Masquerade In Ministry

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Masquerade In Ministry

By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries

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If God were interested in numbers, He’s doing a lousy job of saving the world! Most of the world is steeped in superstition, deception and false religion of all shades. And for those who think that Christians are excepted, that very supposition is evidence of their own blindness of which Jesus warned (Matt 24:4,5).

The truth is that Jesus is not failing. He said that His Kingdom is NOT of this world (Jn 18:36). So, He is not desperate to save most people now. He is fully in control. It is part of His scheme of things to allow massive deception to engulf the majority. Paul revealed God’s mind on the matter:

For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all (Rom 11:32).

While Paul was referring to Israel – the people of God at that time – his words outline a major principle in God’s working with humanity.

This principle is not understood by many preachers. Morris Cerullo seems to be one of them. He says, "Remember, the heartbeat of God is S-O-U-L-S — SOULS!"

That is a half truth. And half truths can be dangerous lies, because they subtly lead you into error, into heresy, and away from the mind of God.

Do You Comprehend God’s Mind?

Mission To London (MTL) is part of international evangelist Morris Cerullo’s outreach in the UK. In his April 2006 MTL Newsletter he announces that he is bringing MTL to London from July 17 to July 22, 2006.

MTL used to be a regular annual event in Earls Court, London, until he was disgraced a number of years ago and banned because of deceitful fundraising tactics which breached a recognised code of conduct. He gave promises that weren’t kept, or couldn’t be kept. Morris has been very glib with slogans.

When God calls a man into His service, He gives him a measure of truth. No man has a monopoly on truth. Nor is he alone in his service to God’s people. There are others, too, who are God’s servants. But Morris has placed himself on a pedestal, calling himself "God’s servant" (MTL Newsletter, Issue 1, p 1). The implication is that he is the most exalted one.

Not only that, Morris is now trying to start a new gimmick to promote and elevate himself. He claims "God has revealed something new to me." (Ibid., p 1.)

In understanding God’s mind, the first thing we must all understand is that God does not promote pride! God’s mind begins with humility (Is 57:15; 66:2). But Morris’s words are to get you to think highly of him and to convince you that what he is doing is of God.

"He has birthed in my heart the dynamic Elijah Institute – a school worldwide without walls that will help accelerate Jesus’ return. This year at the MTL School of Ministry in London I will be presenting the Elijah Institute." (Ibid., p 1.)

Do you see the masquerade in the above?

Firstly, does Jesus need our help because He is failing? Should anyone dare to presumptuously claim that Jesus needs them?! Or that our efforts – in this case, Morris’s – are going to speed Jesus’ return? Didn’t James reveal the danger in such presumption?

Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (James 4:15.)

When a preacher is so engulfed in pride as Morris is, naturally he thinks that he IS in God’s will – whatever he does! He can abuse others, treat them with disdain, yet be blind to his maltreatment. And he can say things that are half truths or entirely false!

It is certainly true that Elijah is doing His Work on earth today, but Morris Cerullo has only had a part of that Work, by no means all that he claims for himself! And that part is being superceded by others, yet he is unaware of what God is now doing – elsewhere! (But I believe he will be aware of it in due course.)

Morris does not receive from God regularly in dreams and visions as prophets do (Num 12:6). He is NOT a prophet of God. He is an evangelist with a miracle-working gift from God (which he has abused, I’m sorry to say). By starting a human institute and naming it ‘Elijah’ he is cleverly masquerading as the only or pre-eminent prophet through whom God works.

Moreover, he boasts: "The theme of the School of Ministry in London this year [2006] is Passing On The Mantle. God is going to raise up hundreds of thousands Mantle. God is going to raise up hundreds of thousands of Elijahs and they will pass on the mantle of God’s anointing. [Oh yeah? More likely they will pass on demonic oppression and deception.] God is going to raise up for you, Elishas, by the hundreds with a new dimension – a new breed – of people that are going to be able to hold your arms up and extend your ministries out to the areas where God has placed you to harvest." (MTL Newsletter, Issue 1, p 1.)

It sounds good, but it’s a masquerade. It’s a blend of truth with falsity. It is gimmickry.

It is now a human work, done by human effort – an attempt to rally people around a human leader, under the guise that it’s God’s Elijah Work on earth! It’s a masquerade.

Jesus said to me a number of years ago these words: I am not found in the Institutions of men. So why is Morris trying to establish another institute? To glorify himself. Of course, he can’t see that... yet.

Morris calls this event "a great, week-long soul-saving healing Crusade..." The number of ‘souls’ that are saved are minimal, because the majority of people who attend are already churched. And, while God certainly does some miracles and heals some people in desperate circumstances (according to their faith, not Morris’s, and because of God’s limitless grace), the anointing that used to be present on MTL is not there any longer. Why not?

False Ministers

In 1992 and 1993, we attended MTL. There was a dramatic outpouring (‘anointing’) of God’s Spirit there. God was performing many miracles. However, God showed us a man behind the scenes who was a false minister. (The gift of discerning of spirits operates with true prophets.) We were proven right by subsequent events. He falsely accused me and my wife, and unilaterally exerted total despotic power over us, removing our ‘status’ as ‘counsellors’ because he felt threatened by the Spirit with us.

He is a liar and powermonger. Yet he is a prominent minister in London. And he was put in charge of personnel helping with spiritual counselling at MTL.

I tried to alert Morris’s organisation by writing to Theresa Cerullo, but she just passed the problem over to the office managers in Hemel Hempstead and those men were equally unable to handle it. Arrogantly, they called us in to their office; they didn’t come to us. Then they dismissed our input as totally irrelevant, ‘without foundation’, and contemptuously exerted their authority over us as if they were overlords – Hitlers, if you like. Their modus operandi was similar to the Gestapo’s.

Now we could see there wasn’t just one false minister in MTL; the place was riddled with them!

I didn’t just write once. They had more than one warning (Titus 3:10; Jer 6:10,27-28). Then the shutters started to come down from heaven (Jer 6:19; 7:23-24, 28-29; 8:5-7). The following year, Robert Shambach was on stage, having preached, and awaiting God’s ‘anointing’ which would customarily come for the healing of the sick, but nothing happened!

Not realising what was wrong, he filled in time by relating some interesting anecdotes, hoping that the power would begin to be felt as he did so. But still nothing happened. As we sat on the bleachers, high up, away from the thousands on the ground floor, God made it clear to us what He had done. He had removed from MTL the former blessing. Only very few people were healed compared with the many who benefited in previous years.

The above references in Jeremiah explain why.

And MTL has had other damaging setbacks. It is cursed! (Explained in Cursed Be...) It does not accept the prophets God sends. In their place are men who are corrupt, although able speakers and stage performers. I do not mean that all who associate with Morris Cerullo are false, but many of them are.

Matthew Ashimolowo, for example, has a massive church in London, but his personal life is far from exemplary. Financial irregularities have been unearthed in his organisation. Money and power have corrupted him. And Ayo Oritsejafor’s Word of Life Bible Church in Nigeria boasts a membership of multiple thousands with a TV programme reaching 15 million in Africa each week. But so what, if what you are feeding people is a diet lacking some vital nutrients? They will end up malnourished and with deficiencies or illness.

Do you see what the emphasis is? It’s on size, on numbers of people reached, not on the quality of what is preached. God said to me:

A preacher’s success is not rated by the number of people he reaches but by the depth of repentance he teaches.

That’s what is important to God. It’s not what MTL holds up in highest esteem. Numbers (‘souls’) matter more to those with a mere human appraisal. (See article series The Church Is Missing The Mark.)

Morris Cerullo Is Idolatrously Lifted Up

Ayo says: "At least 50% of ministers preaching across Africa have been, directly or indirectly, influenced by Dr Cerullo’s ministry. Many of them look up to him as a spiritual Father, as I do." (MTL Newsletter, Issue 1, p 3.)

And that’s the problem! Morris is elevated on a level with God, and that pride has left the door open for the devil to enter and cause mayhem (see 2 Thes 2:3-12).

Deception always follows in the wake of pride. Morris claims: "God has showed me that the School of Ministry is going to continue until Jesus comes." No it won’t! The idolatrous temple will be dismantled; not one stone will be left upon another! (Mt 24:2.) Thus says the Lord! & Malcolm B Heap

Further Reading

Dreams From God About Morris Cerullo (Mor) Morris Cerullo’s Mission To London (MTL)

The Church Is Missing The Mark (CMM) Apostasy In God’s Church! (Apo)

The Sheep Instinct in GET READY! (GR) God Is Not Pleased With Tele-Evangelism! (TE)

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Footnotes

The truth about Elijah’s Work today is given in Who Is The End-Time Elijah? (E), and how God influences others touched by His Work is explained in The School of Prophets in The Bible Speaks, Vol 1 (TBS1).