‘Sozo’ prayer brainwashing at charismaniac Open Skies Festival

2 Peter 2:1-2: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”

The summer months are a popular time for various ‘religious’ festivals to be held throughout the country.

While we are not able to focus on every single one of them, one which took place last weekend is of particular note.

That is the Open Skies Festival which was held in Shane’s Castle in Antrim town from Friday, 9 to Sunday, 11 August.

It is not just because of the heavy involvement of Bethel and Hillsong musicians.

It is not just because of the heavy involvement of the Belfast based Crown Jesus Ministries supremo known only by the matey moniker of ‘Mitch’ (pictured, top).

It is not just because of the heavy involvement of one of the Causeway Coast Vineyard lead pastors, Tre Sheppard (pictured, below) or indeed any of the other characters who were speaking at the festival.

While all those issues deserve highlighting individually and collectively, there is another, even more sinister and concerning aspect of this event.

That is a session which was held on the Saturday morning of the festival entitled, ‘Introduction to Sozo’.

No doubt, many will be asking, what is Sozo?

An article from the Christian Post, which plays, to use a cricketing analogy, with a straight bat throughout, giving both sides of the argument without taking any particular strong view, gives us some details, which we will reproduce at intervals throughout the article (you can read it in full by clicking here).

It says: “The Sozo ministry or Sozo prayer started in Redding, California, in 1997 by Bethel Church — a nondenominational charismatic megachurch. The idea was inspired after a healing evangelist, Randy Clark, held a prayer training at the church.”

Several alarm bells should be ringing already at this point.

Bethel Church, based in Redding, California, is a dreadful organisation replete with heresies, false teaching and extra biblical nonsense.

This is something we have already highlighted on ‘Protestant Revival’ and you can read about some of the heresies of Bethel, including attempted raisings from the dead and the disputed practice of ‘grave sucking’, by clicking here.

Another alarm bell should be attached to the name of Randy Clark, leader of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), which the likes of Open Skies and numerous churches we have featured are strongly influenced by.

He was a leader in what became known as the ‘Toronto Blessing’, the frightening movement which saw those falling under its spirit howling like dogs, laughing hysterically and rolling around the floor.

It is alleged by its practitioners that this is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work, but the spirit causing such dreadful manifestations is most certainly not holy.

Randy Clark, indeed, is said to have received his “anointing” in this ungodly delusion and deception by none other than the self-proclaimed Holy Ghost bartender Rodney Howard-Browne, a man whose heresy you can read of by clicking here.

The word ‘sozo’ is a Greek word, meaning ‘to save, keep safe and sound’. Using the language of the New Testament is another shallow effort by its creators to sound orthodox.

The Christian Post article continues: “The Bethel Sozo website describes Sozo ministry as ‘a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry aimed to get to the root of things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’.”

What hinders our relationship with God is sin, whether we are saved or unsaved. Confessing of our sin and living a blameless life for Him is what gives us a closer relationship with God.

We don’t need some charismatic delusion or gimmick to bring us closer to God, we need to study His Word and commune with Him in prayer ourselves.

The Christian Post article speaks to one keen practitioner of this heresy, a Paula Noble who is apparently an “Assemblies of God pastor” (1 Timothy 2:12).

Explaining how she handles sozo “appointments”, the article says “the person seeking inner healing meets with no less than two leaders, one who leads the Sozo prayer and another who records what God says throughout the meeting.”

This individual writes down what God apparently says to the “sozoee” and, even more remarkably, the pastor then tells them which bits of what the sozoee believe God is saying to them God is actually saying to them.

This Paula Noble says: “There’s a learning process for leaders too. [We need] discernment to say ‘that doesn’t sound like how Jesus would talk’ to someone because the enemy would totally try to sideline them.

“He’s never demeaning, He’s never harsh, and what He says always aligns with His word. So if the enemy tries to sideline a person and throw something else out there, I’m very quick to identify it.”

It’s very good of her to step in and let people know what God is saying to them.

She’s basically jumping in and saying: “No no, God isn’t telling you this bit. That’s actually the enemy (who is this enemy? If it’s the devil why can’t you say the devil?) The bit before, God was saying that nice bit, but this bit sounds a bit harsh, that’s not God.”

It is so obviously a nonsense and such a shameful, confused mess.

The point this woman is missing is that the entire practice does not “align with His Word”.

Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to consult a church leader of any sort to get them to tell us what God is telling us as we pray to Him.

We are told in God’s Word how to pray and how God hears us.

1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.

Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ help us as we pray, our mediator is Jesus Christ, not some self-appointed pastor and expert on a nonsense invented 20 years ago by a church which teaches all manner of heresy.

Think even of the Lord’s Prayer. Did Jesus say we ought to get a pastor or minister and a church elder to come in to the room with us and tell us what God is saying? Of course He didn’t.

Furthermore, this also creates the problem that the pastor advising the person praying has total control over them, having full authority over what that person believes is God’s will for their life.

And that brings us to the most frightening, sinister aspect of this whole thing – “divine editing”.

The Christian Post article says that Bethel has came up with six tools to make the sozo process more effective, one of which is divine editing.

This is what the article says: “Divine editing has also been linked to Dr. Aiko Hormann in relation to the Sozo prayer.

“‘If your childhood lacked nurturing, invite your Heavenly Father to fill in the voids created by lack of nurturing. He will ‘edit’ your memories — both ‘edit out’ painful memories and ‘edit in’ His nurturing,’ Hormann’s website describes.”

Brainwashing, then.

How else can you describe changing people’s memories?

What a frightening prospect.

You don’t like a memory from the past? Just wipe it out.

You want to put a happy spin on an unhappy memory? Just change it.

As well as brainwashing, it also sounds like hypnotism.

Another character interviewed who practices and leads sozo sessions said of her experience (a key word among the charismatic delusion):

“As the facilitator continued to prompt me with questions, I began to see the cross and Jesus with His hand out for me to grab.

“Eventually, Jesus wanted to take me up a staircase to see God but I was afraid. The facilitator prompted me to forgive my earthly father; I did. Then I was able to go up and see God, my daddy on the throne and even sit on His lap.”

Since then, she claims, she is able to “visit Jesus” as well as “snuggle and even dance” with God.

What on earth is this nonsense leading people into?

Where does it say in the Bible that we can sit on God’s knee for a cuddle or go for a dance with Him? The very notion is outrageous and blasphemous.

This nonsense ties in with the false, ungodly notion of so many alleged “Christians” today who view God as a sort of Santa Claus in the clouds.

Yet this is what the Open Skies Festival is encouraging every one of its attendees to get themselves tied up in.

May God have mercy on every single one of them and deliver them from such ungodliness.

Every single speaker at this festival ought to be ashamed of themselves and every single one is implicated in this wretched mess.

Those speakers were, in addition to Causeway Coast Vineyard’s Tre Sheppard and good old Mitch of Crown Jesus Ministries, Jonathan Martin of ‘The Table’ church in Oklahoma, American worship musicians Leeland Mooring and Jason Upton, Azman Khairuddin of Journey Community Church, Hillsong worship leader Benjamin Hastings and Dario Leal of 1st Ballynahinch Presbyterian Church.

To be part of a festival which introduces a form of prayer which is utterly unknown to the Word of God and includes brainwashing practices such as “divine editing” is repugnant.

We would urge everyone reading this to please share this widely to warn of this latest grave deception which no doubt will now be carried round many Pentecostal and non-denominational churches throughout Ulster.

Sozo has not made it round this neck of the woods yet, but this is the start of the latest lie which does harm to the cause of God in our land.

We are seeking to warn against it and urge you to do the same.

Let us not be silent or neutral in such a grave matter, but rather let us fervently and “earnestly contend for the faith” in this day in which we are called to live.

Green Pastures church welcomes in Bethel heretic ‘prophet’ Havilah Cunnington

2 Peter 2:1-2: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”

There is a proliferation of charismatic churches springing up and, on the face of it, prospering throughout Northern Ireland at present, and among the most notable of these is Green Pastures, based in the Ballymena area in County Antrim.

Like many of the more notable of these movements, leading figures within them have close familial links to very high ranking and well to do businessmen, and Green Pastures is no exception.

Lead pastor, Jeff Wright, is the son of Wrightbus founder, Sir William Wright, a major figure in Northern Ireland industry.

And that same business acumen is carried over into the church, as Green Pastures was able to stump up £4 million a number of years ago to purchase a huge 97 acre site just outside Ballymena.

As well as building a church there, the plans also include, according to the Belfast Telegraph, “social housing, a hotel, car showroom, riverside restaurants, an outdoor pursuits centre, a training and education centre, student accommodation, a nursing home, an all-weather football pitch and a wedding chapel.”

Plans to also build a supermarket had to be abandoned last year following an outcry from business owners in the town centre who were concerned that such a move would have a detrimental effect on businesses in the town.

Such work is apparently well under way, and last month they welcomed in a representative of another church which has created its own mini village format, Bethel Supernatural Ministries based in Redding in California.

Havilah Cunnington (Cunning-one, perhaps) is a leading figure in Bethel and claims to be a prophet. She is a character we featured previously on this page as she was one of the figures invited to the ‘Encounter More’ Conference ran by leading lights in the charismaniac deceit, Causeway Coast Vineyard last month.

And the night after she finished her run at Causeway Coast Vineyard, she was performing on stage at Green Pastures.

We will remind readers of how she is a profitable ‘prophet’.

Havilah Cunning-one offers a “Prophetic Personalities” course, in which she “teach[es] on four types of prophetic gifts, unleashing you into a bold life of hearing from Heaven.”

There we were thinking God spoke through His Word.

Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

This “Prophetic Personalities” course costs $49, apparently. It is odd that if Havilah Cunning-one is so keen for people to be “unleash[ed] into a bold life of hearing from heaven” she should put a price on it.

Mind you, for $49 you do get “added bonuses” such as a “Deep Dive Cheatsheet for each Personality Type, 30 days of Activations, Private Q&A for Students and Private Facebook Community.”

A bargain, we’re sure you will agree.

We also looked at that time at one of her great ‘prophecies’, featured in an online video, appropriately called “The Trash Can”, in which she spoke “prophetically over” attendees, telling them, rather illuminatingly, “some of you have been birthing something”.

Her tremendous word from God was nothing more than a generic statement which could just have easily been spoken by a fortune teller hoping to dupe the undiscerning.

And sadly it is such spiritual fortune tellers which are polluting pulpits up and down the land today, never mind the fact that Havilah Cunning-one is acting outside the bounds set by God.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 illustrates this clearly: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

We are told in God’s Word that we will know if someone is truly a prophet if their word comes true.

Deuteronomy 18:21-22: “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

How can anyone in any possible way judge if Havilah Cunnington’s prophecy is coming or will come true? It is so vague and generic you couldn’t possibly make that call.

You might just as well stand up at the front of a church gathering and say, “some of you are thinking of buying a new car”. It is self-evidently nonsense to trumpet it as prophesy.

The passage quoted above says we are not to “be afraid of him” (or her in this case) whose word does not come to pass.

That word “afraid” carries the meaning of “standing in awe” and how many people erroneously stand in awe of such false prophets as Havilah Cunnington?

How many people are lured in to this nonsense by churches such as Green Pastures?

In addition to Pastor Jeff Wright (pictured, above), there appears to be a number of other pastors, “many pastors” (Jeremiah 12:10) in fact, including Pastor Barry Weir, ‘Pastor’ Karen Weir, Pastor Jonny Mullan, Pastor Trevor Dunlop and Pastor Jason Kennedy.

These individuals do a great disservice to the people under their direction by recommending a false prophet to them.

Indeed, there is much to be concerned about with Green Pastures Church.

There are the standard, but no less offensive to God, marks of God defiance present in so many such churches such as the rock music, absence of head covering for females and the eschewing of respectful dress for church, traditional hymns, the Authorised Version of the Bible and proper, Biblical gender roles within the church.

A look at their website also shows that their youth groups are called RIOT and Revolution, which are hardly the sort of things you would want to be promoting, and they even run classes on how to worship God through dance.

This is quite clearly a church which has incorporated the world so as to make it attractive to the world.

And this is quite obvious when they bring in Havilah Cunnington, a senior figure in Bethel Ministries, which claims extra-Biblical revelation and where some of its ministry students have visited morgues to try to raise people from the dead.

We would urge readers to avoid Green Pastures at all costs and not to be taken in by their charismatic blend of matiness, worldly entertainment and pre-service cups of coffee.

1 Corinthians 1:17-18: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

‘Encounter More’ heretics as Bethel Ministries take centre stage at Causeway Coast Vineyard conference

The Causeway Coast Vineyard Church, based in Coleraine on the north coast of Northern Ireland, is hosting a conference later this month featuring representatives of the anti-Christian Bethel Movement, as well as other Bible rejecting speakers.

Some of the leading figures of Bethel Church, which, in the light of God’s Word falls well short of that which is commendable or acceptable, will be taking part in the three day conference, running from Thursday, 23 to Saturday, 25 May.

The Bethel Movement is a frankly outrageous church, whose manifold blasphemies are so obvious it is hard to imagine any true child of God being taken in by them.

From encouraging students at its ‘Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry’ going to a morgue to try to raise people from the dead (yes, you read that correctly) to claiming God manifests Himself at their meetings through the medium of gold dust and feathers (yes, you also read that correctly), it is plain to see this is a church which does not over burden itself with acquainting itself with the Word of God.

Throw into the mix the disputed claims of ‘grave sucking’ and the promotion of extra biblical revelation, and you have a church which is fearfully at odds with God’s Word.

While Bill Johnson, the leader of Bethel, denies the ‘grave sucking’ claims, this is what he wrote in his book, ‘The Physics of Heaven’.

He said: “There are anointings, mantles, revelations and mysteries that have lain unclaimed, literally where they were left, because the generation that walked in them never passed them on. I believe it’s possible for us to recover realms of anointing, realms of insight, realms of God that have been untended for decades simply by choosing to reclaim them and perpetuate them for future generations.”

Now where exactly does Bill Johnson get this belief from? It’s not from the Bible, anyway.

It must be from his own imagination, he has not troubled himself to study what the Word of God has to say.

This attitude can be summed up quite neatly in the words of Jeremiah 23:16-18, which read: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?”

Does not the like of Bethel preach an endlessly positive message, telling everyone in attendance how great God thinks they are and what big plans He has for each of their lives? It doesn’t matter whether they’re truly saved or not, they’ll still be getting this message of peace and “radical” or “reckless” love from the motivational speaker, sorry, preacher, up at the front.

Now, does Causeway Coast Vineyard Church believe “anointings, mantles, revelations and mysteries have lain unclaimed” because the dead didn’t pass them on before they breathed their last?

Do they? If so, they should admit they agree with this pagan belief and, if not, why on earth are they inviting such heretics to their church?

The lead pastors at Causeway Coast Vineyard Church are husband and wife duo, Neil and Janet Young (pictured, above) (1 Timothy 2:11-12). Its associate pastor is Tre Sheppard.

Do they believe this?

How about another of that church’s leading figures, ‘Papist’ Peter Lynas (pictured, below), a brazen, determined ecumenist who is leader of the allegedly Evangelical Alliance?

Does ‘Papist’ Peter Lynas believe this? He is more than welcome to contact us on our Facebook page to clarify his position. He has been fond in the past of contacting our page but always seems to lose interest in speaking when directly confronted with and questioned about his ecumenical compromise. You can read about his ecumenical antics by clicking here.

The Bethel representatives to descend on Coleraine in just under two weeks’ time are Havilah Cunnington (pictured, top) and Jeremy Riddle.

One of the key weapons of intoxication utilised by Bethel is that of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), which they use to appeal to the senses, and Jeremy Riddle is a leading figure in this movement.

Interestingly, he was formerly associated with the Anaheim Vineyard Church, which just so happens to be where the former lead pastor of Causeway Coast Vineyard Church, Alan Scott, is now spreading his ungodly gospel.

Regular readers may remember Alan Scott is the one who, while at Causeway Coast Vineyard Church, said he was “all in” with the Pope and made light of the blasphemous Romish practice of Mariolatry. You can read about that by clicking here.

Havilah Cunnington, meanwhile, is apparently a preacher, showing, like Janet Young of Causeway Coast Vineyard Church, her utter disregard for the Word of God, which prohibits women preachers, despite what lies Bible twisters try to come up with to claim to the contrary.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 says: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

Havilah Cunnington apparently offers a “Prophetic Personalities” course, in which she “teach[es] on four types of prophetic gifts, unleashing you into a bold life of hearing from Heaven.”

For just $49 (it’s amazing how these things are so much more expensive than salvation, which is free) you will also receive “added bonuses” such as a “Deep Dive Cheatsheet for each Personality Type, 30 days of Activations, Private Q&A for Students and Private Facebook Community.”

Where do we sign up?

Havilah Cunnington claims to be a prophet, and here is an example of her “prophecy” from a YouTube clip called “The Trash Can”, which, incidentally, is where we would recommend as the best place for any of her offerings.

“There is (sic) some of you in this season right now where you have been birthing something, and I’m going to say this prophetically over you and just look at me for a minute because I just believe this is going to go straight to your spirit.

“Some of you have been birthing something and you have spent years birthing it and you’re in a season where you’re like, ‘I don’t want to do this any more’.

“I remember this very clearly, two and a half… (corrects herself, maybe not so clearly!) three years ago, I was sitting in my living room and I was crying, I was saying, ‘God, I don’t want to do this any more, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not sure I can do this any more. I’m carrying this dream within me to do more and my life is so hidden, it’s so not what I was hoping it would be’.

“And there’s a season of transition where if we will hold on and do what we were created to do, which is birth God’s dreams, listen, you were created to birth God’s dreams.

“Your spirit will tell you what to do, just like your body will tell you what to do. I’m saying to you, look at me, trust your spirit. Your spirit knows how to birth the things God’s put within you.”

That certainly puts Elijah, Isaiah, Hosea et al in the shade, doesn’t it?

We were created to “birth God’s dreams”?

God has a divine will for each of His children, but where does she get the idea that God has dreams?

God fulfils His will, He doesn’t sit about hoping Havilah Cunnington or some of her poor deluded disciples will do Him a big favour and help Him fulfil these dreams or aspirations.

God ensures His will will be done, regardless of the devices of men.

As for Havilah Cunnington’s “prophecy”, it amounts to nothing more than what one might expect from a fortune teller or a horoscope, speaking in such vague generalities.

“Some of you have been birthing something” is her great prophetic revelation.

Were these the sort of prophesies recorded in the Bible?

Let’s look at some of the prophesies regarding the Lord Jesus Christ within Scripture.

Jesus’ birthplace was prophesied.

Micah 5:2: “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

The Bible itself attests, through Micah, that Bethlehem is one of thousands of areas where Jesus could have been born, but it was prophesied He would be born there.

Jesus’ earthly lineage was prophesied.

Isaiah 11:1: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots…”

The prophet Isaiah said that Jesus would come of the line of Jesse, from the line of King David.

The price of Jesus’ betrayal was prophesied.

Zechariah 11:12: “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.”

Zechariah prophesied that Jesus would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.

These are all specific things, aren’t they?

Micah, Isaiah or Zechariah didn’t say, “God has told me at some point in the future a man will come and do great things”, they said that Jesus would come to this earth, born in a specific tiny village, a descendant of David and he would be betrayed for a very specific amount of money.

They didn’t deal in vague generalities and they didn’t tell everyone they could be a prophet too if they bought a ‘how to’ manual for 49 shekels.

We trust, dear reader, this highlights how far removed Bethel Ministries and its speakers are from proper Biblical truth, and we would implore you to share this widely to help warn people off from going to this dreadful conference of rank apostasy.

And, if you are planning to attend this conference, won’t you even reconsider and pray to God that He will bring to your realisation how such an event is so far removed from being honouring to Him that it is actually outright offensive to Him.

For any reader, we would ask you to pray that such movements would be brought to nought and that such venues of false worship would be cast down and replaced with churches where God is truly lifted up and exalted.