Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology, the Apostolic Institute of Theology, Second 8th Week™ University, and Second 8th Week Ministries. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Second 8th weekThis page contains information concerning the false teacher Dr. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Apostle Joann Cremer and other followers of Apostle Eric vonAnderseck and Apostle Maria vonAnderseck the founders of Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology, the Apostolic Institute of Theology, Second 8th Week™ University, and Second 8th Week Ministries. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Second 8th week, Apostle Joann Cremer, Apostolic Stewardship, apostles, apostolic governance, apostle, living apostles, apostles today, living apostles, Christian faith, restoration, apostles, Jesus Christ, Jesus, Christ, Peter, John, Paul, Jesus apostles, the apostles, the apostle, apostles of Jesus, 12 apostles, twelve apostles, john the apostle, the twelve apostles, twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, apostle Eric, apostle, apostle Eric vonAnderseck, apostle Erik, apostle Eric vanAndorsek, apostle Eric, apostle Eric vondorseck, apostles of Jesus, the apostles, apostles of Christ, the apostles of Christ, the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, living apostles, what is an apostle, saints, saint, grace, grace of God, grace of God, cross, disciples, new testament, gospel, gospels, bible, discipleship, about apostles of Jesus, faith, Christian faith, theology, revival, restoration, restore, teach, apostolic, apostolic governance, apostolic governance, church, covenant, school of theology, Christian school, Christian theology school, school of theolgoy, theology school apostles, Jesus Christ, Jesus, Christ, Peter, John, Paul, jesus apostles, the apostles, the apostle, apostles of jesus, 12 apostles, twelve apostles, john the apostle, the twelve apostles, twelve apostles of jesus christ, apostle eric, apostol, apostle eric vonAnderseck, apostle erik, apostle eric vanAndorsek, apostleeric, apostle eric vondorseck, apostlesofjesus, theapostles, apostlesofchrist, theapostlesofchrist, the twelve apostles of jesus christ, living apostles, what is an apostle, saints, saint, grace, grace of God, graceofgod, cross, disciples, new testament, gospel, gospels, bible, discipleship, about apostles of jesus, faith, Christian faith, theology, revival, restoration, restore, teach, apostolic, apostolicgovernance, apostolic governance, church, covenant, school of theology, christian school, christian theology school, schooloftheolgoy, theology school, Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology Maria vonAnderseck - maria@second8thweek.com
This
web page is meant to be an introduction to Apostle
Eric
vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Apostle Joann Cremer and other
followers of
Apostle Eric vonAnderseck and Apostle Maria vonAnderseck the founders
of Second
8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology, the Apostolic Institute of
Theology,
Second 8th Week™ University, and Second 8th Week Ministries.
Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Apostle Joann Cremer and
Apostle
Maria vonAnderseck bill themselves as living apostles and on their web
sites
will try to convince you that you are not able to understand God’s Word
without
their guidance. In their schools (Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute
of
Theology, the Apostolic Institute of Theology, Second 8th Week™
University, and
Second 8th Week Ministries) they teach that they and not the Holy
Spirit will
lead you to the truth. Apostle Eric bills himself as the Chief Apostle
of all
of North America. They want to change your beliefs so that you will
submit
yourself to their “apostolic stewardship” or “apostolic governance” as
they
call it. “Apostolic stewardship” or “apostolic governance” is nothing
more than
having your beliefs bent to conform to the error that these people
teach.
You might be asking yourself why anyone would want to write about some
guy who
thinks that he is the chief apostle as Eric vonAnderseck believes he
is.
Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Apostle Joann Cremer and
Apostle
Maria vonAnderseck are really very small players as far as those who
are
actively deceiving the body of Christ go. They only reach a handful of
people
and my guess is most of those that they do reach probably quickly
recognize
that these supposed apostles are not what they say they are.
From the communication that others and I have had with Eric's followers
they
seem to be those who have been hurt and vulnerable to manipulation. The
mode
used by these self-assigned "living apostles" to teach their
erroneous and dangerous lessons are the schools founded by Apostle Eric
vonAnderseck and Apostle Maria vonAnderseck. They are the
Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology, the Apostolic
Institute of
Theology, Second 8th Week™ University, S8W Apostolic Institute, Second
8th Week
Apostolic Coalition, and Second 8th Week Ministries. The
courses offered by
these schools are actually “apostolic stewardship” or “apostolic
governance”
and they are used to re-train people to stop believing they can trust
the Holy
Spirit and to believe that Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John
Welty,
Apostle Joann Cremer and Apostle Maria vonAnderseck are the only true
carriers
of the truth of Jesus Christ today.
Are these people frauds who are out the bilk the unsuspecting of their
money or
are they just delusional? Who knows, they may not even know what their
own true
motives are. I’m not writing in order to judge motives, I’m writing
only to
warn the Body of Christ that there are yet more false teachers on the
loose. If
this work warns even one person, that is good and the work has paid off.
Please pray for these people: Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Apostle John Welty, Apostle Joann Cremer and Apostle Maria vonAnderseck and pray for the people they are teaching their errors to at the Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology, the Apostolic Institute of Theology, Second 8th Week™ University, S8W Apostolic Institute, Second 8th Week Apostolic Coalition, and Second 8th Week Ministries.
In researching this apostle’s beliefs we have found that he believes that:
Does Eric glorify himself or does he glorify Jesus? The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus and the real Apostles pointed to Jesus. In the Epistles the name of Jesus is mentioned 254 times, Paul 45 times and Peter 5 times. You only need to give Eric vonAnderseck's web pages a quick glance to see that he and not Jesus is center stage. True apostles point you to Jesus much more than they point to themselves. Eric points to himself.
On Eric vonAnderseck's web site is the boast "He has recorded over 3,000 dreams and over 6,000 spiritual experiences.(In addition to these over 9,000 documentations, in the last 3 decades he has logged in 2,016,000 minutes of prayer, read through the Bible chapter by chapter numerous times, and offered an estimated 146,000 spiritual sacrifices of prophecy."
No
truly humble person or real Apostle would allow such claims to be made.
No sane
person would expect that another person would boast about millions of
minutes
of prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, "But when you pray, go into your
room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your
Father,
who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Humble promoter of Jesus Christ? No. Tireless self-promoter? Yes!
Contents:
1. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck denies the power of the Word of God to Save.
2. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck places himself as the giver of truth and dethrones the Holy Spirit.
4. Comments from “The Bereans.Net”
5. A study on
non-Christian cults. Taken from
http://studyoncults.blogspot.com/
a. The False Apostle Eric Von Anderseck
b. The False Apostle Eric pt.2
c. What Does This False Apostle Teach?
d. Introduction to testimonies (from former cult
members)
e. The Testimony of
John and Debbie Virshek (part 1)
f. The Testimony of John and Debbie Virshek (part
2)
6. The false apostle Eric vonAnderseck and his false teaching about Enoch
7. More comments by Debbie Virshek taken from End Times Prophetic Words
10. Is the false teacher Eric vonAnderseck correct about apostolic governance?
1. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck denies the power of the Word of God to produce Salvation.
Beware
of Eric vonAnderseck, he will tell you that he is the chief apostle and
he
teaches some dangerous things at his self-founded Second 8th Week
Apostolic
Institute of Theology, but before I bore you to death and while I still
have
your attention I want expose the most blatant error he teaches.
Eric vonAnderseck wrote:
"If your soul stands in doubt of your salvation can the scriptures
in-of-itself birth the experience of your salvation. The scriptures can
validate the experience, but not produce it.” We see that Eric clearly
says
that the Scriptures cannot produce salvation.
Honestly,
I’m so sickened I almost do not know what to say. Does this man who
dares to
call himself an apostle, truly believe that Scripture cannot produce
salvation?
Let’s take a look at what Scripture says.
Let’s first look at John chapter 1 and we see that the Word is Jesus
and Jesus
is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word
was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1-2)
When Eric vonAnderseck states that scripture cannot produce salvation
he is, in
effect, saying that God cannot produce salvation. (The Word is God.)
But maybe that’s not what Eric meant; it’s possible I’m making
something out of
nothing. Let’s look at what other scriptures say and see if the Bible
or
Scripture can produce salvation. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth,
whoever
hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will
not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24) Jesus
is pretty
clear that his Word brings salvation. We hear the Word, believe it and
are
saved. This is how the Word produces salvation.
The Apostle Paul had something to say about this idea that the Word can
produce
salvation. He wrote, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the
message, and
the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) We see
that
Paul wrote, what he learned from Jesus. In short we hear the Word, we
believe
or have faith in the Word and the Word saves us.
The self proclaimed apostle, Eric vonAnderseck and what he teaches at
his
Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology are dangerous and
anti-Scriptural. What he teaches denies the power of our Lord’s Word to
save.
Is heresy to strong a word?
I hope you will join me in praying for him and for those he has
deceived.
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,
which you
received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are
saved,
if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have
believed
in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-2)
2. Apostle Eric vonAnderseck places himself as the giver of truth and dethrones the Holy Spirit.
The
erroneous apostle Eric teaches, at his school, Second 8th Week, that
the Bereans
who Luke wrote about in Acts 17:11 were not as noble as Luke thought.
10As soon as it was night, the brothers
sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the
Jewish
synagogue. 11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the
Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and
examined
the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12Many of
the Jews
believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek
men.
(Acts 17 NIV)
Luke was either with Paul in Berea or he was recounting what Paul,
Timothy and
Silas told him. So when Luke wrote "the Bereans were of more noble
character than the Thessalonians" he was probably not speaking his own
opinion, he was probably either repeating what the others told him or
he was
giving an eyewitness account of what he, Paul and the others saw.
Why did these great men of God believe "the Bereans were of more noble
character than the Thessalonians"? There are two reasons spelled out in
the text, "they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day
to see if what Paul said was true."
It is essential for those, like apostle Eric vonAnderseck, who are
leading the
Lord's sheep astray, to attack the idea that every Christian should
examine the
scripture to see if what they say is true. They want their followers to
trust
only them so that the manipulation and brainwash cam be complete.
At
Second 8th Week this is what is taught, "The Berean Method is
self-referencing, because the substance of the knowledge is not born of
the
anointing, but formed by the logic and study of doctrine. Jesus made to
His
apostles the distinction of both, that of the anointing and that of the
letter.
The church needs apostles today to reference the church to God." (“The
Berean Method of Discernment” September 18th, 2009 | Author: Apostle
Eric
vonAnderseck)
Notice two things about what the false apostle writes. First, knowledge
is ...
formed by ... logic" Scripture says that the Holy Spirit leads us in
all
truth. "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into
all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he
hears, and
he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:12-14)
Eric wrote that our knowledge comes from logic and that it is
“self-referencing”, in order to make the gullible lose their trust in
their own
ability to hear the Holy Spirit and the ability of good Christians to
speak the
truth. With this and other similar statements, found on Eric's web
pages, he
sets himself up as the only reliable source of truth in North America.
We see
how he develops his idea that we can trust no person but him in this
sentence,
"The church needs apostles today to reference the church to God."
Eric is saying don't trust the Spirit, don't trust Pastors or
Preachers, and
don't trust your ability to read and understand the Word that God gave
you,
trust only me.
Now look at the second part of the sentence and see how apostle Eric
further
attempts to manipulate your thinking. "knowledge is ... formed ... by
the
study of doctrine" Luke wrote that the Bereans, "examined the
Scriptures.” Eric vonAnderseck replaced the word "scripture" with
"doctrine.” Friends, scripture is God's Word and God's Word is not the
negative thing that Eric vonAnderseck attempts to turn it into by
calling it
doctrine.
Eric would like us, and his followers, to believe we are unable to read
and
understand the Word of God. Through subtle and sometimes not so subtle
manipulation he tries to place the himself in
the role of the Holy
Spirit. Read what a real Apostle wrote to follower of Jesus and compare
it to
what is taught at the Second 8th Week schools by Eric vonAnderseck.
"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is
from
God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." (1
Corinthians
2:12) Paul taught that we gain understanding from the Holy Spirit, not
from
Eric.
Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be
ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) Paul taught that
the Word
must be studied.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become
convinced
of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from
infancy you
have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful
for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so
that the
man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy
3) Paul
explains that Timothy knew scripture because he was taught as a young
child,
that teaching most likely came from Timothy's mother and grandmother.
(2
Timothy 1:5)
Beware of those who will turn you away from reading the Scripture and
away from
trusting God to reveal his truth to you. They are wolves in sheep's
clothing.
Build your faith by diligently praying and reading scripture. God has
freely
given us his word in order for us to be saved. Pray for them and those
they decieve.
3.
Apostle Eric vonAnderseck calls himself a doctor. But
is he a doctor?
While looking over Eric’s web page I noticed that he has given himself
many
titles. On one page he calls himself “Dr. Eric vonAnderseck, ThD, DD,
Chief
Apostle of Jesus Christ for the Second 8th Week of Righteousness.” I’m
sure
that you would agree that, that is quite an impressive title.
I asked Eric several times where he got his degree and to prove that he
is
indeed a doctor. He refused to answer me and refused every request to
prove
that he is a doctor. Instead of giving a clear honest
answer vonAnderseck played word games, implied titles don't
matter and
continually answered questions with more and more questions.
I
later learned that Eric founded his own school “Second 8th Week
Apostolic
Institute of Theology” and that school is where he got his doctorate
from. It
seems that the self appointed apostle Eric vonAnderseck created his own
school
and then wrote himself and his wife, Marie, degrees. I can only suppose
that his
wife, Dr. Maria vonAnderseck, taught him and he taught her, and they
then
graded each othes papers.
The apparently false apostle Eric vonAnderseck wrote, on his doctoral
thesis,
that Dr. Maria vonAnderseck helped him greatly with writing it. Are we
to
suppose that she evaluated his thesis that she helped write?
Who
evaluated hers, and who helped her write it? Did she sign his degree
and he
signed hers?
The following quotes are taken from some of Eric's many web pages.
"Dr. Eric vonAnderseck, Chief Apostle of Jesus Christ, Founder, Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology'
" Dr. vonAnderseck founded the Second 8th Week International Accreditation Agency. In 2003 Drs. Eric and Maria vonAnderseck founded Second 8th Week, Inc."
“Second
8th Week University, the international
distance learning University founded by the vonAndersecks in 1999,
stands as a
beacon and pacesetter in Christian Education for Christ-Centered
Spiritual
Transformation.”
From what Eric writes we see that he founded his own school and then
founded
and accrediting agency. HMMMM does the term "conflict
of interest" come to mind?
This is taken from the Bio page on Eric’s web site.
“Dr. vonAnderseck’s lifetime work and
philanthropy has earned him a Doctor of Divinity award from Second 8th
Week™
University, where he serves as the Provost and Chief Educator and
Lecturer.”
(more titles!)
Also from the same article:
“Dr. Maria vonAnderseck serves as full
professor at Second 8th Week University where she earned her PhD degree
in
Theology for her work with Dr. E. vonAnderseck and for her research in
Applied
Sociology: Phenomenological Studies Associated with Spiritual
Transformation.”
Again, please join me in prayer for these guys and those who they have
deceived
or may deceive.
4. Comments from “The Bereans.Net”
The following are comments that were posted on The Bereans.net the author of the post has taken the time to read the FAQ page and show the glaring contradictions that were found between it and scripture. I would like to take the time to thank “abugian” for the time taken to point out these problems with Apostle Eric’s doctrine and also for the permission to post the comments here.
|
12-27-04, 06:23 |
#1 |
|
Webservant
My Redeemer lives!
Reformed Pentecostal Posts: 20,630 Member Since: Apr 2003
|
Eric, Maria vonAnderseck and the Second 8th Week Ministries, Inc. You can check
them out in their website http://www.second8thweek.com/
and their statement of faith here: http://www.second8thweek.org/StatementOfFaith.htm. |
|
12-27-04, 06:38 |
#2 |
|
Webservant
My Redeemer lives!
Reformed Pentecostal Posts: 20,630 Member Since: Apr 2003
|
Re:Eric, Maria vonAnderseck and the Second 8th Week Ministries, Inc. In the Why
We Need Apostles page, the deceit is obvious. |
|
12-27-04, 07:00 |
#3 |
|
Webservant
My Redeemer lives!
Reformed Pentecostal Posts: 20,630 Member Since: Apr 2003
|
Re:Eric, Maria vonAnderseck and the Second 8th Week Ministries, Inc. The Second
8th Week according to them is the, |
|
12-27-04, 07:41 |
#4 |
|
Webservant
My Redeemer lives!
Reformed Pentecostal Posts: 20,630 Member Since: Apr 2003
|
Re:Eric, Maria vonAnderseck and the Second 8th Week Ministries, Inc. Matthew Slick
of CARM wrote a big deal about apostle wannabee Eric vonAnderseck.
Check it out in |
|
12-27-04, 08:25 |
#5 |
|
Webservant
My Redeemer lives!
Reformed Pentecostal Posts: 20,630 Member Since: Apr 2003
|
Re:Eric, Maria vonAnderseck and the Second 8th Week Ministries, Inc. With regards to
the breaking of the bread, Eric vonAnderseck has this to say, |
5. The following was taken from “A study on non-Christian cults”
@ http://studyoncults.blogspot.com/ .
I
have been unable to reach the original author, however, if you are the
author
please contact me, There is a link to email me at the bottom
of this
page.
Thank you so much for the time and effort that you put into your blog.
Thank
you John and Debbie Virshek for giving your testimony.
God Bless
you all.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 The False Apostle Eric Von Anderseck I want to start my study with a classic example of a non-christian cult. Eric Von Anderseck, with his wife Maria, is the leader of a cult called Second Eighth Week Ministries. Confused yet? Don't worry you will be even more confused as we get into this false apostle and the message he is trying to spread. I will now post an excerpt froma study done by Matt Slick entitled "Why write about Eric Von Anderseck". Why write about the apostle Eric It is necessary to write about the apostle Eric vonAnderseck because he is a self proclaimed apostle of God who says he is commissioned by God to reveal the "true and restored" gospel to the North American continent. Since, one of the purposes of CARM is to expose false teachers, to document what it is they teach, and compare it to scripture, it is necessary that I write about yet another false teacher surfacing on the web. I first encountered the teachings of Eric VonAnderseck on an Internet chat program called paltalk. Immediately warning flags went up as I listened to the teachings about special knowledge, about "the apostle Eric" being the apostle to the North American continent, about a preexistence, and about how all other churches are false -- except his. This kind of message about him being sent by God to "restore the truth" is typical among cult groups. You see, in order for their teaching to flourish, they must first claim that the "true" teachings of the Christian Church have been lost and that "they" are the ones who are sent to reveal what God "really" wants Christians to know in these last days. This is no different with the apostle Eric vonAnderseck who claims to not only have had many visitations from angels, but also to be the one who is restoring the truth to the North American Continent. He claims to have been the 7th person who was standing in a line of spirits in the preexistence as they were being prepared to go to earth. He claims that he heard a voice asking "Who will go for Me?" He volunteered to go and an angel then took him to the front of the line and it was proclaimed that he would be used in the last days to reveal the truth. Of course, his claims violate the biblical teaching against a pre-existence (1 Cor. 15:46) and it falsely assumes that an apostasy has occurred (2 Thess. 2) -- which hasn't happened yet. We know that the apostasy spoken about in 2 Thessalonians is related to the arrival of the antichrist and he has not yet arrived. Since he has produced a lot of information and since organizations are now finally beginning to expose him, he has reconstructed his web sites and posted a very strict copyright policy in an attempt to prevent any quotations of his material being used in any manner. He is also trying to prevent any critics of his writings from retaining any copies of his material for research purposes. Penalty of law is also mentioned. Is this the methodology of someone with the truth? Or is it the methodology of someone with something to hide and who wants to be in as much control as possible? Basically, the apostle Eric vonAnderseck is trying to prevent even the "fair use" of material by which he might be examined. Of course, copyright laws are Federal level laws and it is very costly to initiate a Federal lawsuit which, in the case of fair use laws and quotes and commentary, wouldn't even make it to Federal Court. It seems that the apostle Eric vonAnderseck just doesn't want his information challenged in any way. He wants to be able to teach whatever he wants without anyone criticizing him or comparing his teachings to the Bible. What is he afraid of? This reminds me of the various mind control techniques used in some cult groups where the leadership attempts to retain strict control over what is said and done and then they often tell their members that if they leave their group, they are in danger of damnation. After having spoken to several ex members of his group, I know that this is what is happening there. In addition, the apostle Eric vonAnderseck is attempting to begin teaching on the Internet under extremely controlled conditions. If you are to go to Live Q&A with Apostle Eric, you would see the restrictive rules he has laid out. He apparently wants to control very precisely any of his so-called teaching sessions. He will not allow any debate or discussion about what he teaches. This is a sign that he is afraid of open discussion and afraid to be challenged. This way, he can attempt to minimalize the damage that might be done by people asking intelligent and biblical questions as they compare his teachings to God's word. I know this is a long post and I want to thank Matt for permission to use his paper. My next post will deal with people who have broken away from this false apostle, most of their stories are very chilling and you will see how much influence Satan has placed in this man.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 The False Apostle Eric pt.2 The False Apostle Eric, the supposed Apostle of the Second 8th Week has a website where he says... "God has given me the measure of grace as an apostle to make known the Mystery of Christ and to establish the foundation of the Truth into the hearts of believers." [He has since changed the pages on the site] He says that he has been called by God to hold the office of apostle and prophet for the North American continent. He also claims to have had many visitations by angels. Since he is evangelistic and his followers are too, it is necessary to write about him and expose his errors. The "False Apostle Eric" goes on to say that his commissioning began in the preexistence as a spirit when an angel prepared him to be an apostle of the Christian church in the last days. "I was the 7th person standing in a line of spirits. Angels were busy preparing these souls for their earthly existence; their activities, from their birth to their death. I heard a voice saying, "Who will go for Me?" I didn't know who asked the question or what the mission was, all I remember is that I felt compelled to volunteer so I said, "I'll go." A very large angel dressed in a white robe took me out of line and up to the front. A voice again spoke and said, "I will use him in the last days." (Reference moved by Eric.) He goes on to state that during his early conversion in 1971, he heard an audible voice from God. He also claims that at one time to have seen the moon unusually bright with 12 stars circling it. (Note: Since the original writing of this paper, the "false apostle Eric" has changed the locations of the references that I cite below. originally, after each of his quotes I had included a URL link to his web site verifying the quote so they can be checked in context.) Therefore, I have modified the original link to simply state ("Reference move by Eric.") First of all, there is no spirit pre-existence for people. 1 Cor. 15:46 clearly says "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual." Second, his testimony is a self-focused proclamation of how he is to be the true teacher of the Christian church in the last days. Jesus is not the central focus of his conversion experience. There is no commissioning by Christ (which would not happen, anyway). Instead, it is by an angel. His claims are very similar to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism who also taught a pre-existent spirit state, a commissioning by God, and visitations by angels. Only Joseph Smith claimed to be a prophet, where "Eric" claims to be an apostle. According to the Bible, an apostle is one who has seen the risen Lord: 1 Cor. 9:1, "...Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" Furthermore, in Acts 1:21-22, the Apostles qualified the replacement of Judas as someone who had seen the risen Lord. Historically, "By the second century, the term no longer identifies an office of the church."1 Why? Because the Apostles had died. Therefore, it seems clear that an apostle is someone that "Eric" is not qualified to be and this is important. Whenever anyone sets himself up to be the apostle to a nation to restore the true gospel, cults are formed. While reading through his website you are introduced to new thoughts and new terms with a writing style reminiscent of Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures which is used in the non-Christian cult of Christian Science. Eddy uses a rambling style of writing that is difficult to follow unless you are indoctrinated into the new terms and phrases she uses. The "Apostle Eric" does the same thing. Here is a sample of his writing: "These elements are not only paired to show binary relationship, but must also be understood in proclitic relationship. This means that in addition to the binary relationship that the elements of grace and faith have, they also share a proclitic relationship with sanctification and holiness." Wading through such prose requires much effort. The result is that as you attempt to unravel what he is saying, if you are not knowledgeable on correct biblical doctrine, you can easily be swayed by this style of writing and accept what Eric tells you the Bible "really" means. Again, this is how many cult leaders operate.
Tuesday,
March 18, 2008 What
Does This False Apostle Teach? The apostle Eric has a
statement of faith on
his website. It has many good doctrines listed including the deity of
Christ,
His physical resurrection, His ascension, His return, sole
mediatorship, etc.
But what is lacking is mention of the doctrines of the Trinity, the
efficacious
atonement, the nature of hell and its duration, how one is saved,
salvation by
grace, etc. This is very troubling. Also, included in his statement of
faith is
this: "Man must repent of sin and receive the testimony about Jesus
Christ
in order to be saved. [please see lesson]." This last statement is very
suspicious since his lessons are necessary to read in order to find out
what
you must do to be saved. As someone who has read thousands of pages of
cult
material for more than 20 years, Eric's website raises many warning
flags. The
question remains as to whether or not Eric really is a Christian or
not. He
affirms the deity of Christ and His physical resurrection (But so does
oneness
theology, and it is ultimately false). When reading his material and
email
based Bible lessons, salvation seems to be a process that can only be
understood through his teachings. Nevertheless, after reviewing his
list of 125
false teachings in the present Christian church at large, I have listed
a few
of them of concern and commented after each one. 1.
Jesus sacrifice was not substitutionary He
is wrong here. Jesus
bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), having been made
sin on
our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21). On our behalf means that Jesus took our
place; hence,
a substitutionary atonement. 2.
Being saved is a process, not a one time event. This
is incorrect.
Justification is the legal declaration by God upon a sinner that the
sinner is
declared righteous in His sight. This is accomplished by faith (Rom.
5:1). This
declaration is based completely and solely on the work of Jesus that is
"reckoned" to the sinner. This is an instantaneous occurrence when
the person believes and trust in Christ (Rom. 4:5, 22-24). 3.
If you are saved, you
must speak in tongues. This
is not true. Mormonism where extra-biblical revelations are
accepted along with new scriptures and faulty interpretations are
offered. 5.
Grace is not
unmerited favor. Sorry,
but Eric is mistaken again. Grace is indeed unmerited favor
in the context of salvation. Grace is God's kindness to us in allowing
us to
receive something good that we do not deserve. It is, of course,
unmerited by
us. This is why we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9). 6.
Righteousness is
gained by obedience to the standard (standard is not defined). This has
obvious
problems with it. All the cults teach that righteousness is attained
through
some form of obedience. This alone can qualify the Apostle Eric and his
group
as a non-Christian group. 7.
There is no need for water baptism for new converts. Eric
states that true
baptism is of the Spirit, not of water. But in so claiming, he ignores
Romans
6:3-4 where we are baptized into Christ "having been buried with Him in
baptism." This is an obvious allusion to immersion in the baptismal
waters. Quotes
from "False
Apostle Eric" Following
are quotes from the writing of "False Apostle
Eric" on his website. They are some of the more disturbing comments. "When
Jesus said,
'It is written' He was saying, 'This is the desired pattern of the
Spirit.'" A.
This is incorrect.
When Jesus said, "It is written," He was referring to the Old
Testament Scriptures. Following are a few of the quotes where Jesus
said,
"It is written." i.
Matt. 4:3, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread
alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’" ii.
Mark 7:6,
"Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This
people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me." iii.
iv. John 6:45, "It
is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’
Everyone who
has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." "There
is only ONE
God (Eph.4:6), and that ONE God chose to manifest Himself in 3
different ways:
The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit (Mt.28:19)." (Reference moved
by
Eric.) .
Eric seems to teach
modalism, a denial of the Trinity doctrine. Modalism is unbiblical and
teaches
that God is one person who manifests in three forms, not three persons
(Trinity) as is the correct, biblical teaching. This, combined with his
mandatory tongues speaking teaching below, puts him in the class of
oneness
Pentecostal theology, a false doctrinal position. "Communion --- Jesus
was
not setting a tradition of faith, but providing symbolism that is seen
in our
faith. Jesus did not mean for us to repeat the act of the last supper
in
remembrance of Him. The communion of Christ is the feast
of the Holy Ghost.
When we come together we are feasting on the things that the Holy Ghost
supplies through each vessel. This is how we celebrate the death and
resurrection of Christ." (Reference moved by Eric.) .
His comment that
"Jesus did not mean for us to repeat the act of the last supper in
remembrance of Him," is ridiculous. Jesus commanded us to do just that
in This
is very wrong.
Justification, which is a legal declaration by God, upon the sinner,
that the
sinner is declared righteous in His sight, is based completely and
solely on
the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Rom.
3:24, "being justified as a gift by
His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Rom.
3:28, "For we
maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." Rom.
5:1,
"Therefore having been justified by faith..." Rom.
5:9, "Much
more then, having now been justified by His blood..." A.
This so-called
apostle fails to rightly divide God's word. "Water
[baptism] cannot save us from sin,
but the Spirit can." (Reference moved by Eric.) It
should be quite
obvious that it is Jesus who saves us from our sin, not the Spirit. The
Bible
never teaches us that the Spirit saves us from our sins. "False
apostles
talk about themselves in their testimony." (Reference moved by Eric) .
If this is true, the
"Apostle Eric" is guilty of this because he is the subject of his own
website a great deal. As I read through his material, in my opinion he
talked
about how he is called of God, a true apostle, prepared by an angel in
the
pre-existence, etc. There wasn't much about Christ by comparison in
these
talks. Later, however, Christ was mentioned but He is not central. "The
so called
'reformers' [Luther, Calvin, etc.] of the past were not apostles and
none of
them brought the church out of darkness. They contributed to the
problem with
their 1/2 truths." (Reference moved by Eric.) Eric
sets himself above
Martin Luther and John Calvin and others who in centuries past were
gifted by
God to accomplish great things for the Christian church. The
reformation,
sparked by Luther and continued by Calvin, carries down to this day,
the biblical
doctrine of justification by faith. They restored to the light, the
truth of
God's word that had been hidden by the legalism and tradition of the
Catholic
church. For Eric to claim he is greater than they is an absurdity. "Within
the basic
element of REGENERATION we see the fruits of the Spirit that the
Apostles
taught." (Reference moved by Eric.) .
Small point, but if Eric were a true apostle
of God, don't you think he would know that it isn't "fruits" but
"fruit." In the Greek in Gal. 5:22 when it mentions the fruit of the
spirit, the Greek word "karpos" (fruit) is in the singular, not
plural. "RIGHTEOUSNESS
--
Having met the terms that God has set for our release from sin, God
declares
that we have met His standard, and we are accepted of Him. The TERMS
for our
release from the PENALTY of sin are the same TERMS that God set for our
release
from the BONDAGE of sin. The terms upon which God grants righteousness
are
always the same: Obedience to grace." The problem here is that we are
not
obedient to grace. Grace is unmerited, unearned favor from God. It is
something
in God that we benefit from. It is not something we obey which is
wording too
close to works righteousness, for my comfort. Grace is something that
rests in
God alone. We are the subjects of His grace. We are not obedient to it.
We are
obedient to His word. Furthermore,
the connection of obedience to grace here is a
warning flag in that it hints about us having to do something to be
saved.
Though it isn't explicit, it is poor wording and caution must be taken
lest he
start teaching a form of legalism and special knowledge which only the
"Apostle Eric" is able to divulge. "We
are JUSTIFIED BY FAITH when the
activity of our works is the ordered activity of the law of grace....We
are
justified because we are acknowledging, molding with, and submitting to
God
through what He has authorized for our faith. This participation with
the
system of God's salvation is what justified us; and we are justified by
faith" (Reference moved by Eric.) The
phraseology is cryptic and unclear. It is
exactly this kind of sentence structure that is subjective and open to
a wide
range of interpretation. What is he saying here? It isn't clear. When
someone
speaks in cryptic phrases, in order to understand him you must learn
"deeper"
things that only "he" can reveal. This, of course, can be dangerous
as a person is lead down a theological rode that leads to an unknown
place. "We
are JUSTIFIED
BY WORKS when we touch only the things of Jesus Christ that He has
provided for
our labour with Him; when we use only the tools of the covenant that
represent
Him. These works are provided for us to enter into His rest."
(Reference
moved by Eric.) Of
course, the danger here is "Justification by works."
Romans 5:1 says we are justified by faith and James 2 speaks of
justification
by works. But the latter reference is justification before man where
the
former, Romans 5:1, is dealing with justification before God. The
"Apostle
Eric" does not clarify this in his statement...another warning flag.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Introduction to testimonies I would like to now post the testimonies of two people who were a part of this group and fell into the teachings of this false apostle. You will see many things in these testimonies, inconsistencies, false teachings, evasiveness, and even dreams sent by the Holy Spirit. These testimonies are truly chilling. These testimonies are from John and Debbie Virshek and I obtained permission from them to use their testimonies for teaching and combating this false apostle and his wife. While I will be using their names I will omit names of their friends by their request.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 The Testimony of John and Debbie Virshek This is our testimony of how we were deceived and how the Lord Jesus delivered us out from the lies we believed from the false apostle Eric (his websites are: www.second8thweek.com, ("university"), www.second8thweek.org, (Perfect faith through Apostles), www.researchoncults.org We will break our testimony down into 3 parts, starting September/October 2000, then into November/December 2000, then finally January/February/March 2001. We will be including in our testimony information about our friends, but not their names. We started doing the false teachings, through the Second 8th Week, with them and they are a part of our testimony. We live in the same town, we love them and consider them our friends, but we cannot fellowship with them anymore because they are deceived and leading others into deception as well. There also are other believers in our town that we know personally that have been deceived by the "apostle Eric" at the Second 8th Week. We love all these people and pray that they will come out of this deception, and be restored back to Jesus Christ. We would like to briefly explain our spiritual condition when we first started reading this false apostle’s doctrine. John: I had been saved for 4 months, and I really wanted to know the Lord. I read my Bible everyday. I prayed everyday. The Lord spoke to my heart. I know the Lord was with me, and the Holy Spirit was in me. But there was so much confusion in my life, from the church we went to, and in mine and Debbie’s marriage. All I knew was that Jesus was my Savior. In the church that we belonged to, I would ask questions about God, the Holy Spirit, etc. Our Pastor would give me books to read instead of telling me that all the answers I needed were in the Bible. So I learned to look elsewhere for God. I was learning to rely more on man than on God. So when this deception came along I was primed to be deceived, because I wasn’t relying on God alone. I wanted to learn about God, and I wanted God to fix a certain problem in my marriage. I didn’t know what it meant to “wait” on the Lord. What these false teachings provided for me was a quick fix. This so-called apostle seemed to “know” something, and I thought these false teachings were my answer. Having said this, I do not blame anyone, I take full responsibility for the path I chose to take. Debbie: I had been saved for 5 years. In 1999 I left my church where I had gone after my salvation. While there, the Lord had laid in my heart a solid foundation. I knew what the “truth” was; I knew the voice of my Shepherd. I left because of a personal disagreement between myself and the leadership of the church. I went to another church, and 1 year later John came to the Lord in May of 2000. John and I started to go street witnessing in a nearby town, and we were active in our church. Even though we were doing these “good” things for the Lord I did not feel like I was growing much. The Lord was also causing things to surface that were hidden in my heart, things that He wanted to heal. I was in bondage because of past sin, and I knew that it needed to be addressed. I really wanted to be free! But rather than fall on my face before the Lord, repent, and seek Him only, I started looking for relief from other people. I knew my answer was in the Lord and His Word, but I became impatient. I was open to this deception for many reasons. The biggest one I think is, I just wanted more of God and the devil was able to trick me for a time. September/October Everything started for us around September of 2000. At this time my best friend and sister in the Lord told me that she had found a website on the internet by a man who claimed to be an apostle. She gave me a few of his teachings, and told me how to get to his website (Second 8th Week). I (Debbie) went to his website, and I began to read. In the beginning I had a hard time understanding most of what this so-called apostle and his wife were teaching. I also had a feeling of something not being right, but they seemed so spiritual that I thought they knew something about God that I didn’t. At about this time I had given some teachings to John to read. We discussed them together with our friends. At this time we all expressed doubt that this man was an apostle, and agreed that his teachings were difficult to understand. We decided that we would check it out anyway, and see what would happen. We (J&D) thought, in the beginning, that this was only going to be a Bible study. Around the end of October we (J&D) decided that we would do Eric’s “elements of the gospel”. We and our friends decided that we would start meeting after church, on Sunday, to study these teachings together. We all enjoyed being together. Our families were good friends. We enjoyed fellowshipping together over lunch, and as we did these teachings. The funny part is that we would just get finished with church, and still be so hungry for the Lord, that we would spend all afternoon together doing these teachings. At first everything seemed ok, but as we continued this, every Sunday, some concerns started to arise. We still had a hard time with this man saying he was an apostle. But the way these people (Eric&Maria) wrote made them seem so spiritual, so we continued. This was the Holy Spirit warning us that something was wrong. We overrode these feelings, because of what we thought we were learning. This is when the Lord gave Debbie a dream (dreams & visions #1). When I told my friend about this dream, she didn’t have much to say about it. But we both did think it was an interesting dream. I tried to forget about it but I could not. Dream 1. This dream was given to Debbie when we started to do the elements of the gospel: I was in my kitchen baking, and Eric was sitting at the table talking to me. I could not understand any of the words he was using. I was trying to understand, and pretending that I could. He sounded nice, but when I looked at him, his eyes were very evil. As I looked into his eyes it scared me tremendously. After this dream the Lord reminded me of the scripture that says, “the eyes are the windows to the soul. This dream I (Debbie) could not stop thinking about. I (D) wanted to get to know Eric and Maria better. So I asked them some questions about themselves. They wouldn’t answer my questions. What they said was, “they didn’t want us to mold ourselves after them.” I thought this was a very strange answer. So I kept asking them to answer my questions. I wanted to know how big their church was, how many people were in their church, what they did for a living, etc. They finally answered; they told us they do not go to a church, that they have assemblies at their home. They told us there were 3 other people besides themselves, and they had been out of the church for 20 years. We thought this was very odd, that a so-called apostle hadn’t been to a church for 20 years, and only had 3 people listening to him. When we expressed our concern about him not being in the church and only having 3 followers, his answer was; God had been preparing him just like God prepared Paul. We accepted this answer. Another warning ignored!!! November/December It was about this time that my friend was having home groups (through our church) at her home. She was trying to bring some of Eric’s teachings into the Bible study. Some of the people expressed an interest in who this man was, and what he was teaching. At this time Eric and Maria said that they would like to come to our area to meet us, and do some teaching in person. The people in the home group found out that he was thinking about coming up here, and they said they would want to come and listen to what he had to say. When Eric and Maria found this out they said no one else could come, except those people who had been reading his teachings. He said that he didn’t want to answer any questions. This caused the people in the home group to be greatly concerned about what we were getting involved with. They even told my friend something was wrong with Eric if he was not willing to answer questions about what he was teaching. This was just another warning we all received, but ignored!!! I (D) now began to email them (Eric & Maria) on a regular basis, and whenever I could, I would be at their website reading. At this time 2 things were happening inside of me. Part of me liked what I was learning. I thought that I was learning things about God that I had never known before. The other part of me (the Holy Spirit warning me), felt uneasy, nervous, confused, and the two could not mix. While I thought that I was advancing in the Lord, in my knowledge of Him, I started to notice things in my heart and life that were not lining up with the foundation that Jesus had laid in my heart from the beginning of my salvation. I noticed that I was reading this so-called apostle’s doctrine more than my Bible. I knew this was not right!!! I was homeschooling at the time, and it was a struggle for me to focus on my children during school time. I was either reading their website, or emailing with them. My priorities were getting mixed up!!! I started to become critical about other believers. For instance, if they didn’t speak in tongues, they didn’t have the Holy Spirit and were not saved. I started to lose my love for the members of the Body of Christ. I started thinking our church was not under the right authority, because there was no apostle. The men of God that I enjoyed listening to on the radio (Chuck Swindol, David Jeremiah, Charles Stanley, etc.) were wrong too. When I would listen to the music on Christian radio, or one of my tapes, I felt like I was doing something wrong. You see, I was told by this false apostle that praise & worship music was not accepted by God. This brought confusion to me, because when a song would come on the radio, and I wanted to worship God, I would feel condemned because of what I was “learning” (brainwashed). At this time I expressed my feelings to my husband, and to my friend. I (John) felt nothing. I was so new in the Lord, and so ignorant to the ways of the Lord, that when the Holy Spirit had warned me, I had no idea what He was saying to me. I was being “fed”, and still thought I was learning about God. When I (D) told my friend that I was feeling uneasy, nervous, and confused, she told me that she had been feeling the same way, and also physically ill. She told me that she had emailed Eric & Maria, and told them how she was feeling. They (E&M) told her that there was a group of people in South Africa that were feeling the same way. They said it was only the church’s false doctrine being purged out of them, and us. We know now that this was the Holy Spirit warning us, and them. We again ignored these warnings!!! Something strange happened to me (D) at this time. I was standing behind John while he was emailing with Eric one evening. As I was reading with John, a shining, flickering object came off the computer screen. At first I thought something was wrong with my eyes. When I turned around I saw three more of these objects in different places in the room. I then told John and the kids, “I think I am seeing angels.” But my family did not see them. They all left but one. This one was on my left side, and everywhere I went, it followed me. It was a shiny, vertical form. At first I thought this was kind of neat, but then I started to feel very uncomfortable, and scared, because it would not leave me alone! After about 1/2 hour of this, I started to panic a little. So I prayed, “Lord if this from You, please make me not scared, but if it is not from You, take it away.” Immediately it was gone! John and I didn’t know what to think. I told my friend about this, and she said that she had seen similar things also. When I told Eric & Maria about this, Eric told me he sees these all the time, and that they are present at his assemblies. He said they were ministering spirits. I believed him! Another warning from the Lord that we ignored!!! We now began to give these teachings to our Pastor and people at church. We thought that the problems in our church could be solved by this so-called apostle’s doctrine. Our Pastor pretty much ignored what was given to him by my friend and by myself (D). He only took notice after John had given him a teaching. This is when things started to heat up. Our Pastor finally read through what was given to him. He expressed his concerns, and disapproval of these teachings. We asked him what was wrong. He pointed out a few specific things that were in error. The “not being saved unless you spoke in tongues,” and “having to be under a living apostle.” He also said, “there is something else wrong with these teachings but I don’t know what.” But at this time we (J&D) were already in deception and becoming brainwashed by this false doctrine. So we didn’t listen to our Pastor, and his discernment. Another warning from the Lord that we ignored!!! Another important event that happened is that Eric and Maria sent us (regular mail) some scripture cards. We were supposed to read these everyday along with his teachings. These were verses about apostles, and spiritual government, etc. On one of the cards was a verse from Genesis 5:24 about Enoch. We thought this was strange because it seemed to not belong with the other scriptures. When I asked about this I was told about Enoch, that he was such a righteous man, but not much else was said. So we just blew it off and didn’t think it was very important. But it was. We just wouldn’t find out why until later. January/February/March We had a New Years Eve party at our house. We invited friends from church, our Pastor, and their families. We played games and had a lot of fun. The next day we called and invited our Pastor over to our home to meet with us and our friends. We were going to try and convince him that this so-called apostle’s doctrine was of the Lord. We honestly believed that we would be able to persuade our Pastor that this was the route that the church should go. Our Pastor was set up! Before he came over we emailed Eric & Maria and told them about the meeting. We asked them, “What do we say to convince him?” They (E&M) told us what scriptures to take him to, what key words and phrases to use, i.e.; “grace and truth” and “pattern.” They told us to use these words when we talked with him. Before our Pastor came over for the meeting, he had emailed Eric and asked him a bunch of questions. Eric replied back to him. What our Pastor didn’t know is that Eric forwarded our Pastor’s letter to us with Eric’s answers. We knew in advance the questions and statements our Pastor would ask us, and Eric told us what to say. This was deceitful, dishonest and most definitely NOT of the Lord!The Bible says in 1John 2:21 “no lie is of the truth”. This was another warning we ignored!!! During the meeting our Pastor told us that if we were going to continue to pass out these teachings to people at church, that he would denounce these teachings, and us, from the pulpit. He also told us that he would be talking to the people we had given these false teachings to. He would tell them to get rid of them, and that they were not from the Lord. This was the end of our meeting. Even though we had a decision to make, to follow Eric, or to stay in the church, our minds were already made up. When we were not at church the following Sunday, people from church started to call because they were concerned about what was happening. I (D) found out that our Pastor had talked to my friend, and she was very upset, because he told her she was going to lose her soul if she continued with this false apostle. So I decided to call our Pastor myself. When I called him, he told me the same thing, “that I would lose my soul if I didn’t stop following these teachings.” This made me very upset. Because of the statement my Pastor had previously made, that “there is something wrong and I don’t know what it is,” I said to him, “ You cannot say that I will lose my soul if you can’t tell me why.” John then talked to our Pastor and told him that, “if we find out that this is wrong, we would come to him and tell him that we were wrong.” The statement our Pastor had said to me, about losing my soul, haunted me the entire time I was under this false apostle. The next thing that happened was that two men from our church wanted to meet with all of us at our friend’s house. They were going to try and address what was wrong with these teachings. So we met with them. One of the men quoted some scriptures that got us (J&D) to stop and think. When we got home we decided to put everything from Eric & Maria away for 2 weeks, and seek the Lord. That very night the Lord gave John a dream (dreams & visions #2). Because we interpreted this dream wrong, and had the wrong interpretation confirmed by the false apostle, we didn’t put everything away for 2 weeks like we said we would. We continued on. Another warning from the Lord that we ignored!!! Dream 2: This dream was given to John after we talked to our pastor and told him we would put away everything from Eric and Maria, and seek the Lord:I was walking through deep snow, struggling to make it to the road. Finally I made it to the road. The road was plowed and straight. I had my family with me. We were walking up the road to the mansion on top of the hill. From the left front, coming from out of the deep snow on to the path, came running a wolf with a radio collar on. My family said, “Oh! Look at the dog.” I said, “It is a wolf. You can tell by the radio collar”. It came running and bounding like it wanted to play. Then it ran past us back down the road. We all turned around to watch it as it jumped from the road to the snow playfully.We e-mailed this dream to Eric and Maria, they interpreted it to mean:The wolf was our pastor, and he was leading us away from God.Correct interpretation:Now we know that walking through the snow was me (John) before salvation. Coming on to the path was when I got saved. My family and I were on the straight and narrow path leading to the mansion, which is heaven. The wolf is Eric and his teachings. He turned us away from the mansion, to make us watch him and not watch God. Now we entered a new level of deception. We had separated ourselves from the “Body,” and we were accountable to no one but the false apostle. Instead of our time together with our friends being Bible study (even though we never studied out of the Bible) we were now having “assemblies.” Since our friend had been doing these false teachings the longest, Eric made her the Elder of our group. Eric told us that they have assemblies everyday. He said we should try to have them at least 3 or 4 times a week. As we began our so-called assemblies together, we started to try and indoctrinate our children with these false teachings. Our children really didn’t want to have anything to do with this. They did not understand anything this false apostle taught. We tried to explain to them about God wanting us to come to Him through the “contact points,” “tools of covenant,” “speaking in tongues,” etc. This brought confusion to our children.Jesus is not confusing to children.In Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, “let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for such is the Kingdom of heaven”. Another warning from the Lord!!! Even though we (J&D) were pretty much fully indoctrinated by now, I (D) could not get rid of the memory of my dream (#1), and what my Pastor had told me about losing my soul. I was finding it very hard to understand that we were the only ones that knew “the whole truth of God,” and that the entire Body of Christ was wrong. I kept telling myself and my husband that “if there was only 1 more person in this area that was doing this, I thought I would be ok.” My feelings of isolation were growing stronger. I couldn’t fellowship with my friends from church anymore. I also had no connection in the spirit with Eric or Maria, like I had with my brothers and sisters in the Lord. We rationalized this as, “we had not met them face to face yet.” Because we were so deceived and we thought we were gaining such great knowledge about God, we continued to ignore the warnings of the Holy Spirit. By this time, in our assemblies, we were not singing to the Lord anymore because we were taught this was not a contact point with God. So I begged my friend to ask Eric and Maria if we could have music in our “assembly” because I missed singing to the Lord. They (E&M) told us it was ok to have a couple songs, because now we had the correct truth laid in our heart by the apostle, and we knew the “right” way to come to God. We started noticing more references to the books of Enoch in Eric’s false doctrine. When we asked about this, we were told that these were missing books of the Bible. We were told that they were inspired just like the Bible. This bothered us but we figured we would just ignore the Enoch parts. Another warning ignored!!! By this time we were having our assemblies on a regular basis. John and our friends all seemed to be doing great with this false doctrine, but I (D) continued to have problems. I couldn’t quite put myself totally under Eric, and I still didn’t feel right about how we left our church. I was having a real hard time ignoring the warnings the Holy Spirit was giving us! I was so deceived that I didn’t understand what God was trying to tell me. By this time I was almost totally convinced that Eric was an apostle, and I believed that if I walked away from Eric, I would be walking away from God. We know now that this was part of what they were teaching, that without Eric’s false doctrine we couldn’t be with God. I was confused! I loved Jesus with all my heart and only wanted to go wherever He wanted me to go. 1 Cor. 14:33 reads, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” At this time, 2 of this false apostle,s followers, who also lived in Port Huron, broke into Eric and Maria’s house and stole their computer. When we were told this, we couldn’t believe it! These men had studied under this false apostle for 4 years. Eric had laid hands on them and confirmed them in their callings, “prophet,” and “teacher.” We thought, “How strange, this doesn’t make sense.” How could they steal from “the apostle?” What had they been taught, to be comfortable enough to steal? We thought they were so spiritual, and then to do something so obviously wrong. We asked Eric and Maria what had happened? They told us that these 2 men wanted to come up here to our town to teach us. Eric told them they could not come up here. They got mad and stole the computer, so that Eric and Maria could not communicate with us. This action did not stop them, or us. Another warning from the Lord!!! Around the beginning of February 2001, my friend received a teaching from Maria called “The Baptism of Light.” My friend told me this teaching was about heaven. Maria told her not to let anyone read it that was “faint of heart.” When she told me about this, I got a real creepy feeling, (Holy Spirit). I told her that I wasn’t ready to read it yet; I told her I felt afraid. February 10th: Eric called me (John) on the phone and taught me about suffering for the Lord. He talked to me for about 2 hours. He was very “to the point” about everything, no chit chat. I felt no spiritual connection with him. February 16th: The Lord gave John a dream (dreams & visions #3). Dream 3: I dreamt about Eric and Maria, walking around me, interrogating me. I was very conscience of the fact that they were interrogating, not asking questions. I did not send this dream to Eric and Maria for interpretation. February 20th: Our friend was getting ready to go to Florida, and we were going to have our last assembly before she left. We really didn’t have anything planned so she asked us if we all wanted to do “The Baptism of Light.” We agreed. This teaching was about heaven, and how when we die we will go back INTO God, and become gods. Eric said this was the 3rd covenant, or baptism of light. Eric teaches that we will have creative powers to create new worlds etc. He also says that the mansions Jesus spoke of in John 14:2 are not places Jesus is preparing for us, but that they are rooms INSIDE of God Himself, and this is where we will enter INTO. This is what Eric teaches the 3rd covenant is: WE BECOME GOD! This was the turning point for me (D). After we left our friend’s home that night I could not shake the creepy feeling I had again. Just like when my friend told me about this teaching a few weeks previously. Eric’s teaching made heaven seem dark to me. I had never been afraid of heaven before. I always knew heaven was the place where I would see Jesus face to face, and get to be with Him forever. I looked forward to seeing my saved family and friends. I knew there would be no more tears and a place of pure joy. Now I was afraid to go there????? I didn’t want to create anything; that was Gods job, not mine. I knew this was not right! This man Eric claims that because he is an apostle of God, God gives him special knowledge. He said God showed him what the 3rd covenant was and how we would operate in it. What happened next I describe as “the Holy Spirit rising up within me.” God was opening my eyes to this evil doctrine. The next day before my friend left for Florida, I told her that something was going to happen while she was gone. I didn’t know why I said that. I just had a feeling (the Holy Spirit). The same day that our friend left, Eric called John and did another study with him. Maria also contacted me (D) and asked me if I would like to talk to a new person who was starting to study “the apostle’s doctrine.” She thought it would be good for me because then I would have someone to fellowship with while my friend was gone. I thought it was strange that Maria herself would not want to fellowship with me, and that she would want me to help teach someone new when I was the doubter of our group from the beginning! I agreed to email this woman; her name was Valerie. As God was opening my eyes, I knew something was wrong so I decided to go back to Eric’s website and look at things again. While I was reading, the Lord had things jump off the page at me; things Eric was teaching that I had never noticed before, even though I had already read them. First I noticed how Eric took many scriptures from the book of Isaiah, and said they were about him. I knew these scriptures were Messianic prophecies about Jesus Christ, not Eric! I noticed in his testimony where he talks of a bearded man who appeared to him. Eric says this was Enoch. I began to ask Eric questions about these things. I told him how those scriptures in Isaiah were about Jesus, not him. Eric’s reply was that those scriptures were also meant for the apostles. I asked him if he had tested that spirit of Enoch that came to him in his room. According to 1John we are to test the spirits. Any spirit that does not confess Jesus is God in the flesh is not from God. This spirit did not confess Jesus Christ. It told Eric he was the “deliverance one.” Eric’s answer to this was that if Moses and Elisha could visit Jesus, then Enoch could visit him. I started to tell John that something was really wrong with what we were doing. I told him I was emailing Eric with questions about who he was claiming to be. I told John about the scriptures Eric was claiming were about him. I told John that Eric was giving me the run around when he wrote back to me, and was not really answering my questions. At this same time, Valerie (the woman I was supposed to be teaching) emailed me with a question. She asked me if I was feeling strange about Eric’s teachings. She also said she felt like something was wrong but she didn’t know what! Well this was getting to be a pretty common phrase by now. It seemed everyone that came in contact with this so-called apostle had the same check in their spirit. I knew this was the Lord speaking through Valerie to me, and I was not going to ignore His warnings anymore. February 22nd: The Lord now began to open John’s eyes. This night John and I (D) were praying before bed. The Lord gave John a vision, (dreams & visions #4a). We talked about this vision, and we knew we were the metal and God was the forge. He was tempering (strengthening) us for the battle to come! That same night the Lord gave John a dream, (dreams & visions #4b). This dream got John’s full attention!!!! He (J) emailed this dream to Eric and Maria for interpretation. They said that it was just the “church system” being cleansed from him (J). We were very suspicious of their answer because we knew that this dream was about them. By their lack of answer, it proved to both of us (J&D) that this dream WAS about them. Dream 4a: When Debbie and I were praying before bed, I got a vision of a forge, with metal being put into it.Interpretation:We knew that we were the metal, and God was the forge. He was tempering (strengthening) us. Dream 4b: We, (Debbie and I) were in a basement of a huge building. We met a group of people who wanted me to sit in a mud puddle, to wait for, and to worship God. I did. I told them that this was stupid. They got mad. We left. Then we were sitting at a long table with a bunch of other people. The table and chairs were short, like kindergarten furniture. We were waiting to see someone, but it all hinged upon a test we were to take. This woman passed out the test and she was very mean to me (abrasive). So I leaned forward in my chair and, with it being so small, my foot went out behind the chair. I knew that I was trying to trip this woman, and I kind of did. I read the first question on the test. It asked: “What importance do you place on a ouiji board in your life, 1-10?” I asked, “One being the least and ten being the greatest?” The woman started to whip me, very violently, with a wooden pointer stick. I said, “To answer your question, ZERO IMPORTANCE IN MY LIFE.” I got up, and she continued to whip me. I took the pointer from her and broke it. I started to look for Debbie, and I couldn’t find her. Everybody was running around at this time and there was a lot of confusion. I knew Debbie was around the corner, but I couldn’t get there. There was a feeling of incredible evil that was coming our way, and getting stronger. I woke up. The feeling of evil was so strong that I started praying, and I went and checked and prayed over all of our children. I went back to bed and prayed over Debbie, until the feeling of fear and evil went away. I slept poorly all night. I e-mailed this dream to Eric and Maria. Maria wrote back. She didn’t have a lot to say, except that "it was just more of the church being cleansed from me.” By this dream, the Lord got my attention! Correct interpretation:Sitting in the mud = my spiritual state before the so-called apostle's doctrine. The small table and chairs = I was a baby in the Lord, I had been saved for only 9 months, and 3 of those months were under them (Eric and Maria). The woman giving the test = This was Maria. Her being abrasive to me = Lack of love from them (Eric and Maria). Me tripping her = Starting to realize something was wrong. The question about the ouiji board = The so-called apostle's false doctrine. Standing up and breaking the stick = Breaking out from under their control and false teachings. Not being able to find Debbie = Debbie was already questioning them and was almost totally convinced that they were wrong. The evil coming = Satan is the author of these teachings. The Lord was showing us what was to come if we did not get out!
Tuesday,
March 18, 2008 The testimony
of John and Debbie Virshek cont. After Valerie’s email to me
about how she
was feeling, I noticed that I felt an immediate connection with her. I
knew she
was my sister in the Lord and I had never seen her. This was something
I never
felt with Eric or Maria, and had thought was because I hadn’t met them
face to
face yet. Well, I couldn’t use that excuse any longer. Valerie told me
she was
going to pray and seek the Lord about Eric & Maria. She said
she recognized
the feeling of something not being right, and that the Lord would show
her if
she sought Him. She said she would contact us when she had an answer.
Meanwhile
I (D) continued to ask Eric questions. I saw on his website in his
teaching
called “apostles separation and cleansing” that he said if there were
other
apostles in the world they would have to come to him (Eric) for
cleansing. He
compared himself to Moses; that just as God used one man to cleanse the
people
then, God is going to do the same now. Eric was claiming to be that
man,
because he said the “church” is in darkness and needs cleansing from a
living
apostle. I knew this was wrong!!!I also saw something else Eric said
about this
so-called Enoch that visited him. Eric claims that Enoch is an angel
now in
heaven, and his name is Metitron. He has 70 eyes and 70 wings. This
was not only wrong,
but just plain strange! Eric
still didn’t answer any of my questions with straight forward
answers; they were always very wordy. February
25th: The Lord gave John a dream
(dreams & visions #5). Dream
5: John had a dream that he was in a rock pile, picking
through the rocks. The rocks represented truth, and trying to find
truth. A lot
of rocks looked like truth, but were not. It was frustrating because
the rocks
were so similar. This dream explains itself, and shows the confusion
that we were
in. The
emails continued
between Debbie and Eric. Now Eric told me I was asking all my questions
out of
fear and not for the purpose of learning. I told him, “You bet I am
asking out
of fear, as what I am discovering about you is frightening me.” I was
now
begging Eric to please answer my questions with simple answers, but he
wouldn’t. You see, I didn’t want to believe the worst about him; and he
was
making me feel like I was confused, and misunderstanding him. He told
me that
satan was getting into my head and giving me these fears, and that I
needed to
put scriptures around my house to keep satan out. I did not do this.
Even
though I was confused (spiritually), I was not confused about what God
was
showing me about Eric’s false doctrine. In my spiritual confusion, I
decided I
could not follow Eric & Maria anymore. I told John that I was
done, that
they were not from Jesus, and I had to stop! John was not yet convinced. March
1st: Valerie sent
us an urgent email. She said that our souls were in great peril, and
she wanted
to talk to us on the phone. When she called she said we were dealing
with
“luciferic evil,” and said that Eric’s teachings were “convoluted,”
meaning
truth covering many lies. She found out that Metitron was part of
ancient
Jewish mysticism (the 3rd book of Enoch). This was where Eric got his
information about Enoch being an angel. At this time I (J) was
convinced that
Eric was wrong and had deceived us. All I could think about was going
over to
our friend’s house to warn him about what we were being taught. Right
after
Valerie’s phone call Debbie and I went to our friend’s house to talk to
him
(his wife was still in Florida). We told him what we were discovering
about
Eric, about who and what he was claiming to be, and about what he was
teaching.
Our friend did not know what to think. After we got home we went online
to try
and find out about Metitron. What we found was frightening and very
evil, and
some of what we found was in line with Eric’s “Baptism of Light”
teaching. March
2nd: We emailed
Eric with some very specific questions. We asked him to answer us very
simply,
with yes or no answers. He gave very confusing answers that went around
our
questions. He accused us again of asking these questions out of fear. I
(D)
then asked him, “if I decide not to follow you anymore, would I be
walking away
from God?” He told me that I would be walking away from the “grace and
truth”
of God. He also said, “What about everything you have learned? How can
you deny
that God was with you while you were learning from the truth I have
shown you?”
God was with us the whole time, protecting us and guiding us out!!!
They then
told us we were not welcome to contact them anymore, and they blocked
our
emails. We
were out! I
(D) went upstairs to
pray. Even though I knew Eric was wrong, I was still confused. I was
thinking
that Eric had made a good point when he told me that God was with me
while I
was learning his “doctrine.” I was confused; was he or was he not an
apostle? I
was thinking because of all the things we had been “learning” that God
was
showing us that Eric was an apostle. As I was praying to the Lord about
this,
He gave me this word:“I do not give you more of Me to confirm a man, I
give you
more of Me to confirm Myself.”I wrote this down in my Bible; I knew
this was
truth! John called our friend and read to him the emails between Eric
and us.
At first he didn’t see anything wrong with them. We were very concerned
about
him! March
4th: We met on
Sunday with our friend. He said to us that he felt the Lord told him to
read
the entire book of 1 John. He also said the Lord told him “to learn
more.” He
told us that he knew it meant to learn more about Eric & Maria,
not to
learn more about the false apostle’s doctrine. As we continued
discussing this
false doctrine, his eyes were being opened and he seemed convinced that
these
teachings were wrong. He then said, “My family will have nothing to do
with
this anymore.” He said that when he got home he was going to disable
their
computer and leave a note on it, so that when his wife got home, she
would not
be able to contact Eric & Maria. March
6th: Our friend came home from Florida. We
met her at her house shortly after she arrived. We told her all that we
had
found out about Eric & Maria, and the false doctrine he was
teaching. We
showed her the scriptures that Eric claimed were about him. We told her
what
Eric and Maria believed about Enoch being Metitron, and all the emails
back and
forth, and how they blocked us from contacting them. We discussed these
things
with her for most of the afternoon. She was bothered by all that we
told her,
and she said that it didn’t sound very good. She told us that her
husband left
her a note on the computer telling her that she was not allowed to have
any
contact with Eric & Maria. We went home rejoicing that our
friends were
going to get out of this deception also. March
7th: I (D) had talked to my friend on the
phone and her whole attitude had completely changed. She agreed that
what we
had explained to her about this false doctrine was wrong. She told me
that they
were going to continue to study under Eric anyway, because of the peace
that
they had, and because they didn’t want to stop learning. They wanted to
finish
doing the “elements of the gospel.” She also said that it didn’t matter
if some
of what he taught was wrong, because the “elements” were so truthful. I
was
very upset by this, because I thought she was going to come out of this
deception with us. She was my best friend. I looked up to her as my
sister in
the Lord, and I didn’t understand why she was going to continue with
this false
doctrine. I was devastated! I didn’t know what was right or wrong. Now
I was
even more confused. At this time, the Lord let me (D) see how far away
I was
from Him. It was as if there was a big gulf between me and Jesus. I
felt like I
was drifting away from Him and I didn’t know how to get back. In my
almost 7
years of knowing Jesus, I had never experienced this type of spiritual
feeling.
This feeling frightened me beyond words. I was having a hard time
hearing the
voice of my shepherd, a strange voice was now there, one I did not
know! I had
been crying, and crying out to the Lord. I was asking Jesus, “What is
happening
to me? What is the truth? How did I get to this place I am in?” I asked
Him to
show me exactly what I had done wrong. My Lord then gave me a scripture
in
Jeremiah 2:20-22 (dreams & visions #6). I knew this was for me.
I knew this
was my answer, and it cut right through my heart. I didn’t know what to
do with
it. I felt like my sin before God was so great. I thought, how could I
be
restored! I kept this to myself for almost a week, because I didn’t
know if
Eric was the “noble vine, and seed of highest quality” or if it was
Jesus. That
night as we were praying the Lord gave John a vision (dreams &
visions #7). Dream
6: The Lord gave
Debbie a scripture in the first week of March, 2001: I pleaded with God
to show
me what was wrong and this is what He said: Jeremiah 2: 20-22. “For of
old I
have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘ I will not
transgress,’ when on every hill and under every green tree you lay
down,
playing the harlot. 21. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of
highest
quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant
of an alien
vine? 22. For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet
your
iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God. I knew this scripture
was
from the Lord, but was so confused at that time that I didn’t know if
the noble
vine, and seed of highest quality was Eric or Jesus Christ. NOW I KNOW
ONLY
JESUS CHRIST IS THE NOBLE VINE AND SEED OF HIGHEST QUALITY!!!! Eric and
his
false doctrine are the degenerate plant, satan is the alien vine. Dream
7: This
is a vision the Lord gave John on the evening of March 7, 2001: I saw a
bear in
a barrel bear trap. It was sticking its claw out. I was thinking that
if
someone put their finger under the claw that the whole bear was still
behind
that claw. Because the bear is in the cage, and you can’t see it, you
really
don’t know how dangerous it is. It can still tear you apart, piece by
piece,
with that one claw. Interpretation: We only saw a part of the false
teachings,
and we know what that part did to us spiritually. What we had not seen
was more
dangerous than what we had already come in contact with. March
8th: I (D) was
still very confused, and doubting everything. I called my friend again
to try
and convince her to stop. She told me that I was overreacting, and that
Eric’s
doctrine was not that bad. I got off the phone very upset. We both went
to Eric
& Maria’s website and discovered that they had removed specific
parts off
of “Apostles Separation & Cleansing.” They had taken the part
out about
Enoch being Metitron, with 70 eyes, and 70 wings. They also changed
other parts
of their website. We knew that Eric changed these things because we had
confronted him about them. There are only 2 reasons for them to remove
or
change parts of their website. 1.
They realized they were in doctrinal error,or 2.
They were hiding the
parts that people were questioning. We
know that they were hiding things because
they never believed that they were in error. March
10th: I finally told John about the
scripture the Lord gave me in Jeremiah 2:20-22, and how I felt that I
couldn’t come
back to the Lord. John reminded me of the blood of Jesus. John asked me
if I
had read a little further in Jeremiah. He then read to me from Jeremiah
3:12-13; this was a great comfort to me. I then remembered that Jesus
Christ is
the noble vine, and not Eric. So I acknowledged my sin to the Lord, of
leaving
Him to follow another voice. The Lord then reminded me of the very
basis of my
salvation.I knew Jesus died on the cross for me - this is truthI knew
His blood
covered all my sins - this is truthI knew that because I believed these
truths,
that the Holy Spirit was inside me - this is truthI knew He promised He
would
never leave or forsake me - this is truth THE CONFUSION LEFT! March
12th: The Lord
gave John another dream (dreams & visions #8). Dream
8: I was in a
house, in the only lit corner with a father and his son. It was dark
out. Evil
was trying to get in the window, and coming out of the shadows trying
to get
into the light that we were in. We were very afraid. I was not going to
let the
evil get to us. So to protect us I sat in the corner with the father
and son in
front of me. Interpretation: Instead of me protecting the father and
son, The
Father and The Son were protecting me! They had me in the light! The
enemy
(Eric’s false doctrine) couldn’t enter the light anymore! March 13th:
We went
to our friends’ house to try and convince them again about everything
that was
wrong with Eric’s teachings. We were not successful! They were going to
continue! We went home very sad, and not sure what we were going to do
next. March
14th: We were
talking about everything that had happened in the past 2 weeks. All the
questions we had asked Eric, and all the answers he gave us. We didn’t
understand why he got so angry and why it was so wrong to ask questions
out of
fear. We wondered what we had done that was so bad, that he would block
us from
communicating with them. We were still confused. Was he or was he not
an
apostle? Then the Lord spoke words into John’s heart; Jesus loves us,
and would
never tell us to leave or kick us out because we were asking questions
or were
afraid. God is love, understanding, and longsuffering towards us. This
word
from God greatly comforted us and took away the confusion about who
Eric claims
to be. He is not a true apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord had
now
delivered us from the hold that this deception had over us, and He put
us on
the path that has led us to where we are now. ALL
PRAISE, GLORY, AND HONOR TO HIM WHO SITS ON
THE THRONE. Revelation 22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and
the End, the First and the Last.” THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!! What
We Learned From
This experience From
the beginning of our deception with the "apostle
Eric", (his website's are: www.second8thweek.com "University",
www.second8thweek.org "Perfect Faith Through Apostles",
www.researchoncults.org), and up to the present time the Lord has
taught us
many things. The things He has taught us were not meant just for us, He
wants
us to share them with you. 1.
Stay in the Bible. There are no answers to any of life’s
questions or problems outside of the Word of God. If you are jumping
from book
to book, speaker to speaker, church to church, prophecy to prophecy, if
you are
looking to anyone or anything else for answers, besides Jesus and the
Word of
God, you will be deceived. We want to say that it’s ok to read
Christian books,
listen to speakers, visit other churches etc... do so with discernment,
and
never rely more on man than on God. Do not believe or accept everything
anyone
tells you about God. We are not saying this to cause you to be
paranoid, just
to be cautious. Ask yourself this question: If all I had was my Bible,
and the
Holy Spirit inside me, would that be enough for me to have a
relationship with
God? If your answer is yes, Praise the Lord. If your answer is no, you
need to
come back to your “First Love, Jesus Christ.” 2.
If you are born again you have the Holy
Spirit living inside of you. He will warn you immediately of anything
not from
God. It is very important to know the voice of God, and how He speaks
to us
individually, and corporately. Again, stay in the Word. Example: In our
testimony when we said “another warning from the Holy Spirit we
ignored,” we
did not realize at the time that the Holy Spirit was warning us. We
were not
discerning the voice of the Lord because of the deception that we were
in. We
were reading and studying more of Eric’s false teachings than we were
our
Bible. We were out of the will of God. In His mercy He continued to
warn us. So
when you get a “check” in your spirit and you’re discerning that
something is
not right, pay attention. Stop and seek the Lord. Ask Him to show you
what is
wrong. Sometimes He will show right away. Sometimes He just wants you
to stop
and listen to Him. The Lord wants us to obey HIM, not to follow your
friends or
family to a place where the Lord does not want you. There is safety in
numbers.
If you have questions about a teaching, a speaker, a book, etc... ask
your
Pastor, ask the Elders, ask your brothers and sisters in the Lord. That
is how
the Body of Christ works. Above all, everything and everyone that you
associate
yourself with spiritually must line up with the Word of God!!! 3.
If you are dry,
discontented, discouraged, lukewarm, or hurt by the church etc.,
instead of
blaming the church, or people in the church for how you are feeling,
look at
yourself. Are you reading your Bible everyday? Are you praying
everyday? Are
you worshipping the Lord everyday? Have you submitted yourself to
Jesus? Please
do not start looking in other places. Seek the Lord, and stay in the
Word.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean
not on
your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct
your paths.” God WILL answer you, and fill your heart with Himself as
you wait
on Him. Think of the word wait as serving. So when you wait on the Lord
you are
serving the Lord and others. No matter how much you don’t want to go to
church,
you need to go. Pray and read your Bible, don't stop doing these
things. The
Lord may want you to learn something, and He will not keep you there
forever.
You WILL come out on the other side. With this said, you need to ask
yourself
these questions: If the Lord never answered another one of my prayers,
would He
still be worthy of my praise and worship? Was His death on the cross
for my
sins enough for me? 4.
Beware of anyone who says they have some new revelation about
God. Do not listen to them. There is no new revelation from God outside
of His
Word. He does reveal Himself to us through His word. But what the Lord
reveals
to me from His Word, may not be for you, and vice versa. Know the Word
so you
can discern what people are teaching or saying about God. 5.
Do not forsake the
fellowship of the Body of Christ. If you are being told that you do not
need to
be in church, or that the church is wrong. This is error! If you are
isolated
from the “Body” you are easy pickings for the devil. The Bible tells us
we need
to be in church. The Bible uses the word church some 114 times, and 96
references are clearly to the local church. Here are some names and
titles
given to the church: A.
The Israel of God (Gal 6:16) B.
The Pillar and Ground of Truth (1Tim 3:15) C.
The Family of God
(Eph 3:14-15)
D.
The Body
of Christ (Eph 1:20-23) E.
The Bride of Christ (Eph 5: 28-32) (Rev 19:6-9) F.
The House of the Lord
(Heb 3:1-4)
G.
The
Temple of God (Eph 2:21-22) 6.
If someone tells you that only “they” can interpret the
“mystery of the Bible” and the Holy Spirit does not teach us, only
“they” can teach
us, this is in clear contradiction of Scripture. The Holy Spirit was
sent as
our comforter, and leader into all truth. He is our personal teacher of
the
Word of God. The Holy Spirit confirms only Jesus Christ, never another
person,
no matter who they claim to be. Read the book of John, chapter 14. 7.
There is a movement
now in the church that says, God is restoring the 5 fold ministry, with
apostles and prophets leading. This teaching is in error. The five fold
ministry has never stopped operating. The people who are promoting this
are
setting themselves up as self appointed apostles and prophets to rule
the
church. We are all to submit one to another, not some type of pyramid
system.
(Eph 4:11-13)
6. The false apostle Eric vonAnderseck and his false Metatron teaching
Eric
vonAnderseck, who founded Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of
Theology and
then awarded himself a doctorate from the same school, teaches bizarre
things
from uninspired and heretical sources.
One of these lessons is about an angel that God never mentions in
Scripture.
The angel is called Metatron.
Scripture
does not say much about Enoch the most well known verse is Genesis 5:24
"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him
away.” I
suppose that the first thing that comes to mind is why would God turn
Enoch
into an angel?
Angels were created to serve God and men. The writer of Hebrews wrote,
"Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will
inherit salvation?" So we must ask ourselves why God would walk with
Enoch, take Enoch from earth (Enoch did not die.) and then make him an
angel,
which is lower than the man he was? Men are made in God's image and
there is
nothing that indicates that angels are made in God's image, why would
God
recreate Enoch into an image not His own?
The story of Metatron is a product of the occult, Islamic myth and Jewish myth. There are two prevalent myths about Metatron, the one Eric vonAnderseck teaches is that Enoch (Genesis 5) was transformed into the angel Metatron and was given the position of the scribe of Heaven. The origins of the story are what must cause those with discernment to be concerned Eric’s teachings and to question Eric vonAnderseck's claim that he is an apostle and a credible Christian teacher. This should also make the follower of the Living God wonder about the credibility of the Second 8th Week schools, it's teachers and it's students. The story about Metatron has its beginnings in the books of Enoch and the heretical Babylonian Talmud. The books of Enoch are Old Testament Apocryphal books that are not considered by most Christians to be books that were inspired by the Holy Spirit and they are not included in either the Hebrew or most Christian biblical canons. Their origins are unknown and their biggest claim to fame is that they were possibly quoted from in the New Testament book of Jude. (There is similar wording in the book of Jude and in the book of Enoch, but there is enough difference that there is doubt that Jude actually quoted from the book.) Other than than the theory that Jude quoted from them, there is no other reason to think the book of Enoch was an inspired writing. Some things that the books say are so bad, Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai in the second century A.D. pronounced a curse upon those who believed it. Similar language also came from early Christians.
How
do we know the Holy Spirit did not inspire the books of Enoch? Jesus
said that
the Holy Spirit would testify about Him. Jesus also said that no person
goes to
the Father except through Him. From what Jesus has taught us we know
that
anything that deviates from His truth is not from Him. Here are a
couple of
verses from Enoch that proves it is an unreliable source fro truth.
Enoch 40:9- "...seen and whose words I have heard and written down?’
And
he said to me: ‘This first is Michael, the merciful and long-suffering:
and the
second, who is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the
children of
men, is Raphael: and the third, who is set over all the powers, is
Gabriel: and
the fourth, who is set over the
repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life, is named
Phanuel."
Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through
me." And yet the writer of Enoch (The actual author
is unknown.)
states that there is an "angel" who is for that purpose.
For those who love Christ this one heresy by itself should be proof
enough. But
there is more and I’ll give one more example.
Enoch 48:1-3 "1 And in that place I saw the fountain of righteousness
Which was inexhaustible: And around it were many fountains of wisdom:
And all
the thirsty drank of them, And were filled with wisdom, And their
dwellings
were with the righteous and holy and elect. 2 And at that hour that Son
of Man
was named In the presence of the Lord of Spirits, And his name before
the Head
of Days. 3 Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, Before the
stars of
the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits."
“Revelation 1:8. John 1:1-5; 10-14. Jesus is eternal. But he was named?
Things
with a new life are named. God, who has no beginning and no end, was
not named
"God" one day. Why would Jesus, who is also eternal, suddenly be
named? Head of Days is not found in the Bible. And besides, if the Word
was
with God, and was God, how can He be in God's presence to be named?
"God
was in God's presence...to name himself" It doesn't make sense. John
and
Enoch don't mesh.” (Is
it possible that the information in the book of Enoch is accurate and
is
acceptable for us to believe in the Lord's sight?)
The second source of information about Metatron is the Babylonian
Talmud. I
will only say this source of information is heretical and dangerous.
I’ll just
give a couple of quotes to illustrate.
Sanhedrin 55b:
"A maiden aged three years and a day may be acquired in marriage by
coition."
"and if her deceased husbands brother cohabits with her she becomes
his."
The penalty of adultery may be incurred through her if a niddah
(bleeding or
menstration) she defiles him who has a connection with her."
(ShirleyM - Note it is the bleeding part that defiles not the age of
the
child.)
Sanhedran 101ab says that Jesus fornicated with his jackass.
http://talmudblasphemy.com/talmud_tidbits.html
This is all any Christ follower needs to know about the Talmud. There
are much
worse things than this in it. (Thanks to ShirleyM for the Talmud
education.)
The credibility of any thing that is taught is founded on the source it
comes
from. What Eric vonAnderseck teaches at his Second 8th Week schools,
about
Enoch, comes from sources that no Christian scholar would view as
credible,
inspired by God or a source of truth. Eric’s use of this material, to
teach
doctrine from, is just more reason to view him with extreme caution and
to run
for your eternal life from him.
7. More comments by Debbie Virshek taken from End Times Prophetic Words
(This comment was copied from the End Times Prophetic Word Blog. It is an outstanding blog and it is worth the effort to check it out.)
Hi
everyone!
I went to sleep last night thinking about second 8th week. Like I said
in my
previous post that there is alot of things I could write, and as I
think of
them and have the time I will.
A few things I remembered last night:
First, in Eric’s account of his pre-birth existence, there are
obviously many
things wrong with it but one thing that not too many people know is
that he
changed his order in line from 7 to 10. I dont know why he did that but
he most
certainly did. Up until a couple of years ago he was always the 7th in
line
then all of a sudden he was 10th. Maybe it was a slip of the pen but he
has not
changed it back yet. Don’t you think that if someone had such a great
revelation as a pre-birth existence they would at least remember where
they
were in line? And anyone out there in his group for longer than say 3
years,
you know I am telling the truth, but. It may seem like a trivial matter
but I
do not believe that it is. We have caught Eric and those in his group
in
numerous lies, it just goes to show that they are not of the God of the
Bible
nor the Jesus of the Bible because no deceit comes from God.
Second, something else not very many people know about. During the
first couple
of years of our website (it went up in 2002) we really tried to expose
eric any
way we could for the false apostle that he is, with the hope of help
those in
his group. We put up on our website many of his teachings and how they
do not
line up with the 66 books of the Bible. One thing we noticed was his
testimony,
not the one he has up now, but his original testimony. In it in his
account of
his salvation experiance nowhere was Jesus mentioned AT ALL. He talked
about
God, and being up on a hill, and seeing the wind come, and speaking in
other
tongues, and hearing a voice, but no where was Jesus mentioned nor him
repenting of his sins…..nothing. So we put this up on our website, and
erics
responce was that the apostle paul told different accounts of his
salvation
experience, and we said yes he did but paul NEVER forgot to tell of
Jesus nor
leave Him out. The next thing we knew was that eric took down his
testimony and
put up the one he has now, and he added Jesus all over the place in his
new
testimony…..he is quite the deceiver. The majority of people wouldnt
know that
but it is very important to know. Also in his original testimony he
mentioned
hearing a voice and when we confronted him if that voice acknowledged
Jesus
Christ coming in the flesh as 1 John teaches he said he didnt have to
because
he is an apostle and he knows truth from error. In his new testimony, I
believe
he now says that it was Jesus talking to him.
These are just a few more things for people to ponder. If anyone
reading this
is thinking about or has been studying with eric or any of his false
apostles
for less than 6 months, GET OUT NOW YOUR SOUL IS AT STAKE! Do not
listen to the
warm fuzzy feeling you are having or the knowledge you think you are
gaining.
Listen to the warnings you are getting from the Holy Spirit (if you are
a
Christian). Because all the knowledge and good feelings will not save
your soul
only Jesus Christ and His shed blood for your sins can…..nothing else
no other
person.
In the mighty name of Jesus
Debbie Virshek
conquering love
8. Another interesting comment from a person who attended one of the false apostle Eric's lessons and was made ill by it.
(This comment was also copied from the End Times Prophetic Word Blog. As I wrote before it is an outstanding blog and it is worth the effort to check it out.)
I
know this is an old post, but the group is growing by leeps and bounds.
I know,
I went through the first two orientation sets and attended one assembly
on line
before I realized what I had gotten into and withdrew from the school
and broke
all associations with them.
They are such nice people and believe truly down deep that they are
right,
however, what I experienced made me realize that their teaching is a
little out
there. My first assembly I spent a lot of time trying to keep up,
teaching out
of the book of Adam and Eve (I had no idea there was such a book). They
went on
and on and the typing in the chat column was distracting with all sorts
of what
looked okay for writing and seemed to be uplifting but before I knew it
I was
not paying attention to what JoAnne was saying and got physically sick,
so I
believe something was released in her words. After taking a couple of
days to
really pray, I felt that this was not the place for me. The emphysis on
knowledge made me feel like was sitting in a scientologist room,
although I had
never been in one, that is what came to mind. I had to fight to get my
own mind
back after just two orientations and one assembly. It is not worth it.
I know
they believe they have the words of truth, but I did not hear anything
any
deeper than the commercialization of the churches, which I completely
agree with.
There is a lot of abuse in the church and leaders have failed their
people by
not staying before God, teaching Grace and bringing people to the
knowledge of
you need a savior every day, not just that one time. However, their
teaching
that only their tools are acceptable when ministering before the Lord,
made me
question especially when they wanted you to empty yourself of all you
accept
now and accept only those tools that you are dangling without until
orientation
is overwith and you move into their specific teachings. I could not do
it and
when I renounced it and left the school, my joy in the Lord returned,
my Faith
was restored and I know that I know what I have believed before then
and what I
believe now is the truth. I am going to stick with my pastor and the
Holy
Spirit from now on. Too much deception in the church and now on the
internet.
Like I said these are likeable people, however, satan will come as an
angel of
light and probably be very likeable.
I will say this one last thing, anyone who is in it or considering it,
remember
this, all that glitters is not gold. It is not all you are told or
think it is.
Signed a repented heart who is back under the waterfall of God’s Grace.
I will
never leave it again.
Comment by Hopeabounds | February 11, 2009
9. Links to web pages that expose the false teachings of Eric vonAnderseck and his Second 8th Week schools
1. Why write about the "Apostle Eric" vonAnderseck?
2. Eric Von Anderseck’s Mind Bending Second8thweek Group
3. Eric VonAnderseck & Joanne Cremer of Second8thweek ministries
5. Eric, Maria vonAnderseck and the Second 8th Week Ministries, Inc.
6. Q & A: What About The Second 8th Week?
7. The False Apostle Eric Von Anderseck
# What Does This False Apostle Teach?
# The Testimony of John and Debbie Virshek
# The testimony of John and Debbie Virshek cont.
8. Second 8th Week Ministries :(
Part 2 - Exposing the False Teachings
Part 3 - how I heard about this "ministry"
Part 4 - First impressions of her
Part 5 - Correspondence with JoAnne Cremer
9. Thirty attack points from the "Apostle Eric" answered: 1-10
Thirty attack points from the "Apostle Eric" answered: 11-20
Thirty attack points from the "Apostle Eric" answered: 21-30
11. Another False Apostle : Eric vonAnderseck By R.S. Neaville
12. Second 8th Week Ministries - A Warning
10.
Is
the false teacher Eric vonAnderseck correct about apostolic governance?
apostle Eric vonAnderseck writes in his article "Apostolic Stewardship
Over the Church" "The Bible also tells us that it is through living
apostles that Jesus provides Himself as a spiritual covering for all
who
believe in Him. Are you without the spiritual covering of our Lord
Jesus
Christ? Does your faith fall short of His glory? Are you confused and
your
spiritual growth stunted? Then we invite you to come into covenant with
God by
the stewardship of this ministry."
I can find no scriptural reference to "The Bible also tells us that it
is
through living apostles that Jesus provides Himself as a spiritual
covering for
all who believe in Him."
Its clear that scripture says the church was “built on the foundation
of the
apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone.”
(Ephesians 2:20) In the context of that chapter Paul seems to be saying
that
the church WAS built on the foundation of the Apostles and Jesus. There
is no
indication that once that foundation was laid there was further need
for
Apostles, who are like the twelve and Paul.
apostle Eric vonAnderseck cites 1Corinthians 12:28 as his basis for
establishing himself as chief apostle. This brings up the question,
“Are there
apostles today?” I think that any person who reads scripture would
agree that
Apostles do exist in some form today. But, in the case of apostle Eric
vonAnderseck we need to establish whether or not Apostle exists in the
same way
the Apostle Jesus appointed existed and do they have the authority that
apostle
Eric vonAnderseck claims to have.
Let’s first see what the attributes of the first thirteen Apostles were.
a. They were commissioned directly by Jesus.
Eric says the Lord commissioned him, but unlike true Apostles there
were no
witnesses, Eric has no proof. Every one of the thirteen original
Apostles could
prove through multiple witnesses that Jesus called them.
In fact Eric is not even a reliable witness for himself. On one page he
states,
“Pre-birth Revelation of Apostolic Calling: I was the 10th person
standing in a
line of spirits.” On another page he states, “I was the 7th person
standing in
a line of spirits”
b. The thirteen original Apostles healed every person that they wanted
to heal
and they performed many signs and wonders.
Acts 2:43 “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and
miraculous signs
were done by the apostles.” Paul wrote “2 Corinthians 12: 12 “The
things that
mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you
with great perseverance.”
From this we know that the Apostles, whom Jesus appointed, went from
place to
place healing all who came, sometimes raising the dead, performing
miracles
that could only be attributed to God and most importantly they preached
the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and brought thousand to the saving knowledge of
Jesus
Christ.
We neither see nor hear of any of this coming from apostle Eric
vonAnderseck’s
hometown of Port Huron, Michigan. The true Apostles and Jesus performed
these
miracles and people brought their sick from miles around to be healed.
apostle
Eric vonAnderseck is unable to perform true miracles from God and so
there are
not thousands streaming to Port Huron for healing nor are there
thousands or
even hundreds being saved by apostle Eric.
Apostle Eric is proven to be a false apostle by his lack of credible
witnesses
to Jesus supposedly calling him, and his inability to perform “The
things that
mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles. . .”
Let's test his false doctrine of apostolic governance further. The
false
apostle Eric vonAnderseck says that we need him and those apostles he
approves
of to interpret scripture for us. In effect they have replaced the Holy
Spirit
with themselves. But are apostles really that reliable? If we look at
Galatians
chapter two we see that Peter had started to teach that Gentiles must
be
circumcised and he was starting to waiver on foods they could eat. Paul
confronted Peter and set him straight. Those under Peter's apostolic
governance
were being led astray. If Peter, who walked with Jesus, was not
reliable, how
can we expect Eric to be?
It is only the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit that can
keep us
on the right path. Paul wrote All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that
the man
of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. He wrote this to
Timothy
a man who was not an apostle, and he encourage Timothy to use scripture
to
teach, never mentioning that Timothy would first need to be an apostle.
Father we pray, May the world be warned about the false apostle Eric
vonAnderseck, AMEN
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