the Helston mob at Stithians near Helston, whichbecame what the early Methodists called a “stormcentre”for several years. Charles visited in Julyand found that the “rebels of Helston threatenedhard,” some even claiming that he had brought thePretender with him. At the same time Charles wasamazed and delighted at the change wrought in StIves, where no threat at all faced him. He wrote thathe “walked the streets with astonishment, scarcebelieving it St Ives.”It was the same throughout the county.Opposition was beginning to abate. In places wherethe persecution was worst Charles feared for thesocieties but found to his joy and encouragementthat the Lord was raising up “exhorters” — menwho stood firm and held the societies together,3 Op cit; p.3744 Op cit; p.3755 Works, Vol 1; p.505standing in the gap and keeping the trembling sheeptogether. New societies were springing up at thistime, e.g. at Wendron and Stithians. Methodismwas obviously making very real and deep rootsthroughout Cornwall.The impact of these first three years ofMethodism is truly impressive. The Wesley brothershad made many true and abiding friendships. Theypreached to thousands. Many were converted.The societies were visibly increasing and growingin strength and nurturing their own preachers andleaders. In northwest Cornwall the Wesleys hadgood friends and co-workers in the two ministersThomson and Bennett and five churches (Trewint,Laneast. Tresmere, Week St Mary and Tamerton)where they could freely preach to the large crowdswho gathered. It was here that John saw a “greatawakening” unlike any other in Cornwall. 6Charles who had a deep passion for Cornwallwrote at the time, “I...adored the miracle of grace,...Revival!And it was sucha revival that no onewas left insensibleto its effects...which has kept these sheep in the midst of wolves.Well may the despisers behold and wonder. Here isa bush in a fire, burning, yet not consumed! Whathave they done to crush this rising sect? but lo! theyprevail nothing!....Many waters cannot quench thislittle spark which the Lord has kindled neither shallthe floods of persecution drown it.” 7Some persecution continued however and in1747 it took an unexpected turn when Lavingtonwas made the Bishop of Exeter, his diocese includedCornwall. Lavington did not like Methodists andbegan his campaign against them by closing thepulpits in N.W. Cornwall to the Wesleys. Onlyone remained open to them at George Thomson’schurch. Thomson withstood the Bishop, remaininga firm friend to the Wesley brothers. Lavingtoncontinued his attack by publishing pamphletsagainst Methodism, these had titles such as, “TheEnthusiasm of Methodist and Papists Compared”.One of these pamphlets contained an accusationagainst John Wesley concerning his conduct withwomen, and one Cornish woman in particular. Thiscaused Wesley a lot of trouble. The pamphlet wascirculated as far as northern England and was usedby his enemies to besmirch his name.In 1750 John took it upon himself to visit thewoman concerned and on questioning her foundshe had no complaint against him. It appears thatLavington had used her idle gossip without eververifying the truth of her statements. About this timesaw the notable conversion of the Anglican ministerSamuel Walker of Truro further adding to Lavington’sanxieties. In fact Lavington’s attacks appear to have6 ibid; p.5087 Journal, Vol 1; p.423been a desperate and largely futile measure. Hisinfluence was quite limited and by September 1748the churches in Cornwall were once again open forthe Wesleys to preach in.THE FINAL CHAPTERFrom this time the situation in Cornwall becamemuch more settled and Methodism grew peacefullyand rapidly. One notable visit of John Wesley was inSeptember 1757. In his journal he records a journeyaround Cornwall’s perimeter and not once is therea mention of mobs, violence or attempted arrests.He found places which had been previously closedto him now welcoming him with open arms. Onesuch place was Mevagissey. “When I was herelast,” he wrote, “we had no place in the town....But things are altered now: I preached just over thetown, to almost all the inhabitants, and all were asstill as night.” 8One of the hardest places to preach at wasHelston, but finally in 1777, on August 20th Johnreported that “prejudice there was at an end”, andthat “all the town, except a few gentry, willinglyhear the word of salvation.” 91777 can be claimed as the year that sawthe end of persecution against the Methodistsin Cornwall. By 1780 there were 26 Methodistpreaching houses in Cornwall, third in number toIreland with 37 and Yorkshire with 54, Durham wasfourth with 15. 10John Wesley’s final and 32nd visit to Cornwallcame in July 1789. It’s a visit that has beendescribed as a triumphal march. In RichardWatson’s words: “when he was last in CornwallWesley passed through the towns and villages asin a triumphal march, whilst the windows werecrowded with people anxious to get a sight of himand to pronounce upon him their benedictions, yethe says not a word of it all.” 11Wesley preached in packed churches andchapels and even in Helston he found the “largestand most serious congregation I ever remember tohave seen here.” His last comment on Cornwallwas, “So there is a fair prospect in Cornwall fromLaunceston to Land’s End.” 12It cannot be doubted that over a period of 46years the ministry of the Wesleys completelytransformed the lives of the Cornish. From a landof sinners, Cornwall became a land of saints. Oneold saying used to be that the devil wouldn’t crossthe Tamar into Cornwall because he had heard thatwhatever entered Cornwall was made either intoa pasty or a saint, and he fancied neither. ClaudeBerry wrote of John Wesley:No other individual in history has left suchan impress upon Cornwall as Wesley, and ifbeneath that impress something of our oldspontaneity and naiveté was lost, much wasburied that was brutal and depraved and didnot deserve to survive. 138 Works, Vol.2; p.4279 In J.S.Simon; The Last Phase; p.9410 ibid; p.16011 In Journal Vol 7; p.52812 In J.S. Simon; op cit; p.31713 Claude Berry; Cornwall; p.18527

O L O R D , R E V I V E Y O U R W O R K A N D I N W R A T H R E M E M B E R M E R C Y • H a b a k k u k 3 : 2What was it that Wesley brought to Cornwall thatprecipitated such a great change which was feltnot only in Cornwall but throughout the BritishIsles? The answer can be found in one word— revival! And it was such a revival that no-onewas left insensible to its effects, even those withno particular religious interest cannot deny thestupendous changes for good that were wroughtin British society as the revival took hold and Jesusbecame known as Lord throughout the land.The Wesley brothers were men who had amessage that burned in their souls with such holypassion that they could not help but proclaim itto all and sundry. That passion was born from thedeep conviction that the gospel is the power of Godto salvation and that through the preaching of thegospel men and women would meet the Saviour andfind all their needs met in Him. It is such passionand conviction that is desperately needed amongstthe Lord’s people today.28APPENDIXDuring times of persecution in Cornwall, God raisedup “exhorters” who held the societies together,some of these men became part of “Wesley’s army”of itinerant preachers and are worthy of note as theyillustrate something of the influence and fruitfulnessof John and Charles Wesley’s ministries. We shallbriefly look at just three of these:PETER JACO: Born in Newlyn in 1729 Peter Jacowas the son of a pilchard processor. After leavingschool at the age of 14 he joined his father inemployment. From a young age Peter had “awfulthoughts of God” which kept him from youthfulexcesses. He was aware of his sinfulness but didnot know what to do about it. In 1746 he heardhis first Methodist preacher and was soon afterconverted through the preaching of a local tinner.He later became an exhorter and when JohnWesley visited in 1751 he appointed Peter overseveral societies. In 1754 Wesley called him toLondon and at Conference he was appointed tothe Manchester circuit. He faced many difficulties.Once in Warrington he was struck so hard on thechest by a brick that the blood gushed out throughhis mouth, nose and ears. He often preached threeof four times a day, riding 30 or 40 miles with verylittle of the basic necessities of life. He died in 1781aged 52 after several years of ill health.JOHN MURLIN: Born at St Stephen in 1722 hewas a farmer and a carpenter, and by his ownadmission an “enemy to God and his own soul”.He swore, gambled and drank heavily. He hearda Methodist preacher in February 1749 and cameunder conviction of sin. In April he found release forhis soul after a long struggle. Soon he was askedto lead a small class and later became a reluctantpreacher and was amazed to find God using him tobring blessing. Following this John Wesley askedhim to be a travelling preacher at first sending himto west Cornwall. Later he would labour in Ireland,Bristol, London and Manchester. In his latter dayshe was afflicted by painful rheumatism so thathe could barely walk. He had a stroke which lefthim completely immobilised, but he continued tomaintain his happiness in the love of God. He diedin 1799 and was buried in the same vault as JohnWesley at City Road Chapel.RICHARD RODDA: Born in 1743 at Sancreed hisparents were “God-fearers” who initially wantednothing to do with the Methodists. Howeverhis eldest sister was converted, followed by hismother. From a very early age (4-6) he developedan awareness of God and sin. In 1756 he cameunder strong conviction of sin and after seekingrest for his soul for two years, he found peace withGod on the 11th June 1758 upon which he wrotea hymn, “Praise God, my soul, whose wondrouslove hath drawn thy thoughts to things above.”Richard worked in the mines and testified to manymiraculous escapes wrought by God’s hand. Hebecame a local preacher, often preaching threetimes on a Sunday, travelling many miles on foot. Hemet John Wesley while on a business trip to Walesand offered his service to the Glamorgan circuit. Helaboured as an itinerant preacher for 33 years andended his days in London on October 30th 1815 aged72. Like most of the early Methodist preachers hefaced trials and persecutions which he overcamefearlessly and was never deterred from his call tobe an itinerant preacher.BIBLIOGRAPHY:C. Wesley Journal; Vols. 1, 2J. Wesley Works; Vols. 1, 2, 6J. Wesley Journal; Vols. 7, 8J. S. Simon J. Wesley and the Methodist SocietiesJ. S. Simon J. Wesley and the Advance of MethodismJ. S. Simon J. Wesley and the Last AdvanceJ. S. Simon The Last PhaseF. G. Gill In the Steps of John WesleyClaude Berry CornwallPeggy Pollard CornwallThomas Jackson(ed) Lives of Early Methodist Preachers;Vols. 1,2,3Rev. L. Tyerman The Life and Times of WesleyAbout the AuthorPAUL SHERBIRD lives in Truro,Cornwall England with his wifeJulie. He pastors a small housefellowship (Truro Christian Fellowship)which commencedjust over a year ago (2005). Themain reason for the formationof the fellowship was that they could not findan “uncompromised” church in the area andthey very much felt led of the Lord to start awork. Paul was saved in 1988, aged 30 aftermany years of involvement in the drug cultureand on the fringes of the occult. In 1992 heentered the Emmanuel Bible College wherehe graduated four years later with a Bachelorof Theology degree. Since then he has servedin various church leadership positions (elder;assistant pastor, lay minister) until January2005. He describes his main ministry as teachingwith a strong desire to know and teachsound doctrine.● For more visit the “About” sectionof his website: www.spreadthetruth.co.ukVALEToday we mourn the passing of a belovedold friend, Common Sense, who has beenwith us for many years. No one knows forsure how old he was, since his birth recordswere long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.He will be remembered as having cultivatedsuch valuable lessons as: Knowing when tocome in out of the rain; Why the early birdgets the worm; Life isn’t always fair; andMaybe it was my fault.Common Sense lived by simple, soundfinancial policies (don’t spend more thanyou earn) and reliable strategies (adults, notchildren, are in charge).His health began to deteriorate rapidly whenwell intentioned but overbearing regulationswere set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boycharged with sexual harassment for kissing aclassmate; teens suspended from school forusing mouthwash after lunch; and a teacherfired for reprimanding an unruly student, onlyworsened his condition.Common Sense lost ground when parentsattacked teachers for doing the job that theythemselves had failed to do in discipliningtheir unruly children. It declined even furtherwhen schools were required to get parentalconsent to administer suntan lotion or aband aid to a student; but could not informparents when a student became pregnantand planned to have a medical procedure.Common Sense lost the will to live aschurches became businesses and criminalsreceived better treatment than theirvictims.Common Sense took a beating when, if youdefended yourself from a burglar in your ownhome the burglar could sue you for assault.Common Sense finally gave up the will tolive, after a woman failed to realise that asteaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilleda little in her lap, and was promptly awardeda huge settlement.Common Sense was preceded in deathby his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife,Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; andhis son, Reason.He is survived by the pop group trio: IKnow My Rights, Someone Else Is ToBlame and I’m A Victim.Not many attended his funeral because sofew realised he was gone.—Anonymous

N O W T H E S P I R I T S A Y S T H A T S O M E S H A L L D E P A R T F R O M T H E F A I T H • 1 T i m o t h y 4 : 1Children of aClayton’s GodAN INSIGHT INTO MORMONISM: PART FOURBy EDWARD BARCLAYMORMONISM stands or falls uponthe testimony of Joseph Smith.Every Mormon missionary you mayencounter will, sooner or later, testifythat The Book of Mormon is true, thatJoseph Smith was a true prophet and thathe “restored the church”. They will alsosay that their leader, currently Gordon B.Hinckley, is a prophet who hears from God.Every first Sunday of the month a time isset-aside for church members “to bear theirtestimony”. This is supposed to be faithpromoting and uplifting, but I know thatmany of them struggle with doubts abouttheir faith especially their being acceptableto God. It’s good to remember this, as itprovides a window of opportunity, especially withloved ones, who have become Mormons.Mormons, who “bear their testimony” all soundthe same, like a cracked record playing over andover again. Just before writing this article I satthrough another Sunday morning, listening toMormons testify. How sad hearing people who arespiritually dead bearing testimony to a ‘god’ whocannot hear, see or speak; how strong the delusionalpower of Satan! Here’s an example from an incidentthat took place on Sunday, April 30th 2006 thatgrieved my heart:I was attending the ward meeting as usual whenthe first speaker went up to give her talk. (Normally,in a ward meeting there will be three speakers perSunday, each asked to give a talk on a specificsubject.) This lady said she came into the MormonChurch in 1994 as a “born again” Christian whohad been attending an AOG church for a numberof years. She said she spoke in tongues and didthe normal “Pentecostal things”, and then one dayshe met some missionaries who gave her the Bookof Mormon to read. They followed her up withtheir teaching lessons and she was baptized intothe Mormon church. There were issues with herspeaking in tongues 1 . She was told she had another1 In the Annuals of Mormon History you find referencesto manifestations of “Tongues”, identical to thosewitnessed in the Toronto Blessing with people beingwildly thrown around the room by the “spirit” andspirit (a demon) and she had to renounce this spirit.Some Mormon priesthood holders supposedlyexorcised this spirit.What has to be said here is that even if youprofess to be born again you are not exempt fromdeception. Some may say that the woman wasn’tAn analysis of the historic Mormonchurch reveals that its entire foundationwas laid on deception, as I hope to prove.... Jospeph Smith was deceived and nowcontinues to deceive 12 million memberstruly born again, but my response would be, “Howdo you know the state of the woman’s heart? OnlyGod knows the thoughts and intents of a person’sheart” cf. Hebrews 4:12. What grieves me most isthe fact that this woman may have blasphemedthe Holy Spirit by attributing the works of God toSatan, which was the unforgivable sin referred toin Mark 3:22-30 (cf. Matthew 12: 31-33). I havepersonally witnessed the true “gift of speaking intongues”. I am also aware that in some Charismaticand Pentecostal circles there is false teaching thattongues can be learned. I have personally witnessedmany shocking incidents of this abuse in church.There is an old saying, “The best deception is theone that runs closest to the truth”.The question that really needs to be asked is“What can be done to avoid believers falling intothe trap of deception?”One simple and effective answer is to counteractfalse religions and cults with solid biblicalexposition of the Word of God. Unfortunately thisis very rare today especially amongst Pentecostaland Charismatic churches and it’s starting to showuncontrollable laughter. Today the practice of “tongues”is scorned upon in the mainstream Mormon church. It isnot practiced in Elders or High Priest Quorums—http://www.irr.org/mit/story3.html. It may be practiced in theTemple, where “Adamic” language or, as Mormons referto it, the Heavenly Language is supposedly spoken—http://www.saintswithouthalos.com/n/tongues.phtml (Becareful this is a PRO Mormon site).in Baptist churches too. So you can expect incidentslike this lady turning to Mormonism to increase inthe near future. Unfortunately many professingChristians don’t read and study their Bibles! Howcan anyone who professes to follow Christ knowwhat His teachings are if they don’t read what Hehas to say? They trust in what is preachedfrom the pulpit instead of checking whatis taught.When the Toronto abomination wasrunning in the late 1990s, my family andI were attending a local AOG fellowshipwhere the pastor encouraged everyoneto “jump into this thing” without checkingfirst what they were actually jumping into.I confronted him about the many wrongthings that he was saying from the pulpitand showed him that he was actually taking versesout of context. I presented him with evidencefrom many reliable and well-respected sources,but he refused to listen. This went on for a periodof weeks until I had a visit one Saturday morningfrom the associate pastor and the board of elders.I was accused of causing division and sowingdiscord so I politely asked them to show me fromscripture where I was wrong in the things that Iwas saying. They couldn’t. My point is that theywere deceived.The spirit of deception is very strong in theMormon church. This deception runs from the headof the church down to the grass roots members.An analysis of the historic Mormon church revealsthat its entire foundation was laid on deception,as I hope to prove. I will show that Joseph Smithwas deceived and now continues to deceive 12million Mormon members. The trap that ensnares anindividual is in the Book of Mormon (BOM) itself.And when ye shall receive these things, I wouldexhort you that ye would ask God, the EternalFather, in the name of Christ, if these thingsare not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincereheart, with real intent, having faith in Christ,he will manifest the truth of it unto you, bythe power of the Holy Ghost. And by thepower of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truthof all things (Moroni 10:4-5).The onus is placed on the individual to pray with asincere heart and REAL INTENT and a manifestation29

30G I V I N G H E E D T O S E D U C I N G S P I R I T S A N D D O C T R I N E S O F D E M O N S • 1 T i m o t h y 4 : 1of “Burning in the Bosom” 2 is generally regardedas the sign you will receive. If you don’t receiveacknowledgements that the BOM is true then youhaven’t prayed sincerely or with real intent so yourintegrity comes under suspicion. I have witnessedthis many times within Mormonism. To those of youwho have loved ones caught in this trap or who knowfriends or workmates investigating Mormonism avery effective way to torpedo the attack is to ask theperson, “Where in the Bible does it say to do this?”Also if you have the opportunity ask the Mormonelder, “Is your faith based on feelings?” (In otherwords is their faith experiential?) Ask them wheredoes faith come from. They will give you a number ofanswers none of which will be scriptural. Take themto Romans 10:17—“So then faith comes by hearingand hearing by the word of God” (KJV).Then emphasise strongly that faithcomes by hearing God’s Word not prayingabout a book that is nothing more than aspiritual trap. I have often said to Mormonsquite bluntly that praying about a book hasno basis whatsoever in scripture, doingthat and seeking a sign is like a bankrobber praying about his next heist. Hisdesire is to rob a bank so that his life canbe gratified and the same applies here.The correct biblical method is to “try (i.e.prove) all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) by usingthe Bible as a yardstick. Unfortunately this problemis also in the Christian church, especially amongstPentecostals and Charismatics with their falseteachings of the Toronto, ALPHA and Pensacolamovements. The foolish leaders who jumped infirst, instead of “testing the spirits” (1 John 4:1),have ensnared the people and together they havegone headlong into deception. The same leadersare now caught up with the false Apostles andProphets, the unbiblical Spiritual Warfare and theTransformations movements espoused by C. PeterWagner, George Otis, and Cindy Jacobs et al.Mormon missionaries and members will exertsubtle psychological pressure on any individual whois investigating the church to cause them to joinwith the offer to belong to a loving, caring familyand to have fellowship with likeminded people.Many people just buckle under the pressure sothat they can be accepted and have a feeling ofbelonging. All mind control groups use this tacticto win converts.Question—should a Christian pray about theBook Of Mormon and look for a “burning bosom”sign to verify whether it’s true or not? Answer—NO,the Bible teaches us to be like the Bereans.These were nobler than those in Thessalonica, inthat they received the word with all readiness ofmind, and searched the scriptures daily, whetherthose things were so (Acts 17:11 KJV).We are to search the scripture, test what is taughtand hold on to what is true. Any new “revelation”must be tested. If it contradicts scripture then it2 The Burning in the bosom is a manifestation mostMormon’s receive. I have spoken to many LDS memberswho claim this after they have prayed about the Book ofMormon. I have always likened it to having heart burn.This Manifestation according to Mormons confirms thatThe Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is atrue prophet from God. Should a true Christian pray aboutthe Book of Mormon? Absolutely No!must be rejected. God always puts in place checksand balances. If prophecy is given in church it mustbe judged against scripture, but unfortunately thisdoes not happen often enough and people start togo off at tangents. Pastor Aeron Morgan has justreleased his The Biblical Testing of Teachings andManifestations, which is most timely in the presentclimate of today’s church. I strongly suggest thatyou get a copy of this book and read it carefullyand prayerfully. It lays out beautifully, line upon lineprecept upon precept, the correct biblical patternto test all things. 3The church is in such a mess because its leadershave been deceived and they have gathered aroundthem men deceived like themselves who do notwant to follow biblical guidelines just as scriptureforetells:Mormons will exert subtle psychologicalpressure on any individual who isinvestigating the church to cause them tojoin with the offer to belong to a loving,caring family and to have fellowship...For the time will come when they will not enduresound doctrine; but after their own desiresthey shall accumulate for themselves teachers,having itching ears they shall turn their earsaway from the truth, and shall be turned asideto myths (2 Timothy 4: 3-4).I am committed to the canon of scripture and toits testimony that in the last days God has spokentotally, finally and completely to us in, through andby His Son:God, who at sundry times and in diverse mannerspoke in time past to the fathers by theprophets, Has in these last days spoken to usby [his] Son, whom he has appointed heir ofall things, by whom he also made the worlds(Hebrews 1:1-2 KJV).To understand the essence of Mormonism you reallyhave to investigate the life of Joseph Smith, whichin finalising my series I now propose to do briefly byanswering two questions:1) Is the Joseph Smith of today’s Mormonismthe Joseph Smith of history?2) How did the Mormons come by their holybook, The Book of Mormon?JOSEPH SMITHMan of history or human invention?There are many fine books about Joseph Smithe.g. Upon His Own Hand Upon Papyrus by CharlesM. Larsen (available by download at: http://www.irr.org/MIT/Books/BHOH/bhoh1.html) and FawnBrodie’s book No Man Knows My History: The Lifeof Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet, and the fortyor so books written by Jerald and Sandra Tanner that3 For details of purchase, go to www.aeronmorgan.orgwhere you can locate (1) advert for the book; (2) cost ofthe book, plus p/p for the different countries (viz. USA,UK, Australia, New Zealand etc); and (3) the postaladdress (or email/phone) you can contact to place anyorders.have exposed Smith for who he really was.Born at Sharon in Vermont, USA in 1805, in2005 Mormons celebrated the bicentennial of hisbirth, bordering in my opinion on gross idolatry. TheMormon church’s magazine Ensign, (which can bedownloaded from their website http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pdfmagazine/0.7779.592-6-1-2005.00.html) devoted the January and Decemberedition to Smith. The church has a heavy biastowards Smith and the “Restoration”. If thefoundation (i.e. that of Joseph Smith) is brokendown then, the whole facade of Mormonism’s falsegospel will crumble in a heap.So then, how does history portray the realJoseph Smith? Was this man a true prophet of Godwho restored the true “church” and “priesthood”back to earth in 1830? How did Joseph Smithreceive the “divine revelations” and canthese “revelations” be substantiated bythe Bible? Who was the real Joseph Smith?In other words is he the same personportrayed by the Latter Day Saints (LDS)church today as he was back in 1830? Allthese questions require us to decide whatis fact and what is fiction.Joseph Smith is a remarkable characterfor someone who lived for only 39 years. Inso short a time this man set up a religion,a bank in Kirtland Ohio, which incidentallyfailed because it issued its own currency without thepermission of the United States Treasury 4 . JosephSmith was indicted and arrested numerous timesyet managed to escape 5 . He built the city of Nauvoo,which at the time was the largest city in Ohio. Hebecame General of the Nauvoo Legion (a militia unitand it has to be noted that Smith had no militarytraining) and ran for President of the United States.He was a polygamist who at his death in 1844 hadover 33 wives. Of these wives two were fourteenyears old AND ELEVEN OF THEM were under theage of twenty!What about Smith’s Military career? Wikipedia,the internet encyclopaedia gives a goodbackground on the Nauvoo Legion: “The NauvooLegion was a private militia employed by Joseph4 http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/josephsmithsbank.htm—Has a great write up on the banking incident.Warren Parrish, who had been an officer in the bank andhad apostatised from the church, made this statement:“I have listened to him [i.e. Smith] with feelings of noordinary kind, when he declared that the AUDIBLE VOICEOF GOD, INSTRUCTED HIM TO ESTABLISH A BANKING-ANTI BANKING INSTITUTION, who like Aaron’s rodSHALL SWALLOW UP ALL OTHER BANKS (the Bank ofMormon excepted,) and grow and flourish and spreadfrom the rivers to the ends of the earth, and survivewhen all others should be laid in ruins.” (PainesvilleRepublican, February 22, 1838, as quoted in Conflict atKirtland, page 297). The Bank Failed! “Thirteen suitswere brought against him between June 1837 andApril 1839, to collect sums totaling nearly $25,000. Thedamages asked amounted to almost $35,000. He wasarrested seven times in four months, and his followersmanaged heroically to raise the $38,428 required for bail.Of the thirteen suits only six were settled out of court— about $12,000 out of the $25,000. In the other seventhe creditors either were awarded damages or won themby default.” Joseph had many additional debts that neverresulted in court action. Some years later he compiled alist of still outstanding Kirtland loans, which amountedto more than $33,000. If one adds to these the two greatloans of $30,000 and $60,000 borrowed in New York andBuffalo in 1836, it would seem that the Mormon leadersowed to non-Mormon individuals and firms well over$150,000.” (No Man Knows My History, pp. 199-202)ISBN-13: 978-0679730545 by Fawn Brodie.

P R O F E S S I N G T H E M S E L V E S T O B E W I S E T H E Y B E C A M E F O O L S • R o m a n s 1 : 2 1 - 2 3Smith, Jr and Brigham Young during the LatterDay Saint movement until 1870 for The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDSChurch; see also “Mormon”). The Legion wasnamed for the city of its inception, Nauvoo,Illinois, although it only operated there for sixyears. Although the charter authorising theNauvoo Legion created an independent militia,it could be used at the disposal of the stategovernor or the president of the United Statesas well as for the mayor of Nauvoo. JosephSmith himself was Nauvoo’s second mayor,and the Nauvoo court martial also appointedhim as highest-ranking officer of the legion, alieutenant general. This rank is one step abovemajor general which most contemporary militiasemployed as their commanding rank. Onemotive for the higher rank was to preventSmith from being tried in a court martial byofficers of lesser rank. In 1837 the Missourimilitia had contemplated an illegal court martialagainst Smith, only a civilian at that time.The tenth president (1970-72) and prophet, seer andrevelator of the LDS church, Joseph Fielding Smith,made this statement:Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fallon the story of Joseph Smith. He was eithera prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointedand commissioned, or he was one of thebiggest frauds this world has ever seen. Thereis no middle ground. —Doctrines of Salvation,Page 188.To appreciate the significance of this incrediblestatement you must have an understanding ofJoseph Smith’s First Vision Account. 6 There arenine different versions of this account. All of themvary as to date, content, the actual age of Smithand they effectively contradict each other. The LDSofficial account states that Smith was fourteen andthat there was a religious revival taking place inthe Palmyra district at the time. Allegedly, Smithbecame burdened as to which church he should joinso he went into the woods to pray. James 1:5 wasthe verse Smith was allegedly given.If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,who gives to all men liberally and not upbraid;and it shall be given him (James 1:5 KJV).Mormons love to quote this. Every Mormonmissionary will at some stage quote it to you.Looking at the actual context (i.e. James chapter1) will quickly disarm this verse. All cults willtwist and manipulate scripture to make it fit into5 Smith was arrested numerous times, but had a knack ofescaping from custody. However when he was arrestedand imprisoned at Liberty Jail (1844) measures weretaken to ensure that he could not escape. Smith managedto receive two smuggled revolvers which he used in thefire fight at Liberty Jail which ultimately led to his death.http://www.mission2mormons.org/timeline.html; http://www.centerplace.org/history/misc/js3mem/111334.htm;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_Wight6 There are nine separate accounts of the First Vision,which all vary about Smith’s Age, date and time whenthis event occurred. An excellent source is —http://www.irr.org/mit/First-Vision-Accounts.html. To writeabout each account would require a large amount ofspace. It took the church until 1838 to come up with the“official” account. This First Vision account has causedthe LDS great embarrassment as it really shows Smithto be a fraudulent liar and a deceiver. The LDS Church’sroots are firmly anchored in deception from the verybeginning.FROM WIKIPEDIA: MILITIA (United States) There is a long history of militia in the United States,starting before the country became a nation, with the colonial militias normally consisting of all adult malecitizens of a community, town, or local region. This practice was continued after the signing of the U.S.Constitution, and remained relatively unchanged until the late 1800s. After the civil war, state guard unitscomposed of select militia were created. After 1903, the militia was divided into two groups, unorganisedand organised. Organised units were created from portions of the former state guards and became statenational guard units. Some states later created state defense forces for assistance in local emergencies.Privately organised militias, not affiliated with any government organisation, and usually formed bycitizens suspicious of the activities and politics of federal and state governments, blossomed in the mid1990s. The Constitutional Militia Movement consists of citizen groups who espouse strict constructionof the U.S. Constitution according to the original understanding and intent of the Founding Fathers of theUnited States, especially in regard to the right to keep and bear arms (see Second Amendment to theUnited States Constitution). Constitutional Militias train in the proper and safe use of firearms, that theymay be effective if called upon to uphold liberty, protect the people in times of crisis (i.e. disasters suchas Hurricane Katrina), or to defend against invasion and terrorism. U.S. Constitution Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 15& 16. According to Title 10, USC, Section 311, all able bodied males between the ages of 17 and 45 notserving in the armed forces or state national guard units are considered the unorganised militia, as wellas all commissioned female officers of state national guard units.“That the People have a right to keepand bear Arms; that a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of the People, trained to arms, is theproper, natural, and safe defence of a free state...” —George Mason, declaration of “the essential andunalienable Rights of the People,” later adopted by the Virginia ratification convention, 1788.their doctrine. James chapter 1 verse 5 deals incontext about coming under trials and tribulation.Albert Barnes’ Notes on James 1 makes thesecomments:The general subject of temptation or trial, James1:1-15. It is evident that those to whom theepistle was directed were, at that time, sufferingin some form, or that they were called topass through temptations, and that they neededcounsel and support. They were in danger ofsinking in despondency of murmuring and complainingand of charging God as the author oftemptation and of sin. This part of the chaptercomprises the following topics:1. The salutation, James1:1.2. The subject of temptations or trials. Theywere to regard it, not as a subject of sorrow,but of gladness and joy, that they were calledto pass through trials; for if borne in a propermanner, they would produce the grace of patience,and this was to be regarded as an objectworth being secured, even by much suffering,James 1:2-4.3. If in their trials they felt that they hadlacked the wisdom, which they needed to enablethem to bear them in a proper manner, theyhad the privilege of looking to God, and seekingit at His hand. This was a privilege concededto all, and if it were asked in faith, withoutany wavering, it would certainly be granted,James 1:5-7.The claim Smith was making is unscriptural andit has been deliberately twisted to deceive theunwary. It is also worth noting that a search ofchurch records in the Palmyra district does notmention any revival there in 1820, which JosephSmith’s First Vision Account claims. The historicalrecord clearly shows that a small revivaloccurred in 1824 amongst the Methodists andBaptists. This is four years after what Smith claims.These records are verifiable from the existing parishrecords.This piece of information published by theInstitute of Religious Research is most helpful(http://www.irr.org/mit/fvision.html). I highlyrecommend this site for research.NO 1820 REVIVAL: Joseph Smith’s neighbourhoodexperienced no revival in 1820 such asis described in Joseph Smith’s First VisionAccount, with supposed great multitudes joiningthe Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterianchurches. According to early sources, includingchurch conference reports, newspapers, church31

32G O D G A V E T H E M U P T O U N C L E A N N E S S T O W O R S H I P A N D S E R V E T H E C R E AT U R E • R o m a n s 1 : 2 4 - 2 5periodicals, presbytery records and publishedinterviews, nothing occurred in 1820-21 that fitsSmith’s description. There were no significantgains in church membership in the Palmyra-Manchester, New York area, during 1820-21such as accompany great revivals. For example,in 1820, the Baptist church in Palmyra receivedonly 8 people through profession of faith andbaptism, the Presbyterian church added 14members, while the Methodist circuit lost 6members, dropping from 677 in 1819 to 671 in1820 and down to 622 in 1821 7 .Smith claims that during his time of prayer (based onJames 1:5) he received a direct visitation from GodHimself and Jesus Christ both in bodily forms. Godtold him not to join any churches, as they were allabominations. To discerning Christians this shouldimmediately ring alarm bells. Interestingly enoughthe LDS church portrays Smith falling backwardswhen he received this ‘visitation’. Most of thosewho fell during the so-called “Toronto Blessing”likewise fell backwards.Throughout scripture God’s holy men alwaysfell FORWARD on their faces before Godand unholy men fell backwards. Whenthe guards came to arrest Jesus they fellbackwards.Judas then having received a band ofmen and officers from the chief priestsand Pharisees, come there with lanternsand torches and weapons. Jesus therefore,knowing all things that should comeupon him, went forth, and said to them,Whom do you seek? They answered him,Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he.And Judas also, who betrayed him, stood withthem. As soon as he had said to them, I am he,they went backward, and fell to the ground(John 18: 3-6).Daniel fell on his face before God.Therefore I was left alone, and saw this greatvision, and there remained no strength in me:for my natural colour was turned into deathlypallor, and I retained no strength. I heard thesound of his words: and when I heard the voiceof his words, then I was in a deep sleep onmy face, and my face toward the ground(Daniel 10:8-9).John likewise in the book of Revelation fell on hisface before the Lord Jesus Christ as did Joshuabefore the Captain of the Lord’s Host.And when I saw him, I fell at his feet asdead. And he laid his right hand upon me saying,”Don’t be afraid I am the first and the last”(Revelation 1:17).And it came about when Joshua was by Jericho,that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and,behold, there was a man standing opposite himwith his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshuawent to him, and said to him, Are you for usor for our adversaries? And he said, No; butas captain of the host of the LORD I am comenow. And Joshua fell on his face to theearth, and bowed down and said to him,“What has my lord to say to his servant?”7 See Geneva area Presbyterian church records, PresbyterianHistorical Society, Philadelphia, PA; Records for the FirstBaptist Church in Palmyra, American Baptist Historical Society,Rochester, NY; Minutes of the [Methodist] Annual Conference,Ontario Circuit, 1818-1821, pp.312,330,346,366.Mormonism frequently alters church historyby whitewashing or covering over the facts.The unfavourable aspects get altered orcovered up completely. This is exactly whathappened with accounts of the First Vision.(Joshua 5: 13-14).The current Latter Day Saints (LDS) churchpresident, prophet, seer and revelator, Gordon B.Hinckley, stated in their general conference:Our whole strength rests on the validity of thatvision. It either occurred or it did not occur. Ifit did not, then this work is a fraud. (Gordon B.Hinckley, “The Marvellous Foundation of OurFaith,” Ensign, Nov. 2002, pg 80)It is important to look at what other Mormonchurch leaders have said concerning this. You mustremember that these men claim to be prophets ofGod who are divinely inspired.Joseph Smith, 1st church president, founder,prophet, seer and revelator said in November1835—“...I received the first visitation of angelswhen I was about 14 years old...” —Personalwritings of Joseph Smith, pg. 84.Brigham Young, 2nd church president, prophet, seerand revelator said—“Do we believe that the Lord sent his messengersto Joseph Smith, and commanded him torefrain from joining any Christian church, andto refrain from the wickedness he saw in thechurches, and finally delivered to him a messageinforming him that the Lord was about toestablish his kingdom on the earth...” —Journalof Discourses, Vol. 18, pg. 239George Q. Cannon, apostle, councillor to LDSpresidents Young, Taylor, Snow and Woodruffstated -“But suppose that the statement that JosephSmith says the angel made to him should betrue-that there was no church upon the faceof the earth whom God recognised as His,and whose acts He acknowledged—supposethis were true...” Journal of Discourses, vol.24, pg. 135Brigham Young, 2nd church president, prophet, seerand revelator stated –“The Lord did not come with the armies ofheaven ... but He did send his angel to thissame obscure person, Joseph Smith jun., whoafterwards became a prophet, seer, and revelator,and informed him that he should not joinany of the religious sects of the day, for theywere all wrong.” —Journal of Discourses, vol.2, p. 171Clearly the historical record varies from the officialchurch line. There is no mention in any of thechurch’s records of the visitation of God the fatheror Jesus. Mormonism frequently alters churchhistory by whitewashing or covering over the facts.The unfavourable aspects get altered or coveredup completely. This is exactly what happened withthe accounts of the First Vision. Unfortunately forthe LDS church all the claims about thisFirst Vision are in the public arena. Theyare available in the LDS church’s ownwritings, but are rarely read so peopleremain ignorant of the fact that Mormonshave re-written their history.It is worth noting, in passing, that JosephSmith was a disobedient “prophet”. In 1828he tried to join the Methodist church despitehis “god” telling him that all the churcheswere abominations. The Methodists refusedhim membership because of his occult practices. In1826 Joseph Smith was arrested and found guilty of“money digging”. Today’s term is simply “FRAUD”.He practised divination with a “seer stone” to seekafter buried treasure.In the First Vision Account, Smith is portrayed in1820 as a pious young boy who by 1826 is arrestedand found guilty of fraud who then translates theBOM using occult means. The historical JosephSmith simply does not line up with the Joseph Smithfalsely and deceitfully portrayed by the LDS churchtoday as a prophet of God. The question needs tobe asked, “Are these the ways and results of a trueprophet from God?” The obvious answer is “No”.The next question that needs to be asked is howdid Joseph Smith translate the Book of Mormon?Was it a translation using the correct linguistictools or did Smith use other means at his disposal?First hand evidence is what we need to look at toanswer this question.TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE.About the AuthorEDWARD BARCLAY has beenmarried to Rosalind for 21years. They have two sons,Timothy and Michael and afoster son, Jaie. Ed and Ros aremembers of CWM-Fellowship,Brisbane where they attendwith their family on a regular basis. Ed does agreat deal of research for a number of Watchmanministries and has been involved in pastoraland other forms of ministry since 1997.