Who's Who Digest of the Wild World of Religion: Names N-S (original) (raw)
The profiles on this webpage are part of a multi-page collection of 125+ influential individuals in the Wild World of Religion. For an explanation of this listing, and an index of all the names, go to the Introduction to the Who’s Who Digest.
Profiles of Names Beginning with N through S
Names that are underlined in the list at the left below can be clicked to go to more extensive profiles or more related information elsewhere in the Field Guide. Within the mini-profiles, terms or names underlined can be clicked to go to entries elsewhere. To return to the Alphabetical Index of Names, click on the link at the end of any entry..
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING LINKS:
Some profiles below contain links to other websites which may contain material of interest regarding the profiled individuals. Inclusion of these links should not be considered "endorsement" of all of the opinions, conclusions and doctrinal positions of the authors of those websites. They are included because they do contain credible documentation on the facts regarding the profiled individuals. Readers are encouraged to consider carefully the documentation and come to their own informed conclusions, based on their own understanding of Biblical doctrine and principles.
N
Gary North
Prominent leader in the Reconstructionist or "Kingdom Now" movement. Son-in-law of the late R. J. Rushdoony, considered the father of the reconstructionist movement.
He is most famous for his many failed predictions, including his prognostications regarding the "Y2K" computer bug. Here is a sample excerpt from a Wired article in January 1999 about his predictions:
WASHINGTON -- For decades Gary North has made a living predicting modern society will end in panic and ruin. In 1980, he forecast rationing of housing and a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. He warned his followers to buy "gold, silver, a safe place outside the major cities." Then AIDS became the threat: "In 1992, we will run out of available hospital beds.... The world will eventually panic," he wrote in 1987. Now North has found Y2K and a skittish audience receptive to predictions of doom. A recent advertisement for his Remnant Review newsletter proclaims: "A bank run like no other will bankrupt banks all over the world in 1999." If you fork over $225 for a 24-issue subscription, North will cheerfully equip you with "the tools you need to build untouchable wealth." His advice is familiar, if unsurprising: Close your bank accounts, sell your stocks. Buy guns, gold, and grain. Move to a remote cabin where you can survive the collapse of Western civilization, safe from riots and hungry looters.
"The code is broken. It cannot be fixed. The panic is inevitable. It's a question of when," he wrote on garynorth.com last month. "Through his Web site he can help to fan the flames of Y2K panic to create social disorder so the social systems of the world crash. It's out of the ashes of those systems that he thinks the kingdom will rise," says Frederick Clarkson, author of the book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy. Nope. It's none other than the Kingdom of God and the return of Jesus Christ, events that North believes won't happen until a Draconian biblical law is imposed for a thousand years. For North, there's no better way to pull the plug on an ungodly society than fanning the flames of Y2K panic. "He wants to make sure the banking system crashes. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy," Clarkson says.
See the website linked above for more details. You can read comments that Wired made after North's Y2K predictions failed miserably .
What might North’s “Reconstructionism/Kingdom Now” theology imply? Here’s a quote from his book Political Polytheism.
The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church’s public marks of the covenant – baptism and holy communion – must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel. The way to achieve this political goal is through successful mass evangelism followed by constitutional revision.
O
Agnes Ozman
(1870-1937) The first person to allegedly receive "the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues" in the "Pentecostal movement" that began in 1900. She was at the Bethel Bible School led by Charles Parham in Topeka, Kansas. Parham later recorded that on December 31, 1900, he laid hands on her and prayed that she would receive "the baptism" and "speak in tongues." And she allegedly immediately began "speaking in the Chinese tongue."
P
Former minister with the Worldwide Church of God. Founded the Restored Church of God in 1999. Considers himself to be the only mouthpiece of God on Earth today. Rules his organization with an iron hand, and demands extreme financial and other sacrifices from his small group of followers to support his megalomania. Sample quotes from a November, 2007 sermon to the Faithful:
"Go get a big chunk out of your home. And put your money where your mouth is and send it here. And I'm not talking about one, two, three thousand either. How about ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, or one hundred thousand dollars? Go do it"
"Wives, you can be independent in this. You have 1/2 the worth of whatever you have in your house. I'm officially telling you this...Wives, legally you have the 1/2 the funds. What are you going to do about it?...Husbands...'well, my wife is not in the church'...tell her...'you don't have a voice woman' "
…Let us know how much you plan to send and when you plan to send it...You must be willing to communicate...If you do need to counsel, please do that...If you are not ready to distribute what you have...you don't believe the flow of prophecy"
"This is announcing the last blast, the clarion call as it were, to finish the work...Whether it is 4,5,7, 9 years to go, God knows...This is liquidating assets...I have the authority to tell you to do it...I have the moral and spiritual, and ecclesiastical authority to tell you to do what I have also done"
"Get it now when it requires faith...when you are dead you don't need it...if you named us in your wills, it can take us months or years to get it"
More details on Pack’s ministry, including more quotes, are available in the WCG Family Tree section of the Field Guide.
J I Packer
Anglican teacher and prolific writer. Author, contributing author, or editor of over 140 books, a number of them considered "classics" in the field of popular Christian/inspirational writing. Has been Senior Editor of Christianity Today magazine.
Luis Palau
International evangelist who has patterned his highly successful ministry after that of Billy Graham. Born in Argentina, he moved to the US as a young man, attended Multnomah School of the Bible, and began a career in public evangelism in the 1960s. Although his ministry is centered in the US, his evangelical efforts in South America have earned him the nick-name "the Billy Graham of South America." The main thrust of his ministry since 1999 has been what are called "Festivals," large, free evangelistic extravaganzas held in metropolitan areas, described on his website:
Envision the biggest party you’ve ever attended. Multiply attendance by 100 or even 1,000. Now add two full days of live concerts by popular musicians, a children’s area, a community care area, a skate park featuring professional, world-class skateboarding, BMX and FMX demos, a food court, and opportunities to see your friends and family come to Jesus Christ. That, my friend, is a Luis Palau festival. Add in a Season of Service in the weeks leading up to the festival, and a strategy for continuing, long-term community impact, and you begin to see the whole picture.
These free, family-friendly events have drawn more than 8.5 million people since 1999 in such diverse locations as Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (300,000), Nashville, Tennessee (90,000), Houston, Texas (225,000), Manchester, England (55,000), Lima, Peru (650,000) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (850,000).
These festivals are sponsored by local churches in the area around where the festival will be held, with plans taking up to two years to put in place. As with Billy Graham, Palau's version of the Gospel is so "doctrinally neutral" that it is not uncommon to find such diverse groups as Roman Catholics, Charismatics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Nazarenes, and more cooperating in bringing Palau's Festival to town.
Rod Parsley
Word Faith televangelist. Pastor of independent Charismatic World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, which supports Parsley's Breakthrough television show and associatedBreakthrough Ministry. Particularly noticeable for his Old-time-fire-and-brimstone, flamboyant, bombastic, dripping-sweat preaching style which is full of gratuitous theatrical posturing and gesturing and lots of "oratorical devices" such as catchy phrases emphasizing alliteration of sounds.
A detailed overview of the history of Parsley and his ministry, with an evaluation of some of his specific teachings in light of the scriptures, is available at
Rod Parsley: The Raging Prphet–”Breaking Through” His Unorthodox Doctrine and Practice
Earl Paulk
(1927-2009) Referred to in his own circles as "Bishop Earl Paulk." He was the foremost popular preacher in the Kingdom Now movement, and one of those men recognized in the Modern Apostles and Prophets movement as a bonafide modern prophet. He was Pastor and chief "prophet" of the independent Charismatic Cathedral at Chapel Hill (formerlyChapel Hill Harvester Church) in Decatur, Georgia.
Paulk was embroiled in 2001 in an ongoing scandal involving allegations of numerous incidents of sexual misconduct including adultery and child molestation on the part of Paulk and others on the staff of the Cathedral. Serious accusations continued to be featured in news reports about Paulk's ministry for years and contributed to the replacement of Paulk as Senior Pastor of the church by his nephew Donnie E. Paulk in August 2006. At that point, Paulk's regular TV program, normally broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network and on the Internet, disappeared from the broadcast schedules.
In 2007, Donnie E Paulk shocked the congregation when he revealed that he had discovered through DNA testing that he was not Earl Paulk’s nephew, as he had believed all his life. He was his son. Earl Paulk had engaged in an affair with his brother Don’s wife, and Donnie was the result.
Court cases involving Paulk’s alleged immorality continued up until his death from cancer in March 2009.
Peter Popoff
Former popular Word Faith television evangelist, part of the Healing Ministries Movement, who was exposed as a fraud in 1987. He claimed to have an astounding "gift of the word of knowledge" whereby he would call "complete strangers" out of the audience at healing crusades and reveal personal details about them and their ailments.
A team of investigators led by James Randi discovered that associates of Popoff would actually gather information about those in the audience before the meetings began, note it down in writing and give it to Popoff's wife. She would then sit in a trailer outside the meeting hall in front of a television monitor showing the audience. And when the meeting began, she would broadcast information to a hidden transmitter in Popoff's ear, identifying for him people in the audience that he could call up for his "performance," and feeding him information about them that he could use to astound them and the audience. Randi appeared on TV and played for a live audience a recording his investigators had made of Popoff's wife's voice broadcasting such information to him.
This revelation destroyed his ministry at the time. Astonishingly, however, Popoff has evidently resurrected his ministry, and now has a website promoting it again, including offers for a number of Word Faith books he has written, and descriptions of his new TV program, international crusades and more. The TV programs are basically paid infomercials.
The Wikipedia article on Popoff details a litany of his further escapades all the way up to today:
“As of May 2011, Popoff has late night commercials on US channels advertising Miracle Water and Supernatural Debt Elimination.”
Frederick K C Price
One of the most popular Black Word Faith televangelists. Protégé of Kenneth Hagin, alumni of Hagin's Rhema Bible Institute. Pastor of Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles, California, which supports his Ever Increasing Faith broadcasts and ministry.
More details on Price’s ministry and teachings:
Is “The Price is Right?” Or is the Price wrong?
Sample typical quotes from Price:
He also promotes the myth that Jesus was very rich and incorporates this into his theology of why every believer should be rich. “The whole point is I'm trying to get you to see-to get you out of this malaise of thinking that Jesus and the disciples were poor and then relating that to you thinking that you, as a child of God, have to follow Jesus. The Bible says that He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. That's the reason why I drive a Rolls Royce. I'm following Jesus' steps.”
…Price is so proud of what he got in “ Jesus' name” that he boasts to his congregation “I’ve got 25 million dollars in my financial statement, free and clear I have no debt, I live in a 25 room mansion, I have my own 6 million dollar yacht, I have my own private jet and I have my own helicopter and I have 7 luxury automobiles so I never get board having to drive the same car more than one time in any given week”
Derek Prince
One of the founders of the controversial so-called "Shepherding Movement" of theCharismatic renewal of the 1970s, along with Ern Baxter, Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford, and Don Basham.
A detailed overview of the Shepherding Movement and these five men is available on the Seek God website.
R
James Randi
Former professional stage magician ("The Amazing Randi") who has used his knowledge of sleight-of-hand and other magic tricks in recent decades to expose the deceptive and unscrupulous methods of some evangelists, such as Peter Popoff. His James Randi Educational Foundation also deals in investigating non-religious claims of paranormal abilities, pseudo-scientific gadgets, etc., such as the "spoon-bending" of Russian Uri Geller.
Bill Randles
Founder and pastor of Believers In Grace Fellowship. Pentecostal author who writes excellent in-depth critical refutations of what he believes to be serious aberrations promoted by leading teachers in the Hyper-Charismatic Movement.
The following books by Randles can be ordered on the Believers in Grace website
Making War in the Heavenlies (re: "spiritual warfare")
Weighed and Found Wanting (re: the "Toronto Blessing")
Beware of the New Prophets (re: "Modern Apostles and Prophets")
Mending the Nets (re: Modern Gnosticism)
Opal Reddin
Pentecostal author whose writings emphasize critical evaluation of the Spiritual Warfare movement and the Ecumenical movement within Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. Reddin was for many years a professor of the Assemblies of God Central Bible College. A condensation of much of the information in her best-known book Power Encounter: A Pentecostal Perspective (Opal L. Reddin, editor, revised edition, © 1999) can be read online on the Discernment Newsletter website.
Oral Roberts
(1918-2009) Pioneer "healing" televangelist. He was the first to broadcast tent healing services on the fledgling television medium in the early 1950s. He popularized the concept of the term seed faith, encouraging his audiences to believe that, if they "sowed a seed" of financial contributions to his ministry, they would reap financial and health blessings from God.
He founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which opened in 1965. The Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association currently produces the daily "Something Good Tonight--Hour of Healing" TV program which is hosted by Roberts' son Richard Roberts. Oral Roberts was an active part of the Healing Ministries movement and Word Faith movement. And he endorsed and participated in activities which promoted the Toronto Blessing and the Holy Laughter movement.
A 1985 book review of a biography of Roberts, investigating the history of his ministry and evaluating some of his claims, can be seen online:
The Life and Ministry of Oral Roberts
Some interesting quotes from Roberts can be seen at:
“By Your Words”: Quotes from Third Wave Leaders
Patti Roberts, first wife of Oral Roberts' son Richard, wrote a 1983 book, Ashes to Gold, about her experiences in the Roberts' clan before her divorce from Richard. In it she shared her perspective on the "seed faith" doctrine as taught by Oral:
"The seed-faith theology that Oral had developed bothered me a great deal because I saw that, when taken to its natural extremes, it reduced God to a sugar daddy. If you wanted His blessings and His love, you paid Him off. Over and over again we heard Oral say, 'Give out of your need.' I began to question the motivation that kind of giving implied. Were we giving to God out of our love and gratitude to Him or were we bartering with Him?" (p.63)
"The distinction may appear to be too subtle and I know Oral thought I was splitting hairs, but it seemed supremely important to me. If we give to God because we think that by giving we have somehow placed Him in our debt and He is now required to come through for us and meet our needs, we have, I believe, perverted the heart of the gospel. Our only motive for giving should be love. When we encourage people to give in order to have their needs met or so that they will receive "a hundred fold return" I believe we are appealing to their sense of greed or desperation, neither of which seemed admirable to me. It was a wonderful fund-raising tool, but I believe it gave people a very unbalanced view of a very important biblical principle.
At the time I was taking a humanities course from the university and my professor was discussing Martin Luther and the Reformation. When we started looking at the abuses in the Catholic church that Luther had wanted to reform, I began to see parallels in our situation. Luther was incensed by the church's practice of selling indulgences - offering forgiveness of sin and a shorter period of time in purgatory in return for gifts to the church. I had a very difficult time distinguishing between the selling of indulgences and the concept of Seed Faith inflated to the degree to which we had inflated it. Of course, Oral was more subtle. He never promised salvation in exchange for gifts to his ministry, but there were still many people who believed that God was going to look at them in a kindlier way and perhaps that son would get off drugs or they would get their drunken husband into heaven if they gave money to Oral Roberts." (p. 120,121)
Richard Roberts
Son of pioneer healing televangelist Oral Roberts. Before his father’s death, Richard had taken over as CEO of Oral Roberts University and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. He is the host of the OREA's television program, "Something Good Tonight--Hour of Healing." He is an active part of the Healing Ministries movement and Word Faith movement. And he endorses and participates in activities which promote the Toronto Blessing and the Holy Laughter movement.
A 1983 book by Roberts' first wife Patti, Ashes to Gold, gave an interesting glimpse into the inner workings of the Roberts empire. A telling quote from that book:
"I know a lot of people were blessed and sincerely ministered to by what we sang on TV, and by what we said - but the overall picture, I’m afraid, seemed to say, ‘If you follow our formula, you’ll be like us,’ rather than, ‘If you do what Jesus says, you’ll be like Him.’ It was certainly more exciting to follow us, because to follow us was to identify with success, with glamor, with a theology that made everything good and clean and well-knit together. To identify with Jesus, however, meant to identify with the cross."
Pat Robertson
Founder (1960) of the first US Christian television network, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Robertson is the host of CBN's "flagship" program, "700 Club." He is also founder of Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, and the American Center for Law and Justice, described on his website as "a public interest law firm and education group that defends the First Amendment rights of people of faith. The law firm focuses on pro-family, pro-liberty and pro-life cases nationwide."
Because Robertson often focuses on political or prophetic topics in his broadcasts, many viewers are not aware that his basic theological positions are squarely in the middle of the Charismatic Word Faith camp. He also promotes the Toronto Blessingand Holy Laughter movements.
Useful documentation on his ministry can be seen at the following link. Please note that linking to this site does not indicate a blanket endorsement of the opinions and evaluations of the author of the material there. But the documentation can stand on its own, and the reader can come to his/her own conclusions regarding the significance of the facts as weighed against the teachings of the Bible.
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/robertson/general.htm
Self-styled (but non-Jewish) "Messianic Rabbi" who predicted dogmatically in 2000 that the Day of the Lord would begin that year on the Feast of Trumpets. Extensively promotes the Hebrew Roots movement concepts. (Click on name for longer profile elsewhere in the Field Guide.)
Sid Roth
Messianic Jewish host of Messianic Vision, nationally syndicated radio, TV and publishing ministry. His radio programs feature interviews with an extremely wide variety of teachers, preachers, prophetic wannabees, promoters of theological novelties such as the Bible Codes, and much more. Roth is particularly influential in four different religious circles: his ministry provides "Messianic" material aimed at "sharing the Gospel with Jews," emphasizes Hebrew Roots study topics for non-Jewish Christians, promotes a variety of speculative prophecy teachers in the End Times Prophecy movement, and promotes the manifestations of the more radical fringes of the Charismatic movement such as Holy Laughter and the Toronto Blessing.
Rousas Rushdoony
(1916-2001) Considered the father of the Christian Reconstruction/ Kingdom Now movement. Father-in-law of Gary North.
Bible teacher of the 1800s and early 1900s who created the magazine Zion's Watchtower and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, the precursor to the Watchtower magazine of theJehovah's Witnesses of today. Author of many articles and books used as part of the doctrinal foundation of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Writings also accepted by a number of rival groups to the Jehovah's Witnesses, such as the Dawn Bible Students, as their primary doctrinal foundation.
(Click on Russel's name above for a major profile of the Watchtower movement, including details about Russell.)
Head of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and dictatorial leader of the Jehovah's Witnesses movement after the death of Charles Taze Russell. Coined the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" for the movement. (Click on Rutherford's name above for a major profile on the Jehovah's Witness movement, including details about Rutherford.)
James Ryle
Vineyard leader, Pastor and mentor of Bill McCartney (founder of the Promise Keepers movement). Viewed by some as a "prophet." Prophesied, among other extremely unusual things, that the Beatles got their musical gift from God.
An extremely enlightening correspondence between Ryle and his ministry and a researcher gathering information regarding this unusual claim, is available:
Promise Keepers and James Ryle
[ Return to alphabetic index ]
S
Jerry Savelle
Popular Word Faith preacher, teacher and author. Founder of Jerry Savelle Ministries International and host of the Adventures in Faith weekly TV program. Savelle is a disciple of Kenneth Copeland, and is primarily a regurgitator of the standard Word Faith (healing and prosperity) teachings of Copeland and other long-time Word Faith teachers, rather than an innovator in any way in either content or delivery style.
Robert Schuller
Founder and pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California and televangelist on the Hour of Power television program. Although Schuller started out as an ordained minister of the Reformed Church, the "Gospel" that he now preaches has little in common with either that denomination or most of the rest of Christianity.
He has abandoned almost any reference to such standard Biblical themes as sin, repentance, regeneration, salvation or the central role of Jesus as Lord and Savior, other than in name only. For the central point of his message is the importance of human self-esteem. The teacher who most influenced his own perspective on religion was fellow Reformed minister Norman Vincent Peale, and his Power of Positive Thinking theme. Schuller embellished on Peale's teachings and dubbed his own version " Possiblity Thinking." And he does not just "add" some positive/possibility encouragement and inspirational messages to standard Gospel preaching. He has abandoned virtually all Biblical theology to re-create God in the image of his own "success motivation" paradigm.
Although he uses terms that sound biblical, he gives them his own idiosyncratic definitions, which twist their meaning almost beyond recognition. And although for some strange reason he is accepted with open arms in many Protestant Christian settings, including in particular the Charismatic movement, his theology is so eclectic and ecumenical that he can just as easily cooperate with Roman Catholics, Muslims, Unitarians and just about any other group.
Documentation:
Catholic connections:
Robert Schuller: General Teachings/Activities
In 1972, Schuller "invited Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen to his pulpit and joined with Catholic bishops at their Mass at the Annual Mary's Hour at the Los Angeles Sports Arena" (David Beale, S.B.C. House on the Sand, p. 144). During the Pope's visit to Los Angeles in 1987, Schuller "played the papal hoopla on [his church's] giant-sized screen for people to come watch." Schuller said: "It's time for Protestants to go to the shepherd [Pope] and say 'what do we have to do to come home?'" (11/15/87,Calvary Contender). When Schuller was planning for the building of his Crystal Cathedral, he made a special trip to Rome to ask the Pope's blessing on the building plans (Foundation, March-April 1990).
Muslim connections:
Chicago Tribune, 11/2/2001
Schuller's first interaction with a Muslim group came four years ago, when Mohammed invited him to give the opening sermon at the Muslim American Society's New Jersey convention. And in 1999, he was asked by the grand mufti of Syria to preach in Damascus.
"When I met the grand mufti ... I sensed the presence of God," he wrote in his autobiography.
The two men, he said, focused on similarities, not differences.
"We didn't discuss theological details that might distract us ... from hearing the voice of a crying child," he said.
Nor did they talk about whether non-Christians were going to hell.
"In a world with crying children we have no time," he said.
"The purpose of religion is not to say, 'I have all the answers, and my job is to convert you.' That road leads to the Twin Towers. That attitude is an invitation to extremists," he said.
After Sept. 11, he said, the emphasis should move from proselytizing "to just trying to help everybody who had hurts and hopes."
Some sample typical quotes from Schuller's classic book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, 1982:
Self-Esteem:
Self-esteem then, or "pride in being a human being," is the single greatest need facing the human race today.
I strongly suggest that self-love is the ultimate will of man¾ that what you really want more than anything else in the world is the awareness that you are a worthy person.
Do not fear pride: the easiest job God has is to humble us. God's almost impossible task is to keep us believing every hour of every day how great we are as his sons and daughters on planet earth.
Sin:
I am convinced that the deepest of all human needs is salvation from sin and hell .... We come now to the problem of semantics. What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of his children of their right to divine dignity.
I could offer another complementing answer, "Sin is that deep lack of trust that separates me from God and leaves me with a sense of shame and unworthiness." I can offer still another answer: "Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem. "
Any analysis of "sin" or "evil"... that fails to see the lack of self-dignity as the core of the problem will prove to be too shallow. Classical Reformed Theology declares that we are conceived and born rebellious sinners. But that answer is too shallow. It ignores the tough question: Why should love-needing persons resist, rebel against, and reject beautiful love? The answer? We are born nontrusting. Deep down we feel we are not good enough to approach a holy God.
Jesus' view of sinners:
He never did call them "sinners." He saw great possibilities in each of these men. How He tried to give them the sense of self-worth and dignity that they deserved! After all, they were human beings, descendants of God.
Christ always tried to give man's self-image a boost. When he met immoral people He never called them sinners. Never!
He believed in the dignity of the individual. So He never called a person a sinner. He always saw the individual as a saint.
"Take up your cross":
"The classical interpretation of this teaching of Christ on 'bearing our cross' desperately needs reformation...."
"The cross Christ calls us to bear will be offered as a dream... an inspiring idea that would incarnate itself in a form of ministry that helps the self-esteem-impoverished persons to discover their self-worth through salvation and subsequent social service in our Savior's name..."
"So the proclamation of possibility thinking is the positive proclamation of the cross!..."
"Christ was the world's greatest possibility thinker. Do we dare follow him?"
These and other quotations can be seen at:
A New Reformation? The Faulty Gospel of Robert Schuller
Another website with an extended overview and evaluation of Schuller's ministry:
Robert Schuller: General Teachings/Activities
John Scotland
Evangelist from Liverpool, England who is a major player in the Toronto Blessing and Holy Laughter movement. His main claim to fame is the selection of incredible video clips available on the Internet of some his "drunk in the spirit" pulpit shenanigans from the Toronto Airport Fellowship meetings . In these he behaves no differently from someone literally drunk on alcohol, complete with ignorant, ludicrous manifestations such as crowing like a rooster right in the middle of reading the scriptures. He ... and his apologists ... claim that this behavior is proof that he is powerfully under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Here is a transcript of portions of his performance ...
"Ok before we take off, clapping, lets get the reading done. Luke, LUKE. (Laughing) Chapter TWOOOOOOO. I tell you what... Lets look at chapter 1. Settle down please, Ladies and Gentlemen! Luke chapter 1 and verse 5. Lets go back to the reading... Luke chapter 1 verse, verse, verse, Chockadodaldoooo. Oh dear, haahah. Luke chapter 1 verse CHOCKADODALDO. For those of you having difficulty with that manifestation like myself... That's a wake up call. Zacharius was in the sanctuary when, ZACHARI. Zacharius was a member of the Dubabupida. Division. service corpse. One day Zacharius was going about his work in the temple Cockadodaldoo. Verse 10. praying, PRAYING!! for I have come to the god has herd your prayer WOW... WOWWWWW. God hears PRAYER! Verse 14 ladies and gentlemen, settle down now, settle down."
"... you know I . WOWHOO. I've been going through different stages of drunkenness. and the stage I'm at, at the moment is Slouching. I've gone through the hick up stage. I've gone through the phase of heckling the preachers. um. I am a sign and a wonder. When a prophet told me there was an anointing for me coming pre-1994, I thought great. But when that anointing came, it came in a package I didn't expect. It came in a package of offence. I've come to the conclusion that my gift is offending people. what can you do? You know I mean. I think Christians are to sensitive anyway you know, always winging. but it is a gift. I don't need to even say anything. um. I SHOT THE SHERIFF. AND I SHOT THE DEPUTY TOO! WOW, the sheriff is legalism. and the deputy is religion.(cheering) Um. that's good isn't it? that's copyrighted now. you can't copy it. heheh. I didn't ask for this. no I didn't. The problem was when I came through the doors November 1994. And the Lord said to me, "What do you want John"? I said I want to get drunk. I just forgot to tell him how long. Now I don't mind being drunk. Its great. But I said to the Lord. I don't like looking drunk, you know your eyes get blood shot. and he said to me. John, You see some of think God doesn't talk like that but he's very, he is a fun God. Lets get the fun back into church. And he said John, you see the rock stars on breakfast TV, they always wear sunglasses. so he said get yourself a pair of sunglasses. I call these glasses glory shades. I'm sure Moses would have worn them if they had them in the old testament. Whoahhh, Now hang in please, hang in. fasten your seat belt. we may have a bit of turbulence tonight. and you might want to run, but hang on in. lets go back to the reading."
Much more can be not only read but seen on video in The John Scotland Video Collection
Demos Shakarian
Pentecostal layman who founded in 1951 the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI). The FGBMFI was instrumental in introducing the practices and beliefs of the old-time Pentecostals into "respectable" circles, thus paving the way for the rise of the current Charismatic movement. To understand the full impact of this, see the Field Guide entry on the difference between the terms Pentecostal and Charismatic.
Charles Simpson
One of the founders of the controversial so-called "Shepherding Movement" of the Charismatic renewal of the 1970s, along with Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, Don Basham, and Ern Baxter.
A detailed overview of the Shepherding Movement and these five men is available on the Seek God website.
Orthodox Jewish rabbi who is the most prominent apologist for Judaism against Christianity. Founded a ministry called Outreach Judaism which distributes his tapes and writings on "disproving" the Messianic claims of Jesus. These are widely circulated in both Jewish circles and in some ex-Christian circles.(Click on Singer's name above for more details on his influence within ex-Christian circles.)
Chuck Smith
Founder and senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel Church of Costa Mesa, California and teacher on the nationwide radio program The Word for Today. Smith was one of the earliest pastoral supporters of the "Jesus Movement" of the late 1960s and early 1970s. His Calvary Chapel Church, started in 1965 with only 25 people, is now the central headquarters church in a Calvary Chapel movement which has hundreds of affiliated churches around the world.
The late John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement association of churches, was at one time a pastor of a Calvary Chapel affiliate, breaking with Smith's organization in 1977. The Calvary Chapel movement is charismatic in many ways, but rejected some of the more flamboyant of the charismatic manifestations that were beginning to be promoted by Wimber and others who helped establish the earliest Vineyard chuches.
As with many such Charismatic organizations founded by men with strong personalities, the leadership model of the Calvary Chapel Churches is one of tight control from the top down both on the national level and on the individual congregational level.
Radio evangelist, editor of the Newswatch magazine and head of the Church of God Evangelistic Association. Former member of the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W Armstrong. Self-styled primary spokesman for God on earth today. Broadcasts, sermon tapes, and writings emphasize world news events as fulfillment of Bible prophecy, with particular emphasis on the British Israel theory. (Click on Smith's name above to go to a more extensive profile.)
(1805-1844) Nineteenth Century founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. (Click on Smith's name above to go to a more extensive profile.)
Elbert Eugene Spriggs
Founder and self-proclaimed super-apostle of the Twelve Tribes Messianic Communities, over which he evidently has total authoritarian control. Below him are other apostles, and then levels of elders and deacons--who are also to be obeyed without question by all in the local communities. As of 2001, there were approximately 2,500 people reported living in 25+ such communities in the Northeastern US, Missouri, Colorado, Canada, Australia, Europe (France, Spain, Germany, England), and South America (Brazil, Argentina).
As with many founders/leaders of exclusivist, authoritarian groups, Spriggs has proclaimed that he has restored "true" Biblical faith, which has been missing from the world for 1900 years. One former member described the level of commitment necessary to join the group this way:
"To enter salvation you must....
Give up all your possessions to The Body (not to charity - like monks, etc.)
Give up your spouse and children if they don't come with you.
Give up your mind and all your opinions.
Obey the elders and shepherds without question.
Give up your parents and relatives and only visit them (with permission) if they do not oppose The Body.
Give up any dreams or aspirations you ever had.
Give up all previous spiritual faith/beliefs/practices.
Publically renounce Christianity, if you were heavily involved in it.
Become a literal slave with no rights, no civil liberties of any kind.. Freedom of movement, Education, Media access, Freedom of religion, Etc. it's all gone."
The most complete description of the group is probably the material at the site of the New England Institute for Religious Research. The site authors note that they had been studying the group since 1994 when they were contacted by a woman attempting to leave the group:
That encounter began an odyssey for us that has involved literally thousands of hours of research and investigation as we have tried to understand this relatively "new religious movement." We have not taken this lightly and have tried to leave "no stone unturned" in seeking to understand this group. We have visited seven of their communities numerous times (Bellows Falls and Island Pond, Vermont; Boston and Hyannis, Massachusetts; and Providence, Rhode Island; Gorham, Maine; Buffalo, New York), interviewed at least 75 current members, members who left and came back to the group, a variety of other "friends " of the Community, close to two dozen ex-members from around the country, distressed relatives of current members, law enforcement officials, lawyers, newspaper reporters and university academics. We studied all the written data we could find including hundreds of news articles dating back to the early '70's in Chattanooga, Tennessee where the group began. We gathered court records, reports from various government agencies, and correspondence to and from the group. We have also collected their own printed materials...Freepapers, InterTribal News, booklets, tracts and other works produced for the public's consumption. Finally, but most significantly, many people gave us hundreds of the "teachings" of their "apostle," without which it would have been difficult to put all that we have found into perspective.
We decided to put our research into writing and on the Web for four reasons. First, there is literally nothing written on Twelve Tribes that is helpful in understanding who they are, how they began, and what they believe. Second, their impact belies the actual size of the group. Third, it has become very evident, upon reviewing all that we have learned, that many lives have been devastated by involvement with Twelve Tribes. Fourth, they are a classic study of how a group begins with the best of intentions but, over time, evolves into something far different than what was originally intended. The "apostle" of the group, Elbert Eugene Spriggs, essentially has a "direct pipeline" to God and no real accountability. This is a very dangerous combination in any situation.
Another helpful overview of the history, teachings and practices of the Twelve Tribes group can be seen on the archival location of the Religious Movements site of the University of Virginia.
And a large collection of articles and documentation regarding Spriggs and the Twelve Tribes group can be seen on the Rick Ross Institute site.
Radio evangelist on the Overcomer broadcast, self-styled "God's Last Day Prophet to America." Dictatorial, authoritarian founder and leader of several Overcomer Communities where followers live in a communal lifestyle. Recently embroiled in scandal involving serious allegations of sexual and other abuse by Stair, which has resulted in a significant proportion of the residents of the Overcomer Communities defecting from the organization.(Click on Stair's name above to go to a more extensive profile.)
Vinson Synan
Historian who has, more than any other modern author, methodically chronicled the rise of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement in America. He was originally ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness denomination, later served as General Secretary for that group. He has been Dean of the School of Divinity at Regent University (institution founded by televangelist Pat Robertson) since 1994.
Unlike many authors in the Pentecostal tradition, Synan holds an earned PhD, from the University of Georgia. Among his books are The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal, 1901-2001 (Thomas Nelson), The Old-Time Power (Centennial Edition), and Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition (Eerdmans).
Continue on to the listing of entries T through Z
Unless otherwise noted, all original material on this Field Guide website
is © 2001-2011 by Pamela Starr Dewey.
Careful effort has been made to give credit as clearly as possible to any specific material quoted or ideas extensively adapted from any one resource. Corrections and clarifications regarding citations for any source material are welcome, and will be promptly added to any sections which are found to be inadequately documented as to source.