
ARCHIVED NEWS REPORTS
Why
No More "Mainstream"?
Banner Headlines (Jan/Feb 1997)
Special Edition: Important News About "Mainstream"!
[This circular was sent to all supporters
in the Spring of 1997]
To regular supporters, this letter will come as no surprise. In the Summer
edition of "Mainstream" I gave fair warning that it might be
one of the last editions. As it turned out, there was just one more -
the Autumn/Winter edition that spoke of Joshua and Gilgal, and the command
to re-circumcise our lives before the events of the New Year.
I would be a hypocrite if I preached the need to "roll away"
(Gilgal) all that pertains to the old walk, without doing so myself. If
I hang onto the "Mainstream" newsletter after God has told me
to let go, I will not be able to understand or fully enter into the new
path He has for the Body. So, I have decided to obey God. I am laying
"Mainstream" on the altar.
"SUPPORT GROUP": NEW MAILING LIST
I am going to delete all names from my current newsletter mailing
list. BUT --- this does NOT spell the end of Banner Ministries. I
am (as you see) continuing to research and to write, although not on the
same scale as before. I am supporting this Web Site, and also keeping
in touch with fellow-workers around the world. I keep up close contacts
with other like-minded ministries. I am also still offering a few audio
tapes. (Write for the tape list.)
I consider many of you my friends and I value your prayers, fellowship
and support. I dont want to lose touch with you - that would be
very sad. Although the "Mainstream" mailing list will end, I
am opening up a different mailing list, called the "Support Group"
mailing list.. If you want to continue our fellowship, in whatever way
seems appropriate, and regardless of any products on offer, then
please make sure you are on my Support Group list.
"Mainstream" will not longer be produced,
and there will be no updates or circulars. I cannot rule out, however,
that in the future God may make it possible to contact you again, for
whatever reason. If in the future there are materials on offer, such as
new tapes, articles, booklets, or meetings to be held, having your name
on the new list will of course ensure that you are told about these things.
But basically, this "Support Group" is intended to be merely
a record of all those who wish to register a supportive interest in the
Ministry.
WHY IS MAINSTREAM NO LONGER NEEDED?
1. THE NATURE OF THE MATERIAL
"Mainstream" was born ten years ago when the command of the
Lord to me was "let my people go" from heavy-shepherding, word-of-faith
errors and the restoration doctrines. Since then, many other snares have
come along, such as the new-age movement, latter-rain and the Kansas City
Prophets, globalism and the new world order, ecumenism, Promise Keepers
and of course, Toronto. Each successive move sought to knit the Church
more tightly into the network that would eventually circle the globe.
Now, instead of isolated heresies, we are dealing with one huge and very
sinister web, where everything is interlinked. That means its impractical
just to expose small sections of the apostasy, as in years gone by.
2. THE SIFTING IS ALMOST DONE
Years ago, the Lord showed me a picture of a number of sieves. Each successive
sieve had smaller holes. A quantity of material (say, flour or sand) was
tipped into the first sieve, then sifted through all the others in turn,
and each time a smaller quantity remained - it was continuously refined
until only the purest remnant remained at the end.
Each heresy has been a sieve, and the Body has passed through each experience,
leaving behind those who decided to opt out of truth along the way. At
first the deceptions were obvious, and most people came through the holes.
But the holes kept getting smaller. Each sieve of heresy asked
for a greater amount of self-sacrifice, discernment, and obedience to
truth, meaning that fewer and fewer people escaped through the "holes".
While this sieving process continued, "Mainstream" was a trumpet
blast of warning not to get left behind. However, the trumpet sound has
no meaning when there are no more ears left to hear. Then the watchman
ministry has to fade out. I don't believe this will happen suddenly, overnight,
but the decrease will become more and more apparent. Prominent voices
will begin to falter, be removed, or fade away.
A WATERSHED MOMENT
God seems to be indicating that the time of sifting is drawing to a close.
November seemed to be some kind of watershed. Not only those who attended
the Crossroads Meetings in November, but many other individual members
of the Body, ministries, churches and denominations were - I believe -
challenged to humble themselves under the hand of God at that time. Choices
were made, consciously or not. These choices will dictate the path of
the Church in the coming year.
A biblical New Year began on Friday 13th September; the Feast of Tabernacles
was brought in with a blood-red eclipse of the full moon on the night
of 26th September, and a serious outbreak of fighting in Israel. These
things caught the attention of the Body. A change was occurring. We were
on the eve of something momentous. The end of 1996 came with a sense of
tension and urgency. In the Spring there followed a series of heavenly
signs, culminating in the comet, Hale-Bopp which made its closest pass
during the Jewish Purim festival, also the Spring Equinox. Something seems
to be in the air!
3. PEOPLE NO LONGER NEED MAINSTREAM
The Body is rapidly forming itself into two groups - those who have honed
themselves under God to discern the error and have obeyed His call to
separate themselves; and those who either do not or will not heed the
warning signs, and walk further and further into danger.
Of those two groups, neither is very much helped by the newsletter. The
first group do not really need "Mainstream" because they already
know the truth in essence (though its always comforting to have
confirmation) and the second group despises "Mainstream" and
the ministry because they have sold out to self, the world, their own
agendas, and ultimately the apostate church.
4. STANDING ON YOUR OWN TWO FEET
Mainstream may turn out to have a detrimental effect on some.
No man or ministry should be used as a kind of all-knowing "oracle"
that replaces the need for discernment or personal study. I want to encourage
Christians to think for themselves and to seek out the truth without depending
on ministries like mine.
5. PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES
Practically speaking, the Lord has already indicated the impossibility
of continuing, because without office staff the amount of work has topped
the level where one person can cope. Also, for the first time I have no
really new, good quality tapes to offer.
RUMOURS AND ACCUSATIONS
There will inevitably be those sad individuals who invent a spurious
"reason" for the end of Mainstream. [I have already been told
that Restoration fellowships in one area were rejoicing after the Summer
edition because I had "come under the judgement of God"
and had "been forced to stop producing the newsletter".
So the Autumn edition must have come as a bit of a shock to them.]
I would like it known, for the record, that nobody and nothing has "stopped
me", but I lay down Mainstream of my own free will, in obedience
to God.
Nevertheless, rumours will fly, and - sadly - they are often believed
and circulated without any check. All genuine Christians will be lied
about, for Jesus warned that "If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?"
(Matt 12:24/Matt 10:24-25).
So, only false teachers enjoy universal admiration:
"Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did
their fathers to the false prophets." Luke 6:26
Some rather silly and hurtful lies have been circulating about me personally
and Banner Ministries in general. Included amongst these was the accusation
that I had had some kind of mental breakdown and could no longer be trusted
as a reliable source of information! Though this is a sad commentary on
the spiritual condition of the person who circulates it, its also
cause for rejoicing, because it means the enemy is getting worried.
I have drawn comfort from Psalm 26. I also had a wonderfully praiseful
time when God gave me this verse in Matthew:
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you." (Matt 5:11-12)
A FINAL WORD
Finally, I want to offer my sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone
who has prayed for me (dont stop!!) and who has been a true supporter
of Banner Ministries. This is not the end, but perhaps a new beginning of something. (God knows.)
I dont take your support lightly, and I love and appreciate every
one of you. |