Ichabod: The Glory has Departed
Editor’s Note: This is part 2 in a multipart series. You can read part 1 here.
Entire CGK Leadership Fired
What the APC leadership has not told the congregation is that the large church in Köln, Christliche Gemeinde Köln had far fewer problems than the APC before its self-destruction. After confronting the pastoral leadership between 1998-2000, in 2003 the entire church leadership of all 10 full-time paid staff members was overthrown/fired/resigned in one meeting as the church congregation’s legal representation won the day by firing and throwing out the entire corrupt church leadership, pastors, council and all.
Americans shouldn’t expect truth and justice in their own church under the new vogue “UN international” label. Now they have to make it.
Fighting for truth and justice is never about yourself. It is always about others. The effects last generations.
Inserting an independent supervisory board, or using best-methods/best-practices is one of many APC leadership’s nightmares. No outside experts, no attorneys, no evidence, nothing outside of their APC control was permitted.
Fighting for truth and justice is always about nameless faceless people yet to come, it’s about creating a safe church and sanctuary where those yet to come can enjoy worship without the fear of being framed for criminal conduct to the delight and whim of those around them. The ugly false criminal allegations have already gone on for over 13 years. Like the Germans said, “It’s a war.”
It’s What They’ve Lost That Counts
The true measure of the APC is not how many people they have now, but, not in how many hundreds, no, in how many thousands of local Germans and others they have lost. Those who have come and gone wiping their feet saying “No thanks.” It is estimated over a million people have attended services there from over 180 different countries according to State Department Analyst Betsy W. (name redacted). They continue to deceitfully call it “a church in transition.” Genuine churches go from strength to strength and glory to glory, cults sputter along.
The council needs to control the pastor to rubber-stamp their past issues to cover up the false criminal allegations, concealing of documentation and other issues. One APC member in charge of church communications has already been arrested and jailed.
The APC had about 50-60 people the past Sunday after counting in a city of over 400,000 and an SMSA of roughly over 2.5 million people. Over 350,000 U.S. service men and families are only an hour and a half away at U.S.A.F. Base Ramstein.
Many can sense the problems and have expressed their concerns. Others have said, the main characteristic defining the APC is “the absence of truth and justice.”
If there is no truth and no justice, there is no church.
Sweeping It Under the Rug
It is easy to understand why the APC doesn’t have a new senior pastor after over a year of trying. The cause can be found in Joshua 1 – 7. Israel was defeated before its enemies in the battle of Ai. The reason? There was “sin in the camp.” Sin had to be dealt with ruthlessly both individually and corporately or the camp was not moving forward anywhere any time soon.
Joshua 7:11 says, “Israel has sinned, and they have broken My covenant that I commanded them. They took from the things dedicated for destruction. They have stolen, acted deceitfully, and put them among their own possessions.” Achan’s sin caused the whole camp of the Israelites to be defeated before their enemies, resulting in many deaths. The same is true of the APC today. In Joshua 7:12 God says: “I will not be with you anymore …”
Heaven Has Fired Them
“For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37b).
There is no misunderstanding , and you don’t have to be a theologian to understand why there is virtually little to no move of the Holy Spirit within the APC now as there was 15 years ago, why ministries continually die out and why they have no new senior pastor. It takes a long time for things to die. God is gracious. One pastor (and his wife) from the United States who was in consideration for the vacant position of senior pastor came to give a sermon and viewed the church. Their answer? “No thanks.”
While no one person could ever come close to knowing the full extent of the move of the Holy Spirit in any given ministry or any church, the following below is an informal observation and an aggregation of various viewpoints from others for discussion purposes only.
The Holy Spirit “guides into all truth” (John 16:13b). He cannot be manufactured, worked up, drummed up or imitated. God cannot endorse evil, sin and corruption, known and unknown.
His presence, His anointing separates the genuine from the counterfeit, God’s chosen, anointed leadership from popular counterfeit leadership, churches from cults.
The key factor in any genuine Christian church is the lordship of Jesus Christ, the Word, His presence, the anointing and manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The move of the Holy Spirit, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, prophecy, the gift of tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles and healings are the dinner bell to the lost. That is God the Father manifesting His heart for mankind.
But, it doesn’t happen in an environment of hatred or deceit. He doesn’t bless any of it. He withdraws from it.
Salvations? At the end of church? Virtually totally gone. None over the past year or have been seen in any significant numbers earlier going back years. Baptism of the Holy Spirit? Unheard of. Public tongues and interpretation in church? Gone since 2003. The blind seeing? Zero. The lame walking? Getting out of wheelchairs? The dead raising? … Where?
Jesus said, “Heal the sick who are there.” They can’t. They changed that in the service to “Come to the front for prayer.” They don’t want the public responsibility with public accountability. Because they don’t have the power to heal the runny nose of a gnat. They don’t have the goods. Nothing moves forward. Sin is in the camp.
Home groups? All time low. How many now? Five? One? Zero? Other Bible studies? Mr. Simon England substituted U.N. millennial goals as a standard and discussion benchmark in the men’s Bible study. The men’s Bible study died out soon after that. And many times since after numerous attempts to revive it. Evangelism? Pfffft. Where? Forget it. More people attend weekly Amnesty International meetings and softball games in Bonn.
Many American ministers such as Bill Johnson, Joyce Meyer, Franklin Graham, Ken Copeland, Dr. Bill Winston and others are only not promoted, but should have an open invitation to come to their own American church in Bonn. It is their pulpit. It is America’s pulpit. It is home to all of America’s pastors and Catholic priests. It was paid for by 10,000 white crosses buried in the green grass above the sand dunes at the D-Day cemetery in Normandy, France. But the Germans have blocked out that knowledge that should have been available to all on the church internet site.
Freedom Follows Deliverance
As revelations grow and come to light of the deceit and of some operational practices in the APC, so will the need for deliverance of what has been spread there. What they have trafficked is not the Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Three members who left the church went through deliverance, choking, convulsing and vomiting out what has been trafficked in the APC. They have been protected and have been safely placed in other churches. Many more will need the ministry of deliverance as the Holy Spirit moves in authority and power. They won’t be able to hide it.
Heaven Has Fired Them
Heaven has fired them. They just don’t know it yet. The corporate anointing throughout the whole building and all extended ministries is gone. Many feel better leaving the church and getting out of there is a lot better than they feel having to go in.
One council member and guest speaker, during his preaching concerning whether to start new home groups, made some statements to the effect of “just try … announce it … open your home … ask a few questions … from a booklet… ” Proving the bar, the standard for APC home group growth has been placed on the floor.
“Ichabod”: The glory has departed (see 1 Sam. 4:21).
Full Victory! Nothing Else
German Chancellor Merkel and her Cabinet have been doing a good job under the most difficult geo-political circumstances in the past 10 years.
It is written: “There are more with us than with them” (2 Kings 6:16).
The APC problems do not reflect the sentiment of the greater Bonn area. As a matter of fact, the Germans nationwide want a move of the Holy Spirit to sweep their nation. Many Germans around Bonn would like to hear about the Americans finally kicking butt and clearing the corruption out of their own church.
Having personally represented and defended 16 different German pastors and German churches from their own government between 1995-2000 giving open- and closed-door testimony in the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives over a period of years, I know how principals, those elements causing problems, network and operate.
The APC scandal is similar to the Enquette Commission disaster between 1994-2000 when a small number of Bundesministers (3) got their hands on the levers of government power forming the federal Enquette Commission for Sekten and Psycho Groups that spread to other European governments as justification to limit the religious freedom of spirit-filled Christian churches across Europe. Finally, in outstanding cooperation between the German and U.S. government they were soundly defeated and their networks have never surfaced again.
The APC is much the same model. A small number of people have influenced the church council and pastors to cover up their false criminal allegations and their own illegal personal conduct. They hold the church members hostage through ignorance. What they haven’t told the church is that the members are liable for the conduct of a few. The congregation would NOT approve of the conduct of a few if they were fully informed.
“Their exultation was like those who devour the oppressed in secret.” Habakkuk 3: 3, 4
What everyone should know is: throughout the years what has happened is that incident after incident, conflict after conflict in their self-exaltation thinking they have “won” every incident- shows that they are as delusional as they are malevolent.
Oh no! They didn’t “win.”
What happened is that they were making an indisputable, unarguable point-by-point justification for a public case against themselves for their own prosecution, dissolution and total defeat.
We have full confidence that truth and justice will prevail, and that those responsible will be held accountable. They cannot eclipse truth or stop justice forever.
Those who have fronted the hatred and animosity and have been the prime financial beneficiaries of the oppression and misery of others have done so for far too long. The Sunday morning show is over.
The corruption and oppression will be wiped out completely.
The Lord is coming back for His bride, holy, spotless and pure. Salvations, miracles, evangelism, signs and wonders are important to Him to demonstrate His love and heart to a lost and hurting world.
“Stand firm! And see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you today. … The Lord shall fight for you” (Ex. 14:13, 14). How true.
Full victory. Nothing else. {eoa}
Disclosure: Not only have allegations and incidents cited happened to others, but to the author himself as well.
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Steven V. Selthoffer is an American communications executive living in Bonn, Germany. He works as a sport investigative journalist exposing corruption in Olympic sports. Selthoffer swam for U.S. Olympic coach Dr. James E. Counsilman, Indiana University. He has worked for Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile on a number of large projects. His father was friends with President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and grew up playing touch football with Kennedy family members. JFK, Robert and Ted Kennedy came to the Selthoffer’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, on a number of occasions for lunches and friendly family and neighborhood gatherings. President Kennedy, who was aboard PT-109 in the Pacific, and Joseph R. Selthoffer who served on board the U.S.S. Nevada (BB-36), often spoke together about their times aboard ship and in various campaigns. Selthoffer also has a background in relief aid, security and international relations. He has testified before the OSCE, a joint session of the U.S. House and Senate of Congress on international relations and security. He has also worked in cooperation with the U.S. State Department and other agencies on relief aid and various other issues.
