DECEMBER 1, 2016
TESTIMONY OF A FORMER WORD OF FAITH/PROSPERITY GOSPEL BELIEVER – 13
I was the victim of a cult:Paul
September 27, 2013
(Source: Life Now and After Death)
I am of the belief that witchcraft, sorcery, Black Magic, greed, deception, covetousness, selfishness, materialism, pride, temptation, idolatry, and blasphemy should have no place in a church or ministry that claims to represent Jesus Christ.
I was a victim of a cult. This writing is meant as a warning to unsuspecting people who may be involved in or considering any church or teaching that is from the Word of Faith Movement or Prosperity Gospel. I attended a church that employed both. I had seen the pastor of this church guest-minister at a church I used to go to in another State and I didn’t notice any obvious warning signs. Also, a couple family members who were also remotely familiar with this ministry and who are involved in their local churches encouraged me to ‘get involved’ as much as possible. I just concluded a very destructive relationship so I figuratively ran into this church beat-up and unguarded seeking much needed refuge but little did I know I had just left a dark wooded place only to enter the home of known serial (spirit) killers.
I was not even aware that there were such things as “Word of Faith” or “Prosperity Gospel” movements and I was sitting right in it. Once I was spiritually flattened by this consuming machine I began to look back into what had happened. The Word of Faith Movement is where great emphasis is placed on the words that leave your mouth, all your words must line-up with success, and many other manner of behavioral safeguards. The Prosperity Movement is where the belief is that all should be rich according to God’s great glory which is achieved by “sowing” money into the ministry; you pay the pastor then God pays you back with interest (Acts 8:20 “But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!”). It was all the Pharisees and Sadducees and self-appointed Scribes creating their rules to control people while pointing to scripture and collecting cash. These people keep you mired down in the bondage of law and ‘works’, not elevated by freely receiving the liberty of Grace through humility. They are the gatekeepers of such law and ‘works’.
Matthew 23:1-4 “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”; Matthew 23:13-14 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”
‘If you’re not rich it’s because you’re not doing it as good as us’, the wizards would imply. ‘If you’re sick you lack faith and you don’t talk the right way, it’s your fault, you idiot’. ‘We’re trying to help you evolve from being an ignorant sheep to flying your own jets, like us…keep trying (sending us your money and allowing us to control your minds), just a couple more decades and you just might make it…we love you’. Revelation 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
These cults were birthed under the guise of a more revelatory form of Christianity, on the cutting edge. They are heretical and preach a doctrine that takes away power from God and gives it to man. ‘God has given you the power, now it’s up to you to perform the correct way and use this power to shape your life according to the way you want it’. God becomes your own genie in a bottle, as long as you say the right magic words, He will come out of the bottle and do whatever you wish. It also promises new found riches if you follow the program closely but it’s nothing more than an ongoing ‘get rich quick scheme’ infomercial. A ponzi scheme motivated by the greed of the proponents and adherers; you pay money in so you can get more money out. ‘Because it’s God will that we be self-centered materialistic brats, you know, so we can be good witnesses for Jesus in this self-centered materialistic world. And once we have this money we can minister the love of money by giving some of our extra money to the lost and hurting people of this world who are also fixated on money, all in the name of our precious Father, Amen.
It’s all clearly stated in the Bible, if you don’t believe me bring your check book or Visa card to church sometime and the pastor will show you, that’s just how much he loves you. Then you can spread to all of your friends, unless they are too stupid to see it, this refreshing gospel of Jesus Christ as interpreted by Benjamin Franklin’. Matthew 6:25; “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
First, these pastors have to get the audience to believe there’s something special, unique, and more Godly about them, a Pope or Medicine Man like quality; far from equals with the audience. Note, this has nothing to do with lowering ones spirit to being a humble servant, as Apostle Paul who wrote most of the New Testament did, it has everything to do with elevating oneself to grand wizard status as the Pharisees and Sadducees did. They convince the audience that they are more spiritually advanced than them and they have supernatural knowledge; like the kid in class who has a secret and all the other kids want to know. This is done through charisma, speaking with authority, bragging, and ridiculing people and points of views that don’t come from them or line up with their agenda. Once they’ve established their unique credibility and got their hooks in you, everything else is easy. They then create an atmosphere of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s from the audience, these pastors call it “Revelatory Knowledge”, to keep the audience bamboozled and mystified; in a sense casting a spell over the audience through deception. They package the messages in an uplifting and exciting presentation buttressed by out of context scripture to support their points. They offer gifts of empowerment to the audience. This is the exact same cunning as the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Similarly, what it does is actually minister oppression to the audience; spirits of pride, greed, selfishness, and covetousness. What follows is self-doubt, confusion, and disappointment when the desired results are not achieved. Some people follow this movement for decades. I was there for a little more than a year and I have been very regretful to God for my poor choices. Ephesians 4: 14; “. . .henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”.
Oppositely from the grand wizards, Jesus actually said this; Matthew 23:8-12 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
It’s rooted in the same teachings as Christian Science, New Thought, and other forms of the occult and it has swept into the Christian world like a cancer. It began with the writings of E.W. Kenyon, which were stolen and plagiarized by Kenneth E. Hagin, AKA “Dad” Hagin (“Originally, God made the earth and the fullness thereof, giving Adam dominion over all the works of His hands. In other words, Adam was the god of this world.”), who then merchandised the cult in a huge way; Kenneth Copeland (“Several people that I know have criticized, some of them are dead right today in an early grave because of it, and there’s more than one of them that’s got cancer.”), Benny Hinn (“You have attacked me, your children will pay for it” ), Joel Osteen (who claims your future will be contingent on “the words you say today” which is from the occult), Joyce Meyer (“men are called gods by the law, men to whom God’s message came, and the scripture cannot be set aside or canceled or broken or annulled” ), Fred Price (“God the father cannot do anything in this earth realm without permission.”), Jesse Duplantis (said of Jesus “Why was He born in a stable? Because that short, deaf lady lost their reservation. He couldn’t get into the inn.”), Creflo Dollar (“You begin to study the righteousness of God is also defined as having equality with God”), and the gang over at Trinity Broadcasting Network (founder Paul Crouch said this regarding anyone who would get in the way of TBN which he claimed was “God’s plan”; “I attended the funeral of these two people who tried.”) are fruit of E.W. Kenyon’s cultic teachings brought to us by Kenneth E. Hagin. Regarding the above cursing of people; James 3-9-10 “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”; and, regarding the antichrist; Daniel 8:25: “…he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many…” (“craft” is witchcraft).
E.W. Kenyon went to an oratory school in Boston that was filled with the teachings and followers of Transcendentalism, New Thought, and other metaphysical cults…’you are what you think’, ‘you can have what you speak’, ‘we are all little gods’. It was Emerson School of Oratory where he was under Charles Emerson, a Christian Scientist, and R.W. Trine, a Gnostic who advanced New Thought. It is clear that his writings reflect this. Kenneth E. Hagin took these cultic writings and was able to charismatically parlay them into great power, influence, and riches with his unique carnival barker presentation. Now they are mainstream and polluting the clean water of sound doctrine. Revelation 13:5; “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies…”
The leaders of this movement are already the masters, how else could they coach us if they haven’t mastered the movement? So we looked up to them as wizards and grand wizards. They were already living the life of the rich and powerful, how could we argue with them? The problem is they are spending money lavishly on themselves raised using the name of the Lord, the same Lord who lowered Himself to flesh, then lowered himself further to wash the flesh of men. Matthew 23:16-19 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?”
These people were selling an elixir for a handsome profit. Convincing the audience to pay to chase the wind. If the Word of Faith and Prosperity movement actually worked the audience members would see a dramatic spike in increase that would blow away the general population. They don’t.
The underlying conclusion is that the members have not yet mastered the rules, their performance is lacking, they haven’t learned how to employ their super-sonic-force-fields-of-faith to the law of ‘speaking the right way’ and they haven’t learned how to use their super-sonic-force-fields-of-faith while ‘sowing’ more money to the movement. You see, it’s not the movement that’s not working, it’s the stupid idiot people, and the pastor’s continual criticism of the ‘great unwashed’ lines up perfectly with this conclusion. Oh, but the continual criticism and pressure and pointing out of your flaws is done out of love to help bring you to the next level, right? Daniel 11:38…of the Antichrist; “But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces”. Talk about being lost in the desert following around a leader that is taking you nowhere, but these leaders would not subject themselves to the same heat and manna as you.
The most dangerous aspect of this cult is that it tampers with who and what Jesus was on earth when He was here. For the record, Jesus was born the Son of God and never ceased being the Son of God, God in the flesh, how else could a person not sin their whole life? They state that Jesus was a mortal man who only received the Holy Spirit while here on earth in order to perform His ministry… this puts their cult leaders on the same footing as Jesus. The grandfather of the cult, Kenneth E. Hagin, said “The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.”. Jesus is God, we are not God, we are His created beings who He adopted into His family through the blood of His perfect Son. This cult seeks to devalue the heights of God and elevate the stature of themselves, stating that God had given us all His power and now it’s up to us to be Master of Ceremonies…this is the face of demonic spirits trying to lead us away from the lap of our loving Father and instead get us to worship a counterfeit god they invented. 2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”.
Subtle mind control was everywhere at this church. Demeaning implications of the people of the audience by the pastor, calling into question you, other churches, and people in general, never self-effacing. Hostility masked with slick talk, contempt for humans hidden behind charming, cool-collected mannerisms. A dramatic performance. But nonetheless dripping with pride and judgment, Us vs. Them, and if you were not on their side you were one of the lost idiots they were referring to. Pressure was put on people to serve the church by working for free, saying you’re working for God, but with zero thought if that was what God Himself would actually have you to do. People were under constant scrutiny. But they would dole out responsibilities and recognition to those who complied enough, in effect sharing in “their” glory for those who do “their” will. They also conducted public indoctrination initiations of the members who were the most committed (compliant). Such as a very sweet and loving mature couple who were losing their house because they worked at the church so much (for free) without jobs that they could no longer afford their own place. The leadership was in competition with God for the direction of your life and they lied about it by saying it was for your own best interest. They were introducing a foreign counterfeit spirit that conflicted with the Holy Spirit within, through willing ignorance due in part to their position and through their cunning, I wrongly assumed it was a higher ‘level’ of the same Spirit. The spiritual fruits of these people on me was destruction. Manipulation and control while trying to conceal who they really were from the congregation. Apostle Paul was a different type of leader; 2 Corinthians 11:5-7 “I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?”
Extremely dangerous. The pastor’s wife would actually call-out people from the pulpit, not by name but by circumstances – if you heard it, you knew it was about you. Then follow that up by warning that more bad things may come upon you if you don’t do their will (they happen to have exclusive insight as to God’s will for your life, as the assistant pastor put it; “Because they know what the Bible says”). The head pastor stated “We have asked certain people to do things for us and they said ‘no’, and it ended-up costing them a great deal…and some of them came back after some time and said (in a muted tone) ‘I’m sorry, what do I need to do?’, and those are some of the people we end up using”. God’s will for your life is between you and Him without the need of a bewitching intercessor. This is called witchcraft and black magic, the only thing missing was a pentagram. This is demonic conjuring of dark spirits to exert spiritual control over people and it is from the antichrist. The Bible calls it “Craft”. In retrospect, all classic cult psychological and occult spiritual tactics. The danger is that people can be tempted into receiving the spirit of fear, which is a real spirit. Contrary to these pastor’s Magic Spells, the Bible says (2 Timothy 1:7) “God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.” – if God didn’t give this spirit of fear then who did (Matthew 7:16; By their fruits you will get knowledge of them. Do men get grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?)? This experience was more destructive than the destructive relationship I was seeking healing from. I am the idiot for allowing this in my life, especially for so long, it sort of came on me gradually and I was in a vulnerable place in my life, I hope to God other people don’t fall into this type of soul-sucking church. I was simply deceived in mind and spirit.