United ‘Church
of
God’
Good News?
or Bad?
Jesus reproved the
religious leaders of His day for hypocrisy (Matt 23). He warned that such
falsity would be exposed for the vileness that it is (Luke 12:1,2). God
hates hypocrisy!
The task of prophets is
to reprove, to expose hidden sin, and to sound a call to repentance. And
Jesus was God’s main Prophet at that time. So, many of the things He said
trod on people’s toes – especially the self-righteous and proud.
Jesus brought light from
God. His prophets bring light. They expose and reprove, too.
Is a lamp brought to be
put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For
there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed, nor has anything been
kept secret but that it should come to light.
If anyone has ears to
hear, let him hear. Then He said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear. With the
same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more
will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does
not have, even what he has will be taken away from him’ (Mark 4:21-25, NKJV).
This truism reveals the
way God works. He gives people spiritual knowledge, but if they are not
careful with what they have ‘heard’ – if they don’t use it properly, by
living it with honest and sincere motives of the heart – they will lose what
they had.
The principle is expanded in Revelation, where Jesus warns each of the seven
churches about the need to be spiritually alert. The church which does not
properly use what it is given loses it:
I will come to you
quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent (Rev
2:5, NKJV).
This applies to a
church’s ability to reach out. God can, and does, take away the platform He
gives certain people.
Therefore if you will
not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour
I will come upon you (Rev 3:3, NKJV).
That coming as a thief
is to take away from you what you think you have. He is coming in judgement,
to condemn, and to exact retribution – a troubling thought! It is a
frightening prospect!
The trouble is, those
who have fallen through neglect, self-will and pride, don’t see Him coming
through another. Usually He comes through a prophet. But they arrogantly
disdain warnings from prophets. People like that all fall, with no way up!
UCG – A House Of Rebels
Such is the tragic
spiritual state of MOST of the men who lead the Churches of God. UCG is
among that house of rebels. They rebel against the Holy Spirit.
You won’t notice, of
course, if you are just a ‘regular member’ of such an organisation, because
you have been conditioned to trust ‘your ministry’ and not to criticise
them. Rebellion against the Spirit of God comes in very subtle guises. It is
discreetly covered up, and like hypocrisy, it needs exposing. True prophets
will do that. God shows them what is wrong through revelation.
You will notice in the
correspondence below, the rank hypocrisy in UCG leaders, and how they are
devoid of the Holy Spirit. They operate ‘in the flesh’, not led by the
Spirit of God, but by demon spirits!
In fact, some CoG ministers are so conceited,
proud and exclusive that they claim THEY are the sole recipients of the Holy
Spirit! It’s blasphemy! Jesus categorically said that ANYONE who comes to
Him and believes in Him can do what He does (Jn 14:12),
because they have His Spirit living in them (Jn 14:16-18). Peter was
under no illusions about the widespread availability of the Spirit of God to
indwell the humble and obedient (Acts 2:38, 39; 5:32). But these arrogant
CoG blunderheads have turned the holy scripture upside down, and are in
massive denial of Truth!
They are false
ministers!!
Discerning Between False
& True
Before you dismiss these
words as those of another crank, you should consider what the fruits are of
the mentors in whom you place your trust. Jesus said you would know whether
a man is a false minister by his spiritual fruits. These are listed in the
article Combating The Strongholds of Satan, in the book Testing
The Spirits, and the booklet Apostasy In God’s Church! All those
publications complement one another in the information they contain.
Members usually cannot
perceive the tell-tale traits of false ministers. It takes discerning of
spirits to see through their pleasant facade to the core of their being. But
they can be hypocrites, controllers, manipulators, and without any evidence
of the power of God’s Spirit in their lives or ministries.
Conversely, we come with
evidence of divine approval accompanying our ministry. Besides the extensive
Dream Diary – Helena and I receive dreams from God regularly, and we have
recorded many of these – others equally sold out to God and who have come
into contact with the anointing upon this ministry also receive dreams from
God confirming our appointment as prophets.
As evidence that I am a
true prophet, I have forwarded the
hundreds of pages of our dreams to UCG headquarters and some other UCG
outreach addresses. Also a number of confirmations given to independent
witnesses about MM’s work are written in two leaflets: Revelations From
God About MM, and What God Said About MM. I won’t repeat those
here. If you want that confirmation from other witnesses of what God spoke
to them about me and
Midnight
Ministries, please request the above titles.
UCG – A Church of Satan!
It’s not what UCG
teaches, but what UCG DOESN’T teach, which tells you all about who they
represent. It’s not God. It’s Satan.
That will shock many.
It’s intended to. How else can you wake up somnolent, gullible, shallow
Christians?!
Paul warned of these
deceivers:
...having a form of
godliness but denying its power... from such people turn away (2 Tim 3:5,
NKJV).
The power of God is not
evident in UCG, because the Holy Spirit is shut outside. UCG ‘ministers’
have stolen control and seized for themselves the prerogatives and
functions of the Spirit of God, which include:
You as a member, and
they, will not be able to see this transfer. It is discreet, hidden, secret.
But the ugly truth is
that men have shoved Jesus outside the church and taken control inside. The
only way you can see what has occurred is by looking at what UCG ministers
DON’T teach.
Jesus gave these
commands, but UCG does not practice what He said, nor does UCG have the
evidence that He said you should see:
-
Heal the
sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons... (Matt 10:8,
NKJV).
-
These
signs will follow those who believe. In My name they will cast out demons...
(Mark 16:17).
-
...they
will speak with new tongues... (Mark 16:17, NKJV).
-
...they
will lay hands on the sick and they will recover (Mark 16:18, NKJV).
These truths that are
denied by UCG – because they involve the power of God that UCG quenches by
its teaching and practice – are fully explained in Midnight Ministries’
literature:
-
An
Introduction To The Spiritual Gifts.
-
Holy Fire!
-
Casting
Out Demons.
-
Raising
The Dead: Testimonies In Our Time!
-
Raised
From The Dead At Midnight.
-
Faith and
Healing.
-
Faith:
Raising Our Level Of Expectation.
-
Why
Have Faith?
These are aspects of
biblical teaching and practice that UCG and all other CoGs deny:
(Paul said in 1 Thes
5:19, DON’T put out or quench the Spirit’s fire! UCG does just that!)
Besides the eight
publications listed above, other MM booklets explain more:
-
Prophets and Prophesying.
-
Apostasy
in God’s Church!
-
Who Is
The End-Time Elijah?
Truths ‘lost’ or
hidden to the Church are being restored! These ARE the days of Elijah!
But UCG and all the other CoGs are ignorant of what God is doing in this
end-time restoration. Some of them are blindly preaching about it, unaware
that it has mostly been done – and it is not they who are doing the
restoration. They are too proud, self-elevated and arrogant for God to use
them. He won’t give His glory to men. He reserves it for Himself.
UCG does not
recognise God’s Work on earth! God is working outside the institutions of
men, just as He did with Elijah.
He is using prophets.
But organised churches do not accept His prophets. They want the acclaim
that they think prophets have; they want it for themselves. Because of that sin, they are spiritually blind.
God Speaks Through A
Dream
Last night I finished
writing the above and then I went to bed. I was really tired. It was after
midnight.
Just before waking up, God gave me this dream. It portrays the UCG.
People who are ignorant
dismiss such things as the result of too much work the day before or eating
cheese. You can ridicule dreams and reject them if you want. But the truth
is that God speaks to His prophets through dreams (Num 12:6) and He always
backs them up. The dream last night confirms the veracity of what I am
writing here.
8th August 2005. M.
UCG Men in their prison cell.
I was looking down upon
four men in a small prison cell. They were sitting in a horrible watery mess
of urine and faeces. I communicated with two of them. The other two were in
the background, silent and completely inactive.
I had carefully written
out a long page of explanation, exhortation and encouragement. It was all
painstakingly handwritten in black ink on the white paper. I dropped the
paper down to them. It fluttered down and the guy on the right caught it,
but he took the briefest of looks at it and then dropped it into the mire
they were sitting in. He didn’t care for it at all.
The guy on the left was
sitting up higher and more upright than the other one, but because the other
guy had dumped the sheet, he couldn’t have the benefit of it.
I was concerned about
how we could help these people. There was only one way and that was through
intercession. But my part in that intercession was to berate the authorities
who had allowed them to be left in such a mess, and to petition them for
better conditions.
Meaning:
This depicts UCG. The dream was given because yesterday I sent our dream
diaries to a minister in UCG in Africa, who dismissed everything as junk and
falsity – he dropped the paper into the mire.
The dream portrays
allegorically the spiritual mess they are in. They have no cleansing from
sin, and the people are all imprisoned in a dungeon, unable to get out. Half
of them are completely inactive, spiritually dead!
The authorities are UCG
leaders who are responsible. Next will be an appeal from me to them to do
something to release these people from their prison.
That appeal is right in
front of your eyes. God spoke to predict what He would do to offer release
to UCG folks, and now He is doing so in
these words.
For those not familiar
with dreams from God and their symbolism, I should explain more. Men depict
leaders of churches. Sometimes the symbol portrays those who are
authoritarian. Churches are usually portrayed as women. Converted believers
are generally depicted as women, because they are called to be part of the
Bride.
The man on the right
depicts someone who is a ritualist (who relies upon himself and what he does
by his own efforts). That shuts the Spirit of God outside the door of His
life. He is without the Holy Spirit. It depicts the UCG minister in Africa
to whom I sent all our dream diaries. He responded with hostility, calling
me “a prophet of doom and an agent of Satan the Arch-deceiver.”
Rebels Are Exposed
You assess whether that
response was justified and who was being influenced by the devil.
Here is what I wrote to
him first:
5th August 2005
Dear A,
1It has come to my attention that you
have claimed that I have misinterpreted dreams which God has given me.
Please, therefore, show me where I am
wrong. I will include below the current 2005 section of my dream diary, and
after this I will send you our 'complete' dream diary which contains dreams
from 1997 onwards.
I would be grateful if you would point out
the inaccuracies and make corrections according to the lead of the Holy
Spirit. It is a fearful thing to find fault with input from God, and to
wrongly handle the word of God, and I don't want to be found guilty in His
sight. Revelations from God have a sanctity that should not be defiled, so I
am asking you for your response so that truth can prevail. I would hope that
you share my sentiments. [Clearly he didn’t.]
Since you are such an authority on such
things, you must have a pretty extensive dream diary yourself, which I would
like to see. [Of course, I was being facetious. His arrogance shuts Jesus
firmly outside his door.]
Thank you. Sincerely,
Malcolm B Heap
His reply in full:
6th August 2005
You are a prophet of doom and an agent of
Satan the Arch deceiver. Do not ever ever ever ever write to me. Whoever
gave you my email address without my permission will suffer the
consequences, Period.
Friendly, eh? That’s a sample of UCG real
brotherly kindness! The man rebels against submission to the Spirit. I
wrote him a quick reply:
8th August 2005
Dear A,
Your response is so silly. All you can do
is accuse me of being a prophet of doom. You won't address the issue I have
raised, because you can't. You are too fearful to, aren't you? You want to
hide from the light. You don't want to be shown up to have been in the
wrong.
You claimed that I have misinterpreted
dreams which God has given me, so I asked you for the substantiation of your
claim. And all you can do is chuck another false accusation at me, just like
your mentor, satan the adversary and accuser. Either you know you are
blatantly in error in your false accusations against me, or you are deeply,
deeply deceived.
Well, if that's what you want, carry on in
your deception and in lying to yourself. You don't fool God, nor me, nor any
true believer who is willing to see the light.
I'm sorry you choose to be in the devil's
camp, but that's your choice and you will have to suffer the consequences of
that.
Jesus said you would
know false believers by their fruits (Matt 7:15-23). This little exercise is
to expose the evil spiritual fruits in those who dress in sheep’s clothing
but inwardly are ferocious wolves!
Don’t Be Fooled By UCG
I wrote to another about
the unseen dangers that lurk beneath the surface of UCG:
Are you aware that UCG is a cult? That it
denies the power of the Holy Spirit? These are ones you are warned to avoid
and have nothing to do with (2 Tim 3:5.). You won't have the spiritual
perception to recognise a cult devoid of the Spirit, because their
publications are slick and look good; they preach messages that contain
truth (even much biblical truth); but when it comes to matters to do with
the Spirit, they shut out the Spirit. They claim they have the Spirit, but
they don't. They are guided by demons. Beware!
They don't accept prophets of God, nor the
gifts of the Spirit, nor true baptism in the Spirit with supernatural power
from God. They claim they do, but they don't. They are deceived and deceive
others. They trap people into their exclusivism, where they end up following
men, worshipping men, and persecute those led by the Spirit. They are agents
of Satan! I know that sounds hard to believe, but truth is stranger than
fiction.
[There is] a mixture of truth and error.
Its main failing is that it denies the Spirit of God, and also takes no
account of the influence and power of demonic spirits upon the human mind,
against which you have no power. The only way you can control your thoughts
is with the indwelling of God's Spirit in your mind to counter demonic
spirits that hover over you and use you as a carrier.
You probably don't realise it, but the
demons influencing your mind helped you to write that short essay (if you
wrote it, or whoever wrote it). It was not inspired by God. Some of the
thoughts expressed are demonic in origin, and are subtle counterfeits of the
truths of God.
It is a humanistic piece of writing, mixing
some aspects of truth with some error and falsity, just like the devil's
lies in the garden in Eden to the first humans.
Just one example of many I could cite: you
say "Attaining peace of mind, happiness, satisfaction, inner strength,
spiritual enlightenment and realizing the inner self is spiritual success."
But how can you achieve any of that without the indwelling of the Spirit of
God? IT'S TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT GOD'S HELP!! Do you not know what the
inner self is in each person who has not yet realised their need for God
inside them? It is vile! (Jer 17:9; Rom 3:10-12; 8:7,8.) God uses the word
"worthless" (Rom 3:12) and "unable to please Him" (Rom 8:8).
There is simply nothing inside a person of
any value without the Spirit of God.
You mentioned nothing to do with people's
need to submit to God, lay down their self-will and pride, and receive His
Spirit. In fact, that piece of writing encourages pride and self-elevation
[which is what UCG subtly does] – the precise opposite of what writings
inspired by God's Spirit encourage – humility and self-abasement!
You would be better advised to fill your
mind with the truths of God that are contained in publications that God has
approved. Do you know which publications He has commended by revelation?
Where's His commendation (2 Cor 10:18) on
UCG materials? There isn't any. But Midnight Ministries materials have God's
commendation. Many individuals have written to us, telling us of dreams God
has given to them about MM publications, that they are inspired, and that
they contain God's truths that set people free.
Do you want setting free? Do you want to
receive the Spirit of God? Or are you just a religious hobbyist?
Many will vehemently
disagree with what I wrote there. They will defend UCG on the basis of the
fact that it teaches much ‘truth’. And I’m sure it does! But that is not the
yardstick by which you are to judge whether a church, or minister, or
believer is of God. Jesus didn’t say you test them by their knowledge of
biblical doctrine. He said you must test them (testing is not optional, but
required – see 1 Jn 4:1) by their fruits – spiritual fruits, not physical
ones, nor even intellectual ones.
You know, the devil
doesn’t mind you having much truth in your intellect, because he can still
hook you and make you his lackey.
Knowledge puffs up, but
love builds up (1 Cor 8:1, NIV).
One of the best tricks
in Satan’s book is to let a person have lots of what they think is ‘truth’ –
Bible knowledge – get them puffed up by it, and then that shuts out the
Spirit of God, so there is no love there. In that elevated state, proudly
lifted up in your delusion, you are far from God and He is far from you,
like the person ‘A’ mentioned earlier
You need humbling. You
need to be broken. You need to start like a little child all over again.
Only then will God accept you. And when you have laid down all these subtle
idols in which you put your trust, He comes in by His Spirit, washes you
clean, and gives you spiritual gifts to confirm His indwelling.
But that evidence of the Spirit is just not to be seen in UCG! UCG members
put their organisation in place of Christ, and their ministers in the place
which the Holy Spirit should occupy. Worship has been reduced to a human
level. The Spirit is absent.
It’s tragic. And the
biggest tragedy of all is that UCG members and ministers are deceived. They
THINK they are pleasing God, doing God’s will, and have the Holy Spirit, but
they don’t. Of course, they don’t know that they don’t. Try telling them,
and their pride shuts you down immediately.
UCG Mortuaries!
Jesus puts it this way
in Revelation:
You say, ‘I am rich; I
have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that
you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (Rev 3:17, NIV).
Jesus’ admonition is
strong:
‘I counsel you to buy
from Me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white
clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to
put on your eyes so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.
So be earnest, and repent! Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If
anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and
he with Me’ (Rev 3:18-20, NIV).
Can you hear His voice?
He’s speaking to you now!
Many will not open that
door, because the price is too high. It will cost them too much – so they
think – because they are trying to hold on to things for themselves. Pride
is the main thing they try to hold onto. Only those who are willing to give
up all their pride, and forfeit their all in complete abandonment to Jesus
and His love, only they will be willing to respond and open the door.
It takes humility. And
unfortunately, like the WCG and all CoGs, that’s not what UCG breeds.
I wrote to one who
defected from helping us, and who went back into the prison of UCG:
The CoGs are spiritual mortuaries, where
the Spirit of God is shut out, and people are being prepared for slaughter.
Of course, most people won't see that. It
takes spiritual discernment to see through the slick publications CoGs
produce. But they are NOT produced by the inspiration of the Spirit of God
(as God has confirmed that MM's are[1]),
but by the power of human intellect alone. Unspiritual people can't tell the
difference between the two. They only look at the outside, the appearance,
and they are convinced by the factual writing which contains much truth from
the Bible, perhaps as much as 90%.. BUT, what CoG publications omit is
vital. It's that missing 10% which contains what is of the Spirit, and which
brings life. And people who are undiscerning don't see it lacking in the
CoGs. So, they are hooked, deceived!
It's easy for the devil to deceive people.
He claims many victims. Those whom God calls into His service start out on
the right road, but they soon get side-tracked as Satan plays on their
fleshly affections or desires (see 2 Cor 6:12). They didn't sell out to God
(see 2 Cor 8:5). That was what God required you to do – to give yourself
completely to the Lord, in service to Him, and secondly to us in the work
for which He has called us all. Think about 2 Cor 8:5, and all the things in
2 Cor 6-8. It's not easy to serve Him. We have to deny what we want, and
what are often our natural pulls, even denying the demands of unconverted
family and friends where their demands upon us conflict with God's demands
upon us.
You remember that God forewarned you in
dreams of two areas of temptation that would threaten your service to Him?
That was in 2002. One dream was about UCG. [That dream portrayed UCG
ministers comparing the size of their sex organs. The meaning is spiritual.
It is an allegory of their carnality, pride and man-domination.]
...We have to face these realities, as sad
as they are, and not let them get in the way of God's calling and purpose
for us which has to be supreme in our lives.
Where you went wrong is that you allowed
yourself to serve two masters. You let those false masters take you away
from serving the true One who is worthy of your complete devotion. You knew
that CoGs are vomit holes – pits of Satan – traps where there is no Spirit
of God, only a counterfeit through intellectual appreciation of God's Word
and human leadership. You allowed your love of money to take hold and
control you, so that you worked for a false god, and that blinded you. You
lost your way.
I think you see some of your mistake, but
perhaps you don't see just how much you were trapped, and still are because
the experience has stolen away your faith. You are expressing faith in me,
but not faith in God to help you out of your problems. You shouldn't pray to
me (ask me for help). You should pray to God (ask Him for His help), and if
your heart is truly turned to Him, He will help you.
... [God] continually tests His people, to
encourage each of us to put our complete trust in Him. But we are only able
to do that as we fully love Him and His truth. Either we trust Him or we
love ourselves. Those are the options.
If you love Him, and care for the people
who have been hooked by the false ministers of the CoGs, you should warn
them of what you were warned via the dream. You should tell those whom you
know in UCG of that dream and what it means. Those men are carnal. They are
proud. They are all in the flesh. There is no Spirit there in their lives.
They are not converted. Those ministers are charlatans. The dream indicates
all that. And you can quote me for a second witness, for every matter is
established in the mouth of two or three witnesses...
You need to help ALL
the people whom you have been fellowshipping with in the CoGs, or whom you
have had contact with in these false churches, because they are deceived.
They need the truth to deliver them. If you carefully think about what God
has revealed about us and through us, you will know how to approach them and
what to pass on to them. CoGs have NO COMMENDATION FROM GOD (2 Cor 10:18),
but we do through revelations given to others. (You should know all that.)
There is NO HOLY SPIRIT REVELATION TO THE COG
MINISTERS. The Spirit is absent, so you need to warn the people that they
have been dancing with demons and fellowshipping with felons. False
ministers carry demons. They are MOVED BY demons. That's why they are
manipulative, controlling, and abusive, as you saw in Osoo. False Christians
have those same traits.
I hope this helps you to make the break
which you need to do, so that you can start again to be used by God.
Remember, you didn't work for me. As you
worked for God, He took care of you... It's not money you need. It's His
guidance and inspiration on your work which you need. And, because you have
stepped back and been influenced by demons, you have lost that. Other
masters stole away your heart.
When you have God's guidance and
inspiration -- which comes with a dedicated heart, serving God truly – the
money comes too. So, at the moment you are still looking in the wrong
direction – to me and money, instead of to God and His provision. It all
depends upon you and which direction you determine to go.
You would do well to be with the influence
of godly people around you... and as you re-commit yourself to God, He will
work things out and the anointing can return upon you... OK? Any questions,
do write.
Wishing you well. You're a dear brother in
the Lord, and He doesn't want to lose you.
God bless.
Malcolm
I didn’t hear back from
him. But one day I will. His silence is due to the psychological control he
has put himself under in the UCG. It’s easier, some think, to go back to
Egypt, where we had garlic, fish, onions, leeks, melons and cucumbers – even
though we were in captivity (Num 11:5).
Isn’t humanity fickle!?
It sacrifices what’s best spiritually for what is more expedient physically.
UCG’s Control Is Satanic
Hierarchy in churches is
satanic. Amazingly, that was revealed to Herbert Armstrong, the UCG’s
original mentor, back in the thirties.[2]
But, when the church he founded began to steadily grow bigger and
bigger, he preferred to deny that truth, forget it, and establish the
hierarchy which he previously knew to be against God’s will.[3]
When men take control of
the spiritual direction of people’s lives, they play God. They have put
themselves in the place of the Holy Spirit. They shut Jesus outside the
door. He wants to come in, but He is not allowed, because minds are
controlled by men.
All this is blasphemy.
The greatest blasphemy
is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for which there can be no forgiveness.
That is committed when men call the wonderful gifts of the Spirit
satanic!
When they label the
things of God as evil, like the man ‘A’ did earlier in rejecting me as a
‘prophet of doom and an agent of Satan’, they call evil good and good evil.
For minds like that there is no way back. There is no repentance when they
willingly reject the good things of God’s Spirit.
UCG Condemns Spiritual
Gifts
The signs that Jesus
said WOULD follow His true believers (Mark 16:17-20) include:
Speaking in tongues.
Interpreting tongues.
And prophesying.
The trouble is, these
gifts are decried and denied in UCG, as in most other CoGs from a WCG
origin, through ignorance and bigotry. Excessive human control shuts out the
Spirit of God in UCG. Their experience does not extend that far. UCG
appreciation of the things of God is limited by what the human mind can
appreciate naturally. But the gifts of God are supernatural, and such things
are folly to the natural mind of man, as Paul wrote:
The man without the
Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned
(1 Cor 2:14, NIV).
True to Paul’s words, if
UCG folks were to go into a meeting where everyone is speaking in tongues,
they will think it madness (1 Cor 14:23). And so they do! UCG mentors argue
ignorantly about tongues, because it is outside their own experience, and
they reduce the Word of God to the level of their very limited experience,
instead of humbly admitting they still have things to learn.
One man received the
Spirit in a Sunday-keeping church and started to speak in tongues when he
prayed. (This is a common phenomenon to those who have faith to accept the
spiritual gifts). Then God revealed to him the truth of the Sabbath being on
the 7th day, and he joined UCG in order to observe that command. But did UCG
folks then learn from him about tongues, as he was willing to learn about
the Sabbath? No.
So, he came out. I
applaud him. That was the right thing to do, to leave behind those who do
not move on with the Spirit of God.
UCG ‘ministers’ were
downgrading the gift of tongues, demeaning it, speaking against it, wanting
to prevent it occurring, and to limit his spirituality.
Here are some of his
remarks followed by my comments on what he said:
<< I've been praying in tongues. >>
That's so encouraging to hear, since so
many from an intellectual-approach-to-the-Bible-background just don't accept
such things.
<< (UCG). They were teaching that if one is
to speak in tongues then there must be an interpreter. >>
That's rubbish! Paul's comments were
specifically directed to a specific problem of exhibitionism, vanity and
performance in Corinth. They are not meant to be a complete statement about
all tongues prayer, or for all situations. Three pray in tongues in our
meetings, but if there were five of six, I dare say that they would all pray
(which some contest is contrary to what Paul 'commanded'). Sometimes we get
interpretations, sometimes we don't. It depends what God wants, and how
receptive people are.
<< They also taught that tongues only came
on Pentecost as a sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit. >>
Yeah, I know the garbage they teach. It's
completely ANTI-The Holy Spirit and an affront to God!
It is untrue that tongues was only a
phenomenon on Pentecost. When Gentile believers received the Spirit, they
spoke in tongues, too. See Acts 10:44-48.
Moreover, although believers in Samaria had
been baptized into the name of Jesus, they were not aware that they could
receive the Holy Spirit. They had not been taught to receive the Spirit, so
they didn’t receive it. Their baptism was one in acknowledgement of an
intellectual change – just the same as that which UCG and other CoGs accept.
See Acts 8:16.
When they were taught that they could and
should receive the Holy Spirit, they prayed to that effect, and the Spirit
baptised them (Acts 8:15-17). When Simon the sorcerer SAW that they had
received this amazing thing, he wanted to buy the ability to impart this
power (Acts 8:18,19). This power was clearly demonstrable – because the
Spirit’s baptism was accompanied by speaking in tongues.
Just as Jesus said, it’s according to your
faith. And faith comes by hearing the truth of the Word of God (Rom 10:17).
If your faith is based on wrong teaching, you won’t receive. It’s as simple
as that.
In Ephesus, Paul found some followers of
John the Baptist. Likewise, they had not been given complete teaching. They
had only come to the point of acknowledging their need of repentance, but
had not received the Spirit. Once they had been given the fuller truth,
“Paul placed his hands on them, [and] the Holy Spirit came on them, and they
spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6, NIV).
UCG Lords It Over
Members
Members of UCG in Kenya
were looking forward to attending UCG’s Feast of Tabernacles. They had been
promised a place by John Elliott and other UCG ‘ministers’. But when these
men found out that some of their members had been reading MM materials and
having contact with one of MM’s ‘reps’ in Kenya, they were suddenly struck
off the list without an honest explanation and prevented from attending.
They were very hurt.
Remember Jesus’ words
about charlatans: “by their fruits you will recognise them...”
These men don’t want a
following for Jesus. They want a following for themselves, and use Jesus’
name to get it. It’s diabolical, but so subtle!
An ex-UCG correspondent
wrote to me about this evil control they exert over people:
<< I used to read books by Derek Prince
sometimes in the past. I'm blessed by his tape... Now I'm a free person, I
was restricted by UCG not even to study other literature not authored by
them... >>
Why is UCG so terrified
of what other groups produce? Because UCG leaders don’t have the Spirit;
because they are led by Satan and demons; and Satan and his demons are
terrified of the light that exposes them! That’s the raw truth!
When our friend asked us
whom he could invite to his Sabbath meetings to feed the brethren spiritual
food, I had to explain that he doesn’t need to rely upon men. The Spirit
will guide him, as he learns how to listen more fully to Jesus’ voice:
You can handle things and act as the
overseer, providing spiritual food through your own messages, or with tapes,
videos, and encouraging other spiritually-minded folks to share, and for all
who are able, to take part. ...as you probably are becoming aware, we don't
operate like the UCG or other churches, where they look up to their mentors
and expect them to be leaders. Fellowship is meant to be fellowship, not a
lording-it-over-others session, or a time-to-look-up-to-the-preacher and
time-for-him-to-elevate-himself session in the guise of preaching.
He described how he left
UCG amicably, but how UCG controllers had bad-mouthed me with slanderous
accusations. (No UCG ‘ministers’ have ever approached me to find out the
truth of these false accusations. They WANT to throw evil at me! Remember
Jesus’ words: “You will know them by their evil fruits.” Evil trees don’t
bear good fruits, nor do good trees bear evil fruits. The tree is known by
its fruits.)
Here is what he wrote:
I gave a farewell service and detailed
biblical reasons for my departure quoting from MM literature and giving
scriptural back-up. Xxxxxx our senior overseer of UCG came here on [date].
Seemingly he was informed over the phone by someone about the events which
had preceded his coming. He spent the night here and [the next day], we sat
to discuss my departure. I explained every bit of Christian doctrine that I
disagreed with in the UCG. I gave him biblical references and quoted for him
from MM literature and told him how they [UCG] were lording it over us. And
the restrictions they gave us not to interact with others.
He listened patiently and responded when I
was through. He told me he sympathised with me [that’s a lie; if it were
true, the UCG minister wouldn’t tell further lies to try to disaffect him
against MM] if I was joining MM... He accused you of pride,
misinterpretation of dreams [the critic doesn’t get ANY dreams! so he’s no
judge!], being a lone ranger [the prophets were all ‘lone rangers’], using
and dumping people, being harsh and brutal, exploiting people and many other
things. He discouraged me totally against associating with MM.
He asked me to contact people like
[mentions some rebels who are not willing to fully obey God’s truth revealed
in MM publications] who have dealt with you, and I would know what I was
going into. He told me that I would regret the step I was taking. He told me
that recently they received a letter from an anonymous source showing that
all people who have been working with MM here in Kenya are departing
[untrue]. Therefore that was a vacated camp. [But even if it were true –
and some have departed from the truth we promote – that was true in Jesus’
ministry. See Jn 6:66. Even His disciples all forsook Him and fled at one
time, so the man’s reasoning is bent and loaded in one direction.]
...Given that he understands my present
financial position, he capitalised on that to promise me good things ahead.
[That’s how vile this group is. They use money to ‘buy’ people!] But then I
told him mine was a decided case.
I replied:
You mentioned in a previous e-mail about
UCG policy of discouraging people from reading literature from other sources
than UCG. That was what the WCG did for most of its history, and is based on
exclusivist philosophy – that the WCG is (was) God's one and only true
church – that the Holy Spirit is only available to and through them. This
false concept was believed in various shades of intensity. The UCG has
continued on with that highly prejudiced mindset, which is satanic.
I don't know how much you know of this, but
I thought I should mention it in case anyone is unaware of how devious these
cults are. That's what the UCG is – a cult – as the WCG still is, despite
its noises to the contrary. A cult is a group of people who follow their
human leaders and ascribe divine qualities to them, or give them unswerving
obedience as if they are God's sole representatives. Thus, the human leaders
take the place of Jesus in the church, and so the Holy Spirit is not welcome
and spiritual gifts are decried and prevented from being harnessed.
You probably know some, or much, about this
already. If you have the A5 size leaflet Opposition Against The Power of
God (blue cover), it explains more.
The UCG suggestion (or instruction) that
members should only read UCG materials, or those 'passed by' UCG hierarchy,
amounts to control.
By contrast, you are free to read anything
from any source you want. You don't need my permission to do so, because I
don't have that right to control you, nor do I want it. God doesn't exercise
control over people. He gives them freedom of choice. People have to choose.
That's in His plan for each person to decide what they want to do, whether
they will obey Him or not.
As far as 'our' literature goes, you know
that God has given revelation to confirm that He has inspired its
compilation, but that doesn't mean that you should read only MM literature,
or only listen to MM tapes, etc. No, you are free to read and listen to
whatever is spiritually stimulating by other ministers, but of course you
have to be like the Bereans and check out what you hear and be discerning...
because wherever you look throughout the Church Universal there is a mixture
of truth and error.
It is wicked for men to want to clone
people (make them over into their image, to be just like them in what they
believe, think and how they behave, etc.) Such control is caused by the
presence of evil spirits.
There are three main essences of the
working of evil controlling spirits of witchcraft. You may know of this from
the teachings of Derek Prince. He was good on some of these things.
He mentioned:
1. Manipulation.
2. Intimidation.
3. Domination.
All these are exercised with the object of
controlling you spiritually. All are evident in UCG ministers, lording it
over others, subjugating them under their hierarchic rule and squelching the
individuality which God wants each child of His to develop. That was the
evil modus operandi
behind WCG, UCG, and all CoG leadership behaviour. You have said it well –
"lording it over" others.
In the slander of Xxxxx
against me, that is the motive behind what he said. It was to try to
manipulate you back into their fold and under their control. Intimidation is
an attempt to make you fear (not that you do). With such fear ruling (fear
to disobey church authority, etc.), Satan can then maintain domination over
the minds which are subject to him through fear. The 'big brass' UCG leaders
exert as much domination, manipulation and intimidation as they think they
can get away with, to try and hold people in subjection to their rule. It's
all wrong as I'm sure you know.
What Xxxxxx said about
me is all slanderous (false accusations). He has obviously heard a lot of
gossip, some of which will have come from disenchanted people like... and
others who were once with us, but who defected after they didn't GET what
they wanted out of us. I won't waste the time to try to clear my name of
that slander. That's what they want to believe, and Xxxxxx believes it
because it suits his pride to do so. It elevates him and 'his church', and
puts me down as a prophet of God. But then all the prophets were treated
like that, so it's nothing new. We have to get used to it.
Anyway, I hope this
encourages you not to be intimidated by anything they say, and not to fear
them in any way. God is on your side, because you seek to do His will. They
are out of His will, and the demons that control their minds can't harm you
because He that is in us is greater than he that is in them (1 Jn 4:4).
Pass on our best wishes
and blessing to all the brethren with you.
God bless. Your brother
in Christ,
Malcolm
Another correspondent
told me how she was reaching out to others. I encouraged her because UCG
forbids ‘ordinary’ members to do that. I wrote:
You Should Meet With
Jesus
We don't have organised
feast sites like UCG arranges (which are according to the traditions of the
WCG – they are merely following on in their footsteps without questioning
the way to do things). Midnight Ministries encourages believers to come
before God in small groups to worship truly as the Spirit leads you (see the
booklet Meetings With Jesus.) As you have seen, UCG is a church
devoid of the moving of the Spirit. Where individuals respond to the Spirit,
like you have been doing, UCG excludes such people, because having those
people present in meetings threatens the supreme control that the human
leader tries to exert. I explain in God's Church – Whose Authority?
why this is so wrong. Perhaps you know already. You have seen some of this
evil manipulation in these ministers, which is a denial of the freedoms we
all have in Christ.
You know now that all
believers with the Spirit are called to 'go' with the Gospel, to reach out
and to bring this freedom in Christ to others who want to receive it. UCG
and most other CoGs do not accept that members have this privilege or right.
Thus, they hold members in captivity – a bondage of subservience to them –
to church leaders. God adjures His children to come out from under such
spiritual oppression (Is 52; Rev 18:4), which is blasphemous.
One major problem with
the Churches of God is that they can't see the pride they have. It is often
a pride in who they think they are. They think they are the only ones whom
God is using, or that they are special in some way. Mt Zion
CoG had this exclusivist stand when I tried to contact them about
14 or 15 years ago. They didn't reply.
They don't want to be told. I don't suppose they have changed, because such
things are a part of their ethos and the way they are, the way they
want to be.
None of us is special,
of and by ourselves. We are only special in Christ. And since this
brotherhood in Christ is what He has purchased for us all to share in, HE
should take the glory, not any man. Yet, subtly, all these CoG 'ministers'
(they are mostly false ministers) usurp Jesus' position in the Church for
themselves. Jesus said "you will know them by their fruits", and where these
evil masters will end up (Matt 7:15-23). You have seen some of their evil
fruits, in controlling people, and manipulating the Church (the Church is
the people, not them) to their own advantage. They have reduced the
teachings of Jesus to petty human politics, which is a stench in God's
nostrils! By so doing, they have fulfilled Jesus words in Matthew 24:49.
God bless you and your
love for Him.
Sincerely,
Malcolm
A Vision Of UCG
Besides the various
dreams which God has given me and my wife, a correspondent in the USA
informed me about a vision which also confirms my corrective comments above
(but UCG folks will still probably not accept such criticisms, despite the
fact that God gave them to more than two witnesses).
His friend has a
prophetic gift, so while he was on the phone to him, he asked him for advice
about his relationship with UCG. God gave the ‘prophet’ a vision of UCG.
In this vision, God
depicted UCG as a large car from the late 50's or early 60's. This depicts
United's old-fashioned spirituality. It was very shiny, which illustrates
how they look good on the outside. But that’s not what matters, is it? It’s
what’s on the inside that counts with God.
The Lord does not look
at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7 NIV).
In another vision he was
shown UCG in blackness. This depicts the lack of true spirituality in UCG.
(The whole vision is recounted in The Bible Speaks, Vol 5, p 44.)
They need God’s light to dispel the darkness of their delusion. But how
gripping and powerful is such deception! Jesus stated:
The eye is the lamp of
the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But
if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the
light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness (Matt 6:22-23,
NIV).
Jesus was referring to
your outlook, your approach, your motive. When evil motives underlie
religious fervour, there is terrible spiritual darkness of deception. It is
well nigh impossible to deliver people from such deception!
God Now Fights UCG
The evils of UCG control
have the same source as that which motivated Diotrephes – Satan.
Notice that what John
mentioned is what UCG is repeating today. It’s the same behaviour.
I wrote to the church,
but Diotrephes, who loves to have the pre-eminence among them, does not
receive us (3 Jn 9, NKJV)... prating against us with malicious words. And
not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids
those who wish to, putting them out of the church (3 Jn 10, NKJV).
The same evil controls
are exerted in the cult of UCG and most other CoGs. John reveals the truth
about this:
He who does good is of
God, but he who does evil has not seen God (3 Jn 11, NKJV).
UCG mentors have not
perceived God. They don’t have His love within them. That fact is borne out
by their evil, controlling behaviour.
Amazingly, this was
predicted long ago:
I have stretched out My
hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not
good, according to their own thoughts; a people who provoke Me to anger
continually to My face... who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,
for I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils... (Is 65:2,35,
NKJV).
Human nature hasn’t
changed in the carnal religious! Religion is vile to God. Human religion, I
mean. Behind it all is the inspiration of demons!
Is it any wonder that
God fights such an abomination?!
For He said, ‘Surely
they are My people, children who will not lie.’ So He became their Saviour.
In all their affliction He was afflicted. And the Angel of His presence
saved them [people can be called, receive an ‘earnest’ of His Spirit, but then step
back and rebel, and fall away, to be lost in the end]; In His love and in
His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of
old. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself
against them as an enemy, and He fought against them (Is 63:8-10, NKJV).
Israel of old, to whom
the above prophecy first refers, was our example, warning us of the danger.
Those called to obey God in this age show the same rebellious tendencies to
one degree or another. We all must overcome our inate rebellion.
The road to salvation is
littered with many casualties! Apostasy respects no one except the truly
humble. Most church leaders are far from God’s ideal. (Humility is vital –
emphasised in the booklet The Missing Dimension in Christian Living.)
It’s why, from time
immemorial, when God has warned His people through the prophets He has sent,
they are rejected and God’s words are ignored. Jesus lamented:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem
[Jerusalem is
a figure for 1) Israel, and 2) the Church, hence the dual utterance] the
one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often
I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under
her wings, but you were not willing! (Matt 23:37, NKJV).
I hope you can
understand that there are two aspects to God’s character. His love
for people and righteousness, but His undiluted hatred of evil and of
those who flagrantly continue to do and be evil.
Rebellion is as the sin
of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you
have rejected the word of the Lord He
also has rejected you... (1 Sam 15:23, NKJV).
Therefore, consider the
goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you,
goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut
off (Rom 11:22, NKJV).
Most Christians just
want His goodness, not His severity and chastisement. But you either want
all or nothing. You can’t hold onto just part of Him.
Either Jesus is Lord
of all in your life, or He’s not Lord at all. It’s that simple.
But the reality of that
simplicity is frightening. Many fall away. In their self-righteous pride,
they arrogantly think they can enter God’s Kingdom how they like. They put
themselves first, not God. They are not careful to get dressed
properly (Matt 22:11).
For many are called, but
few are chosen (Matt 22:14, NKJV).
Jesus will reject all
such arrogant rebels:
Bind him hand and foot,
take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth (Matt 22:13).
UCG Ministers Block The
Spirit
I mentioned earlier that
I had sent by e-mail most of our dreams (from 1997 to 2005) to UCG e-mail
addresses. If there is any Spirit of God in recipients they will read those
dreams (at least some of them, because there are too many to read all of
them; there were many hundreds!) and there will be a witness in the spirit
of the reader, that God is speaking to His people through the dreams.
Dreams are allegoric or
figurative messages from God. (Explained in An Introduction To The
Spiritual Gifts.)
I had one response,
which was from John Elliott, UCG minister in charge of East Africa. He
wrote: “Please remove me from your e-mail list. Thank you. J.E.” That’s all
he said.
He’s nailed his colours
to the mast. There’s no witness of the Spirit in him. He doesn’t have the
Holy Spirit within. He shuts God out, and excludes the prophets God sends.
That’s a fruit of his spirit.
Never forget Jesus’
words: “you will know them by their fruits.”
For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Rom 8:14, NKJV).
John Elliott is not led
by the Spirit of God. He blocks it. So do many others who have been
appointed (by men, not by God) as UCG ‘ministers’.
The following
correspondence with Peter Hawkins, the UCG UK office manager, illustrates
the point again.
I responded to an advert
that they placed in a national newspaper, advertising their magazine The
Good News. In their introductory letter accompanying the magazine,
they said “You’ll find its themes timeless, full of faith, hope and love.”
Well, they’re sorely
disillusioned. We soon exposed their lack of faith and love.
Here’s the
correspondence:
UCG Dismisses Raising The Dead
31st January 2005
Dear Sir / Madam,
Thank you for the
magazines you sent to me recently.
I enclose a write-up
from the web about a pastor raised from the dead. I have noticed some other
similar stories, too. So, it seems that God is doing some remarkable things
here and there to draw attention to the fact that this is the end of the age
and not much time is left.
Do you think this is
part of the work that was prophesied in Malachi 4, of the Elijah?
Do you have any other
similar stories to relate of how people have been raised from the dead in
your church? Or of other amazing miracles that have happened, like Paul
said, to confirm the Word? (Acts 14:3.)
Looking forward to
hearing from you. Thanks.
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Byrom
The enclosure was the
account of Daniel Ekechukwu who was resurrected in Nigeria. It was not my
account. I deliberately sent them a miracle that occurred in the
Sunday-keeping sector of the Church, because UCG wrongly believes that you
have to be a Sabbath observing Christian to have contact with God, and to
receive miracles, etc. Their bigotry excludes others of different belief.
The response was
typically dismissive:
11th February 2005
Dear Malcolm,
The enclosed two
publications show how the ‘resurrected’ pastor’s “after-death” experiences
do not agree with Biblical doctrine.
Peter H.
The note was handwritten
on a compliment slip, which was fine. But its tone was not fine.
It smacked of
close-mindedness, of prejudice and bigotry.
He rejected the account
as bogus, hence the apostrophes before and after ‘resurrected’, and he
doesn’t believe that after-death experiences are real. The quotation marks
around “after-death” infer that he thinks they are just not true.
The origin of this
blindness is Satan. The demonic strongholds are established by church
teaching that UCG calls “biblical doctrine”. Yet it is not biblical doctrine
to believe that the mind ceases consciousness at death, otherwise Jesus was
lying in Luke 16:23 where He categorically states that the rich man is in
torment in Hades.
The truth on this
subject is detailed in a booklet we produced called Life After Death.
The reason I wrote that account was because God spoke to me in a dream one
night and told me to set the record straight about the state of the dead.
But like Abraham said in
Luke 16:31, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they
be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”
Here a man has been
brought back from the dead, and a prophet has told Peter H at UCG about it,
but he is not persuaded.
I wrote again:
Peter H
United Church of God
PO Box 705
WATFORD
WD19 6FZ
13th February 2005
Dear Peter,
Thank you for your note,
in response to my letter of 31st Jan 2005, together with the two booklets
you sent:
What Happens After
Death? and Heaven and Hell.
I am angered by your
response, because it is close-minded. It is totally unacceptable to dismiss
authentic witness as you did: "the enclosed two publications show how the
'resurrected' pastor's "after-death" experiences do not agree with Biblical
doctrine."
No, I'm sorry, what you said is entirely wrong. It's not biblical doctrine
that Pastor Daniel Ekechukwu's experience disproves, but your
appreciation of it. You are responding as if your appraisal of
biblical doctrine is infallible. You haven't yet considered that
you could have got something wrong in your analysis.
So, you work from the
presupposition that no way could your understanding be at fault in the
discrepancy between what you believe the Bible says and what that pastor
experienced. Since the two disagree, you reject the authentic testimony
about the pastor's after death experience. The man who investigated what
happened was equally sceptical at first, but he didn't dismiss it like you
have done, he went to investigate, and he found out that IT WAS INDEED TRUE
– that the pastor had died and gone into the spirit realm. He related some
of the things he experienced.
Do you also dismiss what
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12? Where, in couched terminology, he said that
he had been taken in the spirit to the third heaven (12:2), into Paradise
(12:4) and heard things that he was not allowed to tell? (12:4.) Yes you do,
because it doesn't fit your preconceptions. What Paul experienced is not in
line with all you say in those booklets.
On page 28 of What
Happens After Death? you base your thesis shakily on one text, which
breaks a cardinal rule of biblical interpretation – Jesus' words that no one
has ascended to heaven (more on what He meant there, later). Yet, Paul went
to heaven, something which you claim no man has done.
I agree with you that
you have got much right. These are some of the aspects of biblical truth
which you have managed to appreciate:
-
that the
'soul' is not immortal
-
that hell
does not burn forever
-
that there
is a resurrection coming.
But none of that disagrees with the fact that the spirit in man, which goes
to be with God after death (if it is righteous), is
conscious. How can the spirit in us, that Paul revealed gives consciousness
to ourselves (1 Cor 2:11) cease to be conscious upon death? In thinking
that, you make the physical organ of the brain more important in real terms
than the spirit that gives life. No, it is the brain which ceases at death,
the spirit carries on (until such time as the Judgement, when the rewards
are finalised).
Not only do you reject
the contemporary pastor's witness, you dismiss:
-
Paul's
witness of life after death in 2 Cor 12,
-
also what
Hebrews states – that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Heb
12:1), yet you say we are not, because those saints are all dead and buried,
unconscious and no longer living witnesses (even though Jesus said "God is
not the God of the dead but of the living" in allusion to the fact that
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive – in the spirit realm); it is not
that they have been perfected yet, because Hebrews 11:40 shows that
perfection awaits the maturation of all other saints
-
what Jesus
said: that if you eat the Living Bread (Jesus) you will live forever (Jn
6:50-51); if it were true that a begotten son of God is unconscious after
death until a bodily resurrection (which will also happen – I don't deny
that), then you would not be living forever would you? the eternal life
Jesus promised would be interrupted; Jesus brought more truth than the Jews
knew from the OT; He revealed new understanding:
MOST
ASSUREDLY I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death (Jn
8:51). If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death (Jn 8:52).
Jesus was implying
that the spirit in man, which Paul was shown brings life to the body and
mind of mankind, does not cease to function upon physical death; it goes
into another sphere of consciousness. And that is why there are countless
testimonies today of people who have died, experienced what lies beyond our
physical consciousness, and have been allowed by God to come back and relate
some of what they saw. That is further revelation, which you seem to deny.
I have talked to one
woman who had a near-death-experience as a girl. She wasn't lying or making
things up. She hadn't told it to anyone for over 70 years because she
couldn't understand it, until I explained to her about the many NDE or OBE
experiences of others who had temporarily died and whose spirit had visited
the spirit realm and remembered some of their experience afterwards.
To return to what you
wrote: "the enclosed two publications show how the 'resurrected' pastor's
"after-death" experiences do not agree with Biblical doctrine." You suggest
that the pastor was not resurrected. Are you suggesting that it was a hoax?
Or are you suggesting – like so many who don't understand, because it
doesn't fit with their 'biblical' dogma – that it was something contrived by
the devil? Either way, both of those inferences (if that is what you infer)
are demonic in origin.
Yet, one purpose of the
experience was in the words that the angel told Daniel Ekechukwu: "The
mansion is ready but the saints of God are not. Jesus is being delayed
because Christians in the church are not ready yet." Are you suggesting
that this angelic message is a lie? Are you suggesting that it was not an
angel, but was a demon giving false information, misleading people?
If you do, that doesn't
make sense, because the fruits of repentance were the outcome of Daniel
Ekechukwu's experience. Those were good fruits that brought harmony to his
formerly unharmonious relationship with his wife – something that Malachi
promised would be a fruit of the coming of Elijah in the end times. Are you
suggesting that this experience was demonic? I hope not, but I await your
reply on that. And if so, why was it demonic? What evil fruits did the
experience engender? What was the evil that it promoted? The only evil you
have presented to me thus far is the 'evil' of it not falling into the
parameters of your intellectual appreciation of Scripture.
Near the end of the
account of Daniel Ekechukwu's resurrection from death are these words: "How
important it is that we obey Jesus' commandments regarding forgiveness and
walking in love toward each other, as well as all the rest of His
commandments." The fruits were good, were they not, or do you maintain
that they were evil? This is the acid test of whether something is of God,
or whether it is of the enemy.
If it was a
manifestation of the work of the Spirit of God and you are calling it evil,
you are close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit, are you not? And your
presumption in this regard is based upon the supposition that your grasp of
Scripture is inerrant. How can you be a spiritual instructor with an
attitude like that? Is this arrogance and presumption the foundation of
United Church of God's spiritual teachings? If so, it is not the foundation
that Jesus laid out for us, which makes you a child of the devil, not a
begotten son of God, just like Jesus said to the Pharisees and arrogant
scribes.
It is astonishing that
you deny facts for the sake of antiquated dogma! You are like the Pharisees
of old who rejected Christ because He didn't fit their arrogant
preconceptions. You reject contemporary witnesses of spiritual things
likewise. As Jesus said to one of them, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and do
not know these things?" (Jn 3:10), I say to you: "Are you a teacher of God's
people, and do not know these things?"
Your problem seems to be
not merely that you don't know these things, but worse – that you don't
want to know. That is not only close-minded. It is arrogant and bigoted.
It is that arrogant approach which prevents the enlightenment of the Spirit
shining upon you, so it's not surprising that you fail to understand. On
this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who
trembles at My word (Is 66:2).
Has 'knowledge' puffed
you up? (1 Cor 8:1.) Have you become vain by 'exalting your throne'? (Is
14:13.) Has iniquity been found in you? (Ezek 28:15.) Has your heart been
lifted up through this pride in the heritage that you think you have, and
corrupted your wisdom? (Ezek 28:17.)
The error in your
teachings is merely symptomatic of a much deeper spiritual lack – a lack of
the power of the Holy Spirit. You talk about it, but words are cheap. Where
is the evidence? I asked you for the evidence of what is happening in your
church to witness to Jesus Christ as a living Saviour. But you have
given me none, so what can I deduce except that you have none, and that your
organisation which claims to be a Church of God is a charlatan organisation
masquerading as a Church of God. Like Jesus said of Sardis: You have a name
that you live, but you are dead (Rev 3:1). The Spirit of God is not in
evidence in your church, is it? Otherwise you would have been willing to
furnish me with evidences of the supernatural power of God's Spirit at work
in your midst. Instead of that, you ignore my question posed in my first
letter to you, and think that the account I sent to you was something
spurious.
You deny the authentic
testimony of a man raised from the dead. I have books in my library with
hundreds of anecdotes and testimonies of miracles which God has done and
people raised from the dead by Jesus' LIVING power, but it would be
pointless wanting to share any of that with you since you deny a
foundational aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the POWER that
accompanies the truth of God. Jesus promised this supernatural power in Mark
16:17-20, but you have not furnished me with any evidence that it
accompanies your work.
However, I retain an
open mind, so please would you send me the testimonies of people who have
been supernaturally healed, or raised from the dead, or received other
divine miracles. Thank you.
I await your reply.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Byrom
PO Box 29
Aylesbury
HP17 8TL
PS I felt I should
enclose some other material with this letter to support what I have
presented to you about life not ceasing after death, so that follows in the
attachments.
God bless your
understanding – if you want to learn, that is.
I enclosed the text from
Life After Death and The Near Death Experience. He had 31 big
pages of truth! But he rejected it all. There was no reply!
UCG Goes Silent
Peter H
United Church of God
PO Box 705
WATFORD
WD19 6FZ
3rd March 2005
Dear Peter,
I wrote to you on 31st
January 2005, enclosing an account about a man in Nigeria who was raised
from the dead. I asked you: "Do you think this is part of the work that was
prophesied in Malachi 4, of the Elijah?" In response, you sent a brief note
saying that the incident does not square with biblical doctrine (your
concept of it).
In my subsequent reply
of 13th February, I enclosed two lengthy treatises showing you how your
concept of life after death is in error and is based on an incomplete
appreciation of Scripture, and how your two booklets What Happens After
Death? and Heaven and Hell are merely a partial understanding of
the subject.
I pointed out that your
response was close-minded. You dismissed authentic witness about one man
raised from the dead. I have other accounts which I could send you. Do you
want to see them?
As I explained, you work
from the presupposition that no way could your understanding be at fault
in the discrepancy between what you believe the Bible says and what that
pastor experienced. Since the two disagree, you reject the authentic
testimony about the pastor's after death experience.
I also asked you: 1) "Do
you also dismiss what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12? Where, in couched
terminology, he said that he had been taken in the spirit to the third
heaven (12:2), into Paradise (12:4) and heard things that he was not allowed
to tell? (12:4.)"
2) "You suggest that the
pastor was not resurrected. Are you suggesting that it was a hoax? Or are
you suggesting – like so many who don't understand, because it doesn't fit
with their 'biblical' dogma – that it was something contrived by the devil?"
3) "...the angel told
Daniel Ekechukwu: 'The mansion is ready but the saints of God are not.
Jesus is being delayed because Christians in the church are not ready yet.'
Are you suggesting that this angelic message is a lie?"
I also pointed out
various other facts that have a bearing on this topic, but I have not heard
from you and await your considered response. Could you tell me what you
propose to do concerning this issue? I also asked:
4) "...please would you
send me the testimonies of people who have been supernaturally healed, or
raised from the dead, or received other divine miracles. Thank you." I still
await a reply from you.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Byrom
Still there was no
reply!
UCG’s False Foundation
Why do UCG people ignore
input such as this? There are several reasons.
1. They are too proud to admit to error. Their organisation is founded upon
the premise that it is God’s Church, and truth is only available through
God’s Church, so whatever comes from somewhere else which disagrees with UCG
doctrine must be
error. So runs the faulty, highly prejudicial reasoning.
It’s a close-minded approach.
2. They don’t love new
truth. They love themselves more. Their pride is more important to them.
So they will reject further truth in order to protect their ego and their
assumed pre-eminence.
3. Their organisation,
and what the organisation teaches and believes, comes first. It is the god
they worship.
4. Outsiders are looked down upon because – since UCG is God’s Church, so
goes the dogma – “outsiders don’t have the truth. Truth is only available
to and through the auspices of ‘God’s Church’.”
These unspoken tenets
that underlie UCG psychology are fabrications of the devil. They are
strongholds he has erected in their minds to trap them and prevent them
moving ahead spiritually. This psychology prevents them accepting prophets.
It also causes immediate rejection of further truth.
Jesus said:
And you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free (Jn 8:32, NKJV).
Jesus is the Rock on
which you can stand secure, and His truth is the foundation that provides
the stability you need to weather the storms of life (Matt 7:25).
But Satan has cleverly
duped UCG folks (and those in CoGs, and the WCG, the mother church) by
filling their minds with the prideful false dogmas I have mentioned above.
Believing these lies, he has hooked them and trapped them. It’s very sad,
but there is little you can do to release a proud person.
God has to allow them to
go through the vicissitudes of life to humble them. And in this final hour
of this age, the Great Tribulation will net the greatest harvest of all
history for this very reason. But it will be traumatic!
Demons Control UCG
Another correspondent
requested from UCG their booklet Is There Really A Devil? Of course,
the devil’s laughing, because he lets UCG write about his existence while
he’s got them believing in him and fearing him! Demons control UCG!
You think that’s over
the top?! Wait and see. This correspondence exposes it:
United Church of God
PO Box 705
Watford
Herts
WD19 6FZ
27th February 2005
Dear Sir / Madam,
Thank you for sending me
the booklet Is There Really A Devil?
Like you, I believe the
Bible is God's Word to humanity, so that we can know about spiritual things
that we would otherwise be ignorant of.
Would you please send me
the booklet The Church Jesus Built. Thank you.
In your publication you
reference Matthew 28:20 where Jesus instructs us to teach converts to
observe all things just as He commanded those first disciples. Some of the
most compelling commands are in Matthew 10, where He said: "Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons..." (Matt 10:8). This is
part of the divine Great Commission to the Church, is it not? And the
evidence in Acts later states that they did those miraculous things.
From your writing you
give the impression that you sincerely want to promote truth, and not
falsity, but I found nothing in your booklet about how to put demons out of
people, or how to be delivered from demons that oppress. Perhaps you have
another booklet on that. If so, would you please send it to me. Can you tell
me how you go about putting demons out of people who come to you for that?
There was a programme on
Channel 4 TV last Thursday where a Christian had a demon put out of him by a
minister, and I have seen other videos of people having demons cast out of
them. Some of this does look a bit of a 'performance', but there is no
denying that evil spirits were actually present and being cast out. These
were Christians who were coming forward for this sort of ministry.
Could you tell me if you
have this sort of ministry available to those who want such help?
One other thing I have
noticed is that other believers often utilise the gift of tongues when
putting out evil spirits, because when praying in the Spirit the exorcist is
often commanding the demons in a way that only the Spirit can fully
understand (1 Cor 14:2,14). You alluded to this praying in the Spirit (Eph
6:18) on page 29 (box).
I would be grateful if
you would enlighten me on what you do as regards demonic oppression, how you
help such oppressed people, and what you have to say on Mark 16:17 — "In My
name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues."
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jim Smith
Again, there was no
reply.
Do you see how deceitful
their publications are? They write some of the truth, but they are unable to
put the truth into practice. THERE IS NO POWER IN THEIR MINISTRY, because
the Holy Spirit has been shut outside. Men in positions of hierarchic
authority (which is not what Jesus commanded for His Church, see Matt
20:25-28) have usurped Jesus’ place and shut Him outside their church!
Do you want to be part
of a dead church? If you are in UCG, you are a member of a dead church,
because God’s power is OUTSIDE it! Demons are in control inside!
There is no evidence of
the moving of the Spirit of God inside UCG!
Where are spiritual
gifts, such as tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophesying, casting out
demons, revelations by words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and dreams and
visions?
They’re not inside UCG.
UCG doesn’t teach about such stuff. And if you press them about it, they’ll
probably label it all satanic!
A month passed without
any response, so Jim Smith wrote to them again:
United Church of God
PO Box 705
Watford
Herts
WD19 6FZ
27th March 2005
Dear Sir / Madam,
Thank you for sending me
your magazine The Good News. It's not very spiritual.
I wrote to you a month
ago, asking you some questions about how you cast out demons
and requesting your booklet The
Church Jesus Built. I have received the booklet, thank you, but
no answers to my questions. I presume you leave demons where they are.
In case you have mislaid
that letter, I enclose a copy of that overpage.
There are some good
videos available now on various Christian subjects that some churches don't
practice. I enclose a sample of one by Bill Subritzky, a New Zealand
evangelist, who has particular spiritual gifts at work in his ministry. You
will see some on this video:
-
a gift of
speaking in tongues
-
a gift of
working of miracles
-
a gift of
healing
-
a gift of
faith to cast out demons.
I don't agree with all
his 'doctrine'. He doesn't keep the Sabbath like we do, because he comes
from a Church of England background, and that truth is still alien to him.
But that doesn't stop God using him as a vehicle of His power and love, to
deliver and help people whom God is calling into His kingdom through his
ministry. God looks on the heart, not on the outward appearance or
'doctrine'. Jesus declared that the working of God is according to your
faith, not according to your works, and that we would know them "by their
[spiritual] fruits", not according to their intellectual doctrine.
I notice you say these
true things in your booklet The
Church Jesus Built on page 68:
-
"Its
members strive to follow the example of Jesus and the apostles in all
things."
-
"The
members of United Church of God are dedicated to preserving and proclaiming
'the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints'."
So I have enclosed
this video which contains part of that example of Jesus and the apostles,
who exercised gifts of healing, working miracles, casting out demons, and
speaking in tongues, which were all part of the faith once delivered to the
saints.
I
hope you are able to learn from it as much as I have. I welcome your reply.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jim Smith
PS If you want to obtain
the 2 videos on Deliverance From Demons, they are available from New
Wine, PO Box 17, Chichester, W Sussex, PO20 6YB.
No prizes for guessing
that they didn’t reply!
Jim Smith had no luck on
his ‘front’, and I didn’t expect any better, either. But the point of the
exercise was not to elicit a response, rather it was to show them up for the
charlatans and deceivers that they are. How dare they claim to be God’s
Church while they are without God’s Spirit!!?
It’s Not ‘Good News’;
It’s BAD!
United Church of God
PO Box 705
WATFORD
WD19 6FZ
27th March 2005
Dear Friend,
Thank you for sending me
your magazine The Good News. It's good news insofar as it goes, but
what it omits amounts to bad news, because you omit the power of God.
I have written to you on
two previous occasions (13th Feb and 3rd Mar) to ask you to present to me
some evidence of the working of the power of God in your 'church', but you
have not even replied. That would seem to indicate that you have NO power of
God at work with you, and that my question is an embarrassment to you.
On the address page with
your magazine, you say you welcome questions: — "We welcome your questions
about the Bible or the Church", but clearly you don't welcome mine, because
they expose your lacks.
You're not a true church
of God, because you don't fulfil the telling words of Jesus:
These signs will follow
those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak
with new tongues; ...they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover
(Mark 16:17,18, NKJV).
The apostles "went out
and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and CONFIRMING THE WORD
THROUGH THE ACCOMPANYING SIGNS" (Mark 16:20, NKJV).
I have asked you to give
me the evidence of true miraculous signs that authenticate the presence of
Jesus' Spirit in your ministry, because it is those signs which confirm that
you bring the true gospel as you claim. You claim that others don't bring
the true gospel but that you do (p 31, box, The Church That Jesus Built).
That is an arrogant, presumptuous, exclusive claim, which I expect you to
justify. But you haven't done so, which leaves me with no alternative but to
draw the conclusion that you are bogus workers of Christ, deceived and
deceiving others, without the power of God. Paul said: FROM SUCH TURN AWAY
(2 Tim 3:5).
You have sent me your
magazine, lacking evidence of the power of God through testimonies of those
delivered from the devil. In reciprocation, I send you one of mine
(Newsletter 30), which contains ample testimonies of the moving of God in
dreams, visions, the help of angels, as well as people helped, healed,
delivered, and set free by the power of Jesus Christ.
Enclosed also is a
current Dream Diary. (God gives dreams and visions to those who are
attuned to His Spirit, and sold out to Jesus to do all His will – not merely
follow human church leaders.) Also included is A Message To Sabbatarians
which explains why God has used non-Sabbatarians up to now to preach the
gospel with miraculous signs following. There has been too much pride and
arrogance in those who keep His Sabbaths, preventing God working through
them in demonstrations of supernatural power. But there are some faithful
and humble souls who keep His holy days whom God can use, as the enclosed
leaflet Raised From The Dead At
Midnight
demonstrates in two people who have been brought back from death through
faith and humble submission to God.
I hope you are willing
to learn from these enclosures, and I still welcome hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Byrom
When Silence is Not
Golden
Mr Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx
United Church of God
PO Box 705
WATFORD
WD19 6FZ
15th March 2005
Dear John,
I have written to Peter
H [Peter Hawkins] at your church HQ address in Watford on two occasions, but
have had the points I have raised ignored. Both of my letters were not
answered.
Worldwide was always
good at avoiding embarrassing issues, and not owning up to its own
duplicity. Am I to assume that UCG, to which you apparently give your
loyalties, is equally duplicitous?
Having not had an answer
from your UCG office, I am writing to you about it, and enclosing the same
information for your consideration.
I wrote on 31st January
2005, enclosing an account about a man in Nigeria who was raised from the
dead (account enclosed). I asked: "Do you think this is part of the work
that was prophesied in Malachi 4, of the Elijah?" In response, Peter H sent
a brief note saying that the incident does not square with biblical doctrine
(his concept of it).
In my subsequent reply
of 13th February, I enclosed two lengthy treatises showing you how his
concept of life after death is in error and is based on an incomplete
appreciation of Scripture, and how UCG's two booklets What Happens After
Death? and Heaven and Hell are merely a partial understanding of
the subject.
I pointed out that his
response was close-minded. He dismissed authentic witness about one man
raised from the dead. I have other accounts which I could send. I asked him
"Do you want to see them?" He didn't reply.
As I explained, he works
from the presupposition that no way could his understanding be at fault
in the discrepancy between what he believes the Bible says and what that
pastor experienced. Since the two disagree, he rejects the authentic
testimony about the pastor's after death experience.
I also asked: 1) "Do you
also dismiss what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12? Where, in couched
terminology, he said that he had been taken in the spirit to the third
heaven (12:2), into Paradise (12:4) and heard things that he was not allowed
to tell? (12:4.)"
2) "You suggest that the
pastor was not resurrected. Are you suggesting that it was a hoax? Or are
you suggesting – like so many who don't understand, because it doesn't fit
with their 'biblical' dogma – that it was something contrived by the devil?"
3) "...the angel told
Daniel Ekechukwu: 'The mansion is ready but the saints of God are not.
Jesus is being delayed because Christians in the church are not ready yet.'
Are you suggesting that this angelic message is a lie?"
I also pointed out
various other facts that have a bearing on this topic, but I have not heard
from him and await a considered response. I also asked:
4) "...please would you
send me the testimonies of people who have been supernaturally healed, or
raised from the dead, or received other divine miracles. Thank you." I still
await a reply.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Byrom
There was no reply to
this letter, either.
At the same time, I
wrote to another minister in UCG, who knew us very well, and I added:
I have enclosed those
letters in full, for your consideration, plus the further information sent
to Peter H.
I have also enclosed our
latest Newsletter and Dream Diary, which contains dreams from God given
about the failings of the Churches of God amongst many other things. We have
received previous ones about UCG and other CoGs, which are not included in
this diary, but I doubt if you want to see those. I still recall the word
God spoke to me about you some years ago, which I conveyed to you when I
wrote last. The walls have not yet fallen, but they will soon when 'we'
raise the dead in this country as God has decreed. Then you will understand.
Meanwhile, I hope you
will take the time to consider carefully what is enclosed. There is little
time left before the Tribulation closes in on the Church. CoGs which play
blind man's bluff will not survive what is coming. UCG will be finished as
someone in Africa was shown in a dream not long ago.
Any church that shuts
Jesus outside, and rejects His prophets, will lose all they have gained, as
you well know from your knowledge of what Jesus said.
God bless.
Sincerely,
Malcolm
I didn’t expect a reply,
because these former friends are so cloned and psychologically trapped that
they are not able to give an objective response. (I didn’t get any reply.)
To both these
individuals I sent:
Life After Death
The Near Death
Experience
Raised From The Dead At
Midnight, 1 & 2
What God Said About
Midnight
Ministries
Revelations From God
About MM
Who Is The End-Time
Elijah?
Dreams From God About
The Judgement On Britain
The Deadness Of The
Churches of God
God’s Work CANCELLED For
Lack Of Interest!
The Last Outpouring Of
The Spirit
Wielding The Divine Axe
Prophets In The Church
A couple of weeks later,
I sent some further literature to both these individuals and also to the UCG
office manager:
The Timing Of Jesus’
Death and Resurrection
Miraculous
Manifestations
24 Mullahs Have Visions
of Jesus
The Joel Meeker
Correspondence [showing that this UCG minister is devoid of the Holy Spirit]
Are You Living In Him?
The Bible Speaks, Vol 4
Is MM Literature
Inspired By God?
How Soon Will Jesus
Come? & Time Is Short
The Faith Once Delivered
To The Saints
Are You Moving Ahead?
Carried Along By The
Spirit
Opposition Against The
Power of God
More About The Gifts Of
The Spirit
You Should DEFY, Not
Deify, Church Authority!
There was no response
from any of them.
UCG Is Now Being Judged
Finally, I wrote to
UCG’s Peter Hawkins:
11th April 2005
Dear Peter,
Thank you for your
general letter of 6th April offering a copy of UCG's booklet The Church
Jesus Built.
You ask rhetorically,
"Where is the Church Jesus built? How would you recognise it? Is the Church
primarily a building, or rather a group of people?..."
Reading between the
lines, and from The Church Jesus Built, you are still of the
persuasion that the true Church is comprised only of those who hold to
Sabbatarian Christian tenets. I have to pull you up on that bias; it is
incorrect. The definition of a true believer is not according to doctrine
alone, but primarily one of acceptance of the Spirit (Rom 8:9), as the
enclosed publications explain:
Understanding The Mind
of God: A Message To 'Worldwiders'
Understanding The Mind
of God: A Message To 'Law-Keepers'
Understanding The Mind
of God: A Message To 'Sabbatarians'
Your blinkered appraisal
is based upon your limited knowledge and shallow understanding.
Furthermore, you state
that "Roman Catholicism and those [Protestant] churches that have sprung
from it presents a set of significant anomalies to students of the Bible."
And so does your church,
for you do not accept these from the faith once delivered to the saints:
-
The
universal priesthood of the believer (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10). The Church is
NOT comprised of a hierarchy of overlords, pontificating over the brethren –
which is an ABOMINATION to Jesus! You have the same pontifical system that
your Harlot mother had, so you are no better off than the churches you decry
for their wrong doctrine.
-
Supernatural spiritual gifts. You do not accept these – speaking in tongues,
interpretation of tongues, prophesying, and supernaturally implanted words
of knowledge, words of wisdom, nor the working of miracles in evangelistic
outreach.
-
Prophets assigned by God in the contemporary context, to bring further
revelation to the Church.
You don't accept prophets. You wouldn't have accepted the OT ones either, if
you had lived back then. Nor would you have accepted Jesus' words against
Pharisaic self-righteous religion.
I have enclosed
publications to help you broaden and correct the above myopic misconceptions
you hold, namely:
God's Church – Whose
Authority?
An Introduction To The
Spiritual Gifts.
Prophets and
Prophesying.
Last week I sent your
office 7 copies of a leaflet. Opposition Against The Gifts Of The Spirit,
and asked for those to be shared amongst your staff.
The next night God gave
Helena a dream that represented your office staff and church members as
seedlings in a seed tray (God uses everyday imagery to convey His
parallels), smothered, and unable to reach the light. Some in the middle of
the tray were in complete darkness, while those on the fringes were leaning
towards the little light at the edges.
That aptly portrays
UCG's smothering or dominating behaviour, which disallows believers under
your domination (which is not true ministry; that's false ministry) to have
any more of the true light from God. And while the light which is in you is
darkness, how great is that darkness!
I wrote to you on 31st
January, 13th February, 3rd March and 27th March, and – true to your cultic
policy of ignoring issues you cannot answer, because it would expose the
spiritual inadequacies of your church – I have had no adequate reply. I have
merely been fobbed off with presumptive dismissiveness. Yet people are being
raised from the dead through the power of God, and all you can say is it
doesn't fit in with biblical doctrine. Oh yes it does! (Matt 10:8; Acts
9:40-41; 20:9-11; 10:44-46; 11:15; 19:2-6; 21:9-11; 26:8.) It is UCG which
does not fit in with biblical doctrine. It is totally behind the times! You
need to wake up, and wake up the people trapped within your little house.
You talk about the true
Church of Jesus as if your organisation fits that bill entirely. What a
pathetic weak effort that is, if that's all that Jesus is doing on earth.
What about the millions of other believers equally trapped in partial
darkness like you? Is Jesus so incapable or inept that He can only use one
tiny little fragment of Christendom and bring them into His Kingdom and that
He has to let the others be lost?
Come on, get real! Read
A Message To Sabbatarians and the other booklets in the same series,
and learn just how God has been working all along. You have been held in
ignorance by your mentors, going all the way back to HWA, who promoted a
bigot's viewpoint of the Church of Jesus.
I said earlier that you
don't accept contemporary prophets. But your dismissal does not alter facts.
Last night God gave me a dream about you, before your letter came. I won't
tell you the dream, because you don't accept me, or that I speak for Him. In
love, and with a desire to see you move on spiritually, I say to you that
when a prophet's words are dismissed, they do not fall to the ground.
Judgement from God then follows.
Sincerely, Malcolm B
Heap
Jim Smith also wrote:
1st May 2005
Dear Mr Hawkins,
I wrote to your office
on 27th February 2005, about the issue of casting out demons, asking how
your church deals with such situations. You didn't reply.
By the absence of your
response, I presume you don't cast out demons, but welcome them in your
midst.
Then I wrote again on
27th March 2005, reminding you of your failure to respond, and also giving
you a video on which a minister is casting out demons from people, and
harnessing the gifts of the Spirit in tongues, intercession, and faith to do
so.
I
said "I welcome your reply", but again you didn't reply.
Clearly you have gone
into hiding because you fear the demonstration of the power of God. You
don't accept or practice spiritual gifts. You deny the power of the Holy
Spirit in your teaching and practice. Paul had something drastic to say
about that in 2 Timothy 3:5.
So, kindly remove me
from you mailing list, unless, of course, you accept the points I am raising
with you and want to move on in the power of the Spirit, in which case I can
put you in touch with people who can teach you about receiving these things
so you can have an effective outreach instead of just being a dead
Spiritless 'church'.
However, if you still
worship Herbert W Armstrong in your mind, it's no wonder you are so
spiritually dry and dead. You are merely welcoming the same demons he
invited in by his arrogant, exclusive approach.
Your booklet The
Church Jesus Built insinuates that you (UCG) are that one and only true
Church. But how can that be when you don't have any of the power evidences
of the Spirit which Jesus promised in Mark 16:17-20, and you are really not
much different from any of the other WCG offshoots that call themselves
Churches of God?
While they deny the
power of the God, they are not churches of God, but churches of Satan the
Adversary!
Sincerely, Jim Smith
Every plant not planted
by God will be rooted up (Matt 15:13). UCG is one of them. Church, it’s time
for you to awake! (Is 52.)
Malcolm B Heap, Aug
2005
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