After the passing of a couple of months, I was still waiting for a response that dealt with the subject matter. This, despite a number of assurances from their management that they would consider my claims and discuss them with me.

Be that as it may, whether they speak with me or otherwise, I have grave concerns about what it is that this particular bookshop is distributing throughout the Christian community.

As I have already mentioned, when I was in the shop recently, to purchase the Transformations video, I was dismayed at the number of recognised false teachers who were being enthusiastically promoted and given prominent space within the shop. Over a number of years I have watched as this shop, slowly but surely compromised its good Christian testimony, by introducing one false teacher after another. However, in the last three or four years, this trickle of dubious material has become a veritable flood.

On my rare visits to the shop I noticed, with alarm, that a number of authors who ecstatically promoted the Toronto Blessing, the Pensacola Revival, the Latter Rain and Kingdom Now teachings, as well as the false Prophetic Movement, with writers such as Rick Joyner, were getting exceptional publicity and prominent display positions within the shop. As these aberrant movements and ministries gained popularity within Christendom, so, simultaneously, their writings gained more prominence in the Christian bookshops, until, eventually, what we have now, is the unashamed and unrestricted promotion of any author, so long as he or she is popular and their products sell, and so long as he or she claims to name the Name of Christ.

It is not as though the sales staff in this shop are totally unaware of the problems associated with a great number of the ministries and writers they promote, as I have personally spoken with a number of them on this subject over the years, and I am aware of other concerned Christians who have done likewise. But it seems that their policy is to sell whatever is in demand, providing you can attach a "Christian" label to it. But the word "Christian" has been hijacked and diluted to the point of being meaningless, and sound doctrine, which we are commanded in Scripture to promote (Titus 1:9; 2:1, for example), is somehow overlooked.

I do not question the zeal of these people nor their enthusiasm, but what is their zeal and enthusiasm directed toward? Is it to serve and promote the Lord in Holiness and Truth or is it to create a successful commercial enterprise based upon their ability to stimulate, within their customers, their materialistic appetite, using the world's methods, in order to increase the volume of products they sell? I would feel safe in saying that their loyalties are misdirected and that they have been deceived into believing that God wants them to have a prosperous business at the expense of sound, Bible-based, teaching.

I base that observation wholly upon the responses I have received from CLC management. When, after weeks of attempting to get a reply, I complained about the amount of time they were taking and stressed the urgency of the problem, I was told that there were "more pressing items" and "many daily tasks that need to be carried out each day." Their attitude is obviously that these "more pressing items" and "many daily tasks" take precedence over the possibility that false teachers, and their doctrines, are being promoted by them.

They will, of course, deny my claim and defend themselves by assuring all who care to listen that their only purpose is to promote the Lord Jesus and the Truth of His Gospel and sell products that bring glory and honour to His Name, but, the abundant evidence to the contrary speaks for itself.

If they do protest my conclusions, then it would surely be appropriate to bring into question their knowledge of the Scriptures and their ability to discern between the holy and the profane.

I don't profess to be some great Master of Theology, but I do recognise a wolf when I see one. You can recognise a wolf by his howl, that is, what comes out of his mouth. As God has so clearly pointed out for us in Matthew 7:15-20, ravening wolves are known by their fruit, and, taken in context, Christ is speaking specifically of their teachings. Surely, it is not too difficult a task to recognise that when someone teaches that the Blood of Christ is not sufficient to redeem us, he or she is a ravenous wolf?

Like the religious Israelites of apostle Paul's day,

"...they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." (Romans 10:2).

Believing they have light, they are, in reality, stumbling in darkness.

Making Companions Of False Teachers

"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John 9-11).

"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." (Proverbs 13:20).

In our modern era it has been made a relatively easy task to determine the spiritual leanings of those who come claiming that they have been raised up by the Lord to feed His sheep. Since the beginning, God has given His Word as a guiding light to test these matters, and to His Word we must always appeal. If these self-proclaimed leaders and teachers do not abide in His doctrine, if they offer food contradictory to the food that God has specified for His flock, then we can safely reject them without the slightest fear that we are going to offend our God by doing so. In fact, to the contrary, we will bring Him great joy.

However, in our present day, along with God's Word, we also have a very handy indicator to demonstrate which side of the fence people have jumped to with regard to their determination to obediently resist error, or, succumb to the pressure to join in with the crowd that chases after every new move. It is called the Internet. Most "ministries" who need to promote themselves for their numerical or financial success, have taken advantage of the Internet and have their own websites where they promote their products or the activities they want others to support them in. Generally, although not always, all one has to do is access the website of a particular organization and take a casual look at their Links page. This page will usually list a number of other ministries or organizations that they endorse. In other words, the teachings of the people and ministries who appear on this Links page, in most cases, will also be endorsed by the person who owns the site making the link. Immediately, their associations are made known. If you see links from this page to a number of sites that are owned by known false teachers, then you have a fairly reliable indication of the theological leanings of the person who runs the site you are visiting. With a little more investigation you should be able to prove or disprove your suspicions.

During the time of waiting for CLC to respond to my concerns, I visited their website. This website is designed and maintained by the Manager and Director of Christian Bookworld in Australia who is based here in Cairns - the man with whom I have been attempting to converse by e-mail and who tells me he has "many daily tasks" and "more pressing items" to be concerned about rather than his possible involvement in the propagation of error. On this website he has a "Revival" page. Upon accessing this particular page on the CLC website, I was shocked to discover just how deeply involved in the promotion of error this so called Christian bookshop is, obviously influenced by the theological beliefs of the Manager and Director. The ministries promoted on this page read like a "Who's who?" of apostasy and end-times deception.

I am absolutely horrified to think just how many unsuspecting Christians have been influenced by the gross error that this shop promotes. I knew things were bad by what I observed in the shop, but I was not prepared for what I encountered upon visiting their website.

Although there is a disclaimer that reads "CLC Australia does not assume responsibility for the content contained on any of the pages linked from this page", this is nothing more than a lame attempt to absolve themselves of their Christian responsibility to promote sound doctrine. This may count for something in the world of business and high finance but it will count for nothing on the day when this Manager and the staff of CLC are called to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and give account for what they have led His people into. How is it that people who hold such responsible positions of teaching and counsel in the Body of Christ would endorse something that they need to put a disclaimer on anyway? If it can't be trusted in some way, or if there is some question about it, why do they still make it readily available, particularly to those who are young in their faith who would trust Christian bookshop staff to be concerned about their spiritual protection? Is this God's method? This is surely not God's method and, as we have already noted, in Luke 17:1-2 there are grave warnings regarding the leading astray of God's people.

CLC Endorsed Revival Links

Let me give you a sample of who CLC has links to, remembering the principle in the Scriptures above, that by endorsing these ministries to the people who visit their website, the Manager and staff of CLC make themselves companions of these people and partakers of their evil deeds. And, as we shall surely see, their deeds are evil indeed.

Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship: The "church" of John and Carol Arnott which was the "distribution warehouse" for the drunken revelry of Rodney Howard-Browne's Toronto Blessing deception. Thousands of "leaders" flocked to "get" this extra-biblical experience and then returned to their home congregations where they transferred the infection among the people.

The one "good" thing that came from the Toronto fiasco is that God used it to turn up the heat upon those who were truly His to make a decision to either join in with the drunken party at "Joel's Bar" or come out from among them and be separate. The line had been drawn in the sand and God was calling His own to make a definite choice. If you would not join in and answer "Yes!" to the persistent questioning of "Have you got IT yet?", then you were already in the departure lounge.

1 Cor. 11:18-19, "…when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you."

Revival Now! Sunderland Homepage: Ecumenical, Assemblies Of God leaders, Ken and Lois Gott were some of the key people directly responsible for importing the Toronto Blessing to the nation of England. Documented evidence reports that during their "services" men and women crawled around on all fours barking like dogs or grunting like pigs, or, with total disregard for God's standard of modesty, lay on their backs with their legs in the air (including the women) peddling imaginary bicycles. The new "ministry" of providing covering for immodest ladies was born. Revival Now???

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20).

Brownsville Revival: Haunt of AOG pastors, John and Brenda Kilpatrick and Steve Hill. The instruments used to transfer the Toronto Blessing from the Vineyard churches to the more respectable and influential AOG denomination. The very day that Brenda Kilpatrick arrived back from her visit to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship where she had "received" the "blessing", was also the very same day that Steve Hill arrived there from Holy Trinity Brompton in England, where he also had received the "blessing". They imparted this "anointing" to the congregation, strange manifestations of animal noises and drunkenness took place, and the Brownsville Pensacola Revival ignited.

"...they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered." (Isaiah 29:9-10).

Ed Silvoso - Argentina Revival: Founder of Harvest Evangelism, Ed Silvoso is brother-in-law of ultra-ecumenist, Luis Palau. Silvoso is a leading figure in promoting C. Peter Wagner's un-biblical Strategic Spiritual Warfare. As could well be expected, Silvoso is fully involved in the Toronto Blessing and Brownsville Revival and is a regular speaker at such events. He relates intimately with the Argentinean revival leaders such as Claudio Friedzon - the man who imparted Rodney Howard-Browne's "anointing" to John Arnott!

Morning Star - Rick Joyner: As though things were not dangerous enough, the CLC website also promotes the ecumenical false prophet, Rick Joyner, who along with Paul Cain and Mahesh Chavda (also promoted by this "Christian" bookshop), was recently knighted by the Roman Catholic Church into the ancient, occultic, military order of The Knights of Malta. The Knights of Malta were also closely connected to Hitler.

How Rick Joyner could submit himself to The Knights of Malta initiation and then claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and not the Pope, is alarming in the extreme, given his popularity and the wide distribution of his heretical books by Christian bookshops. How the staff of these bookshops have fooled themselves into believing that they will be able to stand before the Lord and boldly claim that they have served Him, rather than Satan, is also alarming.

As far as Rick Joyner's writings go, I believe that any Christian with a heart to truly serve God and walk in obedience to His Word, and who has read their Bible to any degree, would be able to quickly dismiss Joyner as a false teacher. And yet, we have prominent church leaders practically falling over themselves to promote his leaven.

[For articles that critically compare the heretical writings of Rick Joyner with the Truth of God's Word, see the articles on the "Apostles, Prophets and Transformations" page of my website.]

Global Awakening: The website of Randy Clark who is a pastor of a Vineyard church in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1993, he was quite depressed and his ministry seemed to be stagnating. He was looking for something to reinvigorate his ministry, and attended a Rodney Howard-Browne meeting at Kenneth Hagin's, Word of Faith, Rhema Bible Church in Tulsa where he received the "laughing" manifestation. He took "it" back to his church where laughter and strange manifestations began taking place. When word got out, people began coming to the church because of the phenomena. He was later invited by John Arnott to come and speak at the Toronto Airport Vineyard where the same manifestations broke out - and the rest is history.

"A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." (Matthew 16:4).

Dove Ministries: The ministry of Bill Subritzky in New Zealand. Subritzky was closely involved with the introduction of the Toronto Blessing into the NZ churches. Although Subritzky is supposedly an expert on demon possession and has had years of experience in discerning the activities of Satan in and around Christian's lives, he was not able to see the Toronto Blessing for what it was and jumped, boots and all, into the swiftly flowing stream, recommending that everyone else do likewise.

The Watch of the Lord Homepage: The website of Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda's All Nations Church. Avid promoters of the Toronto Blessing and all the latest false revivals with weird manifestations, including the gold dust delusion. Their church services cannot be described as anything other than complete and utter pandemonium.

As stated above, along with Rick Joyner, Mahesh Chavda was knighted by the Roman Catholic Church into the ancient, occultic, military order of The Knights of Malta.

How these acclaimed leaders remain as such powerful influences in the lives of professing Protestants, when they have openly formed an allegiance of obedience to the Pope, is truly amazing. For their willingness to be deceived, it seems that the Lord has afflicted them with "madness, blindness and confusion of mind" as according to Deuteronomy 28:28.

"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?" (1 Cor 10:21-22).

International Revival Network (IRN): The website of Vineyard pastor and false prophets, Wesley and Stacey Campbell. Heavily involved in promoting the Toronto Blessing. Promoter of the heretical Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God doctrines.

Holy Trinity Brompton: The Anglican "Toronto" of Britain and home of Nicky Gumbel's un-biblical Alpha Course, a subtle, even satanic, program for spreading error among the confused multitudes of modern Christendom.

The Rt. Rev David Pytches and his wife visited Toronto in the early days of the "laughing revival", got "it" and transferred "it" back to Holy Trinity Brompton. It was here that Steve Hill received the impartation of the Toronto Blessing via the laying on of hands from Vicar Sandy Millar, which he then took to America, infecting the Brownsville, Pensacola congregation in Florida.

Australian Evangel - Assemblies of God on The Net: The denomination most responsible for introducing and spreading the Toronto Blessing through the Pentecostal churches in Australia. A letter written in April 1995 by Andrew Evans, the then General Superintendent of the movement, to all his pastors, squashed the growing fears of quite a number of discerning AOG leaders and brought pressure to bear upon them to accept Rodney Howard-Browne's ministry as a valid work of the Holy Spirit. Since that time, and as a result of their willful rejection of a love of the truth and an obedience to God's Word, the AOG has moved further over into apostasy with the result that they now openly promote Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God and Word of Faith doctrines, thinking all the time that they are pleasing to God. The problem with being in a strong delusion at the hand of the Lord is that everyone can see it except the ones who are under the delusion.

"…come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." (2 Corinthians 6:17).

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Revelation 18:4-5).

Revival Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: This is what you call name dropping. The use of someone else's good name to give your own shoddy beliefs a boost. Anyone familiar with Jonathan Edwards would know that he would not support in any way what took place at Toronto and Pensacola. People attempting to promote the false "revival" movements try to appeal to the reputation of Edwards to authenticate their deceptive manifestations. However, to do so they are forced to misquote and distort what Edwards' wrote on these matters.

In any event, even if Edwards could be forced to agree with the current false revivals, it would not prove anything other than that he also was deceived. It is to the Word of God that we appeal and make our judgement, not the testimony of man.

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20).

Deceiving And Being Deceived

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, "…around us there are influences at work which are directly antagonistic to Christianity…it is time that the most prejudiced should acknowledge that which everybody sees except themselves."

From what we observe on their website, it is painfully apparent that the webmaster of CLC, the Manager and Director of CLC Christian bookshop here in Cairns, along with his staff, although professing to serve God, are avid promoters of all the Latter Rain, Kingdom Now, Manifest Sons of God heresies that are currently sweeping through Christendom, and they are leading the people of God to prostitute themselves with the gods of the heathens. They are enthusiastic endorsers of the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola revivals which, in recent times, have brought nothing but division and destruction to a multitude of fellowships and personal relationships.

While reading the pages of this utterly appalling site you will come across statements such as, "Our goal and vision is to make evangelical Christian Literature available to all nations so that people may come to faith and maturity in Christ!" Elsewhere you will read, "CLC International is a missionary society made up of people from many backgrounds, denominations and nationalities. All are dedicated to serving the Lord Jesus and leading others to Him."

So the "mission statement" for CLC, a missionary society, professes the desire to promote Biblically based, evangelical, Christian literature throughout the world for the purpose of bringing people into faith in Christ and also to bring people into maturity in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. They claim the desire to make Christ known and have people base their faith in Him.

But these people and their bookshop are bringing nothing but shame and a reproach upon the name of the Lord. How can they possibly say that they are "dedicated to serving the Lord Jesus and leading others to Him" when they are demonstrated to be directly responsible for spreading the products of His enemies throughout the Christian community? I ask again, how can they say they are serving God when they are distributing the Devil's wares? As we have just read above, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other."

Of course, they might like to respond to my question, as the man from Koorong did, by telling me that they do not have to answer and give account to me, but to God, but I still have a grievance with these people. While God is calling good Christian brothers and sisters in this day to stand and expose and denounce the heresies that are coming as a flood from a multitude of false teachers, Christian bookstores are at the forefront of undoing just about any good that they achieve. Not only do they have to contend with the world, the flesh and the devil, but with the Christian bookshops as well. It becomes a near exhausting, but necessary task of having to warn believers of the deception contained in the material they purchased from the Christian bookshop, when the time could be better spent in preaching the Gospel to the unconverted. For this also, they will have to give account to God.

[For more on Christian Literature Crusade's e-mail response to the claim that Christian bookshops, including CLC, are responsible for propagating gross error throughout the Christian community, click here.]

Conclusion

Of course, people will get angry at the suggestion that they are serving Satan and not God, but rather than get angry they need to read more of their Bibles and less of the writings of the multitude of false teachers they promote, and then, perhaps, they would get a more biblical perspective on how God views their activities. Does God allow for the promotion and propagation of false teachers and their poisonous beliefs, for any reason - even for the cause of supposedly furthering the Gospel? The answer is obvious. And yet the evidence clearly demonstrates that this is the business they are willfully involved in. They deny the truth about the various false teachers and continue to make profit from their wares, deluded in the belief that they are advancing the cause of the Gospel.

As well, people will want to accuse me of being un-Christian, bitter, angry, ripping and tearing to shreds honourable servants of the Lord, and all the other descriptions that one receives when pointing out error and deceit. However, I have gone to each of these bookshops in a brotherly and gentle manner, as Scripture commands we should, and expressed my concerns, concerns I might add that are valid and can be substantiated, and yet, as can be seen by each of their responses, they have chosen to ignore the problems and their place of responsibility before the Lord and the Christian community, and blissfully continue in their business as though immune from any repercussions from the Lord. As the preacher pointed out in Ecclesiastes 8:11,

"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." But verse 13 assures us that "…it shall not be well with the wicked."

My suggestion to these people is that they cease from calling their bookshop ventures by the name "Christian", or promoting themselves as a wholly Christian ministry to the community by deceptively using the word "Christian" or the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would have less complaint if they promoted themselves as "Religious" bookstores and promoted the entire spectrum of religious expression, as terrible as that would be, but at least they would be held less responsible for deceiving the unwary into believing that everything they sell is biblically based Evangelical Christian literature that will lead people to faith and maturity in Christ. At least then, we would face less criticism for publicly denouncing them as anti-Christian and warning our Brothers and Sisters in Christ to keep well away from them.

Will my making a noise on this issue change anything? Perhaps not for we are faithfully forewarned in 2 Timothy 3:13,

"...evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."

In 2 Timothy 4:3-4 we are further warned,

"…the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

I don't for one moment believe that I have been the first person to ever bring this issue before the management of "Christian" bookshops, and probably, I will not be the last, but, in obedience to Acts 20:28-29, I have done my duty as a disciple of Christ and taken heed to myself and to His flock, warning of the many grievous wolves that are not sparing His people. An indisputable sound has been made to these wayward establishments, and as Spurgeon said in his day, and for the same reason:

"The babyish game of shutting your eyes, and then crying, "I cannot see you," has been played at long enough: it is time that the most prejudiced should acknowledge that which everybody sees except themselves."

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

[If you feel the Lord is leading you to contact the managers of these various "Christian" bookshops to voice your own disapproval at the propagation of false teachings, e-mail addresses have been provided for this purpose in the linked documents for each organisation below.]

Hughie Seaborn
Monday, July 23, 2001

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Documented E-mail Discussions With:

"Koorong Books" - "Word Bookstore" - "Christian Literature Crusade"

Complete With Contact E-mail Addresses

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Click here to Email Hughie Seaborn - In Cairns, Qld., Australia

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