To see the original post by ex-pastor Ken Haining click here.
Waymanite Doctrines That Are Harmful #1
As this was just mentioned, I thought I would go through, one at a time, some Potter’s House, or Waymanite doctrines that are the source of harm to people partaking of Potter’s House “ministry.”
I consider this first doctrine the one from which all the other doctrines get their power. No, it is not the headship doctrine.
Let us consider the Scripture that is used.
1 Corinthians 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (KJV)
I used the King James Version, as that is how it was presented to me.
The actual meaning of this Scripture is in reference to the different functions that the Lord had assigned to different members of the church. That was in reference to the universal church, not to one specific church in a specific geographic location. Essentially, it was to encourage those who felt like they weren’t as much a part of the body of Christ as others, who had more prominent functions. If you read it in context, this becomes obvious.
But, as we know, Wayman loves to take Scripture out of context, and twist its meaning to suit his purposes. So, in Waymanland, this Scripture means that God brought you into the Potter’s House and He wants you to stay there until you die, or the rapture comes.
As a new convert, this was quickly pounded into my head. I was told that God, in His sovereign will, had placed me at the Door, and that I was only to attend service there. I was not to visit other churches. I was not to become “a floating kidney in the body of Christ.”
Once a new convert is convinced that the Potter’s House is the only God approved church for him, then he is ripe for all the other doctrines that will be thrown at him. If you believe that you can’t leave, you will tend to submit to all that the pastor teaches. After all, God placed you there, so God must want you to obey what is taught there, right?
What was sadly comical is that we would buy into the idea that we were part of the greatest move of God in the Earth today, when some of us had never even been to another church, or hadn’t been to church since we were kids. We just took our pastor’s word for it, and without ever gathering with any other group of believers in our city, we knew they were messed up, lukewarm, and just didn’t have the revelations that we had. “The Lord placed you in this church” doctrine went a long ways towards isolating us from all other Christian influences.
So, if ex Potter’s House leaders are looking for something to renounce, this would be a good place to start. Teach the people in your church that they are welcome to come and go as they please, and that it is completely between them and God where they go to church at any time in their lives. And make a statement that 1 Corinthians 12:18 has nothing to do with what particular church you attend.
Waymanite Doctrines That Are Harmful #2
OK, first we looked at the twisting of 1 Corinthians 12:18
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (KJV)
The second doctrine of Waymanland that I would like to look at is based on this Scripture:
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (KJV)
This second doctrine was very quickly combined with the first doctrine, as those in the church, including the pastor, sought to “lock in” the new convert. If a pastor could convince a new convert of the “truth” of these two doctrines, then 90% of the battle of turning the new convert into a human resource was won.
Waymanite interpretation says that what this Scripture in Hebrews 10:25 means is that you should be in church “whenever the doors are open,” as was so often preached. Your only excuse for not being in a church service was due to having to work, or being in the hospital, or other such things. If you had a job that interfered with church attendance, then you were to move heaven and earth to change that. Many foolishly tool lower paying positions so that they could enter the discipleship rat race and compete to become like the chief rodent in Prescott. Most of them never got sent out, of course, but boy did they serve the kingdom of Wayman during their stay in Waymaland.
So, based on the first doctrine, you would only attend church at your fellowship church, the Potter’s House, the Door, etc. Based on the second doctrine, you would end up coming to multiple services a week, and to “revival” services that were on for an entire week. Missing church was seen as a sin, and a disobedience to the “command of the Lord” to be in every service. If you weren’t in every service then you were forsaking the assembling with those of like faith, and were vulnerable to the Devil. After all, it was when David stayed home from the battle that he spied Bathsheba washing herself.
This greatly ensures and accelerates the brainwashing process of the new convert. By keeping the convert constantly immersed in church services of various kinds, the pastor is able to quickly indoctrinate him or her. It keeps the new convert too tired to really study the Bible for himself, and builds a reliance on the pastor’s sermon to know what the Bible says. It takes up the new converts time, and thus keeps him or her from hanging out with non Waymanites, including family members. It gets the new convert to socialize almost exclusively with people from the church, and thus the other members of the church also reinforce the doctrines in the new convert’s mind.
Hebrews 10:25 actually means that the believer should not become an isolated monk type. It does not speak of multiple church services every week, and frequent “revival” services. It speaks of not cutting yourself off from the benefits of gathering with other believers, perhaps once a week, or something like that. The writer of Hebrews knew that some people would get discouraged with gatherings of believers, for various reasons, but that it was still beneficial to gather with those of like faith. But that can be at someone’s home, rather than a church building. Yet, as is typical, Wayman turned this Scripture into a commandment to the people in the churches in his fellowship to never miss a church service. That’s not what it says, and anyone who studies it will easily see that.
Just another destructive doctrine that some of the former leaders of Waymanland might consider publicly renouncing.
Waymanite Doctrines That Are Harmful #3
The next doctrine in the series of the harmful doctrines of Wayman O. is the tithing doctrine. Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Tithing is part of the Old Testament Law of Moses. So, one of the first building blocks in this deceptive doctrine of Wayman is to say that Jesus endorsed tithing for the New Testament church. That one little phrase at the end of this Scripture, “and not to leave the other undone,” was used to say that this was Jesus speaking to the church to tithe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for missing the spirit of the Law, and merely mentioned that, yes, they as Jews under the Law should have tithed. In the beginning of Matthew 23, Jesus commands His disciples, and the crowd following Him, to do all that the Pharisees teach them to do when the Pharisees sit in Moses’ chair. Classic interpretation notes that Jesus said this because the Law was still in effect for the Jews, and Jesus had not yet died and risen from the dead. Yet, Waymanite doctrine pulls out this one little phrase, “and not to leave the other undone,” and tries to make it seem like a commandment for the church to tithe. In reality, there is no commandment to the New Testament to tithe.
Hebrews 7:1-2 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. (NAS)
This Scripture was used to say that Abraham represents the believer who is saved by faith, Melchizedek represents Jesus, and Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. Waymanite doctrine states that this means that Christians should tithe to Jesus, and they tithe to Jesus by giving their tithe to their church. It was also pointed out that Abraham did this centuries before the Law of Moses was given, and therefore tithing supersedes the Law. This is flawed, of course. Abraham only gave a tenth of the spoils of war that he had just taken. He did not give Melchizedek any of his own substance. Circumcision was also before the Law, but was done away with when the New Covenant came in. So the argument that because Abraham tithed before the Law means that tithing is for the New Testament church falls to pieces.
Malachi 3:8-11 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts.
This Scripture is spoken to the Jews while they are under the Law of Moses. Yet, Wayman took this and twisted it to say that it is a rebuke to Christians who are not tithing to their church. It was further twisted to say that because those who did not tithe were called robbers, that those who did not tithe were not saved and were going to hell, since “no thief will enter the kingdom of God.” Another facet of this Scripture that was used, totally out of context, was the term “the storehouse.” The priests and Levites had a place to store the food that the people brought in for their tithe, so it could be distributed to the poor, and to the priests and Levites. However, in Waymanism “the storehouse” is your local church. It was considered to be “robbing God” if you gave your tithe anywhere else besides your Potter’s House, fellowship, church.
Still another facet of this Scripture that was used was to note that it said the people had robbed God in tithes and offerings. Tithing wasn’t enough, and it was preached, “You haven’t even started to give to God until you give above your tithe.” It was said that you needed to be “open to God” about how much above your tithe He wanted you to pay in offerings. With pastors following the Waymanite pattern of constantly pulling for money, people would frequently feel “the Spirit of God” dealing with them to give more.
One part of this that blows holes in the whole thing is the challenge to put God to the test. Fellowship people have been told, for going on four decades, that if they will tithe and give offerings that they will experience God pouring out a blessing on them that is so great that it cannot be contained. Even though people have practiced tithing and offering for years and years, and even though they have had almost nothing but financial struggles, they still give and give, believing that somewhere, over the rainbow, their blessing awaits.
The harm that this doctrine does is fairly obvious. Good people and good families end up giving vital resources to their Potter’s House, Door, CFM church and it hurts them a lot. While the pastor is taking the “evangelist” out to a fine restaurant after each “revival” service, these people are struggling to decently provide for their kids. Money that should be put away for the kids college is given to “world evangelism,” because that is just so much more important. Let’s get some more dots up on that map so we can boast about how big our fellowship is getting. Yeah, most of the churches might have just a few people in them, but still we are reaching the world for Jesus, you know?
So, here’s a doctrine for ex leaders of Wayman’s World to publicly renounce. I wonder how many of them have departed from forcing people to give money under the threat of God taking away their salvation?
Waymanite Doctrines That Are Harmful #4
The next Waymanite doctrine that I want to look at is the Headship/Rebellion doctrine. These two things, Headship and Rebellion, go hand in hand in the teachings of Wayman O.
1 Samuel 15:22-23 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
This Scripture is probably the most often used Scripture in Waymanland to justify the Headship/Rebellion doctrine. Put simply, King Saul disobeyed his God given “Headship,” Samuel, and was therefore guilty of rebellion against God.
This doctrine is so twisted that I have to pull back to try and give the full picture. The Prophet Samuel gave a direct command from the LORD, Jehovah, to King Saul. Saul disobeyed that command, and thus we have the above Scripture. Wayman took this Scripture and turned it into the crazed idea that if a disciple didn’t do whatever his pastor said, and didn’t believe everything his pastor said, then he was in rebellion against the LORD, and was guilty of rebellion, and subsequently had embraced witchcraft. The same was true of any pastor who rejected the fellowship leadership, and any leader who rejected Waymanchrist.
All of these men, these pastors and leaders, supposedly hold an office equal to one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament, at least in relation to their underlings, or disciples, as they are called. I remember a service in the Tucson church, the Door, where Wayman O. gave an altar call for those who felt called to preach. Naturally, almost all of the young men were at the altar, or foot of the stage, prostrate before Lord Wayman. Then Wayman declared in his booming voice, as I recall, “If you are going to fulfill this calling, you must learn to take your pastor’s word as the Word of God.” That is the Headship principle in a nutshell. The flip side, the Rebellion doctrine, related to ever disobeying your headship, as Saul disobeyed the Word of the LORD as it came from Samuel.
Now, there are pastors and leaders who will dispute this, and say this is not really what the fellowship teaches, but they are wrong. Sure, they may have some flimsy example of a disciple disagreeing with them about some incidental thing, like their favorite car. But if any underling, disciple, wants to test this out, just disagree with the pastor openly about something he preached, and do it with other people present. Don’t make a big deal about it, just voice a disagreement. You will find out that what I am saying is true.
Any attempt to intelligently debate a pastor is seen as rebellion. Keep in mind that they say you are guilty of the sin of witchcraft when you disagree with them. They think you have a demon. You are totally in the wrong, even if you have a ton of Scripture that agrees with you. You are a threat to the kingdom of Wayman, and you must be dealt with.
They use other examples to back up this doctrine. They always involve putting the fellowship pastor or leader in the place of some major Bible figure. There is Moses and Korah. There is Elisha and Gehazi. There is David and Absalom. And so on. The pastor/leader is always the Headship and you are always the Rebel, if you disagree, or refuse to obey. You CAN’T be right. Even if you are right, you are wrong to rebel. You should submit anyway. That, by the way, is definitely not in the Bible.
The destruction that this doctrine has had on members of the fellowship is immense. Obey Headship or be damned as a Rebel has caused people to let someone else literally run their lives. The influence these Headship figures have over people is tremendously unhealthy, and can lead to disastrous decisions. Someone gives up their education because Headship says they will miss their destiny in God if they go away to college. Someone doesn’t re-enlist in the military for the same reason. Someone gets married to one of the girls in the church, not because he is in love with her, but because the pastor preached that you need to stop being so picky, and every word he says is from the mouth of God. Someone cuts off their family for years, because Headship tells them that they are of Satan, and the church is their real family, resulting in the church member becoming forever alienated from his family. And the list goes on and on.
Well, if there’s one destructive doctrine that former fellowship leaders should be willing to publicly renounce it is the Headship/Rebellion doctrine. After all, aren’t they themselves Rebels?
Waymanite Doctrines That Are Harmful #5
Another one of Wayman’s doctrines that causes quite a bit of harm to people, and pain, is the doctrine of Shunning.
This has two parts. The first is shunning “the world.”
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (NAS)
James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (NAS) These are two of the Scriptures that are twisted to mean what Wayman wants them to mean in regards to shunning “unsaved” people. The main function of this doctrine is to cut you off from those who might have enough influence over you, and might care enough about you, to get you to see through Wayman’s religious scam. Most of the timeit is the convert’s relatives who are shunned. Families naturally become concerned when they see their relative start to turn into a Waymanite zombie with a really weird speech pattern. The pastor quickly paints the picture of these concerned family members as being absolute tools of Satan to destroy the new convert’s salvation in Jesus. It is taught that the Devil is using family members to cause the new convert to stumble and backslide.
So, the solution is to get the convert to violently witness to family members, and make sure that the convert tells their family that they are going to hell. This becomes especially emphasized if the family is at all Christian. The convert’s family will be painted out to be lukewarm, and not “really saved,” and the convert will be told to turn up the fires of his or her witness. The frequent result of this is that the convert become alienated from his or her family, and ends up shunning family members, believing them to be under Satan’s power.
The above Scriptures do not teach this. They are simply saying that the believer has to maintain a moral separation from the world. The Christian doesn’t go to bed with the world, so to speak, but that does not mean that he shuns the non Christian people of the world, but rather shuns entering into sin with them.
1 Corinthians 5:9-10 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. (NAS)
Paul clarifies his position here, concerning separation from immoral Christians, as opposed to the non Christian peoples of the world. Paul notes that the Christian believer would associate with various types of sinners in the world, the same way that Jesus did. There is nothing about cutting off people in the world because they are not Christain believers in any of the New Testament. Jesus did say that He would bring division to families, but the implication was that it would be the unbelievers who would have a problem with the believers, not the other way around.
Wayman, no surprise, actually teaches the opposite of what the Bible teaches. By following Wayman’s teachings, the convert alienates his family and any close friends who are not willing to become Waymanites. Instead of having a good testimony with the unbelivers, the convert has the testimony of being an arrogant, religious jackass. Thus the convert quickly becomes isolated from those who might have helped him or her see Wayman and his kingdom for what they really are.
Then there’s the second part of shunning.
Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. (NKJ)
This Scripture is applied to anyone who leaves the church and states objections to what is being taught at the Potter’s House, CFM. This goes hand in hand with the Headship/Rebellion doctrine. Someone leaves the church, and dares to say that what is coming over the pulpit does not match up with the Bible, and they are branded as those who cause divisions, and should be avoided.
Again, Wayman’s doctrines are so twisted it is hard to sort through them. What someone should do, according to the above Scripture, is avoid those who cause divisions and teach a doctrine contrary to what the Apostle Paul taught, i.e., what is written in the Bible. Wayman completely turned this around and basically made it Waymanland law that if anyone were to come against Wayman’s doctrines, especially with the Bible, then they were causing divisions and should be avoided. Actually, if you review Wayman’s life you will be hard pressed to find a man more divisive. The above Scripture is actually warning believers to avoid the likes of Wayman. It is Wayman who teaches doctrines that are contrary to what Paul taught. What a manipulation of the Scripture Wayman pulled off with his shunning of “backsliders” and “rebels” doctrine.
Going back to the Headship/Rebellion doctrine, another reason that Wayman gives for shunning people who left the church is that they are rebels, and rebels have a demon of witchcraft. Therefore, if you are friends with those who left the church, and are therefore rebels against the will of God, you risk getting their demons. This makes absolutely no sense if you read the Bible. Demons cried out in fear when Jesus approached. Jesus never told his disciples to avoid demon possessed people lest they pick up a spirit. Wouldn’t the “backsliders” run in fear from the mighty Waymanites? Instead, it is the Waymanites who are taught to fear the “backsliders.”
The obvious purpose of this second part of the shunning doctrine is to keep people in the church from hearing the reasons why people left. This would throw a real blanket on the lies that the pastor is preaching from the pulpit as to why people left the church, and “I heard they are doing terrible” sermon examples. The last thing the Potter’s House pastor wants is having the people in the church talk to a “backslider” who is happily attending Calvary Chapel, or some other “horrible, lukewarm cesspool of sin.” Or even worse, having the people in the Potter’s House talk to a “backslider” who gives intelligent, Biblical reasons as to why he or she left. Can’t have that “demon” getting on the people.
I read a book on Christian cult churches when I first left Waymanland, and it was already out of print, but I had a copy. One of the tests that this man said would indicate whether or not a church was cultish was what would happen if an ex member visited a service. If the ex member could just visit a service, and the people were glad to see him or her, and they didn’t put any pressure on that person to come back to the church, then it was a healthy, normal church. If there was panic at the sight of the ex member, or an intense demand for the ex member to get his or her “heart right with God,” then the church had some severe problems. Or maybe it would be like when George Potkonyak showed up for church, and the ushers bolted the door, and screamed, “Oh my Gawd, it is HIM!”
So, if you Potter’s House members have the Spirit of God, and we “backsliders” have a demon of rebellion and witchcraft, why would you be afraid to talk to us? Wouldn’t it be the other way around?
Something to think about.
Waymanite Doctrines That Are Harmful #6
Another one of Wayman O.’s harmful doctrines is what is called Discipleship.
Acts 20:28-30 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Here the Apostle Paul warns the Gentile churches that evil men are going to ravage the flock, and that some will draw disciples after themselves by speaking perverse things. This relates back to the real mission that those who were called to preach the gospel were on. They were to teach the nations about Jesus, and teach what Jesus taught. This would result in Christians knowing God for themselves, and in their being brothers and sisters who were all equal in the church. They were to bring about the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
While the true commission of Jesus was for those who preach His gospel to bring people to a place of knowing God for themselves, the perverse “discipler” would draw disciples after himself. He would do that by perverting the Scriptures, i.e., speaking perverse things. There is a connection that is made here: speaking perverse things and drawing disciples after themselves.
Think about it. All of the perverseness of Waymanland can be traced back to the perverse concept’s behind Lord Wayman’s discipleship program. Instead of teaching people to know God through Jesus, they teach people to become their personal disciples. This is one of the teachings that is a source of some of their greatest abuses of the people in the churches. Wayman, his leaders, and the pastors under them literally put themselves in the place of Jesus in the lives of the people in the churches. To say that this gives them an unhealthy influence over people’s lives is a gross understatement. People will make major, life directing decisions based on what the “man of God” says. There is no end to the accounts of people’s lives being majorly screwed up through this idea that you are your pastor’s disciple.
Your relationship with God, and your concept of God end up hopelessly intertwined with your pastor. Instead of becoming more like Jesus, you become like your pastor. It always troubled me to see men who would take on speech patterns and voice inflections of their pastor. Their own personality would be submerged under this weird clone like behavior. In order to be a good disciple you have to agree with everything your pastor says. If not, you are considered “unteachable.” The pastor himself is almost always a clone of his own pastor. It is amazing how much people in the fellowship speak and act like Wayman O., as this is passed down the line.
This Waymanite doctrine employs another out of context Scripture.
1 Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. (King James Version)
Paul is actually saying that the people in the church should follow Christ as he does. However, far be it from Wayman not to make this Scripture say what he wants it to say. Wayman can follow Christ, but that’s too hard for you. So, you can just follow Wayman. And the people in the churches can just follow their pastor. Can you see how this is a major source of the damage done to people’s lives in the fellowship of Wayman O.? It would be one thing if the pastors were good, honest teachers of the Bible, but most of them are hardly that. Even so, following normal flawed men, in the way that Wayman prescribes, will always have a negative effect.
Wayman takes this doctrine one step further. He takes the Scripture I first quoted, Acts 20:28-30 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
and he says that this refers to those pastors and leaders who left the fellowship and took “human resources” out of Wayman’s kingdom. In essence, everyone in the fellowship is supposed to be a disciple of Waymachrist, first and foremost. If anyone leaves the fellowship with a “rebel” pastor, then this Scripture from Acts 20 is applied. They are drawing Wayman’s disciples after themselves by speaking “perverse things,” is what is said. Wayman really does see those “human resources” as his possession, and if any leave to follow anyone else, then those who are drawing them away from Wayman are seen as agents of Satan who are speaking perverse things, such as, “I don’t agree with Wayman Mitchell.”
Nothing wrong with going to church and listening to someone teach the Bible. However, you will find that the really good Bible teachers are not seeking personal disciples. They are teaching people the Scriptures as they feel called to do, but they are not looking to have an unhealthy personal influence in anyone’s life. They would be appalled at someone coming to them and asking, “Do you think I should marry this girl?” Or, “Do you think I should buy a house?” Or, “Is OK if I move to another city to get a better job?” They would tell you that it is up to you to make those decisions.
Ah, but the Waymanite Pastor has no problem running your life. After all, you are his disciple. He is in the place of Jesus in your life. It is the wonderful doctrine of Discipleship.
You don’t have to be any man’s disciple to be a Christian. Get out of Waymanland and head for a church where the pastor actually knows the Bible, and teaches it, and leaves it with you as to how you work that out in your life. (Calvary Chapels are usually pretty good for this.) You’ll live a much better life than you will with some religious tin god “overseeing” you. You’re an adult. How long are you going to let some “pastor” treat you like a child?
Shalom Ken
