
ARCHIVED NEWS REPORTS
KIM MILLER
& BANNER MINISTRIES
Important Statement
As
you may already have heard, the Israeli police have arrested some followers
of Monte Kim Miller and his Concerned Christians organisation in Jerusalem
on charges of "plotting extremist acts". Whether or not these
charges are valid is not my point - but this statement is to put on record
publicly that there IS NO LINK BETWEEN BANNER MINISTRIES AND KIM MILLER.
Some
foolish individuals have apparently started a rumour to the effect that
"Banner Ministries supports Kim Miller". Even if somebody thought
that, they should have checked their facts with me first before telling
others, thereby starting a dangerous fire that could be impossible for me
to extinguish.
In
the long run, it might even lead to my being questioned by the security
services, not to speak of the damage it could do to this Ministry (as if
the devil needed another opportunity!) Just think what some of the enemies
of the Ministry might do if they take this unfounded rumour and run with
it!!!
THE
FACTS:
So,
here are the facts about Banner Ministries and Kim Miller:
Way
back in the early 1980's Kim Miller started a helpful and discerning little
ministry called Concerned Christians because he - as a businessman - was
concerned about the New Age trends infiltrating the business world.
His
newsletters and tapes came into our possession. They examined the New Age,
and exposed it in a thoroughly Christian way. We appreciated these materials,
and in due course of time (since they were copyright free and Kim Miller
encouraged people to distribute them) we offered them in the pages of our
newsletter "Mainstream".
The
tapes and newsletters came every month, and went on to cover such topics
as Restorationism, Shepherding, Inner Healing and Visualisation, Vegetarianism,
and the False Revival. We considered Kim Miller at that time to be sound,
and many people appreciated his tapes that we made available. Indeed, Kim
Miller's tapes were, and continued to be, some of the most popular tapes
we ever offered.
Eventually,
however, we discerned something going wrong with Kim Miller's ministry.
He began to focus much more on America being Mystery Babylon, and to speak
of the coming judgement on that nation. This was not only irrelevant to
our UK readership, but it felt slightly odd and thus we drew the line, and
- apart from the earlier tapes - we stopped offering Kim Miller's materials.
Shortly
afterwards, Kim Miller and Concerned Christians seemed to drop out of sight,
and mail to him went unanswered. I eventually received a short note from
one of his co-workers saying he was working on a book, and so was unable
to correspond or to put out any more materials.
It
didn't sound very convincing. I felt there was something underneath this
withdrawal, and I reasoned within myself why this could be. Perhaps he had
run out of money, and was too polite to say so? Thus I sent him a $100 donation,
in respect of the appreciation we all had for his tapes.
RENEWED
CONTACT
Kim Miller did not surface again until many years later. Suddenly we once
more received materials he had produced, with an invitation to support his
organisation. At first I was pleased, but on reading through what he had
written, alarm bells began to ring. This was nothing like the Kim Miller
I once knew as a sound Christian. I had a bad feeling about what he was
saying, without being able to put my finger on it.
Unfortunately,
several other people (former recipients of Kim Miller's materials from Banner)
also received his new writings, and they did take up with him again, despite
my warnings. I felt rather guilty about that, since I had "got them
hooked" onto him in the first place, but simple biblical discernment
should have alerted them to the truth.
THE
SHOCKING TRUTH
Then
suddenly, one morning, I opened the newspaper and on the front page was
the news that somebody called Monte Kim Miller from Denver had disappeared
and taken several members of "his cult" to Jerusalem. It was feared
they might commit suicide. The Israeli authorities were on alert, because
Kim Miller apparently believed himself to be the coming Elijah, and that
he would die on the Temple Mount around the year 2000, and be raised again
three days later. It was also reported that he told his cult followers that
he was a god, or God.
I
was shocked, to say the least. Could this really be the Kim Miller we had
known in the 1980's? But before over-reacting, I set about trying to find
if there was any truth in these reports. The last people to believe are
newspaper reporters!
I
e-mailed a number of friends in Denver, and awaited replies. None came.
After
a time, I decided to phone somebody in the States who lives in Denver and
who knew Kim Miller personally. She is a good friend of mine, and totally
reliable. So one evening I spent about three hours on the phone to America
(I dread to think what it cost me) and got the complete picture.
To
give you the short version, Kim Miller did begin as a bona-fide, if somewhat
immature, Christian discernment minister. He fell in with the wrong crowd,
and gradually went more and more strange. (He also did have financial problems
- so at least that prompt was correct.)
All
that the newspapers had reported was true - he had collected a devoted "cult"
following; his teachings were totally "off the wall", he did believe
he was Elijah, and he had disappeared with many of his followers from Denver,
heading for Jerusalem.
After
this, when friends phoned me to ask about the stories, I could give them
accurate information. Further reports in the press said that Concerned Christian
members had indeed arrived in Israel, and a few days ago it was reported
that they had been arrested. It's not known precisely where Kim Miller himself
is.
HANDLE
THE TRUTH WISELY
So
there you have it. Like many others, we did once appreciate what Kim Miller
wrote, and said on his tapes. But when the Lord showed us he was going on
the wrong path, we ceased our support. We have not carried his tapes for
years now.
It
seems incredible that anyone could make these facts into an accusation against
Banner Ministries, but over the years I have witnessed many examples of
the devil inciting people to do harm to Christians, all out of one foolish
thought, word or deed. At the beginning it probably seems like no more than
a conversation with friends. But we need to be aware that rumours spread
quickly, especially in today's climate of bad feeling towards anything truly
biblical.
Would
you do your bit to protect this ministry by printing off and distributing
this statement wherever you think there may be a misunderstanding. THANKYOU!
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