Were Ernie Knoll's dreams made up?
Back in February, I wrote about a website called 4 His People, where a church elder by the name of Ernie Knoll posted a number of prophetic dreams he’d been having.
A few days ago, the website was taken down, because the group that had been set up to manage the ministry around the dreams discovered that Ernie Knoll had made up a couple of key facts. Those fabrications cast a serious doubt on his ministry and on the prophetic value of his messages, so he and his wife were suspended from the ministry. The website was updated with the following message (click through to see it large):
What a shame! I thought the dreams were true and Knoll was honest about their origin. I found them to strengthen my faith when I listened to them. Although there were times when I thought the testimonies were drawn out, such as when Knoll talked about being given various robes and gifts for spreading the message, I took that stuff in context and moved on, focusing on the parts that tied directly into Bible prophecy.
Who knows, perhaps there is still some truth to the dreams. It’s possible the ones Knoll had at the beginning were true, and then he fudged some later ones because there was pressure on him to produce more of them. Maybe the ministry board jumped the gun when they closed down the website, but I can see why they’d rather err on the side of caution. Still, I find the message posted on the site unsatisfactory, because it doesn’t tell the whole story. I think there’s more investigative work to be done so we can know exactly where things went off the straight and narrow path. As painful as it may be, Ernie Knoll should come clean about the whole thing, because he owes that much to the people who believed in the value of his dreams.
(This is also posted on the following website so that if you wish, it may be easier to read because it will take a wider column and maybe be easier to read. Webmaster, if you wish, because of the length of this post, you can eliminate it, but make sure the link to the following website is posted so that anyone can link to it. Thanks. Gary) – http://martinfamilycenter.net/post_to_David.htm
(I have tried to go over this article and reduce it down some and make it more readable. I’ve tried to get the phraseology correct, and make sure there are no typo’s. I’m conscious of this because I know that something written wrongly can be misunderstood. I haven’t taken as much time as I would normally do because I have to get back to my work tomorrow, and can’t delay it because of other work and personal needs. If something doesn’t make sense to you, let me know. I’ll try to make it understandable as best as I can. Thanks. Gary)
David,
Thanks for your response. You have brought forth some good points. There is one thing I noticed that you mentioned and that is the watchmen on the walls of Zion are asleep, or not very much awake, anyway. I have noticed over the years that the church has taken a general stand, to watch and see what will happen when certain occasions arise, rather than to jump ahead before sufficient information is in, and then judge before time. However, it would be helpful if sometimes they gave us some guidance.
It is my understanding (currently) that the posted dreams (as they were previously posted) on the 4hispeople website are genuine dreams from God. Of course, that’s debatable among different people. That’s not what I’m necessarily writing about, though. I’m really writing about the private dreams.
The private dreams were also believed to be from an angel of God. However, we now know that these dreams were dreams originated from Satan.
In his dreams that were posted publicly, the Herald would call Ernie by his “heavenly name”. It is my understanding that this was to identify his messenger-host as from heaven since only an angel from heaven would know that name, but Satan or one of his angels wouldn’t know Ernie’s “heavenly name”. This became evident in the dream where 3 angels come to him and seek to show him that what he has received in dreams previously was wrong information. When he asked them to tell him his “new heavenly name”, the one angel said, “ ‘Fine, I will. I know we have said you are the bold one before.’ ” (From the dream If You Love Me, September 4, 2007.) It is obvious that this angel did not know Ernie’s heavenly name. The phrase “the bold one” had already been out where Satan (or one of his angels) could see it, so in this dream Satan or one of his angels could easily try to fool Ernie into thinking that he (the angel) knew his “heavenly” name. It is interesting that at first Ernie accepted “the bold one” in lieu of his “heavenly name”. It wasn’t until Ernie heard an unfamiliar name that he didn’t recognize that he then cried out to God. At this point many angels flooded the sky and came to his aid, one being the Herald who calls him by a name that Ernie recognizes as his “heavenly name”.
The reason I go into this detail is that I do not know if the angel in the private dream where Ernie is told to make up the Candace story as a parable, if he addresses Ernie by his “heavenly name”. That’s a critical point because if he does call Ernie by his “heavenly name”, then we can be sure that all the dreams, public and private are from Satan. However, if the angel in his “private dreams” does not know his “heavenly name”, then the public and private dreams have to be separated in order to be judged rightly. That’s just logical and sensible.
Ernie does ask the Herald in the dream A Great Work of December 8, 2007 about Candace, the only mention of Candace in all the published dreams. It is interesting the way he asks the Herald about Candace. “I ask if he was the one that spoke to the lady named Candace (testimony on Divine Interventions of the 4hispeople web site).”
We know now that Ernie “knew” at the time of the A Great Work dream of December 8, 2007 that Candace was not a real person, but a “parable” type person. When I first read that I thought, ‘Why did the Herald pass off Ernie’s inquiry and not reprove him at that time?’ Many of us asked that question. Then I read where either Ernie or Becky said that the Herald (from heaven) was waiting for Ernie to confess his wrong in regard to Candace. In other words, Heaven was wanting Ernie to come clean on his own. This is the normal pattern for God to do. This made sense to me. Ellen White talks about how Achan was given opportunity after opportunity to confess his wrong. David had opportunity over a period of time to confess his wrongs (lust, adultery, murder, cover-up [deceit]). Both of these Bible men went to the point where they were caught, and in David’s case, he incriminated his own self when he became incensed over the injustice of the situation and said to Nathan, “As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die” 2 Samuel 12:5. All 3 of these men did not confess their sin(s) until after they were “caught”.
Later, I realized that Ernie was asking the Herald if he was the angel that contacted Candace. Obviously this was a loaded question. If Candace wasn’t a real person, why would Ernie ask the question this way instead of asking the Herald a question framed a different way? And then the Herald says NO, instead of telling Ernie outright that Candace was not a real person (or saying something else), or asking a question that Ernie would have to answer indicating that Ernie would know that it would be obvious that the Herald would know that Candace was not a real person.
This has been a point of question by those who have seen that Ernie tries to get out of the Herald some information about Candace. I was told by either Becky or Ernie that Ernie himself was questioning some things relating to the dream in which he has been told to make up this story about Candace. By the way, unless I missed something early on, and that is not impossible, it was my understanding at first that Ernie just “cooked up” Candace out of his own head. I didn’t realize at that time that it was through a dream that this Candace character came onto the scene. Ernie’s earlier statement in an e-mail was that he was the one who originated Candace. Later he clarified that it was by way of a dream that Candace came onto the scene as a “parable. Either way it was a deception, but it would be more believable to us, and to Ernie, that it came through a dream, rather than something that came out of Ernie’s imagination. If it came out of Ernie’s mind it would definitely be a deception, no question.
The reason I go into as much detail here about this is that this is a question that has arisen as to why the Herald answered in the way he did, rather than reproving Ernie at this point. It looks like the Herald is allying himself with the deception, rather than rebuking the deception. I have to agree with Ernie and Becky here that this was bypassed by the Herald in order to give Ernie more time to come to the realization of what was really happening, so that Ernie would confess that he was being led by Satan rather than being led by an angel of God.
Now, let’s take a closer look at this. If Ernie thought that this message about Candace was from heaven, (because it came in a dream to him) and that this was a “parable” type of story (which really shouldn’t have made sense to him, but apparently he missed this), then he wouldn’t have caught on that this was a deception. He would have moved on, just as he actually did, continuing to tell this story in the meetings, just as he did. Obviously, if he thought this was right to do, he wouldn’t have any reason to think anything else.
The truth is – a lie is a lie, whether it is believe as truth or not.
However, in Erie’s thinking, as it would be for any of us in his position (or for us in any of our situations), if he thinks that what he is passing along is truth, then he would not be aware that what he has hold of is error, and not truth. Why would he confess something as error if he believes what he is telling is truth?
And for us, didn’t we pass along error thinking it was truth? Candace was not a true story. That was error. We interpreted Candace as a true story. We passed along error, unbeknownst to us. However, when we came to know that what we thought was truth, was actually error, we have stopped doing that. I’m talking about Candace now, for one thing.
When did Ernie actually realize that what he was passing along was actual deception? I don’t have that answer. I will probably get it, and probably from Ernie himself.
However, the thing with Candace and his taking this story and sending it to his wife, and then telling her there was a message for her from Candace, I think, should have alerted him to “something doesn’t ring true here” or “something doesn’t seem right here”. It looks like, and I can think this way, that he made an attempt in that particular dream to ask the Herald about Candace, and find out from the Herald about this character Candace, and his (Ernie’s) action about making this fictional character, Candace, as a parable. I do know he was bothered by what was going on early on. The Herald basically brushes off the inquiry. Did Ernie suspect that Candace was a story in a dream from Satan at this time, or was he making an inquiry to the Herald to find out more information about Candace in hopes that the Herald would either set his mind at ease that this was a heaven-blessed, and heaven-sent dream, or let him know that this story about Candace was from Satan and not from God? I (Gary) was told he had some questions about the content of the dream(s), but after having others lookup on the Internet and find that there was reason to believe that the information was true about the cancer-related health issue, that he continue on as he did.
In his October 2008 meeting in Walla Walla, it was brought out later in the question and answer session about a private dream in which he was told about the diet for Becky, and things relating to Becky. I don’t recall if anything was said about the women’s garment relating to the cancer issue. Something may have been said, but I don’t recall it.
Let us remember that we all got “taken in” by this Candace character and a few people got taken in by the dress information that was verified on the Internet as (possibly) true. There are 2 sides to that health-related issue in the private dreams.
For a long time, no one even suspected that Candace was anything but a real character, “somewhere”, and that the Great Commission Council was a group of reliable people in the church “somewhere”. I still don’t know if the Great Commission Council was given to Ernie in a dream, or if this really was a “cooked up” story out of Ernie’s imagination. The ones who didn’t buy into it were those that rejected the dreams either before the tithe / funds dream became an issue in the February 2008 dream, or those who rejected the dreams as a result of that February 2008 dream. Were we any the wiser for being taken in by this fabrication, any more than Ernie was who thought this dream was from the God of heaven, but was bothered by this dream and it’s content until it was confirmed on the Internet by others (not him or his wife) that the content of the cancer-related information was true, as they looked at it at that time? Becky was not the only one who began to act on this information about the garments that could possibly cause cancer. There were others as well.
Some of us had some questions on some dreams or some parts of the dreams, but were we any more bothered about what we had questions on any more than Ernie was bothered by and had questions on this Candace issue? Are we any less guilty than Ernie because we were all bothered (Ernie included) to some degree or another about some dream(s) or something in some dream(s)? We need to examine closely all things that come to light before we come to any conclusions. Sometimes we “rush to judgment” before we have given a close inspection to all the elements that need to be inspected. This is God’s work, and if we are to judge angels, then we need to be very careful in our analysis of the information we have and make sure we have sufficient information to make a judgment on anything. We don’t have a simple case such as the baby and 2 women, one the real mother, and one not the mother as in the case of Solomon’s judgment to make a clear assessment and final judgment as did Solomon in this simple case of “Whose the real mother?”
As far as the cancer producing garment, I don’t wear this type of garment so I don’t have any stake in this information for my own self, but it would be of importance to a woman. However, knowing that the source of these private dreams is from Satan, and knowing that there is definitely an immodest issue here, and knowing full well as a grown man of a number of years, that while the health issue may be true, the immodesty issue is not in line with either the Scriptures or the writings of Ellen White, the general content of these dreams cannot be trusted as from the God of heaven. I have no question in my mind in rejecting the private dreams outright, accepting nothing them as truth. If I want truth, I will go to the God of heaven in His Scriptures and from His servant, Ellen White, the lesser light that leads to the greater light.
There is a sound basis for certain women’s garments possibly producing cancer. Studies have shown and have been posted on the Internet this is true. A woman can still refrain from using such a garment, and still remain modest. Satan, I have no question, took a perfectly good and legitimate thing such as the study of the undergarment of a woman and then said it should be tight enough to show her body’s form, out in public, saying this is from God. Nonsense! Another of Satan’s lies. Now, that is lies, lies, lies, and straight out of the dragon’s mouth. God made both man and woman, and He made everything apart of them beautiful, and everything within the body is made to function perfectly, even in this world of sin. However, we know that both the Scriptures and the writings of Ellen White (and good, unadulterated sense) will tell us that modesty with both men and women is approved of God. In the world at large, and even within the church, the guidelines of modesty are cast aside, and morals are treated as outdated. God’s ways are never outdated.
Now, in our phone conversation of a couple of weeks ago, Ernie mentioned something relating his “heavenly name”. I didn’t catch what he was talking about fully. In that first private dream which he had, I think that he didn’t check to make sure this angel called him by his “heavenly name”. This way Satan could slip in on him in a dream, similar to the dream when the 3 angels came to him and told him that he was “the bold one”. The phrase “the bold one” was a name that was already public, and Satan could obviously know it and use it on Ernie if Ernie didn’t stop him like he did the 3 angels and ask him his “heavenly name”. I’ll be contacting Ernie back to get a more clear understanding regarding this. He did mention something about how the Herald had told him to remember that he would be called by his “heavenly name”, and that this was important to remember.
I might mention that a week before my conversation to Ernie, I had talked with Becky over the phone. Ernie was supposed to be in that conversation, but because of my time frame, I was not able to talk with him at that time because he had to be out away from his house at that time, and our schedules just didn’t connect together. Later in that same week was when I talked with Ernie. Both of these conversations took place early in August 2008. It was in that conversation with Ernie, at my request, that he give more information on the women’s dress that he had received in his dream. After having thinking about what David said that Ernie was told that it is OK for a woman to pull her top close against her to show her body’s form, I do now recall Ernie mentioning this. What David said about this I do verify is what Ernie told me. My wife was on the phone with me. She especially caught this, that this is immodest display of the woman’s form. And it surely is. The line is clear that God wants modesty and Satan wants immodesty. All you have to do is go out in the public most anywhere, and into God’s denominated church, and see for yourself the reckless display of the female body in some sort of fashion or another. This is not after God’s divine order.
I think I have said enough for now.
Thanks again David for your input. I know we have differences in some things, but we all (hopefully) still remain Seventh-day Adventists with our common beliefs in our basic beliefs as laid down in the Scriptures, and expanded on in the writings of Ellen White. And while there may be some differences between us, our goal surely is the same; the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be taken into all the world. There’s much more that unites us than divides us.
I remember back after the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, and the U.S.S.R. became open to the gospel, many groups in our church began to go to there and work towards evangelizing this nation that had been so long without the gospel of Jesus Christ. While there had been some “infighting”, so to speak, among groups in the church, and independent and self-supporting ministries, when the U.S.S.R. opened for the gospel, they all went to work for the salvation of souls. I was greatly heartened by their examples. I think somewhere Ellen White talks about this very thing. If we will keep our lives faced towards those who have no salvation, and work for their salvation, we will be in the progress of doing what we all are here for and that is to take the everlasting gospel to those about us. We don’t have a whole lot of time left to do this. The storm clouds are visible from where we stand. The winds of strife are still being held at bay, but time is moving on. As Jesus said to His parents when they returned to Jerusalem to look for Him, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Luke 2:49. And should we not also be about our Father’s business?
I’ll be glad when I get sufficient information into this business to make a decision for my own self, and then I can get back without interruption, hopefully, to other things that have been set on the sidelines.
God bless you all.
Gary
I have made a couple of corrections on the link in the previous post that are not in the post above. They are minor words missing that you will probably be able to figure out for your own selves, but I have corrected them on the link above in my previous post. The added words are yellowed. That link again is – http://martinfamilycenter.net/post_to_David.htm .
Gary
The issue with “Candace” see July 27th – Ernie wrote
“By now you may have heard or read that Candace was a hoax. I created “her” to try to deter some of the negative things that people were saying about the ministry and it went downhill from there.”
Thought:
Q:Let’s say I give you a cup of water and tell you BTW I put a few drops of gasoline(poison) from the left side of the cup, please only drink from the right side of the cup. Would you drink it?
A: Of course not, now all the water is contaminated/poisoned. In fact, you would never accept another cup of water from me.
Sadly — Ernie poisoned his own well by telling the Candace and the Great Commission Lie
Ruth,
You have already been badly poisoned and the evidence is in your continual fears.
There’s only one antidote for you and that is to look to the brass serpent and be healed. (Numbers 21:7-9; Patriarchs & Prophets, chapter, Journey Around Edom; John 3:14, 15).
I have been around this mount long enough. (Deuteronomy 2:1-3; http://bible.cc/deuteronomy/2-3.htm Parallel Translations, Parallel Commentaries; Upward Look by Ellen White, Chapter 348 – Move Forward)
This is my last post here. I must be about my Father’s business. (Luke 2:49; Desire of Ages, Chapter 8 – The Passover Visit, especially the last 4 paragraphs)
Gary
Having seen many truths in the dreams does not make me confident enough in them to endorse them as safe. All the truths I have seen are clearly taught by the Bible and Ellen White as well, and I have no need to go to another source for them.
One of the last works of Satan will be to make the Testimonies of no effect. Having confusion about whether these dreams are true or not is certainly one way to do so. I pray that we will all focus on what we already have been given in the Bible and the Testimonies of Ellen White, and not be distracted or discouraged by this controversy over what may or may not be safe.
Some things (I think) we agree on (taught by all the above sources):
1. Jesus is coming soon.
2. Time of trouble will be intense, we need to prepare (See Dan 12:1).
3. Preparation is spiritual, we need to develop the character of Jesus (See Mal 2:17-3:6)
4. We need to “turn many to righteousness” (Dan 12:3,10)
If you have been inspired by the dreams to study your Bible and draw closer to Jesus, I am glad. The calls for repentance and reformation speak to my heart, whatever the source may be. Just don’t assume that anyone who is skeptical is not part of the 144,000 or working for the same common goals.
My reasons for skepticism don’t have to do with the main message of the dreams, but with the side things which might be mixed in. If those side things are unimportant, then I don’t need the dreams to tell me the truth– I can get the same truths from the Bible. But if those side things *are* important, they may be misleading people.
We need to have unity in the truth, and to me it seems that the dreams have tended to be divisive, not so much by the doctrine taught (which may all be true) but by the idea that everyone must believe in these dreams, the implication that we should support Ernie with our tithe, the “I’m all alone doing God’s work” mentality.
If the dreams are of God, I would like to encourage the development of greater humility on the part of the dreamer. That may be hard to hear: I know I struggle with having humility myself. But I believe it is a key part of our preparation for Jesus return to be in harmony with His character.
May we all come together in the unity of the faith, rooted in love, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Warren
Warren,
I like your enumerated points.
I finished reading Ernie’s dreams a couple months ago. (friends and family read them before I did) By and large I found the dreams very beneficial to my spiritual life. I have family that were out of the church or languishing which were awakened by the dreams and creeping compromise. It was a reawakening to EGW and the Word for that I am grateful to the 4Hispeople for providing that wakeup call.
We followed the rule in 1 Thess 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit;
20 do not despise prophetic utterances.
21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
22 abstain from every form of evil.
We read what the detractors had to say — and were disapointed in the lack of scriptural backing – I asked friends from the GC and got no feed back.
For many months we only saw the good in the dreams, and did not see any good reason to doubt them.
We asked God to make it evident as in Luke 8:17 “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
God made the Candace and The Great Commission hoax evident. My faith in God is strengthened.
Ernies is not the only one who has had dreams or the only one calling for repentance and reformation. This truly is a sign of the time of the end.
Whether as a true or false prophet – Ernie is a sign of the end.
Thank God for the lesson and reviving us again what to a great message we have.
The division and how it has been handled — is very instructive as to how bad it will be in the future.
Malachi 3: 16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.
17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
Gary,
I would like to address some points you mentioned in an earlier post (2009-08-25) that are very important in coming to a conclusion as to the origin of the dreams.
You mentioned that our leaders have taken a general stance and should give us some guidance rather than the watch and see where this goes type of attitude. Well, the Lord GOD has given guidance on how our leaders should act when someone is teaching new doctrine. Ellen White writes, “Our brethren should be willing to investigate in a candid way every point of controversy. If a brother is teaching error, those who are in responsible positions ought to know it; and if he is teaching truth, they ought to take their stand at his side.” GW 300
Instruction is also given for every member of the church when new doctrine or error is believed to be taught by a brother. Ellen White goes on to say, “We should all know what is being taught among us; for if it is truth, we need it. We are all under obligation to God to know what He sends us. He has given directions, by which we may test every doctrine,–”To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” [ISA. 8:20] If the light presented meets this test, we are not to refuse to accept it because it does not agree with our ideas” Ibid. Now, surely dreams and visions of this stature and frequency should be investigated by the leading brethren, and the whole church, particularly the claim to be a prophet.
I asked Ernie did he claim to be a prophet, because on his “facebook” page his description is listed as “Prophet of God.” He replied, “That he must be, because of a dream that he had where all the board members deserted him because they found out about Candace and the Great Commission Council.” Was this prophetic, or, a natural consequence? But I am not addressing that in this post.
Where in the bible do we find God and Satan sharing the same vessel to communicate messages to His people? God uses Ernie for public dreams for the church and Satan uses him for private dreams to destroy the church? The body is a temple to be used by either God or Satan, i.e. the fullness of the Godhead in you, or a legion of demons; not both. But God inhabits the temple after he leads the individual to repentance and has cast out the demons. If sin is cherished, God will not remain in your temple; this is seen throughout the Bible and displayed in symbolic form using the temple of Jerusalem. King Saul, because of his sin, was rejected by the Lord; not shown the favor of heaven and called by his heavenly name. King Saul’s sin changed his relationship with Lord. Ellen White writes, “Yet with the sin of Saul and its result before us, how many are pursuing a similar course. While they refuse to believe and obey some requirement of the Lord, they persevere in offering up to God their formal services of religion. There is no response of the Spirit of God to such service. No matter how zealous men may be in their observance of religious ceremonies, the Lord cannot accept them if they persist in willful violation of one of His commands.” PP 634
Because of Saul’s sins the devil inhabited him, and slumbered in his breast according to Ellen White. When King Saul saw David the evil spirit within would incite him to murder, and when David escaped, the evil spirit would remain inside Saul to trouble him again.
Likewise, because of Ernie’s lies and deception there is no way an evil spirit would leave, without thorough repentance and much prayer, he would remain lodged inside until someone stronger than he orders him out. And the evil spirit would stay for years undetected, feigning to be a natural part of the person’s character, or physical form. Jesus said that this woman was thus bound by Satan “eighteen long years” (Luke13:16). Therefore, to switch from public dreams to private dreams, without thorough repentance, without a stronger man to help you, would mean the same evil spirit would remain at the helm giving all the dreams; both public and private; posted and non-posted.
You mentioned Achan. After Achan had sinned, how was his prayer life? Would heaven communicate with Achan and show him his heavenly name? Israel had just suffered a terrible embarrassment and defeat before their enemies, would Achan be called the “bold one” by a heavenly messenger? If any communications came to him from heaven after he had stolen the accursed items it would be to repent! If he had any prior communication from heaven it would cease, if any protection, guidance, knowledge, or anything he may have been receiving would be diminished, if not halted altogether, until thorough repentance was accepted from the Lord, believed and uttered through his lips. “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me” (Psalms 66:18). “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
You mentioned King David. After David had sinned in killing Uriah and taking his “ewe lamb” how was his prayer life? How did heaven regard his sins? When Nathan the prophet spoke with David did he call him his heavenly name? Was David taken in vision or given a dream? Was he shown Israel’s future in prophecy? The next communication that David received from heaven was repent! “Thou art the man.” Because you have sinned in taking Uriah’s wife and killed him with the Ammonite sword, the child between you and Bathsheba would die and the sword would not depart from your house. The Lord said that He would “raise up evil” (2Sam12:11) in David’s house, and He did just what He said He would do.
So, how is it that Ernie gets all the blessings of heaven; fly through the heavens and walk through walls with the Herald; pet his heavenly pet in his new home; see the celestial glories and all the wonders of the new earth; receive a charge to tell the waiting saints all about heaven and the soon coming of Jesus, and tell the biggest lies, with the greatest of ease, back here on earth? Was King Saul given this royal treatment by heaven? Was Achan treated in this manner? What about King David? Has there been any practicing sinner ever given this heavenly welcome? No, No, and No! Search the Word of God, and the SOP, from cover to cover, in any translation, seek the Lord with prayer and fasting for 40 days and 40 nights—you won’t find this example anywhere in the kingdom of heaven.
The Herald, who was asked by Ernie if he was the angel that spoke with Candace, did not rebuke him, and say “We have tried you which say you are a prophet, and are not, and hast found you a liar.” You say the Herald was giving Ernie a chance to repent. Well, when Jesus, the Herald’s commander and supreme example whom he loves very much, spoke as the True Witness to the seven churches did he mention only the good that the churches were doing; or, did He point out there sins along with their good deeds? Rev 2:1-7, reads:
1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. . .
5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
When Jesus addresses a church and it has faults, He mentions them along with their obedience. When speaking to the church in Philadelphia, what are the characteristics of the members of the synagogue of Satan? “. . . they. . . do lie” (Rev 3:9). They tell lies in saying that they are Jews, prophets, messengers from heaven, members of the household of God, the keepers of the flame, while they have no connection with God at all. Did not Jesus address this falsehood? Did not He say with His own lips “. . . they . . . do lie” and to the church of Ephesus “. . . thou. . . hast found them liars”? So why would He, the Judge of all the earth, have a tribunal, with the Father and Holy Spirit looking on, with all the angelic host present, for Steve Wohlberg, Linda Kirk and David Gates for lying [supposedly] about His servant Ernie Knoll and not even hint, nor remotely mention Ernie’s creation of Candace and the Great Commission Council? Because this tribunal never happened!!! The whole dream itself is a lie of Ernie’s creation!!! God is not a respecter of persons. Isn’t it plain for all to see, that there was never any communication via a dream from the Lord GOD about some heavenly judgment? It was all a vengeful fabrication—spiritualism to be exact.
The Lord has sent light to His servant Ellen White so that we are not deceived concerning spiritualism. She writes, “If there were no other evidence of the real character of spiritualism, it should be enough for the Christian that the spirits make no difference between righteousness and sin, between the noblest and purest of the apostles of Christ and the most corrupt of the servants of Satan.” GC 556
The principle imbedded here is—if an angel appears in person, or in a dream, or vision, claiming to represent the Lord, and he makes no difference between the righteous and the sinner practicing sin, then he’s of the devil. Now, please note, that this one fact should be enough for the Christian—not the non-Christian, but the Christian; not the practicing sinner, but the victorious sinner; not the unbeliever, but the faithful—of who you are actually communicating with. If you are in sin and he speaks of your favor with God, you can be sure that he is not a heavenly messenger. And if followed, he will lead you and all who would listen to you, down a treacherous path to perdition.
When Ellen White wrote the brethren concerning Anna Phillips and her dreams; she addressed the question of where is the wrong in the dreams. A question many are seeking an answer to, even on this forum, concerning all the dreams Ernie published. She writes, “If marked inconsistencies and untruthful utterances were apparent in these manifestations, the words from the lips of the Great Teacher would not be needed. It is because of the many and varied dangers that would arise, that this warning is given.” 2SM 95
So we see that because no error can be seen on the surface does not necessarily make the dream or vision from the Lord. Satan will use truth; truths that pertain to the vital points of our belief, and introduce small portions of error later on as to ambush your faith; a successful war maneuver. Ernie’s lies were escalating to sensuality and he could not see the wrong in traveling from place to place spewing out lies that would eventually lead to sin against the whole body. This is the point where Satan takes all whom he leads, as the Apostle Paul stated, “Flee fornication. Every sin that man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (1 Cor 6:18). And Jesus stated, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt 5:28). Therefore, to have every woman in the church [because all would want to obey the heavenly counsel while in the sanctuary, not just in public] wearing tight fitting camisoles with no breast support, would create anarchy. Many soul temples would be defiled and the world would surely reject the Three Angels’ Messages.
Therefore, in the clear light emanating from these detection principles handed to us from the Lord our GOD we should not accept any of the dreams. While it is true that they contain much truth, and have resurrected many spiritually dead souls and tested every Adventist on the role book; this is still no indication to accept them as from our Lord Jesus. The Lord stopped Satan before he could defile His church with lasciviousness, but coming soon He will allow him more power to try the entire world. Jesus, our Lord, let the truth presented have its effect on the hearts of those who believed; even if he allowed the enemy to deliver it. Souls were saved when the demons cried out that Jesus was the Son of God; somebody heard it and believed it.
What we have tasted in this ordeal is how easily; bible-believing Christians, can be led astray, or thrown into confusion. We have seen how Satan can present truth so well that it actually waters our thirsty souls; take precious truths and script them into beautiful, heart felt, dreams that seem so real; but all at a hidden price. Imagine many voices crying out that they have light from heaven, and among them are a few soldiers of the Lord’s hosts that are genuine. How are we to tell, by what methods can we identify them? Hopefully, we can wisely use the principles of detection outlined in the Bible and SOP. We are in for a terrible ride. If our leaders, as watchmen on the walls, can act the way they did in not coming forth, if our eyes are so dulled from the world’s glare that we could care less about someone claiming to have more light, if our senses are tuned to follow only doctrine and not look at the fruit of the tree and exercise the patience of Job; then we have already rejected the real Messenger.
Remember beloved that “Every failure on the part of the children of God is due to their lack of faith” (PP 657).
May God bless all His waiting saints. Abide in Him; stay there, and believe.
David
David,
You said it better than I could have!
Ruth,
I know it may have seemed self-serving for leaders to only speak up after the tithe issue came up. However, that was the doctrinal issue that caught my attention too, even though I receive no tithe money. At the time, lacking the evidence now available of lifestyle issues, the fruit of the tree so to speak, people were waiting to see what the evidence was.
But when the first shades of false teaching (on tithe) began to appear we should all have been able to see the tree for what it was.
A couple other points that disturbed me early on, from my memory:
1. The character of God as portrayed in the final judgments. I felt the emphasis on the persecution God’s people are to suffer made God look like he couldn’t protect His people (or that they were a sacrifice for Him!) The truth is, many are suffering for their faith *now*, before probation closes, but *after* it closes God *will* protect His faithful people. There would be no more point in their deaths because none of the wicked at that point will turn from their wickedness.
2. Scenes like the judgment of Steve Wohlberg and friends, I didn’t initially understand. Having published dreams with hidden symbols like that is a devious way to work. If the symbols are intended for the public, then they should be explained in God’s word or within the prophecy itself. If they are not for the public then it is a kind of Gnosticism (hidden knowledge), which is contrary to the sound doctrine of the scriptures.
Now that we all know who the “judgment” included (in other words, the symbols have been revealed), it should be clear that the spirit possessing Ernie is vindictive and self-serving, not exhibiting the self-sacrificing love of Jesus. Even if it were true that Steve Wohlberg and the others were in the wrong, using a hidden message publicly posted would not be the biblical way to deal with the problem.
There is still time for Ernie to reject the dreams and turn to God for forgiveness. His half-repentance shows he is trying to be free. We should all pray that he will turn completely from this evil spirit and that God will give him freedom indeed.
May we all watch and pray that we enter not into temptation.
God bless,
Warren
The angel told Candace that God loves the form of the woman, and that He wanted it to be shown. Bras were chains and they needed to be removed. Tight see through tops were to be worn, and the angel told Candace that the tighter the top the more faith you have. The women were instructed to wear this around non-Adventist, because a stranger would have no reason to stop you and open conversation; church members would more than likely stare. This was presented to us all as the word of God by the angel through Candace.
I don’t get how some of you can continue to come up with “excuses” or “reasons” for why Ernie is still possibly a prophet!
If Ernie really said this: “Bras were chains and they needed to be removed. Tight see through tops were to be worn, and the angel told Candace that the tighter the top the more faith you have. The women were instructed to wear this around non-Adventist, because a stranger would have no reason to stop you and open conversation; church members would more than likely stare.”, isn’t that enough for those who are continuing to defend him?
Good grief!
This is very late
Good grief — LOL Is it true that Ernie and Becky launched another ministry/website?
Warren,
BTW the conference had no complaints about Richard Fredericks and his teachings until his church decided to keep the tithe.
Yes, Ruth. Ernie Knoll sent out several e-mails:
1. He claims he thinks Candace is an evil angel;
2. He confesses he made up Candace and the group that hired investigators to locate candace and that he believes his dreams are not from God and that he will pay back all the money that was donated to him when and if he is able;
3. The dreams are actually from God and he’s starting up a new ministry.
Since some of his dreams included Candace and some of his prophecies did NOT come true (about becoming involved with Doug Bachelor of Amazing Facts and Shawn Boonstra of It Is Written) and the fact he has gone to such great lengths to deceive people into believing his dreams are of God so they will continue to support him financially, we are only left to conclude Ernie Knoll is a FRAUD!
That the conference had no complaints is unfortunate; The doctrinal teachings of Fredericks are not Biblically defensible. Similar to the situation with Ernie though, it is hard to put your finger on something until you come to the issue of authority (which involves money).
Do we accept that God has placed authority in the corporate body of Christ, or do we hold to our own independence? This is the same issue Lucifer pushed in heaven, so it is a very important one. Even if conference leaders may see it only as a financial issue, the real issue of authority is very important.
Warren
Yes, tithe is very important — yet I am not impressed by the lack Biblical — “Thus says the Lord” from the GC/Conferences until it hits the pocket book $$
Gloria,
Thank you
If you want to see the difference between a true prophet and a false prophet. Take a careful review of the information presented at this website. A true prophet speaks truth and history will bare witness to the truth being spoken.
http://www.thedeathandresurection.com/pdf/the%20death%20and%20resurrection.pdf
If you can find any false testimony in this study please let me know. I have fine tooth combed this study an cannot find a single statement that is not a truth based on what is presented.
God Bless
So — there is a new Gospel account and the 4 Gospels in the Bible are not to be trusted — is a big problem — just for starters