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The Church of God Debacle By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries Copyright © Midnight Ministries Copyright of Midnight Ministries may be waived and this publication duplicated without asking permission, if full credit is given to the source (with the address) and if the contents are not altered. Likewise, publications of Midnight Ministries may be translated into any other language without asking permission, provided that the translation is as accurate as possible to the meaning of the original text, and full credit is given to the source (with the address). The distribution of God's truth should not be restricted by copyright.. |
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In John 10, Jesus warns about the work of the devil. He said that "the thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy" (Jn 10:10). One of the things he destroys is friendships or relation- ships. The Churches of God pride themselves on their 'family values', and on their 'goodness' which, they say, brings harmony. They claim they are doing the Work of God, and restoring the things the devil has destroyed.
But like all the lies of the devil, that is a blend of truth and error. It is not the whole truth. While they may be helping to restore relationships in one area – where people obligingly submit to them and agree with all they say – they are busy resisting the Hand of God in other areas, and destroying the next phase of His Work.
Friends Who Are Not Friends
My wife and I once had some good friends 'in the church', as we used to say. You tend to form friendships with those whom you spend a lot of time with, or with whom you share formative experiences. These 'good friends' shared time with us in college, and afterwards when our families were growing up.
But when we were thrown out of 'the church', these friends ceased to be friends. We hadn't done anything to warrant such radical expulsion from the fellowship of 'believers'. The problem was caused by ministers who wanted to exert their authority over us in a way that was unbiblical and illicit, and we stood up to their overbearing domination.
God even showed me that they were false ministers, and I said so to the ruling junta, naively expecting these men to be expelled. But instead, we were the ones expelled. Telling the truth – to try and protect the members – got us thrown out. I don't regret doing what I did, because it was right. What I regret are the very sad repercussions of what occurred. It caused our former friends to turn against us – all of them! That was regrettable, even though it was part of God's plan. Everyone is tested. God tests each person's loyalty. To whom are you loyal – to men or to God?
These friends didn't care to know what really occurred, and why we were so suddenly ejected. They didn't want to know the truth, because their pride caused them to put their church on a pedestal above all else. That pride in the organisation – and pride is something that the devil injects into you – was paramount. Friendship based on true love was not as important to them as worship of the church.
The Transfer Of Loyalties
Notice I said "worship of the church". That's very different from worship of God. They put the church – the human organisation – in the place of God. Because of this transfer of loyalties, they were in the grip of Satan and worshipped something else other than God.
They didn't realise they had been trapped in darkness. Darkness does not want to be with light. It cannot tolerate it (Jn 3:19-21), hence the division that then ensued.
What Church of God people cannot see is that they are all deceived by such darkness. They are trapped by the false dogmas that have put 'the church' in the place of God, and which have caused the idolatrous elevation of their ministry, to the point of usurping the position and prerogatives of Christ.
It is blasphemous! And this blasphemy shuts the Spirit of God OUTSIDE their doors! Jesus stands outside, knocking, seeking entry. But they won't let Him in! They don't want Him correcting them, and taking away the elevated status they have gained for themselves through pride.
They are proud of their organisation. They are proud of their founder. They are proud of their heritage and traditions. They are proud of their doctrines. They are proud to be who they are.
If only they could see where that pride has come from and who injected it into them, they would hate themselves for the evil of it all!
...the woman saw that the tree was good for food... and desirable to make one wise (Gen 3:6).
That injection of pride was the first sin in the garden. Disobedience immediately followed. And fear came shortly after that.
Pride And Fear
When we wrote to our friends about how their church (which was once 'ours', too) had thrown us out because church leaders feared what we had against them that they didn't want to face, the same fear gripped our friends. They just couldn't bring themselves to face the fact that the organisation, which they had placed so much trust and confidence in, could be in the wrong. "There's no way 'little Malcolm and Helena' could be right!" People look at the monolith of the organisation, and like Hitler, think that "might makes right". It doesn't.
Physical size and numbers have nothing to do with righteousness or justice. God warned Israel not to follow the crowd in doing wrong (Ex 23:2). But people do. People are so easily persuaded to follow what most others in the group do, like sheep.
At the root of this evil are the motivations of pride and fear. Both are from the devil.
If CoG folks are ever to get out of the pit they are trapped in, they have got to relinquish the various aspects of pride I have already mentioned, and they have got to be willing to take an honest, objective look at more truth from outside their walls.
It's complacent to think you've got all truth. There's always more to learn. And it's stupid to think that 'your' Church of God is able to do all the Great Commission by itself, or even by all CoGs combined! It's equally inept to think that one organisation of men could be the body of Christ, as if there couldn't be many others in the body of Christ in other organisations around the world.
The exclusiveness of CoG mentality is silly and very childish. It denies biblical truth and facts about what constitutes the body of Christ (see Romans 8), based on the prideful assumption that itself, and itself alone (or pretty much so) is the sole descendant of the True Church, and the elect of God in the end time. It's such an embarrassingly stupid belief. It bears no semblance to reality.
There is so much evidence of the moving of the Spirit of God in other groups, amongst many different Christians all around the world, that you would have to bury your head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich not to see it. Yet isn't that just what CoG folks tend to do? It's out of fear.
They fear to be shown up to be wrong. They also fear to step out of line with what they have been taught. They fear to disobey the church ministry. There are also subliminal fears:
All these fears are implanted by Satan, in his bid to control people's minds, and to thwart the restorative work of the Spirit of God.
Remember, the devil comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And he's doing that in the Churches of God, through fears, through pride, and through related evils. It's Jesus who wants you to have freedom, and the life that comes from the free agency of His Spirit in you.
You are born in HIS image, not to be cloned by church leaders into their contrived and often false image. To submit to them, as they deny you this full latitude of the Spirit, is to submit to Satan, because he is the one who denies you these legitimate spiritual freedoms in Christ. He achieves his evil ends through psychological manipulation or mind control. CoG mentors are good at that!
With that preamble, let me now share with you some correspondence I had with various former good friends of ours in CoGs. The correspondence illustrates the mind control to which they have submitted themselves, so they are not free to think or behave rationally and sensibly, let alone spiritually!
Letters Of Release
God instigated this correspondence, as He often does, through a dream He gave me. So I wrote:
3rd July 2004
I had a dream about you last night. It was this (cut and pasted from my dream diary):
3rd July 2004. M. Former friends and our caravan. I offered our former friends (who are now in a CoG) our caravan. It was a 14 footer, but was secondhand, of course, and there were some signs of wear and tear inside, but it was still a very worthwhile gift. But they didn't jump at the prospect. In fact they hadn't decided whether to accept it or not. I was still waiting for their decision. Meaning: We are still waiting for them to make a decision to accept our ministry and the truth it brings. Admittedly, it's 'old' in that others have had gifts of the Spirit and the power of God to raise the dead before. But the evidence is there that God is raising the dead in connection with MM's work, but still they refuse to accept it. It's part of the gospel to raise the dead, just as it is part of the gospel to heal the sick, cast out demons, or speak in tongues. But of course, all this is alien to those who still cling to restrictive theology which denies Jesus' words in John 14:12. I don't know if you are in league with John Meakin, or whether he is in one of the other CoGs, but I sent him a packet of literature a couple of weeks ago, after waiting seven years for no reply. It's easier raising the dead than reaching old friends! [Meakin didn't reply either, like all the CoG ministers to whom we have written. Well, they can carry on sleeping!] We have power to raise the dead, and will be demonstrating that shortly. I enclose some small publications to show that, and that it's not just us who claim that privilege, lest any think we are being presumptuous in stating it. Hope you'll soon accept the 'caravan' on offer. Then you can travel ahead, too, into 'new' areas.
God bless. Sincerely, Malcolm
Needless to say, there was no reply. This is the typical response of a person bound by fear and / or pride. They go quiet and hide.
So, I wrote again:
26th August 2004
I trust you received my letter of 3rd July. Since I haven't heard back from you, does that mean that you still dispose of 'our stuff' into the dustbin, or regard what we print as not appropriate reading material? Or, now that we publicise the many dreams which God gives us, does that qualify us for inclusion in your Extreme Heresy File? Come on, what about getting in touch? We haven't heard from you for years, and don't you think it's about time you responded? We're getting a bit tired of it all being one way. We're not lepers, you know. Our printed material doesn't carry AIDS, and I haven't gone mental doing this work! I know you were both sceptical of what I said many years ago when Worldwide was apostatising and we spoke out against them. But, I would have hoped that, having seen the apostasy for yourselves, and come out from the 'mother church', that you would be less prejudiced against us. After all, there are false ministers about, you know. And all we were doing was alerting people to that fact. I could name some in your church affiliation, too, but it probably wouldn't interest you at the moment or be helpful to you. Or would it? You may surprise me yet! We have had quite a number of dreams from God about you and how you will react when the publicity breaks out (not so far ahead of us now), so it's time for you to get your running shoes ready. I enclose a short article about that – Just What Is 'The Work'? If you want to know what the dreams were, I can relay them when I hear back from you. Meanwhile, I enclose a selection of short A5's that contain bits and pieces that should give you a flavour of what's happening and what will also shortly begin to happen. I'll send a copy of our latest Newsletter when it's back from the copiers soon. It contains many dreams from a prophet in Ethiopia about a whole host of things, many of which concern the Tribulation which will engulf his country before it arrives here. God bless. Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely, Malcolm
With that letter I enclosed these leaflets:
Are You Moving Ahead? Carried Along By The Spirit Church Leaders Shut The Door On Jesus! Opposition Against The Power of God More About The Gifts Of The Spirit He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease Dreams From God About The Judgement Of Britain Wielding The Divine Axe God's Appointed Times Preparing A Flock For Slaughter Guidelines For Evangelists Blessing Or Curse? The Last Outpouring Of The Spirit Dismantling Churches You Should DEFY, Not Deify, Church Authority! Prophets In The Church Just What Is The Work? Questions About The Prophetic Raised From The Dead At Midnight, Part 1 Raised From The Dead At Midnight, Part 2 What God Said About Midnight Ministries
This time I got a reply. Wonder of wonders!
But it was not a civil or courteous reply. There was nothing of the Spirit of God in it. It was merely a small Post It note stuck on top of a booklet with Herbert Armstrong's face on the cover, entitled Just What Is An Apostle, written by Jon Bowles. The note read:
"Please read this. When I see both you and I under the same Government of God, then we can talk sensibly."
Do you see at which altar this man worships? It's not the altar of God. It's the altar of HWA. HWA is the one he bows down to and worships.
Confronting His Strongholds
In response, I wrote to try and help him be released from the bondage of his misconceptions. But pride held him firmly in check.
I don't know whether he feared to entertain the thought that he might be wrong, but certainly he refused to let go of his pride. Stubbornly he held onto it. But if you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you have got to let go of your pride and fears.
I hope that what I wrote to Jon, which now follows, can help release others who are willing.
To those who would find fault with me for naming and shaming the person, may I suggest that you read of similar instances where Paul named individuals who were false Christians or who opposed the truth, such as 1 Timothy 1:19,20 and 2 Timothy 2:16-18, which is according to his advice in Titus 3:10.
5th Sept 2004
Dear Jon,
Although the cryptic note with your book about HWA was signed by you, Jon, I trust you will share this response with Judy, since two minds are often better than one. You wrote: "When I see both you and I under the same Government of God, then we can talk sensibly." Helena and I have been waiting for you to talk sensibly with us for over 12 years, and now you come up with such a comment as if we were not under the Government of God and that the blame for the division between us rests entirely in our court. What arrogance and blindness! Your response typifies the arrogant and aloof stand adopted by WCG and now CoG ministers. Your comment is rich with hypocrisy! Talk sensibly?! What the hell do you think we have been trying to instigate through sending you all the written materials that we have done over the years?! And you tell me to "Please read this", referring to your rather elementary book Just What is An Apostle? What about reading the stuff I have sent you first, to see what we have been trying to tell you for all these years? First you dumped our stuff in the 'Heresy File', presumably mostly unread, because it didn't fit in with your preconceived dogmas. You didn't respond according to scriptural admonition: A) Not to form a conclusion before proper investigation (Prov 18:13); B) If a man is caught in a fault, humbly show him his fault (Gal 6:1; Jas 5:19,20) if you have true insight. You did write to me years ago with a self- righteous lecture about my need to blindly submit to WCG authority, regurgitating the old chestnut from 1 Samuel 15 about "God's anointed", taking it entirely out of its context and applying it to the ministry appointments of HWA. You never sensibly entertained what we were forewarning you of – that there were false ministers subtly leading people astray, fleecing the sheep. Those hirelings were not anointed – except by the devil. We wanted to alert you to what was going on that you could not see. That was in 1991 and 1992. You didn't listen, like the majority of others. We prophesied as God revealed things to us about what was coming. In 1991, before there were visible ripples on the surface, we told the WCG that their ship was heading towards the rocks and that it would sink. One bank holiday Monday a strange thing happened. I was planning to work outside in the garden, but an inner urge from the Spirit made me feel that I should pick up my Bible. I did and I turned 'instinctively' to Revelation. I didn't know why at the time. Then I began to read the words that were open on the page. God highlighted something I had taken little notice of earlier:
The synagogue of Satan! There it was staring me in the face: what we were facing, and why people were being prepared for spiritual slaughter. They were being ruled by the synagogue of Satan – held in bondage to a Satanic system, but unable to see it! God had me read the text in Rev 3:9 in the section about Philadelphia. Then, He dropped other thoughts into my mind. I have written these things up. From that time on, He began to speak regularly in dreams, visions, sometimes words of knowledge (if you don't know what a word of knowledge is, please read about it in An Introduction To The Spiritual Gifts.) If you want to know what He said, you can see it for yourself in the record of 'our' prophetic witness to the WCG:
In 1992, we prophesied as the Spirit of God moved upon us. The first thing was of the downfall of the WCG because of its corrupt governmental structure and abusive approach. And you are carrying on with the same organisational structure that allowed false ministers to hold sway in the WCG and bring about its downfall. All the CoGs are doing this. They can't see that what they are doing is merely carrying on the same old way, replacing the lead of the Spirit of God with that of man, claiming that the men who lead those churches are always led by God. But what if there are false ministers there? What if one right alongside you is false? You will be giving him support. Yet he will not be guided by the Spirit of God, but by demons who bring people into bondage. And you will be unwittingly giving homage to his demons! Moreover, there will be subtle deception that the sheep can't discern.
Spiritual Discernment Lacking In 1991, the year after we were thrown out of the WCG, massive apostasy was on its way, but it was cleverly hidden from the eyes of members. They were kept in ignorance. Yet God showed us some of what was coming. He had me write The Controversy Concerning Law and Grace in 1992. I didn't know why. There was NO controversy in the WCG then. At least, I didn't think so. I couldn't see it. But three years later it came! God always gives prior warning (Amos 3:7). But who listens to prophets?! Those are the last people Satan wants God's folks to listen to! So, he makes sure he ruins prophets' reputations, and throws arguments galore against the prophetic office so that it is ineffectual. The people can't discern. It's easy for the devil to keep them trapped through deception and lies (that false ministers and misguided church leaders promote) that destroy people's ability to discern. And what about your discernment? Why weren't you discerning years ago, when we first wrote to try and alert you to the masquerade that was taking place? You wouldn't listen to us, yet we had been given a 'crash course' in spiritual discernment, taught by the Holy Spirit. You are still not discerning now! You haven't done as Jesus said: assess a person by their spiritual fruits (Matt 7:15-20). Yet, by your own admission years ago you noticed that God was blessing us (2 Sam 6:11). You admitted that you had seen us put Luke 6:38 into practice and see it work as a living principle. You were recipients of many of the good works we tried to do for people whom we considered brothers and sisters in the faith. We supported the church (into which God had called us) faithfully in every way we could. We never wanted to contest anything coming from 'the top', because we believed it to be God's Church, just like you did. That's all we could understand at that time. But that all changed when ministers conspired against us, lied about us to members to polarise their minds against us in order to dominate and spiritually retain psychological control, and went on a hostile crusade against us because they felt spiritually threatened. God used a peripheral issue to flush them out. Through what He instigated, He showed us their evil fruits and ruthless inner motives. He also revealed through a word of knowledge to someone else (not to me) that Harry Sullivan was a carrier of 500 demons. And there were many other false ministers, too. So, the ones you wanted to esteem highly as an "anointed" bunch were not all of the right Spirit at all! Even though the peripheral issue of kinesiology was officially approved in WCG Pasadena, and the Toppings were practising muscle testing as a diagnostic technique, for the benefit of many WCG ministers in Pasadena HQ, over here Harry Sullivan and Paul Suckling ignored what was happening over there, and mounted a vendetta against Helena. In a 'sermon' on the 9th day of the 9th month 1989, God would cause Suckling to come under His judgement (biblical symbol of 9) on that fateful day. Paul Suckling preached a sermon against Helena, attacking her, lying about her, twisting the truth, deliberately ignoring scientific facts, and totally distorting things. Its purpose was to counter the good she was doing in the church and instil fear in people, thereby destroying any good Helena could do for the members. People were utterly confused! John High said afterwards, "What was all that about!?" Although I could say a lot more about it, I won't. What happened is now history and I have written about it at length elsewhere. God used all that transpired to teach us valuable lessons about testing the spirits (1 Jn 4:1) of which we were taught next to nothing in the WCG (for what should become obvious reasons when you understand how many ministers were false!). It's a pity you didn't allow yourselves to be fully aware of what these ministers whom you upheld as "God's anointed", did to us, before you also joined in and relegated us to the trash bin of history. But I don't blame you – even though it was hurtful at the time and has led to this division between us – because that is the way the WCG conditioned us all to behave. You still retain that hostile or suspicious prejudice against us, so that whatever we write is not given the objective consideration as I have been willing in this instance to give you. (I will come to that in a moment – about your book which you asked me to read.) In 1991 and 1992, God took us to various places, showed us what was happening in the broader Church, to teach us more. As He needed to, He began to communicate with us through dreams. They were few at first, and I thought them rather curious at the time, but wonderful. The first was about getting on the guard's van of the train that Suckling was driving, and he didn't notice. This was an allegory of the way he controlled the WCG in this country even though Frank Brown was supposed to be in charge, but Suckling was a more dominant and forceful personality. The guard's van symbolised the one who really caused the train to stop or go. God gave us prophecies about the WCG's demise and they occurred just as He prophesied. All I did was write down what He said and how He guided me. Then the next scene of that dream was being in a wonderful orchard full of blossom. God showed us these things to give us hope in our isolation and rejection. The blossom was a very positive portent of all the spiritual good things to come. After giving us a 'tour' of the broader Church, seeing many other Christians where God was at work, He then commissioned A Message To Worldwiders and others in that series about Understanding The Mind of God and how He works; as well as Apostasy In God's Church!
Talking sensibly When those publications were first published in 1992, you were still giving your loyalties to ministers in the WCG, some of whom have proved by their evil fruits to be enemies of the Cross and agents of Satan. I don't know when you left WCG, but you probably followed others out after the larger exodus in 1995. God was restoring truth to us while you were still in psychological bondage in the mother church. You ask me to consider what you have written, so that we can then 'talk sensibly'. Equally, I expect you to take me seriously and what I have written. Since we were 'at it' first, long before you, you ought to give priority to reading all that I have taken years to detail for the sake of the spiritual deliverance of God's people. Then – if you understood it – you could be in the proper position to make a more accurate assessment of our position and motives, instead of insulting us and 'our' work for God. Where do you think all the dreams come from? We don't make them up! And what about the dreams given to Kassahun Ayele, a prophet in Ethiopia? And the dreams given to Nicholas Odero in Kenya, and Lameck Otieno in Kenya, and Vincent Awidhi in Kenya? All these guys are working in the harvest field of their African countries, using MM literature for their outreach, and God is blessing their efforts! Then, there's Reuben Oviomor in Nigeria, doing the same. Where do you think 'his 'dreams come from that have confirmed our appointment as prophets in God's service? If you reject us, then how do you explain all this corroboration? Furthermore, how come David Isaac Ohuoba, who carries 'our' outreach further in Nigeria, has raised people from the dead? (I sent you those accounts previously in Raised From The Dead At Midnight.) If we are reprobates, as you suggest, then where are your evidences of miraculous backing of God, and how do you explain our (and their) dreams? If you think the dreams are from the devil, then why do they come to pass, and why have other prophecies God has given us come to pass? If you think they are not of God, then why do they encourage spiritual introspection, repentance, and deeper spiritual growth? Why do they promote spiritual things of high value? Their fruits are good, not evil. If the fruit is good, then call the tree good, not evil (Matt 12:33). We are to believe God's prophets, and so reap a spiritual blessing (2 Chron 20:20). If you want to look for excuses to disbelieve – which you do already – God will give you plenty of them. He is a Master at sending strong delusion (1 Thes 2). But if you want to believe that what God gives is of the devil, beware that you don't become irreversibly children of the devil like most Pharisees and Scribes whose pride would not allow them to concede that what they were seeing was from God, while they were not receiving from Him at all. If you dismiss the dreams God has given us because, "Well, Malcolm and Helena couldn't be prophets, could they? After all, we know where they have come from. When Elijah comes we won't know where he comes from." Then consider what Jesus said about those who knew Him personally but who were the most unbelieving – His former friends and those from His home town. And there was Joseph, too, 'the incessant dreamer'. He was resented by his brothers. They didn't want to admit that God was saying something to them through his dreams. Yet dreams are part of the prophesied outpouring in these last days, of which Joel spoke, and which the apostolic Church was the first beneficiary (Acts 2:17 etc). God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and He continues to give dreams to fulfil His purposes and to speak to His prophets (Num 12:6). If our dreams were suspect, then why has God given corroboration to Kassahun Ayele, another prophet in Ethiopia, about our work being of God, and also to other evangelists in Kenya, besides other revelations from God and via angels to other witnesses abroad? There is loads of independent support that our ministry is ordained by God and that He is restoring truth through it. (I sent you some of this – a small fragment – in the leaflet What God Said About Midnight Ministries, and there are many other dreams in the enclosed Newsletters which God gave to other people about us, which I have highlighted in yellow.) Sorry, but you are completely out of touch with spiritual reality! – asleep (Matt 25:5) to what God is doing outside the narrow confines of your myopic field of view. I'm talking sensibly here. It is you who have been unwilling all these years to talk sensibly with us! So, please read what I have sent. Then we can talk sensibly if you want to, but I have my doubts whether your humility is sufficient yet to allow that. Pride blocks understanding and is self-blinding. So, I suspect that what I'm saying here will only fall on deaf ears. But I would hope not. God knows we care for people's spiritual welfare, yours included! You were amongst our best friends until Satan came between us.
Your Book: Just What is An Apostle? Your book reveals a lack of spiritual understanding and depth. It contains major misconceptions and is based on false premises and old WCG false dogma. There is no revelation of the Spirit there. It is merely human reasoning, based upon dogmas which established the humanly dominated structure of the WCG and caused it to be spiritually oppressive. The false dogmas or premises upon which you have based your treatise are:
These are all false premises which you have not proven, but taken as assumed correct. On those assumptions you then build your thesis. But the foundation is flawed so your incorrect thesis falls. These issues were addressed comprehensively in a range of booklets I wrote with God's guidance between 1992 and 1994. They are in the Understanding The Mind of God series and I enclose two of them for you. If you want the others, you can send a donation. It may seem plausible to you that 'your' apostle was the one and only (which is all you could see, because your spiritual experience is very incomplete), but that is inconsistent with other scriptural considerations:
When a church is governed by one man at the top of a hierarchy, it is relatively easy for him to abuse his position. "Power corrupts and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely." You know the maxim well that Lord Acton first spoke. One man in an unchallengeable hierarchic position at the helm can easily lead people astray or dupe them, or manipulate them for his own ends. The papal system that HWA established in the WCG was little different from the Catholic monolith, which God calls an abomination in Revelation. That is not merely on account of her doctrines, but also her government, which blasphemously puts a man in place of Christ. The same was true of HWA in the former WCG. Effectively, within the church, he was accountable to no one except God. That would be fine from a practical point of view so long as he remains faithful to God. And you assume that he did. However, there is a mountain of evidence that you have either overlooked, or ignored, or dismissed, to show that he was not faithful to God. Others have presented this, with extensive research, and I have reproduced some of it in (articles):
When a man, all alone, sits astride an organisation, he is its rider and no one can contest his decisions without fear of being trampled on by the animal he rides. That's what happened to many capable and courageous men who dared to contradict HWA. They were either silenced, removed from office, transferred to a more isolated outpost, or disfellowshipped and sacked. I remember one who disappeared rather mysteriously from being a Regional Director, and was sent 'out into the field' with little explanation. Robert Fahey. Many years later I asked Owen Willis about what happened. He said euphemistically and phlegmatically, "his confrontation- al approach did not go down well at HQ..." He was only one of many whom HWA got rid of because they were a threat to his autocracy. He wanted blind obedience from those under him – unquestioning subservience to his dictatorship. What more admirable means to attain absolute power could he have wanted than to use the lie that he was God's one and only true apostle under Christ and that he, and he alone, was the final arbiter and revelator of truth to the Church! That massive blasphemy matched the claims of former Catholic Popes, and qualified HWA for a position alongside all of them in Revelation 17. Armstrong was an apostle all right! A false apostle. Paul affirmed the proof of his own apostleship in 2 Corinthians 12:12 – "in [miraculous] signs and wonders and mighty deeds." HWA did not have that testimony to add to his list of affidavits. Paul did. Barnabas did (Acts 15:12). Peter did (Acts 9:40), and all the original apostles did, as did all other evangelists (Acts 8:6-13), prophets and apostles following after. And the same spiritual power continues today, which is why we have published various booklets making it known, such as Resurrecting The Dead – Testimonies In Our Time which contains accounts from many people of such happenings. To cite one example: an apostle who works in Mexico, Guatemala and other Central American countries. When the publication was compiled David Hogan had raised 216 people from the dead in his ministry. That's a sign of his apostleship (2 Cor 12:12). The power of God testifies that God is behind him. Yet you dismiss the power of God in your thesis as of no relevance. It has every relevance! Paul adjured true believers to turn away from those who have a form of godliness but who deny the power of God.
Autocracy Going back to HWA and how he dismissed people who got in his way, or who didn't give him the servile bootlicking he wanted. Was that the Government of God? No; it was government of man, despite how HWA expounded on its spurious 'virtues'. He was led by Satan to embellish it as the Government of God for his own devious ends, misappropriating scriptures out of context to promote his thesis. What he set up was not much different from Hitler's dictatorship. In the spiritual, that's what it was like to God. In fact, God spoke to Richard one day with a vision of how the WCG ministers were weak spiritually and were manipulated by the system that HWA had established. (This is written in God Speaks To The WCG, pp 36,37.) He showed Richard also how Gerald Flurry had taken the same spiritually ruthless and despotic hierarchic structure and used it for his own selfish ends to glorify himself in the PCG. God portrayed Flurry as no different from Hitler! That was God's spiritual appraisal. (Recounted in A Message To Philadelphians.) Yet, what you promote in Just What Is An Apostle? is no different in principle from Gerald Flurry's oppressive and blasphemous governmental monster. Any absolute hierarchy is open to abuse by a man if he holds ultimate control. Yet you don't find any of the apostles in the NT able to, wanting to, or thinking they had a right to, take supreme command over the Church. You find a Church where the people were very much involved in certain decisions, such as sending Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem: "So, being sent on their way by the church..." (Acts 15:3), Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem to advise on an important spiritual matter. In Acts 13, while the Holy Spirit commissioned them (v 4), which you quote, you omit the vitally important point before it: that those individuals sent the apostles on their way (v 3). The apostles were very aware that they were there to serve the flock. They did not have the right to lord it over them (Matt 20:25,26). But we see that travesty occur today, where the concept and function of a spiritual office has been perverted and reversed! Apostles then were servants of the people, accountable to the Church as well as to God. Today, we see church leaders who claim apostleship as hierarchic overlords, suppressing and controlling the sheep. In God's Church – Whose Authority? God had me write about this massive misconception that people have about hierarchy. They think it's of God, when it's of Satan. It's an image of the beast's system of rule, where men exert spiritual and moral rule over others. Its origin is Babylon, and even Armstrong himself was shown this by the Spirit of God back in the thirties. (See his article Did Christ Reorganise The Church? published in Feb 1939 in the Good News[1].) If you subscribe to the system that idolises HWA, why don't you give your loyalties to Gerald Flurry? He set up his church in about 1989 if I remember correctly. You talk about the chain of authority (page 6). But you don't answer the myriad of questions that arise from this false premise which is derived from a half truth, a partial application of Matt 10:40. Which ministers are directly under HWA, and who are under them, etc., as it was in the WCG? By silent inference, and by your book, aren't you suggesting that you are one such overlord? If so, that would explain your presumptuous approach to me, as brief as it was on your Post-It note. If, as you assert, ministerial authority is one of lordship – rank (page 7) in a human pecking order, then you need to provide a more comprehensive chain for people to know where they fit, and to whom they must submit in this confusion that masquerades under the misnomer "Church of God". The truth is, there's no such rank thing in the true spiritual organisation of the Church. Rank is a deception, foisted upon people by those who use it to retain power over others! In God's scheme of things, true spiritual authority is from the Holy Spirit, DIRECTLY bequeathed to the individual believer. Hence ANYONE can work miracles, preach, teach, heal the sick, cast out demons, and do whatever works of Jesus that He leads and empowers that person to do. Notice it in John 14:12. Jesus said ANYONE. That means anyone who has the faith. And that faith comes with commitment to God in laying down pride, conceit, selfish ambition, in order to serve the King. That's why we can raise the dead, because God has promised and He will fulfil. He's the Source of this authority – not man. I didn't need a man to lay his hands on my head and ordain me a prophet. God spoke. God decreed. God ordained. And God fulfils. That's the chain of command. You got part of it right. You just didn't go on far enough. HWA had a chance to be part of the Government of God, but he rejected it in favour of doing his own thing to glorify himself. He became blinded to that aspect of truth, through sin. Those serious sins included incest, which he hid from the members of the WCG for as long as he could. Others have written about this behaviour which disqualified him as a man of God. It is summarised in: The Corrupt Leaders of the WCG. Please read also A Message To Philadelphians enclosed. It will enlighten you, if you let it.
John the Baptist On page 13 of your book, you claim that John the Baptist was an apostle, merely because he was 'sent' to prepare the way for Jesus and because Jesus affirmed John's spiritual greatness. But there were many other prophets who were sent to prophesy and reveal the will of God, and through their pronouncements and teaching they also prepared the way for what God was about to do. That didn't make them apostles. Nor did it make John the Baptist an apostle. You're using specious and very subjective reasoning. It comes from your dubious intent, which is to try and prove the false premises I have mentioned on page 4. The greatest people in God's estimation – which point seems to have totally eluded you – are those who think least of themselves. Hence Jesus likened them to that child he held to Himself (Matt 18). And, likewise, the most vitally needed quality in God's value system is that of humility. You don't see much of that where ministers are standing like Nebuchadnezzars over the people they are meant to serve, not rule! That's why Jesus hailed John as the greatest man who ever lived, and more than a prophet. He wasn't implying that John was an apostle. The term 'apostle' is a NT appointment, designed in conjunction with raising up the Church – because that's what an apostle does; he raises up churches or congregations of believers wherever God sends him in his evangelistic outreach. John the Baptist was not an apostle. He was the last of the OT prophets (Matt 11:13). He was not a NT prophet, nor apostle. If your supposition were true that John was an apostle because of what Jesus said about his greatness, then even more apostolic is every believer who is now a part of the kingdom of God because he or she has God's Spirit transforming them within, enabling them to do the greater works of Jesus. Notice it: "Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matt 11:11, NKJV). In the underlined words, Jesus did not mean in the spiritual or heavenly sphere would these people be greatest. He meant here on earth, because in the next verse He says that they suffer violence – a reference to the struggles in this life before being born again fully into the Kingdom. He meant that the 'little people' who are called into the kingdom of God here on earth (they have that classification because they become part of God's kingdom once they have the Spirit of God living in them) are greater than John the Baptist. Sorry, but you have missed the whole point of what Jesus was saying. It's not surprising. Humility is still alien to your operation as a 'minister'.
Prophets Then on page 15, you state unambiguously that the foundation of the True Church consists of apostles (plural, which you have already undone and reduced to one in this age) AND PROPHETS (Eph 2:20), but you then downplay the issue of prophets. You lay them on one side with a shrug of the shoulders, and a cursory statement that the prophets in the Eph 2:20 foundation were merely the OT prophets (page 17, last para). But this contradicts some of what you have already written about some NT prophets such as those in Acts 13 at Antioch. So: "...in Ephesians 2:20, were almost certainly the Old Testament prophets..." (p 17.) That's not so, they include NT prophets too. Jesus said: "I will send them prophets and apostles..." (Luke 11:49). He's not talking about OT prophets there, but NT ones (because they are in conjunction with apostles), and by putting prophets first in His statement before apostles, He is also making a point that you want to overlook or deny in contemporary reality – that prophets are EQUALLY vital for the establishment of the Church's spirituality. But you reduce the foundations of the Church now to:
Because the ministry of contemporary prophets is outside of your experience, you pass over their inclusion – not just in Eph 2:20 – as part of the living contiguous spiritual foundation (foundational ministries of apostles and prophets are around today; there are many hundreds of them, if not thousands!) – but also you omit any inclusion, despite the mention of them in Eph 3:5, Eph 4:11 and 2 Pet 3:2. You use those scriptures on page 15 (only in brackets, mind you, so most people will miss it) to emphasise the only point that you want to make to bolster your apostle thesis. But prophets are mentioned there on a par with apostles, and you cannot have the one without the other, as Eph 4:11 makes clear. Either you accept contemporary prophets, along with apostles, or you reject a foundational aspect of Truth. Moreover, Eph 4:11 says these appointments of the five-fold ministry will be there until the saints are perfected. Since that has not happened yet, ALL those appointments are still in effect and Jesus is working through them to bring His saints to perfection. You gloss over the equal status or validity of prophets alongside the apostolic. It's dishonest and reprehensible to take away from the Word of God, to try and prove a personal point. If it is out of ignorance, you need be ignorant no longer. We have provided the truth on this for many years in the booklet Prophets and Prophesying. And I don't say that we are alone in that, of course. MANY others, primarily charismatic or Pentecostal believers have been aware of much of this for decades! It would be pointless me asking you to name some contemporary prophets, because you are clearly unaware of any – other than to slag some off as false prophets. But the existence of the counterfeit is a sure sign of the presence of the true, otherwise Satan would not try to counterfeit it. God uses prophets today just as He has done for the last two millennia – to bring revelation to His people that they would otherwise not receive, and which they need to mature. They complement the apostolic office. For convenience of 'classification', in Paul's list of ministry gifts, he places apostles first for obvious reasons. What use is a prophet where an apostle has not first been sent to raise up a church? But prophets are just as essential as apostles, as Paul emphasises in Eph 2:20; 3:5 and 4:11. For example, the prophet Agabus pronounced things to Paul that God did not directly reveal to Paul, for various good reasons (Acts 21:10). God uses prophets today, likewise. But you don't want to recognise them. You certainly don't have any in your area of work. The Churches of God, following a hostile tradition established by Herbert Armstrong, reject and repudiate contemporary prophets, just as Jesus foretold (Luke 11:49; Matt 23:37). The prophets at Antioch, too, were foundational in the workings of the Church (Acts 13:1). It was these prophets who were shown by the Spirit that Paul and Barnabas were to be appointed as apostles. From time to time such prophets received revelation for the apostles, and for the whole Church. So, if your premise to do with the chain of authority were true, at Antioch you would have prophets in a superior position to those apostles. Look closer at Acts 13:3 and you will notice that these prophets sent the apostles on their way. You omitted to mention that, preferring to just use verse 4, where it says the Holy Spirit sent them on their way. Putting the two together, you can see that the 'chain of authority', as you put it, in that instance came from God through the prophets via His Spirit to those apostles. The apostles were subject to the prophets there, and there is a case for every person to be subject to anyone else who is so moved by the Spirit, which is why Paul said so in Eph 5:21. But that doesn't come into your equation. Your governmental structure is only a from-the-top-down human hierarchy. Do you see, then, that these 'offices' of prophet and apostles are not a matter of rank, but of importance of FUNCTION? They are equally vital, but the apostle has a slight edge in importance over that of prophet in most instances because of his function. It's not one of rank; not one of lordship, like you are making out. It's one of effective working and service. Function is the pivotal word to remember, not rank. That's another reason John the Baptist was the greatest prophet who ever lived until that time, because he prepared the way for Jesus, the Son of God, to actually minister on earth. All other prophets did not do that. They called people to repentance, but John had more to proclaim – Christ was coming in the flesh, a completely unique event – highly momentous! You quote Eph 3:5 on page 17 about the reality of prophets in the foundations of the early Church, but fail to see that they are still around in the contemporary context, receiving revelation from God for the Church's benefit as a whole (if it were heeded). All offices are meant to complement one another and work alongside each other. God never intended for the office of apostle to be used like the Gentiles, to lord it over all the others (Matt 20:25,26). Far from it! He meant prophets to be equally accepted alongside apostles, so that God's revelations to them can benefit all believers. If all the workings of ministry amongst believers were hierarchic as you suggest, then I could claim a right to lord it over you on the basis of the hundreds of revelations I have received in dreams from God. But I won't claim such a 'right'. It is not correct. And I don't seek such lordship. That would be arrogant as well as unscriptural. It is for you to voluntarily come to acknowledge any such prophetic office, so that you can benefit from what God gives that particular individual in his or her ministry (Matt 10:39-41). But true to Jesus' words, we are "killed and crucified". That just about sums up the attitude most have to prophets. They're not usually welcomed, to say the least! As I said earlier, the foundations of the Church, like the Church itself, is a living structure. They – the gifts of apostles and prophets – didn't cease when the Apostolic Church died in the first century. As Christ lives and walks amidst His lampstands He raises up apostles and prophets to continue what He began in the first century. Revelation from Jesus does not cease. It is continual, for the perfecting of the saints and for the work of ministry. That is why the testimony (evidence) of Jesus in the Church is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10). You don't have such evidence, and what God has given us through dreams, visions, and by other supernatural means, you reject. Those who deny the power of God, God will deny. Those who deny Jesus before men, Jesus will deny. The prophetic is the evidence that Jesus lives and walks amidst His people. He speaks to His own and they hear His voice (Jn 10). You have not yet learned to recognise His voice.
Idolatry and Blasphemy To place a portrait of Herbert Armstrong on your cover says it all about how you idolise the man. You have elevated him to the idolatrous position of Supreme Pontiff over the Church. Shortly after we were thrust out of the WCG, when God showed us what was wrong with that system of 'worship' we renounced that idolatry. It was blasphemy. It placed HWA in the position of Christ, as Head over His Church. No longer was Jesus the Mediator, Master, Lord, Guide, Revelator, Shepherd and Deliverer, but those appellations were subtly transferred to HWA as the sole spiritual director of the organisation. He didn't openly claim such positions of course, but he assumed them through his psychological cultic conditioning of members, and was granted such honours by members who knew no better: "...so that he sits as God, in the temple of God..." (2 Thes 2:4). No different from the man of sin to fill up this papal iniquity at the end, shortly ahead. The problem with all this is one that is very subtle, but very damaging spiritually. It allows demons to take control away from the Spirit of Christ. It happens where the man usurps Jesus' offices and prerogatives, whether intentionally or not. When people are pointed to the man, like you are doing, instead of being pointed to Christ, they are cheated of the fulness of the relationship Jesus wants to give them. You say on page 4 that "government must flow from God Himself down to His people..." Absolutely correct! But the means you don't know. You block the means of that spiritual flow – the supernatural spiritual gifts of God. You continue on the same way you have always been used to in the WCG and the CoGs – denying the power of God, and calling the supernatural gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophesying, healings, working of miracles etc., that are seen widely in charismatic circles as bogus. But like I said before, if you think that evidence is counterfeit, that is sure proof that the authentic is there as well. If you want to learn the truth now, this subject is in An Introduction To The Spiritual Gifts and Holy Fire! Enclosed.
The truth about HWA In 1992 or 1993 (I can't remember exactly now) God spoke to Richard as we were sitting talking in our lounge one evening. He gave him a vision of heaven. He saw God's throne and Jesus there. He saw angels praising God and some other amazing things. But he was also told things about HWA that were 'kind' to our rather HWA-supportive ears at that time. God said this to Richard: "In the past, Herbert Armstrong did some things that I wanted done, but most of what he did, he did himself, in his own strength. He didn't submit his life to Me so that I could use him mightily. "On one of the many occasions I tried to guide him, he was travelling somewhere by car. On this journey, he wasn't intending on going where I wanted him to go. Because he didn't listen to Me, as he was driving, I had to commission an angel to force the car to turn so that he would go where I wanted him to go. "There are some who worship the man and adore him more than they adore Me. Such people will say this incident shows Herbert Armstrong was a man of God. What they overlook is that I had to force him to make a decision which I wanted him to make. "A person is not of Me just because I was manifest in his life once or twice. A person is of Me if he submits to Me, and when he submits to Me you will see appropriate fruits in his life. However, the fruits I consider most important aren't what many people think they are. It is wrong to think that right doctrines constitute those fruits. That is a blasphemy against My Holy Name. "I'll tell you what are My fruits. The signs mentioned in Mark 16 will accompany those who believe - miracles, healings, raising the dead, and casting out demons. All of these flow through love, the most important fruit of all. The devil cannot manifest himself in love, because he is not love, but he does know all right doctrine from My Word." (From A Message To Philadelphians, pp 9,10.) God was being kind to us in the way He evaluated HWA's life and achievements. Like you, we thought that HWA was a wonderful man of God. We had learned some truth through him, so we held him in such high esteem! But we didn't get offended to know that what we had formerly believed was not all truth, and that some was in radical need for reformation. We willingly and humbly accepted what God was saying. He was able to move us further forward spiritually. That's what He wants for you, too.
Some errors in your book Just What is an Apostle?
In closing, I will mention the dreams which God gave about you. They are prophetic, being indicators of what you would do, how you would respond, before the events. They prove that God not only knows you inside out, but that He communicates to His prophets today, and gives them to you as a sign that He is speaking to you right now. It's not just 'old me'. Nos 65 and 78 in The Bible Speaks Vol 3 that I sent you previously, would help you, if you can accept what is there. May you be willing to humble yourself before God, lay down your pride, and relinquish the false dogmas that you are promulgating that bring people further into spiritual bondage to a man instead of to Christ. A few dreams from God about you, and some others (from our dream diaries) 5th November 1999. M. Dream of Jon Bowles. I was working at my desk in the office when Jon crept past along the landing corridor, hoping I wouldn't notice him. He was going to the bathroom to get washed, but it was locked and he couldn't get in. Meaning: Jon is seeking to move ahead spiritually, but he wouldn't have any truth from us. He wants to get washed without me noticing. But why hide? Why not be transparent and be willing to converse with us? If he's intent on salvaging his self-esteem or pride, it won't work. He won't be able to access the things of God. We all need washing by the water of God's Word, but humility is the greatest key that unlocks God's water to us. The dream depicts how you have realised there is a need to move ahead and get cleaned up spiritually, but at the moment, the way you are going about it is getting you nowhere. The means to get cleaned up is locked to your understanding. Furtively creeping past my office depicts how you have tried to go it alone without taking notice of what we have written, and not wanting to have contact with us. Because of that prideful spirit of independence, you can't benefit from what God is now revealing and doing.
2nd Dec 2001. M. Jon Bowles. (Recorded 2-12-01.) This dream about a CoG minister represents all who are trapped by the dogmas and restrictive teaching in CoGs. Jon was at a college [depicts spiritual immaturity and his need for more information, to educate him; he's still got a lot further to go; he hasn't yet emerged into the adult spiritual environment] and I wanted to take a gift to him. It was a caravan that I wanted to give him. [Represents the large size of the truth we want to pass on to him. We don't want anything for it; we are willing to give this to him.] He made the excuse that he couldn't accept this largesse because it was Friday the 13th. [Satan holds him back through human evils and error.] He wrote me a paper discounting the revelation we had been given on the Greek phrase mia ton sabbaton, but it really proved nothing. It was a shallow rehash of what their group has always taught on the subject (so that they wouldn't need to change anything). It was not objective and was completely unfactual, inaccurate and worthless. Meaning: The Churches of God are spiritually shallow, their teaching is worthless from the point of view of taking them higher spiritually. There are huge demonic strongholds in these groups, which is why they oppose us so much, and will not objectively consider the new aspects of knowledge and understanding God has given us. The roots of all this are pride and arrogance. Only when they are humbled (many of them through the events of the Great Tribulation) will they be able to perceive the mercies and beauty of God and accept all His truth. (An analysis of the fact that the CoG is dead is given in Newsletter 16, pages 8-14.)
16th Aug 2003.. M. 2) The Antiquated Church of God mentality. I heard a car pull up outside. I peeped out of the window to see who it might be and I saw an old Morris Minor estate (about 30 years old) had pulled up on the main road. It was Jon Bowles. Because I wasn't dressed (it was early morning), I didn't go out to meet him, but Helena did. I went in the bathroom to get ready. Later, I saw him bringing some farm equipment onto our property. It was also the Sabbath when he was doing this. I was unable to stop him. Meaning: The car represents the CoGs with their antiquated theology and practice. Coming here with his farm equipment symbolises how such people will want to bring along their old ways of doing things, particularly in worship meetings on the Sabbath. And the fact that he was bringing this stuff in on the Sabbath is an indicator that they do not keep the Sabbath properly in the Spirit; their obedience is merely in the flesh. They need the moving of the Spirit! They need to welcome the Spirit and move in spiritual gifts instead of traditional Spirit-dead (human) ways. Combining this with other dreams, it indicates that when such people make contact with us they will want to continue down their traditional route, rather than learn from us. Prejudices, dogmas and selfishness keep them attached to the old junk in their spiritual lives.
18th August 2003. M. Two raised from the dead. I was dreaming that I had a dream. In that dream the power of God had come upon me to restore life to young people who had died [sounds a bit peculiar, but that's to emphasise that the meaning is not literal in this instance, but that figuratively two people are raised from the dead]. I think they were both boys – teenagers. [This depicts two people, whose letter arrived later that day.] They were connected in some way with the WCG. The details were not clear, but it seemed that they had drowned. In that dream I had prayed for them to be restored to life and they had come back to life. As the power of God worked the miracle, I felt a surge of power come through me. It was exhilarating and I knew the miracle had occurred, even though I was not physically present. I was some miles away. (For obvious reasons. The WCG is so full of demons, and those people are so demonically infested, that it would be impossible to raise the dead while those demons are present. First, the demons have to be cast out before such a miracle can occur.) Because of this separation by distance, those people would not have known why those boys came back to life. They would not have known that it was because of 'my' prayer, so I wanted to see if some people could get independent verification and confirmation of what had taken place. Then, they could fit the two together -- 'my' prayer for restoration of life, and the restoration of life to the dead boys. With that connection made, they would then be in a position to acknowledge our ministry. The miracle is meant to point people to the power in the Word. And that Word is contained in our literature. I didn't write it by myself! Nor was 'my' prayer merely mine. It was part of the outflow from God's Spirit. Helena's dream: She saw several wire cages. People were tied up inside those wire cages. She went to one of them and released the people. They were glad to come out and taste new freedom. The dream depicts a couple whose letter arrived the morning after this dream, as does my dream above. The WCG psychologically controls and ties people down. Helena has been used by God as an intercessor, praying for people's release. They are now benefiting and can taste a new spiritual freedom.
23rd August 2003. M. 1) Supply cables stolen! I was about to move in to our new ministry premises, but the previous owner had nicked the overhead power supply cable. It was lead (the heavy metal, lead) and was an inch or more in diameter. (It must have been worth quite a bit of money!) Since it was not legally considered part of the property, the owner felt justified in taking it, although it was totally against the spirit of the transaction. It was a nasty act of selfishness. It would cost me some £50,000 to replace what had been taken! Meaning: This work has cost us dearly! Our present debts are more than £50K. The dream symbolises how those who should have been providing our finance (primarily CoGs) have selfishly cut us off and, through their ministers' controlling rhetoric, have robbed us of money that ought to have come to us for God's Work of release (also depicted by 50). 2) I was using my white van, making things ready so we could move ahead. Behind me was a garage at another property. There were pieces of overhead canopy or some other bits and pieces of building materials left over. We were looking to see what we could use to replace the missing 50k's worth of overhead supply cable. I noticed these sections of prefabricated canopy and thought we could find a use for them. Meaning: We have to make use of 'bits and pieces' that come our way, and incorporate them in what God is having us do in His name. I had stopped my van and parked it outside the garage, thinking that I shouldn't really be parking in someone else's property. But then I realised that it was ours now and I could park there. In fact, it would be a better idea to park inside than outside because the vehicle would have some cover and protection. Meaning: Future situation, and the new HQ place. Persecution is coming, and God will provide a means of protection and cover for us. 3) Judgement coming against the WCG and Churches of God. John Dunn, a former WCG member, was living in a tiny little town house in the middle of a row of terraced houses. He was about to move house. But driving back in his car one day, something went seriously wrong and he crashed into his house, seriously damaging it, even ruining it. Meaning: The Church of God to which JD belongs is spiritually shut in, with little scope and of low spiritual quality. It is spiritually poor. [He rejected us years ago, and dismissed our materials as of little worth. By so doing, he chose to 'live' in his present spiritual house.] His car crashing into the house is an allegory of what they are doing spiritually. God brings the proud down, so it is part of God's judgment against them.
6th Sept 2003. M. 3 dreams. 1) Bindweed under the floor (explained in DD 24). 2) Judy Bowles. (Personal for the recipient.) 3) The supernatural means. (explained in DD 24.)
7th Sept. M. Atomic bomb. This was the briefest of dreams, but I saw a man showing others how easy it is to prime and prepare to detonate an atom bomb. He was an amateur! [Forewarning of the present terrorist threat to Britain.] 10th Sept 2003. M. Humbling the lofty. Everything that is lifted up, will be brought down. 13th Sept 2003. M. My pick-up was inside a large shed / warehouse. We were getting it ready to deliver literature to others. There were three long lengths of timber, like 3 x 2 planed, several metres long. Somehow they had got burned at the ends, up to about a third or more of their length and so they were now useless. They were still burning when I threw them down onto the ground. As I did this, the smouldering ends broke away, and I saw the red hot coals lying on the floor. My thought was of protecting what was in the shed, so that nothing caught fire from these coals. Then a voice said, "What thou hast done, thou hast done well." Meaning: This imagery represents three people whom we have had contact with, who also run a prophetic ministry in the USA. It is a man, who is a prophet, his wife, and his prophetess sister. About three weeks ago I sent them each a packet of our literature. Each packet contained publications specifically and individually chosen for them. Each of the three persons received different booklets, challenging them to move on and embrace further truth, which includes that of the Sabbaths, holy days, Church government (they are very hierarchic, even militaristic in that) the place of women in the Church, and other salient truths. A total of 23 booklets were sent! (That is significant, in itself. There is hypocrisy hidden here.) A short while later Helena received a dream predicting what their response would be. This morning a bag of their literature arrived in the post, at the same time as a dream which Helena received showing that they were imposing themselves upon us in an illicit way out of wrong motives. Truth is not highest on their list of priorities. Promotion of their ministry is. The man is behaving as an overlord, a cult leader, and seeks to elevate himself, and uses manipulation to achieve his less than honourable ends. A spirit of witchcraft is at work here! [This is included here because CoG ministers behave similarly.] After being presented with further truth – to which they have not responded, acknowledged, or accepted – the fire of God will burn them, and they will be cast down to the ground – judged. They are now of less use to God. He was a prophet. He prophesied daily (and still does). He prophesies on short-wave radio in the USA, but his heart is not right with God now, and he needs to make his peace with God. "What thou hast done thou hast done well" refers to the presentation of God's truth in our publications, which is why God will use them to feed many of His people. (By the way, for any who may misunderstand, I don't want recognition – merely recognition for God's truth. THAT is all that matters.)
One last thing, Jon. I had this dream below. Perhaps it depicts your desire which you need to relinquish, because only those whom God appoints can be properly used by Him. Unless God builds the house, the weary builders toil in vain (Ps 127).
3rd August 2004. M. 2) Wheeling barrows uphill. I was pushing a wheelbarrow up a very steep hill, tipping loads of soil (or whatever the barrow contained) in various places. The distance wasn't far, but the slope was very steep and it was hard work. It wasn't easy, and took a lot of effort doing this! Some others didn't realise how much effort it took, and thought that they could do the job. They wanted to take over, but really they hadn't got whatever it took. As they say in the vernacular, they "hadn't got a clue". Meaning: Some people who want 'glory' for themselves think that being a prophet is 'glorious', but it's just plain hard work, and can be tedious or monotonous. You have to plod away, pushing uphill, taking the barrowloads of truth to the places where it is needed.
The differences between us I 'stumbled' across this letter below when starting to write to you. I don't think it was any coincidence. It is from a Kenyan pastor and highlights the major differences between us:
28th March 2004
Dear Malcolm, Thanks for your e-mail. Well, as I wrote to you lastly I told you that U.C.G is not a spiritual church because there is no move of the Holy Spirit. As I read your books and even newsletters and AWAKE publications, I noticed a difference in faith. U.C.G doesn't believe on prophets even though they teach on Bible Prophecy. The way the fellowship is being conducted is totally carnal. One is not allowed to worship as the Spirit of God leads. Women's ministry is not in line with your books "THE WOMAN QUESTION". Women's need not to teach in any fellowship. No miracles, no interpretation of dreams, and many others. The only area that your ministry is in line with U.C.G is the sabbath day and the festivals of God but as well I noticed that your festivals occurrences dates differs with the ones of U.C.G dates. Therefore that is the reason why U.C.G and MIDNIGHT faith is different. I was in the first place a Charismatic Beliver and when I came across your books I got the truth. I believe that God raised you to raise a new breed of Christians that will practice and live by the whole counsel of the word of God (Bible). I detected what I was lacking in the Charismatic movement i.e Sabbaths. You have as well a message to the Sabbatarians – they need the move of the Holy Spirit. Be blessed. (Name withheld) I hope all this can help you, but that is entirely up to you. Sincerely, in His love, Malcolm _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In Closing
The letter didn't help him. He rejected all 'our' input!
The above depicts the spiritual limitations of our former friends. It applies to most people in the CoGs. They have no real depth of spirituality, and so they are a hindrance to spiritual progress and to our work for God. Two can only walk together if they are agreed, but CoG folks generally are set in their ways. Their minds are made up, and there's not much we can do with them except leave them to 'go back home'. Most won't move forward spiritually. There is stubbornness there, with arrogance and self-will. God has to leave them in that state until they acknowledge their sin and their need for His Spirit. Malcolm B Heap, Aug 2005
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