This is a follow up to the information I posted yesterday regarding previous employee of Revelation TV, Sarah Acott, and her concerns about alleged dishonesty and deception at Revelation TV:
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/alleged-dishonesty-and-deception-are.html
Below is the reply Sarah Acott received from Peter Darg, Trustee of the Revelation Foundation, after sending the Trustees her two part Building the Foundations Report (transcript on the previous post).
From: PETER DARG xxxxxxxxxx
To: Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 21:11
Subject: Revelation TV
"Sarah,
Your timely comments about Building the Foundation were very useful in clarifying to the trustees the issues you raised.
We are aware that you could mis-understand the perception raised in some of the fund-raising telecasts from your familiarity with the ministry workings.
Whereas in the minds of the trustees the current arrangements are clear and proper, we do need to express these appeals in a way that doesn't lead to any appearance of misleading viewers.
In short, the channel was started in a sacrificial way by Howard and Lesley by risking their own private assets to finance the work. As the license holders, they had every right to develop the station and sell airtime to various ministries (a common practice by nearly all the Christian channels worldwide). Their vision for the ministry was, however, not to just create another 'pay to pray' channel, but to provide relevant programmes of interest to meet the spiritual needs of a UK audience.
Thus, the idea of the Foundation developed as a way to fund these broadcasts and we have become holders of the license.
At present, out of the 168 hours a week that Revelation is on the air, Howard and Lesley have been granted a mere 20 hours a week for 'paid programming'. Out of this income they are able to pay salaries for their children to work at the channel and to cover all their own costs of living. Indeed, they take no salary from the Foundation in spite of the many hours they put in to the Foundation's broadcast activities. They have also funded major equipment and operating expenses out of their own pockets.
The Foundation is responsible for 148 hours a week of TV and that is why we ask for public support. It is our only source of income to make possible all the live programmes, specials and unique shows that make Revelation so appreciated by viewers. This arrangement is fully compliant with Charity Commission regulations.
All the complications of closing Cocks Crescent facility and moving to Spain have preoccupied staff and trustees for months. Your concerns are well noted and we working now to make the fund-raising programmes quite clear to viewers that the Foundation activities are transparent and what the needs are and how expenses are managed, as we have done all along.
I trust this will give you better insights into the channel.
Blessings,
Peter Darg"
From: Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx
To: "gordon@revelationtv.com" <gordon@revelationtv.com>; "lorna@revelationtv.com" <lorna@revelationtv.com>; "alan@revelationtv.com" <alan@revelationtv.com>; "lesley@revelationtv.com" <lesley@revelationtv.com>; "richard.kent777@virginmedia.com" <richard.kent777@virginmedia.com>; "jk.odell@btinternet.com" <jk.odell@btinternet.com>; "peter.darg@me.com" <peter.darg@me.com>; "howard@revelationtv.com" <howard@revelationtv.com>
Sent: Monday, 13 April 2015, 15:38
Subject: A Serious Matter
"Dear Howard
I'm writing in relation to a Facebook post (in November 2014) that I was alerted to by my father. The post is very clearly written about myself and a copy is attached.
In it, there are many false statements and false accusations. The first thing I want to address is your assumption that I have gone to the charity commission. I can tell you I haven't had contact with them and neither has my father.
In relation to the letter from your solicitor regarding a million dollar donation not happening due to my report sent to Peter Darg, I do find it strange that you feel you can blame that on me. I contacted Peter with my report and did so as he is a trustee and has a legal responsibility to investigate these things. If Peter felt the need to disclose the details of my report to 3rd parties I do not see how I can be responsible. It was intended for Trustee’s eyes only, at least initially unless they felt to pursue it further.
Further more, let me take this opportunity to clarify that the report was not written by my father, but he did tell me to hold back a bit so if anything he influenced it in your favour and I do have records to prove this if need be.
Your account of the early days of the channel is very misleading. There were 2 members of paid staff, Vince (who did music) and Steve (the electrician). My younger brother and I were being reimbursed train fare only, as we were travelling in from Essex daily. Things were on this basis for approx 6 months and then a further 4-5 months earning a wage that because I was having to pay for travel from Essex and having to be in most days often for short hours to do scheduling barely gave me enough to buy a sandwich at the end of a day! I burnt through all my savings during this time (around £2k). It also should be noted that I gave up paid full time employment to work for you as a volunteer because I believed in the vision and knew that my skills in TV would be invaluable to you.
The work I did for Revelation was mainly to run the live shows as I was at the time the only experienced all rounder who could run them. In the early days, I also worked in the office, but your accusations of sending money back to viewers I do not understand. Any money sent back to viewers was not my idea. I was 17 at the time and whilst I did eventually end up managing the office as well as the studio, I know that I was only following instruction from the then office manager – John Campbell and Producer - Sarah Tun. This was not malicious on their part either, just a misunderstanding.
This happened in the first weeks of starting the station and was not a decision that I had anything to do with, as I was mainly studio based from day 2 of the station. You have indicated that I took it upon myself to just do this without instruction – I did not. I was as surprised as you were when I was told this was the way we were treating viewer donations, especially knowing you had mortgaged your house, but at 17, didn't challenge a direct instruction from the office manager and producer. If you remember after you fired all the office staff, it was only you, me, my brother and Brian. At this point, Lesley came on board and took over the office.
You are also clearly confused regarding events as you have accused me of saying things that I had never thought, let alone said! I knew you had mortgaged your home and I knew the strain you had put yourselves under financially more than most, as my parents have done similar themselves when buying TV equipment and it was this empathy that led me to help you.
You have me confused with an older woman, who's name I believe was Elizabeth, but we are going back a long way now. The dispute in the office which led to you firing all the office staff was something to do with a comment she had made and some concerns she had.
After receiving an email from you that you had sent to all the staff, I called you straight away and clarified that the comment she had made was not made in a horrible way and that the whole office including myself had come to your defence. I can't remember exactly what she had said, but I do recall a questioning of your mental state and if the pressure was too much for you. We all agreed that there was a lot on your shoulders, but everyone else present including myself and I believe, Sarah Tun and John Campbell, told her that her concerns were not warranted. When I spoke to you, I do recall that you told me that she had been a troublemaker generally and that she had been saying things along the lines of what you are accusing me of. I think you have confused her with me and I don't appreciate it as I gave you a year of my life and loyal support.
After your firing all the office staff, I actually came to your home in Surbiton and trained Lesley on the admin systems etc. If your assertions were true, I would have been fired with all of the office staff, but I continued to work with RTV until that December. I also trained both Luke and Joel in the studio.
Now to my report... It’s very interesting that you have decided to edit and omit all the relevant parts that substantiate what I was saying. Things such as…
In light of Howard’s email to everyone@revelationtv.com, it is now confirmed that all money from airtime sales etc goes to 21st Century TV and that this money goes to Howard and Lesley. There have been many programmes which suggest that Howard and Lesley do not take a wage from the station and I guess to some extent that could be true as they might take it as a dividend, but this is deceptive.
The report also doesn’t hold weight without the transcript, which demonstrates a number of things including that an image of transparency is constantly thrown at viewers. Transparency doesn’t mean just what you want people to see. I will forward my original email to Peter Darg so that everyone can be on the same page.
I wrote the report because for years you had been saying publicly that you didn't take any money from not only the charity, but also the station. People talk of how amazing it is that you don’t take a wage because you said it all the time. If you actually read my transcript between Gordon and Doug, you will see that there was a clear non disclosure. Howard, until the time you sent the email to everyone@revelationtv.com there was no honesty about 21st Century and where you get your money to survive from. It had always been said “through other means”. This is grossly misleading as are the BTF shows which should be said to be exclusively showing the charity arms finances are often explicitly said to be the channels entire finances.
Where did your quote come from that I had said “the Condors are raking it in”? I don't think you have actually read my report properly as I was very explicit that I actually had no problem with you even earning millions from the channel. Also I was clear I had no intentions to take this info public, but I did make clear that all the information I had was in the public domain already and that people like Gordon's blog were so close, but it would only be a matter of time before they connect the dots. All the ministries who buy airtime must be confused as to why they pay 21st Century and why the revenue from sales is not revealed.
My father, brother and myself have served you well. Part of being faithful is also being honest and direct when things are not ok. That's all I was doing with my report and it turns out that everything factual that was written in it is actually true. Peter Darg also confirmed the facts for me in his response, which I will also include in a forward.
In terms of your motives, I can only speculate, but there has been so much talk of transparency and yet one of the largest sources of income had not been declared until recently. This is not transparency and is now subject to a charity commission investigation as a result. My words were direct, but said with love and concern, not malice as you imply.
Can you please tell me what you disagree with factually regarding my report? If I have made a mistake I am happy to apologise, but as far as I know all actual facts relating to finances are now admitted to publically i.e. the existence of 21st Century TV Ltd, when before there was clear denial of money going from the station in any way to yourselves. This was my main concern and has still not been fully addressed.
You have said some very strong words about the Charity Commission and their agenda. Do you really not see a problem with telling donors only part of the picture, yet constantly talking about transparency?
Surely, the Charity Commission have explained to you why they are investigating and what they are unhappy with?
Personally, I can see where this is not just an issue because you are a charity, but generally a problem with misrepresentation. This might also be an issue for Advertising Standards and Ofcom. Do you see where the issue is here? No one minds you making money, but making money secretly and then creating an artificial need for the charity arm of the station is surely something that needs to be looked at? Do you not understand peoples concerns?
Legally, I don’t think it’s a problem for a charity to give it’s profit making side to a limited company, housing associations seem to work on this basis as do other organisations. It’s purely regarding transparency. Do you really believe that you have been transparent?
At the end of the day Howard, I don't really like having to write this email when I am currently working 90hour working weeks. You have all my contact details on the report... you could have called me if you had that much of a problem with me. I also don't understand why you were privy to my report as it was for the trustees, which you are not one of. I'm sure this is some sort of breach and I will now be contacting the charity commission for their advice on this matter.
I hope you can now see that you have falsely accused me and I expect a full retraction and public apology from yourself as I and my father are well known in the Christian media industry and will not stand for my reputation (and my fathers) to be tarnished in this way. Your untrue accusations could prevent me and my father from getting work in the future, which is grossly unfair. My report was sent to Peter Darg as it is his duty as a trustee to address such legitimate concerns.
I will wait 14 days for a response from yourself and the trustees before taking further action regarding the false accusations, but I intend to contact the Charity Commission sooner regarding breach of confidentiality, making false statements and editing out the main points my report for propaganda purposes.
Sincerely
Sarah Acott"
Howard Conder's Facebook post that Sarah Acott refers to above is no longer available to view online. As Sarah rightly says, the second part of her report, i.e. the essential transcript of the conversation between Gordon Pettie and Doug Harris which proves non-disclosure is deceptively omitted. See below:
Howard Conder
December 4 at 1:46am ·
"Now the post I have been putting together that hopefully will enlighten you:
The beginnings of Revelation TV:
I would like to give you a brief outline of how we arrived to where we are today.
I, Howard Conder, am the founder of Revelation TV and a director/shareholder of a company called 21st Century Television Ltd who along with my wife, Lesley Conder, somehow managed to start up Revelation TV (RevTV) against all the odds. To many folk, including our Pastor Chris D. from our Church in Esher, Surrey thought we were mad and this endeavor would fail.
It was our bank manager at the time who said it would work because of our determination.
With my wife's permission, we remortgaged our home at 45 King Charles road where we had fostered over a hundred children over 13 years. We took a huge risk in putting our home on the line to start Revelation TV and the only way we could raise enough finances to launch RevTV was to remortgage our only asset, our family home.
Knowing that we had only 125k to play with we had to be very focused and run a tight ship in order to make it to the launch day (Feb 14th 2003) and even then, once we started to broadcast on the Sky platform, we had a very small amount of time to make an impact before we would run out of money. When I look back, I was absolutely crazy. We had only enough money to last just a few weeks and sure enough we had been broadcasting about four weeks and I realised we were not going to make beyond the end of March 2003. Therefore, I gave notice to those who were providing studio and office facilities that I would have to quit as I didn’t want to leave bad debts.
What happened next was truly amazing…. To cut a long story short, for the whole story is already has been written in the book Gordon Pettie wrote; ‘Hey Howie’, and that is our service providers decided to keep us going for three months.
Anyway, we had a few folk which we paid for their help in those early start up days and some folk kindly volunteered their time, whom we believed at that time, shared the vision we had and that was to have a Christian Channel that would have a more British approach to broadcasting the Gospel message. Not screaming and shouting at the audience and continually begging for money.
I clearly recall that some of those who were helping to run the office were sending back money back to viewers. Viewers, who were sending in funds in order to keep the channel going. These were unsolicited funds as we were prohibited by Ofcom to ask for funds on air and besides, to be frank, I didn't expect money to come in to save Revelation TV from going off the air as I had already spoken to my wife about the fact that we would now face loosing our home as the mortgage we had managed to have by that time was a huge sum somewhere in the region of £500, 000. So both Lesley and I were mentally prepared to lose our family home. We had done our utmost to start the channel and the rest was up to God if He wanted it to continue, then it was now up to Him.
To my utter amazement, funds from the viewers have started to come in big time and in large amounts. I recall cheques for sums as large as £1,000 to £5,000 were coming in daily but as I said earlier, a certain folk in the office were sending the money back to the viewers and when I asked what on earth were they doing? One person replied, well your coming off the air so I am sending the money back to the viewers. Please bear with me as I think you see how relevant this matter is because I believe this very same person is one of the instigators of bringing a complaint about us to the Charity Commission.
To continue with what this person said to me about returning money back to the viewers, which was maybe a misunderstanding on her behalf of what really was happening in that the money was to help RevTV stay on the air, it’s what she said next that really showed me her true colours. .. she said 'I don’t believe you put any money into starting this channel' .... I soon discovered that this person had also convinced others in the office that her actions were appropriate. This clearly under minded my integrity and authority to run this channel so I asked those in the office to leave immediately. This they did and I went home and explained the situation to my wife and asked her to get involved by running the office from home. Lesley had no skills in using a computer so I quickly showed her what to do and that was when she jumped into action to help us deal with the office work. I recall asking my son Joel to help me although he was studying at Kingston College at the time. Joel had to drop his education and come and help me at the studio plus I asked my other son Luke to help as well even though at that time he had no media skills whatsoever.
Due to the sheer volume of work we now faced, having lost a big part of the team, we decided we could no longer foster so we notified Social Services that we would be stopping fostering. This was a big sacrifice for my wife for she was a dedicated foster carer, she adored the children and was so good with working with the parents with the aim to restore the children back to living with their birth parents, where it was deemed possible by Social Services. Lesley became such an accomplished carer for it was the requests of many of the social workers to try and first place the children with us rather than other foster carers and having received many accolades from the Foster management team for our dedication, we were well satisfied and really enjoyed the roll of foster carers. We had no desire to ever cease from this most rewarding work. Lesley and I over 13 years fostered around 130 children. Quite often we were over numbers as it was referred to where we had at one time eight foster children plus our own four children (total 12) . It was Lesley’s life and her love but now been forced to help me with the running of the channel, she didn’t have much of a choice as we now faced loosing our home due to the fact the money we borrowed to start the channel was secured by a charge on our home.
So why is this all relevant to the Charity Commission investigation?
Anyway, I believe a certain Sarah nee J. is one of the dissenting accusatory voices that has either directly or indirectly approached the Charity Commission, for it came to my attention what she had written to one of our trustees a year or two ago, making accusations yet again about me and my family saying that the Conders were making fortunes out of the channel. I also believe that she is in cahoots with Chris F. who again I believe to be another complainant to the Charity Commission. ... also a certain Sheila P. who has been like all these others I that I have named, falsely accusing us of gross misconduct, misappropriation of money, deception etc etc.. .. I can go into this more at length if needed but what I am trying to say is that some folk have taken it upon themselves to falsely accuse us of wrong doing not just in this one complaint to the Charity Commission but have been doing so for many years now and I believe they seem to have convinced the Charity Commission enough by making similar accusations or assumptions about our behavior. I welcome the Charity Commission investigation, for I trust they will discover there is no substance to these claims of wrongdoing. However, I am beginning to doubt that the Charity Commission can be impartial for me thinks they have ulterior motives, like they want to close us down for we teach that we were created rather than believing the lie that life began by and through evolution. Plus we speak out about abortion and that life in the womb is precious and should not be killed. Definitely not PC, as is our biblical stance on same sex relationships being an abomination to God. This is without mentioning our stance with that the Jewish People have every right to the land known as Israel.
Sadly these accusers have come from Christians as I would have expected it from the Gay community for they have accused us of Haters of homosexuals ... if you were interested you might be more enlightened in this matter as I have had so much hate mail from the Gays but the bottom line is that they too cant wait for RevTV to be closed down. ... but somehow i don’t think that they have not brought such allegations ,maybe just one , namely Robert P. or his partner (cant recall his name right now but they sign themselves off at the end of their emails to us as ‘Proud Sodomite’ and ‘Spawn of Satan’)
I have a huge number of emails from this couple, which I have kept in order to prove what they said about us even after having replied to them and reassured them that neither myself nor others in the RevTV team do NOT hate them. All our efforts to engage with them have been to no avail but we did try hard.
We even had Peter Tatchell as a guest on one of our live programmes recently. A most delightful gentle man and I am sure if you were to speak to Peter he would bear out that we were most respectful and very hospitable towards him ....
I should even have expected that maybe a Muslim may have brought a complaint against us but I don't think they would even be a part of this Charity Commission investigation as they are more decent than these so called Christians are who are behind this conspiracy to bring us to our knees.
I can only put it down to jealousy and them not sharing our biblical views on doctrinal issues.
Worth mentioning here which may come as a great surprise to many, is that we don't hate Muslims which has so often been expressed about us in social media and in the news papers for it were true how come we employ a practicing Muslim and have done for some years ???
I believe that these folk accusing us and complaining about us seem to be also annoyed that my family, the Conders, are making a fortune or at least are making a living. How terrible is that to make a living these days ??? We are not making a fortune as you will discover.
And as you will soon find out that they don't even earn a lot of money. And just for the record, my wife and I have received an average income over the last twelve years an average of £40k per annum. Hardly a fortune. And especially if you calculate that we are on call seven days a week with an average of 12 hours a day, (Mon-Fri) …. hardly even a fair income. A cleaner earns more than us when you apply hour for hour worked.
All the Conders have worked very long hours as in deed have Gordon and Lorna Pettie so my point is that I have had enough of people making false assumptions and writing blogs or writing to news papers etc with their theories and assumptions that we are making huge sums of money and now with the Charity Commission making announcements that basically make us out to be charlatans, I now have asked the trustees to give me back RTV. .. What I initially wanted to do was to give RevTV to the Revelation Foundation charity thinking this was the right and fair thing to do as the viewers are now supporting the channel to such a greater level than ever so we could take off the air many of the paid ministries which we would rather not have had on our channel but for financial reasons we had little other choice at the time. This was the time before we were receiving adequate support from the viewers. I always wanted RevTV to be a TV broadcaster that would be more culturally sensitive to the British mind set.
Having said; I don't want to live off of viewer’s money, as my pride wouldn't let me. I wanted to work for my living as an independent person therefore an agreement was eventually made for me to hand over RevTV to the Revelation Foundation, and for this to become a reality, the process of handing over the companies and shares of those companies linked to the running of RevTV including Revelation TV Europe SL , began years ago.
The process has been a nightmare, especially here in Spain where the red tape is even greater than the UK where everything has to be notarized with all parties having to be present at the time of notarizing documents. Because the trustees were living outside of Spain, as far away as Canada, it was so difficult to coordinate. This is why the process is still ongoing. Even yesterday Lesley had to go to a notary in the UK to get a step closer to make this hand over complete. It seems never ending!!! So frustrating.
However, enough of that for the moment, now to the point. I have written to the trustees to ask for the return of RevTV come back to the Conders. What was meant to be a goodwill gesture has become the biggest nightmare of my life. Its been so hurtful to hear false accusations and cruel murmurings against us. It has made me cry, angry and thinking that I should just give up and live a normal life, or by God's grace and favour, somehow just start all over again.
It's a sad day to be in a position of having built up an organisation. Which for the first time has been adequately supported by its audience our lovely Church Without Walls viewers. Unlike the BBC WHERE we the viewers are forced to pay the license fee (to the tune of 3.2 Billion a year) whether we like the BBC or not we are forced to pay.... such compulsory funding from folk like us goes to produce filth. We also have to put up with the constant use of four letter words, expletives and other immoral ungodly programmes, which we can't or won't watch yet we are forced to fund them through the license fee. Whereas, our viewers willingly offer financial SUPPORT every month to operate RevTV. A very different situation to that of the BBC and now the Charity Commission says we are spending too much on broadcasting just beggars belief.
In recent weeks, it was in the news that the BBC spent 10 million on redundancy payments to some staff members only to re engage them again. Outrageous! Also the BBC is self-regulating and somehow it has become acceptable to both the BBC and the modern day producers and management team to broadcast programmes which contain foul language whereas others have to comply with Ofcom regulations. It’s a joke.
Another item worth mentioning is for the first time we have made an appeal to raise funds to purchase premises where we would RevTV would have their own studio and offices. That looks like that will also be jeopardized. This also must have got right up the noses of our dissenters as each day we made it known to our viewers just how much was coming in to achieve the objective of building a studio. IS IT ANY WONDER THE TIMING OF THESE COMPLAINTS ARE MADE NOW ? ..
Anyway, that aside, I am a fighter for justice and fairness and I don’t mind starting again if I have to.
We have always sort to conduct ourselves with integrity. .. many times I have been given money which folk had said this is for you Howard and every time I have given it to the Revelation charity. One such gift as we call them was €20,000, I felt it that the Charity needed it more than myself so I gave the cheque to Gordon to put in the charity. My son Luke said I was mad as he said you could have bought yourself a car for that dad.
I also made a contribution, a gift to the Revelation Foundation charity of £350,00 in one lump sum. ...my accountants said I should consider only making a much smaller contribution to the charity and put the majority into a pension fund as I didn't have a pension fund. I was determined to not take that advice so decided to gift it all to the Revelation Foundation charity.
This has not been the last gift we as the Conders have made to the Revelation Foundation, so it begs the question. Why would we be doing this if we didn’t believe in the VISION ?????
Being accused by Sarah nee J. where she wrote: ‘the Conders raking it in' as some say we are doing.. Simple maths would show that we as the Conders have put in to the Revelation Foundation far more than has ever come back to us by either wages or benefits from the Revelation Foundation and or 21st Century Television Ltd.
Now with regards to our family working and getting paid by the Revelation Foundation: Hearing what I am heard last week has again really upset me that I have requested to the trustees that I don't want members of my family being paid by the Revelation Foundation and that as soon as possible Lesley and I will pay them.. Call it pride.
Also when there has been a need like television equipment to be replaced or bought which is essential to the running of the channel, and knowing that the Revelation Foundation has not sufficient funds to buy it... We, the Conders buy it . We did so last year when all our cameras needed to be purchased and not wanting to burden our viewers with this expense. . (Ironically, we do have the legal right to ask the viewers for financial support but I felt that many of our viewers would support such a request but knowing this would mean it could cause some great hardship I refused to go down this route of appealing to them to fund these cameras as the total was approaching half a million) so as 21st Century Television Ltd had the funds to make these purchases, therefore we bought them and please note that we the Conders did not ask nor expect to be reimbursed for this half a million pound or so expenditure but some months later, Gordon Pettie thought it was right for the Revelation Foundation to reimburse 21st Century and subsequently an arrangement to make monthly payments was arranged with the help of their accountants in what was a proper and legal method and above board.
All this has been greatly misunderstood by our enemies and sadly from what I am hearing so has the Charity Commission with thanks to Sarah nee J’s false reckonings where Sarah nee J. wrote to the trustees of the Revelation Foundation circa October 2012:
'Dear Peter and Trustees
I originally wrote this report to you in February, but was asked not to send it at the time (by her father) due to the then climate that existed at Revelation. There are a few things I do not agree with regarding the way that the channel operates, however today I just want to focus on finances.
Peter, (a trustee) I don’t know if you would remember me. I was the then 17 year old girl who used to run the live shows during the first year of the channel?
I have knowledge of the inner workings of the channel, as I didn’t just do the live shows, but also training others, scheduling and working in the office before it was moved to Surbiton. During this time I learnt about the finances, airtime sales etc so have put my own knowledge together with that available on the internet and come to the following conclusions. The conclusions below were written back in February before Howard’s email to ????? (the team )now look as being correct. I have not edited this much further so a lot of this is now possibly old news, so please bear with it.
The issue I wish to raise is that donors to the channel are being misled in the way that funds are raised and presented on the Building the Foundation programme. The programme leads the viewer to believe that the finances reported on the pie charts are a representation of the entire channels financial operation. This is not true and could be accused of being fraudulent. I am only bringing this to you because I believe that this is something that you as the legal overseers should be aware of.
It became obvious to me when I watched one of the first Building the Foundation programmes years ago. The income stated leaves out one of the largest income streams into the channel – airtime and advertising sales. Having worked in the office during the set up of the channel I know about the 21st Century television account and believe that the money from this huge source of income is going straight into this account. From what I can gather from the charities commission website 21st Century Television makes donations to the Revelation Foundation. The donation total for 2009 was £350,000 I believe. I have a problem with this as by my maths this is nowhere near the total that is received in airtime and advertising. Using very conservative figures I come to the below sums.
Airtime at £350 per 30 min slot x 4 paying ministries = £1400 per day x 365 = £511,000 per year
Advertising at £15 per spot x 12 = £180 per day x 365 = £65,700
As you can see from this very conservative estimate there is around £200,000, which is going into this account. Howard and Gordon have always said “come and look at our books” I’m sure they would be happy for someone who hasn’t a clue how a station is run to come and look, but I believe this over confidence is a bluff.
I do not know what is happening to the money that goes into 21st Century, but as Trustees I hope you do. The reason I am bringing this up is the dishonesty and deception. When I tell people I used to work for the station they often comment about the transparency of the finances and how wonderful it is to see exactly where the money goes. The problem is they are not seeing where all the money goes and if people found out what sort of a response should we expect from the poor old ladies at home who give “the widow’s mite” in good faith that the money is needed and that there is transparency. How would Jesus respond?
My own suspicion is that 21st Century tops up the Revelation Foundation at the amount it needs. If I am correct then how wrong is it to convince people of a need, which isn’t real? This is fraud and those who are aware of this deception need to repent. I am aware that for some of you however, that this would be unknown.
There needs to be either a clear distinction for viewers between 21st Century Television and the Revelation Foundation or preferably all money to flow through the Revelation Foundation as this would give the clarity and transparency that the viewers expect. Also I cannot see the charities commission looking favourably on the current reporting of finances.
Considering that in the initial mission statement of the channel was a very clear statement of not asking for funds on air – things have not only gone very far from the vision, but also veered into an area of possible criminality.
Please see my other document BTF Report, which is a transcript of the last Building the Foundation programme (February 2012).
I would like to make it clear that the last thing I want is for this information to go into the public domain. I have sat on this for years and feel I should have confronted earlier, but feel that with the current Trustees there is an opportunity for things to be put right.
I pray you will have the strength and courage to do what is needed.
Howard’s email said that he didn’t feel comfortable taking from “the widows mite”, which sounds very sacrificial when said in that way, however by taking the entirety of the stations earned (as opposed to donated) money they have created a deficit which the “widows mite” then has to fill. Personally I cannot see this as a good argument and whilst I don’t wish to be cynical, I believe this is done in this way so that the viewers cannot see how much money is being taken by Howard and Lesley.
I realise that is a heavy accusation, however I do accounts for a charity myself and can’t see this any other way. I have no problem with Howard and Lesley taking even millions every year as that is their choice. However it is not being fair or honest with the viewers and those who do give the “widows mite”.
I would never go public with this information, as I spent 6 months as a volunteer and a further 6 months on a wage that covered my train fare and not much more. So for me to see something that I invested so much of myself into be brought down by either the charity commission or a police investigation would be a personal loss. However after Howard’s email I’d be very surprised if no one else did as it’s not difficult to connect the dots.
You are welcome to contact me with any questions or queries sarahacott@ ?????'
END OF QUOTE FROM Sarah nee J.
Wow…. What an audacious, ignorant and even libelous set of accusations Sara nee J. has made. I am totally shocked at her false assumptions.
I am sure when all is revealed that it will prove that Sarah is totally out of order.
For as I said earlier, my wife and I have received an average income over the last twelve years an average of £40k per annum each. Which is no where near the amounts Sarah nee J. has assumed we have made. And this past year both Lesley and myself donated 25k each to the Revelation Foundation alone without mentioning other charities we have given to this past year.
Meanwhile, while these scurrilous accusations continue to be made, my faith is in God to provide and He has shown me all through my walk of faith that he has been faithful to His promises and that's where I want to return to so we can get on with the job of ministering to our lovely Church Without Walls congregation. All this is just a big distraction.
God have mercy on you all who have brought these false charges for you know only too well what you do.
I haven't taken legal advice or sought any approval for what I am writing to you today, therefore I guess I am at risk of being misunderstood or being misquoted but I want you to know what is on my heart and if you don't or can't read that then so be it.
Ironically, most of our viewers have been amazing since the Charity Commission’s press release and the viewers have rallied to the challenges we now have. Many have increased their financial support and some have for the first time given to the Revelation Foundation charity. One such gift was a staggering fifteen thousand pounds. PTL.
I even heard when i was in the office where one person called in to offer us encouragement saying he was not a Christian but wanted Revelation TV to continue and wished us well and to continue doing a good job.
So what I believe was meant to harm us has only turned out to be for our good. We are blessed to have very discerning viewers.
Please forgive my lack of grammar as I'm not well educated and I'm not going to spend the time checking the spelling etc as I have a lot to do so I apologise for any mistakes.
I apologise for not pulling any punches with you for as you will sense, I am very upset. Try and put yourself in my position or the position you have put the trustees in and especially Gordon and Lorna Pettie.
There is much more to share and I am happy to be very open about these matters as I feel it’s not me that they are personally attacking or accusing but the work or ministry we have in reaching people who need to hear the full gospel of Jesus Christ.
May God be my judge and deal ever so severely with me if there is anything I have done wrong, for I would not want any soul to stumble and not enter the Kingdom of God on account of me. I would rather throw myself in the sea.
I don’t like any of this, but Lord, let your will be done in Jesus name. Amen !
Yours most sincerely,
Howard"
What stands out to me about Howard Conder's rather rambling self congratulatory
Facebook post above is that he has betrayed the gospel of Jesus Christ for impure motives (2 Corinthians 2:17; 1Thessalonians 2:3). Conder writes that he
wishes to "....take off the
air many of the paid ministries which we would rather not have had on
our channel but for financial reasons we had little other choice at the
time." This tells me that he has a conflict between building up his TV station and proclaiming the "full Gospel of Jesus Christ" - the true gospel that is (1 Corinthians 9:16)!
It is quite clear which is more important to him and I believe this is a major reason
why he is experiencing problems. RTV continue air out
and out deceivers like Jesse Duplantis, Sid Roth, Joyce Meyer and Seventh Day
Adventists to name but a few - and for no other reason than money!!!
No
one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13)
Howard Conder:
"..... I would not want any soul to stumble and not enter the Kingdom
of God on account of me. I would rather throw myself in the sea." Is Howard Conder causing any "little ones" who believe in Jesus Christ to stumble by airing false teachers and deceivers (Matthew 18:6)?
"One of these little ones. Whether child or adult, a pure, simple soul, which has a certain faith it be not strong enough to resist all attack." http://biblehub.com/matthew/18-6.htm
Please read below further communications between Sarah Acott, Gordon Pettie and Alan Tun:
From: Alan Tun <alan@revelationtv.com>
To: 'Sarah Acott' xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, 30 April 2015, 17:16
Subject: RE: A Serious Matter
"Hi Sarah,
I am coming to London for the next trustee meeting on Wednesday 20th May. I can meet you in London on Thursday 21st in the morning if you´re free. I know you said you are normally at work during the week, but rather than not tell you I was coming to London, I thought I should at least give you the information. We would reimburse your train ticket if you were to come in as we wouldn´t want you to be out of pocket.
Every blessing,
Alan Tun
RevelationTV"
On 5 May 2015, at 16:08, Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
"Hi Alan
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, I won't be able to meet on a Thursday as it would mean closing my business for the day and I can't afford to lose a days trading at the moment as I'm in the process of expanding.
I'm quite disappointed that I've had no response from either Howard or the Trustees. I don't know if Howard is still trying to discredit me in order to exonerate himself, but he can't lie his way out of this one. It's gone too far and I can, if need be, get people to testify that I was at the station after the office staff were fired. I still even have contact with some people who I met at the station after the this time.
The deadline of 2 weeks lapsed over a week ago. I gave a grace period because Howard was abroad, but still I have heard nothing from either Howard of the Trustees. Whilst I appreciate our conversation Alan, this needs to come from Howard and the Trustees directly.
I will give until Friday for a proper response to my email dated 13th April. I took the time away from my hectic schedule of 90 hour working weeks to write it and I expect Howard to do the same under the circumstances. He had the time to write the offending Facebook post and many others like it, so I know he has the time to put this right personally.
As an alternative, I believe I am entitled to a right of reply and am happy to talk to Howard live on TV via phone and if he truly believes he is in the right then he will be happy to debate me publicly.
If this doesn't happen I will take this public and make sure that everyone knows what Howard has been doing to cover his tracks. I'm sorry Alan, but this is very serious and I do need Howard and the Trustees to personally acknowledge this.
I have contacted the charity commission already as I felt it was the right thing to do, but am holding off going public until Friday to give Howard and the trustees one last chance.
Kind regards
Sarah"
From: Gordon Pettie <gordon@revelationtv.com>
To: Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: trustees@revelationtv.com
Sent: Thursday, 7 May 2015, 11:21
Subject: Re: A Serious Matter
"Dear Sarah
Thank you for your email of the 5th May. I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairmen of the Revelation Foundation. I confirm receipt of your email of the 13th April.
I note that you say you have been in touch with the Charity Commission since your email of the 13th April. Presumably the Charity Commission are now aware of the points you wrote to us as a Charity about. In view of this fact I consider that we are best waiting to see how they wish to proceed.
However there are a number of general points that I am willing to make at this time concerning your email of the 13th April.
Your letter of the 13th April is addressed to Howard, with the trustees copied in to it. As you are aware Howard is not a trustee of the Revelation Foundation and has not been for many years.
As a Trust we were not involved in the day to day running of the TV station during the period when you were involved. Therefore we have no comment to make on the points you raise concerning your work at that time.
The Facebook page that you refer to in your email/letter is a personal one that Howard is responsible for and as a Charity we have no involvement with it. When we were made aware of the posting that you refer to, we advised Howard to take it down, and my understanding is that it was removed. I am not aware that any copies of that posting are still on the web.
You are correct in saying that you stated in writing when you sent your original report to Peter Darg that it was your intention that it was for ‘trustees eyes only’. However in view of the serious allegations that you made in it, we felt it necessary to investigate the matter further and to do that we needed to make the report available to Howard to read so that he could answer points in it concerning himself and the Conder family. The Charity Commission already have copies of the minutes of Trustees meetings so they are aware of that investigation.
We take your concerns seriously but in view of the involvement by you of the Charity Commission, i really believe that we have to wait their decision on how to proceed with your complaint.
With kind regards
Gordon Pettie
Chairman
Revelation Foundation"
From: Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx
Date: 08/05/2015 10:25 (GMT+00:00)
To: Gordon Pettie <gordon@revelationtv.com>, Howard <howard@revelationtv.com>, Alan Tun <alan@revelationtv.com>, lesley@revelationtv.com
Cc: trustees@revelationtv.com
Subject: Re: A Serious Matter
"Dear Gordon
Thank you for your email, but unfortunately it seems you are too concerned with distancing yourself from this situation that you cannot even show genuine sympathy or realise the implications of my taking this situation public.
Gordon, to be frank, you are the person whom Howard has credited for the set up of the charity and also therefore, the fundraising tactics in question. In many respects, I actually hold you more accountable for the lack of transparency, as Howard would have to some extent just been going with your guidance.
I would appreciate a copy of the minutes relating to my report from 2012 that you say the charity commission have. I feel you at least owe me that.
I can see that you are not willing to comment, so on that basis, perhaps we will have to wait on the charity commission. However, if no one changes my mind the general public can also decide. I have everything prepared and ready to send and I feel to warn you that Howard's editing of a report for propaganda is likely to trend very quickly.
Gordon, I'd much rather work with the charity than pull it down. It's not beyond redemption, but right now I don't think there's any reason to salvage it as the rot is coming from the top (and that's not just Howard).
I'm gutted that only Alan, who is no longer a trustee, was willing to actually try to deal with this situation. I wanted an opportunity to salvage the channel, but without repentance, this is not possible and under these circumstances, God can't help you either.
Howard and you the trustees have until midday to give me a reason why Revelation it worth saving and a willingness to deal with the rot.
Kind regards
Sarah"
From: Gordon Pettie <gordon@revelationtv.com>
To: Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: "trustees@revelationtv.com" <trustees@revelationtv.com>
Sent: Friday, 8 May 2015, 11:23
Subject: Re: A Serious Matter
Dear Sarah
I cannot operate with a gun to my head. You have no idea what is going on in our lives and to say you give me and the trustees less than two hours to reply to your email is not a situation I can work within.
Alan has been trying for to arrange to meet you on our behalf. My understanding is he is still trying to make that happen. He has a free hand on our behalf to do that.
You suggest that I am trying to distant myself from your accusations and not showing repentance. Quite frankly I take exception to some of your comments.
'Rot at the top' - Presumably you are referring to me.
'God cannot help you' - I am willing to trust my Lord.
I leave you to decide what you do. That is not my decision.
Christian greetings
Gordon Pettie
Revelation Foundation"
From: Sarah Acott xxxxxxxxxx
To: Gordon Pettie
<gordon@revelationtv.com>; Howard <howard@revelationtv.com>;
Alan Tun <alan@revelationtv.com>; "lesley@revelationtv.com"
<lesley@revelationtv.com>
Cc: "trustees@revelationtv.com" <trustees@revelationtv.com>
Sent: Friday, 8 May 2015, 11:52
Subject: Re: A Serious Matter
"Dear Gordon
You
have had weeks to respond and haven't. As Trustees you have the ability
and duty to take disciplinary action with Howard regarding his lies and
editing of my report. You haven't even given me an apology for the
situation, with which you are involved by association even if you didn't
personally write the article.
The gun to your head, is the one
you put there and I don't want to pull the trigger, but will if needed.
I've asked you for a reason not to pull the trigger and instead you give
me the opposite. A little humility and repentance goes a long way.
I
have just had a conversation with Alan Tun. He has informed me that
Howard refuses to read my emails. The reason he won't is because he
knows he has lied and reading the truth will make it real.
Howard
has always been a bit unpredictable, but to do what he has done and be
allowed not to face the truth is madness. That is what you trustees are
here to do. You are supposed to hold people accountable and you have all
failed.
Howard can't bury his head in the sand forever and you
are not protecting him or Revelation by allowing him to continue like
this. If Howard cannot face me, how will he face the genera public when
he is exposed?
Kind Regards
Sarah"
UPDATE
Sarah Acott has now published these things in her own words: https://godvschristianity.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/why-i-think-revelation-tv-is-being-investigated-by-the-charity-commission/
Gordon Pettie And The Barlow Clowes Fraud: http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/more-revelations-about-revelation-tv.html
Saturday 9 May 2015
Friday 8 May 2015
alleged dishonesty and deception: are revelation tv conning their supporters about finances?
Sarah Acott was involved in running the channels on Revelation TV during their first year of broadcasting. She became suspicious and wrote to Peter Darg and the Trustees in 2012 outlining some very serious concerns about the money that goes to 21st Century Television Ltd, the holding company for Revelation TV. Sarah has been "sitting" on this information for a number of years, but now has decided to go public with it. I totally support Sarah's decision because I believe that it is better for RTV to be exposed by genuine believers rather than by the secular media for the sake of the Christian witness (2 Peter 2:2). Below is a transcript of Sarah's concerns which I have not altered, apart from highlighting certain critical points and deleting Sarah's contact details:
"Dear Peter and Trustees
I originally wrote this report to you in February, but was asked not to send it at the time due to the then climate that existed at Revelation. There are a few things I do not agree with regarding the way that the channel operates, however today I just want to focus on finances.
Peter, I don’t know if you would remember me. I was the then 17 year old girl who used to run the live shows during the first year of the channel?
I have knowledge of the inner workings of the channel as I didn’t just do the live shows, but also training others, scheduling and working in the office before it was moved to Surbiton. During this time I learnt about the finances, airtime sales etc so have put my own knowledge together with that available on the internet and come to the following conclusions. The conclusions below were written back in February before Howard’s email to everyone@revelationtv.com and now look as being correct. I have not edited this much further so a lot of this is now possibly old news, so please bear with it.
The issue I wish to raise is that donors to the channel are being mislead in the way that funds are raised and presented on the Building the Foundation programme. The programme leads the viewer to believe that the finances reported on the pie charts are a representation of the entire channels financial operation. This is not true and could be accused of being fraudulent. I am only bringing this to you because I believe that this is something that you as the legal overseers should be aware of.
It became obvious to me when I watched one of the first Building the Foundation programmes years ago. The income stated leaves out one of the largest income streams into the channel – airtime and advertising sales. Having worked in the office during the set up of the channel I know about the 21st Century television account and believe that the money from this huge source of income is going straight into this account. From what I can gather from the charities commission website 21st Century Television makes donations to the Revelation Foundation. The donation total for 2009 was £350,000 I believe. I have a problem with this as by my maths this is no where near the total that is received in airtime and advertising. Using very conservative figures I come to the below sums.
Airtime at £350 per 30 min slot x 4 paying ministries = £1400 per day x 365 = £511,000 per year
Advertising at £15 per spot x 12 = £180 per day x 365 = £65,700
As you can see from this very conservative estimate there is around £200,000 which is going into this account. Howard and Gordon have always said 'come and look at our books'. I’m sure they would be happy for someone who hasn’t a clue how a station is run to come and look, but I believe this over confidence is a bluff.
I do not know what is happening to the money that goes into 21st Century, but as Trustees I hope you do. The reason I am bringing this up is the dishonesty and deception. When I tell people I used to work for the station they often comment about the transparency of the finances and how wonderful it is to see exactly where the money goes. The problem is they are not seeing where all the money goes and if people found out what sort of a response should we expect from the poor old ladies at home who give 'the widow’s mite' in good faith that the money is needed and that there is transparency. How would Jesus respond?
My own suspicion is that 21st Century tops up the Revelation Foundation at the amount it needs. If I am correct then how wrong is it to convince people of a need which isn’t real? This is fraud and those who are aware of this deception need to repent. I am aware that for some of you however, that this would be unknown.
There needs to be either a clear distinction for viewers between 21st Century Television and the Revelation Foundation or preferably all money to flow through the Revelation Foundation as this would give the clarity and transparency that the viewers expect. Also I cannot see the charities commission looking favourably on the current reporting of finances.
Considering that in the initial mission statement of the channel was a very clear statement of not asking for funds on air – things have not only gone very far from the vision, but also veered into an area of possible criminality.
Please see my other document BTF Report, which is a transcript of the last Building the Foundation programme (February 2012).
I would like to make it clear that the last thing I want is for this information to go into the public domain. I have sat on this for years and feel I should have confronted earlier, but feel that with the current Trustees there is an opportunity for things to be put right.
I pray you will have the strength and courage to do what is needed.
You are welcome to contact me with any questions or queries at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In light of Howard’s email to everyone@revelationtv.com, it is now confirmed that all money from airtime sales etc goes to 21st Century TV and that this money goes to Howard and Lesley. There have been many programmes which suggest that Howard and Lesley do not take a wage from the station and I guess to some extent that could be true as they might take it as a dividend, but this is deceptive.
Howard’s email said that he didn’t feel comfortable taking from 'the widows mite', which sounds very sacrificial when said in that way, however by taking the entirety of the stations earned (as opposed to donated) money they have created a deficit which the 'widows mite' then has to fill. Personally I cannot see this as a good argument and whilst I don’t wish to be cynical, I believe this is done in this way so that the viewers cannot see how much money is being taken by Howard and Lesley.
I realise that is a heavy accusation, however I do accounts for a charity myself and can’t see this any other way. I have no problem with Howard and Lesley taking even millions every year as that is their choice. However it is not being fair or honest with the viewers and those who do give the 'widows mite'.
I would never go public with this information, as I spent 6 months as a volunteer and a further 6 months on a wage that covered my train fare and not much more. So for me to see something that I invested so much of myself into be brought down by either the charity commission or a police investigation would be a personal loss. However after Howard’s email I’d be very surprised if no one else did as it’s not difficult to connect the dots.
You are welcome to contact me with any questions or queries at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
BUILDING THE FOUNDATION REPORT
Transcript from Building the Foundation 14th February 2012 with Gordon Pettie and Doug Harris.
Doug – "Gordon, let me just ask you a question, because we say each month and we are very open. We are I think one of only a few channels who are, but tell me Gordon – be honest. Do you manipulate the figures in any way?" [1]
Gordon – "Doug! What a question to ask me!"
Doug – "Well, I do sit next you in the office."
Both – Laugh
Gordon – "What does that mean?!
I suppose the answer would be yes and no… no…"
Doug – "Before the phones start ringing even more you had better explain that! "
Gordon – "Well, no in the sense that the figures are done every month. We have Elaine who works in the accounts department and she collates all the figures for us. When she’s done them, she sends them to our accountant. The accountant then looks at them and the figures that I use are the figures the accountants use. [2]
But, yes, in the sense that when we show the figures for January, we actually should have a payment going out for the rent £15,000. We didn’t get enough money coming in in January to pay the rent. So the figure you are going to see is an incorrect figure, because we really should say there is another £15,000 of expenditure in January, which we didn’t do.
When I show the figures in a moment, you’ll see we had a surplus in January of £2,000+ and that’s why our target is £12,300, because that means we will have the rent money. Of course in February we then have to raise that again all the money that we need."
Doug – And that’s the point, because we take it to the end of the month, but Building the Foundation is already using a couple of weeks in, so already got another target to reach.
But it is amazing and even with the slight differences it’s amazing how often the two figures – the income and expenditure, balance. And whatever the expenditure the income is there. I’m always amazed at that – month by month. [3]
Gordon – "I am too and we don’t manipulate that. [4] John O’Dell one of our trustees and accountant, he tells me off. He says “well the figures are bound to vary every month, because it just depends on when the income comes in and when the expenditure goes out”. [5]
And that’s why some months like this month we have a slight surplus and maybe next month a slight deficit, but you average out and you come to the end of the financial year and you’re very close. It’s the Lord, it’s the Lord!" [6]
Doug – "Well, we need to move on with the figures."
Gordon – "So January time. Let me show you the income that came in and the way that we spent it. Here’s a chart, which just illustrates the income. One-off gifts – those of you who sent cheques in those of you who made donations £20,969. And so many of you now pay monthly by standing order and direct debit a tremendous £53,946.
Those of you who told us that you are taxpayers we were able to ask the government for money back and that came in during January to £8,754. Those of you who go to World pay and paypal and make donations by credit card £48,633 and many of you tonight have been going to the website and paying that way. So that means a total income for this month of £132,302.
So what did we do with the money? How did we spend it? That’s the income figure there - £132,000. [7] How did we spend the money during the month of January?
Well, our broadcast costs – it costs us a lot of money each month to send it down to a firm called Globecast, who send it up in the sky to a satellite, beam it down into your homes and Sky and Freesat £47,753. [8]Our personnel costs, our staffing costs, consultant costs and other ancillary costs towards that £41,243. [9] We spent some money on equipment during the month - £10,013.
We spent some money on our property, just continual maintenance and work that needs doing - £8,645. Our administration costs were low this month £7,168 and other expenditure of £14,692, which means that the total you can see there on the screen coming up at £129,514.
For those of you who have already done your sums, you will know what that means for the month – it means that if you just look at this simple chart, which shows two poles coming up. It means our income figure was £132,302, our expenditure was £129,514. [10] So at the end of January we had a surplus we thank the Lord for of £2,788, but as I’ve already said we didn’t actually pay the rent on this building in January and it would have put us quite close to where we would have had no money in our account and as a charity, we are not allowed to go in the red or have an overdraft. And so our target tonight is that and any surplus that comes in once that rent money has been brought in will go towards the expenditure for February. So Doug, it’s amazing isn’t it, the figures and the people who are giving tonight."
[1] This is a direct and likely scripted question, which misleads viewers into believing they are seeing the full picture.
[2] The figures the account uses are the figures of the Revelation Foundation – not the figures of the channel as these figure do not included income from airtime and advertising sales or the sales of merchandise. This figure I conservatively estimate to be over half a million per year (see my calculations for more details) and goes instead to 21st Century TV Ltd.
[3] The reason for this I suspect is the donations from 21st Century TV are just enough to top up the funds to ensure the foundation can continue to meet it’s expenditure.
[4] If point 3 is true this is blatant deception.
[5] Even the accountant has noted a pattern.
[6] Is it the Lord or manipulation?
[7] Absolutely no reference is made to any income other than viewer donations – this is leaving the viewer with no option than to believe that this is the only income to the station, which is not true.
[8] Revelation Foundation pays for the airtime, but 21st Century TV takes the profit from selling the airtime, but with no liability for the actual real cost of running a 24 hr station. I suspect they pay a wholesale price for each slot they sell, but this is income that should be for the Foundation as charities are allowed to have income other than donations.
[9] 21st Century TV did make a contribution towards the staffing costs for the year of £45,000 for using the channels staff – This would only pay for 1-2 peoples wages and bearing in mind the profits involved 21st Century TV are getting an extremely good deal.
[10] No mention of any other income to the channel via 21st Century TV or any other companies.
FOLLOW UP POSTS:
Howard Conder's deceptive Facebook post which omits the transcript from Building the Foundation above. Emails sent by Sarah Acott and the responses she received from Peter Darg, Gordon Pettie and Alan Tun. Howard Conder has never responded directly to Sarah about her concerns.
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/alleged-dishonesty-and-deception-at.html
Gordon Pettie And The Barlow Clowes Fraud: http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/more-revelations-about-revelation-tv.html
"Dear Peter and Trustees
I originally wrote this report to you in February, but was asked not to send it at the time due to the then climate that existed at Revelation. There are a few things I do not agree with regarding the way that the channel operates, however today I just want to focus on finances.
Peter, I don’t know if you would remember me. I was the then 17 year old girl who used to run the live shows during the first year of the channel?
I have knowledge of the inner workings of the channel as I didn’t just do the live shows, but also training others, scheduling and working in the office before it was moved to Surbiton. During this time I learnt about the finances, airtime sales etc so have put my own knowledge together with that available on the internet and come to the following conclusions. The conclusions below were written back in February before Howard’s email to everyone@revelationtv.com and now look as being correct. I have not edited this much further so a lot of this is now possibly old news, so please bear with it.
The issue I wish to raise is that donors to the channel are being mislead in the way that funds are raised and presented on the Building the Foundation programme. The programme leads the viewer to believe that the finances reported on the pie charts are a representation of the entire channels financial operation. This is not true and could be accused of being fraudulent. I am only bringing this to you because I believe that this is something that you as the legal overseers should be aware of.
It became obvious to me when I watched one of the first Building the Foundation programmes years ago. The income stated leaves out one of the largest income streams into the channel – airtime and advertising sales. Having worked in the office during the set up of the channel I know about the 21st Century television account and believe that the money from this huge source of income is going straight into this account. From what I can gather from the charities commission website 21st Century Television makes donations to the Revelation Foundation. The donation total for 2009 was £350,000 I believe. I have a problem with this as by my maths this is no where near the total that is received in airtime and advertising. Using very conservative figures I come to the below sums.
Airtime at £350 per 30 min slot x 4 paying ministries = £1400 per day x 365 = £511,000 per year
Advertising at £15 per spot x 12 = £180 per day x 365 = £65,700
As you can see from this very conservative estimate there is around £200,000 which is going into this account. Howard and Gordon have always said 'come and look at our books'. I’m sure they would be happy for someone who hasn’t a clue how a station is run to come and look, but I believe this over confidence is a bluff.
I do not know what is happening to the money that goes into 21st Century, but as Trustees I hope you do. The reason I am bringing this up is the dishonesty and deception. When I tell people I used to work for the station they often comment about the transparency of the finances and how wonderful it is to see exactly where the money goes. The problem is they are not seeing where all the money goes and if people found out what sort of a response should we expect from the poor old ladies at home who give 'the widow’s mite' in good faith that the money is needed and that there is transparency. How would Jesus respond?
My own suspicion is that 21st Century tops up the Revelation Foundation at the amount it needs. If I am correct then how wrong is it to convince people of a need which isn’t real? This is fraud and those who are aware of this deception need to repent. I am aware that for some of you however, that this would be unknown.
There needs to be either a clear distinction for viewers between 21st Century Television and the Revelation Foundation or preferably all money to flow through the Revelation Foundation as this would give the clarity and transparency that the viewers expect. Also I cannot see the charities commission looking favourably on the current reporting of finances.
Considering that in the initial mission statement of the channel was a very clear statement of not asking for funds on air – things have not only gone very far from the vision, but also veered into an area of possible criminality.
Please see my other document BTF Report, which is a transcript of the last Building the Foundation programme (February 2012).
I would like to make it clear that the last thing I want is for this information to go into the public domain. I have sat on this for years and feel I should have confronted earlier, but feel that with the current Trustees there is an opportunity for things to be put right.
I pray you will have the strength and courage to do what is needed.
You are welcome to contact me with any questions or queries at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In light of Howard’s email to everyone@revelationtv.com, it is now confirmed that all money from airtime sales etc goes to 21st Century TV and that this money goes to Howard and Lesley. There have been many programmes which suggest that Howard and Lesley do not take a wage from the station and I guess to some extent that could be true as they might take it as a dividend, but this is deceptive.
Howard’s email said that he didn’t feel comfortable taking from 'the widows mite', which sounds very sacrificial when said in that way, however by taking the entirety of the stations earned (as opposed to donated) money they have created a deficit which the 'widows mite' then has to fill. Personally I cannot see this as a good argument and whilst I don’t wish to be cynical, I believe this is done in this way so that the viewers cannot see how much money is being taken by Howard and Lesley.
I realise that is a heavy accusation, however I do accounts for a charity myself and can’t see this any other way. I have no problem with Howard and Lesley taking even millions every year as that is their choice. However it is not being fair or honest with the viewers and those who do give the 'widows mite'.
I would never go public with this information, as I spent 6 months as a volunteer and a further 6 months on a wage that covered my train fare and not much more. So for me to see something that I invested so much of myself into be brought down by either the charity commission or a police investigation would be a personal loss. However after Howard’s email I’d be very surprised if no one else did as it’s not difficult to connect the dots.
You are welcome to contact me with any questions or queries at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
BUILDING THE FOUNDATION REPORT
Transcript from Building the Foundation 14th February 2012 with Gordon Pettie and Doug Harris.
Doug – "Gordon, let me just ask you a question, because we say each month and we are very open. We are I think one of only a few channels who are, but tell me Gordon – be honest. Do you manipulate the figures in any way?" [1]
Gordon – "Doug! What a question to ask me!"
Doug – "Well, I do sit next you in the office."
Both – Laugh
Gordon – "What does that mean?!
I suppose the answer would be yes and no… no…"
Doug – "Before the phones start ringing even more you had better explain that! "
Gordon – "Well, no in the sense that the figures are done every month. We have Elaine who works in the accounts department and she collates all the figures for us. When she’s done them, she sends them to our accountant. The accountant then looks at them and the figures that I use are the figures the accountants use. [2]
But, yes, in the sense that when we show the figures for January, we actually should have a payment going out for the rent £15,000. We didn’t get enough money coming in in January to pay the rent. So the figure you are going to see is an incorrect figure, because we really should say there is another £15,000 of expenditure in January, which we didn’t do.
When I show the figures in a moment, you’ll see we had a surplus in January of £2,000+ and that’s why our target is £12,300, because that means we will have the rent money. Of course in February we then have to raise that again all the money that we need."
Doug – And that’s the point, because we take it to the end of the month, but Building the Foundation is already using a couple of weeks in, so already got another target to reach.
But it is amazing and even with the slight differences it’s amazing how often the two figures – the income and expenditure, balance. And whatever the expenditure the income is there. I’m always amazed at that – month by month. [3]
Gordon – "I am too and we don’t manipulate that. [4] John O’Dell one of our trustees and accountant, he tells me off. He says “well the figures are bound to vary every month, because it just depends on when the income comes in and when the expenditure goes out”. [5]
And that’s why some months like this month we have a slight surplus and maybe next month a slight deficit, but you average out and you come to the end of the financial year and you’re very close. It’s the Lord, it’s the Lord!" [6]
Doug – "Well, we need to move on with the figures."
Gordon – "So January time. Let me show you the income that came in and the way that we spent it. Here’s a chart, which just illustrates the income. One-off gifts – those of you who sent cheques in those of you who made donations £20,969. And so many of you now pay monthly by standing order and direct debit a tremendous £53,946.
Those of you who told us that you are taxpayers we were able to ask the government for money back and that came in during January to £8,754. Those of you who go to World pay and paypal and make donations by credit card £48,633 and many of you tonight have been going to the website and paying that way. So that means a total income for this month of £132,302.
So what did we do with the money? How did we spend it? That’s the income figure there - £132,000. [7] How did we spend the money during the month of January?
Well, our broadcast costs – it costs us a lot of money each month to send it down to a firm called Globecast, who send it up in the sky to a satellite, beam it down into your homes and Sky and Freesat £47,753. [8]Our personnel costs, our staffing costs, consultant costs and other ancillary costs towards that £41,243. [9] We spent some money on equipment during the month - £10,013.
We spent some money on our property, just continual maintenance and work that needs doing - £8,645. Our administration costs were low this month £7,168 and other expenditure of £14,692, which means that the total you can see there on the screen coming up at £129,514.
For those of you who have already done your sums, you will know what that means for the month – it means that if you just look at this simple chart, which shows two poles coming up. It means our income figure was £132,302, our expenditure was £129,514. [10] So at the end of January we had a surplus we thank the Lord for of £2,788, but as I’ve already said we didn’t actually pay the rent on this building in January and it would have put us quite close to where we would have had no money in our account and as a charity, we are not allowed to go in the red or have an overdraft. And so our target tonight is that and any surplus that comes in once that rent money has been brought in will go towards the expenditure for February. So Doug, it’s amazing isn’t it, the figures and the people who are giving tonight."
[1] This is a direct and likely scripted question, which misleads viewers into believing they are seeing the full picture.
[2] The figures the account uses are the figures of the Revelation Foundation – not the figures of the channel as these figure do not included income from airtime and advertising sales or the sales of merchandise. This figure I conservatively estimate to be over half a million per year (see my calculations for more details) and goes instead to 21st Century TV Ltd.
[3] The reason for this I suspect is the donations from 21st Century TV are just enough to top up the funds to ensure the foundation can continue to meet it’s expenditure.
[4] If point 3 is true this is blatant deception.
[5] Even the accountant has noted a pattern.
[6] Is it the Lord or manipulation?
[7] Absolutely no reference is made to any income other than viewer donations – this is leaving the viewer with no option than to believe that this is the only income to the station, which is not true.
[8] Revelation Foundation pays for the airtime, but 21st Century TV takes the profit from selling the airtime, but with no liability for the actual real cost of running a 24 hr station. I suspect they pay a wholesale price for each slot they sell, but this is income that should be for the Foundation as charities are allowed to have income other than donations.
[9] 21st Century TV did make a contribution towards the staffing costs for the year of £45,000 for using the channels staff – This would only pay for 1-2 peoples wages and bearing in mind the profits involved 21st Century TV are getting an extremely good deal.
[10] No mention of any other income to the channel via 21st Century TV or any other companies.
FOLLOW UP POSTS:
Howard Conder's deceptive Facebook post which omits the transcript from Building the Foundation above. Emails sent by Sarah Acott and the responses she received from Peter Darg, Gordon Pettie and Alan Tun. Howard Conder has never responded directly to Sarah about her concerns.
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/alleged-dishonesty-and-deception-at.html
Gordon Pettie And The Barlow Clowes Fraud: http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/more-revelations-about-revelation-tv.html
Sunday 3 May 2015
BILL JOHNSON'S SOZO POISON: OCCULT PRACTICES AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN LEICESTER
Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. (Luke 11:35)
Holy Trinity Church in Leicester are offering their members a very dangerous “prayer ministry”, SOZO, which comes from the infamous Bethel Church in
Redding, California. http://www.holytrinityleicester.org/prayerministry.html
I have recently written three posts about “grave sucker” Bill Johnson, the so called “pastor” of Bethel Church and his wife “Beni” who seem to think that necromancy
and witchcraft is acceptable to God and that it is perfectly fine to “suck” the anointing from the graves of
dead believers!
Assemblies of God “pastor” David Hind of Trinity Life Church in Leicester (TLC) recently recommended Jesus Culture, a ministry of Bethel Church! I notice that David Hind is now limiting his Twitters to inane drivel which at least has to be an improvement on promoting rank heresy!
Assemblies of God “pastor” David Hind of Trinity Life Church in Leicester (TLC) recently recommended Jesus Culture, a ministry of Bethel Church! I notice that David Hind is now limiting his Twitters to inane drivel which at least has to be an improvement on promoting rank heresy!
My concern about Sozo is that vulnerable people attending Holy Trinity and other churches will be dragged further
and further away from the Lord and into bondage through the influence of the
various false teachings being foisted upon them by the hirelings promoting Bill
Johnson (John 10:13). Leicester has previously been
subjected to wolves in sheep’s clothing Mark Stibbe and Benny Hinn, as well as the dark teachings of Mike Breen, New Wine (and who knows what else). John McGinley has now gone one step further and introduced the poison of arch deceiver Bill Johnson, arguably one of the most dangerous false teachers of our time!
Sozo from the
Greek means save, rescue, heal or deliver.
Sozo claims to be: “.....a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry in which the main aim is to get to the root of those things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” http://www.ibethel.org/sozo-overview
Sozo was first introduced to Bethel Church, Redding by
false teacher Randy Clark in 1997 who brought an unbiblical model of “deliverance” from Argentina known as The Four Doors. This so called “deliverance” involves repressed memory
therapy (RMT). RMT has been widely condemned by several
professional organisations worldwide, including The
British Royal College of Psychiatrists who have officially banned its
members from using this kind of therapy. A large number of RMT therapists use hypnosis and visualisation techniques to uncover repressed memories. We should bear in
mind however that uncorroborated findings have split up families and have led to
painful litigations from accusations resulting from false memory syndrome. False memories can be implanted or
suggested whilst a person in a state of altered consciousness during
hypnotherapy . RMT is a dangerous and potentially demonic practice that no Christian should subject themselves to!
http://www.religioustolerance.org/rmt.htm
From Bethel’s website the Sozo sessions are described in terms of “.....finding the wounds and lies – finding the reasons why people do not have a good relationship with each member of the Godhead. : Helping you make a connection with the Godhead….. It is also a deliverance ministry.” http://bethelsozo.com/about/
Bethel are assuming that if you need this “ministry” there is something wrong with your relationship with “each member of the Godhead”. This is a very odd expression. The Bible does not teach that we need to have a separate relationship with each member of the Godhead. Our relationship with God depends entirely on our relationship with Jesus Christ (John 14:7). Once we have repented of our sins and become a Christian we are justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Sozo undermines the fact that true Christians already have a wonderful relationship with God. Why ever would we need to “make a connection with the Godhead” when we are accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6), loved by the Father (John 14:21) have received the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)? Experiential Christianity demands that we need to be on a spiritual high and "feel the love"........ but without the Word of God this is a fool's paradise (Matthew 7:26). Occult practices may give the "experience" we are seeking temporarily, but ultimately they lead us away from God, they cannot bring us closer to Him (2 Corinthians 11:14).
"Opening Client Visualization
Many people believe that they do not have a visual compliment to engaging God. They have been taught, or the enemy has led them to believe, that their primary, if not only, interaction with God is through His written word, the Bible. This is typical of most folks with mainline evangelical denominational roots. In order to make the ministry time fruitful for a client, we often have to help them to “open their spirit eyes”.
From Bethel’s website the Sozo sessions are described in terms of “.....finding the wounds and lies – finding the reasons why people do not have a good relationship with each member of the Godhead. : Helping you make a connection with the Godhead….. It is also a deliverance ministry.” http://bethelsozo.com/about/
Bethel are assuming that if you need this “ministry” there is something wrong with your relationship with “each member of the Godhead”. This is a very odd expression. The Bible does not teach that we need to have a separate relationship with each member of the Godhead. Our relationship with God depends entirely on our relationship with Jesus Christ (John 14:7). Once we have repented of our sins and become a Christian we are justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Sozo undermines the fact that true Christians already have a wonderful relationship with God. Why ever would we need to “make a connection with the Godhead” when we are accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6), loved by the Father (John 14:21) have received the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)? Experiential Christianity demands that we need to be on a spiritual high and "feel the love"........ but without the Word of God this is a fool's paradise (Matthew 7:26). Occult practices may give the "experience" we are seeking temporarily, but ultimately they lead us away from God, they cannot bring us closer to Him (2 Corinthians 11:14).
"Opening Client Visualization
Many people believe that they do not have a visual compliment to engaging God. They have been taught, or the enemy has led them to believe, that their primary, if not only, interaction with God is through His written word, the Bible. This is typical of most folks with mainline evangelical denominational roots. In order to make the ministry time fruitful for a client, we often have to help them to “open their spirit eyes”.
Many people believe that God is accessible only through their minds and hence, all experience that is not absolutely logical (from their perspective) is not only not probable, but more to the point, not possible. Consequently, they have never tried any other method of interacting with Him. That doesn’t mean that is not another method, only that they have never entertained the idea that there is another one.
What the Sozo session leader must do is to help open their minds, hearts and spirits to another method of connecting with God. We can do this by a number of methods, principally by leading the Sozoee through a series of simple exercises to expand their repertoire of sensing, hearing, feeling and connecting with God.
Jim Banks, House of Healing Ministries"
http://closingstages.net/2012/07/31/victims-of-johnsons-sozo-ministry-speak-out/
The above statement is a direct attack on God’s Word. The way we connect with God must always be through the scriptures in conjunction with worship, prayer, and also, at times, fasting; apart from these things, there is not “another method” to connect with God!!!
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (John 15:3)
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)
…..that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (Ephesians 5:26)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, …..make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (2 Peter 1:3, 5-8)
Constructing man made tools and techniques around biblical truth is extremely foolish, but more than that it introduces occult techniques to solve perceived issues, such as visualisation, hypnotherapy, regression etc. which will bring bondage and demonic oppression rather than the healing and freedom it claims to bring. Did Jesus or the apostles heal anyone for money? The Sozo sessions cost $50 in the USA. …..in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. (Mark 7:7)
….“you see most Christians get saved, but they don’t go through deliverance, or really go back and deal with inner healing issues, thus, after about 3 weeks, or 3 months, they are back to the way they used to be. Because they never cleaned out the house fully.” http://closingstages.net/2012/07/31/victims-of-johnsons-sozo-ministry-speak-out/
“There is always a source and a point in time when something happened that set into motion a course that ends up with an individual in torment, pain, and sin. It may be difficult to uncover, but it is always there. God knows the point in time of the wound, lie, or sin. He knows the reason or cause. God is willing to help us find it”. http://thefreedomresource.org/documents/moultrie.pdf
This false teaching is a denial of the cross of Christ.The reasons that people backslide are given in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). Many Christians suffer terribly at the hands of those who teach Sozo and similar deliverance techniques. Once doubt is implanted about whether Jesus Christ has cleansed you completely, then faith takes a nosedive. These teachings are inward looking and not Christ centred - you are always looking for the next demon to manifest, or the next bit of your past to deal with. Inevitably those who genuinely seek Jesus Christ suffer intensely under such teachings. Usually those who have implanted the lies see you as their spiritual inferior and they label you as "a problem" when you fail to realise the promised "freedom". This is precisely what happened at the first church I attended as a new Christian many years ago! The leaders of that failed cult now attend TLC - people definitely get the leaders they deserve (Isaiah 3:1-26; Galatians 6:7).
If healing/deliverance from past wounds is so important, why didn't the apostles teach it? Raking up old hurts is a trap of the enemy, it paralyses and is entirely negative. Christians are instructed to think about good things, NOT about dead negative things from the past (Philippians 4:8). The renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2), forgiveness (Matthew 6:12) and submission to God (James 4:7) are critical for a fruitful walk with the Lord. The apostle Paul makes it very clear that dwelling on the past, even in a positive way, is unhelpful: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead….. (Philippians 3:13) Whatever happened to us before we became a Christian is wiped out when we become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Isaiah 43:18-19).
Bethel Church engage in various wicked occult practices such as grave sucking, opening portals, visualisation practices, spirit travel, fire tunnels, sozo and conjuring angel orbs. None of these practices can be found in the Bible, but all of these practices are found in the occult. Beware of Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, Jesus Culture and anyone promoting them! (Romans 16:17)
Unsurprisingingly, All Nations Church, Frog Island in Leicester also promote Jesus Culture on their links page. http://www.ancl.co.uk/media/links/
I also must also warn my readers that the Leicester Workshop: Movement in Worship (MIW) on May the 9th at St Denys Church in Evington is somehow connected with Bethel Church.
http://miw.org.uk/miw-at-bethel-church-redding-california-usa-feb-2015
http://miw.org.uk/events/movement-in-worship-leicester-workshop
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
At about five minutes into the above video a woman says she was led in a prayer to "forgive God for the death of her father". This is complete rubbish - God forgives us, we do not forgive God! This woman should have repented for blaming God. We should always forgive others but we do not forgive God! (1 John 1:5)
Monday 6 April 2015
Replacement Theology, John Piper, and Israel
Replacement Theology, John Piper, and Israel
An Examination of “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East” by John Piper
In 2004, Dr. John Piper preached a sermon at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, entitled “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East”. This message unfairly argued that the Jewish people and nation of Israel do not have a right to the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This sermon, now in print form, has been a standard apologetic for Replacement Theology advocates for the past ten years.
It has made its way onto the internet and has been used by many anti-Semitic and anti-Israel websites to argue that the Jewish people do not have a biblical right to the land of Israel. The purpose of this article is to rebut some of the viewpoints of Piper’s article.
Although a Baptist (only in ecclesiology), he is a strong Calvinist and a Reformed theologian. He holds to a continuation view, in which the spiritual sign-gifts, visions, and prophecy are all to be sought and practiced today. He holds to “double predestination”, the view that God elects some to salvation and others He elects to damnation (reprobation). He holds a post-millennial view of prophecy. Concerning Israel, he holds to a supersessionist view (replacement theology view), teaching that the church replaces Israel and that national/ethnic Israel will not inherit the land promises of the Old Testament.
Then in Genesis 17:7-8, we read, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
These passages establish a number of very important truths. First of all, the national and ethnic Jewish people are God’s own possession. He loves Israel, He will protect them, and sovereignly, He has given to them certain promises. Secondly, these promises are “everlasting” promises to Abraham and his offspring. “Everlasting” means forever. Without question, God is faithful and will keep His promises. Concerning these truths, John Piper writes:
God has given the land to Abraham and his descendants, and He has never rescinded that offer. However, there were conditions and stipulations which Israel was to obey to dwell in the land. At times, Israel did not obey these conditions, and God providentially used Assyria, Babylon, and later Rome to remove her from the land. Nevertheless, the land promises were never revoked, altered, or given to another nation.
John Piper teaches that Israel is still a disobedient nation and, therefore, has no right to the land they now occupy. He believes Israel has illegally taken the land through middle eastern wars and have no biblical right to the land. He writes:
The question we would like to examine is: Why did God bring them back? Was the whole nation faithful and believing when they were brought back? Was half of the nation faithful and believing? The answer is, of course, NO. They were in captivity and only a small remnant (minority) was faithful. Very few truly trusted and believed in God.
Under Zerubbabel 49,690 Jews returned; under Ezra even a smaller amount, 1,750 Jews; under Nehemiah no number is mentioned in Scripture. Only a very small number of Jews turned back to God, yet God, being faithful to His promise, providentially brought them back into the land. Though few believed, the fact is, Israel did believe! When He brought them back, this land was fully and completely their land.
In the early days of Nehemiah’s return to the land, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem began to mock Nehemiah when they heard that the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah charged them, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it” (Neh. 2:20 NIV). The land was Israel’s land due to the faithfulness of God.
We raise the question: Is Israel faithful and believing today? Let us compare her to the days of Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. According to sources, there are 125-150 Messianic congregations in Israel today. Granted, not all believers in Messianic congregations are Jewish; however, it is estimated that there are 10,000-12,000 Messianic Jews in Israel today. Matthew Wagner, writing in the Jerusalem Post, states that there are 12,000 Messianic Jews living in Israel and 250,000 living in the United States.[2]
More conservative estimates put the number of Jewish believers at 100,000-125,000 world-wide. The organization “Jews for Jesus” estimates that 8,000 Jews come to Christ world-wide every year.[3] Admittedly, it is a difficult task to measure the number of Jewish believers in a city, country, and the world. Yet, it is widely conceded that in the last fifty years more Jews have come to Christ than at any other time in human history.
If this is true, comparing the modern-day faith of Jewish people with the faith of Jews during the days of Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, the Jews today are far more faithful and believing. Undoubtedly, God is working in Israel today. God has brought back His people to the land of Israel as a foretaste of even greater promises. On May 14, 1948, Israel was declared a nation. No Muslim nation acknowledges the statehood of Israel.
We admit Jewish evangelism is very difficult, and the percentage of Jewish believers world-wide is very small. Yet, compared to past generations, Jewish people are placing faith in the Messiah at an unprecedented rate. We would humbly reply to John Piper that God has not cast off His people (Rom. 11:1); on the contrary, His plan for the Jewish people will finally and completely come to pass. We reject categorically the idea that the church has replaced Israel.
Well over a million tons of humanitarian aid and supplies entered into Gaza from Israel in 2014, equal to nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman, and child in Gaza. The Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem donates $3 million in aid each year to treat Palestinians in Israel. According to the UN report of May 2010, 120 megawatts (over 70%) of Gaza’s electricity come from the Israeli grid. A new CAT-scan machine was recently shipped to Gaza. In the midst of the Hamas-Israeli war, on August 3, 2014, 185 trucks carrying 3,270 tons of goods and supplies entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom Crossing. Among the trucks that entered were: 100 trucks carrying 2,129 tons of food. 4 trucks carrying 13 tons of medicine and medical supplies. 67 trucks carrying 627 tons of humanitarian supplies. [4]
An Examination of “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East” by John Piper
In 2004, Dr. John Piper preached a sermon at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, entitled “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East”. This message unfairly argued that the Jewish people and nation of Israel do not have a right to the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This sermon, now in print form, has been a standard apologetic for Replacement Theology advocates for the past ten years.
It has made its way onto the internet and has been used by many anti-Semitic and anti-Israel websites to argue that the Jewish people do not have a biblical right to the land of Israel. The purpose of this article is to rebut some of the viewpoints of Piper’s article.
The Background of John Piper
John Piper was born in 1946 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has received degrees from Wheaton College (1964-1968) in philosophy and literature and a bachelor of divinity at Fuller Seminary (1970). He studied at the University of Munich (1971-1974) and received a doctorate degree in New Testament Studies. He was the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church for 33 years, retiring in 2013 to pursue writing and a speaking ministry. He is the author of many books and a popular speaker.Although a Baptist (only in ecclesiology), he is a strong Calvinist and a Reformed theologian. He holds to a continuation view, in which the spiritual sign-gifts, visions, and prophecy are all to be sought and practiced today. He holds to “double predestination”, the view that God elects some to salvation and others He elects to damnation (reprobation). He holds a post-millennial view of prophecy. Concerning Israel, he holds to a supersessionist view (replacement theology view), teaching that the church replaces Israel and that national/ethnic Israel will not inherit the land promises of the Old Testament.
Israel: The Land and the People
What does the Bible say about Israel? It clearly teaches that God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be His own possession. We read, “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the people who are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6). Concerning the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a portion of which the nation of Israel resides today, we read, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates…’ ”(Gen. 15:18).Then in Genesis 17:7-8, we read, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
These passages establish a number of very important truths. First of all, the national and ethnic Jewish people are God’s own possession. He loves Israel, He will protect them, and sovereignly, He has given to them certain promises. Secondly, these promises are “everlasting” promises to Abraham and his offspring. “Everlasting” means forever. Without question, God is faithful and will keep His promises. Concerning these truths, John Piper writes:
“This of course, creates a huge cleavage between the Islamic view of God’s covenant and the Jewish and Christian view of this covenant. But we believe that this is God’s Word, confirmed by the Lord Jesus, and so we say, the land is destined to be Israel’s land.”It would seem that Piper stands firmly with Israel, but very quickly he backs away from the view he just supported, saying, “but it’s not that simple. This is not an issue that can be dealt with in sound bites.”
Who Owns the Land of Israel?
The question many ask is, “Who owns the land of Israel?” Israel or the Palestinian people? The correct answer to this question is neither. God owns the land and Israel has been given this land in a tenant relationship. We read many times in Scripture that the land is God’s land. Just a few references should suffice: Joel 3:2, Jer. 2:7. We read in Leviticus 25:23, “…The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is My land.”God has given the land to Abraham and his descendants, and He has never rescinded that offer. However, there were conditions and stipulations which Israel was to obey to dwell in the land. At times, Israel did not obey these conditions, and God providentially used Assyria, Babylon, and later Rome to remove her from the land. Nevertheless, the land promises were never revoked, altered, or given to another nation.
John Piper teaches that Israel is still a disobedient nation and, therefore, has no right to the land they now occupy. He believes Israel has illegally taken the land through middle eastern wars and have no biblical right to the land. He writes:
“Throughout the history of Israel, covenant breaking and disobedience and idolatry disqualified Israel from the present divine right to the land…The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel.”Let us examine this claim by John Piper against the nation of Israel. Has disobedience disqualified Israel from God’s land promises? Yes, it is true that on three occasions Israel fell into disobedience and idolatry and was removed from the land. But Israel was also brought back into the land. Israel returned to the land under Zerubbabel (538 BC), Ezra(439 BC), and Nehemiah(445 BC).
The question we would like to examine is: Why did God bring them back? Was the whole nation faithful and believing when they were brought back? Was half of the nation faithful and believing? The answer is, of course, NO. They were in captivity and only a small remnant (minority) was faithful. Very few truly trusted and believed in God.
Under Zerubbabel 49,690 Jews returned; under Ezra even a smaller amount, 1,750 Jews; under Nehemiah no number is mentioned in Scripture. Only a very small number of Jews turned back to God, yet God, being faithful to His promise, providentially brought them back into the land. Though few believed, the fact is, Israel did believe! When He brought them back, this land was fully and completely their land.
In the early days of Nehemiah’s return to the land, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem began to mock Nehemiah when they heard that the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah charged them, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it” (Neh. 2:20 NIV). The land was Israel’s land due to the faithfulness of God.
The Nation of Israel Today- Disobedient or Believing?
Is John Piper’s rejection of Israel based on his own standard of obedience for Israel or the biblical standard? Consider the giving of the land to Israel under Joshua after forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Was the whole nation obedient? Hardly. Not even the twelve spies who went in to scope out the land were faithful. Notwithstanding, God gave Joshua the land of Canaan as Israel’s inheritance. God has His own standard of faithfulness. We should be very careful about imposing our standard of obedience, our opinions of what God should and should not do, and our judgments concerning when disobedience breaks His covenant.We raise the question: Is Israel faithful and believing today? Let us compare her to the days of Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. According to sources, there are 125-150 Messianic congregations in Israel today. Granted, not all believers in Messianic congregations are Jewish; however, it is estimated that there are 10,000-12,000 Messianic Jews in Israel today. Matthew Wagner, writing in the Jerusalem Post, states that there are 12,000 Messianic Jews living in Israel and 250,000 living in the United States.[2]
More conservative estimates put the number of Jewish believers at 100,000-125,000 world-wide. The organization “Jews for Jesus” estimates that 8,000 Jews come to Christ world-wide every year.[3] Admittedly, it is a difficult task to measure the number of Jewish believers in a city, country, and the world. Yet, it is widely conceded that in the last fifty years more Jews have come to Christ than at any other time in human history.
If this is true, comparing the modern-day faith of Jewish people with the faith of Jews during the days of Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, the Jews today are far more faithful and believing. Undoubtedly, God is working in Israel today. God has brought back His people to the land of Israel as a foretaste of even greater promises. On May 14, 1948, Israel was declared a nation. No Muslim nation acknowledges the statehood of Israel.
We admit Jewish evangelism is very difficult, and the percentage of Jewish believers world-wide is very small. Yet, compared to past generations, Jewish people are placing faith in the Messiah at an unprecedented rate. We would humbly reply to John Piper that God has not cast off His people (Rom. 11:1); on the contrary, His plan for the Jewish people will finally and completely come to pass. We reject categorically the idea that the church has replaced Israel.
The Kindness of Israel in the Midst of Hostility
John Piper suggests that the nation of Israel is unmerciful and cruel to the Palestinian people. He calls on the leaders of Israel to submit to international pressure to be a kinder and gentler nation. He writes:“Therefore, the secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the Land, but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.”Israel has made land concession after land concession. It has conceded to international pressure and has given land for peace. Israel has given back the West Bank in 1967, the Sinai Peninsula in 1979 (Egypt), the Golan Heights in 1981 (internationally controlled), and the Gaza Strip in 1994, and yet there is no peace. In 2014, the terrorist organization Hamas blanketed Israel with 7,800 rockets. What did Israel do? She defended herself. But she did more. Israel showed mercy and kindness to her attackers.
Well over a million tons of humanitarian aid and supplies entered into Gaza from Israel in 2014, equal to nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman, and child in Gaza. The Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem donates $3 million in aid each year to treat Palestinians in Israel. According to the UN report of May 2010, 120 megawatts (over 70%) of Gaza’s electricity come from the Israeli grid. A new CAT-scan machine was recently shipped to Gaza. In the midst of the Hamas-Israeli war, on August 3, 2014, 185 trucks carrying 3,270 tons of goods and supplies entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom Crossing. Among the trucks that entered were: 100 trucks carrying 2,129 tons of food. 4 trucks carrying 13 tons of medicine and medical supplies. 67 trucks carrying 627 tons of humanitarian supplies. [4]
Conclusion
We suggest that the reasoning of John Piper in his paper “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East” is biased, unbiblical, and ill-reasoned. It may be that he is blinded by his post-millennial and reformed views, which harbor an anti-Israel attitude. It may be simply a misplaced sympathy for the Muslim people. Whatever the case, we stand with Israel, with the unfailing promises of God, and in His love for His chosen people.Endnotes
- John Piper, desiringgod.org/sermons/israel-palestine-and-the-middle-east, March 7, 2004. All quotes in this article are taken from this internet article.
- Wagner, Matthew (June 26, 2006). “Messianic Jews to protest ‘discrimination'”. Jerusalem Post.
- Tovia Singer, outreachjudaism.org/evangelizing-the-jews/
- www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Peace/Humanitarian/Pages/Israeli-humanitarian-aid-continues-10-Jul-2014.aspx
Saturday 4 April 2015
abominations in the temple: the new apostolic reformation, bill johnson and jesus culture!
I am writing this post as a follow up to my two recent posts about Trinity Life Church in Leicester (Assemblies of God) whose pastor recommends Jesus Culture; and Elim who are hosting Bill Johnson "Senior Pastor" of Bethel Church Redding CA at their Leadership Conference in May.
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/david-hind-trinity-life-church.html
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/grave-sucker-bill-johnson-to-join.html
As I was writing these posts, I was reminded of a very powerful teaching I heard last year: Jacob Prasch - Ezekiel - Greater Abominations, which I think is very important for our understanding about what is happening in today's church.
Ezekiel is a major source for the book of Revelation where the judgements of God are replayed eschatalogically (as also are the judgements in the book of Exodus). Ezekiel depicts the destruction of Jerusalem as a judgement and a purificatory sacrifice upon the altar, made necessary by the various progressive "abominations" within the city and the temple, beginning with the image of jealousy i.e. the image which provokes the jealousy of the Lord (Ezekiel 8:3,5), through to the vile abominations engraved on the walls - creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel (Ezekiel 8:10), through to the women weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), and finally, the priests in the inner temple practicing sun worship (Ezekiel 8:16). Jacob Prasch identifies several comparative "abominations" with Ezekiel which are progressively defiling the church in our time and which will culminate in the judgement of God.
And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
(Ezekiel 9:4)
The "mark" (the seal of God) on the foreheads of those who are faithful to God is found in Exodus 13:9; Ezekiel 9:4-6 and Revelation 7:2-3. Jacob explains that the word rendered "mark" remarkably is the name of the Hebrew letter tau, which in its ancient form was a cross. In the Book of Revelation, the seal of the Lord and the mark of the beast are irreconcileable.
EZEKIEL CHAPTER 8
In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal. He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.
EZEKIEL CHAPTER 9
Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/david-hind-trinity-life-church.html
http://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/grave-sucker-bill-johnson-to-join.html
As I was writing these posts, I was reminded of a very powerful teaching I heard last year: Jacob Prasch - Ezekiel - Greater Abominations, which I think is very important for our understanding about what is happening in today's church.
Ezekiel is a major source for the book of Revelation where the judgements of God are replayed eschatalogically (as also are the judgements in the book of Exodus). Ezekiel depicts the destruction of Jerusalem as a judgement and a purificatory sacrifice upon the altar, made necessary by the various progressive "abominations" within the city and the temple, beginning with the image of jealousy i.e. the image which provokes the jealousy of the Lord (Ezekiel 8:3,5), through to the vile abominations engraved on the walls - creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel (Ezekiel 8:10), through to the women weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), and finally, the priests in the inner temple practicing sun worship (Ezekiel 8:16). Jacob Prasch identifies several comparative "abominations" with Ezekiel which are progressively defiling the church in our time and which will culminate in the judgement of God.
And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
(Ezekiel 9:4)
The "mark" (the seal of God) on the foreheads of those who are faithful to God is found in Exodus 13:9; Ezekiel 9:4-6 and Revelation 7:2-3. Jacob explains that the word rendered "mark" remarkably is the name of the Hebrew letter tau, which in its ancient form was a cross. In the Book of Revelation, the seal of the Lord and the mark of the beast are irreconcileable.
EZEKIEL CHAPTER 8
In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal. He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.
Then
he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So
I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar
gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. And
he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great
abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me
far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”
And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”
And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”
Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.”
And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
EZEKIEL CHAPTER 9
Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
Now
the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it
rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed
in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the Lord
said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark
on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations
that are committed in it.” And
to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him,
and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill
old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but
touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they
began with the elders who were before the house. Then he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, “Ah, Lord God! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’ As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”
And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”
Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’ As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”
And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”
Friday 3 April 2015
grave sucker bill johnson bethel church redding to join rivercamp leadership conference - shame on elim!!!
RiverCamp and Elim Metropolitan Region are hosting their very first Leadership Conference at Ealing Christian Centre in London on Monday 18th – Tuesday 19th May. They are "excited"; I am horrified! RiverCamp will play host to some of the most dangerous heretics on the planet today including grave sucker Bill Johnson, John Arnott and Heidi Baker!
Johnson and his occult cronies are part of the hypercharismatic New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), also known as Word of Faith, Dominionism, Third Wave, Joel’s Army, Latter Rain, Modern day Prophets and Apostles and Manifest Sons of God. Their distinctive teaching is that the end-times church must be led by an elitist group of apostles and prophets in order to achieve dominion on the earth prior to Christ's return. In contradiction, Paul and other epistle writers give instructions about church government, referring to “overseers” and “deacons” not “apostles and prophets”. This demolishes the NAR claim that apostles and prophets must lead the end-times church. Furthermore, Revelation 19:11-21 makes it clear that JESUS CHRIST (NOT THE CHURCH) will achieve dominion on the earth (Revelation 22:19). The NAR promotes strategic-level spiritual warfare which contradicts Daniel 10 and Jude 9 which assigns spiritual warfare against territorial spirits to Michael and the angels not to human beings. The "apostolic unity" taught by the NAR is in fact personal submission to self-proclaimed apostles, it is not unity based on agreement on doctrine.
Designated as an "Apostle" by false prophet C Peter Wagner, Bill Johnson is "Senior Pastor" of Bethel Church, Redding, California, which is famous for dubious "manifestations" of gold flakes, glory clouds, angel feathers, angel orbs, grave sucking, open heaven experiences and much, much more. Johnson's wife Beni uses tuning forks as a prophetic act, and also believes she is called to the "prophetic act of waking up angels"!
Grave sucking is supposedly the act of "sucking" the anointing of dead believers from their graves. This is sorcery/necromancy (Deuteronomy 18: 10-11; Leviticus 20:27). The Bible tells us that the gifts are given as they are distributed by Holy Spirit as God wills (1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Hebrews 2:4). Christians have no need to travel around the world seeking the "anointing" of dead believers - this is to engage in witchcraft!
Bill Johnson teaches many false things, but at the root of it is his rejection of the scriptures as the inerrant Word of God. He openly disdains the study of the scriptures as mere intellectualism:
Johnson: “Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map—to go beyond what we know”.
Biblically it is essential for leaders to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15); also believers are exhorted to test the spirits by the scriptures (1 John 4:1). In effect Johnson and his associate "super apostles" have no point of accountability or reference since they claim to have superceded the teachings of the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. This is nothing less than the spirit of antichrist who seeks to usurp the authority of the Word of God. Johnson is guilty of spiritual pride, the very thing he condemns in those who seek to understand the scriptures. Paul warned about the very first "super apostles" who sought to infiltrate the church in his absence (2 Corinthians 11:1-6). The definition of an "apostle of Christ" is one who was an "eyewitness" of Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry, and one who received direct teaching from Jesus personally. The apostles wrote the scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21-22). The word of God is eternal, it can never be changed (Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:25; Psalm 119:89).
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9)
Johnson and his fellow apostates arrogantly claim equality and even superiority to the original apostles, but they prophesy the delusions of their own minds (Jeremiah 23:26).
And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:12-15)
The leaders of the NAR boast an "Elijah anointing" which elevates them to a superior class of believer.
Johnson: "We will carry the Elijah anointing in preparing for the return of the Lord in the same way that John the Baptist carried the Elijah anointing and prepared the people for the coming of the Lord" (When Heaven Invades Earth p184).
"I live for the revival that is unfolding and believe it will surpass all previous moves combined, bringing more than one billion souls into the Kingdom" (p23).
The Bible does not speak of a great end time revival, but rather a false revival orchestrated by the Antichrist and the False Prophet (Revelation 6:2). The Antichrist will be the ultimate deceiver and the false Christ! (Revelation 13:1-18)
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. (Matthew 24:3-51)
The teachings of "The New Order of the Latter Rain" were condemned by the Assemblies of God (AOG) at their General Council in 1949. As far as I am aware, the AOG still adhere to that position (at least officially). Unfortunately, due to the lack of spiritual discernment of individual pastors and the autonomous nature of their churches, the false teachings of the NAR are now creeping into the AOG by stealth.
Shame on you Elim for giving a platform to these dangerous heretics.
Further reading:
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/church-issues/warning-bill-johnson-and-bethel-church
https://walthope.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/grave-sucking-bill-johnson/
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue124.htm
http://ag.org/top/General_Superintendent/Ministers_Letter/2015_issue_01.pdf
Johnson and his occult cronies are part of the hypercharismatic New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), also known as Word of Faith, Dominionism, Third Wave, Joel’s Army, Latter Rain, Modern day Prophets and Apostles and Manifest Sons of God. Their distinctive teaching is that the end-times church must be led by an elitist group of apostles and prophets in order to achieve dominion on the earth prior to Christ's return. In contradiction, Paul and other epistle writers give instructions about church government, referring to “overseers” and “deacons” not “apostles and prophets”. This demolishes the NAR claim that apostles and prophets must lead the end-times church. Furthermore, Revelation 19:11-21 makes it clear that JESUS CHRIST (NOT THE CHURCH) will achieve dominion on the earth (Revelation 22:19). The NAR promotes strategic-level spiritual warfare which contradicts Daniel 10 and Jude 9 which assigns spiritual warfare against territorial spirits to Michael and the angels not to human beings. The "apostolic unity" taught by the NAR is in fact personal submission to self-proclaimed apostles, it is not unity based on agreement on doctrine.
Designated as an "Apostle" by false prophet C Peter Wagner, Bill Johnson is "Senior Pastor" of Bethel Church, Redding, California, which is famous for dubious "manifestations" of gold flakes, glory clouds, angel feathers, angel orbs, grave sucking, open heaven experiences and much, much more. Johnson's wife Beni uses tuning forks as a prophetic act, and also believes she is called to the "prophetic act of waking up angels"!
Grave sucking is supposedly the act of "sucking" the anointing of dead believers from their graves. This is sorcery/necromancy (Deuteronomy 18: 10-11; Leviticus 20:27). The Bible tells us that the gifts are given as they are distributed by Holy Spirit as God wills (1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Hebrews 2:4). Christians have no need to travel around the world seeking the "anointing" of dead believers - this is to engage in witchcraft!
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| Beni Johnson, wife of Bill Johnson grave sucking at the grave of CS Lewis in Oxford. |
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| Bill Johnson at the grave of false teacher Smith Wigglesworth in Bradford. |
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| Here is Beni again hugging the grave of false teacher Charles Finney. |
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| Jesus Culture (a ministry of Bethel Church) |
Johnson: “Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map—to go beyond what we know”.
Biblically it is essential for leaders to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15); also believers are exhorted to test the spirits by the scriptures (1 John 4:1). In effect Johnson and his associate "super apostles" have no point of accountability or reference since they claim to have superceded the teachings of the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. This is nothing less than the spirit of antichrist who seeks to usurp the authority of the Word of God. Johnson is guilty of spiritual pride, the very thing he condemns in those who seek to understand the scriptures. Paul warned about the very first "super apostles" who sought to infiltrate the church in his absence (2 Corinthians 11:1-6). The definition of an "apostle of Christ" is one who was an "eyewitness" of Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry, and one who received direct teaching from Jesus personally. The apostles wrote the scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21-22). The word of God is eternal, it can never be changed (Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:25; Psalm 119:89).
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9)
Johnson and his fellow apostates arrogantly claim equality and even superiority to the original apostles, but they prophesy the delusions of their own minds (Jeremiah 23:26).
And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:12-15)
The leaders of the NAR boast an "Elijah anointing" which elevates them to a superior class of believer.
Johnson: "We will carry the Elijah anointing in preparing for the return of the Lord in the same way that John the Baptist carried the Elijah anointing and prepared the people for the coming of the Lord" (When Heaven Invades Earth p184).
"I live for the revival that is unfolding and believe it will surpass all previous moves combined, bringing more than one billion souls into the Kingdom" (p23).
The Bible does not speak of a great end time revival, but rather a false revival orchestrated by the Antichrist and the False Prophet (Revelation 6:2). The Antichrist will be the ultimate deceiver and the false Christ! (Revelation 13:1-18)
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. (Matthew 24:3-51)
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| John and Carol Arnott with Pope Francis last year. |
The teachings of "The New Order of the Latter Rain" were condemned by the Assemblies of God (AOG) at their General Council in 1949. As far as I am aware, the AOG still adhere to that position (at least officially). Unfortunately, due to the lack of spiritual discernment of individual pastors and the autonomous nature of their churches, the false teachings of the NAR are now creeping into the AOG by stealth.
Shame on you Elim for giving a platform to these dangerous heretics.
Further reading:
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/church-issues/warning-bill-johnson-and-bethel-church
https://walthope.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/grave-sucking-bill-johnson/
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue124.htm
http://ag.org/top/General_Superintendent/Ministers_Letter/2015_issue_01.pdf
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