They Will Not Prevail Against Thee

 

Jeremiah 1


17 “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.


18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, and against the people of the land.


19 And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee saith the Lord, to deliver thee.”

 

As Doyle continues to pray and overcome, the plan for his life and this nation is being illuminated by the gospel of the Lord Jesus. God continues to lead us to research the lives of those he ordained to found this nation in the early 1600’s by tracing Doyle’s ancestors. All who follow this ministry and read the postings can see that God’s plan has been unfolding for centuries; according to his word, it’s been unfolding since before the foundation of the earth.


Doyle’s ancestor, Samuel Gorton was one of the founders of the state of Rhode Island, but also the precepts he adhered to and fought for were instrumental in the foundation of government we know today. He wrote: “I left my native country to enjoy the liberty of conscience in respect to faith towards God, and no other end.” This liberty he spoke of was for all men, and he boldly spoke that civil government had no authority to dictate what men believe. "He yearned,” he writes, “for a country where he could be free to worship God according to what the Bible taught him, as God enabled him to understand it”


Gorton’s writings reveal that he believed men are ordained by God to minister the gospel, not by men. He was not educated at a university nor any school of theology and he wrote: “I was not bred up in the schools of human learning; and I bless God that I never was”. He and others gathered in what is now Rhode Island and practiced what has been described as the Six-Principles doctrine. These principles are found in Hebrews 6:1-2. The principles of the doctrine of Christ that they endeavored to keep over 300 years ago when God began to establish this nation are the same principles that Doyle has been teaching since his ministry began.


As I researched Samuel Gorton I was struck by the parallels between his life and Doyle’s. Gorton received tremendous persecution for the doctrine he ministered, for speaking against the injustices he witnessed, but mainly because he would not allow the religious people in the community to rule him. Records reveal that he endeavored to be a productive member of the communities where he lived. Even though he faithfully attended their Sabbath service, he also held bible studies in his home for his family, and others began to attend. Religious leaders were envious of his following and hated his boldness and through false witness, soon banished him from their settlement. He and others who held to the same doctrine, which included rejection of infant baptism, and who also resisted the civil government dictating what men believed, were pursued relentlessly. They were beaten, imprisoned and threatened with death; they were falsely accused and had their property and livestock confiscated illegally; depriving them of their means to support themselves and their families. Yet they could not be broken and that seemed to only further enrage those who despised them. Gorton and his colleagues were successful in securing all they petitioned for from the Commissioners of Plantations of England. He and his little group believed their cause was just, and rightly so. But the reason they could not fail, was because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had a plan, and it was for this nation to be established, that the gospel would be preached. I am reminded of what the Lord spoke to Doyle as he walked through Saks Fifth Avenue, thanking him for his ministry: “I made you for this job.” Doyle’s reply to God was, “Well if you made me for this job, then I can’t fail.”


The Father ministered the words in Jeremiah 1:17-19 to Doyle in the early 1970s and they have certainly come to pass in his life. God has been leading Doyle by his Spirit for forty years and every step has been met with resistance. As he struggled with his own unbelief, he encountered people on every side bent on convincing him the decisions he was making could not be God. God led Doyle through many “camps”; he experienced mainline denominations and many of the charismatic groups, including Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin. He actually heard Kenneth Hagin say, “We don’t do it quite like they did in the book of Acts.” Doyle knew that was deceit. All of them, without exception wanted to rule him. Derek Prince even said Doyle needed to be under authority. However, Doyle believed what God had spoken to him when he asked, “Lord who do I get with, who do I follow?” God took him to John 15:1-2:


“1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring for more fruit.”


God ministered to him, Jesus was the one who would teach him and he was his head. Doyle has said that in those beginning days, he was looking for someone with experience and until he met Lydia Prince, he couldn’t find anyone who actually had experience walking by faith and she recognized the same thing in him. I recall Doyle sharing that God told him, “there wasn’t anyone who could help him; he didn’t have anyone else to do this job.” Doyle’s reply to God was, “Well then, you’re out of material.”


At the direction of God he began a bible study in his home and 25 to 30 people attended every Thursday evening. The day came when men from a local church asked him if he was receiving money from those who attended. Doyle told them no, not a dime. Religious people resented that he was “just” a veterinarian and hadn’t been to seminary. They also were offended because he said he could hear God.


God sent Doyle to speak to the people of Plano in 1980 and people didn’t waste anytime trying to instruct him and they quickly discovered they couldn’t manipulate him. In 1984 his first wife yielded to an evil spirit and a false anointing spread through the church. Doyle just continued to believe and pray and as God gave him understanding he began to overcome. People are still being delivered from the effects of that spirit.


In August 1987, God gave Doyle a second wife, and they walked together for seventeen years, but in 2000 Doyle said to her one day, “Lisa, your love for me has waxed cold.” In December of 2003 Doyle spoke that the powers of darkness would hit Water of Life. He has shared with the world how in 2004 Lisa became lifted up in pride, the devil took her over and she came against him. September 9, 2004 God sent Doyle to cast the devil out of her. She called 9-1-1 and the Plano police came and eventually arrested him under false pretenses. The police report on file states that he was arrested for public intoxication, saying that he was incoherent. He had answered all their questions clearly which are listed on the police report, which proved he was not incoherent, and he wasn’t in public, he was in a home. He had admitted that he had had a glass of wine. The officers took him outside, put a green light in his eyes (with no instruction of what he should do), no other tests were performed, then stated they performed a sobriety test and then arrested him.


Doyle experienced Psalm 55:12-14:


“12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:


13 But it was thou, a man, my equal, my guide, my acquaintance.


14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in company.”


Two months later, Dena Schlosser, a woman who attended Water of Life Church periodically, cut her 10 month old daughters’ arms off with a butcher knife and the baby died. The media descended on Doyle and Water of Life Church. Doyle and some of his congregants were interviewed and he allowed reporters to bring their cameras into services. Dallas Observer writer Glenna Whitley traveled to Sarcoxie to interview neighbors, family members and acquaintances of Doyle and wrote an extensive article. Lisa Falkenberg of the Associated Press also had articles published. Amy Morenz, staff writer for the Plano Star did interviews and reported regularly on the case as it went to trial and through out the trial. The case made national and world news. A person of Water of Life googled Doyle’s name and in one day counted 285 articles pertaining to Doyle and the case.


Doyle was maligned, ridiculed and accused of being responsible for the death of the child. The newspaper articles quoted psychiatrists and family members of Dena Schlosser accusing Doyle of counseling her to not take her medication, and kept her from adequate medical treatment. Anyone who is honest and has listened to this ministry for any length of time knows that is simply not true. Doyle has never told anyone not to seek medical treatment or stop taking their medication, in fact quite the opposite. He has instructed the body of Christ to continue with medical treatment until the physician tells the patient the medication or treatment is no longer necessary.


Samuel Gorton also had lies published about him and he wrote a letter of rebuttal to Nathaniel Morton concerning his book, New England’s Memorial. In his letter he talks of Morton directing his readers to a book written by Edward Winslow and the following is an excerpt from that letter:


“…I saw it in London, but read but little of it; and when I came over to these parts my ancient friend, Mr. Brown, you know, was a man approved among you and elsewhere, (for aught I know or ever heard) wherever he came; an Assistant in your government, a Commissioner for the United Colonies, etc., who thus spoke to me in our discourse. I will not pervert nor alter a word of the will or words of the dead. I say he affirmed this unto me, that he would maintain that there were forty lies printed in that book; and I doubt not but Mr. Brown’s word and judgment in his time would have been acceptable and taken by any of you as authority regarding the book. Therefore add thy writing unto it if any spark of humanity be left, to inform your readers of the truth of things; or else take it to yourself that you are he who goes about to seduce and corrupt the minds of men with falsities. Warwick, June 30th, 1669. Samuel Gorton.” (Click here to read the complete letter.)


Doyle was subpoenaed to testify at the trial and the persecuting attorneys used all their “skills” to try to embarrass him and provoke him into an outburst. They showed pictures of his house and read his e-mails to Lisa as exhibits entered in as evidence, none of it relevant to the case. Their expert witnesses (psychiatrists) all but accused him of preventing Schlosser from taking her mediations and some who were interviewed by the media actually said just that. The court recorder and some jurists actually laughed aloud at his scriptural reference to I Corinthians 11:3, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” and the court recorder had to ask him to repeat them because she was laughing instead of recording. The judge allowed the questioning and never reprimanded anyone for disrupting the trial. But I would venture that none of them had ever dealt with a man of God, certainly not in a court room and Luke 21:12-15 was obviously evident:


“12 …being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.


13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.


14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:


15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”


Witnesses who were at the trial said, “The Spirit of God ruled in that courtroom.” Amy Morenz wrote of the trial, “Davidson, 73, was a dominating presence in the courtroom, with his gravely voice and scripture references.”


It was the intent of the news media and the prosecutors in that trial to discredit Doyle and ultimately destroy him and his ministry but his enemies have not prevailed. God has caused his servant to stand, “as a defenced city, and an iron pillar and brasen walls,” and his word warns us to not come against his anointed.


Psalm 105:16
“…Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.”

Sources: The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton by Adelos Gorton 1908

Contributed by Kathryn Currier

posted December 8, 2009

 

 

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