Michael Woroniecki
Michael Peter Woroniecki, (alias Michael Warnecki, Warneki, Worneki, Mike War and Shabar Ben),[1] born February 4, 1954, is a self-ordained, itinerant, fundamentalist[2], "fire and brimstone"[3], preacher who is notorious for his "belligerent evangelical style"[4][5], and his negative ministerial influence on Andrea Yates,[6][7][8] the Texas woman who drowned her five children in 2001.
His character and teachings have been criticized as cultlike and dangerous by some cult experts and ex-followers.[9][10][11]
Religious testimony
Woroniecki was the youngest of a large Polish Catholic family who was raised in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His mother became involved in the Catholic Charismatic Movement in the early 1970s and was earnestly seeking to introduce her remaining children to the born again experience. In 1971, seeking a way out of Grand Rapids, he "made a deal with God" that he would attend spiritual prayer meetings with his mother if he could make All-City Tailback and thus receive a scholarship for college. He got the title and the scholarship.
Woroniecki attended Central Michigan University (CMU) where he studied psychology and played varsity football from 1972 to 1976. However, after arriving there, Woroniecki explains in his Christian testimony, that he forgot his deal with God and had a "wild streak," involving himself in sex, drugs, and alcohol. He reminisces that he was known to his teammates as "Crazy War", who often looked to him "for stimulation of insanity." He continues on to say he was arrested the summer of his freshman year for assaulting someone in a nearby college bar, just to prove to his peers how tough a football player he was.[12] Woroniecki adds elsewhere that he knocked down a cinderblock wall of his dorm room to expand his living space. Another time, he continues, he says that he stole a pizza delivery vehicle and left it empty behind the bar where some of his teammates helped him eat the contents.[13]
During spring football practice in 1974, Woroniecki suffered a disabling football injury that threatened to destroy his athletic aspirations. About the same time, Woroniecki's mother gave him a Bible, which he began to read. Woroniecki says God used this time of suffering and depression to break him of his pride, preparing him to receive the Gospel. Two months later, he would begin to identify himself as a born again Christian.[14]
Woroniecki attended the annual Catholic Charismatic Conference at University of Notre Dame the weekend of June 14, 1974 with his mother, Rose, and sister, Mariane. He was in the stadium when he says he told God that he didn't know what this saying "born again" meant, but that he wanted everything the Lord had for him. At that moment, Michael believes that he was "filled with the Spirit" and was "born again." [15]
Woroniecki returned to college football practice in July that same summer. One day after practice, while in a bar with his teammates, Woroniecki says he ordered water in the place of his usual beer. His friends becoming curious, Woroniecki explained that he had become a born again Christian. Used to his outrageous life-of-the-party humor, they all mistakenly thought he was joking.
Woroniecki, accustomed to being the center of attention, became the unwitting focus of ridicule and rejection by his teammates. Woroniecki says it was the beginning of many days of him walking off the playing field, his face in his hands. He says he could not understand why people like Roger Staubach, a famous Christian athlete, were respected, yet he was rejected, until, he says, God showed him John 12:24 and 25. Woroniecki explains that it was then that he realized he was called to be a "rejected football player" because of Jesus. He reasoned that if the world hated Jesus without cause; they would also hate and reject him if he followed Him.
That very same year, Woroniecki and his teammates went on to win the Division II National Championship in the Middle Atlantic Conference for the first and only time of CMU's history.
In his remaining years at CMU, Woroniecki met his then cheerleader girlfriend, Leslie Jean Ochalek of Detroit (renamed "Rachel Rebekah" in 1992), who would later become his wife on August 7, 1979.
Woroniecki eventually became the president of his Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. According to his own recorded testimony, he was attending an FCA retreat when he began to call all of his Christian peers "phonies." Distraught with his inability to control himself, he sought the counsel of his then FCA director-minister Dave Van Dam, who suggested to him that maybe he was called to be a "Jeremiah" (the office of a prophet who preached destruction).[16] At some point, Mr. Woroniecki confesses that because of his persistent preaching of "truth", he was eventually asked to leave his CMU FCA chapter.[17]
Woroniecki graduated from CMU with a B.S. in Psychology in 1976, and attended several Christian seminaries in the years that followed, culminating in a Masters of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in the spring of 1980.
Religious training
Woroniecki was raised by very devout Christian parents, Charles and Rose Woroniecki, who were members of the Basilica of Saint Adalbert, a Roman Catholic church in the Polish westside of Grand Rapids. Michael Woroniecki attended a Catholic grade school adjoining his family's parish, and eventually advanced to West Catholic High School, another parochial school in Grand Rapids. During Woroniecki's freshman year of high school, he concluded that the Roman Catholic Church was false,[18] but his parents apparently required his continuing attendance in a parochial school setting.
In 1971, Woroniecki says he once again reluctantly began attending religious services through Catholic Charismatic prayer meetings and conferences as a result of the urging of his sister and mother.[19] While home from seminary some years later, Woroniecki would frequent the now disbanded Maranatha church in Grand Rapids, a non-denominational charismatic church founded by Calvin Bergsman Sr. [20]
After graduating from CMU, Woroniecki attended Melodyland School of Theology at Anaheim, California starting in 1976. His mother died in July 1977 from colon cancer. He says in his tape ministry that he made an attempt before many people to raise her from the dead, but he failed in tears and embarrassment. There is an insinuation from his own teaching materials that suggests the church cited his failure to heal and raise her was due to a lack of faith on his part, a teaching that Woroniecki now says he abhors.[21] He applied to the Dominican and Franciscan Orders of the Catholic Church, thereafter. In his final round of interviews with the Dominican seminary near Chicago, Illinois, a priest seated on the board of review felt that Woroniecki would cause chaos in the priesthood, and he was refused admission. Woroniecki denounced the board, denigrating the entire Catholic priesthood as being false, but he turned quickly to apply to the Franciscan seminary in his own hometown of Grand Rapids.[22] After a semester of preparatory study at Aquinas College, he was rejected from the Catholic priesthood a second and final time. He "scared them", Woroniecki told author Suzanne O'Malley.[23]
In 1978, Woroniecki was accepted at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. In 1980, he met a lone, radical street preacher carrying a sign,[24] possibly Robert Engel, (A.K.A. Bobby Bible and Bobby Biblestein) or one of his disciples from the now disbanded Christian Brothers Church, formerly based out of Long Beach, California. (Some former disciples of Engel run a website at www.preachtruth.org which Engel confirms is a faithful reproduction of his doctrines.) He criticized the students and faculty of Fuller Seminary for their "comfortable indoor Christianity." He also carried a message that women are "witches" whose usurping nature of Eve was responsible for the fall of mankind, a teaching Woroniecki apparently gleaned from him.[25][26] Woroniecki assumed this same outdoor style, standing outside chapel criticizing his peers for what he perceived was their hypocritical confidence in their scholastic religious pride. [27] He was again seen preaching several times in the open plaza of Fuller Mall.[28] Woroniecki obtained his Master of Divinity degree in 1980, but he was rejected for every religious position for which he applied. "Too zealous" was the complaint common to every rejection. [29]
Preaching career
Woroniecki returned to Grand Rapids after graduating from Fuller Seminary in the summer of 1980 where he preached on the streets with a sign and a bull horn, starting his own unordained ministry called Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. He was arrested nine times in the space of 16 months for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. Faced with two upcoming trials in the first week of October, 1981, one of which involved a woman he allegedly followed for two city blocks, berating to tears,[30] Woroniecki phoned the City Attorney's office with a plea offer. He would leave town if the remaining six charges against him would be dropped. The City Attorney submitted his request to the District Court and the plea offer was accepted.[31] He left for the city of Atlanta, Georgia where high volume street preaching was permitted with the provision a bullhorn is not used.[32] Woroniecki insinuated in the Grand Rapids Press that he was coerced into leaving,[33] but 23 years later, when being interviewed by author Suzanne O'Malley, he would contradict himself saying that he was the one who suggested the deal.[34] Woroniecki returned to Grand Rapids in June of 1983 to once again preach there in violation of his agreement with the City Attorney. He was arrested a tenth and final time. Woroniecki pleaded no contest, paid a $105 fine and has not returned to preach there since.[35]
Since leaving Grand Rapids, Woroniecki has preached his gospel of "hellfire and damnation" throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states, Hawaii, Latin America, and Europe.
In the spring of 1992, as he was preparing to leave to preach in Europe for the first time, Woroniecki told his followers that because there are no prophets in America or any students on the campuses of America responding fruitfully to his message, that his leaving America for Europe might invoke a terrible nationwide judgment from God that he described as "scary." [36]
In the summer of 1992, he preached inside Apostle Paul's memorial chamber of the Vatican, inciting the sensitivities of Catholics there by calling Paul "the scum of the earth."[37] Once removed by security, Woroniecki entered the Vatican square to preach with a cross, and was again removed.[38] He contemplated returning the next day to preach for the third time.[39]
Woroniecki was arrested at Brigham Young University in 1994 for disturbing the peace and preaching without a permit, reportedly calling students there "Mormon scumbags" and "contemporary witches." [40]
In June, 1995, as reported in the European edition of USA Today and read to his followers on video,[41] he and his family preached at Casablanca, Morocco and incited a riot of angry Muslims which resulted in the family's arrest. They were interrogated for eight hours by state officials, then ordered to leave the country because proselytizing Muslims is considered a crime there.[42] He went to Spain thereafter, where another confrontation with police resulted in Mr. Woroniecki physically wrestling with the officers and pushing one of them. [43]
During the week of Mar. 14, 2008, Woroniecki preached for his first time in Hawaii on Waikiki Beach and the campus of UH Manoa in Honolulu, leaving only Alaska to complete a 50 state tour of the U.S.[44]
Woroniecki has trained his six children to carry on in his tradition of confrontational preaching. They are often documented in news coverage preaching alongside their father. Often the children preach on their own, pairing up with another sibling. The children are (from oldest to youngest) Sarah Joy (1980), Mercy Ruth(1982), Faith Shalom (A.K.A. Elizabeth)(1984), Abraham Paul (1987), Joshua(1989) and David (1990).
Religious message
The central message Woroniecki has carried mainly to college campuses throughout the United States since 1980 is that all Christian churches are "Antichrist", preaching a "false and polluted twentieth century gospel" which he believes has no redemptive power.[45][46][47] Consequently, the only people on earth that he believes are saved are himself, his wife and his six children. When asked if anyone else is saved, Woroniecki often replies (quoting Jesus from the Gospels), "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man." (In the Biblical story of Noah, only eight persons were saved in an ark from a worldwide deluge, a fact which he repeats with the emphasis on "eight.")[48][49] If anyone else happens to be saved, he has told his disciples, he just hasn't met them yet.[50]
He also believes that "institutionalized education, along with employment and secular social activities, is a waste of time in God's eyes." Woroniecki preaches "that unless a person lives a jobless life spent preaching the Gospel, he is damned to hell." [51] Attending college and having a career are incompatible with being a real Christian, Woroniecki asserts.[52][53]
Woroniecki's message is often couched in negative terms. Two of his daughters, ardent disciples of their father, preached the following at the University of Richmond on September 26, 2005:
- "You are on the wrong path, and there is nothing you can do to save yourselves... God's message is not unconditional love. It's unrelenting anguish and hopelessness!"[54]
In the 1980's, Woroniecki was confronted allegations that a young follower of his, a student from Texas A&M, was hospitalized as a result of becoming suicidal after having dwelt on his message. On a tape distributed to disciples in 1989, Woroniecki dismissed the student for projecting blame onto his Gospel message, openly mocking him for refusing to accept responsibility for his own emotional state.[55]
Others have claimed to become depressed or anxious, even to the point of contemplating or even attempting suicide after dwelling upon Woroniecki's message. Woroniecki has stated in 1991 that the "weight of guilt" of his message has caused many people that he has been in communication with to mentally "snap."[56]. Andrea Yates' attorneys documented in court that Woroniecki's teachings were a central motivating factor in her anxiety centering around her children's eternal destiny, which became delusions directing her to kill her children, and herself.[57] Isoan Corlew, a former follower of Woroniecki, says she became depressed for years as a direct result of what she described as Woroniecki's message of "no hope" for her children.[58] David De La Isla of Houston Texas claimed on KTRK News, Houston, and in the Dallas Morning News, that he became suicidal twice and hospitalized once as a result of Woroniecki's beratings. [59][60] Woroniecki dismissed De La Isla, saying on ABC's Good Morning America that he only knew him for "fifteen minutes in a McDonalds fifteen years ago." ABC host Charles Gibson quickly countered Woroniecki pointing out that the disciple possessed of a whole stack of letters received from the preacher over a period of twelve years,[61] a claim Woroniecki denied. [62]
In a video sent to his followers in 1996, Michael Woroniecki emphatically warns parents that unless they abandon their "husband goes to work, wife just exists" hypocritical Christian lifestyle (like the then-devotees Yates family were living), quit their jobs and take up his prophetic, itinerant lifestyle, their children would not be properly "trained by the Lord", reach accountability and "perish in hellfire." He also added that because of Mt. 18:6 the parents would "suffer the most severe judgment" for allowing an innocent child to stumble in this way. He taught that it was better for parents to commit suicide than cause their offspring to stumble and go to hell. [63][64]
Woroniecki's influence on Andrea Yates
On June 20, 2001, one of Woroniecki's disciples for the previous nine years, Andrea Pia Yates killed all five of her children. Woroniecki became the focus of national media attention from January to April 2002 when evidence was admitted in court implicating Woroniecki's teaching in a newsletter called The Perilous Times as having negatively scripted Andrea's psychotic mind.[65][66][67][68]
Letters from the Woroniecki family were discovered by investigative author Suzy Spencer that berated Andrea over her unrighteous standing before God.[69] Only two months after receiving the harsh letters from the Woroniecki's, Andrea was hospitalized twice for two separate suicide attempts.[70][71][72]
Ex-followers contend that Mr. Woroniecki's "catch-22 works gospel"[73] puts a tremendous amount of emotional pressure on his disciples.[74][75] Woroniecki's wife dismissed that characterization, saying in an interview with NBC Dateline in March 2002, "A major problem is that people think that by emulating our lifestyle they can have the joy and the love that we have without building a foundation in Jesus Christ", suggesting that their disciples are the ones who errantly choose to place themselves under the "yoke" of the Law of God, consequently weighing themselves down with guilt. Ex-followers remark further that Mrs. Woroniecki is being disingenuous and that her husband intentionally uses the Law of God as a tutoring mechanism to bring his disciples to Christ.[76]
Woroniecki denies that he had anything at all to do with negatively influencing Yates. He claims in a letter postmarked October 24, 2002 to author Suzanne O'Malley that Andrea's motive for killing her children was based on a deep and intense hatred for her husband that he learned from prior ministerial conversations with her, and that she and the media conspired to use "religious rhetoric" to cover up her true motive.[77] Only five months earlier, Woroniecki told the Leslie Primeau Show at CHED AM 630 in Edmonton, Canada that he had "no idea" what Andrea's true motive was.[78]
According to "a private detective agency in the Houston area"[79] hired by the defense team of Andrea Yates, Woroniecki was tracked down in June 2006 at an RV park at 1940 N. Boulder Hwy in Henderson, NV for the purpose of issuing a Texas subpoena so that he could testify in the Andrea Yates trial of July 2006; complications with legal formalities between Nevada and the state of Texas made it impossible to subpoena him in time for the trial.
In the aftermath of the 2006 retrial and insanity verdict of Andrea Yates, host Chris Cuomo reported on ABC Primetime that:
- "[Andrea Yates'] delusions were fueled by the extreme religious beliefs of a bizarre, itinerant street preacher named Michael Woroniecki ..."
Clips were shown from Woroniecki's 1996 video tape, which was entered into evidence at the retrial, documenting the pressure Andrea Yates was placed under to save her children.[80]
Post-Yates career
Woroniecki and his family remain active with their message.[81][82][83][84][85][86][87]
Notes
- ^ Samples of Woroniecki's evangelistic tracts with names he has used from 1980-2007 (also see tract archive in references section below): Woroniecki, Warnecki, Warneki, Worneki, Mike War, Shabar Ben
- ^ Griffin, Mary (2005-10-19). "Signing off: Recent influx of demonstrations around Grounds stirs up students, puts to question University policies on protesting". The Cavalier Daily. University of Virginia. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
- ^ Oregon family delivers fire, brimstone sermon Oct. 1, 1998, PSU
- ^ Tanda Gmiter, Ken Kolker, Did Preacher Sway Texas Mom? Grand Rapids Press, Jan. 23, 2002Article Steve Grinczel, Woman Prefers to See Street Preacher Tried, Grand Rapids Press, Oct. 12, 1981Article
- ^ Video sample
- ^ Lost in the Message? Lisa Teachy, Houston Chronicle, April 5, 2002 Article "Shortly after Satan's first appearance at Andrea Pia Yates' capital murder trial, many observers began blaming the tragedy on a traveling evangelist the Yates family once admired. Television networks flashed images of the proselytizing preacher in a devil costume to accompany their coverage of the trial -- linking Michael Woroniecki to Yates' confession that she killed her children to save their souls."
- ^ Chris Cuomo reported on ABC Primetime that: "(Andrea Yates') delusions were fueled by the extreme religious beliefs of a bizarre, itinerant street preacher named Michael Woroniecki . . ." Chris Cuomo, "Primetime, Insanity Verdict, Insanity Defense. Secrets and Lies: The American Imposter, The American Imposter Tells All", ABC Primetime Jul. 27, 2006 Transcript
- ^ Doug Saunders, Globe and Mail, Toronto Canada, Mar. 14, 2002Article
- ^ Countercult.com profile of Michael Woroniecki
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, the Preacher of Andrea Yates
- ^ The Ultimate False Prophet by ex-follower
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, The Victory in Defeat" tract, 1994frontback
- ^ Steve Grinczel, Lifelong Friend Looks at How Street Preacher Changed, Grand Rapids Press, Jun. 6, 1981Article
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "How To Win A Crazy War" tract, 1990page 1 page 2 page 3
- ^ Suzanne O'Malley, "Are You Alone?" 2004, p. 102
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Where There is No Vision, There is only Death" tape, 1990, Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Music Or Worship" tape, 1984Audio excerpt
- ^ Email dated April 22, 2006 from Thomas R. Rysko of Grand Rapids, Woroniecki's schoolmate, grades 1-12, : "Mike and I both lost interest in the Catholic Church about the same time. It was during freshman year in high school." (Please note: this is only a small, partial quotation of the email, not the entire email and constitutes fair use under U.S. Federal copyright law.)
- ^ O'Malley, p. 101, It was his senior year in high school that he began attending prayer meetings, but when he attended college, he says he backslid until his injury in 1974 when he again began involving himself in religious life.
- ^ Testimony of a former Maranatha Church congregant who witnessed Woroniecki
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Antichrist", tape, 1987Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Spirit or Lard" tape, 1989Audio excerpt
- ^ O'Malley, p. 103, 104
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "God's Redemptive Will" tape, 1984Audio excerpt
- ^ Email excerpts from Robert Engel, 2004
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "A Marriage?" tape, 1987 Audio excerpt
- ^ O'Malley, p. 104
- ^ Curt Christy, "Evangelist Michael Woroniecki Meets the Press in the 'City of Churches,'" Dec. 1, 1981University Research Paper
- ^ O'Malley, p. 104
- ^ Steve Grinczel,"Woman Prefers to See Street Preacher Tried", Grand Rapids Press, Oct. 12, 1981Article
- ^ Assistant City Attorney Michael D. McGuire, "Dissent!: Woroniecki Case, Grand Rapids Press, Oct. 18, 1981Article
- ^ Follow Up: High Volume Street Preacher Reports Progress in Sunbelt, Grand Rapids Press, Dec. 14, 1981 Article
- ^ Steve Grinczel, "Street Preacher Will Leave City to Beat Charges, Grand Rapids Press, Oct. 8, 1981Article
- ^ O'Malley, p. 106
- ^ Julie Ridenour, "Street Preacher Pays Fine and Moves On in Search of Respect,"Grand Rapids Press, Jun. 8, 1983Article
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "The Heart of David (approx. title)" tape, 1992Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "The Fear of Horses" tape, 1992Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "The Fear of Horses" tape, 1992Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "The Fear of Horses" tape, 1992Audio excerpt
- ^ *Anti-Mormon Protest Disturbs Campus BYU Press, October 6, 1994
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "How Does Your Face Respond to Lovers of the Truth?" video tape, 1996 (Note:this video is documented as evidence at Andrea Yates' retrial.)
- ^ Steve Grinczel, "Grand Rapids Exile Preaches on at Olympics", Grand Rapids Press, Aug. 4, 1996Article
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "How Does Your Face Respond to Lovers of the Truth?" video tape, 1996 Audio excerpt
- ^ Article, Judgment Day? Freedom of Speech on Campus, John Nakatsu, Kaleo (The Voice), Mar. 19, 2008; Photo, Woroniecki sports a festive Hawaiian shirt while preaching at the University of Hawaii, Monoa, Mar. 17, 2008; Photo, Woroniecki preaches at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Mar. 14, 2008.
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Exposing Satan's Greatest Lie", tractfront,back
- ^ B.J. Thompsen, "Traveling Prophet Assails 'Wayward' Students", The Daily Emerald, May 12, 1987Article
- ^ Darlene McIlvaine, "Preacher Annoys", The Daily Cougar, Oct. 23, 1987Article
- ^ Timmy Cooper, "Am I Going to Hell?" The Liberty, Oregon State University, Oct. 17, 2003Article
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "You are Headed for Hell" tape, 1996Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "The Formula of Love" tape, 1994Audio excerpt
- ^ Ashley Gurbal, "Zealots Preach in Oak Grove", The Penn Online, 9/27/2004, Article
- ^ Elizabeth White, Preaching Group Visits Campus, Riles Students", Daily Utah Chronicle, Sep. 11, 2000Article
- ^ Lynn Sanchez, "Fire and Brimstone Pelt Uno, No One Injured", The Gateway, Oct. 26, 1987Article
- ^ The overture to Hell? The Collegian - student newspaper of the University of Richmond, Sep. 29, 2005.
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Spirit or Lard?" tape, 1989 Audio excerpt
- ^ documented website
- ^ Suzanne Omalley, Are You Alone? pp. 77,172,229
- ^ Krystle Kopacz, Yates was One of Woroniecki's followers, The Daily Collegian Online, Penn State University, Sep. 30, 2004 Article
- ^ Jeff Miller, "Ex-Follower Critical of Woroniecki", Dallas Morning News, 4/6/2002, Article
- ^ Cynthia Hunt, "Exclusive Look at Controversial Preacher Followed by Yates", KTRK News, Houston, Mar. 21, 2002 Article
- ^ Delaisla claims he was in contact with the Good Morning America staff through KTRK at the time of the Woroniecki interview, and the stack of letters were verified by the affiliate. For verification contact ddelaisla at comcast dot com
- ^ Charles Gibson, ABC's Good Morning America, Mar. 27, 2002Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, How Does Your Face Respond to Lovers of the Truth?" video, 1996 Audio excerpt
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Where There is No Vision, There is only Death", Tape, 1990 Audio excerpt
- ^ Gesalman, Anne Belli, "Examining a Spiritual Leader's Influence", Newsweek Periscope, March 18, 2002, Archived
- ^ ABC NEWS, The Evil Inside, Jan. 21, 2002
- ^ CrimeLibrary review of Yates case
- ^ Rachel Woroniecki, "The Perilous Times Newsletter", 1999Article
- ^ Suzy Spencer, "Breaking Point", pp. 143,145
- ^ Rick A. Ross Institute News Summary March 18, 2002
- ^ World Net Daily, Beware of Poisonous Preachers Mar. 23, 2002
- ^ Archived Dallas Morning News Article April 6, 2002
- ^ Works gospel--a Christian evangelical expression (usually Protestant) denoting a message that requires self atoning effort through obedience to God's Law in order to appease the conscience and merit salvation, denying the free gift God has offered to mankind through the atoning work of his Son's death. While Woroniecki asserts salvation is a free gift reckoned by God's grace through faith, that grace is not reckoned, according to him, until one has met God halfway, unwrapping himself of sin through obedience to God and suffering by preaching his message, so he teaches in a tract called "Wrapped in Sin"frontback
- ^ Cynthia Hunt, "Exclusive Look at Controversial Preacher Followed by Yates", KTRK-ABC 13 Eyewitness News, Mar. 21, 2002 Article
- ^ Woroniecki's Gospel
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "What is True Salvation?" tape, 1992 Audio excerpt
- ^ O'Malley, p. 97
- ^ Michael Woroniecki, "Edmonton Interview" tape, May, 2002 Audio excerpt
- ^ The detective agency requested their preference to be identified only as quoted. Verification of this fact can be requested by contacting Parnham & Associates, 440 Louisianna Suite 800, Houston, TX 77002
- ^ Chris Cuomo, "Primetime, Insanity Verdict, Insanity Defense. Secrets and Lies: The American Imposter, The American Imposter Tells All", ABC Primetime Jul. 27, 2006 Order Transcript See also:ABC Article of Telecast
- ^ Traveling preachers descend onto PSU Sept. 23, 2004
- ^ Zealots preach in Oak Grove September 27, 2004 The Penn, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- ^ Yates was one of Woroniecki's followers Sept. 30, 2004
- ^ Relgious solicitors harass students October 5, 2004 The Collegiate Times, Virginia Polytechnic & State University
- ^ Religious enthusiasts identified October 6, 2004
- ^ Family warns, preaches: 'We are ... going to Hell'Oct. 18, 2005 The Digital Collegian, PSU
- ^ Traveling preachers stir controversyArticle from the Penn State Daily Collegian, Sept. 22, 2005
References
- "Are You Alone?" by Suzanne O'Malley, Website
- "Breaking Point", by Suzy Spencer, Website
- Bruce Nichols, "Nothing I'd Change", Dallas Morning News, Religion Section, April 6, 2002, Archived
- Gesalman, Anne Belli, "Examining a Spiritual Leader's Influence", Newsweek Periscope, March 18, 2002, Archived
- KTRK NEWS-Houston (ABC Affiliate), (10 broadcasts in 2002 investigating blame in the Yates tragedy: Jan. 21; Feb. 26; Mar. 4,17,18,21,27,28). Archive
- Grand Rapids Press (Chronicles his early years in Grand Rapids, reports through the years and touches on his association with Andrea Yates). Archive
- Evangelistic Tracts, (Materials Woroniecki has publicly distributed since his career began in 1980; of special interest: includes How To Win a Crazy War and The Victory In Defeat, documenting his testimony, the Perilous Times Newsletter, which was entered into evidence at Yates' trial, The Witch and the Whimp tract of his views on women and men, Exposing Satan's Greatest Lie, about his view on the Christian churches, and Wrapped in Sin which defines his gospel). Archive
- University Archives, (Articles reporting on Woroniecki's preaching visits at major U.S. universities during the 1980s). Archive
See also
External links
- Countercult.com profile of Michael Woroniecki
- Rick A. Ross Institute Archive on Michael Woroniecki
- Douglas Saunders, A Mysterious Preacher and the Children's Killer--Observers believe man played role in life of woman who admitted she committed crime, Toronto Globe and Mail, March 14, 2002.
- Yates' Preacher Warned of Hellfire, ABC Good Morning America, March 26, 2002
- Preacher Said He Tried to Save Yates Family, ABC Good Morning America, March 27, 2002
- Jesus Freaks Revisit ISU Campus, October 8, 2007
- Yates was one of Woroniecki's Followers, Daily Collegian, Sep. 30, 2004