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Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Thread Started on Aug 24, 2006, 8:19am »
A CALL TO REPENTANCE THE TRAGIC FACTS OF THE COVER-UP OF PAUL DANIEL’S ADULTERY BY SOME LEADERS IN HIS PEOPLE MINISTRIES ‘Tell it to the church…’ (Matthew 18:17) An open letter to His People and EveryNation members. More at www.EveryNationReform.com
Introduction
The following statement gives the unpleasant truth of an adultery cover-up which occurred in His People Ministries. The identity of the sources of the information are numbered (S1 to S6) for purposes of due process investigation.
The facts of the cover-up of Paul Daniel’s adultery in His People Ministries
Paul Daniel, founder pastor of His People Christian Church Cape Town, and head of the His People denomination had an adulterous affair in about 1992/3 with a young woman in the congregation, which included sexual relations (S1). The young woman* eventually came to her senses raised the issue within the leadership. Paul claimed that she was lying (S2) and asked her to leave the organisation (S3). She went to London to try to get away from him. Nevertheless, Paul Daniel went to London and tried to make contact with her there.
About a year later, in 1996, she returned to Cape Town and joined a different church. There she confessed her sin to the pastor. The pastor of that church, once convinced of the truth of the girl’s story, then took up the accusation with a few leaders including Mike Cerff and Rob Young in the Cape Town His People leadership. The pastor found them unhelpful in the investigation.
The pastor then contacted Ray McCauley of the Independent Federation of Christian Churches (IFCC), asking them to act on the issue (S1). His People Cape Town, then asked Bill Bennot of His People Johannesburg to participate in the process. Bill Bennot then apparently asked Ray McCauley to participate in an advisory capacity (S4).
The prosecuting pastor, his denominational leader and the young woman then flew to Johannesburg to meet with the His People and IFCC and Paul Daniel and his wife (S1,2). At the meeting, Paul Daniel was charged by Ray McCauley with adultery. He initially denied the allegation. After the young woman had presented undeniable evidence, he was forced to admit that it was true. He then tried to put the blame for the affair on the young woman, calling her various unpleasant names (S1). (Given Paul Daniel’s dominating personality and religious power and the fact that the girl was only recently out of school, this seems unlikely). Paul Daniel also attacked the motives of the pastors prosecuting him.
Ray McCauley then called for discipline. Paul Daniel then threatened to withdraw His People from the IFCC, if he did so. Ray then protested that the IFCC constitution ‘had no teeth’. The His People leaders said they would do the disciplinary action. They decided that Paul Daniel would write a letter of apology to about 30 other church leaders and would undergo counselling (S1). The prosecuting pastors objected to this decision, and sent a letter to Ray McCauley informing him that this was not they way they would have handled it (S1). Paul never sent his letters of apology (S5), but did have ‘counselling’ from Rob Young and an American psychologist Wilf Kent. Kent sent a report on the counselling to Ray McCauley. Kent later said he agreed a pastor who commits adultery is disqualified from office, but argued his professional confidentiality.
The prosecuting pastor was threatened with a lawsuit and Paul Daniel later slandered the denomination that had tried to prosecute him (S1). The other pastors and leaders in His People were not told at the time what had happened.
About three years later in about 1999, Paul Daniel told the remainder of his pastors a half-true story about the events. The story heard by the other pastors was false on the following points: i. It implied all the initiative had come from the girl trying to seduce him. ii. That it had not involved more than a kiss. iii. That the matter had been already dealt with to the satisfaction of Ray McCauley and the prosecuting pastors.
Thus, Paul Daniel deceived the other pastors into thinking that it was a minor issue that had already been dealt with. It appears that those pastors who did know the full truth, failed to tell this to the other pastors. Two sources alleged Michael Swain’s involvement in the cover-up, but he has been unwilling to answer questions to clarify this.
In 2003, Paul Daniel confessed to the congregation on video to two adulterous affairs that he had committed over an 11-month period. At the same time he resigned as senior pastor and as a member of His People Church, Cape Town. The confession was incomplete, in that it failed to mention this earlier affair or the collusion of some of his leaders in covering up the earlier affair.
During 2004 to 2006, His People was repeatedly challenged to repent and go public with the whole truth according to Matthew 18 process both in writing and at a meeting with senior Christian leaders as witnesses.
* The identity of the women involved is not being disclosed since public rebuke is only biblically required for church leaders – not ordinary members (1 Timothy 5:20).
Comment on the events and the way forward
· Paul Daniel’s behaviour and that of those who helped him cover up his sin and kept him in office is an abomination against God and a disgrace to the Christian faith. · Paul should have been publicly rebuked (1 Timothy 5:20) and removed from office when caught in 1996. This exposure completes this unfinished process. · The facts are important to know, firstly because the scripture requires public rebuke of leaders scandalous sin, secondly, because there is a need for disciplinary action; thirdly repentance of the organisation to God; fourthly for reform of organisational governance to make such cover-up of wickedness impossible in future and to restore God’s blessing to the organisation. · Most denominations have some sad events in their history and that is why they include governance checks and balances to prevent more. Scandals can happen in any organisation, but they are much harder to deal with in one with a lack of transparency and an autocratic, elitist system of governance. · The failure to discipline sexual sin in ministry causes God’s glory to depart and his judgment to come (1 Samuel 2-4).
Action: What can I do to help heal the ministry?
· Even if leaders let us down, keep trusting and obeying Jesus and the Bible. He also attacked the religious hypocrisy of his day, and was later crucified for the anger this provoked (Matthew 23). We must uphold the moral teachings of the scriptures. · His People started in a state of spiritual revival. Many wondered why the ministry lost Gods blessing and became beset by multiple problems. This is the reason. While you as an individual may be innocent, God judges groups and we as present and past His People Members must seek God in prayer for his forgiveness on the organisation for this abomination. · Please support good leaders who were not involved in the cover-up and who seek to bring truth, justice, healing and reform in the organisation. · Read articles and post your views on how we can stop more scandal at the web forum www.EveryNationReform.com or download at http://esnips.com/web/Churchgovernance · Please support repentance, disciplinary action for the cover-up and reform of the organisation to have more transparency and leadership accountability to protect against more scandal. · The EveryNation denomination that Paul joined His People to were informed of these facts, but failed to respond. Read their history and other problems at http://www.google.co.za/search?hl=en&q=EveryNation+MorningStar+Maranatha&meta= · Promote spiritual values in leadership like servanthood, prayerfulness, purity and honesty and challenge worldly values such as power, status, pride, image, money and competitiveness. · If you are a past or present member of His People/ EveryNation, email mail@EveryNationReform.com with ‘HP Petition’ in the subject line, to sign the petition against this cover-up. You will be sent articles explaining how such scandals happen how we can prevent them happening again in future. · A larger, but unmoderated forum is at www.EveryNationInfo.com · Please forward this to other members of His People/ EveryNation Ministries; print copies for those who don’t have email and discuss at your home group. Please don’t forward to non-Christians. · In order to obtain Gods forgiveness for this abomination, we need to hold prayer meetings of repentance (see Ezra 9). http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=2710 · Please do not pass this information to the secular media until the church has heard and repented. · There are many related issues in the ministry, which need investigation, repentance and action. · To the best of my knowledge, this information is accurate. Should anyone feel there are inaccuracies or omissions, please draw these to my attention and I will publish a correction. · To outsiders who read this: Please don’t judge all His People members by the bad behaviour of a few.
Who wrote this and why?
I, the writer am one of the leaders involved from early stages in His People Ministries, who helped pray down the revival that expanded the ministry from a small campus society in 1990 to a global movement. My principal area of influence was the ministry’s strong positions and vocal stance on moral absolutes, on which I was consulted regularly by the leadership during the whole period of my membership. After leaving the ministry in 2004, with concern over compromise on these, I became aware of these facts. It would be hypocritical to use the ministry as a platform to speak for Christian morals and then turn a blind eye to wickedness inside it. A group of past and present His People leaders is also supporting the disclosure of this information and call to repentance. This summary is based on 2 years of investigation and interviews with numerous witnesses, which attempted to follow a biblical process as far as the people concerned were willing to co-operate. The ministry has sadly been beset by a variety of problems it has struggled to deal with, which appear to be caused by this cover-up. I hope that sharing this sad information will promote the repentance and healing of this troubled ministry.
Joined: May 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 19 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #1 on Aug 24, 2006, 9:10am »
Philip Rosenthal has made a public disclosure of the cover up of Paul Daniel's sin and wickedness by His People and persons in leadership from 1996 to 2006.
Instead of informing the church, these people chose to hide the sin of its leader under the false belief that they were protecting the church. Instead, they compromised the ministry causing a spirit of deception to take a stranglehold over His People.
To my horror this truth was revealed to me last year. It was confirmation to me that my family's decision to leave the Johannesburg church was Godly. Since then I have stood with him as his Christian brother and encouraged him to continue with due process. Instead of regarding the truth that he bought, the leadership of His People in Cape Town instead threatened him and attempts were made to silence him by the senior of the Cape Town church. It is clear that elements of the church are complicit in this wickedness of silence and deception.
Paul Daniel was afforded the opportunity to also repent. He declined to meet with us-giving us the run around. A letter was addressed to Steve Murell, as de facto head of EN earlier this year and this was ignored.
I will join in calling for the church to disclose all facts and also to censure the elders who knew of this cover-up and yet remained silent. They should repent before God and their congregations for this sin. Until this happens I would encourage all members to withhold their tithes and take a re look at their commitments. Bill Bennot, as Vice President of His People Ministries and senior pastor of the Johannesburg church misled the Johannesburg congregation by 1. not disclosing Paul's previous inequity and 2. the failure of any His People minister, including himself, to properly discipline Paul.
I was saddened to find that the international ministry which I had so diligently served and fellowshipped in from 1992 had so quickly backslidden and become a hypocritical haven of such a lie and resulting deceit by 1996. I have made repentance before God for allowing myself to be deceived and in not hearing from Him at the time regarding this and also disregarding the signs that there was a serious problem amongst the leadership. I believe that God must have sent His messengers to the leadership of His People, including the Johannesburg church of which I was a member, and that they chose to ignore the Word of God to protect their own positions of power and authority. Perhaps they could offer different reasons for their decision, but I can not find any valid ones myself.
Until these men make repentance, I would encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ to be extremely wary of these leaders and to challenge their own attendance to this ministry in the light of God's Word.
Joined: May 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 19 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #2 on Aug 24, 2006, 9:12am »
Why release this Information Now? Why Bring it Up when it Happened so Long Ago.
His People was a Christian Ministry that ministered in various countries. Members, such as myself, represented the ministry as honorable and God ordained to other Christians, churches and organizations. From when I started attending services in 1992 to leaving in January 2004, His People grew considerably in places such as Cape Town. In the early years of the ministry there was considerable growth, fervor and excitement within the church.
As a Bible-believing Christian I believe that the Truth should always be told. There is no honor or Biblical precedent for lying to people to protect the ministry and such actions are wrong and unbiblical.
My family, other believers as well as church leaders and students I met with over the years questioned me about the integrity and motives of my leaders. On a mission in an African country I was asked to give personal assurances as to the integrity of my leaders and Paul Daniel in particular. One ordained minister went as far as to inform me that he had prayed and felt that there was something about Daniel and the ministry that made him mistrustful.
To my father, who was mistrustful of charismatic churches, I had to explain how His People was not like other Charismatic churches where scandal was allowed to fester. I explained that our church followed the Bible and not man-made regulations or management techniques. Unlike the sexual scandal inherent in the charismatic churches during the 1980s, His People portrayed a high standard of ministry and accountability. It also exacted a high standard of personal morality and purity from its members, especially in earlier years. After all, it took a stand on marriages, abortions and other ethical issues as well as offering prophetic leadership within the church regarding God and government and other issues of the day.
Even though I was ignorant of the deception and cover-up of Paul Daniel’s inequity and sin during this period 1994-2003, I nevertheless sanctioned and supported a ministry that was in deception. I was thus duped into believing that His People was a church of integrity and right standing when it clearly was not. Furthermore other churches and people were in the loop regarding His People’s problems with Paul Daniel. To how many people would this have been a stumbling block? We do not know, but surely proper biblical discipline and censure of Paul would perhaps prevent his later ministry failure in 2002 as well as bring into the light this particular problem in his character? For how many years did it hang over the ministry and why? We can speculate till kingdom come, but the reality is that it is one big unresolved mess.
The biblical standards, disciplinary measures and requirements for elders and ministers are clearly set out in scripture. On discovery of Paul Daniel’s sin in 1996, the eldership of the Cape Town church should have suspended him from ministry immediately. Paul’s peers should have been able to afford council and discipline.
You do not have to hold office or have a title to decide that for yourself. Read the Bible.
Members should have been told the truth. Whilst some denominations offer seasonal restoration to ministry for backslidden ministers, adultery faces a stiff penalty under scripture and Paul Daniel should have had some kind of lasting sanction placed upon him in 1996as a result of his actions in 1993.
His People should make open repentance as a church for this cover-up of ministry sin within its midst. There may be even more to the story and other cover-ups for all we know. We will not know until all those involved come clean. How many other churches new about this and why was it kept a secret amongst the leaders of His People.
My friend, Philip Rosenthal has made every effort to allow the leadership of His People Cape Town and Johannesburg to respond in the correct way. I decided to support him, but it soon became clear that His People would not make a satisfactory response and would instead choose to blow off the matter. Together with Philip we attempted to meet with Paul Daniel to confront him directly regarding this issue. Paul was not able to accommodate us despite our best intentions.
Before this, Philip Rosenthal had gone through much of this process on his own: addressing his complaint and concerns directly to the leaderships as well as the apostolic leadership of Every Nation before discussing it with others including his own accountability partners. In the last year, and after he informed me of the details of this scandal, I have supported him patiently in his efforts to allow for due process, but it is clear that now despite this, the leadership of His People must be exposed for this grievous sin against the body of Christ. They have refused to acknowledge the issue and have played a game. According to Philip the Johannesburg eldership ignored his communications, referring it to Cape Town as a local dispute and the Cape Town Church was threatening, unhelpful and responded further by attempting to defame Philip’s character and integrity. I have no reason to not believe Philip, as this kind of behavior is consistent with the spirit of deception that I came to recognize in my later years in the church.
Christians are called to repent of their sin wherever so convicted. I have repented of not hearing from God earlier in leaving the ministry when it was becoming increasingly obvious that something was wrong. Furthermore I have repented of an arrogance and pride in the ministry in which I participated as Bible school lecturer and mission leader. So then should I just move on? Turn a blind eye? No! History is replete with persons who have shrugged their shoulders and denied responsibility. Just because it is the church we should not be intimidated form speaking out against such things.
The Word of God is our final standard and without obedience to it we become worldly and compromised. I could not believe that elders within His People would have thought it best not to apply the Biblical sanctions set forward in scripture when Paul’s initial affair was discovered. You cannot have a double standard in ministry. Only the standard of the Word of God relating to all things within the New Covenant church; this is clearly expressed by the scriptures.
Although His People Church was in earlier years a place of great encouragement, fellowship and Biblical teaching it later became the very opposite for me and served as a personal disappointment regarding the energies that I saw myself, my wife and other friends expend in this ministry. If I had known in 1996 what had happened with Paul Daniel, I would not have continued to serve and fellowship in the ministry. That may sound judgmental, but surely if you understood the level of commitment that others and I gave to the ministry and the faith that we had in serving the ministry, you would understand.
I do not have any personal axes to grind and harbor no grudges against individuals. Yes, I was deeply offended, hurt and angry to discover that the leader of His People was an adulterer, bully and deceiver as early as 1994 and that the His People Leaders and others were complicit in the cover-up of this around 1996. Nevertheless, I worked past my personal indignation to the fact that the Kingdom of God is not served best by people who decide for themselves how things should be run and neither is the cover-up of sin commiserate with the heart and justice expressed by the ministry of Jesus Christ. I thank God for revealing the truth to me and allowing me to see that I was not wrong in leaving this church and that He did guide me out for a reason. I left the church in January 2004 after 11 years in the Johannesburg church. During 2001-4 I had gradually come to realize that there was a spiritual problem inherent within the ministry. I had no idea that their had been a serious scandal and cover-up within the church for the past number of years. Despite my best efforts, which included re-attending the membership course, it became clear that there was no opening for me to voice my grievances and concerns. I chose to leave, hoping that God will fill in the blanks in my understanding of the situation at a later stage.
My subsequent discovery has led me to conclude that the spirit of deception within His People led to prophetic persons such as myself becoming gagged. I very much doubt that God neglected to use other voices of warning to the ministry in Johannesburg and Cape Town through other ministries not directly associated with Every Nation.
I have always stood up to institutional abuses and held anything like it in contempt. Having held leadership positions at school and university prior to my involvement in His People, I was well aware of both the moral and spiritual importance of honesty and integrity in this regard.
Elders have a responsibility before God and man as to their actions. The individual Christian has a responsibility before God and his fellow Christians as to what is acceptable and right as well. Teachings such as the Covering Doctrine, which some leaders in His People espouse, are ungodly and shameful in the light of what wicked men and women are allowed to get away with. The news that Paul Daniel was a tyrannical and compromised minister was shocking and disgusting, but also confirmation that something did go terribly wrong.
Further Questions 1.Why did Paul Daniel continue as senior pastor when the problem surfaced in 1996? 2.Did HP withdraw from the IFCC as a result of Paul not wanting any further attempts at discipline? 3. His People is involved in the Christian Marriage Alliance and yet it harbored a leading minister guilty of adultery, which it has covered up. Is this not gross hypocrisy? 4. Were the leaders of Morningstar International informed of the historical difficulties with Paul prior to union?
5. Why was Paul allowed to be an apostle within EN/MSI? Is there any truth to the rumor that he was demoted from apostle to senior pastor sometime before the last scandal broke in 2003? 6. The excuse that the apostolic covering of EN now prevents such abuses is junk in light of the fact that other EN apostles such as Bonnasso and Ball were also demoted and Rice Broocks redeployed. 6. What the Heck????!!!!!!
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #3 on Aug 24, 2006, 11:18am »
SOME OF MY CORRESPONDENCE ON THE ISSUE
EMAIL FROM BILL BENNOT DATED OCT 7, 2004
"Philip,
Firstly, yes there was a situation with Paul Daniel in the early 90s that was dealt with in 1993/1994. It was brought to the senior leadership of IFCC, which was a covering to His People at the time, and it was addressed extensively. We followed a biblical course of action as outlined by the senior leadership, which was based entirely upon the exact situation."
Bill Bennot can be contacted at bennot@iafrica.com
ANSWERING ENQUIRY TO RAY MCCAULEY OF IFCC, DATED 30 SEPT 2004 "Dear Philip,
Sorry I have been so long in getting back to you. I have only now got to read all of your correspondence.
I have spoken to Ps Ray to get some clarification on what transpired, as I was not in the loop when this episode happened.
According to Ps Ray a woman contacted *********** saying that there had been a liaison with Daniel and that nothing had been done about it. Apparently the incident had happened two years prior to her going to *******.
Ps Bill Bennot, of His People in Johannesburg, contacted Ps Ray to ask whether Daniel and some elders could meet with him. It was not a meeting to submit to IFCC, but to get advice from a senior pastor. This happened and it was agreed that the His People eldership would deal with the discipline of Daniel. It never formally became an IFCC disciplinary matter.
What discipline His People elders imposed can only be answered by them and they should have been the people to have informed Morning Star.
In fact, as a result of this incident Ps Ray realised that the IFCC constitution had no real teeth when it came to taking action against any wayward pastor.The IFCC always functioned more as a fellowship, because it lacked the stricter rules of a denomination. Daniel withdraw from the IFCC at some stage and we have experienced others who have pulled out because they do not want to be subject to any form of oversight, let alone discipline. Since then the IFCC has changed its constitution to allow for stronger intervention in disciplinary matters and we have formed the Rhema Family cluster of churches, which is really the beginnings of a denomination and holds pastors accountable to the Rhema Family Leadership.
I hope this will help you. It seems that ************ and the His People eldership, at the time, have much greater detail.
God bless, *********** "
EMAIL FROM WILLEM NEL, HIS PEOPLE POTCHEFSTROOM, 13 OCT 2004 Phillip
"I heard about it before I joined His People in 1998. I have then mentioned it to Michael Swain, Pst Bill phoned and explained it to me, at that stage I felt it was dealt with.
The way Everynation treats adulterous affairs and the average South African Charismatic church are way different.
They would have dealt more severely with the first case, if they fully knew.
Whatever your motives, there is still a place where I feel, I need this emails now, mainly because Paul Daniel is out of ministry, I now pray that God may restore him in his relationship with his family and with Christ.
Willem" Willem Nel can be contacted at wa_nel@absamail.co.za
EMAIL FROM COUNSELLOR WILF KENT ON 19 JANUARY 2006
"Please understand that a detailed and complete report of the "Marriage Counseling" that my late wife Donna and I gave Paul and Jenny was submitted to Pastor Ray McCaully to whom they were accountable at that time. He will be able to help you in your discovery. I have nothing further to report on this matter. Thank your for your contact. I do agree with you that adultery and other sexual perversions disqualify a person from public ministry. South Africa has had its share of that and issues of this nature must be addressed. However, how they are addressed is important. Vindictiveness, punishment, control or personal advantage has no place church discipline. Just be careful how you "expose your brothers nakedness." Remember that we give an account to the same Lord.
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #4 on Aug 24, 2006, 1:30pm »
HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO THIS? READ OTHER THREADS ON RELATED TOPICS
Please read and comment on the other threads on related topics: In response to the argument by the cover-up team that what they did was acceptable, please read: "Why must an adulterous elder lose office": http://everynation.proboards102.com/inde....read=1144675734
I became aware things were seriously wrong in the governance of His People Cape Town before I found out about this scandal and circulated the proposal below. It was ignored at the time, but I hope this information will be stronger motivation for reform. "Proposed accountability board for His People Cape Town" http://everynation.proboards102.com/inde....read=1145953642
Michael Swain as administrator of His People Cape Town and now administrator in Nashville. He has refused to answer questions on the scandal so we don't know for sure whether and how long he was involved. http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/21845.html?1156533358
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #6 on Aug 27, 2006, 12:38pm »
I am really astonished at the level of manipulative character of the HP leadership. It is quite saddening to see an organization one once give his time, tithe, and talent to having hypocritically abused us under an immoral Leadership. As far as I can remember in 2000 there was a conference where Paul Daniel came to preach in HP where I discerned a spirit of deceit and autocracy coming out of him as he was preaching to us. He appeared more like an American sales man, or more like a George Bush trying to convince the world about the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
I felt as if I was a stranger as I witnessed the man preach his voice out, he went on to raise Thendai Masekanwu (Zimbabwean) telling us hoe Thendai dedicated his life to His people and that God in return blessed him by featuring on CNN and working in London. He manipulated us into serving Hi people blindly without questions. I remember he was preaching on Servant-hood and Destiny. He proposed that if we servant the church in every ministry portfolio God would in return make us collide with our destiny. This has since spread and grown in the hearts of students and leaders at HP campus ministry and church.
I will therefore share my abuse experience and adulterous nature of HP. I joined the HP campus @ Wits in 2000 and in my first few meetings I already picked up a few autocratic characteristics through the church leaders who came to Wits to address us (cell leaders-campus) on issues pertaining to running a home cell. We were told how to conduct meeting through their methods of worship, preaching, discussions, register etc. We were being modeled into becoming a nucleus that would control students lives and opinions. I rejected some of the methods and used scriptural traditions. My cell grew tremendously to be come the most active cell in a residence were in the previous two years there hadn’t been any church. I worked tirelessly since in my heart I knew I was doing everything for the Kingdom of God.
I witnessed ten of young men whose names I cannot mention at least until they allow me to do so fall apart from their academic activities as a result of the wholehearted contribution to the HP ministry. These guys would attend bible school on Tuesdays, cell meetings, go to church missions over holidays, become Ushers at every Sunday services and do whatever the church imposed on them. I realized later in my leadership role (2001/2) that almost none of those guys had a copy of the Campus ministry constitution an only operated as the church imposed on them. Any way then most of the guys who were in Campus leadership( over 80%) failed repeatedly and most of them were then prophesied upon by HP church elders that God was calling them to ministry. These poor guys out of frustration of being excluded from varsity some financially, then went and asked for assistance from church elders and were not successful. I know at least 5 leaders of 2000/2 who have had to go back home because HP had no place for them. Some out of fear of their feature were then connived into His people Year of Your Life program hoping to have their lives changed. But at the end were still not prioritized by HP. I am informed that some have had to do another program in Cape Town HP where Ps. Pete Storm is a principal. The poor guys are now serving the church through campus ministry and most of them have to raise dependency allowance from church members. They are serving the ministry but cannot be paid by the ministry, we have to offer them some monthly contribution for their livelihood. I mean this is the worst level of abuse, one goes into a year of your life program with hope of colliding with his destiny, while at the end nothing come out, they have to be church tool.
As I speak today most young people have gone back hope after 4 to 7 years of ministry in HP Johannesburg without their degrees and nothing else from church. The church has simply used them to build the campus ministry and its membership and squeezed and later aborted them. They are confused and probably uncertain of their future in life. Majority of them cannot go to church anymore as a result of the dilemma of abuse they were subjected to.
The last issue I would like to bring forth is the forced removal of Pastor Jeffrey Maroga from HP. This strong man of faith is a good example of what spiritual dictator like HP leadership do to vulnerable students at Varsities. He has served his people tirelessly with all that he had and became a campus pastor around 1998. The ministry had then turned from white to black populated. Non the less he championed an escalating growth of the campus ministry and also winning the hearts of many black community church members who identified with His people as a result of his charisma. But he was then forcefully and mysteriously axed from being a campus pastor after over 4 years. The church announced his departure as a mere ministry responsibility that God was steering in Jeff’s heart. I remember even Jeff himself preached on his last Friday at campus about his departure as something we shouldn’t take hard but compared it to the Acts scenario were the Holy Spirit said separate me Paul and Barabbas for work of ministry… Apparently this was a devised manner of avoiding revolt from the student community.
It happened early in 2002 at a leadership retreat that the truth was uncovered when student leaders asked a church elder who was then our campus pastor about the departure of Ps. Jeff. The said Pastor (elder) told us and I am sure about this cause I was there, he said the church leadership had made-up a reason for Jeff’s departure which was not the truth. He also admitted that they as a leadership had lied to the church to protect the image of the church. So for the sake of avoiding split and more accountability the HP leaders decided to deceive us. The same pattern of deception was repeating itself.
There are more incidents that were covered up, such as adultery by a lady who used to make 11 languages greeting at the beginning of Sunday services. Some campus girls who were admittedly engaging in fornication while continuing in worship teams, even members of the church worship teams who lived together outside marriage were left to do so. I guess leaders didn’t have a problem with such sins since the Founder was himself engaging in such sins. It is a matter of the saying ‘read and study to save yourself and those whom you preach to’ twisted around ‘fornicate and lie to influence those who submit under you to continue likewise’
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #7 on Aug 27, 2006, 5:25pm »
Ageeh. I am really sorry to hear this. As you know I was part of the birth of His People ministries and HP Jo-burg was founded by friends of mine. I pray God heals this church. I have started a new thread in response to the above, to discuss the issue of deceit in ministry. http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/23843.html?1156690058
Nevertheless, I think the picture we are building up is one of a large scale breakdown in moral discipline and ethics. That is understandable, as in the words of one His People pastor in response to my complaints of lack of action "Paul Daniel could not do discipline - he had no moral authority to do so". Neither could those helping to cover-up the scandal. In reality, people ended up getting into big trouble for disobeying Paul and his henchmen's petty instructions - so they started to live in fear of their anger. Like the staff member who got a half hour lecture from Paul Daniel on why he should not stick pictures on the wall with plasti-tac. So when leaders are wicked, then discipline gets abused and real discipline that is needed doesn't happen. The innocent suffer and the guilty go free - a Pontius Pilate form of governance. I hope those reading this thread and others will realise the cost of not doing proper church discipline is huge. It is not just a technical thing.
I found the warning from the great Bible commentary Hendriksen and Kistemaker on 1 Timothy 5 (the discipline of leaders) which is very relevant to our situation. See his warning about how: i. Corruption usually begins at the top. ii. If not dealt with properly, it can destroy a whole denomination.
"Now in the matters discussed in verses 19 and 20, and, in fact, in any matter touching the discipline of church-leaders, one is easily influenced by purely subjective considerations. But this can spell ruin for the church and for all those concerned. Timothy, as apostolic delegate in the churches of Ephesus and vicinity, must not allow this to happen to him. Even today biased judges, ecclesiastical “machines,” so- called “investigating-committees” manned by job-hunters, “buddy-ism,” and the like can easily destroy a denomination. Corruption generally begins “at the summit.” Church History furnishes many examples. The man in the pew does not know what happened “while he slept.” When he wakes up — if he ever does! — it is generally too late. Hence, absolute impartiality and unimpeachable honesty in all such matters are essential. It is for that reason that the charge which the apostle now lays on Timothy is so very grave. Everything is at stake! The church of the twentieth century may well take to heart these solemn words: I charge (you) in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels that you observe these instructions without prejudice, doing nothing from partiality. " http://www.biblecentre.net/comment/nt/hend/past/past-Index.html
Therefore I call all leaders who read this to take it very seriously. If we don't get serious repentance and reform of this denomination, this sin will continue to spread and the whole denomination may be destroyed. We need prayer and repentance like in Ezra 9 and 10.
Joined: Oct 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 53 Location: Ashburn, Virginia
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #8 on Oct 17, 2006, 4:17am »
What you describe is a terrible situation and clearly, without question, the adultery should have been promptly and effectively dealt with.
But what bothers me is when you talk about a cover-up. You admit that Paul Daniel lied to and deceived other pastors. Clearly those who were lied to and deceived were not guilty of any cover-up. They were lied to by Paul Daniel. It is hard to act upon somehting you don't know about.
I am not sure from what you describe if others were involved before that time. If so, that is wrong, and they deserve condemnation for that mistake.
But is it a death sentence? The accusation that people whom you believe acted too slowly are still in ministry is a bit over the top.
For Paul Daniel, it should be the end of his ministry. And not just for a decent interval like Jimmy Swaggart, but permanently.
Yet when something like that comes to light, don't we need to tread carefully and search out what is true before leaping off a bridge? If something is vehemently denied, should a Christian leader simply leap to conclusions or should he search out the matter from both sides?
Clearly, anyone in HP who knew about the clear truth that the alegation was true and failed toa ct is WRONG, very wrong.
And such a serious error in judgment would require correction, and repentance.
But -- assuming there has been repentance -- I do not think the penalty for such an error in judgment is death (of their ministry).
Joined: Oct 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 53 Location: Ashburn, Virginia
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #9 on Oct 17, 2006, 3:45pm »
I think that Paul Daniel's adultery should disqualify him from ministry permanently, but also his long-runnning attempt to cover it up and deceive, showing no repentance about that nor a repentant and devout heart in general. It is true that the sin of adultery only lasted for 1 year under the Old Covenant, with repentance and the offering of sacrifices. But there are plenty of people available to minister who have not committed adultery.
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #10 on Dec 23, 2006, 11:26am »
John
Some ministers in His People were deceived. They are not guilty of cover-up. But there are also those above who did know the truth and helped Paul Cover it up, such as Africa leader Bill Bennot - please read the story at the top to see the names of those involved.
This is not just an error of judgement to cover-up the adultery. It is clear disobedience to scripture and totally contrary to His People prior policy on moral issues. It is scandalous sin.
I don't know where you get the idea the sin of adultery only lasted 1 year under the old covenant. The penalty was death under the old covenant.
LEV 20:10 " `If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #11 on Feb 10, 2007, 1:52pm »
Hi Philip
Just a few points I need to bring up to you with regard to His people and Every nation. I also was a member from 1992 until 2005. I must admit that although you say you where in leadership there i can't say I remember you. I find it very interesting how opposed you are to the EN church's.
1. I personally was at a leadership meeting of all the cell leaders and department heads (prob about 600 members) when Rice was explaining what a disciple of Jesus is as well as what it means to disciple others.At this point Paul was still the senior pastor. It was a very challenging sermon. What was very interesting was, when he had finished, he asked us "who here is personally discipling someone else or being discipled" . To my horror only about ten percent of the people put there hands up. This is the context of the "purple book". Our so called super church was filled with hot air and didn't resemble the biblical make up of the church. Jesus' intention for the church is a discipleship based body ,not a pastor centered one tottally dependant on a charismatic orator.The apostle Paul says that people said he wasn't very persuasive and impressive in person.. The five fold ministry is there to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. This was new to all the HP leaders.It still shocks me today that we could look and feel so good about our church yet we had strayed to a cult like church.We had great teaching yes but we lacked in personal application of the great commission.I was a cell leader for about three years and we where taught by ...............that cell groups where to be friendship groups.All teaching was to be done by Bible school and sunday services.This was in total antithesis to biblical teaching. What would have happenned to HP had it not been for the biblical foundations in the Purple book? If you ever read it you will find that it only contains bible verses with very little personal interpretation. I firmly believe the HP of early times was built on faulty foundations. They lasted in good times but when the flood waters rose it crumbled.
2. Gareth Stead now is senior pastor but was raving about how incredibly excited he is to be running a discipleship group of new christians he had pesonally witnessed to. One of which was a waiter .How many pastors do you know that have a passion to disciple a small group. Phillip God wants you to have that sought of passion to be an ambassador for Him and to make disciples. 2tim2:2
3. I am now at the full gosple church in Fish Hoek so I am not trying to sell the message of a church group but I have a passion to share the love and person of Jesus Christ with the world. There was some wonderfull teaching that we got in the early years at HP but we lacked in having a firm relationship with Jesus Christ. We where excited about the wrong things. We believed we could make a difference in the world but we wher'nt able to make disciples of Jesus. We strived to be area leaders and department heads but lacked the passion to see the Lordship of Jesus in our and others lives.I was so inspired and challenged by the Purple book that I now minister at the school assemblys twice a week at the Masipumele High and primary schools.
4. I am aware of the fact that EN has problems but I can assure you that all churchs have identical problems. God wants to use you as a catalyst for change and not for destruction. I think the spirit you take is not condusive to influencing others to repentance. I can see that you have a passion for justice and truth. My prayer is that God willgive you to have a passion for people.Rick Joyner had vision of a huge mountain full of christians in battle with armies of the devil that where at the base of the mountain. Different areas of the mountain represented different church groups(methodists, presbetarian, etc).There arrows where hitting the targets . At one side of the mountain where those that also where called christians that where critisising the others but where not fighting the enmy. God rebuked him by saying that he must stop judging and critisising other church denominations as they where all fighting in the same battle. Phillip keep your focus on the battle at hand .I can see that you normally do.
5. His People has huge challenges, baggage and hurdles but I am convinced that as they stand now they are on a far firmer ground than even at our so called heights.I know that you feel hurt and disapointment. but you need to move on .Your years in the early HP where not in vain. Paul Daniel was an awesome teacher and I pray that God will raise up many men of that callibre. We can understand how King Davids mighty men must have felt when he fell. Paul Daniel was a wek man like David, like you and me. We need to make sure that our lives are built on the rock.Jesus says this is a man that hears the word of God and does what it says.The man who built his house on the sand also heard the word but chose to ignore it .
Philip be single minded in your vision to extend God's kingdom as you are doing. Jesus said go and make disciples . Baptising them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey all that I have commanded. Never in the History of the world has there been a greater need for christian discipleship or mentoring as the world calls it. This is the principle message that I got from Gareth Stead at His People. We need to pray that other churches too will get the vision to train and raise up disciples who in turn can make disciples Read 2 Tim 2:2
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #12 on Apr 4, 2007, 9:43am »
RESPONSIBILITY OF RAY McCAULEY AND THE IFCC
In the article on the exposure of the scandal, I said that if any facts were found to be incorrect, I would post a correction. His People has disputed the claim that Ray McCauley's was acting in an advisory capacity and rather said that he was acting in a judicial capacity on behalf of the IFCC. I asked Ray McCauley to respond to this and he has failed to do so. I asked the various other parties involved in the original 1996 process for their understanding of the situation and all that I was able to communicate with expressed the view that Ray McCauley was acting in an official capacity on behalf of the IFCC. Evidence for this included that the issue had been taken up formally with the IFCC and had been delegated to Ray McCauley as falling within his area of jurisdiction rather than that of other leaders.
THE IFCC CAN BE CONTACTED AT:
IFCC CONTACT DETAILS
POSTNET SUITE # 521 PRIVATE BAG X10030 RANDBURG 2125
I feel that this puts more responsibility on Ray McCauley for the failure of the process, but it does not absolve the relevant His People leaders of responsibility. It was clearly unbiblical to keep a sexually immoral man in church office and whoever was ultimately responsible for the decision, it should not have been accepted or kept secret by the other His People leaders who knew about it.
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #13 on May 16, 2007, 5:40am »
The Paul Daniel adulterous affair cover-up - Why was it wrong and how wrong was it?
I think the debate over the cover-up of Paul Daniels first adulterous affair has reached a stage where everyone agrees that this was at least a mistake. I am not sure, however that everyone agrees what exactly the mistake was and how serious was that mistake. I think this is important to discuss, firstly because it determines what lessons (if any) are learned from this mistake. It would not be good for us to suffer all this pain and those responsible and the organisation learn nothing useful from it. Secondly because if there is to be true real repentance, people must understand what the organisation is repenting for.
People may pretend to agree about what the mistake was and how serious it was, but actually don't agree, so then the issue may not really be resolved. To help the debate I will outline some of the different views below:
A) PRAGMATIC VIEW Covering up Paul Daniel's first affair after the 1996 disciplinary process, was a mistake because the consequences: i. Paul did it again (not true repentance). The secret counseling he got did not reform him as it was hoped to do; ii. Paul afterward abused lots of people including those who helped him cover it up so everyone suffered lots of pain as a result. iii. The cover-up failed to achieve any good that may have been intended (it did not save Paul's marriage or protect the ministry from harm).
Comment: As far as I know, almost everyone involved in the debate agrees at least on the above point A. However if this is all that is believed was done wrong, then the whole issue is not very serious. It was then essentially just an error of judgment about the pragmatic consequences that may result from a chosen course of action. It was not sin.
B) DISOBEDIENCE TO CHURCH AUTHORITY This view is based on the issue that the group of leaders responsible for the discipline agreed in 1996 that Paul Daniel had to post letters to about 30 of the main church leaders in South Africa apologizing for what he had done. He never did this and nobody forced him to do it. Therefore he disobeyed church authority. The sin was therefore disobedience to church authority.
Comment: The problem with this view is that that the relevant church authority (the IFCC and His People) did not actually have any authority to modify scripture to impose a different penalty from what scripture demands of an adulterous leader (i.e. public rebuke and removal from office). Therefore by proposing the compromise of posting 30 letters to top church leaders, the church authority itself was already becoming complicit in the sin. Effectively, the church authority was setting itself above the scriptures and imposing a new rule not found in scripture - to replace the scripture. Essentially, this view perpetuates exactly the elitist view of church governance which cause the cover-up in the first place. This decision excluded the masses of His People members from participating in the decision of whether the discipline was fair by simply not informing them. Further, it elevates church authority above biblical authority.
Unfortunately, I have heard some in His People defend this view and since have heard no retraction of this view. The problem is that the error is much more fundamental than simple non-compliance with church authority. The issue is that the church authority itself did wrong. There is the risk that with this view, no good lesson is learned - but that those who did wrong are seen as wrong simply because they failed to implement a half-baked sham disciplinary action.
Now some have argued that the church authority was not aware of the extent of Paul's physical relationship with the girl. To answer this I argue that it was there duty to investigate and find out and verify - which they could easily have done had they listened to all parties not been trying to defend Paul. Surely being aware of some sin should have thrown doubt on Paul Daniel's moral credibility which would necessitated investigating allegations in more detail instead of just believing him. Furthermore, even if they were not aware of the extent of the physical relationship, I argue that even a non-physical adulterous affair by a church leader warrants removal from office at least for a period of time.
The reason why this view must be corrected is that those who hold this view have an idea that whatever the church authority decides is always right - unless some other more senior church authority says it is wrong. Thus such people stop thinking for themselves in terms of the scriptures and just rely on other people to make decisions for them. Thus they are always open to manipulation to participate in compromised and unethical behaviour - as long as someone tells them it is authorised by church authority.
It negates the 'priesthood of all believers' who judge everything in terms of the scriptures and replaces it with a set of military like obedient soldiers who just do what they are told. One His
People leader in arguing with me said that he thought his fundamental difference with me on the issue was my understanding of authority. Yes, I think this is fair comment. Actually, when I confronted the His People leadership on this issue in a Matthew 18 process, with a group of other leaders, they spent most of the meeting arguing about the issue of church authority - attacking my view and trying to manipulate me into agreeing to participate in the cover-up based on the issue of church authority. Now I argue that some senior people in His People have got an idea of church authority which is extreme to the point of being cultic - and that this view is dangerous. It can cause all sorts of other problems in the church. Rather I argue the duty of every Christian to read the Bible for themselves and to intelligently discuss and hold church authority accountable on the basis of that scripture. Church authority must have a high degree of transparency to enable that accountability. This is not currently part of the culture of His People/EveryNation.
The first problem with the above interpretation of what went wrong is that it is likely just to lead to more serious blind obedience to church authority - not to intelligent thinking for ones self in terms of the scripture.
The second problem is that such people can participate in an organisational repentance process, but actually they are not repenting for sin against God - they are only repenting for sin against Ray McCauley (the IFCC leader who chaired Paul's disciplinary meeting). Thus they can appear to be repenting but actually no spiritual or practical change will result.
I argue that this is the real reason why His People needs to do organisational repentance: Sin against God - not sin against compromised church authority or just pragmatic error. Disobeying God's word which specifically requires high character standards for leaders 1 Timothy 3 and public rebuke of those who sin (1 Timothy 5:20) is much much much more serious than pragmatic error or disobedience to church authority.
I think when His People eventually does do organisational repentance for this sin, they need to be clear about why they are repenting and what they are repenting for - otherwise it will be ineffective (as in Isaiah 58).
D) HIS WIFE WANTED/DIDN'T WANT PUBLIC DISCIPLINE Now another reason I have heard given for either going public or not going public is that Paul Daniel's did or didn't want it dealt with publicly. Now this is an ironic and confusing one, because I have heard contradictory reports on what Paul Daniel's wife actually wanted. Some say she wanted public discipline, others say she strongly opposed public exposure. Perhaps she changed her mind during the course of events (maybe with pressure/persuasion from Paul). Some have told me that His People did wrong in not dealing with it public because Paul Daniels wife wanted it so - while others use her apparent wishes as an excuse for the cover-up. I actually don't know exactly what her thinking was.
Comment: Either way, what Paul Daniel's wife wanted in this instance is irrelevant. What matters is what scripture says must happen. If he was not a church leader, then what his wife wanted may have influenced the disciplinary process, but since he is a church leader it is irrelevant.
Re: Cover-up of Paul Daniel adultery in His People « Reply #14 on May 3, 2009, 8:29pm »
Greeetings to you all,
I wish to mention that the gospel of Christ is not based on the frailty of man but in the power of God. We cannot expect perfection in the flesh but perfection is only found in Jesus Christ through covenant. To go back and discuss other people's weaknesses or frilties does no good for the believer for each and everyone of us are not perfect in the flesh but there is One who was and is perfect, Jesus Christ.
Paul Daniels is an example of the condition of the church without headship of Christ whereby each man / pastor preaches whatever they feel like preaching. The gospel of Christ has shifted into man's carnality and needs, thus it no longer carries power. We need to go back to the purity of our faith, we need to submit under God's spiritual government, Truth and Spirit and the gospel of Christ shall be effectual in the soul of the believer.
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