Dear Ministry Partners and Friends, As most of you know, the Lord has directed me to begin to address in a much more direct manner the areas in which we in the Word of Faith and Charismatic branches of Christianity have drifted off into error and problems. I gave my subscribers the opportunity to unsubscribe from this newsletter if they disagreed with this change in ministry. Out of the hundreds of ministers and other subscribers who regularly receive my e-mail newsletter, only one person unsubscribed. I received instead numerous e-mails of support mostly from others who are in full-time ministry who have urged me to preach the truth without fear or favor, and so shall I do. I thank you for all of your e-mails of support. Many were lengthy and eloquent. However, the one that moved my soul most deeply was from a Christian in Malaysia--a Moslem country--who sent me a two-sentence long e-mail which read: "Go ahead. Persecution is nothing new to me." How quickly we forget that there is a price to pay sometimes to declare the word of God with boldness. I will always endeavor to present a balanced message, that is written in a fair and redemptive tone. But I will be more plainspoken than you are probably used to hearing. Brother Mel |
A Closing Word: Dear Ministry Partners and Friends, Thank you! Thank you for all the e-mails offering your kind words of support. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you also for your financial support. In all my nearly 30 years of being in the Charismatic and Word of Faith move, I have never seen more darkness, error, false teachings, false manifestations, and sin, and yet, I have never seen more ministers awakening out of their long slumber. Many are seeing that you can't have revival without repentence. And you can't have repentence if there is no such thing as right or wrong, truth or error, sound doctrine or false doctrine. If it is all relative, all a matter of opinion, if it doesn't matter what you believe, just as long as you believe something, then how can you even identify what the Gospel actually is? We are beginning to awaken to the fact that we can not just be for something and against nothing. And some of you are telling me that the Lord is leading you also to speak out more boldly in confronting error and sin in our midst. Many of you are coming to the same conclusion that I have reached: We can not have true Revival without first having a Reformation. We can not welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit into our midst and expect Him to stay and bless us when we preach and do things that grieve and insult Him. I welcome the company. Kind Regards, Brother Mel |