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TRAITORS IN THE PULPITBy Steve Van Nattan THE
DEEPER FACTS-- |
MICRO MANAGING THE SAINTS"The most important man in my life is my pastor." These were the words of one married lady in the Detroit area on her personal Web page. This tells me her pastor is encouraging this lady to exalt him above here husband. This is intellectual adultery. Her husband should confront this pastor publicly and put the Sword of the Word in "until the dirt comes out." |
Pastor checks dress patterns.
A pastor in a church in Michigan requires all the ladies to bring their dress patterns to him before they make a dress to get his approval. This is beyond imagination and fiction-- It is maddness! Where are the husbands? Fundemental Baptist pastors are turning men into sniveling little scum, and this is of Satan, for society does the same in the secular area. Boys are brought through school being taught that men are the enemy, and women are tough and should advance at men's expense. Now here is a jerk with a mail order "Dr." in front of his name telling men that God does not trust them either. I would like to tell you what you can do with your "Dr.", but this is a Christian Journal.
FROM A READER:
I am somewhat skeptical of finding good fellowship in this land. I know that there is a remnant but how do you find them? Talk is cheap-- many can speak the words that sound good but after observing them they are found to be hypocrites. The problem seems to be finding those who speak the truth and also DO the truth.And you are right. The traditions of men are one of the most difficult impediments to fellowship. Many of the people I have encountered put traditions above scripture. They will hold the words of the "pastor" above scripture and the pastor cannot be contradicted. They idolize the man and they idolize the traditions.
The Lord have mercy on them.
Paycheck Sunday and Faith Promise Giving--
In a word, NOT IN THE BIBLE. First Corinthians 16 teaches giving week by week, according to the blessing of the PAST, NOT the future expectation. There is NO faith involved in coercing God to add to my finances because I stood in a meeting six months ago and committed Him and me to fork up way more than I am earning. This causes some families to come to their retirement years flat broke because they gave away all their savings. They then have to work themselves literally to death trying to survive. This is NOT noble-- it is the height of folly.
Also, some people give and make promises to give later, until their babies go hungry and don't have decent clothes to wear. Only an abject fool would let a jerkwater preacher put them into such a state of life.
Repent mister, and start taking care of the most important things-- flowers for your wife, treats for your kids, a vacation once in a while. This is NOT evil, and if your preacher does not agree, you have my permission to slap the scum head.
LETTER FROM THE VICTIMS
March 25, 01
Brother Steve,
I know you probably don't need yet another tithing story, but your posts regarding the current state of many fundamental churches has gotten me thinking.
My wife and I attend a small church (maybe no more than 40 people) in Florida. For two years the church has been a real blessing to both of us. Over the last few months, however, our Pastor has begun to spend a lot of time on the subject of "tithing." We've spent two month's worth of Sunday Schools on "faith promise" and giving to support the church. We've evern set aside the first Sunday in April as "Faith Promise Sunday" to give to missions. As an aside, we've also begun posting how much we take in each week on a board in the front of the church. On more than one occaison, our Pastor has said, "We'll, as you can see, the offering was a little light this week."
Bro. Steve, we only have so many families, and my wife and the other mothers have left secular careers to stay home and help raise children. My point is, we can only funnel in so much money, and I can't see how we can continue to "pay the freight" (support 25 missionaries, pay the light bill and building rent, pastor's salary, etc.) on our collective incomes.
Let me emphasize that I have NOTHING against giving as the Spirit leads to support a church, but the Lord wants us to be cheerful in our giving, not guilty, right??
I know your views on most of this from reading BAS. Nonetheless, I would still like the study to combat the natural "guilt reflex" that I (and I and many other men in the church) have.
In Christ.
H_________
Churched for buying a coke
A man in the south of the USA went to a church which had a very strict law against caffeine. If anyone was ever caught using caffeine, they were reported by church spies, and the pastor would demand they publicly repent at the front of the church.
A man attending there had a baby that was very sick with stomach trouble one day. The man was desperate, and he stopped at a convenience store and bought a six pack of Coca Cola to try to settle the baby's stomach. This happens to be a good idea. We have done it ourselves. Someone from the church saw him, finked to the pastor, and the man was instructed to go forward the next Sunday and repent of buying Coke. The man was so disgusted that he refused, and he was excommunicated.
What a blessing to that brother. I hope he is now in a fellowship where people live with the Holy Ghost instead of some trash throw back from Phariseeism. By the way, the preacher ran off with another man's wife a few weeks later. Hurrah for tithing mint and rue, and let's all chase whores.
Pastor wears his three piece suit to go hunting
There is a preacher in Michigan who is so obsessed with his clothing standard for men that he wears a three piece suit when he goes hunting. There is another church in Michigan where the men are required to wear a suit on Sunday. It is a very country type church, and the men don't have new suits. The supreme irony is that most of the men look like Bozo the Clown because they are coming to church in 1950s suits. They would all look 100% better if they wore clean coveralls.
This preoccupation with clothes is insane. Decency, and men look like men, and women look like women, is the ONLY biblical standard. The dressy church standard makes it very frightening for the poor and sinners to consider attending such churches. Never mind, in spite of their holy rollin nonsense, the Four Square folks will take in the poor sinner and get them saved and love them. These Fundamental Baptist Pharisees are a real drag.
What kind of saints follow these men? Weak babies. They somehow come to believe that they must observe all of the picky laws to be right with God. Some folks realize the laws are a bit silly, but they feel they need fellowship in the big Baptist temple so badly that they put up with the stupid laws and even change their oil in their suit. So what if you can live with this mister? Do you have any idea what you are setting up your children for? You kids will rebel one day-- I promise you. And, you will answer to God for driving your children away from the Truth. You are wicked.
Dr. Wood demanded to decide when people
bought a home and car or had another babyI am given to understand that Dr. Wood down in Texas was a micro manager of his people. He demanded to be consulted when a member of his church wanted to buy a car or home. He would demand a complete accounting of their net worth, and then he would determine if they should have a new car or home. He also did this if a couple wanted to have a baby. He did not teach them principles by which to "count the cost" of their actions-- No, HE became their god and guru. HIS will was paramount in all matters of life and practice.
Now, why did Dr. Wood do this? One simple answer-- To make sure everyone could give well. No other reason is possible, for there is NO justification in the Word of God for this. Jesus didn't do it, Paul didn't do it, David and Moses didn't do it. It just is not there. It IS in the doctrine of Mr. Moon of the Moonies, of the Jehovah's Witnesses, of Scientology, and of the Mormons. They all micro-manage their followers' personal finances very closely. Those who take the headship of Jesus Christ and impose their will on the saints in place of the will of God are hirelings and NOT working for the Good Shepherd.
You don't like that conclusion do you? Well, it is about time we call things as they are. We know that there are wolves in sheep's clothing-- Jesus told us to watch for them. So, the most effective man in Satan's service will be a preacher in a large pulpit, waving a King James Bible, and using all the vocabulary of the saints. But, they will be devils.
I believe men like Dr. Wood and Jack Hyles were such. They built monster churches where people followed them no matter what fool thing they did. And, much of their foundational behavior and teaching came from Babylon, American marketing, and self-love. What else can we conclude?
They are devils, and it is about time that true believers head out the country lanes of the USA looking for a working pastor of a small church where everyone knows each other-- where the man at the local feed store, when asked about that pastor, says, "That is the d_____ sweetest man I know. He may be a preacher, but he sure is honest! He visits my old Daddy in the nursing home every two weeks, and my Daddy don't have a nickel to his name. It gotta be for lovin him alone."
MOVE, MOVE, MOVE-- Get out of that monster mausoleum, and start living with real saints.
Shock Jocks
There is a temperament in many Jackboot run churches that is fired and driven along by shock and low grade panic. As I think on this, I have to reflect on the many researches I have done on various cults and Satanic devices, and I wonder how much I may have been guilty of this. I know the topics were important, and I am good at doing the research and making the presentation. This is not because I am clever-- God has chosen to let me have the sense and the contacts to run down evil things and expose them. But, I wonder if I presented them strictly as information, or did I use some of the shock tactics?
I have seen some really ugly things done in the name of informing the saints. Pastors will gather the works Dave Hunt, Constance Cumby (whom we commend to our readers), Texe Marrs, and the newsletters of many hair brains who are not born again, but who sound like they know all about issues of evil. Many useful facts come from these sources, while some use shock to take in wide eyed preachers. This is then orchestrated, not in seminar type presentations, which are legitimate if done for information only-- No, these Shock Jocks use the information in bits and pieces at church dinners and in tight groups to slam the brains of the saints with terror.
Result: The saints come to see their pastor as the bearer of close terrible secrets. They soon come to believe that there are vast conspiracies driving their lives into an Antichrist future. Finally, they may even take actions which are mindless biblically and actually detrimental to their future. They will buy silver and gold and hide it away. They will cash in mutual funds which are bearing interest well above the inflation rate. They never stop to consider that silver is now one dollar above what it was in 1980.
Also, these Shock Jock no brainers will sell their people all the books of Texe Marrs (Pentecostal and no longer teaching the pre-Trib Rapture) and Dave Hunt (believes unsaved men do good works which God must consider at the Great White Throne and attacks KJV Bible defenders as wicked). The saints come to abandon their personal Bible reading to read these end times suspense thrillers. Even this stupid tribulation book, "Left Behind," by Tim LaHack is found in Bible believers' homes. The Shock Jocks figure it is OK to promote a neo-evnagelical book if the end justifies the means, that is, to keep the groupies wide eyed and begging for more.
This whole process, dear reader, makes a talking head of the preacher. He is seen as the source of deep secrets, and he is consulted regularly for a verdict on conspiracy matters. The preacher gradually makes a guru of himself, and this serves the Neo-Nazi atmosphere of the local church ruled by a Jackboot.
All deep and mysterious regimes of history, such as Hitler's and Stalin's, had their intelligence gathering systems, which served three purposes.
First, they learned about the adversary, which is legitimate.
Second, they fanned the fears of the adversary, which is NOT very useful.
Third, they spied on their own citizens, which is wicked. Jack boot Shock Jocks do all three, and it is an evil thing indeed. Read on this page about the poor fellow who was "churched" for buying a can of coke for his baby. A cheap scum of a spy turned the fellow in to the pastor, and the pastor used the spy in a process of destruction. This local church is nothing but a Baptist KGB sewer.
May I suggest a solution:
A mature pastor should ask some other man in the assembly to do the research and presentation on all such issues. Assigns men in the assembly to research various cults and evils as the come by, and make sure more than one mind is working on the topic.
The pastor should not even end the service on the evening these things are presented. He will then send the message that information is available to anyone who wants it. A second idea is to teach the people to surf the Web intelligently. This will send them home to do their own research, and the fathers will come to see themselves as the first man in the line of defense of the home.
Now some of you ego maniac jerks will click "BACK" right now and run down to your favorite porn site. I hope someone takes me seriously on this. I know I taught my friends, in the churches I pastored, to do this, and I had a whole church of people who were diggers and came up with many things I had never seen. I motivated them to do their own research, and they still refer to the days we dealt with various cultic and Satanic issues. They REMEMBER what they participate in.
Let us end this thought with an observation. If you see ten evil terrifying things coming down the road, simply do nothing about it long enough, and nine of the ten will run into the ditch and never reach you. The mastery of the mind in Christ is to learn to identify that one which WILL reach you. May I suggest you sit with an older friend and discuss all the conspiracies you have heard about and researched in the past twenty years.
Be honest now-- How many of these terrors actually came to pass and affected ANYONE? Think of the UFO and Groom Lake thing. How about the con-trail cross patches in the sky. Do you even know one person PERSONALLY who ended up diagnosed sick of something clearly related to the con-trails? Have YOU seen a concentration camp in person (NOT a photograph)? Is the New Age affecting your life in any identifiable way? I cannot, for the life of me, find one thing the New Age has done to destroy my peace. For the record, I was on the phone with Constance Cumby while she was doing original first line research while some of you were still wetting your diaper. I am not a late participant in terror collecting.
Now, let me ask you another question: Have YOU, or anyone you love, grown cold, or fallen into porn or lust in the last twenty years? Hmmmmm? Come on now bunky-- Tell the truth to yourself. So, tell me, where should your teaching and research major in the days coming down to the rapture?
Fathers: It is YOUR job to not be "ignorant of his devices," that is, Satan's devices. YOU are the first line of defense of you home, NOT your pastor. If you think the pastor can defend your home better than you can, you are a big wimp. If you need some pointers how to defend your home better, SEND MAIL, and I will help you kick start your future role as defender of the saints God gave you.
When I was in Colombia Bible Church in Pennsylvania speaking with a view to our going to Detroit as missionaries to Arabs, I was confronted by one of the men in the church there. He seemed articulate, and he asked, "When you get to Detroit, are you going to call the God of the Bible Allah?" I had only lightly considered the issue, and I told him the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons called God "God,"and we still call him God also, so I saw no problem calling Jehovah "Allah."
Later the Holy Ghost prodded my mind and convinced me I didn't know one diddly thing about that question. A trip with Dave Cochrane to the University library back in Lansing, Michigan terrified me. Six years of research later, I had finished the book, ALLAH, DIVINE OR DEMONIC? That one man's question started the whole process of research, and the book is being downloaded all over the Middle East. Some have left Islam, missionaries have stopped calling Jehovah "Allah," and a few Muslims have been gloriously saved. If the pastor at Colombia had guruized himself and all visiting missionaries, I would not have been asked that question which started me on perhaps the most important venture in my life.
Preacher-- You are NOT called to shock the sheep-- You are called to feed the sheep and LEAD them to the feed trough. GET RIGHT!!
Churches compare rules to see who is righteous
I am told that there are a good many local churches which compare themselves with each other to prove they are the best church in the area. What is the standard? "We meet more times a week than you do." Or, "We send more busses out on Sunday than you do." How about, "We have more rules than you do."? Can you believe that? This IS happening folks. What miserable mongrel religion!
If you take your family to one of these churches where self is exalted, you can only expect one thing in your children-- snobbery and arrogance. When your kids rebel against you one day mister, don't you send me E-Mail asking me what to do. It will be too late. This kind of church is brain washing you and your family. You have had the Word of God washed out of your mind, and in its place some four flusher of a preacher has inserted self exaltation and party spirit. Joseph Stalin could have done it no better.
CRIME IN THE PULPITS
Harboring extortionists and letting them pay his house payment
One pastor in middle America has welcomed a family of notorious extortionists into his assembly. Then this family lifted large sums of money off of a couple of members, the pastor told the victims that they should receive the experience with patience and consider it persecution. The crooks also borrowed money from the church and never paid it back.
Why does the pastor take this thievery so patiently and teach that this is good godly form. Why does the pastor leave the crooks in the church and demand that the church people let the thieves rip them off regularly/ Answer: The crooks have paid the pastor's house payment for a good long time, and they made arrangements for the pastor to finance his new home.
The saints in this church seem to be oblivious to the comments and sarcasm in the local community, and they don't seem to care that the church has a treacherous testimony. Evangelism is out of the question with anyone but the most illiterate and ignorant people. Everyone else knows how they have harbored crooks. I am told that the crooks are looking at 250 years of hard time in the big house.
Use treasury to bid at auction
A pastor in Texas was at an auction. He saw a Rolex top flight watch there, and he decided to bid the whole church treasury on the watch, sell it, return the money to the treasury, and pocket the profit.
He did just that, and he got the watch for well under its market value. Elated, he went around to a professional and asked for an appraisal of the watch. The man told him it was a fake and worth about $25. The preacher was then under the whip, and in threat of litigation, to produce the payment. He found that he had no way to sell the watch and repay the church treasury. What did he do? He sent E-Mail to all his newsletter and asked them if they would bail him out.
He also asked the list of people not to talk about the scam and how it turned out. He is still in high demand in tax rebel circles and as a revival speaker. PT Barnum was right-- There's a sucker born every minute.
Lie about IRS standing in order to keep exemption
One highly acclaimed pastor and leader of the tax rebel and unregistered movement lied to his followers about the church's tax exemption. Then he lied to the Federal Government about his status as an organization. Finally, after the Feds decided to call his bluff and take his church house away from him, he begged the US President to bail him out. Two Presidents ignored the gigolo, and he is now wandering about looking for a new following. His church house is GONE and will probably soon fall into the hands of Mormons or such scum.
PORN CRAZED PREACHERS
Dr. D______ tells about dirty boys
A certain Dr. D_____ reported to a friend of mine that he recently went to a pastor's rally in the central eastern seaboard. The host church had arranged several motels to house the pastors, and in one of these was a pastor who reported what follows.
Every morning as the pastors would leave the motel to go to the services, several of them would witness to the motel manager and encourage him to consider being born again. They told him how his life would change and how he could serve the Lord right there as a motel manager. This went on morning after morning, and the motel manager was polite by always declining.
The last morning, as the pastors were leaving to go home, a couple of them cornered the manager again and witnessed to him. He become provoked, and he told one of them, "Come over to the desk-- I want to show you something." The manager tapped a few keys on the computer, and the printer spit out a sheet of figures. The manager handed it to the pastor standing there, and he said, "That is a list of all of you pastors who called down to the office to have the porn channel turned on. I figure about 50% of you called for the porn. I don't need you kind of religion."
Child molester
My evangelist friend arrived at a church where he was to speak. The pastor told him that since they didn't start the revival until the next evening, would the evangelist be able to speak at the nearby prison for him. My friend said he would do that.
The pastor and my friend headed out for the prison, and it was a maximum security monster. When they got there, the pastor turned to the evangelist and asked him to go on inside, the pastor said he had some things to do, and he would be back in and hour and a half.
The evangelist was very puzzled as this, for he had never been in that prison and felt very uneasy about walking in there alone and having to clear his own way with the officials. But, he agreed, and he went in and wandered around until he found someone in charge. They hit it off well, and in the conversation, the evangelist mentioned that he was alone and didn't understand why the pastor didn't want to come in with him.
The prison officer said that was easy to understand. He said that the pastor was wanted in two states for child molesting, and in a few days the man would be appearing in court on the charges. The officer said he figured the pastor knew he would soon be inside that very prison and didn't want to be reminded of it.
The evangelist did speak that evening, but when he went outside, and when the pastor picked him up, the evangelist told him to drop him at him motel, and he told the pastor he would be clearing out of town the next morning as soon as he could.
Child abuse by members and pastors-- Giving-- Beating-- Dumbing down
The pastor and assistant pastor in one Fundamental Baptist King James Only church both have dropped their babies off in the nursery on Sunday morning all bruised and red. The babies showed all the signs of being beaten badly. A member's wife in the nursery was overcome with rage and told her husband. The man told the pastor that if they ever caught his baby like that again, they would call the police.
The pastor immediately took the lady off of the nursery roster. The lady's husband went to the pastor and told him that he better put his wife back in the nursery or he would report the pastor to the police. The lady is back there now, and the babies have not shown any signs of being beaten.
This pastor and assistant pastor and both into Judo and Karate, and it appears that the big tough duo use their babies to practice on. They run the church like a Marine Troop, and they are famous for verbal brutality. The pastor has an adopted son who is very slow. There is a story that when the boy was young, this big tough pastor would punish his son's bad table manners by sending him to his room without eating. This happened so much that the boy actually became malnourished.
Recently, the pastor gave a thirteen week series on how to discipline children. The people of the assembly just follow along and let the man do his thing.
KJV ONLY DECOY
Virtually all of the aberrant behavior on this page, given as examples of deviancy in Fundamentalism, was done by KJV Only men, missionaries, and churches. The King James Bible has become the decoy used by Jackboots to draw in the unsuspecting and sincere sheep into the fold of antichrist. What better way to deceive a trusting soul than to play on their zeal for the Word of God?
Rich McIntire, a preacher and friend of ours who is now with the Lord, said before he died that he expected the antichrist to carry a King James Bible in order to take in the most zealous Fundamentalist followers.
This assumes that after the Rapture of the Lord's Church, there will be those remaining behind who were not born again and were fake Fundamentalists for gain, after the doctrine of Balaam. Given the picture we are forced to observe in this discussion, there is no doubt that many of these KJV Only churches and pastors will be busy as usual, bus pastors on their routes, Sunday School booming, the Sunday after the Rapture.
It is no longer of much consequence whether a man is KJV Only. One is forced to still wait and test the spirits very carefully before committing oneself to any assembly of saints and their leaders. I thought I would share with you several questions I ask when I want to know if a "KJV ONLY" man really is a born again Bible believer:
1. Do you feel the other versions offer any help in personal study?
2. Do you preach from the Old Testament, even basing a sermon on an Old Testament text?
3. Do you preach whole book studies of the Bible? If not, why not?
4. Will I be considered a trouble maker if I find what I believe is a contradiction of the Word of God in your preaching and ask you about it privately?
5. Do you like to talk about things your friends in the assembly learn in personal Bible study at casual moments, such as at church dinners and in the homes. Do you like to LISTEN when another saint shares some discovery in the Word of God, or do you feel you have to have the last word in such matters? Do you assume that a lady has no brain to understand the Word of God?
6. Do you teach, from time to time, why the KJV is the only correct Bible? Do you know the history of the Greek texts, and can you show from the perverted Bibles where the offenses are against the Word of God? How many perverted Bibles do you have on your shelf for such research?
(Minimum: NIV, NASV, RSV, Living Bible, and any Catholic version-- I have about 40, and there are a total of around 200)If the man says something like, "I won't have that trash in my home," he is NOT informed. He is a lazy loud mouthed hireling. Any good football coach will take videos of the competition and watch their moves to plan his game strategy. Paul said, "We are not ignorant of his devices" of Satan, and a man cannot be informed of the Satanic devices of Bible mutilation unless he has a few copies to examine. He also MUST have an NIV on hand to show the weaker brother where the problems are. This item will help you determine if a man is KJV Only in word AND in warfare.
7. About how many cross references do you use in the average sermon?
(Minimum: 20-- 40 is a very good sign of a Bible student, even if he misuses a couple.)If, by the time you have patiently and sincerely brought these questions up with a pastor, he becomes defensive and evasive, you have about two minutes to escape before the devil in him will start massaging you into the mold of submission. Run like crazy friend. Do not assume that you are called of God to hang around and be polite to a demon possessed "Fundamental Baptist KJV Only soul winning blood bought" viper.
Let me say this here. I have found that there are times when the Spirit of God only gives us one clear indicator that someone is evil and dangerous. I have had this happen many times, and after I ran the wicked one off, I was later given a lot more information by the Lord to verify my decision. Sometimes the Lord seems to test us to make us more bold and decisive by only showing us a fraction of the trouble ahead. We better act at once on such information to defend our families and our soul.
If there is ANY offense against the Word of God by a man or a local church, this is the highest form of evil against "the faith once delivered." We must act at once on such an offense, for to the degree which we hesitate to flee evil in this, we will reap sorrow and pain as we confuse our children and confound their zeal.
JACKBOOT MISSIONARIES
Missionary "to the streets of New York"
There is a "missionary" in the southern USA who claims to be a missionary to the streets of New York City. Now, that is a great missionfield to be sure, but there is one small detail this "missionary" fails to tell people when he speaks in his supporting churches. He has never been to New York City.
I don't know whose stories he tells, but the man is pastoring a church in the south where he has been for many years. I asked the evangelist who caught this scam why pastors don't catch these kind of people. He told me that all of the pastors who support such jerks are to fat and lazy to check on anything. They really do not care other than that they get the warm fuzzies when they see what a big percentage of their budget goes to "missions".
Missionary to Mexico-- Living in Georgia for two years
A missionary had been part of a mission to Mexico in the southern USA for many years. His supporting churches would send support checks to him well south in middle Mexico, and they would receive his reports of the wonderful work being done.
One brother who is busy for the Lord in one of the missionary's churches challenged the teens in their church to work through the summer and see how much they could raise to send to the missionary to Mexico. The teens got all excited, and they went to work. They finally had close to the sum they had targeted, and they came to their leader in the church and told him to send the check to the missionary. Only, until they actually had the final earnings in the bank, they said the missionary should not cash the check.
The man leading sent the check with the instructions to the missionary. Well, soon all the money had been earned, the teens were elated at having met their goal, and the leading man tried to reach the missionary to tell him he could cash the check.
When he called the field phone in Mexico, a Mexican answered who did not know English. So, the leading man called the missionary's home mission office in the US. They assumed he was in Mexico since he had not told them different. The leading man asked for any of his relatives' phones in the US so he could relay a message to him wherever he was. This man now assumed the missionary must be on a speaking tour.
When he got the missionary's mother in law in South Carolina, he asked if she knew where the missionary was so he could tell him about the check. She said the missionary was there at that time. The leading man then got suspicious that something was not quite right, and he asked how long the missionary had been there. The mother in law said for two years without every leaving.
If turned out that the alleged missionary had a Mexican fellow who would go to the Post Office in Mexico, take a small cut from the check when he cashed it, and he would send the money to the "missionary" in the USA. When the leader in the church involved learned these things, he called the home office of the missionary, only to learn that they had not caught this in many years. The mission immediately fired the "missionary." I wonder of one of YOU supported that missionary?
Paper Missionary
My evangelist friend went to speak in a church. It was pretty big, and when he arrived, he walked into the foyer and saw one of those huge missionary maps with all the lights blinking and the pictures of the missionaries around the border of the display.
Well, he had time to kill, and he got curious, as we all would, to see if he knew any of the missionaries from that church. To his shock, he found three of the missionaries the church supported were dead. He knew for sure that they were. He called the assistant pastor into the foyer, and he told him he knew one of the missionaries had died in a car accident nine years earlier.
The assistant pastor at first insisted that my friend must be confused, but my friend the evangelist kept at it until the assistant pastor got worried and went and found the "senior pastor." The evangelist told the pastor that three of the missionaries were dead and about the one killed in a car accident. The pastor got mad at once and made some accusations. He then ran the evangelist right out the door and threw him off the property and canceled the revival meetings.
A couple of weeks later, after some investigation, the church ran the preacher off. He had been writing the checks and somehow laundering them into his bank account all the time.
Data printout
One missionary to Mexico showed my evangelist friend a database printout which had all the churches in the south where a missionary could get meetings. Also on the printout were all sorts of directions at each church location telling how much you could expect from each church in the offering, where you could get free tiers from a deacon who owned a tire shop, where your wife could get free beauty shop treatment by a church member, and every church with a prophet's chamber where you could stay free.
The missionary to Mexico told my friend that he should get the printout so he could make use of it. The missionary told him that many of the missionaries to Mexico spent very little time in Mexico. They traveled all around the southern USA speaking in churches about the alleged work in Mexico. He boldly stated that it was a very good life and involved very little work.
Shipping NIVs to the Philippines
We were visiting a church in Dayton, Ohio on a weekend when a missionary was also visiting and speaking. He sure had a great message and bragged about all the Bibles and literature he shipped to the Philippines to churches and pastors there.
We were scheduled to eat the noon meal with a family which was also entertaining the missionary. We got into some discussion of missionary work, and our years growing up on the missionfield and as missionaries ourselves came into play. As we talked with the man, I got more and more uncomfortable because he could not give specifics about what he did. I finally concluded that he simply loaded containers full of anything he could get his hands on and shipped it to the Philippines.
I asked him if he found if hard to get really Fundamental literature and Sunday School material to send. He replied that he had to send some Scripture Press and other Neo-Evangelical material in order to fill the container. I then dove all the way in and asked if he only sent King James Bibles. He got visibly enraged, snapped that the pastors in the Philippines need to see NIVs, and stormed out of the room.
The pastor of the KJV Only church we were visiting simply did not have the brain power to ask such questions, and he thought the missionary was solid gold.
Evangelist, Evangelist, Whose Got the Evangelist?
Brother Steve,
As I was reading about the Jackbooted Thugs and the way some Christians are easily fooled by phoney missionaries, I was reminded of a small (50 people would fill the church) SBC church in my area. They had ordained an "evangelist" and he was doing some travelling to Washington State and other places where he was connected with a group called _______________________.
He would go out on "campaigns" for week-end rallies and the head of this group would write back excellent letters extolling his prowess as a preacher. There was even a romance brewing between this "evangelist" and the daughter of the head of this group.
They would read these letters in the service and folks would be praising God and amening all over the place. As I listened to the letters I became suspicious. Thirty-three years of law enforcement has made me a bit of a skeptic. I knew this "evangelist" before he was ordained. In fact, after I preached at that church one time (I do some preaching as a layman) he had come into my office to take care of some hot check warrants (I did some powerful preaching that night. :-)). A friend of mine who was Associate Pastor of the church was also suspicious because of all the praise of this man's preaching and we knew he wasn't that good.
We got copies of some of the "letters" and started checking. None of the "campaigns" could be verified. The venues where he spoke were often involved in other events on the listed dates. The group and its head were unknown in the area where they supposedly had their headquarters. Some of the letters had mentioned prominent preachers the "evangelist" had shared the pulpit with. A check with those preachers, such as Adrian Rogers, showed they had never heard of the "evangelist" or been in the cities where the "rallies" were held at the time they were supposedly going on.
When confronted with the information the "evangelist" left the church without any explanation.
What amazed me was the reactions of the church leadership to the truth we presented to them. Many doubted our research and one or two still believe this "evangelist" has a ministry. If he has one it belongs to the devil, the father of lies. We never figured out his motive behind the web of lies and deceit he wove because he never received any real support from the church or the members there. I think he had a mental problem, something like low self-esteem, and needed the attention that he was being showered with.
God bless you and your ministry,
The Old Sarge
JUDGE RUTHERFORD REINCARNATED
Discuss the JW era of Russell and Rutherford
Charles Taz Russell, founder of Jehovah's Witness was a rather benign loser whose wife told him to do something constructive or ship. He figured the easiest way to get along was to start a religion, and off he went. His ideas were rather abbreviated and mild, and a Bible study cult started around his efforts.
Russell used the King James Bible to start out with, but he told his followers what words to cross out with a pencil which they always carried. I have seen one of these KJV Bibles in a video presentation, and the instructions which verses to cross out were in the front.
Russell did not have a very heavy hand, but he inspired faithfulness to study the Bible, live holy, and witness one's salvation experience.
When Charles Russell died, Judge Rutherford came forward to begin his rule by stealth. None of the JW leaders respected him, so he had to create a crisis. He made some derogatory comments publicly and in writing about WW I, and the President had him thrown in prison. This backfired, and Judge Rutherford had to be let out of jail. He used this though to present himself as a martyr. The scam worked, and for the rest of his life he steadily took over the minds of all JWs.
Rutherford managed to transform the JWs from a Bible studying and holy living people to a works obsessed bunch of mad and driven people, which they are to this day. Rutherford put all the emphasis on selling books and bringing in the cash. He benefited mightily from this works salvation in his bank accounts.
As time went by, Rutherford would purge the JWs of thousands of followers and curse them as unfaithful and disloyal. He did not care if the JW movement went to a fraction of its former numbers, for he was putting together a core of absolutely loyal followers on which the modern movement is founded. Anyone not in the JWs, or anyone who was pitched out of the JWs, was defined as demon possessed. Absolute loyalty was demanded, and an inner circle was developed.
I told you this story because this is the pattern of Jackboot Neo-Nazi Fundamental Baptist churches. Observe the following....
Preacher plants the church
When a new church is "planted," a man comes into a community in which no church exists, or where one has started and needs a Bible teachers. This first Fundamental man will work on the side and make sacrifices for the people, and he loves the people. The saints all respond to the teaching, and a very sound New Testament church can be found in many cases.
But, one day the first man moves on or dies.
The next man follows
The next man comes in because the church can now pay a full salary. He has been taught in Crown College or Pensacola Christian College, or in nearly every other Fundamental Baptist college that he is worthy of a full salary and working on the side is wicked. A representative of Crown College told my son that on the phone when my son was looking at the school.
This next pastor is the Jackboot. He has only five sermons and tithing is number one on his agenda. He cannot teach the Word because he was never taught to study the Word. He learned in college to vomit back up what his teachers taught him in weekly exams, and that is how he preaches.
This Jackboot will make a pretense of loving the people, but he will in fact work daily to bring the people under his power so that he never lacks cash, and so that he never is questioned or resisted. He will eventually change the doctrines he teaches to be more and more unique to his patent on truth, and he will condemn all other churches in the area, even the ones where he has a pastor friend. Perfection is only found in the presence of the Jackboot.
This pattern has been the whole program of all men who graduate from Hyles Anderson College for many years. They are classic of this manner of preacher.
Change from the teaching of the Word to one of the following:
Five Point Calvinism
Some Fundamental Baptists will start quoting Spurgeon a lot and reading devotional men from England. They will give their books to the people to read. These men, including Spurgeon, preach sermons which consist of one text verse and thirty pages of high toned zeal with no proof texting. This is done for a reason. It weans the saints off of the Word of God as the authority, while this great common and clever rhetoric of Spurgeon enthralls their minds.
Now, the preacher can start hitting harder on election and predestination. This takes the tension of zeal away because the people start to see salvation as the result of God's will rather than the result of "the foolishness of preaching" and "Go ye." Soul winning can now become a scheduled door to door formality, and the fact that the preacher never is caught handing out tracts and talking about Jesus is simply the result of good Calvinist zeal.
Result: Cold saints and dead religion.
Salvation preached all the time
This preacher will also begin to preach a salvation message all the time on Sunday. This will give the impression that he has to be a good man if he loves to win souls. However; this tactic is a cover for the fact that this preacher is absolutely too lazy to study and dig in the Word of God. He really has no relationship with the Holy Ghost other than the fifth point of Calvinism.
The people will slowly dumb down until they don't have a clue what they believe, and they will not have reason to examine the teaching like noble Bereans because they never hear any real teaching.
Laws, tobacco, caffeine, hem lines, and TITHING
As time passes, the assembly becomes dryer and dryer. People have nothing to talk about because they don't learn anything to stimulate their spiritual mind in Christ. The Jackboot will now phase into law. He will start preaching more and more sermons on hair on men, hemlines of women, and coffee and TV. The saints will not be expected to decide the Lord's will on these topics. They will be coerced to obey the laws, and the Jackboot will convince them that they are godly because they keep the Jackboot laws.
Regurgitating Hyles, MacArthur, Dr. Bob Jones IV, or some other guru
There comes a time when the saints long for higher authority. The Jackboot does not study his Bible, so he needs help. He will most readily fall back on his Bible college notes at this point. His teaching will become 50% quotes from Jack Hyles, or Lee Roberson. This is not to say these men are all evil, but the Jackboot needs higher authority to convince the saints that he is believable. As he uses these outside sources of authority, this local church will become more and more cultic as they follow Hyles, or in the case of Bible Churches, John MacArthur.
Loyalty to the local church and the preacher
The way a Jackboot teaches loyalty is by using every other church and pastor in the area as examples of evil. This will isolate the saints from other churches and cause them to fear changing churches in order to get some Bible teaching.
Once the saints are isolated, the Jackboot will start offending some of the less loyal ones until they leave. He decimate the church until it is only a fraction of its original size, and he will do this with impunity, for he knows that those who stay will do virtually anything for him.
Fear sets in, and no one dares question this pastor. The doctrine of One Man Show Pastoral Rule, though NOT anywhere in the Bible, will now be developed.
Altar calls for virtually EVERY issue raised
A pastor in Dayton, Ohio reached this point in his Neo-Nazi program, and he realized he could then demand the ultimate allegiance-- He one Sunday morning had an altar call. He said he wanted everyone who would covenant absolute allegiance and obedience to him, the pastor, to come forward.
Most of the people got up and went to the altar. They were from that day onward under the control of the devil in that preacher, for they were denying Christ and exalting a man. The few who did not go forward to the altar were shouldered to the door over the next few weeks, and that pastor now has absolute power over those foolish enough to remain.
Conclusion to this Section:
Do you now see the parallel of Russell and Rutherford in the Fundamental Baptist churches in America? This pattern is also used in many Pentecostal and other churches where biblical zeal was the foundation in the beginning. What I want you to understand is that this pattern is demonic and cultic. These Jackboot boys are Satanic gurus, and I believe most of them are NOT born again and don't give a hoot anyway.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Cleavage--
The principle of cleavage, or division, is so common and powerful in destroying the local church today that I want to go into it in more detail.Judge Rutherford, in about 1920, formally claimed that God had shown the JW leaders that it was a waste of time to try to become spiritual and just witness. No one can really do right before God, so hard work is all that pleases God. Rutherford thus managed to destroy the Bible Student Movement and replace it with working slaves.
To solidify his grip on the faithful, Rutherford excommunicated about two thirds of the Bible Students, and those who remained were mindless slaves of Rutherford. It is interesting that the Rajneesh, David Moses, Sun Myong Moon, and Jim Jones did the very same thing. Jim Jones gave the ultimate test in asking the ones whom he enslaved to drink the Kool Aid. Is this not very much like the statements by Jack Hyles on many occasions, "My deacons are so faithful to me that if I asked them to walk over a cliff, they would do so." Is Jack Hyles not now with Jim Jones?
Here is how this works in a Fundamental Baptist church with a Jackboot pastor. It takes place after the Jackboot preacher has been at the local church for maybe a year. It also may take place when word gets out that his baby was checked into the nursery with bruises all over it. People hear he was seen standing at a porn counter on the mall. The man has to act fast, or he could be run out of town.
This has happened so many times that it is more common than not. Divide the church on purpose and "church" a good number during about a nine month era. This will terrify many, some will leave, and those who remain will become the slaves of the rules and the Jackboot pastor. Preach fierce messages on loyalty and breaking the rules of the church. Thinking people will flee and have confrontations with the preacher, and diddle head deacons who swoon under the preacher's power will attack those who leave and chase them down the road cursing them.
Dissenters will no longer exist among those who remain for fear of being held in contempt in the church and even in the community. The pastor will use them as examples of "not faithful" and "not right with God." They will be his favorite sermon illustrations. This beast of prey is now ready for the final phase in taking sheep into bondage to Satan.
Death March of the Slaves
From here on, until the pastor dies or leaves for greener pastures, the local church will be a collection of wimpy sniveling baby men who lick the pastor's boots and empty their bank accounts regularly to pay for the pastor's new Lincoln Town Car or his favorite project. When the preacher kicks these men, they will go home and "take charge" of their wives, making them into slaves of "their head" as the Jackboot taught them. The Moms of the assembly will then boss their kids and micro-manage their lives until they are whimpering fluff heads, both boys and girls. Finally, these kids will kick the cat. You can tell a Jackboot church by how the kids treat animals. Mark it down!
The pastor will reward this servitude by pounding on the sheep, sheering them as close as possible, and generally using the sheep to make his life as comfortable as possible. He will stop visiting the homes, and he will begin to cultivate his standing in the order of the peck with the ministerial Baptist boys at the monthly rodeo for big heads and "100% for Hyles" groupies.
If he manages to hide his abuse of his kids and his lust for porn long enough, he will be exalted to the right hand of father Hyles, er, well not anymore-- Hyles has suffered the monumental demotion of having to go where hirelings go. I don't know who will take up where Hyles left off. For you guruistic self-hugging glory boys, you ought to look into taking over from Jack Hyles-- The cash returns are better than an Oppenheimer Mututal Fund. And, you inherit the church secretary! What a deal! Truman Dollar left a vacancy some time ago also-- Check it out. With him, you inherit the shotgun.
CONCLUSION:
We have seen all the horrific tales of Jackboot behavior, and we have compared the Jehovah's Witness history with that of Fundamental Baptist churches. I do believe that so many of these Jackboot Neo-Nazi churches exist now that it is time to abandon this whole pattern of church life and return to the homes where the New Testament Church began. It is no fun to be a Jackboot in a home setting. There is not enough money and numbers of people to build a resume and move upward in the church hopping career of the Jackboot.
HOW TO FIND A TRUE BIBLE BASED FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCH
I have not given up entirely on the local church as we have known it, but I suggest you be very cautious and demanding in love as you look for a local church if it is not meeting in a home.
To really have confidence at all, ALL of the following must apply:
1. Age:
A pastor you can trust will be over 40 years old. If he is younger, he will be highly approved by a pastor who is over 40 and in the same kind of church as follows below. Never go near a man who uses a Christian College, denomination, or pastoral fellowship as his point of reference.2. Size:
The local church assembly will not be over 100 people, and they will not be growing rapidly, and they will be content with it that way.3. Debt:
The local church will not be in debt. They will not be considering going into debt. They will not be legalistic about being in debt for the members, but they sure won't want the Lord's offerings paying for a banker's greens fees and whiskey.4. Missionaries:
They will not have more than five missionaries, and the church people will be able to talk intelligently about every one of their missionaries. The missionaries will be accountable to someone-- not loners.5. Mexico:
They will not have a missionary in Mexico or with the Navajo Indians. Sabe? They will not be making trips to Mexico carrying trash clothes and junk to the Mexicans, or to the Navajos. Their good works will be known in their home town. Mexico has become the cheap shot to live on the tithes of the saints. Make a minimum effort, spread around red chili and sombreros, and gullible saints will believe you are a missionary to Mexico.6. Meetings:
They will meet no more than three times a week, but they will be in and out of each other's homes frequently. They will not have "revival meetings," and if they call an evangelist they will ask him to stay and work in the area for a while.7. Fellowship:
They will linger after services and have lots of church eating times at the church house and in the homes. The pastor will be on hand at nearly all activities because he clearly likes to be there.8. Pastor and work: The pastor will work part time or full time to support himself and will not talk about any goals to get on a "full time salary." The leaders of the church will be doing much of the detail work to keep the work going and not letting the pastor do it all. You don't want to help a good man have a heart attack, right?
9. Pastor's Home:
The pastor's home will be where you will get to know the pastor. If the pastor's home is far from the meeting place, and he keeps the saints away from his home, he is a filthy hireling. Shepherds like to gather the sheep around them.10. Temperament:
The local church will be subdued, down a country lane, or in a rented store front. But, when they meet, they will sing a lot, have few if any "special music" displays, and the shouting will be with dignity, NOT jerk water hollering, throwing hymn books, and "running the bases."11. "By your words":
When you talk with the saints in this assembly, they will talk about the Word of God, some good old boy "I am working on" to get him saved, how they love their pastor, and fishing, high taxes, and bad government etc. They will NOT talk about their pastor as an exalted guru, and they will NOT talk about the laws they keep in the assembly. They will also not brag and brag about how much better their assembly is than the other churches in the area. They will NOT be bad mouthing people who left their assembly and went to another church in the area-- They will pray for their blessing.12. Witness:
They will NOT go door to door to build the local church-- They will do one on one things as they turn up in the flow of life. They will be seen handing out tracts as they go through the day, NOT in staged or planned ways. They will be seen at the local cafe having coffee with sinners, and they will go fishing or golfing with sinners for witness' sake. But, they will not run to sinners just to amuse themselves.13. Humility:
They will NOT tell you they are "the only church in the area that is right with God." The men in the assembly go second lining up at the church dinner, and the ladies' thoughts are sought out without inviting them to take authority. Children are pert and polite, and they are included in almost every activity as family, not as a nuisance. Older folks will be respected and consulted frequently.14. Preaching:
The pastor will seldom use a whole sermon time to "preach the Gospel." He will be TEACHING through books of the Bible, and topical preaching will NOT be a blast promoting some church law or tithing. The pastor will be known as a man who studies and does not brag on it. I.E. He studies because he craves to know the Word of God. The pastor will not spew and scream to carry along some dull moment in the teaching. The people will crave the teaching of the Word and talk about the sermons they have heard.The pastor will not run dozens of guest speakers through the pulpit. He will do almost all of the preaching. When the pastor is away, and when he is tired or sick, ONLY men of the local church will "fill the pulpit." The pastor will be teaching the men in the assembly to teach the Bible, and he will be sitting down numerous times to listen to them teach the Word. There will be NO "preacher boys" in the pulpit under the age of 25 or 30, as with Jesus Christ.
15. Preacher's Kids:
They will not be perfect, the people will be patient with them, and the preacher's kids will be polite, pert, and eager to be taught and serve.16. Issues:
The local assembly will NOT be famous in the community for fighting issues, such as abortion and pornograpgy. They will be well known at the local cafes as people who help the poor, people who live right, and people who move in and out of the community making good things happen. Eat at a couple of cafes and ASK.Does the pastor do regular research on various cults and Satanic devices to warn the saints is occasional sessions on these topics? DOES THE PASTOR TAKE A STRONG AND OPEN STAND AGAINST FREEMASONRY? We have been seeing signs that Freemasonry is invading Fundamental Baptist King James Only churches. This must be brought up-- assume nothing.
17. Giving:
These people will give as the Lord blesses them, and the pastor will NEVER plead or threaten them to get the giving up. The pastor will have NO idea how much anyone in the assembly earns. They will seldom be giving to do something special. They will seek the good of all in the local church by aiding the poor members and seeing that the pastor has help in his needs. They will give and share from their gardens and from their foraging at sales and bargain hunting. They will give only week by week, not by giving rallies, "paycheck Sunday," and "Faith Promise" hype which puts the saints under bondage to an unknown financial future."Faith Promise" is nothing more than a Baptist version of Oral Roberts' "Seed Faith." It is used to get the treasury up by putting God on the spot and forcing predestination in advance. It has virtually nothing to do with Christian faith and the Word of God. A vow to give more as God gives more is in order, but NOT "Faith Promise." No saint should ever make his babies hungry in order to meet project goals and make the preacher happy and comfortable. Any preacher who asks for this is a damnable devil.
18. THE PASTOR IS FIRST AMONG EQUALS WITH ALL MEN IN THE CHURCH WHO HAVE ANY KIND OF TESTIMONY. If you shortcut here, you will be sorry by and by my friend.
19. Doctrine:
Finally, you must ask the most basic doctrinal questions these days. Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Texas is Fundamental, Pre-Mill, KJV Only, and they boldly state that they do NOT believe Jesus is God. They had a lot of people fooled for some years, but the thing is out now. I am told the pastor was lead into Jehovah's Witness doctrine on Jesus Christ by his father and grandfather. You MUST ask the most basic questions in Bible doctrine. Nothing can be assumed as we come down to the end of the Age.20. Conscience:
The word conscience is not in the Old Testament. It is quite common in the New Testament. Law was God's merciful way of guiding the believer in Israel. In the New Testament church, the law is replaced by the Holy Spirit IN EVERY saint changing saints by speaking to their conscience. Ask the pastor and leaders of any local church if THEY do the convicting of sin, followed by a call "down front to the altar" to "get right." Or, do they teach the Word, leaving the work of change and conviction to the Holy Spirit to do between Sundays. Peter did not tell the Jews in the Upper Room what to do until THEY asked Peter, AND AFTER the Holy Ghost convicted them in their consciences.You need to understand that mass evangelism with the altar call and "praying through" came in the grip of Charles Finney when he rode into town long ago. Since this man promoted the altar call as the place of victory of the Lord's Church, "getting right" in private has come to be associated, by Fundamentalists, with the cults and wimps. This switch, from Holy Ghost inspired personal life change, to "walking the aisle," borders on heresy. This is why the altar call has become such a circus with virtually every step of personal victory being associated with "walking the aisle." This is also why Fundamentalists live a great life at the church house and live like the devil the other six days of the week. This is nothing but old time Roman Whore Catholic confession and Mass on Sunday with devilment all the rest of the week. This is also the Good Man Freemason at the Lodge meeting who is a scoundrel and lush between meetings.
These
characteristics do not guarantee a church and pastor are sound, but they must
be in place before you start to visit and see if the Lord gives you peace with
them. If you find a local church which has all but one or two of these things
right, print them out from this page, and go alone and ask the pastor if it bothers
him that Steve Van Nattan calls for such and such trait, and he seems to be in
need in that area. Maybe he will tell you something which will satisfy your zeal
and you will still be able to fellowship with that pastor and his friends.
At age 58, and with my connections around the world, I have good reason for my conclusions. But, if a pastor seems to have a better reason for his conclusions, and IF he backs it up with the Word of God, then I would defer to him.
One last warning: You are not called to be an Inquisitor General. As you look at any local church, keep in mind that your task is to find Bible based fellowship, and serving opportunities, for your family. Do NOT go into any local church with the idea you are going to show them what jerks they are. This is worse than anything you may find wrong, for you have no idea if God may be still giving them some measure of blessing in spite of themselves. They are HIS servants, NOT YOURS. Behave yourself :-)
CONCLUSION
Are you finding only disappointment and sorrow as you search for Bible based local church?
May I suggest you consider starting a House Church with several like minded friends?
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