Note: This article was published back in May, but appears here as it re-posted itself after adding tags for entry in the new 'Topics' list!
For three nights, from 7th. May to 9th. May 2014, the Newport City Church will be hosting Steve Brock. If the name is unfamiliar to you, he is - in the words of 'Christian Music Central' - "a minister of the gospel, recording artist, author and Christian television personality." It should be well noted that the "Christian" TV channel on which he is such a personality is none other than TBN (True Believer's Nightmare!)
"Always a favorite - especially during Praise-a-Thon - Steve Brock has been blessing the TBN family with his dynamic music and ministry for 26 years!"
(Source: TBN)
Wow! Over a quarter of a century of supporting the channel that has distorted the true Gospel of Jesus Christ out of all recognition, and beamed heresy into the homes of millions worldwide! Scam-a-Thon's Steve Brock is a long-term side-kick of the outrageous charlatan Benny Hinn, being a worship leader at his meetings - make that theatrical performances - as well as appearing with him on his television shows. He is a man who for very many years has been lending his talents to Word-Faith heretics who are Hell-bent - and I use the term advisedly - on bringing disgrace to the Name of Jesus Christ and bringing His Gospel into utter disrepute, destroying the Christian witness to millions of non-believers who see these wolves for what they are, and avoid the Faith like the plague in consequence!
So why is such a man the special guest of Newport City Church, one might ask, if said church is indeed a bastion of the true Gospel. Well, said church quite simply ISN'T!
NCC was founded in 2002 by Robbie Howells and wife Donna, who are its Senior Pastors. It used to openly call itself a Word of Faith Church, but now seems to have removed this reference from its internet presence, though a Google search still reveals the original description at the time of writing:
We are a non-denominational word of faith Church based in Newport, South Wales. Our mission is to reach and impact the people of our city and nation by ...
Like all the best (worst!) deceptions, NCC's beliefs are an unholy blend of truth and error. We would do well here to remember the words of the Apostle Paul:
"We believe that: The tithe is holy and it belongs to God. Therefore, we teach that believers should tithe the first tenth of all their increase unto God. In addition, we believe that offerings, any amount over and above the tithe, should also be given."
The truth of the matter:
The TITHE is a most grievous misrepresentation of Scripture. The expectation of an increasing number of churches that their members give 10% of their income to them is based on a radical re-interpretation of Biblical teaching, or in plain English, a LIE from the "father of lies!"
Did you know that the tithe was never money? The tithe was food! The tithe was instituted as a Mosaic law to support the Levite priesthood. The Levites were not allocated any land, which precluded them from working that land to have their own food supply. The necessary farming tasks would have taken them away from their Temple duties. So all the other tribes were under law required to hand over a tenth of their provisions to allow the landless Levites to devote their entire labours to what was required of them in Temple service.
There is no longer a Temple, or a Levite priesthood to serve in it. The coming of the New Covenant superseded both, as those who believed in the Gospel became the living Temple and also the universal priesthood. As the Scriptures declare:
The truth of the matter:
It is standard Word-Faith teaching that it is our right to demand and expect to receive excellent health at all times. If we are ill, we are obviously out of God's will. Got chicken-pox? You're a backslider who needs to get right with God...
As per NCC's statement above, it is the "prayer of faith" that saves the sick. Not healed, sister? Well it's your own fault, isn't it? Not enough faith...
We have never been promised sound bodily health this side of Heaven, and however much we may not like it or understand it, it can indeed be God's will that we experience sickness in our lives. Through the Lord's immeasurably good grace by which we are saved, our spirit is redeemed, but our flesh remains in a state of corruption, and aging and decay of the earthly vessel is an inevitability. The believer is still subject to the same blights of the body as everybody else, the same illnesses, diseases, disabilities and pains. This is the plain fact of the matter.
God can most certainly heal IF HE WILLS IT, but the bottom line is that during our life's short flowering here on earth, His priority is that we should find and enjoy good SPIRITUAL health, and PHYSICAL health very much plays second fiddle. Maybe our best example to look to is the Apostle Paul, who was afflicted with what he described as a "thorn." And although he prayed for God to remove it, the answer was "NO!" Why? Because the physical problem prevented a SPIRITUAL PROBLEM. (See 2 Corinthians 12:7). We may not understand why things befall us, but we are not to question but humbly accept God's absolute sovereignty. As He unanswerably declares:
"We believe that: God supplies all our needs. Therefore, we teach the principles of sowing and reaping and that it is the will of God for all believers to prosper financially. We believe that poverty and lack is a curse and not a blessing. We believe that we are the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise of God and that our prosperity is contingent upon our obedience to the Word of God."
The truth of the matter:
"Name-it-and-claim-it" or the "Prosperity gospel" is at the very core of Word-Faith false teaching, and it is a truly appalling heresy which NCC are perpetrating here.
A good many years ago, the great "Christian" con artist Oral Roberts dreamed up the nefarious SEED-FAITH scam: "Have a need? Plant a seed!" The premise was that if a seed - money, of course! - was planted i.e. dropped into the collection box - belonging to said Mr. Roberts, of course! - God would "grow it" to meet your need! "Give in order to get" was then ingeniously expanded into the "Hundredfold" big sell, whereby the sower could expect to reap a hundred times more than his or her "stake" - sorry, "seed offering!" Certainly, those who receive the "seed" prosper, but the same can very rarely be said of its bamboozled planters, who invariably end up worse off through speculating money they can often ill-afford to part with in the first place!
Essentially, in the Word-Faith worldview, God's blessings are equated with a man's possessions. His bank balance demonstrates how favoured he is by God; closeness to God is measured by the size of his house, the price tag of his car and the label on his clothes. And such material assets can be spoken into being, through the (occult) technique of visualization and realization through "positive confession!" As can be seen in NCC's statement above, to not be prosperous must be down to an individual's disobedience to God's Word, and consequently be cursed and not blessed! No return for your seed, brother? Well, it's your own fault, isn't it? Lack of obedience...
Did not our Lord teach:
NCC's position on such things is fatally flawed, flying as it does in the face of what Jesus Himself taught about worldly materialism. It has a temporal emphasis, at the expense of the eternal. It is "another gospel" and a return to the broad road!
NEWPORT CITY CHURCH AND C: NET.
And just what is 'C: NET' exactly?
So why is such a man the special guest of Newport City Church, one might ask, if said church is indeed a bastion of the true Gospel. Well, said church quite simply ISN'T!
NCC was founded in 2002 by Robbie Howells and wife Donna, who are its Senior Pastors. It used to openly call itself a Word of Faith Church, but now seems to have removed this reference from its internet presence, though a Google search still reveals the original description at the time of writing:
Newport City Church / Welcome
www.newportcitychurch.org/
Point is, the Word of Faith (or simply Word-Faith) movement is one of the very worst deceptions ever to have taken root, proliferated and produced rotten fruit in the professing Church of Jesus Christ. And Newport City Church is unquestionably a firm adherent to and enthusiastic promoter of this very great heresy!
Like all the best (worst!) deceptions, NCC's beliefs are an unholy blend of truth and error. We would do well here to remember the words of the Apostle Paul:
"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."
(Galatians 5:9)
And I'm afraid that NCC's leaven is very much more than a little! I will highlight here three key areas in which NCC is teaching falsehood.
1) TITHING.
NCC's false teaching:
"We believe that: The tithe is holy and it belongs to God. Therefore, we teach that believers should tithe the first tenth of all their increase unto God. In addition, we believe that offerings, any amount over and above the tithe, should also be given."
The truth of the matter:
The TITHE is a most grievous misrepresentation of Scripture. The expectation of an increasing number of churches that their members give 10% of their income to them is based on a radical re-interpretation of Biblical teaching, or in plain English, a LIE from the "father of lies!"
Did you know that the tithe was never money? The tithe was food! The tithe was instituted as a Mosaic law to support the Levite priesthood. The Levites were not allocated any land, which precluded them from working that land to have their own food supply. The necessary farming tasks would have taken them away from their Temple duties. So all the other tribes were under law required to hand over a tenth of their provisions to allow the landless Levites to devote their entire labours to what was required of them in Temple service.
There is no longer a Temple, or a Levite priesthood to serve in it. The coming of the New Covenant superseded both, as those who believed in the Gospel became the living Temple and also the universal priesthood. As the Scriptures declare:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God. and ye are not your own?"
(1 Corinthians 6:19)
"Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
(Revelation 1:5-6)
(See also 1 Peter 2:5 and 2:9, regarding believers being the priesthood).
"We believe that: Jesus bore our sicknesses and diseases on the cross and that by his stripes we are healed. Therefore, we teach that it is not the will of God for Christians to be sick, but rather, God desires us to be spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally whole and complete. We believe in the laying of hands and that the prayer of faith shall save the sick.""Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
(Revelation 1:5-6)
(See also 1 Peter 2:5 and 2:9, regarding believers being the priesthood).
Quite clearly, the Old Testament law of tithing became utterly redundant with the revelation of New Testament grace in the Person of Jesus Christ and the cessation of Judaic Temple worship and its attendant Levite priesthood.
THE IMPOSITION OF TITHING UPON A CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION IS ACTUALLY IN THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST, AS IT OUSTS GRACE IN FAVOUR OF LAW, AND INDEED A LONG-DEAD LAW WHICH ONLY EVER APPLIED TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL, AND WAS ONLY EVER FOOD NOT MONEY!
TITHING IS EMPHATICALLY NOT A REQUIREMENT OF CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS. IT IS IN EFFECT A KIND OF RELIGIOUS TAXATION, IMMORALLY AND UNSCRIPTURALLY RAISING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY TO FURTHER THE SUPPOSED "MINISTRY" AND FINANCE THE EARTHLY COMFORTS (USUALLY EXTRAVAGANCES!) OF THE RECIPIENTS OF THE TITHE!
FREE-WILL OFFERINGS ONLY ARE ASKED OF BELIEVERS! I WOULD MAKE THE SUGGESTION HERE THAT WHENEVER YOU SEE THE WORD 'TITHE' YOU THINK OF IT AS BEING THE ACRONYM OF:
TITHING IS EMPHATICALLY NOT A REQUIREMENT OF CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS. IT IS IN EFFECT A KIND OF RELIGIOUS TAXATION, IMMORALLY AND UNSCRIPTURALLY RAISING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY TO FURTHER THE SUPPOSED "MINISTRY" AND FINANCE THE EARTHLY COMFORTS (USUALLY EXTRAVAGANCES!) OF THE RECIPIENTS OF THE TITHE!
FREE-WILL OFFERINGS ONLY ARE ASKED OF BELIEVERS! I WOULD MAKE THE SUGGESTION HERE THAT WHENEVER YOU SEE THE WORD 'TITHE' YOU THINK OF IT AS BEING THE ACRONYM OF:
THIS IS TOTALLY HEINOUS EXTORTION...
AND GIVE THAT CHURCH THE AVOIDANCE IT THOROUGHLY DESERVES!
Highly recommended further reading:
An excellent detailed article on the tithing lie and deception can be found at:
www.lighthouseprophecy.com/prophecy/ExposingTheTitheLie.html
Highly recommended further reading:
An excellent detailed article on the tithing lie and deception can be found at:
www.lighthouseprophecy.com/prophecy/ExposingTheTitheLie.html
2) HEALTH AND HEALING.
NCC's false teaching:
The truth of the matter:
It is standard Word-Faith teaching that it is our right to demand and expect to receive excellent health at all times. If we are ill, we are obviously out of God's will. Got chicken-pox? You're a backslider who needs to get right with God...
As per NCC's statement above, it is the "prayer of faith" that saves the sick. Not healed, sister? Well it's your own fault, isn't it? Not enough faith...
We have never been promised sound bodily health this side of Heaven, and however much we may not like it or understand it, it can indeed be God's will that we experience sickness in our lives. Through the Lord's immeasurably good grace by which we are saved, our spirit is redeemed, but our flesh remains in a state of corruption, and aging and decay of the earthly vessel is an inevitability. The believer is still subject to the same blights of the body as everybody else, the same illnesses, diseases, disabilities and pains. This is the plain fact of the matter.
God can most certainly heal IF HE WILLS IT, but the bottom line is that during our life's short flowering here on earth, His priority is that we should find and enjoy good SPIRITUAL health, and PHYSICAL health very much plays second fiddle. Maybe our best example to look to is the Apostle Paul, who was afflicted with what he described as a "thorn." And although he prayed for God to remove it, the answer was "NO!" Why? Because the physical problem prevented a SPIRITUAL PROBLEM. (See 2 Corinthians 12:7). We may not understand why things befall us, but we are not to question but humbly accept God's absolute sovereignty. As He unanswerably declares:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
This is how Paul reported God's not granting the removal of his "thorn," and what a magnificent testimony and powerful revelation it is:
"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
(2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
3) PROSPERITY.
NCC's false teaching:
The truth of the matter:
"Name-it-and-claim-it" or the "Prosperity gospel" is at the very core of Word-Faith false teaching, and it is a truly appalling heresy which NCC are perpetrating here.
A good many years ago, the great "Christian" con artist Oral Roberts dreamed up the nefarious SEED-FAITH scam: "Have a need? Plant a seed!" The premise was that if a seed - money, of course! - was planted i.e. dropped into the collection box - belonging to said Mr. Roberts, of course! - God would "grow it" to meet your need! "Give in order to get" was then ingeniously expanded into the "Hundredfold" big sell, whereby the sower could expect to reap a hundred times more than his or her "stake" - sorry, "seed offering!" Certainly, those who receive the "seed" prosper, but the same can very rarely be said of its bamboozled planters, who invariably end up worse off through speculating money they can often ill-afford to part with in the first place!
Essentially, in the Word-Faith worldview, God's blessings are equated with a man's possessions. His bank balance demonstrates how favoured he is by God; closeness to God is measured by the size of his house, the price tag of his car and the label on his clothes. And such material assets can be spoken into being, through the (occult) technique of visualization and realization through "positive confession!" As can be seen in NCC's statement above, to not be prosperous must be down to an individual's disobedience to God's Word, and consequently be cursed and not blessed! No return for your seed, brother? Well, it's your own fault, isn't it? Lack of obedience...
Did not our Lord teach:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
(Matthew 6:19-21)
NCC's position on such things is fatally flawed, flying as it does in the face of what Jesus Himself taught about worldly materialism. It has a temporal emphasis, at the expense of the eternal. It is "another gospel" and a return to the broad road!
NEWPORT CITY CHURCH AND C: NET.
And just what is 'C: NET' exactly?
"We are growing a network of Churches in the UK and overseas that relate together under the spiritual covering of Carmel Ministries International. This fulfils our apostolic call to 'touch the world' resulting in a common bond and a courageous voice in today’s world.
Becoming part of C:NET enables your Church to connect with Carmel Ministries International. You and your Church will grow and thrive as you become biblically accountable to us. We know it’s true because others are experiencing it."
(Source: Carmel Ministries International)
NCC stresses that it is non-denominational, but it should be clearly understood that this does not mean that it is fully independent in its activities, policies and decision-making. It is joined to C: NET, and by that entity's statement as reproduced above it is shown very clearly that NCC is accountable to THEM! We now really need to look at where those who hold "apostleship" over Newport City Church are coming from!
Carmel International Ministries was started in 1996 by a South African couple, Gerri and Michelle Di Somma, after re-locating to the UK the year before. They subsequently founded Carmel City Church (in Bristol), Carmel Bible College and Carmel Christian School.
What is key to understanding the Di Sommas' approach to the Christian faith is the fact that they both attended and graduated from Rhema Bible Training Centre. Rhema Ministries was created by the man who many call the "father" of the Word-Faith movement, Kenneth E. Hagin, a man whose particular brand of "Christianity" bore only a passing resemblance to "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude v3).
An integral part of Rhema Ministries is what is now the Rhema Bible Training College, which "Dad" Hagin founded in 1974 and has from the outset been run by his son with similar false beliefs, Kenneth W. Hagin. Consider this, if you will:
Laughably calling itself a "Bible college," such a brazen Dominionist statement completely contradicts what the Bible itself teaches, and is an utterly false prophecy. There will not be a genuine Last Days revival, only an End-Times great apostasy, a "Falling Away" which is extremely likely to manifest itself as a COUNTERFEIT revival, which will usher in not the Second Coming of Jesus Christ but the reign of Antichrist and the Tribulation! As it is written:
A notable attendee at Hagin's RBTC in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the controversial (for good reason!) South African Word-Faith leader Ray McCauley, who upon returning to Johannesburg started Rhema Ministries SA, which in turn birthed its own Rhema Bible College in 1979. It is unclear which Rhema college the Di Sommas attended, but that is actually neither here nor there. Rhema (USA) and Rhema (SA) means exactly the same thing. Cue another acronym:
What is key to understanding the Di Sommas' approach to the Christian faith is the fact that they both attended and graduated from Rhema Bible Training Centre. Rhema Ministries was created by the man who many call the "father" of the Word-Faith movement, Kenneth E. Hagin, a man whose particular brand of "Christianity" bore only a passing resemblance to "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude v3).
An integral part of Rhema Ministries is what is now the Rhema Bible Training College, which "Dad" Hagin founded in 1974 and has from the outset been run by his son with similar false beliefs, Kenneth W. Hagin. Consider this, if you will:
"It has been prophesied that Rhema will play a major role in the last-days revival that will usher in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ..."
(Source: RBTC)
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."
(2 Thessalonians 2:3)
A notable attendee at Hagin's RBTC in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the controversial (for good reason!) South African Word-Faith leader Ray McCauley, who upon returning to Johannesburg started Rhema Ministries SA, which in turn birthed its own Rhema Bible College in 1979. It is unclear which Rhema college the Di Sommas attended, but that is actually neither here nor there. Rhema (USA) and Rhema (SA) means exactly the same thing. Cue another acronym:
RANK HERESY EN MASSE. AVOID!
ROBBIE HOWELLS AND HIS WORD-FAITH PEDIGREE.
Quite apart from his "Apostolic" accountability to Word-Faith merchants Gerri and Michelle Di Somma, NCC's Senior Pastor Robbie Howells has impeccable Word-Faith credentials of his own. He is himself a graduate of the 'Jerry Savelle Ministries International Bible Institute & School of World Evangelism' and also serves on the Board of Trustees for 'Messenger International UK & Europe; a ministry of John & Lisa Bevere.'
With links like these, it is very easy to see why Robbie's church is holding to and teaching the kind of falsehood that it does. Jerry Savelle learned all the tricks of the deception trade from his mentor, Word-Faith colossus Kenneth Copeland, which he now exports internationally as a "Prosperity gospel" power-house in his own right. John and Lisa Bevere are notable error-pedlars who teach an eclectic mix of everything from Dominionist delusion to D.I.Y. Word-Faith ideas and radical redefinition of key Scriptural concepts, e.g. John Bevere wants all Christians to see GRACE as EMPOWERMENT, his very own nauseous new interpretation of the word! (N.B. John Bevere personally preached at NCC on May 14th. 2012).
CONCLUSION.
Newport City Church is a major promoter here in Wales of the hideous - and utterly heretical - Word-Faith, "name-it-and-claim-it," "Prosperity gospel." The source of its stream is thoroughly polluted with spiritual bacteria, and to drink from the unclean NCC pool is to swallow huge doses of such bacteria. For anyone's Christian well-being, it is a church and leadership to steer well clear of!
"As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
(Galatians 1:9)
STOP PRESS.
On Saturday 3rd. May, the 'South Wales Argus' published the following:
A NEWPORT church has decided to film its very own Pharrell-style music video to portray the city as a truly happy place.
Robbie Howells, a senior pastor at Newport City Church, says he is fed up with the city’s negative portrayal and wants to show Newport and its citizens in a good light by following in the footsteps of the ‘Happy’ music video by Pharrell Williams.
Mr Howells, who is the co-founder and senior pastor of the church alongside his wife Donna, said: “The city has got a lot of negative press lately. At the moment I'm teaching about the Biblical perspective of what it means to be happy. But I just wanted to do something different to put a smile on people's faces. The aim is to get people to Newport's biggest landmarks and get them dancing along to Pharrell Williams' Happy song."
ROBBIE HOWELLS, WHAT ON EARTH HAS THIS PROJECT GOT TO DO WITH THE CHRISTIAN GOSPEL? DO YOU REALLY NOT KNOW THAT YOUR JOB IS TO BRING PEOPLE NOT TO "LANDMARKS" BUT TO A PLACE WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN CONVICT THEM OF THEIR SIN AND THEIR DESPERATE NEED FOR A SAVIOUR?
YOU SHOULD BE SEEKING TO MAKE NEWPORT'S UNSAVED PEOPLE WEEP WITH REAL REPENTANCE, SIR, NOT SEEKING TO PUT A SMILE ON THEIR FACES, "HAPPILY" GODLESS AND FACING A LOST ETERNITY AS THEY MERRILY DANCE AROUND THE TRANSPORTER BRIDGE!
