It is necessary to write about the apostle Eric vonAnderseck because he is a self-proclaimed apostle of God who says he is commissioned by God to reveal the “true and restored” gospel to the North American continent.  Since one of the purposes of CARM is to expose false teachers, and to document what it is they teach and compare it to scripture, it is necessary that I write about yet another false teacher surfacing on the web.

I first encountered the teachings of Eric VonAnderseck on an Internet chat program called Paltalk. Warning flags went up immediately as I listened to the teachings about special knowledge, about “the apostle Eric” being the apostle to the North American continent, about a preexistence, and about how all other churches are false — except his.

This kind of message about him being sent by God to “restore the truth” is typical among cult groups. You see, in order for their teaching to flourish, they must first claim that the “true” teachings of the Christian Church have been lost and that “they” are the ones who are sent to reveal what God “really” wants Christians to know in these last days. This is no different from the apostle Eric vonAnderseck who claims to not only have had many visitations from angels, but also to be the one who is restoring the truth to the North American Continent.  He claims to have been the 7th person who was standing in a line of spirits in the preexistence as they were being prepared to go to earth.  He claims that he heard a voice asking “Who will go for Me?” He volunteered to go and an angel then took him to the front of the line and it was proclaimed that he would be used in the last days to reveal the truth.

Of course, his claims violate the biblical teaching against a pre-existence (1 Cor. 15:46) and it falsely assumes that apostasy has occurred (2 Thess. 2) — which hasn’t happened yet.  We know that the apostasy spoken about in 2 Thessalonians is related to the arrival of the antichrist and he has not yet arrived.

Since VonAnderseck has produced a lot of information and since organizations are now finally beginning to expose him, he has reconstructed his websites and posted a very strict copyright policy in an attempt to prevent any quotations of his material from being used in any manner.  He is also trying to prevent any critics of his writings from retaining any copies of his material for research purposes.  The penalty of law is also mentioned.  Is this the methodology of someone with the truth?  Or is it the methodology of someone with something to hide and who wants to be in as much control as possible?

Basically, the apostle Eric vonAnderseck is trying to prevent even the “fair use” of material by which he might be examined.  Of course, copyright laws are Federal level laws and it is very costly to initiate a Federal lawsuit which, in the case of fair use laws and quotes and commentary, wouldn’t even make it to Federal Court.  It seems that the apostle Eric vonAnderseck just doesn’t want his information challenged in any way.  He wants to be able to teach whatever he wants without anyone criticizing him or comparing his teachings to the Bible.  What is he afraid of?   This reminds me of the various mind control techniques used in some cult groups where the leadership attempts to retain strict control over what is said and done and often tell their members that if they leave their group, they are in danger of damnation.  After having spoken to several former members of his group, I know that this is what is happening there.

In addition, the apostle Eric vonAnderseck is attempting to begin teaching on the Internet under extremely controlled conditions. If you are to go to Live Q&A with Apostle Eric, you would see the restrictive rules he has laid out.  He apparently wants to control very precisely any of his so-called teaching sessions.  He will not allow any debate or discussion about what he teaches. This is a sign that he is afraid of open discussion and afraid to be challenged. This way, he can attempt to minimalize the damage that might be done by people asking intelligent and biblical questions as they compare his teachings to God’s word.