Your article on Mike Warnke [Issue 98] was a virtual miracle of grace. You had the knife to stab him but instead used the knife as a surgeon’s instrument of healing. Anyone who has worked with people who are addicted to lying will understand that unless overwhelming documentation and evidence are presented, often in a public format, the liar will continue to lie. Your article was an act of love towards Mike, an opportunity for him to come clean and face some areas in his life that need the healing touch of Christ.

The writers obviously had ample opportunity to editorialize and further embarrass Mike. Their close adherence to objectivity and refusal to comment showed remarkable restraint and made the article a model of Christian journalistic excellence. Whether or not Mike will accept it, your article served him and those who have been affected by his ministry, and it accomplished this without slipping into the name-calling and salacious details so often used by the secular press.

It is with much sadness that I say thank you for printing the Mike Warnke story. It could not have been an easy thing to do. As a fan of Mike’s comedy, and one who had appreciation for his supposed ministry, I read your article with great pain. I can only say I think you have done Mike, the whole Christian community, and the Lord a great service. Let’s pray the love you have shown will bring Mike to repentance and those disappointed by his true story to a deeper reliance on God.

I wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I will be upholding you in prayer as the Warnke article takes its effect on the Christian community. After reading the article, I sense that your motives were right and that you ought to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). Thank you for doing what no one else would do in going public about Mike Warnke.

I know that there will be those who will call you divisive and unloving. I see that you obeyed the command in 1 Thess. 5:21 to “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.” My prayer for you is that you have and will continue to be Christlike in all you do. May this be a reminder to those of us who identify ourselves with Christ to be so far above reproach that there will be no cause for suspicion and no proof of wrongdoing to be found. “Let integrity and uprightness preserve you” (Ps. 25:21).

I am also praying that the Christian community will hold Mike and Word Records accountable for the deception of the past fifteen years. If this revelation doesn’t result in higher standards within the industry, I will be sorely grieved. May God’s will be done.

We have taken his books/tapes off our shelves since I can’t sell them with a clear conscience.

Why are you trying to bring down Mike Warnke? He has saved more people than you can imagine. Maybe not all his life is what you think it is. I have been to three of his concerts here in Pismo Nazarene Church, and I and two friends have reached the Lord through Mike. You know Satan will give and make up lies to bring Mike down because he is afraid of Mike. Please explain yourself to me.

Greetings in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Savior. I hadn’t read any of your publications until a fellow youth minister told me about your article about Mike Warnke. I must say I didn’t want to hear about it because I have enjoyed Mike’s tapes for years. I went two times to hear him live. I even have his video and showed it several times to church families. I am deeply saddened by this, nevertheless I can’t argue with the facts you brought up. I have read The Satan Seller, and you are right about the time line not working out. Mike is/was? a very convincing lying individual, and I was taken in by him.

I wish to express my thanks on a work well done. It was done not to make a person look bad; it is truth and I needed to hear it. It was also done with care and hope to bring Mike to a proper relation with the Lord. Pray tell, my fellow workers for Christ, what now? Do we ask for our money back for the tapes and videos . . . ? (No, I know.) I hurt for what Mike has done to the cause of Christ. What should be the proper response when or if Mike comes to town? Can we make copies of this article and hand them out? Should this be put on “Point of View” or “Randall Terry Live” or “Focus on the Family” or just wait for Time and Newsweek, NBC, ABC, CBS . . . to get it going?

Oh, how I hurt just thinking about it. Another black eye for the Church. I know that I will have to tell the truth in my area and that I will do. Oh Lord, help your Church!

My, how this hurts me. I have loved Mike for years and even told his stories in my sermons. God help Mike and God help us all.

Dear God of love and power,

Protect, I pray, the fellow saints that challenge your Church to check and know what is true. I thank You for them in exposing the lies of Mike Warnke, but, oh Father, how it hurts me to read and know this. Please help your Church to stand for the truth and not give in from the troubles that will come from this. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Read with great interest your article on Mike Warnke; how sad to be so deceived. God is exposing sin in the Church today. He gives us time to repent, but if we don’t, our sin will find us out. God doesn’t take pleasure in exposing sin, but He does it because His Church is to walk in purity of life. We pray that somehow Mike will find true godly repentance.

I found your investigative report on Mr. Mike Warnke to be eye-opening and informative. I must say, however, that I wasn’t at all surprised to read that he would only meet with you and witnesses with his attorney. This is a standard mindset and policy among a number of so-called ministries today.

While I consider your article to have been very well documented, honest, and written with an open heart, your magazine will be attacked. The Christian community will speak out against you for telling the truth. The attitude of the people will be, Don’t confuse me with the facts as I’ve already made up my mind.

Mr. Warnke has led people to believe that Satan is the reason for all evil. Satan and Satanists are under every rock and behind every tree.

It’s been taught over Christian TV, books, and radio that all of the evil in a Christian’s life is caused by demons or Satan. I’ve heard so many today into binding Satan and demons, but nothing about the flesh.

Your staff, I’m sure, will be placed under the headings of “Heresy Hunters,” “Witch Hunters,” “Satanists,” etc., by all of those in the Church who never test anything by Scripture or never question anything coming out of a person’s mouth. After all, why would a person lie to people in the Church? I’m sure it wouldn’t be to make money and establish “Christian celebrity status.” Surely we don’t elevate our teachers, leaders, and entertainers above Scripture or Christ.

Today I’m very sad to say many follow a new Holy Trinity of self. The god of self is the god of me, myself, and I. The Lord of Scripture is now a glorified bellhop who is at our beck and call. People today use the word “Jesus” to activate the spiritual bank for self-gratification.

I am in total agreement with Cornerstone’s view regarding publishers. If a publisher is a Christian company, they are responsible for the content of what they publish. It’s up to them to ascertain the integrity and truth claims of the author. The problem is that all that matters to most publishers is the bottom line [money].

The other group of individuals who should take a certain amount of responsibility are the people who profess that the person is truthful.

There seems to be a clique of Christian authors who are so-called experts in the field regarding Satanism or satanic abuse. One of these authors will write or say something, and the others will swear to it. And if anyone questions the author about the facts, the person asking the question is called a nonbeliever or a Satanist. This is insanity on parade.

Keep up the good work at Cornerstone—we need the truth to be told. We need an outlet for sanity.

I was not impressed with your article on Mike Warnke—you have done no more than what the secular press does. It’s bad enough what happened in Mike Warnke’s life, but you went way too far! You mentioned Jimmy Swaggart many times, but that’s beside the point. I didn’t agree with Jimmy, but, at the same time, I didn’t agree with a fourth marriage by Warnke. What about the scripture that says whether it’s preached for the wrong reason or the right reason, nevertheless Christ is preached?

You talked more about condemning this man and making him out to be a fraud than saying we need to lift him up and pray for him. Christ didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery. Is sin different because a man is on a pedestal? Or how about looking within your own life? Yes, sirs, I am angry. I am a minister and I come under fire about things. I have been in a situation where my own senior pastor was caught doing the wrong thing. The Body condemned him! And still does! I forgave him. You spoke on forgiveness slightly; why not totally focus on lifting up a brother rather than condemning? Think about it! Does God condemn you even now when you mess up?

After rereading the extensively documented and wonderfully researched article about Mike Warnke, I find that one main thought lingers in my mind: Shame on us. Shame on the Church for allowing big money and earthly adoration to attract fast-talking (not to mention disturbed) charlatans into the front ranks of representatives for Christ’s kingdom. After all, what did we expect? In our hedonistic desire to be entertained, we have created an “industry” which has attracted persons such as Mike Warnke who have not only discovered a fast buck but a fawning, star-struck audience as well.

Warnke merely carried out his charade for twenty years. Why wasn’t he “found out” sooner? Simple.

Because we were the ones who replaced the holy desire to quietly toil in the Lord’s vineyards, helping the orphans and widows, with the desire to pay a Christian celebrity a hefty fee to sing to us or entertain us with a shocking story or even make us laugh. Only when we finally decide to give up the comfort of the air-conditioned theater in order to return to the uncomfortable, unattractive, and unpopular vineyards will we stop encouraging twisted minds to become self-appointed pop leaders of Christ’s community.

The lesson which Cornerstone presented goes beyond Mike Warnke. It questions the very power and avarice inherent in any monolithic and unchecked Christian market. It’s time to start earmarking our money back to those people for whom the Lord intended it—the forgotten and truly needy ones outside the limelight. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that it will be all too easy for those inside the industry to resort to “turf-defense” by defending Mike Warnke instead of admitting that we screwed up somewhere and lost the vista of what being a Christian community is all about.

Thank you, Cornerstone, for being prophetic.

Thank you so much for the work you have done in the article about Warnke. The very week I heard your interview I also heard a special put on by KCMS in Seattle about Keith Green. The two were an ironic contrast.

I wholeheartedly concur with your conclusion about public figures and Matthew 18, that in a mass-media age, those who are users of that media must also be accountable to it.

I also appreciated your insights about those of us from the charismatic background being overly susceptible to stories of experiences in contrast to the Word.

I think a broader conclusion must also be reached in regard to the media-star-driven Christianity of the U.S. I think we must realize that much of what seems so important is principally an illusion. Big-time TV evangelists and big-time musicians have flourished here, yet it seems to have had a minimal effect (i.e., Gallup polls— religion in America: his conclusion, “Never has America been more religious, never has it had so little effect on lifestyle”). In contrast, in South America there is massive revival, yet no TV stars or music stars. The same could be said throughout the world.

I have noticed the trend toward meaninglessness. A big deal has been made about musicians crossing over as if it was some kind of victory. Hooray! The fly has caught the fly paper!

I want to personally write and thank you for writing the story on Mike Warnke. The story saddens me, but the truth needed to be told to the public!

So much has been done in the name of Christ that has hurt the true body of believers. People in the ministry need to be mindful that their private lives should be the same as their public images.

Your authors did an excellent job of investigative reporting. Too bad some of the well-respected ministries didn’t do a little investigating before they had Warnke on their programs!

Thank you so much for the revealing, shocking, and sickening expose on Mike Warnke. I have given money to his “ministry” in the past, and I greatly appreciate knowing the truth so that I may use God’s money more wisely in the future.

To those Christians who may question your motives in publishing such an article on a “prominent Christian,” I would tell them to read the woes Jesus expressed to the religious leaders of His day in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Every Christian is called to live a Christlike life, especially the Christian leaders who are in the public eye.

We will keep Mike Warnke in our prayers that he may one day truly know Christ and have a life-changing experience.

I read with much interest your recent article about Mike Warnke. I found it interesting in several ways, including the fact that once again you have found it necessary to be the champions of expose in the Christian world. It appeared to me that you were really exposing Mike Warnke because you feel he was responsible for “destroying” the marriage and ministry of Mike Johnson, who was more acceptable to you.

The article also reminded me how easily we believers tend to believe anything that comes from a “brother.” Yet we are so skeptical of anything from the mouth of “nonbelievers.” Truth is truth and a lie is a lie no matter what the source. As believers of truth, we are supposed to judge all things by the absolute Word of the God of truth. Obviously, everyone speaks truth whenever they speak God’s truth, and most people do not speak truth always.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending Mike at all. If half of the article is true, then there are certainly some serious problems in his life. My purpose is not to defend one ministry or tear down another but to point out that the problem is with the “gospel” we preach. We are only reaping what we have sown. Let me elaborate:

The epistle to the Galatians is entirely devoted to the very serious problems and consequences of preaching a false gospel that is based on behavior rather than relationship. Hebrews emphasizes over and over the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old. The author draws a wide dichotomy between the conduct-based law covenant and the New Covenant based entirely on a relationship with God through Christ. The former required good behavior in order to be righteous before God. The New Covenant declares us absolutely righteous before God without any required behavior on our part. Romans 5-8 also emphasizes what it means to be “in Christ,” concluding with: “There is therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ” simply because Jesus took all our condemnation and judgement—past, present, and future.

Fortunately for all of us, God has chosen to use us with all of our failures, lies, self-righteousness, and immorality to reach the world with His gospel, fully realizing that we will never act completely perfect. If we are foolish enough to believe that the true gospel is somehow “compromised” by our lack of perfection, then we don’t understand the gospel!! How can my conduct ever add to or take away from the perfect life of Jesus?

Have you wondered why thousands of people were brought into the kingdom by Warnke and Swaggart when God knew exactly what was going on in their lives behind the scenes all the time? Apparently, God wasn’t near as worried about it as His self-proclaimed “fruit inspectors” are! Frankly, I’ve wondered how God could have ever blessed and used my ministry at times, and I’ve wondered how JPUSA [Jesus People USA] could be used by God as well! But, thank God for His grace!

After reading your story in Vol. 21, Issue 98 [The Mike Warnke Story], I must say you’ve hit a new journalistic low. If all the allegations leveled against Mike Warnke are true, he should spend the rest of his life in jail, at worst, or, at best, barely be able to get a job at Burger King.

I don’t deny the possibility that Warnke is guilty in view of the evidence given in the article. You can bet that I am angry about the contents of the article. The topics covered reminded me of something lifted from the pages of the Star, The National Enquirer, or some other trashy piece of bird cage liner.

You have the privilege to print the truth as you view it, but must you embellish it with dirt about how much money Warnke had to pay in his last divorce settlement? Who really needs to know that?

Speaking of character issues, what does the reader know about the characters of Jon Trott and Mike Hertenstein? Zero, as far as I can tell. They must be morally beyond reproach.

Let’s all hope that this story doesn’t leave Mike Warnke lying in a ditch with a bullet through his temple. Let us hope that the same groups of people who tried repeatedly to confront him are as willing to do so now. May they be willing to help him find his way back to a God that will not let him lie.

A young friend recently loaned us his Cornerstone because he thought we should see the article on Mike Warnke. We haven’t subscribed in several years, but were glad to see you doing a lot of the same in-depth journalism as always.

It was very amazing and disheartening to read the article, especially since Carl and I were part of the community in Stillwater [Oklahoma] as the same time Mike was going to Brother D’s school. All the leadership of “Backroom Chapel” was studying with him. We were all very young in the Lord and young in years. We had no older people attending chapel or living in the One Way House except off and on. We were all so on fire for Jesus that we really thought the leadership walked on water. Then the divorces, adulteries, and backsliding started, and we all, Carl especially, became disillusioned.

A fantastic ministry with a bookstore and community houses, chapel every night and Sunday morning, street witnessing, Bible study, prayer chain, and musical talent all slowly ebbed away. Not because we all graduated, but because of excuses. Lack of discernment and pride were the main downfalls.

Another thing about Mike Warnke and his “group” comes to mind. I saw Sue [Mike’s first wife] all the time at meetings. I never saw Mike. The only time I saw him at all was dressed in his fancy robes officiating at Scott and Lorna’s wedding. Carolyn and “Wild Bill” were names and faces, kind of on the fringe, not really involved in the community. The Siegals, on the other hand, were involved. [Karen Siegal reported to Cornerstone that Mike Warnke made a “pass” at her during that time.—Eds.]

Clarence, who Carl and I were close to, gave us some red flags about Mike, but Sue was blamed. More excuses.

Our young friend says he doesn’t trust anybody anymore. I pray that we never disappoint him. I must admit that I don’t trust too many “superstars” anymore, either. By the way, we still trust Cornerstone. We just have different political views than you.

I had started to read one of your issues—the Mike Warnke story. I was not able to get through it but wanted to (I was in a waiting room). I would enjoy getting it. Please let me know the cost.

We thank the Lord for people like you who come forth with the whole truth.

I read your history of Mike Warnke with great sadness. I was among the deceived who thought Mike and his “ministry” were wonderful.

What Mike has done is truly a matter about which sincere Christians need to be both grieved and angry. However, my grief over this matter goes far beyond what Mike and Warnke Ministries have done. It extends to the general climate of the Church that allow such things to go on.

I worked many years for church and parachurch groups. It was never as blatant as the Warnke story, but there was a subtle and pervasive lack of respect of honesty. The deceit was protected by a strong “kill the messenger” mentality. This was the rule, not the exception. I had one position with a Christian agency (at least as well-known as Warnke Ministries) that I loved so much I was ready to make a lifetime career commitment there. I encountered some unethical matters about which I was concerned. After expressing these concerns, I was fired and the men responsible were promoted. Based on my experience and the experience of others who are not willing to close their eyes to such things, it is clear such stories are not unusual.

I, and many like me, sincerely wanted to serve God as our life work but were driven out by the inability to make even a minimum living in such a climate. It is infuriating that people like Warnke defraud Christian givers of millions of dollars that were given to support God’s work.

It is indeed fraud. Your concluding plan of action is good and it is biblical. But it does not go far enough. It is the responsibility of publishers and marketing leaders such as the Christian Booksellers Association to put an end to all marketing of dishonorable material. It is the responsibility of Christian leaders to stop being dishonest and to stop tolerating dishonesty in others.

I also disagree with your belief that it is not a matter for lawyers. It is the same as the legal precedent set by the Jim Bakker and PTL scandal case. When you collect money from people with one stated reason and use it for another, it is fraud and it is a legal matter.

Based on what I just read in your magazine, Mike Warnke ought to be in jail. Your research should be passed on to the proper law enforcement branch. Biblical instructions against Christians suing Christians pertains to personal matters. It is not intended to render Christians exempt from the law or the consequences of violating it.

If you are going to continue investigative reporting in the body of Christ, I support you. I heard you on the John Stewart show. Put me on the mailing list, etc. Enough said!!

Notes while I read the Mike Warnke story: (double sigh) another important (evangelist, entertainer, political) Christian bites the dust. Who can Christians trust, admire, look up to? Always wondered if Warnke was what he said he was!

Glad to see your article backed by pictures, facts, interviews, etc., not just tabloid hearsay and rumors. How can he stay famous and widely known now when all this gets out into widespread Christian media?

How come no other Christian magazine digs into backgrounds and histories like you?

I guess Warnke gives a whole new meaning to the definition “Christian hypocrite.” Terribly, sadly disappointed in him, but not totally surprised by this revealing of his “tall tales” past.

How can he maintain his integrity now with his people, or his ministry?

Thank you. God bless your courage to do this, print it, and leave the results to the Lord!

First published in Cornerstone (ISSN 0275-2743), Vol. 22, Issue 101 (1994), p. 43-44, 47. © 1994 by Cornerstone Communications, Inc.

Electronic version may contain minor changes and corrections from printed version.

Copyright © 2000 Cornerstone Communications, Inc.