False Teachers – Dick and Joan Deweert, Bill and Gwen Prankard, and Graham and Sherry Bretherick
Not only do Satan’s servants bring destruction to others, they suffer it themselves as the victims of their own deception. While Christ gives a deposit of pure gold, Satan gives a “UOI” (not an IOU), keeping his subjects under the yoke and bondage of serving themselves in his kingdom of darkness. Light solves that problem, when it is shone by God in Christ, and walked in by men. That is the Kingdom of God on earth.
Devious Devices of the Destroyer Discussed
In The Origin and Identity of Satan, we have seen how Satan comes as an angel of light through those who proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. These usurpers use the Lord’s Name as a pretense for their ministries and works, which they often perform with great sincerity. They don’t know they are deluded and in the dark, having nothing to do with the Lord. Neither do their victims.
Their ignorance is no excuse for their fraudulent misrepresentations of God and the deception they practice before men. They have willingly chosen to follow Satan the liar because they are liars, too. They are formed in his image and love to have it so, worshiping him and spreading his false gospel of saving and preserving the flesh.
In Origin we give doctrine and background, but now we give you a practical example of Satan’s deception with men and the wages they receive in his service. This we will do by examining the attempt of a defrocked minister to regain or exceed his former status.
Dick Deweert, along with his wife, Joan, founded The Miracle Channel, originally CJIL, a 24/7 “Christian” TV station in Canada. We first wrote about them at The Exposure of Dick Deweert (for further proofs of the satanic nature of their works, read The True Marks of a Cult and Diabolical Doctrines).
Dick was found to be in an adulterous relationship with a married employee at the channel, which affair was made public. This was not a mere one-night stand; it reportedly went on for three years while Dick was running The Miracle Channel. The exposure of this affair resulted in both Dick and Joan resigning; they lost their jobs, their status, and their life’s work.
Before we go any further, let’s make one thing clear. We don’t assume that we are incapable of the most heinous of sins. Remove the grace of God and down we go to perdition:
“So let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12 MKJV).
We know this. Our purpose here is not to condemn a man for his sin, especially if he is repentant of it. Our purpose is to expose and reprove the works of darkness:
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11 MKJV).
What Dick did can happen to any man. David, a man after God’s heart, the “father of the Messiah,” fell, so we know that true men of God do fall. Dick’s fall doesn’t prove he was false. We make the case, however, that Dick was never a true believer, and to this day, he and Joan are not true disciples of the Lord.
Our intention is not to condemn, but to warn others not to be deceived by a pretense of worship, righteousness, and repentance for sin, accompanied by carnal zeal, counterfeit love, and feigned faith. Most importantly, one must not be deceived by a false representation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His will and ways. To be snared in the ways of these people is to die and be bound in chains of darkness (hell), as attractive as those chains may be to the unregenerate soul.
“And now listen to me, sons, and attend to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not go astray in her paths. For she has cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the rooms of death” (Proverbs 7:24-27 MKJV).
Continuing:
Three years after leaving The Miracle Channel, the Deweerts began a new work, launched with a series of interviews, to rehabilitate Dick’s image. These interviews came to our attention while working on the paper describing Satan’s origin and identity. The great effort expended on trying to impress people with Dick’s contrition and worthiness, the very kind of thing the Devil does, placing the emphasis on man, wasn’t lost on us. What a good opportunity, we thought, to illuminate more of Satan’s ways.
The video introduction invites us to “take some time to ‘enjoy’ the interviews.” To the saints of God, they are anything but enjoyable, and while we would rather spend our time in edification, we knew we had to suffer this vexation for the sakes of others.
In the videos, we see the Deweerts working very hard to find a way back into the good graces of man. But would this be necessary if they were forgiven and received into the good graces of God? It is readily apparent that they need and solicit man’s support to proceed with their work, just as they have always relied on the same in the past. This is the foundation and way of Satan’s kingdom, which depends on man’s initiative and favor in all its works.
Repentance to God Is Different than Contrition to Man
See the difference between the repentance of a true believer, King David of Israel, and a false one, Dick Deweert. David confessed to God, saying:
Psalms 51:1-4 MKJV
(1) To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
(2) Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
(3) For I confess my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.
(4) Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight; that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge.
What did David mean, saying, “Against You, You only, have I sinned”? He meant that it was God’s forgiveness and favor he sought, knowing the buck stops with God, not man. Being a man who knew the Lord, David knew full well there was absolutely no point or need in seeking man’s forgiveness, approval, or favor at any time. Not so with Deweert. He and Joan are full steam ahead in petitioning for favor and praise from men, in order to reinstate their former glory.
This is the essence of Satan’s ways, as the one who savors the things of men and thrives on their assent and favorable opinions.
Dick and Joan aren’t saying, “God has sent us to minister to you,” then proceeding to do so, whether or not those to whom they are sent like it or accept it. They are saying, frankly begging, “Let us minister; please let us be ministers of God to you. Accept us. It’s God’s will.”
And they bitterly complain about all the friends they lost who weren’t friends, after all. Jimmy Bakker also complained, as do other fallen phonies, “We thought we had friends who loved us, but they didn’t love us, after all.” But true ministers, like their Lord Jesus Christ, never set their hearts on men. They know better, having been taken through God’s fires in preparation for ministry:
“And as He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, at the Feast, many believed in His Name when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all and did not need that anyone should testify of man. For He knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25 MKJV).
How different are God’s ways that bring life, peace, and fulfillment! Jesus never sought the praise of men, or tried to impress them with His own virtue or righteousness, or depended on their opinion of Him.
John 5:31-34 MKJV
(31) If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
(32) There is another Who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.
(33) You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth.
(34) But I do not receive testimony from man, but these things I say so that you might be saved.
Read the Gospels; see for yourself! We aren’t making these things up. Jesus never appealed to men on His behalf. When they sought to make Him king, He knew they were seeking their own carnal benefit, and He refused them altogether:
“Then seeing the miracle that Jesus did, those men said, This is truly the Prophet, the One coming into the world. Therefore when Jesus perceived that they would come and take Him by force, that they might make Him a king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain alone by Himself” (John 6:14-15 MKJV).
“No man is good,” Jesus said. Those who look to man disagree with Christ and are really looking to Satan. Regardless of whatever words they say that sound otherwise, even from the Scriptures, the Deweerts are there for themselves, not for God. Their actions prove it:
“How can you believe, you who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?” (John 5:44 MKJV)
Jesus didn’t look to men, because He served the Father alone. He came for the cross, to lay down His will and His life in this world. By doing so, He sounded the death knell for man’s independence from God, the end to Satan’s rule. We are now called to take up the cross in order to come under God’s rulership.
A crucified man doesn’t need or want men’s approval. Indeed, he shuns it.
Deweerts, on the other hand, are still very much alive to themselves (don’t let their self-flagellation fool you) and dead to Christ. With flatteries, emotional appeals, and boasts of their own goodness, they depend on their own righteousness and ask you to support and honor them on this basis.
And how great a power can be exerted when all come together in the name of man’s righteousness, which is Satan! It is the power of his bride, Mystery, Babylon the Great, which even astounded the apostle John:
“I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement” (Revelation 17:6 EMTV).
When Dick’s sin was made public, he lost the support of men – his fellow church members and TV audience. He was put outside the gates, not of the heavenly Jerusalem, but of Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots. Because he feared (reverenced) man rather than God, he received the reward of his idolatry, being turfed by men. He was deemed expendable by those who paid his wages.
Not that The Miracle Channel had any choice in the matter if it was to continue with an acceptable public image. The Miracle Channel sacrificed Dick and Joan to save itself, the abomination to which Dick and Joan gave birth. Dick and Joan were offered on the altar they raised up in the name of their false god.
Satan – The Concealer of Sins
Satan is the master at concealing sin under a religious cloak, whereas God deals directly and forthrightly with sin, especially in His servants. He didn’t wait three years when David had sinned in the matter of Bathsheba and her husband, but promptly sent His servant, Nathan, to confront David.
In contrast, Satan’s ministers can hide their sin for years, because they, their co-workers, and their audiences are in the dark, without the Lord or a true prophet to expose them. They have no light. They are outside the City of God and His providential care, setting things right for the welfare of His people. Children of darkness don’t share in His discipline:
“But if you are without discipline, of which all have become sharers, then you are bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8 LITV).
That’s the essential difference between David, King of Israel, and Dick of The Miracle Channel.
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father does not chasten?” (Hebrews 12:6-7 MKJV)
Sorrow over Loss or Sorrow over Sin?
Dick wasn’t chastened and changed when circumstances caused his sin to become public; he was exposed and humiliated. (It was the same with Jimmy Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart.) Dick and Joan have tried to make lemonade out of lemons, making his exposure appear as God’s transformative correction, but God has nothing to do with the rehabilitative works described in these interviews. We aren’t accepted by Him because we grovel and walk on broken glass before men.
Make no mistake. These aren’t the fruits of a broken spirit and contrite heart; these are the manifestations of self-pitying, self-centered children of darkness.
And it’s the deceitfulness of Satan to present sorrow over loss as sorrow over sin. In this way Dick and Joan continue to delude themselves and others that they are God’s servants.
David was the Lord’s, formed and kept by Him, even after having fallen. Of his coming son, Solomon, God said:
“I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men” (2 Samuel 7:14 MKJV).
What we see with Dick and Joan is how the workers of iniquity are left to their own devices, subject to the whims of those whose praise and approval they worship, crave, and require to support them and their works. They don’t have God’s approval because they don’t even seek it. He has nothing to do with their works.
“Blessed are they that do His Commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie” (Revelation 22:14-15 KJV).
What does God have to do with those outside His Heavenly City, the dogs, which fornicate and kill as they will, because they love and live a lie, like Dick and Joan Deweert? They have taken His Name in vain, using it for their selfish gain, not for Truth’s sake.
The Sins of Dick and Joan
Physical adultery wasn’t Dick’s only sin. It was the tip of the iceberg, concealing his and Joan’s many sins, which include taking Christ’s Name in vain, preaching lies for the sake of money and power, and teaching people rebellion against God. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life were the substance of their ministry.
There is much blood on these people’s hands. Joan may not have committed physical adultery, but she has been an avid proponent of spiritual adultery along with her husband, practicing and teaching it in all their religious ways:
Revelation 2:20-23 MKJV
(20) But I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel to teach, she saying herself to be a prophetess, and to cause My servants to go astray, and to commit fornication, and to eat idol-sacrifices.
(21) And I gave her time that she might repent of her fornication, and she did not repent.
(22) Behold, I am throwing her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent of their deeds.
(23) And I will kill her children with death. And all the churches will know that I am He Who searches the reins and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works.
Now these people want to re-enter the killing fields in as big a way possible with their counterfeit Christianity. But God has said, “Enough!” The Deweerts will go no further in their deception.
Any kingdom divided against itself can’t stand. The large cracks evident throughout the foundation of the kingdom of darkness are expanding. The time has arrived for its demise and the destruction of Satan’s works.
Dressing the Old Deweerts in New Clothing
Dick and Joan still desire a payday in the wicked dog-eat-dog religious world, because they are still a part of it. The leopard hasn’t changed its spots. They aren’t born from above, and never were. That’s why the loss of worldly connections and of the prestige of their religious works has greatly grieved them. To lose those things was indeed a crushing blow, but they are recuperating, convalescing, and being succored by wicked counselors who help them by restoring their self-esteem.
The counselors featured in the video interviews are Bill and Gwen Prankard, and Graham and Sherry Bretherick. The Deweerts, with the support of these people, have pursued the reestablishment of their “calling” from God, but in a new way, appearing more humble. And according to what they presume to be a prophetic gifting from God, they believe much greater things are to come in this renewed phase of ministry.
The lengthy interview sets the stage for their triumphant return and renewed success in religious showbiz (not their terminology, but the reality we are addressing), transcending even their glory days at The Miracle Channel.
Joan has an alleged prophetic word of God of a coming “Solomon blessing,” imminent after their recent travails and humiliation. By this word, they are equating themselves with King David, who lost the child with Bathsheba because of his sin, but was then blessed with another child, Solomon, who followed David with a glorious and peaceful reign as king and builder of the Temple of God, and who was a figure of the Messiah to come, known as “the Son of David.”
Has God not delivered the Deweerts over to strong delusion, that they should believe such a lie about what is happening with them? Are lives steeped in satanic religious works and misdeeds comparable to God’s work in David or any of His saints?
Their Declaration of Coming Glory
Here is another difference between God and Satan:
God’s servants don’t go around telling the world about what God will do with them – having this or that great calling. They may announce God’s works, as John the Baptist and Jesus did, but how different that is from making declarations as veiled solicitations for people to join them in building a tower to Heaven!
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition, along with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God [not men]” (Philippians 4:6 EMTV).
When Samuel anointed David as future king of Israel, David didn’t say a word about it to anyone. He left it with God, Who fulfilled it in time by His invisible hand. But Satan’s ministers trumpet their virtue and declare their anticipated work, because they appeal to the arm of flesh to make it happen. God has nothing to do with them or their work.
In the video, Dick tells how he confessed his “moral failure” to his friend and fellow false teacher, Bill Prankard, just before word about it got out. He didn’t describe it as disgusting sin and wicked deceitfulness, but as an innocuous “moral failure.” He had a little let-down for three years! Oops!
How humble and virtuous of him as he recounts how he hesitated telling Bill, not because he was ashamed, but because he didn’t want to burden his friend with his “moral failure.” Dick is a wonderful friend, certainly worthy of our admiration! That’s what he and his evil counselors are trying to tell us.
And that’s the theme of the interview – Dick and Joan’s innate goodness and godly characters. His falling has been made into an opportunity to show their virtue in overcoming adversity, making them even greater in our eyes than before the failure. They present themselves as true heroes.
That is what Baal worship is all about. It is man in the place of God. As Satan said at the beginning, “You shall be as God….” They exalt themselves using His Name.
Satan as Scapegoat
According to Dick and company, it was on account of their godliness that the Devil and the forces of evil attacked him. The Devil succeeded in getting him down by tempting him to sin, with the forces of evil continuing their battle against the couple thereafter, trying to keep them from reaching God’s destiny and fulfilling their ministry.
They have every confidence, however, that they will prevail over the Devil. God has promised, they say. We say they have God and the Devil reversed, as far as their works are concerned. God is the One Who ultimately stops them from fulfilling their present ambition for power and glory.
“The Devil made me do it,” is Dick’s defense, because (he asserts) underneath his sin nature, he really is a good person. He would never do what he did unless someone else was to blame.
Ironically, it seems, yet true to their nature, Satan’s children have created a false image of the Devil as a scapegoat to excuse their sins and explain the bad things that happen as the result of their sins. They try to dissociate from the Devil, not knowing they actually are him, being one flesh and spirit.
Wounds of a Friend vs. Kisses of an Enemy
How do the words of Nathan, David’s “counselor,” a true prophet of the Lord, compare to those of Dick’s counselors who blame the Devil and prophesy great things as a result of his sin?
2 Samuel 12:7-15 MKJV
(7) And Nathan said to David, You are the man! So says the LORD, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
(8) And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that was too little, I would have given to you such and such things besides.
(9) Why have you despised the Word of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.
(10) And therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
(11) So says the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
(12) For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.
(13) And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said to David, the LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
(14) Only, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, this child born to you shall surely die.
(15) And Nathan left to go to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick.
David is promised future consequences, while Dick is promised greater glory. Which promises are true? David did indeed suffer many things, but his sin was forgiven and his favor with God continued. Dick never had God’s favor, only flattering counselors as did King Ahab, whose end was anything but glorious.
Wicked Man’s Innate “Goodness”
As the interview continues, we hear how Bill gathered Dick’s family together to let them know “Dick Deweert is not a bad man, he is a good man who did something bad. And there is a difference.”
That is Satan’s false gospel in a nutshell, denying the reality of man’s degenerate condition by covering it over with an external religious “niceness” men call “good.”
Did Nathan defend David, saying, “You’re a good man who did something bad”? The sinless Son of God didn’t attribute goodness to His flesh, but here we have Satan’s ministers extolling one another and essentially calling Christ a liar.
Satan defends the flesh with reasoning like this: We are all good people underneath. It’s not our fault we sin. The Devil tempted us. And the more godly we are, the harder he is working at tempting us, because all the more our fall discredits God.
But the Word of God says to resist Satan, and he will flee from you.
And if we claim to be good in our flesh, we are falling from our goodness. How is that a reflection on God and His work? Those who trust in themselves don’t need a Savior or His blood sacrifice:
“And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick” (Luke 5:31 KJV).
The Physician can make the sick and no-good whole and good. But then it’s His goodness and not ours that we walk in. The Name of our God is upon us.
But these sham ministers who trust in themselves, and say they are good, declare (to those with eyes to see) that they are their own gods with Satan as their father. The evil they reflect is of themselves, not of Christ, Whose Name they take in vain. In truth, they don’t serve Him at all, because they already presume to sit in His seat, being good without Him. They are anti-Christ.
For your life, you need to know that God doesn’t lay the blame for sinning on the external Devil or stressful circumstances:
“But each one is tempted by his own lusts, being drawn away and being seduced by them. Then lust, when it conceives, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15 EMTV).
The Fall of Dick Deweert
The ministers of death teach you to maintain an illusion of goodness, justifying you in acting as your own god and decider-in-chief. And by declaring that you can see (determine good and evil on your own) your sin will remain, just as it is with these teachers. But for those who turn to God, confessing and forsaking the sin that He reveals, victory will come and they will see life.
Speaking of the rejection he and Joan faced, particularly by those in religious leadership positions, Dick says, “Our restoration was really hindered by that. That’s why there needs to be a different model.”
In other words, they are suggesting reforming the corrupt systems of men, from which they still seek honor, prestige, and authority. And they will know the system has been properly reformed when it adequately honors them once again. With their new perspective, they present themselves as the saviors of counterfeit religion, having been slain by it as Christ was.
But they fell because of their sin, whereas Christ laid down His life for our sins. They and their counselors of confusion can’t tell the difference between good and evil. They call evil “good” and good “evil.” That’s how Satan rules in the kingdom of darkness, and how evil is compounded. But God gives Light through Christ and delivers souls from darkness. His grace is greater than evil.
Castaways of Men’s Works
Gwen Prankard talks about how Dick was shunned by eminent worldly religious preachers and likens that to when the apostle Paul was forsaken by other believers:
“At my first answer no one was beside me, but all deserted me. May it not be laid to their charge” (2 Timothy 4:16 MKJV).
Say what?! Was Paul deserted because he was caught in a long-term adulterous affair?! Was Paul writing his epistles while copulating with another man’s wife?!
The fact is that Paul was deserted because he stood with Christ, while those who left him had put worldly concerns before Christ. In Deweert’s case, the crowd left the adulterer who held God in contempt; in Paul’s case, the spiritual adulterers left the one who stood in faithfulness to God.
Wow! Consider, dear reader, the hypocrisy and blindness of these spiritual charlatans: We have here four “generals in God’s army” (the Deweerts and Prankards), along with “counselors to the generals” (the Brethericks), as these proudly presume to see themselves, and as they publicly advertise by their own mouths. The four “generals” sit at the table making the comparison between Dick and Paul the apostle, and not one “general” or “counselor” sees anything wrong with something so blatantly contradictory a child should pick it up.
Furthermore, all six, along with all their followers and associates, have had much time to reflect on this conversation and witness the error therein. Yet none sees the wickedness of their rationale to this day, and they proudly keep the videos public, displaying their shame for all to see. Wow! How consistently contradictory are the false to those who can see, and how perpetually blind are those whose eye is not single!
Reader, let us solemnly tell you that all those videos have statement after statement of error and falsehood, demonstrating delusion through a selfish preservation of the flesh. All six participants are “guilty as sin,” for which they are held accountable before God. Lord willing, we will now show you more error in some of their words in detail.
The Fruit of Sin Called “Attacks of the Enemy”
Here’s another example that takes the breath away while bringing ignominy and reproach to our Sovereign God and Savior: In Part 3, Joan talks about a woman friend who pledged to lead their “prayer warriors” against the powers of darkness coming against their ministry (this was before Dick was found in adultery), and then the woman was killed within a few weeks.
So how do they interpret the cause of this tragedy? They ascribe it to the attacks of the enemy on the “prophetic voice of Canada.”
Mark you all, this was not a death of martyrdom. A truck hit and killed this woman in traffic. So now we are to believe that Satan is sovereign and can do as he pleases with God’s creation? Can we conclude that Dick and Joan lost their ministry because Satan took out their personal bodyguard? Where’s God and His promised protection for His servants? How did Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, John, Peter, Paul, and so many others make it through?
The Scriptures instruct us quite differently. Take Job, for example. Satan couldn’t touch him, God having placed a hedge of protection about him and all that he had. When God did remove the protection, it was to try Job through Satan’s instrumentality and bring him up into a new dimension, one of rest, where Job no longer trusted in his own righteousness. His sufferings, which were not a result of sin, came to bring him to perceive God for the first time:
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye has seen You” (Job 42:5 MKJV).
Even before he was turned, Job knew Who was calling the shots in Heaven. Never once did he blame or suspect Satan as behind his troubles. He attributed everything to God:
“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the Name of the LORD” (Job 1:20-21 KJV).
He believed! He knew Who was in full control! Deweerts, Prankards, and Brethericks know nothing of the LORD. They haven’t even heard of Him by the ear, much less seen Him with the eye.
They make a mockery of God and serve to “overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18) by giving them the idea that Satan is free and powerful to do such things as kill people in traffic accidents. What foolish blasphemy! Take no responsibility; do no self-examination; just use Satan as the scapegoat and go on to leading others like Joan’s friend into death instead of into soul searching, repentance, and life. Are not Deweert and company’s ways the paths of the destroyer?
People, nowhere in Scripture does one find a saint of God who is walking with Him die a tragic death. You simply don’t find it. What you do find, however, is that God keeps His saints perfectly safe, except for martyrdom. Even there, they are safe. Saints die either by natural causes or martyrdom, never otherwise.
God only takes people like the way this woman died, if they are in wickedness, in sin, in disobedience, in unbelief. Show us a Scriptural exception. Give us two or three witnesses to prove us wrong. The woman to whom Joan Deweert refers was a wicked and presumptuous woman, a people pleaser, one who dared evilly imagine that she had power with God. And God decided to take her away in her sin. That’s what happened.
Let us solemnly assure you that when troubles come your way, particularly terrible ones like deadly accidents, bankruptcies, divorces, and crippling diseases, know that you are the first one to be examined, not God or the Devil. You are the one held accountable. There is sin in your life. And that is what happened to Joan’s friend. She was not a “prayer warrior.” She was a “pretentious prayer warrior.” That’s the rest of the story.
“Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks”
There are many statements made by all six participants in this meeting that are so revealing of the falsehood in which they walk, representing counterfeit Christianity and another gospel. By their own mouths, they expose themselves time and time again, yet never to each other; they are blind to their unbelief, deception, and foolishness. Here are other examples (barely scratching the surface of so many):
In Part 10, Bill Prankard replies to Graham Bretherick’s point of God being the Holy One and the Redeemer: “It’s almost a contradiction, isn’t it, He’s a Holy One and yet…” and they all chime in chorus, “…He’s a Redeemer.” Graham continues as if those are two extremes, “He’s the Holy One Who tolerates no sin, yet brings good out of evil.”
Why shouldn’t holiness include redemption? What’s so strange about that, especially to “generals in God’s army”? Perhaps they may argue that they say this for the sakes of the hearers, or that they are neutralizing a longstanding nominal Christian notion that God is not understood as a redeemer when thought of as a holy God, as men count holy. Fair enough – we can grant it’s true that people have that misunderstanding. But what we see is that these “ministers of Christ” don’t know the Lord themselves, still chewing on the basics of God’s character, yet presuming to be spiritual leaders under God, “generals,” no less.
Graham Bretherick seeks glory for himself, not the Lord. His counseling is the work of a psychologist, a man of carnal intellect, not a man of God, presenting credentials of graduation from an institution of men, not of God, though using the Lord’s Name and pretending to give Him the glory, which many false teachers do. No man receiving glory from men is a man of God.
Bretherick mentions that the process of counseling with Dick went on for over a year with a session every week. Where in the Scriptures does one find a disciple of Christ spending this kind of time or energy with anyone? Where is there any hint of this kind of work done by the Spirit of God through and with anyone, when it comes to matters of faith? Where is there any counsel of Scripture to delve into someone’s past and try to deal with genetics and past histories?
For our part, the Lord took us through the fires and, as a result, healed us of many things from our past, in many cases almost instantly. We had no idea of our deep spiritual needs, never mind finding a way to speak to a counselor about them. There was no counselor to reason through anything. Nobody would have seen, known, or understood the things that were in us, or their origins, much less their solutions.
Bretherick mentions that the early church fathers used to say they wouldn’t trust a man into a senior leadership position unless he’s been through some great difficulty or valley. He continues as if with their thoughts, “Because unless you’ve been through failure or difficulty, what can we really trust you with?”
Crucially needful are trials and tribulations, fire and breaking, yes, for sure! However, the context of Graham’s statement is appalling! Dick had gone into adultery, and now he can be trusted as a leader because he has sinned?! Why don’t we all just go out and get qualified now? Is that how God viewed David’s sin of adultery? Did it make David a better king or shepherd? Must we sin to qualify as counselors and senior spiritual leaders? Ugh! The blasphemy of these people takes the breath away!
And how is it Dick was trusted in senior leadership by these people before his sin, if this were the case? Are they not in total contradiction and confusion?
Prankard adds again and again his inane comments, likening Deweert’s failure to having stepped out of the boat to walk on water and then sinking, while others in the boat were criticizing him. What?!! Was Peter chasing after some mermaid? Did he start to sink in the water because he went after a married woman swimming there?
Was Peter’s momentary lapse of faith the same as the sin of an adulterous relationship over three years? People were stoned for adultery, but were they stoned for lack of faith? When Peter sank, did Jesus say to him what He said to the woman caught in adultery – “Go and sin no more”?
Again, are we condemning Dick for his sin? No! We know full well that any man, whether a true believer or otherwise, can fall into sin as easy as falling off a floating log.
What we do condemn, however, is the falsehood, darkness, and hypocrisy presented to people in the name of goodness and holiness. People must know that Deweert & Co. are not representing God as He is. Most certainly, His ways and thoughts are not theirs or how they represent them. Their ways are of Satan, whom they truly represent.
Prankard speaks of how other ministers caught in sin don’t usually return to ministry, but go into worldly endeavors of an easier and more financially rewarding occupation. Is that true? In many cases, yes; however, Jimmy Swaggart returned to his ministry, the Bakkers tried, Oral Roberts continued to hang on to what he had left, and their sons try to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. There are numerous such examples. But whether they do or not isn’t the question. The question is why they do it, a matter of the heart.
Dick and Joan said they had lost everything, except that Joan received a generous retirement package (not sure that Dick did). A retirement package?! Since when do ministers of Christ receive executive positions, salaries, and retirement packages? They don’t. God does what He wills and not what men will by their employment devices. And men of God never retire. As a tree doesn’t retire, but remains until it dies, so a minister of God remains what he is.
Men of the world, that is, Gentiles, seek after earthly benefits and value them. Did anyone see Moses (a prophet) and Aaron (a priest) retire, with a pension? Or Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, or any of the prophets or apostles? No. You see, this whole thing is a sham; it is the works of men; and what does God have to say about those?
“Concerning the works of men, by the Words of Your lips, I am kept from the paths of the destroyer” (Psalms 17:4 MKJV).
Going on with the original point of why these people return to their ministries: They deplore the loss of what they had, and they so desire to get it back. Why do the sons follow in their fathers’ footsteps? Because their fathers had a ready-made financial bonanza in progress. Why lose it?
Did Richard Roberts or Franklin Graham or Donny Swaggart have what their fathers had, so that they could do the same (not that their fathers had something of God)? No, but they had a money-making organization they couldn’t refuse or ignore. It’s all about mammon.
The Deweerts want their fame and fortune back, pure and simple…or is it impure and complex? It is the latter, to be sure. And we marvel at how many fall for these ploys and wicked schemes, but many do, and they finance liars, thinking to please God. O Lord God!
How Does Dick Compare to the Biblical Patriarchs?
Bretherick and the others go on about all the failures in the Scriptures, mentioning Moses, David, Samson, Saul of Tarsus (Paul), Peter, and Abraham, comparing Dick’s sin to theirs. But shall we examine some of the differences?
What did Moses do? He was a flesh and blood man with his faults and weaknesses, as we all have. But is his fault, weakness, or sin to be compared to Dick’s grievous ways?
You may say, “He killed a man.” But was that sin? His intent, his heart was to free his people of their bondage and suffering. Furthermore, he hadn’t yet been taken through the process of preparation for the day he, as a man sent of God, would be empowered to deliver Israel from the Egyptians.
In contrast, Dick presumed to have the Spirit of God and to have been walking in the fullness of ministry at the time of his sin, which wasn’t merely a momentary act of passion, but conduct lasting years!
And didn’t Moses, under God’s direction, kill many people after he was prepared and sent? God took away the firstborn in the plague in which Moses was instrumental, they fought battles in the wilderness and killed many enemies, and Moses even commanded those who were for the Lord to kill their own kindred:
Exodus 32:25-28 MKJV
(25) And when Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies),
(26) then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him.
(27) And he said to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Each man put his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and kill each one his brother, and each one his neighbor, and each one his kindred.
(28) And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Moses killed many, but was it sin? Was he deliberately going forth to kill, knowing full well God was against it? No. Dick’s sin was very different from Moses’, if what Moses did can even be called sin. He was weak, yes, as all men subject to like passions are, but was he living a life of sin? Come on!
What about striking the rock twice? In a heated moment, he lost his patience and didn’t glorify God before the people, who were constantly bitterly complaining against Him. Is that anything like what Dick did? No, there is an immense difference!
What about Abraham, who, as Dick handily points out, handed Sarah over to Abimelech? In a moment of pressure, Abraham feared for his life. Did he expect Sarah to become a man’s wife and sleep with him? It doesn’t say. Did he deliberately sell or rent her for gain? No. Did he choose adultery or murder? No. Did he know what was going to happen? No. Granted, he did react out of fear when he should have trusted God.
Perhaps he did have confidence that somehow God was going to deliver them out of that circumstance. Do we know? It doesn’t say. What we do know is that Abraham appeared to be weak. But who can say that he deliberately sinned? At least Abraham wasn’t hopping into bed with Abimelech’s wife! Furthermore, the Lord kept Sarah from being violated and, in support of His prophet, had her released.
What about Abraham going in to Hagar? This was Sarah’s idea and initiative. In unbelief, they tried to fulfill God’s promise of a son while Sarah was barren. Furthermore, Hagar was Sarah’s handmaid to do with as Sarah thought best. Was the woman Dick slept with not someone else’s wife? Were he and Joan trying to fulfill a promise of God by committing adultery?
Aren’t there significant differences between the sins of those in the Scriptures and Dick’s sin? We should say so!
What about Samson? After severe and constant prolonged pressure from Delilah, he caved and gave out the secret of his strength. Was Dick subjected to those kinds of circumstances?
While Samson was divulging a secret, Dick was taking another man’s wife and sleeping with her. I ask, “Isn’t there a difference?” And Samson’s judgment fell on him immediately, as God’s chastening.
What about Saul of Tarsus? While he persecuted the Church, was he proclaiming to have received the Spirit of God and presuming to have a prophetic ministry? Was he ministering in the Name of Jesus Christ? He was zealous of the Mosaic and Jewish Law, and as touching it, he says he was blameless! He declared of himself as Saul in his pre-Christ days:
“Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church; regarding the righteousness in the Law, blameless” (Philippians 3:6 MKJV).
He was out to stamp out heresy as he sincerely knew it. Yes, he was ignorant of what he was doing and even said that God had mercy on him because of that ignorance:
“And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who strengthened me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry–the one who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent. But I obtained mercy, because being ignorant, I did it in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:12-13 MKJV).
Can Dick Deweert say the same?
How dare these people compare blatant sin to the acts and motives of these men in Scripture, as weak as they were!
And Deweerts and associates call the men of the Bible “heroes”! Were they heroes? God forbid! They were nothing. What they had was the grace of God. To God be the glory, not to men, not to them. But these people, whom we expose today, know nothing of what they speak concerning the things of the Lord. They wish to be heroes and play the part.
Perhaps you would excuse them for loose words or accidental inappropriate terms. But do “generals” use such terms? Should these “Spirit-filled ministers” not know better? No, there’s no excuse for these charlatans, none at all.
“I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36 HNV).
Did you know that Baal worship is hero worship? It began with Nimrod, that great hero of the people, that mighty hunter of souls, who turned them away from worshipping God, history tells us, and whom Shem had to confront and destroy by the Word of the Lord. No, there’s no such thing as a hero in God’s army of warriors and servants, not even the generals.
Flatter them, Prankard. What are you after? More funds for your “ministry”? Yes, you are there as a man-pleaser for personal gain and nothing more. It is not for the glory of God, Whom you falsely profess to worship, love, and serve. All of you are light and vain persons, flatterers, borrowing men’s words and scratching one another’s backs for social benefit. Hypocrites!
What about Peter now? What sin did he commit so as to be compared to Dick? He denied the Lord in a moment of great pressure, fearing for his life. But more importantly, it wasn’t his time to stand. He had yet to receive the Spirit of God, which would be given to him at Pentecost, weeks later. But Dick presumed to have the Spirit, for many years already, in full ministry.
“Oh, but I was under such pressure at the time, working to raise millions of dollars for The Miracle Channel in such a small city as Lethbridge,” he plaintively boasts (compiled words to that effect). Dick mentions these things in justification for an act, and even extended conduct, that many even in the world deplore. How do we compare Dick’s pressure to Peter’s, whose life was in immediate danger?
Furthermore, Peter’s was a knee-jerk reaction out of the weakness of flesh, something for which he was so sorry only minutes, if not seconds, later. Did he deliberately sin? Come on! Only devils such as the Deweerts, Prankards, and Brethericks would suggest so, in order to justify themselves in their own sins.
What about Dick? How long did it take him to realize, confess, and sorrow over prolonged deliberate sin, which he hid from his family, friends, and the public, all the while preaching on the air to the world? Liars are these all, and hypocrites! They will condemn the saints of Scripture to exonerate themselves in their wickedness, as though the saints were no different? No way!
How these people wrest, distort, corrupt, falsify, garble, twist, warp, manipulate, convolute, deform, defile, profane, abuse, misuse, mangle, and misrepresent the Scriptures and the intent of their content! How perverse! How diabolical!
Last of all the examples these people use as excuses for their sins, we have David. Yes, it appears they have some ammunition here, doesn’t it? Well, they don’t. Expanding on what we said earlier, here’s why, and it is a significant “why”:
Yes, David sinned, and he sinned grievously. Not only did he take another man’s wife, he killed her husband, Urijah, to try and cover it up. And Urijah was a wonderfully faithful man in David’s service, even evident to David. How bad was that?
However, here’s where the difference comes in. Soon after David sinned, God sent Nathan the prophet to confront him. This may sound strange to many, but David was a chosen man of God and his calling was not to be revoked:
“Indeed as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. But as regards the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the free gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:28-29 MKJV).
David was destined for salvation, in spite of himself; he was granted repentance and lasting faith, wielding his sword against the enemies of the Lord. King Saul, in contrast, was destined for the sword, being an enemy of the Lord. While David’s sin was put away, Saul had an evil spirit sent to torment him, and his kingdom was taken from him.
Does this all sound unfair?
Romans 9:13-21 MKJV
(13) As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
(14) What shall we say then? Is there not unrighteousness with God? Let it not be!
(15) For He said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
(16) So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.
(17) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.”
(18) Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.
(19) You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?
(20) No, but, O man, who are you who replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him Who formed it, Why have You made me this way?
(21) Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?
Have you ever wondered why King Saul was cast off as king of Israel for an offense that seemed so much less than David’s, while as grievous as David’s sin was, his position as king was retained?
Consider Saul’s situation at the time of his offense. He and his tiny army were greatly outnumbered and out-armed by the enemy. As Saul and his men faced the enormous odds against them, he wouldn’t fight until a sacrifice was offered up to God. He waited no less than seven days under extreme pressure, as commanded of Samuel, and Samuel didn’t show up at the appointed time. So Saul offered up the sacrifice to God in Samuel’s stead, who was late! Who knew if Samuel would ever show up?
Here’s the full story:
1 Samuel 13:5-14 MKJV
(5) And the Philistines gathered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people like the sand on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven.
(6) And the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight place (for the people were distressed). And the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.
(7) And the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. And Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.
(8) And he waited seven days, according to the set time with Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And the people were scattered from him.
(9) And Saul said, Bring a burnt offering here to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
(10) And it happened as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and to kneel to him.
(11) And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and you did not come in the days appointed, and the Philistines gathered themselves at Michmash,
(12) and I said, The Philistines will come down now on me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD. And I forced myself and offered a burnt offering.
(13) And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.
(14) But now your kingdom shall not stand. The LORD has sought Him a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him to be leader over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.
Why such an apparently harsh judgment of God on King Saul, who was under so much pressure for their lives, compared to the judgment on David, who pursued his lusts at leisure?
The answer: Saul wasn’t called and chosen as the Lord’s, but David was. Therefore, God sent a prophet to rebuke David and grant him repentance. God didn’t do so with Saul. Saul was, putting it bluntly, expendable. He was a chosen vessel of dishonor. David was a chosen vessel of honor, and no small honor at that! The Messiah came to be known as the son of David! And as it was Esau’s predetermined lot to be hated, so was it King Saul’s.
God was sending the message: Man’s virtue doesn’t count.
One last point for now, not that we have exhausted them all: In their justification before men, what man of God can these people point to who went into wickedness once chosen and filled with the Holy Spirit (New Testament)? Men like Barnabas, Peter, and Paul had their weaknesses, yes, but prolonged, deliberate, lifestyle sin? Show us one example – just one, please.
Another Feebleminded Attempt to Justify Dick
Gwen Prankard does a lot of talking, but of what value to sensible people, never mind children of God? In Part 12, she speaks of favoritism being a curse, yes, curse, with the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which curse, she says, was finally broken by Joseph.
She claims Abraham was partial to Isaac. What?! Isaac was God’s promised son, a miracle son, a prophetic son, one who did no evil to his older half-brother, Ishmael, while Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, behaved wickedly toward Isaac and his mother, Sarah. Indeed, the Lord commanded that Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar, and her son be cast out, and Abraham was grieved for it, but obeyed.
Genesis 21:9-12 MKJV
(9) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian (whom she had borne to Abraham) mocking.
(10) And she said to Abraham, Cast out this slave woman and her son. For the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac.
(11) And the thing was very evil in Abraham’s sight, because of his son.
(12) And God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in your sight because of the boy and because of your slave woman. In all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice. For in Isaac your Seed shall be called.
And Gwen calls Abraham’s attitude and conduct a curse? What do these people smoke? But they need not smoke; it’s their natural state.
Now Isaac did favor Esau over Jacob. What good did it do Esau, and what harm did it do Jacob? The destinies of those two were established in their mother’s womb, so that God might demonstrate His sovereign will:
Romans 9:10-14 MKJV
(10) And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, by our father Isaac
(11) (for the children had not yet been born, neither had done any good or evil; but that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him Who called,)
(12) it was said to her, “The elder shall serve the younger.”
(13) As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
(14) What shall we say then? Is there not unrighteousness with God? Let it not be!
What? Shall we charge God with a curse because He loved Jacob and hated Esau? What nonsense the Deweert company spews! It was God Who put it in Isaac to favor Esau, in order to further demonstrate that it is not the favor of the father, but the favor of God, that promotes. And Gwen Prankard calls it a curse?
Then Jacob had his children. Yes, he favored Rachel the younger and more beautiful wife over Leah, and it seems that he therefore favored Rachel’s only two sons above the others. Yes, he favored Joseph, her firstborn, above the sons of the others. And yes, it seems that his favor of Joseph turned out to be a curse in this case, for the others were jealous and sold him into slavery. But Joseph’s words to his brothers declare how God purposed these things:
“And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. And now you did not send me here, but God. And He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:7-8 MKJV).
“But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save a great many people alive” (Genesis 50:20 MKJV).
Shall God be charged with cursing these people with favoritism? Yes, He will be charged, but by ignorant, unregenerate men and not by saints of God, who know better, knowing their Heavenly Father.
Satan Comes as an Angel of Light
The Deweerts, Prankards, and Brethericks are very nice people, friendly, cordial, polite, and sociable. They preach, witness, tithe, fast, read the Scriptures, pray, speak of the Lord, and give alms. They normally don’t get drunk, swear, smoke, brawl, or carouse. They do all those things one might expect good Christians to do. So how can they be so bad? Are we unduly critical and unjust?
The Pharisees did all those things and more, and Jesus had the harshest words of all for them. Vessels of dishonor often do all those things. The difference is that vessels of dishonor feed from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, while those called and chosen as vessels of honor feed from the Tree of Life.
The Trees appear identical. And vessels of honor and dishonor can appear quite similar, as well. While those of the Tree of Life are real, those of the Tree of Knowledge pretend. While those of the Tree of Life obey the Lord, those of the Tree of Knowledge put forth their own righteousness in substitution for obedience. That is why they do all those “good” and “right” things. They substitute; they sacrifice from the head, rather than obey from the heart. And when they don’t get what they feel is coming to them, they do what Dick did – they find their pleasures elsewhere.
They do what dismissed executive ministers do; they resent and lament their loss, as if their loss isn’t justified, or as if God can’t do as He pleases with His own. Not that they are His, but they presume and profess to be His. So, if His, why can’t they declare as Job did when losses came?:
“And he said, I came naked out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the Name of the LORD” (Job 1:21 MKJV).
Instead, their reaction is that of Cain’s, whose countenance fell when his sacrifice was rejected. Oh yes, at times they may mouth the words they know would be acceptable to God, for a time, but their hearts just aren’t in it. They can’t be what they know they ought to be, because they aren’t the elect of God, as are David and all saints.
While the Deweerts, Prankards, and Brethericks think to have the honor of the Lord and to be honoring Him, He hasn’t sent them a prophet to declare their sin and deliver them. Instead, the Deweerts have had false prophets and carnal, earthly professional counselors sent to comfort them.
Why? Because the Lord has determined to judge these vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, all of them. In this, He will be glorified, even as He was glorified in Pharaoh:
Romans 9:16-18 MKJV
(16) So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.
(17) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My Name might be declared throughout all the earth.”
(18) Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.
So comparing their sins to those of the saints of God will do no good. They may succeed in deceiving people to follow them in their pretended innocence, but God knows their hearts, that they aren’t set on Him and His will and ways.
In Part 12, Prankard sums up the situation by saying that God is not like men. How true! And this is true to their dismay, because He isn’t the way they, as men, presume Him to be. These people are in for His judgment, not the great revivalistic anointing they are prophesying and expecting.
Finally, they pray… oh, watch them pray!
“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).
Hear them pray… oh, hear them pray! To whom do they speak? Who are they addressing? Do those who truly believe and love God speak to Him this way, to be heard of men?
Listen to the tones of their voices as they preach at Him while they pray. Is it not a spirit of unbelief speaking? Tell us if you would dare speak to God that way, if He were standing before you. We sincerely hope not! They speak as though God hasn’t heard what they have to say. They speak to Him with arrogance, presumption, and impudence. It’s horrid!
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they do not know that they are doing evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to say a word before God. For God is in Heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 MKJV).
But they would declare they were coming to the throne of grace with boldness (Hebrews 4:16).
Listen to Gwen tell God what to do, how, when, and where to do it, and explain it all to Him just to be sure He understands what it is they are planning and expect of Him. God can be soooo stupid!
These are all servants of Baal, working themselves into a frenzy, cutting themselves, jumping up and down and shouting, as though their zeal will compel Him.
And it’s all about Dick and Joan, the saviors of Canada and the world! What shall God do with such grandstanders?
No Resurrection with Satan
Who in their right mind would dare venture onto the least of battlefields in submission to these frauds? Following them, you would find yourself immediately vulnerable, and worst of all, automatically on the wrong side of the battle. You would be utterly confounded. You really wouldn’t know whose side you were on. You wouldn’t realize that your battle was not for, but against, the Lord!
Imagine that! Fighting against the Lord in His Name! Of course, we know that Paul did that as Saul of Tarsus, but that was before he was converted and professed to believe, while these people do these things as professing believers.
Let’s not give credit to Dick’s deserters, either – they didn’t have God’s best interests at heart. Dick was deserted because he was no longer an asset to their ministries. He had become the spiritual equivalent of nuclear waste in the popularity contest that is the religious world. He was shunned, except by those who were already pariahs due to similar scandals, like Jimmy Bakker, or by those who owed him or saw some advantage in keeping the door open for selfish benefit, like Bill and Gwen Prankard and Graham and Sherry Bretherick.
In the Body of Christ (which Dick and his associates never had anything to do with), a sinning brother can be restored, if there is genuine repentance. In the body of Satan (of which Dick and his associates are part), appearance determines everything – image is all. If one loses the patina of piety, having deviated from acceptable behavior before his religious judges, he may not be admitted back into the club, or he will come back with a much lower status. No matter how many mea culpas are offered, the image and former glory can’t be restored. There is no resurrection of the dead of those who presume to be alive.
Therefore, though Dick and Joan have their sights set on full admittance back into men’s good graces (and beyond – make no mistake of that), it’s not going to happen. They have been chewed up and spit out by Satan’s feel-good illusion machine, no longer able to serve with the credibility required by men in their own righteousness, the bedrock of Satan’s kingdom.
Salvation is God’s Work, Not Man’s
False hope springs eternal for those who don’t forsake themselves, like mushrooms in the dark. Dick says, “If you have the measure and favor of God, it can come back to you so quickly…. IF you go through it right, and keep your heart focused on what God wants to do, and how He wants to be expressed through your life, then He can use you.”
In other words, “I believe in miracles, and if I can do things just right, God will give me one.” It doesn’t work that way in God’s Kingdom. He does what He is going to do, and needs no man’s permission or help to do it. That’s what makes Him God. Dick’s god depends on him, but the Real God depends on no one:
“And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His Own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness sustained Him” (Isaiah 59:16 MKJV).
Isn’t that what the Scriptures tell us? What man has ever worked his way into God’s good graces? God is always the One choosing the man, initiating the work, and seeing it through to completion. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith!
Consider Jonah, for example. God called him to preach judgment to Nineveh. It wasn’t Jonah’s idea or desire, to say the least. He fled from the assignment.
Yet God saved Nineveh by Jonah’s preaching, despite Jonah’s initial refusal to do as he was told. God did that by first saving Jonah. It wasn’t by Jonah’s righteousness that Nineveh was saved, but by God’s.
And what about Saul of Tarsus, who was in the process of trying to destroy the Body of Christ? He wasn’t exactly on board with the program of spreading the Gospel of salvation for all men, was he? But what did God say of him, when He chose Saul to represent Him to the nations?:
“But the Lord said to [Ananias], Go! For this one is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My Name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15 MKJV).
Did God make good on His Word, or did Saul make it happen? Did Saul, Jonah, or any prophet of God have a choice in their choosing and empowerment? Was it up to them to make God take notice of them and fulfill His Word? That’s what Dick is saying and doing. And he’s right in a sense, because that’s the way of his god, the god of this world, Satan.
Sin and Failure Portrayed as Godliness
Having lost all they worked for at The Miracle Channel, Dick and Joan had to submit themselves to whatever men required of them, in order to get another shot at prominence. But there is no promise they will get what they want from men and the god of this world. They can only hope, using positive thinking techniques and Biblical sounding platitudes to bolster confidence and create empathy in their hearers. They can only imagine prophecies God isn’t speaking, and pray prayers He isn’t inspiring or hearing.
For example, Dick and Joan and their boosters speak of the “gospel of love and restoration.” They say, “God is good all the time,” and, “We must model something different than what we have seen in the past,” and, “The ministry God called us to is irrevocable, if we do the right things,” and, “People will remember how you finish. Many end with sin and failure, but Dick and Joan aren’t finished.”
With sayings such as these, Satan nurtures his subject’s false hopes. And when these hopes are dashed (as they eventually must be), they present it to the world as hope deferred, while they soldier on in the faith. They are like the delusional Don Quixote, heroes in their own minds, with as many Sancho Panzas as they can muster to accompany them.
They conceal this self-glorification under a guise of modest godliness. And whether “success” or failure follows, all is spun into more glory, with Biblical verses to prove it.
But while the Deweerts play the part of godly martyrs because of their losses, the truth is that those who follow Christ are meant to lose it all. That is par for the course, standard fare, nothing heroic or extraordinary at all. In fact, the only way to life is to lose everything, so it isn’t something to bemoan and advertise for solace, admiration, and support from the very world one is called to forsake!
However, and here is a big caveat, the loss of all things that Jesus talked about comes by submission to God. It doesn’t come by the devastation of sin. If it did, all the world would be saved while it is, in fact, being destroyed.
In other words, if you murder someone and go to prison, that isn’t taking up the cross. If you steal from others and lose all your possessions, that isn’t forsaking all for Christ’s sake. The saints of God don’t promote themselves on account of being punished for their sins, as if they deserved praise for the rewards of their evildoings:
“For what glory is it, if when you sin and are beaten, you endure?” (1 Peter 2:20 EMTV)
But the servants of Satan use such occasions to promote themselves. They spin fool’s gold from straw instead of buying true gold from Christ, and fools buy their fake gold.
God’s servants have a very different attitude. They don’t promote themselves even when they have lost it all for the sake of Christ.
“So likewise you, when you shall have done all the things commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, for we have done what we ought to do” (Luke 17:10 MKJV).
What a contrast with Satan’s servants, who say, in essence:
“By being caught in our sins and showing public contrition over a prolonged period of time, and submitting ourselves to counseling sessions, we have proven that we are the profitable servants of God who deserve recognition, honor, and especially your financial support, confirming our ‘prophetability’/profitability!”
The saints rejoice when leaving the works of the flesh behind them, because by faith they perceive the reward of Christ. Compared to Him, the greatest honors of this world are as garbage going to the dump:
“Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him” (Philippians 3:8 WNT).
Can anyone imagine Jesus going on and on about His losses and sufferings after being raised from the dead? Why would He, or anyone else, after experiencing such a glorious resurrection, wherein all things are made new?
“The woman has grief when she bears, because her hour has come. But when she brings forth the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16:21 MKJV).
All this goes to show that the Deweerts have never experienced the victory and resurrection life of Jesus Christ, which means they have never experienced the cross, which means they have never experienced repentance and separation from this present evil world. They are the tares of which the Lord spoke, which are gathered by the angels at the end of this world for the purifying fires of God.
Yet they called their church “Victory Church,” a lying and blasphemous name, which is to be expected from the father of lies.
By God’s grace, had the Deweerts, after Dick’s exposure, realized the anti-Christ nature of their works, and the enslavement to Satan and sin fostered by these works, they would be repentant and would gladly and vigorously renounce their life of counterfeit Christianity. They would openly confess how wrong they are and have been all along, acknowledging their unrighteousness for the whole world to hear. And then we would see the glory of the Lord in their lives, without effort or scheming.
When men take up the cross and die in Christ, forsaking this world and its allurements, Satan is stripped of his power over them. What can threaten the man who submits to God and loses everything? All that is before him is life in Christ!
Isaiah 26:19-21 MKJV
(19) Your dead ones shall live, together with My dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of lights, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
(20) Come, My people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors around you; hide for a little moment, until the fury has passed by.
(21) For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the people of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall reveal her blood, and shall no more cover her dead.
Another Hallmark of Satan – Rulership of Women
What is going on with these “power” couples – Dick and Joan, Bill and Gwen, Graham and Sherry? Where do you see this in the Scriptures? What prophets or servants of God were always accompanied by their wives as equals (and more than equals) in ministry?
We don’t see that Jesus had wife companions in mind when He sent forth His disciples two by two. Do you? In fact, weren’t wives among those the disciples forsook, which Peter declared they all had forsaken (Mark 10:28-30)?
And lest any should use Aquila and Priscilla in defense of this diabolical doctrine of “marriage ministries,” they were not ministers ordained and sent of God. They weren’t apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, elders, bishops, deacons, or preachers; they were a married couple who believed and shared what they had in Christ, which is the privilege and duty of all believing married couples (and believing singles – male or female). They were not placed in official spiritual authority, no, not even with Apollos, when they “expounded to him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:24-26).
You don’t find husband and wife ministries in the Scriptures – quite the contrary – but you do see it with children of darkness because, ever since the Fall, when the first man followed his wife instead of obeying God, the woman has naturally had power, by the serpent and the Tree of Knowledge, over the man. And in this last day of Satan’s power, the rulership of women over men is in full bloom. We see women pastors everywhere, contrary to the Scriptures, and wives of ministers exerting great influence, both on their own and through their husbands. It’s all part of Satan’s control over humanity since the fall through the first Eve. See The Vashti-Esther Transmutation.
The Victory of the Lord – Amen!
All of these things are being exposed, because Satan must now make way for the Lord in this, the Lord’s Last Great Day. The Light of all men has come to put away the enemy’s deceitful strongholds, once for all.
“You cracked open the heads of Leviathan; You gave him to be food for the people of the wilderness” (Psalms 74:14 LITV).
“In that day the LORD with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1 KJV).
We have identified that crooked serpent’s domain and methods, because we first overcame him from within by the power of the Lord:
“No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house” (Mark 3:27 KJV).
The Lord gave us this victory by His grace, not just for our sakes, but for the sakes of all:
Romans 8:19-22 MKJV
(19) For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.
(20) For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him Who subjected it on hope
(21) that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
(22) And we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
The Lord once said, “As the false are exposed, so will the true be made manifest.” The Deweerts’ ways described in these pages manifest the man of sin, who reigns in all who have not been regenerated by Christ. They have seated themselves as imposters on the throne of God, showing the world that they are God. “See us, how good we are, and see what great things our God will do with us!” they exclaim – all hype and lies from the carnal man, the man of sin, the son of perdition, which is our fallen nature. They are trying to make it happen with your help. The wicked and ignorant come to their aid in Satan’s last hour and gasp for power.
“Concerning the works of men, by the Words of Your lips, I am kept from the paths of the destroyer” (Psalms 17:4 MKJV).
How are men destroyed? They lose their lives – that which they give themselves over to is burned up, never to be reestablished, because it wasn’t founded on the only Corner Stone of the Building, Christ Jesus.
“Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a chief Corner Stone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him shall never be ashamed” (1 Peter 2:6 MKJV).
Are not the Deweerts ashamed? Will they escape their shame by renewed works without renewed ways? Will God allow them to pilfer again in His Name? Jesus said:
“Therefore be careful how you hear. For whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have” (Luke 8:18 MKJV).
It is the mercy of God not to allow false prophets to succeed in their religious schemes forever. He will disabuse them of their delusions in His wrath, and will correct them of their folly, after they have suffered enough from their works:
“Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?” (Habakkuk 2:13 KJV)
And He is victorious in His saints, bringing judgment to the world, so that all men might repent and learn to fear Him:
Psalms 149:5-8 HNV
(5) Let the holy ones rejoice in honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds.
(6) May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
(7) To execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples;
(8) To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron.
“The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. And man shall say, Truly, there is a reward for the righteous; truly, there is a God judging in the earth” (Psalms 58:10-11 MKJV).
Some Summing Up and Final Thoughts on Satan
Satan’s raison d’être, as Jesus put it, is savoring the things of men outside of God. Satan lives to preserve men’s separation from God, and accomplishes this by offering men the things they want.
Remember what he said to Jesus about the world and its kingdoms?:
“All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9 EMTV).
But Jesus defeated Satan by forsaking all, paving the way for us to do the same through Him. As He said:
“For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel’s, he shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:35-36 MKJV)
Your soul is worth more than all you could ever have or obtain in this world, be it riches, fame, friends, lands, spouses, children – anything and everything put together. Nothing compares to the possession of your soul and the fellowship of God that comes by taking up the cross and following Jesus Christ. Believe it!
Satan comes neutralizing the cross while appearing to honor it. He doesn’t directly refute Christ’s call to the cross, but circumvents it by perverting its application in our lives. He turns the cross into something Christ did for you historically, with your part being to bear whatever unpleasantness comes your way in life – “My mother-in-law is a pain, but I must bear my cross.” Even the suffering that comes from your sins is taking up the cross according to Satan, as with Dick’s implicit message – “Men have rejected me because of my sin, but I must bear my cross.”
In the ultimate “have your cake and eat it, too” scenario, Satan offers you the benefits of following the Lord without having to lose your life. It’s the old switcheroo trick – you are deceived into thinking you follow God on the narrow path to life, while you follow the Devil on the wide path to destruction. It would be better to remain worldly than to be so deluded.
Just as Satan said to Eve that they surely wouldn’t die if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge, now he says that you surely won’t have to die (take up the cross) in order to eat from the Tree of Life (Christ). All you have to do is “accept” Christ as Lord and Savior and you are forever forgiven your sins – past, present, and future – with eternal life to follow in the hereafter. (For more on this, read The False and Misleading Gospel of “Accepting” Jesus Christ.)
The serpent continues to deceive with his subtle spiel, as he has from the beginning. While Christ does forgive us our sins, one can only know Him as Lord and Savior through faith and obedience. Faith without works, the works of God and not of men, is dead. His faith alone leads to eternal life, delivering us from the cycle of sinning and reaping death now.
The Devil’s deceitful promise is that we are delivered from sin after this life, in an ethereal by-and-by, as if physical death changes an unregenerate heart and cures spiritual deadness. He credits God for His great mercy and forgiveness, but the practical payoff doesn’t come until after you’ve passed on. Meanwhile, you reserve a place in line to get into Heaven through religious doctrine and works.
What a burden! What a scam! While trusting in your own righteousness, you are still dead in your sins.
The promoters of Satan’s false gospel often lead more outwardly appearing moral lives than from before their conversions. They have been inspired to imitate Christ and the saints in the Bible through their own understanding and effort. They trust in themselves to be good, as God is good, which is impossible. They put on an appearance and form of godliness they are compelled to maintain according to their own consciences and those of their peers. They eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, rather than walking and resting in God’s work, the Tree of Life.
There is nothing necessarily wrong, of course, with living more lawful lives. It certainly benefits the individual and society whenever anyone turns from illegal and immoral behaviors. True followers of God experience this, too, and go through an awkward sorting-out process of being delivered from their own efforts at being right, and coming into God’s grace that enables true righteousness.
The latter comes by believing Him, by His gift of faith – “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Galatians 3:6 MKJV). (Job’s experience is a classic example of this process, not through sin and its consequences, as Deweerts apparently suppose, but through the fires of God, taking one from glory to glory.)
The problem for Satan’s followers is that their improved morality never equates to true godliness, since it’s their righteousness at work, rather than the faith of Christ. And because they are satisfied with the man-pleasing image of God they have created, they refuse to repent and take up the cross to become as He is – perfect in motive and love. While they look for an external Savior to drop out of the sky and whisk them away, and teach others to expect the same, they miss His appearing within, which is Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, bringing Heaven to earth!
These are all hallmarks of the works of men, which serve as the gates of Hell that keep men in sin and darkness.
In the darkness and confusion of Hell, one may even come to expect favor from God for the consequence of sin, as we see in the example of Deweerts. How different is the death of the cross that His followers experience, which is precious in God’s sight! One is that of a pig squealing, “MY will! MY will! No, not Yours! DEFINITELY NOT YOURS!!” while the other is that of a submissive lamb, in the fullest sense of resignation, humility, and unworthiness before God.
The Devil’s treadmill goes nowhere – ever learning and never coming to knowledge of the truth. The activity of vain and dead works makes you believe you are going somewhere. And you become his willing partner because you are one with him by nature, loving the independence he nurtures.
To this end you will gladly be burdened with Satan’s manmade ordinances, thinking they make you right with God. You will go to deadly boring church and will believe incomprehensible nonsense like the trinity, in order to keep your life. And just to break up the monotony, you’ll celebrate Christmas, honoring the birth of the anti-Christ in Jesus’ Name, and Easter, honoring of the goddess of love and fertility, pagan abominations and supreme effronteries to God.
Why do you need the real God if you are good enough for the false one who comes in the Real One’s Name? Satan glosses over the truth about our utter depravity, doing a whitewash job to satisfy those judging by appearance. The problem with whitewash is that a bit of water splashed on it begins to wash it off, exposing what was covered. We are applying the godly water of Truth to the works of the Deweerts and others in these interviews, revealing how they attempt to cover their ungodly essence.
The Devil’s deception allows his followers to keep their lives in this world, living them as they choose. Notice how his gospel declares the Lord isn’t here in present judgment now – He’s always “coming soon” or waiting on the other side of the grave. No matter what you do, just keep professing “faith in Christ,” and you will be kept until you reach the casket. Then you will be in Heaven with the Lord (unless the make-believe rapture comes first).
No, no, no! Wake up, people! You have been sold a false bill of goods! Jesus Christ is a present Deliverer, and the one who believes in Him receives God and eternal life now! Don’t let those who don’t know Him keep you in the dark, where you’ve been laboring under false burdens in delusional hope!
As Jesus said to ministers of Satan in His day (those like Deweerts who are everywhere today):
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men. For you neither go in, nor do you allow those entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13 MKJV).
“For they bind heavy and hard-to-carry burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders. But they will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4 MKJV).
The Devil’s adherents will never concede they are wrong. They defy the Light by countering with their manmade doctrine, perverting the Scriptures in their own defense. It’s no wonder the Lord said to these:
“Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33 MKJV)
Have we been describing you in these pages, dear reader? Have you come so far in this writing to hear the truth about yourself? Have you had enough hell? Is it your time to turn from the power of darkness and Satan, or will there be more condemnation/judgment, before that blessed day arrives for you?
Satan remains on his stolen throne so long as there is a single person who loves lies and embraces him as an angel of light. But how can the darkness prevail when the True Light of all men appears? Even Satan knows his time is short.
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 7:16 MKJV).
Amen!
Victor Hafichuk
The Origin and Identity of Satan
Who is Satan? Where did he come from? How did he get his power? How is it exercised? How is it broken? These are things you need to know, if you will be an overcomer in Christ.