Re: Citadel Church Des Moines, WA
Date: May 07, 2012 05:08AM
I too had to leave the church and it took me a long time to recover. I agree the Sunday night services became very odd. If you review some of the concerns with Todd Bentley and others you will note that Tracey has connections with the same group. In fact, you look into this there are some that came out of the Todd Bentley deception. The very spirit operating is identified.
Ultimately, I knew Tracy intimately as I was a donor to his various projects. However, as a successful business man I soon discovered that he is a just a salesman. There was no "meat" to any of his projects. He always had ideas and then bought a website and added an image as if it were a website and project actually being developed. Soon project X is replaced with a new revelation from "God" to work on project Y. Never any mention of where the money went or why "God" had him abandon project X. Over the years I personally know of multiple projects that have taken this exact course. I soon discovered this was a way to have the masses donate and work toward something continuously. But sadly, none of these projects bear fruit for anyone but the Armstrong family. Not even Matt or the other worker bees reaps any financial reward.
The church created a wedge between me and family members that also attended the church. It was as if asking my family members why the church website doesn't mention Jesus Christ or have a statement of faith or anything biblical was my personal attack on Armstrong and church. The list of conerns I tried to raise by my family members to ask them to pray and seek truth was always met with unbiblical retorts. But, carefull review the materials of the church and its website the truth is present in what it doens't say. There is nothing about Christ, zero. It is only a brochure for Armstrong how [he] will connect you with God. My bible says, let me quote:
"Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6
I also raised very serious concerns to Tracey and other "leaders" about improper relationships between young teens and adults (I use this term adult based on the age of the persons) and my concerns were dismissed. One of the church members Zane Nixon was arrested for serial groping. You can Google his name for more details and even find videos of Tracey commenting to the media after court hearings.
Ultimately the church is plagued with spiritual problems and financial impropriety. There is zero financial accountability and zero financial transparency. I have been unable to find any required entity registrations or any of the required financial disclosures required by the IRS.
The spiritual problems are more concerning because many are being subjected to unholy conduct and taught lies by deceiving spirits that operate in services totally unchecked. This is more true during the night services. Also why are the lights turned down so low during these night services? Whether Tracey engages in false doctrine intentionally or not, I don't know. He very well could be deceived himself. If you carefully research his background and his "mentors" you can see that he may well have been taught erroneous doctrine and introduced by them to doctrines of demons. His apparent focus on spiritualism is concerning.
If you are in this environment it is hard to see the truth. I was there myself. But, if you will ask the Spirit of Truth to reveal the TRUTH to you He will. Once you begin to see clearly, its amazing to realize the signs were all around you, all the time and that you were deceived and unable to discern the truth. That is what shocked me the most. How was I deceived when I know the truth! I pray for everyone not only at Citadel Church but all across this nation that are involved with churches that have traveled away from the Truth and a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, I would say that I know Tracey and other leaders that deliver prophecies in the church are not hearing from God. I had numerous prophecies spoken to me by Tracey and others in numerous services. Each time I transcribed the prophecies verbatim. At the time I was doing this to honor the word of God that had been revealed to me. After years of every prophecy falling to the ground, the honor I showed those words by transcribing them was the very thing God used to open my eyes to the truth. I make this same challenge to you as does our Holy bible, test the spirits, pray for wisdom, pray for truth.