NZ Cults & Religious Groups List: W

Hot picks: Watchtower, Ellen White, Jeanette Wilson, Word Faith Movement, World Mission Society Church of God, Worldwide Church of God, Ron Wyatt

W

Wagner, Peter C. Peter C Wagner is a self proclaimed apostle in America, and lead figure in the New Apostolic Reformation. Strong links to Rick Joyner, etc, and promotes Todd Bentley. Peter C Wagner's teachings regarding the position and function of apostles in the modern church are a serious concern, and these teachings are becoming more prevalent in New Zealand. He has said on his web site (for example) "apostles and prophets [are] the foundation of the church as God originally designed (see Eph. 2:20)." However, this is a misuse and misunderstanding of the verse, especially considering the apostle Paul said (in 1 Cor. 3:11) that he, Paul, laid the foundation, not that he was the foundation. He continued "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (NIV.) Peter Wagner's books are published by Youth With A Mission and sold on the YWAM web site.

Waiting List Practices. See Chiropractic.

Waldorf School. Another name for Rudolf Steiner School.

Watchman Nee. See Nee, Watchman.

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Publishing branch of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Way. Also known as the "Namesless Ones" or Two by Twos or Cooneyites.

(The) Way International. Cult. Denies that Jesus is God, denies the Trinity. Strong mind control - for example they teach their members to "speak in tongues" as a thought-stopping technique. Founded by Victor Paul Wierville, who holds a doctorate in theology from a mail-order company. He died in 1986.

The Way Worship Centre. Splinter group of the Worldwide Church of God (WCoG). Based at Albany, north of Auckland. Pastored by Jack Croucher, former pastor of the Auckland WCoG.

Westerfield, Jason T. Jason Westerfield is a self-proclaimed prophet. Said to have Bill Johnson as his spiritual father. More information coming soon.

Whare Ra. A New Zealand splinter group of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn founded by Dr Robert William Felkin. It's an occult cult, a mixture of all sorts of things such as kaballah, paganism, etc. Full name The Smaragdum Thallesses Temple, H:.O:.49 of the Order of the Stella Matutina according to Wikipedia's Whare Ra entry.

White, Ellen G. The founder and "prophetess" of the Seventh Day Adventist church. Born 26 November 1827 in Maine, USA. Parents Robert and Eunice Harmon, twin sister Elizabeth. When she was 9 years old she sustained a serious injury after being hit by a rock thrown by a classmate, and was in a coma for three weeks. It's possible that the injury damaged her temporal lobe, which can cause hypergraphia, and visual and auditory hallucinations. The official Ellen G White web site claimes that from the time she was 17 until her death at 87 years old she had approximately 2,000 visions and dreams. Married James White in August 1846. Went to Australia in December 1891 and sent A G Daniells and his wife to New Zealand in 1886. In 1900 Ellen G White returned to the USA. Died 16 July 1915. She taught that the seventh day, the sabbath, was highly important. For example, she taught that keeping the Sabbath was the most important of the Ten Commandments.

"The pope has changed the day of rest from the seventh to the first day. He has thought to change the very commandment that was given to cause man to remember his Creator. He has thought to change the greatest commandment in the decalogue and thus make himself equal with God, or even exalt himself above God." (Early Writings, p65, emphasis added.)

Compare this to what Jesus taught:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (See Matthew 22:37-38.)

Those wanting more information might like to visit the Ellen White Research Project. They have a fascinating (and very sad) article about the significance of her head injury.

Wicca. Witchcraft. See listing on the occult.

Wilson, Jeanette. Con artist. Author, self-proclaimed medium, featured on New Zealand's 20/20 TV programme in August 2004. Born in Britain, resides in New Zealand. She uses a technique called cold reading to pick up on cues from her victims (for lack of a better word) to progressively narrow in on information that makes the victims think that she has the ability to communicate with their dead loved ones (an occult practice known as necromancy; Jeanette Wilson is not a necromancer, since she only pretends to talk to dead people). Jeanette Wilson is assigned a Caution rating here because of the false hope she gives people by claiming to give them messages from dead loved ones, and because of the money she cons them out of, not because she as a person is necessarily someone to be cautious of. Quite the opposite. She's a charming individual - in both senses of the word. That's how she cons people.

WISE. An acronym for Word Institute of Scientology Enterprises (sometimes with International on the end). A Scientology front group.

Witness Lee. See Lee, Witness.

Women's Aglow Fellowship. Now called Aglow International.

Women's Federation for World Peace. A front group for the dangerous Moonies mind control cult, led by Hak Ja Han Moon (Sun Myung Moon's wife).

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. A non-profit non-governmental group "working for peace by non-violent means, promoting political, economic and social justice for all." Claims to be the oldest women's peace organisation in the world, being founded in 1915. See their international web site for more information. Do not confuse with the similarly named Women's Federation for World Peace.

Woodgate, Mark. New Zealand leader of the Raelians. He is given a Caution rating here because of his connection with the Raelians and his New Age teachings, not because he as a person is necessarily someone to be cautious of.

Word Faith Movement. Also called Word of Faith, Hyperfaith, Positive Confession, Prosperity Gospel, Health and Wealth, Name It and Claim It, Blab It and Grab It, etc. Heretical form of Christianity. Proponents include Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and many others. It should be noted that there are many born again believers within the Word Faith Movement. They are often quite unaware of the most heretical Word Faith teachings.

Some of the serious theological errors:

Jesus died spritually on the cross, then God the Father had to recreate his spirit because Jesus had become a sinful man. This is serious because it denies the dual nature of Christ - as God the Son he couldn't die spiritually.
Faith is a force that we can use to get our own way, by having faith in faith (rather than faith in God). This is serious because it reduces God to a cosmic waiter instead of being the creator and Lord of all.
Deification of people, that humans were originally created as "little gods" with the power to call things into existence. After the Fall in the Garden of Eden we lost that ability but we can reclaim it through exercising the force of faith. (Sound like the New Age Movement? Yep.)
Denies the absolute sovereignty of God by claiming He was evicted from Earth by Satan.
Rejection of the Trinity by teaching (for example) God the Father has a physical body very similar to ours.

In the words of a Watchman Expositor article:

In contrast to word-faith theology, sound biblical theology teaches that God does not have to do anything. God, the Creator of all things, is sovereign in all things, not the creature. God is not obligated to heal or prosper anyone, yet He graciously does, and neither is deserved. Someone has said: "healing is not a divine obligation, it is a divine gift". The receiver of the gift can make no demands. God can be trusted to do all things well.

Deception in the Church has a list of links to Word Faith articles, as does Apologetics Index in their Word Faith Movement listing.

Word Institute of Scientology Enterprises International. See WISE.

World Mission Society Church of God. Cult. Not to be confused with Church of God World Missions. World Mission Society Church of God has branches in Christchurch and the Auckland suburbs of Avondale, Onehunga and Otahuhu. It is said to be very active in West Auckland, and are actively recruiting in Manukau City and Onehunga. Runs the school Elohim Training Institute. Imported to New Zealand on 4 October 2004 from Korea where it has over 300 branches. In 1948 it was founded by Ahn Sahng-Hong, who they believe is the Second Coming Christ. Born in Korea in 1918, he died, er, "ascended" in February 1985 and has not returned. Members pray in the name of Ahnsahnghong. Since his death the group has been led in Korea by Zahng Gil-Jah who is known as the New Jerusalem Mother or Mother Jerusalem (Holy Spirit). In Korea the group has been accused of preaching a time-limited eschatology, wrecking families, and promoting people to leave homes and get divorced. (The group denied the claims, with a court case going as far as the Korean Supreme Court clearing their name of the specific charges.) This report on their Auckland activities:

They are very active in Auckland Western Suburbs and have recently moved to a larger building in Rosebank Road Avondale.

They target mainly the Polynesian community and also young lady students. Their converts have to be baptized in the name of Angsahnhong and then have to serve by seeking their lost sheep in shopping malls, campuses, and by street evangelizing. When they have found all 144,000 believers in their Christ they believe they will all be taken to Zion in the Rapture. They teach an end times message out of Korea.

For more information see Wikipedia's listing on World Mission Society Church of God, which outlines some of their very seriously bad doctrine, or Apologetics Index's World Mission Society Church of God page, which includes this mention of the position of other churches in Korea.

The Christian Council of Korea, which represents Protestant churches in the country, has, according to the visiting assistant professor, declared the Church of God "here[tical]" (1 Dec. 2004). On its Website, the Church of God argues that this allegation is "groundless" and denies claims allegedly made by other Christian denominations in Korea that the Church "worships a man," mistreats minors and destroys families (n.d.). The visiting professor indicated that the Church has been accused of breaking up families when women followers have left home and settled in Church of God buildings to wait for the "coming of Christ," which, Ahn Sang-Hong predicted, was to happen in 1988 (1 Dec. 2004).

They now believe the end of the world will be at the end of 2012.

Worldwide Church of God (New Zealand). Under investigation. We have been informed that the Worldwide Church of God in New Zealand is turning away from the teaching of Joseph Tkach and is returning to Armstrongism. See Worldwide Church of God (Tkach) for more information about the WCoG's reformation away from Armstrong's false teachings.

Worldwide Church of God (Tkach). Founded by Herbert W Armstrong in the 1920s, it used to be a cult, and since 1997 has been a member of the National Association of Evangelicals (in the USA). Praise God! In the USA, before Herbert Armstrong died in 1986 he appointed Joseph Tkach to succeed him as leader. In 1988 Joseph Tkach made minor doctrinal changes which led to the Philadelphia Church of God breaking away in 1989. Further changes led to the Global Church of God breaking away in 1992. After more very important changes in doctrine the United Church of God, the largest breakaway group, was formed. There have been numerous other breakaway groups (like the NZ-based Way Worship Centre) - including groups that broke away from breakaway groups to become mainline denominations. In 1995 Joseph Tkach died and was succeeded by his son Joe (Joseph Tkach Jr). This ministry applauds the efforts made by the Worldwide Church of God for their willingness to follow God rather than the false teachings of a man. From their history page:

Jesus Christ changes lives. He can change an organization, too. This is the story of how the Lord changed the Worldwide Church of God from an unorthodox church on the fringes of Christianity, into an evangelical church that believes and teaches orthodox doctrines. The story involves both pain and joy. Thousands of members left the church. Income is less than one fourth of what it once was. But thousands of members are rejoicing with renewed zeal for their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Worldwide Spiritual University. See Brahma Kumaris.

Wyatt, Ron/Wyatt Archaeological Research. Con artist/scam. Ron Wyatt (deceased) was a self-styled "Indiana Jones" of biblical archaeology. He has been described as a "professional con man" for his false and self-aggrandising claims of having discovered all sorts of things like Noah's Ark, Mrs Noah's grave (with a fortune in treasure), anchor/drogue stones from Noah's Ark, the real location of the Ark of the Covenant, the real site of Sodom and Gomarrah, the real Mt Sinai, a genuine sample of Jesus Christ's blood with a DNA test showing he didn't have an earthly father, etc. All his claims have been found to be either quite bogus (example refutation) or completely lacking evidence, but have been spread in New Zealand by the sale of books, video tapes and a speaking tour by Jonathan Gray. Researcher Gray Amirault is quoted as having said "WAR (Wyatt Archaeological Research) is a Christian con game. Ron Wyatt is either very psychologically ill or one of the greatest liars I have ever come across." Some of Ron Wyatt's claims have more recently been repeated by Bob Cornuke. The claimed Noah's Ark site was soundly refuted by this Answers in Genesis article in 1992 when Ron Wyatt was plugging it. Note that the only reason Ron Wyatt hasn't been given a Danger rating is that his claims are not likely to do any damage other than to people's wallets.