Here is a firsthand look at how a false teacher is formed, with some of the telltale signs that one is a false teacher.
This article refers to Dave Loewen of Triune Last Days Ministry.
I have often wondered how it is that God has used carnal people to minister to me (by carnal, I mean that they did not have the Spirit of God, or if they did, they were not believing and obedient to God or led of the Spirit, as they ought to have been).
When I was trying to find God and searching through other religions and New Age philosophy in 1971 and 1972, my uncle Ernie Hafichuk, a devout Catholic, shared with me for a few moments, speaking words that would stick with me.
While I spoke of Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, and other religious founders and leaders, and of many ways to God, he made it clear that Jesus Christ was unique because of His death and resurrection, leaving behind an empty tomb, unlike any man. Uncle Ernie told me that all other religious leaders were essentially saying, “I’ll show you the way or the truth,” but Jesus declared, “I AM the way, the truth and the life; no man can come to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). He also pointed out that history is dated according to Jesus Christ (B.C. and A.D.), but it was not so with other religious leaders. He made it clear that Jesus was not merely a religious founder, but the One True Messiah, God come in the flesh, the Savior of all mankind.
Yet Uncle Ernie, after speaking a few key words to steer me in the direction of the Light, continued in his darkness to become a Catholic priest.
Soon after Uncle Ernie shared with me, God used another man to coach me into a genuine repentance experience from darkness, though he did not have the Spirit of God.
The time was February 1973 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The man was George Lynn, an elderly Scotsman from Calgary, Alberta. He was knowledgeable in the Scriptures and patiently worked with me in Them for about seven evenings until I was persuaded to ask that we pray together for the Lord Jesus Christ to take over my life. The Lord did so, and I was a different man from then on. I was very thankful to God for George and greatly enjoyed his company and what he had to say.
Then nearly two years later, in December of 1974, God sent Dave Loewen from Calgary to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Dave was instrumental in bringing my wife Marilyn and me to receive the Holy Spirit on January 1, 1975, by leaving behind for us an R. A. Torrey booklet, “The Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” We red the booklet, believed what Torrey had to say, prayed, and received the Spirit.
Knowing that George Lynn had not received the Spirit, I tried to persuade him, but George would have none of it. As far as he was concerned, I had deeply disappointed him, having fallen to the “delusion of the enemy,” a “grievous error” in the form of “Pentecostalism.”
I wrote him a terse note, telling him he did not know what he was talking about, and that he was being stubborn and proud (all of which was true). We parted ways, not having the freedom to associate with this difference between us.
Years later, I learned that George died of cancer in the bone, a prolonged death so painful that painkillers were not able to comfort him. According to God’s Word, I do not believe the Lord leaves faithful servants with such disease that He promised He would not lay on those who obeyed Him:
“And He said, If with all your heart you will give attention to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His eyes, giving ear to His orders and keeping His laws, I will not put on you any of the diseases which I put on the Egyptians: for I am the Lord your Life-giver” (Exodus 15:26 BBE).
So for two major steps in my spiritual odyssey and several minor ones, God used men of limited knowledge and relationship to Him to draw me to Himself. Why this is, I have often wondered and I believe I have the answer.
We have learned that there are those who come representing the things of the Lord, and there are those who represent the Lord. The first are those who do not know Him, yet can be as spiritual passersby, telling of things they have heard, studied, or learned, which can be of use to the spiritual seeker and sojourner.
Others can be servants to Him in His household, faithful or otherwise, sharing what little they have, not with authority, but with more direct knowledge.
Finally, there are His born again sons and daughters who believe and obey Him, knowing Him as their Father, being witnesses unto Him by the power of His Spirit (Acts 1:8). These share with authority that which they know intimately with and of the Father.
I see Uncle Ernie as having been a passerby, and George Lynn and Dave Loewen as servants in His household, interested and informed to an extent, but not expressly representing the Lord Jesus Christ’s interests personally with full knowledge as born again sons of God.
I now write this paper about Dave Loewen because he has taken a spiritual position against the Lord, citing his perspective and opinions of me and our doctrine in a letter to Jim Watt, with whom we had not only correspondence, but clear disagreement (A Cloud Without Water). We were confronting Jim on his error. He posted a public denunciation of us; Dave, being one of Jim’s readership, replied to the posting in a spirit of agreement with Jim. Here is what he had to say to Jim Watt about us, which Jim passed on to us as if to vindicate himself:
“Dear Jim:
I was reading this article with great interest, and when I came to the warning you issued about these two men that had this web-site, I was curious to see what their teaching was.
When I looked up their testimony, I saw that it is none other than Victor, who was a boarder at my wife’s parents in Saskatoon in 1972 while he went to the Baptist Bible School.
We were already living in Calgary at this time, but got to know him and his brother Archie quite well during our visits to our parents at various times. I knew he had just received Christ as his savior, so I shared about the Holy Spirit with him, of which he was somewhat offensive. On one occasion I gave him a booklet by W. A,Torey on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He read the booklet and told me later that, that changed his mind about receiving the Holy Spirit, and both he and his brother prayed and asked to receive the Holy Spirit.
Sometime in the 80’s he contacted us in Calgary, to tell us that they were now living in Alberta, half way between Calgary and Lethbridge on an acreage that the Lord had provided. Several weeks later we drove out to see them one Sunday afternoon. It was not very long before I realized that this was not the same man that I had briefly known. He was very outspoken about the wrong preaching done in churches, and in particular he pointed out that Billy Graham’s Crusades were not of God. We also met this friend of his from Montana, although I couldn’t remember his name.
I did not know at this time that he was involved with this Ultimate Reconciliation, but that he was telling me that the lord had revealed to him that he was his knight of armor, and to me it seemed that there was a lot of pride. The fallowing week I got a letter from him explaining that I had to leave any church affiliation and telling me that all my prophecies and revelations I had received were of the devil and not of God. He wanted to get together again, but I said that I believed he was hearing from the enemy and he needed to humble himself and repent.
The area he lived in was like a little village, and he admitted that no one liked them, and could not understand how the Lord was providing for them. He had no job or ministry.
I just thought it was quite an incident that I would run across him after all these years. Reading his articles of how to get saved seems to be very legitimate.
Your brother in Christ
Dave Loewen”
There are several items of error in his letter, but we will not deal with those now. I continue…
In the first months after we received the Spirit, Dave Loewen invited me to a men’s Saturday morning prayer breakfast meeting in Calgary, Alberta hundreds of miles from Prince Albert (where we were now living). At the meeting, I met Carroll Vance and Jim Flynn, both known to minister prophetically.
One day about a dozen of us gathered in a circle facing inward, and Jim Flynn prophesied over several of the men. He came to me and spoke a lengthy message. I can recall God telling me He was going to bring me unto many, and many would be blessed. I was to speak and not strive with people. He was going to show me things that other men did not see. He said I would be alone in what I would know and see. By Jim Flynn, the Lord was also repeatedly warning me to not try to understand Him or figure things out.
There was much more. Dave and others marveled at what had been said. I was thankful and excited, but I did not understand the implications. In the months and years to come, Carroll Vance too would, on occasions, have words from the Lord for me, which agreed with what Jim Flynn had prophesied.
In that first year of the Spirit, Dave told us of how the Lord had once commanded him to rebuke a gathering of pastors, and to read Jeremiah Chapter 23 to them, the opening verses of which said (please read the full portion in the Bible):
“A curse is on the keepers who are causing the destruction and loss of the sheep of My field, says the Lord. So this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said against the keepers who have the care of My people: You have let My flock be broken up, driving them away and not caring for them; see, I will send on you the punishment for the evil of your doings, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:1-2 BBE).
But Dave said he did not speak, being too afraid. As he told me this, he chuckled about it, as though it was something light, as if what the Lord commanded him was optional. My thought, according to what I understood from Scripture, was that it could not and would not go well for him because of his disobedience.
How could it? “The fear of man brings a snare,” the Scriptures declare. I knew that the Lord did not take disobedience lightly.
Just what does Jeremiah 23 express? How serious a matter was God asking Dave to address? Here is another portion of that chapter:
Jeremiah 23:9-15 MKJV
(9) My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the Words of His holiness.
(10) For the land is full of adulterers. Yes, because of cursing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their power is not right.
(11) For both prophet and priest are ungodly; yes, in My house I have found their evil, says the LORD.
(12) So their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall in them; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their judgment, says the LORD.
(13) And I have seen frivolity in the prophets of Samaria [Is this not an indictment on one who giggles about his disobedience to God in matters so serious?]; they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.
(14) I have also seen in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in falsehood. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his evil; they are all of them like Sodom to Me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.
(15) So the LORD of hosts says this concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land.
Dave laughingly expressed how he would be in trouble with those pastors if he red that passage to them. What does he think happened to Jeremiah, who was originally given to speak those words to errant pastors? Was Jeremiah laughing off the commandment of God? Did he not suffer persecution at the hands of those to whom he was sent to speak, because he was faithful in speaking? Read Lamentations to see how he suffered.
And Dave says he wants a ministry of God? How can he say that when he brushes aside the Word of God and laughs about avoiding the consequences of speaking It? How can he then serve the Lord? He does not care for the sheep who are being misled. He does not care for the shepherds who destroy themselves in their wickedness. He does not care about the Lord’s grief at what is happening.
What does Dave care about, aside from himself and his pleasure? The reaction he desires from those to whom God would send him is one of praise, glory, and honor. Because seeking only his own glory, he has not believed or learned anything the Lord Jesus Christ warns about and teaches:
“Woe to you when all men shall speak well of you! For so their fathers did to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26 MKJV).
“Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall cut you off, and when they shall reproach you and shall cast out your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22 MKJV).
Where in Scripture do you see God commanding one to speak and that one refusing and walking away without consequence? It does not happen. There is no option but to obey. After all, He is Lord, and He is to be honored as such! Consider the testimonies of Moses, Jonah, and Jeremiah, but a few of many examples.
And what did the Lord say to Ezekiel about the solemn responsibility of delivering His words to sinners?
“When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and you do not give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked one shall die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 3:18-19 MKJV).
According to the Word of the Lord, Dave Loewen has blood on his hands.
Even if the Lord had not commanded Dave, to mock and dismiss these things as burdensome and unnecessary, while taking the Lord’s Name upon oneself, is a grievous sin that leads to death and destruction.
Furthermore, there was no repentance on Dave’s part about his attitude or disobedience. This only ensured that the consequences would be compounded.
We would see my thoughts of Dave and his disobedience dramatically confirmed in the years to come, with a marvelous contrast between their and our circumstances.
Dave was disobedient in more than one matter. Upon receiving the Spirit, it soon became quite apparent that we needed to come out of all religious works and systems. Though used of God to bring us into the realm of the Spirit, Dave did not soberly and obediently acknowledge such a requirement. He and Irene remained in a Mennonite church splinter, a group that did not even believe what Dave had come to believe; indeed, they opposed doctrines such as the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts in this day and age. But the Loewens remained with them nonetheless.
I tried talking to them, but they would not listen. “While we know what you are saying is true, we need to stay in the church for the children’s sakes, so that they will be brought up in the Word,” they said.
I was amazed at their reasoning. “If it’s not good for you to be in men’s works, how could it possibly be good for your children? And isn’t it the responsibility of the parents to nurture their children in the things of God? Must they depend on the harlot, Mystery, Babylon the Great, to fulfill such a solemn task?” I asked and reasoned, to no avail. In that year of 1976, we went our separate ways.
In 1992, I decided to call Dave and Irene to see what was happening with them. The Loewens drove 130 miles from Calgary to visit us in our new log home at Moon River Estates, near Lethbridge.
When we first knew them in ‘75 and ‘76, they owned a nice new home, had a construction contracting business, and enjoyed the social respectability of the world in possessing these things. We had nothing.
In our 1992 visit, they informed us that after we parted ways, they suffered business and personal bankruptcy during the ‘80s recession – they lost their business, home, furnishings (Irene emphasized that they lost everything). Furthermore, they also lost a child.
During those years in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Marilyn and I were basically transients (referred to as such), despised in the world. God spoke to us in the mid-eighties when we had nothing, saying, “You will be on the road ministering for a while, and then you will have your own home.” We were on the road for a few years, living out of a suitcase, staying with others while ministering to them, without pay. The Lord met all our needs abundantly during those years (without servile labor, borrowing, or asking anyone for anything).
Then, in 1988, God freely gave us a wonderful home, furnishings, and a new car. In 1991, He gave us a son, 17 years after we were married, even though Marilyn wasn’t supposed to be able to have children because of a hormonal imbalance. The very opposite happened to us as had happened to the Loewens.
We had to go our separate ways because Dave was not prepared to obey the Lord, refusing to speak His Word when commanded, and refusing to make the break with organized religion. We perceived that the fruits they later experienced were directly related to Dave’s unbelief and failure to take up the cross and follow the Lord.
It does not pay to disobey. As it is written:
“Good understanding wins favor; but the way of the unfaithful is hard” (Proverbs 13:15 HNV).
Days after our visit in 1992, I wrote to them, telling them what we understood and saw. Dave responded with a lengthy indignant letter filled with faulty argument. There was nothing to do but let him have his way. Apparently, they had not suffered enough.
So now, 17 years later, in this year of 2009, we are reconnected by correspondence through Jim Watt. You may see what we had to say to Jim and what he had to say to us in our posting, A Cloud Without Water. You can also readily see the stance Dave Loewen has taken up against us these many years, his enmity beginning not with us, but with God, when Dave refused to obey Him.
“He that gathers not with Me, scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30).
But does it appear that Dave Loewen is scattering? Does it not seem that he is gathering? Here is his web site, www.triunelastdays.org, where, in the Name of Jesus Christ, you will find someone preaching, someone testifying, someone bringing forth what he believes to be good doctrine and edification; but alas, this is not true. This is more of what we read in the Scriptures by Paul to the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 MKJV
(13) For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
(14) Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light?
(15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Even Jesus warned of these:
“For many will come in My Name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:5 MKJV).
On his website, Dave preaches the coming out of Babylon:
“Rev. 17 refers to her as a city that has made her merchants rich through the commerce and monitory system. The Lord calls it the city of all manner of abomination, whether religious or commercial. Some of us have heard the call, ‘come out of her me people’ especially from the religious Babylon, but God does not want us to come out of the religious system only, We are to come out of the Babylonian system completely, so as not to depend on this worldly system.
There is a false conception in Christian circles that we can live in the Babylonian economic and commercial system, with all of it’s stocks and bonds, with compounded interest gains and still be pleasing to God as long as we have come out of the Babylonian religious system.”
When last we spoke, Dave and Irene Loewen refused to come out of the religious systems of men, which Babylon represents. He rightly says, “Some of us have heard the call, ‘come out of her me people’ especially from the religious Babylon.” He heard the call all right, but he did not obey it.
Now he preaches that one must not only come out from the religious influence of Babylon, but also the commercial influence. Has he come out of the religious part yet? If so, why is he faulting us? Why hasn’t he told me that he has finally obeyed the call to come out of the religious systems, a call I gave him 33 years ago in 1976?
He says, “We are to come out of the Babylonian system completely, so as not to depend on this worldly system.” Has he ceased using banks, credit cards, and official currency? Is he dependent upon any of the energy, communication, commercial, and transportation systems of the world? Does his wife sew their own clothing? Do they make their own shoes? Do they drive vehicles and purchase fuel? Do they live off the land? If so, where do they get the materials and equipment? How does he pay those who supply him? How does anyone pay him?
What is he doing on the internet? Is that not part of the world system? Is ceasing these sorts of things what God means when He says, “Come out of her, My people”? Are we all, as true Christians, to be hermits and isolationists living in caves or shanties in the hills?
No, the Lord meant the religious systems – false worship, counterfeit Christianity, Mystery, Babylon the Great – the very kind of system of which Dave Loewen is a faithful servant; he is thereby guilty according to the Lord. Of Babylon it is said:
“And in her [Mystery] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all those who were slain on the earth” (Revelation 18:24 MKJV).
To the religious pretenders, Jesus said something very similar:
“Therefore, behold, I send prophets and wise men and scribes to you. And you will kill and crucify some of them. And some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city; so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berachiah, whom you killed between the Temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:34-35 MKJV).
It is easy to talk, but we have consistently found Dave Loewen to have more words than substance. His mouth is bigger than he is. Let him heed this:
“Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment” (James 3:1 HNV).
I am reminded of these applicable words of Jesus:
“Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matthew 23:3 MKJV).
Dave calls his works “Triune Last Days Ministry.”
He holds to the pagan doctrine of the trinity, held in great reverence by the majority of orthodox Christendom because shrewdly blended into the Biblical Christian doctrine, playing on the manifest roles or offices of the One God. Why predominantly glorify the trinity (not that such a thing exists – there is only one God)? And does a true ministry have a name? Can you imagine “The Apostle Paul Ministry” or “The Move of God Ministry” or “The Baptist Church” named by John the Immerser? If you can imagine it, you have not known the Lord at all.
Of the origin of his ministry, Dave writes:
“First of all I do not consider these thoughts and ideas as being my own, because much of what I write was and is influenced by some ministries and individuals like Bill Britton, of U.S.A., A. J. Lowe of Australia, Warnock of BC. And also many different tape ministries to numerous to mention. These are all godly men, because they saw beyond what most churches and Bible Schools taught.”
While it is true that all believers learn from ministers of God as well as directly from God, true ministries of God do not deal in thoughts or ideas, whether their own or someone else’s. A ministry of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and what He inspires is fact, not speculation or opinion.
Dave also mentions that these are godly men from whom he learned. His basis of authority is partly that of men, not the Scriptures, not God. It is merely his opinion that these men are of God, based on his preferred beliefs, which beliefs we, by Scripture, can show are not altogether accurate or true. We have reported on one of those men he mentions. Read George Warnock – “I Will Make Your Heaven Like Iron.”
Dave continues: “But most of all I want to give thanks to God for the many revelations that I have received through the Holy Spirit speaking to me into my spirit and through the word of God through scripture.”
So did he receive his doctrine from other men as he said, or did he receive it from God directly? Are these thoughts and ideas, or are they true revelation of God? There is confusion, and God is not a God of confusion.
Dave continues about a prophecy someone gave him: “The reason I know that they are of God, is because, thirty some years ago when I was searching for more of God, I received a prophetic word that I was to have a ministry for these last days. And that the Lord would bring three men into my life, and they would share strange messages with me and that I should consider these men as sent from Him and that they would be a blessing to me and to many others through me.”
Because a man came and told Dave he was to have a ministry for “these last days” does not give good reason or proof that what he teaches is of God. Even if the man who spoke to him was of God, what he said gives no proof that what Dave is teaching is the ministry or substance to which the man referred.
In 1976, when Marilyn and I spoke the things we did to Dave and Irene about leaving church systems behind, he deemed these things to be radical and strange. He informed us there was someone who recently prophesied that three men would come to tell him strange things. Dave wondered if I was not one of those men.
As it turned out, he didn’t believe me, not that it mattered if I was one of the three or not. I don’t even know if the prophecy he received from that man was true. I don’t believe it was, but if I am wrong, I do know this: Dave has not believed and obeyed God, and he has no ministry of Him.
In his testimony, Dave writes many things that cause me to suspect he has not experienced the Lord as one needs to. However, setting aside his reported spiritual origins for now, let’s address what he claims to have heard concerning his ministry called “Triune Last Days.” Of the origin of his ministry and its name, he writes:
“The Lord spoke to me in a very direct way about what my ministry was to be like through His word, which I received in a very unique way. I was reading my devotions in the morning in a certain bible in my car before starting my work and some times I’d take another bible at home later in the day or night. It seemed strange to me that I was always led to open the bibles to Proverbs 22, no matter what bible I was using, and after the third or maybe fourth time I said to the Lord. Is there something in this portion of scripture that you are trying to tell me something? If there is I will read this chapter very slowly and carefully and I want you to reveal to me what it is. As I started reading, it seemed that every verse was something to be applied to my life, but when I came to Verse 17 I knew that this was a word from God for me. Here is what the Lord was saying to me.
17. Incline your ears and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your heart to my knowledge;
18. For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19. So that your trust may be in the Lord;
I have instructed you today, even you
20. Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge
21. That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth,
That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you.
As you can imagine I was struck with awe, at what God was telling me so directly through the scriptures….”
So he red 5 verses in Proverbs, which many have done. How is it we ought to imagine that he was struck with awe? About what? Is this a matter of inability to communicate the facts effectively, or is this a matter of lack of substance and confusion? I think it is both. While inability to communicate is of relatively little importance, confusion and lack of substance are of great importance, primarily because he claims to be representing God. If he is right, no problem; if wrong, big problem.
Dave continues: “…but it wasn’t till I studied this scripture verse by verse, that I started to understand the magnitude of what God was revealing to me. Most of the verses were fairly straight forward, but when I got to verse 20, I was surprised to see that the word excellent was not translated correctly. The word excellent is used approximately 24 times in various places, but only in this verse the word excellent is translated incorrectly. In the Strong’s Concordance it is #7991 which means three or thrice or a triangle or third rank as in the army (general).”
Dave says that the word “excellent” was incorrectly translated, but he does not say what the wording ought to be instead. What were the translators to do? Given the meanings of the word Dave puts forth, according to Strong’s Concordance, verse 20 could say:
“Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge” (as originally translated) or:
“Have I not written to you ‘three’ things of counsels and knowledge…” (which makes no sense in context) or:
“Have I not written to you ‘thrice’ of counsels and knowledge…” (which makes no sense in context) or:
“Have I not written to you ‘triangle’ things (or perhaps ‘a triangle of things’) of counsels and knowledge” (which makes no sense at all) or:
“Have I not written to you ‘third rank’ things of counsels and knowledge” (which makes no sense at all).
Regarding the matter of this Hebrew word, while using the Bible in Basic English translation, we found a somewhat related explanation, about half way down the page to “Division Three” at this link: http://www.askelm.com/restoring/res041.htm.
The BBE puts it this way:
“Have I not put in writing for you thirty sayings, with wise suggestions and knowledge?” (Proverbs 22:20 BBE)
Given that the word in the original text is plural, and not the singular form of “three” that Dave cites from Strong’s (which is in error), it would seem that this last meaning is the most plausible one. There is actually some evidence for this translation as well, according to the natural division in the Book of Proverbs by its original composers into several sections, with 22:17-21 serving as an introduction to the “thirty sayings” of Proverbs 22:22 – 24:22.
The same wording of “thirty sayings” also exists in a collection of proverbs that came out of ancient Egypt, which collection has many similar sayings that correspond directly to the proverbs in Chapters 22–24.
Whatever the case, whether these are “thirty” or “excellent” sayings, we do not see the word “three” there, as much as Dave would like to have a tie-in with the three men he says God sent to speak to him.
Dave goes on: “I was ecstatic with joy and excitement, because God was showing me that what the men with the strange messages were telling me was the truth.”
What messages were those? Dave doesn’t say. Were there three men? Dave only speaks of two, not sure of a third. He once thought I was the third, but did he listen or believe? No, not to this day that I know. Is this not confusion? And how can he base his calling and its validity on interpretations and reasonings he assumes are of God?
Why is he not basing the validity of his calling upon, “Thus saith the Lord,” rather than on, “This is what I understand the Lord was saying to me,” when it is not at all clear, and he isn’t able to make it clear? He is plainly grasping for something that is not there, desperate to see something to justify himself and his position. It gets worse.
Dave goes on: “Just as the three feasts that the Jews were to keep every year and that Jesus came to fulfill. And just as the Tabernacle was built by Moses, after the instructions given by God to Moses after the pattern in heaven which was built in three compartments, namely Outer Court, Holy Place and Most Holy Place. In the same way God was telling me through this verse that the Christian walk is a three fold walk, which confirmed what I had believed.”
Can David justify such interpretations? Can he jump to such conclusions? There is not a word mentioned about God speaking specifically. It is all darts and shadows – smoke and mirrors. The best we can conclude is that Dave believes he was led by God to certain interpretations and conclusions about verses that do not remotely say what he thinks them to say.
Why would God not speak personally and clearly and tell him what he needed to know, as He did with all those He sent forth to speak, as recorded in the Scriptures? Of how little importance or value is this “triune” ministry anyway?
Dave continues: “Therefore it is salvation at Passover, Baptism with the Holy Spirit for power at Pentecost, and baptism (still future) with Holy Spirit with fire for cleansing at Tabernacles. A few weeks latter, God repeated the same procedure with Mark, 4: 21-25 to confirm to me to accept Prov. 22:17-22 as of the Lord.
21. ‘And He said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel,or under a bed? And not to be set on a candle stick?
22. For there is nothing hid which shall not be revealed; nor has anything been kept secret, that it should come to light.
23. If any one has ears to hear, let him hear.’
24. Then He said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear, with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.
25. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.’”
We can all jump to conclusions over almost anything in Scripture. It would have been a good thing had Dave Loewen obeyed the Lord when he was directed back in the seventies. To this day, he has not obeyed in those things. How then would God give him something else? No, his ministry is not the work of God, but of man.
Dave gives definitions of three experiences:
“Salvation (born again) gets us to heaven John 3:3 we will see the Kingdom of God.
Baptism w/ Holy Spirit, w/ power, gets you to enter the Kingdom of God. John 3:5
Baptism w/ Holy Spirit w/fire (overcomers) will ruling and reigning with Christ.”
Dave Loewen is in error on his definitions and descriptions. Read Victor Hafichuk and The Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
If in disobedience and error, how is it he has a ministry of God?
Dave says: “My main purpose in my ministry is to bring born again believers into the fullness of what God has for His Bride, to rule and reign with Christ. May the Spirit of Jesus lead you and guide you as you search the scriptures to lead you into the fullness of all that God has for all of us. God bless”
That sounds like a noble and even godly ambition, and I would it were true, but I know Dave Loewen, I know his record, and I know that he should first repent and believe, and attain to that which he claims to desire for others before presuming to be in any position to bring it to them. Otherwise, his claim is false and it cannot but be false.
More importantly, he claims a ministry of God he does not have. It is confusion, and as he has suffered the fruits of his rebellion and presumption, so he will continue until he repents.
Dave teaches several false doctrines. The purpose of this exposé is to let the public know false teachers from true. As for doctrine, our site is there for all to learn sound doctrine (see our Statement of Doctrine), much of which is vilified and condemned by nominal orthodox Christianity. Dave Loewen condemns the Lord’s doctrine we teach – even as the Pharisees condemned the Lord and His doctrine in the days of His flesh. So it is.
Why is he doing all this? It is substitution for not obeying the Lord. Dave is trying to make up for his disobedience by doing works. These are the dead works of substitution, of which Samuel spoke to Saul:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice! To listen is better than the fat of rams! For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idol-worship. Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king!” (1 Samuel 15:22-23 MKJV)
Dave Loewen is doing his ministry to be seen and heard by men. He is a glory seeker. Besides false doctrine, let me inform the reader of three simple signs you can count on that display a false teacher:
One: Show me anywhere in Scripture where men were drooling for a ministry. In the face of reality, Moses recoiled and quaked, Jonah fled, Saul of Tarsus was forced, Amos resisted, and Jeremiah protested. Those who have a true ministry of God know it is no cakewalk; they are called to disagreement with this world and even death, if it must be. The call itself is a very real form of separation and death.
While it is written that Jesus delighted to do the will of God, we must remember He was the Son of God, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, God manifest. He was not salivating for a ministry as though it was a pleasurable, self-glorifying experience. He came to die.
Dave Loewen has no idea what a ministry of God is. He was tried in the ‘70s and shrunk back from duty. Why? Because what he was asked to do was the true substance of godly ministry. What he has been seeking all these years is not. Dave Loewen is a self-aggrandizing fake.
Two: See him pose, with a large Bible under his arm, to show you how godly he is, as all pretenders do. Can you imagine Jesus posing for a picture with an extra large Torah under His arm to let us know how spiritual He is and that we ought to respect Him for it and pay serious heed? No, no, no; men of God do not do as the Babylonians and Pharisees, as presumptuous and self-willed men. Here is what the Lord said of such, and still says of, and to, such today:
“But they do all their works in order to be seen of men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. And they love the first couch at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the market-places, and to be called, Rabbi! Rabbi! by men” (Matthew 23:5-7 MKJV).
“Teacher, teacher, revelator, revelator, we honor and respect you! Let us gather at your feet and give you the glory,” are the words these men wish to hear.
Yes, Dave Loewen ends his testimony with, “To Him I give all the glory and praise,” but so do many, even as they steal it from Him. They don’t mind giving God credit for being “the hand behind the throne,” provided they are the ones exalted on the throne.
Three: Who else but a spiritually blind one would think Billy Graham to be a man of God? Read How the Lord Exposed Billy Graham. Any true man of God knows Billy Graham is not a man of God.
The Pharisees preached many true things, and Dave Loewen speaks many true things:
Jesus Christ IS the slain, buried, and resurrected Lord and Savior of all mankind.
There IS the need for repentance and turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who alone can save anyone, and Who alone must, if men are to have any hope.
There IS truly the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the accompanying gifts – a second spiritual experience not well or commonly received in nominal Christendom.
There ARE three feasts that the spiritual pilgrim in Christ will experience if he endures to the end.
Having said that, the Pharisees sought their own glory, and Dave Loewen seeks his own glory. That is treason against God and heaven.
Of such, Paul the apostle writes:
“They’re a sorry bunch–pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers–posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they’re not getting by with anything. They’ll pay for it in the end” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 MSG).
Finally, Dave writes: “We have somewhat of an insight into how Jesus might appear, and not all will be aware of His appearing. When Jesus brothers chided Him (they did not believe in Him) to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles he said, ‘You go up to the feast, I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.’ John: 7:8 & 10. In the same way that Jesus went up in secret to the feast of tabernacles, he will also appear secretly in His Saints, (on the very day that the Jews keep this Feast) to all that have faith to believe and have overcome through affliction of soul (death to self). ‘And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple. (Church).’ Mal. 3:1b ‘When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.’ Col. 3:4. ‘And to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ Heb.9:28b.”
With the Lord Jesus, we say of ourselves to Dave Loewen and all those in his darkness now:
“Today this Scripture [and the words you speak in the quote above] is [are] fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21 MKJV).
And, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, Physician, heal Yourself” (Luke 4:23 MKJV).
The Lord does, and has, come as a thief upon the unbelieving. As He said: “The Kingdom of God comes without observation,” but the righteous do indeed see it.
“Truly I say to you, No prophet is accepted in his native-place” (Luke 4:24 MKJV).
Victor Hafichuk