Melbourne megachurch figure exposed over ‘prophetic insights’ from Facebook

US-based church watcher Mike Winger says he has caught a Melbourne-based ‘prophet’ using Facebook profiles to bring “words of knowledge” and “prophecies” to individuals in his congregations.

The so-called prophet, Gary Morgan, is under discipline within his own church organisation while independent investigators from an organisation called GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) conduct an independent investigation.

At the start of our featured video Winger is shown in an online group call with Morgan and his close associates in April this year where Winger calls out Morgan to his face as a liar and fraud.

He reminds Morgan that he was caught out making a false prophecy 10 years ago but various leaders around him covered it up.

Winger says the technique used by Morgan and others is quite simple. People attending “prophetic conferences” can be identified by registration data and Facebook posts announcing the meeting. “Targets” will be those who leave enthusiastic comments and whose profiles can also be found on Facebook.

A couple from Glory City Church in Brisbane who suspected foul play caught Morgan out by posting a fake profile comment on the church’s Facebook announcement of Morgan’s forthcoming visit. Morgan raised the name and birthdate of the fake profile at the following meeting.

When alerted to this by the couple, the leaders, pastors Tom and Katherine Ruonala approached Morgan, who flatly denied any wrongdoing. They believed him, but eventually had to accept the complaint had substance.

A number of prominent prophetic ministries in the US have been exposed for fraud including Shaun Bolz, Chris Reed, Mike Bickel, Paul Cain and Todd White, who have been caught out on a number of issues including serious sexual misconduct as in the case of Bickel and Reed.

The Pentecostal or charismatic stream of Christendom, where most of this abuse takes place, teaches that the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” as detailed by St Paul in the epistle to the Corinthians can continue to operate in the present day i.e. they are continuationists.

Cessationists on the other hand, teach that those gifts were for the First Century church only. Prominent cessationists in history include John Calvin, the Protestant Reformer who argued that the miraculous gifts were temporary credentials designed solely to introduce and confirm the gospel during the early church.

Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan theologian and leader of the Great Awakening in the American colonies, argued that extraordinary gifts were meant to fail and cease once the canon of Scripture was completed.

However, continuationists point back to the early church fathers such as Justin Martyr, who, in his Dialogue with Trypho, explicitly wrote “For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time” while Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp (who was a student of the Apostle John), wrote in Against Heresies, that a vast array of spiritual gifts were still widespread.

Theological arguments aside, online religious commentators like Winger and Julie Roys, have revealed a disturbing number of Pentecostal “prophetic ministers” who have been abusing their office and committing fraud.

What Winger also finds disturbing is what he calls “the cover-up culture” in the leadership around these rogue ministries. He also did not see the need for an independent investigation into the allegations against Morgan.

Further, those who have made the allegations against Morgan are expected to help bear the cost of the investigation.

The GRACE organisation assists Christian ministries to respond to allegations of abuse and misconduct by conducting impartial investigations and assessing organisational responses.

GRACE is assessing Morgan’s two ministry organisations, Key 22 Ltd, which is a registered charity that handles his ministry’s finances, and his School of Prophets, which operates under the Key 22 Ltd corporate umbrella.

School of Prophets has been Morgan’s primary platform, teaching prophetic courses through multiple regional hubs and digital classrooms.

GRACE is currently investigating allegations of deceptive ministry practices and the abuse of spiritual trust and authority by Morgan, with an emphasis on public claims detailed in a recent online broadcast by Winger.

When the investigation is complete, GRACE’s report will be made public, but while investigations are underway, Morgan and his associates will not be making further public comment.