KENNETH COPELAND'S WELSH COHORTS:- ROBBIE AND DONNA HOWELLS, LEADERS OF THE WAREHOUSE CHURCH IN NEWPORT.

"Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name:

I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them:

they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination,

and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart."

(Jeremiah 14:14)

When I read in the Bible where He says, "I AM," I just

smile and say, "Yes, I AM too!" - Kenneth Copeland.

Just what is it about so very many professing Christian leaders that, despite their most determined misuse and abuse of the Gospel in every which way, they somehow expect God to pour out His richest blessings upon them and their fellow purveyors of spiritual putridity? That in the midst of their prideful peddling of apostate alternatives to His Truth, He will greatly exalt them and cause them to become the bringers of revival to the land? Assuredly, any such claimed "revival" will be only a shoddy counterfeit one of their own manufacture, a shameful sham marked by a delight in the death of discernment, a reinforced concrete refusal to test the spirits, and an unrestrained fleshly enthusiasm for strong delusion.

In this very context, I wrote recently about Paul Button and the Wales Revival Alliance that he founded, warning about its roots being deep in the New Apostolic Reformation and Toronto "Blessing" deceptions, and yet in all its Biblical unfaithfulness promising a great outpouring of God's blessings. See: 

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2023/07/wales-revival-alliance-its-origins-and.html

Very sadly, there are of course other most virulent Scripture-debasing diseases in the Body that so many have either willingly or quite wilfully contracted, incredibly actually preferring spiritual malaise to spiritual health. One such Christian cancer, if I might use that term, is the Word of Faith movement, with one of its largest and most aggressive tumours manifesting itself as the so-called "prosperity gospel." On this note, let us now turn to another Welsh operation having false revival firmly in its cross hairs, this being the Warehouse Church in the city of Newport as (mis)led by its husband-and-wife "pastors" Robbie and Donna Howells. Such a completely unscriptural arrangement was flagged up in another article on this site:

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2022/09/ladies-in-leadership-husband-and-wife.html

Dear friends and readers, what I wish to alert you to here in this new piece is the fact that this ear-tickling couple are the Welsh cohorts of that wolf among wolves, the fleet- of-jets-and-private-airport-owning and foremost fat-cat profiteer from "Christian" entrepreneurism, "Mr. Prosperity Gospel" himself... Kenneth Copeland! Since 18 June 2015, Robbie (Robert) Howells has been a Trustee of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, one of the 6 such appointees overseeing its UK wing. Furthermore, this very organization's accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 show that it gifted the Howells' Warehouse Church £10,300 that year; this was for the purchase of equipment for their TV ministry project. (Warehouse Church accounts state £10,000. Interestingly, the accounts reveal a £10,919 hike in its ministers' salary from the previous year, from £59,000 to £69,919; make of that what you will. All figures given are easily verifiable via the official records of the  Charity Commission). Filming of their 'Taking You Forward' programme began in the latter part of that year, with episodes being aired on the 'Victory Channel' of - yes, you must have guessed! - Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Stars of this show? Surely you'll have guessed this too? Robbie and Donna Howells, of course! Please refer to: https://www.govictory.com/show/taking-you-forward/

That the Howells are dyed-in-the-wool adherents of the "greed is good" heinous mockery of the Faith once delivered that is the "prosperity gospel" can be in no shadow of doubt, given the proof that they are joined at the hip to Kenneth Copeland. For evidence of just how amazingly far removed this dollar-adoring deceiver is from sound doctrine, and how twisted is his theology, please read the long list of Copeland quotes I supply below as an appendix to this article. You could only ally yourself - and so deeply - to such a man if you are similarly following a different "Jesus" and have a different gospel and a different spirit, things which were warned about by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:4. 

With all this firmly in mind, we will now move on to look at how Mr. and Mrs. Howells and their Warehouse Church, like Paul Button and his Wales Revival Alliance, see themselves as "movers and shakers" in the bringing of revival to the land... all when the Scriptures tell us that the End Times are marked not by a great awakening but by great apostasy! Extremely ambitious plans have been formulated for creating a huge Revival Centre in Newport, as can be seen at https://www.thewarehousechurch.tv/newbuildingproject. This "prosperity gospel" megachurch will naturally have Robbie and Donna both directing and starring in the show, the Welsh equivalent you might say of Joel ("Your Best Life Now") and Victoria Osteen. We can only hope and pray that the project never gets off the ground; it's the very last thing that Wales wants, being well awash with counterfeit Christianity already!

We might well note here that Mission 24, of which Paul Button is the lead in Wales, has partnered with the Warehouse Church for a 'Connect Day' on 25 November. Salvation is free, but unless you're a student you'll have to pay £16.96 advance booking (£20 on the door) to hear Mission 24 chief Jonathan Conrathe preach the Good News. I'll only say that you can draw your own conclusions about this event and what it signifies.

The institutional "Church" has no excuse for her endless infidelity. The Word of God in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 clearly reveals that the time would come when professing Christians would not hold to sound doctrine but turn to fables, heaping to themselves teachers who would tickle itching ears with words to delight and not to dismay, things they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. Isaiah once lamented of the people that their demand was this: "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." (Is. 30:10). As then, so today; as the wise Preacher declared: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Deception is both the desire and the delivery of the hour we find ourselves in.

What is so urgently needed to be heard is that it is not thoroughly undeserved revival but fully deserved judgment that is coming down the line. Time is short; the last grains of sand are streaming through the glass, and all of us need to be completely awake to eschatological reality, not slumbering on in the comfy eiderdown of illusion. As Peter put it, so succinctly:

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:

and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them

that obey not the gospel of God?"

(1 Peter 4:17)

EPILOGUE: WRECKERS AND FALSE LIGHTS

Centuries ago, so legend says, ruthless coast-dwellers would lure passing ships onto the rocks, then plunder the hapless wrecks of whatever cargo they might be carrying, even bludgeoning surviving sailors to death so they could carry no tales of what had befallen them. Tying a lantern around a horse's or mule's neck, they'd lead the animal along the clifftop; upon seeing the swaying light and mistaking it for the stern lamp of another vessel, a captain would think that he was a lot further out at sea than he really was; he'd only know otherwise when he heard the ship's timbers splinter on the jagged rocks and it was all too late.

Please, my friends and readers, hear this warning and take it to heart: there are false lights out there, projecting an illusion of safety while in reality they are treacherous in the extreme. A new religious Babylon is arising, a darkness masquerading as light that can lead to the wreckage of your souls and the looting of all that is held in your hold of hope. Discernment and wisdom is of paramount importance in these perilous times, an age we were told would come and has now arrived. Exercise these vital gifts that God will freely give if you would but ask and receive, and in so doing steer well clear of each and every hull-shredding reef! As Paul adjured Timothy, his "son in the faith":

"This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy,

according to the prophecies which went before on thee,

that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

Holding faith, and a good conscience;

which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck."

(1 Timothy 1:18-19)

* * * * * * *

APPENDIX: A COMPILATION OF SHOCKING KENNETH COPELAND QUOTES

First published here: 

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-compilation-of-shocking-kenneth.html

KENNETH COPELAND'S ELEVATION OF HIMSELF TO GODHOOD:
When I read in the Bible where He says, "I AM," I just smile and say, "Yes, I AM too!"

KENNETH COPELAND'S ELEVATION OF ALL BELIEVERS TO GODHOOD:
1) Every Christian is a god.


2) You don't have a god in you - you are one!

3) Now Peter said, "By exceeding great and precious promises you become partakers of the divine nature." Alright. Are we gods? We are a class of gods!

KENNETH COPELAND'S INSTRUCTION TO MEN TO PRAY TO THEMSELVES, AS BEING ONE WITH THE GODHEAD:
Pray to your self, because I'm in your self and you're in my Self. We are one Spirit, saith the Lord.

KENNETH COPELAND, CONCERNING MEN'S ABILITY:
You have the same creative faith and ability on the inside of you that God used when He created the heavens and the earth.

KENNETH COPELAND'S CLAIM THAT ADAM WAS GOD INCARNATE: 
God's reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. I mean a reproduction of Himself, and in the Garden of Eden He did just that. He was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even... Adam is as much like God as you could get, just the same as Jesus... Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh.

KENNETH COPELAND'S TEACHING THAT GOD REPLICATED HIMSELF IN ADAM: 
1) God spoke Adam into existence in authority with words. These words struck Adam's body in the face. His body and God were exactly the same size.

2) If you stood Adam upside God, they look just exactly alike. If you stood Jesus and Adam side-by-side, they would look and sound exactly alike.

KENNETH COPELAND'S ASSERTION THAT GOD HAS A (HUMAN-SIZED) PHYSICAL BODY:
1) So you see, that faith didn't come billowing out of some giant monster somewhere. It came out of the heart of a being that is very uncanny the way He's very much like you and me. A being that stands somewhere around 6' 2, 6' 3, that weighs somewhere in the neighbourhood of a couple of hundred pounds, little better...

2) God is a spirit-being with a body, complete with eyes, and eyelids, ears, nostrils, a mouth, hands and fingers, and feet.

KENNETH COPELAND'S ANDROGYNOUS ADAM AND ANDROGYNOUS GOD:
And then He created Eve out of Adam... When God said "Adam!" they both came... They had always been together. Even when she was still a part of him, he was as much female as he was male, like God is!

KENNETH COPELAND'S BELIEF THAT FAITH IS A FORCE:
Faith is a power force. It is a tangible force. It is a conductive force.

KENNETH COPELAND'S TEACHING OF (OCCULT) VISUALIZATION:
Words create pictures, and pictures in your mind create words. And then the words come back out your mouth... And when that spiritual force comes out it is going to give substance to the image that's on the inside of you. Aw, that's that visualization stuff! Aw, that's that New Age! No, New Age is trying to do this, and they'd get somewhat results out of it because this is spiritual law, brother!

KENNETH COPELAND'S DENIAL OF THE ETERNAL PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS:
1) Jesus existed only as an image in the heart of God, until such time as the prophets of the Old Testament could positively confess Jesus into existence through their constant prophecies.

2) Jesus has a beginning and an end.

KENNETH COPELAND'S DESCRIPTION OF JESUS AS A "FAITH" PRODUCT OF GOD:
The faith it took to make fingers was loosed, the faith it took to make arms was loosed in the earth, and now God had a way to hover over a little woman by the name of Mary. And there was born of that virgin woman a product of God. Once again, something has happened from the insides of God.

Now, you see, God is injecting His Word into the earth to produce this Jesus - these faith-filled words that framed the image that's in Him. .. He can't just walk onto the earth and say, "Let it be!" because He doesn't have the right! He had to sneak it in here around the god of this world that was blocking every way that he possibly could.

God was making promises to Jesus, and Jesus wasn't even there. But, you see, God deals with things that are not yet as though they already were. That's the way He gets them to come to pass.

KENNETH COPELAND'S ASSERTION THAT GOD HAS NO RIGHT OF ACCESS TO THE EARTH:
God's on the outside looking in. He doesn't have any legal entree into the earth. The thing don't belong to Him. You see how sassy the Devil was in the presence of God in the book of Job? God said, "Where have you been?" Wasn't any of God's business. He didn't even have to answer if he didn't want to... God didn't argue with him a bit. You see, this is the position that God's been in... Might say, "Well, if God's running things He's doing a lousy job of it." He hadn't been running 'em, except when He's just got, you know, a little bit of a chance!

KENNETH COPELAND'S DENIAL OF THE SUFFICIENCY OF CALVARY:
When Jesus cried, "It is finished!" He was not speaking of the plan of redemption. There were still three days and nights to go through before He went to the throne... Jesus' death on the cross was only the beginning of the complete work of redemption.

KENNETH COPELAND'S BELITTLING OF CALVARY:
Now it wasn't the physical death on the cross that paid the price for sin... Anybody could do that.

KENNETH COPELAND'S ASSERTION THAT IT WAS NOT JESUS ALONE WHO COULD HAVE ATONED FOR SIN:
Any O.T. prophet could have atoned for our sins, if they knew what Jesus knew.  

KENNETH COPELAND'S WEAK JESUS:
We are the body of His Word. We are carriers of faith. Without us, people die and go to Hell. Without us being strong, Jesus is not strong.

KENNETH COPELAND'S DENIAL THAT JESUS IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD:
Jesus is no longer the only begotten Son of God. 

KENNETH COPELAND'S CONTRADICTION OF HEBREWS 13:8:
Jesus has not remained the same, He has changed.

KENNETH COPELAND ON JESUS' RIGHTEOUSNESS:
Jesus had to give up His righteousness.

KENNETH COPELAND ON JESUS BECOMING SATANIC:
Jesus took on the nature of Satan when He was on the cross.

KENNETH COPELAND'S PRONOUNCEMENT THAT IT WAS SATAN WHO HAD THE VICTORY AT CALVARY:
Satan conquered Jesus on the Cross and took His spirit to the dark regions of Hell.

KENNETH COPELAND'S TEACHING ON JESUS IN HELL:
Jesus was dragged down into the bowels of Hell, where He was beaten and bruised by Satan and his demons until Jesus could finally fight His way out of Hell three days later.

KENNETH COPELAND'S "BORN AGAIN" JESUS:
1) Jesus was reborn in the pits of Hell.

2) Jesus was born again - the firstborn from the dead the Word calls Him - and He whipped the Devil in his own backyard.

KENNETH COPELAND'S DECLARATION THAT JESUS NEVER CLAIMED TO BE GOD:
They crucified me for claiming I was God. I didn't claim that I was God. I just claimed that I walked with Him and that He was in me. Hallelujah! That's what you're doing!

KENNETH COPELAND'S CLAIM THAT HEAVEN IS A PLANET:
1) You don't think earth was first, do you? Huh? Well, you don't think that God made man in His image, and then made earth in some other image? ... This is all a copy. It's a copy of home. It's a copy of the Mother Planet. Where God lives. He made a little one just like His and put us on it.

2) Heaven has a north and a south and an east and a west. Consequently it must be a planet.

KENNETH COPELAND'S MAJORING ON MATERIALISM:
1) Prosperity is a major requirement in the establishment of God's will.

2) God's will for His people today is abundance.

3) God... needs you rich.

4) Clearly, our prosperity is important to God. It's so central to His will that He included it in the price Jesus paid for our redemption. So it doesn't matter whether or not we think we need it. What matters is that God needs it!

KENNETH COPELAND'S FALSE PROPHECY RE ISLAM:
And we're going to see the move of God like we've never seen it before... Because, you mark my word, 1995 is the beginning of the "Beyond what we are able to ask or think." 1995 is that beginning. It has come. There are many Muslims that while they are trying to worship what they think is God, Jesus is going to appear right in the middle of it. And under the influence of the power of the Holy Ghost, Islam will fall. Islam will become nothing. (Published 25/12/94).

KENNETH COPELAND'S ECUMENICAL ACCORD WITH THE POPE:
Thank you, sir. We do bless you. We receive your blessing. It's very, very important to us, and we bless you with all of our hearts, we bless you with all of our souls, we bless you with all of our might, and we thank you, sir. We thank God for you. And so all of us declare together, "Be blessed!" Once again, altogether, "Be blessed!" Amen.

KENNETH COPELAND'S DENUNCIATION OF GOD AS A FAILURE:
I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually is... The biggest in all the Bible is God!
He lost His top-ranking, most anointed angel, the first man He ever created, the first woman He ever created, the whole earth and all the fullness therein, a third of the angels at least! That's a big loss, man! I mean, you figure it all, that's a lot of real estate, brother, gone down the drain. Now the reason you don't think of God as a failure is He never said He's a failure. And you're not a failure till you say you're one!

* * * * * * *

RAY BEVAN JOINS TBN, AND DRIVES DEEP INTO THE ROUGH! - NEWS OF NEWPORT'S GLOBE-TROTTING GOAT WHISPERER...

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

(2 Timothy 4:2-4)

TBN? Ray Bevan to a tee...

RAY BEVAN AND TBN 

It is with deepest regret and considerable distaste that I return here in this post to the subject of Ray Bevan. It is, quite frankly, a singularly unpleasant subject that I'd sooner avoid and have nothing more to do with, but it would be a woeful dereliction of duty if I did so, for this man has to be warned against, and in no uncertain terms, for he is a very seriously deceived and deluded individual who unfortunately enjoys great influence, and on a global scale at that. It is this far-reaching powerful imprint of his which is my personal overriding concern in not leaving this subject alone, and flagging up the all too real issues.

"A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the Church will have clowns entertaining the goats."

(C.H.Spurgeon)

Ray Bevan is a showman. An entertainer. A Christian celebrity. The stage is his natural habitat. He knows how to work a crowd, to have them eating out of his hand. He's been practicing and polishing his act over many years, and he's become an international performer. From South Wales to Scotland, and from South Africa to Singapore, Bevan has topped the bill. Audiences just love him. Go wild for him. But there are some who see the real Bevan behind the part he plays, the grand illusion, and who rue the gut-wrenching fact that instead of quietly retiring from his long-term residency at King's in Newport to his beloved golf links, Bevan has decided that in classic showbiz fashion, "the show must go on!"

RAY BEVAN, GOLF FANATIC AND GOAT WHISPERER, HAS NOW EAGERLY THROWN IN HIS LOT WITH TBN, A CHANNEL WHERE HE WILL BE VERY MUCH AT HOME, BEING A MAN WHO CAN ALWAYS BE RELIED UPON TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED... COUNTED THAT IS AMONG THOSE WHO HAVE PAINSTAKINGLY RE-WRITTEN THE BOOK, CAREFULLY RE-CRAFTED CHRISTIANITY, AND PROUDLY PRESENT "ANOTHER JESUS... ANOTHER SPIRIT... ANOTHER GOSPEL." (2 Corinthians 11:4)

IF RAY BEVAN WAS REALLY A TRUE MAN OF GOD, WITH THE MEREST PINCH OF DISCERNMENT IN HIS MAKE-UP, WITH JUST AN OUNCE OF REAL CARE FOR PEOPLE'S SPIRITUAL WELFARE AND WITH THE LIGHTEST SPRINKLING OF CONCERN FOR UPHOLDING UNCOMPROMISING BIBLICAL TRUTH, HE WOULD BE USING HIS INFLUENCE TO STEER FOLK SAFELY AWAY FROM TBN'S SHEEP-FLEECING 'WORD OF FAITH' WOLF-PACK. HE WOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE GLEEFULLY HIMSELF BECOMING PART OF THEIR SELECT TEAM OF SHAMELESS, CASH-GRABBING SCAM MERCHANTS. THE CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN ABOUT JUST WHO AND WHAT RAY BEVAN REALLY IS ARE SADLY ALL TOO INESCAPABLE...

The late Paul Crouch, founder of TBN, with Benny Hinn, who 

Ray Bevan hosted at King's Church, Newport, in August, 2013.

RAY BEVAN, THE "WILLIAM WILBERFORCE" OF SPIRITUAL SLAVERY - NOT!

Bevan commences filming for TBN this month, and he actually begins September in suitable style with a starring appearance at Restorationist/Dominionist "Apostle" Andrew Owen's Destiny Church in Glasgow. The other headliner at Owen's 'Encounter 2015' extravaganza (3rd. - 5th. Sept.) will be none other than Tommy Tenney, of "Pensacola Outpouring" and "God-Chasers" infamy. (See 'Topics' list on the right for info. on Tenney). Bevan, of course, absolutely delights in sharing the most dubious of platforms with the most questionable of Christianity-contortionists, hoisting his sails high to catch and be "carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Ephesians 4:14)
(Source: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/encounter-2015-tickets-17526364829?aff=erellivorg)

Consider this quote from Ray Bevan, plugging his book, 'Grace Shouts Louder' which is as bitter an irony as you can get:

"I felt God say to me 'I am sending you out into my Church as an abolitionist.' The greatest area of slavery on earth is in the Church. Christians who love Him and want to serve Him - but do so in chains, particularly the chain of condemnation."

(Ray Bevan; source: http://www.kings-church.org.uk/utils/shop/index.html)

AND JUST WHY ARE THESE WORDS SO IRONICAL? WELL, IT'S BECAUSE BEVAN IS RIGHT ABOUT THE CHURCH BEING ENSLAVED. HE IS RIGHT ABOUT CHRISTIANS BEING IN CHAINS! HE'S ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! BUT BEVAN IS NO ABOLITIONIST OF SPIRITUAL SLAVERY. HE IS NO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, INTENT ON SMASHING SHACKLES. HE IS ACTUALLY THE DIAMETRIC OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE SAYS HE IS. EMANCIPATION IS SIMPLY NOT WHAT THIS HERESY-HUGGING MAN IS ABOUT...

THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT THE CHURCH TODAY HAS BEEN EVERYWHERE ENSLAVED BY THE VERY MEN WHO BEVAN MAKES HIS GREATEST FRIENDS AND HEROES, THE HEINOUS 'WORD OF FAITH' PROSPERITY PEDDLERS, WHO THROUGH THEIR ABHORRENT FALSE TEACHING AND DOCTRINES OF DEVILS, HAVE MANACLED THE BODY OF CHRIST! RATHER THAN BEING THE GOD-SENT ABOLITIONIST HE CLAIMS TO BE, RAY BEVAN ACTUALLY VERY ACTIVELY AND HAPPILY CUDDLES UP TO AND COLLUDES WITH THE "FAT CAT" SLAVE-MASTERS THEMSELVES, CUTTING HIS OWN SLICE OF THE LUCRATIVE ACTION.

"For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."

(Romans 16:18)

Ray McCauley of Rhema, South Africa, a Word of Faith 

belly-filler and long standing close friend of Ray Bevan.

FIRST MATE BEVAN HAS NOW ENTHUSIASTICALLY ENLISTED TO JOIN THE CREW OF TBN, THE 'TRUE BELIEVER'S NIGHTMARE,' ONE OF THE BIGGEST SLAVE-SHIPS SAILING THE SEVEN SEAS OF SPIRITUAL FALSEHOOD. BON VOYAGE, MR. BEVAN, AND REST EASY AT NIGHT IN YOUR APOSTATE HAMMOCK...

MAY WE ALL JUST TRUST IN THE LORD, AND THE LORD ALONE, FOR OUR TRUE FREEDOM!

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

(John 8:36)

NEWPORT CITY CHURCH, ROBBIE HOWELLS & THE PROMOTION OF THE HEINOUS WORD-FAITH, PROSPERITY GOSPEL IN WALES.

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:

Newport City Church / Welcome

www.newportcitychurch.org/‎

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 ...

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).

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:

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

2) HEALTH AND HEALING.

NCC's false teaching: 

"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."

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:

"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:

"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:

"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) 

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:

"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! 

F.L.E.S.H. - SATAN'S FIVE POINT PLAN FOR SEIZING THE CHURCH!

INTRODUCTION

We all know that Satan fell due to rebellion against God, fueled by his insatiable pride. But few perhaps pause to consider that he had in fact formulated a very specific FIVE POINT PLAN! 
As the Word of God tells us:

"For thou (Lucifer) hast said in thine heart, 

(1)  I will ascend into heaven, 

(2)  I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: 

(3)  I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

(4)  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; 

(5)  I will be like the most High."

(Isaiah 14:13-14)

Five points. Hmmm...

This study will focus upon the third point:

  "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north."

This actually has a two-fold implication. Firstly, its essential eschatological conclusion is to be found in the Satanic intent to sit upon the (Temple) Mount of the (Jewish) congregation through the person of Antichrist, and proclaim himself to be God incarnate. (P.S. Calamity for Israel almost always came from the north, hence this direction's particular significance in this context.)

But its second and ominous import is that it also references something that occurs just PRIOR to the emergence of that Man of Sin, namely the ultimate End-Times APOSTASY of the CHURCH, the Satanic takeover of the mount - i.e. the pyramid structure - of the "congregation of the saints." (Psalm 89:5). We will look at this pyramid structure in due course, examining how it relates to Point One of another key Five Point Satanic plan, this being the Enemy's strategy to make the Church an utterly Truth-rejecting apostate body, cynically brought into line with all other false faiths to form an integral part of the unified One World Religion of Antichrist. Which is not very far off, and getting so much nearer by the day!

AGENDA FOR APOSTASY

"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)

Scripture is quite clear. Before Antichrist emerges from the wings to take centre stage, there first will occur a "falling away." This is the wholesale departure from Scriptural truth and sound doctrine, the embracing of "another gospel" and the lending of itchy ears to the lying but flesh-satisfying words of false teachers and prophets. The Church of the Last Days is NOT characterized by great revival, as many would have it, but by great APOSTASY! As the Word declares:

"Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

(Luke 18:8)

In investigating the very rapidly accelerating downward spiral of the Body into the dizzy 'Anything Goes' blur that it is today, it has become apparent that just as Satan has his overall Five Point Plan as outlined above, so has he also relentlessly forged ahead with a Five Point Plan specifically designed to counteract the very real threat that the Church poses to his evil ambitions. 
To effectively annul that threat, the dastardly plan is to destroy it, not from WITHOUT, but from WITHIN!

I've recently been re-reading my copy of Hank Hanegraaf's landmark book, "Christianity in Crisis." In the two decades that have whizzed by since it appeared, the crisis has in no way abated, but actually deepened dramatically. The author uses a method throughout his work of using acronyms to make his points more memorable, and I will here follow his excellent example by similarly using a relevant 5-letter acronym to highlight the 5 key strategies (deceptions!) of the Enemy's overarching plan to captivate - and capture - the Bride of Christ.
This very appropriate acronym is:
F.L.E.S.H.




F = FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY



L = LATTER RAIN ESCHATOLOGY



E = ECUMENISM



S = SIGNS AND WONDERS



H = HEALTH AND WEALTH

OK. That's the nucleus of what we're talking about here. Let's proceed to examine each of the five in a little more detail; putting some F.L.E.S.H on the bare bones, so to speak!

1) F = FIVE FOLD MINISTRY

The supposed "restoration" of the "Five-fold ministry" was a central plank of the Latter Rain Movement. The (badly flawed) eschatology of this movement and how its insidious influence is felt massively today, will be dealt with as Point Two. In fact, the emergence in Canada in 1948 of what was to become known as the Latter Rain Movement marked a very major turning point in the Church, with so very much of what is terribly wrong in the Body right now being easily traced back to ideas and concepts that were first embraced and actively promoted by Latter Rain exponents. 

Traditional Pentecostalism has viewed the five specific ministries referenced in Ephesians 4:11, i.e. apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, as a FUNCTION of individuals in the Body. It should be (but apparently isn't) obvious that these functions overlap, with individuals' roles altering as the need and occasion arises. For example, what pastor - at least one who is truly worthy of his calling - does not teach as well as shepherd his flock? And is not every single believer called to evangelize? But in Latter Rain thinking, these roles are re-identified as OFFICES of CHURCH GOVERNMENT, each in turn carrying a higher status and degree of authority.

This is where my earlier reference to a pyramid structure comes into play. Churches which have run with this concept have essentially adopted the ways of this world, not the Kingdom that is to come, as their structure is on a par with any secular business operation. The "apostle" might be likened to the Managing Director of a Company, where lower down the chain of command the "evangelist" might be something like a factory Manager, and the "teacher" a Foreman on the shop floor. I think you'll probably get the drift of what I'm trying to say here. IMPORTANCE, POWER and POSITION mark the meanings of these 5 roles as understood by Latter Reign - sorry, Latter Rain! - adherents.

Pyramids? Wanna go back to Egypt?

Also known originally simply as "Restorationism," the belief in and adoption of the OFFICES of the "Five-fold ministry" has now more popularly become known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) in the USA (whose leading light - more correctly darkness - is one C. Peter Wagner) and as the British New Church Movement here in the UK. 

The adoption of a pyramid structure is of course in itself nothing new in Christendom. Roman Catholicism, under its Managing Director - sorry, the Apostle Peter's successor in the Vatican hot seat! - has used it for many centuries. (Pontiff, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, etc.) If we cannot see the very real dangers to Truth that such a structure poses by looking at Rome's appalling example - and shuddering - I don't know what might shake us into the utter and righteous rejection of such a fleshly and twisted travesty!

Consider. Does not Satan truly sit upon the mount of the Roman Catholic congregation, as the puppet-master of the Popes:

The name "Vatican" predates Christianity and comes from the Latin Mons Vaticanus, meaning Vatican Mount. (Source: Wikipedia)

Has not the Vatican never changed its age-old aim of bringing all who would call themselves "Christian" back into its fold, and under the Pope's authority?  

An Apostle, as should be quite apparent from the New Testament, is a man who MET PERSONALLY, FACE TO FACE WITH JESUS, AND BORE EYE-WITNESS TESTIMONY TO HIS RESURRECTION. Discipleship is one thing; apostleship is quite another! In a similar vein, no man has held the office of prophet since Old Testament times, as the coming of the Messiah and His glorious Gospel made the role redundant. They were the pointers; He was what they all pointed to!

As the Christian Research Institute has succinctly and astutely observed:

"The teachers of the 'Five-Fold ministry,' in seeking to 'restore' a foundation which has never been moved, are actually laying a false foundation which will not support the building up of the body of Christ."

Churches who have laid this false foundation are, by its self-perpetuating nature, extremely unlikely to move away from it. The authority structure is such that anyone questioning a decision from "above" is seen as a rebel, and a rebel against God at that, as in their eyes it is the Almighty who has given them their authority, and so to be obedient to God is to be obedient to the leadership. It follows that the movement is associated with "heavy shepherding" with all the grievous abuses of (assumed) authority that this can and does entail.

THE "RESTORATION" OF THE FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY IS A VAIN IMAGINATION OF THE FLESH, NOT AN INSTIGATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! IT SERVES ONLY THE ENEMY'S EVIL INTENTIONS, NOT GOD'S GOOD PURPOSES!

2) L = LATTER RAIN ESCHATOLOGY

With the emergence of the Latter Rain movement, there came not only a quantum shift in perceptions as to how the Church was to be structured, but how it was to become the "Church Victorious." Through its "Manifest Sons of God" aka "Joel's Army" the Church would take over all areas of religion, politics, economics and general social activity to produce the Kingdom of God on Earth, IN ADVANCE OF THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST! (See below). This totally unbiblical concept is also dubbed "Kingdom Now," and its contemporary tag is DOMINIONISM. 

The supposed restoration of the Five-fold ministry, as we have noted, today mainly rears its ugly head as the New Apostolic Reformation / British New Church Movement. And we must note here that a key NAR principle is "theocracy," which can essentially be defined as the working out of Dominionism in practice: having "Kingdom-minded people" in ALL AREAS OF SOCIETY. Seven areas of society are specifically identified:

FAMILY

RELIGION

EDUCATION

GOVERNMENT

MEDIA

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BUSINESS 

DOMINIONISM can be seen to have a distinctive and radical departure from the eschatology which marks a Church holding to sound doctrine and proper Biblical exegesis. It sees the Church as CHAMPIONS OVERCOMING THE WORLD, crushing the opposition and holding the trophy aloft. THEN, and only then, will JESUS return. Israel has no place in this warped End-Times scenario, for in its inherent Replacement Theology, the Church has inherited God's promises to Israel. Jesus returns not to set up the Kingdom Himself, but to simply take up the Throne that has been won FOR Him! The Church are the overcomers, not Him! The Church becomes the active agent of change and ultimate victory, and the Lord merely a passive observer of it!


This in a nutshell, is Latter Reign - sorry, Latter Rain! - eschatology. Dominionism. Myth. Fable. As we were warned:

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

(2 Timothy 4:4)

LATTER RAIN / DOMINIONIST ESCHATOLOGY IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED, BEING ROOTED IN PRIDE NOT HUMILITY AND THUS REFLECTING IT'S TRUE AUTHOR'S POWER-HUNGRY PERSONALITY.  IT RE-WRITES THE BOOK, TO MAKE THE CHURCH THE HERO OF THE STORY, RATHER THAN THE ONE WHO REALLY IS.

3) ECUMENISM

One of the great cries today is "Unity!" The trouble is, it invariably means unity at any price. And the cost is great indeed. In the pursuit of this heady goal, the first casualty becomes sound doctrine. In the interests of the "common good" any points of "disharmony" are studiously swept under the carpet, and a "we all essentially believe the same thing" delusory attitude prevails.

This concept of churches working together as one - ecumenism - is fostered and overseen in the UK by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland ('Cytun' - Welsh for 'Agreed' - here in Wales), and its ultimate global expression is to be found in the World Council of Churches. Ecumenism is in utter defiance of the Scriptural warning to:

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

(2 Corinthians 6:14)

There is no better way of demonstrating this "unequal yoking" than pointing out the fact that wherever you find a local Churches Together grouping, you will invariably find the very active participation of the local Roman Catholic Church(es). And the Protestant/Evangelical churches involved are more than happy to accommodate them unquestioningly. THERE IS SOMETHING VERY SERIOUSLY WRONG HERE! Out of the countless unbiblical atrocities that constitute the daily workings of the Roman church, let's look at just one monstrosity: the Mass.

The round, sun-disc wafer and the wine are taken to become literally not figuratively, the body and blood of Jesus. In the consecration, the wafer, or host, is believed to ACTUALLY BECOME GOD, the transubstantiation. THE PEOPLE THEN ENGAGE IN THE UTTERLY PAGAN PRACTICE OF GOD-EATING! This is the disgusting Satanic mockery of the "internalization" of God in man, the vile counterpart of the indwelling of believers by the Holy Spirit. 

What have we come to as born again Protestant believers, that we now so actively seek unity with such BLASPHEMY as this?

Consider if you will just these two snippets from the Papal Bull 'Unam Sanctam,' issued by Boniface VIII:

"Outside of her (i.e. the Roman Catholic Church) there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins"

"Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

And, of course, all Catholics believe in Papal infallibility... Do we also? The ramifications of embracing Catholics as fellow workers, with the same ends, are great indeed!

Again, I ask, just what have we come to?

ECUMENISM IS THE BROAD ROAD, NOT THE NARROW WAY. IT LEADS ONLY TO THE ONE WORLD RELIGION OF ANTICHRIST... AND DESTRUCTION!

4) SIGNS AND WONDERS

"A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign."

(Matthew 16:4)

On 20 January,1994, the Vineyard's Toronto Airport church hosted a speaker by the name of Randy Clark (a Vineyard pastor from St. Louis) who had received "the anointing" from self-proclaimed "Holy Ghost Bartender," Rodney Howard-Browne. Clark testified how he would get "drunk in the spirit" and laugh uncontrollably, and in response absolute bedlam broke out, with the congregation laughing, dancing, shaking, growling and barking like dogs, some folk even being locked in a state of paralysis. In next to no time, the Church worldwide was infected with this vile contagion; a spiritual pandemic had broken out, and the carriers of this deadly virus continue to spread it far and wide to this day.

Dubbed the "Toronto Blessing" this totally unbiblical and fleshly pantomime was hailed as a great move of God to revive the Church, when the reality of the matter was that the perceived "blessing" was actually a demonic curse and an absolute abomination straight from the pit of Hell!

"Ye shall know them by their fruits." (Matt. 7:16) 

JESUS DESCRIBED THE HOLY SPIRIT AS 'THE COMFORTER,' A VERY FAR CRY INDEED FROM THE MANIC, IN-YOUR-FACE, THEATRICAL 'PARTY ANIMAL' OF TORONTO AND ITS OFFSHOOTS, WHO DELIGHTS IN EXHIBITIONS OF "DRUNKENNESS" AND CAUSING ABSOLUTE MAYHEM!

THE TRUE AND GENTLE HOLY SPIRIT NEVER DRAWS ATTENTION TO HIMSELF, HE ALWAYS POINTS TO THE SON, AS THE SON IN TURN POINTS TO THE FATHER. THIS IS THE PROPER ORDER OF THINGS; IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN SO, AND ALWAYS WILL BE!

Signs and Wonders - or Power Evangelism / Charismatic Renewal / Third Wave, as some term it - is intimately associated with the late John Wimber's Vineyard movement, though its tentacles have spread far and wide to pull in full many an undiscerning fellowship. Its influence is felt even in Roman Catholic circles, where the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement has the full backing of the Vatican itself. AND THE VATICAN WILL NEVER ENDORSE ANYTHING THAT IT DOES NOT SEE AS BEING IN ITS OWN INTERESTS. 

The Charismatic movement began around 1960. Sharing a common stance (but not approach and emphasis) with classical Pentecostalism over the non-cessationist nature of the gifts of the Spirit, the movement differed dramatically in that whereas the Pentecostals had left the mainstream denominations and formed their own, Charismatics felt no such need and remained to openly practice their new-found "empowerment" within their existing churches, beginning a far-reaching process which continues today. But it was in 1981, with John Wimber's explosion onto the scene, that everything really took off. 

A central focus of "Signs & Wonders" is the notion that the communication of the Gospel (or, at least, what practitioners perceive to be the Gospel) to unbelievers is greatly enhanced when accompanied by manifestations of a supernatural nature e.g. healing or prophecy, purporting to be of the Holy Spirit. SIGNIFICANTLY, THE GIFTS OF WISDOM AND DISCERNMENT HAVE NEVER FIGURED VERY HIGHLY AMONGST CHARISMATICS AND NEO-CHARISMATIC / THIRD WAVE ADHERENTS LIKE WIMBER AND HIS FOLLOWERS!

THE ESSENTIAL POINT IS THAT THE WHOLE 'CHARISMATIC CUM SIGNS & WONDERS' MOVEMENT HAS CAUSED A CATASTROPHIC RE-FOCUSING OF THE CHURCH AT LARGE. THE PURE GOSPEL OF SALVATION HAS EFFECTIVELY BEEN MORPHED INTO A MESSAGE OF RECEIVING AN EXPERIENCE-BASED FAITH, NOT FOUNDED ON THE WORD OF GOD BUT ON MEN'S PERCEPTIONS OF AND RESPONSES TO A SUPERNATURAL "HAPPENING!" THE TORONTO BLESSING (ORWELLIAN DOUBLE-SPEAK FOR CURSE) DEMONSTRATED CONCLUSIVELY (TO ANYONE STILL UNFASHIONABLY EXERCISING WISDOM AND DISCERNMENT) THE ABSOLUTE FOLLY OF THIS, A DEADLY FOLLY THAT  CONTINUES UNABATED TO THIS DAY.

THE "NEW WINE" THEY BOAST OF IS CONTAMINATED AND DEADLY; IT IS TOXIC THROUGH AND THROUGH!

"DOING THE STUFF," AS JOHN WIMBER SO 

FLIPPANTLY CALLED THE UNLEASHING OF 'SIGNS & 

WONDERS' MANIFESTATIONS, IS A MOST ERRONEOUS

 AND INDEED DOWNRIGHT DANGEROUS FASCINATION

 AND PREOCCUPATION WITH THE 'HOLY SPIRIT,' OR

 RATHER A CYNICAL, SATANIC COUNTERFEIT OF HIM! 

5) HEALTH AND WEALTH

The Word-Faith movement, with its so-called "Prosperity Gospel" - which is no gospel at all! - peddles a most heinous and utterly fleshly concept, which effectively replaces GRACE with GREED and emphasizes the temporal and not the eternal. Its "name-it-and-claim-it" ethos is an extremely unGodly perversion, which rather than "dying to self" promotes "living for self." Building up treasures in Heaven as Jesus taught is not what counts, but the acquiring of wealth - and enjoying perfect bodily health - right here and now in the earthly realm. As the great charlatan Benny Hinn has said, "I don't need gold in Heaven! I've gotta have it now!"

To deal first with Word-Faith teaching on HEALTH. A couple of examples:

"God intends for every believer to live completely free from sickness and disease. It is up to you to decide whether or not you will."

- Kenneth Copeland

"There will be no sickness for the saint of God... He promises to heal all - every one, any, any whatsoever, everything - all our diseases! That means not even a headache, sinus problem, not even a toothache - nothing! No sickness should come your way."

- Benny Hinn 

Lies. Deceit. Rank heresy. And yet millions of people worldwide have been duped by the utterly and glaringly false assertions of twisted and Scripture-twisting men such as these! We have never been promised sound bodily health this side of Heaven. 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)

Not quite what the Word-Faith deceivers teach, now is it???!!!

Of course, if the allegedly mandatory healing doesn't materialize, it is the sick person's own fault. Not enough faith... hidden/unconfessed sin... lack of "positive confession"... Are you poor, or at least, not rich? Driving a 10-year old Ford rather than a brand new Porsche? Scraping together the mortgage or rent for a 2-bedroom terraced house or living luxuriously in a mansion with 4 bathrooms? Well, the Word-Faith teachers have the answer...

Let's now have a little look at their slant on WEALTH.

Essentially, 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!"

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 giver could expect to receive back a hundred times more than his or her "stake" - sorry, seed offering!

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN, which might better stand for True Believer's Nightmare) has milked this whole sorry scam for all its worth, and has provided the dream platform for a whole host of 'Prosperity Gospel' wolves since its conception in the Pit and birth on the airwaves back in 1973. TBN's international influence in promoting Word-Faith heresy is absolutely incalculable. When considering "Christian" TV, the OFF button is by far the best choice to make!

N.B. Quite apart from their favourite "terrible twins," Health and Wealth, a fairly cursory - but honest - examination of the utterances of Word-Faith's leading luminaries will quickly reveal a whole plethora of aberrant and abhorrent teachings. 

THE "HEALTH AND WEALTH" PLATFORM OF THE WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT IS FOCUSED ENTIRELY ON THE HERE-AND-NOW AT THE EXPENSE OF THE ETERNAL. IT GLORIFIES THE FLESH AND THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD, AND HAS NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE ENEMY'S SELLING OF A SHODDY COUNTERFEIT ALTERNATIVE TO SUCH FAITH!

CONCLUSION

Of course, all the various strands of F.L.E.S.H. deceptions - rather than being exclusive phenomena  - overlap each other to a very considerable degree, further muddying the waters which should, through the complete and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, be crystal clear to all!

I trust it will be appreciated that what has been presented here is just an overview of these key Satanic strategies, the mere tip of what is a very large iceberg indeed. 

My hope is that enough has been revealed in this article to provoke people into seriously questioning whether they've been feeding upon the God-given good meat of the Gospel, or the junk food of deceived and deceiving men, which may be tempting to the taste buds but is lamentably lacking in any true nutritional substance.

Please, please do your own research, and test everything against the Word of God!

Ask yourself those difficult but very necessary questions. And give yourself honest answers, however unpalatable they may be. As the old saying goes, "Truth hurts!" But a short-term wound to the flesh is as nothing compared to the eternal damage that following F.L.E.S.H. can bring to the spirit.

So finally,three important A's to remember:

ASK.      ANSWER.      ACT.



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"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

(2 Timothy Chapter 3)

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