Mishel. I so much appreciate this inside look at the world of Rick Joyner. His book, The Final Quest, precipitated my departure from my old A/G church a few years ago.

I had been teaching in my church for over 20 years and had recently become an elder (in 2003). By 2005 I was living and teaching in happy ignorance of the powerful and dangerous influences besetting the Charismatic world and my own life.

When I came to the Lord in 1975, the Bible became my great love instantly. Due to my newness and hunger, I also devoured many books. Their impact on me was powerful but I hardly suspected their real effect. Instead of the sincere milk of the Word, a lot of leaven had entered my life from the get-go.

The warnings of Scripture to beware of men, wolves, false prophets and teachers, sadly, carried no weight for me for many years. Surely, I, and those under my charge, were in no danger: Satan could be rebuked at will and sent fleeing with a mere command from one of The King's Kids under the anointing. His minions whom he transformed into ministers of righteousness were even less of a threat and could be detected miles off from our perch on the watchtower. The only deceptions we needed be concerned about were the obvious quasi-Christian cults. They were no problem to inspect and reject. Certainly, no one in our Charismatic camp was a threat. In fact, they were the lead watchmen. As one of them, Rick Joyner's materials were occasionally part of the reading in our church even among the leadership. But, thankfully, even then, I could discern a "flavor" to it that raised a small, yellow flag in my mind.

It is part of the Charismatic/Pentecostal cultural arrogance that we who prided ourselves on having deeper understanding of the Spirit and operated in His supernatural endowments, knew the least about His real work and Truth. Satan, whom we considered under our feet, was devouring us with his mighty teeth. His roar was not so much frightening as it was enchanting, like the Song of the Sirens was to the hapless sailors in Greek Mythology. We were being seduced by adulterous teachings away from the apostolic truth that kept us spiritually virginal. I did not realize then that the power of Satan's bite was his words. It was by his words that he was devouring us, not by overt acts of power. He counted on our carnality, pride and spiritual ignorance to get all those anointed books into our Spirit-filled hands. (Lest anyone misunderstand, I acknowledge that some books are edifying; but their number is relatively low, IMO.)

Well, in August of 2005, the Lord brought deliverance to me. The roof of the house of cards I lived in for so long fell on me finally; and I was free. Our church librarian had given me the book "The Final Quest." She had mixed feelings about it: one the one hand, many things in it inspired her and on the other, she felt left out. As a teaching elder, she wanted me to read it and give her my response. I wasn't long into it when I realized with perfect clarity that the book was a work of blasphemous deception. In it, Joyner's dead acquaintance claimed to have his resurrected body now (the resurrection is past). Paul the apostle discredits his own work as not worthy of being foundational truths, but were mere elaborations on Jesus' words (His writings were really a human work). Angels bow to Joyner. They salute him and call him "Sir." Joyner relieves them of their naivete (poor things). The original apostles look to Joyner and his ilk as their heroes. Joyner solves puzzles in heaven that stump angels. Joyner seemingly jolts Jesus with a question. Anyone who criticizes him is a vomit-eating, demon-ridden failing Christian. It goes on. Sprinkled among these incredible declarations are the inspirational statements that hook the unsuspecting.

After looking through this book, the scales fell off my eyes. I took a good look at our Charismatic world for the first time. I was both stunned and abashed - stunned that this was going on under my very nose and abashed that I had accepted a certain amount of this without question and that I had not done my job of protecting the flock from such flagrant predators. With great zeal and eagerness of spirit, I repented. I set out to expose these deceivers at work in our midst. I researched a good sampling of the TV ministers and popular authors. I saw them in a new light. They had reworked the Message enough to peddle it. I came to realize that anyone who was rich off the gospel was a wolf, for the real gospel never made anyone rich. It too often made them dead.

My campaign finally earned me a talking-to by the senior pastor. He told me to stop naming names. It disturbed the peace he worked so hard to maintain in our motley assortment of refugees from other local churches. That order brought me to a crisis of conscience. Obey the Pastor or obey the Word. That was a no-brainer. I would not continue to work against him in his own church. I left as quietly as I knew how. Later I began a home study and fellowship which is still continuing.

The popularity of The Final Quest shows just how easy it is to deceive the sheep. God help them! It is a book that belongs in the Sci-Fi section of a secular book store, it's so bad.

Reading your account of things at Morningstar only confirms solidly to me that the man is not a deluded, albeit sincere believer caught up in fascination of spiritual things that are too high for him. He is a wolf with all teeth dripping. As to those who follow him, they are in one of two camps: the unsuspecting who will repent at some point (as you so wonderfully did, Mishel), or they are wolves-in-training. As the Word says of such men - Avoid.

Please keep the accounts coming. God bless you!