It is hard to stand by and watch your family fall apart. I'm sure if I knew then what I know now, I would have put up more of a fight for my wife. Instead, I watched her slip away because I thought it was just another Pentecostal church and now am grieving her loss to the wiles of her pastor. (David Miller - South Africa)
You actually had one of your children say to you, we are "only interested in you, Dad, we have no interest in having anything to do with your wife." How disgusting! I hope that you sent them packing with a firm kick in the behind and a "don't darken my door again until you apologize to my wife." Anything else is simply not acceptable and if one of my kids had said that to me about my lovely and kind 2nd wife, it would have been the last thing that they ever said to me. (Alf Ormont)
Going along with such treatment of your wife is absolutely unacceptable. She must be a saint to have put up with this. I will be praying for strength and protection for you both during this trying time. I have been following your blog and it has been most helpful in clarifying some things that concerned me with Victory Churches as I have family members in this cult in Alabama. Keep up the writing. Thank you. (M.B. Browne)
And these relatives are Christian? How awful for you and your wife. My family will be praying for all of you during such a Satanic attack as this. (Sandra DeVilbiss)
You and your wife must be beside yourselves over these ungrateful offspring (they don't deserve to be called your children); however, it is apparent that you love them and want what's best for them so we will add all of you to our prayer chain at our church. (Bruce & Jane Ashford)
It must be difficult to have such a situation as you describe. Keep pressing on. (Ryan Davis)
Thank you for this blog. We have read all of the articles and will be purchasing a copy of the book. We found your blog when searching for information on the "health and wealth" gospel as our adult children and their families have been taken in by the Copelands. Please pray for our children as we go through this. We also have not seen our grandchildren for some years and it is most difficult. Our prayers are with you and please keep us in yours. Thank you. (Denis & Debra Lezzard)
What a great post. We also feel like we are crying in the wilderness about this subject. At least our children are out now after six years of following that false prophet, Benny Hinn. The unfortunate part is that they no longer see any value in the Christian life. We would ask that you pray for Joelene, Adam, Michael, Brenda and their families as we will pray for you and yours. (Charlotte Wu)
I have just finished reading the book. I am giving copies of this to my girls for Christmas. I had no idea they were being drawn in under Joel Osteen's milarky. (Matthew T. Grey)
Yes, it is in crisis. When are you coming back to writing? (T.S. Smith)
The Grand Poo-Bah says:
I would like to thank all of the above readers for their comments. I have printed these comments all together in a single blog for a couple of reasons.
- You are not alone in the fight against false teaching.
- Your comments can have an incredible influence for the cause of Christ.
If you have personal experience in dealing with Victory Churches International or any of the other false teachers of the "Faith Movement," I would urge you to share your story. You never know who you may be helping along the way -- as you can see from the above comments.
I first realized that my children were all involved in a modern day Christian cult when, one day out of the blue, one of my sons said to me, "Dad, you didn't teach us the whole gospel." Since they were raised in an evangelical Baptist church from the time they were small children, I was shocked to hear this statement out of the mouth of one of my children. I was immediately suspicious that something was wrong at the new church they were currently attending. I wondered what this church had told my children to convince them that their father, who loved and cared about them, had basically lied to them their whole lives about the truth of the gospel. Convinced that something was very very wrong at Barrie Victory Centre, I proceeded to do some research and was shocked at what I discovered.
If you attend a church which promotes any of the people on the following list, you are likely involved in a cult and need to get out ASAP and stop sending them money. The only way to stop these people is to cut them off at the knees. They have no interest in your eternal soul; they are only after one thing -- your money. Many have amassed huge fortunes by promoting a "different" gospel. People from all over the world have become caught in their web of lies and don't even know it.
Here is the list of false teachers that I have found (in no particular order):
Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, E.W. Kenyon (founder of the Faith Movement), Frederick K.C. Price, George & Hazel Hill (Victory Churches International Founders), Jerry Savelle, Joel Osteen.
John Avanzini,John Hagee, John Paul Jackson, Joyce Meyers, Kenneth "Dad" Hagan (Rhema), Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Marilyn Hickey, Morris Cerullo, Oral & Richard Roberts.
Pat Robertson, Paul & Jan Crouch (founders of Trinity Broadcasting Network), Paula White, Peter Marshall (kingpin for Victory Churches International), Peter Popoff, Peter Youngren.
Reinhardt Bonnke, Robert Schuller, Robert Tilton, Rod Parsley, Rodney Howard-Browne, Smith Wigglesworth, T.D. Jakes, T.L. Osborn, Todd Bentley, Andrew Prince and Paul & Debbie McCullough (false teachers at Barrie Victory Centre where my children attend.)
All of the above are members of the Faith Movement and promote the "health and wealth" gospel which has made the majority of them all very very rich. This list is likely incomplete due to the fact that new cult leaders are popping up every week wanting to get in on the "money feast" which is taking place at the expense of unsuspecting Christians around the world. We need to stop doing this immediately.
The next blog which I post will be a bibliography of the books I have read and that you may be interested in reading as well if you have family members involved in Victory Churches International or any other arm of the Faith Movement.
Look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks for reading.
17 comments:
Glad to see you're back. Great blog.
I found the comments very interesting because I thought I was alone dealing with this. The health and wealth people are destroying my family. I am very glad that I found your blog. Keep up the fight, Brother.
Glad to see the Grand Poo-Bah is back.
I will be looking forward to seeing where you found your information. Being well-read about this subject means being able to see clearly when things don't seem right.
Well, it's great to see you finally back. It is great to read the excerpts from the research that you are doing for this worthwhile cause. I am looking forward to hearing your insight into these charlatans.
Thank you for sharing your story. My husband and I have just realized that we are in a fringe church after finding out that our pastor is expecting a brand new high-end car for Christmas from our congregation and we were all asked to contribute no less than $500 each for his gift. Our pastor doesn't teach all of the things that you have outlined in your blog; however, he does think that the Copelands are great spiritual leaders.
Thank you for taking the time. I know you are doing it for your family but it is helping mine.
Having stumbled on to this blog, I am amazed at your insight. Hang in there. Your children will eventually see the error of their ways and get out of the Barrie Victory Centre. We got out of the one in Owen Sound and it was the best thing that we ever did.
How I wish that I had paid more attention to what was going on with my wife. Now it is much too late and she has passed away because she stopped taking her medication for diabetes. Her "minister" told her that God would heal her if she only stopped taking her insulin and had enough faith. Needless to say, between that and "The Master's Diet", she fell into a coma while I was at work. By the time I got home, it was too late. And I have no recourse against this minister. He and his family packed up and moved to another state where they have started another "cult" even more nutty that the last one.
After reading the comments, it is apparent that my family was not the only ones taken in by these charlatans. The $500 gift for the pastor must be a common thread in these organizations because we have been asked twice this year to "celebrate" something with the pastor. My husband wrote the first cheque and we found your blog very shortly thereafter. After reading a lot of the blog, we have sadly come to the realization that we are in a cult and are in the process of trying to extract ourselves. My husband is on the Board but it is a straw organization because nobody can question any decision our pastor makes. Please pray for us.
Thank you, thank you. I have been printing off your blog posts for my girls. They have both started reading some of the books. They're not out yet but I am so hopeful.
This is a sad fact with what is going on out there. Those TV evangalists have ruined many lives.
Given how passionate you seem to be about this issue, maybe you should become a "travelling" preacher. You certainly couldn't do any worse than these nutbars like Benny Hinn.
It is so sad to read some of these stories. My granddaughter and her family have moved into a compound in Texas where their "cult leader" has insisted that the men live in one part and he lives with the women and children. Now what does that tell you! We are distraught and the worst part is that they started out in a seemingly normal church and ended up there because the emotional high needed to be fed. Keep up the work, Brother Pooh-Bah.
Grand perspective. Have really enjoyed reading your stuff over the last year or so. It is stunning to read what has happened to other families who have been suckered into these cults. We hope that your family will see the error of their ways sooner rather than later.
WOW!! I'm sad to read some of the comments. It's heartbreaking to the families and to you. My group will pray for all of you.
We are grateful for your blog. Our parents are mixed up in this after many years of being angry with their church and finally leaving because they now have people who "care" for them. We are sending them your information.
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