I live in California, but the Henry Wright who is teaching that 80% of
all
dieases are caused by the devil or spiritual roots and can be healed
by God.
My spouse and I go to 2 different church's. I a Methodist, Her , will
she likes to church hop now that she has received her healing from
this teaching in GA. We live in Southern California. And obvisouly are
on different spiritual plains now. For some reason his teaching does
not sit right with me in my mind, soul, or heart. I feel he is
overstepping the boundries of sound Christian Doctrine as found in the
Scriptures, KJV or otherwise. Why is that?
Am I missing something, or is Pleasant valley Church a cult?

Dear Saul,

First of all, my sympathies. Although I am fortunate enough to be
married to someone whose views on religion are very similar to mine, I
have known people who are in situations similar to yours, so I know
it's difficult and (to put it mildly) emotionally challenging.

I can't directly answer your question of whether the Pleasant Valley
Church is a cult, because "cult" is such a loaded term, and people use
the term in different ways.  In one sense, a "cult" is merely a
religion, and in other senses it is a tight-knit type of group that
would lead people to commit mass suicide.  You can find a good
discussion of how the word "cult" is used on this page:

Wikipedia: Cult
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Cult

If you're using "cult" as a group that is likely to lead a person to
commit mass suicide or do something equally strange, the answer
appears to be no.  I did several searches to find Pleasant Valley
Church and affiliated ministries on any list of dangerous
organizations, and I was unsuccessful.

On the other hand, if you're using "cult" to mean that the church is
ostensibly Christian but has teachings that are far outside the
Christian mainstream, I'd have to say yes. I personally wouldn't use
the term "cult,"  but it's safe to say that the group, while existing
within the framework of Christianity, has teachings that would not be
shared by most churches.  This is why I believe it "oversteps the
boundaries" of Christian doctrine for you.

Below I will list a number of the beliefs of the Pleasant Valley
Church and its Life Application Ministries as are indicated on their
Web site, showing how they differ with what would be taught in most
Christian churches in the United States.  (In fairness, many other
beliefs, including an emphasis on the Bible and personal salvation
through Christ, are shared with many other churches.)

REASON FOR DISEASE
LAM: "Every dis-ease, every problem begins with being separated from
God. Yes, that is the bottom line."
Most Christian churches: Most Christian churches that accept the
doctrine of original sin, and even many who don't, would agree that
disease exists in the world because of the Fall, so in a sense
diseases does exist because of sin.  But they would NOT agree that an
individual person's disease is due to the person being separated from
God. We can get diseased even if when we are in fellowship with God. 
Just as Jesus pointed out that the rain falls on both the just and the
unjust, so both the righteous and unrighteous get sick.

REASON FOR HEALING
LAM: "It isn't until we develop and understand the love of God in our
lives that real healing will begin."
Most Christian churches: People are sometimes healed even when they
don't believe in God.  (Seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?)

WHY WE ARE SICK
LAM: "The manifestations of our illnesses are a direct result of the
relationship we have with God our Father."
Most Christian churches: Most churches would teach that the reason we
are sick is because we have germs, or because a part of the body is
not functioning.  A person's relationship with God may affect how he
or she reacts to the disease, but the person can be sick even with a
good relationship with God.  And while most Christian churches believe
in prayer and the possibility of divine intervention in the healing
process, they would acknowledge that even many "bad" people aren't
sick, and that some people who sincerely pray and ask for healing
don't receive it.

NATURE OF FEAR
LAM: "Did you know that FEAR is a sin? Well, if you were anything like
I was, I didn’t know either. Not until I began gaining knowledge from
the pages of the Bible and through the inspired teaching of truth by
Pastor Wright. The Bible is a spiritual book and can only be
understood in the spirit that dwells within us. So when I finally
accepted the fact that fear was a sin, then and only then, was I able
to begin my freedom journey. The next insight taught me that fear is
an evil spirit."
Most Christian churches: Most churches would take the position that
fear itself is neither good nor bad, and very, very few would teach
that fear is an evil spirit.  Fear can be a healthy thing (and, in
fact, in the KJV we are told to "fear God"), or it can be extremely
unhealthy. But while many churches would say that some fear is a
consequence of sin, extremely few would say that fear is a sin itself
(although what we do as a result of fear might be sinful).

All these statements of the Pleasant Valley Church's belief are from
the following page:

Life Application Ministries: Introduction and Foundation
http://www.mindsync.com/lam/intro.htm

The bottom line: This church has teachings that are unlike those of
many Christian churches. And in my personal view (and I suspect
yours), these views can be dangerous, because they tell people, in
effect, that if you are sick it's because you're not doing what you
should spiritually.  This can lead to all sorts of guilt, despondency,
depression and a host of psychological problems. Can you imagine what
it would be like to be told time and time again that if you have fear
it's because you aren't good enough of a Christian?  Or if you're sick
it's because you let yourself become separated from God? At best, such
teachings must put a lot of pressure on people to deny their feelings
and even their illnesses.

In fact, in my opinion, such teachings could by symptomatic of a
pattern of spiritual abuse. I think you might find some of the
following links interesting.  Although the writers come from a variety
of theological perspectives (and my inclusion of them here doesn't
mean I'm endorsing all they contain), the writers agree on what some
of the danger signs are.

The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3658/subtle.html

On-Line Resources About Spiritual Abuse
http://home.hiwaay.net/~icappleg/

Spiritual Abuse
http://www.spiritualabuse.org/

Survivors of Spiritual Abuse
http://www.sosa.org/

Dysfunctional Churches
http://www.csj.org/rg/rgessays/rgessay_dysfunchurch.htm

Fifteen Characteristics of Dysfunctional Churches
http://ministryhealth.net/mh_articles/095_fifteen_char_dysfunctional_church.html

I don't know if your wife's church fits the above pattern, because I
wasn't able to find out that much about how the church operates.  But
its teachings certainly could lead to some of the characteristics
described in the above articles.

Google search terms used:
"pleasant valley church" "henry wright"
://www.google.com/search?hl=es&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=%22pleasant+valley+church%22+%22henry+wright%22
"spiritual abuse"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22spiritual+abuse%22
dysfunctional churches
://www.google.com/search?hl=es&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=dysfunctional+churches

I hope you have found this information useful.

My sincere best wishes,

mvguy

No new and revalatory information given. All info ,
I already know about it. Nothing new given.
No one seems to understand or really seem interested.
I want facts not opinions.

Hi, Saul.

I've been following your questions with interest throughout the day,
and I'm deeply sympathetic to your position.  Keeping a marriage
successful in the long term is a matter of consistent effort at the
best of times, and situations like this certainly do not help.

I'm not going to get into doctrinal whys and wherefores, here, but I
will offer up a few words.

God chose to arm us for this world with minds, rather than fangs or
claws or armour.  Modern medicine, while it undoubtedly has some
ethical issues to sort out, is one of the nobler results of our
tireless ingenuity.  Just as we've applied our minds to feeding,
clothing, and transporting ourselves more capably, so have we learned
to heal ourselves more capably.

There is little doubt in the medical community today that, while
diseases have definite organic causes, our state of mind contributes
to their success.  In other words, we sometimes open the door to our
own illness.  A med school prof would refer to this as "psychosomatic"
illness.  In many (but by no means all) cases, the mental disturbance
that creates this might fairly be described as the "consciousness of
sin", or to the secularly minded, "guilt".

However, when anyone in a position of spiritual authority teaches that
it is wrong to seek medical attention, and that diseases should be
treated *solely* at the spiritual level, that individual has exceeded
the bounds both of common sense and common doctrine.

If you will forgive me for saying so, Saul, I can't help feeling that
the whole issue of whether your wife's church is or is not orthodox is
secondary.  I'd be inclined to say that the real point at the heart of
your distress is the distance that has arisen between you and your
wife.  Frankly, marshalling a number of arguments this way may make
you feel better, but it is not likely to solve the deeper problem.

If your marriage has been, as you said, "torn to pieces", you will not
retrieve it by persuading your wife logically that Henry Wright's
doctrines are out of court.  You mention that she received healing
through this ministry.  Is that not going to be a more powerful
argument than the opinions of strangers, however well argued and
substantiated?  I'm not saying this to discourage you, by any means,
just to make you aware of the challenge you face.

Unfortunately, one of the most fundamental bedrock doctrines of
Christianity is that we are all flawed beings.  You may call this
"original sin", as a believer, or "human nature" as a non-believer,
but it's as empirically verifiable as anything I know.  And God works
His ends through us or in spite of us, whatever our flaws.  It may be
that Mr. Wright has a perfectly legitimate healing gift, but has
allowed it to colour his perceptions.  You've heard the expression
that, "to a small boy with a hammer, everything looks like it needs a
pounding"?  Similarly, to a man with a gift for spiritual healing,
everything may look like a spiritual problem.

So, what's really at work here?  You mention in your question that you
are a Methodist, and that your wife has been church-hopping there in
California.  Now, church-hopping can have roots in some odd places. 
Sometimes, people change churches frequently because they are aware of
something within themselves that they do not want others to see. 
Consequently, they move around often enough that no-one will get to
know them, no-one will see what they're "really like".  Sometimes,
people are going through some sort of spiritual crisis.  Because they
don't really know what's going on in within themselves, they bounce
from church to church in search of understanding and self-perception. 
Sometimes it's just from an indefinable emptiness, a sense that there
is something missing from one's spiritual life.

I am in no position to know whether any of these suggestions apply to
your wife.  She may just be looking for a place where she likes the
music, for that matter.  But I suspect she's looking for a
congregation that's got more of a charismatic flavour to it, more of a
"Holy Spirit" orientation.  Many people, particularly those of more
mainstream denominations, are put off by the boisterous worship style
of charismatic congregations.  If you've spent your life in a
denomination that stresses quiet reverence, it's a serious shock to
think of "doing church" that way.  There are precedents, though.  The
Methodist Church, in fact, began life in a very charismatic, almost
"Pentecostal" form.

The point is, there is likely a need in her that is not being met at
the moment.  One way or another, in my (admittedly layperson's)
experience, that's what church-hopping comes down to.  Whether the
disruption in your marriage you'd referred to is a cause or a result
of your spiritual differences is, again, secondary.

Saul, if you were not searching for a way to regain a working
relationship, you wouldn't have come to us today.  Unfortunately, we
are not trained counsellors.  At least, I don't think any of my
colleagues are, and I know for certain that I'm not.  The best
recommendation I can offer you is to seek counselling, ideally as a
couple.  If relations between you have deteriorated to the point that
your wife will not agree to this, go anyway, for your own benefit. 
Any major centre will have many Christian and non-Christian
counsellors with excellent track records.  Your own pastor should be
able to put you in touch with several.

Seeing a counsellor is like hiring a professional for any other job. 
It's a recognition that a given repair is beyond your personal
abilities.  I'm sure you have no problem with the idea of taking your
car to a mechanic when it's broken, and feel no shame in confessing
that you're out of your depth.  A working relationship between a
husband and wife is infinitely more complex than a car, and you should
feel no different about seeking a professional's help.

Like many of my colleagues, I'll be holding you up in prayer.

-Chromedome