The Thirty-Five Dollar Dress

Not long ago, Ange told me that Verna Davis the 'wife' of ntcc founder, R.W. Davis, sold her a dress for $35.00.  Now many people might think that this is a topic unworthy of a blog post; but you better believe; we are going to blog about this.  Some might ask, "What's the big deal about VD selling a dress to Ange for 35 bucks?  Verna was being a blessing to your wife."  This is the way things were often presented to us when we were cult members.  In fact, it was probably considered to be an honor to some folks to have something that was owned by borg royalty.  But this is wrong on so many levels; it's not even funny.

First of all, let's address the rich selling to the poor.  We are not talking about a rich person having a garage sale, and selling a dress to a poor person for 5 dollars, which is about what a dress would bring at a garage sale.  A lot of people DONATE clothes to the Goodwill; and they end up on a rack, where this dress would probably go for about 5 to 10 bucks, and an unsuspecting ntcc member trying to live off of $40 per week grocery budget might end up buying it at this kook store.  I'm not sure if anyone realizes how absurd this really is so, as usual, you can depend on us to break this down.

"Kook Store" Dresses

Ange and Eric Barden were "laboring" at the ntcc national camp ground, in Mexico, MO at the time; and Eric was making between $6.00 ~ 10.00 "per hour" but only being paid for 40 hours a week despite always working far more hours.  That's $240 ~ $400 per week minus $24 ~ 40 bucks for TITHE THAT WAS AUTOMATICALLY TAKEN OUT.  So at ($6/hr.) x (40hrs/week) = (240 $/wk) - $24 tithe (taken off the top) = $216/ week after tithe, which, again, was taken off the top.  Ange was not allowed to work; because, as we all know, that was considered a sin for a married woman to have a job back then in the ntcc.  Their grocery budget was about $40 per week; which also was taught by the ntcc leadership as being an acceptable amount of money to buy groceries for a week.  Not that the ntcc royalty ever had to live off of ramen noodles and hot dogs.  Was it really a blessing for Verna to sell Ange a dress for 35 bucks?  That was almost a week's worth of grocery money!  I've read the bible through, cover to cover, many times; and I don't ever remember seeing a scripture that supports this type of money grubbing.  I remember what John the Baptist said, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." Luke 3:11"  Did Verna really need $35 at that time rolling up in their quarter of a million dollar RV (Recreational Vehicle)?  Or was it one of their 40 tithe-payer-purchased Cadillacs?  Not sure...  Was it the Christian thing to do?  Ntcc members were giving things to Verna and Rodger as gifts back then; and they still are.  In fact they are taking up collections to give things to the Davis and Kekel families.  Davis would drop not-so-subtle hints to Matt Reed about wanting a Henry Rifle and mysteriously collections were taken up.  Where does this money ultimately come from?  The tithe payers!  Then there was the whole davis debacle where he was murmuring and griping and complaining and pouting at Ron Denis saying "You bought me the wrong $20,000 Rolex; I wanted the Presidential Model Rolex Watch!" ... read more here.  Our tithe and offerings have financed a major portion of these frivolous, lavish, and selfish purchases.  Preachers were so caught up in buying things for Davis that they were upset that their names didn't get put on the card that went along with the gift so that their name could be seen by the beneficiary, R-Dub himself.  Others neglected the needs of their own families to earn points with the Dubious Disciple Davis.

I look back on this kind of thing and think of how stupid and brainwashed we were to have allowed these users to treat us like this.  This wasn't Christianity.  People were made to feel bad if they wore the same clothes over and over.  If they wore things that didn't match or if their clothes were worn out, then they would often be upbraided by the ntcc leaders for "not being able to put things together".  They would be criticized for "not being leaders" and providers.  Which brings us back to the multimillionaire Tycoons (or leeches) RWD and VD, that sold a dress to Ange for 10% ~ 15% of Eric's weekly salary.   These are the same rich rulers that would pump us for money at conferences.  They would come through in their overpriced Recreational Vehicles demanding that Collections for their diesel fuel, and "other expenses" be taken up prior to them gracing us with their presence.  Other expenses no doubt included shopping sprees and dining out.

We were financing all expense paid vacations across the country for these rich hypocrites; but they could have easily afforded to pay for these things themselves without pumping us for money. But ntcc pumps its members for money in every service, having indoctrinated its members to "Give 'til it hurts."  Meanwhile the board members get richer and justify their money grubbing ways by wresting scripture.

They tried to use the apostle Paul's model of taking up collections for the poor saints in Jerusalem to justify extracting money out of the brainwashed cult members' wallets prior to them arriving.  What a joke that was!  We were all definitely hoodwinked and bamboozled.

2 Cor 12:14 "Paul told the Corinthians, "Behold, the third time I am ready to come unto you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children."

Is it normal to make a profit off of people you love?  Would you sell clothing to your own children?  Most of the sincere Christians I knew had a biblical character trait called charity.  There were always a very few stingy and greedy 'brothers' and 'sisters'; but most of the Christians I knew would give you the shirt off their back.  They would do things for free to be a blessing to others.  They would give, not expecting anything in return.  Imagine that.  They would love you unconditionally and that often meant that if they saw that you had a need, and it was within their means to meet that need, they would cheerfully do so, without trying to make a profit from someone else's misfortune.  Most of us had Christian Charity; and we were just the kind of suckers that the ntcc leaders were looking for to build their fortunes.

Ntcc Leaders would often blow trumpets prior
to their giving of Alms to have glory of men...

Davis, Kekel and other leaders of the ntcc are like the Parisees.  They would blow a trumpet every time they helped someone.  If Davis ever did something for anyone, there were strings attached and you could expect to hear the trumpet blow prior to and after the alms were given.

Mat. 6:2 "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."

If  Davis did help someone it was always to his benefit.  He knew that if he 'gave', he would get his contribution back multiplied and with interest.  He also would hold it over a person's head for the rest of their lives; like he often did with the Mears, reminding them from the pulpit how he allegedly took them in when they had been homeless.  What was it for?  To gain 40 years and 4 people to be your personal whipping boys and girls and manor slaves to clean your mansions and scrub your RVs???  Anytime davis 'gave' anything it was all about business decisions that would make him rich and keep the money flowing.  There are always strings attached; and davis knows he's gonna get his pound of blood outta you.  He has often said so.  This is how the ntcc operates; and this is what Davis, Kekel and their wives are all about.