If you are reading this article, you should be
aware of the Flip Benham, Troy Newman, Randall Terry controversy. I have
had difficulty identifying the root cause of the Benham attacks on
Newman. Even finding the right grouping of words to identify it was hard
to do. Is it spiritual authority or
servant leadership or
spiritual abuse - or even a
cult? Finally, I searched the words
“Covering Theology” - and found it.
John Bevere released a book called,
‘Under Cover’ stressing the importance of
covering in the life of an individual believer.
This is not a biblical teaching. We are to submit to authorities, both
inside the Church and in the world, as long as what they ask us to do is
not in conflict with God’s commands (1 John 2:1, 5:2). We are to obey
the laws of the land (1 Pet. 2:13-16) “but as the servants of God” (1
Peter. 2:16). We are to submit to the authorities in the Church (Heb.
13:17), but they are also not to lord it over people (Mark 10:42-45),
and we are to be Bereans (Acts. 17:11) and test what they teach (1 Thess.
5:21, 1 John 4:1, 1 Cor. 10:15), and reject them if they are heretics
(Titus 3:10).
Here are three reviews/ warnings of the book
Under Cover (the reviewers are not named, so credit cannot be given):
Again, Bevere is
brainwashing Christians into not testing leadership in the churches
so that false apostles, prophets and teachers may gain control of
people and their money. This is a hallmark teaching of Third Wave
heretics.
The message of this book is a very dangerous message for Christians. It
promotes a very unhealthy view of how a believer is to submit to
authority in the church. Very little actual Biblical support is used to
support this message. Instead, John Bevere uses many personal
experiences to build his support for the message of Under Cover. These
examples have an emotional pull to them and can be very convincing to
individuals. However, there is a great danger in this message. As
believers, our covering is the Lord Jesus Christ. In his book, Mr.
Bevere points people to look at their pastor as their covering. This is
serious error and has the potential to shipwreck people’s faith. My
recommendation would be to not read this book, or, if you are compelled
to read it, be sure to balance the message of the book with what the
scripture says.
This Undercover book is nothing but heresy. I read the Bait of Satan, it
was a good book. Where did this come from? Page 147 shows without a
doubt this false teaching. Bevere says that God “told him” that He (God)
never intended for His people to get all they needed from His Word. And
that we must have pastors tell us what to do. The veil was torn in two
when Christ died on the cross, and we are not in the Old Testament where
we have to have a priest go into the temple for us. We can all come
boldly to the throne of Christ. Nowhere in the New Testament do pastors
have any more authority than anyone else. … But in Americanized
Christianity, the “pastor” has been put on a throne that the Word does
not establish. Pastor means shepherd, and maybe John Bevere and others
who hold pastors as little gods should read in Jeremiah and Isaiah what
God said about shepherds who lead His people in to false teachings.
Sadly, the people who followed the false shepherds were themselves
destroyed. God did not spare them from their ignorance. We are all
responsible for our own salvation, with fear and trembling. As a
Pentecostal person, I am very disappointed with this book. It is heresy.
As with anything, a kernel of truth can be taken
and reshaped and twisted so that it does not resemble the original
truth it was supposed to convey. Instead of the man being the head the
woman, and Christ being the head of the man - the pastor has been
injected between the man and Christ. Access to Christ is denied,
and His role as Mediator now falls to a man - this case - his pastor. It
is the bastardization of what a covering is supposed to be in
God's Word.
Flip Benham is a follower of this "covering"
theology. Mr. Newman (and others) ran afoul of Benham because they
rejected his supposed "covering" authority over them. If one
rejects this supposed covering, you become anathema and an unbeliever.
(This will vary depending on the ego and angst of thecoverer.)
You are viewed as worse than a heathen, and subjected to attacks. This
is at the root of the Benham attacks on Troy Newman.
There is nothing new about Covering Theology. It
is simply pride, power grabbing, and personal kingdom building - all
rolled into one. The only thing that changes is the flavor. It just
morphs into different shades so the Christian gullible will say, "Wow -
that is new and exciting!"
Saints - nothing ever changes. Everything
remains the same except the skin it wears. Child sacrifice became
pro-choice. Personal kingdom building has become our modern day
"covering." Sin is sin, regardless of its title or the skin that it
wears.
Beware of this heresy. Bad theology begets bad
behavior.
Being forewarned, is being fore-armed.
Dealing with the Sin of
Flip Benham
June 27, 2008
MTTU News
My father used to say,
"It does not pay to be a
liar. You have to have a perfect memory. Each lie is built upon another
lie, and no one has a memory that good."
These are wise words.
Rev. Flip Benham has just been caught with his own words.
In the
article below this one, I contend that Benham discarded the Operation
Rescue name, and changed the name to Operation Save America because of
lawsuits. After Benham discarded the mantle of Operation Rescue, Troy
Newman was encouraged to pick it up. As soon as Newman did, Benham cried
foul, and said he never dropped the name. Benham then changed the name of
his organization to
"Operation Rescue/ Operation Save America."(Look on the top
left.)
Did Benham drop the Operation Rescue name? He says he did
not - but let's hear it from the man himself.
Below is the transcript of him speaking on a Sunday morning
service. Included below that is an audio link from his January 2001 sermon. I suspect that
Benham will say this audio was taken out of context.
Click the picture
- and you decide. It is as I said it was.
"I have spent a lot of
time in jail. The reason we changed our name from Operation Rescue to
Operation Save America is because we've been sued so much - from the
Department of Justice on down. I mean it didn't…it doesn't change, it's
just an amazing thing. I mean they have taken all of our equipment, all
of our computers, every bookshelf. They have emptied all of our files,
put 'em in the middle of the floor, taken that stuff out and sold it at
public auctions. This is your United States Department of Justice at
work."
Flip Benham - Faith Community Church
Morning Service - January 7, 2001
Listen to the audio.
Turn up the volume.
Flip Benham is great at calling others to repent. Let us
see if the words of Jesus, "Physician heal thyself" have
application to
Flip.
(Please read the
linked article above or below by Flip Benham before reading this article for context.)
In Mr. Benham's article, "Dealing
with the Sin of Operation Rescue," Mr. Benham throws a
number of stalwart Rescue leaders under the bus. Among them - Pat Mahoney, Jeff White, Ken Reed, Joe Slovenec, and Joe Foreman.
Keith Tucci does not do a complete flip-flop for Benham, rather a side step.
Each of these individuals can defend themselves, and thus will leave
that to them.
Flip Benham - OperationSaveAmerica
The point
of this article will be to focus on what is the root cause of the Benham - Newman
controversy. That takes some explaining.
Bad theology begets bad behavior. Every instance
of bad Christian theology begins with a grain of truth. The trouble begins
when that grain of truth is expanded upon, until it is no longer
recognizable as truth. Enter the world of Spiritual Authority and Pastoral
Abuse.
"The pastor is to rule under the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ, not
by his own mind or will. The church is not a pastor’s personal empire. The
church is God’s property; the people are God’s people; the work is God’s
work. The pastor is merely a steward or caretaker. Contrast this with the
ministry of proud, willful Diotrephes (3 Jn. 9-10) who lorded it over the
flock and quenched the spiritual ministry of men of whom he did not
approve."
Troy Newman
OperationRescue
Troy Newman ran afoul of Flip Benham because he
rejected Benham's supposed "authority" over him. This has nothing to do with Benham
having an
interest in seeing repentance and restoration - rather the personal
destruction of the individual (Newman) who would not bow before him. This
type of behavior is found in cults.
"One of the marks of a cult is the way people are treated when they
refuse to follow the leadership unquestioningly or when they leave. When
D.M. Canright left Adventism after 28 years, he was treated like a fool
and an evil man. All friendship and kindness was withdrawn by the
Adventist (7th Day Adventist) leaders. They even lied about him mercilessly for many years
afterwards. This is one of the marks of a cult. People are only treated
kindly and lovingly if they submit to the doctrines and "authority" of the
cult’s leaders; if they question the leadership or if they leave the
church, they are fair game to be treated without mercy ... As long as people unquestionably submit to
the pastor, they are treated kindly. As soon as they question his
leadership and leave, the kindness is removed and they are treated
viciously".
- David W.
Cloud, Editor,
Wayoflife.org
(both quotes in blue)
These are the kind of tactics we find
Flip Benham employing. Troy Newman left the fold, and is now the enemy.
He must now be crushed.
Benham writes:
"I conclude with our attempts to bring
discipline, reconciliation, and restoration into the life of Troy Newman.
Our work with the pastor and elders of Heartland Community Church in
Wichita, Kansas, has never ceased since Troy was removed from the
leadership of “Operation Rescue” in the summer of 2002."
This is only partially true. It is one of those
grains I spoke of earlier. Benham ordered Troy
Newman to leave Wichita, KS, and to go elsewhere. Newman moved his entire
family from California to Kansas, the year before, in order to
combat the most notorious abortionist in our land, George Tiller. Newman
refused to give up the battle against Tiller, pack up and leave Wichita.
Thus he incurred the wrath of
Flip Benham which continues to this day.
Benham continues:
"Troy’s whole identity is
so wrapped up in a silly name, “Operation Rescue.” He believes it to be
his source of income, identity, and value."
To coin a Glenn Beck phrase, "Not so much."
When Benham decided to dump the "Operation Rescue"
name and web site (ORN.org) to get out from under pro-abortion
lawsuits, I asked him by phone to please pass the name
on to another. I said, "Pass the name on as it was passed onto you by
Keith, as he received from Randall Terry. Too much sacrifice went into
that name to simply let it die." Benham's response was,
"Oh no, no, no, no, no." It was at this point I contacted
Troy Newman. His group's name was close with his "Operation Rescue West,"
and had heard of the great work they were doing in California. I asked
Newman if he would pick up the banner "Operation Rescue" that Benham
foolishly discarded. Newman was reluctant to do so. In fact it took
two years of asking Troy, before he finally resurrected the name "Operation Rescue"
so our legacy would not die.
The moment Newman resurrected the name Operation Rescue,
Benham came at him like a three year old child who threw away a toy he no longer
wanted. Newman simply saw the toy laying in the trash, and picked it up. Benham
saw Newman pick up his discarded toy, and threw a temper tantrum
screaming, "Mine, mine, mine!" And that's where we are today.
Recently, Randall Terry threw himself
into the mix by suing Troy Newman for the Operation Rescue trademark.
Terry had not been involved in rescue/anti-abortion work since 1992, when
he gave the leadership of O.R. to Keith Tucci. Now, 16 years later, he
wants the Operation Rescue name back.
The wild card in this was Flip
Benham. Where would he land in this debate? Benham has no love for either Newman or Terry - in
fact he
threw Terry
under the bus on Feb. 1, 2000 - and
here found on the OSA web site. My question
was, "Who does Flip dislike more ...
Randall Terry or Troy Newman?" Logically,
one would suppose he would lay low, and wait for the dust to settle - as
he also lays claim to the title Operation Rescue.
Surprisingly, Benham has gone out of his
way supporting Randall Terry - the same man he tossed under the bus 8
years prior. I guess this is a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my
friend." With the level of participation displayed by Benham -
one can only conclude that Flip doesn't just dislike Troy Newman,
he HATES Troy Newman.
Newman rejected Flip's position - as
Benham lived in Dallas, TX, and was far from the battle. Thus Newman is
anathema, as is anyone who sides with him. This kind of behavior and
application of punishment found in cults.
Sadly, what Benham fails to realize is that if
Randall Terry succeeds in wresting the name Operation Rescue from Troy
Newman, Terry will then turn his legal hired-guns 180 degrees, and attack
him.
They say ambition is blind. It must be. I
would just suggest Benham not sip his own Kool-aid as he wanders about in the dark.
Steve Wetzel
mttu.com
Where
did the Repentance go?
The Randall Terry saga
continues
May 31, 2008
As the continuing battle between Randall
Terry and Troy Newman over the Operation Rescue label has escalated, I
find myself wondering what Jesus would say if He was walking amongst us
today. I am convinced He would say something very similar to what
Gordon Peterson, Jr., my former pastor in Minnesota might say when he
hears something ridiculous, to wit: “OH! COME ON!”
When the Protestant Rescue movement
began, Randall and the people that followed were all agreed on one
thing: We must always approach this in a spirit of humility and
repentance. It was important that we recognized that we were merely
imperfect instruments in the hands of a loving, perfect God. The people
that went to the doors of the various abortion mills across our country
fully believed that that was the only appropriate mind set in relation
to our ongoing battle against child killing.
However, sometime after the Lord’s
great movement that was the Summer of Mercy, in 1991 Wichita, Ks. the
rescue movement began to get a little puffed up. We started to think
there was nothing we could not do. We pushed the Holy Spirit, who had,
up to that point, been our guide and general in the battle, to the side
and said, “That’s alright. We can take it from here!” Well, we
did run it from the Spring of Life in Buffalo, N.Y., on. We ran rescue
right into the ground. I'm not saying ALL rescuers got that way,
but a sufficient number did, to the point that the concept of rescue
died out, and a lot of us were looking around, saying, “What
happened?”
In place of all this, we have now come
to the point where it’s become important to fight over a name. A NAME!
TWO WORDS! Is this what the Lord expects from His people in the fight
against child killing and idolatry?
This is as bad as a WCW or WWF
wrestling match. In one corner, we have the founder and former director
of Operation Rescue, Randall Terry, a man who abandoned his family, his
church and Operation Rescue, whose biggest concern seems to be “MY
name, MY legacy.”
In the other corner, we have Troy
Newman, who looked around and saw that nobody was really using the name
Operation Rescue anymore, so he decided to latch onto it and do
something with it. After all, he’s only doing battle with George
Tiller, the most infamous abortionist in the United States, let alone
Kansas.
Several of Randall’s peers & former
cohorts have spoken out about this whole mess. These include:
Rev. Keith Tucci, former National Director
Rev. Joseph Foreman, former acting National Director
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, former National Media Director
Jeff White, former National Tactical Director
Susan Peters, former National Spokesperson
Ken Reed, former Regional Director
Katie Mahoney, former Spokesperson
Rev. Joseph Slovenec, former national leadership team
Cheryl Conrad, former regional leader
However, I have noticed that one name
is noticeably absent. That name is Rev. Flip Benham, director of
Operation Save America, which is, as most of you know, what used to be
Operation Rescue National (ORN). Operation Rescue was changed to ORN to
get out from numerous lawsuits that the pro-aborts have used to try to
cripple the pro-life movement. Rev. Benham, who has been
actively
calling on Randall to repent of
abandoning the wife of his youth, and their children, and
misrepresenting himself and his needs to donors for several years, has
sided with Mr. Terry against Mr. Newman in the “Case of the Purloined
Name.”
Rev. Benham also has his own ongoing
animosity toward Mr. Newman in relationship to the name flap.
Some on Mr. Terry’s side, like Rev.
Bob Behn of the Buffalo, N.Y.-based pro-life group Last Call Ministries,
have taken issue with Mr. Newman’s “abrasive nature.” Since I first got
involved in the pro-life movement, in 1989, I've met all kinds of
abrasive natures, 80% of them were in what we called leadership.
Others have intimated that Mr. Newman
is a comparative “Johnny-come-lately” to the national pro-life scene. I
beg to differ. I know that I first heard his name during the 1991
Summer of Mercy. It was always mentioned in conjunction with Jeff
White, who was, at the time, the head of what was called Operation
Rescue West. My then-fiancée, the former Aline Beban, and I, visited
Jeff at his offices in Southern Ca. during the Thanksgiving/Christmas
season in 1991. Mr. Newman was definitely active at that time and
present in the OR West offices during our visit.
In his most recent statements, Mr.
Terry has continued to make his claim that he was driven to bankruptcy
by NOW, Planned Parenthood, et al. He claims to have lost his upstate
N.Y. property in these legal battles. However, he once again fails to
mention that he did, in fact, make a deal with his opponents in the
Scheidler RICO suit so that he could run for the U.S. Congress in 1998,
and that he sold his property as part of the settling of the deal that
he made.
This flap over a name is ridiculous,
precipitated by an unrepentant adulterer, who has misrepresented himself
to his donors and the public, and received monies in a deceitful manner
from those misrepresentations. He has brought an unbiblical litigation
against a brother in the Lord. In addition, the pro-aborts are sitting
back and laughing their heads off at this.
Mr. Terry says that he is concerned
about his name and his legacy. I submit that the damage to those 2
items initially occurred almost a decade ago, and has been ongoing in
the time since.
When we stand before the throne of
God, legacies and our name status will be burned, like hay and stubble.
They won't mean a thing. In the case of pro-lifers, after our trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, the next most important thing will
be what did we do for those being led to slaughter? Did we hold them
back, or did we faint in the day of adversity.
It won't be, "did we protect our
precious legacy."
Pro-life Warriors Jailed for
Speaking to Abortionist
1/3/08
UPDATE 4/13/08: Melissa Abbink
was released.
OMAHA, NE -
Pro-life activists Sharon (Shari) McKee and Melissa Abbink were
jailed on December 28th (Feast of the Holy Innocents) for speaking
to Lincoln abortionist Winston Crabb on two occasions in front of
his home 10 years ago.
In February, 1998 both were charged with violating the "focused
picketing" ordinance even though neither had signs and both
incidents lasted only a minute each, just long enough to plead for
the lives of pre-born children as he walked from his car to his
house.
They received 60 days
for the first case from Judge Mary Doyle.
Shari McKee
The second case was in front of Judge Galed
Pokorney who gave 90 days to Melissa and 180 days to Shari to be served
consecutively for a total of 5 months for Melissa and 8 months for
Shari. After losing the federal challenge, and exhausting the appeals of
the criminal cases, they were upheld by the Nebraska Supreme Court on
September 10, 1999. However, for reasons unknown, the mandate didn’t
come down until September 28, 2005 over 6 years later! The last
two years have been spent seeking a commutation. We brought it before
the Board of Pardons who were very sympathetic but refused saying they
don’t take misdemeanors. They recommended we go to the Mayor of Lincoln
who also seemed sympathetic, but refused claiming he doesn’t have the
authority to grant commutations. According to our attorneys that is
clearly not the case as even the members of the Pardon Board agree that
he does indeed have that authority.
We are asking pro-lifers to write to Mayor Beutler and
ask him to commute the sentences of these two women. Be sure to point
out that the Pardon Board says he has the authority to do so. Be polite
and remember, it is a commutation that we’re after, not a pardon.
Like the parable of the widow, we are seeking justice
for these two brave, God-fearing women. Only Mayor Beutler has that
ability. He can do so by merely picking up the phone. Also, keep both
Shari and Melissa in your prayers. Shari is currently in lockdown for
refusing to work.
To contact the mayor:
Mayor Chris Beutler
555 South 10th, 2nd Floor, Rm 208
Lincoln, NE 68508
Fax: 402-441-7120 mayor@lincoln.ne.gov
