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)
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!
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!
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 truley 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Why write about cults?
There are so many non-Christian cults out there that look good on the surface and say most of the right things but once you start to dig a little deeper you find out how dangerous these groups really are. I have been doing a lot of research into most of these groups like the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Roman Catholicism. These names look very familiar to most of you but what do you know about Christadelphianism, Christian Science, Church of Christ (ICOC), Open Theism, Shepard's Chapel, The false apostle Eric vonAnderseck, Ronald Weinland, etc. Not much I am willing to bet.
This would not be a scare tactic presentation. It would be fact based using these groups own writings and comparing it to what is written in the Bible. The world we are living in is a dangerous one and the secular community is constantly trying to water down the scriptures and Christianity as a whole. The world is moving more and more to a one world faith and it is trying desperately to drag us along with it. And what is worse is that the average Christian does not know enough about their own faith and doctrine to escape it.
I will be using many different sources for these studies but will list them all so that all credit goes where it is supposed to. A lot of these places have done extensive research and I do not want to take credit for other peoples work.
This would not be a scare tactic presentation. It would be fact based using these groups own writings and comparing it to what is written in the Bible. The world we are living in is a dangerous one and the secular community is constantly trying to water down the scriptures and Christianity as a whole. The world is moving more and more to a one world faith and it is trying desperately to drag us along with it. And what is worse is that the average Christian does not know enough about their own faith and doctrine to escape it.
I will be using many different sources for these studies but will list them all so that all credit goes where it is supposed to. A lot of these places have done extensive research and I do not want to take credit for other peoples work.
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