Posted on 07/01/2004 3:14:45 PM PDT by narses
He didn't say, but I'm willing to bet. :)
Oh my Aliska, he was a really horrible person! I used to watch him on PTL club years ago, and then when all of the truth came out about him, I was just stunned.
John Wesley Fletcher was his name, and although I always thought there was something yucky about him, the real story was even worse than I imagined!
It seems I read somewhere that he died, but I am not sure.
I am a Protestant who has been in some of these kinds of meetings and I have often wondered where slain in the spirit came from too. I can't seem to find it in the Bible, at least not in the same context, and those who fell at the feet of Jesus or Angels seem to fall forward, not backwards which is what usually takes place in these meetings.
I am very skeptical of this myself, not in the fact that healings can and do take place today, because I believe they do, but in the theatrics that seem to be such a part of this sort of service.
The Bible clearly teaches that things should be orderly and a lot of these meetings are anything but.
I believe in the laying on of hands, and anointing with oil as the Bible teaches, but some of this is just too fake appearing to me.
Well, I was taken in by those people, just going along with the crowd. A lot of people have been taken in by these types. I didn't have discernment for wolves in sheep's clothing, in this case a black cowboy suit, a cowboy Johnny Cash type if you will.
Now that it is in the catholic church, they have tamed it down and made things progress in a more orderly manner, but just where did this gift come from in the first place? From silver-tongued, wizardy types like that guy was?
You mentioned a Michael Brown in another post, and that draws a blank for me. There was a Rodney something hyphen Brown from South Africa who operates under the title, "God's Holy Bartender."
I did want to mention that there was total chaos in a church in Pensacola, Florida which isn't all that far from the catholic church where the healing masses are conducted. It is impossible to know whether or not there is a link. Perhaps not. Some are coming back from Medjugorje with these "gifts". Maybe that is how it is getting into the catholic church.
I doubt there is a link. It's everywhere now. We had priests doing it here over ten years ago on a regular basis, actually I think since the 70's because that's when I started taking an interest in the catholic church. Later they brought in a team from New Orleans for a powerful weekend at our diocesan cathedral of all places. That's where most of our local healing masses have taken place.
It was quite awhile before it dawned on me that they weren't using the sacramental anointing. I didn't used to know there was a difference. Noncatholics probably have hard time understanding the difference, too, and it wouldn't matter to them anyway.
I remember reading about Brownsville, but can't remember where that is. A lot of the more powerful stuff of late originated at the Toronto Airport, causing a spread of the "Toronto Blessing." I read catholic articles at the time that priests were attending these things. I have no doubt that some priests have been "anointed" by these protestant "healers".
My sponsor was a charismatic when I joined the church. By that time I had turned my back on all that stuff. I have a terrible conflict about it all because I should be charitable towards her but she freaked me out by some of the things she would tell me. That's what the church is drawing in now. You simply cannot escape it if you are laity.
Things come flooding back now that I am thinking about some of it again. Curiously, a nun warned me about them. I wasn't a catholic but went to classes at a catholic college, and she told me about a couple who God told to marry, wish I'd paid more attention to the details. I knew what she was talking about though. One weird guy called me out of the blue (I had my phone number listed back in those days) and said God was showing him he wanted me to go into the ministry with him. Never mind that I had three children who needed me. Never mind that he had left a wife and children behind (I found out later).
I would write a book, but no one would pay any heed to any of my bitter experiences with it, so all I do is once in awhile try to talk some sense into some folks on the internet and, of course, my family.
Out of the blue my granddaughter was going to go with her friend to Vineyard or something to get slain. I guess it is the in thing with some of the kids nowadays. I told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn't to do it. My actual words to her were, "It's a good way to get yourself possessed." I think at least she listened to me. She doesn't believe in Christianity now anyway. Some teacher got to her I think.
You know what tears me apart, is if she did want to become a Christian, where would I tell her to go? To the catholic church that is doing the same things on weekend retreats and right in the churches? I don't think so. I was hoping they would clean some of this out, but evidently it isn't going to happen in my lifetime.
If you could just go to church and receive the sacraments and not get into any wacky stuff on the side, maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal, but it is almost impossible to be a social being and not have it coming at you from somebody who is into it or some other deception du jour.
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