"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." (Rom 16:17).
On Sunday, Jan 30, 2022, Mennonite pastor Henry Hildebrandt conducted the “Prayer for Unity” service at Parliament Hill for the Truck Convoy Rally in Ottawa. I would start by digressing, and saying praise the Lord for all the truckers and all the others that have sacrificed their time, money and maybe even jobs and reputations for freedom!
Henry Hildebrandt was asked to preach on “Prayer for Unity." I find that almost unbelievable. What would a wolf in sheep’s clothing know about “Prayer” or “Unity”?! And what does that even mean in a nation of “diversity”? How can be there “unity” within a nation that holds to massively conflicting and opposing views, the left vs the right, and where vast majority of people, maybe even including some in the Rally, reject the true and living Triune God? (It used to not be like that, but it is today, thanks in large part to our liberal governments removal of God, the Bible, and the nuclear family, from education, television, government and more.) How can be there “unity” when many reject the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and embrace “another gospel” (2 Cor 11:4; Gal 1:6-9), from whence cometh the only true unity? When the people reject that Christ is the only way to heaven (Jn 14:6)? When Moslems are given almost a free pass of entrance — a people that violently opposes everything about the Bible and our freedoms and the Canadian way of life, while seeking to overtake us through jihad and the abolishment of our freedoms to eventually establish their evil Sharia law and the Caliphate and we become their slaves? When many are happy in their sinful pleasures, whether burning out their brain cells and conscience with ungodly and worldly nauseating music, drunkardness, drugs are legalized and glorified, ungodly television rules the homes (as do the woman and the children! — you can read Isaiah 3 about what happens in such a nation), destructive video games are time killers, homes are destroyed through divorce and remarriage—i.e. adultery—which is at a pandemic level and sexual immorality—I.e. fornication—which is rampant, where churches are practically across the board heretical and apostate and essentially no one stands for the truth according to Scripture? When the homes and education systems from kindergarten to university level are anti-God, pro-sexual immorality, pro-Sodomy, anti-Creationism and pro-evolutionism, pro-segregation, pro-mandates or mark of the beast, and pro-baby murder (abortion), or pro-practically-everything-else-that-is-evil and anti-all-that-is-of-God, yet people still send their kids to these institutions? When the nation is drenched in the blood of the innocents, the murder of millions of babies in the abortion mills? Where a wolf in sheep’s clothing is asked to preach a sermon on “Pray for Unity”? Wheres the discernment? A house divided against itself cannot stand. I'm all for unity but you can't have unity outside of righteousness, for "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." (Ps 14:34).
And we can be sure of one thing: whatever the apostate wolf preached, it wasn’t going to bring unity.
Of course this isn’t the first time Henry has been in the news. Throughout the pandemic, for the past two years now, Henry Hilderbrandt and the “Church of God Restoration” have been a thorn in the side of the province of Ontario, actively seeking to steal the spotlight due to their public resistance or activism against government bullying and tyranny, all the while gaining more and more prominence and notoriety. Hildebrandt, like wolves naturally do, love the media attention, welcoming it, and often live-streaming himself when there is any interaction with the police. At some of their events, if the press doesn’t show up, they will take photos and send them to the press hoping to get coverage. They are actively seeking the spotlight to increase the coffers. I am not against resisting tyranny, but that should come firstly by obeying God’s Word and not purposefully making it a public affair with fanfare and spotlights like Hildebrandt and their "church" do. But wolves are hungry and their eyes are never satisfied, and we see that everywhere in this heretical and diabolical denomination.
So who exactly is Henry Hildebrandt and why is he a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Hildebrandt pastors a “church” in Aylmer, Ontario, called the “Church of God Restoration," a church that has roots in the heretical "Church of God (Armstrong)." This group of churches formed their association splitting off from an older organization, originally having their roots in the holiness movement and the Church of God, founded by Daniel S. Warner in 1881. The "Church of God Restoration" started with a man named Daniel Layne, who ran his church and this group of churches like a dictator (the “chief apostle”), directing how members should dress, and behave. He would ex-communicate anyone who disagreed with him, which is a huge red flag on it's own. There are roughly twenty of these “churches” in the world, with over half located in North America, and they form a tight circle due to the fear-mongering and extreme man-centredness and massive bondage they intentionally create. The Aylmer Church started in 1990, when a group of about 60-70 persons left a local church after Daniel Layne came through Aylmer, preaching a message that basically said that the church they were in, and all other churches, were dead and that the only way to be saved and get to heaven was to leave that dead church and be joined to the one and only true church, which was the one that Layne was starting. Layne taught that he was an angel of God, prophesized about in the book of Revelation. Though this church is not Mennonite in of itself, some of the core group of the Aylmer "Church of God Restoration" including its leaders came out of the Mennonite church, and most that attend there are Mennonites. Wolves in sheep’s clothing prey on Mennonites because they know many Mennonites are spiritually gullible especially when the cult meets certain criteria that they deem to be important (e.g. clothing, woman, segregation of men and women, the law, etc).
Consider Some of the Many Characteristics of this Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Some wolves are easily noticeable, like Hildebrand, while others are much more difficult to note due to their subtlety and deception and light-likeness (2 Cor 11:12-15) and must be carefully scrutinized. There are also ignorant wolves. That’s certainly not the case with Hildebrandt and the "Church of God Restoration."
1. FIRST OF ALL, he holds to blasphemous views on the Office of the Apostle, along with massive perversion of scripture. Like the typical cultish wolf, Hildebrandt gives himself a church office that is given by God alone, for a specific time, and doesn’t actually exist anymore. He considers himself one of the 12 apostles at the “Church of God Restoration,” two of which are woman, which violates scripture on its own since woman are to remain silent in the church: "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." (1 Tim 2:11-12). Hildebrandt and the 11 claim their apostleship is inline with the twelve apostles of God’s Word. When the Bible speaks of the 12 apostles, they are in fact speaking of him and the other 11 at the Church of God Restoration. They define an “Apostle” (website) as “one sent." They explain that these apostles, in their view, are “sent ones," given by God’s Spirit, to “progressively restore truths lost in the great falling away, and . . . not only to complete the restoration of all truth, but also to lead in and oversee the gathering together of the members of Christ’s body into one fold.” In other words, they believe they are the apostles of the only one, true church.
This goes right back to their founder, Danny Layne, who believed he was an apostle and his followers believed he was also the fourth angel of Revelation who held the seal. Salvation also had to come through Layne, or you couldn’t be saved. If you wanted to be right with God, you just had to get right with "brother Layne." After Layne's death, Dee Roy Tinsman elected himself as "chief apostle." He claims many of the things written about Christ is actually written to him and the rest of these eleven "apostles." In Feb 2019 at one of their meetings Tinsman claimed,
“In John 16, the Lord told the disciples that He was going away. . . . Christ is telling the disciples that the place that He holds on 'creature earth' will be held by the apostles in His absence” and that they, the twelve "apostles" of the "Church of God Restoration" are the apostles of Christ “in His absence."
One of their “apostles” taught that the "twelve angels" manning the "twelve gates" of Heaven "are men" and himself along with the other eleven "apostles" of the Church of God Restoration" are these men. Not only are they those "twelve angels" but also they are now the apostles spoken of in the NT, directly taking the place of the first apostles, as Jesus’ apostles.
Henry Hildebrandt of the church in Aylmer, taught at one of these all-church meetings,
“If we do not recognize, accept and receive the present-day apostles of the Lord, we are no better than short-sighted man or the Catholic church.”
Hildebrandt doesn't only refer to himself as an apostle (one that is equal, or even higher than the Apostle Paul and the other twelve apostles of Christ), but also as "John the Baptist." (Henry Hildebrandt, Ray Tinsman and S. Hargrave, false Apostles? Church of God Restoration a Cult?)
This is taken to blasphemous heights. No, they are not apostles or John the Baptist but wolves in sheep's clothing. They are ravening wolves. There are no more apostles, there was only twelve plus one betrayer and Hildebrandt, Tinsman and the rest are perfectly in line with that betrayer. Here is a picture of the 12 "apostles" i.e., wolves in sheep's clothing, under the misleading label "The Presbytery."
2. SECONDLY, the cultish wolf is not satisfied with what God has given mankind, so he must place himself on the throne to be on equal authority to God, in reality attempting to usurp the authority and position of God. There is a deceiving fellow in the bible that once attempted that; we all know him by his name Devil or Satan or Lucifer or the great deceiver. They claim that their authority is to the point where they are able to write Holy Scripture. In an open (for the public) Q&A in August 2019 at Roy Tinsman’s church at Greenville, OH, who is considered "the chief apostle" of these 12 “apostles,” the following interaction took place with a member from the audience (which can be viewed here: Henry Hildebrandt, Ray Tinsman and S. Hargrave, false Apostles? Church of God Restoration a Cult?)
Participant: “Could an apostle [of the Church of God Restoration] write scripture?”
Tinsman: “Most all scripture was written by an apostle.”
Participant: “Could one of you write scripture?”
Tinsman: “Yes sir.”
Participant: “Do you have any plans to?”
Tinsman: “No sir.”
Participant: “Why not?”
Tinsman: “I don’t know.”
Hildebrandt taught at one of their all-church meetings:
“If you identify the Bible as your ‘present truth’, why do you go to service? Why go to the meetinghouse? You have your Bible at home and Walmart sells them for just a few dollars. You come to service to hear what the Spirit is presently saying to the church. Present truth comes through men. From the creation of the world until now, God has always had men who were in charge.”
This is stating very clearly that they believe in new and direct revelation from God, given to their leaders, that is in addition to the completed Word of God. This is blatant heresy and extremely dangerous. No, they do not have authority to write scripture or receive new revelation. The canonization of Scripture is closed, Rev 22:18-19, and even if it wasn’t, God would not utilize a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a false teacher and false prophet, to write His inspired words! Only a wolf that opposes God and makes himself out to be God would make such claims. The canonization of Scripture was completed with Rev 22.
In Rev 22 we read the end result of “liars, evil beasts” (Ti 1:12) such as this cult who claim their words to be above Scripture:
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (vv. 18-19).
3. THIRDLY, not only do these cultish wolves claim God-like authority in the area of divine holy Writ, they also embrace divine authority in giving or taking away salvation and forgiving sins and actually putting themselves as God Himself. Tinsman is referred to as a Messiah and God in the flesh. I know, wow, how blatantly evil can it get! They continually preach that salvation is only possible through their “church” and they are able to unsave cult members and condemn them to hell. One ex-member, who has publicly written about her experiences growing up in these churches, writes that they believe “they hold the keys to heaven, and you can’t get there outside of being with them." Of course they believe in the false gospel of losing salvation (even just one willful sin causes a person to lose their salvation), which is natural in cultish religious institutions.
In the aforementioned Q&A, Roy Tinsman was also asked:
“Do you have the ability to take away someone’s salvation?”
Tinsman replied with a resounding
“Yes”!
Hildebrandt claims that he has the power to forgive and not forgive sins, because he is an apostle of God. If you speak against the apostles, “you will have to come by brother Hildebrandt and ask brother Hildebrandt if you can be forgiven.” (Who is Henry Hildebrandt of Church of God Restoration). It’s in Jesus Christ alone in “whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Col 1:14), not through wolves in sheep's clothing.
It is not uncommon to hear the "apostles" teach that the people should be praying in the name of their “chief apostle," Dee Roy Tinsman. In one sermon, Tinsman even blasphemously mocks praying in Jesus' name (ibid).
All this is evil beyond imagination, and the gates of hell are blown wide open for antichrists such as this, but it gets even worst when you don't think it could get worst .
When one of the “apostles,” Stephen Hargrave, stated the following at one of their functions,
"the only name, the name that is above all names on this creature earth, the governor of the world, the judge of all this world, is the chief apostle..."
you might be thinking he was only describing the Lord Jesus Christ, since these attributes and characteristics speak ONLY of God the Son in the Word of God. That would be the only thought entering into the mind of anyone that knows anything about the Bible. But nope my friend, that was certainly and frightfully not the case. He was speaking indeed of the one they call "the messiah," and "chief apostle," which was none other than " our very own, brother Tinsman”!
Yikes. Not sure if I've ever heard such blasphemy before in my life. How terribly frightful to put yourself into the position as God the Son. Absolutely evil and blasphemous.
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." (Matt 24:4-5)
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” (1 Jn 2:22).
They also claim to have the power to raise the dead. Of course that has never happened, but its just another deceived and demonic manifestation of these wolves in sheep’s clothing, for by their fruit they shall be known (Matt 7:15-20).
4. FOURTHLY, these cultish wolves will put themselves into a position of greater importance or value than any other church like institution on earth by claiming specific scripture applies only to them and that salvation is only available through their “church.”
Their church website says about themselves:
“This [The Church of God Restoration] is a divine move of the Spirit, ordained by God and prophesied of in Revelation and other scriptures. God is restoring His church and calling all of His true children out of every sect and schism back to the one fold.”
That sentence in itself tells us that this “church” is not only not what it claims to be, it is thoroughly a false church for making such a claim. The only "church" that they align with in Scripture is that "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Rev 17:1) They continually preach that salvation is only possible through their “church” and that in the last days people from all other churches and over the world will flock to their church for salvation. They have prophesied this, which means they are also false prophets. This group of churches have prophetically said that millions will flock into their churches as fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, something they have believed since they first formed. They believe God will vindicate them by bringing millions into their churches, but this hasn’t happened and isn’t happening. In response, they have tried various ways to get visibility and publicity, seeking this great influx, such as praying and preaching publicly in Ottawa and in other public arenas, but so far, no interest by the masses. And it won't happen either. God tells us what the last days are like, and it's not one of "revival." The only people that wolves like Hildebrandt attract, are people of the same corrupt and reprobate mind concerning the faith (2 Tim 3:5-9), so they “lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (vv. 6-7).
5. FIFTHLY, the extreme dictatorship and control. Hildebrandt, like the other eleven, is a tyrant and dictator over the people of that church, ruling with an iron fist, controlling nearly single aspect of their lives. Missing church for whatever reason is never allowed. What clothes you wear, food you eat, whether you can go on vacation, what you look at on YouTube, what colour your car is (only white, black and grey's are allowed), what colour your underwear and stockings congregants are, how many times you and your spouse can be intimate, etc, has to be all first confirmed and approved by the "apostle" Hildebrandt. I'm not making this up. No one is allowed to wear the colour red or lace. You cannot watch TV or drink caffeine. Marriages are arranged by the pastor. Men and boys cannot wear jeans, but dark pants and white shirts, along with black vests, irregardless of weather. There is to be no decorating your home or wearing fragrances.They are completely against the medical industry and refuse any sort of medical intervention or medicine. No pictures are allowed in your home of people that are worldly or ungodly, or just simply not in their "church," because they are dead to him. He makes sure to repeat that they “are dead” multiple times. He claims you might as well have a picture of a dead person in a coffin, and put that on your "WhatsApp to look at when you wake up in the night."
The whole fight for freedom by Hildebrandt and this false church is a publicity stunt. The very people of this “church” have less freedom than the rest of Canada does!
6. SIXTH, like all wolves in sheep’s clothing, they chase after the love of money. They want all the cult members money, and they don’t hide this fact either. From the pulpit they state this. In Nov 2020, these “apostles" told their people at a meeting to “empty out” their retirement money and give it to the church, for “it is time to go for broke” and “lay it at the apostles feet." They told them that some of them need to “sell their homes and give the money to the ‘apostles.'" So they swindle people out of all their money by forcing them to sell their homes and businesses, etc, and to give it all to the "church," because they are “apostles" and "apostles" need money and lots of it. Hildebrandt apparently has so much of it that he's been busy buying up land in the area, for which many believe will be communal living.
Their love of money reflects who they actually truly serve: their own bellies. This is one of the characteristics of a false teacher (Rom 16:17), since its not love of Christ that drives his motivation: "For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Rom 16:18). Paul speaks of it again in Phil 3:18-19, "that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)"
7. SEVENTH, the list of heresies is multi-volume book-length. The perversion and corruption of scripture is abhorrent. Some of the heresies include entire sanctification as a second work of grace after (supposed) justification by faith (its not--they believe in a works false gospel), which is heretical Keswick/Holiness theology, also the roots of this "church." UnBiblical clothing guidelines enforced, which is tyranny, of the type of tyranny they allegedly oppose. Plenty of traditions taught as scriptural truth. Unification of the children of God in one body, believing that God's will is to unite his people one more time in one visible Church before he returns to take them home. So every person that is a Christian will become a part of the movement once they hear the sound of the seventh trumpet, which is interpreted to be the preaching and teaching of God through the body of Christ, which is their church. But that is heresy. That is certainly not what happens in the last days. They also believe and teach divine physical healing by the Elders.
CONCLUSION
These would be the words of Christ to such wolves and hypocrites:
“Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, . . . Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. . . . Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” (Mk 7:6-13)
It is bewildering to think that this wolf was asked to pray in representation of the trucker Freedom Convoy. He is the last person that should've been asked. No one should have anything to do with these blatant wolves in sheep's clothing.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matt 7:15)
Flee from these apostate, money-swindling hypocrites. "Forsake the foolish and live" (Pr 9:6).
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor 6:14-18).
See here for further proof of the above: