TBN, Paul Crouch in a recent telecast spoke about the "GOLD" that has been the object of discussion in our newsletters and many others. In an interview Paul said that he had gold on his hair and on his desk right there. He picked up a large piece and allowed viewers to see it. He said that he had the gold analyzed in a laboratory and they could not identify the substance. It was not gold but some kind of unidentifiable oil with a thin layer of metal of some kind. He called it a "new" substance. He said, "I'm really in awe, but there is gold dust all over my hands.

My kids said: "it's all over your face, dad." Paul said that he experienced this gold on one of Benny Hinn's programs. He read a letter from a listener, who described this phenomenon all over the female evangelist who was coming through to teach. The gold was all over the pastor's clothes and everywhere. The lady wrote that she was all excited that Paul Crouch was experiencing the gold as well. She wrote that their pastor had it analyzed too and that Paul should call him to find out what the findings were. She wrote that God "must be up to something." That really tickled Paul Crouch. Raising his fist, he said that Jesus has probably mounted that great white steed (stud) and he is kicking some of the street material down here. His interviewee and Paul both agreed that it was the glory manifesting and a sign and a wonder.

The man Paul interviewed was a "Christian Psycho Therapist." He said that he treats just about everybody and that he has discovered, that "we really don't have to shove the Gospel down their throats but let them know, who Jesus is. They then sense his presence and come into the kingdom. The components of psycho pathology are "words of knowledge" [a gift of the Holy Spirit??], and he relates too his clients that the Holy Spirit will remove the abnomality and it will just happen. According to J. Adams, the success rate is around 90 something." ... "We are holding miracle services all over the United States."

On January 26, 2000 TBN aired a film which showed the highlights of their ministry from the beginning, approximately some 26 years ago. Their accomplishments are awesome from a worldly and probably spiritual point of view. Their programming does get a seeker of the Lord into the Bible to compare notes to see if they are scriptural because of the circus it often turns into. They claim to have had innumerable miracles making it all happen and that the miracles all came from God because. They praise and worship God continuously. It was pretty convincing that they really meant it. What became very clear through this portrayal is the fact that they are bringing the ecumenical church together into unity of all denominations which is not the Body of Christ which is rooted in the WORD OF GOD. Paul and Jan identified and showed sequences with Robert Schuller [Mason, promotes Muslims], Billy Graham [Mason also stated that we should hold hands with Muslims], Pope John Paul II [Roman Catholic visiting Muslims], Mother Teresa [practicing Buddhist], Oral Roberts [Seed Faith, possible Mason], Kenneth Copeland [Mason has no problems with Mormons] and Rod Parsley who on this program held a girl's hand under the influence of epilepsy, claiming it was the Holy Spirit who was causing her body to shake uncontrollably. Because Rod was proclaiming this miracle they had to show a little of it, but they worked hard to keep the camera off her. One could witness the deterioration of their ministry from sweet Christian music to hard rock music known to be of demonic origin. Trinity Broadcasting Network will interview most anyone who uses the name of all names. TBN is not a spiritually healthy substitute for Church.

TBN got their start at the PTL developed Tammy and Jim Bakker. Larry King interviewed Jim on the same night that this film was shown on Praise the Lord. Jim looked well considering what he has experienced in his life. Larry's show is a call in and participate program. People called in and asked Jim why he is in ministry after all that has happened and why he is making money with his book on his past sins. Larry asked him how he makes a living today. Jim said that Rick Joyner and company have given him a 27,000 square foot building which Jim calls the Dream Center because they actually get together to dream up a new scheme wanting interaction with the whole world via Internet. Rick Joyner calls it the Morning House derived from his ministry name "Morning Star" (Revelation 22:16 "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches, I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.")

The Morning House is to be used as a retreat for restoration of fallen and hurting pastors and leaders. Apparently they have a congregation also. Jim said that when he asked the congregation how many had been in jail, 85% raised their hand and admitted that they had been in prison. He said one man admitted to 20 murders. Jim said that he had never experienced such love as he found in Rick Joyner's group.

 

Larry King also interviewed Jim's wife with a personality of Jan Crouch and Tammy, who admitted to five abortions, drugs and drinking. She was converted to the Gospel and works along with according to her, awesome husband. They both are quite charismatic and convincing in their approach to people. Jim does not believe he was treated fairly during the trial. He said the hardest part about his 5 year jail sentence was the loneliness. His son was the only inspiration to him in prison and kept him going. If it were not for his son's encouragement, Jim said he did not want to return to society. He said that most people still won't forgive him.

CHARISMA, November 1999 - "When the glory comes down: recently many American churches have reported unusual manifestations of "God's presence" - including the appearance of gold dust and reports of dental healings involving gold fillings. What is God saying through miracles? .. But as the service progressed, tiny specks of gold began to appear, first on her face and then of her clothes.

 

She told me "It falls like rain, or it just suddenly appears." .. I was skeptical,.. my scientific training told me this was impossible.. "Lord," I prayed silently, "If this is of You, I want to know." A few minutes later a saw flecks of gold on the face of a teen-age girl... I spotted two tiny bits of gold on my wrist... Was God really manifesting the glory of His presence in a tangible way? .. Heflin says she saw gold dust for the first time in February 1998, after some of her associates visited Brazil. The daughter of Pentecostal pioneers, says she never doubted that the gold was a miracle from God... Gold appeared on her face and in April 1998 on other faces.. The more Heflin talked about it the more the gold appeared. "The Lord loves for us to show off the gold dust because of His relationship with us.. To stop would be to dishonor God.."

"It happened right before our eyes... a translucent film that looked like clear Jell-O.. The gold fluid moved to the tooth beside it.. People surged to see it.. she had five gold crowns an hour later.. and received two more during the night. "My mouth feels so clean," she said.. "I had so much tartar built up - it's all gone. It's like I've been to the dentist.. Linda said: "God is trying to give us all a gift of faith and shake us away from our unbelief so He can bring a major revival of healing."

[Erie Morning News - January 11, 2000. The story appeared on the front page along with a large picture of a gold tooth in a person's mouth. Near the end of the article, a dentist, who has been practicing dentistry for 32 years, attributes the phenomena to alchemy - occult practice].

People say God is giving them gold dental work at a Texas revival "If he's going to change it to gold, why doesn't he change it to a tooth?"

WEATHERFORD, Texas -- Never before had New Life Community Church seen such revival crowds, night after night, week after week. Previous revivals lasted a week at best. But church officials said the one that began Sept. 26 attracted worshipers who filled the 200-seat sanctuary five nights a week for 10 weeks. The church, which collected offerings at each service, said 8,000 people from across North Texas and six states had
attended the revival at the small neighborhood church about 35 miles west of Port Worth and has a regular membership of 250.

There was something different about this revival, which resumed on the weekend.

It wasn't the spirited contemporary Christian music or the rousing sermon. Nor was it the joy and uncontrolled crying when worshipers were touched or lightly blown upon by a visiting evangelist or a church elder -- now a
common feature of Pentecostal revivals and known as being "slain by the spirit." What set the Weatherford services apart was the insistence of dozens of people that gold teeth, crowns, plates, bridges and bands had materialized in their mouths afterward.

Call it divine dentistry.

The Rev. Don Connell, pastor of the church, said people have told him that they found gold crowns on their teeth where less expensive dental work had been before. "The gold part is growing," said Jim Freeman, 65, a Weatherford rancher, pulling back a corner of his lip to reveal a gilt-colored filling. "It just happened."

There were also reports of healing. A church elder said a shorter leg grew to the length of the other. A woman said her back pain disappeared. But gold teeth are the latest revival twist, a phenomenon that was first
reported in Argentina during the 1980s and spread to Mexico, South Africa, Canada and Britain, according to Canada's Christian Week newspaper. Now it has hit the U.S. circuit.

Eldin Villafane, 58, a professor at the interdenominational Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston and a visiting professor at Harvard University's School of Divinity said he encountered the phenomenon more than
10 years ago at Spanish-language revivals in the Northeast. The claims fade after several years and then reappear, Villafane said.

"I've heard a few cases where there's some confirmation, but much of it is hearsay," Villafane said in a telephone interview, "This doesn't surprise me. Miraculous claims are part of the whole Christian lore. The important thing is not whether it is real or not. What's important is the symbolic value to the people. They see the hand of God somehow intervening in their daily life."

But, he cautioned, the gold-tooth phenomenon "can be manipulated, exploited to promote a pseudo faith. At the same time you can say the same about anything to promote a church." Connell said that the popular revival series has had no significant impact on church membership and that the cash offerings, split 50-50 with
guest evangelist Larry Taylor, barely cover expenses.

Gold teeth suddenly stopped appearing in the Canadian coal-mining town of Lethbridge last spring after a religious broadcaster made it known that he received a "miraculous" gold crown, and then checked with his dentist. Dr. Jack Sherman informed Dick Dewert that he had fitted the crown 11 years before. Dewert owned up to the fact in a letter to the local newspaper, but he became the object of public ridicule.

The local newspaper, The Lethbridge Herald, outlined the story in gilt and ran the headline, "Fool of Gold," Dewert said in an interview. "I was terribly embarrassed. I put my sunglasses on and drove a different
way to the office each day," he said. A chastened Dewert said he has become more wary of such claims. But when asked whether be still believes in miracles, he replied, "Yes, I see them all the time."

In Weatherford, the talk of gold teeth has become a sensation.

"My wife has perfect teeth, and we wanted her to have a mouthful (of gold teeth) to prove God's power," said Charles Ford,57, a car salesman who recently moved to Weatherford from San Angelo in West Texas. "We
prayed for her, but I got the gold tooth -- totally off the wall. It's weird, wonderful weird."

After a service, Connell said, some people reported similar gold crowns only to remember that they had gotten them in a dentist's chair years earlier. Still, most are the work of God, he said. "They're beautiful teeth, absolutely beautiful," said Connell, whose congregation is affiliated with the International (Church of the Four Square Gospel, founded by evangelist Amy McPherson. "The question is, Why gold teeth? Why not perfect health? We just feel God is touching and saying, 'Have a little gold.' It's a sign."

"I'm not saying it's pure gold" said Mary Carter of Colleyville, who said she received gold dental work. "But it sure does glitter and shine. No one knows what this is all about, and no one can explain why. But it came from
God, from Jesus." At some Canadian and US. revivals, gold flakes materialized along with the gold teeth. A geochemist at the University of Toronto analyzed such a bit and found it to be gold-colored glitter, made of plastic film.

A gold speck found at a Dallas revival melted when heated, said Ole Anthony of the Trinity Foundation, a nonprofit organization that investigates alleged excesses by televangelists. But there were no general gold dust claims at the Weatherford revivals, although Carter said she picked up a minute particle of a piece of tape.
Church member Jerry Stanley said there had been other gold dust sightings.

Dentists remain among the skeptical about the assertions that crowns have turned to gold in the Parker County seat, famous for its peach crop and cutting horse ranches. "I have no explanation for what's going on," said Dr. Paul Phillips, 72, who has practiced dentistry in Weatherford for 32 years. "It just doesn't make any sense. For a tooth to mutate into gold, that would be alchemy."

"What's the deal?" asked Thomas Novak, a Chicago-reared dentist who has been in Weatherford for three years. "If he's going to change it to gold, why doesn't he change it to tooth? I guess I'm a little bit cynical. I would
want to know what kind of cement God is using to keep that gold in." (Knight Rider News, Barry Shlachter)

Here is what the Encyclopedia has to say about Alchemy condensed: It is an ancient art of obscure origin, practiced in early Egypt, in which chemistry has its roots. It is also found in China between 5th and 3rd century B.C. and carried westward. A chief goal was to transmute base metals into gold. In its beginnings it was chiefly a craft and the art was influenced by philosophy of the Hellenistic Greeks. The conversion of base metals into gold (considered the most perfect of metals) was a part of a general striving of all things toward perfection [This statement is as far from the truth as the sun is from the moon]. It is associated with astrology [a scripturally forbidden practice]. Based on the elixir and grand magistery [magical] is an imaginary substance capable of transmuting the less noble metals into gold and also of restoring youth to man. Alchemy is strongly tinged with magic, reached the Arabs and remained for several centuries under the Moslem influence. In the twelfth century it reached parts of Europe through translations of writings of the Arabs. Arabian alchemist became obsessed with their quest for the secret transmutation; some adopted deceptive methods of experimentation, and many gained a livelihood from hopeful patrons. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, p. 39)

We have written about physical manifestations which may or may not be from the demonic realm. It is impossible to discern. That is the dilemma the church finds itself in. It should not really be a dilemma because God told us to just believe HIM. Testimonies should not be based on physical manifestations. That is the dangerous road we are experiencing today. It is curiosity that draws us into these churches and once entered it seems to draw like a magnet because there is no explanation.

The word "Pneuma" # 4151 spirit - has to do with a person's character, moral qualities and activities. The spirit is the inward man. In Matthew 8:16 the same word is used for unclean spirits and demons. Spirit is the element in man which gives the ability to think of God, his vertical window. It opens him up to the spirit realm which could result in either in receiving the Holy Spirit or demonic spirits. The only defense against the demonic realm is the WORD OF GOD. Demons hate the WORD and will flee from it. It is easy to see how one could become subject to demons and their manifestations in meetings which practice heresy.

Obviously Alchemy is a form of witchcraft. It is an area much discussed in occult writings. Actual physical manifestations were not part of the teachings. The goal of the alchemist from a spiritual point of view is to transform a character of man from a base character to a spiritual being without the Holy Spirit. They hope to achieve heaven outside of having to conform to Jesus Christ.

The reason it is related to Astrology is that Astrology deals with characteristics of men and women. The character ideally needs to be transformed to gold, spiritual perfection. The Bible addresses the process of purification in Malachi 3:3 just so the Jews would understand what God was trying to convey, but it would not be through Astrology, but the refiner's fire meaning tribulation, if they rejected Christ His Son.

Ancient Masons invented Astrology. The compass and spuare, their main symbol, are used to draw the circle and divide it into twelve segments. The compass and square comprise the Pentagram. They also represent harmony and discord in life. The compass represents the harmony and square discord. It is held in Astrology that discord is the transformer of character and should be invited. They advise to have a dog to love and be loved if there are no people to do it with, to encourage the transforming of the character to unconditional godly love. God is love. Transmutation in relation to Alchemy is through living life focused on loving humanity, which is a brotherhood. The Gospel tells us to separate from the world and touch not the unclean. We are to overcome the world with the help of the Holy Spirit.