Out With Ashmore. Damage Control And The Smear

To the left, Mr. Kekel.  What more needs to be said.

I've received information regarding some statements which have been reportedly made by M. Kekel.  Now before I continue, please understand that this information is second hand which means that I didn't personally witness Kekel making these statements.  Having said that, I believe this information to be highly credible based on where I got it.  I will do my best to relay this information as closely as I possibly can to reflect what I heard.  

It's my understanding that during a service which Kekel was either a part of or actually holding himself, Kekel decided to start verbally discrediting someone who had left the New Testament Christian Chruch.  Apparently Kekel referred to this individual who left the NTCC as being "charismatic" or overly spiritual in nature and someone who believed in the gifts of the spirit.  At some point in Kekel's attempt to outwardly and openly smear this individual, Kekel said that "this person who used to be his (Kekel's) pastor, has now become his (Kekel's) enemy.  

Obviously there is only one person that Kekel could have been referring to; Ashmore.  So once again we see yet another instance where the NTCC leadership, (in this case Kekel) has elected to perform damage control while smearing the name of someone who decided to depart from the NTCC.   

Now let me speculate for a bit.  Very educated and informed speculation I might add.  Ashmore was sent to California to to pastor a church that was previously pastored by someone else. Ashmore had also previously been in a position of authority within the NTCC leadership holding what would be considered a higher position than a pastor.   So Ashmore gets sent to California to pastor, which if he continued in that position, would be considered a demotion by most accounts.  Why did Ashmore get sent to California?   I'm convinced I have the answer, and I'm quite confident that I'm very much on target with this one.  

For a long time, Davis was a strong supporter of Ashmore.  This is not speculation, but rather an absolute fact. I'm sure as time went on, that Davis knew that Kekel was anything but an advocate for Ashmore.  Kekel has proven that he has no problem voicing his feelings about someone, and that is also a fact.  I'm sure at some point, Kekel expressed his sentiments about Ashmore to Davis.  Well blood is thicker water which is self evident where the Davis, Kekel family was and is concerned and if you think otherwise you are extremely misguided.  Davis knew, (either because of his potentially soon approaching inevitable death or currently existing illness) that he would be out of the "NTCC leadership picture" and Kekel would take the reigns.  So for Kekel's sake, neither Davis or Kekel wanted Ashmore too close to Graham and they really wanted to move him out of the picture, so off to California Ashmore went.  Kekel was certainly jealous of the relationship Ashmore had with Davis and he wanted to eliminate any inevitable power struggles which he knew he'd have with Ashmore, so again, off to California Ashmore went.  

Kekel has always disliked and been intimated and jealous of anyone (who had risen to a position of authority) who Davis preferred, which definitely included Denis, because Kekel told me as much himself directly on the telephone.   Kekel told me directly, that he disliked Denis and I clearly understand why.  Davis liked Denis, and Kekel told me so, so it was obvious JEALOUSY, (on Kekel's part) bottom line.  If you think otherwise you are a straight up dummy.  

Ashmore and Denis both did something which Kekel has never done and Davis quite clearly recognized this.  They created a strong money stream due to their charisma and oratory skills, and they brought many more people into the NTCC than Kekel every could and Davis knew it, but again, blood is thicker than water.  So they had to get Ashmore out of the picture, and to make a long story short, they quite effectively "RAN HIM OFF".   The NTCC leadership is skilled at performing that task, as they are proven to be experts in the art of "RUNNING PEOPLE OFF"! They do this to people who they are either jealous of or intimidated by.  Who are they jealous of or intimidated by?  People who are more popular than they are.  

Well now, Ashmore is firing back, and though that may be a classic example of the "pot calling the kettle black", you can't blame Ashmore for defending himself even though for decades Ashmore has committed as many dastardly deeds as any other leader in the NTCC. Lastly, I strongly suspect that there is friction between Kekel and Olson and I have sound reasons for making this statement.  The NTCC is breaking apart at the seams.  If you have any sense at all, you'll get away from the NTCC while the gettin is good. If you're a pastor, (and you have a decent size church) you'll do well to take your church, forsake the NTCC name, and do your own thing.  If not, you'll eventually be left high and dry.  

The New Testament Christian Church Is A Real Estate Business, No More, No Less.

I Just found these comments on DnA's blog.  The answers to these questions are so obvious it's down right disgusting.  Additionally, you are blind as a bat if you can't figure out what the New Testament Christian Church leadership is doing.  Renting church buildings to the local churches is just another way for them to make money off the congregations and Pastors.  When are you all going to learn that the NTCC is nothing more than a real estate holding company?  We've been saying this for almost 10 years now.  We've written so many threads concerning this topic it's not even funny.   If you owned a house that you still had a mortgage on, would you tell the renters what the interest rate is or what the mortgage payment is?  Of course not.  The sooner you realize that the NTCC is not a church but a money making business, the better off you'll be.  

Real churches don't have a problem with full disclosure.  The NTCC leadership has ALWAYS had a problem with full disclosure and everyone knows that.  You are a dummy if you don't know that.  Stop giving your money to the NTCC!!!  With all this information readily available, I really, truly can't believe how gullible people can be.  Suckers; the real deal.  Anyway, written below are the comments I copied and pasted. 

Comment 1: My wife and I spent hours looking and looking we finally found something with a big area for a sanctuary and everything else that we were told to look for in a church building also a price we thought we could afford since our congregation was new and I knew we had to pay the mortgage. Next I contacted the leaders they came to check it out without me and decided they would buy it. I wasn't allow to be around for the buying process. I was told they might not want to sell it if I was there or want to use my credit and a whole bunch of other excuses. I had excellent credit at the time but I feared to argued because they taught to question the leaders was to disrespect God. So I wasn't present. J. Ashmore, J. Olsen, and another person that was on the board assured me that once the building was paid for it became that individual church's building and Graham would turn over the deed to the building to that church. I thought this is a good plan. The building needed painting and a few other things not anything major and it was listed for 76,000. Once everything was done I was contacted to go out to eat. I thought we were going to go over the paperwork but I was showed nothing. I was told your mortgage payment is 1300.00 a month. I about chocked on the food in my mouth that was nowhere near what I and my wife had planned for in payments. I said Oh there must be something I missed because I thought the payments would be a whole lot less. It was told me that there was more land that was not named on the paper I had, there was insurance, the yearly taxes, and so on. I said we can't afford this. I was then told, "Are you going to doubt like Peter or are you going to keep your eyes on Jesus and walk on water. Matthew 17:20 tells us " And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." It is all about faith brother all about faith."

That was the last time my credit was excellent. We ended up losing the house we were renting and I had to move my wife and kids to a very tiny little apartment. My kids were so disappointed because the house had a big basement to play in at night after our long days and the last people had left the backyard set up for kids. My kids had so loved this house. It had made the move to a new place much easier. We were told that God wanted to teach us something that is why we were there. That sometimes God has got to take you to the desert to show you things.

Comment 2:  As a pastor in NTCC, I know one of many things that has really bothered me. I wouldn’t write it here if they would only answer our questions. When we bought our Church and thankfully NTCC put up the funds, I asked, What is the interest rate? They would not answer me. They never send us a statement. How will I know when this is paid off? We’ve been paying for years, what is our current status? Nothing. Then I figured out it was probably equivalent to a 6.5% interest rate @ 30 years. Which at the time was great! But now, interest rates are at 3.75% and for a 15 year its down to 3%. So I asked, Can we refinance this loan and pay it off sooner and that would help us go full time sooner. As well as take off the burden of a mortgage payment off of the back of the congregation. He just looked at me. No answer. I thought to myself, This is really weird. Shady, really. After I am dead and gone, who knows if they will just keep on charging this congregation & pastor for a mortgage or for renting this place. It doesn't make any sense to me. I don’t understand why there has to be so much secrecy? Why not a mortgage statement? Why not an Escrow statement? Or at least give it out once a year?

Comment 3:  When we were in Lakewook, the NTCC had bought the property there and we were paying the mortgage payments.  One day the man that had sold the property came to see that church that was now using the building and house.  He was talking to Ralph St. Clair who was the pastor at the time.  He shared how he had given NTCC a good deal since it was going to be used for a church site.  They talked back and forth which lead Ralph St. Clair to discover that the payment was double the real mortgage payment. When asking the leaders about i,t he was told it cost to have the privilege to use one of NTCC's buildings and we are doing you a favor, so what are you complaining about and if it wasn't for the NTCC, you would have nothing.  As I listened to this exchange between the leaders and Ralph St. Clair I thought, "we have nothing". 

Forsake Not!!!

Why does the NTCC leadership recommend having so many services a week?  
Under what circumstances will a traveling NTCC minister refuse to preach revival services at your church?  I know the answers to both questions because I got them straight from the horses mouth, pun intended. 

For years NTCC ministers have been hanging on to one piece of scripture to justify their stance on having several services per week. They'll toss out this same scripture to compel you to attend each and every "revival" service being held in your local area.  They'll even toss it out to compel you to travel to the NTCC's annual conferences.  Which scripture might this be?  Drum role please....  "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together".   Ding, ding, ding, you got the right answer, you win the prize if you guessed Heb 10:25.  Of course it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out because I'll bet I've heard NTCC ministers quote that very scripture at least 2000 times and that my friend is a very conservation estimate.   So why, (with so many different scriptures in the bible) do you suppose that NTCC preachers focus so much attention on that one scripture???  That scripture may very well be the most frequently and commonly quoted Bible verse by every minister in the entire NTCC.  Why so much emphasis?  I know why and I got the answer straight from the horses mouth.  All you have to do is open your ears, open your brain, and listen. 

These NTCC ministers like to preach so much that they quite often run their mouths and open their hearts more than they probably should.  The reason NTCC ministers have been taught to hold so many services has little or nothing to do with Heb 10:25 and R.W. Davis, (the founder of the NTCC) made that very plain during conference and L.D. Jones made that very plain also.

In conference, with me sitting right there carefully listening, R.W. Davis told his pastors not to call Graham to state they were short on money if they weren't holding a full schedule of services each week.  Davis also said that the reason Pastors were short on money was because they were afraid to ask the people for more.  He said if they would hold the recommended number of services each week, (Thursday, Saturday, 2x on Sunday) and take up a offering each service and teach the people to give in the offerings, they should not be short on money. He DIDN'T say to hold more services to get people saved, he said, hold more services to MAKE MORE MONEY.  He even suggested taking up more than one offering per service if necessary and my current pastor at the time took that bait hook line and sinker.  He started taking up two offerings per service.  

L.D. Jones stated that he left Mayers church in Atlanta early and did not continue with revival because of this reason...  The church in Atlanta and more specifically Mayers wouldn't support him monetarily while he was there.   I was sitting right there when L.D. Jones made that statement.  So revival wasn't about saving souls because if it was, he would have stayed, money or no money.  Jones preaching for that church was "CONDITIONAL" on him getting paid, bottom line, plain and simple.  Having "so many" services a week isn't for the purpose of  maintaining your good old "salvation".  It's to raise more money for the church and the desires of the pastor, bottom line, end of story, plain and simple and Davis made that quite plain in conference.   

I have a very legitimate question.  How many services a week does it take to keep you saved?  2, 3, 4, 5????  And where are you getting your answer from in the bible?  Hebrews 10?  So I can take Hebrews 10 and convince you to attend as many services as I want you to and because Hebrews 10 doesn't give a specific number you are supposed to blindly follow my guidance?  And that is why so many NTCCers are broke and living from one paycheck to the next.  What happens every conference.  A push to raise pledge money and I could care less what Kekel says about being in the red every conference.  You NTCCers are victims of a con game and it's just that simple.  Your purpose in the NTCC is to provide NTCC pastors the means not to work on a real job, bottom line.  

Stanley Mayers, the pastor in the Atlanta church made this statement in church, during service and I quote, "I'm not working on no stinking Job" end of quote.  At the time he felt he was too good to work on a "stinkin" job because that is what he was taught by old RWD but you church members better work on a stinking job so you can support guys like him and his family in the stinkin NTCC.   Well guess what, I'm not under any circumstances supporting some STINKIN NTCC pastor.   If they need money then they need to go get a real "stinkin" job.  Five services a week my "stinkin" butt!!!!  If it takes 5 stinkin services a week to keep you saved, then Jesus never saved you in the first place.