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)