Is Tamaki's empire crumbling?

BY TONY WALL

It was the worst analogy John Weatherby had ever heard Bishop Brian Tamaki use - drawing parallels between himself and an evil dictator and for Weatherby, one of Tamaki's lieutenants from the beginning, it was the final straw.

Several years ago Tamaki went on a trip to Europe, Weatherby says, and while there he visited Nazi death camps as well as sites associated with Adolf Hitler.

"He came back and talked about Hitler [at the pulpit], and he said, 'you know, Adolf Hitler was a one-man guy, who led an army' . . . and he said, 'I can draw lines, or draw parallels, to Adolf Hitler'. He wasn't comparing himself to him, but drawing parallels to him, in the way that Hitler was self-appointed . . . very much his own man . . . and the bishop in the same way.

"I thought, boy, you want to stop right now, bishop, where you're going with this. I shut down, I switched off. I thought, don't put parallels between you and Hitler. You should be of God, Hitler was of the Devil."

The Sunday Star-Times asked Tamaki, through a Destiny Church spokesperson, to clarify what he meant by the Hitler comments. The church said: "During a visit to Europe several years ago Bishop Tamaki visited numerous tourist attractions in Germany, including Hitler's HQ. He has never made statements in the manner described."

Paul Morris, a professor of religious studies at Victoria University who has studied Tamaki, says it would not surprise him if Tamaki had referenced Hitler.

"Certainly, its consistent with Brian its made up on the run; there's no blueprint. The way his mind works, he shares everything in his sermons; hes interested in leadership and mobilisation and motivation he's probably just as interested in Napoleon or the Pope or Billy Graham."

For Weatherby, an Auckland construction company director, the Hitler sermon was the moment he knew he would leave the church. Weatherby was one of seven signatories to the Auckland Destiny Church trust deed in 2000. Two of those who signed were Tamaki and his wife, Hannah, and of the other five, three have left the church because of concerns over where Tamaki was taking it.

Weatherby has known Tamaki for 16 years and would sit in the front row with him at Destiny services.

"I was one of the originals who started the church back in Rotorua. I came up with bishop to start the Auckland church."

At first, Weatherby says, he was inspired.

"What he's done for his people has been amazing really. I've stood alongside guys whove been Black Power, Mongrel Mob, Headhunters and prayed for them. Where else in the world would me, a little white boy, pray for a big Black Power head boss?"

But gradually Tamaki's ego began to take over, Weatherby says.

"The power of honour and respect took over from the God thing. Sure, you respect your leader and honour your leader, but I think that took over too much. Who were we really honouring, him or God?

"We got to a point where we [Weatherby and his wife] didn't believe what was happening was right."

Weatherby, now a member of the Auckland-based evangelical Life church, says the process of leaving took several years. We wrestled with it for a long time. There was no pressure put on them to stay, and once they left in 2008 they never heard from the Tamakis again.

Weatherby believes the Destiny empire will eventually topple.

"In the history of churches, pastors who have done this have all fallen because it gets too enormous for them. I think in time it will probably financially fall over.

"His church is full of low-economic people. They don't have the finances to give so he's really relying on people who have got no money to pay tithes in time people are not going to be able to do it."

Another original trust board member, businessman Russell Bond, who left four years ago, says the trust deed included an unusual clause granting Tamaki absolute power of veto of any decision made by the trust board.

"At the end of the day he could do whatever he liked, according to the trust document. That isnt right, in my opinion. Most trusts . . . the majority would make a decision.

"There were no elders or anything, its not that sort of church. Its one man and his wife. I think she controls more than is probably healthy."

Bond's son, Campbell Bond, was Destiny's Wellington pastor for five years but left in 2008 and is now a pastor at Life church.

"I had some of the best years of my life there and loved a lot of it, but increasingly I did struggle with the general philosophy of the ministry . . . the sort of thing the average person would have an issue with," Campbell Bond says.

"I disagreed, and there was no room for disagreement, so I left. You cant co-exist with Brian unless you do things his way."

Campbell Bond says a huge number of people have left Destiny over the past three or four years. Its a lot smaller than it was; a lot of the churches have closed down. "They say they have 6000 members, but that's wrong - it's nowhere near that."

He did not agree with male church members being encouraged to buy an expensive covenant ring to show their support of Tamaki as it was divisive.

"It becomes territorial, like a gang thing have you got a patch, are you with us or not?"

Two of the original trust board members, John Mahia and Matt Warren, are still with Destiny.

Warren, whose son is married to Tamakis daughter, has been with Tamaki since the days of the Lake City church in Rotorua.

"He's a good guy, a fun guy," Warren says. "People say look at that car you're driving . . . look at that house you're living in. But he's been 30-something years in the same business. Thats a long time. He may be paid well for what he does - I think good on him.

"He has to take personal attacks on him and his family everyone's trying to have a piece of him. But nobody ever promotes the good work he does.

"They're always scratching for mud to throw."

Warren says last weekend's Brisbane walk-out was misrepresented by the media. He claims pastor Andrew Stock had been sprung by his own PA, who called Auckland headquarters to say Stock was planning to leave, take the congregation with him, and start a new church.

That prompted a trip to Brisbane by church leader Richie Lewis and Hannah Tamaki, who surprised Stock and confronted him about his plans, Warren says. Stock declined to comment.

Morris says despite recent events he gets the impression from visiting Destiny Church that it remains solid.

"I suspect the Destiny chapters are not over yet."

But he believes Tamaki shows signs of megalomania and is Destinys "greatest asset and greatest liability at the same time".

"If the church falls, Brian falls. He tries again and again to push the boundaries, and so his covenants and rings. Any of this could [backfire]. Each step is a further step into the dark . . . trying to take people with him and maintain an almost impossible level of commitment, to make sure the momentum doesnt die.

"I dont think that's easy. There are lots of examples from religious history of those who overstep the bounds."

 

THE STORY SO FAR

1998: Born-again Christian Brian Tamaki and wife Hannah form Destiny Church.

2000: TVNZ pulls Tamakis earlymorning slot after his comments about women in power being part of the Devils strategy. The broadcaster says language and phrases in Tamakis sermons do not meet industry standards of accuracy, fairness and balance. The show is allowed back on air after changes are made.

2003: The churchs social services director, former policeman Richard Lewis, forms a political party called Destiny New Zealand.

2004: The Sunday Star-Times reveals details of Tamakis lavish lifestyle, including gifts of Harley-Davidsons and luxury cruises, and obtains a contract that tells new members that holding back tithes is robbing God, actually stealing.

2004-05: Destiny Church organises a series of Enough is Enough rallies. Thousands march.

2005: Tamaki is ordained by his followers as a bishop. 2005: Destiny New Zealand gets 0.62% of the vote at general election. Two years later it is deregistered as a political party.

2008: Star-Times reveals Destiny and 18 other churches now take donations by eftpos.

2008: Destiny talks of plans for a major complex on 4ha of land in South Auckland, which critics say would be a walled city.

2009: Around 700 male members of the church swear an oath of loyalty and obedience to Tamaki, and are given covenant rings.

2010: Destiny today has 11 branches, down from a high of more than 20 in the early 2000s.

- © Fairfax NZ News