In the spring of 1983, my wife and I were organizing a handyman business
in Lethbridge. We printed fliers, and I headed out to distribute them
door-to-door. On Third Avenue South (in Lethbridge, Alberta), I dropped
into a building that had activity in the basement. It turned out to be
Hazel Hill, the wife of George Hill – founder of Victory Churches
International, leading what appeared to be a women’s Bible study.
When I met her, there was an instant clash. I saw black enmity, hatred
in her eyes. I was told this was the Victory Christian Church she and
her husband founded. When I got home, Marilyn and I prayed and received
that Victory was “a witch’s coven.”
In December 1988, while passing through the Park Place Mall in Lethbridge,
I dropped into a music store, where a salesman was demonstrating a Korg
electronic piano. I found out he professed faith in Christ, and for some
reason, I told him what the Lord had told me about Victory Christian
Church, that it was a witch’s coven. He seemed rather disturbed
by that.
I saw him again perhaps two weeks later, and he told me he had gone
to Victory Church and asked them if they were a witch’s coven.
They denied it, of course, and therefore I was wrong. “Would they
have admitted it if they were?” I asked the foolish fellow. He
did not wish to have any more to do with me.
The following Sunday, I happened to see George Hill preaching on TV.
He was all worked up, preaching on 2 Peter 2, a passage about false prophets
and those who spoke against dignities. The material he covered was quite
coincidental with the subject matter the salesman and I had discussed.
The Sunday after that was part two of the same subject. There seemed
little doubt he was substantially disturbed as a result of the conversation,
as the salesman reported it to him.
In years to come, by various peculiar circumstances, I got to meet some
of the original co-founders with the Hills, one by one, and the Lord’s
Word to me was confirmed, not that I sought confirmation. I believed
what He had told me, knowing so, not because of Hazel and George only,
but because of what God gave me to discern and understand from several
perspectives.
Regarding the many Victory churches that have formed since the original
founding, the fruit of the tree can never be anything but what begins
with the root, no matter how far away the branches extend from the
trunk. The fruit will always, in due season, reveal the original nature
of the tree.
In this year of 2009, someone coming out of a Victory church came to
us for advice. They were parting ways because of spiritual disagreement,
and they wanted to know what to do about a covenant with the church they
had signed. I responded:
“So why do men seek formal memberships, or in your case, a covenant?
Putting it simply, they, in His Name, are building their own kingdoms
and want guarantees, assurances from men for united activities and particularly
financial endeavors, such as building projects and ministerial and staff
salaries. In effect, they are not trusting and serving the Lord. They
are trusting in themselves, usurping the glory and honor of God and,
worse still, using His Name to do so.
Is that not ‘witchcraft,’ even as the Lord revealed to
me of the Victory Christian Church in 1983? Of course it is! And of
course, they are not the only ones guilty of independence from God.
All formal church organizations are doing these things. But God was
revealing more to me than what is mentioned here concerning Victory
being a ‘coven of witches.’”
This should suffice for now as warning to all who have ears to hear.
Victor Hafichuk
Editor’s Note:Dick
Dewert, another of our false teachers, and his wife took over
the leadership of the original Victory Church - Victory Christian Fellowship
in Lethbridge, Alberta -
from the
Hills
and then started The Miracle Channel, on which the Hills occasionally
appeared.