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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.
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| 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.
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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.
Break Every Chain by Jesus Culture on YouTube
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.
D/A
ReplyDeleteLoved that will Smith photo... Spot on!!!
I've got to believe there are people like me out there just waiting to find this site to help rebuild.
Loved the post.
Mike
It's true, Mike. I heard a Navy Seal being interviewed on the radio the other day and he was talking about how he is raising his three daughters. One came home crying because she was called names at school. I can't recall verbatim what he said but in so many words he told her that nobody can control how you feel about yourself but you. People can talk to you like absolute trash, but we don't have to accept it and allow it shape our lives. After being in the cult and hanging on every word that the money grubbing hucksters said, it's easy to ignore jerks. Usually people that want to tear you down, have their own issues that they try to cover up.
ReplyDeleteAs a truck driver I would go into truck stops to get a bite to eat and found that sitting in the bar arrangement seating, drivers would sit around telling lies. One driver would talk about how a storm picked up his truck and swung it around 180 degrees. The next driver had a story that would out do the previous story. Pretty soon drivers were telling stories that rivaled Dorothy's Kansas tornado experience. I got tired of hearing all of the Wolf Cookies, so I started sitting at my own table so I didn't have to listen to it.
When someone tries to verbally abuse me now, I look at them like one of those truck drivers that was telling whoppers to the others. I'm not confrontational, or looking to start a fight, but I consider the source and decide what actions can be taken to rid myself of the negativity. If it's someone at work, I just don't talk to them or hang around them. Life is too short to be wasted on worrying about what someone you don't even know thinks about you.
My wife told me that I ought to take an umbrella with me, when out on the road. I've always felt like umbrellas were for wusses. In the Army umbrellas were unauthorized. I got to thinking about how nice it would be not to have to drive soaking wet, and then asked myself the question, who cares what others might think about me using an umbrella? The people I see on a day to day basis, I will most likely never see again in my life. Most truck drivers don't use umbrellas. Very seldom do see any trucker using an umbrella. It's nice to be dry.
ReplyDeleteI often think of Mel Gibson's final scene in Brave Heart. FREEEEEEDOOOMMMMMMM.
ReplyDeleteI think it's very tough as you say to be around negativity. Why would you want that after NTCC? As far as I'm concerned I'm as happy as a pig in slop just to get another day above ground to make up for the misery I inflicted on people via this crack pipe smoking organization.
Oh, was that negative???
I guess I'm just happy to be happy. As I was sick of being whatever it was that I was years ago. If you love this organization you might want to reassess your life. It's impossible to be a Christian while being a self righteous bunger to everyone.
That's why I think the (former?) "Holiness" standards are so insidious. It is a psychological appeal to ego. We are elite. Join us and you can be better than everyone else too. There is something deeply appealing in thr human psyche about that. I remember brothers saying "we are God's special forces". Um no.
ReplyDeleteMore like God's most deluded followers.
The Holiness standards are in direct opposition to the Christian spirit. Opposite of humility. And extremely judgemental.
Irrelevant now as they have changed, right?
So what is the control mechanism now? They are no longer special forces... More like Female Rangers.
ReplyDeleteThey don't have holiness, they don't have intimidating leaders (unless Kekel is intimidating). What is the current appeal?
One of the best ways to get on with your life is to realize that the ntcc's critical teachings were mostly made up to keep people in psychological bondage. There is no reason to feel guilty about leaving a cult. There is no reason to excuse or condone what the cult did to people. Before Ashmore left the ntcc, everyone saw him for what he was. He was recognized as one of the chief enablers of the ntcc and there are numerous accounts of hypocrisy and abuse and quite a few testimonies that implicate him in far worse. As soon as Ashmore leaves the ntcc and calls them the great whore, he garners immediate respect and adoration without any apologies or acknowledgement of his own wrong doing. Is there anything about Ashmore that has changed? What is he doing now that is any different than what he was doing in the ntcc? Is he making a lot of money off of the gospel? Is he transparent about the money he is raking in? Why is he even more secretive now than he was in the ntcc? Does he answer any of the hard questions or does he hide behind a private blog that only allows people that worship him to participate? Why do all of Ashmore's followers act just like ntcc followers? They are all afraid to discuss Ashmore's past and none of them wish to stick up for him without the anonymous tag. When we have had the chance to speak with Ashmorgites they avoid any topic that addresses these issues like the plague. This just looks like more of the same bondage that people were in while attending the ntcc, just under a different name. Is it freedom to jump from one cult to another?
ReplyDeleteIn many cases I believe it is not all that different than a woman that jumps from one abusive relationship to another. A strong authoritarian abusive group is attractive to a certain type of person. Usually with low self esteem, feelings of inadequacy and a messed up abusive childhood.
ReplyDeleteThe group provides a sense of belonging, purpose, a feeling of family and a father type figure in the pastor.
Until the deeper issues are addressed the negative behavior is not likely change.
Ashmore is still collecting lots of money. Though at times he calls it different things it is never to help anyone but himself. He has no problem on the street getting in people's faces to tell them they are wrong. I have seen it and his wife acts embarrass when he really goes crazy with it. He acts like he is good one moment only to be verbally cruel the next. I did go to his church for while hoping it would be different but under it all it is the same. Just like Kekel he may have changed a few rules but he still like to publicly humiliate those that don't follow him in a straight perfect line.
ReplyDeleteOut of the pot and into the kettle. Ashmore, Jones, Kekel, Denis, Olson, Barnes. They are just a different flavor of the same slop.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteAshmore is collecting lots of money? Can you tell us anything about his church attendance/program/doctrine?
I'm very interested in finding out what caused him to jump ship to his own camp. Is it successful?
Thanks for letting us know that you are seeing the same things.