Challenging the spirit of the Discipleship Movement
Posted July 29, 2010
“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Mathew 23:4
I have only talked briefly about this period in my life, but now God is leading me to tell the world how I challenged the spirit of the discipleship movement. I spent a year, humbling myself to walk with these men, determined to learn if what they were involved in was of God or not.
In the early 1970’s this movement began in the charismatic churches and it emphasized the “one another” passages of the New Testament, and the mentoring relationship described in 2 Timothy. It began with four well-known Charismatic teachers, Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, Don Basham and later included Ern Baxter and they became known as the Fort Lauderdale Five. I was acquainted with all these men, except Ern Baxter and especially well acquainted with Derek Prince.
The doctrines they emphasized were: a greater accountability, character development and deeper relationships which became known as covenant relationships. Other ministers began to submit to the authority of those five. Cell groups were formed and members had to be submitted to a “shepherd” who in turn submitted to the “Five” or their representatives and eventually, at the height of its popularity, there were an estimated 100,000 adherents in the United States that were involved in the networks.
D. Vinzant wrote a book, The Discipleship Dilemma and in it he discussed the history of the roots of the discipleship/shepherding doctrine.
"The first root of the modern discipling movement may be found in the Roman Catholic Spiritual Directors of the fifth century and later throughout Roman Catholic history. The Spiritual Director system operated in monasteries and convents for many centuries. Those being trained were told to reveal their most secret thoughts to their Spiritual Director and submit themselves totally to their Spiritual director's decisions as to what is good and evil. This is essentially what is now called a "discipling relationship."
I was just completing a new veterinary hospital at US 121 in McKinney Texas in 1967 and I received a phone call from my sister and her husband, George and Betty Jackson. They told me they had found what I needed. They told me about a man they had met from England, named Derek Prince.
Now I knew England had a state church, the Church of England, of which the king of England was the head and I knew our ancestors had left England to come to this country for freedom of worship. I knew we had fought the British and kicked them out of this country and that’s exactly what I thought of when they told me this man they spoke of was British.
The Sunday following that phone call, I put Patti and Kathy in the car with me and we headed to Cherokee Farms to look at some horses. I said to them, “The Jacksons might as well know, I will never listen to them. They get caught up with people of means and status.” George and Betty were recently married and they were just kids. I had been in the Navy for 4 years, lived in Japan for 27 months and while there, had brought Patti and Kathy over to live with me. We lived for a time in a Japanese house until I was promoted to 2nd Class Petty Officer, and then we moved onto the base. My assignment was in the office of the Chief Medical Offices for Naval Forces Far East. I had been to the University of Missouri and had received my doctorate in veterinary medicine and was at that time, establishing my practice, specializing in equine medicine. While I was in my last year of veterinary school George had called and asked me about getting into the University of Missouri Veterinary School. I talked with my professors and encouraged him to come up and meet with them. They told him he would need a year of college and they would consider him. He was unanimously accepted into the school of veterinary medicine at Missouri, just as I was, years earlier. Therefore, it didn’t make any sense to me to listen to people, including my sisters, who hadn’t walked where I had walked and didn’t have the experience I had. I told Patti and Kathy that day, I wasn’t interested in getting involved in what the Jacksons were doing, nor did I care to involve myself with someone from Great Britain.
June 1969 God told me to sell my veterinary hospital and practice and I obeyed him. The next year George and Betty’s son, Allen Jackson (World Out Reach Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee) introduced me to Derek and Lydia Prince in Chicago at a Full Gospel Business Men’s meeting. A few days later I talked with Derek, and Derek asked me, “What are you going to do, preach?!” I said, “I wouldn’t know what to say.”
Derek Prince was born in India during WWI to British parents. He has stated that all the men in his family were military officers with himself being the only exception. He was sent to boarding school at age nine and was admitted to Eton College as a scholar at age thirteen and later received a scholarship to King’s College at Cambridge University. When WWII broke out, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and while serving in Palestine, he met and later married Lydia Christiansen. Derek was an international bible teacher and people flocked to listen to him. He ministered in numerous places including Africa, Canada, Seattle and Chicago and later settled in Florida.
In October 1970, I attended a seminar of Derek Prince’s and watched him cast out some devils. He asked me to come up and stand with him and as I did so, he said, “You’re going to have to do this one day.”
June 1971, God sent me to Florida to manage the Turnpike Animal Clinic in Opa Locka, Florida for eleven months. I knew the men that once owned it and it was one of the most elite hospitals in South Florida. The owner had died and I was called to manage it as a small animal hospital and at that time I only had a temporary license for the state of Florida. I was a predominantly equine veterinarian and was well known in certain parts of the United States for my expertise in the equine industry. I wasn’t in the gutter when God called me. I did his will, somewhat reluctantly but I did it.
While in Florida, Patti and I became very well acquainted with Derek and Lydia and we had an open invitation to come visit with them every Thursday afternoon, when they were in town. On one occasion, in 1972, God had been talking to me about a curse a woman had put on me. When Patti and I arrived at their house, we had barely exchanged greetings before I told them what God was saying to me about a curse and where it had come from. They said, “Oh, that can’t be”. I told them, “I believe this is what God is saying to me, that I have a curse on me which was spoken on me years earlier by a woman I would not allow to manipulate me.” Derek and Lydia couldn’t believe I was cursed. We didn’t stay long and as we got up to leave, Lydia said, “Derek, there is something here”; God was delivering me of a curse right in front of them. I realized at that moment I didn’t need Derek Prince or Lydia if I could hear what God was saying better than they. I knew if they didn’t even know I was cursed and couldn’t help me get free of a curse, what could they do for me?!
It was while I was in Florida that I met Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford and Don Basham who along with Derek Prince were the founders of the charismatic discipleship movement. I learned that these men were not business men, at least had not been proven in business as I had. Most of these men had been to the university and when they started reading the bible, they read the letter. I thought that I needed to be with somebody, but if these men couldn’t follow the bible any better than they did, than I didn’t need to be with them. I could see God was revealing things to me that these men didn’t understand and didn’t know.
I Corinthians 2:9
“But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
I left Hollywood, Florida in May 1972 and God instructed me to return to Dallas. I would have liked to have come back sooner, but I wasn’t about to take a step unless God told me. Once we made arrangements, Patti and I headed back to Texas on May 15, 1972. Before we left, we had lunch with Derek and he asked me what I was going to do when I got back to Texas. I told him I was going to go back and buy some property, practice veterinary medicine and see what God does. Derek said, “Sounds good to me”. I thought to myself, “Well good, because it’s what I’m going to do, obey God not a man”.
A friend called me within two weeks after we returned to Texas and said, “Doyle do you know what Bob Mumford and Charles Simpson have done? They divided Hollywood, Florida at Sheridan Avenue. And if you live on the south side, you’re to go to one of their meetings, and if you live north of Sheridan, you’re to go to the other one’s meeting. I said, “Sherry, That’s not God.” She said, “What do you mean, that’s not God?” I said, “That’s not God.” She said, “Well, they say it is”. “Well, it’s not God, Sherry.”
I arrived back in Dallas on May 18, 1972 expecting God to give me my equine practice back. Instead he put us in the Holiday Inn in Denton Texas and I spent ten weeks studying the first five chapters of the book of Romans. During that time He began delivering me of much of my knowledge. “Knowledge puffeth up.” All knowledge puffs up, even bible knowledge. He was changing my vocabulary to His, delivering me of enticing words which are of the devil. People’s faith can be in those enticing words instead of the power of God. God was bringing me down, changing me from a person who walked in his intellect to one who walked in my spirit and taught the things of the Spirit of God, because He had revealed them to me.
I had joined the National Association of Equine Practitioners in 1961and in 1968 I was elected Charter President of the North Texas Chapter of Equine Practitioners. There were thirteen of us that joined that night. These people were my colleagues and we didn’t talk about theology or education, we talked about veterinary medicine and business. When I returned from Florida, I believed I was getting back into the horse business so I wanted to go to a National Association of Equine Practitioners meeting in Las Vegas that year and I didn’t have the money. I said to God, “Where’s my money?” And He said, “You’re not going”. When I asked why He said, “You won’t need it.” God was delivering me out of that lifestyle.
I saw that Lydia Prince was the only person out of the whole group with any faith. I didn’t say all these things, I kept my mouth shut but I could see Lydia believed what she said she believed. She was of proven faith, faith that had been tried. She had an orphanage in Jerusalem raised up by God and she fed those children when there wasn’t a man around. “…I will show you my faith by my works.” She was the only one of that group that had faith, discernment, and wisdom. Patti and I had opportunities to visit with her alone on a number of occasions and we had some very private talks. It was a great time and I thank God for those days.
In 1973 I became involved in a lawsuit with my partner. If I would have obeyed God I would never had to go to court, but because I walked in my own wisdom, I ended up in court. I was correct to challenge my partner, but it wasn’t the will of God to go to court I Corinthians 6 tells us, “Dare any of you, have a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?” I thought because I was right, God would honor it. But in it God taught me something and delivered me. Derek kept pretty close tabs on me and when he heard what was going on and he called me and said, “You are going to have to be realistic”. Immediately I said, “Are you saying I missed God?” Derek replied, “No I’m not saying that.” I continued to press him, “Well what are you saying?” He backed up.
The court case ended seven months later and I had received favor in the outcome of the suit. Derek and Lydia had invited me, Patti and Kathy to go to Israel on their family tour and when we arrived at the airport Derek walked out to meet me so he could talk with me. He was ecstatic at the outcome of the court case and said, “Is it not wonderful what that judge did for you? What God did with that judge?” I was a little surprised at his emotion; I wasn’t nearly as emotional about it as he was.
I had no idea why we were going to Israel but I knew God had sent me. It was there, God called me into the ministry on June 16, 1974, at the Garden Tomb. Two days later I spoke at Christ’s Church.
Several days into the trip, we were just north of Hebron at a store. Lydia was setting on a chair, looking at me. She said, “Doyle, come over here.” Lydia was somewhat frail, and as I walked up, I knelt down in front of her. As I did, Derek stepped up to her side and Lydia said, “Doyle do you have something to say to me?” I responded, “Yes, I sure do.” She knew that it was God, she knew God wanted to talk out of my mouth; Lydia and I walked in the same spirit. I said to Lydia, “You need to stop listening to your daughters. You need to have your mind on the word of God and not listen to what they are saying, because they are scaring you.” And Derek said, “Now that’s not true.” Lydia put her hand over his and pushed him away, and never taking her eyes off me, she said, “Derek that is true and you know that’s true”.
On another occasion during our Israel trip, she called me over to where she was sitting and as I walked over to her, Derek was standing next to her. She looked at me and said, “Doyle, God has done more for you in five years, than He has done for any man I know of on this earth.” I thanked her. I was a bit stunned that Lydia said that right in front of Derek. What I know now is: she was saying, “God has done more in your life than Derek’s”. She knew what Derek was involving himself in and she was talking to Derek right there. I also know now, God was talking to me out of her mouth, saying “Go on Doyle, you’re on the right track.” I will always thank God that they invited us to go with them.
One day at Christ for the Nations, Patti and I walked up to Lydia to talk to her and we were holding hands. Lydia looked at us and said, “You mean you two still do that?” " Well, of course", I replied. She said, “That departed from Derek and I many years ago.” That grieved my heart. Her husband was a man who taught that a man should love his wife, and he couldn’t even hold her hand in public?! I could discern rejection with her statement and it caused me to wonder what was going on in their home.
Sometime in 1974 Lydia was at Christ for the Nations and after the service they invited me and a couple other preachers to come up to their room and pray for her. I had never heard such pathetic praying in my life; I know God wouldn’t answer it. I waited till they were all finished and then I prayed a simple prayer. I said “Lord, grant Lydia the grace to keep her mind stayed on thee.” That’s all I said and when I finished Derek said, “Doyle has a prayer from God.” That was the last time I saw her. Lydia Prince went to heaven in 1975. I wanted to attend her funeral but God wouldn’t let me. I thank God for Lydia, for her faith and for her love towards me, Patti and Kathy.
When I returned from our trip to Israel I was walking in the authority of a prophet, though I didn’t know it at the time but what I did know: I could hear God and I knew God had called me into the ministry. The persecution and pressure increased when I returned home. I had been bothered by the spirit of the discipleship preachers and by 1976 I was determined to find out whether Jesus Christ was Lord of their group and what they were involved in. I began to confront the spirits they walked in each time the situation presented itself. I had become well acquainted with Charles Simpson, Don Basham and Bob Mumford and I had gotten to know Derek very well and of course, Lydia. None of them had the intellect of Derek Prince but none of them including Derek had the ability to see clearly what the scriptures said. Derek Prince is the only man who came close to deceiving me. When I first met him I was amazed because he actually seemed to believe the bible and because of that, I thought maybe I ought to. Once I got to know him, I found out he didn’t believe what he said he believed. With the others, all they had to do was open their mouth and I could hear what they believed. With Derek, it wasn’t quite so evident. As I listened and became more acquainted with these men I could see they walked in the spirit of the world. By the grace and mercy of God, I wasn’t walking there any longer.
When I met these men I had already sold my veterinary practice, my hospital, my cattle and horses and all my holdings at the direction of God. I had operated a very lucrative equine practice and had experienced much success in the world. I have shared with the world, about the faith of my fathers. My grandfather went to heaven when he was 72. I knew him well. He was a man of compassion for those who were weak but he could also speak plain and didn’t put up with nonsense. You could persuade Dad to change his course, you could not persuade my grandfather, Luther Davidson, to change his course. I am that same kind of person. If the discipleship people didn’t know or if you don’t know, they found out and so will you.
I would listen to these men and they would say everyone had to be connected, one sheep to the next, They talked about Charles Simpson’s sheep, Bob Mumford’s sheep, Don Basham’s sheep and the bible says we are carnal when we do that. They would quote Ephesians 4:16, “every joint supplieth…”. I laughed at them when they declared themselves to be the neck. Jesus was the head, they were the neck and we were the sheep. I thought, “You ignorant preachers, Don’t you know the neck just holds the head up and is just a passage way from the head to the abdomen? It serves no other purpose.” I thought, “And you are called to make a preacher out of me? How crazy can you be if you think I’m going to follow you?”
These men were spoken of in 1 Corinthians 3:
3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4) For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?”
While I was in Florida, Derek and I had become what I would describe as good friends. He had more experience in the ministry than I had, he was almost twenty years older than me, and many times he spoke things that encouraged me and I believe I encouraged him. He told me once, “You are the clearest thinking man I have ever met.” I was aware of that, it was just how God made me. We had many conversations and we talked about everything and I loved the man. I was looking for someone to get with, I knew I needed a foundation laid and I also knew it was the apostles and prophets that laid the foundation. I asked Derek once if he could tell me how to study the bible and his response was that he had studied at the university. Well I had been to the university for six years. I learned that Derek couldn’t help me and he and the others walked in the gentile spirit and they wanted to rule and dominate people. They just weren’t going to rule me and they found that out.
While I was living in Florida, I thought it was right to ask Derek if he would like to use my boat. I had a nice speed boat and Derek and Lydia’s house set right on the water. I told Derek I would dock my boat at his house, I would maintain it and he was welcome to drive it anytime he wanted. Derek had a grandson and he told me he would like his grandson to be able to drive it. I told him it was too dangerous, it was a high-speed boat and his grandson didn’t have enough experience to drive it. Derek’s response was, “Well he’s got to learn sometime.” I didn’t say anything but about two months later I went to check on my boat one afternoon and Derek’s son-in-law was there. We went out to look at my boat, and I saw that the rear corner of it was crushed. When I asked what happened, he said, “Derek didn’t tell you?” No he didn’t tell me”, I said. Derek’s son-in-law was rather embarrassed. I went home, got my boat trailer, loaded up the boat and took it home and put it in my garage. Derek never said a word about it. He obviously didn’t think it was necessary to tell me what happened, even though I owned it and had left instructions that his grandson not drive it.
Galatians 2:
9) “And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
10) Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
11) But when Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12) For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13) And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14) But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
15) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,”
Do you think that if Paul could confront Peter, who had been with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration that I couldn’t confront Derek Prince and the others when they were to be blamed? I was beginning to confront Derek and the others and Derek really didn’t know what to do with me and he said as much.
Mathew 7:
15) “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16) Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17) Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
The Fort Lauderdale Five sought the praise of men and not the praise of God. They were false prophets. False prophet’s hearts are not changed, they are full of ravenous and wickedness, thorns and thistles, they do wonderful works, they prophesy, they cast out devils, but they do not bring forth good fruit because they are not good fruit. Only the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus will change a heart; when the light of that gospel shines into the heart of a person and that person believes, it will expose his darkness. False prophets can do miracles, because it is the Holy Ghost working through them but they do not bring forth fruit. That describes the discipleship movement.
Derek had told me at one point that he was my spiritual father. Well, I didn’t know if I agreed with that or not. It would seem one would have to minister the gospel to a person to be their spiritual father and Derek didn’t do that. But I wasn’t a contentious person, I just thought, “Well, if you want to consider yourself my spiritual father go ahead but I don’t agree,” and just left it alone, however he acted like he owned me. Derek informed me he was turning me over to Charles Simpson and Charles in turn, was putting me under Glen Rochelle. Glen Rochelle had come to the metroplex from Mississippi, bringing a group with him and settled in Irving, Texas.
I informed Derek that if there was a relationship, it was with him and me, not these other men; I didn’t know them. I mean no disrespect, but these men were just preacher boys. I had obeyed God, sold everything God told me to, and he was going to turn me over to someone else? These men had no proof of their faith. They weren’t men of God, they weren’t even business men. All they had done was go to college and preach.
I was walking, obeying God and meeting these people one by one, trying their spirits whether they be of God or not. They couldn’t pressure me to join Charles Simpson or anyone else. At this time I was in deep financial problems. I had never been in financial problems in my life but when I started following God I did get into trouble. God was teaching me to trust him and He had led me into the wilderness.
After Lydia went to heaven the persecution continued to increase. In 1975 the jezebel was attacking me on every side. The spirit with these men was pushing me hard and everywhere I went there was a devil pushing at me. I went to a meeting at Bob Nichols’ church in Fort Worth to listen and Kenneth Hagin was speaking. Hagin walked over to me and said, “Every man has a pastor.” I just looked at him and thought to myself, “I thought every man has an apostle, not a pastor.”
While I was living in Argyle, the preacher from the First United Methodist Church of Carrollton and the preacher from the First United Methodist Church of Argyle came to see me and the preacher from Carrollton said, “Who’s your pastor?” I told him I didn’t have one. “Well you have to have a pastor,” he said and my reply was, “I don’t have one, I serve the Lord”. Six months later this man had his secretary pregnant. And this man was telling me what I needed?
In 1976 I went on a three day fast. I purposed that I was going to humble myself and seek the Lord as in Ezra 8:21 “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones and for all our substance.” I fasted and sought the Lord for three days whether I should join Charles Simpson. After three days I said, “Well I guess I’ll join them” and the Lord said, “I guess you won’t.” I went to Glen’s meeting at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, and told him, “I don’t believe that is right for me to join you but I want to be sure it’s God so I will walk with you for one to two years and see what God does”. (Glen had told me at one point that I was a diamond in the rough.) His immediate response was, “Write Brother Charles a letter and tell him you are submitting to him.” I said, “Glen, I don’t think you heard very well.” And that was the end of it, and I walked away knowing what they were doing wasn’t God.
I wasn’t the kind of person who went looking for a fight but I certainly didn’t run from one. I had no idea God sent me to deal with this group of people. I knew God had sent me to this land and gave it to me. I read and studied the bible and followed it and if I met people who professed to be of God and didn’t obey the word, I didn’t have time for them. I could hear God’s voice and I had been obeying him for years. These men thought I needed to be one of their sheep. Well I didn’t mind being a sheep, but I knew the word says, Jesus is our shepherd, we are His sheep. Those that hear the word of God and do it are our brothers and sisters.
I told Derek I wasn’t going to join with Charles Simpson or any of his group. Derek was still telling me I needed to be with someone and he told me he was going to introduce me to Bill Mayne and I could join with him. Derek was a man who thought he had great authority and there were many who bowed to him but I didn’t and he knew it. I went to Midland and Derek introduced me to Bill and we had some conversations on the phone. It was even suggested that I move to Midland where Bill lived. I couldn’t believe they would even suggest such an idea, I was practicing veterinary medicine and a person doesn’t just pick up and move their practice, but that was the spirit the discipleship people walked in, a dominating , ruling spirit. Well they were learning, no man would rule me but Jesus Christ. I had a conversation with Derek one day, and he told me, “I told George and Betty, they might as well leave Doyle alone, because no man is going to rule him.”
On July 4, 1976, I attended the bicentennial celebration where Derek Prince and Kenneth Copeland were speaking. After Copeland and Prince spoke, Derek approached me and told me that Orlando Reyes had invited him to his house for a meeting the following day and Orlando had asked Derek to invite me also. I told Derek there was no reason for me to attend, these men had already been attacking me and they would just lie. And that was the purpose of the meeting, to discuss the activities of Doyle Davidson. There were certain Southern Baptist Charismatic preachers, as well as other Charismatic preachers of the metroplex that considered me the rebel of Dallas and Fort Worth. And they spent two hours at that meeting lying about me and after they were finished Derek asked me if I had anything to say. I said, “No, no I don’t”. He then quoted Galatians 6:3, “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” I looked at him and said, “Is that for me?” Derek said, “I don’t know.” I said, “Well what did you say it for, whose it for?”
A few months later I saw Derek again at a meeting at the Inn of the Last Resort and I went there for one purpose and it was to confront him for what he had done to me at Orlando Reyes house. I was invited to the meeting as an observer. When he had a little break we went out for a walk and started up a little hill, and I said to Derek, “I wasn’t ready for what you did to me at Orlando Reyes house. You invited me there and then set there and let them accuse me of all kinds of lies and you had never even met those people. You didn’t tell those people, I know this man and I don’t believe what you are saying. You didn’t ask them for proof of what they were accusing me of.” I was finished with Derek Prince that day.
Baptists think they rule their community and no one is to do anything without getting permission from them and the group in the metroplex were no different. They walk in the gentile spirit and they didn’t think some veterinarian should be having a bible study in his home, ministering to God’s people, because they were afraid I would steal their sheep. What they were really worried about is they would lose their offerings.
The meeting at Orlando Reyes house came about because the local pastors were afraid I was taking their congregations. God had directed me to start a bible study in my home while we were living in Argyle and John Lee had called my house and asked if I had a bible study, and Patti told him yes. He asked if he could come, and she said yes. The night he came God had instructed me to teach about the duties of a pastor out of Ezekiel and after I was finished he sat there and flattered me, telling me what a great preacher I was and that they needed me in their church as a teacher. Well, I knew they didn’t need me in their church. My mother was a Baptist and she wouldn’t hear me, nor would they. This man went to Howard Conatser and Orlando Reyes, and told them all that I was doing. Denominational people believe everyone needs to belong to someone, preferably them. They want you to submit to them, and if they find out they can’t control you then they set out to destroy you. As long as you are with some denomination, they will leave you alone. I was teaching the bible in my own home and they thought I needed their permission. God had told me to start a bible study and I had the authority and I wasn’t about to stop teaching what God told me to teach.
Eventually word got around, that this veterinarian was casting out devils, laying hands on the sick and they recover, teaching that every man is rich if he believes the gospel. I was teaching that Jesus became poor that we might be rich, 2 Corinthians 8:9. They came and talked to me about all these things. It became evident, they were afraid I was taking up offerings. They thought I was taking “their” sheep and they were worried I would end up with offerings they thought belonged to them. Well, I wasn’t taking up offerings; I wasn’t taking a dime from anyone.
The local ministers in Denton County couldn’t handle me so they took it to the “Big Five” in Dallas, Howard Conatser, Ted Nelson, Bobbie Cavaner, Paul Morall and Everitt Fjordbak. Derek Prince had instructed these five men to come together and the Fort Lauderdale Five would come and teach at their churches. Once these five leaders in the Dallas area discovered I had lived in Florida and was acquainted with Derek Prince, they immediately decided they had to talk to the Fort Lauderdale Five about me because they thought Derek might have some influence over me. They wanted him to shut my mouth and it was during this time that Derek had invited me to the meeting at Orlando Reyes house where these religious leaders had brought false witness against me. What I realize now, Derek only cared about what these men thought. He was afraid I was stirring up people to come against pastors that he supported which might cause a division and he didn’t want to offend them and lose his place to teach. To him, I was nothing more than a sacrificial lamb. I was obviously expendable to them but none of them knew who I was in Christ Jesus. I was called as an apostle and prophet of God. They all walked in the flesh, seeking the honor of men and not God.
After confronting Derek at “The Inn of the Last Resort” I was finished with the discipleship movement. I knew they were in the flesh and what they were doing was not God. I had a couple more encounters with Derek and on one of those occasions, he said to me, wringing his hands, “I don’t know what to do with you, I’ve never met a man like you.” I was finished with them, and I was finished challenging their lying spirits.
The reason the people liked the discipleship movement was because they spoke smooth things. The people that followed the leaders of the discipleship movement were just like the children of Israel in I Samuel 6, they wanted a man they could see to be their King, they didn’t want Jesus to rule over them and be their Lord. They didn’t want to take up their cross daily and follow Jesus. They wanted a man to hear God for them and that was the hearts of the people that followed the discipleship leaders. The discipleship leaders believed they could find themselves in John 10 and called themselves the “under-shepherds” however I couldn’t find under-shepherds in John 10 or anywhere else in the bible.
Isaiah 30:
9) “That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
10) Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
II Timothy 4:
2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all lonsuffering and doctrine.
3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”
Those days in the 1970s were difficult days, very difficult, but I could read the bible and it appeared to me that the discipleship people couldn’t read well at all, and religious charismatics couldn’t either. I heard Kenneth Hagin say in the early 1970s, “We don’t do it quite like they did it in the book of Acts.” That was all I needed to hear to know I didn’t need to listen to him any longer.
For over six years God lead me through the discipleship movement and every other camp and during those years, God had me read and study the verses in Ezekiel 34. When God revealed to me “One shepherd”, it was a great blessing in my walk and my life.
The following verses are most surely God dealing with the nation of Israel but also God dealing with the world and the gentiles. It is Jesus Christ the apostle, in us, it is Jesus Christ the prophet, in us, it is Jesus Christ, the pastor, in us, it is Jesus Christ the teacher in us, it is Jesus Christ the evangelist in us. There is only one shepherd and it is Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 34:
1)” And the word of the Lord came unto me saying,
2) Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?
3) Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
4) The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
5) And because they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6) My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
7) Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;
8) As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock.
9) Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;
10) Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11) For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12) As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13) And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14) I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15) I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.
16) I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
17) And as for you O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
18) Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
19) And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.
20) Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21) Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
22) Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23) And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24) And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.
25) And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26) And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
27) And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
28) And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29) And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30) Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God.
31) And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.
I was ordained a prophet in my mother’s womb to the nations before I came forth. That is why I could stand against all of them. God said to Joshua:
5) “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life…”
During the years that I was challenging the spirit of the discipleship movement I came under great physical pressure. I had always gone to the dentist for regular six month checkups and I had been seeing the same dentist for years. When I returned for my regular checkup he said, “Doyle, what kind of stress have you been under?” He told me I had suffered a 30% bone loss since my last six month checkup. I didn’t tell him I had been under attack by religious spirits. He sent me to a specialist and the perodonist told me I would be fortunate if I kept my teeth for five years. I kept them for twenty more years. I had a root canal on one of my teeth and Dr. Avery said he was only going to put a temporary crown on it because he didn’t think I would keep that tooth a year. Finally one day he said, “Well, you still have this tooth, I guess I’ll go ahead and put a gold crown on it”, and I still have that tooth with the gold crown today.
My last contact with Derek was the meeting September 1977 at the Royal Coach Inn in Dallas, Texas, where he was a speaking. I was invited there as a guest. Following a morning meeting, I met with Derek and Bill Mayne from Midland, Texas, had lunch and we discussed certain things. Later Derek invited me to come up to his hotel room and while there he asked me what I was doing. I proceeded to tell him all God was doing in my life. I had moved from Carrollton to McKinney and had an office in McKinney. I was practicing veterinary medicine and attending the Methodist church. He said, “That sounds like God but...” and I said, “BUT WHAT?!” Derek said, “You need supervision.” I responded, “I have supervision, Jesus Christ is my Lord.”
It took me until the summer of 1977 to overcome the spirit of the discipleship people and during that time, I spent hours praying and binding witchcraft. Even though I respected spiritual authority and still do and have no problems submitting to spiritual authority, I could see that the authority of the discipleship movement was not God but rather a spirit of witchcraft. Revelation 18 tells us that that spirit is a habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a spirit that causes people to sin (the sin of rebellion). We also see that the rewards of this spirit are plagues, sorrow, torment, and death. This spirit is called sorcery and it is witchcraft.
God said there was no one who could teach me, He would teach me; God told me that He had no one else to do this job; He told me that He had called me to put His Spirit back in the church; He told me He had made me for this job. I thank God for what He has led me through.
I want to thank God for Kathy Mai, my daughter who has walked with me since October 1972 and for Patti my first wife and Kathy’s mother. Patti rebelled in 1984 and lived with me until February 2003 when God took her to heaven. I want to thank God for Terry Mai, Kathy’s husband who walked with me from 1979 to January 2009 when he went to heaven and for Terry and Kathy’s girls. I want to thank God for Kathie Davidson who joined my ministry in May1984 and came to live with me at the direction of God, December 2008. They will be rewarded for their faithfulness to the Lord’s work.
I want to thank God for Kathy Currier for transcribing and posting what I have spoken and for a few others who have walked with me through my times of many temptations.
God Bless,
Doyle Davidson
Supplemental postings will be added as the Lord directs.
Below is a picture taken of Prince's and Basham's followers in 1976.
Doyle is 1st row far left. Derek Prince is 2nd row, 3rd from the left, and Don Basham is right next to Derek 4th from the left. Dick Leggatt is 2nd row 4th from the right. Bill Mayne is 1st row 3rd from the right.
