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On Mon, 20 Jan 1997 06:45:32 -0800, you wrote:

>There was a comment made saying that the spirit of Mormonism was behind Bro.
>Hagin. I really think that this is a serious accusation and would refrain
>from making further comments or accusations against a man that you really
>don't know much about. I think this would be good advise to take against
>anybody else. Unless If I heard the man say "You are God" or something to
>that effect, then I will refrain from listening to him. The Bible compares
>judges as "gods" but not in the sense of being Deity.

Anyone who has listened to extensive Hagin/Faith broadcasts, has read
all the available literature, has had these doctrines penetrate and
help to destroy an Apostolic church., and has know and conversed with 
people who are believers in the WoF doctrines (no not the Bible
doctrines of prosperity and faith and Holy Ghost ministry, but the WoF
doctrines), DOES know something about the issue.

And now its testimony time ...

These statements come as attempts to silence all those who disagree.
When these spirits came into the church where I was baptized, within a
year of my salvation, this was the very first manifestation... Almost
constantly i heard that those who disagreed had a REBELIOUS SPIRIT, or
a MOCKING SPIRIT. We heard over and over again how "NOT TO TOUCH the
LORD's ANOINTED". We heard how these were "prophets of God" who heard
from God to tell us revelations we could not get in any other way". Am
I talking about UPC ministry? NO. I am talking about WoF personalities
like Marilyn Hickey, Robert Tilton, Ken Hagin, Buddy Harrison, Fred
Price... The FIRST encounter with them came with the warning that they
were RIGHTER, CLOSER to GOD, and MORE ENLIGHTENED than anyone who
might question them. And what were the out to destroy? A fellowship
where people were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, led holy and
acceptable lives, and preached and believed that the baptism of the
Holy Ghost was the coming of the Kingdom of God to the lost souls of
our city.

I saw the pastor sit, weak in the back pew, while men preached things
over his pulpit, shaking his head and saying these men are living on
something other than the New Testament, and yet, in his condition, he
did nothing to stop them.

The fact is... all of the little wanna-be teachers who heard these
men, and wanted to emulate them IMMEDIATELY began to cling to and
repeat incessantly three main doctrines:

1) If there is anything askew in your life, it is because of a lack of
faith. Add to this the definition of faith: "Remove any disbelief that
Hagin and his crew are 100% representative of God and believe band do
what they do" - ... (Now lets talk about MIND CONTROL.)

2) "ye are gods" - you have within you the creative power of God. This
means that you "just speak" and things go the way you want them to.
There was NO ministry concerning the need of repentance (unless it was
related to too little giving), prayer or holiness unto the Lord. 

3) "unless you are among us, you are stupid and unenlightened".
Needless to say, if you want to put a division in a church, this is
the spirit you want to make a deal with.

This stuff came in, by-passed the ministry (which was weak and unable,
and unwilling to do battle with it) and one by one found weaknesses in
individuals, and picked off the church body one by one.
I was one year old in the Lord (and contrary to what one list
contributor would tell you about me, was doing well. I had a long way
to go as a Christian, as you all do, but I was doin well). I sat one
evening as a large video screen brought us "teaching" and "worship"
from the Word of Faith Centers, and as I watched I began to shake and
cry. I was a strong and successful 31 year old man, filled with the
Holy Ghost and I had to leave the room trembling. I went into a prayer
room, and sat and cried and cried and cried. Someone found me, and
asked what was wrong, and all I could say was "Something is wrong with
this... something is wrong". 

I could feel the life being sucked out of the congregation, and the
"worship along with the video broadcast" became hollow and
meaningless, and the Lord shook me, and I experienced something which
I had never before felt. When I had repented a year before with tears
and godly sorrow, I had felt the warmth and mercy of God flowing. In
times of consecration, I had seen my faults and felt the fear of the
Lord move me toward putting parts of life that we found in the light
of the Holy Ghost to be offensive far from me, then turning to God for
help and mercy. But now, I felt something strange, and today I believe
it was the disgust of the Living God looking at an abomination. People
were giving themselves over to another spirit, having become weak in
His word. Some had harbored bitterness towards others in their
fellowship. Others were hypocritical though they had enjoyed a moving
of the Spirit of God in the sanctuary to date. Many had been unwilling
to pursue God in their lives with the consecration he had asked for.

God had raised some protective barriers and hearts had called for some
relief from the Holiness and authority of God's leading. But God was
not to blame for the result, and as people flocked to these men
pleasers and ear ticklers, hearing promises of an easy road and a
little trick of the mind which would reconcile all the hardships they
had ever faced, including the chastening of God, He became disgusted.

I cannot account for why I was excluded. I do know this - I received
the Holy Ghost AT HOME after hearing a masterful message preached by
my pastor on the Adaption of Sons, and the importance of the Name of
Jesus. He was known for being a powerful Jesus' Name preacher in the
NE and in Canada, preaching the Nova Scotia camp many years. He was
companions with many "stars" of the movement...  I heard this message
that excited me so... and yet I looked around and no one moved, or
responded. I didn't know what to do!!! there was no alter service..
nothing. I went home angry, and complaining "If you folks KNOW THESE
WONDERFUL THINGS, WHY isn't everyone responding in SOME WAY??" I was
frustrated and angry... But my wife was angry - she said "You need to
go and pray!" So, first alone on the back porch and then on the
bedroom floor, with my wife in the room, I prayed and cried and prayed
and cried.. and suddenly something happened, and I was no longer
speaking english, and I realized "This is that!", and night became
day..

So, as the next year passed, I believed that God rewarded those who
SOUGHT HIM - and I had an explanation in the form of personal
experience. I knew I didn't get it by the laying on of hands. The seed
was in that WORD preached by that great preacher of the Word.

Yet, when I left several weeks after this experience, I DID NOT KNOW
what we were.. Contrary to what some critics might imagine, I did not
know that I was "Oneness". I had never heard that preached. My pastor
was the District Superintendent, but it never dawned on me that there
was such a thing as an organization called the UPC - I was not that
bright I guess. I was interested in Jesus, and they never mentioned
this stuff. We might have heard some doctrine (as in the message I
heard the night I received the Holy Ghost), but not much. We did hear
a lot about prayer before things went bonkers. He was a man of prayer,
am certain. However, there were come problems too.

Someone came to me and said, "There is a church over here in this town
30 miles away, and its real great." So, I went there to a UPC (never
had been in another), and Missionary Ron Cole was there deputizing. I
was so moved by the Holy Ghost and pleased to see worshippers. The
Coles knew my in-laws so we had them back to OUR house, and I took a
personal PIM (Partners In Missions) pledge  (having no home church at
that time). To this date, this is still the largest one that the Lord
has privileged us to make, and we started paying it 10 years ago.
(God is SO GOOD!)

So, as time went one, we didn't stay at that church, but went to an
large "pentecostal" trinitarian church in another nearby town which
had upwards of 700 people attending. We made friends, and as God is my
witness, I NEVER preached, taught, or witnessed to a soul, but there
was spirit there that recognized us somehow.. It was several months
and then we started hearing about the terrible idea of Oneness of God.
Something rang a bell, and as I listened I heard lies being told. I
knew because my I had heard my wife's relatives speaking, and know a
few things about where we were and what was going on, and I knew the
Spirit we had, and the terrible people and their "legalism and robot
like mentality" that I was hearing about was simply not the people I
knew. It got bad, and the pastor was really going at it, till one day
he said "Oneness people have NO PART of this church!".  I had come to
the conclusion that when he said Oneness believers, and qualified that
as meaning people who believe that "Jesus IS the Only God", he was
talking TO ME. I looked around and saw all the nodding heads, and
noticed no one else.. and began to wonder..

To be real honest, one of my family said "So what ... what difference
does it make ? Even if he doesn't understand what he is talking about?
- Lets just let is pass - this is a nice church with nice people"

But, I knew that some spirit had confronted me, out of 700 people. So,
I sought God and He just left me with a peaceful sense of purpose, and
said "Do what is in your heart". So, I called the church, made an
appointment with a pastor, and had a nice talk with the man.  

It was strange. He had injured his neck since Sunday's railing, and
had a neck brace on, so he could not turn from side to side. When I
asked about the specifics of his statements regarding the Oneness
people, and said that I knew these people that he had spoken of and
some of these things I knew to be just untrue (believe it or not this
was cordial and polite conversation)... he tried to turn away, but
could not. His face turned red, and he could not deny anything. I
brought a package of literature that we had at home, including Robert
Brent Graces "The God of Two Testaments" and a few other things. To be
honest, I had not even read them :-) (By now, I have  :-)

After accepting the literature, I reminded him to be careful to read
about what Oneness people really do believe and I was told "Perhaps
God has a place for you other than this church"..  I said I agreed,
that probably He did and let with a handshake, pleasantly. We didn't
go back, of course, and the next months and years were not really
easy, through we did become faithful to a good Apostolic church, quite
a distance from our home.

This man was on the Board of Directors of Swaggart's Bible College. We
often heard about the great things that Swaggart was doing. While the
pastor was a great personality and speaker, it was clear that he held
JS in very high regard. Sometimes we even heard him preach what had
been on Swaggart's broadcast earlier in the morning. We had visits
from John Starnes and Janet Pascal, and from the famous people &
teachers, who had been on Swaggarts broadcast - though Swaggart
himself did not come there.

IN a few months, the whole scandal broke... I had heard from someone
that immediately prior, Swaggart had gone to Kenya to break up a
revival of Jesus Name baptism at his Bible School there, evidently the
result of contact with UPC National Bible School students in Kenya.
(Some may remember the similar, recent thing where Falwell's people
were getting baptized by witnesses of the truth pastored by Bro Doug
Kleindeist in Lynchburg VA. Dontcha love to see what God can do ?)

So, the trinitarian pastor here had a problem. he had been on the
verge of separating from the organization that he belonged to unto
Swaggart's ministry and was not using their name in the logo or
anywhere. I was shocked to see the regular "X of X" show up right away
in everything, and then in the Newsweek magazine, an interview with
this man, which basically claimed little or no association with
Swaggart - cut the guy loose. 

We watched the agony for a year as those who supposedly held authority
over Swaggart were called condemnatory and unjust for asking a period
of silence. This taught us a few things about mankind and
organization, to be sure. :-)

Anyway, seated in a good Apostolic church for a few years, I took the
time to study the doctrine of the Apostles, and to look into the
degree to which the truth must impact our lives for us to be regarded
as sons of God, and finally the bride of Christ. 

If I seem "hard", please consider my background. I have seen over a
hundred souls removed from truth and destroyed in just a few short
years. I have seen people hardened against truth that they once
received blessings of. I have seen the "wanna bes" who were promoted
in the day of excitement with a new thing, go quickly to where they
have nothing left at all, and are no longer serving God.

When you leave the rock, the ground is slippery. People stand, but not
for long. David marveled at this, but the Lord assured him that it was
only his short perspective that led him to confusion.

Psalm 73:12-18
"Behold, these [are] the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they
increase [in] riches.  Verily I have cleansed my heart [in] vain, and
washed my hands in innocency.  For all the day long have I been
plagued, and chastened every morning.  If I say, I will speak thus;
behold, I should offend [against] the generation of thy children.
When I thought to know this, it [was] too painful for me;  Until I
went into the sanctuary of God; [then] understood I their end.  Surely
thou didst set them in  slippery  places: thou castedst them down into
destruction"

(Take a little space of time to reflect on these verses as it
addresses the mind that some religious have regarding material
prosperity. We don't believe in poverty, we do believe that God
prospers us, but we do not make doctrine of measurement of our wealth
being a measurement of the power of God. God blesses the heathen with
the SAME THINGS)

I believe in strong organization, and faithful men of God. I believe
in the ability and willingness to save the most hardened and
reprobate, but I also believe that God will not lift a finger to
prevent people who prefer false gods and false doctrine from polluting
their souls after he has sent sufficient warning. 

While God loves every soul, and has given everything for their
salvation, God is not the LEAST ashamed of, nor does he have a problem
with the existence of Hell. It is, some might say, the back door, to
the Kingdom of God. those who reject the proper and CLEARLY MARKED
entry, but seek their own, will surely find it. The end thereof, are
the ways of death.

Will God send a means of men and women to avoid and reject the
messengers which would bring the destruction of their souls? YES.
These are called preachers of the Word and witnesses of the truth. I
see nothing beyond that in the scripture, other than the ministry of
intercession. But one of these without the other, is useless.

Yours in Christ Jesus,



MW Bassett, Pastor
Life Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church
Milford, CT
http://eli.wariat.org/~mbasset/life.htm
Acts 28:31, Acts 2:38