The whole thing really began on graduation night from Rhema...I've told you the story before about how James, a fellow student paralyzed from the waist down, was approached by a fellow student who attempted to heal him, to put into practice what we'd been taught all year, Faith in action, Faith in the now. Behind her on the stage were some of the 'Giants' of Faith...Copeland, Price, both Hagin senior and junior, all of whom laid claims to healing the sick, some even spoke of raising the dead.
They did nothing that night but lay the blame on the failure to heal James on him...He'd been taught all the secrets of Faith and, according to Hagin senior, it had to be his own Faith which healed his body...No one else, just him.
At that graduation ceremony was Cal, the brother of a friend of mine who had also graduated that night. His anger at what had happened was nearing rage, all that we'd all been taught was tossed out the window on that fateful night. He'd been spending the last year building a Church in Missouri and at that very moment his outlook on the ministry, on the Bible, on Faith, had undergone its own kind of 'Born again' experience.
I moved back to Casa Grande and about three months later Barry, Cal's brother, approached me with the idea of starting a new ministry here in our old home town. I agreed...I'd spent a great deal of time learning about Church building, so I figured I should put that knowledge to work. Cal made a mistake with me...At the very beginning he told me we had to approach this work as a business, we had to bring in people, bring in money and the more we attained, the more rewards we'd reap down the line. I had connections in town and had an article put into the paper about the beginning of the 91st Psalm...Had radio spots, went door to door...Which he suggested we target only the upper crust of society...And our first service was held in the cafeteria I'd rented out at the old Junior High. After that I went to a friend of mine, a mortician, and asked if we could use his Chapel on Sundays...So there we were, working at building the Church, bringing in a lot of people, and there I was watching the whole thing with open eyes as he started his master plan.
He targeted those who needed Faith the most...One family had a child in a wheelchair, the father working three months at a time in Iraq with the oil companies...My own wife's mother had severe issues and he promised her that he'd see to it she was healed...Again, hers was and still is a wealthy family...
...There were no healing taking place, just a lot of words, words of encouragement, words of promise, words of what the Church would become once we had the land to build our dream on...That was when the Cs came into the picture. I'd known them for years and they approached Cal with a proposition...They'd give him the money to buy the land if he'd allow them to build their retirement home on the fringe of the acreage. Cal said yes and he was soon signing a deed for the land...
...Meanwhile his own brother quit, warning me about how I'd be bled dry if I stayed. His own brother had pretty much wiped out Barry's savings, now he was working on others, and not for just money. He had journeymen electricians, mechanics, volunteers to put the building together...But he didn't have me. I went nose to nose with him about what was happening, about all the promises, about how the Church was suppose to be a group effort and yet he'd gone behind our back and signed the incorporation papers with his name and the names of his family members...Turns out he'd been kicked out of his last Church, something he swore would never happen again.
Then the Cs came to him and asked if they could begin building there house while the Church was going up. Cal told them they didn't have a contract, nothing to prove that there was any agreement to sharing the land with anyone...This destroyed everything this family believed in, it destroyed their lives financially, their souls, and came close to destroying their very belief in God.
I'd spent a great many years looking up those whose lives had been damaged by the Church I helped build...I've done a lot of apologizing, a lot of agonizing, and there's still much to do if I'm to make amends to all I've helped harm. I honestly believe this is why I've been given an extension on my life...To make right a lot of wrongs, even if it wasn't me doing the wrong...I was responsible for those people and I failed them.
As you know, Emma Blijdenstein is working on a documentary on how the ministers were affected financially by the Word of Faith movement...And, yeah, we all suffered to one degree or another because of what we'd been taught. But there is a whole section of people, innocent in their Faith, who are losing more and more money every day. My own father has lost over $30,000 simply because he believed...
...So those of us have a responsibility to let the truth be known, to tell our stories even if they don't put us in a good light. I have nothing left to lose and given time to work on my own personal redemption, time which I take very seriously.
This is but one of the stories which came out of that Church...Which still exists to this day, though the name has been changed. Ironically enough it's only about a half mile from where I now live...A constant reminder of a massive failure on my part.
There you have it, my friend. Share with it as you will...I'm not afraid of any backlash...There's a certain amount of liberation in knowing your days are numbered...And a certain amount of pressure to keep on trying to fix what I had a hand in.
Hope this helps you out.
Your friend...Michael
