Book Excerpt: ‘the World In Flames’
The lights are off, signaling that pagans are not welcome here. They come anyway. Every few minutes a mass of bodies marches across the lawn and climbs the stairs, fingers already reaching for the bell. We dont answer. Usually the pagans leave. But sometimes the bell is pressed again, or the door bangs impatiently. Then our father rises from the couch, a print Bible in hand he cant read, there only to emphasize his position and to help shield against evil. As soon as he steps onto the porch the visitors surge forward with their bags extended, and our ears fill with their sinful plea.
Our father explains that its against our religion to celebrate Halloween. A couple of the older kids always laugh, perhaps believing this is a continuation of the gag that had us bathe our house in darkness. The intention is to give the impression that no one is home, but the effect, for some, is to make the premises foreboding, potentially dangerous, and that draws them to us.
This was his idea. He said he and his little sister dressed up in their mothers clothes and wigs for fun all the time. Since I couldnt officially celebrate Halloween, he reasoned, this would be the next best thing. I agreed to give it a try.
Domestic Violence: How To Get Help When You Are Scared Of The Consequences
How do you recognize youre in an abusive relationship and reach out to others for help? Almost 30% of couples report that they are struggling with some sort of abuse or domestic violence, but the issue is often denied, excused, or overlooked by the victim. This is particularly true if the abuse is psychological rather than physical. The first step towards getting help is to notice and acknowledge it, rather than avoid it. You should not have to live in fear of the person you love. Look for the following red flags and, if theyre present in your relationship, reach out to somebody. Remember there is always help available for you.
Every Cult Has Its Currency Ours Was Fear
The first ten years of my life were dominated by apocalyptic biblical predictions. These projected catastrophic events kept church members focused and contributing emotionally and financially.
Asa child, I believed I would never have time to finish high school, marry or have children of my own. We were always just a year or two away from global famine, pestilence and World War III at which time we the special ones, would be whisked away to a place of safety in the Middle East for three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ.
We were taught that after most of the world had been slaughtered, a great resurrection would take place the dead would rise, including humans from ages past. The faithful members of our special religion would be rewarded with leadership positions. Those resurrected mortals that agreed to teachings would be granted eternal life, the others would be thrown into a lake of fire.
Not exactly a chilled out perspective to grow up with. Even so, my main concern as a kid was whether or not I would still be able to plug in a curling iron into a mud wall in our middle eastern hideout.
This god we were so invested in seemed like an off-centre, unkind sort of character with a bleak outlook on life.
My own flawed human heart seemed gentler than this god we prayed to a rebel thought I didnt allow myself to nurture in case it attracted worldly punishment. In reality, my view of god was shaped in the image of our narcissistic cult leader.
Read Also: What Does The Bible Say About Help
Wellspring Retreat And Resource Center
For over 25 years, Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center has provided outpatient counseling services for victims of spiritual abuse, psychological abuse, and toxic relationships in Southern Ohio. Since 1986, survivors have come from all over the globe to find respite and care through our specialized, research-based program. We offer hope and help through a program of counseling and education. We also offer phone consultations for therapeutic professionals and families, seminars, weekend educational workshops, conference presentations, and reference materials. Our treatment plan is a multifaceted approach. Clients receive daily counseling and educational workshops from gentle, licensed professionals who understand the manipulative dynamics behind exploitative groups and relationships.
International Journal Of Cultic Studies
The International Journal of Cultic Studies is published by the International Cultic Studies Association . IJCS is a refereed annual journal that publishes scholarly research on cultic phenomena across a range of disciplines and professions with a view of making research results available to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers across the world. IJCSseeks to advance the understanding of cultic phenomena in their relationship to individuals, families, and society, notably in their psychological, social, legal, educational, religious, and cultural dimensions.
Recommended Reading: What Does The Bible Say About Communication
Freedom Of Mind Resource Center Inc
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center, Inc. offers counseling, consulting, and coaching services along with information for those seeking help for themselves or a loved one concerning controlling people, cults, beliefs, and estrangement. We do a wide range of undue influence situations: estrangements, parental alienation, second generation, cults, and use the Strategic Interaction Approach created and developed by veteran Steven Hassan and explicated in Combatting Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs. It is important to stay strong, involved, and to know that “love is stronger than mind control.
Psychotherapy And Cult Recovery With Rosanne Henry Lpc
Comprehensive help for anyone affected by destructive cults: Survivors, loved ones and professionals easily accessible information on psychological manipulation and cultic abuse up to date announcements on meetings, conferences and workshops solid advice on where to find safe support and reliable resources in the cult recovery field detailed explanation of Rosanne Henrys background, experience, and approach to cult recovery.
Read Also: Which Day Is Sabbath In The Bible
Cult Education And Recovery Professional Support
Colleen Russell, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Group Psychotherapist, has over 20 years of experience in a general private practice working with individuals, couples, families, and groups in Marin County, San Francisco Bay Area. She specializes in high-demand group or cult education and recovery and was also a former member as a young adult. Her other specialties include trauma, loss and grief, and motherless daughters. She has presented at conferences and written articles for the International Cultic Studies Association, Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society, among other organizations. She has facilitated workshops for former members, family members of someone involved, and Second Generation Adults , those raised in cults. Since 2003 she has developed and facilitated a Group for Former Members in which participants address and explore issues relevant to their lives, gain acknowledgement, express differences and commonalities, and learn how others have navigated through challenging situations. The group offers opportunities for healing from loss and trauma while moving forward in ones life. Group For Former Members of High Demand Groups or Cults, Including SGAs
C 1996 Religion News Service When Dennis Girouard Joined The Worldwide Church Of God 10 Years Ago He Accepted Many Of The Doctrines That Had Caused Evangelicals And Others To Label The Denomination A Cult The Church Taught That The United States And Britain Were Heirs To Gods Covenant With Israel It Taught That
c. 1996 Religion News Service
When Dennis Girouard joined the Worldwide Church of God 10 years ago, he accepted many of the doctrines that had caused evangelicals and others to label the denomination a cult.
The church taught that the United States and Britain were heirs to Gods covenant with Israel. It taught that salvation depended on observing a Saturday sabbath, following Old Testament dietary laws and giving up to 30 percent of ones income to church and charity. It rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and proclaimed itself the only true Christian fellowship.
Then came the revolution.
Ever since the 1986 death of Herbert W. Armstrong, the charismatic founder of the Pasadena, Calif.-based church, the denominations new leaders have been reviewing his unique doctrines. Armstrongs successor, Joseph Tkach Sr., announced before his death last year that the church was rejecting those doctrines and embracing traditional evangelical Christianity.
There have been financial effects as well. More than 400 church employees lost their jobs. And in May, the church magazine, Plain Truth, switched from free to paid subscriptions, dropping from a peak circulation of 8 million in the churchs heyday to 95,000 today. The church has canceled concerts in its once highly regarded Ambassador Auditorium and is contemplating selling its headquarters building in Pasadena. Because of the cutbacks, the church maintains that it is in good financial health.
MJP END SMITH
Read Also: Does The Bible Talk About Cremation
Cri And Hank Hanegraaff Were Damaging
I mention that no other counter cult ministry was as damaging as CRI and Hank Hanegraaff for several reasons:
- He was/ and remains the loudest proponent of the WCG propaganda. He acted as the main PR spokesman for their position.
- The smaller ministries when interviewed repeatedly state they take whatever CRI says at face value and figures it has done research. I spoke with the Home Missions Board and was told that WCG has changed its doctrines and is changing. I asked the gentleman how he knew this for certain, and his response was, We follow the research of CRI. The fact is, CRI doesnt research! The deals Hank makes with cult leaders have nothing to do with research!
Hank may sound the trumpet that his relationship with the cult leaders is about doctrine, but the evidence is showing that it is more likely about personal wealth and gain.
On a recent radio show Hank had Joe Jr. and Greg Albrecht as guests. Included in the dialog filled with distortions of truth, Joe Jr. states he looks forward to working on future projects together. Update 2017: Hank Hanegraaff converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.]
Database Of Survivor Stories Related To The Troubled Teen Industry
Read the testimonies of hundreds of survivors, employees, and parents who detail their experiences with residential youth facilities across the United States.
All testimony information is provided in good faith, however we do not warrant, endorse, guarantee, or assume responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any information offered by third-party submissions.
Search any keywords such as survivor, parent, employee, a specific school name, a year, restraint or seclusion, and more to specify results.
You May Like: How To Write Bible Verses
Cults Rarely Withstand The Second Generation
Cult life didnt suit me. As a child, I longed to stand up in the middle of the two hour Saturday sermons, where toys and talking were banned, and scream out the words stop! at the top of my lungs.
As a teenager, my silent complaint was the sheer boredom of being around repetitive behavior. I had an intensely curious mind and dreamed of being a journalist a truth-seeking occupation the church could never have tolerated. Journalists work on the Sabbath so its not an option, I was told.
I wanted to date people outside the group, everyone in the small community felt like family to me. That was also forbidden a rule I broke repeatedly, at great risk. I remember having repeated nightmares about marrying my brother a symbol of the lack of chemistry I felt towards those in my closeted church peer group.
I had another repetitive nightmare where I was stuck in a black and white maze that never led anywhere and I could never escape from. Looking back, it seems obvious that represented the emotional imprisonment of the group where nothing made much sense intuitively.
Like most teenagers, I had a wild period. But, in my world, it was short-lived because the consequences were terrifying.
Despite my rebellious heart, I knew leaving would have an impossible price it meant turning my back on family, childhood friends and my perception of any form of security.
Did Herbert W Armstrong Molest His Daughter
Yes, according to both his second wife Ramona Martin and his son Garner Ted Armstrong. Armstrongs lawyers were successful in limiting what Martin could say about her ex-husbands prior incestuous conduct with his daughter for many years. Its also been said that Armstrongs son Garner Ted threatened to expose his fathers dark secret after their relationship went south.
Read Also: What Does The Bible Say About The Earth Being Round
What Growing Up In A Cult Taught Me About Real Life
My experience growing up in a cult left me sensitive to manipulation and a strong defender of basic human freedoms. In particular, I strongly support the right to freedom of identity a right beyond freedom of speech, which the world is only now coming to terms with.
Through this life lens, I spot cultish behavior in many areas of everyday life the corporate world as a prime example. More recently, I see it reflected within startup culture, where people are often enrolled in organizations that barely pay their way under the promise of future opportunity which typically only arrives for the founders and early-stage investors.
These are some of the values I have learned to live by:
No rules or customs are sacred. Question everything. Dont obey the should only subscribe to things that make sense and feel right.
Feel everything and dont let anyone tell you how to feel.
All feelings are equal no feelings are superior and all have value.
Everyone is intrinsically unique. You dont need to prove that to anyone, least of all yourself.
Be wary of elitist groups everyone is equal
Dont check your identity at the door anywhere you have a right to express your unique self in any environment.
Birthdays are important sounds trivial, but this is one day a year when you get to focus on the value of you and your life. Celebrate it.
Sign up here to get INSIDER’s favorite stories straight to your inbox.
Follow Fleur Brown on Medium.
Was The New Bethany Home For Boys Real
Yes. It was a companion torture compound to the New Bethany Home for Girls, and stories from these horrific camps have been covered in Mother Jones and The Daily Beast.
The homes were all part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement , and the New Bethany compounds were founded in 1971 by Mack Ford. Ford opened many of these schools, which stayed in the news for decades with repeated news about escaped students, stories of rampant abuse, and numerous allegations of sexual abuse against the staff, including Ford. Ford died in 2015 at the age of 82.
Don’t Miss: First Sentence Of The Bible
First Chinks In The Armour
The first slight cracks in my faith in the teachings of the cult came when I decided to study in depth each book of the Bible as a discrete unit, as if it were not part of the canon. I would even try to read it as if I knew absolutely nothing at all about anything else in the Bible. That is, I would try to read each book to try to ascertain what it was saying in its own terms without any reference in my own mind to any other canonical work. Of course most books, especially in the New Testament, do contain references to other biblical books. But I did not want to read, say, Romans, with any baggage in my head from what any other letter or gospel said. That process led to some interesting results. I began to see that some of the churchs teachings were really founded on unjustifiable interpretations. Whats more, I began to notice many passages that I had once read so often but also passed over so often without realizing their full import for the message the author was trying to convey. I took a number of questions to our ministry and earned myself a few worried looks. I was beginning to realize I was coming to understand and know more about what the Bible says than our trained ministry. I could see that they had not been taught to study the Bible as such but only to study the churchs teachings in the Bible.
Edmonton Society Against Mind Abuse
ESAMA is dedicated to providing information, education and awareness about cultic, high demand groups and to supporting ex-members and their families through recovery. Our vision is to be a leading resource in Alberta for anyone who wants information or has been affected by mind control through cultic/high demand groups and to develop strong relationships with professionals across Canada and on an international scale.
Also Check: Where Should I Start Studying The Bible
Worldwide Church Of God Known As A Very Destructive Cult
The WCG rightly deserved its well-documented title of a very destructive cult. In over sixty years of existence, it has caused nothing but destruction and has left a mass of ruination of lives of thousands in its wake in every capacity imaginable. The WCG corporate empire afforded the leaders the power to continue in the face of opposition time and again. The string of lawsuits and court cases, the suicides, the investigations, the receivership, the double lives of the leaders, the allegations of homosexuality and sexual deviance, and the financial opulence and waste under a deception and shield of Christ, may have played into the hands of the leaders for several decades but it caught up with the corporate empire and led to the demise of a smoke screen church.
The unique Armstrong message of Apocalypticism, British-Israelism, and One World Government ran dry as a product for the money men. It was dying on a continuing slide downward since the late 1960s. Doctrinally, the cult was always in flux as to accuracy of doctrines, which caused ongoing rebellions and steady attrition. While Apocalyptic churches espousing the Volumes of Fundamentalism will always be a part of the religion circuit, they will never attract a major following. It will hold a pinhead size share of the major Christian market. That pinhead share has not in the past, and will not in the future, pave the way for a $200,000,000 yearly income.