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H A V E Y O U A N Y T I M E F O R J E S U S ? • A s i n g r a c e H e c a l l s a g a i nNews, Views &Your Letters10WE 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 Powell (PP) or Brett Bigg (BB)FROM THE REGULAR (EMAIL) MAILERTo subscribe go to: http://www.christian-witness.org/joinsearch.html and follow the prompts.CWM CAMP/CONFERENCE 2006Hi Philip, It was great to finally meet youand Kath over the past week. The time ofministry and God’s presence were wonderful. Ipray that the Lord will continue to use you for theextension of His Kingdom especially in bringing thetruth of the gospel message to others who havebeen deceived.Mike Lynch, Adelaide★ ★ ★HILLSONG – AoG AUSTRALIAThanks Philip, Enjoyed your last mailer. Thechasers on Hillsong were devastatingly on target—how sad it is so obvious to the world. In His GripAW, Sydney★ ★ ★Thank you for your CETF magazine this month.I applaud Southern Cross College for linkingwith our brothers and sisters in Christ in the RomanCatholic Church—the church born from the NTdisciples, with Christ as its cornerstone andbuilder (admittedly with its misguided points dueto man’s involvement—similar to your so-calledministry)—in discussing the Trinity. Do you evenknow what the Roman Catholic’s stance is on theTrinity (FYI The blessed Mother is NOT part of theirTrinitarian theology.)PG, Hillsong, SydneyEditorial Question: Does PG’s view (see highlightedsection) reflect official Hillsong and/or AoGpolicy regarding the Church of Rome—motherof harlots, abomination of the earth? Readers’comments and/or questions are invited. PG is alsoinvited to comment.★ ★ ★PURPOSE DRIVENRICK WARREN & AG-USA LINKSPhilip, I am a friend of Kevin [Bishop—seepages 2-3] who made his association thissummer while in Wisconsin Rapids on businessfor 3½ months. One Friday I was conversing withKevin over the phone and he was telling me aboutthe whole episode with the AG and I urged himto do a search on Google and find out if there isan association or support group for former AoGministers. And that’s when and how Kevin foundout about you, through my urging him to investigateif someone else had been wronged and taken theirexperience to the keyboard and cyber space to sharethe abominable treatment that the AoG hands outwithout regard for consequence.As a former Catholic I had no experience withchurches that operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit,and because of my Catholicism, the Bible had beenreduced to only the sound bites Rome wanted me tohear, so I really didn’t know God’s Word and what itsaid regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, andwhat subsequently happens. Praise God, I woke outof my slumber and got busy and immersed myselfin the Word for about 3 years and got reading andhad another brother to come alongside me anddisciple me and help me study God’s Word andencourage me. However this person while havinga very discerning mind was not at all connectedwith other aspects of the Holy Spirit. Enter Kevinthis summer, and all that changed.★ ★ ★Hello, I do not agree or disagree with pastorWarren/PDL, so I have not opinion to defendon either side. However, after receiving severalof your emails I would like to offer the following:You seem to place too much stock in the opinion ofone A/G source—Dr Redding (sic). This becomesall the more important if you are going to callfor “evidence” and support from those who havepublicly disagreed with you. Rev Niger is a closepersonal friend of mine and I know him to be asolid man and pastor whose life and ministry areabsolutely above reproach. I have met Pastor Lee,and know many other friends/pastors who embraceand use PDL. The point of all of this is—if I mustchoose to trust long time friends and pastors will(sic) very strong track records of service, over somegroup of naysayers that I have never met, most likelywill never meet, and about whom I know ZERO;well I suppose you already know my choice. I findyour emails trite, pompous, full of innuendo and adhominem attack. But also, mildly amusing.Rev. David AutersonUS Missionary, Assemblies of GodReply from CETF editor: Dear David, Thankyou for your response. I find your comment aboutour emails being “mildly amusing” intriguing.Frankly we “are not amused” to use a pompousBritish retort. Matters for us are far too serious tobe amusing. Before going public on this matter I hadconsiderable interaction with George Wood yourGeneral Secretary. Ray Barnett is a disenfranchisedAG pastor. James Sundquist is a most informedman as are Jeffrey Whittaker (AG pastor) andBob DeWaay, a graduate of your central AG BibleCollege 1 . Obviously I have not contacted everyonewithin AG-USA on this issue, but to imply thatour modus operandi is suspect and very limited isdemonstrably untrue. Also it seems to be rather sillyto suggest as you do that we may be appealing for“support” from those who have publicly disagreedwith us. This is a nonsense argument. The fact thatMr Niger is your friend has nothing to do with theissue. Now I think the expression “ad hominem”(dictionary “of an argument, appealing to theemotions and not to reason”) fits admirably inrespect of your attempt at dismissal. David, pleaseunderstand. I have a long track record of closeassociation with AoG worldwide. Check me out ifyou want. My heart breaks when I think of wherethis one time godly movement came from and whereit is heading. They are in many cases supporting the“Seeker Sensitive” non-Christianity of men like RickWarren and Bill Hybels who support such worldlyand to some extent “evil” people as Bono and MelGibson. Where in the world is AG heading? Davidyou sign yourself “Reverend” which is fine. I do too attimes. However if we use that “title” then we shouldat least reflect something of the ONE of whom it iswritten “holy and reverend is HIS name”. May Godbless you and lead us all at this time of testing.2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 “...because they receivednot the love of the truth, that they might besaved. And for this cause God shall send themstrong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”I hope to hear from you.Sincerely yours in Christ,Philip L. POWELL (July 30, 2006)★ ★ ★Dear Philip, If David is really Niger’s friend, heshould tell him the truth as well as demandthat he supply proof of slander and libel...whichhe to date has not. By the way, I have not heardback from McFarland since I sent him my 40 pagedemolition. He can’t refute it, so he chooses to bedeceived and chooses to delight in his delusion.My own comment: [about David Austerson]how does someone become or continue to be amissionary for the AOG and not even know whatit is disseminating?Blessings,James Sundquist (July 30, 2006)★ ★ ★Take me off your mailing list and change thename of your website.Shawn Woody(Presumably an AG pastor)★ ★ ★RE: CWM Mailer July #3 Date sent: Tue,18 Jul 2006 — I’m glad that you want yourvoice to be heard in such a way as testifying againstanother person out of love, but I do believe that thisis more gossip than with a pure heart that wantsGod. I do not want to judge you but this is honestlywhat it sounds like to me. It may not be the best1 All of these men and their writings were referred to in ouremail to which David Auterson responded
O t o d a y i s t i m e a c c e p t e d • T O M O R R O W Y O U M A Y C A L L I N V A I Nthing for God’s church that you slander a namethat is well known like his. The truth is that he hada great impact on God’s church. It might be bestthat you pray instead of sending emails. I regret toinform, that my hopes are that this is the last emailI receive from you regarding this matter.Joe BrouchoudReply from Philip Powell: Dear Joe, Thank youfor responding to our email. However I am at aloss to follow your reasoning. You have accusedus of “slander” and “gossip”. Slander is defined inthe dictionary as “a malicious, false, and injuriousstatement spoken about a person” while gossip isdefined as “easy or unconstrained talk or writingespecially about persons or social incidents; idletalk; groundless rumour.” You have not directlyidentified the person or persons whom you accuseus of slandering or gossiping about. I presume youmust have in mind Rick Warren and/or ThomasTrask. Have you read the articles by author JamesSundquist, lecturer Roger Oakland and pastors RayBarnett, Bob DeWaay and Jeffrey Whittaker linkedto the email that you received? We all at CWM takeyour accusation against us very seriously and askyou in all sincerity to show us where and how wehave acted on mere “gossip” or have been guiltyof slander. This is being sent to you in all sincerity.I greatly look forward to your response. May Godabundantly bless you. Please tell me somethingabout yourself—who you are, what you do, andwhere you live etc. Thank you.Yours sincerely in Christ’s servicePhilip L. PowellEditorial Explanation: There followed threefurther exchanges to July 24, 2006. Apart fromdisclosing that he’s a pastor (presumably AoG) JoeBrouchoud refused to identify anything more abouthimself and failed to produce any evidence for hisaccusations of slander and gossip against CWM,notwithstanding Philip Powell’s further appeal datedJuly 22, 2006 as follows:I can do no more than appeal to your conscienceto either show where we are guiltyof the charges that you make against us orto retract and apologise. To me it is a smallthing that you judge me. My deepest concernis that the drift into deepening darkness as aconsequence of the Seeker Sensitive, PurposeDriven, Emergent Church trend be arrested. I amsaddened that AG-USA has joined that trend. Ihave felt that I should raise my voice againstit—“so help me God”.Sadly Joe Brouchoud is typical of denominationalreligious hirelings of which there are “legions”.Author James Sundquist who was asked by the lateDr Opal Reddin professor of an esteemed AG BibleCollege to warn Assemblies of God people againstRick Warren and his purpose driven apostasy wrote(July 22, 2006):Philip: Once these accusers fail to provideproof (which is always)...I then make their namepublic that all might be warned and fear theLord.... so I hope you do the same.”There was one refreshing exception thatindicates that some members of the AGhierarchy do have a conscience of sorts. Roy Held,secretary of the Wisconsin Northern MichiganDistrict of the Assemblies of God (http://www.wnmdag.org/181172.ihtml), in an email datedOctober 4, 2006 referred to CWM and thoseassociated with us in this campaign as “kooks”.After several exchanges Mr Held honourablyapologised. In an email dated October 10, 2006he wrote:Dear Philip, Please accept my sincere apologyfor using terms which were unwise andunwarranted in describing you and others whoare opposed to Rick Warren’s ministry. Pleaseconvey my expression of regret to Dr Reddinand others who were impugned by my remarks.Thank you, Ron Held.Editorial Remark: Of course we accept theapology. We await a similar public apology plussuitable restitution from the AG-USA officials to theBarnett and Bishop families—refer pages 2-3 thisissue and pages 4-6 CETF 36. Opal Reddin went toher reward shortly after Thomas Trask in an openconference insulted her. She “… being dead yetspeaks …”. Unfortunately to date Trask will saynothing publicly on the issue. Undoubtedly CWMwill publish more about this.★ ★ ★INTERNATIONAL NEWS ITEMS:1) Islam and the Future of the WestBy Regis Nicoll [Source: The Berean Call, Sept 2006] :“The fundamental source of conflict in thisnew world will not be primarily ideologicalor primarily economic. The great divisions amonghumankind and the dominating source of conflictwill be cultural ”—Samuel Huntington.While we certainly hope that Huntington iswrong, some troubling trends across the Atlantictend to support his predictions. For instance, writersRobert Spencer and Carol Eisenberg make thefollowing observations about Scandinavia:• The Qur'an has now become required readingfor secondary schoolers in Denmark.• Some Swedish authorities are positioningto pressure the European Union to remove theterrorist group Hamas from the EU's list of terroristorganisations.• In Amsterdam, where it is projected that themajority of residents will be Muslim within 10 to15 years, the most popular name for a newborn boyis Mohammed.Such indicators have caused Princeton historian,Bernard Lewis, to remark that Europe will be Islamicby the end of this century if not sooner. Bat Ye’or,a prominent authority on Islam agrees stating,“Eurabia is the future of Europe”.Despite the host of ongoing terrorist violence,including the 9/11 attacks, 39% of Americans havea favourable view of Islam versus 37% who have anunfavourable view according to the July 2004 PewResearch Poll. However former Muslim Ibn Warraqknows better. Commenting about the September 11attacks, Warraq warns,There may be moderate Muslims, but Islamitself is not moderate. There is no differencebetween Islam and Islamic fundamentalism. Islamicfundamentalism is a totalitarian constructderived by Muslim jurists from the fundamentaland defining texts of Islam. The fundamentalists...have made Islam the basis of a radicalutopian ideology that aims to replace capitalismand democracy as the reigning world system...Islamic fundamentalism has global aspirations:the submission of the entire world to the all-embracingShari ‘a, Islamic Law, a fascist systemof dictates designed to control every single actof all individuals.While some may regard radical Islam assimilar to the KKK’s relation to Christianity,that is clearly a flawed comparison. The life andexample of Christ teach that God’s kingdom isto advance not by might, but by overcoming evilwith good. Whereas the Islam fundamentalistcan rightly claim to follow the teachings ofthe Qur’an and the example of Muhammadin using oppressive force, the Christian mustdisregard the clear teachings of Christ and Hislife to do so.—Huntington, The Clash Of Civilizations and theRemaking Of World Order, Touchstone Books, 1997)2) Witchcraft Ban Ends in Zimbabwe[Source: The Berean Call, October 2006]Zimbabwe has lifted a ban on the practiceof witchcraft, repealing legislation datingback to colonial rule. From July the governmentacknowledges that supernatural powers exist —butprohibits the use of magic to cause someone harm.In 1899, colonial settlers made it a crime to accusesomeone of being a witch or wizard—wary of thewitch-hunts in Europe a few centuries earlier whichsaw many people burned at the stake after suchaccusations.In fact, it is not hard to find vivid stories aboutthe use of magic. Alfred, for example, believes thathe was bewitched at work some years ago, makinghim partly bald. He described how after supper oneevening as he and his wife were retiring to bedhis hair disappeared. “When my wife came intothe bedroom she looked at me and said, ‘Whathappened to your hair? Where’s it gone?’ “She sawa bald patch from the forehead going back on theside of the head. There was no trace of it,” he says.He spent seven months visiting traditional healersto make it grow back.There are many other accounts of the use ofmagic, and the new law effectively legitimises manypractices of traditional healers. These include rollingbones to foretell the future, divination, attempts tocommunicate with the dead, using muti-traditionalpowders and fetishes—to ensure the desired sexof a child. But there will be some legal grey areas,like whether it is legal for a husband to place somecharms in his bedroom—charms that may injure hiswife if she is unfaithful.The Witchcraft Suppression Act was used fairlyfrequently, but prosecuting someone under the newlegislation may prove difficult. The new CriminalLaw Codification and Reform Act will demand proofthat a person has supernatural powers and that theyare using them to harm others.“It’s not going to be an easy task,” says CustomKachambwa, a judge with years of experiencein the legal field. He says witnesses will oftenbe traditional healers, who could be accused of11
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