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First Sentence:
During the late 1970s and early 1980s Alamo Christian Ministries (a.k.a. Tony & Susan Alamo Christian Foundation, Music Square Church, Holy Alamo Christian Church, Holy Alamo Ministries) was well on its way to becoming one of the largest and wealthiest churches to emerge from the Jesus People movement.

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Are you a victim of Spiritual Abuse?

* Are you discouraged from questioning the decisions or teachings church leaders make?
* If you do little or no volunteer work for the church, do you feel like a second-class Christian?
* Does your pastor insist on being addressed by a title such as “Dr.” or “Pastor”?
* Do you hear many broad, vague appeals to “surrender fully,” “yield completely” or “lay it all on the altar”?
* Are public reports about various ministry activities sometimes exaggerated?
* Do church members feel safe talking only about past victories, not present struggles?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be a victim of spiritual abuse.Many of us have gone through bad church experiences that have left us feeling like failures. Blaming ourselves, we asked for God’s forgiveness, but felt distant from the church and sometimes from God too.Often, however, the fault is not ours but that of Christian leaders who abuse spiritually. How can we recognize the signs of spiritual abuse? What can we do to gain healing from the wounds we have experienced?With clarity and refreshing honesty, Ken Blue answers these questions and offers hope and healing to the victims of spiritual abuse. In addition he shows Christian leaders how to avoid abusive patterns and instead offer Christ’s gospel of grace to every casualty of bad church experiences.

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In a breakthrough book first published in 1991, the authors address the dynamics in churches that can ensnare people in legalism, guilt, and begrudging service, keeping them from the grace and joy of God’s kingdom.Written for both those who feel abused and those who may be causing it, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse shows how people get hooked into abusive systems, the impact of controlling leadership on a congregation, and how the abused believer can find rest and recovery.

About the Author
David Johnson has been the senior pastor at Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota, since 1980. During this time, the church has grown from a congregation of 160 to 3,000 people. A much sought-after speaker, he is a graduate of Bethel College and received his theological training at Bethel Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His Growing in Grace radio broadcast is syndicated internationally. David and his family live in Minnesota.

Jeff VanVonderen is an internationally known speaker on addictions and church and family wellness. He has worked as a counselor in both residential and outpatient treatment settings, as well as in the religious community, taught at the college level, and is the author of several books. He makes his home in California.

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Lalich and co-author Madeleine Tobias, a Vermont psychotherapist, make clear that modern day cults have not disappeared. “If there is less street recruiting today, it is because many cults now use professional associations, campus organizations, self-help seminars, and the Internet as recruitment tools” to entice the unwary.

Who gets sucked into a cult? “Although the public tends to think, wrongly, that only those who are stupid, weird, crazy and aimless get involved in cults, this is simply untrue. … We know that many cult members went to the best schools in the country, have advanced academic or professional degrees and had successful careers and lives prior to their involvement in a cult or cultic abusive relationship. But at a vulnerable moment, and we all have plenty of those in our lives (a lost love, a lost job, rejection, a death in the family and so on), a person can fall under the influence of someone who appears to offer answers or a sense of direction.”

For the authors, “a group or relationship earns the label ‘cult’ on the basis of its methods and behaviors — not on the basis of its beliefs. Often those of us who criticize cults are accused of wanting to deny people their freedoms, religious or otherwise. But what we critique and oppose is precisely the repression and stripping away of individual freedoms that tends to occur in cults. It is not beliefs that we oppose, but the exploitative manipulation of people’s faith, commitment, and trust.”

Written for those coming out of cults, as well as for family members and professionals, “Take Back Your Life” deals with common characteristics of myriad cult types: Eastern, religious and New Age cults; political, racist and terrorist cults; psychotherapy, human potential, mass transformational cults; commercial, multi-marking cults; occult, satanic or black-magic cults; one-on-one family cults; and cults of personality. Chapters deal with the cult experience, the process of healing, stories of families and children in cults and therapeutic issues.

The book features riveting personal accounts from ex-cult members and offers a wide range of resources for the person who is trying to retrieve his or her “pre-cult” personality. Education looms large, for that can begin to break down the narrow black-and-white thinking cult members often display. Many cults redefine common terms or introduce special vocabulary making it difficult for members to make sense of the world outside of even their own inner aspirations.

The authors are also concerned about those in the education and helping professions who don’t see the dangers posed by cults both to the individual and the larger community. Part of the purpose of the book is to make a credible case that any course of therapy needs to take into account a patient’s cult associations.

“Take Back Your Life” is a book of hope, an excellent starting point for those thinking of exiting a cult and for those who are taking back their lives, one day at a time.

Dangerous leaders – some even in mainstream chruches – are twisting the scriptures to coerce their members into subordination. In the process, once-promising lives can become mired in a distorted religious reality that supresses human freedom and destroys lives.

Give this self-help guide to anyone trapped in an abusive, unhealthy group. It can restore critical thinking, and bring loved ones back from what may seem like an impossible situation. Chrnalogar’s powerful book has – and will continue to – set lives free.

The author reveals the subtle control techniques that manipulate and intimidate followers. Mary Alice identifies the very persuasive and deceptive practices of pwerful groups, and then arms the reader with the tools to overcome them.

17 comprehensive chapters show the way, along with an epilogue and appendices that include further resources.

Midwest Book Review
Leaders of many religious groups (even including several mainstream churches) are twisting the Scriptures to subtly coerce cooperation from their members. In the process, personalities are changed and lives ruined. Mary Alice Chrnalogar is a deprogrammer with an international reputation. Chrnalogar reveals how classic mind control techniques are used to systematically seduce followers into total obedience. Twisted Scriptures: A Path To Freedom From Abusive Churches shows readers how to tell when churches are suppressing freedom of speech, intimidating followers, and distorting the Bible. Twisted Scriptures is invaluable as a self-help guide and as a tool for families and friends to free loved ones from destructive groups.

Click here to purchase it from Watchman Fellowship

Book Description
Damaged Disciples is the account of Ron and Vicki Burks’ search for a meaningful faith. Unfortunately, the nontraditional church they found trapped them in a branch of the charismatic movement that taught them to be subject to their spiritual “masters” in every area of life. Vicki was taught to submit herself to her husband where she was to be sustained by his spiritual life which, in essence, allowed none for her. This is also the chronicle of the beginning of their journey back to faith and wholeness.

About the Author
Vicki holds a Batchelor of Science and a Master of Arts in Counseling from Ohio University and is a Professional Clinical Counselor at Health Recovery Services in Athens. Her journey of recovery both from a fringe church experience and from extensive childhood sexual abuse has been an inspiration to all who hear her lively workshops.

Ron holds the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Counseling from Asbury Theological Seminary and the Ph. D. in Counselor Education from Ohio University. He is also licensed as a Professional Clinical Counselor in Ohio. He has worked for 9 years at the world’s only residential facility for ex-members of abusive groups. In that time he has helped hundreds of survivors of abusive families and groups. Ron is active in research and has presented studies at several national conferences. He has appeared on several news programs and on the Montel Show.

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An excellent examination of the cult phenomena. Described as “The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults,” Hassan’s book explains what elements are common to cults, and what defines a cult.

As a former member of the the Unification Church (a.k.a. “Moonies”) and a psychologist (he obtained his degree after exiting the Moonies), Hassan offers a unique perspective and insight into the cult movement.

Although peppered with examples and anecdotes from the Moonies, Hassan is careful to keep the analysis general enough to apply to many other “questionable” groups and organizations.

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This trio of authors from Westmont College attempts a thorough and objective analysis of the state of the Jesus Movement as of the fall of 1971. They begin with a review of other attempts to cover the same or similar ground and indicate the shortcomings of each, which they have consciously attempted to overcome. They pinpoint the origins of the modern Jesus Movement in the beginnings of several ministries in 1967 and 1968, one of the first of which was the conversion of dope-addict Ted Wise in 1966 in Sausalito, California; Wise is now in charge of a drug prevention center in Menlo Park, California, The most striking fact about the Jesus People is this: whereas theologically they are fundamentalists, sociologically they are anything but.

The authors devote six chapters of historical resumes of the main branches of the movement, four chapters to a summary of their theological doctrines, and two chapters to an overview and analysis. Among the groups treated are the Children of God-possibly the fastest growing group, with the strongest organization of any group, and emphasis on 100% commitment to Jesus including alienation from all other relationships, a post-tribulationist view of the second coming, and frequent charges of kidnapping against them; the Christian Foundation of Tony and Susan Alamo-the most attractive group for black converts, characterized by a ceaseless emphasis on the fear of God, the insistence on the King James translation of the Bible as the only inspired version; the Christian Brothers of Fresno, California, who also emphasize doom and judgment. These three groups are also characterized by their emphasis on communal Christian living.

Also included are summaries of the careers of Arthur Blessitt, Minister of Sunset Strip; Duane Pederson and the Hollywood Free Paper, the simple approach to evangelism contained in which has been the pattern for many other Jesus People newspapers; singer and composer Larry Norman. The Jesus Movement has produced some nondenominational “hip” churches out of their rejection of the institutional establishment churches. These include Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Bethel Tabernacle in North Redondo Beach, and the Sierra Madre Congregational Church in Sierra Madre. “A unique ministry to the street people of Berkeley and the students of the University of California campus there” is provided by the Christian World Liberation Front and its superior underground newspaper Right On. This work began with Jack Sparks, a dropout from Campus Crusade. The authors feel that CWLF has “an edge on other Jesus groups in terms of intellectual and spiritual maturity,” and has been helped by the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church.

The above summary emphasizes the dominance of California in the Jesus People movement. There are other outposts of the movement throughout the United States. These include The East Coast Jesus People who publish The Ichthus, Linda Meissner and the Jesus People’s Army of Seattle (although she has more recently joined the Children of God), Carl Parks and the Jesus People’s Army in other regions of Washington and Idaho who publish Truth, Jim Palosarri and the Jesus Christ Power House in Milwaukee, Sammy Tippit and “God’s Love in Action” in Chicago, Ron Rendlemen and his work in West Chicago which achieved national notice when they successfully withstood Satanists attempting to break up a Billy Graham Crusade in Chicago; David Rose and the House of Agape in Kansas City, Missouri; Don Pauly in Florida.

The Movement has naturally generated much activity on the fringes on the interface between radical and establishment Christian practice. Ex-staff members of Campus Crusade are noticeable. Hal Lindsey and Bill Counts head up the J. C. Light and Power House in Westwood, California. Gordon Walker directs Grace Haven Farm in Mansfield, Ohio. Jon Braun’s work is associated with the Brothers and Sisters of Isla Vista, California. Of established churches working in the context of the Jesus People, the most outstanding are Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California. Others working on the fringe include Mario Murillo and his Resurrection City in Berkeley, David Wilkerson and Teen Challenge, evangelist Richard Houge working in the Southwest and Midwest, and Lutheran Youth Alive headed by David Anderson.

Whenever a movement gets going, there are also those who associate with it for motives that are not always sincere or constructive. In this category the authors point to Ed Human and Hollywood’s gospel night clubs, the Mustard Seed in Van Nuys with the symbols but not the spirit of the revolution, a shaky alliance with classical Pentecostalists as personified in Kathryn Kuhlman, Victor Paul Wicrwille and “The Way” with its ultra-dispensationalist heresies, and the upswing in commercial music including Jesus Christ Superstar and God Spell.

The doctrines of the Jesus People, more or less common to all the groups regardless of the rich variety
in details, have four major emphases. (1) The simple gospel. Set forth with “the simplistic mentality endemic to fundamentalism,” the Jesus People neglect the profound implications of the doctrine of Creation and center almost total attention on the doctrine of Redemption. Because of this they are experience-oriented, anti-intellectual, proof-texters of “the worst sort,” anticultural supported by such writers as Watchman Nee, anti-social, anti-historical resulting in “tendencies toward exclusivism,” and radically existential, (2) We are living in the last days; Christ will return in our lifetimes. All three tribulational views: pre – mid – and post-tribulation rapture, are held by various of the Jesus People, but all believe that only a few years are left for them to bring the message of repentance to a doomed world. A new ingredient is “the mixture of the charismatic experiences traditionally associated with Pentecostalism with the eschatology traditionally associated with dispensationalism.” (3) Involvement in the Pentecostal scene. Active practice is directed toward speaking in tongues, divine healing, and visions and visitations. The Jesus People experience “a strong sense of the presence of evil and the rule of the demonic.” (4) The Christian commune. The motivation for establishing self-sufficient Christian communes stems in part from the post-tribulational theology which sees the need to protect the community from Antichrist and his reign of terror. Desire for social control is also a strung factor. This “social and theological isolation quite often produces an inbred ethnocentrism.”

Whatever else may he said about the Jesus People, the authors see “their existence” as “a searing indictment of a desiccated, hidebound institutional church.” The future of the Jesus People depends strongly on the future of their relationship with the “straight” people of God. Three possibilities are foreseen for present members of the movement if indeed their prediction of an immediate return of Christ is not fulfilled: (1) attraction for the more disciplined and organized groups such as the Children of God, (2) moderation so that cooperation within established churches becomes possible, or (3) rejection of the whole Christian position: “there is no anti-Christian like an ex-Jesus person.” Development of option (2) is certainly the healthiest for the entire Christian community. For this to be realized there must be a real determination and effort on the part of church Christians to understand and help, to accept Jesus communes with brotherly love. The “new social acceptability of bearing a public and outspoken witness for Christ is one of the best effects of the Jesus Revolution.” But, “without maturity, without education, without grounding in Christian thought, the Jesus People cannot avoid a commercialized end-what Larry Norman terms ‘pop Christianity.’

This is a really useful and informative treatment of the Jesus People. It is to be recommended for reading by all Christians.

Reviewed by Richard H. Bube, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California
94305.

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Since the early 1970s, alternative religious movements known as cults have been the focus of ever-increasing controversy in America. This reference handbook compares present-day cults to events in earlier American history, while primarily dealing with cults as a contemporary phenomenon. The key issue of mind control is covered in detail, as are deprogramming and the anti-cult movement. Overviews of the most controversial churches, and biographies of their leaders, are prominent features of this book. Legislative efforts and court decisions, particularly those surrounding the issue of religious liberty, are covered in detail. The volume features a directory of organizations in both the United States and Europe, a selected bibliography, print and nonprint resources, a chronology with the dates of religious events in American history, and coverage of events such as the Solar Temple and Heaven’s Gate incidents. Alamo Christian Foundation (Music Square Church) identified as a cult on pages 66 and 67 of the book.

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