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I have met Fred Needham once and found him a pretty powerful preacher who had a great knowledge of the Bible. How is the Auckland assembly faring at the moment, is it booming?

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I met Fred at a family church barbeque a couple years ago. He stole my pizza... came right up to my table and took one of the few remaining pieces of MY pizza. I was not a part of his church and I thought it pretty arrogant. I was dumbfounded... anyway

I visited his church earlier this year when in NZ visiting family who fellowship there. It is not booming and that is good. People are getting sick of told how to live and what to do by this guy. That's the impression I got after talking to many people there. People have been regularly leaving the place.

He seems a nice enough guy but was a bit snobby when we spoke this year. Don't be fooled... from people who I know and trust there.. the guy isn't too far off from your typical Revival meeting. and according to the bank of pamphletes in the lobby these guys are into weird stuff. Bible Code comes first to memory. but thats by and by...

i served under pastor fred needham (NED FREEDOM)....it  was ,is pretty much the same  revival shit getting served up ,but these days mainly  to koreans..... i always use to take the prosperity doctrine years ago  to think with the blessing they would need to hire aussie stadium to have their huge revival meetings and that was before the lord was meant to return pre 2000 (wasnt it 1997) but alas like anything to do with revival centers there is no growth,heaps leaving(falling away) people bogged down with legalism,arguing whethr something means this or that....and yes those spilts with the lords prophecies about it in the gifts.

  to freds credit i have heard they are not so legalistic now ...people are encouraged to visit other churches ..i dont think they hammer tongues to the point grc do...but NO the place is not booming ...are any of them....the problem all of them are facing and anything to the original 1970s thing with fred ,noel ,lloyd longdrop and those Doontroon (down trou) mob  (what is it about that place)is they are all getting old in the tooth and they are loosing their grip....once they all go to face their maker who knows what will happen...cheri

I know the Needhams. They're a lovely couple with a deep love for the Lord, for the Word.

They are ministering to the saints in NZ with faithfulness and humility.

They've thrown out legalism but have continued with the salvation message of Acts 2:38.

I'm sure they'll welcome any query you may have about their church. Check their website for their email address.

Regards.

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They've thrown out legalism but have continued with the salvation message of Acts 2:38.

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Legalism... thrown out? Hmmm let's see *frowns and puts on glasses while fingering through* some pamphletes taken from the foyer of the ACA this year, 2005...

•  Free will - "Free will means that we have power to exercise our own will... (ok... good, I'll go along with that)
• Should Christians Drink Alcohol? - "We ask all members to abstain from wine." (sounds like a little legalism here?)
• Here is numerical proof - "It does not come through our senses but from logic (I don't disagree but wouldn't make it public)
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• The bible Code: "this code is clearly aimed at our computer age. God saw our age and targeted this code directly at it. (any mathematician of any calabre would tell you the same pattern exists in every book. but work hard, Fred will, to back up his doctrines with something that can't easily be studied. Sort of a good legal practice.               
• Can women ministier? - No problem here for the gals. Gal 3:26-28: there is neither male nor female, just one in Christ.
• The Holy Spirit: "We do not have to attain to some standard of holiness or obey God's written laws to receive the Holy spirit" but hang on... he then goes on to say in the next paragraph, "Expect to speak in tongues and expect a transformed life"

more later