http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/prod03.html
by Dr. Herb Babcock, Former Member of Brownsville Assembly Of God

In fact, both the
evangelist and the pastor vehemently demanded that NO ONE question the
impartation, or anything said by the pastor or the evangelist. NO ONE

DARE to come against "the man of God!" was repeated many times,
threateningly.

I had previously heard of the practice in some belief systems of chanting,
or repeating a phrase called a "mantra." That came to mind when we were

to say only, "More, Lord!" over and over. In Luke 21:8 Jesus told the
disciples to take heed and not be deceived by people even though they

to come in His Name. In other words, situations will be presented to

in such a believable way that people may be deceived.

Our eternal well-being depends on our choices.

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/prod03.html

by Dr. Herb Babcock, Former Member of Brownsville Assembly Of God

I am presenting the background of our involvement in the Assemblies of God
so that the reader will recognize that we are knowledgeable, experienced,
and mature in our Christian walk. We have hidden God's Word in our hearts.

I was born into a Christian family and chose Jesus to be my Savior while I
was a small child in Sunday School class in the First Presbyterian Church in
Canton, Illinois.

In 1963 my wife and I and our infant son moved to Davenport, Iowa, so I
could attend Palmer College of Chiropractic. Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship had an active chapter there and I quickly became a part of it,
and that led me to visit several area churches. When I walked into the
Assembly of God church in Bettendorf, Iowa, I sensed the presence of the
Holy Spirit, so in 1965 I brought my family into fellowship there until I
graduated from college in 1967. The pastor was Rev. O. H. Hamilton.

Louisville, Kentucky, became our new home in 1967 and we immediately joined
the great church of Evangel Tabernacle under the ministry of Rev. W. L.
Rodgers, where I served as a deacon for fifteen years. We were totally
involved in nursery, Sunday School teaching, and choir. Since our church was
the largest Assembly of God in Kentucky, virtually all of the "big name"
evangelists and ministers came there. Many of the really large ministries of
today were in their formative stages when we became acquainted with them and
sat under their teaching. During these years I was active in Full Gospel
Businessmen's Fellowship International, also.

My wife and I took a family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to meetings held by
Kathryn Kuhlman, and attended her meetings in other locations as well. We
visited the church in Orlando pastored by Benny Hinn, and on another
occasion attended a week long seminar in Carpenter's Church in Lakeland,
Florida. We ministered for three years in Christian Prison Ministry of
Kentucky.

Upon moving to Florida in 1983, we joined the First Assembly of God and were
steadfast there until October 1988 when we moved our membership to
Brownsville Assembly of God (BAG). It was a well established and growing
church, where we participated in many aspects of regular church activities,
especially the choir and drama presentations. We loved Rev. Kilpatrick and
were blessed by his presentation of God's Word. During our time there the
church continued to be a vital, growing facility in the city of Pensacola.
It certainly was not a cold or "dead" church and had grown steadily for
years.

On Father's Day, June 17, 1995, Rev. Kilpatrick introduced Evangelist Steve
Hill and said that he was available for one day while he was enroute to
scheduled meetings elsewhere. We had no previous announcements of his
coming. For several weeks leading up to this time; however, some changes had
been taking place, and some of the members of BAG had been traveling up to
Toronto meetings, even taking carloads and vanloads of members along. Mrs.
Kilpatrick made two trips accompanied by the wife of one of the church
officers. Rev. Kilpatrick started to drive up there one time, but his trip
was interrupted and he returned to Pensacola without making it to the
Toronto airport vineyard meeting. I saw no mention of this in his book. When
this series of meetings began in Pensacola, a lot of organization had to be
done in a hurry - namely, the formation of "prayer teams" and how to deal
with the people who came forward. The order of the day was: "That's how they
do it in Toronto."

In an effort to authenticate these meetings and the "impartation" the
evangelist displayed a collection of newspaper clippings (or copies of them)
and made reference to his extensive library of books pertaining to historic
revival meetings of former years. Meetings such as took place on Azusa
Street in California or in the Cane Ridge Hills of Kentucky. Steve Hill
alluded to those meetings and told us that this is the same kind of event,
yet having already declared that God is doing a "new thing." Nobody asked
which was correct: a "new thing" or an "old thing" again?

My family and I hardly ever missed a meeting for the five weeks we
participated. Over and over the evangelist told how he first received the
impartation from a vicar in the Anglican church in England. When they met,
Steve Hill said to the vicar, "We don't have to talk, just pray for me."

When Rev. Kilpatrick announced that God was going to move in our church and
"do a new thing", and that we would "lose hundreds, but gain thousands"; I
immediately thought of the Scriptures in Luke 15:4-7 where the shepherd
leaves ninety-nine sheep in a safe place and goes out to rescue the lost
one. The position announced by Rev. Kilpatrick is directly opposite of the
Scripture example. Incidentally, during the last meeting I attended at BAG,
not one Scripture was used. Recently, I met a local pastor (of another
denomination) who had visited the BAG meeting and he said that there was no
Scripture presented during the session he attended.

The word I have hidden in my heart is the Scripture in I John 4:1. "Beloved,
believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirit whether it be of God!" We
attended approximately 30 meetings and never once did the evangelist or
pastor even suggest that either one of them had made any effort whatever to
obey the Scriptures and try the spirits they are dealing with. That is the
reason I could not continue to be a part of his ministry. In fact, both the
evangelist and the pastor vehemently demanded that NO ONE question the
impartation, or anything said by the pastor or the evangelist. NO ONE should
DARE to come against "the man of God!" was repeated many times,
threateningly.

It is interesting how a claim regarding a prophecy attributed to Korean
Pastor Cho changed three times, each time becoming more specific until it
identified Pensacola as the city where a "great end-time revival" would
break out and spread throughout the world. Actually, I had heard of that
prophecy years before when we lived in Kentucky, and there was speculation
that Evangel Tabernacle would be the church where it was to start. The
prophecy didn't change . . . the telling of it did.

I was included in the prayer teams until we disassociated ourselves from
BAG. While on the prayer team, we were instructed to NOT pray in Jesus'
name. We were told to NOT pray for the needs of people. The only thing we
were to do was touch people on their forehead and say, "More, Lord!" and
keep repeating that until there was an "impartation" of the spirit being
promoted in the meetings. If the person did not respond in a reasonable
time, move on to someone else. Any deviation from the limited procedure
would result in being removed from the prayer team, which did happen to a
few individuals.

I had previously heard of the practice in some belief systems of chanting,
or repeating a phrase called a "mantra." That came to mind when we were told
to say only, "More, Lord!" over and over. In Luke 21:8 Jesus told the
disciples to take heed and not be deceived by people even though they claim
to come in His Name. In other words, situations will be presented to people
in such a believable way that people may be deceived.

God's Word tells us to hide His Word in our hearts that we might not sin
against Him. When we do that, we are strong in His Word and not easily
deceived or following every wind of doctrine. That is the meaning of the
Scripture verse: ". . . the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah
8:10). It is a joy to Him when we are strong and victorious through rightly
dividing the Word.

As a result of all this, I am more aware than ever before and want to convey
to everyone the truth that each individual is solely responsible for his/her
right relationship with God. We each will stand individually before the
judgment seat. We MUST have knowledge of HIS word and exercise discernment.
Our eternal well-being depends on our choices.

"Beloved, believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirit whether it be of
God!" (I John 4:1).

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (III
John 4).