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Correspondence:
CWM CAMP/CONFERENCE 2006Hi Philip,
It was great to finally meet you and Kath over the past week.
The time of ministry and God’s presence were wonderful.
I pray that the Lord will continue to use you for the extension of His Kingdom especially in bringing the truth of the gospel message to others who have been deceived.
Mike Lynch,
Adelaide
HILLSONG – AoG AUSTRALIA
Thanks Philip, Enjoyed your last mailer. The chasers on Hillsong were devastatingly on target —how sad it is so obvious to the world.
In His Grip
AW, Sydney
Thank you for your CETF magazine this month. I applaud Southern Cross College for linking with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Roman Catholic Church—the church born from the NT disciples, with Christ as its cornerstone and builder (admittedly with its misguided points due to man’s involvement—similar to your so-called ministry)—in discussing the Trinity. D
o you even know what the Roman Catholic’s stance is on the Trinity (FYI The blessed Mother is NOT part of their Trinitarian theology.)PG, Hillsong, Sydney
Editorial Question:
Does PG’s view (see high-lighted section) reflect official Hillsong and/or AoG policy regarding the Church of Rome—mother of harlots, abomination of the earth? Readers’ comments and/or questions are invited. PG is also invited to comment.
PURPOSE DRIVEN RICK WARREN & AG-USA LINKS
Philip, I am a friend of Kevin [Bishop—see pages 2-3] who made his association this summer while in Wisconsin Rapids on business for 3½ months.
One Friday I was conversing with Kevin over the phone and he was telling me about the whole episode with the AG and I urged him to do a search on Google and find out if there is an association or support group for former AoG ministers.
And that’s when and how Kevin found out about you, through my urging him to investigate if someone else had been wronged and taken their experience to the keyboard and cyber space to share the abominable treatment that the AoG hands out without regard for consequence.
As a former Catholic I had no experience with churches that operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and because of my Catholicism, the Bible had been reduced to only the sound bites Rome wanted me to hear, so I really didn’t know God’s Word and what it said regarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and what subsequently happens.
Praise God, I woke out of my slumber and got busy and immersed myself in the Word for about 3 years and got reading and had another brother to come alongside me and disciple me and help me study God’s Word and encourage me.
However this person while having a very discerning mind was not at all connected with other aspects of the Holy Spirit. Enter Kevin this summer, and all that changed.
Refer
December Mailer
Hello,
I do not agree or disagree with pastor Warren/PDL, so I have not opinion to defend on either side.
However, after receiving several of your emails I would like to offer the following:
You seem to place too much stock in the opinion of one A/G source—Dr Redding (sic).
This becomes all the more important if you are going to call for “evidence” and support from those who have publicly disagreed with you. Rev Niger is a close personal friend of mine and I know him to be a solid man and pastor whose life and ministry are absolutely above reproach. I have met Pastor Lee, and know many other friends/pastors who embrace and use PDL. The point of all of this is—if I must choose to trust long time friends and pastors will (sic) very strong track records of service, over some group of naysayers that I have never met, most likely will never meet, and about whom I know ZERO; well I suppose you already know my choice. I find your emails trite, pompous, full of innuendo and ad hominem attack. But also, mildly amusing. Rev. David AutersonUS Missionary, Assemblies of God
Reply from CETF editor: Dear David, Thank you for your response.
I find your comment about our emails being “mildly amusing” intriguing. Frankly we “are not amused” to use a pompous British retort. Matters for us are far too serious to be amusing. Before going public on this matter I had considerable interaction with George Wood your General Secretary.
Ray Barnett is a disenfranchised AG pastor. James Sundquist is a most informed man as are Jeffrey Whittaker (AG pastor) and Bob DeWaay, a graduate of your central AG Bible College ( All of these men and their writings were referred to in our email to which David Auterson responded). Obviously I have not contacted everyone within AG-USA on this issue, but to imply that our modus operandi is suspect and very limited is demonstrably untrue.
Also it seems to be rather silly to suggest as you do that we may be appealing for “support” from those who have publicly disagreed with us.
This is a nonsense argument. The fact that Mr Niger is your friend has nothing to do with the issue. Now I think the expression “ad hominem” (dictionary “of an argument, appealing to the emotions and not to reason”) fits admirably in respect of your attempt at dismissal. David, please understand.
I have a long track record of close association with AoG worldwide. Check me out if you want. My heart breaks when I think of where this one time godly movement came from and where it is heading. They are in many cases supporting the “Seeker Sensitive” non-Christianity of men like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels who support such worldly and to some extent “evil” people as Bono and Mel Gibson.
Where in the world is AG heading? David you sign yourself “Reverend” which is fine. I do too at times. However if we use that “title” then we should at least reflect something of the ONE of whom it is written “holy and reverend is HIS name”.
May God bless you and lead us all at this time of testing. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 “...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” I hope to hear from you. Sincerely yours in Christ,
Philip L. POWELL (July 30, 2006)
Dear Philip,
If David is really Niger’s friend, he should tell him the truth as well as demand that he supply proof of slander and libel...which he to date has not.
By the way, I have not heard back from McFarland since I sent him my 40 page demolition. He can’t refute it, so he chooses to be deceived and chooses to delight in his delusion.
My own comment: [about David Austerson] how does someone become or continue to be a missionary for the AOG and not even know what it is disseminating?
Blessings,
James Sundquist
(July 30, 2006)
RE: CWM Mailer July #3 Date sent: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 —
I’m glad that you want your voice to be heard in such a way as testifying against another person out of love, but I do believe that this is more gossip than with a pure heart that wants God. I do not want to judge you but this is honestly what it sounds like to me.
It may not be the best thing for God’s church that you slander a name that is well known like his.
The truth is that he had a great impact on God’s church. It might be best that you pray instead of sending emails.
I regret to inform, that my hopes are that this is the last email I receive from you regarding this matter.
Joe Brouchoud
Reply from Philip Powell:
Dear Joe,
Thank you for responding to our email. However I am at a loss to follow your reasoning. You have accused us of “slander” and “gossip”. Slander is defined in the dictionary as “a malicious, false, and injurious statement spoken about a person” while gossip is defined as “easy or unconstrained talk or writing especially about persons or social incidents; idle talk; groundless rumour.” You have not directly identified the person or persons whom you accuse us of slandering or gossiping about. I presume you must have in mind Rick Warren and/or Thomas Trask.
Have you read the articles by author James Sundquist, lecturer Roger Oakland and pastors Ray Barnett, Bob DeWaay and Jeffrey Whittaker linked to the email that you received?
We all at CWM take your accusation against us very seriously and ask you in all sincerity to show us where and how we have acted on mere “gossip” or have been guilty of slander.
This is being sent to you in all sincerity. I greatly look forward to your response. May God abundantly bless you. Please tell me something about yourself—who you are, what you do, and where you live etc.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely in Christ’s service Philip L. Powell
Editorial Explanation: There followed three further exchanges to July 24, 2006. Apart from disclosing that he’s a pastor (presumably AoG) Joe Brouchoud refused to identify anything more about himself and failed to produce any evidence for his accusations of slander and gossip against CWM, notwithstanding Philip Powell’s further appeal dated July 22, 2006 as follows:
I can do no more than appeal to your conscience to either show where we are guilty of the charges that you make against us or to retract and apologise.
To me it is a small thing that you judge me. My deepest concern is that the drift into deepening darkness as a consequence of the Seeker Sensitive, Purpose Driven, Emergent Church trend be arrested.
I am saddened that AG-USA has joined that trend. I have felt that I should raise my voice against it—“so help me God”.
Sadly Joe Brouchoud is typical of denominational religious hirelings of which there are “legions”.
Author James Sundquist who was asked by the late Dr Opal Reddin professor of an esteemed AG Bible College to warn Assemblies of God people against Rick Warren and his purpose driven apostasy wrote (July 22, 2006):
Philip: Once these accusers fail to provide proof (which is always)...
I then make their name public that all might be warned and fear the Lord....
so I hope you do the same.”
There was one refreshing exception that indicates that some members of the AG hierarchy do have a conscience of sorts.
Roy Held, secretary of the Wisconsin Northern Michigan District of the Assemblies of God (http://www.wnmdag.org/181172.ihtml), in an email dated October 4, 2006 referred to CWM and those associated with us in this campaign as “kooks”.
After several exchanges Mr Held honourably apologised. In an email dated October 10, 2006 he wrote:
Dear Philip, Please accept my sincere apology for using terms which were unwise and unwarranted in describing you and others who are opposed to Rick Warren’s ministry. Please convey my expression of regret to Dr Reddin and others who were impugned by my remarks.
Thank you,
Ron Held.
Editorial Remark:
Of course we accept the apology.
We await a similar public apology plus suitable restitution from the AG-USA officials to the Barnett and Bishop families—refer pages 2-3 this issue and pages 4-6 CETF 36.
Opal Reddin went to her reward shortly after Thomas Trask in an open conference insulted her.
She “… being dead yet speaks …”.
Unfortunately to date Trask will say nothing publicly on the issue.
Undoubtedly CWM will publish more about this.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS ITEMS:
Islam and the Future of the West By Regis Nicoll
[Source: The Berean Call, Sept 2006] :
“The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic.
The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural ”—Samuel Huntington.
While we certainly hope that Huntington is wrong, some troubling trends across the Atlantic tend to support his predictions.
For instance, writers Robert Spencer and Carol Eisenberg make the following observations about Scandinavia:•
- The Qur'an has now become required reading for secondary schoolers in Denmark.•
- Some Swedish authorities are positioning to pressure the European Union to remove the terrorist group Hamas from the EU's list of terrorist organisations.•
- In Amsterdam, where it is projected that the majority of residents will be Muslim within 10 to 15 years, the most popular name for a newborn boy is Mohammed.
Such indicators have caused Princeton historian, Bernard Lewis, to remark that Europe will be Islamic by the end of this century if not sooner. Bat Ye’or, a prominent authority on Islam agrees stating, “Eurabia is the future of Europe”.
Despite the host of ongoing terrorist violence, including the 9/11 attacks, 39% of Americans have a favourable view of Islam versus 37% who have an unfavourable view according to the July 2004 Pew Research Poll. However former Muslim Ibn Warraq knows better. Commenting about the September 11 attacks, Warraq warns,There may be moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate. There is no difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism. Islamic fundamentalism is a totalitarian construct derived by Muslim jurists from the fundamental and defining texts of Islam. The fundamentalists... have made Islam the basis of a radical utopian ideology that aims to replace capitalism and democracy as the reigning world system...Islamic fundamentalism has global aspirations: the submission of the entire world to the all-embracing Shari ‘a, Islamic Law, a fascist system of dictates designed to control every single act of all individuals.
While some may regard radical Islam as similar to the KKK’s relation to Christianity, that is clearly a flawed comparison. The life and example of Christ teach that God’s kingdom is to advance not by might, but by overcoming evil with good. Whereas the Islam fundamentalist can rightly claim to follow the teachings of the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad in using oppressive force, the Christian must disregard the clear teachings of Christ and His life to do so.—Huntington, The Clash Of Civilizations and the Remaking Of World Order, Touchstone Books, 1997)
Witchcraft Ban Ends in Zimbabwe [Source: The Berean Call, October 2006]
Zimbabwe has lifted a ban on the practice of witchcraft, repealing legislation dating back to colonial rule. From July the government acknowledges that supernatural powers exist —but prohibits the use of magic to cause someone harm.
In 1899, colonial settlers made it a crime to accuse someone of being a witch or wizard—wary of the witch-hunts in Europe a few centuries earlier which saw many people burned at the stake after such accusations.In fact, it is not hard to find vivid stories about the use of magic.
Alfred, for example, believes that he was bewitched at work some years ago, making him partly bald.
He described how after supper one evening as he and his wife were retiring to bed his hair disappeared. “When my wife came into the bedroom she looked at me and said,
‘What happened to your hair?
Where’s it gone?’ “She saw a bald patch from the forehead going back on the side of the head.
There was no trace of it,” he says. He spent seven months visiting traditional healers to make it grow back. There are many other accounts of the use of magic, and the new law effectively legitimises many practices of traditional healers.
These include rolling bones to foretell the future, divination, attempts to communicate with the dead, using muti-traditional powders and fetishes—to ensure the desired sex of a child. But there will be some legal grey areas, like whether it is legal for a husband to place some charms in his bedroom—charms that may injure his wife if she is unfaithful.
The Witchcraft Suppression Act was used fairly frequently, but prosecuting someone under the new legislation may prove difficult.
The new Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act will demand proof that a person has supernatural powers and that they are using them to harm others.“It’s not going to be an easy task,” says Custom Kachambwa, a judge with years of experience in the legal field. He says witnesses will often be traditional healers, who could be accused of practising harmful magic in the future.
But whatever the problems, the repealing of the witchcraft laws is another sign that Zimbabwe’s government is continuing to move away from Western values and placing more emphasis on the country’s own traditions.
Vickers, BBC, Harare, July 2, 2006news.bbc.co.uk
GERMANY BANS HOME SCHOOLING
Latest human rights court supports ban on home schooling in Germany.
Family flees over border.
You can do what you like, where you want, when you want, and teach what you want in schools, but if you are a Christian and want to protect your children, you will be persecuted.
We must think globally, as universal laws will prevail.
The heading reads:
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS—Court upholds Nazi-era ban on home schooling—Decision: State must avoid dissent,
‘separate philosophical convictions’ – posted September 29, 2006.
… the European Human Rights Court [concludes] … society has a significant interest in preventing the development of dissent through “separate philosophical convictions.” … Fritz and Marianna Konrad, … argued that Germany’s compulsory school attendance endangered their children’s religious upbringing and promotes teaching inconsistent with the family’s Christian faith. …
The court said the Konrads belong to a “Christian community which is strongly attached to the Bible” and rejected public schooling because of the explicit sexual indoctrination programs that the courses there include. The German court already had ruled that the parental “wish” to have their children grow up in a home without such influences “could not take priority over compulsory school attendance.” The decision also said the parents do not have an “exclusive” right to lead their children’s education.
Read the full story at: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1389 http://wwwbrusselsjournal.com/node/1330Associated information at:
http://www.home-school.com/news/germany3.htmlhttp://www.hslda.org/docs/link.asp?
URL=http%3A%2F%www%2Ebrusselsjournal%2Ecom%2Fnode%2F139
Robert Withall—home schooling father from Victoria, Australia—writes:
The above are links to the powerful home school defence league in the USA.
I have recently heard from John Angelico, supplier of home school materials and Presbyterian Church leader in Victoria, that something has just happened in Queensland to make it much harder for home schoolers.
John has recently written a significant article (with many scriptures) about when we should obey God and not man.
Many home schoolers I know will not register under the new laws coming into effect in January 2007 in Victoria (Australia).
Once they can identify us they may control us.
I had heard something like 1500 home schoolers in southern Queensland alone have remained unregistered but as usual after a period of no action the government may start to crack down.
If the UN agenda under the rights of the child is adhered to, home schooling may be made illegal even in Australia.
LIVING WATERS – KYABRAM SELF ESTEEM“
Self Esteem: The Foundation Of Life”
(Kyabram Free Press July 28, 2006, edition) is the title of an article by Noel Portwine, senior pastor of the church that I led from 1980 to 1988 when I did my best to keep that congregation away from the deceptive “Christian” psychology that had started to permeate Assemblies of God in Australia.
Sadly it now has a stranglehold on the organisation. Mr Portwine claims, “The foundation of a healthy life is having a healthy opinion of oneself”.
The Bible and history say the opposite. In fact the illustration of a building that the writer refers to in his opening sentence: “T
he most important part of any building is the foundation” gives the lie to what he claims.
You start with foundations and this means you MUST remove all extraneous matter to lay the base otherwise you will build on sand.
A healthy life starts with a view of God and that forever destroys false “self esteem”.
It was when Isaiah saw the Lord that he exclaimed, “Woe is me … I am undone … I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”.
God then touched him and changed him (Isaiah 6:1-7).
The sin question must be dealt with and it’s the sin question that keeps true Christians away from looking to themselves and keeping their faith and trust firmly in Christ.
At the end of his life Paul the apostle referred to himself as the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
Was that a “healthy opinion of oneself”?
No, certainly not in terms of modern thinking. As we have quoted elsewhere in this magazine Robert Schuler, one of the chief exponents of this false “self image-self esteem” teaching that has invaded the church, wrote:
I don’t think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence, counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition (Christianity Today, October 5, 1984).
Noel Portwine does quote scripture but he perverts it by ignoring the teaching of the text. For example he cites Proverbs 23:7 and quotes it in part:
“As a man thinks in his heart so is he”.
If you read the previous verse and the whole of verse 7 it immediately becomes clear that the preacher who wrote Proverbs is stating the exact opposite to what Mr Portwine claims.
Don’t take my word for it. Read it for yourself and form your own opinion.
One of the hallmarks of a false “teacher” is that he perverts scripture to make it say other than what it clearly does say. Even if you just quote the first part of Proverbs 23:7 you are forced to the conclusion that a man is NOT necessarily what he thinks he is, but what he thinks, he is.
In other words as Jeremiah puts it:
The heart is deceitful … and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).
You cannot and do not know yourself and that is why all this nonsense about “self-esteem” is simply that: humanistic nonsense!
It claims to know everything yet changes nothing.
We need a good dose of the doctrine of the old divines and the truth that they wrote and sang about —men like John and Charles Wesley and Samuel Davies—all of the 18th Century.
I was greatly stirred recently to learn that Charles Wesley’s original hymn Oh for a Thousand Tongues to Sing actually comprised of almost 100 verses —all theologically based.
Of course those early Methodists didn’t and couldn’t sing all the verses in one meeting.
No matter how much they sang there was always plenty left over. Samuel Davies (1723-61) another hymn writer of the period expressed the truth well especially in the second verse of his great hymn:
GREAT GOD OF WONDERS
Great God of wonders, all Thy ways display the attributes divine; But countless acts of pard’ning grace beyond thine other wonders shine
Who is a pard’ning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?Such dire offences to forgive; such guilty daring souls to spare;This is Thy grand prerogative, and none shall in the honour share: Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
Man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) as Portwine wrote in the newspaper article, but what he didn’t say is that man created in “innocence” fell into sin—and that made all the difference. God hates sin, so where does that leave us based on Portwine’s logic?
The point is “self esteem” has nothing at all to do with the issue and certainly it is NOT the foundation of life —
PP
POLICY: We value and encourage your communications on any matter and especially on subjects raised in our publications. However due to the large amount of correspondence that we receive Philip Powell can not undertake to answer personal correspondence.
WE are receiving so many letters and emails that it is impractical to publish them all.
CWM issues a regular electronic Mailer, which among other things seeks to warn Christians about false doctrine and abusive practices within the Christian community.
Good advice resulted from our publishing the story.
You can join the CWM Mailer at http://www. christian-witness.org/join.html for future despatches.
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Appeared in Issue CETF NR 38 December 2006
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Monday, October 09, 2006
