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Elijah List – In The Beginning
As of this writing (Feb 2011), it’s been about 3 years since I ended my employment with the Elijah List.
It started around the year 2000. I was working for Hewlett-Packard and, through the grapevine, I learned of this daily email newsletter that published “prophecies” to around 30,000 people. This was back in Elijah List’s “text-only” days, where you received only 1 email per day. At the time, I was going to a “Word of Faith” church and I had a very strong foundation in the Word of God. Still, I knew that there was another element in my Walk with God that I wasn’t experiencing yet. I longed for the Reality of His Presence…. to actually SEE the working of God and to KNOW and EXPERIENCE Him more.
As I daily studied the words that I received from the Elijah List, this desire grew. I grew dissatisfied and frustrated with the church I was attending. “They just don’t GET IT!” I told myself. So I determined in my heart that I would find out where I could learn about this “New Thing” that God was doing and I and my family would be there when God showed up!
At the time, I was listening to our local Christian radio station, and they had an hour of worship where they would play worship music from Vineyard, Morningstar, RevivalNow, etc. Having been exposed to Maranatha, Hosanna Integrity, Ron Kenoly and Hillsongs in the 80′s and 90′s, this new “style” of worship music just sent me soaring. I would sit at my computer and just weep, longing for the intimacy with Jesus that they sang about. The only church in our area that played this kind of music in their services was the Vineyard, the home church of Steve Shultz and most of the people that worked for the Elijah List. As soon as I found this out, I said “Goodbye” to my family at the Word of Faith church and started going to the Vineyard.
I didn’t know what I was getting into.
After going to the new church for a couple weeks, I was laid off of my job at HP. I’m a person that gets really antsy (and annoying) when I don’t have anything to do so I set out to find a new job as soon as possible.
One Sunday morning, I bumped into Steve and told him how much I appreciated the Elijah List and that, since I had some spare time on my hands, I could help him out with some computer and web work, if he needed it. Long story short, I was hired on at about the same rate as I would have made being on unemployment.
That’s when my life started to unravel.
My First Conference
After I worked at Elijah List for a few months, I attended my first Elijah List prophetic conference at the Vineyard. I know that Bob Jones, Larry Randolph and a guy named Ed Traut (later removed from Elijah List’s links page for some unnamed “indiscretion”
were some of the speakers (there were a few more, but they don’t come to mind).
During the conference, the extravagant worship and manifestations were in “full effect”. People were moving, twitching and making various noises in every corner of the building. Although I thought it strange that the worship was way more extreme than your typical Sunday morning at the Vineyard, I didn’t raise the question because I didn’t feel qualified to ask (in my mind, I was just a web guy, not a prophet or one with authority).
After spending a few years going to this church and attending these Elijah List conferences (as well as other “prophetic” conferences), I noticed a pattern emerge, where the worship would grow in intensity and volume during a conference where a “big name” prophet headlined, and then died down again once the conference is over.
I was really amazed at how idolized these “prophets” were in the eyes of the conference go-ers. They sat, literally, wide-eyed drinking in every word like it was the Absolute Truth. Even people who worked for the Elijah List were treated with some degree of idolatry. People came up to us and shook our hand saying things like, “Oh you’re so lucky to be able to work in that anointed atmosphere all the time!” They would hang out and ask us questions incessantly and make it really difficult to work (although the appreciation did give us a boost).
I even had some guy come up to me and ask me to lay hands on him and impart a “webmaster anointing”, so that he could do what I did (which wasn’t much talent-wise). I told him that it wasn’t an anointing, but that he should just study books and learn the code. But he was insistent, so not wanting to upset him, I laid hands on him and said a short, polite prayer. From his reaction, you would think that I had shocked him with a cattle prod! He did a few twitches and hit the floor. I walked off laughing, kind of embarrassed by the whole spectacle.
http://www.honorofkings.org/elijahlist/
Sincerely,
Kevin Kleint
http://www.honorofkings.org
As of this writing (Feb 2011), it’s been about 3 years since I ended my employment with the Elijah List.
It started around the year 2000. I was working for Hewlett-Packard and, through the grapevine, I learned of this daily email newsletter that published “prophecies” to around 30,000 people. This was back in Elijah List’s “text-only” days, where you received only 1 email per day. At the time, I was going to a “Word of Faith” church and I had a very strong foundation in the Word of God. Still, I knew that there was another element in my Walk with God that I wasn’t experiencing yet. I longed for the Reality of His Presence…. to actually SEE the working of God and to KNOW and EXPERIENCE Him more.
As I daily studied the words that I received from the Elijah List, this desire grew. I grew dissatisfied and frustrated with the church I was attending. “They just don’t GET IT!” I told myself. So I determined in my heart that I would find out where I could learn about this “New Thing” that God was doing and I and my family would be there when God showed up!
At the time, I was listening to our local Christian radio station, and they had an hour of worship where they would play worship music from Vineyard, Morningstar, RevivalNow, etc. Having been exposed to Maranatha, Hosanna Integrity, Ron Kenoly and Hillsongs in the 80′s and 90′s, this new “style” of worship music just sent me soaring. I would sit at my computer and just weep, longing for the intimacy with Jesus that they sang about. The only church in our area that played this kind of music in their services was the Vineyard, the home church of Steve Shultz and most of the people that worked for the Elijah List. As soon as I found this out, I said “Goodbye” to my family at the Word of Faith church and started going to the Vineyard.
I didn’t know what I was getting into.
After going to the new church for a couple weeks, I was laid off of my job at HP. I’m a person that gets really antsy (and annoying) when I don’t have anything to do so I set out to find a new job as soon as possible.
One Sunday morning, I bumped into Steve and told him how much I appreciated the Elijah List and that, since I had some spare time on my hands, I could help him out with some computer and web work, if he needed it. Long story short, I was hired on at about the same rate as I would have made being on unemployment.
That’s when my life started to unravel.
My First Conference
After I worked at Elijah List for a few months, I attended my first Elijah List prophetic conference at the Vineyard. I know that Bob Jones, Larry Randolph and a guy named Ed Traut (later removed from Elijah List’s links page for some unnamed “indiscretion”
were some of the speakers (there were a few more, but they don’t come to mind).During the conference, the extravagant worship and manifestations were in “full effect”. People were moving, twitching and making various noises in every corner of the building. Although I thought it strange that the worship was way more extreme than your typical Sunday morning at the Vineyard, I didn’t raise the question because I didn’t feel qualified to ask (in my mind, I was just a web guy, not a prophet or one with authority).
After spending a few years going to this church and attending these Elijah List conferences (as well as other “prophetic” conferences), I noticed a pattern emerge, where the worship would grow in intensity and volume during a conference where a “big name” prophet headlined, and then died down again once the conference is over.
I was really amazed at how idolized these “prophets” were in the eyes of the conference go-ers. They sat, literally, wide-eyed drinking in every word like it was the Absolute Truth. Even people who worked for the Elijah List were treated with some degree of idolatry. People came up to us and shook our hand saying things like, “Oh you’re so lucky to be able to work in that anointed atmosphere all the time!” They would hang out and ask us questions incessantly and make it really difficult to work (although the appreciation did give us a boost).
I even had some guy come up to me and ask me to lay hands on him and impart a “webmaster anointing”, so that he could do what I did (which wasn’t much talent-wise). I told him that it wasn’t an anointing, but that he should just study books and learn the code. But he was insistent, so not wanting to upset him, I laid hands on him and said a short, polite prayer. From his reaction, you would think that I had shocked him with a cattle prod! He did a few twitches and hit the floor. I walked off laughing, kind of embarrassed by the whole spectacle.
Let me take a small side road: For the record, I am NOT against manifestations. I’ve been “slain in the Spirit”, had Holy Laughter hit me and even physically reacted to the Holy Spirit. Believe me, when God (the Creator of the Universe) touches dirt (you and I), something is going to move. But if God touches us, there is going to be a change, a transformation, a healing of SOME sort. These people who “manifest” outwardly without becoming more and more like Him are NOT under the influence of the Holy Spirit (it’s another kind of spirit). I’ve known several people like this, who can twitch in the middle of WalMart, but have the personality of a troll. They claim to be so in tune with God, but the fruit of their lives speaks otherwise.
Feel free to read the rest of my story here:
http://www.honorofkings.org/elijahlist/
Sincerely,
Kevin Kleint
http://www.honorofkings.org