I John 4
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
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"WE WIN!"
That is what one of my pastors always said.
That is true. We should always win and we will win so long as we hear what God says and follow God.
Unfortunately my pastor announced to the congregation that he was going to be greater than Kenneth Copeland and he set out to do so.
The devil will help you to be great.
Matthew 4 (the devil speaking to Jesus)
9 And saith unto HIM, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and HIM only shalt thou serve.
My pastor who said he was going to be greater than Kenneth Copeland was Robert Tilton, Word of Faith Church, Farmer's Branch, Texas, in the late 1970's and early 1980's. I attended this church from approximately 1977-1982.
I truly loved Robert Tilton. Don't you love your pastors?
All these years later, I recall words spoken by this man and I love those words.
But sadly his downfall was pursuit of greatness.
He had a TV show in the early 1980's. A woman from our church group was invited by Bob to appear on his show. Just before the camera came on Bob said to her, "Just one thing. Don't say anything about being a prophet. It's not popular."
Ephesians 4
8 Wherefore HE (Jesus) saith, When HE ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 11 And HE (Jesus from heaven) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
For a pastor to tell a prophet not to tell anyone she is a prophet, because it is not popular, is a terrible thing to do.
She (Ava) called me after the show and she was crying when she told me what Bob said to her.
He killed a prophet with those words.
Matthew 23:38 (For killing prophets, Jesus said:) Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
I delivered those words to Bob Tilton. God gave me a dream which brought me out of that church group.
In this dream, destruction was everywhere. A meeting was going on and people were attentively listening to a man who was speaking to a group of people. I went into the room and began to listen. A second man rushed in and said, "Stop ... wait ... can't you see ... it's too late ... it's already begun." (That man disappeared and the first man resumed speaking.)
No one in the group seemed interested in seeing what had already begun, but I was interested so I looked out the windows which were along the side of the room.
What I saw was horrible!
There was a tall pole with a yellow civil defense warning system on top of the pole. A white gas was coming out of the speaker. It would kill the people and that gas was coming directly toward us who were sitting in that room listening to the speaker. The instrument which was set there to warn us was the instrument being used to kill us!
The man sitting next to me had a big smile on his face and he was very attentive and looking directly at the man who was speaking.
And then I saw it. That man was already dead. He was a corpse though he looked alive.
I looked around the room and the other people in the room were also dead.
And as I sat there among them, I began to feel drowsy and realized the gas coming from the speaker was killing me.
End of dream.
In 1982, on a Wednesday night, I was at Word of Faith Church and Bob Tilton was speaking to the congregation. I looked at the man who was seated to my left and was shocked. He was the man in the poison gas dream. I looked at the others in the congregation that night. They seemed to be the dead people in the dream.
I said to God, "I think YOU are showing me to leave this church so I'm going to get in my car and leave. But if YOU want me to come back, I will."
I got up while Tilton was still speaking and got in my car and drove away, and never returned.
That was in 1982.
Wikipedia: In 1991, Robert Tilton's TV ministry brought in almost 80-million-dollars a year. It was described as "the fastest growing television ministry in America."
When ABC's "Primetime Life" investigated Tilton's fund raising practices, Tilton's TV show, "Success in Life" was taken off the air. ABC aired a TV special concerning the fund raising. After that, members of his church sued Tilton, claiming extortion. Tilton and his wife, Marte, divorced. Tilton married a second wife who was a preacher and lawyer. She filed suit against Tilton and they divorced. Tilton moved to Florida and tried to start another TV ministry. He married a third wife. His church building in Farmer's Branch Texas was torn down. Today there is no evidence of any church building ever being on that property.
The state and federal government became involved in subsequent investigations.
The offerings declined from $8 million to $2 million and 85% of the church left Tilton.
"As each revelation about Tilton became increasingly more damaging, viewership and donations declined dramatically." (Wikipedia report: as of 7-20-23)
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I began on radio in January, 1980. I was still attending Tilton's church at that time. Tilton told me I should get in touch with Michael Ellison Advertising Agency. Tilton said to me, "They can do you a lot of good."
(Many big-time radio/TV preachers have advertising agencies, like Hollywood stars do.)
This Podcast is a story of this.
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At end of Podcast: Music: Beethoven, 5th symphony,
Movement No.1,
Wiener Philharmoniker,
Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor, 1954, Vienna
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