Present Truth Ministries
Present Truth Ministries ("PTM") is a group that advertises itself "as non-denominational ministry dedicated to bringing the gospel to Muslims and supporting the persecuted church in the Middle East. PTM was founded in order to spread the message throughout the world."
But are they who they say they are?
Who are the personalities?
Jason Demars is a pastor of a Branhamite church near Minneapolis, MN (Grace Ministries Hopkins, MN)
What they really believe
When PTM uses the words "the message", these are really code words for "the message of William Branham" (see our article on the subject by clicking here). As such, PTM and Jason DeMars believe a number of unusual doctrines, including:
- Modalism
- Christians that believe the doctrine of the Trinity are lost
- The Serpent had sex with Eve
- Women were designed by Satan
- People in demoninations are "foolish virgins"
- Jesus Christ is Michael the Archangel
- William Branham was the fulfillment of:
In reality, they hold the message of William Branham above the Bible. This can be clearly seen from an affiliated website that they operate called "contendingforthemessage.com".
By referencing various comments from the "Contending for the Message" website (CTFM) it is apparent that they believe William Branham to be a prophet that must be listened to if one is to understand the Bible:
- Our intention is to respond to the critics who are stating the message contradicts itself or that brother William Branham was an outright liar. We will show step by step that his prophecies are accurate and that he is not a liar, but instead a man of God that should be listened to and we should take his words back to the Bible to ensure proper understanding.
By this they mean that in order to truly understand the Bible, you must believe the teachings of William Branham. They also believe in the doctrine of the Serpent's Seed:
- The Serpent, under the influence of Satan, deceived Eve into a sexual act resulting in the conception of Cain and later that day she had a relationship with Adam resulting in the conception of Abel. (from Contendingforthemessage.com)
This is also clear from the testimony of Jason DeMars on the the propheticrevelation.net website:
- The teaching on Revelation 10:7 really blessed my soul, that the mystery of God is the dispensation of grace wherein God is dealing with the Gentiles, grafting them into the olive tree. That in the days of the voice or message of bro. Branham the mystery of God should be completed...
- What was written on the Serpent’s Seed and the Original Sin really answered some questions for me too. (Jason DeMars, Mn., USA)
Churches that do not follow William Branham are not true churches
In a Facebook post in the "Message Believers" group on August 20, 2014, Jason Demars stated the following:
- Matthew 28:19 says we should go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Bro. Branham emphasized that we should continue to do this and this was the main purpose for the church. What about here in North America? Are we still busy doing outreach and planting churches in cities that have never heard the truth? For example, in Oregon there are 2 churches, in Minnesota there are 3, all in the Twin Cities. In North Dakota and South Dakota I know of only one church. Why shouldn't we, under the leadership of the Spirit, go to other towns and cities and plant churches here?
- Let's put our money and our time towards things eternal. Get your guitars out, head to the streets and get on your soap boxes, preach this word in another city and get a little building and reach out to the community with the living Word!
- This is the desire in my heart, even as we do missions in the Middle East, while I am home I desire to put my hand to the plow and do the same work here that we are doing in Turkey. Pray for me and I pray God raises up laborers for the harvest.
This post clearly demonstrates their belief that churches that do not follow William Branham are not true followers of Christ.
In reality, even if you exclude lukewarm or cold liberal churches, there are hundreds of churches that are preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But this is a prime example of them dismissing the Gospel of Christ if preached by anyone outside of the message. While they state that they want to work with other churches, any gesture of goodwill towards other denominations are literally just empty words and insulting flattery. In truth - they do not recognize any denomination or non-denominational church as bringing the gospel of salvation. Clearly, "salvation = the message". Otherwise, they would not use this kind of rhetoric.
Who are the people behind Present Truth Ministries?
Both the Present Truth Ministries and the Contending For the Message websites are run by Jason DeMars and Benjamin Wheeldon.
What they say they believe
PTM is not forthright about their own beliefs. They attempt to come across as an innocuous non-denomination ministry that is only interested in spreading the Gospel and in freeing Christian ministers that have been imprisoned for the faith in Muslim countries.
So we agree with PTM in their efforts to free anyone who has been imprisoned for their faith. We earnestly hope they succeed.
We also earnestly hope that those behind Present Truth Ministries will find their own freedom from the non-Biblical message of a false prophet, William Branham.