Our friend Kat has started a New Blog called: "Finding my way. A journey of weight loss and healing past wounds". It's amazing what people can do when they are free from the controlling ways of the ntcc. As Kat shares in her blog post, you have to realize that you are worth something. The ntcc keeps people beat down and unappreciated. It's hard to do anything positive for yourself or others when you feel like you are living in bondage. Weight gain is a huge problem in the ntcc. They call out a lot of sins but they encourage gluttony. They will beat you to death over tithe and outward "holiness" standards while they feed you 3,000 calorie meals.
Food was the only outlet that people were allowed to indulge in this cult and many of us over-ate. Davis was overweight so he couldn't very well preach against gluttony, now could he? Especially since he couldn't remember the last time he sinned. If Davis were to preach against gluttony like he did against women wearing pants or ear rings, or about non tithe paying "God robbers", very few in the ntcc would be saved. There are a lot of overweight people in the ntcc, but worse than that, there are a lot of critical fault finding individuals that will tear you down for your short comings while ignoring their own. This is called hypocrisy.
Isn't it amazing what people are able to accomplish when they get out of the cult? Why do you suppose there are so many success stories among those who leave? I would say that God has very little to do with the self imposed bondage that people in the ntcc place themselves under. Kat has over come this bondage and she has an amazing story to share.
We hope that her blog inspires you as it has inspired us. In her blog, Kat shares many things about her past. Her testimony is amazing and we hope we believe it will help others. Kat's life is a journey that is still being written.
To truly appreciate freedom a person must experience slavery. Slavery is defined (link) as the condition in which one person is owned as property by another and is under the owner's control, especially in involuntary servitude. It is also defined as a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune.
In the ntcc we were controlled and others had absolute power over us. While we willingly committed ourselves to this servitude, we were influenced by hucksters and professional con artists that used eternal suffering in the fires of hell as an ultimatum to control our life, liberty and fortunes. These religious crack pots stole our freedom by means of deception. Christianity in its purest form is supposed to set us free; but at some point, just like any other good thing, it has been corrupted by those who want to profit off of it.
Does anyone remember how it was in the ntcc? We were not free. We were in bondage. We were made to believe that if we left, we were leaving God. Leaving was the only way out. If you stayed you had to commit yourself to their routines and their rules. Their rules were not God's rules. They passed their rules off as God's uncompromising requirements. If you missed a function it was because you didn't love God. If you disobeyed the pastor it was because you didn't love God. If you didn't pay tithe it was because you didn't love God. Leaving the ntcc was considered the ultimate sin. We were slaves to this fraudulent and abusive environment.
Those who imposed this system of ultimatums upon us, were never held to the same standards as the chattel that served them. There was no accountability in this cult from the leadership to practice what they preached. They wanted everyone to think that they were the oracles of God and that they were beyond reproach.
Finding your way out can be a Challenge
Even when people found their way out of this maze of confusion, many remain in bondage unto this day. Even though they have left the cult, they still practice many of the rituals that were instilled into their lives. One of the most egregious ideologies that people retain from the ntcc is that they have no self worth. People think that they are a failure to God, and they beat themselves up over and over again.
Leaving a cult and the bondage that exists in a cult environment is always a step in the right direction, but it doesn't always erase the brainwashing that we experienced in the cult. Sometimes we have to reboot and start all over. We have to unlearn all of the false doctrines and start living our lives from scratch.
One of the most helpful ways to obtain complete freedom is to remove influences from your life that drag you down. Sometimes people have nothing good to say to you or about you. They have a way of draining the joy out of your life. Have you ever met someone like this? They criticize everything you do and find fault with everything you believe in. Why subject yourself to people like that? We don't have to allow people to manipulate us. This is freedom and it is very liberating to identify the source of manipulation and remove it from your life as much as possible.
Sometimes you can't escape manipulative people. We have to live among them and work with them. One thing we can control is how we allow them to affect us. We can ignore them; and we can refuse to allow them to drag us down. This is freedom. Here is a pearl of wisdom that many of us heard in the ntcc:
You can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you don't have to allow them to build a nest in it.
Now we find our freedom in God; yet we know that not everyone is at the point in their lives where they can trust anyone to include God. We believe 2 Cor 3:17: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." There are those who would begrudge us this freedom; but we don't wish to sit down and drink a Dr. Pepper with them. But where ever you are in life you don't have to allow others to drag you into their negative sphere of influence.
Add caption
It's important for everyone to realize their self worth. Others may not value you, but I'm pretty sure that you are important enough for God to send his Son to die for you. Now there are some that say that Christianity is slavery; and they will do everything they can to make the case that God wants you to be miserable and legalistic. In many cases people project their feelings and beliefs upon you; because they are the ones with the problems. We don't have anything to sell you. We don't have any desire to force anything on anyone. Forced compliance is opposite of freedom. We think that people make Christianity a form of slavery so they can use it to bring others into submission to them and make a little money to go along with their power trip.
We recommend freedom. Try it for free. If you don't like it, you can bring it back and allow others to control you again. All you have to do is join a controlling group or listen to a cult leader that tells you how to spend your time and money. If you get tired of that, freedom is still there. The ntcc is like the Federal Government. They think that they can manage your money better than you so they tax you in every way imaginable. They have a tax for every program.
If you want to see souls saved overseas, you'll give to world missions.
If you love God, you'll pay tithe and give in offerings.
If you love God, you'll give to the Evangelist.
If you love God, you'll give to the building fund.
If you love God, you'll give in an offering to buy things for your master, I mean pastor. (He might need a diamond pinky ring, a Rolex watch or a new Cadillac).
If you love God, you will knock on a hundred doors a week to find more tithe paying suckers to support your master/pastor.
If you love God, you will give extra money so your master/pastor doesn't have to work on a job even though Paul the Apostle did. Really, Apostles work? Real ones do; but not the self-appointed ones in the ntcc. They don't work. Why should they? They have brainwashed suckers do everything for them.
If you love God, you will clean your mazza's house, shine his shoes, wash his car and mow his lawn.
This is bondage. You do it because you think you are being a blessing to the MOG (Man of Gawd), but you are really being played for a sucker. Jesus was a servant of all and he taught His followers that if they wanted to be great in the kingdom of heaven that they should be servants of all.
Cults and religions require things from people. Narcissists are the same way. They get off on having control over you, or trying to make you feel like you are inferior to them. If you don't hold them in high esteem and play by their rules, they do everything they can to belittle you. If you don't agree with them they call you names and hurl judgments and ultimatums at you. They do this because they are the ones with issues. They have more deeply seated emotional problems than you would ever want to know about. They just choose to use a pitchfork so they can dish them off on you.
The best way to have liberty in your life is to eliminate the influences of people that affect you in a negative way. Don't allow people to zap you of all your energy and positive ideas. Don't let them drain every ounce of goodness and joy out of your lives. Don't give them a platform to hate on you and despise you. People will hate and despise you regardless; but you don't have to entertain them. You don't have to let them into your mind or build a nest on top of your head.
A short time ago, someone left this comment on our previous blogpost:
Anonymous said...
"I've never thought about what a church should look like in these times. What should they be doing? What should they be achieving? All I know is that there is a preacher, and a building in todays church model." Tuesday, April 26, 2016 9:24:00 AM
This is a very good question. We might not be able to give a 100% accurate answer on what a church should look like in these times, but we can give a 100% accurate answer on what a church should NOT look like according to the bible.
To answer the question, "What should a church look like" we need to take a look at what the church should not look like. Churches are run by men. It doesn't really matter what you call them: Pastor, Bishop, Elder, Apostle, Father, etc. These titles are used as distinctions between 'mere' members and those who are considered more prominent in the church; but they are titles that are pinned upon them by other men, not God. There were not any super spiritual celebrities gallivanting around with glee clubs ogling over their every word and deed in the early church. The leaders of the true New Testament church were approachable and fellow workers laboring in the work of Christ. Paul referred to himself as "least of all saints". Paul referred to Timothy as a brother and fellow laborer. John referred to himself as "your brother and companion in tribulation. Jesus said: "I call you not servants....but I have called you friends." [John 15:15 here] What kind of leader is leading your church? Can you imagine going up to Davis and calling him Brother Rodger, or calling Kekel, Brother Mike? They want you to inflate their egos by calling them by the titles that they have chosen unto themselves.
Just Fill in Your Name and Date
A good church will be led by a good man. Who do you want to trust to lead you to eternal life? A Huckster? Is a good church supposed to be led by a man that is greedy of filthy lucre?
Strong's Concordance has this short definition for filthy lucre:
Eager for base gain, greedy for money.
Scriptures: 1 Ti 3:3, 1 Ti 3:8, Tit 1:7, 1 Pe 5:2 (Desktop Computer Users can hover over each of these scripture references and to read the full verse. Mobile Users can see them by clicking here.)
These scriptures tell you what the leaders of the church should and should not be doing. If the leader of your church or cult is getting rich off the gospel, you might want to follow a different leader. If your 'Pastor' wants you to give him 10% of your money but doesn't want to explain where your money is going, you might want to find another "Pastor". Don't blindly believe or accept that it's going back into the work of the Lord. Ask that huckster where the upper echelon cult leaders got the money to live in mansions and drive expensive luxury and sports cars, tour the country in expensive Recreational Vehicles and go on all expense paid vacations globe-trotting around the world. Turn on your brains and read your bibles if you claim to be a bible believing Christian. It's never too late to escape the cult.
While you are reading the scripture references listed above, take a look at the other requirements for church leadership: "Not doubletongued"-- What does that mean? Strong's definition:
Double speech, saying one thing to one person and another to another person (with the intent to deceive).Otherwise known as Double Standards.
If your cult leader says: "I'm not a match maker" and then he has men line up to ask him permission if they can talk with a single woman "on the wall" that is a good example of someone who has a forked, oops, I mean double tongue.
If your cult leader removes one man from being the pastor of a church because of adultery, but promotes another man after being caught at a whore house, (not to mention all of the adultery the cult leader himself has been guilty of), this is a double standard and that cult leader has a double or forked tongue.
If your cult leader says: "Don't invite the poor to church, we are not running a soup kitchen" after saying "We are a church of all Nations, Non-denominational and everyone is welcome", He is a money grubber and only wants people that can support the life styles of lazy puppeteers like himself to attend church.
If your cult leader rails on someone else saying: "He loves a house more than God" while he himself lives in a million dollar mansion with gates all around it and an intercom to screen fleeced flock members from seeking counsel, you might need to find a new church. Are there not enough scriptures in the bible warning you to steer clear of hypocrites?
If your cult leader 'adopts' a daughter in the Philippines, and then rails against men and women having children because they hinder the work of the Lord, and this causes scores of men to surgically neuter themselves is this not being double tongued?
If your cult leader charges you money to rent a building that has been paid off for years, while the cult leaders profit off of the financial hardships of your congregation, they are double standard hypocrites and given to usury. If they require your congregation to give money to an escrow fund that is designated for church repairs and improvements, but then tell you to take up an offering to fix the church so they can later zero out that escrow fund with no accountability to the ones who gave the money, you are not even in a church, you are in a cult that is being run by shady business partners who are running a big time scam under the guise of being a non profit holiness religious organization.
If your new cult leader says, "Those were never rules, just policies." to dismiss the abuse and marginalize those whose lives have been devastated, he is a double tongued, double standard hypocrite and huckster, who is running a big scam and laughing at you all the way to the bank.
The husband of one wife, rulers of their own house, having their children under subjection:
If your cult leader encourages you to get a divorce and drives wedges between families, he is encouraging adultery. Why would he do this? If your cult leader can't even lead his own son to Christ, while lavishing expensive gifts upon him with your tithe dollars, why would you want him teaching you how to raise your kids? This is not a healthy environment to raise children. How many people in your church have divorced, remarried someone else in your church/cult, then divorced again and remarried someone else in your church/cult? Some ntcc'rs have done this 4 times; and that's just the ones we know about. Come on! Are the scales falling from your eyes yet?
How many of us were cheated out of having families? How many men and women were discouraged from having children? How many were discouraged from seeking higher education? How many were railed against for seeking a career or wanting to own their own home or desiring to be healthy and exercise? How many were preached down to about dressing a certain way? How many men were blasted for wearing jeans, shorts or having facial hair? How many women were belittled and humiliated for wearing ear rings while the congregation was fleeced for money to buy their cult leader a Rolex watch or a diamond pinky ring?
Is this what a church should look like? This is exactly what the ntcc looks like. You are better off not going to a church than attending church with a bunch of double tongued snakes.
If you do find a healthy church it will most likely be one whose ministers are servants of all, rather than lords over all. If any money is collected it won't be used to purchase million dollar recreational vehicles, quarter million dollar sports cars, and multi-million dollar real estate ventures.
What we write might offend many churches because there are many so called churches that exist for the wrong reasons. Is there such a thing as a perfect church? Probably not, but if a group of people get together to worship God and they can do this without some huckster trying to make merchandise of them, then they can be honest and real; but if there is any perfection, it is in Christ. The ntcc and other cults would teach its followers to "Be perfect as Christ is perfect", and us cult members would actually think that perfection was something that we could obtain by our own works. I don't care how hard you try to be perfect, you'll never be perfect. We are all flawed and the only thing perfect about us is the love that God bestows on us.
In 2 Cor 12:9 Paul said:"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." [bold highlights added by DNA]
So if it is possible to be perfect, it's not a result of our efforts to live perfectly. We believe it's a heart thing. In a prayer of repentance David asked of the Lord, "Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me". David was not perfect; but later, after he was dead and gone, the Author of Kings made this comparison of David and Solomon:
"For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father."1 Kings 11:4
Now David made mistakes. He was not perfect. He committed adultery and had a righteous man killed to hide his sin. But David knew how to repent; and this is what made his heart perfect. In spite of every wrong thing he did, he turned to God and asked forgiveness. He also confessed his sins, and admitted to his wrong doing, and he was made perfect in weakness, not by his own works, but by God's mercy and grace.
The ntcc cult leaders create a false image of perfection which they never live up to; neither do they make things right with the people that they sin against nor with God. They never admit to any wrong doing. Ashmore never admits to any wrong doing. Davis could not remember the last time he sinned, but quite a few of his victims sure did.
Now I will tell you straight up that I know that I'm not perfect. My whole life has been like a roller coaster ride and my failures and sins would definitely out-weigh my righteousness if it were not for God's mercy and love. But out of the chaos and all of the ups and downs there has been one constant, and that is God's love; and that love extends to all mankind. If there is any perfection in my heart whatsoever, it comes from God. I am weak; and I struggle all the time. In the midst of the struggle there are times of peace and an assurance that God is love. A broken heart can be made perfect.
Psa 34:18The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Life can be a struggle sometimes. No matter what you have or don't have there is a constant war going on in our lives. Throughout time God has always been there when people turn to him. So many times in the Old Testament prophets would share God's mercy with the people. God wanted these people to open their hearts to Him. Even though they had worshiped other gods, God said if they would turn to Him that He would remember their sin no more. That is the way that it has always been with God. If you worship God all your life and than decide to turn your heart away from Him, God will not remember the good. If you have ignored God all of your life and you choose to open your heart to God, He will remember your sin no more. This is the way it is throughout the bible. This is how God deals with people.
Eze 18:26When a righteous [man] turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
Eze 18:27Again, when the wicked [man] turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
Eze 18:28Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Now we have the New Testament which replaced the Old Testament when Jesus died and was resurrected. What all of the laws of the Old Testament to include tithe, could not do, the blood of Jesus can do. It's that simple.
The ntcc cult leaders could be saved if they would acknowledge their own weaknesses and sins, stop oppressing the people of God, turn from their whoredoms and idolatry and stop making merchandise of the people of God. But they refuse to admit any wrong doing. They are narcissistic by nature; and they have set themselves up as idols to be worshiped by their followers.
There are so many false teachers, false prophets, phony ministers, money making hucksters and lying hood winkers in the church world today it's hard to tell what is real from what is fake. The bible however is pretty clear about it. If you are looking for contradictions in the bible you might find them among scriptures that are taken out of context or not fully understood. You can wrestle with the scriptures and make them out to be controversial; or you can take the things that are plain and simple to be understood for what they actually say. If you want to know what a church should look like, read the New Testament. Most of the ultimatums are attached to rejecting Christ rather than living by rules. Most of the emphasis is placed on loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself and having love one towards another. If you want to strain at gnats and swallow camels you can do that all day long. That's what cults do; and that's what the ntcc does. That's what the atheists and agnostics do. Wash your hands before you eat, don't heal on the Sabbath day, pay tithe, make loud and drawn out public prayers, dress this way or that way.
We are definitely not experts on where to find a good church but we believe that there will always be a remnant of people who desire to live for God. Many people fall into the trap of thinking they have to follow a man or a program. It would be nice if you can walk into any church in your town and worship God. Try it. Go to each one and ask their pastor what doctrine makes them different from all the other churches in your town or city. They all believe in different doctrines and they all believe that their way is right. You might have a better chance winning a million dollars off of a scratch ticket than you would finding a good church. But if you feel like your salvation depends on following another man make sure you ask questions and demand straight answers. Find out if it's a church or a money making scam. Where does the money go? Are they transparent? Will they show you the books or some type of public record of where the money goes? Or do they get offended and avoid those types of questions. Google your church leaders and find out if there are multitudes of outraged people that have suffered due to their oppression. Find out if there are scandals that they tried to cover up. Who do they reach out to? Those who have the ability to pay tithe or those who don't, or both? Are they respecters of persons? If you find a good church or even a halfway decent church, let us know, we would love to hear all about it.
Jesus said:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."Mat 7:15
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."Mat 24:11
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."Mat 24:24
