RONALD M. ENROTH
Written 1992
ELITISM AND PERSECUTION
Abusive Churches See Themselves as Special
Barbara Harold was almost twenty-one in the summer of 1988,
living in Tempe, Arizona, and attending nursing school in Mesa.
While running in the park one night, she was approached by a
harmless-looking couple who invited her to attend a "Bible Talk."
She declined. The woman pursued her and asked to at least have
lunch together so that they might talk. Intrigued, and not having
any really close friends, Barbara decided to accept. Within a few
weeks, she was attending a regular Bible study with three other
girls from the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ, an affiliate of
the socalled Boston Movement. Although brought up a Baptist,
Barbara had not been to church in four years and was looking for
something to which she could belong, to feel a part of. She was
looking for friends with whom she could bare her soul and be
secure. She joined Phoenix Valley Church of Christ in July of
1988, was baptized in November of that same year, and became an
assistant Bible Talk leader by the following June. When she left
the church in June of 1990, she was "totally devastated, afraid
to be alone, severely depressed, and on the verge of suicide."
While a part of the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ,
Barbara's life was very full. After classes and work at the
hospital, every evening was filled with activities. Monday and
Tuesday she and her friends went "door knocking" (street
evangelism) or "blitzed" the local malls. Wednesday they were at
church. Thursday was "Bible Talk" night (their term for Bible
studies). Friday they had activities with visitors. Saturday was
"date night," when all single members of the church were expected
to be out on group dates. Sunday night was either Bible Talk
leaders' meetings or activities with roommates. Such a schedule
left no room for non-church activities.
In addition to this full evening schedule, Barbara was told
that she must have an hour of quiet time with God each day. Given
that she had to be at the hospital each morning at 6:30, Barbara
would rise by 4:15 to spend her "quiet time." Invariably, because
of the demands of her heavy schedule, she would fall asleep
unless someone else was with her. This led to her being called
"weak hearted" and lacking in zeal for God by her disciplers
(those more mature Christians who supervised her spiritual
activity) and the other women in her Bible study. A vicious cycle
of emotional highs and guilty depressions resulted.
Her disciplers also told her to quit exercising, something
she did four to five times a week, unless she was using it as a
means to reach out and share the Gospel. Her regular exercise
regimen was seen as being "too self-focused." She was told, "You
must live for God's kingdom only." Because she came to believe
that her whole family would be lost if she didn't try to convert
them (the Boston churches constituted the only "true Church"),
Barbara was constantly speaking to them about their salvation.
Her family grew tired of the spiritual barrage, as did her old
friends, so Barbara ended up moving into an apartment with four
other women from the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ. Although
she enjoyed the activities and the peprally-like church sermons,
Barbara was under constant pressure to be something she wasn't.
She was always required to confess sin to her discipler. Not
being a very extroverted person, Barbara found it hard to meet
the requirement to constantly evangelize. Times with her
discipler were like interrogations: How many persons did you
reach out to today? Barbara's answer was invariably one, two, or
none. She was told that because she didn't desire to reach out
and witness that Satan was in her, that she didn't have Jesus'
heart for the lost, and that she needed to be more like Jesus.
Finally, the pressure became so great that she began making
up sins to confess so that she would at least have something else
to say. She constantly felt guilty.
Members of the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ would compare
their "Bible Talks" with the Bible studies of other campus
fellowships, and comment on the amount of sexual immorality that
must be going on in these other groups. Members of their church
never went on single dates, but always in groups of four to
eight. "Sisters" were never to be alone in a room with "brothers"
for more than fifteen minutes. Members required permission to
call one another for dates, and, after going out, were grilled by
their disciplers about lustful thoughts during those dates.
Couples going steady were allowed to hold hands and give one
another pecks on the cheek. No solo dating by individual couples
was permitted. There was a strong emphasis on getting the
brothers married, as "It is not good for the man to be alone
(Gen. 2:18)." Consequently, no single sister was ever to be home
alone on a Saturday night.
The amount of control exercised over Barbara's life and the
life of some of her friends extended to extremely personal
levels. Members would quit very good jobs to be "in the ministry"
full-time. It was a sign of their dedication to God. Disciplers
would tell married couples when and how to have sex, a fact that
caused one of Barbara's best friends to leave the church with her
husband. Disciplers would require that every single sin, even
negative thoughts, be confessed to them. If you "stuffed" bad
feelings toward someone down in your heart, that is, if you
didn't confess them, you were in sin. This would obviously lead
to more sin since a root had already taken hold.
Barbara's last night with the Phoenix Valley Church of
Christ was one of severe reprimand and interrogation by the
members of her Bible study because of her alleged "stuffing" of
bad feelings. The Bible study was not "advancing" (growing in
numbers), and she was obviously at fault. What bad feelings and
thoughts was she stuffing? Why wasn't she having quality quiet
times with the Lord? How many persons was she really reaching out
to each day? One by one, each member told her what her
shortcomings were. Yet they all declared their support and love
for her, along with their great desire to see her grow.
Barbara asked to move back with her parents that same night.
"It was the hardest decision I ever made," she said. She was
emotionally unstable, and didn't even know how or what she felt,
since she was so used to having someone else tell her that what
she was feeling was wrong and of Satan. Her guilt increased,
exacerbated by the fact that members contacted her and asked,
"How could you allow Satan to harden your heart so much to do
this to your friends?" She was told to remember that her heart
was "exceedingly deceitful."
That same night she also phoned one of her old disciples, a
woman who had been "marked" (shunned) by members of the church
for marrying the wrong man.
Although one was not supposed to talk to ex-members because
they would "try to pull you away," Barbara found it a relief to
have someone to talk to. Getting a better perspective by talking
things out with her friend, Barbara's resolve not to return grew.
Even though at times she felt like she was leaving the "true
Church" or turning her back on God and heading for hell, Barbara
knew that the "unconditional love" preached by the Boston
Movement churches was very conditional when it came to
ex-members.
Barbara returned to her shared apartment the next morning to
gather her things. She ignored the "love bombs" that members and
leaders attempted to throw at her - things like invitations to
activities, reminders of good times together, and words of
encouragement. Somehow she found the strength and courage to walk
away from the highly controlling and manipulative environment in
which she found herself; she returned home to her family. She had
been in the Boston affiliated Phoenix Valley Church of Christ for
two years.
Barbara is concerned for her friends still in the group.
Although she knows that she would be indulging in blasphemy in
the eyes of the members by calling the Boston movement a
destructive group and warning her friends, she realizes that her
severe depression, attempted suicide, and sleeping sixteen to
eighteen hours a day with no hope for the future are not the
results of a ministry centered around Jesus' Gospel of grace. If
it was such a wonderful thing that God could lead her and others
into such a movement, why must it be of Satan to feel that God
has saved her and led her out? She now hopes that others in the
Boston Movement will have the strength and courage to question
whether they really are right in their convictions, whether God
is truly blessing their ministry, and whether they really do
belong to the only "true church" on earth.
Barbara knows that one day she will be seeking God and
wanting to know the truth again. She believes that God himself
will lead her to the right place. But right now she is burned out
on church and she knows she is not ready to get involved in any
kind of church. After twelve weeks of therapy, Barbara is now
just beginning to make simple decisions on her own and is
attempting to make a normal life for herself.
(Again, any of you reading this that were ever in the Worldwide
Church of God under Herbert Armstrong from 1967 to his death in
1986, this should be all too familiar. Certainly the so-called
hours of "dedicated work for the Lord" and "elitism" and time
consumed in "church activities" to the casting away of other
people, relatives, and "worldly clubs" so-called, together with
the indoctrination of the WCG being the ONLY true church
organization on earth, was indeed all part of that organization
from 1967 to 1986 - BIG LOUD BELLS should be ringing in your
head, you ex WCGers - Keith Hunt)
The Boston Movement, earlier known as the "Crossroads
Movement" and "Multiplying Ministries," had its origins in the
Crossroads Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, under the
leadership of Pastor Chuck Lucas. He stressed personal
discipleship training, a variant of the shepherding philosophy so
popular during the 1970s. This philosophy stressed the need for
every believer to have a "covering" in the Lord, a delegated
authority who must be unconditionally obeyed and consulted for
even the most personal decisions. One of Lucas' own disciples,
Kip McKean, became pastor of a small Church of Christ in
Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1979 and transformed a group of less
than one hundred members into a thriving congregation worshiping
on Sundays in Boston Garden, home of the Celtics. It has been
under the leadership and influence of this young evangelist that
the Boston Church of Christ has developed into what one observer
calls the "Jerusalem" of one of the most controversial and most
publicized of the authoritarian movements discussed in this book.
Unlike the mainline Churches of Christ (which have distanced
themselves from this rapidly growing offshoot), the congregations
affiliated with the Boston Movement answer to their mother church
in Boston. The doctrinal areas that have caused most controversy
are those dealing with authority, discipling, baptism, autonomy
of congregations, and the role of the leadership, especially the
leadership of Kip McKean.
Central to the Boston Movement's belief system is its view
of authority. The leaders have justified the use of abusive
authority in order to follow Jesus. They demand submission even
if the leaders are sinful and un-Christ-like. Here are examples
of statements made by various Boston leaders that illustrate
their position:
Often we are afraid to submit to authority because it might
be abusive. Jesus was not afraid of abusive authority; he
was even willing to submit and obey authority that was
abusive (Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 27:11-50).... When we
trust God, we do not have to be afraid of abusive authority.
Just as in the times of the New Testament, there will be
people who are hurt and killed by abusive authorities, but
God is still in control; if they were right with Him, and
they will be ultimately rescued to the supreme
security--home with God.... It is not an option to rebel
against their authority.... God's people must be aware that
they have a responsibility before God to respect, obey, and
submit to His anointed servants.... Far too many with the
church of Christ have imitated the words of Korah and other
leaders of Israel who said to Moses, 'You have gone too far!
The whole community is holy, everyone of them, and the Lord
is with them. Why do you set yourself above the Lord's
assembly?'.... It is true that all Christians walking in the
light are holy and God is indeed with everyone of them.
However, it is also true that through His spirit certain men
have been assigned responsibilities to lead in the Kingdom
and that to oppose them is to oppose God who anointed them.
The Boston Movement teaches that each member should be
answerable to another disciple in order to provide nurturing
for new Christians. Members are encouraged to imitate and
trust their disciplers.
A disciple is one who obeys his discipler even if he doesn't
comprehend what he's told. Because he wants to have a
teachable heart, he will fully obey and be totally obedient
even if what he's asked to do is contrary to what he would
normally do or think. To distrust the person God had put in
his life is equal to distrusting God and his faith in God is
shown by his faith in his discipler.
(WOW!! This is like reading about the teaching and attitude of
the WCG under HWA from 1967 to 1986. They taught the very same
thing - that to obey the leaders was to obey God, to disobey the
leaders was to disobey God - such was classified as the sin of
rebellion, and if continued in you would be "marked" and put out
of the church, then everyone you had come to know would shun and
ignore you, and you would be in the hands of Satan the Devil. You
were taught that the leaders were specially guided from God, and
that HWA was directly under Christ - whatever he decided was the
guiding inspired hand and mind of God. You were in many ways
pumped with this talk and attitude at every church meeting -
Keith Hunt)
In 1987, evangelist Kip McKean gave a talk entitled, "Why Do
You Resist the Spirit?" in which he said, "No one can do it on
their own. Everybody needs ongoing discipleship. You are a
disciple of God until you die and you are a disciple of someone
else until you die."
The Boston Movement demands "Lordship baptism." In other
words, one must confess Jesus as the Lord of every area of his
life and demonstrate that he is a disciple before being baptized.
This has resulted in a wave of rebaptisms, since new adherents
who may have been baptized in another Christian church find that
their previous baptism is not acceptable to the Boston Church of
Christ. Even those people with backgrounds in the mainline
Churches of Christ find themselves needing rebaptism.
The Boston Movement is an example of the elitist orientation
that is so pervasive in authoritarian-church movements. It alone
has the Truth, and to question its teachings and practices is to
invite rebuke. As Jerry Jones observes:
When the Boston Movement is confronted with their wrong
teachings, its practice is to attack the character and life of
the questioner by claiming that he has "sin in his life." Such
terms as "prideful," "independent spirit," and "rebellious" are
used in answer to the inquirer. The Boston Movement believes that
being "independent" or "critical" is sin.
(Ah so it was in the WCG under HWA - no independent spirit was
allowed - no questioning of the leaders was allowed - no
questioning of the teachings - no questioning of the decisions
made was allowed, especially if they came from the very top - HWA
himself. It was a church of "be quiet - pray and pay" - Keith
Hunt)
Yeakley's research on the Boston Movement concluded that the
disciple/discipler relationship was potentially manipulative and
destructive. Because members are required to confess their sins
to their disciplers, the emphasis on such self-disclosure can be
dangerous.
The discipling hierarchy thus becomes a glorified informant
network. As such, it is an effective means of control.... Those
being discipled were told what courses to take in school, what
field to major in, what career to enter, whom to date or not
date, and even whom to marry or not marry.
(Yes, whatever the exact form it took the bottom line was
CONTROL, control and more control - such indeed was it in the WCG
under HWA - Keith Hunt)
The spiritual elitism of abusive churches can be seen in
some of the terminology they use to refer to themselves: "God's
Green Berets," "God's End-Time Army," the "faithful remnant," the
special "move of God." As one ex-member put it, "We believed we
were on the cutting edge of what God was doing in the world. I
looked down on people who left our movement; they didn't have
what it took. They were not faithful to their commitment. When
everyone else got with God's program, they would be involved in
shepherding just like we were." A former member of a group known
as The Assembly (headquartered in Fullerton, California, and
discussed later in this book) said, "Although we didn't come
right out and say it, in our innermost hearts we really felt that
there was no place in the world like our assembly. We thought the
rest of Christianity was out to lunch."
(That was certainly the case with the WCG under HWA - every other
church organization was "out to lunch" - not being a part of
them, all others were not of the "true church of God" - Keith
Hunt)
Community Chapel's Pastor Barnett regularly reminded his
followers that their church was special. "We've got to go on into
a new thing that God has promised in his Word that no church has
ever come into yet.... Do you know of any other church in which
people are loving each other with that same kind of unconditional
love? I don't."
If abusive churches are exclusive and special, it follows
that they will be targets for persecution, or so their leaders
seem to feel. "It is the earmark of the last day church that if
God has promised it, and we are beginning to experience it, you
know the devil's going to fight it."
Pastor Barnett would tell his flock: "You'll be a laughing
stock, a mockery. You will find that there will be hatred toward
you and it will come from the church world. You are sheep among
wolves, and the wolves are the religious ones, the church world."
The leader of one controversial group named Aggressive
Christianity Missions Training Corps complained, "The churches
are full of sinners. We don't want to be hypocrites. You try to
be strict and keep people clean, and everybody crucifies you.
We're strict and we're not going to apologize for it. If we're
crucified, we're crucified."
(It comes from a VANITY that in their mind makes then "special" -
they have a connection with God that no other church has, hence
they will suffer persecution. They do not stop to think that the
persecution is maybe coming from what they themselves say about
others and how they vainly act towards others, words they say to
others, always trying to preach to others, always trying to "get
people saved" and nobody is saved unless they are in their church
organization - they are bringing about a self-fulfilled prophecy
- Keith Hunt)
Jan was a member of a group that felt it was being unjustly
persecuted by its critics, including the press. Here is her
account of life with The Piecemakers, a small southern California
communal-Christian group.
Jan had had all she was going to take. Eleven years of
frustrated emotion, suppressed anger, and mental anguish came
boiling out, and she began to swing her purse and bags of
groceries at her tormentors - two "sisters" in the Body of Christ
Fellowship, the informal name for The Piecemakers. They were
"loving" her to repentance by screaming obscenities at her and
attempting to "break through" to the point where she would again
be submissive to the words and teachings of their unofficial
leader, Marie Kolasinski. Although one of the women was nearly
twice her size and holding her arms, Jan managed to break free,
run to her room, and lock the door. Later, when her husband
joined her, she said, "Mark, you have to get us and the kids out
of here and away from these people."
The next morning Jan insisted that the six adults in her
household meet to discuss who would be moving out. The two
"sisters" wanted to postpone the meeting until the next day when
Marie would be home from her family vacation in the mountains.
Saying that she was "no fool," Jan stood her ground. The
"sisters," as well as Jan's natural sister and brother-in-law who
were also a part of the Fellowship, declared that they were
staying and "claiming the land for God." Jan, as holder of the
lease, knew otherwise.
That afternoon, twenty members of the Body of Christ
Fellowship came to move the women out. In the process, they took
everything that they believed had been bought with "God's money"
- sheets off the beds, toilet paper holders out of the bathrooms,
bolts and screws ripped right out of the walls. Jan's house was
ransacked. Unfortunately, Mark was not home at the time.
Later, in the early evening, five of the "brothers" came
back, saying they had come to claim "God's bed" - a youth bed on
which Jan's youngest daughter slept. Not wanting them to trash
the children's room, Jan asked if she could bring the bed
downstairs. She was pushed out of the way by her brother, also a
member of the Fellowship, and the men headed up the stairs.
Grabbing her brother's arm and pleading with him, Jan was beaten
to the floor. Another relative, who had come to stay and help Jan
out, had her arm twisted behind her back until she cried, and was
told to "Keep out of God's way!" Meanwhile, Jan's
thirteen-year-old son, eldest of her six children, had run down
to the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife, and was on his way up
the stairs to protect his mother. In the resulting chaos, the men
left with the bed, and Jan and her children were left crying on
the floor.
When Mark returned home, Jan asked the children not to tell
him how roughly she had been treated, but the children told all.
Mark responded by gathering his six children into his arms,
saying, "It doesn't matter. We've only lost material things. I
have what I've been praying for. My family is now free."
This dramatic account, tearfully related to me by Jan one
month after her departure from the Body of Christ Fellowship,
exemplifies the trauma of involvement in even the smallest of
aberrational, abusive groups. The Body of Christ Fellowship, also
known by their business name of Piecemakers Country Store, is
located in Costa Mesa, California. Unofficially headed by
grandmotherly Marie Kolasinski, who denies her leadership role
("God would strike me down if I took credit for his beautiful
work"), the Body of Christ Fellowship is unique in its use of
profanity, for Marie's edict that required vasectomies for male
members, and for their claims that the second coming of Christ
has "already come and gone."
Jan and her family were members of the Fellowship for eleven
years. Most of her children were born during their involvement
with the organization, which first began because Jan believed
that members of the Fellowship had a "greater Christian walk."
She felt that they were "walking in the fullness of life," and
were growing closer to Jesus than was possible in other groups or
churches. Her first encounter with Marie (she is known by no
other title) came about through a mutual friend. Marie said,
without ever having met her before, "Oh, Jan, take off your shoes
for you are standing on holy ground."
In the early days, the group experienced healings, spoke in
tongues, and conducted baptisms in a local wimming pool. However,
somewhere along the line, Marie and the Fellowship began changing
from a charismatic Bible study to a strict, authoritarian
communal group. The change occurred gradually, with Marie slowly
introducing teachings that contradicted the Bible.
(Yes, and so with the WCG under HWA, changes brought in on
"church government" were the opposite from the Bible and from
what he himself taught back in the 1930s. Fear tactics, elitism,
power in one way or another over the people of the church is what
makes that church become a cult - Keith Hunt)
While the group claims to live peacefully as a communal
witness (they own several houses in the Costa Mesa area), their
doctrine and practices have evolved over the years to a point of
drastic departure from orthodoxy. Marie believes that she has
"come through the veil" - that she experienced the death of her
flesh in 1978 and now walks in sinless perfection. As the only
one to have yet begun to "walk in the fullness," she dictates
every aspect of the lives of her followers so that they too, some
day, may join her in her exalted state. Consequently, she is
beyond confrontation and in total control. "If you are sitting in
this room today, and you are doubting whether or not these are
the words of the Father, you better check to see if you are doing
the will of God." She adds, "I always marvel at people who will
come and hear the truth of what is going on in this fellowship
and reject it."
As the only one yet to achieve sinless perfection, Marie is
God's mouthpiece to her followers. Any questioning of her
decisions or dissent is defined as the rebellion of the original
sin nature in her followers and an indication of their lack of
perfection. "Words" from God, received by Marie, are obeyed by
her followers without question. Members have been known to
surrender wedding rings, forsake their children, and move to
different states, in obedience to Marie's received "words." Marie
has also reportedly received "words" telling members to give
money to her husband for his failing business, or to refrain from
styling another's hair after she received a poor haircut.
According to Marie's philosophy, growing closer to God requires
suffering. This means the travail and pain of letting go of
everything of one's old life - family relationships, both
immediate and extended; personal belongings of sentimental value;
and the ability to control one's life and make personal
decisions. The more broken her members, the closer they are to
"entering into God." Therefore, every aspect of their personal
lives and egos is systematically assaulted.
(So was it also, in one form or another, in the WCG under HWA. He
it was taught was God's appointed end time Apostle, with all
inspired authority for all decisions in the church - spiritual
and physical. Such are the ways of false dictatorship people who
come in the name of God, claiming they have a special "anointing
of the Lord" that makes them infallible and unable to make
mistakes or errors in understanding the Scriptures correctly. And
true to form they claim they have the right to govern your every
part of your life. Hundreds of examples could be given as it was
applied in the WCG under HWA. I'm sure many of you reading this
can well think of examples of how the ministry ruled many facets
of the lives of members of the WCG - Keith Hunt)
One of Marie's assistants indicated that members cry and go
through so much emotional and spiritual torture because it is a
painful process to shed all of life's pleasures in order to serve
God. Jackie Kindschi, Marie's childhood friend and former member
of the Fellowship, was quoted in a local newspaper as saying:
"Marie believes, and so do the others, that when they pick
on a person and break them down, they are helping them get
closer to God. She really thinks she is doing the right
thing.... When I look around my apartment and see all the
things I "idolize," like my children and grandchildren, my
memories and my material items, all the things that Marie
says we shouldn't have, I say hallelujah.
Marie's brother and sister-in-law are also very concerned.
Somewhere along the line Marie got messed up with drugs, and
the next time we saw her, she was the leader of this group."
They did attend some of the meetings at the fellowship but
decided the group was not for them. Everything is contrary
to scriptural teachings and she twists them to fit her
cause. She is holding those people hostage and threatens
them with God."
Marie now believes and claims that she "holds the keys to
the Kingdom," and has the power to regulate who and who will not
have the opportunity to go to heaven. Jan says that her
manipulation is "total and complete," and that there is no
possibility of members winning against her. In the "fullness"
there is neither right nor wrong, good nor bad; therefore,
anything that Marie does or says is perfect.
Since "dying to the flesh" allows Jesus Christ to be born in
a person in fullness (the supposed second coming of Christ
according to Marie), those individuals who have come or are
coming "through the veil" should no longer live "fleshly" lives.
Therefore, members of the Body of Christ abstain from sexual
relationships with their spouses since there is neither male nor
female nor marriage in the Kingdom of God. "Natural man must shed
all his ways to reach God. The flesh must die in order for us to
gain entry into the Kingdom of God. I'm celibate and am no longer
a slave to any man, lust, or desire. Only God is in my thoughts
now."
Conceiving and bearing children are both considered to be
sorrowful ordeals. Marie believes that humankind evolved from the
animals, so that having children is "reproducing after one's
lustful flesh." Children therefore keep one from seeking God; one
needs rather to have "spiritual children." Needless to say, the
children in the Body of Christ Fellowship do not lead normal
lives, usually being separated from their parents. Marie states
that God himself is "trying to tear down the family unit."
Living out their commitment to God, members rise each day at
5:15 A.M. They meet at 5:30 A.M. to walk for two miles, then
receive the day's instructions from Marie at her home. Members
are assigned to either work at Piecemakers, do manual labor
through the Village Tilers, a home improvement arm of
Piecemakers, or baby-sit a host of children. Members' weekly
salary is ten dollars and no free time is allowed. Jan says that,
"Every minute of the day was accounted for. If you were supposed
to be somewhere, you were there and no one argued."
Portions of the day are spent in meetings to learn
about God and scold errant members. These "scoldings" can last
for hours and include being labeled a "slut" or a "whore," if one
is a woman, or being convinced that one is weak and worthless, if
one is a man. Accompanying the scoldings are outpourings of
profanity, the use of which, one therapist believes, breaks down
religious training so that victims are more open to Marie's
influence.
Those who supposedly attempt to usurp Marie's authority are
the most severely abused by brutal grouphumiliation tactics and
peer pressure. "They would hit you blindside, and you never knew
it was coming. All the members would gather around and begin
screaming and hollering obscenities until you broke," says one
former member. There are also allegations of physical beatings.
However, Marie claims that only by their strength and adherence
to the word of God, and submission to her authority, will members
overcome and be successful. Success is defined as the return of
all that one has given up to "go through the veil."
Interestingly, Marie's husband, Ray, is Catholic and not a
member of the Body of Christ Fellowship. Jan states that while
Marie preaches against family, she is a submissive wife to Ray,
cooking his dinner, keeping his house, and attending Mass at his
side. However, Jan also notes that at the point Marie received
the word about communal living and the pooling of resources, Ray
needed money to pay his taxes. The pooled funds allegedly went to
pay Ray's tax debt, among other things.
(You are seeing how absolutely CRAZY minded some of these leaders
can be - and how what is good for the gander is often not good
for the goose. Leaders who are truly FRUIT-NUT-CASES that should
be in the "insane" lock-up section of the mental hospital. The
sad thing is they are not and they get others to be as insane as
they are - Keith Hunt)
The straw that finally broke the camel's back for Jan was
watching her own sister and another woman verbally abuse and
attack her mother with gross profanity. Why? Because she wanted
to bring Christmas presents to her grandchildren. Jan thought,
"This can't be what religion and Jesus are all about. This isn't
what he died on the cross for. Her altercation with the other
persons of her household came shortly thereafter. Within a few
days, she and her family had escaped.
Marie claims that Jan is bitter because she was not strong
enough to "walk with God." She told Jan that she would "turn into
a whore, an alcoholic, and a drug addict," that she would be
"crazy within six weeks, just like your mother," and that her
husband would be "chasing everything in a skirt."
Jan and her family had to move out of the area to escape
constant threats and harassment from members and Marie. Although
they have been away from Marie Kolasinski and the Body of Christ
Fellowship for over six years, the emotional scars and spiritual
turmoil are only now fading away. There is still guilt over
influencing four of her siblings to become involved in the group.
She has only recently regained her "vision for God." And she and
her family have only just recently returned to church. But they
are free.
......
To be continued
Note:
It is hard for some to beleive such people in charge of such
organization actually have and do exist. But it is very much so.
I have seen it. I have gone through it. I have seen it develope
right under my nose. I have been witness to all these things,
some in different forms, that make a religious organization into
an abusive church, and actually in plain language a CULT!
But you knowing what to look for; you knowing what true church
government is, for I have given it to you on this Website; you
can be made FREE!! God has so determined in these last days that
His truth will be proclaimed on the Internet - my Website and Blog is
part of that plan of God, the door open for the people of God.
Now truths can be expounded in great detail, all the truths of
the Word of the Lord, and you are free to study them, come to
know them, decide to obey and serve Jesus as your Lord and
Savior, and never get mixed up with others that do not speak and
act in word and life according to the truths of God.
I am just a man, a voice crying in the wilderness of deception,
sin, wickedness, and false teachings. That is really all you need
to know about me, if you want to know no more. And you can study
every study on my Website and Blog and come to the knowledge of the
truth. Then I pray YOU will live it, be as wise as a serpent but
as harmless as a dove. And you and I do not have to talk or see
each other until the resurrection day. But on that day I hope you
will introduce yourself and tell me how you found the Lord or
came to the correct understanding of God's truths from my
Website and Blog, I've been blessed to be custodian of them both.
Keith Hunt
To be continued
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