Planetshakers Beautiful Woman Video Removed

After it was embedded in a recent post here, Planetshakers has disabled embedding for the Planetshakers Beautiful Woman 2009 trailer video.

This means I can no longer show this video on my blog – and ONLY this video is disabled (no other Planetshakers videos were disabled) – and it was ONLY after the video was shown here.

An alternative link to the video can be found here.

Mike Guglielmucci Questions Answered

“Moses” posted some questions about Mike Guglielmucci – some had been answered previously…

According to MikeG confession, he has been addicted to porn since the age of 12. How did he get access to it? Who introduced MikeG to it? Family members? School friends? Church Friends?

School friends – at their houses, after school apparently – according to Danny Guglielmucci (Mike’s father)

AOG prides itself being an Apostolic and Prophetic fellowship, How did MikeG’s Father Danny, Russell Evans, Brian Houston and AOG State and National Executive miss this? Are they really being led by the Spirit? God will not hide anything from His servants the prophets.

I have the same question…

Alun Davies (head of AOG in Australia) said to the media:

“We don’t know why or how this could happen… we are victims like anyone else”

Russell Evans said repeatedly:

“None of us knew – not even his [wife/family]” and distanced Ps Mike’s actions from Planetshakers, saying that he left Planetshakers 18 months ago (still, the cancer lie began 22 months ago… hrmm).

Where’s the accountability?

Usually these men move in prophetic utterance, What did go wrong?

What happened to the gift of discernment?

I don’t know – but I believe they need to be answerable/accountable to this too.

How come Amanda or Danny didn’t go with MikeG to the doctors with MikeG? If I was this sick my wife will not leave my side. Very strange relationship. May be to busy serving the people not God.

Apparently he was very private about his treatment.

One man who claimed to be the father of two men who were friends of Ps Mike Guglielmucci, and who had taken him to doctors, claimed that Ps Mike had gone into doctors surgeries, waited in the waiting room (with his friends outside) before coming back to the car.

According to Ps Danny Guglielmucci, nobody questioned Mike Guglielmucci’s diagnosis because he manifested physical symptoms.

Bible says Train up your child in the ways of the Lord, so that he or she will not depart from it when they are old. I personally believe somehow MikeG did not receive this training at home when he was young. His parents might have been too busy ministering to others not God and they fail to discern his problem.

Similarly, what happened in the 16 years after the porn addiction began?

Was there a pastoral care structure in place for Mike? Was he held accountable to a trusted mentor or elder? What accountability was he under as a leader? Did anybody ask him about his sins or addictions? How was he lifted up to leadership without this kind of accountability?

Understandably, there was so much shame around the pornography addiction that he felt he couldn’t confess – are we, as Christians, so caught up in how bad sexual sins are that we fail to provide people who suffer from these sins with a “safe place to run to”?

Surely the questions have to be asked: “Why wasn’t Mike Guglielmucci able to confess at any time during his 16 year addiction? Why was it easier for him to fake cancer and suffer alone than receive the support of others in the church? What should the church be doing differently / better to ensure that others don’t face similar problems in the future?”

When you minister to God not man God will reveal to His children any evil that is going to happen to them. Psalm 91. I am a Pastor I know what I am talking about.

We need to keep our house in order before we reach out other people.

Ministry is not empire building, it is kingdom (of God) building. It is ministry unto the Lord.

God Bless

To save you looking it up, Psalm 91 reads:

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

Planetshakers: Pastoral Care, The Power of Confession

“Pillars are Just Crutches” is a former YWAM missionary, current Bible College student who (like many Christian Bloggers) has been watching the Michael Guglielmucci saga.

He blogs on The power of pornography and the power of confession:

There is nothing that will destroy a man more quietly than shame.

There is nothing that a man will avoid more than shame.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the source of Mike Guglielmucci’s fall. It’s an all too common threat, especially since the internet, that has deceived many young Christians. What is the deception? Just one look.

What young men and women don’t understand is that once is never enough, and the enemy of our souls knows and understands this. And in a Christian culture where there is a lot of shame attached to sexual sin, and especially pornography, that shame is more of a stumbling block to healing than the actual sin itself.

There is something particularly powerful that a lot of Christian do not do. Maybe because they think it’s Catholic, maybe because they think that it’s between them and God, maybe because they’re ashamed to do it so they use the other 2 excuses. Christians do not confess things to each other.

I’m not talking about confessing to anyone. It should be someone you completely trust and someone who is godly and mature. It may be a good friend or a pastor, or an elder in your church, ask someone. Nothing will kill shame faster like confessing it to a godly person, asking God for forgiveness and then praying together.

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (James 5:1)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1)

Can we really blame Mike Guglielmucci for not confessing his addiction to pornography sooner?

Had he confessed – what would have happened to him?

I expect he would have had a lot of fear… That he would lose everything he’d worked so hard for – everything that God had entrusted to him – his own good reputation included.

After all, as Dutch Sheets referred to, in pentecostal churches, “looking on the inside” is rare – so what would have happened if Mike Guglielmucci had have showed his sin?

We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. (Miracles and signs are intended to validate God and His message, not the messenger; sometimes they validate the assignment of an individual, but never the person’s character, lifestyle or spiritual maturity.)

We know how ruthless and unforgiving Christians can be to one another…

But would it have mattered?

Would Mike Guglielmucci’s confession to a smaller sin, even in September 2006 (just prior to the cancer story/myth/deception, but still while he was under Planetshakers’ authority) – would this have ended it all before it got “out of hand”?

My point remains – Planetshakers needs true pastoring, where we might receive a soft shoulder, insightful word, caring teacher, probing question or a firm rebuke…

Delegating authority to one man (Urban Life Group Coordinator, Ben Fewster), who in turn delegates authority to dozens of small group leaders who aren’t trained or skilled in pastoral care – what hope is there for the broken, the misguided, the hurt or those lacking in faith.

Planetshakers – please shepherd your flock!

I’m going to finish on a comment from “Julia”:

It´s sad that Planetshakers reaction is: Mike didn’t work here anymore, we didn’t know about it, etc etc. In other words: “DON’T BLAME US”. It seems like that’s all they care about.

Mike was involved with them for a long time, during his addiction. In those 16 years of his addiction, he didn’t feel safe enough to find ONE person to tell the truth to.

In my opinion, everyone who was involved in Mike’s life, ESPECIALLY church leaders (but also his family & friends-but I’m sure they already do that), should examine right now if they contributed to an environment where Mike was put on a pedestal, where there was no accountability and where there was no safe place for him to admit his addiction.
Planetshakers was a big part of his life, and they shouldn’t be thinking about their reputation, they should very very seriously analyse if they worried enough about their pastoral care and how this could have happened.

That’s the saddest part for me, that he felt like he had to carry this burden alone for 16 years, that just speaks volumes to me.