One of the most traumatic events a family can face is a family member who has been exposed to cult-like behavior.
Sometimes well meaning people serving the Lord may find themselves in a social group dynamic that begins to take on cult-like practices of control, manipulation and isolation.
How do you know when you are in one of these type of groups?
In the wikipedia.org archives the following model is recognized. Quoting that material we see the pattern.
The "BITE" model (standing for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotion control) is Steven Hassan's model of the patterns that he says are used by harmful cults."[18]
When you are told that you are to no longer
associate with people that you've grown to love or you will be marked. Even though you know these people intimately, you know their heart and you are friends, suddenly and for no reason they are expelled just for knowing someone or saying something that does not suit the fancy of someone in the group who is controlling people. A sense that if you associate with the people that are "out" of the group will bring a reprisal and even your own expulsion. These are well crafted control techniques that play on people's sense of belonging to something greater, fear of rejection, guilt, their need for belonging and being accepted and the list goes on.
These are evidences of cult-like practices. All of these are repeated patterns seen in cults like "The People's Temple" with Rev. Jim Jones back in the 1970's. Other cults demostrate this type of behavior. It is made to seem biblically based, but the real root is typically based on a fear, control, manipulation, ambition, greed and ego. No amount of quotes from the bible can justify actions undertaken by such groups.
In Christianity, you see a lot of this type of behavior in non-denominational churches that are not tied organizationally to a hierarchy of oversight beyond the leaders just in the church. If those at the top do not submit to a board of elders that are not under the influence of the "leaders" then there is an environment for abusive, cult-like behavior to develop. "Under the influence" meaning that the board of elders do not sit under the teaching regularly and therefore are not subject to manipulation of the bully pulpit. While all people should dwell in unity, the checks and balances of the organizational structure are necessary to prevent arbitrary actions. The elders should themselves be experienced, seasoned ministers who have lead churches independent of the one that they are overseeing.
Such a board is not easily influenced by the charismatic leader, but have the organizational authority established in the charter to correct and direct the leader(s). Without such structure in a group, there is absolutely no guarantee that such abusive, cult-like social behavior patterns will not happen. No amount of charismatic apologetics can defend the solo effort, not even the loose association with the prominent public figures. If the relationship of correction is based on the leader at the top being "willing" to submit, then there is no foundation of accountability. The "willingness" can change from moment to moment and be actions can be explained away by those who would aspire to such dishonesty.
The manipulative leader counts on the factors of trust and people's lack of general knowledge on proper organizational structure to fulfill their goals.
The goals may be noble and even biblically based, but the end does not justify the means.
Cult-like behavior is not based true biblical expression of faith.
Faith comes from living a life of proper perspective which happens when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Beginning the journey of having no other god but God Himself in your life! Seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness and understanding that He has seated you together with Him in heavenly places. Being a part of God's family has unique benefits! You see, perspective positions us to take on God's nature, have vision and operate in faith which is always expressed, if it is alive, as genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God!
Faith without an action of obedience that is aligned with His nature is rendered inoperative. His nature is ALWAYS love for people and especially for those in the family of God. There is no place for cult-like behavior in any church or christian ministry.
The wikipedia.org site has some more information for those who have found themself or loved ones in such a group. Here's a quote from that website,
"The public generally hears criticism of an alleged cult from the mass media, which often quotes law enforcement sources, public interest researchers, lawyers involved in civil litigation involving the group in question, and anti-cult spokespersons as well as persons with direct experience. Those with direct experience provide the foundation for most criticisms of the quality of life within the alleged cult and for much of the description of controversial types of member behavior.
Such primary sources of criticism may include: parents, relatives, and close friends of alleged cult members (who often have carefully observed personality changes in their loved one which they rightly or wrongly interpret as changes for the worse); victims of scams perpetrated on the general public by a minority of cults; people who go to recruitment-oriented meetings and then back away as a result of their perceptions of such events; persons raised in groups considered cults who left after coming of age; and former adult members.
Usually, the most dramatic allegations, as well as the most systematic and detailed ones, will come from adult former members and to a lesser extent from persons who were raised in the in groups considered cults, although a fair percentage of former members in these categories are not strongly critical of their former spiritual or ideological home. The former members who voice strong criticisms are termed "apostates" by some scholars. But this term is regarded as pejorative by other scholars. One scholar who uses the term "apostate" frequently is Gordon Melton, who in turn has been labelled a cult apologist by scholars (Kent, Krebs) strongly critical of cults.
The allegations of former members include: sexual abuse by the leader; failed promises and failed prophecy; causing suicides through neglect or abuse; failing to allow an ex-cult parent to have access to his or her child or children being raised within the cult; leaders who neither admit nor apologize for mistakes; false, irrational, or even contradictory teachings; exclusivism; deception in recruitment (by using "front groups"); pressure to engage in illegal financial activity or manipulative sexual behavior; demands to turn over all (or an excessive amount) of one's assets and income; demands for total immersion in the religious mission, ideological cause or day to day organizational activities of the group at the expense of career, education, family, and friends; and more.
The role of former members in the controversy surrounding cults has been widely studied by social scientists. Former members in some cases become public opponents against their former group. The former members' motivations, the roles they play in the anti-cult movement, the validity of their testimony, and the kinds of narratives they construct, are controversial with some scholars who suspect that at least some of the narratives are colored by a need of self-justification, seeking to reconstruct their own past and to excuse their former affiliations, while blaming those who were formerly their closest associates,[16] and that hostile ex-members would invariably shade the truth and blow out of proportion minor incidents, turning them into major incidents.[17]. Other scholars conclude that testimonies of former members are at least as accurate as testimonies of current members.
Scholars that challenge the validity of critical former members' testimonies as the basis for studying a religious group include David G. Bromley, Anson Shupe, Brian R. Wilson, and Lonnie Kliever. Bromley and Shupe, who studied the social influences on such testimonies, assert that the apostate in his current role is likely to present a caricature of his former group and that the stories of critical ex-members who defect from groups that are subversive (defined as groups with few allies and many opponents) tend to have the form of "captivity narratives" (i.e. the narratives depict the stay in the group as involuntary). Wilson introduces the atrocity story that is rehearsed by the apostate to explain how, by manipulation, coercion, or deceit, he was recruited to a group that he now condemns. Introvigne found in his study of the New Acropolis in France, that public negative testimonies and attitudes were only voiced by a minority of the ex-members, who he describes as becoming "professional enemies" of the group they leave. Kliever, when asked by the Church of Scientology to give his opinion on the reliability of apostate accounts of their former religious beliefs and practices, writes that these dedicated opponents present a distorted view of the new religions, and cannot be regarded as reliable informants by responsible journalists, scholars, or jurists. He claims that the reason for the lack of reliability of apostates is due to the traumatic nature of disaffiliation that he compares to a divorce and also due the influence of the anti-cult movement even on those apostates who were not deprogrammed or received exit counseling. Scholars and psychologists who tend to side more with critical former members include David C. Lane, Louis Jolyon West, Margaret Singer, Stephen A. Kent, Benjamin Beith-Hallahmi and Benjamin Zablocki. Zablocki performed an empirical study that showed that the reliability of former members is equal to that of stayers in one particular group. Philip Lucas found the same empirical results.
According to Lewis F. Carter, the reliability and validity of the testimonies of believers are influenced by the tendency to justify affiliation with the group, whereas the testimonies of former members and apostates are influenced by a variety of factors.21 Besides, the interpretative frame of members tends to change strongly upon conversion and disaffection and hence may strongly influence their narratives. Carter affirms that the degree of knowledge of different (ex-)members about their (former) group is highly diverse, especially in hierarchically organized groups. Using his experience at Rajneeshpuram (the intentional community of the followers of Rajneesh) as an example, he claims that the social influence exerted by the group may influence the accounts of ethnographers and of participant observers21. He proposes a method he calls triangulation as the best method to study groups, by utilizing three accounts: those of believers, apostates, and ethnographers. Carter asserts that such methodology is difficult to put into practice. 21 Daniel Carson Johnson22 writes that even the triangulation method rarely succeeds in making assertions with certitude.21
James Richardson contends that there are a large number of cults, and a tendency among scholars to make unjustified generalizations about them based on a select sample of observations of life in such groups or the testimonies of (ex-)members. According to Richardson, this tendency is responsible for the widely divergent opinions about cults among scholars and social scientists.24
Eileen Barker (2001) wrote that critical former members of cults complain that academic observers only notice what the leadership wants them to see.23"
See also Apostasy in new religious movements, and Apostates and Apologists.
If you would like to read more on the subject the following bibliography of resources can help. Quoting from wikipedia.org here are the resources:
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Books
Bromley, David et al.: Cults, Religion, and Violence, 2002, ISBN 0-521-66898-0
Melton, Gordon: Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, 1992, ISBN 0-8153-1140-0
House, Wayne: Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements, 2000, ISBN 0-310-38551-2
Kramer, Joel and Alstad, Diane: The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power, 1993.
Lalich, Janja: Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults, 2004, ISBN 0-520-24018-9
Landau Tobias, Madeleine et al. : Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, 1994, ISBN 0-89793-144-0
Lewis, James R. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements Oxford University Press, 2004
Lewis, James R. Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy, Prometheus Books, 2001
Martin, Walter et al.: The Kingdom of the Cults, 2003, ISBN 0-7642-2821-8
Oakes, Len: Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities, 1997, ISBN 0-8156-0398-3 Excerpts
Singer, Margaret Thaler: Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, 1992, ISBN 0-7879-6741-6 Excerpts
Tourish, Dennis: 'On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left, 2000, ISBN 0-7656-0639-9
Zablocki, Benjamin et al.: Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
Barker, E. (1989) New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction, London, HMSO
Enroth, Ronald. (1992) Churches that Abuse, Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-53290-6
Phoenix, Lena: "The Heart of a Cult", 2006, ISBN 0-9785483-0-2
[edit] Articles
Langone, Michael: Cults: Questions and Answers [23]
Lifton, Robert Jay: Cult Formation, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, February 1991 [24]
Moyers. Jim: Psychological Issues of Former Members of Restrictive Religious Groups [25]
Richmond, Lee J. :When Spirituality Goes Awry: Students in Cults, Professional School Counseling, June 2004 [26]
Shaw, Daniel: Traumatic abuse in cults [27]
Rosedale, Herbert et al.: On Using the Term "Cult" [28]
Van Hoey, Sara: Cults in Court The Los Angeles Lawyer, February 1991 [29]
Zimbardo, Philip: What messages are behind today's cults?, American Psychological Association Monitor, May 1997 [30]
Aronoff, Jodi; Lynn, Steven Jay; Malinosky, Peter. Are cultic environments psychologically harmful?, Clinical Psychology Review, 2000, Vol. 20 #1 pp. 91-111
Rothstein, Mikael, Hagiography and Text in the Aetherius Society: Aspects of the Social Construction of a Religious Leader, an article which appeared in the book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg, RENNER Studies in New religions, Aarhus University press, ISBN 87-7288-748-6
Phoenix, Lena: "Thoughts on the Word Cult" [31]
[edit] References
Note 1: William Chambers, Michael Langone, Arthur Dole & James Grice, The Group Psychological Abuse Scale: A Measure of the Varieties of Cultic Abuse, Cultic Studies Journal, 11(1), 1994. The definition of a cult given above is based on a study of 308 former members of 101 groups.
Note 2: Barker, E. The Ones Who Got Away: People Who Attend Unification Church Workshops and Do Not Become Moonies. In: Barker E, ed. Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West'. Macon, Ga. : Mercer University Press; 1983. ISBN 0-86554-095-0
Note 4: Galanter M. Unification Church ('Moonie') dropouts: psychological readjustment after leaving a charismatic religious group, American Journal of Psychiatry. 1983;140(8):984-989.
Note 6: Singer, M with Lalich, J (1995). Cults in Our Midst, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-0051-6
Note 8: West, L. J., & Langone, M. D. (1985). Cultism: A conference for scholars and policy makers. Summary of proceedings of the Wingspread conference on cultism, September 9–11. Weston, MA: American Family Foundation.
Note 9: Barrett, D. V. The New Believers - A survey of sects, cults and alternative religions 2001 UK, Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35592-5
Note 10: Barker, E. (1984), The Making of a Moonie, p.147, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13246-5
Note 11: Galanter, Marc M.D.(Editor), (1989), Cults and new religious movements: a report of the committee on psychiatry and religion of the American Psychiatric Association, ISBN 0-89042-212-5
Note 12: Hadden, Jeffrey K. SOC 257: New Religious Movements Lectures, University of Virginia, Department of Sociology.
Note 13: Bader, Chris & A. Demaris, A test of the Stark-Bainbridge theory of affiliation with religious cults and sects. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 35, 285-303. (1996)
Note 14: Hadden, J and Bromley, D eds. (1993), The Handbook of Cults and Sects in America. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc., pp. 75-97.
Note 15: Kranenborg, Reender Dr. (Dutch language) Sekten... gevaarlijk of niet?/Cults... dangerous or not? published in the magazine Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland/Religious movements in the Netherlands nr. 31 Sekten II by the Free university Amsterdam (1996) ISSN 0169-7374 ISBN 90-5383-426-5
Note 16: F. Derks and the professor of psychology of religion Jan van der Lans The post-cult syndrome: Fact or Fiction?, paper presented at conference of Psychologists of Religion, Catholic University Nijmegen, 1981, also appeared in Dutch language as Post-cult-syndroom; feit of fictie?, published in the magazine Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland/Religious movements in the Netherlands nr. 6 pages 58-75 published by the Free university Amsterdam (1983)
Note 17: Dr. Zablocki, Benjamin [32] Paper presented to a conference, Cults: Theory and Treatment Issues, May 31, 1997 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Note 18: Duhaime, Jean (Université de Montréal), Les Témoigagnes de Convertis et d'ex-Adeptes (English: The testimonies of converts and former followers, an article which appeared in the book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg, RENNER Studies in New religions, Aarhus University press, 2003, ISBN 87-7288-748-6
Note 20: Amy Ryan: New Religions and the Anti-Cult Movement: Online Resource Guide in Social Sciences (2000) [33]
Note 21: Carter, Lewis, F. Lewis, Carriers of Tales: On Assessing Credibility of Apostate and Other Outsider Accounts of Religious Practices published in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
Note 22: Johnson, Daniel Carson (1998) Apostates Who Never were: the Social Construction of Absque Facto Apostate Narratives, published in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
Note 23: Barker, E. (2001), Watching for Violence: A Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Five Types of Cult-Watching Groups, available online
Note 24: Richardson, James T. (1989) The Psychology of Induction: A Review and Interpretation, article that appeared in the book edited by Marc Galanter M.D. (1989) Cults and new religious movements: a report of the committee on psychiatry and religion of the American Psychiatric Association ISBN 0-89042-212-5
Note 25: Hall, John R. and Philip Schuyler (1998), Apostasy, Apocalypse, and religious violence: An Exploratory comparison of Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and the Solar Temple, in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7, page 145 "The tendency to treat Peoples Temple as the cultus classicus headed by Jim Jones, psychotic megaliomanic par excellence is still with us, like most myths, because it has a grain of truth to it. "
Note 26: McLemee, Scott Rethinking Jonestown on the salon.com website "If Jones' People's Temple wasn't a cult, then the term has no meaning." [34]
Note 27: Barker, E., Standing at the Cross-Roads: Politics of Marginality in "Subversive Organizations" article in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
Note 28: Edby, Lloyd (1999), Testimony presented to the Task Force to Investigate Cult Activity on the Campuses of Maryland Public Higher-Education Institutions [35]
Note 29: Lane, David C., The Guru Has No Turban: Part 2 [36]
Note 30: Langone, Michael, "Clinical Update on Cults", Psychiatric Times July 1996 Vol. XIII Issue 7 [37]
Note 31: Miller, Timothy, Religious Movements in the United States: An Informal Introduction (2003) [38]
Note 32: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary entry for cult [39]
Note 33: Bowman, Robert M., A Biblical Guide To Orthodoxy And Heresy, 1994, [40]
Note 34: Casino. Bruce J., Defining Religion in American Law, 1999, [41]
Note 35: Langone, Michael, On Using the Term "Cult", [42]
Note 36: BBC News 20 May, 2000: Sect leavers have mental problems [43]
Note 37: Giambalvo, Carol, Post-cult problems [44]
Note 38: Ross, Rick, Ethical standards [45]
Note 39: Burks, Ronald, Cognitive Impairment in Thought Reform Environments [46]
Note 40: Kent, Stephen A. Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), 1997 [47]
Note 41: CDC Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?[48]
Note 42: Aum Shinrikyo (Japan, cultists)[49]
Note 43: Homeland Defense Business Unit[50]
^ Examples of contemporary British "cult" usage: Daily Telegraph; Scotsman Example of contemporary British "sect" usage: "Before beginning counselling the counsellor needs to be sure that it was indeed a cult and not a sect in which the person was enmeshed. A sect may be described as a spin-off from an established religion or quite eclectic, but it does not use techniques of mind control on its membership."[UK-based Cult Information Centre]
^ Stark, Rodney and Bainbridge, Willia S. A Theory of Religion ", Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-2330-3
^ Barker, E. New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction (1990), Bernan Press, ISBN 0-11-340927-3
^ Wallis, Roy The Road to Total Freedom A Sociological analysis of Scientology (1976) available online (bad scan)
^ Wallis, Roy Scientology: Therapeutic Cult to Religious Sect abstract only (1975)
^ The Definitional Ambiguity of "Cult" and ICSA’s Mission
^ Jenkins, Philip. Decade of Nightmares: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America. Oxford University Press, USA.ISBN13: 9780195178661
^ Bob Pitt, Review of Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth, On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left. What Next Journal (online), No. 17, 2000 [1]
^ Anthony D, Robbins T, Barrie-Anthony S. Cult and Anticult Totalism: Reciprocal Escalation and Violence. Terrorism and Political Violence, Volume 14, Special Issue 1, Spring 2002, pp. 211-240.
^ Bibliography compiled by www.cointelpro.org
^ Sherwood, Carlton (1991) Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Washington, D.C.: Regnery (ISBN 0-89526-532-X)
^ Circulaire du 27 mai 2005 relative à la lutte contre les dérives sectaires
^ A discussion and list of ACM (anti-cult movement) groups can be found at http://www.religioustolerance.org/acm.htm.
^ Bioterrorism in History - 1984: Rajneesh Cult Attacks Local Salad Bar, WBUR
^ [http://www.rickross.com/reference/rajneesh/rajneesh8.html AP The Associated Press/October 19, 2001
^ Wilson, Bryan R. Apostates and New Religious Movements, Oxford, England, 1994
^ Melton, Gordon J., Brainwashing and the Cults: The Rise and Fall of a Theory, 1999
^ Hassan, Steven (2000) Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves. Aitan Publishing. (ISBN 0-9670688-0-0). online version.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult"
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
My Testimony -- God's Message
The Beginnings
The following is a personal testimony, a brief historical record of events in technology and moments with God among His people in times and various places. Information Technology is only one piece of a larger tapestry that God is weaving in this world according to His Will and Purpose. This is in honor of Bishop W.W. and Sister Edith Thomas whose vision is the foundation of the message, God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you!
In November 1971, Intel Corp. announced the invention of the microprocessor. The world did not realize at the time, but the microprocessor was the beginning of the Information Age as we know it today. God was soveriegnly setting the stage for his purpose.
In a moment on Lake Ida in 1976, Bishop W.W. Thomas said yes to God and later discovered that his wife, Sister Edith Thomas had also heard from the Lord. Purpose and destiny met in a moment when Bishop Woodrow and Sister Edith said yes to God's calling to start a church in Margate, FL to reach the world with life. In 1976, the key technology that is the fabric of the internet today was invented by Vint Cerf called TCP/IP addressing or IPV4. Also that year, Dr. Robert Metcalfe invented ethernet which enabled data to move very fast and was a crucial part of Local Area Networks.In my life in 1976 things were about to change drastically. My life and family were devastated when my dad died in a small plane crash in South Carolina. Later that year I was diagnosed with cancer and given a low chance of survival even with chemo and radiation. God did not cause the calamity in my life in 1976, but He was about to fundamentally intervene. God uses people places and things for his purposes. I believe that nothing happens by chance or accident and the fact that Bishop and Sister Edith said yes to God opened up doors for God to move as He pleased. Many things happened in 1976. It was a pivotal year of new beginnings. It was a turning point toward purpose and destiny in my life whether I realized it or not as a nine year old boy who dreamed of the future.
In January 1977, God touched my mother while I was in the hospital in Rome, GA. The course was set, God's will and purpose was being written. I believe because of Bishop W.W. Thomas's act of obedience at Lake Ida in South Florida that the door was opened for God to intervene for His purpose. Not by mistake or accident.
The year of the Bible, 1983, was another pivotal year. It was the year that Sister Edith prophecied over Abundant Life Christian Centre things that God was about to do in the church. In my life, it was the year that I said 'Yes' to God and gave my life to Christ in Albany, GA while watching Oral Roberts on his TV program on a Sunday morning in December. At age 16 the search for meaning that produced two book manuscripts and 4 years of computer work and research found significance in the moment that I gave my life to Christ. In technology, it was the year two key components of the internet were put into place in the network that was to become the internet. Technology was giving birth to things that would affect the world on a fundamental level. The year 1983 was a year of birthings on many levels.
In 1989 in the quiet labs of CERN (Geneva) Tim Berners-Lee and a team invented the concept of the World Wide Web protocol. The world was unaware of the new invention or the impact that it would make. In a moment in God's presence in 1989 in Lakeland, FL, just one month before the 'Iron Curtain' fell in Berlin, Germany, God said in my heart to reach the world with life through a worldwide network. I saw missionaries, pastors and ministers around the world using this network to get the Gospel to the world. I saw God raising up a man of God to whom He was equipping to carry a needed message of hope and life to the world and to other ministers of the Gospel. God said that I would be working to support that man of God with that message. God said that the ministry would be to use what He had given me to supply and support what He was doing to get the Gospel to the World. There were many aspects to the vision and many other things that are yet to be manifested as of this writing. As of today, what the Lord made clear in the vision has happened. I was a college student and there was no accessible 'worldwide network' at that time to do what God had said. In 1992, what God said became a reality when the public gateways to the Internet were established with the stroke of a pen. Following God in obedience led a path to what God was doing at Abundant Life Christian Centre.
In 1997 Abundant Life Christian Centre was in position for transition. There was no significant technology infrastructure, no TV ministry and no outreach on the internet. We had some things in our hand and we began to celebrate what we had and glorify God! Step by step God established things in our midst. The miracle out of Margate is the message that God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you! A message that God gave Bishop Woodrow W. and Sister Edith Thomas in 1976 with the promise that it would go around the world. It was about to happen! Reaching our world with life.
At the end of 1999, the eldership of the church followed the leading of the Lord to move online to reach our world with life over the internet and on TV! God opened many doors for ministry on TV and certain worldwide. Today the message reaches millions of people with life! People in every part of the world are hearing that God is good, He loves and He wants to bless each person. The miracle out of Margate! Like seeds being dispersed, many places have this message from God in their heart thanks to Bishop and God's Sovereign, Holy, Passion for people in this world.
Many ministries have also made the discovery of the tool of Information Technology and the Internet that God has raised up at this time for His purpose. I was destined to help fulfill the vision that God gave to Bishop Woody. I fulfilled that vision and am now a part of the thousands and even millions that will now carry that message!
Bishop Woody went home to be with the Lord in August of 2006.
All that God showed him came to pass in his lifetime. The message that God gave him is now in all of the heart of those who came to Margate during that moment in history. The message is now being dispersed around the globe just like God said that it would. Bishop was my mentor and my Father in the Lord. I thank God everyday that I had the priviledge and the honor to hold up this great man of God's arms and help him see God's vision for him come to pass.
Man cannot control the Spirit of God. God's spirit rests on all of those who call on Him and receive Him. No man could have orchestrated the events that took place described here. God sovereignly did His work. For all of those people that would say YES to God can participate in the blessing that flows. Living from a proper perspective which results in rightly ordered faith which is always expressed through truthful, genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God! God is Good. He loves you and He wants to bless you! You can be some earthly good if you see the world from God's perspective. Your choice. His perspective.
The Current and Future Role of Technology:
Technology will continue to increase in importance. The Internet will no longer be primarily about words or documents, but will be the major delivery platform for phones, television, radio, movies and music and new media. As it moves off the desktop to inexpensive hand held wireless devices used in countries that have limited communications infrastructure, the Internet is rapidly becoming the dominant window into world culture. It will be accessible without wires, without keyboards and without electricity. It is transitioning from a computer technology to a messaging concept.
Never before in human existence have we had the ability to reach the entire world so quickly with a focused message. God has provided the ways and means for this - the Internet moment in human history.
This is the time when we will see the greatest harvest of people really knowing God and what it means to be a part of His family. God's family spans the globe. He is using people from all parts of the world to share this good news. The internet is now the great equalizer tool that God is using for His purposes. Give God the praise!
The following is a personal testimony, a brief historical record of events in technology and moments with God among His people in times and various places. Information Technology is only one piece of a larger tapestry that God is weaving in this world according to His Will and Purpose. This is in honor of Bishop W.W. and Sister Edith Thomas whose vision is the foundation of the message, God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you!
In November 1971, Intel Corp. announced the invention of the microprocessor. The world did not realize at the time, but the microprocessor was the beginning of the Information Age as we know it today. God was soveriegnly setting the stage for his purpose.
In a moment on Lake Ida in 1976, Bishop W.W. Thomas said yes to God and later discovered that his wife, Sister Edith Thomas had also heard from the Lord. Purpose and destiny met in a moment when Bishop Woodrow and Sister Edith said yes to God's calling to start a church in Margate, FL to reach the world with life. In 1976, the key technology that is the fabric of the internet today was invented by Vint Cerf called TCP/IP addressing or IPV4. Also that year, Dr. Robert Metcalfe invented ethernet which enabled data to move very fast and was a crucial part of Local Area Networks.In my life in 1976 things were about to change drastically. My life and family were devastated when my dad died in a small plane crash in South Carolina. Later that year I was diagnosed with cancer and given a low chance of survival even with chemo and radiation. God did not cause the calamity in my life in 1976, but He was about to fundamentally intervene. God uses people places and things for his purposes. I believe that nothing happens by chance or accident and the fact that Bishop and Sister Edith said yes to God opened up doors for God to move as He pleased. Many things happened in 1976. It was a pivotal year of new beginnings. It was a turning point toward purpose and destiny in my life whether I realized it or not as a nine year old boy who dreamed of the future.
In January 1977, God touched my mother while I was in the hospital in Rome, GA. The course was set, God's will and purpose was being written. I believe because of Bishop W.W. Thomas's act of obedience at Lake Ida in South Florida that the door was opened for God to intervene for His purpose. Not by mistake or accident.
The year of the Bible, 1983, was another pivotal year. It was the year that Sister Edith prophecied over Abundant Life Christian Centre things that God was about to do in the church. In my life, it was the year that I said 'Yes' to God and gave my life to Christ in Albany, GA while watching Oral Roberts on his TV program on a Sunday morning in December. At age 16 the search for meaning that produced two book manuscripts and 4 years of computer work and research found significance in the moment that I gave my life to Christ. In technology, it was the year two key components of the internet were put into place in the network that was to become the internet. Technology was giving birth to things that would affect the world on a fundamental level. The year 1983 was a year of birthings on many levels.
In 1989 in the quiet labs of CERN (Geneva) Tim Berners-Lee and a team invented the concept of the World Wide Web protocol. The world was unaware of the new invention or the impact that it would make. In a moment in God's presence in 1989 in Lakeland, FL, just one month before the 'Iron Curtain' fell in Berlin, Germany, God said in my heart to reach the world with life through a worldwide network. I saw missionaries, pastors and ministers around the world using this network to get the Gospel to the world. I saw God raising up a man of God to whom He was equipping to carry a needed message of hope and life to the world and to other ministers of the Gospel. God said that I would be working to support that man of God with that message. God said that the ministry would be to use what He had given me to supply and support what He was doing to get the Gospel to the World. There were many aspects to the vision and many other things that are yet to be manifested as of this writing. As of today, what the Lord made clear in the vision has happened. I was a college student and there was no accessible 'worldwide network' at that time to do what God had said. In 1992, what God said became a reality when the public gateways to the Internet were established with the stroke of a pen. Following God in obedience led a path to what God was doing at Abundant Life Christian Centre.
In 1997 Abundant Life Christian Centre was in position for transition. There was no significant technology infrastructure, no TV ministry and no outreach on the internet. We had some things in our hand and we began to celebrate what we had and glorify God! Step by step God established things in our midst. The miracle out of Margate is the message that God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you! A message that God gave Bishop Woodrow W. and Sister Edith Thomas in 1976 with the promise that it would go around the world. It was about to happen! Reaching our world with life.
At the end of 1999, the eldership of the church followed the leading of the Lord to move online to reach our world with life over the internet and on TV! God opened many doors for ministry on TV and certain worldwide. Today the message reaches millions of people with life! People in every part of the world are hearing that God is good, He loves and He wants to bless each person. The miracle out of Margate! Like seeds being dispersed, many places have this message from God in their heart thanks to Bishop and God's Sovereign, Holy, Passion for people in this world.
Many ministries have also made the discovery of the tool of Information Technology and the Internet that God has raised up at this time for His purpose. I was destined to help fulfill the vision that God gave to Bishop Woody. I fulfilled that vision and am now a part of the thousands and even millions that will now carry that message!
Bishop Woody went home to be with the Lord in August of 2006.
All that God showed him came to pass in his lifetime. The message that God gave him is now in all of the heart of those who came to Margate during that moment in history. The message is now being dispersed around the globe just like God said that it would. Bishop was my mentor and my Father in the Lord. I thank God everyday that I had the priviledge and the honor to hold up this great man of God's arms and help him see God's vision for him come to pass.
Man cannot control the Spirit of God. God's spirit rests on all of those who call on Him and receive Him. No man could have orchestrated the events that took place described here. God sovereignly did His work. For all of those people that would say YES to God can participate in the blessing that flows. Living from a proper perspective which results in rightly ordered faith which is always expressed through truthful, genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God! God is Good. He loves you and He wants to bless you! You can be some earthly good if you see the world from God's perspective. Your choice. His perspective.
The Current and Future Role of Technology:
Technology will continue to increase in importance. The Internet will no longer be primarily about words or documents, but will be the major delivery platform for phones, television, radio, movies and music and new media. As it moves off the desktop to inexpensive hand held wireless devices used in countries that have limited communications infrastructure, the Internet is rapidly becoming the dominant window into world culture. It will be accessible without wires, without keyboards and without electricity. It is transitioning from a computer technology to a messaging concept.
Never before in human existence have we had the ability to reach the entire world so quickly with a focused message. God has provided the ways and means for this - the Internet moment in human history.
This is the time when we will see the greatest harvest of people really knowing God and what it means to be a part of His family. God's family spans the globe. He is using people from all parts of the world to share this good news. The internet is now the great equalizer tool that God is using for His purposes. Give God the praise!
Works
Rightly ordered faith from a lifestyle of perspective can only be expressed toward God on this earth through genuine love for people and especially those in the family of God.
That genuine love for people takes the form of "the works" that is evidence of your living faith. Faith without works is dead faith. The manifest demonstrative evidence that faith exists in the life of the believer is the genuine love a person has for other people. It is seen by the works a person does.
All of this is the real aspect of a lifestyle of faith. A lifestyle that will be expressed in being a giver. While it is true that you can't give what you don't have, and God wants to richly bless you with all wealth and prosperity, the real root that defines us as believers is our rightly ordered faith expressed in genuine love and truth toward people. Our ability to give because of the prosperity in our lives is a fruit of a lifestyle of faith and genuine love, not the main objective. God will get it to you if He can get it THROUGH you. Jesus said to seek FIRST His Kingdom and His righteosness (Matt. 6:33) and all of these things (stuff) will be added unto you.
God's Kingdom is His will and purpose according to His perspective. You see the gold and the silver are so common in heaven that it is used to pave the roads. Why would anyone seek that stuff? God will give you wisdom and insight to apply Heaven's type of building material on this earth, but you need to have your head and your heart in the Kingdom of God to know what to do with the common stuff of heaven! Proper perspective that results in rightly ordered faith has only one outlet in this world, it is the corridor by which Heaven comes to Earth, it is our genuine love and truthfulness for and with others and especially those of the family of God.
The old sinful nature approach is to gather the stuff because of the lack and then give when you have enough. The sinful nature revolves around self. The new nature in Christ revolves around Christ, His will and purpose and nature of which we take on in our life.Our nature changes to His nature and is expressed through us uniquely according to the gifts and abilities designed within us. The abilities, the wealth, the wisdom and the insight are all side effects of the core lifestyle of proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed by genuine love and godly truthfulness toward people and especially the family of God.
When your head and heart are in heaven, then you will know what to do with the 'common stuff' of heaven on the earth. Wealth, wisdom and insight are side effects of a lifestyle of living, breathing, seeing, loving, interacting according to the Kingdom of God. Seek first really actually means JUST THAT. No addons, peripherals, accessories of imaginations of any vain mind can help it, change it or alter it. If it isn't it, then IT is not IT.
Your life is not expressed in an envelope, You are the envelope delivered to a lost and dying world! While your life will produce many envelopes of giving, careful not to make the material in an envelope your primary work on the earth sent in proxy for someone else to do. No. You are the primary work on the earth. Your lifestyle is what people will see both before they get to know Christ and afterwards. Your life is what will produce in the Kingdom of God. Yes, you will find yourself giving more offerings in envelopes at church, but that is only emanations of the real life that you live.
You can be no earthly good if you are not Kingdom of God minded. You need to be Heavenly minded in order to be genuinely a real force for righteousness and long lasting good on the earth. To be heavenly minded has only one real outlet of expression and it is right here on the earth through the life of the believer living in proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed in godly-truthfulness and genuine love toward people and especially those of the family of God.
While it may be true that you don't hear this preached everywhere, it is no less the repeated message of all of Paul's writing, the message that Jesus kept repeating and the entire synopsis of all of the Old Testament. It all boils down to this one thing. The heart of the matter.From here is where a person can produce in the Kingdom of God some 30, 60 and even 100 fold.What is produced in the Kingdom is the people who end up going there and are well equipped, heavenly minded folk who love God with all of there heart and use the stuff of heaven on the earth.
I mean when you step out today, this scarcity minded, fearful world ought to see you and take notice. Like a food truck at a starving, drought stricken village, our life should be decorated with the glory of Heaven. For even the most common things of heaven are priceless on the earth. Our very life lifts up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and HE WILL DRAW THEM TO HIM. Our lifestyle of being a heavenly steward, ushering those people (all people on the earth) to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who loves them with an immeasurable love. Those people, including you, are God's passion, His treasure, His desire for them to be a part of His family. He wants to sit them together with Him in His heavenly place as He has with you. That they too can live a life of significance, meaning, purpose and value. Living in proper perspective and rightly ordered faith expressed in godly truthfulness and genuine love toward people AND ESPECIALLY for those in the family of God already!
Works. Friend that is works. Works that last and can be carried with us when we have run the race and finished the course.
Today is your day friend. There is no other day like today. Today is the an only day that will never happen again in all of history. What you do today can last all eternity.
Blessings to you, friend.
In Christ,
Brother Ben
That genuine love for people takes the form of "the works" that is evidence of your living faith. Faith without works is dead faith. The manifest demonstrative evidence that faith exists in the life of the believer is the genuine love a person has for other people. It is seen by the works a person does.
All of this is the real aspect of a lifestyle of faith. A lifestyle that will be expressed in being a giver. While it is true that you can't give what you don't have, and God wants to richly bless you with all wealth and prosperity, the real root that defines us as believers is our rightly ordered faith expressed in genuine love and truth toward people. Our ability to give because of the prosperity in our lives is a fruit of a lifestyle of faith and genuine love, not the main objective. God will get it to you if He can get it THROUGH you. Jesus said to seek FIRST His Kingdom and His righteosness (Matt. 6:33) and all of these things (stuff) will be added unto you.
God's Kingdom is His will and purpose according to His perspective. You see the gold and the silver are so common in heaven that it is used to pave the roads. Why would anyone seek that stuff? God will give you wisdom and insight to apply Heaven's type of building material on this earth, but you need to have your head and your heart in the Kingdom of God to know what to do with the common stuff of heaven! Proper perspective that results in rightly ordered faith has only one outlet in this world, it is the corridor by which Heaven comes to Earth, it is our genuine love and truthfulness for and with others and especially those of the family of God.
The old sinful nature approach is to gather the stuff because of the lack and then give when you have enough. The sinful nature revolves around self. The new nature in Christ revolves around Christ, His will and purpose and nature of which we take on in our life.Our nature changes to His nature and is expressed through us uniquely according to the gifts and abilities designed within us. The abilities, the wealth, the wisdom and the insight are all side effects of the core lifestyle of proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed by genuine love and godly truthfulness toward people and especially the family of God.
When your head and heart are in heaven, then you will know what to do with the 'common stuff' of heaven on the earth. Wealth, wisdom and insight are side effects of a lifestyle of living, breathing, seeing, loving, interacting according to the Kingdom of God. Seek first really actually means JUST THAT. No addons, peripherals, accessories of imaginations of any vain mind can help it, change it or alter it. If it isn't it, then IT is not IT.
Your life is not expressed in an envelope, You are the envelope delivered to a lost and dying world! While your life will produce many envelopes of giving, careful not to make the material in an envelope your primary work on the earth sent in proxy for someone else to do. No. You are the primary work on the earth. Your lifestyle is what people will see both before they get to know Christ and afterwards. Your life is what will produce in the Kingdom of God. Yes, you will find yourself giving more offerings in envelopes at church, but that is only emanations of the real life that you live.
You can be no earthly good if you are not Kingdom of God minded. You need to be Heavenly minded in order to be genuinely a real force for righteousness and long lasting good on the earth. To be heavenly minded has only one real outlet of expression and it is right here on the earth through the life of the believer living in proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed in godly-truthfulness and genuine love toward people and especially those of the family of God.
While it may be true that you don't hear this preached everywhere, it is no less the repeated message of all of Paul's writing, the message that Jesus kept repeating and the entire synopsis of all of the Old Testament. It all boils down to this one thing. The heart of the matter.From here is where a person can produce in the Kingdom of God some 30, 60 and even 100 fold.What is produced in the Kingdom is the people who end up going there and are well equipped, heavenly minded folk who love God with all of there heart and use the stuff of heaven on the earth.
I mean when you step out today, this scarcity minded, fearful world ought to see you and take notice. Like a food truck at a starving, drought stricken village, our life should be decorated with the glory of Heaven. For even the most common things of heaven are priceless on the earth. Our very life lifts up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and HE WILL DRAW THEM TO HIM. Our lifestyle of being a heavenly steward, ushering those people (all people on the earth) to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who loves them with an immeasurable love. Those people, including you, are God's passion, His treasure, His desire for them to be a part of His family. He wants to sit them together with Him in His heavenly place as He has with you. That they too can live a life of significance, meaning, purpose and value. Living in proper perspective and rightly ordered faith expressed in godly truthfulness and genuine love toward people AND ESPECIALLY for those in the family of God already!
Works. Friend that is works. Works that last and can be carried with us when we have run the race and finished the course.
Today is your day friend. There is no other day like today. Today is the an only day that will never happen again in all of history. What you do today can last all eternity.
Blessings to you, friend.
In Christ,
Brother Ben
Knowledge and Insight Without Love
1 Corinthians 8:1-"...knowledge puffs up, love builds up"
The pursuit of knowledge and insight, while good and noble, are destructive if the path is without God's kind of love.Knowledge makes one haughty, arrogant, accusatory, vile, paranoid and lends to vain imaginations and evil thoughts about other people, looking down on people as inferior. Knowledge alone destroys. Paul was saying here the pursuit of knowledge apart from love is insight without perspective.Like a loaded gun shot aimlessly, so is knowledge and insight obtained with any root but God's kind of love.You see Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 for us to 'seek first the Kingdom of God (God's will and purpose) and His righteousness (right order, right perspective) and all of these things will be added'. Knowledge and insight are things.Jesus didn't say seek things. He said seek Him and the things will be added BY HIM! Why, because through Him all things arrive, are viewed, are used according to His will and purpose, right order and right perspective, according to HIS KINGDOM...not our thought, nor our vision, nor our feelings or vain view of life. His way, not our way. Our way leads to mistrusting people, paranoia, fear, isolation, vain imaginations, pride, haughtiness, arrogance, ambition, greed and every evil work. Knowledge alone only destroys. Paul was not talking to those who did not know a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, he was talking to christians, to church leaders, to us all.
I had a friend who got caught up in the pursuit of insight outside of God's kind of love. Suddenly my friend found that they were not seeing the people, the friends and loved ones like God sees them. They began to isolate themself and destroy relationships in their life all in the name of pursuit of knowledge and insight. Their pursuit without love brought only more trouble.
You see God's kind of love does not segment or isolate. God's kind of love in us is expressed because of our faith (which pleases God) and is only expressed as truthful, genuine love for people (God's priority, God's treasure) and especially for those in the family of God.
John said that if you don't love, unconditionally like God loves, those that you see, then how can you love God who don't see with natural eyes. You see, wisdom is only the principle thing when it follows the first commandment and Jesus instruction to us. There will be no other God (or pursuit) other than God, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. We call it living life in perspective. Our movement of pursuit has to flow with first thought and first fruit through that perspective. God's priority is 'for God so loved the World'. He gave it all. God loves people. People are His treasure. This is why John ties our love for people with our love for God. Faith is only expressed as God nature expressed. God is love. You know that your faith is living and alive when you are operating in God's definition of love, not a man's definition of love.Man's definition of love is manipulative, exclusionary, controlling, isolating leading to pride, destroyed relationships, evil thinking, evil speaking and evil acting. Man's kind of love is from a corrupt nature and can only breed corruption because of the seed from which it exists.Friend, if you find yourself in a place where either people are standing back from you, there is a reason. A life operated without love is a life with no orientation or right order. Perspective only comes from a first fruit relationship with God which leads to vision, purpose and destiny all in the context of God's kind of love. Faith can only be expressed through us when we demonstrate genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God.Knowledge and insight without love boils down to foolishness because it is not obtain in God's right order.Such things may have some benefit for the moment, but have no impact in eternity.
Proverbs 24:4 can only be a reality in this life when obtained through proper perspective. Vision cannot happen without proper perspective. Nothing that we can carry to heaven and present to the Lord Jesus Christ happens without proper perspective which leads to expression of truthful, genuine love for all people and especially for those in the family of God already!
Here's to your life of proper perspective leading to genuine love for all people of which you will need precious and pleasant riches.
Love ya!
In Christ,
Brother Ben
The pursuit of knowledge and insight, while good and noble, are destructive if the path is without God's kind of love.Knowledge makes one haughty, arrogant, accusatory, vile, paranoid and lends to vain imaginations and evil thoughts about other people, looking down on people as inferior. Knowledge alone destroys. Paul was saying here the pursuit of knowledge apart from love is insight without perspective.Like a loaded gun shot aimlessly, so is knowledge and insight obtained with any root but God's kind of love.You see Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 for us to 'seek first the Kingdom of God (God's will and purpose) and His righteousness (right order, right perspective) and all of these things will be added'. Knowledge and insight are things.Jesus didn't say seek things. He said seek Him and the things will be added BY HIM! Why, because through Him all things arrive, are viewed, are used according to His will and purpose, right order and right perspective, according to HIS KINGDOM...not our thought, nor our vision, nor our feelings or vain view of life. His way, not our way. Our way leads to mistrusting people, paranoia, fear, isolation, vain imaginations, pride, haughtiness, arrogance, ambition, greed and every evil work. Knowledge alone only destroys. Paul was not talking to those who did not know a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, he was talking to christians, to church leaders, to us all.
I had a friend who got caught up in the pursuit of insight outside of God's kind of love. Suddenly my friend found that they were not seeing the people, the friends and loved ones like God sees them. They began to isolate themself and destroy relationships in their life all in the name of pursuit of knowledge and insight. Their pursuit without love brought only more trouble.
You see God's kind of love does not segment or isolate. God's kind of love in us is expressed because of our faith (which pleases God) and is only expressed as truthful, genuine love for people (God's priority, God's treasure) and especially for those in the family of God.
John said that if you don't love, unconditionally like God loves, those that you see, then how can you love God who don't see with natural eyes. You see, wisdom is only the principle thing when it follows the first commandment and Jesus instruction to us. There will be no other God (or pursuit) other than God, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. We call it living life in perspective. Our movement of pursuit has to flow with first thought and first fruit through that perspective. God's priority is 'for God so loved the World'. He gave it all. God loves people. People are His treasure. This is why John ties our love for people with our love for God. Faith is only expressed as God nature expressed. God is love. You know that your faith is living and alive when you are operating in God's definition of love, not a man's definition of love.Man's definition of love is manipulative, exclusionary, controlling, isolating leading to pride, destroyed relationships, evil thinking, evil speaking and evil acting. Man's kind of love is from a corrupt nature and can only breed corruption because of the seed from which it exists.Friend, if you find yourself in a place where either people are standing back from you, there is a reason. A life operated without love is a life with no orientation or right order. Perspective only comes from a first fruit relationship with God which leads to vision, purpose and destiny all in the context of God's kind of love. Faith can only be expressed through us when we demonstrate genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God.Knowledge and insight without love boils down to foolishness because it is not obtain in God's right order.Such things may have some benefit for the moment, but have no impact in eternity.
Proverbs 24:4 can only be a reality in this life when obtained through proper perspective. Vision cannot happen without proper perspective. Nothing that we can carry to heaven and present to the Lord Jesus Christ happens without proper perspective which leads to expression of truthful, genuine love for all people and especially for those in the family of God already!
Here's to your life of proper perspective leading to genuine love for all people of which you will need precious and pleasant riches.
Love ya!
In Christ,
Brother Ben
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