Since Eric vonAnderseck invited everyone to visit his site and to listen to his "Testimony of an Apostle" series, I was led to do so. Before I begin, I'd like to make it clear that everything which I share is taken in context and invite you to listen to the teachings, with discernment, to see if those things which I say are true.

-For the first 1:13 of the video presentation, the viewer is shown various pictures of Eric vonAnderseck.

-The first red flag which was raised was at :55 where a picture of Eric is shown with the phrases "New Stewardship", "New Priesthood", and "New Knowledge" scrolling on the screen respectively. This raised a red flag for a couple of reasons. First of all, Eric is clearly trying to set himself up in a position of credibility through a constant bombardment of images depicting himself. In conjunction with the various phrases shown throughout the first 1:13, it is clear case of using subliminal suggestion in order to make the subject more passive and easily acceptive of the material to be presented. Furthermore, the claims of a "New Stewardship", "New Priesthood", and "New Knowledge" only add to the appearance of cultlike mannerisms and should be problematic for any believer. Most especially the claim of "New Knowledge", which opens the doors for all kinds of extra-scriptural ideas. Not to mention the very close resemblance to forms of Gnosticism which claimed that their leadership held secrets which were only available through themselves. Very dangerous foundations which he starts off on.

-It is a woman's voice who we are first spoken to by. It is Eric's wife, Maria vonAnderseck.

-Maria vonAnderseck at 1:16- "The purpose of this presentation is to formally introduce chief apostle dr. Eric vonAnderseck and to give God praise for the testimony of his calling. I would like to share with you all that God has restored to the church through apostle Eric and explain how you can be a part of God's endtime work." Notice that from the beginning all attention is pointed towards Eric. Also a claim is made that Eric has been used to restore things to the church. But has he really?

-Maria vonAnderseck at 2:19- "We need to give God praise for choosing and calling a leader and preparing him and sending him into the church for healing and restoration." This poses a very important and applicable question. Is Eric making the claim that he is in fact the end times 'Elijah' without actually speaking plainly?

-Maria vonAnderseck at 2:31- "We'll talk about the restoration of truth by an apostle, and look at all God has restored to the church through apostle Eric." Again, another claim that God has restored something to the church, though it's ambiguous at best precisely what that may be. Also note just how much attention Eric is seeking for himself, personally.

-Eric vonAnderseck at 8:32- "So, being citizens of heaven our communication and fellowship is with the angels which has to do with ministering spirits because we're tethered to the throne and we're being tutored by angels. These ministering spirits are giving us the mind of Christ." I'd like to note that this portion of the video is actually taken from a previous audio recording by Eric. What he has done is lift a portion of one teaching, and use it to bolster this video, though the obvious subject of the audio teaching he used is totally unrelated to the subject of apostles. As far as this quote goes I have to say bluntly, that Eric has lost his mind. For one thing, to seek after communication with angels is problematic and very dangerous. Secondly, Scripture is clear where the Lord, Himself, claims that He sent the Holy Spirit to be our teacher (John 14, 15, 16). Also that Torah was a schoolmaster/tutor to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24-25) Finally, where does Eric get that it's angels who give us the mind of Christ?

-Maria goes on to attempt to justify the use of titles. Since I've already addressed that issue in threads with Eric, suffice it to say that she's demonstrating both hers and her husbands lack of understanding and knowledge of God's heart, mind, and word. See Job 32:21-22 and Matt. 23:2-10.

-Maria vonAnderseck at 10:20 Maria uses Phil. 1:7 "You are all partakers of my grace" as a prooftext to back up a previous idea. But upon actually looking at the verse, not to mention the surrounding ones, it becomes clear that they have taken a fraction of a sentence, lifted, and changed its appearance to appear righteous. But this tactic is deceptive and obviously done on purpose. How many different doctrines can a person come up with by lifting a sentence here and a sentence there, let alone going even farther in only taking parts of sentences?

-Eric vonAnderseck at 13:16 acknowledges that Paul didn't put himself into a position of rank, but of responsibility. But this is problematic as well because it casts a light of hypocrisy upon Eric and his ways. Most especially with his love and use of the title "Chief Apostle Dr......"

-At 14:22 Eric makes a statement regarding his proposition that Paul was speaking to people under his 'apostolic governance' and that those not under his apostolic governance wouldn't/couldn't understand them correctly. What he has doen is to use this idea to set the groundwork which leads to him being able to say that unless one is under Eric'c apostolic governance, one can't understand the truth. Again, an example of cult methodology.

-Maria vonAnderseck at 15:33- "Now that we understand God's purpose for apostles as the stewards of His grace to give the revelation knowledge of the mystery of Christ, it's time to turn our attention to apostle Eric's spiritual vitae and understand why he is accepted as the chief apostle, the man God has called and prepared to transition the church into the second covenant, and to restore the church to her former glory." Not only is Eric, seemingly, claiming to be the 'Elijah' from Malachi, but he's even went so far as to depose the Lord from His position of being chief apostle! Now, it may be said by him that that's not what he meant by what he said. But in actuallity it doesn't really matter because what he's done is demonstrate a lack of fear of the Lord. No person who really knew the Lord would ever use such words so irresponsibly and as callously as Eric does.

-Maria vonAnderseck at 16:00- "It's also time to put to rest the fallacy of open stewardship. That form of thinking whereby ministers fit themselves inot a position of authority by volunteering their studies and expereinces as self-authentication of apostleship to assume leadership of the church." This is simply another instance of hypocrisy in that this is exactly what Eric has done through a vast majority of his posts on the Charisma discussion forum. Add to that the refusal to answer any questions about the signs of an apostle, which the Scripture makes very clear (2 Cor 12:12), in addition to having actually seen the resurrected Lord.

-Maria vonAnderseck at 17:20- "True stewards give the knowledge of the covenant. When you acknowledge the steward you acknowledge the headship of Christ who gave the steward as a gift to the church." Again, what Eric is doing is building upon the suggestion that in order to acknowledge the headship of Christ, one must acknowledge the postion of a person, namely Eric.

-Maria vonAnderseck at 17:29- "I invite you to listen to part 2 of apostle Eric's testimony and find out why God has called one man, one leader, to reform the church and has given to him the key of David to take the church in the direction of revival, restoration, and renewal." Again, a claim has been made as to Eric's position, but throughout this 18:33 length video, absolutely nothing was given as a token demonstrating the validity of Eric's claims. There were a lot of words, but nothing presented to back up his claims. The teachings and knowledge which he touted concerning apostles was very superficial and totally lacking. In fact, he spoke very little and gave very little information at all concerning the calling of an apostle. This whole video's purpose was to be a promotional piece for himself.

From my assessment of the first part in this series, it's clear that Eric is putting on a show. Eric hasn't answered any questions and instead has caused more questions to be raised concerning his credibility and even his salvation. This man has demonstrated by his posts on Charisma's discussion forums and from his various websites, that he is building an organization which many would call a cult. He employs deception and rhetoric in order to cast a web of confusion which he uses to add numbers to his ranks. Hopefully, Eric will clear up some of the questions and concerns in the rest of his series, which I will be breaking down in another post.

Note: I didn't bother making an issue out of Eric use of the book of Enoch as authoritative because many have already done so. But he has fallen victim to and promotes this error, as well.

All 4 videos in the series can be found at http://s8wstudentresources.com/?q=node/2269