Editor's Note (regular column)
by Doug Trouten [editor]
Twin Cities Christian [Minneapolis/St. Paul newspaper]
July 9, 1992


"We cried, God answered"

Mike Warnke, the Satanic high priest turned Christian comedian, has been exposed as a fraud by Cornerstone magazine. As it turns out, Warnke, whose purported autobiography The Satan Seller taught Christians to see a satanic conspiracy behind every darkened window, has indeed been selling something all these years -- mostly himself.

For those of you who haven't yet read the EP News story on page 5A of this issue of the Twin Cities Christian, Warnke was exposed by Christian investigative journalists who contacted friends and relatives who knew Warnke during the years he claimed to be the drug-crazed satanic high priest of a 1,500 member coven. His fiancee at the time, who saw him daily, saw nothing that would indicate drug use. And his friends are sure they'd remember that 1,500 member coven if it had shown up while they were hanging out. The Cornerstone investigation also pulls together the various claims Warnke has made about his life and demonstrates that they can't possibly fit into the same timeline. The heavily-documented article, combined with the stonewalling from the Warnke camp, leads to an inescapable conclusion: Warnke is a fraud.

This will be devastating for the many thousands who have been touched by Warnke's books, tapes, and live performances, just as followers of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Peter Popoff, Robert Tilton, and others have been disappointed to learn that their idols have feet of clay.

Do you suppose God is trying to teach us something?

When we let Him, I believe God gives us what we need. When we stand in the way of this process, He often gives us what we want instead.

The model for this was set in the Old Testament. In the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel we see the people of Israel crying out for a king. "All the other countries' gods let them have kings," they whined to God. "All our friends have kings." What parent hasn't been in that situation? God probably felt tempted to say, "If all the other countries jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?" Except, being God, He already knew the answer. If you read the Old Testament, you can see that the answer, in Israel's case, was "yes."

So God gave them a king. And what a king they got. They got the kind of king that teaches the whole country a lesson. The lesson is found in Samuel's farewell speech (1 Sam. 12:20-21): "You have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless."

Today's church is learning this same lesson.

"Give us celebrity leaders," we cried, and the Lord heard our cry and gave us celebrity leaders, complete with celebrity lifestyles and celebrity failings.

And in our hunger for celebrities we've created the mechanism of their destruction: a church that will tolerate anything but weakness, that makes it impossible for leaders to admit to small sins before they become big ones, and that emphasizes quantity over quality. The result: a church founded by a carpenter who spent His life wandering the countryside, speaking words of life to a few thousand people at a time, is now headed by celebrity preachers who can use the miracle of modern technology to reach millions -- but who have nothing to say.

"Give us speakers with shocking testimonies, that we might vicariously experience the thrill of sin," we cried, and the Lord gave us captivating speakers whose stories of sin rivaled the supermarket tabloids for sensationalism -- and for credibility.

And in our hunger for titillation, we've made debauchery a virtual prerequisite for ministry. A past marked by flagrant, outrageous sin has become a better qualification for ministry than a seminary degree. Or a call from God.

In the last five years, the Christian community has seen a lot of idols fall. One by one, the personality cults we've built up around dazzling speakers are falling apart. God is speaking to us. He's saying, "You shall have no other gods before Me." He's saying, "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." He's saying, "Don't put your faith in men, put your faith in Me."

Perhaps God is preparing to raise up a "faceless church," one that will be known by its love, not by its leaders.

God is talking. Are we listening?

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original filename: CSR0017A.TXT
"Editor's Note"
Release A, 4 June 1998

This file was previously released as TC_EDITL.TXT in the WARNKE2.ZIP archive on the JPUSA BBS in October 1992. Heading and footing information revised.

This file may be reproduced on electronic media and communications services without charge or permission from the author(s), so long as the wording of the text remains unaltered. For files on related subjects, please visit our website at <http://www.cornerstonemag.com/> or write to: Cornerstone, 939 W. Wilson Ave., Chicago, IL 60640-5706, U.S.A.

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