Youth Alive Concert Alert!

This is an alert to all pastors, churches and organizations who have been contacted by the New Covenant Life Church regarding a Youth Alive N.S.W. concert on October 31, 1998 at UOG Fieldhouse.
 
This notice is to let you know that Youth Alive is not quite as advertised.

Youth Alive turns out to be a ministry of the Assemblies Of God and linked to Brownsville A/G of Pensacola, FL.  Though they have not highlighted this fact, nonetheless the following quote from an official Youth Alive web page at tells the story:

"... Youth Alive is an activity put on by the Assemblies of God and is used to help students start Bible Clubs on their high school campus. Youth Alive is a non-denominational club ..."1

Curiously there is no mention of this ministry on the official A/G "Ministries" web page.2   What are they trying to hide?  Nonetheless I was able to dig this fact out of an old newsletter on their site where they were giving awards to outstanding youth:

"Second-place winner and recipient of a $1,500 scholarship is Stacey Carnes, Hudson, Ohio. Stacey will attend Evangel College, here. In high school, Stacey was a member of the National Honor Society and is listed in Who's Who Among High School Students. She played first chair oboe in orchestra and special ensembles, ran cross country, and participated in drama, math team, and Latin club. She started the Youth Alive group at Hudson High School. She also volunteered with a community service organization."3

Since Youth Alive is backed by the Assemblies Of God it cannot be stated categorically that it is non-denominational or inter-denominational.  This quote is from another Youth Alive official web site:

"Big Events - Without exception these will always be God Glorifying, prophetic, interdenominational, huge, excellent and outreach focused."4

Questions come to my mind with regards to these "Big Events":  What do they mean by the "Big Events" being "prophetic"?  Do they plan on teaching from Revelation ... or are these events a forum for alleged "prophets" to exert heavy Shepherding on our naive youth by telling them "Thus saith the Lord"?

Upon further inquiry and our request for any "Doctrinal Statement" or "Statement of Faith", we received an e-mail from Terisa Burnside, Youth Alive/Home Missions Clerk, National Youth Department, General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA)  confirming the backing of the A/G and calling the effort by yet another name, "multi-denominational":

"Youth Alive was birthed under the General Council of the Assemblies of God, however, as I mentioned before, it is a multi-denominational effort."

We did not receive any "Doctrinal Statement" or "Statement of Faith", only a statement of their goals.  The goals sound good, but the doctrines of the Third Wave energizing this movement are not good at all.

Finally, Youth Alive and A/G Headquarters share the same mailing address and web server:

Youth Alive
1445 Boonville Avenue
Springfield, MO 65802
800-545-2766
Email: ya@ag.org 5

General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA)
1445 Boonville Avenue
Springfield, Missouri
(417) 862-2781
email: opr@ag.org 6
 

The fact that Youth Alive is backed officially by the General Council of the Assemblies of God (USA) and shares the same mailing address has not been mentioned in any advertising for this concert.

The reason for this is, in part, that ...
 

The current official position of the General Superintendant of the Assemblies of God is a "glowing" endorsement of Brownsville A/G.

This should deeply concern many here on Guam.  At a meeting between leaders of both the Toronto "Blessing" and Brownsville A/G, Thomas Trask gave this ringing endorsement of Brownsville:

"Thomas Trask, General Superintendant of the Assemblies of God denomination, gave his unconditional glowing support for the Brownsville A/G and their head pastor, John Kilpatrick, at a recent meeting with other leaders in Kentucky such as Paul Walker, General Overseer of The Church of God and Randy Clark, the Evangelist-Pastor of the Toronto Blessing. (We Will Break Dividing Wall" by The Remnant International, 1997)

This endorsement of Brownsville and its head pastor, John Kilpatrick, flies in the face of the fact that John Kilpatrick made a false prophesy and when it did not come true, lied by making an "apology" to the public in which he stated that he never made a "prophesy" in the first place.  That is what I call "taking a page from the Bill Clinton playbook"!

Trask, in an official letter of response to inquiries regarding the A/G position on Brownsville, stated in his opening sentence:

"First, let me say that the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, is an outstanding church that has been in a sovereign move of the Spirit now for many months."7

A deep schism has developed in the A/G between those who continue to reject the Latter Rain doctrines that have now returned in Brownsville, and those who are jumping into that "river".  If you want specifics about that story, you can find it on my web pages.8

There are A/G churches, even on Guam, that do not endorse Brownsville but the sad fact is that more and more A/G churches are drowning in the Third Wave.
 

The second fact is that Youth Alive is very much a mechanism to get youth into the Brownsville A/G and Third Wave experience.

This is evidenced in a number of ways.  First, by the links on the Youth Alive official web site in Austrailia.9  Of the fourteen linked sites under "Revival & Ministry Links", fully eight of them are the very definition of Third Wave.  This is the list of linked sites that are leading Third Wave proponents:

Brownsville - Revived at Brownsville
International Revival Network
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship
Revival Ministries International (Rodney Howard-Browne)
TBN Live!! (Trinity Broadcasting Network) - The biggest Christian Cable Network in the USA
ReaperNet
Metro Home Page - Bill Wilson (Children's Ministry)
Operation Africa

Brownsville A/G is the second link to the top on their list.  Notice the presence of Rodney Howard-Browne, the church that started the Toronto "Blessing", as well as Trinity Broadcasting Network ... all the major players in promoting the Third Wave counterfeit revival.

For those of you who do not surf the Internet often, when a person or organization puts a link on their web page, it means that they agree with the pages that are linked, unless otherwise stated.  On the top of the Youth Alive links pages they state:

"This page contains links to the coolest places on the web chosen by the crew of Youth Alive."9

Just ask yourself this question:  If I were building a web site for my church, would I link to these organizations, encouraging people to visit them for "revival" or "ministry"?

On another of their official web sites there are also links to the following:10

Brownsville Revival  -  Download some top sermon.  approx 2000 get saved here a week
World Changers Ministries - Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn etc

Notice the advice to download sermons from Brownsville as well as the promo about people "saved" there.  This is called "endorsement".  Notice also their link to Benny Hinn.

Add to this evidence the song titles of the group Youth Alive N.S.W., the group that is coming to Guam, and the picture begins to become clear.  With song lyrics like ...

Windows Of Heaven
Are You Hungry?
Let Your Fire Fall
Lord We Need A Revival

... it is obvious they have taken their inspiration from Brownsville A/G.  "Let Your Fire Fall" is one of the main themes of the Brownsville A/G, inspired by the song Brownsville A/G used to sing in almost every service called "Firefall".  Some of you will remember it being sung here at the Hilton when the Brownsville group first visited Guam.

Now we must move on to the local sponsoring church.  I do not take joy in revealing this bit of information.  But the truth must be told.  The local sponsor, the church that sent out the fax to other churches, is New Covenant Life Church.  Some of you know this church by its former name, Guam Bible Church.  With the change of name came a change of direction.
 

New Covenant Life Church has joined Brownsville in the Third Wave!

Their stated agenda on the fax they sent to you is to have a last minute meeting before the previously planned Youth Alive event takes place on October 31, 1998 ... Halloween night, if that escaped your attention.  Church leaders are invited to come so they can be official counselors and can share in the stated rewards.  Question:  how do they so confidently state that  there will be 1000 saved?  Is this some kind of statistical certainty based on projected attendance?  Or is this a prophesy?  Perhaps the churches of Guam should watch to see if this prophesy comes true.  In any case, this seems to be a sensible plan, allowing New Covenant to deal with their expected 200 converts and let the other churches have the rest.  However, even if the gospel is preached that night, which it may be in some form ...  and if there is any invitation to come forward, which you can count on ... and if there is pressure for those who come forward to receive some sort of fleshly "experience" at the laying on of hands (slain in the spirit) because it is stated that you need to have people lays hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit ... I see little benefit to the non-Third Wave churches of Guam.

The reason for this is twofold.

First, if your church is not doing the "slain" thing ... and if it is done at the concert ... we have observed over and over again that the "experience" with what they are told is the "Holy Spirit" will become the thing that becomes the guiding force of their life and their "highest" experience "truth" and of "God".  If they join a Third Wave church they will be taught to further rely heavily or totally on subjective gnostic experiences.   The question is:  what makes you as a pastor of a non-Third Wave church think you can interest ANY youth who have had that kind of an experience?  Youth who have "jumped in the river" will surely drift away from your church into the deep waters of the Third Wave.  How can you compete with the "big events" that are scheduled to continue to come to this island, leading youth down a stream bed that ends in the Third Wave?  Any youth from your church who attend will inevitably exert influence on any other youth of your church to seek these unbiblical experiences, or start their own club where they are taught by Third Wave false teachers how to more fully develop these new "abilities".

Second, even if there is no "slain in the spirit" gnosticism at this concert, the emphasis and teaching on unbiblical forms of "prophesy" and subjective mystical experiences, as well as endorsement of movements such as Brownsville, Rodney Howard-Browne, Toronto and Benny Hinn lead youth into thinking that these are the standard for what a Christian should "do" and "be".  If any of you have viewed any videos from these organizations, you already know how dangerous they are, especially to children.
 

So here we go with the "Brownsville thing" all over again, only this time repackaged to appeal to youth!

Do we want this on Guam?  Do you want this in your church or youth group?  I raised this question before.  I raise it again.

Let's get people and groups here that truly understand the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ and it's significance.  Let's clear the clutter away from the cross!  I suggest that your church organize alternative activities for your youth on October 31, 1998.  There may be more than one church that might even want to get their youth together for something like that.

You can be sure that as long as I remain on Guam I will continue to help organize events that are TRULY glorifying to God, not a worship of worship or a wallowing in sensual experienced-based "manifestiations" that open a person up to demonization!

If anyone who is receiving this newsletter does not know about Brownsville and other Third Wave organizations and their doctrines, now would be a good time to visit my web pages.11

You can also get a glimpse of the unethical and unbiblical doctrines of Brownsville A/G in the Saturday, October 10, 1998 edition of the Pacific Daily News on page 34 under the title "Father's faith, Florida revival couldn't bring girl back".  For more details on this story, check out the story linked on my web site called "Dead Baby Driven 350 Miles To Brownsville" by Pensacola News Journal, 9/20/1998.12

I hope this alert will help you decide whether or not to send your youth group to the Youth Alive concert or have your church support it.

In Christ,
Sandy Simpson

ENDNOTES

1   http://www.angelfire.com/me/youthalivefrenchvill/
2   http://www.ag.org/ministries/gen_format.cfm?root=3790
3   http://www.ag.org/info/wnn-wni/archived/9507/9507-01.htm (link now dead)
4   http://www.youthalive.org.au/nsw/bigevents.htm (links have since been removed)
5   http://www.masterpiece-ministries.org/rights.htm (link now dead)
6   http://ag.org/top/contact.cfm
7   http://www.pentecostal-issues.org/journal/brownsville/general.htm (link now dead)
8   http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/schism.htm
9   http://www.youthalive.org.au/national/links.htm (link now dead)
10  http://www.cth.com.au/usr/tensens/Links.htm (links have been removed)
11
12  http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/brownsville1.html
 

This article may be freely distributed in its original form.

UPDATE!  The Youth Alive N.S.W. concert was held and there were no wierd manifestations, at least not in the main auditorium!  We praise the Lord that our alert caused this Brownsville A/G affiliated group to hold itself back from doing what they intend to do sooner or later ... give a gnostic fleshly "impartation" to our youth in Guam and Micronesia.  Our youth have been protected for the time being.  However, pastors and youth leaders need to be aware that this is the introductory show.  Youth Alive clubs in schools and more events are scheduled.  The false doctrines of the Third Wave out of Brownsville, Toronto, RHEMA, Rodney Howard-Browne and Benny Hinn will manifest themselves more fully as time goes by.  Sound doctrine is not important to people in the Third Wave.  This is because the Word is not their final authority.

ADDENDUM - 2/02!  Since this article was written in 1998 Youth Alive has since officially acknowledged their connection with the Assemblies of God and has their official site on the AoG main web site. In 1998, because of Brownsville connections, they were trying to do ministry around the world without telling ANYONE about their affiliations with the AoG or Brownsville.  They came into Guam stating to everyone, till I asked them, that they were a "multi-denominational" group.  The fact is that they continue to be an entry level organization to the Third Wave gnostic revivals of Brownsville, Benny Hinn, etc.  The warning of this article still stands.  Watch out for orgnaizations with something to hide!