I just found this and it perfectly describes praise chapel's vision and mentality - its exactly the same as potters house.
--- In
Escape_from_the_Fellowship@yahoogroups.com, "naboth675" <naboth675@...> wrote:
>
> --- In
slamthedoor_on_the_pottershouse@yahoogroups.com, "naboth675"
> naboth675@y... wrote:
>
>
> Why People Stay - Revival is Coming.
>
> LIFE at a fellowship church can be understood as one long search
> for 'revival'. This is what the whole movement seems to be set on
> achieving. Much of what we were exposed to in it's preaching was to
> mentaly prepare us for revival. It was designed to get us
> to 'believe for revival'. We were told repeatedly in no uncertain
> terms that revival only came to those who were...1/ believing for
> it. 2/praying for it. 3/ witnessing for it.
>
> Every pioneer church is planted into a city as God's answer for the
> city's spiritual need. Other churches in that city are hardly ever
> mentioned except in a negative sense. You really get the impression
> that the Potters House church you are in IS THE ONLY HOPE FOR
> SALVATION FOR THAT HELL BOUND CITY. Everything is explained
> according to divine appointment. Scriptures are used to emphasise
> that the time is coming and now is when God will pour out his Spirit
> on all flesh {Providing it is pentecostal flesh and that flesh is
> being faithful to the pattern as laid down by Prescott}. Further
> emphasis is put on the idea that the return of Christ is extremely
> close and we are running out of time. We are part of the great last
> days harvest. One more big push and that will be it. This is our
> last chance so there is no time to waste. Better gte your seat belts
> on because this is going to be one 'helluva' ride on the waves of
> revival. God's going to do something the world has never seen the
> likes of before.
>
> You can see why a person doesn't want to leave. If they leave they
> may miss this great revival. The trouble is that when you are in for
> a significant period of time you begin to wonder where on earth this
> supposed revival is. They have a strategy for this. There is a time
> and a season and you don't know when exactly that is but you are
> told to keep witnessing because at some point there is going to be a
> breakthrough. Trumpet reports monthly testify of other fellowship
> churches who have experienced that elusive 'breakthrough' your
> church is looking for. You hear about them at conference as well to
> a chorus of applause and cheers. It is hard not to be swept up in
> the excitement of it all.
>
> The problem is that these reports are often misleading and usually
> deliberately so. You don't realise the awful pressure put on these
> pastors to get results. They are desperate for something to say at
> conference. They can hardly get up on the stage and report that
> nothing much happened can they. Especially given the hugely
> expectant atmosphere and the hype of the last conference where we
> were promised 'revival is around the corner'. The pastor is expected
> to justify his position just as the sales employee has to at his
> annual performance review. Thus we get reports of 40 people saved at
> a concert, 35 visitors to a revival and people coming into the
> church every other service. What you are not told is that none of
> the so called conversions at the concert resulted in any more people
> coming to church, almost all of the 35 visitors at the revival were
> from several neighbouring Potters House churches who are obliged to
> lend their support to such events and the visitors to almost every
> service are not staying. The church may be at exactly the same
> number as it was two years ago.
>
> Have you ever noticed how not every church gives a report at
> conference. Reports are selected and struggling pastors may have to
> wait to give a report having been passed over for another man who
> can at least boast of getting 20 out to a concert even if nobody got
> locked into the church. If he can testify of a visitor getting
> healed in a service then that is a good report. Trust me on this
> one. I've been on countless impact teams and time and again the
> reality in the church is different to the report on the stage. In
> fact I've been to churches which are supposed to be inundated with
> new converts and we were the only ones on the streets. Several times
> I have heard the question, where is the church we are doing this
> impact team for? The truth is that they are a tiny band of people
> who despite tha fact that we have travelled nearly a hundred miles
> to witness for their church could not even get out of bed and walk
> down the road to give out leaflets. That's the reality on the
> streets. I've even heard complaints coming from memebrs of the
> Walthamstow impact teams asking where all the converts have gone
> that they won on their previous impact teams. {Some of these guys
> werereferencing back to converts prayed with over five years of
> impact teams. No wonder they asked why they saw no new faces in the
> church!}
>
> Ask yourself a simple question. Count up how many impact teams you
> have been on over the years and how many people you have prayed
> with. Now how many of those people are still in those churches
> today? Can you see now how the victory report your impact team
> leader gives on sunday and the reality are a world apart?
>
> Prophecy is also used. How many of those prophecies have come to
> pass? They will always play for time so you are left thinking if I
> leave now I may miss it. I have heard so many sermons where
> illustrations are given where a man gave up just before the water
> came out of the pipe or gave up and died in the desert when an oasis
> was just over the next hill. 'Revival is round the corner' is a
> classic hook. It is the same mentality as a skiver who is always
> begging you for money and telling you that he is waiting for an
> insurance payment to come through with the promise that he will see
> you right. The truth is that he is a jobless bozo who would rather
> scrounge than work and as long as there are suckers like you around
> he sees no reason why he should change.
>
> That's a good picture of some fellowship pastors. They live off the
> backs of their congregations pushing them for more and more money
> telling them that if they will give then THIS time it will release
> revival into their lives. HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO FALL FOR
> THAT. One more time, then one more time and again one more time.
> It's always one more time. The truth is that you have invested so
> much that you feel you can't turn back now. In your mind it would
> hurt you more to cut your losses and move on. In reality if you
> don't move on now you will lose a whole lot more with nothing to
> show for it. Face it, your being fleeced.
>
> Have you noticed how revival is linked to your giving? As long as
> there is no revival you have to give more to get revival and as long
> as you give more the pastor will pull the same stunt to get money.
> Why? Because it works. If a beggar says give me money for drink and
> you say no and then he says give me money for ciggarettes and the
> person says no then he says I need money to feed my wife and three
> kids and you hand it over guess what he's going to say next time?
> He's going to use what works. Your pastor is no different. Revival
> and the promise of it is a great way to get money. As long as that
> carrot is dangled just out of reach you can get the most stubborn of
> donkeys to trot along for miles while the rider sits comfortably on
> it's back getting a free ride. The congregation end up being one of
> the fellowships many donkey rides. All because you are chasing the
> carrot of revival that is constantly dangled before you. {not to
> mention the stick of condemnatiuon they beat you with mercilessly}
>
> Now revival is linked to witnessing but have you noticed how the
> pastor pushes people to witness more and more? Have you noticed how
> the guilt trips start coming in if you are not on saturday outreach?
> The pastor promises revival and when it doesn't come it is your
> fault. You need to get out there and witness more and you know
> something else? If you do actually manage to win several people who
> stay for any length of time the pastor will declare it evidence that
> God has indeed brought revival and that you need to continue because
> these are just the 'first fruits'.
>
> No revival. You get the blame. People gat saved. God gets the
> credit. Now I'm not saying that God shouldn't get the credit {for a
> true revival anyway} but the Potters House can be understood better
> if you see it for what it is. A multi level religious marketing
> scam. Your pastor is desperately trying to make his slice of the
> franchise work. He's sold several units of his product to people
> like you and me and now he's pushing us to get more customers for
> himself with the promise that if we do well enough we might have a
> slice of the franchise ourselves one day.
>
> I may sound skeptical but I am speaking from experience. The Potters
> House is actually shrinking. There are many more EX memebrs in the
> world today than there are members in it. Over 95% of people led
> through a sinners prayer never make it to baptism and the majority
> of those baptised are out the door before the year is up. Those who
> continue to discipleship will usually last between 3 and 10 years
> before they go as well. Those that stay beyond that are a small
> minority. Of those that have pastored probably half are no longer
> pastoring today. Given that these men answered a supposed call of
> God on their lives it shouldn't be too hard to figure this one out!
> The rot even goes right up the the board of leaders established by
> Wayman Mitchell himself. {This is supposed to be the highest
> authority in the whole fellowship. Even Mitchell himself is said to
> be accountable to them - Of course you'll do well to question
> everything they say.} Of the original board of leaders all but one
> have left the fellowship. Only Harold Warner remains and he has lost
> his place on the board.
>
> The vast majority of churches are so small that the pastors have to
> work a secular job just to keep their heads above water and many
> have been doing just that for years. Of those who do get a wage from
> the congregation they have succeeded by bleeding an inordinate
> amount of cash from a very small group of people. Ernie Toppin is a
> classic example of that.
>
> In short there is always something that they will link to revival to
> make you hang on that little bit more. There will always be
> something you are not doing or something that is 'just around the
> corner' and you can virtually guarantee that the pastor will testify
> that he felt a breakthrough in the spiritual realm even when nothing
> happened outwardly and three months later there is still nothing.
> {They'll probably blame that on the devil. He's so powerful you
> know! Apparently he can even stop God's revival!}
>
> This is not just faith it is blind faith. It is not just blind faith
> it is faith in a man and his words and that man is saying what
> Prescott has taught him to say. What you are not told is that many
> people in Prescott itself are now asking what is wrong with the
> fellowship and why it isn't growing. One of the fellowship's
> favourite pastors, John Spurgeon, questioned why it was that we were
> claiming to be a powerful move of God when we were boasting of a
> thousand churches. He said "I was hearing that as far back as 1989"
>
> As long as you believe revival is around the corner you will stay.
> All I can say is that it's either a stinkin' big corner or there
> really is no revival coming. It's time to disabuse your self of the
> myth, get out and to something fruitful with your life. You owe it
> to God and you owe it to yourself too. It's either that or waste it
> chasing a crock of fools gold at the end of a fellowship rainbow.
>
> regards...naboth675
>
> --- End forwarded message ---
>