A big red flag in spiritually abusive churches is the authoritarian rule of the pastor. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been learning more about United Pentecostal Churches (UPC). Dudley and Young were once UPC pastors, but left a while back and are now Apostolic Pentecostals or Oneness Pentecostals. Not only do they use extra-Biblical rules in their church, but they view pastors as the "man of God". These men are placed at the level the Catholic Church would place the Pope. They believe you cannot be "saved" except through a preacher:
AnonymousAugust 24, 2012 8:35 PM
I believe in the act 2:38 message. I belive the word and that you do have to have a peacher to be saved. Julie go find a home church and stop criticizing. Keep your comments to your self.
I didn't make too many brownie points when I criticized Edwin Young, the "Man of God", who resigned. Look at this gem of a comment directed at me because I dared to challenge the style of the "anointed preacher". What do you think - is this a threat? No lightning bolts have hit me yet. Evidently, I need to be worried about my soul now because I didn't shut my running mouth (whoa!) about this anointed one:
AnonymousAugust 20, 2012 2:42 PM
Woman i fear for your soul.. i dont go to that church but i have heard him preach.. and whether u believe it or not he was annointed and i would highly advise you to shut your running mouth being sarcastic that was Gods annointed irreguardless of if he did had wrong u need to keep your mouth shut.. and for the record i am a woman as well not "bashing" you because you are a woman
Here are a couple of comments by a reader identified as "Preacher" discussing his belief that only a preacher can save souls:
PreacherAugust 25, 2012 7:04 PM
1 Corinthians 1:20-23(20) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?(21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?................ and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Do you have a better method than God's method for saving souls?
"it PLEASED GOD by the foolishness of PREACHING to SAVE them that BELIEVE"
Here is another example of a PREACHER leading someone to Jesus.Acts 8:29-31(29) Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.(30) And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?(31) And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
How about Acts chapter 2? Did not Jesus himself ordain Peter (a man and a preacher)? Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church....the church was built on a preacher, preaching is what brought the church into existence, and preaching will sustain the church of the Living God!
After Peter PREACHED, those that HEARD were pricked in their hearts, and said "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" An ANNOINTED PREACHER said,
Acts 2:38-41(38) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.(39) For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.(40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.(41) Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
At spiritualabuse.org, Lois and others are compiling quite a lot of information on this particular church and what has been going on over the years. We read at the site, "Your pastor is God's gift to you. If you've got questions, the only one you should go to is your pastor, not anyone else, even other ministers."
The following video features Pastor Nathan Dudley, the new pastor replacing Edwin Young at Faith Tabernacle. This teaching is common and it looks like Faith Tabernacle will be following a similar path in their teachings.
Here is a small amount transcribed from the video (from spiritualabause.org). Pastor Nathan Dudley speaking:
"The only way you're ever going to get to Christ is to follow a man of God. The only way that you're ever going to make it in the rapture is to follow a man of God. Amen! You can't make it without a pastor. You can't be saved without a pastor. You need a pastor and you need to imitate him. You need to be like him. You need to look at your pastor. Take a close look at him. ...Imitate him. Do what he does. In prayer. In worship. ...He is the one who is responsible for your soul. ...God's going to be with you if you'll do what your pastor does."
I transcribed a bit more here:
"Your pastor is God's gift to you. I said your pastor is God's gift to you. Amen. He's God's gift to you. And OHHHHHHHH if I could just be like my pastor. I want to be a man of God just like my pastor is. Praise God. Amen. Amen."
In the video, ladies are told to look at the pastor's wife to determine how to dress and families should be dressed like the pastor's family if they have any questions.
Do you want to hear a pastor say all of the above? You know you do! Listen to Nathan Dudley and his theatrics about following and imitating the pastor/Man of God. I have to tell you - I had the video playing and you should have seen the expressions on my kids' faces as they heard this pastor (shouting) from a distance. Perhaps kids are more discerning than we think.
Going back to the sexual abuse topic, I just received word that more nasty fruit has come forth in the Jordan Young case. Police have filed additional sexual abuse charges. Again, when we see abuse in the church, we will often find other kinds of abuse that have been covered up. This abuse has been going on for a number of years.
Junction City Minister Tied To Two More Child Sex Abuse Cases
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (WIBW) -- A Junction City minister at the center of a church sex scandal has been arrested in connection with two additional cases.
Jordan Young, 25, is facing child molestation charges in four separate cases stemming from an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct at Faith Tabernacle Apostolic Church in Junction City where he had been serving as the music minister.
Young was originally taken into custody at the Junction City Police Department at 11:30 AM on Monday, August 13, 2012.
He was arrested for Aggravated Indecent Liberties With a Child, Attempted Criminal Sodomy and Solicitation of a Child.
He was still in the Geary County Jail on Friday, August 17, 2012 and being held on a $250,000 bond from his first arrest when he was re-arrested for Aggravated Criminal Sodomy, Aggravated Indecent Liberties With a Child and Sexual Solicitation of a Child in connection with a second case involving a second victim. On Thursday, August 30, 2012, police confirmed that Young was arrested in two more cases. In one, he was arrested for Aggravated Criminal Sodomy and Aggravated Indecent Liberties With a Child and in the other, he was arrested for Indecent Liberties With a Child and Criminal Solicitation of a Child.
I've had a lot of traffic at the blog from people searching for the Edwin/Jordan Young story. Comments left here and in my inbox have expressed confusion from both former and current members. Even though their church standards teach that I am a heathen because of my "cut" hair, some have been bold enough to contact me because of the spiritual and emotional confusion they are going through. My heart goes out to these folks.
The subjects we have discussed are connecting emotionally and spiritually with some and causing them to question their teachings - even to question some of their rules on hairstyles and other extra-Biblical teachings. This is good. Please pray for clear direction for those who have been displaced by the situation at Faith Tabernacle and for those who are simply questioning what they have been told to believe all of these years.
The subjects we have discussed are connecting emotionally and spiritually with some and causing them to question their teachings - even to question some of their rules on hairstyles and other extra-Biblical teachings. This is good. Please pray for clear direction for those who have been displaced by the situation at Faith Tabernacle and for those who are simply questioning what they have been told to believe all of these years.
The ThroughGraceAlone blog is written by a former Faith Tabernacle member who was at Edwin Young's church for nearly 10 years. Take a look at this experience:
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely…”
I’ve heard the quote several times recently in regard to the issues at Faith Tabernacle. Why? Because Edwin Young had, or thought he had, that power. If he said it, people believed it. If he said someone was bad, few looked past the accusations to see if there was any basis to them. There were a few times that he even preached that if the preacher said the sky was green, we’d better just believe it, even though we’d always thought it was blue.
Wait. He told us how to dress. He required a weekly fast. He told us to pray and hour a day. We were supposed to ask permission to leave town and miss a service, to date or to marry, to buy a house or a car, to apply for and/or accept a new job. He said no one made us do that and that no one made us stay. But the doctrine of the church said that if we didn’t, we could be thrown out… and that if we left the church, we were “backslid” and headed to hell.
Does God own people or does the pastor? When you have a pastor who decides all the rules for you and that do not line up with scripture, it's time to take a step back and read the scripture yourself. When a pastor becomes so prominent in our life that he takes the place of God, we know our priorities are wrong. No Man of God should ever want to get between God and His people. Pastors are to help people find God, not get in the middle. We must not blindly follow pastors, but be good Bereans and test what is said. I know this goes against a lot of what FT has taught, but testing your leader is scriptural as written in Acts 17:10-12:
Although I am not from United Pentecostal-type churches, I want you to know that my message is sent with a whole lot of love and understanding as one who has gone through spiritual abuse. You have a friend here. Others, too, would be willing to "hear" your stories and be of support to you.10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
Ken ended his comment by sharing this:
Amen! This is where we need to focus. The past is the past. While there is a loss to grieve, we do need to look ahead to the future and fix our eyes on the author and finisher of our faith.