"The Psychology To Play the People": Kekel's Life as a Religious Huckster - In his own words...

Recently Bryan Hill forwarded us a sound clip from a tape of Mike Kekel rapidly babbling about the Psychology of playing people.  We posted this link inside a comment that Bryan left with a transcript of Kekel's recording.  Click to hear Kekel talk about the psychology of playing the people.  The audio was of fairly decent quality considering how old it was and that it was a cassette recording.  We listened to it several times and agree with Bryan's assessment.  Bryan also gave us a written transcript of what kekel said and what it meant to Bryan:

From Bryan's transcript and recording of what kekel said:  "He (the devil) paints pretty pictures, he says (to kekel) look what you had before you got saved, you can't go there and you can't go here now and he begins to fill your heart with the desire to go back to the places you used to go."
He then quotes a few scriptures.

"The devil comes and says look at you now, you got off of dope and you got your mind all squared away and God delivered you, now you can go ahead and you can be that rock musician, now you can do all the things you wanted to do because YOU HAVE A LITTLE PSYCHOLOGY AND KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE PEOPLE, now you can do these things"

Then Brian shared this assessment:

In effect, the devil wanted to tap into the idea that he (kekel) had gotten saved and went to Bible School and learned the psychology needed to PLAY THE PEOPLE. Where did he get the psychology to PLAY THE PEOPLE at? well, how about NTCC Bible College where RW would teach and prepare people for the ministry/church business.

We recently received an email from Vic Johanson that contained an up to date verification that Kekel is still playing the people. The email consisted of a comment that was left on Kekel's "good report only blog", along with Kekel's answer to that comment which also contained more babbling. This was the comment left on Kekel's blog on May 8th of this year by someone named Michael B.:

"Win a lot of souls on vacation? I know when I went to school with you vacation was considered a bad word and basically forbidden." -- Michael B.

We are going to supply some running commentary on this with our words in red and Kekel's words in blue.  This Is Kekel's response on May 12:

Well Hello Michael (B.), long time no see! Now, your comment wasn’t very nice., but that’s okay. You’re saying that I did something wrong, by seeing the sights of New York. You’re also implying that Pastor taught us that vacations were forbidden, which he didn’t. -- m c kekel

The question that Michael B. asked was legit.  If Kekel is all about winning souls, why would it offend him to be asked if he won any souls on his vacation?  Nothing mean spirited about that.  But kekel is using manipulative loaded language to change how you feel about what Michael B. asked.  If Kekel is supposed to be a full time Christian, would a vacation negate his responsibility to win souls? Or does ntcc soul winning only take place as part of a 'program' on nights designated for soul winning?  Michael B.'s comment goes on to say that "vacation was a bad word and basically forbidden" in bible school.  Kekel admits guilt by interpreting that to mean that he did something wrong by seeing the sights of New York.  The comment left by Michael B. simply states a fact.

If vacations were not basically forbidden in bible school, then how many bible school students were allowed to go on vacations?  Are there any of our readers that have been to bible school that have ever taken a vacation in the middle of bible school or even during their years in the ministry? Remember, the cult-required biannual conferences (where you dropped off your kids at grandma's so she can babysit them) trips don't count as vacations!

Les R. got kicked out of bible school and evicted allegedly for visiting another church on his day off.  Perhaps the real motivation for ntcc to run him off was because he discovered davis' sordid lecherous ways in the church that disfellowshipped davis.  But for the sake of conversation, let's say ntcc kicked Les R. to the curb as they claimed, because he visited another church; we'd hate to see what would happen if someone in bible school went on a vacation.

So, if davis didn't teach that vacations were forbidden, then we should get a lot of comments from former bible school students and ministers that share about their joyous vacations that they took while attending bible school or being in the ntcc ministry (as such). My guess is that vacations were forbidden; because people have shared that it was next to impossible to even attend a funeral of a blood relative while attending cult indoctrination courses at the ntcc or even when attending services at a Servicemen's Home Mini Cult Indoctrination Center (MCIC).  Most people we know have never taken a vacation their entire time in the ntcc.  Could it be possible that Kekel is once again being deceptive?

kekel continues playing the people -- "Pastor taught, what Jesus taught (and it hasn’t changed in NTCC), that if you put such things, or ANYTHING ‘before God’, THEN, it’s wrong. God also sanctified a day of rest in the very beginning. I can hear it now, Genesis 2 (2) – “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he ‘went soul winning’ on the seventh day”. I remember Pastor sending overseers to take Servicemen’s Homes for a week so the Pastor could get away. It didn’t all pan out, but he wanted them to take time away, because everyone needs that."

Davis taught what Jesus taught?  Really?  That is one of the most blasphemous statements we have ever read, especially since we are very familiar with the many false doctrines of davis!  This false claim by kekel is where you see the psychology of a huckster being peddled to the masses.  Kekel is using the psychology he learned from davis to play the people.

Next Kekel assumes and implies that anyone (other than he himself) taking a vacation is putting things before God.  So if a bible school student were to take a vacation, he would be putting that vacation before God?  If a minister wanted to take a vacation, why couldn't he?  A lot of churches have  trained workers.  Why can't these workers step up to the plate?

Then we have Kekel's illustration about soul winning on Sunday.  This draws attention to how condescending and hypocritical he is.  He needs time off; because his responsibilities are so demanding that he invokes Gen. 2:2; but the consequences for anyone else missing one ntcc scheduled event for any reason are so dire that nobody dares to break any rules. Rules are mainly broken by the ntcc leadership.  Not paying tithe is the only Old Testament ordinance that will land you in hell as far as Kekel is concerned. Tithe paying followers are the only followers that will help maintain Kekel's lifestyle.  

Then kekel says he remembers davis "sending Overseers ... so the Pastor could get away."  I was in and around Servicemen's homes for 13 years; yet I never saw or heard of any Overseers taking over churches for a week so that a Pastor could get away. I wonder why that program failed?  Davis has never been about helping anyone but himself.  He probably did it one or two times just so he could say that he did it; just like Tom Wright asked Bryan to ask him about tithe so that Tom could preach that someone asked him about tithe. They all learn the psychology of playing people!

And then we see this Freudian slip:  "I remember Pastor sending overseers to take Servicemen’s Homes for a week so the Pastor could get away." Yeah, so the Pastor could get away!  From what?  That 14 year-old girl's dad with the shotgun?  Or get away from that Brother who wants to know why his 'pastor' Philandering Phil Kinson was retrieving his wallet from a WHORE HOUSE!?! Yup, in those cases, the ntcc will definitely send an Overseer (also known as a Spiritual Assassin) "so the Pastor can get away".  Ahem!

kekel also said -- "My three jobs involve the Bible school with all its needs; weekly office hours involving both the Org. and Sch. offices; Organizational business with Pastors and leaders and administrational tasks. The grounds crew and maintenance men; class administration and teaching; office hours; counseling; the music program; soul winning program; pastoring, and much more."

Three jobs?  Puh-leez! The only "job" kekel has is giving you this huge snow job!  He married the founder's daughter and it's been nothing but gravy and vacations ever since.  Three jobs? Seriously?  Wow, Kekel, you must have been given super human powers to deal with all of these responsibilities. I guess this justifies your need for a vacation while everyone else is expected to keep their nose to the grindstone.

All of the activities that Kekel mentioned above are delegated to some schlub that doesn't know the meaning of the word vacation.  What is the purpose of having DiFrancesco around?  Isn't he an administrator?  What about George Keys and Mark Ripka?  How about (Timothy) Paul Jordan or whoever the current office schlubs are?  Doesn't everyone administrate in some form or fashion?  We administer this blog and right now I'm up at 3:00 in the morning. Big deal.  We're not asking anyone to cry us a river.  

Waah Baby Crying Sound Effect

kekel then complains -- "All this places demands on my wife and me, which BTW, we gladly bear, especially since many in the past have been unwilling to ‘stay the course’ and carry their responsibility, so it falls on whoever is willing to pick up the slack. We do it for the Lord, and no task is too menial; I’m not complaining, it is a privilege. Nevertheless it’s high stress."

It's got to be very demanding, living in that mansion and driving expensive cars around to fulfill all of Kekel's "administrational" tasks.  It's a good thing that Kekel is around to pick up the slack for all of those many people who have been slackers in the ntcc.  What makes them slackers, anyway?  The fact that they want to go on vacations like Kekel but can't?  It's amazing that people are brainwashed enough to actually believe this stuff.

Back To The Future:  You're A Slacker

No task is too menial?  Why do you need a Squadron of women to clean your Mansion every week? If you are in the ntcc, you are being played like a bluegrass fiddle at Winterfest, where Kekel was caught sneaking around in blue jeans (slacking off) during hours when everyone else was out soul winning. Oh, BTW, since the borgites love to be grammar nazis, here's sumpin' for ya:  It's "administrative" tasks; so Wright Back at Ya.  And "Sch", according to Wiki, refers to Schizophrenia and a dozen other things, but not a school.  Sounds like kekel made another Freudian Slip.

Kekel complains about more regrets -- "Over the years when we HAVE had a chance to take a little time, the work of the Lord required us to cancel plans, change plane tickets. Anniversary plans of a few days to ourselves, have gone to pot over and over, because someone had a need, or there was an emergency in someone’s life. No regrets, that’s the ministry."

How many pastors in the ntcc get to make anniversary plans?  You know what my wife Ange and her first (late)  husband Eric Barden did for their honeymoon? They spent it on Guard Duty watching kekel's house and the other ntcc assets while everyone else was at the Campground.  Wow!  What a fun honeymoon, making hourly tours of the campus and driving over to the kekels' Mountain View Mansion to make sure that no thieves break through and steal.  (Mat 6:19)  How many trips do other ntcc folks get to take to Disney World?  (Like the kekels did.) How many trips do they get to take to Europe?  Or Hawaii?  Kekel was reportedly vacationing in Hawaii for over a week and only attended ONE church service!  This was supposedly a revival where offerings were taken up to help finance this vacation.

For someone with no regrets, Kekel sure does a lot of bellyaching over it. Kekel's entire rebuttal is an attempt to justify his hypocritical lifestyle.  The dude, Michael B., asked Kekel one question and then made a statement that was one sentence long; and Kekel has to explain himself by writing 7 paragraphs of excuses as a response.  A guilty conscience needeth no accuser. -- from ntcc's book of wisdom aka the Book of Hezekiah. ;-)

Kekel blathers on -- Besides, here in Washington, I have Pastor (Philandering Phil) Kinson and a great staff working closely with me, so that I can be away from the church and school. What Pastor (davis) never understood, and I agree, is how someone can just shut the doors on their work for God and be gone, while it falls through. If you went to the store and it wasn’t open during its business hours you would not be a happy customer. The doors in Graham are NEVER closed, everything is always in place.

The doors might not ever be closed, but the gates sure are!  There's a reason the local residents call NTCC "The Church Behind The Fence".  Kekel has Kinson and a great staff? Great bunch of people up there.  Must be nice to be able to leave your responsibilities behind to someone else while you slack off and gallivant around the country at the expense of the tithe payers, checking out all the amusement parks, bluegrass festivals and historical landmarks; you slacker! 

The problem here is that the rules never applied to Kekel; and that is why he doesn't mind breaking them. In fact, Kekel was surrounded with people that preach rules to others; but they don't live what they preach.  The rules only apply to 'the little people' - those whom they brainwash.  It's all about psychology and playing the people.  If you can get people to believe that the rules and policies originate from God, then people will think they are sinning if they break them.  If you can convince people that you are God's messenger and that they are out of place to question your motives, people will often ignore your willingness to break your own rules.  That's what the ntcc is all about.  Davis has said, "He loves a house more than God".  Meanwhile, Davis had the most elaborate mansion in the ntcc.  They preach against makeup, while their wives wear foundation makeup. Kekel learned this hypocrisy and Psychology from Davis; and mc kekel has been playing the people now for years.  

kekel complains about his heavy cross -- During that five days in New York, I preached four services, spent time with numerous Pastors regarding a host of subjects; we spent time with their people; we fellowshipped; I worked on their PA Systems; we put over 1,200 miles on our rental car. Now you’re going to find fault with me over a rest day? I forgive you.

This is confirmation of the true meaning of Kekel's blunderous remark on the audio clip that Bryan sent us.  It appears that Kekel really got his Super Spiritual feathers -SSF- ruffled by this comment.  Kekel closes his tirade with the words, "I forgive you."  Kekel has it all backwards. The person who left this comment is doing the people a service by pointing out that vacations for you, the little people, were never encouraged in the ntcc.  When Kekel flaunts his travel tour to the Big Apple on his blog, he must know that it would upset the ministers who have never been able to do such things. 

The Vacation 'policy' Rule was a lot like the Vasectomy 'policy' Rule.  One person testified that he got his vasectomy when he was only 19 years old and still to this day suffers from pain resulting from that operation.  kekel claims that Davis never said that vasectomies were mandatory?  Hogwash!  All davis had to do was say that kids in the ministry would cause you to be a failure.   All davis did was rail on married pregnant women when God blessed them with a baby, bring those women to tears by falsely accusing that they "ruined their husband's ministry" and that they would have to answer to God for doing so.  Why would people get vasectomies if they didn't think there was anything wrong with having children in the ministry?  Why would Davis encourage dozens of men to get vasectomies when God said having children was a good thing?  Davis could have stopped his false doctrine when he learned of the first person who got snipped; all davis would have had to do is tell them that it wasn't his intention for men to go out and get neutered; he could have on many occasions rescinded his false claim, something completely contrary to God's Word, that children hinder the work of the Lord; but Davis loved controlling every aspect of the lives of his followers.  So he blithely continued encouraging other men to be snipped, cutting off their chance for a family, an inheritance from God.  How Satanic!  

Just because Davis never directly said that vacations were a sin or forbidden, it doesn't mean that people were not manipulated (played by psychology) to believe that vacations were wrong.  Kekel himself in his rebuttal is using weasel words to imply that taking a vacation is putting things before God. 

This is what cult leaders do. They play the people with psychology!  They convince people to do things; and then deny that they had anything to do with it. 

They can't win people to God by coming out and telling them that they are required to pay them 10% of their money for the rest of their lives.  Nobody would come out to church if they were honest about their motives.  They convince them first that they are God's chosen; and then they use psychology to get people to pay up. This process may take a few weeks or months.  Most people don't understand that the Old Testament ordinances like tithe and sacraments were done away with when Jesus died on the cross.

What Kekel and the ntcc leaders do is an affront to Christ and the true church. They have misused the Old Testament scriptures to turn the ntcc into a money making enterprise. They truly are professional con artists and hucksters who use Psychology to play the people!