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New President of Evangel

5 January 2009
Greetings in the Name of Our LORD Jesus Christ,

Anyone associated with the Assemblies of God's inner circle knows that President Spence's time left at Evangel is much shorter than his time already spent there. Not because of anything he's done badly or that A/G leadership has him on probation. Quite the contrary; they all love him to death. No, it is simply because President Spence had intended to retire this very month! Now I hear that he has extended for a few years with the prerogative to step down whenever he wishes. The stage was set long ago: when the administrative building was built, and the staff moved in, President Spence would have achieved his legacy of replacing all the barracks buildings on campus and have a sparkling, classically beautiful campus to present to his successor. I drive by the campus on domestic errands rather frequently ... it IS beautiful.

On the outside. The question is, what is happening to Evangel on the inside? That is where God looks (if you remember the story of Samuel examining each of Jesse's sons as the possible successor to King Saul).

Let me say that I have no evidence to prove what I am about to say. It is surmise. However, whether I am right or wrong on my guess is not the point. Rather the guess will illustrate the larger point. Here it is: I believe that George Wood has mentored Jim Bradford NOT to be the pastor of Central Assembly of God; but, rather that Central would be a holding tank until President Robert Spence retired. Then, George Wood will announce his nomination of Jim Bradford as his candidate for the presidency of our flagship liberal arts university. And on paper, who would be more qualified than Jim Bradford? He is his doctoral degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He actually IS a rocket scientist! Anyone care to throw their degree up against his? Most of us can't even pronounce a lot of the words he used in his thesis. And to top it off, he is the current pastor of the flagship church of the denomination. What a resume! What could possibly be wrong with that? Who can argue with those credentials?

I will. Not with his amazing outside credentials. But with his inside credentials. See my articles on this web site entitled "Why Pastor Why?" and "Contemplative Prayer Seminars at Central Assembly". At the time I wrote the first article, I suspected that my former pastor was at least a Rick Warren dupe. How could he be implementing all these Rick Warren things in my church without having been to either Rick Warren's school of "deeds versus creeds (Bible)" or Rick Warren's spiritual father, Robert Schuler's school of leadership? Bradford pastored in California at a mega church -- Warren and Schuler both pastor famous mega churches also in California. NOW, more recent members of Central Assembly report to me that he hosted a Willow Creek 40 days of prayer seminar and a top-dollar contemplative prayer advocate -- ”Brennan Manning--is scheduled for another seminar at Central on January 30th of this year. See Pastor Bradford's ringing endorsement of Mr. Manning on the Central website! My suspicions have more than been confirmed. My old pastor has just invited a wolf to come right on into the sheepfold! I will remind my readers that contemplative prayer is merely the 21st century name for Hinduism's Transcendental Meditation (TM). Not too long ago, the church universally condemned TM as a practice whose effect”though not advertised to rookie practitioners” was to clear one's mind to allow demons to come in and set up house. Contemplative prayer does exactly the same thing. Isaiah and Jeremiah, and all the other prophets, prophesied Gods exceptionally harsh judgment (wives being raped, children's heads being dashed against stones, husbands having their eyes put out, sons being turned into eunuchs [castrated]) for the exact same things that are happening at Central Assembly. Jim Bradford has polluted the sanctuary of God's house. NOTE: Mr. Manning regularly contradicts Scripture in his writings such as "The Ragamuffin Gospel" and "The Signature of Jesus. For instance, in TRG, he directly contradicts Revelation 14:9-11, by saying on page 21, "And he [Christ] will say to us: 'Vile beings, you who are in the image of the beast and bear his mark but come all the same, you as well.'"

And George Wood has mentored Jim Bradford to become the next president of Evangel? Or, someone just like him? What is George Wood thinking here? Is he also a believer in or exceptionally high-up, A/G dupe of the New Age? And here is the summation of my larger point: how many generations of Evangel students will be duped into believing Rick Warren's false gospel and thinking that practicing the demonic Hindu habit of contemplative prayer (transcendental meditation) with these kind of men at the helm?

If you read this article, and you do nothing about it, God will judge you for your indifference to the infiltration of evil into our fellowship. Jim Bradford, God will judge you for what you have already done at Central. May God have mercy on your soul if you become the next president at Evangel! And George Wood, you are the "king" of the Assemblies of God. God will judge you for all the evil that you have personally imported into our fellowship from the Left Coast (re: your personal friends Robert Schuler and Rick Warren) of our formerly great country. And He will judge you for all the evil that you have allowed to enter our fellowship as part of the inner court of the A/G for these past few decades. Repent before it is eternally too late!

How true we see the Apostle Paul's words in his famous "in the last days perilous times will come" chapter to Timothy, when he says in II Timothy 3:7-8, "Ever learning, and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."

God help me not to be swept away in my old age into unbelief like King Solomon (the king whom you blessed with everything and yet he had to whore after the gods of his many foreign wives)! I cannot do this in my own strength. As a sinner saved by Your Grace, I need You and Your WORD every day. God, please help our A/G leaders to say the same,

Brother Mike

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