The Confession of a Celebrationis Couple

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by Mike Hillis

My wife and I were members of an Assembly of God church for about a year and a half. We liked the majority of the people. There are some good hearted, sincere, God loving people in that church. The pastor was a intelligent man and for the most part preached good sermons. We were as active as we could be in the church, singing in the choir, helping out whenever needed. Always there for Sunday school.In fact, if the church door was open, we were there.

It took some getting used to for me, coming as I did from a conservative Church of Christ background, but I got used to raising my hands while singing and praying. I thought I could get used to the tears. Seems I was crying all the time. So was my wife.I always had peace when I was through crying though. I should mention all the manifestations going on as well.

People that say all the stuff that goes on in these churches is fake are in trouble. It's is not. I have watch the spirit that is in this church come over people. Some shake uncontrollably, some fall down, some speak in what sounds like another language, while others babble. I had went up for prayer a few times and had this spirit come upon me where I would wind up on the floor, unable to move. It felt good. It felt peaceful. My wife had this happen to her everytime she went forward for prayer. Often the pastor would have to preach his sermon around her lying on the floor. She also received what they call the gift of tongues. It was real. At the time I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't. I just figured that my tongue was English.

Well, this went on for about seven or eight months and our life was hell. There was no peace. There was a strife in every issue of our life. Work and home. We just thought that the devil was attacking us because we were striving to live holy, consecrated lives. We spent hours in our Bibles.

What changed our minds was a combination of several events. The first was that I began to carry my Bible with me when I went forward for prayer and the manifestations stopped. In fact I quit having the urge to go forward or answer the call to come forward for prayer. It felt a little weird to be the only person still sitting in the pews when the pastor asked those who wanted prayer to come forward or to stay seated when everyone else was standing but I was beginning to see that something was not right. My wife and I discussed why everything seemed to go wrong, why there was no peace in either of our lives.

The next thing that happened scared us a little. I had asked my wife to stay with me, not to go down front for prayer. We sat and watched the others. We saw the associate pastors wife prayed for and she went flying backwards about five or six feet to land in the pew behind her. We heard other making noises that sounded like animals. We worried about this. We prayed about it.

The last thing that happened that made up our minds was that my wife and I had a argument. We had been having a lot of them. Often my wife would get so upset that she would literally lose all strength in her body be unable to walk and be unable to talk, only stutter. I would have to pick her up and carry her to a chair or to bed. This time I saw what was happening and walked her around the room before she could collapse. That worked and we both cried over what was happening to us. We prayed together, then separated to pray some more.

After a while she came back to me very upset and unable to talk, she was trying to but could only stutter. When she quite trying to speak to me, she could only talk in that tongue she had got at church. This made her even more upset. She was crying and trying to make me understand something. Finally I made out her stutters. "Help Me".

I can't recall many times I was more afraid than then. I did the only thing I could do. I held her and prayed, asking God to help us. He did. She told me that while she was praying, the spirit, what we had been thinking and believing was the Holy Spirit had come upon her and was laughing at her. Calling her names and laughing at her. She had been unable to stop it or to stop speaking in tongues. When she had come to me for help it wouldn't let her talk.

We stopped going to that church. We prayed, asking God to lead us to his Church. Then we went out Sunday mornings, evenings, Wednesday nights, for three weeks, looking for the Church. After each visit we discussed it. That church was not it. The third week we got a flyer in the mail advertising a Revelation seminar at a local hotel. We went the first night. It wasn't a visual presentation. It was Bible.

We were so excited. We went back the second night, a hour early so we could set on the second row and not be distracted. More Bible. It was great. I worked second shift so I couldn't go during the week but she did and when I got home I would read the information and listen to the tapes before going to bed. The Word of God was literally opened up to us.

Seventh-Day Adventist? Never heard of them. Didn't care who they were, they had the truth as it is in God's Word. We were baptized together into God's Church in August of 1997. We are still excited today and more sure than ever that we are in His Church.

I would like to express something I feel is important about this. When we left a church, we didn't stop going to church or looking for the Church. We didn't try to start our own church. I believe while we were seeking God, He was seeking us. He didn't leave us to flounder alone. I would ask everyone on this forum, that if you have left a church, pray to God to lead you to His Church and then go out and look for it. Don't stay away. Don't start your own. Find His! May You be Blessed By His Love.

Mike

Omega Ministry Commentary: Unfortunately Mike and his wife do not realize that the professing Seventh-day Adventist Church has been so impressed with the number of members the Pentecostal's have recruited via the charismatic celebration style of worship service, that they have sent over three-hundred ministers to learn that mode of worship so they can implement it in the SDA church. What Mike and his wife found to be a horrific experience, will soon greet them at the professing SDA church, and this is already practiced by many SDA churches througout the world. This was all prophesied by Ellen G. White in the following statement:

"The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probaiton. Every uncouth thing wil be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious methods for making of none effect the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth for this time. Better never have the worship of God blended with music, than to use musical instruments to do the work which last January was represented to me would be brought into our camp meeings. The truth for this time needs nothing of this kind in its work of converting souls. A bedlam of noise shocks the senses and perverts that which if conducted aright might be a blessing. The powers of satanic agencies blend with the din and noise, to have a carnival, and this is termed the Holy Spirit's working." E. G. White, Selected Messages, Vol. 2, 36. "The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probaiton. Every uncouth thing wil be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious methods for making of none effect the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth for this time. Better never have the worship of God blended with music, than to use musical instruments to do the work which last January was represented to me would be brought into our camp meeings. The truth for this time needs nothing of this kind in its work of converting souls. A bedlam of noise shocks the senses and perverts that which if conducted aright might be a blessing. The powers of satanic agencies blend with the din and noise, to have a carnival, and this is termed the Holy Spirit's working." E. G. White, Selected Messages, Vol. 2, 36.

From: Alan Morrison To: Diakrisis Mailing List Subject: The Lunatics Take Over the Asylum Date: November 9, 1999 3:52 PM

Dear Friends:

It may well be that some of you think that it is very judgemental of me to write those things about that preacher who twisted Scripture and recommended false prophets. Perhaps you will say that I have no right to judge fellow believers and that I should leave it to the Lord to be judge and jury. I can assure you that I would rather that I never had to write these things. Sometimes I just wish I could go and live on a sub-tropical island and swim in the surf and sunbathe on the beach with a bunch of good books and a CD collection for the rest of my days, and never have to think again about the weird nonsense that seems to swamp the churches of today. Life would certainly be much simpler and in many ways pleasanter. I would be despised by far less people and be pilloried far less. But that would no doubt be a "Jonah" solution. And I somehow cannot keep quiet about these things. They are an affront to the faith; they are deceiving gullible young believers; they give a bad witness to the world; and over a period of time they begin to corrupt the entire corpus of Christian activity across the world. This generation's misunderstanding (uncorrected) becomes the next generation's destructive heresy.

To say that Christians have no right to judge fellow believers and that they should leave it to the Lord to be judge and jury represents the height of naiveté. The Lord expects His shepherds on this earth to do His judging and jurying as far as the church is concerned. I leave it up to the Lord to be judge and jury regarding non-Christians. But he expects those in the church who misbehave to be "judged and juried" by others in the church. As the Apostle Paul says: "For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges..." (1 Cor.5:12-13).

If there's one thing I want on my gravestone, it is this: "He only wanted to make people think". That's one of the main purposes behind these mails -- to encourage people to think. Since the acceleration of the Toronto Curse in 1993-4, a huge swathe of the Christian church has been given over to the doctrines of demons. As a result, a large number of churches today are governed by feelings and hunches rather than Scripture and logic. Many worship services have more in common with a lunatic asylum than with a tabernacle of the Lord. Every week I get many e-mails from people telling me of the pitiable situation in their churches, and asking my advice. Many have to go through a great deal of turbulence before they find some stability in the Christian scene.

Only yesterday, I received two e-mails -- one from Seattle in the U.S.A. and the other from Anglesey in North Wales in the U.K. Both told of horrific situations in churches in which they had spent their formative Christian years. These are by no means isolated examples of what is happening in so many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. I have been encouraged by these two dear people to forward their stories to as many as possible, with their identities, so that others will see that they have not been walking on glass alone and there is light at the end of the tunnel, and so that people will be more aware of the kinds of problems which arise when feelings displace Scripture as the guiding force in church life. Here are their stories:

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Dear Pastor Morrison,

Christians that are buying into these unholy spirit experiences are heading for trouble. I bought into all this hubbub when I was 21 years old, a new Christian, back in 1979. I got involved in a large Charismatic church that prioritised the supernatural over the Word of God. There was a constant charged atmosphere of 'revival' within each service. The Toronto revival seems tame to me in comparison to what happened in our church. This church had satellite churches throughout the US and in three or four countries. I enrolled in their Bible college with the other 900 students. At first life seemed wonderful!

The pastor was a dominating figure, though he did it with such charm that you had no idea you were being brainwashed so severely. The first thing I can remember was the push for me to 'get filled with the Holy Spirit.' I tried and tried and finally 'got it' in my bedroom by myself one night late while I was praying and 'seeking' for this experience. This experience was quite beautiful and seemed to be of God because of its sweet emotional 'energy' that I thought was from the Holy Spirit. New 'waves' of God's so-called 'spirit' bathed our church often. We could not pray in a prayer meeting without expecting the 'anointing,' or mysticism of energy, to fall on us. If we did not 'feel' God's so-called 'presence,' then we were considered dry and unspiritual.

At that time I was married to a man I will name Bob. Bob, along with anyone that did not 'soar' in the spirit realm, was continually badgered and pressured to become more spiritual. He felt like a constant failure as a Christian. The more experiences you felt, the holier you were, and thus the more prestigious position you had in the church. Being in an intercessory prayer meeting for the pastor was the ultimate level of super spirituality. But you had to be invited into this group, work your way up the ladder of 'spiritual' abundance. There were other prayer groups that were only for the 'elite' group. Prophesies and visions and dreams were commonplace. Our pastor told us that God had taken him into the heavenlies and he sang with the Angels and there God told him he would be a world renowned prophet. Each service was an emotional spiritual high that I did not want to come down from. I was sucked into the 'glory' and riding high on the bandwagon of delusion.

Our church got into the demonic deliverance exorcism movement and it was devastating. People were even rebuking demons of 'flatulency,' and all kinds of ridiculous things. After awhile I found myself fighting for my identity. Every time I got angry or doubtful or spoke frustration in any way, I was told I had demons and needed to get delivered. The congregation would respond by mocking, "What demon is that talking?" or yelling right into my face like I was not there, "Get out you demon of rebellion, in Jesus Name." It was exhausting. One young woman drowned her five year old daughter in the bathtub to release her from demons. This became a large news item in Seattle.

In 1985 an evil but enticing and very deceptive spiritual experience came into our church like a tornado. The church had been dancing in the spirit for a few months already. Everywhere, in the aisles, in the foyer, during the worship service Christians would joyfully swing and swirl and twirl to the Lord. One day during a retreat while a group of church members were dancing, a 'connection' happened between the male youth leader and another woman. This couple was not married to each other. Like a magnet, they were drawn close physically. They were unable to stop looking into each other's eyes. They came together, almost touching, while this spiritual 'energy' beamed back and forth between their eyes, catapulting them into a sphere of glory that was indescribable. The intimate display between these two people was soon stopped by an elder. But as weeks went by, others in the church began to get 'zapped' by this same energy-force. Like a hex, once it happened between you and someone else, you were unable to break away from it's strong spiritually sensual spell. The pastor's wife 'connected' with a man 20 years younger than her and convinced the pastor to 'let God move.' The Word of God was shuffled aside as this strange evil phenomena swept into the church and destroyed lives.

Because I had opened up to experiences and sought after them, I was sucked into this deception as well. To describe the spiritual journey is hard to do. Because the feelings were so beautiful and so flesh fulfilling and spirit tingling that I did not want to let it go. I ignored my gut feelings that told me to 'run' from it. I followed the crowd and soared higher into 'glory.' I connected with another married man, and that is when my horror began. There was literally something moving between our eyes, an energy, a power, an evil force that felt like love but was really a counterfeit. Once you were under this 'spell' you were plummeted into another dimension. This is how Satan is deceiving so many of God's people. They are following a feeling that 'feels' beautiful and holy. They have been seduced into following another gospel.

The love that was connecting couples together (the 'connections' happened between those of the same sex too, but the majority happened to those of the opposite sex) was beyond anything felt on earth. It was powerful, possessive, and consuming. I know for me, after I became 'connected' in the dance through the eyes, I was unable to function in the everyday normal life. I could barely go to work. I would find myself going in and out of the spirit realm all the time. All I wanted to do was to be with my 'connection.' I lost desire for my husband and he likewise for me. Soon my husband quit coming home.

Within months 'connections' replaced marriages. They were dating outside of church, driven by the spell of love. The pastor preached that the connection doctrine would restore marriages in the long run and that we needed to first experience Jesus' love through one another. The eye-energy spell was just the way we were becoming one in the spirit. We were ordered to 'release' our mates to their spiritual connections. The feelings of jealousy almost drove some people mad. But if we did not release our mates, we were disfellowshipped from the church. And because we were taught that leaving the church would take us to hell, people submitted to the unscriptural doctrine. In order to do so, they had to let go of their consciences. The pain was to great. So, numb like zombies, the jealous mates began to drink and fall into sin in order to obey the command to 'release's their mates. The children were devastated at seeing their families torn apart.

Visitors were shocked at the intimate display during worship service. Couples were physically engaged in the dance, eyes locked, mouths almost touching, bodies entwined close and personal. I shudder to think I was involved in such heresy.

In time adultery became rampant and within 2 years over 250 divorces resulted. (I have documents from the newspaper about this. It was big news in Seattle for months back in 1986-87.) My marriage ended when my husband left me for his connection.

At that time, before my husband moved to California with his 'connection,' God began to slowly prepare me to get out of that 'cult.' I had fallen in love with another married man all in the guise of 'spirituality.' I knew I was in sin, and I felt powerless against the evil pulling me deeper. But through my fall, God was able to rip me out of that delusion. I tried hard to get my husband back. But he was gone too far. I loved him, but could not save him from the delusion. To make a long story short, I escaped that church devastated, torn, and lost. After 7 years, I felt like I was starting all over again in understanding what Christianity really was. I lived with a great couple that helped me get back on my feet. And for the next five years my quest was to know what the true Gospel was all about. God by His mercy showed me.

I was suicidal when I left that holocaust, and acutely depressed for a very long time. I lost my marriage, all my friends, and my dignity. I was branded as a rebellious dissident and banned from the church. Because I took a strong stand against the evil teaching, my reputation was destroyed. But I did not care, I was so relieved to be out of that horror. The road to recovery took a long time, yet I trusted the Lord Jesus to guide me the right way. The Word of God became my manual for life from that point on.

It has been over 11 years, and I have walked by faith and not by sight. I love His Word with all my heart. It is God's truths that healed my heart and restored my life. It was experiences that almost destroyed my life. I am ever thankful that the Lord has given me 'sight' as to the evils that are flooding the church today.Today, my husband (I met Igor in Russia in 1992) and I minister to others that have been spiritually abused. Trusting in experiences is a deadly end. Some Christians might say that what we got into was so way out and could not happen to them. But, not only did our Seattle mother church get deceived, but all the satellite churches as well (except for the one in Greece. They saw the evil and broke away. They even tried to warn us but our pastor would not listen). The false love and beauty behind the experience overrides rationale. How could Satan get so many to fall for this? Well, he is good at what he does, and that is bringing in lying wonders and signs to deceive God's people. We see this same spirit manifesting in a slightly different way, sweeping through churches all across the world, duping thousands with its 'energy of love.' Look at Benny Hinn. He is using the same deceitful spirit and getting away with it! Oh my, how dangerous it is to follow this man.

I wish I could shout from the mountaintops to these sheep that are being led astray! I pray daily for them. Thank you for hearing my testimony, Mr. Morrison. The full version is on http://www.healinginn.org under testimonies called "Blind Worship."

Yours,
June Shafhid
jshafhid@juno.com

Please share this testimony with anyone you wish. I would go through it all over again just to be able to 'see' the truth as I see it today. God allowed that evil into the church for our own good. I dare say I might still be there today swimming in the feelings whoop-de-doo if God had not allowed the church to fall. You are right in your articles -- God's love is so great for us that He will allow demons to pester us if it means drawing us back to Him and His truth.

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Dear Alan,

Many thanks for your continued ALERTS! As to the separate "Baptism in the Spirit", I, too, was confused by this for a while. After a lifetime of Hippiedom/"New Age" "spiritual" experiences, including "yoking with Brahman", LSD, NLP /Shamanism, & seeing guru Maraji do miracles etc, & even being deceived by the world's "greatest" false prophets, the Jehovahs' Witnesses, for 5yrs - I finally came home to the Bible, & the patient grace of our Lord Yeshau HaMashiach.

I was saved just 2 yrs ago in Colwyn Bay, before I even knew what being saved was, or what to expect, responding to an sober "altar call" [before I knew what that was, either!] at a non-Evangelical Alliance Baptist Church - I was fairly determined not to respond to the "call", just because I wanted to, or thought that it was expected of me. It made no difference - I was drawn forward by the Holy Spirit, feeling wonderful, grateful, repentant, & went down upon my knees to pray with the pastor. Simple & beautiful, but only the start of course.

Now the Hoopla started! I moved house, so went to the Bangor AOG Church to check it out, but on hearing the manic, heavy metal look-alike drummer from 100yards down the road, knew that there was something wrong immediately. I responded to an altar call there, also knowing that I didn't need to - but knew why when the sorceress Pastor tried to "slay" me - by using EXACTLY THE SAME STOMACH "CHAKRA" POWER MANIPULATION THAT ONE OF MY OLD SHAMANISTIC NLP PRACTITIONERS HAD DONE! [which unbalances you & makes you fall backwards, if "your Chi is not properly aligned"!] I remained upon my feet, much to her annoyance, so she gave up, & went on to more malleable material. I had already cringed at the bumptious testimonies of countless teenagers, explaining how their Camp leaders had/were teaching them to speak in "Tongues" - by just babbling repetitive gibberish!

After a final time of "worship" which consisted largely of 100+ people bellowing that same Babylonish gobbledegook, I publicly challenged the Pastor to provide translations, read her 1 Corinthians 14 etc - & she responded from the stage with barely concealed hostility, "I'll see you later!"

She didn't, but sent a very pretty acolyte to sweet talk me [who had earlier suddenly erupted into pogoing, like some glue crazed punk, to the first overamplified song], explaining that as I had not had a separate "baptism in the spirit" I obviously couldn't understand what was going on! I already knew that a separate baptism was wrong, that we all received the Holy Spirit when we were saved, but as a "baby" Christian, didn't at the time have the full understanding, or all the scriptures to hand, so we both remained unconvinced by the other.

When I pointed out that her so-called pastor was also a false prophet, as she had gone ALONE, up into the local Welsh mountains, to be raptured, without telling her family or flock; her beautiful eyes narrowed & she hissed & tongue lashed me! The pastor had gotten the "prophecy" from the latest crackpot Hypercharismatic book - incidentally, Wales is being assaulted by numerous "Prophecy" conferences at the moment, turning out the most appalling, unbiblical, "new age" drivel, about the "spirit of the Fathers/Land" [that's the Druids/pagan "Enochian" cromlech builders, etc!], & tidal waves about to swamp Anglesey! ["Cool Cymru" is definitely going back into the that old "new age" "Celtic spirituality" nonsense, conveniently forgetting all the pantheistic/human sacrifices aspects of it.]

The Bangor AOG church has a very high turnover, with many disappointed at the repeated false/non-existent healings - including telling the congregation that a dying man was only dying because THEY didn't have enough faith! Also, one of their "prophets" told the congregation that a dead baby, stillborn I think, would live. Needless to say, it didn't. They are taught that their illness's are also caused by sin in their lives, as well as by a lack of faith, & have terrified one lady by telling her that her heart pacemaker would MELT in her body, as she would no longer need it! She does. But they have planted small fellowships, on her matriarchal dominance/Jezebel influence stance, to propagate the usual Hinn / Hagin / Cerulloesque Faith / Prosperity / overealisation of the Gifts nonsense, & the Pastor also believes that we are born WITHOUT SIN - the Pelagian heresy!

The small fellowship I attend has largely come out of that church, after repeated pleas to them to properly study the scriptures, but the Pastor has said that she cannot change, as she has built her ministry upon those teachings....We continue to pray for them. Maranatha, Lord Jesus!

Yours in Christ,
Philip Snow
philip@snow.swinternet.co.uk
BEACH COTTAGES MALLTRAETH ANGLESEY LL62 5AT. Tel/Fax 01407 840512.

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AM continues: I can assure you that these are not isolated examples. I have heard it all -- much of it unbelievable but true. From the churches which practice "vomiting in the Spirit" to those which see oil leaking out of their hands and gold appearing in their teeth. Every week, I get letters from folk who have stumbled on the website who are being screwed up by the lunatics. And the lunatics are not merely "a fringe". Lunacy is mainstream now. When I lived in the U.K. I was inundated with mail and phone calls from people of all church types. Many were from churches in the mainline Anglican denomination whose vicars were giving out phoney words of knowledge and making pronouncements about demon possession which were tearing people apart. I remember going to give a talk in the North East entitled "When a Church Becomes a Cult". This was at the request of an Anglican vicar who was horrified at what his fellow vicars in the county were up to. His bishop was apparently a spineless chap who was aware of these problems but seemed unable to do anything about them. I was invited to stir things up.

When I write about these things, I am not indulging in gratuitous violence! I am simply expressing my exasperation that such things should be happening in the name of Jesus Christ and screwing up the lives of those who think they are entrusting themselves to Him. I know that others of you are involved in the same kind of ministry. If it wasn't for the fact that people are being rescued as a result of our work then it would be a very bleak prospect indeed.

So if you are looking for tales about fluffy kittens chasing balls of wool, or teddy-bears walking to church down country lanes with bibles under their arms, you have signed up to the wrong e-mail list! These mails are not designed to be especially uplifting, but informative and protective, strengthening and affirmative of the fact that it is not US who are crazy. The asylum has been taken over by the lunatics. I always welcome your responses. In the meantime, I remain...

Your servant, in Christ Jesus,

ALAN MORRISON
Diakrisis International
AM@diakrisis.org

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