Who’s Who Digest
of the
Wild World of Religion
The profiles on this webpage are part of a multi-
Profiles of Names Beginning with A through C
Names that are underlined in the list at the left below can be clicked to go to more
extensive profiles or more related information elsewhere in the Field Guide. Within
the mini-
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING LINKS:
Some profiles below contain links to other websites which may contain material of interest regarding the profiled individuals. Inclusion of these links should not be considered "endorsement" of all of the opinions, conclusions and doctrinal positions of the authors of those websites. They are included because they do contain credible documentation on the facts regarding the profiled individuals. Readers are encouraged to consider carefully the documentation and come to their own informed conclusions, based on their own understanding of Biblical doctrine and principles.
A
A.A. Allen
Asa Alonzo Allen (1911-
From James Randi’s book The Faith Healers
On June 14, 1970, listeners in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines were hearing a recorded message from A. A. Allen on his radio program saying: "This is Brother Allen in person. Numbers of friends of mine have been inquiring about reports they have heard concerning me that are not true. People as well as some preachers from pulpits are announcing that I am dead. Do I sound like a dead man? My friends, I am not even sick! Only a moment ago I made a reservation to fly into our current campaign. I'll see you there and make the devil a liar." At that moment, at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, police were removing A. A. Allen's body from a room strewn with pills and empty liquor bottles. The man who had once said that "the beer bottle and gin bucket" should have been on his family coat of arms was dead at 59 from what was said to be a heart attack but was in reality liver failure brought about by acute alcoholism. (p.88)
Mark John Allen aka M. John Allen
Former member of the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W Armstrong. Allen believes
himself to be the inheritor of the apostolic mantle of Herbert Armstrong, and thus
God's primary mouthpiece on earth today, doing "the Work of Elijah." In the late
1990s he had a number of dreams and visions he posted on the Web to convince others
of this calling, but doesn’t seem to have gathered many supporters for his megalomania
over the past decade and more. For a while he made a fruitless attempt to gather
supporters via the Internet for an attempt through the courts to take back the headquarters
of the Worldwide Church of God from Armstrong's legal successors. In recent years
he has put up a number of websites, some with his name prominent on them, some with
it tucked away behind names like the “Restoration Church of God.” The sites often
feature old booklets or recordings by Herbert Armstrong. None of them seem to connect
to any real world church congregations or followers. Some of the more recent ones
seem to be connected to money-
Argentinian revival leader whose massive Hyper-
(1930-
(1892-
John Arnott was Pastor of the Charismatic Toronto Airport Vineyard Church, now called
the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF), in 1993 when the so-
A detailed overview of the Toronto manifestations and the Arnotts’ ministry can be found in the free online version of the book Weighed and Found Wanting by Bill Randles.
Word Faith teacher and author, frequent guest on TBN. Avanzini specializes in grandiose
promises of financial prosperity. He is well-
Here is a vignette from a typical Avanzini appearance, part of a longer 2009 blog entry titled “John Avanzini and His Talking Stones.”
“After a rambling, free-
The list… gave the following “seven anchors for these perilous times”. Note that the word prosperity as he uses it is referring to material wealth. Spiritual wealth was never mentioned that night.
1. God has already made plans for your prosperity. Jeremiah 29:11
2. Everything you will need and want has already been provided for you by your great God. 2 Peter 1:3
3. God has already given you his best so there is no need to worry about him denying you anything else. Romans 8:32
4. God wants you to live with limitless supply. Judges 18:10
5. Your wealthy place is always on the other side of the perilous times you are facing.
6. It gives God great pleasure to prosper you in good times…in bad times..at all times. Psalms 35:27
7. In good times or in bad times, God is willing to make you rich. Proverbs 10:22
…All of those Scripture verses given do talk about the prospering of God’s people. The idea that this is always referring to physical wealth is patently absurd. Avanzini and all of his huckster compatriots only use Scripture as proof texts for their own ridiculous claims that God wants everyone wearing Brioni suits and Rolex watches.
Avanzini told a story of how his grandchildren sometimes sit and watch him count money at the table. He described his stacks of 100’s, 50’s, 20’s and so on. He mocked at how his daughter told them, “don’t ask for anything, children.” He told us that she should have been teaching them to ask for money. He again mocked how she taught the children to say, “thank you” when he would give them money. He claimed that what they should have said instead was, “Can I have some more?” Avanzini apparently believes in training children early to be greedy and ungrateful.
The next thing Avanzini said he would give us to help us through “perilous times” was a stone. He went through several Bible references where stones “talked” in the Old Testament. Here Avanzini introduces the stone idea. He strolled down the aisles, his ring winking in the lights, and held out a shiny stone for a woman to hold. Avanzini told the assembled crowd of about 650 people that these stones should be rubbed whenever people faced rising prices or higher prices at the pump. The ushers went down the aisles with buckets of shiny, smooth stones and handed them out. …
…He began transitioning to his real message by telling the story of Gideon’s sacrifice as recorded in the book of Judges. Repeatedly, Avanzini described the poverty of Gideon and how his offering of a goat was such a sacrifice for someone who lived in a cave. He described how the angel of the Lord IGNITED the offering on the rock. We, who were in possession of the lucky rubbing stones, would need to ignite ours. I’ll give you a guess how that should be done.
At this point, Avanzini turned to the pastor in the white suit, sitting in the audience and asks innocently, “Do I have a few more moments?” Well, not surprisingly, the pastor agreed. It’s a good thing, because as it turns out, Avanzini had a whole new doctrinal revelation to tell us about: the doctrine of reverse entrapment. If you’ve never heard of that before, that’s because God just showed it to him right there. Reverse entrapment is when you put a gift to Avanzoni on a credit card and outsmart the lenders who are trying to get rich off your debt. When you put a gift on a credit card, I quote, “something happens in the spirit world.” Here he tells everyone how to have a credit card breakthrough. Turns out Avanzini has a way for you to get rid of your mortgage debt. All you have to do is to give him a gift the size of your house payment and God will see that your mortgage gets paid off right away. If you don’t have a house, $500 will do nicely for future debt. Avanzini assured us that it worked for him.
Perhaps the man sensed a few hostile vibes from the audience (from our row in particular) because he warned us not to let the devil keep us back from getting free from debt by putting a gift for his ministry on our credit card. The credit card “invitation” began as the keyboardist began to noodle around with some mood music. Then Avazini warned everyone again not to let the devil keep us away. The people streamed down to the stage area and wrote out their credit card numbers and house payment gifts and left them at the expensively shod feet of the speaker. While the people came down to the front to divest themselves of their money, Avanzini appropriately chose to tell an Al Capone joke. I doubt if one other person in the house recognized the irony.
Avanzini then prayed an igniting prayer over the stones everyone was clutching. Presumably, we still have to ignite our own with a credit card gift, but maybe his igniting prayer was considered the first step.”
(1926-
Their Christian Growth Ministries, headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, published a monthly magazine called New Wine, with Basham as editor.
A detailed overview of the Shepherding Movement and these five men is available on the Seek God website.
One of the founders of the controversial so-
A detailed overview of the Shepherding Movement and these five men is available on the Seek God website.
Pastor of the former Kansas City Fellowship—now Metro Vineyard of Kansas City—home of the "Kansas City Prophets" group. Bickle has been considered by many to hold the office of "modern prophet" and thus regularly receive direct revelations from God, along with Paul Cain, John Paul Jackson and Bob Jones (not the same Bob Jones that founded conservative Bob Jones University.)
Overview of Bickle’s ministry and the Kansas City Prophets
The Kansas City Prophets: Inside a Prophetic Service
German healing evangelist who specializes in huge outdoor mass campaigns in Africa, sometimes preaching to audiences of one million or more. Bonnke is founder of the Christ for All Nations ministry. He makes spectacular but usually unsubstantiated claims for astounding healings at his meetings.
An extremely conflicting account of one of these healings is available on the Net.
(1909-
(Click on Branham's name above for a longer profile elsewhere in the Field Guide.)
One of the "Kansas City Prophets" group. Cain has been considered by many to hold the office of "modern prophet" and thus regularly receive direct revelations from God, along with Mike Bickle, John Paul Jackson and Bob Jones (not the same Bob Jones that founded conservative Bob Jones University.)
Long-
As of May 21, 2011, Camping is now most noted for a startlingly effective worldwide campaign in the media, on billboards, through tracts passed out by loyal followers, and more, spreading his bombastic claim that the Rapture would occur on that date, the world would be plunged immediately into chaos, and the whole Earth and everything in it would be destroyed on October 21, 2011.
The Family Radio network was extremely popular for years with religious leaders and
laymen from a wide variety of conservative Christian denominations, particularly
those which considered their roots as being in the “Reform movement.” Thus he had
a wide audience for his increasingly radical pronouncements for a time, until many
leaders and teachers from throughout these circles became alarmed and began warning
against those pronouncements. It is unclear how many people are committed supporters
of his teachings, but it would likely not be an over-
For what may be the most complete overview and evaluation of Camping’s long ministry and teachings available, see Dangerous Airwaves, a book by Dr. James R. White. A synopsis of some of the material in the book is available in an online article by White. This material, however, was written long before the May 21, 2011 fiasco.
Click on Camping’s name at the beginning of this entry to go to a much longer article on Camping’s ministry, covering in particular, details of the circumstances leading up to and after his failed May 21, 2011 prophecy.
Long-
Pentecostal evangelist active since the 1950s. Cerullo is part of the Healing Ministries movement and the Word Faith movement.
Part of the Modern Apostles and Prophets movement, viewed by many as one of the modern
Apostles. Chavda is active in the Toronto Blessing movement and other manifestations
of the so-
Pastor of "the world's largest church" that is a single congregation, not a denomination. Korean Yonggi Cho (who changed his name to David in recent years for some obscure reason) heads the Charismatic Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul that claims to have over 1 million people in regular attendance. Cho teaches an extreme occultic form of Word Faith doctrines, including the concept that if someone has an adequate "positive confession," their words literally enter into the "Heavenly Holy of Holies" and can emerge manifested as tangible objects that the believer is "naming and claiming."
Popular prophecy pundit of the End Times Prophecy movement. Church spreads his theories
via his Prophecy in the News TV show and numerous books. He is most famous for his
1986 book Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms, which alleges that the Psalms contain
a hidden prophetic guide to the Twentieth Century. In other words, something in Psalm
1 applied to the events of 1901, Psalm 86 applied to 1986 and so on. Using utterly
speculative and fanciful interpretations of vague passages, he strongly hinted in
the first edition of his book that 1988 would be the year of the pre-
Senior Pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of St. Louis, Missouri. Clark
started a "holy laughter" revival at his home church after attending a 1993 meeting
featuring Rodney Howard-
(1918-
(d. 2001) Founder of the Church of God, the Eternal (COGTE), a split-
Strangely enough, for the
next 25 years, until his death, Cole preached that Armstrong was divinely chosen
by God to restore truth to the Church that had been lost since the first century.
And he taught that all the doctrines Armstrong had taught in his early years were
absolutely binding on members of the COGTE, because they had been divinely inspired
by God to Armstrong. Yet he did not believe that Armstrong had any authority to change
his mind on any doctrine, and thus no one had the right to accept any later changes
to earlier church doctrine.
Former long-
(Click on Conder's name above for more details.)
Kenneth Copeland, Gloria Copeland
Pentecostal/Charismatic televangelists and author.s Most currently influential protégés of the teachings of Word Faith Movement pioneer Kenneth Hagin. Kenneth studied at Oral Roberts' Oral Roberts University (ORU). And he and wife Gloria spread their name it and claim it doctrines via their Believer's Voice of Victory program,
Former member of the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W Armstrong. Left the WCG in 1979, founded his own small denomination called the Biblical Church of God. Left that group over leadership disputes in 1982 and founded the Christian Biblical Church of God. While not claiming, as many former WCG members who started their own groups have, to be God's Only Spokesman on Earth, Coulter does never the less declare his own teachings on certain matters to be absolutely binding on believers, insisting they represent the only correct way to interpret the scriptures to determine the will of God. Anyone teaching anything even slightly different on some such matters has been labeled by one of Coulter's closest representatives in the past as a "minister of Satan."
This particularly applies to the details of how and when-
Coulter's Bible is bound with an extensive commentary that further reinforces his
own idiosyncratic interpretations. While this is a legitimate method of spreading
his teachings, it may be useful for any purchasers to realize that they are getting
a very narrow perspective of one man. That perspective is so narrow that a large
proportion of those with whom he even shares a significant amount of doctrinal agreement
find his reasonings on a number of topics-
Australian member for a short time of the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W
Armstrong. Left and founded, along with a small group of like-
Husband and wife founders of the Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN), which is the primary media outlet for most of the preachers, teachers and evangelists of the Word Faith Movement.
Continue on to the listing of entries D through H
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