The Money Trail – Who Finances TMAI?

The Believers Foundation

According to their March 2006 Prospectus, the TMAI operating budget was underwritten by The Believers Foundation “for the next 3 years.” After viewing the 2006 IRS Form 990-PF “Return of Private Foundation” for The Believers Foundation, Inc for the calendar year beginning 9/1/05 to 8/31/06, I would estimate that the Believers Foundation gave approximately $650,000 to TMAI and their related ministries that year. According to 2006 IRS Form 990-PF, The Believers Foundation held $33,571,009 and disbursed $3,774,085 during that year. Disbursements to TMAI represented about 17% of the 2006 total. The Believers Foundation also gave $1,025,000 to The Master’s College, $840,000 to Grace Community Church (GCC), and $254,000 to The Master’s Seminary. I estimate that The Believers Foundation gave approximately 73% of their disbursements to GCC related ministries in 2006. This is just an estimate and probably a low estimate because some other ministries The Believers Foundation funded are also connected in some way to GCC and their leaders. This 2006 IRS Form 990-PF can be seen here.

According to the 2006 IRS Form 990-PF, The Believers Foundation gave $233,706 to Christ Seminary (TMAI South Africa). It gave $132,729 to MEDA (TMAI Honduras) [“The Believers Foundation is directly involved in the day to day operations of MEDA and directly incurs expenses”], and The Believers Foundation gave $36,500 to Shepherd’s Bible College (TMAI New Zealand) among others. They also gave $10,000 to Counsel&Capital.

According to 2006 IRS Form 990-PF, I would estimate that The Believers Foundation gave approximately $1,000,000 to ministries not directly tied to GCC. Did this $1,000,000 go to fund ministries that are biblical? Or was the money used to fund more church growth orgs like TMAI? Let’s take a look at some of these other ministries funded by The Believers Foundation in 2006.

Of the $1,000,000, $325,000 was given to the Slavic Gospel Association. This was the largest disbursement to a ministry “unrelated” to GCC. Bill Molinari, TMAI board member, has been a member of the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) board according to his TMAI bio. And according to the SGA website, SGA is an international ministry that operates “an office staffed by nationals at the headquarters of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia in Moscow (UECB).” The SGA website goes on to say, “Since 1997, SGA has been privileged to serve as the official representative of the Russian UECB in North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.” The UECB is a member of the World Baptist Alliance, a UN-NGO. (According to their 990 forms, from 2002-2007, The Believers Foundation disbursed $1,284,000 to the Slavic Gospel Foundation.)

One of the larger Believers Foundation disbursements for that calendar year was for $109,000 to an organization called Biblical Ministries Worldwide (BMW). Is BMW a biblical ministry as their name implies? No, BMW is a large, international, blatantly transformational, “new paradigm” church growth organization. Let me quote just enough from their large website to allow the reader to see the true nature BMW.

“Biblical Ministries Worldwide is a mission agency whose passion is to help churches plant reproducing churches through evangelism, discipleship and leadership development.” Regarding their South African church: BMW has “20-20 teams” and “BMW has established its 20-20 vision for southern Africa.” “It would be optimal if team members ‘had a synergy of ministry already developed between them.’” “BMW has been shifting over time from a primary leadership role in church planting to a “facilitating” role…”

Under the title, “Leaders Training Leaders” the BMW website states, “We strive to teach leaders how to think, not just what to think. In this way, we reproduce ourselves in a South African leader.” Transformational ministries want to transform the people. They want to change their minds. The way one thinks is called one’s paradigm. The goal of church growth is to shift one’s paradigm from traditional (obedience to authority) to transformational (compromising authority for group goals). They want to shift one’s paradigm from individual thinking to group thinking. Changing “how one thinks” (brainwashing) is referred to as a “paradigm shift” by church growth leaders. This paradigm shift usually takes place in change agent-led small groups and teams. Changing “how one thinks” is the goal of training change agents who can then go out and reproduce by changing how others think.

An important part of BMW’s ministry is called BMW’s “Change Workshops.” Change Workshop #2 “enables church leaders to develop biblically dynamic core values and purpose statements…and vision statement[s].” These statements are an essential part of the church growth transformation process.

Change Workshop #3: “This workshop endeavors to give some practical tips on how church leaders should handle proposing and implementing major changes in the church with maximum consensus and minimal dissent.” No mention of obedience to God here—just get as many as possible on board with the change program with “minimal dissent.”

Change Workshop #4 is called “Fostering the Harvest.” The description states, “Unlike the other workshops in the Companion Church Connection in which a trained facilitator is needed…” Apparently trained facilitators are needed for some of these workshops. A facilitator is Satan’s agent who plays a crucial role in TQM and in church growth.

“BMW operates an email forum to facilitate discussion of issues related to missions called Thinkspots.” To facilitate discussion is to bring diverse opinions to consensus (group harmony/group think). “Each year we facilitate a conference on the field…”

One of the “Core Values” at BMW is “Life-Long Learning.” The website states, “Life-Long Learning is a necessity in ministry…” Life-Long Learning comes from UNESCO and it is all about utilizing the dialectic process to achieve life-long transformation away from God.

Another of their core values is relationships. “We function as teams, embracing interdependence and accountability.” No mention here of dependence on God.

Another of BMW’s core values is “servant leadership.” “We measure leadership by whether we produce successors; therefore, we are committed to reproducing servant leaders.” As stated before, a servant leader is a business organizational term.

Under “Leadership Development” it states, “Mentoring is molding people, not simply imparting information.” This “mentoring” involves personal transformation that usually takes place in facilitator-led small group dialectic sessions.

The vision for BMW Fiji: “In the next decade, 20 cell churches that are continuing to multiply themselves.” The fourth stage of this vision: “To group believers and help them begin functioning together as a cell group.”

I’ve just scratched the surface of this large “ministry” called BMW which received disbursements from The Believers Foundation from 2004-2007 and was given $109,000 in 2006. Though it’s not necessary that other ministries funded by The Believers Foundation be exposed in order to show that The Believers Foundation funds church growth orgs, let me just very briefly mention a bit more about some of these GCC unrelated ministries.

The Believers Foundation funded ministries that are members of the Southern Baptist Convention (UN-NGO). Two of those SBC ministries are Founders Ministries and New Berean Baptist Church of Brandon, Fl. The Believers Foundation funded several ministries whose emphasis is on small groups to “build relationships,” “to fulfill the ‘one another’s of scripture’”, “to encourage accountability,” and for “transforming people into Spirit-filled people.” The Believers Foundation also gave $57,000 to The Institute for Creation Research (ICR). ICR was founded by Dr. Henry M. Morris in 1970. Dr. Morris endorsed the false teaching of “The Gospel in the Stars” in his book, The Long War against God (pp. 265-269), and Dr. Morris was a member of the Council for National Policy. As of 11/06, Dr. Wismer, the treasurer of TMAI and an officer of The Believers Foundation, was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Institute for Creation Research (ICR). The false prophecy teacher and first president of the Council for National Policy, Dr. Tim LaHaye, also sat on the board of ICR.

The Believers Foundation gave $5,000 to Mike Gendron’s “Proclaiming the Gospel.” Mike Gendron speaks at The Master’s Seminary and MEDA (TMAI Honduras) and he is a regular speaker at the Steeling the Mind Conferences. Members of the anti-Christian Council for National Policy frequently speak at these conferences. Mike Gendron’s ministry exposes Roman Catholicism as a false religion.

The Believers Foundation also gave $20,000 to Grace Bible Church of Tampa (GBCT). In August, 2008, a group from GBCT went to MEDA (TMAI Honduras) for a week to work on maintenance. They were assigned the following tasks: Building bunkbeds, cleaning and painting the water tower, cleaning and varnishing the bricks and stone walkways, cleaning and painting the playground, building the retention wall at front gate, painting inside of administration office, staining new ceiling wood boards, weeding out and planting gardens, trimming bushes, and cutting wood. Regarding their experience in Honduras the church group stated, “We worked hard, but we rejoiced in the Lord every moment we spent scrubbing, scraping or lifting.” But were they serving the Lord at MEDA? Or were they playing their role in the Communitarian transformational agenda?

It’s clear that The Believers Foundation finances church growth orgs. Its day to day operations are run by Executive Director, Ken Fuller, who sits on the board of TMAI. Two members of the TMAI board, Ken Fuller and their treasurer, David Wismer, were listed as being officers of The Believers Foundation as of 2007. The Believers Foundation was incorporated many years before TMAI was started in 2002.

[The examples above pertained to The Believers Foundation disbursements for 2006. According to their 990 forms, from 2002-2007, The Believers Foundation disbursed approximately $12,000,000 to ministries under the GCC umbrella with TMAI ministries receiving approximately $3,200,000 during that time. Christ Seminary (TMAI South Africa) received more money than the other TMAI centers. From 2003-2007 Christ Seminary received $1,200,000 directly from The Believers Foundation.]

Mr. Robert Jaeb and The Conservative Caucus

According to IRS Form 990-PF, in 2007, the 4 officers of The Believers Foundation were Lorena Jaeb, Steven Jaeb, Ken Fuller, and David Wismer. Lorena and Steven are the wife and son of the late Robert Jaeb.

Mr. Robert Jaeb started a convenience store chain called Shop & Go. In 1985, according to Thomson Financial Mergers & Acquisitions, when Shop & Go, Inc was tendered to Circle K Corp for $166,000,000 in cash and stock, Robert and Lorena Jaeb owned 52% of its stock. [Since publishing this report, the figures stated above have been X’d out.]

The Jaebs funded the Believers Foundation. According to TMAI Newsletter (2/06), “In 1987, the Jaeb family set up The Believers Foundation…to help spread God’s word around the world.” Through The Believers Foundation, Mr. Jaeb established a special program in partnership with The Master’s Seminary (TMS) and GCC to fund TMS graduates who went out as missionaries. “It was the seed for what has grown into The Master’s Academy International.” “His [Mr. Jaeb’s] vision and sacrifice planted the seeds of The Master’s Academy.” “Through TMAI, Mr. Jaeb’s vision is being realized in ways no one could have imagined.” According to the TMAI website, “The Believers Foundation has supported TMAI since its inception in 2002.” “The Believers Foundation wholeheartedly recommends TMAI as one ministry that you or your foundation should consider supporting.” At Mr. Jaeb’s memorial service, John Macarthur cited the Bible to frame what he called “the divine biography of Robert Jaeb.” At the memorial service, Ken Fuller stated, “I suspect…there’s a long line of saints in Heaven…waiting their turn to greet him [Mr. Jaeb].”

Mr. Robert Jaeb had a strong interest in politics. An article in the St. Petersburg Times (9/10/05) described him as being “a political enthusiast.” Former Florida Governor Bob Martinez stated that Mr. Jaeb “gave generously to local and national political orgs.” And according to the St. Petersburg Times, “Politically, Mr. Jaeb is remembered as not only a great financial supporter of various Republican political organizations, but also as a quiet yet influential political thinker.” Mr. Jaeb was a member of the Leadership Council of The Conservative Caucus chaired by Howard Phillips. 105.

Howard Phillips founded The Conservative Caucus (TCC). “In 1975, at the direction of 33º Mason Jesse Helms on whose staff he served, Phillips founded The Conservative Caucus.” “Phillips founded TCC, a leading right-wing lobby group. TCC has an interlocking directorate (Phillips served on advisory board) with the United States Council for World Freedom (USCWF) of the World Anti-Communist League [headed by John Singlaub (CIA)], a multinational network of Nazi war criminals, Latin American death squad leaders and North American neo-fascists.” 106. “As TCC national director, Phillips boasted, ‘we organize discontent’ and ‘must prove our ability to get revenge on people who go against us.’”

Howard Phillips also helped Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell establish the Moral Majority in 1979. “We are no longer working to preserve the status quo. We are radicals working to overturn the present power structure in this country.” (Paul Weyrich) 107. As founder of the very influential Heritage Foundation, Paul Weyrich was one of the most powerful men in American politics. The Heritage Foundation, which has connections to Sun Myung Moon, Fascists and Communists, was almost a shadow government during the Reagan administration. Click here to learn more about Heritage.

In 1992, Howard Phillips founded the U.S. Taxpayer Party (USTP) which is now the Constitution Party. Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America served as an executive of Howard Phillips U.S. Taxpayers Party. Phillips and Pratt are members of the CNP and both are involved with the neo-Nazi militia movement. “At its 1994 convention, USTP sold a paramilitary manual entitled ‘Principles Justifying the Arming and Organizing of a Militia’… In short, it is a manual that prepares the recruit for underground war.” Imagine the irony of Howard Phillips, who is Jewish, handing out warfare manuals to the anti-Semitic militias. Furthermore, “It was at Estes Park, that Pratt spoke to the assembled fanatics and convinced them that the armed vigilante death squads that had worked their poison in Central America and in the Philippines, could become the model for an armed militia movement within the United States.” (CNP Database)

Howard Phillips, John Singlaub, Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell, Paul Weyrich and Robert Jaeb found common ground in an organization called the Council for National Policy (CNP). Howard Phillips was a founding member of the CNP. Major General John K Singlaub was a member of the CNP Board of Governors in 1981. Jesse Helms and Jerry Falwell served on the CNP Board of Governors in 1982. Paul Weyrich served on the CNP Board of Governors in 1982, 1996. And Robert Jaeb’s wife, Lorena, also served on the CNP Board of Governors in 1996 (and 1997, 1998 according to available membership lists). (CNP Database)

Lorena Jaeb and The Council for National Policy (CNP)

The Jaeb’s funded The Believers Foundation. Lorena Jaeb and Steven Jaeb are officers of The Believers Foundation. Lorena Jaeb served on the CNP Board of Governors in 1996 and, according to available membership lists, in 1997 and 1998 as well.

The suppression of information regarding the existence and membership of the CNP has been a major factor in deceiving Christians. Being a secretive org, the CNP doesn’t publish their membership lists. “Our membership list is strictly confidential and should not be shared outside the Council.” 108. However, a few past membership lists have been obtained by Christian researchers. Let’s now take a look into the CNP since Lorena Jaeb has served on the CNP Board of Governors and since the Jaeb’s, through The Believers Foundation, finance TMAI, The Master’s Seminary, and GCC.

The Council for National Policy evolved from the John Birch Society (JBS). The JBS was founded by Robert Welch, a 32nd degree Mason, and an agent for Nelson Rockefeller. According to James E Braddock, “Welch, being a well proven 32nd degree Mason, jumped at the chance to aide and abet in the furtherance of the destruction of Christianity.” (The John Birch Society an Enigma, p.13.) The JBS was an intelligence operation with its roots in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which became the CIA. Its domestic surveillance arm, Western Goals Foundation, worked with Reinhard Gehlen, one of Hitler’s top intelligence officers. The JBS, which presented itself as a right-wing patriotic org fighting communist infiltration in America, was eventually exposed for being a “controlled opposition front” once it was known that its leadership consisted of CFR members and leaders of the Federal Reserve—the same members of the liberal establishment that the JBS had pretended to oppose. The JBS was exposed in 1977 in a report titled The Belmont Brotherhood. “This 12-page report concluded with the perceptive observation that the John Birch Society represents the most diabolical form of the Illuminati conspiracy.” (The John Birch Society) Once exposed, the JBS morphed into the CNP.

The CNP was formed in 1981. Nelson Bunker Hunt, who was a member of the JBS and who provided funding for the Western Goals Foundation, provided the start-up money for the CNP, “a highly secretive coalition which represents the entire spectrum of New Right corporate executives, TV preachers and former high ranking government and military leaders. The Council for National Policy is considered the primary coordinating body—and funding conduit—for Christian Right projects.” (JBS) “Nelson Bunker Hunt, who was president of the CNP in 1982-83, is among several of the John Birch Society/Western Goals Foundation principals and associates who also served on the newly-formed CNP Board of Governors.”

“Early CNP membership directories were obtained by enterprising researchers…and these revealed that the early leadership of the CNP was, in fact, also represented in the Council on Foreign Relations — the very organization of globalists to which the CNP was to be the conservative alternative! On the first CNP Governing Board there were no less than three, and possibly more, members of the CFR: George F. Gilder – CNP Board of Governors (1982) ; Dr. Edward Teller – CNP Board of Governors (1982); and Guy Vander Jagt – CNP Board of Governors (1982).”

“Later CNP directories list CFR members J. Peter Grace (CNP, 1984-85; 1988) and Arnaud deBorchgrave (CNP, 1988)” (The Council for National Policy) William Simon and George Gilder are also listed as being members of the CFR and CNP.

“Besides CFR and Religious Roundtable members, the upper echelon of the Council for National Policy were basically refugees from the defunct Western Goals Foundation, the domestic surveillance outfit of the John Birch Society which included high-ranking members of the fascist World Anti-Communist League, Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon and Freemasonry. There is some overlapping of Western Goals operatives who formed the early CNP Governing Board who were also CFR and/or Religious Roundtable members [Note that one was a member of Hitler’s Luftwaffe]:

• John Singlaub [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. Member of national policy board of the American Freedom Coalition [AFC], a front for Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church.

• Daniel O. Graham [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. Member of national policy board of AFC.

• Mildred Faye Jefferson [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. Member of national policy board of AFC.

• Sherman Unkefer [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. Served as an adviser to Chile’s regime under Augusto Pinochet and reportedly worked closely with Chile’s secret police organization, DINA.

• Hans Sennholz [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. A decorated pilot in the Luftwaffe, Adolf Hitler’s elite air corps.

• Robert Stoddard [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. Listed in The Belmont Brotherhood, as Chairman of the Board of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, whose editors belonged to the local Committee of the CFR. Board of Directors of Willard Garvey’s National Center for Privatization.

• Larry McDonald [CNP Board of Governors 1982-83]. President of the John Birch Society; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Western Goals Foundation, and served on the Congressional Board of Christian Voice, a front for the Unification Church.

• Nelson Bunker Hunt [CNP President 1982-83, Executive Committee 1984-85, 1988]. Knight of the Order of Malta. Member of a racial eugenics organization, the International Association for the Advancement of Eugenics and Ethnology, that was headquartered in Scotland. IAAEE was established in the U.S. by Lord Malcolm Douglas, a member of the British Cliveden Set which supported Hitler during World War II.

• Oliver North [CNP Governing Board 1984-85] Formed the Military Assistance Group-Special Operations Group (MAG-SOG), a political murder unit, and participated in Operation Phoenix which killed about 100,000 civilians in Southeast Asia. North received aid from the Unification Church and Knights of Malta for Contra operations in Latin America.

• Howard Phillips [CNP Executive Committee 1984-85, 1988] Director of The Conservative Caucus, served on advisory board of the United States Council for World Freedom (USCWF) of the World Anti-Communist League, a multinational network of Nazi war criminals, Latin American death squad leaders and North American neo-fascists. Conservative Caucus board member and funder, Richard Shoff, is a former Grand Kilgrapp of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan.

• Major F. Andy Messing, Jr. USAR (Ret.). Former chairman of The Conservative Caucus; Board of USWCF; Director of the National Defense Council Foundation. Collaborated with Linda Guell of CAUSA (a political arm of the Unification Church) and its head, Bo Hi Pak. to provide funds for Oliver North’s operation in Latin America.

• J. Peter Grace [CNP Board of Governors 1986] Council on Foreign Relations; Head of Order of Knights of Malta in the U.S.; Chairman of W.R. Grace Co which focuses its business activities in Latin America and assisted the Contra operation in Latin America.

• William E. Simon [CFR; Knight of Malta]. Secretary of the Treasury under Richard Nixon; Chairman of the Nicaraguan Freedom Fund (NFF), a fundraising organization set up in l985 by the Washington Times, a newspaper owned by the Unification Church. Trustee of the Heritage Foundation. According to Sidney Blumenthal, Simon is or was a member of the CNP.

• Frank Shakespeare, [Knight of Malta]. Council U.S. Information Agency director and director of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, a Nazi front established by Hitler’s espionage officer, Reinhard Gehlen. Trustee of the Heritage Foundation.

• Dr. Edward Teller [CNP Board of Governors 1982] Council on Foreign Relations. Hungarian-born American physicist who became the architect of the hydrogen bomb. During World War II he was a member of the Manhattan Project for the development of the atomic bomb. Teller was a member of the Citizens Legal Defense Fund for the FBI, Ad Hoc, and advisor to the Western Goals Foundation.”

Members of the CNP can be categorized as being members of or representing the following: Freemasonry, The Knights of Malta, the KKK, Nazi Fascism, Mormonism, the U.S. government, the U.S. military, the CFR, the CIA, globalism and pseudo-Christian leadership. In order to view a larger, and much more detailed list of past/present and prominent members of the CNP, including Lorena Jaeb, see the CNP Database. Many CNP members, including several professed Christians such as Jerry Falwell, have connections to Sun Myung Moon, who considers himself to be the Messiah and who openly blasphemes Jesus Christ (John Macarthur has participated in Falwell’s conferences.) 109. Moon, who has Korean CIA ties, wields much power in the CNP.  Click here to read more about the CNP-Moon connection.

According to CNP membership lists, Lorena Jaeb served on the CNP Board of Governors in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Let’s take a look at the CNP board members with whom she served in 1996 (click on the links for greater detail):

• Howard Ahmanson (Ahmanson Foundation/Chalcedon/Rushdooney/Reconstructionism; The Ahmanson Foundation was a contributor to the Council on Foreign Relations, according to 1990-1993 Annual Reports.

• Thomas R. Anderson (Board of Directors, Family Research Council (FRC); FRC is a UN-NGO with special consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council.)

• Ed Atsinger (Salem Communications Corporation; Public, NASDAQ:SALM)

• Jeff Coors (Coors Brewery/Heritage Foundation/Free Congress Foundation/Moon)

• Richard DeVos (33º Freemason/Amway/Templeton Foundation)

• Stuart Epperson (Salem Communications Corporation; Public, NASDAQ:SALM)

• Ed Feulner (President Heritage Foundation/Free Congress Foundation/Moon)

• Foster Friess (Templeton Foundation Board of Advisors)

• Mary Reilly Hunt (Order of Malta) [She can be seen on the Order of Malta website. There is a Thomas F. Schlafly on various boards of this American branch of the Knights of Malta. Phyllis Schlafly, prominent CNP member, is reportedly a Dame of the Knights of Malta.]

• Woody Jenkins (Nat. Chmn. ALEC/Founder, Chairman—Friends of the Americas/assisted Nicaraguan Contras)

• Tim La Haye (1st CNP President/Moon associate; “LaHaye held the position of paid chairman with Sun Myung Moon’s now defunct Coalition for Religious Freedom.” “LaHaye’s involvement with Moon is particularly vile. In 1985, Carolyn Weaver, writing for Mother Jones Magazine, exposed the fact that LaHaye had received substantial funds from Moon’s aid Bo Hi Park. This was discovered in a tape of a dictated thank you letter from LaHaye, thanking Park for a contribution in excess of $500,000. LaHaye would not admit or deny the receipt of the contribution, instead he attacked the source of the information. [Reported in the 1Q96, Religion in Politics.]” 110.

• Beverly La Haye (founder of Concerned Women for America [UN-NGO]; speaker at Moon convention in Washington, DC)

• Sam Moore (Thomas Nelson Publisher; Thomas Nelson publisher of corrupt modern Bible versions.)

• Oliver North (Iran Contra Affair; Robert and Lorena Jaeb contributed to the ‘Oliver North for U S Senate Committee Inc.’ in 1994.)

• Christine Vollmer (Opus Dei)

• Paul Weyrich (Founder/President, Free Congress Foundation/Heritage Foundation)

“The Belmont Brotherhood documents that the founding JBS National Council was entrenched in the Eastern Establishment it purported to despise. Nor is its progeny, the Council for National Policy, a conservative, anti-Communist organization, but rather a globalist organization, anti-American and unpatriotic in the extreme.” 111. And John Macarthur’s principal source of funding, The Believers Foundation, is funded and directed by Lorena Jaeb, who was and may still be a Governor of the CNP.

How the Church Growth Movement Infiltrated GCC

In his January 2005 “State of the Church” sermon, John Macarthur stated regarding GCC: “It is not in particular danger from some infiltrating heresy…everything you can see on the surface looks to be good.” Was John Macarthur telling the truth in that sermon?

Several Christians living in the Los Angeles area are aware that the church growth movement has infiltrated GCC. They have seen the evidence. But these Christians are divided in opinion as to whether this infiltration has the approval of John Macarthur. Does John Macarthur approve of this infiltration? Or has his church just gotten too big for him to exercise proper pastoral oversight? (I was once told by John Macarthur’s secretary that his own church members couldn’t make an appointment to speak with him. He didn’t have the time.)

Has the church growth movement infiltrated GCC by “men who have crept in unawares?” Or has the CGM been brought in with the approval of one or more members of the GCC elder board?

GCC is governed by a board of elders. Mr. Rob Iverson is the Chairman of the GCC elder board. Not only is Mr. Iverson a Director of the church growth org, Leadership Resources International, but as of 3 years ago, Mr. Iverson was the elder who oversaw the Purpose Driven Foundry ministry and Mr. Iverson is currently the President and Chairman of the Board of TMAI. Furthermore, as already shown, Kurt Gebhards, The Foundry pastor, stated proudly in his online resume that on three occasions he had been asked by GCC leaders to enter ministries at GCC to be a vision casting “agent of change.”

When the Foundry and Guild were exposed 3 years ago as being Purpose Driven, their websites were changed, but their pastors, Tom Patton and Kurt Gebhards, weren’t kicked out of the church. Instead, they have both been promoted.

Very often whoever pays the piper calls the tunes. The Believers Foundation finances church growth orgs (like Biblical Ministries Worldwide). In a recent calendar year, The Believers Foundation disbursed nearly $3,000,000 to ministries under the GCC umbrella. From 2002-2007, The Believers Foundation disbursed approximately $12,000,000 to ministries under the GCC umbrella. Two men who were officers of The Believers Foundation as of 2007, Ken Fuller and David Wismer, also sit on the board of TMAI. David Wismer is the treasurer of TMAI. (D Wismer is no longer an officer of the Believers Foundation.)

Pastors at GCC will emphasize that John Macarthur “has taken a strong stance against the church growth movement.” Is this true? John Macarthur has advocated the use of “ice-breakers” exercises. He has also advocated dialectic-type rules for Bible studies. This can be seen in his book, “Saved Without A Doubt.” On pp.155-157, under the heading “Personal and Group Study Guide,” ice-breaker exercises are advocated. As stated earlier, ice-breakers are to change ones thinking mode from facts-based to feelings-based in order to further the dialectic process. These ice-breaker exercises play into Satan’s hand; as he wants Christians to approach a study of God’s Word with feelings.

It says on p. 156 of “Saved Without A Doubt”: “Pray for each group member, asking the Lord to help you create an open atmosphere where everyone will feel free to share with one another and you.” Advocating the creation of an open atmosphere is also a condition for the dialectic process. An open atmosphere, where everyone feels free to share, is not a component of a didactic Bible study. An open atmosphere implies one in which standards are set aside so that everyone will feel free to experience new things together.

In these group study guidelines, John Macarthur goes on to encourage the use of multiple Bible versions “for the purposes of comparison.” This is what Rick Warren and the PDC’s also advocate. Multiple Bible versions tempt group members to compromise the Word of God. Are Christians to find the true meaning of God’s Word by comparing translations and reaching consensus? Or by comparing translations with the Greek Textus Receptus? John Macarthur also encourages everyone’s involvement (necessary for TQM), “sharing oneself,” and “arranging chairs in a circle or semicircle” for “dynamic discussion.” These are required for dialectic sessions. In this book, John Macarthur has given rules for group Bible studies which resemble the rules for a group dialectic process.

John Macarthur preaches with Greg Laurie, a supporter of the Purpose Driven Movement

In November 2008, John Macarthur participated in a “Conference for Pastors and Leaders” at Greg Laurie’s church, Harvest Christian Fellowship. Two former Presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), UN-NGO, also spoke at this conference.

John Macarthur’s host, Greg Laurie, who sits on the board of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, is a big supporter of the Purpose Driven movement. Greg Laurie believes the Purpose Driven movement is of God. Click here to see a picture of Laurie sitting with Rick Warren at his Harvest Crusade (picture is at top of page).

In a May 2008 letter to pastors and leaders, Laurie talks about his upcoming crusade in New York City, stating, “God is on the move.” He then states, “this move is also seen in the formation of the New York City Leadership group. Under their direction, a community-wide 40 Days of Purpose campaign with Pastor Rick Warren has been launched, and the significant services of Bill Hybels’ Leadership Summit conferences are also being organized to strengthen the local church.”112.

Greg Laurie is sponsoring, through financial support, The New York City Leadership Center’s Sept. 2008 “Launch Event.” Scroll down to the bottom of the page here and read the two listed “Event Sponsors.” On The New York City Leadership Center’s website, their “Leadership Team” members are listed. Among those listed are Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Bob Buford, Ken Blanchard and Frances Hesselbein, the Chairman of the Leader to Leader Institute (Warren’s name has recently been removed). These team members are church growth kingpins and yet Laurie states that the organization they lead, The New York City Leadership Center, has been formed as a “move of God,” and Laurie approves of the 40 Days of Purpose campaign which these leaders will direct.

How can John Macarthur’s pastors claim that he has taken a strong stance against the church growth movement when he preaches with and fellowships with and endorses those who advocate this movement? John Macarthur “has taken a strong stance against the CGM” as it enters GCC along with men from the Southern Baptist Convention (UN-NGO).

Chuck Smith also spoke with John Macarthur at Greg Laurie’s conference. A Calvary Chapel head pastor once told me that Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie’s pastor and the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement, considered Peter Drucker to be his good friend and a fellow Christian! This pastor told me that Smith met with Drucker to discuss matters concerning “the transitioning of his church.” I was able to confirm with Smith’s secretary that, indeed, Smith and Drucker had met for lunch. If he sought Drucker’s counsel, then Chuck Smith was seeking the counsel of an occultist, a humanist, and a globalist whose objective was to destroy Christianity.

A true Christian enters the straight gate and stays on the narrow path. Does God’s narrow path lead to communion with church growth advocates at Greg Laurie’s church? John Macarthur is on the wide ecumenical road that leads to destruction.

PART 6 – JOHN MACARTHUR’S ECUMENICAL ROOTS

ENDNOTES

105. http://inetresults.com/impeach/memo.html

106. http://watch-unto-prayer.org/database2.html#phillips

107. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/22/155525/061

108. http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/fw/9601/rules.html

109. http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/john-macarthur-newevang.html

110. Biblical Discernment Ministries, http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/lahaye/general.htm

111. The John Birch Society: http://watch-unto-prayer.org/jbs-cnp.html

112. http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/Greg_Laurie_Letter-1.pdf.tif