The word-faith, prosperity,positive confession doctrines first came upon the cristian landscape by a man who was influence by Christian science and the Metaphysical cults.(E.W.Kenyon then mentored Kenneth Hagin who inturned mentored almost all the false teachers of today even a couple who are in leadership teaching positions at TPWOC) The Word Faith movement demonstrates irrefutable that Word Faith teachers owe their ancestry to groups like Christian Science, Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, Science of Mind, and New Thought-NOT TO CLASSICAL PENTECOSTALISM. It reveals that at their very core, Word Faith teachings are corrupt. Their undeniable derivation is cultish, not Christian. A good book to educate your self in the history of this movement is (A Different Gospel by D.R.McConnell ) I can not judge if some one is saved or not I will leave that up to God. I do know that there is a different Jesus and gospels out there just waiting to deceive you. The bible tells us they are out there and we are not to invite them into the body of Christ. We have to stand up and fight against any false doctrines otherwise we all would be wearing our holy underwear and going to the Mormon church. Pastor Mike has failed us all, its time for him to step down.

Dear TPC Attender,

One way for Mike and Cyndi to "keep" the church GOD GIFTED to them is repentance and apologies to the many people and families they hurt. A good start would be the Schoons!

Luke 3: 8-9
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree tht does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

I have been told for a couple months now about this forum, but am just now starting to read it. I think I was concerned about what feelings might arise because I just wanted to move on. I have quite a few friends that still attend and I worry about them.

I left TPC about 2 years ago. It was a hard decision for me to make because I was a small group leader and served on Sunday mornings, and stayed involved where I was able to. Being so "plugged in" is hard to all of a sudden pull away from. I had started wanting to ask a bunch of questions about some of the teachings and ideas but felt truly intimidated by Cyndi and Mike. I knew if I started asking questions, they would start quoting scripture and it would be over my head to defend my position, as a fairly new Christian. I didn't (still working on it) know the word insise and out and I have seen them take randopm verses to back what they say. Not always in context, even I could tell because I tend to read before and after a verse to see if it's relevent!

Red flags started going up for me around the time we went to the Jr High. There started being more *demand* to "get involved" and to serve. It felt like if you didn't, you'd never be able to fit in and people would look at you like you weren't a real christian or something. Please understand, I do believe it's important to help out and to be involved, but it shouldn't EVER be pushed so hard. That's why so many people get too stressed about the desire to be perfect! I am saved by God's grace, not by how hard I work within the church or by how much I give beyond the tithe, or even if I do tithe! These things are important, but they are the result of an overflow of my love for my savior. Not because I want to make the church happy.

Next red flag: I went to a small group leadership class and they actually talked about how they DISCOURAGE people within the small groups from asking questions. It was part of our training how to handle someone when they question Mike's teachings!!! As a leader, I want to encourage questions because it promotes learning. It doesn't create disunity, what creates disunity is not allowing people to speak up! I felt like an outsider when everyone around me was totally on board with the series about receiving blessings from giving (can't remember what it was called) and the decipling the nations series. The first: all I could hear was Mike talking about us being blessed if we do certain things... does anyone else see anything wrong with this? Shouldn't we be more concerned with "is my father pleased with me? Am I doing everything I can to show Him I love Him?" As far as decipling the nations: I am still learning how to be an example and to share with my family and friends. Shouldn't we start there, then work on our city? Whatever happened to taking care of our own? Since when is it ok to neglect those around us (especially our own kids) in order to minister to others? Isn't that setting a bad example? All too often I saw people with kids leaving them with sitters of some sort or other so they could be at the church for something almost every day- on top of working at their own jobs! Can someone tell me how that is training your child up in the way he should go? You aren't even around enough TO train your child in anything!

When I decided I wasn't supposed to be going there anymore, I cried. It was a hard decision. My husband came in and of course wanted to know what was wrong. When I told him (without every detail) he said he would go to church with me, but only if I went somewhere else. He didn't mind going to church, he just didn't like it there. When I had shared just that detail with a few people (about my husband wanting to go to church with me), I was VERY disappointed with the responses. One person told me that they were afraid I'd lose my faith if I went to a different church. A FEW more told me to be careful because my husband wasn't a Christian so how was he to know what church we should go to. By the way, I was in the same place as my husband when I first attended a service at TPC and God reached me through the sermon to let me know I wasn't really serving Him at the time. We were being taught that it was a "dangerous place to be" if you were perfessing to be a Christian and attending church but not living a Christian life. There's truth to that, but many people think they are Christians without REALIZING they aren't. They SHOULD still be attending church even if they are hypocritical because for many of them, they just need to see what it really means to walk with God... where else are they going to have that taught and demonstrated if not in a church? Aside from that, I DO walk with God, and He has given me the gifts of faith and discernment, so shouldn't I be able to trust GOD with leading us to a church where my husband can be worked on as well as myself? GOD IS MY SAVIOR, NOT MIKE VILLAMOOR, NOT TPC!!! Someone else also told me that I wouln't be getting teachings that are as "deep" as pastor Mike's and this concerned her. I was actually hoping to go back to the basics. You know what is absolutely the most important thing we need to remember? LOve the LOrd our God with all our hearts, minds, and strength, and love each other. Jesus himself told us THAT is the most important thing. EVERYTHING else falls under that commandment. Shouldn't we be focused on that then rather than on all the details? When I'm not sure if something I'm doing is right, I just ask myself "is it out of love?"

Hello All,

Speaking just for myself the following is what I expect from a pastor.

Duties and Responsibilities of a Pastor
1) To preach the Word of God, lead in worship, read and teach the Scriptures, and engage the people in study and witness.
2) To ensure faithful transmission of the Christian faith.
3) To lead people in discipleship and evangelistic outreach that others might come to know Christ and to follow him.
4) To counsel persons with personal, ethical, or spiritual struggles.
5) To perform the of marriage and burial rites.
(a) To perform the marriage ceremony after due counsel with the parties involved and in accordance with the laws of the state and the rules of the church. The decision to perform the ceremony shall be the right and responsibility of the pastor.
(b) To conduct funeral and memorial services and provide care and grief counseling.
6) To visit in the homes of the church and the community, especially among the sick, aged, imprisoned, and others in need. [James 5:14-15 (Amplified Bible) 14Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord's name. 15And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.]
7) To maintain all confidences inviolate, including confessional confidences except in the cases of suspected child abuse or neglect, or in cases where required reporting is mandatory by law.

I added the scripture in brackets so that all could see that calling a pastor to minister to someone who is critically ill is right and Pastor Mike's refusal to go to Mitch when he was dying and was called for was a selfish act and not in keeping with scripture. Pastor Mike has isolated himself from his congregation, yet he has a responsibility to visit the homes of the members of his church. Yet again, if you are not part of the clique inner circle there is little or no chance that you will ever under any circumstances have a visit from Pastor Mike. I do not call the road or direction that Pastor Mike is leading his congregation down as ensuring the faithful transmission of the Christian faith, he is trying to build his church on faulty doctrine which is unbiblical.

Pastor Mike and the Elders who supported him all need to step down. Quite frankly I see little hope for saving TPC now. Not even admissions of guilt and repentence will be enough and I do not see that happening now or ever.



Daughter of Dorcas



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2009 03:19AM by Daughter of Dorcas.

Welcome to the forum "Saved by His Grace"

Thanks for all you shared.

Outreach

PS, the other problem with people always spouting "God told me" is that it has "me" in it.

Dear Saved by His Grace,

Thank you for joining the forum. You are very welcome. Your testimony is typical of us who have left TP. Typical in the areas that we were "manipulated" to do TP's version of "Religion". Tp will claim that they do not teach religion but they do because it is full of requirements and if you do not measure up to their religious expectations you are"not spiritual".
Thank you and God Bless you and your family

to "tell the truth": please don't think I'm attacking you nor think I am in any way defending Cyndi. I know what you are saying about her using "god didn't tell me" as an excuse. However, I KNOW God speaks to people because I have heard his voice. You can think I'm crazy or that I'm making it up or that it was my own thoughts, but there have been a few times when I was deep in prayer and God spoke to me. Very clear. One time I was asking Him why I was still hurting so badly a whole year after having a miscarriage and he flat said "you don't trust me." The word trust was instantly something I understood the whole meaning of because at the same time it was spoken, that word was translated for me. Probably sounds far fetched to you, but believe me that's something my own thoughts would not have come up with. Why would I come to that conclusion on my own? Also another example is when my daughter was only about 10 months old, we were at the daycare where I worked and she was in the high chair eating crackers. I had my back to her and was helping another child tie his shoe. In the middle of my tying, I VERY CLEARLY heard the words "look at her" and when I turned around, she was choking and not able to breathe. I was able to immediately clear the food from her throat and she was fine. I had no reason whatsoever to have those words just form in my mind unless God told me.
My only purpose for telling you this is because I want you to understand that God really does speak to people in different ways, and sometimes he uses words. Please just consider the possiblity.
As far as Cyndi's response, she should have just told you she'd pray about it. Like you said, you get feelings one way or another sometimes when God "speaks" to you.

It has been a long time since I have written.

It has been a blessing to read all the new people. Especially old friends like Mikki and Deborah.

Saved by grace thank you for your story and TPattender.

A couple weeks ago two of our family members let us know they had made the decision to leave TP.
In one sense it was an answer to prayer. In another sense it was a disappointment because it was not an answer to the prayer we have prayed the longest. That there would be transparency, openness, and accountability at TP. I would much rather they had been able to say: "Praise God Mike and Cyndi have repented the church is on its way to health!"

There is also the realization that to quote Churchill: "this isn't the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning."

As many of you have written it is tough to transition to a new church. I was just talking to a young man who shared how trust has been an issue his whole life. And now he has to try to trust another church. I know those who leave and for whom TP has been Christianity this is a gut wrenching time. My prayers are for you.