Tuesday 30 October 2018

Mitch and Fellow Elders Removed from IWWB


In a recent development, it seems that Mitch and three of his "elder" compatriots are on the verge of being kicked out of the IWWB fellowship by none other than Mike himself. I knew the day would come when some ridiculous argument about the semantics of the scriptures would undo Mike's band of bible-thumping half-wits. It appears that day has finally arrived.

The Four Horseman of the 2018 IWWB Apocalypse 

Many years ago, I was told by a guy who knew Mitch personally that "the day will come when Mitch will try and kick Mike out of his own fellowship..." This person hosted IWWB studies back in the day, with Mitch in attendance. In due course, Mitch (who was egged on and gaslighted by Mike Vinson) dismantled this home study group over the ridiculous "days, months, times and years" doctrine. Anyway, the prophesied day has finally arrived. 

To break this down, there are four "elders" of this new IWWB heretical apocalypse: 
  • Mitch Kuhn -- rich kid boy elder who has played the IWWB "bad cop" for years
  • Victor -- some guy who constantly sounds like he is on the verge of tears or an emotional breakdown
  • Ayo -- philandering former Muslim
  • Pete Wilson -- redneck bible-thumper who married into the cult by way of divorcing his wife and disowning his children
The grievous sin of the accused? Together, they have authored and argued for the validity of a document on the "lake of fire" that runs counter to Mike's official position on the subject. Bizarrely, this alleged heretical teaching has been on Mike's website since 2011 -- seven years at this point -- and moreover, was proof-read by none other than Mike Vinson's wife Sandi. Hmm... What does that say about Sandi? 

Really, this speaks volumes about the "one mind" of Jesus Christ that Mike (and Mitch) loves to sprout forth about, and that he claims is evident within his IWWB fellowship. What a complete and utter joke! Here is Mike explaining the situation to his fellowship:
This entire discussion arose from me expressing to Mitch on October the 5th that I wanted to ask Ayo to change the title of his paper, Partakers of The Second Death to Partakers of The FIRE of The Second Death so as to keep our doctrine in line with the Lord's promise to those who are being judged in this age that they would not be hurt of the second death, which is the lake of fire... 
I just want to let everyone know that I did not know back in 2011 that Mitch and Ayo had told Dennis McGhee that we must partake of the second death, and I certainly did not know that Ayo's paper which I read over and which Sandi proof read entitled Partakers of The Second Death taught that doctrine or I would never have posted it... 
I honestly thought that paper was on board with the above verses of scripture and that it taught that we would not be hurt of the second death. I honestly thought that was the case...

From the post above, you can see that Mike's strategy for this being bought to his attention, and excusing a heretical doctrine that has been on his website for seven years and... that his wife proof-read (?!) is to, wait for it... plead ignorance and say he's not really the one at fault. Of course! 

In reality, Mike is herein admitting to being an inept and incompetent overseer of god's supposed flock. 

The Lake of Fire?

If you're interested in what's really going on, the theological division at stake apparently arises out of semantics relating to the phrase "lake of fire," and whether god's (so-called) elect experience the lake of fire now, in this life. Here is camp-Vinson life member Steve Crook giving an overview of the situation:




Mike says that phrases such as "lake of fire" and "great white throne judgement" are only future events. In other words, Mike holds to an eschatological point of view on particular topics, this being one of them. Here are Mike's words verbatim:
[Mike Vinson] No, Mitch, "the is application" is the fiery trials the elect are experiencing now. The holy spirit tells us that in 1 Peter 4:12. It does not tells us we are experiencing the lake of fire. There is no present, is application for the phrase lake of fire any more than there is a present is application for the great white throne, because neither exists until after "the thousand years are expired..."
Mitch and his three side-kicks on the other hand believe that these phrases (i.e. lake of fire, great white throne judgement etc.) have an "is" meaning that is lived out in the life of god's so-called elect now. In other words, Mitch and his cronies are seeing past Mike's limited literalism. Here is what they say:
[Ayo] Mike, I agree with Mitch here that the way you have written about the lake of fire in these present discussions is that you are now seeing it as only a future event for those elect of God, an outward event that is being arranged and will take place at some future time and has no current application now. And as we do ‘see’ it’s fulfilment in our lives now, this goes against the truth, is contending with Christ and is not “a pattern of sound words”
So that's the nub of the matter. As I said in the introduction, it all comes down to biblical semantics and arguing over words that nobody (least of all, anybody in IWWB) can determine [1] who the authors are, [2] when the words were written or [3] whether we have the original manuscripts. 

To make matters even more ridiculous, one hapless IWWB acolyte (Grant) points out that there are four dissenting elders spreading this "cancerous doctrine" while there are seven faithful elders who are resisting its spread. Okay?
It is interesting that there are 4 pending dissidents –- Mitch, Ayo, Pete and Victor and 7 faithful elders, Mike, Steven, Tony, Larry, Aaron, Bobby and Dennis = 11 and is the ruin and disintegration for the perfection of the flesh = perdition. It is very interesting that the false doctrine currently in contention has been cancerously lingering for 11 years (on the website). 
Brother Grant (a sold-out Mike Vinson boot-licker from what I can determine thus far) is incorrect about 11 years, it's actually been 7. Hmm, I wonder what this spiritually signifies??? LOL.

Honestly, I don't have the patience (or time) these days to read the endless spray of biblical clap-trap (i.e. walls of poorly written text) that these men like to throw up as "doctrine" but it has been interesting to observe the responses and how quickly Mitch has been thrown under the bus by his once loving brothers and sisters. 

Really, it all goes to show how shallow these folks are, and that they are in love with doctrine (words on paper and belief systems) and not people. They don't even know who wrote the words of the bible and even if we accept that the 66 books of the bible are indeed god-inspired writings, the fact remains that they were given to others as revelation and not directly to Mike Vinson or anyone else within the IWWB cult. 

So all of the arguing and in-fighting is over revelation (if that's what it really is?) that was given to another person. Let that sink in! This is absurdity and confusion at its finest. What does the bible say about confusion again?

Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

Moving on, Mike it seems has done his usual trick of playing the victim and mis-representing his opponent. These are classic cult-leader moves that he has perfected over many years now. Mitch isn't taking too kindly to this treatment and had this to say about the whole thing:
For quite some time now, our dear brother Mike has been saying and writing things about us that are not true. He has been putting words in our mouth and then using those false accusations to condemn what we are saying from the scriptures... Mike has been a great servant of God to us for many years, and people trust him. It is hard to believe, that God has sent a spirit in him to falsely accuse us over and over again and misrepresent what we believe and teach... 

Mitch says it's hard to believe? I guess Mitch isn't used to being on the receiving end of such treatment. What's that saying about Karma again? Hmm, it does rhyme with "Mitch" -- it's a real bitch ain't it? Here's Mike and Mitch discussing the email that Mitch sent out above. Take note of the sub-text and passive aggressive tone that both display toward one another:



In an email about this and in reference to a 5 hour (really?!) web-based live discussion wherein he felt attacked and belittled, Mike pushes back against his treatment by the heretical four elders named above and declares they to be no longer part of the body of Christ:

After the five hours of off and on attacks I endured Saturday and after Mitch's email to [name withheld] in which he urged you all to stop me from teaching heresy, it is past time for the seven faithful elders to put these four men, Mitch, Pete, Ayo and Victor, out of this fellowship as they have openly asked you to put a stop to my teaching...

Vinson also took aim at Pete Wilson who I must admit, does come across as a smug redneck asshole on the audio calls:
Thank you Pete for letting us all know that you have no intention of giving an inch in this discussion. I really do appreciate your honesty... This arrogant spirit has permeated everything that has been coming from the four of you. According to you, we are wrong and you are right and if we do not see these new doctrines then we are denying the Word of God. As Dennis said, this is not the spirit of Christ speaking, and it is a mistake for me to fail to point this out. This is the height of arrogance, and it does not serve to further this discussion...
Pete speaks down to me, and Mitch speaks dismissively of me. It is manifestly obvious that there is no room for heresies in the body of Christ. They are openly calling our teaching heresies and I certainly know their doctrine is not the doctrine of Christ. This has been going on behind the scene for nearly a month, and the divide  grows wider by the day, and the damage to the Lord's flock is greater by the day. I have many already asking me if they should boycott the teachings by the four and my answer is if you are not hearing the voice of the shepherd then of course you should flee from him...
They said openly Saturday that I have been teaching heresy for years and that I should be stopped from doing so. The time has come to put them out of our fellowship. I am in the process of answering your last email but it will take longer than I can do tonight... 

One Hundred and Eighty Degrees

One thing worth pointing out is that Mike has apparently changed his stance on the "is" application of scripture. It used to be that Mike was adamant that every jot and tittle of the bible was to be understood as taking place within each person. This included both the good and bad elements. 

On that note, here is Mike responding to an IWWB member on a study and discussing the recent doctrinal blowup. Here, Mike answers a question about which parts of the bible one is meant to apply inwardly: 



In the audio above, Mike now says the following: 
  • There are "limits" to living by every word of God
  • He specifically states "there are a lot of words that don't apply to me..." 
  • Mike confirms that living by every word of god is not an "absolute" scriptural truth
  • Toward the end, Vinson confirms his statements outlined above are "demonstrably true"
And as the IWWB acolyte states, this is "totally new" information to him, and accordingly, sounds quite bewildered by the conversation. And in-fact, this entire line of reasoning was the root cause of the breakdown between Mike Vinson and Ray Smith many years ago. Here is an audio snippet of Mike now admitting he was totally wrong to use the phrase "lake of fire" to describe the fiery trials of the elect --



If you didn't catch it, Mike now actually agrees with Ray Smith! Mike's new position is that of dispensationalism. If you put Mike from 10 years ago into a room with Mike today, they'd both be casting the other out the door and calling each a heretic who does not know the voice of the true shepherd. To clarify the above, here is what Ray Smith had to say about Mike's writings on Revelation, and this specific topic:
Mike and I said for years that we are "going through OUR lake of fire now," but in so saying, we also agreed that our trials are not even called a lake of fire, and therefore we would not call our judgment THE lake of fire when we teach on this subject. We both understood perfectly that we go through our lake of fire only IN TYPE...
Mike asked: "What part of Revelation is NOT for us?" And he shouted it a second time, as if no one would dare suggest that there are any parts of Revelation which we must not all experience...

So in the above two quotes, Ray explains that Mike's old position was in agreement with his, and that they ought NOT to refer to fiery trials as "the lake of fire." However, at the time of the blowup between Ray and Mike, Mike changed his position and started asking which part of the book of Revelation was not for them to keep? In other words, implying that WE ALL go through the lake of fire, as well as everything else written therein. This included god's wrath, the seven plagues and much more. 

This teaching of Mike's and his move away from literalism/dispensationalism is what caused the initial split with Ray Smith. At the time, Mike would have argued that he was seeing beyond the letter of the words written and truly understanding the spirit. 

Here again are Ray Smith's words regarding this doctrine of Mike's from well over 10 years ago:
I would not have a problem with Mike applying wrath to any ungodly, unconverted, deceived unbeliever, and that includes those of us who were such in time past. But Mike does not teach this wrath as something in our unconverted past, but rather in our PRESENT WALK WITH GOD IN FAITH, AS GOD’S ELECT, and that my friends is unscriptural. That is sheer heresy...

So as you can see, the fallout with Ray Smith back in 2006-2007 was over the "is" application of verses that Ray considered to be a later event, i.e. Ray held to an eschatological point of view on this topic AS MIKE NOW DOES. Sweet Jesus, what a lot of stupidity and nonsense -- are you keeping up? 

However, this begs the question: 
  • Will Mike now go back and repent to what is left of Ray's fellowship, and solicit their forgiveness for his heretical teachings all these years, and for his treatment of Ray Smith?
  • How many people did Mike put out over his old interpretation of this doctrine? 
  • Will he go back to each individual and apologise as well? 
  • If Mike was wrong about this, what else is he wrong about that he is yet to realise?
  • How can someone claim to have the truth to the exclusion of all other movements when their doctrine keeps changing back and forth like this?
It would appear that father Mike truly is led of the evil one (i.e. the deceiver and accuser) and speaks with the forked tongue of his father the devil, as he has been rightly labelled by the four dissident elders. Mike is very persuasive and his new breed of elders are doe-eyed weak-willed men who turn wheresoever he wills them. Accordingly, Steve Crook (Mike's long time webmaster) has also embraced literalism and now states that he has never taught an inward application of the verses in question:




Would you expect anything else from Steve? Of course not! One member of the IWWB fellowship (Ernesto) actually had the balls to ask everyone about the above issues, in a post titled "IWWB Articles With Heresy" --
If God's wrath was not poured out on Christ, then will the articles on the IWWB website stating that he does undergo God's wrath be taken down?
There are some who stopped believing that God's wrath is not poured out on him... There are many pieces on the IWWB telling people that Christ goes through the lake of fire/God's wrath; but now they are being told different. 
Unless God's wrath stopped being the lake of Fire. The website and the 7 elders are saying two different things; Are the spirits behind the letters different today than they were when the writings were first posted? If no one wants to answer, then that is okay; but I would like some clarity on this issue.

Another brother called "Tom" believes that Mike Vinson has become prideful and has assumed leadership of the flock of god. His letter (see the snippet below) was sent out via Mitch Kuhn. Moreover, this individual accuses Mike of attempting to lynch the four heretical horseman without due process, and asks Mike to repent, or risk being excluded from fellowship:
The lot has fallen on our brother and leader Mike Vinson and the accursed thing taken was power, a son of pride. Power belongs to God alone. You were going to sacrifice and “lynch” four innocent elders to maintain control. You cover yourself with the robe of authority that you were lent as by our lord Christ. We all saw it. We, The Body, ask you Mike to repent and be restored to fellowship of the saints. If you maintain your innocence, We the Body must break fellowship you and those that support you...
The drama outlined above just highlights the absurdity of attempting to harmonise every single word of the 66 books of the bible into one complete narrative. You can see from this that Mike is forced to constantly shift and change his position over the days, months, years and decades as new details and certain emphasis on particular verses comes to light. 

Jesus Wept?

One does wonder where Mike and Mitch's often touted "one-mind of Jesus Christ" is right now? Both men (and many other supposed elders) arrogantly declared for many years that the doctrinal unity within IWWB was the proof-text of this principle at work. Mike is very fond of the phrase "out of your own mouth you shall be judged..." Well, right back at you, Mike... 

With all the infighting, name-calling, back and forth walls of text and doctrinal disputes, this "one-mind" appears to have checked the fuck out of IWWB and moved onto greener pastures. In-fact, brother "Tom" (referenced above) openly admits that this is the case, as follows:
Do we all recognize this spiritual warfare that permeates the entire atmosphere of the body of Christ? Someone has touched the unclean thing in the camp. The atmosphere is toxic, the Body cannot worship and praise our God as we should, we are all suspicious of each other. We all line up on our own side...

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. But presently, it appears that Mitch, Ayo, Victor and Pete have dug themselves a serious hole. The only way out would be for each of them to openly repent and fall prostrate at Mike and the seven elders feet and beg long and loud for mercy. Mike would delight in this, I'm sure. It would firm up his authority within the fellowship and stroke his very fragile ego. 

At the end of the day, it really is Mike's fellowship and the four should have known better. Who is the ringleader here? I suspect it may be Mitch. Mitch isn't nearly as smart as he likes to think he is and probably hasn't twigged to the reality of the situation he now finds himself in, and may be considering his options, moving forward. Who knows?

Even if the four horseman do recant on their doctrines, they may be relegated to non-elder status after the fact. No leading studies or throwing up walls of text for you! That may be too harsh a punishment for the ego of at least Mitch and Pete, who see themselves as big-league authorities on the "true" word of god with many miles on the clock.

All of the above just demonstrates that Mike and band of sycophants are just another cult-group desperately trying to figure it all out on the fly. They really are nothing special, despite their protestations to the contrary. 

Update #1

It appears that the seven elders of IWWB (as they now refer to themselves) have pronounced swift judgment upon Mitch and his associates, and any who are in agreement with them. In an email sent out within the past 24 hours, Mike says the following:
I will go no further at this time in pointing out what we believe. Our differences have been made clear, and the efforts to come together in doctrine have been made unfruitful… The Lord has seen fit to bring this separation about…
The Lord has revealed to the seven of your elders that we must now move on in His service and no longer allow the doctrine that we are saved by the resurrection of judgment, the second death, which is the lake of fire, to leaven our spiritual house…
So as of tonight, we seven of your elders, Larry Groenewald, Bobby Lynch, Steve Crook, Dennis Crabtree, Tony Cullen, and Aaron Lohman and me, have been led to put this false doctrine out of our spiritual house… We must be obedient to our Lord and do as we are commanded when we are shown that there are those in the Lord's house who are not abiding in His doctrine. As of tonight we have already created a new webinar address, and we have already used it for a few of our fellowships.
Mike then arrogantly signs off his email with:
The elders of the body of Christ
THE elders? Really?

One person on the mailing list pointed out that Mike's treatment of Mitch and co. has been poor, and is prejudiced towards total control of the outcome. Here is what this individual (Brutha Dee) had to say:
Over 50 people attended Mike's Sunday study last week where Mike liberally presented his and the other six teacher's doctrine without any interruption or disruption. During the comment portion after the study, Mitch requested to be given a forum to present the case of the four teachers... Mike protested and said that he had a part 2 to his study... Mitch was promised to be given the Sunday after next to present his and the other's case...
During the comments of last Sunday's study, one of the seven teachers came on to read a rather lengthy written dialogue that declared Mitch and the other three teachers have already proven to be heretics, and therefore deserve NO forum to present their case: “my mind is made up," said the teacher... It was still agreed that Mitch would be given airtime on the Sunday after next. 
I was talking to the same teacher who had labeled Mitch and the three other teachers "heretics" on the following day, and was told to me by him: “if anyone even GOES to Mitch's talk and listens to him, they are declaring that they are of the camp of Korah." I asked him if he truly meant what he said, and he declared "without a doubt." He then said, "they have already spoken through the emails and it's clear that they are heretics."
Now, it has officially been declared to those who are embracing the true doctrine of Christ. Just like that: no trial and no jury.

Honestly, did anyone really expect a different outcome here? Mike's IWWB cult is all about Mike Vinson. He isn't going to cede control to Mitch or anyone else for that matter. 

Update #2

Vinson has posted a new article titled Growing in Grace and Knowledge Through Obedience to Christ



The body of the article largely consists of Vinson giving himself and his elders a free pass for changing a seven year doctrine and now disagreeing with Kuhn and co. Without even realising it, Mike is now pissing all over his previous foolish and arrogant assertion that he and Mitch (and the other elders) possessed the one mind of Jesus Christ. Truly hilarious.

Mike also makes many sad and pathetic attempts to shoehorn his own cult-groups theological shenanigans into the pages of the bible, and frequently compares the most recent goings-on with that of Peter and Paul. 🤦 

Not surprisingly, Mike offers not a single word about the role that his wife Sandi played, in that she proof-read the (supposed) heretical article and posted it to the webpage. Mike also states that he has begun the "purge" of the IWWB mailing list. Here are his words --
Today is the day on which our elders have agreed that we must purge those who are teaching the doctrine of God’s elect being hurt of the second death from the midst of those who do not accept that doctrine.
Today is the day that we are purging the Lord’s house of the leaven He has placed within it, and we look forward to sweet fellowship with all whom the Lord gives to us. Let Steve Crook or Sandi know where you think you are hearing the voice of the True Shepherd, and we will either add you to our fellowship or purge you from our midst as you let us know...

I found the word "purge" rather amusing. It's typical Vinson rhetoric, designed to prejudice his audience into his own way of reasoning and blacklist his opponent. Here is a Wikipedia article discussing use of this term:
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team owners, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an effort is labeled as purging itself... 
So the term carries connotations of hierarchical structures removing those they take issue with. Oh dear, without realising it, Mike has again outed himself as nothing more than a cult leader! Mike also appears to play fast and loose with the truth, by saying that the elders are happy to give the sheeple time to consider the matter. 

Here is what Mike says:
We are being accused of not giving the flock time to weigh these matters, but we all know that is not true and that no one has ever told anyone they must make an immediate decision on these very weighty matters. Certainly none of the seven elders who have remained faithful to the doctrine that the good and wise are resurrected to life, and the evil are resurrected to judgment...
Contrast this statement of Mike's with that of another brother (Brutha Dee) under sub-heading "Update #1" above. It would appear that someone is lying and my money is on Vinson! 

There is however one statement on Mike's new article I can completely agree with. Mike says "we have never taken credit for even so much as our sins..." Could not agree more here Mike! A lack of accountability and an unwillingness to accept responsibility for your actions has been the hallmark of your delusional ministry.