Howard Carter

Howard Julian Carter (10 September 1936 – 28 July 1992) was a Pentecostal Christian religious leader, known for his creation of Logos Foundation in 1969, He awarded himself a Master of Arts degree (Pacific College Theological) in 1987.

1968–1979 In the late 1960s and 1970s, Carter was influential in the charismatic movement's growth in mainstream churches in Australia and New Zealand, regularly organising 'Holy Spirit Teaching Seminars' in Sydney. His teaching was centred on themes of Christ's authority, victorious living and charismatic gifts. The majority of his teachings were distributed through Logos Foundation's "Restore" magazine and short books. The movement promoted a pyramid-like authoritarian hierarchy, in which each disciple was accountable to a personal pastor (usually the leader of the 'Household' – the name used for cell groups) for whole-of-life direction and personal decisions, and written covenants were encouraged. All these aspects theologically distanced the Logos movement from the majority of mainstream Protestant Christians.

Doctrines of submission to God's delegated authorities in order to provide promised 'covering' and complete spiritual protection were regularly promoted and were narrowly applied to wives obeying husbands, children obeying parents and disciples obeying leaders. The concept gained momentum over time and was eventually exercised in an almost cult-like manner. Leaders in the movement were required to be addressed by titles 'brother' and 'sister', which had a side effect of distancing them socially even further from the ordinary members in the movement. 'Brother Howard' announced with certainty that he was in "a submitted relationship" to the CGM apostolic group (the Fort Lauderdale Five) of Bob Mumford, Ern Baxter, Charles Simpson, Derek Prince and Don Basham. While these teachings appeared to be biblical and aimed to promote disciplined living, the result for non-leaders was a disempowering of their abilities and a neglect of their individual gifts and insights.

1980–1992 In 1980, the Logos-related churches became the Australian Fellowship of Covenant Communities and in the mid-1980s were renamed the Covenant Evangelical Church. In the early 1980s, Carter led the Logos movement through a shift in eschatology from pre-millenarianism (described as a theology of defeat) to post-millenarianism (described as a theology of victory) of the specific stream of Dominionist, Reconstructionist Theology. Carter's interpretations and teaching became more extreme, and his style more cultish and authoritarian, causing some of his leadership team, including Pastor David Jackson of Christian Faith Centre, Sydney, to leave the movement. the Filipino wing of Logos dissolved and dispersed back into established local churches.

During this period, Carter lived an extravagant lifestyle which frequently involved first-class air travel to North American and other international locations, staying at five-star hotels, and indulging in many other luxuries that were beyond the means of his loyal supporters. He drove a Mercedes Benz and lived in a large mansion with magnificent views from the Toowoomba escarpment. The Logos Foundation even owned and operated a motel in Canada with Australian staff. The financial affairs of Logos Foundation were shrouded in secrecy from most followers with little or no accountability regarding the vast sums of money that had been accumulated.

At the peak of his power towards the end of that period, Carter used alleged 'personal revelations from God' to exert enormous influence over the lives of his followers and the direction of the organization. His "revelations" were put on a par with scripture by his followers, and at times were in practice treated as being over and above scripture. That development effectively marked a shift for Logos from being purely a fundamentalist religion, into the overt traits of a cult. In his 2010 thesis, Hey (2010) identified, "Suggested reasons for Carter's failure have included insecurity, an inability to open up to others, arrogance and overconfidence in his own ability".

Death and legacy Carter died from eye cancer in 1992 in Toowoomba, Queensland.