"We receive many phone calls and emails from former and current subscribers to Antipas Ministries asking us what on earth is happening.  We feel that over the past two years, their error is growing and becoming more blatant as time goes on.  Unfortunately, this "systematized error" is confusing and bringing some saints under condemnation.

As we all know, there will be false teachers in the last days and it is extremely important for us to beware of these heresies, including the fact that there is "nothing new under the sun."  Whenever someone purports "another or a new gospel," you had better watch out.  Whenever someone says they see something new that no one has seen before, you had better watch out.  Whenever they start to tell you what to do and twist the scriptures to support the position, you had better watch out.  Whenever their exhortation goes against the leading you feel from the Lord, you had better watch out.

We encourage you to investigate these things and let the Holy Spirit lead you into truth.  This is the first of many excellent analysis by Doug Kreiger, a brother with a profound knowledge of and love for the Word. 

Dene McGriff,
Sacramento, California

http://www.thetribnet.org/whats_happening_to_antipas_ministries.htm

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We have this section on our website because many people are confused because I was with Antipas for many years and my writings were on the website from the beginning.  Suddenly, a year ago they all disappeared.  Another good friend and brother named Doug Krieger began to write for Antipas a couple of years ago.  Suddenly his material also disappeared without any explanation.  If anyone asks where we went or how we may be contacted, they claim not to know.  If they search the internet and find us, they contact us and wonder what happened.

Doug left Antipas for the same reason I did "their questionable doctrine and elitist spirit.  Now, week after week, S.R. Shearer, who we have known for over 40 years as just plain "Steve" has chosen to attack us on a regular basis.   This is causing confusion and many questions.  People contact us EVERY DAY wanting to know what has happened and what we think.  I would refer you to the following articles:http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/oldnews/thedraft.html talks about the Draft and then Doug and I.http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/ShearerCommentaries/Shearer052004.html is a complete diatribe against us.http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/oldnews/aliya.html talks about their new ministry and the "new gospel of the kingdom".

Our concern is not the personal attacks, but the confusion he raises in the saints with the persistent insistence that all American Christians immediately abandon their church and country lest they be judged.  He has built what is called "systematized error by building a theology around Revelation 18:4.  Doug Krieger will go into this doctrine in great detail.

What we have written and said to Steve on the level of personal communication, he has taken public in major articles on his website.  Please see the section titled, "The Last Ten Main Articles" on http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/  We have dealt with issues and will continue to do so, even though he has continually attacked us personally as you will see in the second article of the "Draft" and the "I Am Utterly Amazed" article (http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/ShearerCommentaries/Shearer052004.html ) noted above.

Our prayer is that these brothers will repent from their false doctrine and elitist position and trust that our God has a big enough heart to save His people to the uttermost, no matter where they are geographically.  We believe the testimony of Jesus in the last days is in the ""street of that great city" by standing up and testifying, not by escaping it.

Dene McGriff

Sacramento, California

http://www.thetribnet.org/what_about_antipas.htm

~~~

Dene McGriff used to be a regular contributor to Antipas Ministries.  In fact, he was President!  Where did he go?  He had a book and articles on the Antipas Ministries website and they just disappeared.  Where did they go?   This is a clarification for those who are familiar with my work with Antipas Ministries and its two websites, the "End Times Network" and the "Institute for the Study of Religion and Politics (ISRP)".  

As a co-founder, I worked with Antipas Ministries for over ten years and just disappeared over night from their website without any explanation or means to get in touch with me.  A little less than a year ago, we had a parting of ways and with the help of a brother in Portland (our webmaster), he put together a web page for old and new material.   I receive many phone calls and emails from people who wonder where I went and why I am no longer with Antipas Ministries. So the purpose of this section is to give you all a little background and explain why I left Antipas and restarted "The Tribulation Network". 

Steve, otherwise known as S.R. Shearer, and I restarted Antipas Ministries in about 1992 (it goes back nearly 30 years and I was also there in the beginning).   Steve started writing on religion and politics because we were seeing the growth of an alliance between the Republican Party and the "religious right," truly an unholy alliance.   I wrote and we printed a special report on the Promise Keepers in about 1994.    We started the two websites (the "End Times Network" and ISRP) in about 1994 and Steve wrote on religion and politics and I wrote on issues relating to the church in the last days.

Steve wrote prolifically.   I wrote on "Issues for the End Times Christian" (Dene's Diary) and "Letters from Babylon" based on the Screw tape Letters format of C.S. Lewis.   By about 1996, early drafts of my book began to appear titled "Apostasy and the Last Days Church".   The first section of the book dealt with the condition of the church in the "last days" ("apostate" or fallen) and the second half with house churches a practical "how to" on the subject.   Over the next seven years, I handled most of the correspondence, was responsible for a message board (which was finally discontinued), traveled in a motor home for 20 months meeting with people interested in the message.   It is interesting to note that we didn't really find that much interest in home churching  during that time, nor did Doug or Steve when they went on two extended trips last year.   I continued to work with Antipas (which included ISRP and the "End Times Network") until the summer of 2003 when we had a parting of ways.

For many of you who are familiar with my work, I think it is important for you to understand what happened.   Antipas was beginning to change.   The message was getting more harsh and insistent that Christians leave the institutional church and America (the prophetic Babylon of the “last days”).  Steve based this on the verse in Revelation 18:4 to "come out of her my people."   At the same time, he was becoming more and more interested in creating a movement made up of the truly committed and a "pox" on everyone else.   He felt that most Christians were not committed and were just going to burn when Babylon (America) was destroyed.

My position was that God had given us a message.   We had neither the time nor the resources to start a movement.    I wrote a "Vision Statement" in April, 2003 outlining my position on these two issues:  1)  whether Antipas Ministries should emphasize the message or become a movement, and 2) whether Christians should leave Babylon in its three forms: political, commercial and religious (which Steve defined as America and the church)  It seemed elitist to assume that God was completely through with ALL Christians in America who did not heed Steve's demand that they leave their church and their homeland.  I felt we needed to encourage people to seek the Lord and follow His leading (as I encourage people to on this website) and that to insist that we know the will of God for others is "playing God" and incredibly presumptuous to say the least!

I thought our goal should be to present information so that Christians can take that information to the Lord and do what He tells them to do.  We all "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12)  I absolutely agreed on the essential prophetic message regarding the rapture, the role of the United States in prophecy, the "Two Witnesses", even regarding the apostasy of the modern church.   In fact, I wrote about it then and continue to do so now on this website.   However, people need to be persuaded and make up their own mind before the Lord.   They should never be harangued or told what to do.   That is between them and the Lord and they will answer in eternity for what they do with their lives here on earth.

I felt that calling people names and insulting them, as Steve Shearer often does, was counter productive and hardly a way to reach people with a message (and for any who have read articles the past year on their website, you know what I mean).   I also felt we needed to respect other Christians and the work the Lord gave them.  It may be different than what He has given us.   My original vision was for a "network of end times Christians" who would work together, but not necessarily agree on everything and walk in "lockstep".   Steve began to reject people and ministries that were not completely in line with his vision.

As far as I was concerned, God is much bigger than that.   He has workers doing different things, with different callings and talents.  He also looks more at our heart than our location.  If we look at the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, we see that no matter how bad the condition of the church, there were overcomers in each church.   We have to realize that God is working in the hearts of all of His children.   Some will learn to listen to and recognize His voice and some won't.   Some will see the deception and some won't.   I tried to remind the brothers in Antipas that we had all been in the organized church at one time and that God, in His grace and mercy, had shown us what was wrong with it and called us out.   We are all in a process and God is working in us over time.   He may have things that we need to experience.   That's okay.   I'm thankful for all of my crazy experiences over the past 50 years of being a Christian.

But I am not going to insist, as S.R. Shearer does, that I know the will of God for other Christians and insist they see what I see and do what I do.   That is crazy and that's not how God works!  Our goal should be to lead people to the Lord, to communicate and educate, not offend for the sake of offending and never to tell people what to do!  There is a big difference between objectively evaluating public positions and actions of Christian leaders and telling the average Christian they are "fools and twits" for following them! (which again, is common in Steve's writings).   Christians need a revelation from God.   They need to hear the message and be presented the information.   What they do with it is between them and God.

Our job is to be "watchmen on the walls"  We are to blow the trumpet and warn people.   It is up to them to listen to and obey the Lord.   I will never tell you what to do except learn to listen to His voice and follow His leading.   Be very careful about what others tell you.   Test what they say.   Test what we say against the Word.   That is why I have written "Recognizing Apostasy and Deception" on this website.  We need to learn how to recognize it for ourselves!  We shouldn't listen to every fool that comes along and tells us "behold here or there"!

If you have been following Antipas Ministry writings, you know that nearly every article harps two themes.

1) get out of your church and America before it is too late.   Now you know why I couldn;t continue with Antipas Ministries (and their corollary websites of the "End Times Network" and "The Institute for the Study of Religion and politics) 2) Steve's new gospel of class warfare, "God is for the poor and against the rich.   This latter theme has been there for many years, but only recently become so strident.  The gospel is about the redemptive work of our Savior and our need for that salvation" not the liberation theology of class warfare!

My burden is that the saints be equipped to think and judge for themselves.   We need to learn how to follow the "Spirit and He will lead you into all truth".  All the words in the world; all the exhortation in the world and all the sermons and books in the world will do us no good unless we learn how to discern the truth ourselves.   We feel strongly about our message, but if the Lord doesn't give others the revelation no amount of haranguing is going to help. If this is what God wants us to say and you to hear, He will open your spiritual eyes to see.

Again S.R. Shearer is constantly urging readers to become radicals to abandon America, to picket the Republican convention, the World Trade meetings or the local "mega church."  I don't think God approves of that kind of radicalism any more than he does the activism of the "religious right".  This world is not our home.  Why didn't the apostles encourage the "early church" to picket the Roman government for human rights abuses (e.g. throwing Christians to the lions or crucifying them) or for their military and economic subjugation of their expanding empire.  No, our Lord is concerned about a Christian who is radical about being separate from the things of the world, who lives in His presence, listens to His voice, follows His leading and is willing to lose everything to gain Christ, people who overcome where they are, who don't need the crutch of changing physical locations to overcome, but who gladly share the good news of Jesus Christ with all around them.

The last thing that caused me to leave Antipas was their constant pleas for money.   Why do they want a movement?  Why do they want students to attend their school in Canada?  At least one very good reason is MONEY.   Every article Steve writes asks for money.   Please see their statement on the subject. Again, I don't necessarily believe in the tithe.   Everything we have and earn belongs to Him.   I feel that every Christian is responsible to go the Lord and give as He directs.   I personally think we are wasting our money on church buildings and programs.   Gifts in the early church were generally for those who were in need and to free workers, but anyone can be a "worker" and you don't have to go to Bible School and Seminary to be one.   If God wants to bless a ministry, He will support it.   He has all the riches of the world and He is perfectly able to get them into the right hands.

That is why Pergamos Ministries is here not to tell you what to do, but to help you discern what the Lord wants you to do.   We are here encourage you to develop your ability to discern apostasy and deception and to present information to you so you can judge for yourself.   We don't presume to be infallible or the "oracle of God".   We need, love and appreciate each of you.   We covet your prayers (not your money).   We realize that if you are obeying the Lord, He may be leading you in a different direction.   You may be working in the prisons, with the poor or with children.   It doesn't matter.   What matters is that we follow the Lord, support one another and let the Lord increase our vision to what is really happening in these last days.   You have to follow the Lord as I do and if we pull together with others of like mind, the Lord can build something.   This doesn't depend on a man or a ministry, but the Spirit of God working in all the members of the body and respecting each person's portion of Christ.   It also means trusting the Lord to work in all our brothers and sisters and being faithful to the light the Lord has given us.

Dene McGriff

Sacramento

http://www.thetribnet.org/history_of_antipas.htm

 

THE TRIBULATION NETWORK

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