Apparently some people are under the impression that:
Spiritual connections started at the beginning of 1985. God had warned the church (through me) for nearly two years, to get their marriages in shape, to get rid of legalism, to get delivered from demons, to follow the one that He had put over them, to keep sex out of the connections, and not to leave the church because of mistakes being made. Many Chapelites (that had deep troubles in their marriage and that lost their marriage) are responsible (both they and their mates) for not doing these 5 things that God ordered us to do, to protect their marriage and the church.
I think that most members didn't take God seriously enough (because we were anxious for the Move of God and we had successfully handled so many spiritual experiences well, and we therefore, fancied that we could handle a new move of God, and that we were ready for it. But alas, we found out that we were not ready!
God's love never hurt anyone! The fact that some (during the time of agapé) lost their mates in marriage (which alas, included me) was not the fault of God – He owns us! He has a right to do whatever He wants with us. He has a right to require that we kiss one another with holy agapé kisses in the Spirit, just as much as we kiss one another soulically and romantically, and that we kiss our spouse, our children, our relatives, our girlfriend or boyfriend, etc.; for our bodies house both our souls and our spirits and both must use the same body. Yes, God's agapé makes us more vulnerable, but so does being in the ministry as a pastor, and as an evangelist, and as a prophet of God, and an apostle, and as one that has miracle healing power, and world wide TV ministry, etc. – but that doesn't make it God's fault!
Every single Sunday morning for 93 sermons in a row, I preached on the balance of spiritual and soulical relationships consistently trying to protect the marriages, telling people to keep agapé in the church, not to be with a married connection outside of the church alone, and so forth. Those that got injured in agapé were injured because they did not listen to the Word of God through the pastor, and therefore they neglected to zealously pursue a united marriage where they were deeply in love with one another, living for one another instead of for themselves! Selfishness was part of the root of the problem! Jealousies (caused by legalistic spirits that they did not get delivered from) were a problem! Following sexual feelings and emotions (rather than harkening to the Word of God as taught them), caused great trouble. None of it was the Pastor's fault, except where he individually failed – he shares that blame. The Pastor didn't start agapé, he only accepted it when it came (the same as everyone else who accepted in when it came).
The Pastor followed his own preaching and teaching for 18 linear months, even though his precious wife did not, and he was dumped and left in the lurch with enormous injury and hurts! Yet, he remained sweet and on the cross (never wanting to be on vacation with anybody but her) never having any connection be competitive to his married love and relationship with his wife. He endured enormous pain and suffering with a good heart. During this time (although he held up on the outside) the stress on his life (because of the stressful problems in the church and because of the loss of his wife and everything else involved) caused him to slide down towards Heart Attack Avenue, and when he got low enough and lost his will, he began to give in to spiritual connections physically, for love.
One lying, false, assumptive accusation made on the Internet against me (that really hurt me) was that I was a 'sexual predator'! The honest truth is: about a month and a half after my wife told me, "I don't need you anymore, I found what I want and I'm going for it!" I became about 80% sexually impotent; therefore, there was nothing in me that was chomping at the bit for sex! I was dying for love and acceptance – to hold a woman, to see a woman, to be loved by her and to love her. This is why the women (at first, anyway) almost always did all the initiating, because I was embarrassingly impotent, but through their constant love for me, feeling sorry for me, wanting to satisfy my needs, etc.; I began to feel healing inside. That is why I began to say aloud, "I don't know why I'm doing this! I know it's wrong, but it's healing me!" Now, during this time, I was finding myself falling into sin from time to time (not constantly as rumored! – I later, estimated it to be about once in every 20 times I was with one of them, alone). Now here is the point: during the time when I was sinning (and the Elders were sinning and a great many of the congregation were sinning) I was not hurting anyone in the congregation by my sins, for three reasons: #1: the sins were not affecting my ministry! God kept anointing me, forgiving me as I repented and struggled with it, and loving me; and so, no one got hurt because of my sins! #2: they didn't even know about it, therefore they couldn't be hurt by it! Besides, most of them were so busy sinning with others, and knowing that many of the Elders were sinning with many of them, that it wasn't bothering them! Many thought it was just a part of the connections, even though I taught the opposite!
Later, when I went to prayer (on my own) for deliverance and came out of the sin, I stood up and confessed my sins before the congregation and explained my repentance to God. I apologized to them and asked them for their forgiveness (even though I had no real need to, because I had not hurt them, and my sin was private. Repentance took place in my own dwelling between me and God, for we repent to God and not to man for our private sexual sins)!
Reason #3: they all forgave me, and so, no one was hurt, nor did they act like it! They weren't hurt by what they didn't know and after they learned it, they still weren't hurt, and they still kept on being sweet and loving and friendly to me, as ever!
I had laid down the law, saying that for the time being (because agape was so overwhelming, and because the marriages were not in shape as God asked, and because they hadn't gotten rid of all their demons yet) that I was not going to allow them to divorce each other, marry their connections (leaving the children in the lurch) and remain in the church. But when Jack Hicks dogmatically asserted and decided that he was going to divorce and remarry (and so did some of the other Elders), this started Jack on a campaign to find an excuse to get rid of me – so that he could stay in the church, rule the church, and divorce and remarry (and some of the Elders could do the same). This is not a guess, I was in certain meetings – I know all the details!
The Elders got up (when I was away at a Satellite Church in Montana) and blabbed everything that they had talked to me in secret about. I had opened up to them (inasmuch as they promised me that not one word of anything said would ever leave that room, nor one scrap of paper written on). They recognized and admitted that they had no authority over me, to take any action against me – and they promised me before God, that they would not try. In fact, they knew that they, themselves, had sinned as well (and many of them were still in illegal sex) – and were even more guilty (for they still had wives)! My daughter, for example, was pretty, sweet, submissive, loving and totally faithful – Lanny didn't need to do to other women, as he has accused me of doing! My sins were spread all over the church and about the country! They were greatly exaggerated-lies, and many assumptions were added. Their sins continued – mine had ended 9 months before – and they knew it!
When I came back from Montana and greeted the church, there was a powerful ovation of hand clapping that continued and continued. Why? They loved their pastor, they were not judging him (he had previously repented, anyway), they were thrilled to have him back again after the apparent threat that the Elders had brought!
Did they look hurt? No!
Did they show hurt? No!
Were they hurt? No!
In fact, every one of them (except about 13) raised their hands to get rid of all the Elders and to keep their Pastor, rather than lose their Pastor and keep the Elders!
Now, ask yourself the question, did my private sins hurt them? Answer: No! They wanted to keep me, even after my sins had been blown way out of proportion and told to them 9 months after I was delivered and corrected! How could they then be hurt about my sins that I had stopped and corrected 9 months before? The Elders hadn't corrected, and many of the congregation knew it, and were also involved! And many other people were involved! This was not a hurt to the congregation, either.
I had secretly prayed time and again, "Lord, if you want me to do anything to try to stop these connections because the people are not obeying you, you are going to have to give me authority and power and anointing to do so, because at this point, the Counseling Center is in rebellion and some of the Elders, too! And they will not stop if I try to get them to stop! They will leave the church and continue as a group, if they have to!"
At any rate, the exposure of my sins caused no one to be hurt but me! It wasn't their business, the ministry was very acceptable to them, they were full of mercy and grace, after all, and they all gave grace to each other and to themselves! I never heard one person come to me at the Chapel concerned about my past sins – and that includes the Elders!!! They never once came to help me out of my sins as Lanny alleged. How could they? They were hooked and connected in sin! They knew that 9 months previously, I had been delivered and that they continued in their sin (even when they had control of the entire church)! Of course, their greatest sins occurred while illegally putting me out of my church!
Now, I am NOT stating that every single Elder and leader were guilty, nor do I think that everyone necessarily understood all the motives involved, although we did have a meeting on that subject and John Bergin pointed his finger at Jack Hicks (who was trying to get me to back down on my ban on divorce and remarriage) and said to Jack: "You just want this ban lifted, so you can divorce your wife and marry your connection!" Jack sat silent, saying nothing, looking a little bit like a whipped puppy and everyone could plainly see that was his true motive!
So, no one was hurt by my sins! The Chapel did not split up because of my sins! My sins had ceased 9 months before! Theirs, however, were continuing! The Chapel split up because they engineered a split! The reason that so many ex-Chapelites are hurt is because they lost their beloved Church with the wonderful Move of God's Spirit! They lost their revival spirit and all the many, many benefits we had, and all the love we had one for another and with all the faith and good teaching they were receiving! They lost it all because of what the Elders DID – not because of the Pastor's sins!
Then, what happened? God continued pouring out His Spirit, anointing me, doing miracle healing, giving those who stayed with me like God asked, powerful agapé (continually from the time that I was out of the church unto this present day)! For all these years, we have continued to have more powerful agapé than we ever had at the Chapel – even though that was so strong that many of us could hardly contain it! It was the Elders' side where the leadership fell apart and where there was deadness! They argued and threw one another out (or left of their own accord) until not one elder was left! They accused and attacked the Pastor, and they admitted they were not anointed, and the members of the church left in droves!
So, why should the Pastor be repenting to them for his sins? His sins didn't cause them any trouble! Their own sins caused them trouble! The Elders' sins caused them trouble (not the Elders' sexual sins, but going against the Bible, the by-laws, their Pastor, their prophecies and visions from God, and the laws of the land; even bucking the Supreme Court when the Supreme Court ruled in my favor!) And all I can add here is: money buys judges! But God is going to turn that around!
You may scoff and mock, and be full of unbelief, but God is filling us with faith as He is continuing to tell us how He is going to raise us up and launch us for His last day move of God and restoration, like He promised long before! So, like the visions of the horses in the corral, those that stayed in the Pastor's corral remained fat and healthy, those that jumped the fence found themselves scattered all over the hillsides, many of them with their ribs showing, looking scrawny and tired! Many are backslidden! So, lest you accuse God of making wrong judgments, perhaps you should say, "You know, perhaps I need to put the spirits on trial, like the Pastor taught us. And, if God has been blessing the Pastor all this time, and not the rest of us, then maybe we need to lay off attacking and accusing him all the time, especially since the Bible forbids it!"
There is absolutely no reason for me to repent to people out there: that are hurt because of my past sins – because it wasn't my past sins that hurt them! They are assuming that, because of all the twisted accusations of the Elders and not knowing the true story, assuming that my sins caused the demise of the Chapel!
Lanny, Bob and others have been lying on the Internet and many are believing them and coming to false conclusions! If I got up and repented for my sins, it would falsely imply that all their false accusations were true, and that all of my honest explanations were false! That would be doing disservice to truth and God's choice, and God's anointing and blessing!
If I now show personal remorse for those that are hurt, it would imply that I am the cause of their hurt and that God didn't forgive me, or else it would show that I didn't have the faith to believe Him (and the Word of God); and so, I must continually live in remorse! This would be unwise, harmful and wrong on all counts! It would imply that it was I that had hurt them, when it wasn't! It was the Elders that hurt them (and their own unsubmissiveness in rejecting 93 lessons on Spiritual and Soulical Relationships and two years of warning from God through me)! My public ministry stayed anointed and fine, even though I was falling to pieces on the inside. The love of the saints for me remained constant; there was no hurt because of my sins! It was the ACTION of the Elders that injured the people and caused the church to splinter! If everyone would have followed their Pastor (like God warned) and had paid attention to the visions: like the one of the Elders putting their hands to the wheel of the ship and try to steer it another way and if they had stayed true to their promise to their Pastor (when they raised their hands), we would still be one church going on with agapé.
And, I might add, the reason my church keeps on going with agapé is because we are not keeping on in the sinning that was being done at the Chapel. We haven't handled it perfectly, but we have handled it well! I have hardly heard of any cases of sexual promiscuity, although there have been divorces of long standing marriages where the people kept holding on (hoping for restoration) but the mates didn't go to the cross and die to self and begin to totally live for each other, as they should have!
And some people began dropping out because of the cares of life, demons were fighting them hard; but today, our church has about 235 adults! Everybody is loving the church, now that God has pruned off most of those (like Bob Sackett and Chris Matthews) that were constantly undermining the authority and ministry of the church. We now have good unity in the church! Everyone is loving the worship, loving the messages, loving me, and I am loving them, and we are having a wonderful time in the Lord!
My advise to you is: hold on to God, keep going to the best church you can find, dedicate your life totally to God, go to the cross, do everything right that you didn't do before, pay the price totally, keep the vision, hold on – there is coming a restoration! I predict (but I'm not positive of it) that in less than a year, we may begin seeing the beginning signs of a great restoration!
So, stop whining at me, I'm doing wonderful! God is blessing me, God is loving me! God has spoken many, many times of how proud He is of me, because of how I have handled things, and that He is going to lift me up into new places, etc.
I had such powerful agapé last week in the Sunday morning service that I went around from person to person and the agapé of God was powerfully pouring through me to each one. I would hold their face and say to them, "I love you, I love you, I love you!" And they would start crying and melting. I did it to men, as well as women! When I got to the platform, I couldn't even get on with my message "Jesus, the Last Adam" for about 20 minutes because of the power and anointing of God and what had happened to me! This agapé is continuing to explode and increase and God is promising more! And you can get back into it again! The last service, as I was going out the door, a man (that used to go to the Chapel, but that has been living in sin: drugs and whatever; that has come back) came rushing out of the building and grabbed me and hugged me tight, and just poured out how much he loved me and had always loved me, and he how he was so thrilled to be back. People held a fellowship over at their home to celebrate his coming back. God is adding to the church even though we hold private meetings (to safe guard the unity and move of God's Spirit). Those that are totally in love with God and with the saints, are just falling in love with these people that God is brining in – and we are accepting them.
One day (if you are not one of those that God is going to cut-off for continual accusations against God's anointed) you will find yourself again with us (in the greatest Move of God the world has ever seen) headed for the Feast of Tabernacles!
God bless you!
I love you!
In our Master's service,
Pastor Donald Lee Barnett
P.S. I am exceedingly sorry for anything and everything that I have ever done that has ever hurt anyone – or even made them think that I hurt them! I have a soft heart, a heart of love, patience, forgiveness, humility and a total willingness to admit my faults and sins and repent to God and apologize to man – much more than ever before! I have repented with great remorse many times!
But I can't apologize for hurts caused by others and blamed on me! And I can't repent to God for what He has forgiven me for and given me peace about! And I can't repent for false accusations! The ones who engineered the split need to come clean and confess all their evil and illegal engineering – and their subterfuge and lies! Then, others could be set free from unjustified blame to me! Then, both the guilty ones and those hurt could prepare for the upcoming restoration (possibly before the year is out), knowing that they can enter a wonderful revival atmosphere, full of the anointing of God! Their joys will be renewed! I will forgive and accept them – and they will then accept and forgive me!
Man can't accomplish by his intellect, mechanical action, words and pressure tactics what only God's Spirit can accomplish! Let's live in faith in God; and everyone shake spiritual sleep, put the spirits on trial in accordance with the Word of God, go to the cross in every area, praise God for who He is, what He's done and what He will do – and not blame Him or each other for what the devil did! There are better days ahead, highly dangerous times, and the greatest move of God ever: the anti-type of the Feast of Tabernacles with it's Latter Rain, death to self, unity in the Spirit and in faith, deliverance from demons, the great fruit harvest of souls (with the 7th head of Phase I of world government, with a death-wound), a complete separation from the world, and the final perfection of Christ's Bride!
So, keep the vision and keep the faith! Cease all demonic bickering and activity and prepare to soar even higher with God in Spirit and Truth. My Jesus bless you! BE CAREFUL! Live by Biblical Principles NOT by how you feel and what thoughts and judgments are in your minds!
P.P.S. The lies by the Elders that made people think that if only I had signed an agreement to let them help me (from my sexual problem) then there would have been no necessity of a split, is a horrible lie! They were fishing for authority to put me out, by me signing to give them authority over me! They knew I had been delivered and corrected – 9 months before and they knew they had not corrected!
They had no business going against the By-laws to put out their pastor (contrary to God's warnings and directions) who repented and corrected 9 months before! We never do that! But Jack Hicks, Lanny, Scott and some others had not corrected! This was a hypocritical power play to get rid of me so they could divorce and remarry their connections. The judge had told their lawyer that they had no authority for the elders' action in court, so they pulled this trick, but I didn't fall for it! I didn't count on buying judges and my lawyers! Some of the elders may not have known about this. (Under the heading of Elders, include: David Motherwell and Jeff McGregor, for they inherited the position.)
So, the Elders caused the split and through lies got people to blame me for what they did! So they owe apologies, not me!
P.P.P.S. To us, Delores James, has proven that she is no prophetess – she has done just the opposite of what a prophetess would do. I spare you the details.