Chapter 16: Myth—God Owns Solid Rock

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Myth—God Owns Solid Rock

At first I thought maybe she was one of those people who Matthews

said, “Had problems with spiritual authority.” However, Jackie was always insightful into the character of people. She could sense who was a rotten apple and who was a good person. I admit that I could get taken advantage of before I would know half of what she instantly knew in terms of character

issues. In the end, her assessment of William Neal Matthews was right. And, I did get duped like many others in the congregation whose tendency like mine is to simply trust and operate in faith. Matthews knew that in this house of God, most people were like me and would give him the benefit of

the doubt even as he secretly stabbed us in the back, one by one. I need 3-4 years before I can really get to know someone. If there is deception, I need a clue that triggers a concern so I can reflect on my experience. Otherwise there has to be something obvious thrown in front of my face. I do not have the character perceptions of my beloved wife Jackie. I miss her inputs.

Time traveled fast and before long we were into mid 1995. Other Assembly of God churches were criticizing Matthews’ ministry as out of step with Assembly teachings. Actually, the church had evolved away from

being an Assembly church and into being a Word of Faith church and this was by design. It was Matthews’ setup phase of the swindle and it had been successfully executed. Matthews had orchestrated other Article changes after the name change. One of the changes deleted the Assembly of God

denomination out of the Articles. They had a provision to settle property disputes should a division of the church occur. I remember how Matthews phrased that change request. He told us that the District Office was getting ready to take the church away from us and that we needed to make the

change to save the ministry. Really? I doubt it.

As a result of deleting them out of the Articles, the Minnesota District Assembly of God initiated a lawsuit against Solid Rock Church and its board

of directors. Eventually, the District Office settled the lawsuit behind the scenes and sold out the congregation of the church for four plots of land worth at least $90,000. Many of the members wanted to remain within the Assembly. In the Assembly lawsuit, they identified the right Article changes

as being a cause of legal action. However, they did not know that Matthews had falsified the Articles and that members did not vote in those changes.