Jedi Knight Army: "I got caught up in a cult"

"I got caught up in a cult"

Seventeen Magazine/September 1995

By Jeanette Batz

Donna Buckmeyer was a college freshman, 2500 miles from home, hoping to find a few new friends. Instead, they found her - and pulled her into a zealous religious group that took over her life. In high school, Donna Buckmeyer, was totally into dance. She had trained since she was 8, and she performed with a local company. She was an honors student - math and physics were her favorite subjects - who also knew how to have fun: seeing movies, going out with guys, hanging with her friends.

But when she was 18, she stopped dancing. She swore off boys, ditched her friends and gave away her favorite dress - a cobalt-blue strapless - because she was convinced it would "tempt men into sinful desires". She also gave away nearly $4,000 of her hard-earned money.

What changed Donna? She had found a new group of friends - or at least they seemed like friends. Feeling lonely during her freshman year at college, she joined the New York City Church of Christ.

"All of a sudden, this group seemed to meet all the needs I had," Donna says. "It gave me a purpose in life, a way to help the world and, most of all, friendship."

The church, which met in an old theater, is one of 193 International Churches of Christ around the world. A fundamentalist, Bible-based rewrite of traditional Christianity, the Church of Christ places a heavy emphasis on recruiting and "discipling". After you join, as Donna found out, it all but takes over your life. Former members have accused the Church of Christ of "mind control" and "brainwashing" and two cult-awareness groups - one secular, the other Christian - have called it a cult.

But it wasn't like the cults that have been in the news lately. Donna encountered no power-mad guru who tried to control every aspect of her life. No one like David Koresh, who led the Branch Davidians' doomsday sect until April 1993, when their compound in Waco, Texas, was raided by federal agents and more than 80 people died. She found nothing about the Church of Christ that extreme or bizarre. No one ever spoke of committing a crime like this year's fatal subway gassing in Tokyo, the alleged act of a Japanese cult. And it wasn't as if anyone deliberately tried to cut Donna off from the rest of the world. "At least, it didn't seem that way to me at the time," she says. Enthusiastic friends, clear-cut beliefs, a focus for her energy - the Church of Christ offered Donna all this, and more: a direct link to God.

Experts say there are more than 2,500 groups across the country making similar offers. They operate on college campuses, in informal "churches" or on the street. They present themselves as true Christians, political action groups, campus ministries or self-help groups. They promise certainty, confidence, the group high of shared beliefs.

The prospect is very seductive - especially if you're depressed or lonely, or making a scary transition, say, from high school to college, like Donna was. "Almost anyone can be picked up by these groups at a vulnerable period in her life," says Margaret Thaler Singer, a clinical psychologist who has studied cults for almost 30 years. "They don't go out looking for crazies; in fact, they screen against them. They want civilised people who look presentable, who get along well in a group situation and who will obey."

Donna Buckmeyer was "kid of a basic middle-class kid with a mom, a dad and a sister, growing up in Portland, Oregon." In grade school she loved math and always tried to beat boys at sports - but that didn't keep her out of her tutu. She started ballet lessons at 8; added tap, jazz and modern dance at 12; and by her junior year of high school, she was dancing with a preprofessional company.

"I loved music and movement," she says. "I didn't really want to be a professional dancer - I knew I wasn't the right type to be a superstar - but I decided to go to college in New York so I could be around the dance world."

So there she was, a freshman at Columbia University, 2500 miles from home. "It was kind of overwhelming going to this place where I didn't know a soul," she recalls. Her boyfriend was at school in Georgia, and at first they spent a lot of time calling and writing. "Then I started to realize we were going our different ways."

She had started to realize she didn't want to major in math and computer science after all. The calculus class was way over her head, and as she looked around at the math majors, it dawned on her: "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life with these people. I mean, they were nice, but..."

So Donna had no major, and no clue. She was lonely and confused, and she hadn't been to church all semester. "I grew up going to the little Methodist church a mile from home, " she explains. "Religion wasn't talked about a whole lot, but it was an important part of life - not just my own spirituality, but being part of a faith community, seeing the same people at church every week."

One day in sociology class, a pretty, extroverted Korean-American woman with dark shoulder-length hair and a pleasant smile struck up a friendly conversation with Donna. "As we left, she said, 'I have a Bible discussion group. Would you like to come?'"

Donna didn't really want to go, but she felt guilty because the woman had been so nice. "She seemed genuinely interested in being friends," Donna says. "Plus, I had a pretty stereotypical female upbringing - I was taught to always be nice and polite. I didn't feel assertive enough to say no."

Filled with dread, Donna walked to the woman's dorm room, where about a dozen young women were gathered. They were of different races, had different majors, came from different places - one was a blue-eyed, blond dancer from Kentucky, another a dark-haired, streetwise New Yorker. "The most striking thing was that they were all very friendly and outgoing," Donna recalls. At first their enthusiasm startled her; then it captivated her. "It was the most exciting Bible discussion I'd ever been to," she says. Afterward, several of the women asked for her phone number, suggested lunch, wanted to study together.

A few days later, she found herself studying the Bible with a few of the women. "The first session was very general, about what standards you're going to live your life by - society's, your parent's or the Bible's," Donna recalls. "The message of a later session was, 'Well, now that you're going to live your life by the Bible, this is what the Bible says the church is like, and the only group that does this is our group.'" Yet another session was about sin and repentance, which meant "confessioning everything you had ever done - and that could be quite a lot!" By the time shy Donna had finished dregging up her life's small shames - and a few of the bigger ones, too - she felt bonded to her new friends, who had confessed just as freely.

Donna attended Church of Christ services each week at on old theater just off Broadway. They were incredibly lively, with everybody singing songs from memory, a cappella. "The songs were church-related, but they weren't hymns - just simple, spirited songs you could easily learn by heart," Donna says. The service didn't differ much from what she had grown up with: prayers spoken in unison, communion adn a man giving a sermon. "He was a little more forceful than what I was used to; he made things a little more personal."

After a few weeks, Donna firmly believed her new "friends" were the only people on the planet who were going to Haeven. "That meant my family wasn't - not even my step-dad, a Presbyterian minister," she says. "I felt this burden. I had to save them."

Donna soon learned how to direct Bible studies herself and recruit new members. Discussion leaders used only the New International Version of the Bible, whose passages they could use to "prove" that theirs was the only true church, Donna notes. "It all seemed to make so much sense. They had figured out the best way to present their information and had fine-tuned it, so the verses were very direct and to the point. It was all or nothing: You were going to either Heaven or Hell; either you were in the group or you were out. You knew their expectations very clearly. There was only one right way to live."

Donna found comfort in this way of thinking - it left no room for uncertainty, which she had felt a lot of recently - so she decided to formally join the church. The woman who had recruited her became her "discipling partner," her "big sister in the faith." To this woman Donna confessed a long list of "sins" - including "impure thoughts" - and the woman offered advice about improving her character and recruiting new people.

Discipling partners learned how to elicit the "right" behavior, Donna says, "sometimes by being gentle and sometimes by saying, 'How dare you do this. That's like spitting in Jesus' face!'" Choices were described carefully: "'You can do A or you can do B, but of course you'll do B because that's the only way'" "Doing B" made life a lot easier. "The longer you were in the group, the more you became like everybody else," she observes. "Once I learned the mind-set, I didn't have to think."

Given how hard she had to study to keep up with her coursework, not having to think was bliss. Rercruiting, on the other hand, was incredibly stressful. Donna, whose heart pounded just from meeting someone new, was expected to approach strangers on the street and win them over. "It was not easy for me at all," she says. "But I would get advice from this discipling partner; she would go out with me. And there was this sin on omission: If I was shy, I wasn't helping people." Gradually she learned to be bolder. "There were days when we'd go blitzing. A whole bunch of us would just go out, get on a subway car and invite people to church in a really loud voice," she says. "If people thought we were weird, we knew we were doing something right - persecution was good."

The pressure built steadily. "You needed to be excellent at everything," Donna recalls, her voice tight. "If you were a student, you needed to be an excellent student to set a good example, so when people looked at you, they would think, I want to be in your group." As a freshman, Donna had taken a dance class five days a week, but at the beginning of her sophomore year she gave up dancing altogether. She switches her major her junior year to pscyhology and arranged to room with another church member.

Worried about the drastic changes they'd seen in Donna, two friends she'd met during freshman orientation decided to talk to her dorm counselor. When the counselor asked about the Church of Christ, Donna smiled and said it was a Christian church. She had no idea why people might be concerned. "Well, yeah, I'm giving them money," she said, "but only what I want to, it isn't a big deal." Later she added up the checks she'd written; they totalled nearly $4000.

During the school year, Donna asked for a work-study job in the library so she could meet more people to recruit. She only dated within the group: "Why would you want to date somebody who was going to Hell?" She tried to lure friends into the group, and if they weren't interested, she stopped seeing them. "I just put everything on hold and did church stuff," she explains. "If I wasn't in class, I was at a church service or recruiting, and if I had free time, I was reading the Bible and praying."

Several times she went to Boston to hear the church's leader, Kip McKean, speak about God. McKean wasn't what you'd call attractive - he was short and had a pock-marked face, as well as a wife and kids - but Donna was captivated by him. "He was so intense when he preached, you'd think the veins were just going to pop out of his neck," she recalls. "He would never take any credit for himself, and he was always talking about giving up his life for God. He spoke so authoritatively. He was held up as this incredible example of a man of God - so willing to give up his time and money for the church."

After nearly three years in the Church of Christ, Donna returned home her senior year for Christmas vacation and traveled with her family on their annual winter trip back to a beach house on Oregon's northern coast. One day her mother said out of the blue: "You know how we've been having a hard time talking to you about all this church stuff? Well, we brought someone - a few people, actually. Would you talk?"

Instantly Donna thought, Oh, no - deprogrammers. "We were taught that these people were awful and terrible and if we listened to them, we'd go to Hell." Before Donna could say no, though, her mom started to cry. Donna had never wanted to hurt her parents, so she decided, "I'll just listen to this garbage, and then I'll go back to New York, and everything will be the same."

Donna, two high school friends, three counselors, her mom and stepdad, her dad her sister and a former Church of Christ member spent the next three days together. "I did feel kind of scared," she admits, "but I also thought, Gee, if I get through these three days, I'll go back to New York a hero, because I'll have survived this intense persecution."

First they watched a videotape about the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, whose members are known as Moonies, and Donna thought with relief, Oh, my gosh, this is not at all like my group - of course the Moonies are part of a cult. More general information about cults followed, equally uninteresting. Then, halfway into the second day, they readsome newsletters from the Boston Church of Christ. "One article said that death was the result of unresolved sin, and that this man's aunt had died because of his unresolved sin," Donna recalls. "I thought, Whoa, that's not right."

Until then she'd been listening with only one ear. Now she paid full attention. "Things the counselors had been talking about started coming back," she recalls. "We looked at different translations of the Bible, and I saw how different words had different meanings. That's when I realized the Church of Christ people had been choosing and interpreting texts just to make their own points."

By the end of the third day, she didn't want to go backward or forward. "I'd built up my whole life around this group," she explains. "I felt overwhelmed, really stupid and confused: If this wasn't true, then what was?"

Life in the church hadn't been all bad, after all. By then all her friends were members, and they'd had fun together: staying up late talking about their past or dreams, playing Vivalidi with rock dubbed in, going on double dates (with men in the group, of course), dyeing T-shirts in park (to raise money for the group, of course). The church had become her entire world.

From Oregon, Donna called her roommate, also a church member, and left a halting message saying she would be staying home a few extra days. "That evening, everyone from my Bible group called and left messages on my answering machine," she says. "Friendly, casual messages - but I knew what had happened. They'd all gone to service, and my roommate had told them something might be wrong." The following week, Donna returned to her campus to pack her things and withdraw from classes. "They sent one of the Bible-study leaders to talk to me," she says, wincing. "It was a woman I'd always liked, but she kept trying to get me to talk to one of the church leaders. She said, 'See how hard your heart is?'"

"Whenever someone leaves the group, it's implicit that there's something wrong with that person," Donna adds. "Either your heart is too hard, or you're too worldly and you want to make money." Shaking, she made her voice as firm as she could - "I'm leaving" - and finally the woman left. Donna returned home and, with the help of her family, slowly rebuilt her life, her worldview, her self-confidence.

Life outside the church has been tougher in many ways, but Donna says she'll "take freedom over ease any day." She's 27 now, working as an executive secretary to a Catholic priest, and she's getting married this summer.

Donna is convinced that if she'd known more about groups like the Church of Christ before she got involved, she would have seen through the enthusiasm to the the techniques: McKean's fiery preaching and total devotion to the cause, the emotional highs, the black-and-white certainty, the strict rules, the confessions and shame and vulnerability, the repetition of simple "truths," the guilt and social pressure...

"They seemed like such wonderful people. I never suspected anything could be wrong," Donna says with a sigh. "I was on the lookout for people who could physically hurt me, mug me or steal my purse. But not for people who would befriend me."

http://jahtruth.net/nsongad.htm

What is the "New Song" and why does "The Word" want YOU to learn to sing it and to Live and sing it on The Rock?

For the answer we have to turn from the Old Covenant Book of the Prophet Isaiah to the New Covenant Book of the Revelation/Apocalypse given to John the Apostle by his Master, "The Word", who had previously, temporarily, been made flesh (incarnated), as it is written in the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14:-

"And the Word was made flesh (incarnated), and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only incarnated of the Father) full of Grace and Truth."

Why on The Rock? (Read my "Close Encounters of the Gibraltar Kind" and "DUNE - Gibraltar" and "Message for Gibraltar from God" Booklets, to find the answer).

In Revelation/Apocalypse it is written in chapter 14:3 & 5:9 that only the people who are able to learn to sing the "New Song" were to be redeemed (released) from Planet Earth (and ALL the rest will be cast into The Lake of Fire - Revelation 21:7-8).

It is therefore CRITICALLY important for YOUR survival that YOU learn to sing the "New Song" - NOW.

So what IS the "NEW SONG"?

For the answer, again we must turn to Revelation/Apocalypse, where in chapter 15:3 it is written that the "New Song" is (a harmonious synthesis of) the "Song of Moses" and the "Song of The Lamb".

What IS the "SONG of MOSES"?

For the answer we must turn to the Old Covenant/Testament, to the Fifth Book of Moses, in The Torah (Torah is the collective terminology for the five Books of Moses), called DEUTERONOMY, chapter 31 verse 19:-

"Now therefore write ye this "Song" for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this "Song" (The Covenant) may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel." (If they do not "learn it off by heart" so that they can, and do, "sing" it; and no-one can sing any song unless they "know it off by heart"). That is why God called it a "Song" to let you know that you must learn it off by heart.

The Sabbath (Saturday) was to be used to teach your children to sing this "Song", not hymns or rock and roll etc. but THIS "Song", without which you can NOT survive or live in peace and HARMONY with your fellow man.

At this point it is extremely important, and I have to point it out to all followers of Mohammedanism (peace be upon him), that, all the way through the Holy Koran, God (not Mohammed) makes reference to and commands the reader to read the Bible and to study carefully, learn and fulfill The Covenant of God, or they will be "Companions of The Fire", shortly after Christ's second coming.

Unfortunately they, like everyone else, do not do as God has told them to do and have been misled by their priests (imams) into not reading the Bible and so have absolutely no idea what The Covenant is and what its terms are. Their priests have all lied to them and have told them that the True Bible no longer exists.

God has told the reader of the Koran, and it is written in the Koran, in Sura 32:23, that the Book of Moses (which includes The Covenant), will definitely reach them.* So, unless they stop listening to their priests (imams), who are all calling God a liar, and DO exactly as God has told them to do, as it is written in His Holy Koran, they will definitely not survive The Fire, and that would be a great shame. God has even told them and it is written, more than once, in the Koran, that they must invite the christians and jews to unite with them to keep The Covenant, together, as one united brotherhood. The Koran is known as The Gospel of Unity.

Nobody ever does as God has told them even though their/your very lives depend upon doing so. Perhaps you all WANT to be misled and to burn. I HOPE YOU DON'T.

* Koran Sura 32:22. And who does more wrong than one to whom are recited the Signs of his Lord, and who then turns away therefrom? Verily from those who transgress We shall exact (due) Retribution.

32:23. We did indeed aforetime give the Book (Torah) to Moses: be then NOT IN DOUBT of its (The Torah) reaching (THEE): and We made it a Guide to the Children of Israel. . .

Sydney Church of Christ investigated

Parramatta Advertiser/April 16, 1997

Three months after joining the International Church of Christ, Charles was ready to sell his Parramatta business and his North Rocks home to help recruit new church members in Lebanon. Charles, 28, claims one-on-one discipling, where his church discipler told him where to live, who to date and how to spend his money, left him unable to make clear decisions. "They control every aspect of your life, " He said. "I know people who have been completely indoctrinated after just six weeks."

Charles left the church's western Sydney Zone last Sept after seven months of living in "a Psychological prison". He and other former members are concerned that a recruiting drive in Parramatta last month attracted new members.

The International Church Of Christ began in Boston in 1979 as a breakaway group from the mainline church of Christ, From which it is now disavowed. Also known as the Boston Movement, its hierarchical structure, high pressure recruitment techniques and control over members' lives have drawn widespread claims it is a cult not a church. The International Church of Christ western Sydney Zone leader Dean Haustead declined to comment.

Former member Rachel, of Telopea, said she lost her late teens by letting the church control her life for three years. "The bible says the truth will set you free, but you don't feel a sense of freedom within this Church", Ms Rachel, 21, said. "I lost my confidence. I couldn't make decisions and I found it very hard to trust people outside the church." She was "gullible, subservient and stupid".

Rachel and other members were pressured to recruit friends, relatives and strangers using techniques called "love-bombing". "You're looking for truth and friendship and they will offer so much love and support it's hard to say no," She said. "You think that you've never met more sincere, beautiful, encouraging people."

Charles agreed: "you get loved straightaway, but when you try to leave you realize that love is entirely conditional. You're in a psychological prison because they tell you if you ever leave you will go straight to hell."

Charles - apart from running a key-cutting business in Parramatta - spends most of his time helping disgruntled members extricate themselves from the church. It is difficult and expensive, sometimes requiring professional exit-counseling. "Some of the members have been programmed for years, so you have to prove every point by going over the scriptures and showing them documentation about inconsistencies in the church's teaching." he said.

What do the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Catholics, and the Church of Christ denomination all have in common? They each claim to have THE Way; THE Truth; and THE Life, and that no one gets to heaven without being a part of their organization! Certainly they can't all be right since their individual doctrinal beliefs are diametrically opposed to one another. On this web site we will endeavor to examine the claim of the Church of Christ to be God's sole representative on the earth today, and answer the question, "Is the Church of Christ Denomination A Cult?

We will break this study into three main concerns:

1. Who Is The Church of Christ?

A) Are They a Denomination?

2. What Do They Believe?

A) Baptismal Regeneration

B) No Musical Instruments In Worship

C) Rejection of the Holy Spirit

3. Conclusions

A) Their Tactics

B) Are They a Cult?

C) Closing Comments

The meat of this study will be contained in segment two where we will examine their beliefs in the Light of Scripture. Our goal is not to proclaim them to be outside of the Body of Christ, but to simply show the errors in their claim to be the only "True Body of Christ." And though most branches of this denomination are not considered to be an actual cult, much of the organization is "cultic," and this web site will attempt to show you why.

TO MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST:

Please remember, this is not an attack, it's a defense. Your denomination has said all other denominations are either carnal or demonic and all their members have a one way ticket to hell. In that egocentric theology your leaders have replaced Jesus with their denomination. In their eyes, they are the Way, the Truth and the Life and that's why they are not a denomination (part of the church) because they ARE the church.

Bottom line? If you can serve the Lord with all your heart in the Church of Christ denomination and stay strong in Him until the day you die, then stay in the Church of Christ denomination. The web site is not for you, then. It is for people who are in the Church of Christ denomination that are looking for more of Jesus. They are tired of a religion, and want a true, deep, sincere relationship with God. So if you have been wondering, “Is this all there is?” The answer is, no. Jesus has a lot more for you than just a "religion." He wants to have a real, vital, genuine relationship with you, and it is just a prayer away!!

Hi!

My name is Brian Cooper. I am the director of Freedom Quest Ministries and the author of this site. We normally don't go out of our way to identify the authors of our sites because we don't want to take credit for the Lord's work and/or point anything to us. All evangelical outreaches should point the reader to Jesus, not any person or organization. But we have been chastized so often by members of the Church of Christ denomination for being too "anonymous" that we thought we would make an exception in their case.

Our three biggest concerns about the church of Christ denomination is their claim to be the only true Christians, their rejection of the present day ministry of the Holy Spirit and their hyper-legalism. I can relate to and attest to the burden of that legalism, for it was while I was a preacher in the Church of Christ that I committed suicide. The Lord miraculously saved me and set my feet on the path of true salvation by Grace through Faith.

I had been a member of the CoC for several years before I started preaching. One of the Elders had been tutoring me and asked for me to fill in for him one day and things just took off from there. The problem was that I studied the Scriptures with an opened mind rather than through CoC stained lenses. So I began to ask questions:

"How did the thief on the cross get to heaven without being baptized?"

"How did Cornelius get saved before he was water baptized?"

"Why did Paul say that the Lord did not send him to baptise but to preach the Gospel?"

"Why do we forbid to speak in tongues?"

"Why do we reject musical instruments if God never said to?"

"Why do we teach that we are the only true Christians?"

"Why do we never talk about the Holy Spirit when he is mentioned on virtually every page of the New Testament?"

The list goes on and on. The problem was that I wasn't getting any answers. Sure, they gave me the typical CoC answers, but they were not Biblical or even logical.

And then the storms came. I suppose the enemy knew I was getting close to the Truth so he brought a severe trial my way and I found out the hard way that I had built my house on sand (legalism) instead of the Rock (Jesus).

A near-death experience has a way of getting your attention. The Lord opened my eyes to many things and has deepened my relationship to Him on so many levels. I never really understood Grace while in the CoC because I never experienced it. When the Lord "graciously" intervenes in your life and shows you Mercy and Compassion, you have no choice but to surrender and serve Him with your whole heart.

We love our brothers and sisters in the Church of Christ, and our hearts break for them, knowing that so many are shackled by the chains of legalism. But the winds of change are blowing. There are those in the Church of Christ denomination that have heard the voice of the Spirit and are laying down their traditions and simply seeking God with their whole heart. And in the process, they have found their Heavenly Father. Not just a list of do's and don'ts, but a living, vital relationship with their Creator, through His only begotten Son, Jesus.

Our prayer is that the members of the Church of Christ denomination will open their hearts and eyes and see that their condemnation of their brothers in sisters in Christ is unbiblical, unfair and unwarranted in most cases. We are supposed to be known by our love, not our legalism. Paul pleaded with the Ephesians to, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

I hope someday soon this site will no longer be needed because we all found a way to walk in His Spirit of unity on the essentials and show grace in the nonessentials. As Paul said in Romans 14:1, "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters."

God bless you as you continue to seek Him and serve Him with every fiber of your being!

In Jesus,

Brian

NEWS FLASH: Kip McKean Resigns!

The very foundations of the International Church of Christ have been rocked by the resignation of its founder and leader Kip McKean. McKean has resigned as supreme ICC leader because “my leadership in recent years has damaged both the Kingdom [ICC] and my family”, and “I take full responsibility for how my sins have spiritually weakened and embittered many in our churches”. Many suspect, of course, that the reasons given are probably a smoke screen designed to hide the primary shortcoming which has forced McKean to resign.

Kip McKean was the person on which the ICC was modelled on. Everybody wanted to be like Kip (see quotes below). He is the originator of many of the foundation ICC practices and doctrines. Therefore it is difficult to see how any ICC member can avoid asking himself or herself the hard question; if Kip was flawed all this time, and the ICC was based on Kip McKean, then doesn’t it follow that the ICC must be seriously flawed too?

“You can tell the spirit of a church the moment you walk in. I walk into a church, I know all I need to know about that minister. I walk into that church, and I know this is either a total reflection of this man’s life, or he has lived such an atrocious life before the Lord, that this is a rejection of his life. Let me tell you something, your church is going to be just like you. ” —Kip McKean, August, 1992: BOSTON LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE, “THE SUPER CHURCH”

Current ICC members need to realize that the ICC is NOT the “Kingdom of God” as the ICC claims. ICC members can leave the ICC and still be saved. Current members need to seriously revaluate their involvement in the man made edifice that is called the International Church of Christ. They should not be fooled by the cosmetic damage controlling reorganizing of ICC leadership, the ICC in essence has not changed.

At Cultwatch we recommend that ICC members take a couple of months holiday from the ICC. During their time away they should diligently research the other side of the story, the side the ICC leadership do not want you to know. The links at the bottom of this page are a great place to start your research. Also you should read www.HowCultsWork.com

Leaving the ICC means you are no longer guilty of being a partner in it’s destructive practices. It means you can follow God instead of men. It means coming to understand that your salvation is not based on membership of a church, but rather on your status before God.

Don’t let yourself be fooled, the ICC is not a reflection of God’s character, rather it is the reflection of a flawed man. Follow God, not man!

Overview

Founded in 1979 in Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

Founded and currently led (in Los Angeles) by Kip McKean.

Recognised worldwide for its harmful discipling practices and mind control techniques.

Leaders in Auckland have included John Hancell and Dean Carlton (past leaders).

The International Church of Christ (ICC) is a Christian based mind control cult. It has all the traits necessary to classify it as a mind control cult, including the teaching that it is the one true church, love bombing, deceptive recruiting, time control, relationship control, and the rest.

It was founded in Boston in the United States in 1979 by the cult’s present day leader Kip McKean. McKean is, according to the cult, the “greatest living treasure that God has given the Kingdom on the face of the earth today”.

Wanting to get a branch in every major city (with more than 100,000 people) by the year 2000, the group is very evangelistic, using church plantings to start new branches. As an example of how this works, the original Boston branch planted the London, England branch, who started the Sydney, Australia branch, who planted the Auckland, New Zealand branch (which resulted in Cultwatch being started). The Central Auckland Church of Christ then planted the Christchurch branch. However this rapid expansion leads to members burning out – sometimes after just a few months.

Discipling

One-over-one discipling, rather than one-on-one discipling.

The discipler has the right to tell the disciple to do anything, including what to wear, where to work, and who to marry.

Kip McKean (pictured) is at the top of the cult’s pyramid control structure called “discipling”. Each person has a discipler – someone who has authority over them, who has the right to tell his or her disciple what to do. Ultimately everyone is being discipled by McKean, and hence following him. Here’s what one of the cult leaders said about McKean:

“And again to those who believe that I, like countless others in a ‘manmade movement’ am blindly following Kip McKean, then know this. With eyes wide open I’m following Kip McKean: Consciously, intentionally, thankfully. I guess I’m just not as strong as some folks and I need help in following Jesus. And so far, I’ve found no better help, no better leader, no more righteous a man – no better friend than Kip.”

Those in the cult are instructed to imitate their discipler who is above them – which they do, even in voice inflection and facial hair. (At one stage almost all of the men in the Central Auckland Church of Christ were wearing goatees because the then leader of that branch had a goatee.) Of course, this means that ultimately they are imitating Kip McKean. This is especially noticeable in preaching style. This is what two other ICC leaders said on this subject:

“The person who discipled me in the Lord is Kip McKean, the evangelist of the Boston Church. I want to be just like him. When he tells me things to do, you better believe I listen. And as I think back on the course of my relationships with Kip, I can tell you honestly, there are few times that I bucked Kip. And I can tell you honestly that I did wrong every time. It was not right to be arrogant, to be proud, to be rebellious… I want the guys who I am discipling to want to be like me.”

“It would suit me just fine if I could leave this place and say you know – I just want to be exactly like Kip. I just want to be exactly like Kip. That would be enough.”

“I want to be able to imitate Kip McKean. I want to preach like him. I want to think like him. I want to talk like him.”

Scary stuff. The average ICC member is convinced they are trying to follow Jesus, but the reality is that they are following McKean. The ICC also claims to be the only church really following the Bible, however its practices such as ICC discipling and their method of taking “contribution” are not found in the Bible. There are also many other areas where its practices and beliefs violate scripture.

Branch Names

Central Auckland Church of Christ lead by Rob Ferry.

Christchurch Church of Christ lead by Angus McFarlane.

Branches of the ICC exist in many cities around the world. They often take the name of the city for the local ICC branches name. For example, in New Zealand they are called the “Central Auckland Church of Christ” and the “Christchurch Church of Christ”.

One of the cult’s aims is to get a branch in every city of over 100,000 people by the end of the millenium.

This former leader of the Central Auckland Church of Christ (with supporter in background) in the process of making an ad-hominim attack on a reporter on national television news instead of answering a question about the group’s practices. Update: This former leader has left and rejected the teachings of the International Churches of Christ, and is now following Jesus directly.

It should be noted that not all churches that use the words “Church of Christ” in their names are part of the ICC.

What Do I Do If I Know Someone Involved?

First of all, Don't Panic!

Second, don’t tell them that they are in a cult. The ICC warns them early on in the recruitment process that Satan will use people around them to attack their conversion into the ICC by telling them that the ICC is a cult. By telling them that you are walking into the ICC’s trap.

Third, research mind control and the ICC. The links on this page will help you do that. While you are doing that, put effort into keeping strong the relationship you have with the ICC member.

Fourth, see if you can arrange an exit counselling session with the ICC member. Often ICC members can be very open to talking about their involvement and examining the other side of the story, but beware – if the ICC leaders find out they will try to stop any intervention. Cultwatch has an ICC expert who can help exit counsel an ICC member. Also, there are many ex-members and other people around the world who are able to do this sort of thing. If you cannot arrange something like this then search the Internet and make up a package of material which shows the other side of the story. Give it to the member and encourage them to read it, but warn them that their leaders will not be too happy about it!

Please note that exit counselling is a voluntary action. We at Cultwatch will have nothing to do with kidnapping and deprogramming, so don’t ask, because a referral to the police often offends.

The most important thing to remember is that we want the ICC member to have a time when they can examine their involvement and be presented with the other side of the story – the side the ICC would rather not have them hear. Your average ICC member is a person who wants, more than anything else, to follow God. When they realise how the ICC disobeys scripture and how their practices damage people they will seriously reconsider their involvement. It is important to note that it is the practices of the ICC which are wrong, not Christianity itself. There is no point “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. Contrary to what the ICC will tell its members, they can leave the ICC and still be a Christian.

international Church of Christ

GENERAL THINGS TO LOOK FOR

I was personally "sucked" into the International Church of Christ movement without knowing it for

about two months. A student at my university came up to me and asked, "Would you

like to study

the Bible with me?" After asking what church he attended, I agreed. But two months later, with time

to reflect on it, I was forced to leave as I discovered it was a cult. That student was their campus

evangelist, even taking classes at my uni

versity. These are characteristics of that organization I

witnessed:

Withholding information about their organization

. They only tell you the name of their

church, which is "(name of city) Church of Christ." You would scarcely know anything about a

lar

ger organization. They just say they're non

denominational. They may even deny association with

Boston. (If you visit their church, the preface page of their hymn book has "Boston Church of

Christ" as the publisher. That's a pretty good indicator. Plus, yo

u may look for a leadership structure

of campus evangelists, bible

talk leaders, zone evangelists, and church evangelists. Either that, or

match them to the characteristics of any counter

cult publication about them.)

Taking verses about Christian livi

ng and using them as entrance requirements for salvation.

They'll bring up a verse about discipleship and suggest you must be that way, work up to it, or

continue that way without faltering in order to be saved. If they were talking about _living out_ a

ristian life or about spiritual growth it would be okay, as opposed to _entering_ or _remaining_ in

a Christian status. The most severe passage they use is I John 2:3

6. They even use Acts 11 about the

disciples being called "Christians" in Antioch. They s

ay only disciples (those who evangelize and

teach) can be Christians based on that verse.

[NOTE: The evangelist said he usually doesn't go that far on the first visit. He started out with

scattered verses about discipleship from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. T

his whole point wasn't obvious

to me at my first few Bible studies.]

They assume the Bible has a different salvation message to Jews than to Gentiles.

In other

words, they believe the Jews only had to believe in Jesus to be saved, with verses like John

3:16 and

Romans 10:9. The ICofC believes that the Jews were already obedient to God in the Old Law, were

already spreading their faith, and were already baptized. (The baptism part is the easiest to disprove,

by the way.) All they had to do was believe in

Jesus, whom they had rejected. In contrast, the ICofC

teaches that Gentiles have to obey God's commands, spread their faith, and be baptized in order to be

saved

above and beyond merely believing in Jesus. According to the ICofC, Gentiles weren't doing

he necessary requirements the Jews were already doing. Whenever you point out a verse about

simply believing in Jesus for salvation, they will immediately say, "That was for the Jews."

Strangely, this is their first reaction to any verse

even ones about G

entiles, until I show them that

it's about Gentiles.

Disarming the Book of Romans, saying it was written only to the Jews.

You can read Romans

1 and get a different picture. They also believe that verses like John 3:16 were written only to Jews, where believing is the only requirement for receiving salvation or eternal life. An argument about the nature of the word 'whoever' could easily be made.

They also think believing is a work, as Jesus said in John 6:26

29 and then ridicule you for quoting

Eph. 2:

8,9. To defeat that, you need to see that 'works' is defined differently in both those passages.

Anyhow, Romans is a very powerful book, so they first try to stop you from using it. Don't let them!

International Church of Christ

A theology that belief in Jesus is not enough, even be

ing a disciple is not enough, unless you

then get baptized in order to get saved

. They would wait a while to present baptism. They

progress from the "believe in Jesus" stage to the "discipleship" stage to the "baptism" stage, starting

from historic Christi

anity and slowly moving to their cultic beliefs. They hide the "higher" points

from you until they feel you're ready. (Who knows what I would have learned if I had continued!)

They have a very good method of combining social events with Bible studies f

or new people.

One thing to look for is this: social events are only with _their_ people. They mingle only within

their sphere, their church. Exclusivity and elitism is not mentioned

or even denied

but is practiced,

which leads me to my seventh point.

Contradictions! They will say one thing and do exactly the opposite.

It takes a little time to

notice things like this. For instance, they deny preaching "saved by works." Yet, they clearly teach

that a "disciple's life is full of works," and only discip

les can be baptized, and baptism a necessity for

salvation. You just need to put two and two together. They also say that independent Bible research

and skepticism is okay, but then rebuke and expel you if you disagree with them even if based

squarely on t

he Bible. At one point, I could list out 30 contradictions. (I wish I had written them

down back then!)

Demanding a new person submit a "sin list."

A sin list is a written list of all your sins. They get

personal information very early in their relatio

nship with new people. They say it will help you

measure your improvements. However, what they don't tell you is that the list is not kept

confidential. They use personal information to brainwash! Anything you do, even things outside the

list, are not kept

confidential. (One time a girl I didn't even know asked, "How did your talk go with

your pastor?" To me, that was a personal thing and I was shocked she knew about it. If you're really

hesitant to give a list

like I was

they wait a few Bible studies and

keep reminding you and then if

you don't, they have you say it out loud while someone else writes it down. (Even after submitting a

list, they still wanted to know personal things I hadn't told them.)

They study a list of sins in Galatians 5:19

21 and

then repeat the last sentence of verse 21

over and over again: "I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit

the kingdom of God."

They mean that even though you believe in Jesus (already past the believing

stage) and commit

a sin, you won't go to heaven. In other words, if you don't successfully stop

sinning altogether, you won't enter heaven. This is their theology of repentance. At least, that's what

they preach to you. (Pretty strict. Looks like salvation by works because

they include sins of

omission. I later saw contradictions in this by their actions.) They believe you have to confess to

church leaders to receive forgiveness.

10.

Strict obedience to leaders at all cost.

Without question. They even give orders that have

spiritual significance.

11.

They tell you which school to enroll in, what classes to attend, what to major in, what job to

take, whom to date, and whom to marry, etc.

12.

They believe your sins are "covered" by your leader if they order you to perform

a sinful act, as long as you were obedient.

To them, it wasn't sin as long as you were obedient. This is called _covering_.

13.

Use of scare tactics to provoke obedience, telling them they're going to hell, etc, if they

don't obey.

Personal information from my sin list, for example, was used against me when I

disagreed over a biblical point. After I won the point biblically and they knew it. (That is, telling meI'm not over such and such a sin. And if I don't stay and agree with them, I'll never get overit.)

International Church of Christ

14.

Use of social attachment to keep the person in the church

. (This is a corollary to point #6.) As

mentioned earlier, they do a good job of creating a social and emotional attachment. They are very loving. If the person wants to leave, they say so

mething like, "Has any other group shown you so much love? How can you leave us?" They also use this to get obedience. A leader may even boast about fasting three days for you. Social forces are also used, if needed, to get you to write a "sin list" or to

move you forward on their agenda if you become hesitant.

15.

They believe you have to do the "works of a disciple" in order to be a disciple.

That includes witnessing to someone. Naturally, this means evangelizing before you get saved. (This corresponds

o point #2.)

16.

They believe that if you sin, you weren't serious about God and thus not saved in the first

place.

(This is a corollary to point #9.) This includes not obeying every commandment. They say,

"How can you be serious and not obey God?" In ano

ther form: "How can you be serious and commit

sin?"

17.

Light and darkness illustration.

They do a Bible study on light and darkness to illustrate that

you're not in the light and thus not saved. They base their notion of a totally successful repentance

eeded for salvation on I Peter 2:9

11, but like to emphasize I John 1:6,7. They use a few other

passages that have the words "light" and "darkness" in them. (At first, they allow you to say that

you're in the light. They do this very early, in just the sec

ond Bible study. They even go along with

you, to keep you from suspecting something. Later on, they come back to this illustration and would

strongly convince you otherwise. This illustration relies heavily on binary logic.)

18.

No musical instruments in

praise and worship

. Just scapula.

19.

They meet in rented church buildings and often move from time to time.

They're also

extremely proud of their church. (Most people I met used to attend Christian churches, which they

negatively call "religious." Their

evangelism plan is to get Christians because it's easier, and they

sometimes get non

Christians. Almost everyone ranged in the college and career age and I noticed

no complete families.)

After all that, here's some positive aspects to look for:

1. They'r

e right about the Bible

and they use the NIV.

2. They're right about Creation, the Fall of Man, sin, and the nature and power of God. (Unknown

about Trinity, but I'm guessing that's okay.)

3. They're right about the eternal existence of heaven and hell, e

xcept about exactly who's going

there.

4. They're right about the Atonement, Jesus' suffering and death on the Cross and His physical,

bodily resurrection. In fact, they do a lengthy and detailed Bible study just on this. A good job, but

only done to trick

you into thinking they're Christian. (They knew I already knew this about Jesus,

but continued to cover all the basics. That was in the belief stage.)

5. They're right about Jesus' identity. (Well, I'm guessing they're right about it. They say He's the

on of God" in their notes; I could tell it was lowercased. I asked them about what the term "Son of

God" means and they always managed to change the subject. They never told me what 'Son of God'

means in the Bible studies, just that it's Jesus. They used t

he term quite often.)

6. Their attitude about sin is excellent. It's just how they extend it to matters of salvation that's

wrong.

International Church of Christ

7. Their attitude about evangelism is also most excellent. It's just too bad they incorporate it into

their salvation theolog

8. They're right about Revelations 3:20, that it's context is repentance to a backsliding church. The

verse should not be used for salvation. (However, just "opening the door and letting Him in" appears

to contradict their harsh teaching on repentance.)

[This whole point is still in debate, but avoiding

this one verse shouldn't matter.]

Their Tactics

The Church of Christ denomination uses four main tactics in debating their pet doctrines. These tactics are generally used by all cultic groups. They are:

1. Change the subject

2. Take scripture out of context

3. Straw man arguments

4. Ad hominem attacks (attacking you instead of the issue)

The way to counter these tactics is very simple: Stay on the subject until you are allowed to make your point! And remember, your opinion is no better than their opinion. Base all of your conclusions on the Final Authority… God's Word!

Are They A Cult?

Years ago the Lord gave us (FQM) an acronym for cults:

C. Claim to be The Only True Christians

U. Unorthodox Extra-biblical Revelation

L. Lying Leaders (History/Doctrine)

T. THE Way (Salvation is found only in their organization)

S. Salvation By Works (obedience to ordinances such as baptism)

As you can see the only area that the Church of Christ denomination doesn't qualify for the title is that they don't have any unorthodox extra-biblical revelation that they would put on par with God's Word. But, they do:

1. Claim to be the Only True Christians

2. Lie about their history, by claiming that they can trace their roots to the day of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. They also mislead people about some of their doctrines, by not telling prospective members what they really believe up front (Billy Graham is a deceiver and they are the only "true" Christians so everyone else is going to hell?).

3. They are the one and only true "Body of Christ." No one goes to the Father outside of their denomination!

4. Their salvation occurs the moment they "DO" their part and get baptized. And you must recognize that it is the baptism that remits your sins, or it is of no effect!

Closing Comments

So are they a cult? No. Are they as close as you can get to the edge of that perilous pit without falling in? Based on the Word of God, I would say an emphatic "YES!" If you are a member of the Church of Christ denomination, please seek the Lord's help in attaining true freedom in Christ. You might start by reading the book of Galatians.

If you have a loved one in the Church of Christ denomination (especially the International CHOC), please do all that is within your realm of influence to reach them.

My personal relationship with Jesus Christ has been one of great sorrows but even greater joys. Ironically, when I became a member of the Church of Christ denomination, my father's side of the family basically disowned me because they were mostly atheists. But then when I left the Church of Christ denomination, I became the "black sheep of the family" on my mother's side, because they were all from the Church of Christ denomination! But I have never regretted the decision, and I never will. The love, joy and peace that I have found in a personal intimate relationship with Jesus, far surpasses what any list of "DOs and DON'Ts" could ever offer!

Our biggest concern for our brothers and sisters in the Church of Christ denomination is the snare of legalism. The Church of Christ denomination seems to be more concerned with the length of your hair than they are the condition of your heart. They tend to strain gnats and swallow camels. They seem to be more concerned with peripheral things and miss the weightier matters. I have seen Church of Christ denominations that knew some members were molesting members of the church and nothing was done about it, but GOD FORBID if anyone puts up a Christmas tree! There just doesn't seem to be any balance.

The Church of Christ denomination claims to be an exact duplicate of the original New Testament church. When you point out how radically different they really are from the original NT church, they blow it off and say, “That was then, this is now.” Well, then don’t claim to be a duplicate of the early church. Facsimile? Maybe. Duplicate? No way.

If the Church of Christ denomination is a duplicate of the original church (and they “speak where the Bible speaks, and they are silent where the Bible is silent") then why don't they:

Greet one another with a Holy Kiss?

Romans 16:16 says, “Salute one another with an holy kiss.”

Why don't they have signs following them?

Jesus said in Mark 16:17-20, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Why don’t they sell all of their belongings and share everything with each other?

Like in Acts 2:45, “And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”

Why do they forbid to speak in tongues?

I Corinthians 14:39 says, “Brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

When someone is sick in your congregation, do the Elders come over and anoint the sick with oil and pray for healing?

James 5:14 asks, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

Why don’t you meet together, everyday like the early church did?

Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.”

The fact is the Church of Christ denomination sometimes speaks where the Bible speaks and sometimes they are silent when the Bible is silent. The problem is that they are inconsistent. When you ask them if they “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” they will say, “that was just a mid-eastern custom.” But if you ask them if “it is a shame for a woman to cut her hair,” then that is a COMMANDMENT!

The bottom line is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. It's all about what JESUS did on the cross, not what somebody does in some puddle of water. It's the blood that remits sin, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Even if baptism was essential, 99% of the protestant church is baptized, so like Hebrews 6 says, let's move on! We baptize every single new believer, just like the Lord told us to. But after the baptism, we teach the new convert to move on to maturity. Why keep looking back at your baptism, when you should be looking forward to Jesus.

Too many churches concentrate on the Body of Christ (the church) instead of its Head. It's all about JESUS!

Questions?

TO MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST:

http://jahtruth.net/emmau2.htm

On The Way to

Emmaus Again

(Scripture explained again

at the end of the 20th Century)

by JAH

https://jediknightsquad.blogspot.com/2018/05/on-way-to-emmaus.html

https://jediknightsquad.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-safe-is-gibraltar-and-its-brit-ish.html