Suliasi Kurulo & Idolatry

Suliasi Kurulo is the senior pastor of World Harvest Centre based in Suva, Fiji. He is also the leader of CMF International or Christian Missionary Fellowship International. I attended his main church in Suva when I was living in Fiji. There was many things I saw that did not make me at ease. However, for reasons that wouldn’t be right in this article, I had to attend the services at least on Sunday morning.

Coming at the services as someone with a divinity degree and a undergraduate in Evangelism; I was not some native guy that just takes every fad in churches and slap “God’s pattern” on it. I question things in churches. I question everything. The bible tells us to do so. Pastors are to subject to the people they serve; not the people subject to the pastor they serve!

In alot of ways, it is just Rhema Bible Church but without Kenneth Hagin and a decade too late. It was much the ministry style I saw in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma back in the 1990’s as a teenager. A few cultural differences but that is about it. The same give everything you have and worship your pastor to get prosperity. I reject it then and I reject it now.

Suliasi Kurulo is the man of God

If you think this is very dangerous theology to stand on, you are right. However, CMF International has built the ministry on this questionable doctrine. Most pastors that was involved in it has repented and publicly stated it was not a New Testament dynamic. Suliasi Kurulo still teaches it and encourages it among his leaders.

Back in the Word of Faith movement, you would hear that you should not question the “man of God.” In him, you found your deliverance and your healing. The problem with these teachings was most, if not all, pastors are not prophets and none of them are living in the Old Testament. Today, all believers are the man (or woman) of God.

You do not attract God’s blessing from giving to a man, buying him a car, a house, or anything of the like. The blessing of the Lord is only attracted in the presence of the Holy Spirit. There is no poverty in God’s presence. There is poverty in the presence of Suliasi Kurulo.

This type of teaching are all by dead in America’s churches. We have long repented of them and have returned the biblical emphasis on the presence of God, not the presence of a leader. However, word must travel slow in nations like Fiji Islands. Several major ministries are still teaching doctrines from the 1980’s that are misunderstood and some of them were just wrong, to be honest.

It is time we take some truths from the Word of Faith movement, check them out biblically, and apply them. Not everything was right but alot of it was. Take what was right and travel following the fire of God to what is the current emphasis of the Spirit of God.

Suliasi Kurulo is money hungry

I remember this more than anything. The emphasis on building, vehicles and money for the pastor was out of this world. It was more extreme than anything I saw in Tulsa and that is making a statement. Oral Roberts got this way and it almost destroyed his ministry too. City of Faith, once a medical center is now just an office building that was sold off for peanuts. However, that was pale compared to Suliasi Kurulo.

Every year, they have some crazy fundraiser that is only at least a million dollars and the church is expected to give him the money or they are bad Christians. They zone off the city and each zone is given a number they are expected to raise. Many of the members are completely gripped with fear so they suffer so the “man of God” can be blessed.

Nevermind that Fiji is one of the poorest countries in the Pacific and that because of unstable governments, the Fijian Dollar has completely tanked. Forget that most Fijians can’t even afford to fly to New Zealand or Australia. You can also forget that the ones with jobs make about $1.20 an hour. I find that few Fijians had any type of extra income or any types of savings. They are not prepared for a rainy day.

That does not matter to Suliasi Kurulo. He is flying all over the world. He is chatting with publishers for a book he wants to write (to generate more money for him). He is relaxing at a resort in the Yasawa Islands group.

Fear is never of the Holy Spirit

Much of the questionable doctrine coming out of CMF International is based in the Old Testament, a covenant that we do not live under and the Cross of Christ fulfilled. Under the New set of rules, there is NO fear, condemnation and shame for those in Christ Jesus.

You have no reason to fear a man like Suliasi Kurulo. From God’s point of view, you are the same: a person that came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You are on a equal pane with him. He has nothing. Only the Spirit of God can touch you, heal you, deliver you, and transform you. The “anointing” is the Holy Spirit. He will come directly to you if you ask.

There is no reason to believe that giving money to a man will make God want to give you more. Giving does release blessing but proper giving. Giving to Suliasi Kurulo does nothing for anyone but Suliasi Kurulo. Find a ministry that really is focused on helping the poor in Fiji and are doing great things for the Kingdom, not building their own kingdom.

Anytime that a pastor is more well known than the ministry he leads, you should run as fast as you can. God wants to be the One known, not a pastor. He is the one that wants to be made famous, not a pastor. It is time we think this, Suliasi Kurulo.