Beware of False Prophets: Steve Foss

I have been advised to not post any videos by this person because, if people view the videos, they might want to view more of the Foss videos. However, having been drawn into an addictive cycle of involvement in abusive groups following my involvement in Foss's RAD NITE group in 1989-1990, I wanted to try to save other people from that sort of thing.

I first met Steve Foss in 1989, three years after he "accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior." He had been a diligent student of Morris Cerullo for the whole three years and was trying to spread Cerullo's take on the Gospel to as many people as possible.

Steve had been a high-school drop-out, having gotten into so much trouble from rebelling against authority (and from doing drugs) that he was told he was inelligible for graduation when he was just 6 credits away from meeting the graduation requirements. He was so rebellious that he refused to enroll in summer classes in order to complete the requirements. However, not long after that, some friends of his invited him to attend a Morris Cerullo conference; and he became addicted to the psychological highs he got from that. This is also when he went forward to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He immediately became a devout disciple of Cerullo, listening to Cerullo's tapes for several hours per day. He also completed his GED so that he could enroll in seminary and begin training for ministry. However, he refused to go very far through seminary because he didn't like what the seminary psychology books said about demons. He hasn't spoken well of seminary ever since (he calls seminaries "cemetaries"). He has looked down on people educated through seminaries, as well as people who refuse to go through his discipleship course. He even speaks badly about people in other churches where the discipleship program is very remarkably similar to the one he leads (Kip McKean's Intrnational Churches of Christ and International Christian Churches). And he teaches his students to do the same.

In January, 1990, I went with several other RAD NITE people to a relatively local Morris Cerullo conference where the mother of another RAD NITE student was an altar worker. She prayed with me, claiming complete healing from insulin-dependent diabetes. Now, I have had diabetes for most of my life; and I haven't met any diabetic who wasn't and isn't hoping for a cure. As a high school student, my desire for a cure was at least as strong as anybody else's desire, because I wanted to fit in with my peers; and, at that age, that meant not having health problems. I still hope for a cure, but now that's for different reasons: Nobody will insure a diabetic (unless required by law to do so), I am still too thin for glucose sensors and insulin delivery devices (though, obviously, taking insulin beats dying from diabetic keto-acidosis). I can't gain weight in the right places no matter how hard I try; and when I do gain a weight, I have other problems. I never have had the right kind of body for diabetes (or cerebral palsy or scoliosis or any of my other many health problems). Thus I was a prime candidate for Morris Cerullo's (and Steve Foss's) brand of faith healing. I went to the conference in January, 1990, believed the altar worker when she declared me completely healed of diabetes and subsequently tried to discontinue my use of insulin. I went without insulin for 3.5 days before having to be rushed to the nearest emergency room with severe dehydration, uncontrollable vomiting, etc., etc., etc. I was pretty close to dead by then; and I still tried to argue with the ER doctor that God had healed me of diabetes. The doctor won the argument; but I still refused to believe that I remained insulin-dependent. My plan was that, immediately after returning home, I would again go off of my insulin to prove my faith. Fortunately, God got my attention. While I didn't want to believe (at that time) that He, indeed, does work through healthcare professionals, I couldn't really say or do much for the several days that I was in the hospital. Somehow God managed to convince me that staying on my insulin as prescribed in no way was an indication of a lack of faith in Him. He would eventually convince me that I don't need to prove my faith to Him at all. He knows all things. And He is far more interested in my spiritual and psychological healing than in my physical heaing because my soul and spirit are eternal; and my sick, disabled body is only temporal. Yes, God can heal people physically, as well as psychologically and spiritually; and He will eventually heal all of His children in every way. There are times when He heals people instantly through prayer and the laying-on-of-hands. Most of the time, He heals people medically (through surgery or other medical means). All the time, He heals people ultimately (by taking people to Heaven). Sometimes He uses a combination of healing by giving healthcare professionals knowledge that just comes to them while they are helping a patient. Whatever way God chooses to heal a person, He always confirms the healing to the patient or the patient's family, through the patient's healthcare team. I occasionally go to a faith-healing meeting and chat with people after the service; and I tell them about my own experience and plead with them to see God's different ways of healing His children. Hopefully, they listen and save themselves the unnecessary pain and close calls with death that so many people have had. Hopefully, their lives are spared. Hopefully, their faith not only survives but thrives. Hopefully, they draw closer to God through all that they go through, rather than running away from Him. Hopefully, they see that He wants to be in close relationship with them and that He isn't about religion but about relationship. Hopefully, they will find themselves experiencing His unimaginably deep and unconditional love for them, no matter what their circumstances.

In 2007, somebody sat next to me in church and told me I needed deliverance. I was a very broken person at that time. I had beeen badly abused in every imaginable way by then; and I was very vulnerable. I thought the lady had the answer I was looking for. So I agreed to have her over at my apartment that June to pray with me for as long as it took for me to find complete deliverance. She told me I had demons I didn't even realize existed; and she claimed that there were objects in my apartment that were cursed and demonically influenced. She and I prayed for my deliverance for six hours (this was more than two years after I spent nine hours in prayer with other deliverance ministers); and she finally declared me completely free. Near the end of the prayer session, she recommended that I give Steve Foss another chance. As an adult, I could do that without getting into too much trouble with my family; and I gave him another chance. By this time, he had a far wider-reaching influence than before. In the late 1980's, he only had a small youth group. By 2007, he had an international influence, reaching millions of people around the world and boasting that his discipleship course has been "completed by over 100,000 worldwide." I jumped right in. I took the course in a matter of two or three months, when it was designed to be taken over the course of a year. I did note that Foss still speaks badly of churches and church leaders who have not taken his course; but I let that slide. I even purchased three of his second-year courses. And it was in one of the lessons in one of those courses that God opened my eyes again. On Disc 2, Lesson 5, of "Fear Man or Fear God," Steve said that Jesus Christ lived a sinful life. I thought that, certainly, this must have been a verbal slip. Certainly, Steve meant to say that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; but I listened again and again and again; and he did indeed say that Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, lived a sinful life. Two days later, I emailed him and his assistant Pamela Beauvais about this. I said that I only brought up that issue because Steve made a major mistake. My email was ignored. I went to a Carriers of the Glory Bible conference in Keller, TX, the very next month. It was late when I finally had a chance to talk with Pamela about this. I would have talked with Steve; but he was very busy, and I was too tired to wait around until he ceased to be busy. So I talked with Pamela; and I asked her if she and Steve had received my email regarding the serious mistake. She said they had; and I asked her what they were going to do about it. I thought it would be great if they could edit out the mistake and edit in what is supposed to be there, or at least post a disclaimer to their Website or send out a disclaimer with every copy of "Fear Man or Fear God" saying that Steve had made a mistake. However, all she did (with Steve's auhority and authorization) was to say, "When someone is under such a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit, sometimes they lose control of themselves and make mistakes." So, basically, Steve said Jesus Christ lived a sinful life, and Pamela blamed the Holy Spirit for the mistake. I wonder what they will say about God, the Father. I don't know why; but I continued my financial support of Steve Foss "Ministries" for 16 months after that before I finally came to my senses again and stopped. They sent me a letter every month thanking me for my donation (and asking for more), along with a CD which gave me a psychological high but did nothing for me spiritually. Once they sent me a letter asking me to send them an amount of money that exceeded my monthly income (they said pretty much that the world is going to hell in handbasket and that they needed more money from me); and they promised me that, if I sent them the large amount of money, my name would be permanently engraved on a stone in their new church. Fortunately, by then, I was really starting to see the light; and I didn't fall for the pitch that time. I didn't want my name to be permanently associated with them or their church; and I need the money more than they do. I have not supported them for more than a year now. Instead, I support people who are needier than I am. I have increased my contributions to people locally and internationally who are destitute in every way; and these donations are substantially larger than the ones I made to Steve Foss and his group. Yet, though I have less for myself now than I did then, God has blessed me. He has given me greater wisdom in the use of my limited income and has made me truly content with what I have (even the health problems). So the smaller amount goes farther than the larger amount, even though the economy is worse now than it was then. I guess that is just one way God was telling me to not throw away any more money to someone who was wasting it and to give it, instead, to those who are truly in need.

I have tried to post a video with this blog. If it wasn't successful this time, I will try again later.

God bless all of you who read this. And if you happen to be with Steve Foss Ministries or Morris Cerullo World Evangelism or Benny Hinn Ministries or any other such organization, may God give you the only blessing that I can rightfully biblically ask Him to give you. May He bless you with the overwhelming conviction of sin for all the harm you have caused to the Body of Christ as well as all the lost souls you have turned away from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. And may He bless you with the overwhelming desire to repent wholeheartedly and to never sin again.

http://www.watchmanscry.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9517

http://lrdoe.xanga.com/f88bb1190739/