Save America Ministries

Guest (Male): This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now, with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: The fraud task force is revealing a scale of fraud in the United States so massive, it could balance the federal budget. The White House task force to eliminate fraud, established on March 16th by our President, and the Department of Justice's international or national fraud enforcement division that was established on April 7th, are tackling fraud nationwide on a scale so massive it could balance the federal budget, said the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for policy and Homeland Security, Stephen Miller.

The amount that has been fleeced from us, he said, is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. We could balance the federal budget if only dollars that went out of the Treasury went to individuals who were properly, lawfully, correctly eligible to receive them, Miller said at a Tuesday press conference alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, who is heading up the task force.

Miller specifically called out the massive fraud discovered in Minnesota. He said, "What's happened to our country is we've become a society, as you've seen with the Somali refugee problem in Minnesota, where you have a large number of people that are not following the honor system. They're not playing by the rules. In other words, they're committing fraud."

Because of the Vice President's leadership, you are seeing the most muscular, robust, aggressive, dedicated, determined, and speedy effort to shut down criminal fraud that has not only ever occurred in the history of this country but in any developed nation on the planet. Wow, what a statement friends, and today we deal with the issue of fraud. Oh, maybe not in the way that you might think of it.

That's right, don't get any preconceived notions in your mind because what we're going to deal with today is with the subject of fraud and freedom. Fraud and freedom. Not only in the country, but in Christ himself. You see, the issue of fraud is far bigger than you might imagine. In fact, it is so pervasive that it rules in many respects from the church house to the White House, to the schoolhouse, to the courthouse, and yes in the government's house and the White House. It rules everywhere. Fraud is dangerous.

It is profoundly dangerous to the security and future of this country here as we are supposedly prepared to memorialize and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country, which will not continue to exist as we know it unless we get a grip on fraud. Yes, you heard it correctly, unless and until we get a grip on fraud. And when you listen to the fullness of today's program, you are going to understand how deep this subject really is.

From God's viewpoint, it is profoundly deep. In fact, not only from God's viewpoint, but from the viewpoint of, say, Forbes Business Magazine. Forbes Business Magazine about 30 years ago developed its actually it was in 1976, something like that, developed its 75th anniversary edition over answering the question, "What ever happened to virtue in America?" Remember, this is the nation's foremost business magazine, Forbes. And what did they focus on around the time of our national celebration of our 200th anniversary? Fraud.

That's what they were focusing on, virtue. You say, "Virtue and fraud are different, aren't they?" Well, yes they are. Virtue is much more encompassing than fraud. Fraud is one of the major manifestations of the lack of virtue in the country. From the church house, to the White House, to the schoolhouse, to the courthouse, and maybe to your house. You say, "My house?" Well, listen to the whole program friends and you might just get an inkling because God's on the move and he wants to purify our country.

He wants to purify his own house as the beginning, because as the scripture says, judgment begins at the house of God. It doesn't begin at the schoolhouse, it doesn't begin at the courthouse, or the White House, or any other house. It begins in your house if you are a professing Christian. That's where judgment begins. And so this is a very serious subject for us to discuss. And I'm so glad that you've joined us. It's conversation as always with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms.

So what is fraud? Well, fraud is an intentional deception or misrepresentation that's made to gain an unauthorized advantage or to deprive someone of their money, their property, or legal rights. It involves deliberate trickery, lying, or concealment of facts meant to cause harm or financial loss. And it requires that the person who is defrauded rely reasonably upon the deception.

We'll go over some of those details as we get into the program more deeply here today on Viewpoint. But in order to set the stage, you see, Forbes magazine helped set the stage saying, "Whatever happened to virtue?" Its half-inch thick magazine was article after article after article after article dealing with how virtue had virtually vanished in America. Yet the Bible says that we must add to our faith, virtue, right there in 2nd Peter, Chapter 1. Add to your faith, virtue.

You see, it's not enough to confess faith. You must live a life of virtue. And so it's very interesting that our founders knew that. They actually believed that profoundly. They didn't think that virtue was a four-letter word. They thought that virtue was most essential, that moral virtue was absolutely essential. It's not a plague. It's moral goodness. It's purity in heart and motivation and intention. It's morally sound behavior. Virtue is behavior that seeks the best for those around us.

In other words, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's not self-serving but other-serving. Virtue is the outward display of inward character. And so even our Statue of Liberty is a symbol of virtue. Always has been, and I hope always will be. In my book, Renewing the Soul of America, we talk about this in the chapter called "The Lamp of Virtue."

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated October 28, 1886. The seven spikes in Liberty's crown represented the seven continents of the world and the seven seas. And inscribed on the tablet held in her hand is the date of our Declaration of Independence. Mr. Bartholdi, who was the one who actually crafted the statue, sculpted it, said it would be a lighthouse, shedding a light across the sea from its crown. He titled it "Liberty Enlightening the World."

So in Congress in 1877, accepted the statue as a beacon, authorizing it to be administered by the lighthouse board. Later the torch was resculpted and became a beacon as well, radiating the light of liberty and virtue as far as the eye could see. So the Statue of Liberty by World War I had grown in the heart and soul of America to symbolize the moral character of America. After the flag, it became our symbol. But the light of American liberty and virtue has grown very dim. America is quickly gaining a reputation through the world for vice rather than virtue. And one of the premier illustrations of that is fraud. You got it. It is so pervasive that it's almost as if it defines much of the lifeblood which currently is spelling the death knell of America from coast to coast. Stay tuned, friends. The Lamp of Virtue, what's happening to it?

Guest (Male): Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier, and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: The Lamp of Virtue is flickering dangerously in America. One of the reasons is because we have lost virtue in the land. We've lost the value of virtue and replaced virtue with the word "values." Everybody has their own values, and most of them are pragmatic. In other words, how can I most easily accomplish what I want? Well, today that's spelled fraud. Take it from other people by misrepresentation, false pretenses, and so on.

And that's what's happening in many, many different ways. And it goes to the very issue of honesty in the heart, integrity in the heart. Back in 1990, two advertising executives for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, James Patterson and Peter Kim, wrote a book called "The Day America Told the Truth," what people really believe about everything that really matters. It's a fascinating book.

And here I don't have any conviction that these men were Christian. But what they did was reveal the true heart of our country, not what people wanted people to think they believed, but what they really did believe. It's just an absolutely fascinating book. Talks about virtually every aspect of American life. But it's back in 1990, two years before the Lord spoke to my heart there as a lawyer in Pasadena, California, that I had been pleading the cause of men long enough and he wanted me to plead his cause in the land as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation in America's greatest crisis hour.

Well, who would have believed what was being uncovered at that very time? At that very time in 1992, Newsweek and Time came out with articles that were recorded in my book, Renewing the Soul of America, stating that the American dream was unraveling. Everything was falling apart. Well, that was the fruit of the beginning because Patterson and Kim had a chapter in their book called "American Liars." How do we actually get the truth from people?

They interviewed lots of people and their stories and so on. And then they made this conclusion. Americans lie. They lie more than we had ever thought possible before the study. But they told us the truth about how much they lie. Just about everyone lies, 91% of us lie regularly, they said, and they put it all in caps in their book. They said the majority of us find it hard to get through a week without lying. One in five can't make it through a single day.

And we're talking about conscious, premeditated lies. In fact, the way some people talk about trying to do without lying, you'd think that they were smokers trying to get through a day without a cigarette. When we refrain from lying, they said, it's less often because we think it's wrong. In other words, they found that only 45% of people said it was wrong, and that was in 1990. It would be much less than that today. But there were a variety of other reasons, for instance, among them, fear of being caught.

We just lie to everybody. And the better we know someone, the likelier we are to have told them a serious lie. Then there are serious falsehoods, and 36% of Americans confess to telling that kind of darker lie, which people referred to as "real lies." Well, I guess that would be involved in fraud, real lies. Serious lies violate trust. Therefore, friends, what is at risk with regard to fraud is trust. Because fraud requires fraud requires that the person deceived had confidence and trust in the person who is deceiving them fraudulently.

Serious lies involve crime or legal consequences. But that's not all. They're totally self-serving or about who and what we are, masking the real truth, and it's something very, very dangerous. According to them, they asked the question, who lies most in America? Men lie more than women. Young men lie more than older men. Gays and bisexuals lie more than heterosexuals. Blacks lie more than whites. Catholics lie a bit more than Protestants, and both lie more than Jews.

Unemployed people lie more than those with jobs. The poor lie more than the rich. Liberals lie more than conservatives. This is all fascinating information in this book, "The Day America Told the Truth." Well, I don't want to make this a program about statistics. That's not really what we're about here today. What we're about is talking about this issue of fraud because fraud defies trust.

In fact, it so fights against trust, trust in God, trust in people, trust in government, trust in your pastor, trust in our financial systems, trust in our educational system. Every single system in our country is loaded with fraud. Now, we can't deal with it all at one time. In fact, the government can't solve most of it. All the other government could do is deal with those things that have to do with law, that have to do with things like welfare, that have to do with Medicare care and insurance and stuff like that.

That's the only thing they can deal with, things that are under the purview of the federal government. And what they're finding now, just as they begin this process, is that the fraud is so great that as they uncover it, it may very well be sufficient to pay down the national debt and balance the budget. Balance the budget. Wow. That's pretty big. That's pretty big. So let's dig a little bit deeper into this matter of fraud because it has to deal not just with them out there.

Fraud is not an issue about them. It's an issue about us. It's an issue about me. It's an issue about we the people. Remember our Constitution. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Notice the majority of those things for the purpose of the Constitution were for the people to promote justice, promote domestic tranquility.

How can you promote justice and domestic tranquility and peace when you're defrauding other people intentionally because that's what fraud is. Fraud is the intentional deceit used to take money, property, power, anything from another person where they trusted you. I'm putting that as simple as I possibly can as a lawyer. Trust is the foundation of why fraud is so horrific. So we've already talked about the definition of fraud and we'll go into that a little bit more deeply as we continue on here.

But we're going to provide applications of this that might jerk your chain. They just might because it's not just about the government, friends. It's about we the people. And it goes to the depths of our institutions, every institution that we have. When we find lawyers that commit fraud, there are also doctors out there that are committing fraud every day. Hospitals committing fraud.

The agencies and institutions of our country are engaged in whatever I have to do to get ahead for me or my organization, I'm going to do it and hope I don't get caught. In other words, I'm going to lie, cheat, steal, so to speak, commit fraud, whatever I have to do to induce or seduce money and power and perks and position, whatever it happens to be out of somebody else. Just by the way, to show how close to home this can be, how many young ladies out there in America have been fraudulently seduced to give up their virginity by a young man?

Oh, you never thought about it that way, did you? The young man purports to be in love with them. He gives all kinds of soothing and wonderful comments and so on and tells about how dedicated he is to her and so on, that she's the love of his lifetime and so on. Why is he doing that? Many of them are doing it for the express purpose of taking that young lady to bed. That's fraud, friends. That's fraud in the inducement.

Now, the young lady can be a co-participant in it because she wants, okay, then that eliminates in large measure the issue of fraud. The same is true by young men who have been taken advantage of by women. Teachers who have taken advantage of their students. Female teachers taking advantage of male students. Seducing them into their homes on all kinds of wonderful promises about how much I love you, you're the love of my life and so on. And then they get caught.

They have fraudulently seduced that young man to give up his virginity, so to speak. You see, this matter of fraud is more pervasive than you might think. It goes to the very heart motivation of what we do. Fraud is an intentional deception or misrepresentation made to gain an unauthorized advantage or deprive someone of their money, their property, or their legal rights. It involves deliberate trickery, lying, or concealment of facts that were meant to cause harm or financial loss.

So let's take a look at where some of that fraud is most prominent, according to government statistics as related to the government's view of fraud. Not civil fraud, just criminal fraud that the government has control over. The states with the most fraud reports per 100,000 residents are consistently led by five states, Georgia, driven by elevated levels of identity theft and government documented fraud; Florida, fueled by large vulnerable retiree populations; Nevada, the highest for auto-related insurance fraud; Maryland, in the top three to five states for complaints per capita; Delaware, the highest suspicious activity reports per capita in the country, largely due to its corporate tax haven status with over two million businesses registered there. By the way, many of those businesses are fleeing precisely because of that problem. Did you know that? They're fleeing Delaware.

The highest financial losses? California tops the charts for the highest total financial losses. New York ranks fourth in total financial losses. Texas seems to have a steady flow of scam activity, frequently raiding in the top three or four overall losses. So we're beginning to get yes, a few statistics here to help us to understand and comprehend the extent of this. I happen to live in Virginia. This was the birthplace of the nation. This is the place where Patrick Henry gave his "give me liberty or give me death" statement just a few miles, about 10 miles from where this broadcast emanates.

In Virginia, Virginians lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually to economic crimes, with recent statewide data reporting 350 million to lost scams, fraud, and identity theft in a single year. And Virginia is not one of the high ones on the list. Government impersonation, scammers posing as state or federal agents demanding immediate payment, like pretending to be the IRS or Social Security. Phishing expeditions, deceptive emails and phone calls aimed at stealing personal bank data or passwords. That happened to my wife just an hour ago.

High-pressure cryptocurrency or fake romance traps that yield massive individual financial losses. Even the so-called social media out there with the dating apps are seriously prone to fraud. Beware, my friends, beware. Business and corporate fraud, hacking, credit card fraud, embezzlement make up roughly 16% of all recorded property offenses in Virginia's law enforcement databases. And these are just those that are that the government is handled. Insurance and healthcare fraud, heavily targeted by state agencies, prosecutes provider and recipient fraud involving fraudulently obtained Medicare benefits, Medical benefits, and so on.

Okay. So let's go back to the elements of fraud. Now, this is what a lawyer does. A lawyer has to deal with the elements of fraud. The actual critical elements that make up the charge of fraud criminally, also civilly. So we'll go through those when we get back from this break and then friends, hold your seatbelts because we're going to get into some areas which you might never have thought about. Oh, yeah. You might never have thought about. We got a lot of work to do in this country if we have any hope of survival. Fraud and freedom.

Guest (Male): There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on His mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry marriage and morals, saveus.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea project. Saveus.org and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcast live and archived at Save America Ministry's website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Fraud comes into our lives like fog on little cat feet. Sometimes it comes in seemingly legitimately. Sometimes it comes in the name of God, sometimes in the name of the Holy Spirit, sometimes in the name of "trust me, I'm your pastor," or "trust me, I would never do that to you." Friends, if somebody has to introduce themselves to you and say, "just trust me," beware. Beware. Trust but verify, as the saying goes, trust but verify.

And even then it's hard to verify sometimes. Because people don't want to verify. Oftentimes people just want to believe what they want to believe and they don't want to verify because they're afraid that what they're going to verify isn't what they want it to be and so they don't verify. In other words, there is sort of a undisclosed will even to be defrauded sometimes. And ultimately nobody is ultimately deceived against their will. Not really.

So how about church scams? They fall primarily into two categories: external cybercriminals impersonating pastors to defraud congregations and then internal financial exploitation where trusted leaders abuse their positions for personal gain. The pastor impersonation thing is something that for the most part, you probably don't have to be that concerned about, but it is something that a pastor has to be careful about. Fraudsters often target church office staff to acquire the church directory so they can direct messages to members claiming to be official.

Then there is what they call affinity fraud and embezzlement. Because of the high level of trust within faith communities, scammers often use religious authority to target members in what law enforcement calls affinity fraud. The hook is this: leaders may promote once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunities, real estate schemes, unregistered securities, heavily exploiting the common bond of faith to bypass traditional financial skepticism. Then there's internal embezzlement. Church funds are quietly funneled away from the intended charitable uses to fund lavish lifestyles, unauthorized outside organizations, or unapproved private jets even.

In Nashville, a former metro councilman and pastor is accused in a fraud scheme to steal $200 million from a drug company. Wow. It just never ends. It just never ends. Fraud is dangerous, friends. It's dangerous to freedom, it's dangerous to freedom in Christ, it's dangerous to your future, it's dangerous to the future of our country.

According to the Christian Post today, the Roar Leadership Summit, the flagship conference platform founded and convened by David Vacca, a regional minister, pastor, and leadership speaker known for his work in Australia, the South Pacific, and Oceania, claimed that Jesus recently made a rare post-ascension visit at one of their meetings. He said King Jesus appeared with crowns. His ministry claims Jesus showed up in person during a conference held at New Life Church in Australia but didn't provide any evidence to support the claim. No video, nothing like that.

"Not only did he give the Rhema word," said the pastor, "but the King of Glory himself turned up in person. He appeared with a massive crown and steadily moved across the room crowning people with kingly authority and power," the ministry claims. Really? Well, is this a fraudulent misrepresentation? Does this guy really believe this? Is he off balance mentally, spiritually, emotionally, or is he one of those that likes to, shall we say, do ministry puffing?

You see, that's a term that the courts use to describe businesses that engage in advertising that's kind of over the top and goes to extremes. They call it trade puffing. You've seen it on television, you hear it on the radio. It's going to do all these wonderful things for you. It's just the most amazing stuff you ever saw. Trade puffing. The same thing goes on in ministry, friends. In fact, it's even worse.

The Bible says no man has seen God at any time. That you cannot see God and live. Now, you say, "but they saw Jesus." Yes, he was God made in the flesh. He shed the perquisites of the Godhead so that he could demonstrate the love of God in the flesh. He fleshed out the word of God. But he's not returning until he returns. This pastor says he returned. This pastor says he returned with a crown of glory. The Bible says he's not going to return with a crown of glory until he returns, i.e., Revelation 19, when he comes to rule the nations with a rod of iron.

So what do you believe? How many people will believe what this pastor says? Thousands, friends. Why will they believe it? Because they want to. There's an emotional connection, attachment. But what would be his motivation in saying things like this? Prominence, friends. Power, perks, position, identification, flow of funds into the ministry. The motivations are not even hidden, friends. They are so in your face, obvious, if you have a will to see them.

That's one of the reasons here on this program and I tell you regularly, yours truly receives no income whatsoever from this ministry. Never has and never will. Why is that? Because we don't want there to be even the hint of flavor of deception, of saying something for the purpose of gaining attention, of gaining financial gain or any other kind of prominence because of what is said or not said. That's why.

Human beings, pastor or otherwise, are tempted to the max, friends. Jesus was tempted to the max. He quoted the word and was victorious over the temptation. He was an overcomer. You and I are called to be overcomers too. In fact, if we're not overcomers, we're going to be overcome. And if we're overcome and don't repent, we're going to be in a position of not inheriting the Kingdom of God. So says our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his apostles. This is a very serious thing.

Now, here's an interesting thing. By the way, let me just read a little note that I received today from one of our listeners. I don't know if this person has been a regular listener or not. Somebody down in Alabama. She says, "Chuck, just a note to say how much I enjoy your radio ministry. I love the way you give past history with present things going on. You make things come alive with more understanding. I am 84 and giving care for a husband with dementia. It's very hard sometimes, but listening to you helps give me hope." Well, that's a wonderful thing. I'm so glad that it does give you hope. And we try to make it as real as possible, friends.

There is no pretense on Viewpoint. Viewpoint does determine destiny. It really does. Your viewpoint, that is. How about this? The world's first Christian smart ring allows users to select emotional state and receive AI-curated scripture based upon your emotions. Did you know that? Two faith-tech companies have joined forces to create what they call the world's first Christian smart ring. Wearable technology for spiritual practice.

Now, it's called Glorify. Put out by Glorify. There are 25 million users and confidential listeners. An AI hardware and faith technology company announcing a merger now to produce this ring to supposedly integrate faith into everyday life. Now, when I first saw this, I thought, "You've got to be kidding me." This is as phony as the day is long. It may have all kinds of religious foo-foo about it, all kinds of warm fuzzies about it.

But once again it is in effect defrauding the user, the purchaser of real-life relationship with the Lord. You're replacing the Lord with AI. And AI now, you're going to trust AI to tell you your thoughts and your emotions and your state rather than the Lord. Friends, do you not see the deception? Now, those that are promoting this may not like to hear this. But I'm telling you, this is not good. It's not healthy and I think it's unbiblical. It is defrauding people who are trusting something like this to give them truth and response that only the Holy Spirit and the word driven by and applied by the Holy Spirit, not by AI, can give them. And emotions will defraud you. They will lead you to accept fraud in replacement of truth.

Now, we're not finished. So much more to talk about. The matter of false prophets. We'll have to get into that here in just a couple of moments, friends. Stay tuned. This is Viewpoint. Get a copy of my book, Renewing the Soul of America. It'll help you to understand the importance of virtue and truth in the inward parts in our lives for the future of the country. $15 will put the book in your hands on the website saveus.org. When we get back, we'll talk about yet another book that will help you in this regard.

Guest (Male): Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family and it was said by all who observed, "Behold how they love one another." Incredible, but the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click Cell Church.

Chuck Crismier: Unbelievable but true, friends. A long-time charismatic so-called prophet has raised eyebrows online for ordering a teenager, 18 years of age, to eat a physical page from the Bible, the Book of Proverbs, to get the wisdom he will need when God makes him a millionaire. This is not made up. The teenager, 18 years old, is an instructor in a ministry, faith-based non-denominational Christian ministry in West Virginia.

And this man, supposedly a renowned prophet, prophesied that this young man would be a millionaire through business. Claims he's been operating as a prophet for decades. And so he brings this teenager forward in a meeting and is speaking to him that he's going to be a multimillionaire, a kingdom businessman. Then the alleged prophet had several businessmen in the meeting make proclamations over the young boy, including one who declares, "I see not just a million but see millions and millions."

Then the senior pastor of the church said he saw a vision of the boy sitting at a table consuming scripture like food. Then the alleged prophet of many years asked for a paper Bible, ripped a page from the Book of Proverbs, handed it to the 18-year-old, and told him to eat it. He said, "When you eat this, the power of God is going to go inside of you." So the young boy chewed the page, swallowed it with the help of some water before the alleged prophet motioned him away and continued with his prophetic work.

What say you? There's a young boy, a young man. Yes, he's in the church. He's raised in the charismatic arena and so he's accustomed to seeing and hearing some of this kind of thing. I have seen it all across the country from coast to coast. I do believe in prophecy. I believe the prophets of old and I do believe that God never gave up the gift of prophecy. But he's not adding to his word.

But people misunderstand prophecy with other gifts that are set forth in 1st Corinthians Chapter 12 and 13 or Chapter 12 actually. And so it's matter of so-called gifts of knowledge, words of knowledge. And that brings up another one. For years, false prophets have multiplied, manipulated people under the guise of divine revelation. And yet again another scandal is surfaced a few years ago within the charismatic movement. Shawn Bolz, a self-proclaimed prophet associated with Bethel Church in Northern California, has been exposed for fraudulently obtaining personal details from social media while claiming divine inspiration.

This deception is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a systematic issue within the modern charismatic movement, enabled by prominent leaders such as in the same church, Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton. A pattern of deception is what we're talking about. Shawn Bolz gained notoriety for his alleged ability to receive supernatural words of knowledge, claiming to reveal specific personal details about individuals to confirm his prophetic abilities.

However, recent evidence shown that Bolz obtains this information through internet searches, primarily from social media accounts. In other words, it's a whole phony business. A pretense of words of knowledge. They're not coming from the Holy Spirit. They're coming from his deceptive spirit to phony it up for what purpose? To get something from the listener, friends. That's the point. That's where the fraud comes in.

The people trust these people as spiritual leaders. They're hoping to get direction for their lives from them. Just like that 18-year-old boy. Now, there are some situations that are honest where somebody might speak into your life. I understand that. But there's so much of this going on that's phony. It's fraudulent, spiritually fraudulent. It's taking advantage of people who trust these leaders for their own self-gain, whether it's for reputation, power, perks, position, or even resources flowing into them, popularity and so on.

Then again, there were reports that Bolz had monetized his so-called prophetic gift, offering expensive courses and personalized training sessions to those who wish to hear from God the way he does. It turns out the supposed gift of prophecy becomes a profitable business venture rather than a sacred calling. And one of the disturbing aspects of this fraudulent scandal is the seeming complicity within the church leadership of a well, well-known church in the country and in the world where the pastors endorsed Mr. Bolz and even after the fraud was exposed continued to do so.

Another senior figure at the church was also aware of the fraudulent methods as early as 2020. However, he refused to publicly state the deception, citing concerns that it would damage the credibility of the broader prophetic movement. Their reluctance to issue public warnings allows deception to persist within the church, further damaging the credibility of a biblical Christianity.

Then again, you have other leaders, and I'm not going to name these people, that continue to promote and endorse individuals like Mr. Bolz despite overwhelming evidence of fraud. It's a long history of failed prophecies, moral failures among its leaders, yet consistently protects its own. This is because many of these leaders are interconnected. They know that exposing one fraud could set off a whole chain reaction that would damage the credibility of their entire network, and as a result, they prefer silence over truth, allowing deception to flourish. In other words, they become complicit in a sense in the fraud.

It grieves me to have to talk like this. I grew up in the church, friends. And I understand the charismatic movement. Believe me, I understand it. I've had years and years and years of personal exposure in the charismatic movement. I don't disagree with the need for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We're looking at Pentecost coming up here. That indeed was the salutary event after the resurrection to launch the church to launch the church.

But now we're relying upon false spirits, fraudulent representations in order to achieve that which we're not seeing the evidence of through the Holy Spirit. It's fraud. Whether it's actionable fraud in the courts is another matter. False prophecies are often considered a form of fraud, specifically when the person making them uses deceptive tactics to gain money, property, or power. While the law generally protects religious freedom, false prophecy crosses into actionable fraud when it becomes a tool for financial exploitation or control over people.

Freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion protects beliefs, even unconventional or unprovable ones. However, a false prophecy becomes illegal fraud when it proves to be an intentional deception used to secure something of value. Outside of a courtroom, false prophecies are widely considered a form of moral or spiritual fraud. While the concept of prophecy belongs to faith, using deceptive unprovable claims to enrich oneself at the expense of others is recognized as fraud both legally and culturally.

Over the last 20 years, numerous high-profile pastors and ministry leaders have come out as homosexual or identified as part of the LGBTQ community, sparking major debates around inclusion and theology. Why would I talk about this in the context of fraud? Because these people, friends, were trusted people in their denominations. They claimed to be followers, true followers of the scriptures and of Christ himself.

But then they come out and they're leading so many people astray. It's a kind of subtle fraud, coming out, claiming your entitlement to live a sexually perverse life and then affecting the life of untold thousands or millions of people that trusted you, like Alan Chambers, who was recently arrested last week well, not last week, I'm not sure exactly when this was. Alan Chambers was arrested in a sting operation for allegedly soliciting sex for what he thought was a 14-year-old boy, but instead was a police detective.

The circumstances are terrible and tragic, but his exposure should not be too much of a surprise given his belief system and the cost of permitting issues of the heart that led to sexual sin to foster. Yet he was part of, he was the president of Exodus International, and then destroyed the because he was a practicing homosexual and didn't reveal it.

So what has he done? He's changed his whole belief in the gospel to what is called antinomianism. In other words, against law. He's come out and embraced a doctrine which basically says there are no moral laws that Christians have to obey. In other words, you can do what you want. Here he was a major leader. And his pastor became the final head of Exodus board, teaching the same so-called pure grace doctrine which is nothing but a fraudulent misrepresentation of the scriptures.

Why? To seduce more and more people to embrace inclusion, not inclusion in Christ, but inclusion in a whole new concept of Christianity that is contrary to the word, will, and ways of God. Friends, our whole country is at risk. The church is at risk. Your risk. Your children are at risk. We have got to get this together. Virtue alone, righteousness alone exalts a nation. But sin is a reproach to any people.

Are you engaging in any kind of fraudulent behavior? Ask the Lord. There are many ways to accomplish fraudulent behavior. Many ways with regard to claims that we make to insurance companies, with regard to claims we make to the government, with regard to things that we claim to do with the church and why we do it. You see, man looks on the outward appearance, friends, but God looks on the heart. The heart of the matter is always the heart.

If you want to know a little bit more about false prophets and false teaching, get a copy of my book, Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception. You see, all of these books that we have written, they're not money-making books. They're books that go to the very heart of the issues of our time. The most important issues of our time to help us to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. They're not here to promote Chuck Crismier.

They're not here to raise a lot of money. They're here to speak profoundly into the most important issues that very few people will even think about, let alone talk about. Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception, $15 will put the $18 book in your hands. It's on our website saveus.org. Again, get a copy of the book Renewing the Soul of America, $15. If you get both of them together, it'll be $6 plus postage and handling for the first book and only $2 for the second book.

This is a special this is the way it works. If you go there to the website, that's exactly how it will work for you. I hope this program has been a blessing to you. I hope that it's been a bit convicting, a little shaking. Friends, we have to be shaken. The Bible says that as we approach the end of the age, everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken. And the church is being shaken. What are we doing about it? Are we being shaken ourselves? That's a good thing, friends. It's called conviction. How are we responding to the conviction? Today if you'll hear the Lord's voice, don't harden your heart. Just repent and be glad that His kindness leads us to repentance. God bless, be a blessing, become a partner friends, do your best, go to the website, make your generous gift that way. God bless.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.