Fwd: Toppin's prophetic scam.
naboth675
<naboth675@...> wrote:
--- In waymanm...@yahoogroups.com, "naboth675" <naboth675@y...>
wrote:
What you are about to read are the details of how a Minister in the
Potters House Christian Fellowship Church threatened, manipulated
and decieved his church in order to line his own pockets.
Ernest Toppin took over the pastorate of the Northampton church
{United Kingdom} in June 2000. The church had been based in a
community centre for the previous five years which was located just
outside the city centre. The church used the main hall for a hire
fee of just £5 per hour and the caretaker often allowed other
facilities to be left unlocked so the church could use them for
nothing. The main hall could hold 80 to 100 people and the church
moved to this location when it was newly opened in 1995. It was the
envy of many of the pioneer pastors in the national fellowship
1 - TOPPIN'S TACTICS.
The new pastor was niceness personified at first but after an
initial period he bagan to prach more and more on money and the
pressure began to increase to give more. On many occasions Toppin
would state that unless A person gave 10% of all their earnings to
the church God would send them to hell. He then went into graphic
descriptions of what hell was like. As his ministry continued this
got worse. One time he claimed to have seen hell in a vision and
graphically described torture and multiple shootings of victims. He
also began to emphasise that something horrible might happen at any
time and that the building itself could be blown sky high in a gas
explosion. On one occasion someone found an old sports bag dumped in
bushes next to the building. Toppin ordered people not to touch it.
He suggested that it could be a bomb. Despite this he did not calkl
the authorities.
The pressure for more money increased as the fear of death was
encouraged and emphasised. Toppin began to press the point of giving
ALL THE TITHES into the church. He also taught that you could rob
God in offerings as well as tithes so to stay right with God it was
neccesary to give offerings to God as well. This was all taken very
seriously as Toppin had angrily declared from the pulpit that
everything he said was from God and nothing he spoke was from
himself. Everyone took his word as the word of God himself.
One time Toppin got angry. He said "Some people say all this church
wants is your money, well dang right I want your money!!! I want
your money man!!We are running out of time. We are building the
kingdom of God and souls are dying every day dang it!!Too right I
want your money. I want all the money I can get. These are the last
days man!!"
Toppin would often use innocuous examples of saving money which he
said was evidence of God's blessing as he obeyed God and gave as God
led him to. If he bought something in a shop that was advertised at
a 30% discount he wouldn't hesitate to claim that this discount was
a direct result of God's favour for giving. He claimed that people
needed to give until it hurt them as they were not really giving
until they reached that stage. He claimed again and again that this
was where the blessing satarted and that's why people in the church
were not blessed. They were not hurting enough. Their giving was not
sacrificial enough.
2 - THE REVELATION OF ERNEST TOPPIN.
One day Toppin claimed that God had spoken to him and shown him how
the churuch was going to enter into revival. He had often talked in
excited terms about revival and in over 2 years the church had only
grown by about 5 people. Now he was claiming that God had shown him
that he had a speacial building where God was going to 'give us
revival'. He claimed that until now God had kept us in the
background because we were not ready for revival but now we were
ready and God wanted to put us on display before the world. He asked
us to pray for the negotiations with the building's owners. The
building was just a two minute walk from the building the church was
in but it was on a main road. Toppin kept emphasising how this was
important.
3 - THE NATURE OF TOPPIN'S PROPHETIC BUILDING.
The new building was anything but new. It was a run down former
Wesleyan chapel owned since 1967 by the mental health
charity 'Mencap' and was in desperate need of repair.They were
struggling for money to keep the service they provided at that
building running. They had tried to hire the building out but with
little success. Now Toppin came along and offered to pay for use of
the hall at the same weekly rate he paid for the building the church
used at Vernon terrace. They agreed. Toppin however began to hold
them to ranson saying he wanted the building for revivals, concerts
and other events for no extra charge. They agreed. He then said he
wanted the building for morning prayer. They agreed. They had no
choice. They were struggling financialy.
The main hall where God was going to bring this incredible harvest
of souls was surprisingly small. It could only fit around 40 to 50
seats and was half the size of the hall the church was leaving
behind. Toppin howevrr insisted that this was where revival was
going to break out.
4 - PREPARING THE BUILDING FOR REVIVAL.
It must be stressed that the Potters House did not own this building
yet Toppin spoke about it like he owned the thing. He said that when
we had the money he would buy ther building from 'Mencap' and kick
them out as he wanted the building for himself. He made it clear
that he resented having to share the building at all
despite 'mencap' having done everything they could to accomodate
him. {They even gave him free unlimited use of all their office
equipment ect upstairs at no extra cost. For Toppin this was not
enough. He demanded a partitioned space for his own private office.
Toppin began throwing money at the main hall. Most of it went on a
stage at the front for the already tiny room. The stage was covered
in carpet and behind the stage were hung luxurious looking claret
curtains. When the first service was held, Toppin looked very
proffessional up there. The rest of the building looked a mess.
5 - TOPPIN'S CATCH. {A NEW REVELATION}
Not long before the move Toppin had anounced that he was awarding
himself a part time wage out of the churches offerings. He was going
to cut down on the hours of his secular job. In one of the first
services in the new building he announced that he was quitting his
job to work full time for the church and was awarding himself a wage
for this. He claimed that he was doing this because God had 'dealt
with me to do this'. He also claimed,'God has shown me how if we are
going to have revival we must support the man of God full time. I
believe that this is going to unlock the door to revival for this
church. If we want revival we have to support the man God has given
you. I sense from God that revival hinges on this. If you do this
then God will open up revival for this church.' He then went on to
declare that there was not enough money coming in at present and
that he was obeying God by faith and so it was up to the church now
to support him. They duly obliged.
6 - A SHADOW OVER THE PROPHETIC MOVE.
The relationship between Toppin and the charity was starting to be
strained. They tolorated much because they were desperately in need
of money. Equipment put up in the main hall by the chaity for the
disabled was taken down on Toppin's orders for redecoration of the
walls. It was not put back up until the charity complained. Toppin
felt it made the hall look less like a church. The main hall also
had several boards on the walls which were covered with photographs
of the groups mentally disabled members enjoying activities and
day's out provided and run by the charity. Toppin had curtain rails
fastened above all of them and curtains were pulled across them
whenever the church used the building. Toppin felt that pictures of
disabled children ruined the look of the main hall and made it look
less like a church so he had their pictures covered over. He also
had a large sign put up at the front of the building which made it
look as if the building was solely used by the Potters House. The
charities patience was being tested. Toppin also used the front of
the building's cellar area to dump large amounts of rubbish he
brought with him from the move from the old building. Leftovers from
the building of the stage were also dumped there.
7 - THE NOT SO PROPHETIC EXIT.
Toppin had possession of the keys to the building and details of
it's security system which he shared with two other disciples. This
gave him almost unlimited use of the building. All this was not
enough for Mencap as they struggled to survive on the meagre sum he
was paying them. As they went further into financial difficulties
the church began to see more and more people walk through the door.
The problem was however that they were walking the wrong way. After
the initial success of a visitor being converted in the first
service things went downhill as first one then two and then four
disciples left the church and didn't come back. Much as Toppin tried
to get the church to grow it was actually shrinking.
One disciple's departure was particularly dramatic. He lived in a
house with another disciple and simply dissapeared one day taking
with him his passport. He left no information about his whereabouts
and did not contact anyone. He was far from the first to leave in
dramatic circumstances. Another left to join an evangelical group
whom Toppin had often denounced from the pulpit as a cult. It seems
he preferred to join them rather than continue with Toppin's church.
This same disciple later shared with me many of his concerns about
Toppin and his claims. He later recieved an angry tirade from Toppin
when he caught up with the man on the streets.
Then came the bombshell. Mencap were going to sell the building and
share facilities with another part of the charity. That was the end
for Toppin's prophetic revival. The for sale sign went up and the
Potters House had to leave. While the church were paying him a wage
which helped him pay a mortgage on a beautifully decorated and
furnished house little more than a stones throw away from a
pictureque lake and rolling fields, the church itself was officially
homeless.
8 - LOOKING FOR A NEW REVIVAL BUILDING
So Toippin ended up getting away with it but how? He had clearly and
often spoken of this building as God's appointed place for revival.
Now he claimed that the devil was hindering revivla and that God
wanted to give them revival somewhere else but only if they remained
faithful. They had to continue supporting him and doing all he told
them to do. Every setback was blamed on the devil. One of their
disciples seemed unfazed by Toppins false prophecy, declaring 'we're
looking for a place where God will give us revival.
The church ended up in a building that looked like a hut from a
concentration camp. Eventualy they managed to replace the converts
they had lost and at present they have a few others in the church so
it has grown slightly. Still the church is small and it's members
sacrifice to support Toppin's so called revelations. In the last
year Toppin was seen jet seeting to Perth, Western Australia to sing
in the church there. His church back home have been told by Toppin
that now they are IN REVIVAL on the basis that they have a handfull
of new people and some visitors whom one disciple derided
as 'religious' because they were not committed to the church. Thus
continues Toppins prophetic scam.
regards..naboth675
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