CITY CHURCH, CARDIFF, AND THE SINCERE FACE OF DECEPTION!

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

(1 John 4:1)

On Sunday 19 November, Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong was the guest speaker at City Church, Cardiff. This gentleman is the founder and Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Singapore, which owns and administers the Bible College of Wales in Swansea (which I've had occasion to previously write about - see Topics list). I record here my thoughts on this event, not only to again urge caution about City Church, but because they carry what I feel is a much more widely applicable warning concerning very real perils inherent in the complacency of the contemporary Church, viz:

1) Sincerity as a vehicle for the successful delivery of deception.

2) Our pressing need for perceiving not just what is presenting up front, but what is coming along on the back of it.

* * * * * * *

I have, of course, long had concerns about City Church and its disturbing "anything goes" approach to the Faith, with a great lack of wisdom and discernment being shown on the part of the leadership. They demonstrate on a local level what the Elim denomination from the top down has become, i.e. showing no distinction between the genuine and the counterfeit, and having a great willingness to play with hyper-Charismatic "strange fire" and an experiential "feel-good" Christianity which goes unchecked against Biblical standards. There's often very little difference now between attending a church or going to a rock concert. "Atmosphere" is created, emotions are whipped up, often to a frenzy, with the music in combination with the auditorium lighting conspiring to cause people to enter - usually unknowingly - into an altered state of consciousness, whereby no attempt is made to analyze the healthiness of what they are hearing and feeling. There is no room for questioning, only blindly receiving, and if they WANT it to be the Holy Spirit, then as far as they're concerned it IS the Holy Spirit! In such an unguarded environment, false spirits can easily enter and be freely accepted.

One of the big problems is that when leaders like Yang Tuck Yoong present as being sincere, this is usually taken as being sufficient in itself for ready acceptance by those they are leading, especially when they are saying exactly what the congregation really wants to hear. (As happens here in this service, re revival in Wales). But those leaders may unfortunately be sincerely deceived themselves, and that very sincerity is a weighty vehicle for passing on deception to others. Shallowness doesn't carry anything like the same weight! If perhaps we think of sincerity as an articulated lorry, a (literally!) weighty vehicle, that long lorry has two distinct components, the first being the cab unit which has the engine, gearbox, steering column and of course the driver, which pulls the whole thing along. This is what we see coming towards us first, and it could be very well driven and seem absolutely nothing to worry about. But behind it is its trailer, firmly attached, which carries the all-important payload. 

If we apply that analogy to the City Church meeting, what is most visible is the cab unit of the artic. But what matters, and matters very much indeed, is the payload in the trailer behind it. And what that payload consists of is, as is so often the case, very far from obvious, and no-one seems to consider that the load being hauled might perhaps not be nutricious foodstuffs, but deadly toxic waste. And even the driver might be blissfully unaware of what he is actually hauling, what exactly it is that he is carefully distributing. Which would ironically make him the most dangerous kind of driver on the road - not because of any lack of driving skills on his part, but because of what he is an essential party to delivering. It's vital that we perceive not just what is up front, but what lies behind.

So what is Yang Tuck Yoong's cargo? We have to look very closely, but just a key few minutes' worth of his message tells us all we need to know, provided we know what to look for. It's toxic waste. The absolute giveaway is the mention that he has just come to Wales after spending some 10 days with Bill Johnson at Bethel, Redding. They are great friends. They walk together. They are agreed: as the Word says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" And this is immensely significant, for Bill Johnson is one of the most dangerous false teachers, and his Bethel "church" one of the most significant promoters of a different Jesus, a different gospel and a different spirit, on the planet today. His reference to Randy Clark of Toronto Blessing "strange fire" infamy, Roy Godwin of Ffald-y-Brenin who I've had cause to write about for promoting mysticism, and Dutch Sheets who is an "apostle" of the New Apostolic Reformation, underlines that he has enthusiastically embraced not that which is right and true, but that which is wrong and untrue. The NAR is intent on militantly pushing an entirely heretical Dominionist eschatology, where all areas of human endeavour are to be taken over by the Church (or rather what is imagined to be the Church) and ruled by (self-acclaimed) Apostles and Prophets in a "Kingdom" established on Earth PRIOR to the return of and quite independently of the King Himself. It's the exact opposite of Biblical eschatology; it is the doctrine of demons and in the spirit of Antichrist. Period. These are the people who Yang Tuck Yoong admires and aligns himself with, deluded men who are not faithful ambassadors of Christ but apostate corrupters of the Faith. Every year at Cornerstone Church in Singapore, NAR leaders like Bill Johnson are the headline speakers on the platform. 

A significant tie-up has occurred between the Swansea Bible College and Elim, with the College having appointed David Holdaway, an Elim minister, as Principal. (From 7/16 to 5/17). Elim has long been corrupted by its gratuitous involvement in the Toronto Blessing's blind drunkenness; City Church has had both Bill Johnson, and Steve Long of Catch the Fire (epicentre of the TB) as guest speakers; it's sadly no surprise to find them hosting Yang Tuck Yoong and his wife Daphne, who are joined at the hip to the hyper-Charismatic movement and the NAR. Noteworthy too is that Luis Palau is due to speak there (on 26/11/17); Palau is a personal friend and endorser of the Pope, which should speak volumes as to his unsoundness! Wales is indeed being targeted for a "revival" but it is not an Awakening brought about by the Holy Spirit, but a Satanically-inspired counterfeit revival engineered by the flesh, marked by a Dominionist worldview, the false unity of ecumenism, mysticism, and the seeking of signs and wonders which is the hallmark of an evil and adulterous generation. (Matthew 12:39). It would seem that City Church is to be in the vanguard of this move of a deeply unholy spirit to cunningly take the Welsh Church completely off the narrow Way and onto the broad road that leads to destruction. The Enemy is nothing if not subtle...

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, 

transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed 

as the ministers of righteousness;

whose end shall be according to their works."

(2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

RICHARD TAYLOR, BACK IN THE DRIVING SEAT OF COUNTERFEIT REVIVALISM AT 'NEW BEGINNINGS CHURCH' IN MERTHYR TYDFIL.

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,

deceiving, and being deceived."

(2 Timothy 3:13)

INTRODUCTION

I never wanted to write about this man again. I really didn't. Nothing would have pleased me more than to put all the issues surrounding this ignominious individual firmly to bed, once and for all. And I would have done, if only he'd somehow found it in him to have the good grace and the integrity to keep away from the pulpit he so unashamedly and determinedly disgraced, rather than have the temerity to disgrace it all over again, deceiving and being deceived. But my hand has regrettably been forced by his re-emergence into the limelight; the big con is sadly still very much on, and a long dark shadow continues to be cast across the land. The pied piper is once again playing his seductive tune, and a clear warning has to be given.


AN IGNORED EXCLUSION FROM LEADERSHIP

There are three major temptations to overtake a Christian leader. (I use the term "Christian" loosely, to include those leaders masquerading as ministers of righteousness, whose "Jesus" is in reality "the lord of the fraud" as highlighted in my last article: 
http://watchman4wales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/the-most-heinous-identity-theft-ever_10.html )

The three great temptations? Money/Materialism, Power/Control, and Sex - immoral sex to be exact. Some may fall at one hurdle, some at two, and some like Richard Taylor even fall at all three. And when all that occurs concurrent with that person heading up a church where he is supposedly appointed and anointed to lead an "outpouring" of the Holy Spirit, that "outpouring" clearly cannot have been the work of a holy God but only a product of fallen flesh. In a nutshell, the much-feted event presided over by Mr. Taylor that became known as the "Welsh Outpouring" was just an elaborately engineered exercise in soulish sensationalism, just another hyper-Charismatic engagement in Laodicean lunacy.

While Mr. Taylor was being trumpeted as being "the real deal," the awful reality behind the carefully-cultivated illusion was that he was about as genuine as a plastic Rolex or a politician's promise, and every bit as sound as a Bank of Toytown pound. While publicly he was boasting that he and fellow Cwmbran crow Andrew Parsons were going to head up the greatest revival that the world had ever seen, privately he was engaged in an extra-marital sexual relationship, for which adultery he was subsequently dismissed by Elim (to which his Victory Church was affiliated) and banned from the pulpit. End of the unhappy saga? Sadly, not so. Banned from one pulpit, he simply seeks another...

The refusal to accept due discipline is the hallmark of an arrogant and wayward, even anarchic spirit, not that of a genuinely repentant, God-fearing man. Scripturally, adultery debars a church leader from being in a place of leadership, not just for a few years as Elim decreed, but permanently. Most certainly a truly repentant pastor can be restored to fellowship, but never to such a position as he held formerly. It is troubling indeed that there has to be a serious question as to Mr. Taylor's real repentance, and thus qualification for return even to fellowship, for if he was truly penitent he would humbly accept that he cannot hold such an office of leadership again, not demonstrate a wilful determination to do exactly that which he has disqualified himself from doing.

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body;

but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

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 6:18-19)

Significantly, Paul later elaborates upon this teaching, and in a personal context:

"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:

lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,

I myself should be a castaway."

(1 Corinthians 9:27)

In adultery, when a born-again believer who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit commits such an act, he not only sins against his own body, but he effectively makes God a part of that coupling also! The seriousness of such a thing cannot possibly be understated. God in His wonderful grace will still forgive, if forgiveness is honestly sought, but the stain on that person's character remains for the rest of his days. He has severed the holy three-fold marriage cord between a man, his wife and God, and brought reproach upon not only himself but the Church which he has thus betrayed. The pastor is Christ's representative. Would Christ be unfaithful to His bride? Unthinkable! When the shepherd strays, what of the sheep? Will they not see his bad example, and think such behaviour is acceptable, excusable and OK for them also, with the attitude of "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander?" Grace manifested in forgiveness still applies, but not trust, for the adulterous pastor has demonstrated decisively that if he cannot be trusted to be faithful to his wife or his Saviour in earthly things, he cannot ever be safely trusted with the stewardship of the things of heaven.

This is Paul's meaning when he says that if he himself could not keep himself in check when sexual temptation came his way (as it undoubtedly did as a single man), then he would forfeit his calling to leadership by such indulgence. And we should note well that after the word "castaway" there is a full stop. And neither is there any following sentence speaking of restoration to his previous position after such a sin; his disqualification would be a permanent one. The top of the cliff, after falling to the rocks, never becomes part of the clifftop again but remains on the lower level. Significantly, the Greek word (adokimos) used here by Paul also means rejected or reprobate; it is only used once in all Scripture, never referenced again; once you become a castaway, a castaway you remain. 

"What about forgiveness? Shouldn't we be eager to restore our fallen brethren?

To fellowship, yes. But not to leadership. It is not an act of love to return a disqualified man to public ministry, it is an act of disobedience."

(John MacArthur)

When the leadership of 'Heads of the Valleys Church' in Merthyr Tydfil installed Richard Taylor as their Senior Pastor recently, it was an act not of righteousness but of disobedience to God, for which they will be held accountable by Him. Les Bevan, their Lead Pastor, had been given that position by Richard Taylor himself, when that church was operating as a Victory Church "campus," being established by him as part of his "50/10" self-given vision to establish 50 such "campuses" across Wales in a decade, after Bethania chapel's existing congregation was forced to vacate the premises under what can only be described as extremely dubious circumstances. In his "you scratched-my-back-so-now-I'll-scratch-yours" action, Mr. Bevan has shown his approval and elevation of unrighteousness above righteousness, and loyalty to the tainted contrivances of Taylor rather than to the pure cause of Christ. He has made himself both complicit and culpable.


RICHARD TAYLOR AND FINIS DAKE

OK, you may well be saying, I know of Richard Taylor, but who's this Finis Dake, and what's the link between the two? The vital link is 'Dake's Annotated Reference Bible.'

Maybe you've heard of this tome, maybe you haven't; what's important to record here is that the DARB is the "pseudo-Bible" that Richard Taylor uses, confirmed by the man himself in his Tweet of 31/8/17, publishing a photo of it with the words, "It's travelled thousands of miles across oceans far and wide it's been my companion, it's old and falling apart but keeps me together." The significance of this is huge.

It's for very good reason that I use the expression "pseudo-Bible" in citing Mr. Taylor's constant companion, for Finis Dake's DARB actually dares to take God's Word (KJV) and alongside it annotate it in such a way as to present a false "Jesus" and a false gospel that cannot save. It is a work that has contributed enormously to formulating and underpinning the most grievous heresies of the Word of Faith movement, with Dake's heretical spin on God and the things of God being taken up with relish by the WoF wolf-pack.

As an example, consider if you will a few of Dake's notes on God the Father:

"He has a personal spirit body; shape; form; image and likeness of a man. He has bodily parts such as, back parts, heart, hands and fingers, mouth, lips and tongue, feet, eyes, ears, hair, head, face, arms, loins, and other bodily parts. He has bodily presence and goes from place to place in a body like all other persons. He has a voice; breath; and countenance. He wears clothes; eats; rests; dwells in a mansion and in a city located on a material planet called Heaven; sits on a throne; walks; rides; engages in other activities. He has a personal soul with feelings of grief; anger; repentance; jealousy; hate; love; pity; fellowship; pleasure and delight; and other soul passions like other beings."

(From Dake's notes on the Gospel of John)

Sound more than a little like Ken Copeland's "god" who's made in the image of man? In his comprehensive 1993 expose of the Word of Faith movement (of which the likes of Copeland is a central figure), Christianity in Crisis, Hank Hanegraaf in his overview of study Bibles declared that, "Perhaps the worst collection of false teachings is found in the popular Dake's Annotated Reference Bible... On the very first page of the New Testament, Dake writes that Jesus became the Christ or the 'Anointed One' 30 years after He was born of Mary." 

Consider this concise appraisal of Dake's work and influence:

"It is amazing how influential one false teacher can be. For example, much of the aberrant theology of Hagin, Copeland, Hinn, et al. can be traced to one man, Finis Dake. His Dake's Annotated Reference Bible presents, among other errors, the idea that God the Father has a physical body similar to man's; that he eats, wears clothes and lives on a planet called Heaven; that Adam and Eve flew back and forth to the moon; that Christians will continue to have children throughout eternity; and even that there will be segregation between races in heaven. Who could believe such antibiblical nonsense? Multitudes. And they accept it from the notes in a "reference" Bible which sold 30,000 copies in 1992!"

(Dave Hunt, The Berean Call, 1994)

So much for his work. Let's take just a glimpse at the man himself. Finis Dake's notes on the New Testament were written while he was serving a prison sentence; and no, it was not through some action of upholding the Faith. It was consequent to him pleading guilty to an offence under the USA's Mann Act, which states:

"SEC. 4. That any person who shall knowingly persuade, induce, entice or coerce any woman or girl under the age of eighteen years from any State or Territory or the District of Columbia to any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, with the purpose and intent to induce or coerce her, or that she shall be induced or coerced to engage in prostitution or debauchery, or any other immoral practice, and shall in furtherance of such purpose knowingly induce or cause her to go and to be carried or transported as a passenger in interstate commerce upon the line or route of any common carrier or carriers, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and in conviction there of shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court."
(Text of the relevant section of the Mann Act)

Dake (a married man) had picked up a 16-year-old hitchhiker, then booking them into various hotels as 'Christian Anderson and wife' and obviously with sexual intent, as per the Mann Act quoted above. Hmmm... false "Christian" works, running in tandem with sexual immorality... are we getting any feelings of deja-vu here? Todd Bentley perhaps? Benny Hinn and Paula White? Or just maybe Richard Taylor? Time and again we find this ugly pattern repeating itself, of major spiritual departure going hand in hand with gross physical iniquity.

WITH RICHARD TAYLOR BEING A LONG-TIME ADHERENT OF DAKE, WHOSE PEN WAS PROMPTED NOT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT BUT BY THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST, IT BECOMES CLEARER JUST WHY HIS BRAND OF "CHRISTIANITY" IS SO FAR OFF THE MARK.



RICHARD TAYLOR, JONATHAN MILLER AND "THE HOLY GHOST BARTENDER"

Who is Jonathan Miller? Well, this is Richard Taylor's newest best buddy, the latest in a succession of dubious dear pals from across the Pond.

Mr. Miller is Senior Pastor (as is wife Cristina) of New Beginnings Church in Orlando, Florida, who Mr. Taylor has extremely enthusiastically hooked up with, becoming New Beginnings' European Director from 1 September, 2017. In line with this proud Stateside partnering, Bethania chapel/aka Victory Church Merthyr Campus/aka Heads of the Valleys Church has now been re-launched yet again, this time as New Beginnings Church, complete with all the Orlando outfit's trimmings. We might at this point also note that just as Mr. Miller's wife has been installed as Senior Pastor in Orlando, Mr. Taylor has also similarly installed his own wife Jill as Senior Pastor in Merthyr Tydfil. A Bible-believing Christian of course, knows full well that no woman is called to be a pastor, never mind a senior one, and such an appointment to a position of leadership and authority is in itself proof not of such a church's Biblical soundness but its open rebellion to God, which is as witchcraft. (Ref. 1 Samuel 15:23)

Mr. Miller, who partners with the WoF movement's Total Blasphemy Network, is a man who collects "strange fire" impartations like other people collect postage stamps. Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, Reinhard Bonnke, Rod Parsley and Rex Humbard have each contributed to his collection; spiritual miscreants one and all, who he calls "Generals in the Faith!" It follows, unsurprisingly, that his new European Director also has a predilection for such things. Following his August trip to Bulgaria to preach to the poor / sun himself by the pool of his holiday hotel, he flew on to the Netherlands, in order to receive "ministry" from no less a person than "The Holy Ghost Bartender" himself, Rodney Howard-Browne, duly being served with a speciality-of-the-house "strange fire" top-up courtesy of "Joel's Bar."


BIRDS OF A FEATHER AND ALL THAT... OR SHALL WE JUST MAKE THAT VULTURES OF A FEATHER... ?

(For a synopsis of RHB's "ministry" please see: 
http://watchman4wales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/mission-to-wales-july-2017-new-wine.html )



RICHARD TAYLOR AND "THE WELSH OUTPOURING"

In writing this article I personally get a real sense of deja-vu, for I started this blog back in May, 2013, writing on the very subject of Richard Taylor. The catalyst for me doing so was that it had become obvious to me, in investigating the back-story, that there were very serious questions to be asked about the authenticity of the so-called "Welsh Outpouring" which had broken out the previous month at his Victory Church in Cwmbran.

I wrote much about the "outpouring" to try and alert people to its counterfeit nature, and this material can be accessed by anyone so interested by clicking on the relevant entries in the Topics column on the right or the Labels found at the foot of this article. What I wish to do here is to reproduce, with the correspondent's full permission to do so, a comment that came in on my last article, which is a most sobering and revealing personal testimony: 

  "I know Richard Taylor well and do count him as a friend, however i was involved in the so called outpouring that took place in Cwmbran and was in fact there on the first night it all started. I quickly realised that not all was as it seemed and the many unbiblical practices that i saw confirmed it for me. I left the church shortly after the outpouring ended, disillusioned and questioning my faith. This is the danger of these type of events which are based on hype and hysteria with very little biblical foundation. I do fear that restoring Richard Taylor to senior leadership is not an act of love but more an act of disobedience on the part of the leaders at Merthyr. Paul the Apostle teaches plainly that a leader who falls into sin, namely sexual sin is disqualified from leadership not for 3, 5 years but for good. Restoration to the kingdom goes without saying but not to leadership.I fear that the event which is taking place at Merthyr in October will be nothing short of another invented "move of God" I stand firm in the Lord these days, relying on His word and leading, not the ramblings of so called "spiritual" people who spout heresy and belittle the Holy Spirit. I am not finger pointing,just giving my opinion and experience of hyper Pentecostalism. We are called to expose lies and deceit and for me i do not want my friends caught up in this so called Christianity, it will not save you, only Confession, Repentance and Belief in The Lord Jesus Christ will. God bless Rob, in Jesus name."

(Name and email address supplied)

Coming as it does from someone who was not only present but actually part of the Victory team on the very night that the "outpouring" broke out, this account is of incalculable importance in sounding an urgent warning. It not only affirms my own "outsider's" concerns about the Cwmbran extravaganza from an "insider's" perspective, but also mirrors my serious misgivings about the forthcoming 3-day event entitled "Revive" at Mr. Taylor's new power base in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, on 27-29 October.

PLEASE, PLEASE HEED THESE HEARTFELT WORDS, BORN OF EXCRUCIATING FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE OF CWMBRAN'S COUNTERFEIT OUTPOURING, AND KEEP YOURSELF SAFELY WELL AWAY FROM THE "STRANGE FIRE" BEING RE-KINDLED BY RICHARD TAYLOR AND HIS FELLOW RECKLESS INCENDIARIES AT NEW BEGINNINGS CHURCH!



IN CONCLUSION

It would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. How bitterly ironic, that a man who in 2009 wrote a book called 'Authentic Christianity' was to be responsible just 4 years later for one of the most unauthentic examples of Christianity that Wales has ever been subjected to, the so-called "Welsh Outpouring" at Cwmbran. That book is subtitled 'The Real Deal With God,' but the "outpouring" was as much the real deal as the contents of a suitcase in the van of Trotter's Independent Trading Co., nothing but a cheap counterfeit, a noxious scent in a leaking forged bottle which if Trading Standards had anything to do with spiritual things, would have immediately been removed from the shelves of Babylonian Bargains and the dishonest trader taken to task.

Conditions are carefully created, through repetitive music and lighting arrangements in particular, to create heightened emotions and a heavy air of theatrical expectancy, ultimately causing an audience to enter an altered state of consciousness. In this way their analytical filters are shut down, and they are primed to ecstatically accept and act upon any powerful suggestion being tossed out to them from the platform by some silver-tongued charmer. An unquestioning herd mentality holds sway. This was the case at Cwmbran; it is a scenario being played out endlessly in auditoriums globally. And one thing we can be 100% sure of is that it is definitely not of God.

Friends, the moral standards of Christians are lower now than they've ever been, while at the same time their desire to elevate subjective experience above objective Bible-centred teaching is higher now than it's ever been. Who even mentions, or - perish the thought! - urges to holiness and sanctification any more, enthusing only of "the anointing" and "impartation?" Whose interests are being served by so lowering the bar? Only those who do not want to be raised to higher morality, only those who want their sensual itching ears tickled with words of sweet seduction and not be faced with the desperate depths of human depravity. If the Gospel being preached does not cut to the quick, rending the spirit, then it is a different, depthless, easy-believism gospel that is no gospel at all. Sleep-walking its way down the broad road that leads only to ultimate destruction, this is the kind of toothless tiger that the Church en masse is cuddling so closely. People everywhere are being bamboozled into believing that all is well with their soul and that their eternal destiny is secure, when that is simply not so. Is there any greater evil than this being done in the Lord's Name?

RICHARD TAYLOR AND NEW BEGINNINGS CHURCH IN MERTHYR TYDFIL ARE JUST LOCAL SYMPTOMS OF A VIRULENT CANCER THAT IS RELENTLESSLY SPREADING RIGHT THROUGH THE ENTIRE BODY OF CHRIST, A MALIGNANCY THAT FEW ARE PREPARED TO EVEN ACCEPT THE DIAGNOSIS OF, NEVER MIND HAVE THE GODLY WILLINGNESS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT. IT IS THE TIME OF THE GREAT FALLING AWAY, A HARD-CORE END-TIMES APOSTASY, A CUT-PRICE COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANITY THAT IS BEING HAILED BY THE CHEERING CHAFF AND THE TRUTH-TRASHING TARES AS GOD RESTORING HIS PEOPLE. FRIENDS, THE REVIVAL THESE PEOPLE SPEAK OF IS A REVIVAL ONLY OF BABYLON.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, 

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."

(Amos 8:11)

THE MOST HEINOUS IDENTITY THEFT EVER PERPETRATED! - IS THE LORD YOU LOVE IN ACTUALITY THE LORD OF THE FRAUD?

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,

have we not prophesied in thy name?

and in thy name have cast out devils?

and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:

depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

(Matthew 7:22-23)

"I NEVER KNEW YOU - DEPART FROM ME!" Those hearing on Judgment Day those awful words will protest that what they did was done in the name of Jesus. But they were not His; they did not know him personally. Oh yes, they most certainly used His name, but they were neither His followers nor His friends. What they did in His name was not righteous but nefarious in the extreme, for they had actually robbed Him. They had freely and purposefully engaged in the most heinous identity theft ever perpetrated. They had stolen His name. And they had used it falsely.

THEY NEVER KNEW THE LAMB;

THEIR FAITH WAS JUST A SHAM;

THEIR MINISTRY? A SCAM!

"In your name we've done this, in your name we've done that. Amazing things. Spiritual things. In your name... in your name... in your name... in your name... in your name... in your name..."

FRIENDS, I IMPLORE YOU TO PAY HEED TO THIS URGENT WARNING. JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS USING THE NAME OF JESUS IS NO GUARANTEE WHATSOEVER THAT HE OR SHE IS A LEGITIMATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. ALL TOO MANY ARE ACTUALLY THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLES, UNASHAMEDLY USING THE NAME THAT IS ABOVE ALL OTHERS FOR THE CREDIBILITY IT LENDS TO THEIR FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY.

"Identity theft is a type of fraud that involves 

using personal details of someone else."

(Source: Simple Wikipedia)

The definition of fraud, as found in the Collins English Dictionary, is:

1 deliberate deception or cheating intended to gain an advantage
2 an act of such deception
3 informal a person who acts in a false or deceitful way

Thieves of the Lord's identity. Fraudsters. Deceivers and cheats. Pulpits and platforms everywhere are now full of such puffed up chaff masquerading as wheat, reprobate men and women referencing a Redeemer they don't know, a Christ of convenience whose stolen name obtains for them a passport to the land of opportunity. Fame... Power... Wealth... They can be so, so convincing, and seem so, so sincere - and never more so than when they've even successfully conned their own selves. Such are worthless wells without water, mirages of oases, dealers in deep delusion, great pretenders "whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." (Philippians 3:19)

"Identity theft is the deliberate use of someone else's identity, usually as a method to gain a financial advantage or obtain credit and other benefits in the other person's name, and perhaps to the other person's disadvantage or loss."

(Source: Wikipedia)

Yes, well, we all know - or should know! - that gaining financial advantage through using the Lord's name is rife in the Church; the Word of Faith "prosperity gospel" hucksters have long got fleecing the flock down to a very fine art. But it's not just those with dollar signs lighting up in their eyes who are suckering the sheep in order to gain a personal advantage. Celebrity status and power and control are also major motivations for the unashamed and the unscrupulous to engage in this most terrible crime of stealing the Lord's identity. When wisdom and discernment are at an all-time low, when so many pastors are not shepherds but hirelings, when experiential and experimental "Christianity" has so very largely superseded Bible-based belief, such Satanic trickery thrives.

The perilous times we were warned would come (Ref. 2 Timothy 3:1) have arrived. Big time. In the name of Jesus, huge numbers of Hell-bound fraudsters are deceiving countless people into trusting in a lie which leads them like lemmings to the cliff, for His name is being cited when He has never sanctioned or has anything whatever to do with their utterances or their actions.

FRIENDS, THERE IS ANOTHER JESUS ABROAD. A BOGUS JESUS. SAY WHAT? THE APOSTLE PAUL WARNED THE CHURCH THAT A DIFFERENT JESUS COULD BE BEING PREACHED, WITH A DIFFERENT GOSPEL AND IN A DIFFERENT SPIRIT (Ref. 2 Corinthians 11:4), AND THEY COULD WELL PUT UP WITH THIS! HOW RIGHT HE WAS! MANY, MANY FOLKS NOW HAVE ACCEPTED AND ARE WORSHIPING THE JESUS OF THESE IDENTITY THIEVES, A FAKE JESUS OF THE IMAGINATION AND NOT OF THE BIBLE. ONLY THE TRUE JESUS HAS POWER TO SAVE. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE BE A BEREAN AND CHECK ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING AGAINST THE SCRIPTURES. IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO BE COMPLETELY CERTAIN THAT THE LORD YOU LOVE IS THE REAL ONE, THE WORD THAT WAS MADE FLESH, AND NOT THE LORD OF THE FRAUD!  IF YOU GET IT WRONG, THERE QUITE LITERALLY WILL BE HELL TO PAY...

"Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

And ye shall not swear by my name falsely,

neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God:

I am the LORD."

(Leviticus 19:11-12)

"Take heed that no man deceive you."
(Matthew 24:4)

MISSION TO WALES, JULY, 2017 - NEW WINE CYMRU AND 'THE TURNING TEAM' FROM READING - GOOD NEWS, OR BAD NEWS?

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:

because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

(1 John 4:1)

INTRODUCTION

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE PURITY OF THE WATER, FOLLOW THE STREAM BACK TO ITS SOURCE! The Lord impressed this vital truth upon me quite some time ago now, and it's this principle that I'm going to apply here in making my appraisal of New Wine Cymru's forthcoming 'Mission to Wales,' to be conducted in conjunction with 'The Turning Team' from Reading. In doing so I'm going to use primary source material, directly referencing the principal players, both those on centre stage and those positioned behind the curtains whose crucial role cannot be overstated.

In compiling this account, my first of three great concerns is that a lot of well-intentioned Christians are going to get caught in what is a seductively baited trap, snared through failing to distinguish between the genuine and the counterfeit. We need to know, and know in advance, the why's and the wherefore's of it all. We need to know exactly where this is coming from, and equally importantly we need to ascertain its ultimate destination.
IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE REALIZE WHAT THE END-GAME IS!

Trying the spirits. Are they truly of God? Or are they great pretenders? The Lord's primary warning in Matthew 24 about the Last Days prior to His return was that we be not deceived. He does not want His precious flock to have the wool pulled over its eyes; He wants His sheep to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves; He wants us to exercise all possible caution, that we don't stumble and fall in the ever increasing darkness as the end of the age so rapidly approaches. With this firmly in mind, let us firstly look as we must at the events of May-June 2016, frequently referred to as "The Reading Outpouring" but labelled and promoted by its two main protagonists as 'The Turning.'



'THE TURNING'

May-June, 2016. 'The Gate' church in Reading, Berkshire, pastored by Yinka Oyekan who also heads up the 'Barnabas Fellowship Of Churches' (of which 'The Gate' is naturally a part), conducts a street outreach programme. The results are allegedly so incredibly successful that the campaign is quickly nationally hyped as "The Reading Outpouring."

A year on, and 'The Turning' as this much trumpeted "outpouring" was to become officially titled, is steadily making notable inroads into churches and church movements across the UK. Here in Wales, New Wine Cymru under the leadership of Julian Richards (who is also on the Board of the Evangelical Alliance, as well as heading up Cornerstone Church in Swansea) has enthusiastically partnered with 'The Turning Team' under Yinka Oyekan. 'Mission to Wales,' as it is billed, will be using the Reading model for a large-scale street evangelism campaign to be rolled out right across Wales from Thursday 6 July through to Saturday 15 July. A big evangelistic effort has to be good news, right? Let's just remember, as the old saying goes, that all that glitters is not gold. It might be, well... just glitter! So let's proceed to trace the stream back to its source, and then we can determine what might be in the water... and whether it's safe to drink it or we should leave it well alone!

THE GATE'S 'COMPANY OF PROPHETS' AND THE BILL JOHNSON CONNECTION

In investigating the back-story to events in Reading, the first thing we need to take note of is that for a whole year previous to the mission itself, 'The Gate' had already been sending out a team of young "prophets" aged only 11-18 once a month to "prophesy" over the unsaved. This they had reportedly been trained to do in the 'Company of Prophets' run by 'The Gate,' and this is our first real red flag. Prophets cannot learn how to prophesy! Apart from the fact that all gifts of the Spirit are given individually, and not everyone gets given the same gift(s) - be it prophecy or any of the others - prophecy is by its nature a spontaneous utterance of the Spirit; it is not some methodology which any amount of tutoring can effect. It is enabled directly by God, not by any man. He gives, or He does not give, according to His sovereign will. Any contradiction or contravention of such sovereignty will inevitably result in false prophecies which spring only from the flesh. It is today as it was in Jeremiah's day, when he recorded:

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, 
and not out of the mouth of the LORD."

(Jeremiah 23:16)

A 'Company of Prophets' supposedly training people how to prophesy is, of course, hyper-Charismatic to the core. Yinka Oyekan's predilection for such things becomes even more apparent when we look at the 'Barnabas Fellowship Of Churches,' which as we've already noted also has Yinka Oyekan at the helm. The BFOC runs a 'School of Supernatural Ministry!' Sound at all familiar? Where do you suppose this concept may have come from? Any connection perhaps between Yinka Oyekan and Bill Johnson, Lead Pastor of 'Bethel' in Redding, California, with its infamous 'Bethel School of the Supernatural?' There sure is!

For a number of years now, Oyekan has been mentored by Bill Johnson, recording his gratitude to him and his wife Beni "for investing in me the last few years, it kept me going through very difficult times and kept me spiritually alive. Thanks Bill and Benny (sic) Johnson." (Source: http://theturning.eu/index.php/learning-review/). The warning I gave about the Johnsons and their "church" in a recent article certainly bears repeating here:

This has to be one of the unsafest "Christian" couples on the planet, their "Christianity" having all the authenticity of a paste diamond, with Bethel having far more in common with sorcery and New Age mystical spirituality than with Biblical Christianity. From gold dust to glory clouds, from falling feathers to fire tunnels, from floating orbs to a born-again "Jesus," from waking up sleeping angels to grave-sucking necromancy, absolutely anything goes at Bethel under the Johnsons' (mis)leadership.

Students from 'Bethel School of the Supernatural' engage in 

sucking Evan Roberts' anointing from his grave in Loughor.

This close relationship seems to have stemmed from (or at least been cemented by) Oyekan's very significant attendance at a Bill Johnson Apostolic Conference in 2011, an event at which Oyekan met one Dr. Michael Maiden, who is the Lead Pastor of 'Church For The Nations' in Phoenix, Arizona. As Maiden enters the story, not only will we be able to see how incredibly heavily polluted with spiritual toxins the stream actually is, but also exactly where it's flowing to! But before we examine the Michael Maiden connection in some detail, let's go back to last year's events in Reading to check out another very important ingredient that got stirred into the stew... a man who filed for bankruptcy in 2010 with up to one million dollars in liabilities, but is now riding high again as Lead Pastor of 'Light Fort Myers,' a church in Fort Myers, Florida, which also serves as World HQ of revivalist organization 'The American Awakening' which he founded: Tommie J. Zito, the man who Oyekan brought in to spearhead the Reading mission.


TOMMIE J. ZITO AND "THE HOLY GHOST BARTENDER"

"It has been my privilege to be able to speak into Tommie's life for the last eight years and there is no doubt in my mind that God will use Tommie in the future to shake whole regions of the world. Get ready - because we stand on the brink of the next great Spiritual Awakening!"

- Dr. Rodney M. Howard-Browne, Tampa, Florida, October 2004

(Source: http://injesus.com/messages/content/13958)

This quote is taken from the foreword to Tommie Zito's book, 'A Spiritual Awakening,' showing that Zito has long been closely involved with and endorsed by "The Holy Ghost Bartender" himself, a fact emphasized by Oyekan in his personal review of 'The Turning' in which he references Zito as being a disciple of Rodney Howard-Browne. (See: http://theturning.eu/index.php/learning-review/) 

A South African now resident in the USA, Howard-Browne was a key figure in the "holy laughter" movement; from a Word of Faith background in his homeland, he rose to prominence when invited to preach at an AOG church in Lakeland, Florida in the Spring of 1993. It was there that the "holy laughter" phenomenon broke out big-time. Notorious charlatan Oral Roberts, inventor of the "seed-faith" scam, and his son Richard went to Lakeland to check this out, and were so impressed by what was being served at "Joel's Bar" that they invited him to hold meetings at the Oral Roberts University, where the same uncontrollable laughter was experienced. 

Even more significantly, while "ministering" at that hot-bed of Word of Faith theology, Kenneth "Dad" Hagin's 'Rhema Bible Training Center' near Tulsa, Oklahoma, a Vineyard pastor named Randy Clark received "the anointing" from Howard-Browne. Hearing of Clark's being tremendously touched, fellow Vineyard pastor John Arnott of the Toronto Airport church invited him to bring the drunken partying to Canada in January, 1994. He did just that, and the rest is history. Dark, dark history. 'The Toronto Blessing' as it became known went global practically overnight, and thousands of discernment-devoid people were soon rolling in the aisles and barking like dogs, laughing hysterically when they should have been weeping with grief for the huge Satanic delusion that had so incredibly infiltrated and overtaken the professing Church of Jesus Christ.

This necessarily brief overview of the origins of 'The Toronto Blessing' is given to emphasize the key role taken by Rodney Howard-Browne in this deeply demonic deception, and that this being so, any disciple of this self-proclaimed "Holy Ghost Bartender" is not a faithful follower of The Way but someone who has embraced "another Jesus... another spirit... another gospel." (2 Corinthians 11:4).

We should well note that both Tommie (who was allegedly born again at the age of 3!) and wife Kimberly graduated in the '90s from the aforementioned 'Rhema Bible Training Center,' then travelling the world as personal assistants to Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne. Theirs is a long and deep relationship indeed. 

Recommended reading on 'The Toronto Blessing' from The Christian Research Institute: http://www.equip.org/article/the-counterfeit-revival/



THE SCRIPT

In the introduction, I referred to my first great concern about 'Mission to Wales.' We will now move on to what is my second: "easy-believism."

Most significantly, participants in the Reading mission were not encouraged to witness to people as prompted by the Spirit when approaching them on the street, but rather to work instead to a set script. Perhaps, in view of the connection we've just been examining, it will come as no surprise to learn that "the Script used in Reading is virtually identical to the one formulated by Dr. Rodney Howard Brown (sic) in his book "The Great Awakening, Power Evangelism Manual." (Source: http://theturning.eu/index.php/learning-review/)

"I've just got to tell you 2 things REAL QUICK... I've got to ask you a REAL QUICK question... Let me tell you 3 things the Bible says REAL QUICK... I'm gonna say a QUICK prayer for you..." (my capitalization for emphasis)


FRIENDS, THIS IS "DRIVE-THRU" CHRISTIANITY SERVED UP IN A FAST-FOOD CONTAINER, FAITH WITH FRIES AND A PLASTIC FORK! IT'S RACE-TRACK RELIGION; SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT SPEED CAMERAS, FOOT TO THE FLOOR; BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT; "SALVATION" WITH SMOKING TYRES!

"If you would like to receive this free gift, Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, JUST SAY THIS with me..." (my capitalization for emphasis)

FRIENDS, SAYING IN ITSELF MEANS NOTHING! IT'S MEANING WHAT YOU SAY THAT MATTERS! THE PARROT-FASHION REPETITION OF WORDS IS NOT CONVERSION: IT'S JUST MIMICRY. HELL'S GATES HAVE LONG OPENED WIDE TO WELCOME THE MISLED MANY WHO SAID THE WORDS BUT NEVER ACTUALLY MEANT THEM, NEVER TRULY REPENTED, NEVER DIED TO SELF, NEVER TOOK UP THEIR CROSS TO REALLY FOLLOW THE MASTER... BUT HAVE GONE TO THEIR GRAVES WITH THE EMPTY HOPE THAT WORDS WERE IN THEMSELVES SUFFICIENT!

Of this woefully inadequate, surface-skimming, "easy-believism" script, Oyekan admits that "one pastor was in tears as he felt it was deficient in its gospel proclamation," then shamefully dismisses this man's passionate and very correct concern with the words, "Emotionally the script touches on everyone's PRIDE particularly when the simplicity of the tool is presented." (My capitalization of the word PRIDE). How the sides of the prideful father of lies must be aching from laughing so heartily at such blind folly!


A QUESTION OF QUALITY

"The messiness of the kind of conversions seen in a normal mission remains but in the outpouring this messiness is multiplied hundreds of times... I am sure the quality of the conversion will improve... "

The quality of the conversion will improve? Either conversion is genuine re-birth in Christ or it is not. There are no degrees of authenticity. Oyekan is effectively admitting that the reality behind the hype is that his "outpouring" statistics - an average of 65 salvation decisions/re-dedications a day - are just so much tosh, and not worth the paper they're printed on. These figures are chalked up as actual conversions or returns to Christ despite Oyekan's own observation that many will not be genuine, remarking that "there will also be a number who on the streets have stopped to pray out of politeness and still others who have prayed just to move the Christians on, and still others who are open to any kind of spiritual experience."
(Source: http://theturning.eu/index.php/learning-review/)

Very sadly, "messiness" is indeed the operative word. And if you should take a look at Tommie Zito's website, you'll immediately see that he is someone who's also very fond of publishing eye-catching but equally meaningless statistics that you can read absolutely anything you wish into. (See: http://tommiezito.com/crusades/)

There is another serious question to be raised here. If any of these street "converts" are subsequently recruited into the participating churches, then what is it exactly that they will be brought into? The Faith that was once and for all time delivered? (Jude v3). Or an experiential, experimental, fleshly faith that is not built on the immovable Rock, but on the soulish sand of "philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ?" (Colossians 2:8). Will they get uncompromisingTruth... or ear-tickling titillation?
WILL THEY BE TAUGHT THE WORD AS GIVEN... OR THE WORD AS RE-WRITTEN?



OYEKAN, THE BARNABAS FELLOWSHIP OF CHURCHES, AND MICHAEL MAIDEN

"And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

(2 Timothy 4:4)

At this point it will be appropriate to return to and very carefully consider the Michael Maiden connection, for this has enormous relevance in understanding how 'The Turning' was - and is - a cleverly camouflaged exercise not in turning TO but rather in turning AWAY from Truth in favour of fabrications. Let's look at the importance of the following statement:

"BFOC has been journeying with Pastor Michael Maiden since Pastor Yinka met him at Bill Johnson's Apostolic conference 2 years ago."

(Source: http://barnabasengland.org/bfoc-in-partnership-with-cotri-cftn/ - article of 25/11/13)

Exploring the "divine partnership" as it is described, between the Barnabas Fellowship Of Churches (BFOC) and Michael Maiden's own 'Church For The Nations' (CFTN) in Phoenix, Arizona and 'Church on the Rock International' (COTRI) - a network of affiliated churches of which Maiden is President and CEO - reveals the depth of the Dominionist delusion that Yinka Oyekan has so enthusiastically allied himself with. We need to look at the theology of CFTN and COTRI, noting that Oyekan has accepted the position of European Director of the latter, whose Chairman is Lawrence Kennedy, a known member of the 'New Apostolic Roundtable' whose Convening Apostle was the late C. Peter Wagner, the "founding father" of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). (See: http://europeanapostolicleaders.eu/welcome/history)

MAIDEN'S 'CHURCH FOR THE NATIONS' AND 'CHURCH ON THE ROCK INTERNATIONAL' ARE ORGANS OF THE UTTERLY HERETICAL NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION. ABSOLUTELY CENTRAL TO THE NAR'S MILITANT STRATEGY AND UNBIBLICAL BELIEF SYSTEM IS "THE 7 MOUNTAINS MANDATE," WHEREBY IT IS ENVISIONED THAT ALL AREAS OF HUMAN ENDEAVOUR ON THE PLANET WILL BE TAKEN OVER BY "BELIEVERS" UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF RE-ESTABLISHED APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, IN A GREAT GLOBAL "REVIVAL" THAT WILL USHER IN THE KINGDOM ON EARTH PRIOR TO THE KING'S RETURN.

Does the Bible make any reference to seven mountains? Yes, indeed it does! We will look at this extremely important Scripture in the Conclusion.

"Our mission is to REACH out to all people and nations with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,

To TRAIN, equip and empower believers by God's word, to grow in Christ-likeness and find and fulfill their kingdom destiny.

To SEND an army of ambassadors into the 7 mountains of culture as agents of kingdom transformation."

(Source: http://cftn.com/about-us/)

To this end, Maiden has written books like 'The Missing Piece: the 7 Mountain Strategy' and 'Turn The World Upside Down: Discipling the Nations with the Seven-Mountain Strategy' which conclusively confirm Maiden's "Latter Rain" Dominionism, with its rejection of Biblical eschatological truth and its replacement with "cunningly devised fables." (2 Peter 1:16). The Bible nowhere speaks of any kind of strategy for believers to transform culture. Rather, it tells us plainly that things will only get worse and worse and darker and darker, not better and better and lighter and lighter as the NAR would have it. It tells us that there will be great apostasy, not great revival as the NAR loudly proclaims. The prophets of the NAR are like the 400 prophets of Ahab with lying spirits in their mouths, who falsely prophesied victory at Ramothgilead while the contrary words of Micaiah the true prophet were spurned. (See 2 Chronicles 18). It says much that Maiden's 'Church For The Nations' is the church of the notorious Elijah List's beloved false prophetess, Patricia King, who is listed as a member of their "Extended Pastoral Staff!" (See: http://cftn.com/our-leaders/)

At this juncture, it will be pertinent to highlight a couple of big names that Maiden's church links to. (See: http://cftn.com/our-links/). Unsurprisingly the first we'll note is Bill Johnson, recognized as an Apostle in the NAR; the second is Bishop Joseph Garlington, a member of the 'Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders' which is a key huddle of NAR "A-listers."

Very revealingly, CFTN's 'Vision' page lists their Top Ten goals, NONE of which are to see sinners saved; the focus is on bigger and better, and enlarging their sphere of influence globally, with "an army of Kingdom ambassadors" sent out to take the 7 mountains of culture. To provide covering for (i.e. NAR Apostolic control over) no less than 10,000 churches worldwide is their Number One goal. On the 'Vision' page is also to be found their self-proclaimed raison d'etre. Is this perhaps to proclaim the Gospel, and feed the sheep that they may grow in grace? Well, actually, no. "CFTN exists to help every person discover the divine destiny God has prepared for their life... we are committed as a church to help people discover God's dream for their life." CFTN is not just Dominionist, but also "Purpose-Driven!" Rick Warren will surely be very proud of his proteges.
(See: http://cftn.com/the-vision/)

It should also be mentioned that CFTN boasts that "must-have" hyper-Charismatic phenomenon of "Healing Rooms," affiliated to Cal Pierce's 'International Association of Healing Rooms' based in Spokane, Washington, a re-birth of the ministry of false teacher John G. Lake. "Apostle" Cal Pierce is another NAR "A-lister," a member of its exclusive 'International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders.' (ICAL's 2017 Annual Congress in Dallas this November is apparently going to be launching "The 3rd. Reformation!")

Tracing the ever more disturbingly toxic flow further upstream, we find that in the '90s Michael "Mike" Maiden was Lead Pastor of 'Eagle's Nest Christian Embassy' in Scottsdale, Arizona, the scene of a major financial scandal. In July, 1996, the 'Tucson Citizen' reported:

"SCOTTSDALE - Two pastors bilked investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars using claims about words from God, the investors allege in a lawsuit. According to the suit, Rev. Mike Maiden of the Eagle's Nest Christian Embassy repeatedly claimed he had divine guidance on important financial decisions. He then used the claims to help the "financial pastor," Frank Luca, defraud investors out of their money. Luca, 52, was indicted earlier this year by a federal grand jury on charges of selling millions of dollars in fraudulent real-estate partnerships in Sedona and in Nevada. Nearly four dozen investors from Arizona and other states filed the suit July 19. The suit seeks unspecified damages and a court order freezing the $3 million the church expects to earn from the sale of its Scottsdale property, said attorney Russell Piccolli. He said he wants the funds preserved to pay any judgment that may result from the suit."

(Source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1996/07/26/190123-suit-claims-church-defrauded-investors/)

More details of the shocking fraud were supplied by The Arizona Securities Division:

"A pamphlet written by the church pastor describing Luca's "Vision Plan" for funding a new $2 million church building stated:

'For the past year I have prayerfully sought the Lord for the plan and direction he would have us take in regards to the financing costs of the construction and improvements of the new building... The plan and direction God has given us is strategic, sound and safe!... In the love of Jesus, Pastor Mike Maiden."

(Source: http://www.in.gov/sos/securities/2543.htm)

This purportedly God-given plan which Maiden pronounced to be sound and safe, was in reality a cynical scam. But with such pastoral assurance, many church members were to be devastatingly swindled out of their money, one losing her late husband's $300,000 life insurance pay-out. Luca pleaded guilty, agreeing to pay restitution of $11.4 million, while Maiden managed to successfully put the lurid ashes of 'Eagle's Nest' behind him, and rise to lofty heights in Phoenix and beyond.

If his deviant Dominionist worldview, and his hyper-Charismatic and Purpose-Driven proclivities were not in themselves spelling it out in very large letters, what the 'Eagle's Nest' episode tells us in no uncertain terms is that Michael Maiden is not a man to be in any way trusted. But if all this were not enough, there is more. We've looked at where this stream is coming from, and the point it has currently reached, which brings me now to document my third great concern, which is where this stream is inexorably heading: the kingdom and the global religion of Antichrist.


MICHAEL MAIDEN, BETRAYER OF THE FAITH

What other toxins might be in the water? Ecumenism perhaps? 

Ecumenism is in the spiritual what the mercury compound, dimethylmercury is in the natural: the most deadly of poisons. It has one inevitable final outcome, and one alone: the reversal of the Reformation and unification with Rome. Spiritual death. Anyone who has just a modicum of knowledge of Church history and awareness of the doctrines and practices of Catholicism, will know full well the utter incompatibility of the Roman religion and Biblical Faith. But lauded evangelical leaders with large followings, in reality Truth-rejecting renegades, have been falling over themselves the last 2 or 3 years in their haste to visit the Vatican and get pally with the Pope! Kenneth Copeland, the Arnotts, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, the UK's own David Carr, Michael Maiden... STOP. REWIND. Michael Maiden?

The Twitter account of Michael Maiden shows conclusively what the end-game is; his Tweets and photos for June, 2016 say it all:

Item 1)
Michael Maiden @drmichaelmaiden 6 Jun 2016
We're on our way to Rome for a time of prayer and sharing with the Pope. Thank you for your love, support and prayers

Shouldn't the alarm bells now be ringing so loudly that blood is running from your ears? Or are you stone deaf to what The Word declares about the whore drunken with the blood of the saints and the martyrs? "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" asks the Word, "What communion hath light with darkness?" And again, "What concord hath Christ with Belial?" "Hey - no problem! I'll have fellowship with unrighteousness, I'll have communion with darkness, and I'll have concord with Belial!" is Michael Maiden's obvious reply!  

Item 2)
Michael Maiden @drmichaelmaiden 10 Jun 2016
Great leaders meeting in Rome in the morning and a private tour of the Sistine Chapel in afternoon

Ah - the sensational ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo. And paid for by Pope Julius II by the selling of indulgences - the most lucrative financial scam ever perpetrated in "Christianity," matched only in modern times by Oral Roberts and his dollar-delivering "seed-faith" swindle. Something to smile about, Mr. and Mrs. Maiden?

Item 3)
Michael Maiden @drmichaelmaiden 11 Jun 2016
Incredible time with Pope Francis. He humbly shared his heart with us and I humbly shared a prophetic word for him

A picture that paints a thousand words: Michael Maiden literally standing shoulder to shoulder with the Pope, who "shared his heart." His Jesuit heart to bring back the "lost brethren?" i.e. to get all that calls itself "Christian" melded into the "Mother Church" and under Papal authority? And what "prophetic word" for Francis was "humbly shared" with him by a peacock-proud Maiden? He omits to tell us, but somehow I don't think it was along the lines of Revelation 13:11: "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." Just a thought...

Items 4) and 5)
Michael Maiden @drmichaelmaiden 26 Jun 2016
The prayer of the church is for REVIVAL. The prayer of Jesus is for UNITY.

Michael Maiden @drmichaelmaiden 26 Jun 2016
When we give God what He wants, UNITY, He'll give us what we want, REVIVAL.

UNITY. One of THE buzz-words of what passes for Christianity these days. Meaning the bogus "unity" of ecumenism that Maiden speaks of here: "churches together" in fellowship with unrighteousness, in communion with darkness, in concord with Belial. (That's Satan, by the way, just in case anyone was wondering!) We can only have true unity in Truth. Period. Any other type of perceived and promoted "unity" is a sham. A mockery. Apostasy, impure and simple. 

IF WE DARE TO GIVE GOD A FALSE UNITY FORGED IN HELL, HE WILL ASSUREDLY GRANT US A "STRONG DELUSION" - A BELIEF IN THE VALIDITY OF A COMPLETELY COUNTERFEIT REVIVAL!  (Ref. 2 Thessalonians 2:11)

As it is written:

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, 

transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the 

ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

(2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

CONCLUSION 

The 7 mountains as referenced by the Word of God? As opposed to the 7 mountains as defined by Michael Maiden and his NAR cohorts?

"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are SEVEN MOUNTAINS, on which the woman sitteth."

(Revelation 17:9 - my capitalization)

And who is the woman who straddles the seven mountains? None other than:

"MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH... drunken with the blood of the saints, 
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."

(Revelation 17:5-6 - the Bible's capitalization)

Small wonder then that the New Apostolic Reformation tramples upon the teachings of the Book of Revelation, with its very clear association of "seven mountains" not with the Kingdom of God but with the false religious system holding sway over the Earth at the time of Antichrist's governance. Friends, it can be no mere coincidence that the Bible's one and only reference to "seven mountains" is given in this context. Revelation 17:18 further identifies the woman as being a "great city," and there is no question that this great city is Rome; the original old walled city itself famously sits on 7 hills. Just across the Tiber from the old city is Vatican Hill, HQ of the largest, wealthiest and most powerful pseudo-Christian cult on the planet, the Roman Catholic Church with its fantasy Eucharistic Christ.

I've stressed the very real concerns about Michael Maiden, especially because Yinka Oyekan is Maiden's appointed man in the UK and Europe. 'The Turning' I could maybe best describe as a vehicle for the transport and delivery of toxic waste... extremely hazardous material like Dominionism, Charismania, Purpose-Driven Warrenism, Toronto's still burning "strange fire," and the contemporary counter-Reformation that is the evil essence of ecumenism. And behind it all? THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST!

"Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: 

for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth."

(John 12:35)

"Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness."

(Luke 11:35)

* * * * * * *

There is so much more that could be said; I've endeavoured to encompass what was perceived to be perhaps the more salient points as things stand, and would encourage anyone to do their own research. To this end a string of relevant links is provided below, and information in this article can be verified via these primary sources.

Yinka Oyekan and The Turning:
http://theturning.eu/index.php/learning-review/
https://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Unprecedented-openness-to-the-gospel-reported-in-Reading-as-1-200-make-commitments-to-Christ
http://barnabasengland.org/the-turning/
http://barnabasengland.org/what-to-do-when-god-blesses-you-but-you-werent-expecting-it-the-turning/

Tommie J. Zito:
http://tommiezito.com/
https://www.yatedo.com/p/Tommie+Zito/normal/54d0012528ae42ba39e3ec56f2753814
http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Kimberly-Sue/74152763
http://theturning.eu/index.php/learning-review/
http://injesus.com/messages/content/13958 
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/blog/giving_guide/2010/04/south_florida_evangelist_files_for_bankruptcy.html

Michael Maiden:
http://cftn.com/our-leaders/
http://cftn.com/about-us/ 
http://cftn.com/the-vision/
http://cftn.com/our-links/
https://twitter.com/drmichaelmaiden?lang=en
http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1996/07/26/190123-suit-claims-church-defrauded-investors/ 
http://www.in.gov/sos/securities/2543.htm

Barnabas School of Prophetic Ministry:
http://barnabasengland.org/training/barnabas-school-of-supernatural-ministry/
http://barnabasengland.org/bssm-the-journey-so-far/