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Warnke Ministries
Statement
July 15, 1992
Recently, , a so-called "avante-garde
Christian" publication from Chicago, Illinois, printed a 12-page,
highly-critical article which essentially charged that my past life
and testimony are total lies and my entire ministry is a fraud. While
acknowledging that my work has helped people and that I am "efficient
at winning souls," the author commented that "that doesn't negate the
fact that he is not telling the truth about himself. And his life is
not true."
My normal policy is to ignore negative opinions and criticisms
and simply concentrate on my work and ministry. However, since this
malicious article has been picked up and widely reported by the
secular media and the story has been handed out with a press release
by the co-authors at a major Christian publishing convention in
Dallas, Texas, numerous sincere and honest Christians have expressed
their alarm at such a shocking attack and asked for my response.
Because many of these people have believed in my work and some have
even helped support our ministry, I feel I owe them an explanation and
a chance to hear the truth.
First of all, I stand by my testimony of being delivered and set
free by the power of Jesus Christ after being a satanic high priest
exactly as published in my book, . It is an unusual
accusation to be charged with "Not being as bad as you claim." Sadly,
I was deeply involved in the occult, including the conducting of
grisly, evil, secret rituals, and the recruitment of new members, into
satanic practices. My involvement definitely was no limited to
dabbling with a Ouija board. My nationally-recoginized expertise on
the occult, which has been utilized by police departments and national
television shows such as "20/20" is base on my personal, first-hand
experiences, my ministry contacts with hundreds of other people who
have been involved with satanism, as well as extensive personal study.
Co-author David Balsiger has issued a statement which recalls
that after the first draft of was completed and he
felt it was ready for the publisher, my wife Sue and I rejected the
manuscript because of inaccuracies and problems with the details. It
took nearly two additional months of working together to re-write the
material to get events in proper sequence and every detail as
factually correct as possible. Then some information was puposefully
changed to protect the privacy of certain individuals and to prevent
readers from using the book as a guide for occultic and satanic
purposes. But, as we stated in the front of the book, "The events are
absolutely as described."
Second, I categorically deny that Warnke Ministries is a
fraudulent operation in any sense of the word, despit misleading and
inaccurate published statements attributed to a few disgruntled former
employees of the ministry. In fact, most of their statements date to a
time when we were struggling with our finances and attempting to
develop good business practices. Practically all of the ministry
income is from my ministry concert and related product sales. Warnke
Mininstries is controlled and directed by an independent Board of
Directors as prescribed by state statutes and U.S. Internal Revenue
Service guidelines. Our financial records are maintained in accordance
to standard accounting practices and are scrutinized by an independent
outside firm of certified public accountants. All ministry operations
are also reviewed by a taz attorney to insure that they conform with
all applicable rules and regulations. Our claims of ministering to
people and helping get them off drugs and out of satanism are
documented by numerous public testimonies and correspondence, as well
as the confirmation of pastors and clergymen acrossthe nation.
Although claims to have conducted a
full-blown, two-year investigation of me and my ministry, the writer
did not contact me until a few days before the publication deadline.
Both personally and through my agent-attorney, I conveyed that I was
available for an interview, but was on a tightly-schedules concert
tour, and asked for an alternate date about three weeks later,
preferably at my headquarters office or at my attorney's office.
Neither condition was acceptable to . They wanted no
one but their representatives present at the interview, and they
insisted on meeting immediately, in a venue more to their liking -- in
their home town of Chicago...at O'Hare Airport.
We explained to the reporter that because print journalism is so
"scandal" oriented these days, we are a bit guarded in our
relationship with writers. We asked for the chance to correct factual
errors or unintentional mistakes in the article, while providing
assurance that we would not attempt to exercise editorial supervision
over the content.
Apparently this was no acceptable to since the
magazine went to press with its "expose" without further attempts to
interview me or verify any portion of its story with the ministry.
Neither did the magazine do an in-depth interview with the one
person -- my ex-wife Sue Warnke -- who could have confirmed my life
story. Sue lived and experienced about 60 percent of the account
included in my book, , and has her own independent
knowledge of my earlier involvement with satanism. In a newly-released
notarized statement [which i'll post later], she says she was
contacted by an employee of about a year and a half ago.
He told her they were doing research into Mike Warnke in an attempt to
disprove me and asked for her statement about , me
personally, and the Warnke Ministry.
Sue states: "I told him that was true, but other
than that I had no comment. I told him that he should contact Mike
personally."
Since Sue apparently did not provide the answers they wanted to
hear, the magazine looked elsewhere for its "facts." Much of the
information subsequently used seems to have been provided by Carolyn
Alberty, who was instrumental in the break-up of my marriage to Sue,
and who used her skill as a cold-hearted and calculated temptress to
involve me in an ill-fated second marriage. It was a bitter marriage,
a bitter separation, and a very bitter divorce. The experiences left
me emotionally shattered and destroyed any effectiveness I might have
had as a minister at that time. Only time and the healing power of God
could have restored me from this living death.
I believe Carolyn's continuing bitterness motivated her to make
deliberately hurtful and false statements to reporters and possibly to
persuade others to join in her campaign of vicious lies. I also
believe that honest, professional journalistic efforts would have
questioned the veracity of these unfound charges and statements.
For example, on of the article's co-authors, Jon Trott, is quoted
as saying that the "most convincing evidence" he has is a April 1966
photograph of me with my fiancee. In the photo I have short hair, at a
time when Trott says I claimed to be at my height in satanism. The
problem with this "evidence" is that it is totally untrue. The girl in
the picture was never my fiancee. While I may have dated her for a
short peroid of time, she was never a serious girlfriend, and we
certainly never were engaged. In fact, I have no recollection of the
time frame when I might have gone out with her -- certainly it was not
during the darkest days of my satanic involvement. I could have
cleared up this blatant error had I been given the courtesy of
responding to reporters before they printed their
article.
As to claims that former fellow students who knew me in high
school and college deny that I had any sort of satanic involvement, I
simply ask, "How would they know?" A veil of secrecy covers the
activities of most satanists even now -- and this was especially true
during my experiences during the 1960's. Although my penchant for
wearing black, wearing my hair longer, and my strung out, dissipated
appearance with an unhealthy pallor was apparent to close friends and
associates, casual acquaintances well might not have noticed.
On the other hand, David Balsiger has stated that during the
course of working with me on , he met perhaps a half
dozen individuals who did have personal knowledge of my stanic
activities. He also points out that the activities described in the
book which created such a sensation at the time it was published are
"kids play" compared to occult-satanic ritual activities taking place
today. Untold numbers of high schoolers, college students, and other
individuals are now routinely involved in many of the activites I
described -- but they are totally ignored by law enforcement unless a
criminal act can be proven to have taken place during the course of
the satanic activity.
In addition to the statements provided by Mr. Balsiger and Susan
Lee Warnke from which I have quoted, I also have important statements
from numerous other respected Christian leaders who know me, my story,
and my ministry. In the interest of accuracy and fairness, what they
have said deserves to be heard.
For example, Mr. Patrick Matrisciana, president of Jeremiah
Films, Inc., tells of working on a film in 1972 which featured Hal
Lindsey and contained interviews and rituals with prominent occultists
from the Berkeley/San Francisco area. He said that when Mike Warnke's
name was mentioned, on at least two occasions, satanists reacted with
verbal abuse, accusing me of being a traitor to the cause of Satan.
Matrisciana also tells of meeting the late Walter Martin, who
told him that a former satanist had identified the top three people on
the satanic hit list -- the targets of their magic spells and death
curses. Those three individuals were Mike Warnke, Walter Martin, and
Pat Matrisciana.
Best-selling authoress [sic] Johanna Michaelsen has attended at least
four of my concert appearances, and we have worked together on various
radio and television programs. She writes: "I am grieved and horrified
by this latest attack on Mike Warnke. I am not, however, surprised by
it. In the last several years we have witnessed a systematic,
concerted and well orgainized effory to utterly destroy and discredit
the reputation of ministries and individuals who courageously maintain
that there is indeed a problem with Satanism in America."
She goes on to say, "I know of no one who has had a more positive
impact in the lives of young people who have been caught up in
satanism and the occult than Mike Warnke. He has a profound love and
zeal for Jesus Christ, and inexhaustible desire to see young people
come to know Him, and a deep-seated loathing of hypocrisy in the
Church."
Mr. Roland Lundy, president of Word, Inc., has stated: In
response to recent allegations about the integrity of Mike Warnke's
Ministry, Word, Inc. met with Mike and conducted follow-up on the
areas in question. Information the company received reinforces our
confidence in his ministry. We are pleased to be associated with Mike
Warnke, recognizing the strength of his ministry, and that our
partnership with him has opened up new avenues of reaching people for
Christ."
Bob Larson of Bob Larson Ministries writes: "My knowledge of Mike
Warnke and the work of Warnke Ministries dates back approximately a
dozen years. In that time, I have found Mike to be a credible
spokesperson regarding the occult...one of the foremost leaders in
educating the public on satanism. Bob Larson Ministires has worked
with Warnke Ministries in outreach to victims of satanism. Mike and
his staff have spent numerous hours behind the scenes cooperating with
me and my staff to assure that victims received the support they
desperately needed. I am grateful for Mike's friendship and his
concern for those in bondage to the occult."
These and several other statements attesting to the truth and
integrity of my personal life and my ministry are available in their
entirety to anyone who wishes to examine them. I am also quite sure
this information would have been provided to any responsible
journalist who sought it at any time.
Recently, I celebrated 20 years of full time ministry. Reaching
this milestone is a testimony to the mercy and grace of God. Certainly
I have made many mistakes and have failed numerous times in my
personal life and ministry. Any good that comes from my efforts truly
is the product of the power of God and not the result of my efforts or
talent.
While I am the first to acknowledge my failures and shortcomings,
I can also say with absolute conviction that I have never willfully
lied to or deceived anybody, that my life and experiences and
Christian testimony are completely true as reported, and that my
ministry is operated totally open and honest before God.
I have sought the spiritual counsel of men of God like Pastor Jim
Kraft and Christian therapist John Joy of Lexington, KY. In addition
to them, I have made myself accountable in my professional life to
people like advisor-attorney Mike Conover, the Board of Directors of
Warnke Ministries, and to Roland Lundy, Lynn Keesecker, and Tom Ramsey
of Word, Inc., and to Lloyd Hildebrandt and Clift Richards of Victory
House publishers.
For the mistakes of the past, I have repented. For the mistakes
of the future, I look to the grace of God and the lessons I have
learned. I am not the person I was twenty-five, thirteen, or even two
years ago. I intend to go on serving God with all my heart and
strength and soul. I can say with the apostle Paul, Not that I have
already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I
press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brother, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is
ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has
called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).
Respectfully [sic],
Mike Warnke
