Popular Charismatic Worship Artist, Kari Jobe, Teaching Dangerous Theology
It’s never-ending. The apostasy, the lack of discernment, the gullibility. How can anyone who proclaims the name of Jesus Christ not recognize the dismal state of the professing church? Words cannot even begin to describe the how far away the church is from Christ in these days. The attractions, the concerts, the conferences. People joining hands with those teaching for shameful gain things they ought not to teach. This is not revival, but the falling away in it’s most deceptive and extreme form–a form of godliness that denies its power.
Tickets go on sale in May for Outcry Tour 2016. The music festival will be held in several cities around the nation, and features some of the most lauded names in “worship.” The groups include Hillsong, Kari Jobe, Rend Collective, Housefires, Urban Rescue, Chad Veach, and none other than Elevation Worship.
Now, I’m not exactly sure who these people are worshiping, but it isn’t Jesus. Yet, thousands of Christians are blindly sending their children to partake in this evil.
In the Charismatic Evangelical church, there is a movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). It is a movement that elevates experience above doctrinal truth. Often times you will see many with contradictory beliefs about the basic tenets of Christianity come together in prayer and worship. This is the driving force behind this modern worship scene that’s creeping into once solid churches.
Hillsong United is among the most deceitful and subversive worship music movements. Hillsong music is popular, and is played throughout even some of the most theologically solid churches, deceptively luring people away from doctrinal truth and into an experiential form of idolatry that removes Jesus as the sole object of worship, and places the emphasis on ear-tickling lyrics and music that draws on people’s emotions. Read more about them here.
But another of Outcry’s featured singers, Kari Jobe, is also a popular musician being promoted in churches, especially to our youth. Jobe, out of seeker-sensitive NAR Robert Morris’ Gateway church, is known for popular songs like I Am Not Alone, and Love Came Down. She is also under the leadership of Gateway’s NAR Apostle and elder, Jack Hayford, author of the song Majesty, which teaches the heretical “Kingdom Now” theology. However, she is one of those who are teaching for shameful gain things she ought not to teach (Titus 1:11).
One of her most popular songs, Forever, published by Bethel Music (the same outfit that produced Jesus Culture), contains some really aberrant theology. Besides the fact that she’s a female pastor in a church, her theology alone should be enough to disqualify her as a teacher. Below is a sample of her lyrics:
One final breath He gave
As heaven looked away
The Son of God was laid in darkness
A battle in the grave
The war on death was waged
The power of hell forever broken
Then, In an interview about her song, Forever, she said,
My favorite part of the whole thing is … we talk about the death on the cross and we talk about the resurrection,but that time in between was when Jesus was in hell rendering hell. And ransacking hell. And defeating the enemy – taking those keys to death and hell and the grave to be victorious over that when he rose from the dead.
Of course, we can pick apart almost any song, even some of the best traditional hymns. But the serious error here is that she is teaching a heresy that strikes at the heart of Christian theology, which is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. She gets a pass, though, you know, because “artistic license and stuff.”
This idea that Jesus died and went to Hell stems from an old heresy that is prominent in Word of Faith circles that teach that Jesus died spiritually, and was “born again” after defeating Satan in Hell. Popular teachers of this false teaching are Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar. Joyce Meyer writes in her book, The Most Important Decision You’ll Ever Make, the following:
Jesus paid on the cross and went to hell in my place. Then as God had promised, on the third day Jesus rose from the dead. The scene in the spirit realm went something like this: God rose up from his throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless son of God, “let him go.” Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus. On earth his grave where they had buried him was filled with light as the power of God filled his body. He was resurrected from the dead–the first born again man. (source)
And Kenneth Copeland similarly writes:
For three days He suffered everything there is to suffer. Some people don’t want to believe that. They want to believe that after His death, Jesus just stayed in that upper region of Sheol that the Bible calls paradise, but they’re mistaken! If He had simply stayed there, there would have been no price paid for sin. (source)
This flies right in the face of biblical truth that Christ’s death on the cross was victorious over sin. Jesus proclaimed victory in his final breath on the cross (John 19:28-30). Jesus had no need to go to Hell to finish any work, and he certainly did not die spiritually (John 17:4, Acts 2:31, Col 2:14, etc.).
But if denying the power of the cross isn’t enough to turn your head away from Kari Jobe’s music, perhaps her treatment of Jesus would be enough to make your stomach turn. Another popular song, The More I Seek You, she treats Jesus more like a lover than a savior.
The more I seek you,
The more I find you
The more I find you, the more I love you
I wanna sit at your feet
Drink from the cup in your hand.
Lay back against you and breathe, feel your heart beat
This love is so deep, it’s more than I can stand.
I melt in your peace, it’s overwhelming
Besides the theology in this song just being plain horrible, she displays a total lack of understanding of God’s love for us. God’s love for us is not an erotic (Greek: eros) love, but agape. Agape is a parental, sacrificial, unconditional love, whereas eros is a bodily, emotional kind of love. The lyrics in this song pervert the nature of God’s love.
I don’t see how anyone could worship our sovereign God to music like this, yet the eroticizing of God’s love for us is gaining steam. Hillsong’s Forever Reign is another popular song in evangelical churches that does this, while Ann Voskamp, a popular women’s bible study writer, and author, pushes the same foolishness in her book, 1000 Gifts. Voskamp writes, “I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.”
One of the Hallmarks of NAR worship is to use repetitive phrases and rhythmic cadences to draw people into a trance-like state, believing that by doing so, you can have intimacy with God. In reality, what it does is cause people to zone out, and not really think about what they are saying. Being under the influence of NAR Apostle, Jack Hayford, who has been instrumental in transforming the worship music scene, it comes as no surprise that her music incorporates this tactic. Jack Hayford claims direct, divine revelation from God, and says that while driving by a Catholic church, God directly told him not to judge them. He says God directly said to him,
Why would I not be happy with a place [Catholic Church] where every morning the testimony of the blood of my Son is raised from the altar?
Being that the Catholic Church worships a false Jesus, you can rest assured that Hayford did not hear that from God. Yet, this is a man influencing Kari Jobe, and many other modern worship music artists.
All of this and more is what the evangelical church is feeding its sheep. Wolves, snake oil salesmen, bad theology…and nobody bats an eye. Children are being sent off to church camps and “Christian” concerts to be fed goat’s milk through worship. Sadly, many truly love Jesus, and desire to worship him rightly, but have no idea that their music is leading them down a path of destruction. Music is tearing down doctrinal lines and creating unholy alliances at a faster pace than once thought possible. No longer do Evangelicals, Catholics, and other professing Christians have to stand against each other over “matters of secondary importance…like the Bible,” we can now unite around our new idol of worship music.
Author John Barclay records the history of the C3 Movement from it’s early beginnings in his book “Arise” (endorsed by Phil Pringle).
Chapter 12 is titled ‘Counselling’. On page 115, Barclay writes about the testimony of someone called Peter McHugh between 1982-3. Barclay wrote, “He [Peter] and Mark Kelsey had studied together at Univesity” (pg. 115).
Barclay records Peter McHugh getting saved and explores the process how his wife got ‘saved’. John Barclay writes,
“He got a letter away as soon as possible to Lyn, and when the reply came back it was to tell him very simply she never wanted to see him again. That of course took no account of a number of factors which had since come into operation, factors which Lyn then could never understand.
The excercising of faith by a very determined man of God can work miracles, and Peter began the positive confession of the restoration of their marriage. In the week prior to Lyn’s return to Australia he spoke constantly aloud to affirm that she would be saved. He said it over and over, out loud, speaking his faith in thanks to God, and both Mark [Kelsey] and Phil [Pringle] agreed with him.
His own conversion had been so total and so swift that now there was no room for either doubt or failure. No possibility of it. He gave it no thought, but spoke out success.
‘Life and death’ we are told, ‘are in the power of the tongue’, and Peter now used that power to inject life into a once dead marriage.”
Above, John Barclay recorded McHugh, Pringle and Kelsey practicing the Word of Faith Heresy. We have to stress this again: Phil Pringle endorsed and allowed John Barclay to record these events. Phil Pringle exposed Mark Kelsey and himself practicing the Word of Faith heresy.
If you read our older articles, readers will be shocked to see the Word of Faith’s connections to New Age and Occult practices.
Here is Part 3 of my next review on the C3 Church movement.
The theme of this review is “How to Read the Bible”. I review ‘Bishop’ Dale Bronner’s sermon delivered at C3 Church Oxford Falls on Sunday 29/07/2012 (6pm Service). In order to emphatically make the point, I put every Scripture he quotes (or at least the ones I could recognize) back into context, demonstrating that he twists EVERY SINGLE verse. That is NOT how you read or teach the Bible.
The ‘Bishop’ also spoke at this year’s Realmen Conference held at Oxford Falls (July 27-28). I find it hard to image how we are raising up godly men of character and integrity by teaching them to twist and mangle God’s word.
Please share this video with anyone you know who attends a C3 Church affiliated with Phil Pringle or Dale Bronner, especially if they attended this year’s Realmen Conference (2012).
Here is Part 2 of my next review on the C3 Church movement. This particular review took much longer than I anticipated (nearly 3hrs!) and so I have broken it up into three parts which I will upload separately.
The theme of this review is “How to Read the Bible”. I review ‘Bishop’ Dale Bronner’s sermon delivered at C3 Church Oxford Falls on Sunday 29/07/2012 (6pm Service). In order to emphatically make the point, I put every Scripture he quotes (or at least the ones I could recognize) back into context, demonstrating that he twists EVERY SINGLE verse. That is NOT how you read or teach the Bible.
The ‘Bishop’ also spoke at this year’s Realmen Conference held at Oxford Falls (July 27-28). I find it hard to image how we are raising up godly men of character and integrity by teaching them to twist and mangle God’s word.
I will have Part 3 up soon so stay tuned.
Please share this video with anyone you know who attends a C3 Church affiliated with Phil Pringle or Dale Bronner, especially if they attended this year’s Realmen Conference (2012).
Here is Part 1 of my next review on the C3 Church movement. This particular review took much longer than I anticipated (nearly 3hrs!) and so I have broken it up into three parts which I will upload separately.
The theme of this review is “How to Read the Bible”. I review ‘Bishop’ Dale Bronner’s sermon delivered at C3 Church Oxford Falls on Sunday 29/07/2012 (6pm Service). In order to emphatically make the point, I put every Scripture he quotes (or at least the ones I could recognize) back into context, demonstrating that he twists EVERY SINGLE verse. That is NOT how you read or teach the Bible.
The ‘Bishop’ also spoke at this year’s Realmen Conference held at Oxford Falls (July 27-28). I find it hard to image how we are raising up godly men of character and integrity by teaching them to twist and mangle God’s word.
I will have Parts 2 & 3 up soon so stay tuned.
Please share this video with anyone you know who attends a C3 Church affiliated with Phil Pringle or Dale Bronner, especially if they attended this year’s Realmen Conference (2012).
Credit goes to C3CW for getting me access to the footage from Presence Conference 2012. Cheers.
[I apologise in advance for the occasional skipping. Its a little bit of a rough edit, but everything’s there.]
Here is my next review on the C3 Church movement. The theme of this review is ‘the price of a human soul’. I review Andrew Kubala’s statements at Presence Conference 2012, namely, that we can sow a financial ‘seed’ offering for the salvation of our loved ones. I point out that no amount of money can buy salvation, and that the redemptive price of a human soul is the blood of Jesus Christ ALONE shed on the cross. It is ONLY by Christ’s sacrifice that sinners are saved; this one offering accomplished salvation once for all and is never to be repeated.
Please share this video with anyone you know who attends a C3 Church affiliated with Phil Pringle or Andrew Kubala, especially if they attended this year’s Presence Conference 2012 (April 10-13, Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney)
This article will look at the Presence Conference 2012 speaker line-up at the Presence Conference website (Phil Pringle, Steven Furtick, Kong Hee, John Bevere). Consider this article as a platter of resources, that can allow people to look at the speakers themselves.
We regret writing so harshly on the speakers. However, the purpose of this article is to warn Christians in love about these men and the dangers of the Presence Conference 2012. Unfortunately, every invited speaker has revealed they are both heretical and dishonest to say the least.
PHIL PRINGLE
Pringle says on his Presence Conference website,
“BE CLEANSED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND LET A POWER COME UPON YOU THAT WILL CHANGE THIS WORLD”
You will never forget a Presence Conference with Phil Pringle. His sessions on miracles, anointing, vision and freedom are life changing. Phil is the author of 10 books, a speaker, television host, successful artist and President of C3 Global, an international network of nearly 400 churches. He is the Senior Minister of one of Australia’s fastest growing churches, C3 Church and he has spent over 30 years pastoring and equiping hundreds of ministers to plant churches around the world. Phil has seen powerful moves of God and the glory of God filling the atmosphere.
We have made it clear in the past that Phil Pringle is a prosperity preacher and connected to the heretic Kenneth Copeland.
Just like famous heretics Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Hagin, Jess Duplantis, Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland (ministers Pringle likes to be associated with), Pringle also teaches that Jesus went to hell and suggests that Jesus lost his divinity on the cross.
Pringle also manipulates church statistics and words to convince people he is a legitimate Christian minister and to convince Christians to give him money. He’s also convinced people he has churches that aren’t even part of C3 yet and worse – don’t even exist.
He’s made claims that he oversees 1,200 C3 churches or around 500 C3 churches. His website still says he runs 258 churches or oversees around 300. The above blurb says he now has 400 churches. Is Phil Pringle lying to convince anyone to come to his Presence 2012 Conference? You decide.
… and have observed Pringle using the church as a business tool to sell his paintings and merchandise (more will be written about this). He also reveals his motivation to get other Christians and their churches to join his movement.
Finally, we have faithfully demonstrated his ability to twist words and scriptures to convince Christians to BUY their miracles from God at His miracle offerings.
In his own words, Christians must “distrust those who flatter us” as he continually markets and flatters vulnerable Christians be involved in his Presence Conference 2012.
One has to wonder not only what he will preach on this year but what type of speakers he has invited to his conference this year.
STEVEN FURTICK
The C3 Website has a photo of Steven Furtick with a quote next to his face. How can Furtick supposedly state “There is a lost, hurting, broken dying, desperate, sorry world without Christ”, when he himself abuses Christians, sensors the gospel and elevates himself to some type of messianic figure?
If Steve Furtick is indeed saying this, he needs to explain his track record of bad behaviour and appalling teaching. Why does he openly condemn Christians who want to know Jesus? Why did he sensor the gospel at his 2012 Code Orange Revival?
If Christ is so important, then why does he say the church is the answer and not Christ? If the church is the answer, then why does he say that his church is not for people who want to know Jesus? Why was he hostile against the gospel at his revival by sensoring it? If Christ is important at all, why did Furtick cheer Perry Noble on for promoting him as Messiah?
It’s disturbing that Phil Pringle is STILL endorsing Steve Furtick to give him the platform to thousands of Australian Christians. Long-term critic of Steve Furtick, Chris Rosebrough has labeled Steve Furtick and Elevation Church a cult.
Rosebrough also received a personal letter from a member of Steve Furtick’s Elevation Church. They seem to agree with Rosebrough’s assessmnet of Furtick’s church.
After examining the articles that C3ChurchWtach have written, it becomes quite apparent that Furtick is not telling the truth. If you examine the evidence that Rosebrough puts before you, it’s easy to come to the same conclusion – Steve Furtick is not a truthful minister. In fact, it is safe to say that Steven Furtick is creating a
KONG HEE
It should be made known that Kong Hee has been exposed in his country as an alleged plagiarist. This was the blog that exposed Kong Hee,
As ‘Transitioning’ points out, Kong Hee’s publisher has many loopholes in their explanation and says Kong Hee’s “alleged plagiarism issue is no big deal now compared to the CAD probe into CHC’s financial affairs”. This latter issue still seems to be ongoing, Phil Pringle helping in KH’s effort to support his ministry.
In spite of all this, the people Kong Hee endorses are issues themselves (Steve Munsey, John Avanzini, Yonngi Cho, etc).
His use of scripture in his sermons are manipulative and misleading at best, sprinkled with heresy, pagan philosophies and vain imaginings. Kong Hee has proven to be a faithful disciple under Pringle’s prophetic direction and is just as ruthless exploiting those in his church that are unemployed like Pringle.
With this background knowledge, why is Phil Pringle inviting the cult-like leader Kong Hee to speak at this years Presence Conference? He is not faithful to scripture, faithful to the church, faithful to the poor or faithful to the community. Hee is continually misrepresenting Jesus for worldly reasons.
This brings up an important issue regarding Hee’s wife. Kong Hee loves his wife Sun Hee (and fellow pastor at his church).
After much deliberation on what to write about Sun Hee we’ve finally concluded that you can decide for yourself by watching her music video ‘China Wine’. (She is the female singer of this video clip (00:20).)
(Edit 18/04/2012: Kong Hee justified his wife’s role and played down the intelligence of pastors who criticised them both:
“I think the struggle many pastors have is the difficulty to separate her association with me (as a pastor’ wife) and her career as a singer. I agree that if she is a “pastor” or “preacher,” perhaps the video would have been inappropriate. But Sun is not a pastor…
Some [Pastors] said she was promoting free sex and immorality. But any intelligent, objective viewer would know that the whole drama is not about sex; if anything, it portrays the reality of a fallen secular world…”
After examining Kong Hee, his wife and his controversial ministry, one must ask: What kind of message will Kong Hee bring to Presence Conference?
JOHN BEVERE
C3 seems to suggest that Bevere said, “We need men and women who will speak the word of his grace. The word of his power and bring change.” They also mention his books,
“(The Bait of Satan, Drawing Near, Driven by Eternity, The Fear of the Lord and others)”
It’s odd they didn’t mention this ‘grace’ preachers book, “Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing” (2007). The book title says it all; how can you attract (earn) the favor (grace) of God on your life? It’s odd he says we need men and women who “speak the word of his grace” but promotes the exact opposite in his mentioned book.
We’ve discussed Bevere’s doctrine of tithing and his belief that if you submit to leaders like himself, God will make you rich and receive double portions of God’s Spirit. Read it here:
While it is good to biblically submit to Godly authorities, Bevere confuses it and delivers a burden-binding ‘gospel’ message. While his book seems to promote a lot of truth, there are concerns that should be bought to light on his false gospel of salvation-by-submission.
To preach the message of the gospel is the central mission of the church for all people to hear and know about Christ crucified. If anything contrary is added to the gospel or any truth taken away from it, then one must question the legitimate authority of that teacher, prophet or shepherd.
But we can safely say the hidden gnostic principle on ‘honor’, (John Bevere says he has discovered), has made him deviate from the central gospel of salvation.
“I didn’t understand the honor principle. I was in the process of learning. Now I want everyone to know!” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 37.
To make matters worse, Bevere reveals he is a word of faith teacher by stating On page 102,
“Simply put, the promises of God are not automatic; they must be acquired by faith.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 102.
What else are we meant to gain if Christ has already “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing” (Eph 1:3)? What else are we to acquire if we are told to “count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:8). What are we to gain that we haven’t gained already?
We will see Bevere is promoting himself, his authority and his gospel of works-by-faith. Paul, in imitating Christ’s authoritative nature (Philippians 2:5-11), uses his Godly apostolic authority in this way towards the Thessalonians (emphasis mine).
“… Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority” Thes 2:6
And as Jesus said (our highest authority),
“Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me.” John 8:54
A quick reading of John Bevere’s book gives a strong impression that Bevere is lacking in humility and loves to be recognised by the world (pg. 34-35, 36, 45). He’s bold enough to claim,
“I learned that day it had nothing to do with me but how I am received as one sent by God. The prisoners valued, honored, esteemed me. The church members said with their body language, “We’ve heard it all. We’ve heard it all. We’ve heard many guest ministers; what do you have to say that’s any different?” The vast difference of results stemmed from one word-honor.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 38.
So Bevere likes to be honored. Like this?
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets,” Luke 20:46
His message through out the book is that God CANNOT bless or favour you unless you earn it through submitting to leaders like himself. Convinced about his faith-by-works message, Bevere shows hostility to Christians who do not submit to church leaders. He attacks biblical reason by convincing Christians that they,”are a people trying to understand Kingdom principles with a democratic mindset.” (Pg. 44.) In saying that the democratic mindset is the problem, he leads us to believe that the honor principle, (which he believes is the key kingdom principle), is the solution to earning God’s grace and blessing. (That’s what this whole book is about.)
“The kingdom of God is not a democracy. So if we relate to God with a democratic mindset we will not connect with Him. We will be without the protection of His authority and can be easily misled. Could this be why Jesus said so many in our generation would be deceived?” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 44.
He is saying that the kingdom of God is not characterised by equality. Furthermore, if we relate to God with a mindset of being equal with one another or approach the kingdom of God with a democratic mindset, Bevere says we cannot connect with God. What is the alternative of being democratic that Bevere is insinuating? Dictatorship? Thou-shalt-not-question-me?
Has Bevere not read Paul say the following?
“On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” 1Corinthians 12:22-25
Bevere is also insinuating that Jesus says that many will be deceived by this faulty democratic thinking in regards to the kingdom of God.
No John. People become deceived by following false teachers, leaders and self-proclaiming prophets (pg. 37) like yourself with your false gospel of works. The gospel saves the simpleton. And Christ is the protector of His disciples (John 17:12) and the guardian and true shepherd of His sheep (Psalm 23, John 10). Those who don’t want Jesus chase after false ministers like yourself.
Observe how prejudice and hostile Bevere gets towards Christians who prefer house churches,
“This Western mind-set is the cause for most church splits in America, and why so many people are resorting to home churches. These professing believers do not want to be under the authority established by Jesus Christ Himself.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 45.
Professing believers? Why is he implying they are not under the authority and lordship of Jesus Himself, or even saved? Why is he alluding to them being the ones causing division? Is Bevere not acting as judge concerning trivial things (Colossians 2).
Only those who do no Only those peddling a false gospel with false doctrines based on the traditions of men are causing division. Bevere claims “They lack true New Testament government and accountability” (pg. 45). New Testament government? Like a dictatorship? After all, he’s not teaching about a kingdom based on 1 Corinthians 12. His attack on Christians continue,
“… you find many believers who have been hurt or offended and are therefore disillusioned with church structure. They’ve resorted to home churches in order to live without accountability.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 45.
The proof of his false teaching is constant throughout his book, deviating from scripture and replacing words in scripture with the word ‘honor’ to support the teachings in his book. (eg. replacing words like blessing, time, praise, esteem, submit with honor). This is not how you treat the teachings of God. This ‘man of grace’ starts attacking the gospel of grace. Bevere says,
“There are three benefits for honoring these [abusive] leaders. First, if treated unfairly, our obedience to submit puts our case in the hands of God who will judge justly (see Pet. 2:21-23). If we take matters into our own hands, God steps back and we are on our own, a miserable place to be.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 58.
What does he mean if we react to bad leadership that “God steps back and we are on our own”? What do we do if we are obedient to bad leadership? Why should we be called to submit to bad leadership? Bevere explains,
“Why are we called to do this? To position ourselves to receive a blessing (reward). So when you are mistreated, especially by someone in authority, you can get very excited because you are being set up for a reward.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 58.
Once again, aren’t we already blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ? If we aren’t seeking this blessing in submission, does that mean we are not saved? Is Bevere implying we can lose our salvation since he blurs the lines, scriptures, definitions and contexts? If anyone critiques Bevere or has issues with him speaking at Presence Conference (or any leader speaking at the event), would he even consider them Christian or saved? Bevere makes this claim,
“If you are truly born of the Spirit of God, you will recognize and esteem authority. In fact, show me a person who has no regard for authority and I will show you a person who is not a child of God. It doesn’t matter if he’s prayed the sinner’s prayer and goes to church weekly. He who has no honor in his heart is not saved.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 46.
We can conclude that people who suffer from Oppositional Defiance Disorder cannot ever be saved according to Bevere. However we can agree with Bevere on this.
“There is only one time-I repeat, one time-the bible tells us not to obey an authority; and that is when authority tells us to sin (do something contrary to the written Word of God.” – John Bevere, Honor’s Reward: How To Attract God’s Favor And Blessing, 2007, pg. 46.
The issue now is who’s authority we need to submit too; Bevere’s authority or God’s authority? Is Bevere confused or is he enticing us to sin by following a gospel contrary to the one the Apostles preached? The bible teaches us that Satan is the god of this age and even he has authority. Wouldn’t that make those who come under his authority false prophets? False teachers? Perverters of God’s Word? Many will claim to come with an authority and a message of authority. But who is teaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ? The point we’re trying to make is the same point Paul makes.
“… even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Galatians 1:8-9
To imply Bevere wants to see “men and women who will speak the word of his grace” while promoting a different gospel that damns is clearly hypocritical as his ‘honour principle’ is a different gospel (different message). It was Paul that placed an anathema on those who preached a false gospel like the works-based gospel of the false teachers back in the Galatian province. We suggest any reader takes Bevere’s advice and “not… obey [Bevere’s] authority.” How can his authority cannot be from God if Bevere is not honestly representing the God of the bible?
Just like Phil Pringle, Steven Furtick and Kong Hee, John Bevere is another dishonest minister speaking into the lives of thousands of Christians at Phil Pringle’s Presence Conference 2012.
‘Do Not Be Surprised’ has mentioned C3 Church Watch in an article on the Presence Conference 2012. Their article addresses the issues of the ministers speaking at the event like John Bevere, Kong Hee and of course Phil Pringle.
‘Do Not Be Surprised’ writes,
Steven Furtick and the Presence 2012 Conference
It seems that April 10-13 will be a time of “fresh anointing, enlarged vision and amazing empowerment” in Sydney, Australia. The Presence Conference, sponsored by Phil Pringle and C3 Church, plans to make waves at Darling Harbour during these days. The powers behind Presence describe their expectations thusly:
We believe that as we gather together at Presence the heavens will be opened over your life and you will experience a greater outpouring of his anointing, blessing, vision and miracles. (Online Source)
This offers a vivid picture of the event and is in fact very telling of the direction in which the speakers at Presence will likely wander. Scheduled speakers for Presence 2012 include Phil and Chris Pringle, Kong Hee, John Bevere and Steven Furtick. In understanding the doctrine that is held by the Pringles, Hee and Bevere, it may cause one to question why Steven Furtick, who has been embraced by leaders within America’s evangelical community, would choose to participate in this event. The description provided above already betrays its Word Faith intentions, and Furtick’s fellow speakers undoubtedly perpetuate these erroneous doctrines in their own ministries.
Phil Pringle, senior pastor of C3 Church and the architect behind Presence, clearly and unashamedly teaches things such as positive confession, visualization, the power of attraction and the prosperity gospel. At the blog C3 Church Watch, Pringle’s teachings are compared against those of Rhonda Byrne, author of the New Age bestseller The Secret. The similarities are startling, and should cause concern to rise within any Christian. Below, Pringle’s teaching on visualization is compared with that of Byrne:
Ronda Byrne also teaches on visualisation:
“Visualization is the process of creating pictures in your mind of yourself enjoying what you want. When you visualize, you generate powerful thoughts and feelings of having it now. The law of attraction then returns that reality to you, just as you saw it in your mind.” – Rhonda Byrne, The Secret, 2006, pg 93.
Pringle also teaches on visualisation (watch how he approaches scriptures with his experiences):
“A long after that experience, I looked back and realized that many of the elements I had seem in the imaginations in my mind were a duplicate of what actually happened [sic]. I had stumbled on to a principle of God. As I investigated the Scriptures, it became obvious to me that God spoke to His servants from the beginning of time through visions and dreams. Here we’re looking at the vision of faith. As soon as a real faith for anything arrives in your heart, you will see that thing.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 94-97.
“In Ephesians 3:20 Paul says that “God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” The Greek word for “think” here is “no’eo.” This literally means “to conceive and perceive.” Once we are visualizing some-thing, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above it.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 103.
“Gods movies [sic]. There is a screen within our mind upon which three projectors are jostling for prime time… He [God] has a projector with a preset, wonderful destiny as the main feature. As we enter the Spirit through praise and worship, God will form His vision within our thinking. We pray the prayer of faith. The vision of the answer comes to mind and we see it, in living colour… Once the vision of the fulfillment of your dream has been planted in your mind, bring it to your prayer life. Each time you pray bring the picture to mind and meditate on it. See it happening. Destroy all the images of failure. Replace them with the image of success.
Right now in my life I spend much time dreaming over my visions of faith. I know this works. I would be a fool to ignore it. Remember, one of the mightiest keys in the Kingdom of Heaven is faith. Vision is a major part of faith, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is directly contrasted to natural eye sight.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 103.
C3 Church Watch also offers insight into some of Phil Pringle’s teaching on prosperity and tithing. Unsurprisingly, he falls in line with so many seeker-driven pastors today who teach that one’s money is cursed until it is redeemed with the tithe:
“When Paul told the Philippians that God would supply all their need… their generosity would trigger one of the most powerful spiritual laws in existence. It is the law that the widow of Zarephath discovered when Elijah told her to give away her last meal… For the provision of God constantly to be at work in our lives we must activate the laws of God.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 153.
These are the giving laws recognised in the Word of Faith Movement such as the ‘tithe’ and ‘seed faith’ heresies. Believers are taught to obey these so they may be graced or favoured with the Gods miracles. This is salvation by works. As a result, Pringle curses Christians by the very ‘faith’ he says we must live by.
“This especially applies in the world of tithing. Tithing in one sense is not actually giving. The tithe belongs to God, not to us. Malachi the prophet says that when we keep the tithe we are actually “robbing God”.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 155.
“When we withhold the tithe we bring upon ourselves a curse.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 156.
“Thirdly, WHEN we sow determines when we will reap. We need to sow well before we plan to reap. The time to sow is not when you have a need. You are to be constantly sowing your world with generous actions of faith. Oral Roberts has called this “seed faith”. Anyone who plants a seed has faith that it will become a plant in time. We all realize that it’s not going to happen overnight, but faith and patience inherit the promises of God.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 156-157.
(Online Source)
The teachings of Phil Pringle, then, are indeed some to be carefully watched. In the March 17, 2012 episode of Fighting for the Faith, Christian apologist Chris Rosebrough offers a helpful critique of a recent Phil Pringle sermon (the sermon review begins about 1 hour in). The reader is encouraged to listen and come to understand the methods being employed by Pringle in his teaching.
Hee pastors City Harvest Church in Singapore. His biography on the Vision 2012 website reads as follows:
Kong Hee is the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest Church (CHC), Singapore—a Spirit-filled Pentecostal church that was birthed in 1989. With just 20 members at its inception, the church has grown to an average weekly attendance of over 24,000 members today with 71 percent first-time converts.
Through his visionary leadership, CHC has become widely known as one of the most dynamic and innovative churches in the Far East. The keys to the remarkable growth experienced by City Harvest Church are vision, faith, commitment, a desire for excellence and effective discipleship.
After more than two decades of pastoral ministry and training disciples for the kingdom of Christ, Kong maintains a passion to see lives changed by building contemporary, relevant and anointed strong local churches in Asia. (Online Source)
It is not difficult to see why Hee’s church grew to such a large capacity. Clearly he is a man who teaches exactly what the people want to hear. The video below shares a full-length message delivered by Kong Hee entitled, “Nine Reasons Why Jesus Was Not Poor:”
Some interesting points to note in this “sermon” are Hee’s claims at approximately the 7:50 minute mark that, “[Jesus] would take you out to a nice restaurant! [Our Jesus] is not a cheapskate Jesus!” Or perhaps the reader would be curious to hear Hee’s rather interesting interpretation of the feeding of the 5,000 (approximately 9 minutes in).
Some more notable Scripture twists in this message are: at approximately 24 minutes in, Hee perverts 2 Corinthians 8:9; and at 31 minutes and following, Hee declares, “If we worship a poor Savior, we will always be poor.” Not long after this, he says, “prosperity and wealth are our rightful inheritance,” and, “a poor Savior can’t get you out of poverty,” to which Hee adds a familiar distortion of the promise of the 30, 60 and 100-fold harvest (Matthew 13:8ff). Indeed, throughout the entirety of this sermon, Hee unapologetically, unflinchingly and unconscionably twists the holy Word of God.
Not surprisingly, Phil Pringle has preached at and even sits on the advisory board of Kong Hee’s church in Singapore. It is clear that these two men share a similar theology, as well as corresponding goals and a shared “vision” for the church.
This brings us to John Bevere who, along with Steven Furtick, is named as a “featured guest” for Presence 2012. Bevere and his wife, Lisa, founded Messenger International. According to the website,
Messenger International exists to help individuals, families, churches, and nations realize and experience the transforming power of God’s Word. This realization will result in lives empowered, communities transformed, and a dynamic response to the injustices plaguing our world. (Online Source)
John Bevere has authored numerous books, including one entitled Relentless: The Power You Need to Never Give Up. Throughout this book, Bevere is found to consistently point the reader not to Jesus, but to him or herself. Greatly exaggerating the idea of the Christian’s unity with Christ, Bevere states:
So the question now becomes, Who is Christ? this is where an unrenewed mind once again steals from the children of God. when many think of Christ, they think of only Jesus Christ, almost as if Christ is His last name. These dear people don’t think of anyone else other than our Great King who died on the cross and was resurrected. yes, the name Christ does refer to our Lord and Savior, but let’s see what God’s Word says.
Paul tells us, “Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27, NLT). We believers, together, are Christ’s body. Each of us is a vital “body part.” Jesus is the head, we are the body; it’s that simple!
… When you think of yourself, do you think of your head as being separate from or different from your body? Would you call your head by one proper name and your body by a different proper name? Of course not. You are one being – one person.
In the same way, Christ’s head and His body are one. Jesus is the head, and we are different parts of His body, so we are one in Christ. So when you read Christ in the New Testament, you need to see not just the One who died on the cross but also yourself. (John Bevere, Relentless, 18, emphasis added)
In the book, Relentless, when Bevere describes a characteristic or function of Christ, he follows it up with some form of the question, “would you say the same thing about yourself?” This gives the impression of elevating the Christian nearly to a place of deity. Indeed, it tends to remind one of the blasphemous and heretical “little gods” doctrine of the Word Faith teachers.
In his well-known book, Charismatic Chaos, John MacArthur exposes the erroneous “little gods” doctrine.
[Kenneth] Hagin, whom most major Word Faith teachers acknowledge as a major influence in shaping their theology, has said, “If we ever wake up and realize who we are, we’ll start doing the work that we’re supposed to do. Because the church hasn’t realized yet that they are Christ. That’s who they are. They are Christ. (MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos, 334).
It certainly seems from Bevere’s quote above, and from even a brief perusal of his book, that he believes the Christian to be Christ, just as Hagin has asserted. MacArthur continues,
Thus have the Word Faith teachers deposed God and put the believer in his place. From that basic error nearly all their other fallacies flow. Why do they teach that health and prosperity are every Christian’s divine right? Because in their system, Christians are gods, deserving of those things. Why do they teach that a believer’s words have creative and determinative force? Because in their system, the believer is sovereign, not God. (Charismatic Chaos, 335)
Indeed, at the very least, Bevere believes that man is sovereign over the earth. While God has commanded man to “fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28), on page 16 of Relentless, Bevere takes this to mean that, “You and I, not God, are in control of how life is run on this planet.” Yet, the Christian knows, and the Psalmist reminds us that,
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. (Psalm 24:1-2)
Herein lies the great danger of Bevere’s earlier statement, that the believer actually is Christ. For if the earth is the Lord’s, and the Christian is equal with God, then the logical conclusion is that man is sovereign over the earth. Indeed, if man is Christ, how much more authority must he possess? And thus we find one of the obvious thrusts of Relentless, that man must come to recognize, acknowledge and use the authority that has been granted him as one who is, in essence, Christ.
Knowing all of this, then, what ought one think of Steven Furtick’s involvement in Presence 2012? Furtick has been lovingly embraced by leaders such as James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. Yet, he has done little to hide his desire to grow his skills and influence among the Word Faith crowd. Furtick has lauded the work of infamous Word Faith teachers T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer. Many of Furtick’s own sermons either hint at or in some instances, blatantly promote dangerous Word Faith teachings (examples of this can be found by visiting some of the links below). His special invitation to speak at Presence 2012, then, ought not surprise. However, it still should elicit concern. With its language of a “fresh anointing,” and “vision and miracles,” Presence 2012 appears to go beyond the familiar Word Faith teachings of “health and wealth,” and into the realm of signs, wonders and manifestations.
It would most certainly be encouraging if those who who have embraced and promoted Steven Furtick as a trusted teacher of God’s Word were to express concern and apprehension over his appearance at Presence. Yet those same men have themselves embraced another, T.D. Jakes, who for years has taught the heretical doctrines of the Word Faith movement. Thus the cry for “unity” continues to come at the expense of truth, and so the silence, though deafening, does not come unexpectedly.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” – 1 John 4:1
Phil Pringle and those in the C3 Movement have sadly, not done so.
C3 Church Watch will be doing an article on Pringle and the C3 Movements connections to occult teachings and practices. Word of Faith teachings and practices stem from the metaphysical cult teachings of New Thought and Christian Science. Over a decade old, these philosophical camps have their influences from eastern religions and the occult.
C3 openly teaches and practices Word of Faith heresy. Todd Friel from Wretched Radio interviewed ex-Word of Faith teacher Mark Haville.
While C3 doesn’t manifest the kundalini spirit that other churches do (in the Latter Rain, New Apostolic Reformation camps), Pringle promotes and in the past, invited the father of this phenomena into his church, Rodney Howard Browne. Pringle’s teachings does stem from Eastern Religions and New Thought influences. The ‘slain in the spirit’ phenomena is also done at C3.
If you feel led to pray for Pringle and the C3 Movement, keep this in mind. If God can deliver Word of Faith preachers from this evil as God did with Mark Haville, God can do this to Phil Pringle as well. If Haville can repent, so too can Pringle.
C3 Church Watch 