One of the most central themes in the Faith movement is the ongoing battle against Satan. In the efforts to protect the preachers against the attacks of Satan, sometimes you do not need to tell the truth. In fact, you will be specifically encouraged to hide certain facts which might be to a disadvantage for the ministry (e.g. about the preachers and what they do). It is thought that, otherwise, Satan will use any negative information for his purposes. Therefore, you are encouraged not to tell all you know about the preachers and the movement to people who are critical and might be used by Satan.
“So you answer in general terms, instead of answering how big the offering was, even though you know it. You do not always have a right to tell people who ask. You should keep quiet! The Word of God says that ‘a trustworthy man keeps a secret.’” 85
This protection of the ministry against potential agents of Satan becomes a first priority, and truth becomes adjusted to the listener. There is one level of truth for the initiated and another level for the outsiders. This may explain why the leader of the Swedish movement makes very contradictory statements in different settings. An example of this is his answer to a question in his Newsletter: “Is it true that you say that you are gods and that you can never be sick and will never die, because God is not sick and cannot die?”
Ekman replies: “Sometimes people make very peculiar assertions about us. They put statements in our mouths to such an extent that one must admire their imagination. When false accusations and mistaken viewpoints are ascribed to us, the reason is often that people listen to our tapes in a negative frame of mind. They cut out parts of the sermons and put them in a different context. Using such a method, you can make out that any politicians has said just about anything, and you can still document it by saying that ‘this was said on such and such a tape’. Regarding the question whether we say we are gods, and can never get sick or die, this is not so.” 86 However, this denial is contradicted in an earlier edition of the very same newsletter where there is a report on a Faith preacher who held a week long seminar in the movement. The report says: “Bobbie-Jean started the week by teaching from John 10:34 and Psalm 82:6-8 that God has said that WE ARE GODS.” 87
In a public interview on Swedish television in October 1991, the interviewer showed a video-clip from a meeting with Jane Whaley. 88 On the clip, she encouraged people to cast demons out of themselves using “the groaning” and “travailing prayer”. (See chapter on exorcism.) But when questioned by the interviewer, Ekman denied that people had been urged to exorcise themselves. Ekman even denied that he had been present at the said occasion. After this reply to the interviewer, the video showed a clip from that very meeting where the speaker said: “How many know that you need a few devils out of you?” (Many, probably a majority, raised their hand.) “Would you like to put the Word of God into practice? OK, see — Start groaning! Mix faith with it! Tell that devil to come out of you!” 89 The video shows that while Jane Whaley says these things, Ekman is in the front row of the meeting and, furthermore, he is also seen to take part in the so-called exorcism. 90 So much for the truthfulness of his denying that this was practised, let alone his saying that he was not present!
It is a common pattern among preachers like the Faith teachers to start by apparently rejecting the points of doctrine or the practices that are being questioned, and then later on, when the audience is convinced that the preachers have disassociated themselves from the points in question, they will proceed to make themselves the spokesmen for the very same things by using different words. What is more, the information is on two different levels, and information to uninformed outsiders can be very different from the information given to people inside the movement.
Many people, including myself, have attempted to pick and choose and only accept the good parts of the teachings. In my experience, this is not possible without also taking on board some of the bad parts. It is very difficult to separate the good from the bad while you are in that environment. Furthermore, through so-called prophecy, you will be told not to pick and choose, but to accept everything that is taught: “The Spirit of the Lord says to you: ‘It is time for you to accept everything!’” 91 This means that you have to say yes or no to the whole package.
Footnotes
85. Urban Karlsson, Hjälptjänster (Ministry of Helps), translated from Swedish.
86. Ulf Ekman, Word of Life Newsletter No. 1, 1987, p 6. Translated from Swedish.
87. Word of Life Newsletter May 1986, p 10. Translated from Swedish. Capitals in original.
88. Jane Whaley, Dina stridsvapen till andlig befrielse (Your Weapons of War for Spiritual Deliverance), Word of Life, Uppsala, Sweden.
89. Jane Whaley, Dina stridsvapen till andlig befrielse (Your Weapons of War for Spiritual Deliverance), Word of Life, Uppsala, Sweden.
90. “Skytte” 20 October 1991, Swedish Television. Translated from Swedish.
91. Prophecy by Ulf Ekman, Word of Life Newsletter No. 1, 1990, p 11. Translated from Swedish.
