TAKEN IN

[Lahry]

TAKEN IN
By Lahry Sibley
Like all men, I have my vulnerabilities. For one I have a very tender
and compassionate heart. I thank the Lord for it and make no
apologies. The other is that I have been in the past, and still am
today, much too gullible. I tend to believe the best in people, until
they prove otherwise. Such is the case in my relationship to Mr.
Harold Kupp.
I’ve known Harold for about 2 years. He and I have had many grand
discussions about truth and light, and we agreed on virtually
everything. He also showed me some things in God’s Word that I had not
seen before, and I’m grateful.
Last week, Mr. Kupp asked me to move to Oregon to pastor a new church
there. He offered to pay all my expenses to move, house me and my
family for 1 year, and pay me a salary, if I would be come to Oregon
and pastor this church. He said he himself was not a pastor, but a
businessman, and he recognized that the church must have a pastor
called by God. He said I was the only person whom they would support
as their pastor. He said they would even purchase an available meeting
hall in their town for us to live in, and use as an assembly hall.
Admittedly, this is something I’ve been praying for a very long time.
So I thought about it, prayed and sought the Lord in it and thought
about it some more, as you might well imagine. I asked the Lord to
show me the “pitfalls” if there be any. Oh how I love the Lord today,
for He answers prayer.
I really could not come up with any reason why I should not take this
offer, though my discernment was not totally at ease. (When it’s too
good to be true, watch out!) The only thing that bothered me is that
Mr. Kupp is a “strong willed” person, and my survival was dependent
solely upon him finances. He is evidently very well off financially, I
never asked. But a wise old missionary in Jamaica gave me a piece of
advice one time. He said, son, when it comes to finances, never put
all your eggs in one basket. Large donations or provisions have
“hooks”. So I prayed, Lord, show me the hooks.
Well, Saturday, I wrote Mr. Kupp and took him up on his offer. They
said they were elated. I needed about $1200 dollars worth of work done
on my car, which I did not have the funds for, and he said find a
place to do the work and he’d pay for it, as a blessing to me. Wow!
That’s awesome to me. Thank you Lord. Though I was enjoying the
prospect, my discernment was still a bit hypertensive, but I could not
tell what it was.
Yesterday, the Lord gave me a message called “Heavenly Minded”, which
I posted on facebook, on Mr. Kupp’s forum, our own website and other
places where I distribute what God gives me to write. In the second to
last paragraph, I wrote……. ”To repent is to present yourself to God
for death, a living sacrifice. There is no other repentance than this.
Believe it, live it, and you will inherit eternal life. Reject it, you
reject the shed blood of Jesus and trample it under foot. You believe
and perpetrate a false gospel. You are accursed and will burn in HELL
for all eternity. I did not make that up, beloved. It’s the Gospel
truth.”
In response to the article, Mr. Kupp sent me a private email, stating
that he did not believe in the immortality of the living soul, in that
those saved would live eternally with God, no doubt. But those lost
would not be tormented eternally in a lake of fire. He sent me an
article of supposedly learned men who quoted very few scriptures,
those quoted quite vague, quoting books that never made into the canon
of Scripture, and a strong rebutle by Mr. Kupp himself, that contained
nothing more than his own personal opinion. This is the same stand
taken by SDA’s exactly.
I sent Mr. Kupp a private email with 19 scriptures supporting my
understanding of what is taught in Scripture about this important
subject. Mr. Kupp’s only response to me was the word “sad”. Well it is
sad. Sad that no one is immune to the devils ability to twist
scripture and turn truth into lies.
I hope you understand that I was quite disturbed by all of this. I
told him so. But then he does the unthinkable. He takes our discussion
public and puts the same comments on the bottom of my facebook note.
That does not fly with me. I do not know everything. But when men are
supposed to be teachers and preachers, especially in the same church,
and they disagree, the disagreement must be thrashed out in private.
The pastor always has the final word, right or wrong. If the other
party does not agree, then their only other option is to find
fellowship elsewhere. But in the middle of the discussion to take the
argument public and to rebuke without first coming to impass in
private is not biblical nor ethical, as I understand it.
So I removed Mr. Kupp’s comments from the bottom of the note.
Thankfully they were made very late and I do hope that no one, or only
a few read them. For the fact is that Mr. Kupp, and those who take his
position on eternal torment completely ignore the “rich man and
Lazurus” story that Jesus Himself told in the Gospel of Luke, the 16th
chapter, verses 20-31.
Oh the deceitfulness of riches. Oh the joy of not being swayed by a
man’s money, but only by the Word of God and the leading of the Holy
Spirit. I want to take this opportunity to just magnify the Lord
today. Father, I thank You that You have shown me what is hidden that
I could not see. Oh what a joy when You will not let us walk off into
a dark place disguised as “angel’s of light”. I thank You for Your
Word, for Your Son Jesus, and for keeping nothing from us that is
hidden, that we need to know about. Oh I’m so happy in YOU today, my
Lord and my God.
Needless to say, the Sibley family will not be moving to Oregon after
all. I am willing to stay right here in nowhere Winslow and write to
the world and share the things of God, day by day, for His glory and
honor. I have all I need to sustain my life today, and I am oh so
grateful. Benefactors are a wonderful thing. Partners in financing the
Word of God and the workers who preach it are such a blessing. But
when that comes all in one person, BEWARE.
While I am so very grateful to Mr. Kupp for showing me many things
and exposing the subtleness of deception in so many people’s teaching
these days, he himself is a victum of this same deception. Of course,
as with others, for it to be a deception, it must be packaged very
well as truth. The devil is a master at this. The millions of so
called “Christians” who have abandoned Biblical truth are proof
positive of his success. But he cannot prevail against “TRUTH”. So
again, I thank God for it. That said, I cannot accept Mr. Kupp’s offer
to pastor a church under his financial contribution (and the shackles
that go with it). And furthermore, unless he recant his position, I
cannot fellowship with him.
So as of this writing, I am divesting myself of relationship with
him. I feel strongly that this is a very important doctrine that he
and so many other’s like him have blurred, by intent or by mistake.
I apologize to all of you, for being exposed to all of this. But I
maintain a transparent life. I know God has placed watchman out there,
and I thank Him for each one of you.
It is never my heart to harm. If you only knew how I despise
confrontation. But I thank God for the courage He alone has given me,
to do what I must do. I will not compromise the Word of God, nor will
I allow others to do so in my presence. I welcome healthy debate, but
not false doctrine. When clear scriptural evidence is present, those
who believe it are set free from the entrapments of deception. Who the
Son sets free is free indeed. It is with much sorrow that I bid Mr.
Kupp farewell.
Finally, thank you prayer warriors. Our God and His truth have
prevailed. I am eternally grateful. I ask the Lord to bless each one
of you, and I ask each one of you to continue to pray that God will
have His way in my heart and in my ministry. To God be the glory, now
and forever amen. - Lahry

[Harold Kupp]

Hello brother Lahry,

I think you have made the right decision. The doctrine of Eternal
Torment or Eternal Destruction is a subject where there can be no
compromise. One of us is right and the other wrong.

Amo 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

So for now the church situation must be put on hold at best. If you
change your mind let me know.

God bless brother - I wish you well.

Harold