ABC History

Mate Scriptures

2008-05-06T11:22:00.001-07:00

The premise behind the method of study employed by the "Assembly of the Body of Christ" is that one must find the Greek and Hebrew "mate scriptures" in order to truly understand the will of God and His truth. Here is an excerpt from their website (click picture for link to site)

The scripture used is Isaiah 34:16-17. The ABC's non-contextual interpretation of this scripture alleges that this scripture proves their theory that one must find "mate scriptures." I declare this is not necessarily true.

The ABC strictly adheres to a method of bible study in which one examines an entire context in order to properly understand the text. That is truly not a bad idea. Any thought taken out of context can be twisted and distorted to have it say something it does not say. Again referring to their website it states you must own

"A Panin's translation of the New Testament to determine the full context (complete thought) where any N.T. Bible verse is found - so we can see the full puzzle piece."

The bible translated numerically by Ivan Panin works only for the New Testament but I would assume the same principle; examining the entire context; would also carry over to the Old Testament as well. It rightfully should if we are to have a good understanding of what is written.

So, looking at Isaiah 34:16-17 in its entire context let's examine this "scriptural mate" theory and see if it holds up to scrutiny. Here is the entire text surrounding Isaiah 34:16-17 (the whole chapter). I have highlighted verses 16-17.

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. Isaiah 34:1-17

As you read through this context above ask yourself this one question. Is this context referring to proper bible study or is it referring to the permanent destruction of a set of nations? I have underlined the beginning of the context to show that it is indeed referring to a set of nations.

One of the biggest bugaboos of our language is the use of pronouns. They make reading more pleasant but if one does not properly refer the pronoun to its subject, the meaning of a sentence can become grossly distorted. To understand who or what verses 16-17 refer to I have replaced all of the pronouns below (in parentheses) with the intended subject.

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of (the world). For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all (the nations) armies: he hath utterly destroyed (the nations), he hath delivered (the nations) to the slaughter. (The nations) slain also shall be cast out, and (the nations) stink shall come up out of (the nations) carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with (the nations) blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all (the nations) host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, (my sword) shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, (the sword) is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come down with (the lambs, goats and rams), and the bullocks with the bulls; and (the nations) land shall be soaked with blood, and (the nations) dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. (Edom) shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through (Edom) for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess (Edom); the owl also and the raven shall dwell in (Edom): and he shall stretch out upon (Edom) the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be (in the kingdom), and all (Edom's) princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in (Edom's) palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and (Edom) shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to (the satyr's) fellow; the screech owl also shall rest (in Edom), and find for (the screech owl) a place of rest. (In the kingdom) shall the great owl make (the great owl's own) nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under (the great owl's own) shadow: (in the kingdom) shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with (the vulture's own) mate. Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of (the dragons, owls, wild beasts, satyr's screech owls, great owls, etc. ) shall fail, none [of these ](wild creatures ) shall want for a mate: for (God's) mouth (yes God's mouth) hath commanded, and (God's) spirit hath gathered (the wild creatures). And God hath cast the lot for (the owls, wild beasts, etc. ), and God's hand hath divided (Edom) unto (the wild creatures) by line: (the wild creatures) shall possess (Edom) for ever, from generation to generation shall (the wild creatures) dwell therein. Isaiah 34:1-17

So pulling out verses 16-17 with the pronouns replaced with the subject of the pronoun:

Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of (the dragons, owls, wild beasts, satyr's screech owls, great owls, etc. ) shall fail, none [of these ](wild creatures ) shall want for a mate: for (God's) mouth (yes God's mouth) hath commanded, and (God's) spirit hath gathered (the wild creatures). And God hath cast the lot for (the owls, wild beasts, etc. ), and God's hand hath divided (Edom) unto (the wild creatures) by line: (the wild creatures) shall possess (Edom) for ever, from generation to generation shall (the wild creatures) dwell therein.

So, you see, this scripture has nothing to do with finding "mate scriptures" when we look at the entire context. It has to do with the complete destruction of a set of nations (Edom, Bozrah, Idumaea) which would become no longer suited for habitation by mankind and would instead be forever a habitation of birds and wild creatures of various sorts. Here is a quotation from "Easton's Bible Dictionary" regarding the Edom of Isaiah 34.

There are many prophecies concerning Edom (Isa 34:5-6; Jer 49:7-18; Eze 25:13; 35:1-15; Joe 3:19; Am 1:11; Obadiah; Mal 1:3-4) which have been remarkably fulfilled. The present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies. After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten for ever. In Petra, "where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles."

Or this from the Jamieson-Faussett-Brown Commentary

16. book of the Lord-the volume in which the various prophecies and other parts of Scripture began henceforward to be collected together (Isa 30:8; Da 9:2).

Seek-(so Isa 8:16, 20; Joh 5:39; 7:52).

no one . fail-of these prophecies (Mt 5:18).

none shall want . mate-image from pairing of animals mentioned, Isa 34:15 ("mate"); no prediction shall want a fulfillment as its companion. Or rather, "none of these wild animals (just spoken of) shall be wanting: none shall be without its mate" to pair and breed with, in desolate Idumea.

my . his-Such changes of person are frequent in Hebrew poetry.

them-the wild beasts.

So, you see, this scripture used to prove the "scriptural mate" theory has nothing to do with "scripture mates" whatsoever; it has to do with the mates of birds and other wild animals who reside where Edom once stood. Edom, representative of those nations who were not serving God, was destroyed by God and left desolate forever and became the breeding ground of wild animals only and not fit for the dwelling of man.

I wholeheartedly agree we should look at ALL scripture in a contextual way and it is by applying that principle to this scripture it is proven that it does not refer to the seeking of "mate scriptures" through Greek and Hebrew word studies as the ABC alleges.

25-The end of the matter

2008-05-02T13:05:00.001-07:00

After I was ex-communicated, the second time, it seemed as though a great flood had gone through my life washing away everything I thought I knew. After I surveyed the wreckage I vainly tried to pick up the pieces and reconstruct something that looked like what I had before. It didn't work. I looked for another person that would come and help me reconstruct the debris but no one was willing to help. Eventually I cleared away the rubble myself and took stock of what I had left. There was not much usable material and I ended up discarding almost everything. Then I started again from scratch. If you look about my spiritual house now you might find a piece or two of the old dwelling here and there but really very little.

When the flood of man swept through my life, there was immense devastation and emotionally I looked like a total loss. However the relationship I have with God inwardly remained absolutely solid. That relationship with God is the only hope I have in this world and one I truly value.

I may post again someday, after I have taken a break , but here, as promised, is a Psalm that sums up the end of the matter. I hope you enjoy it.

My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress-- I will never be greatly shaken. How long will you assault a man, Would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

My soul, wait in silence for God alone, For my expectation is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken. With God is my salvation and my honor. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Surely men of low degree are just a breath, And men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath. Don't trust in oppression. Don't become vain in robbery. If riches increase, Don't set your heart on them. God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this, That power belongs to God. Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, For you reward every man according to his work.

Psalms 62:1-12

24-A few anomalies

2008-05-02T13:02:00.001-07:00

I list here just a very few of the anomalies that developed during the "Mexican Ministry" period. I do so only because these are examples of the things that caused me to be pushed out of the ABC the first time for being "rebellious". One of the most prominent changes that occurred was that my dad decided, since we were dealing with Mexican citizens who were predominantly Catholic, we should assume their customs and begin to wear clerical collars whenever we went into Mexico. He also began wearing one in the U.S. as well. Prior to this, I had always considered we, the ABC, were different than the other churches and we were the exception to "Mystery Babylon" (which was considered by the ABC to be the Catholic church and all her denominational daughters). We all knew or thought we knew anyhow that we were different than the rest because we met in homes, "had no name" (even though we really did have a name), did not "ride on the back of the government" (even though we had incorporated and shared in the same tax breaks all the other denominational churches did) and it was for certain we did not do things like the Catholics. Or, at least we thought we didn't. This sudden abandonment of that position, to such a large degree, was very disillusioning for me and caused me to take a closer look at what we were actually building. It made me realize then we were really not that much different from any of the other denominational churches. This did not sit well with me since it ended the illusion I had of the ABC as being "different" and not a denomination. True, we met in homes instead of church buildings but everything else was mostly the same as any other denominational church.

*I did not buy one of the clerical shirts, even though I had been commanded to do so by my "father in the Lord" but eventually a shirt was purchased for me anyhow. I came home from work to find it hanging on my front door with a note ordering me to wear it. There was a teaching in the ABC that we were to be "experimental believers" so I wore it one time to Mexico; to experiment; but when the people there began to kiss my ring, as if I were a priest, I was not comfortable with this. I was told later it is just the way they show respect for our position but it still bothered me immensely. I decided I would just stay away from Mexico rather than wear it again.

The " Mexican Ministry" was growing to the point that it was consuming more money than was currently coming in through tithe and offering. Any alms that came in were secret so no one had any idea how much money came in earmarked as “alms”. The tithe money was paying for the "Casa Grande" (a huge house in Chula Vista California), a trailer in the mountains, a condo at the beach, a fleet of vehicles, lots and lots of new furniture and lots and lots of other stuff. This was all very very expensive and very little was actually making its way to helping Mexican families in their poverty. The theory was, as my dad explained on the Luis tape, tithes and offerings could not be used to help someone in need...only alms, so, the tithes and offerings just ended up paying for lots of things that supported bringing teachings to Mexico. Very very little was used to feed the poor or help them in their poverty. If an alm came in, that money was usually used to buy bibles. This did not sit well with many people and began to create quite a rift . Not just in San Diego but among people everywhere. It eventually caused two more major splits in the church.

In an effort to raise the additional money needed to keep "the corporation" afloat bake sales were initiated in front of various supermarkets. We, the members of the ABC in San Diego, were expected to bake goodies for these sales and then help staff the tables on weekends. Knowing that the money was not flowing to Mexico I participated in none of them. Another method was to have members of the ABC sit during the middle of the night at highway rest stops to give out "free" coffee and ask for donations from travelers. Many in the ABC did not participate in these endeavors since they were not comfortable giving others the impression the money raised was being used to feed or clothe Mexicans. It was not.

One of the more unusual ways the Mexican Ministry "ministered" to the shopkeepers was by hauling goods for them across the border in the trunks of cars; as if the goods were souvenirs. They would then package the merchandise on the U.S. side for shipment to stores in Los Angeles. By doing this, the shopkeepers avoided paying duty on their goods as they passed across the border and could undercut their competitor's price and make more sales. This allowed them to grow their businesses more quickly. It was also very illegal. If the shopkeeper was discovered participating they would lose their merchandise and be fined. However, if a U.S. citizen was discovered assisting in this type of plan they would have their car seized at the border for smuggling and could possibly be arrested and charged. Many, including me, chose not to participate for this reason.

Another unusual thing that happened was that I arrived at the Casa Grande one weekday morning and was told by my dad I was being made the new treasurer. About an hour later everyone left to go to Mexico to visit the shopkeepers as I remained behind. During my day at the Casa Grande I received a phone call from the Internal Revenue Service. Since I had been made treasurer that very morning I knew nothing about what was going on and could not answer their questions knowledgeably. When everyone returned from Mexico that afternoon I inquired, as "the new treasurer", what was going on with the IRS. The only reply I got was "maybe it's not a good idea to have you as treasurer." And that was that. I was treasurer for just that one day. I never did discover what the IRS trouble was about.

Many in the San Diego group who chose not to participate in these and other things were label as "rebellious" as result. I was among those who chose not to participate since many of the things seemed not quite right to me. I have sprinkled just a few things here to illustrate life in San Diego during the Mexican Ministry days but there were many other incidents, and some that were much much worse. I have decided many things should not be put into print. The general theme at this time was that if you did not do what you were told you were labeled "rebellious" and would be put out. There was a great absence of free will that developed.

There was a group of three families that were eventually put out in one day at a "body counsel" due to these "rebellions". All of us men who were put out were considered as "elders" at that time. One of these families moved away to Washington, another remained in San Diego for a short period and then moved away to Arizona and I stayed behind for about a year before moving away to the northwest. One of these men eventually divorced, returned to the ABC and married again. When I got away from the hustle-bustle of the "Mexican Ministry" and the constant commands from my dad it would be a time of peace mostly. It would last for a number of years before I would return to the ABC and soon after be made an "elder" again. Only to be ousted once again but this time not for “rebellion” but for "blasphemy".

I have put this narrative forward as a "history" of the Assembly of the Body of Christ" but in reality it is a history mostly from a singular perspective...mine. I have relied some on letters, teachings and documents that show the rise of the church out of the "Latter Rain Revival" movement and how it progressed through stages to get to where it is today but much of it is my own observations and things I have been told or shown over the years. I have tried to avoid the "pointing of the finger" and undoubtedly failed at times in that regard. Some of these issues still hold pent up emotion for me. I'm human. I am perfectly willing to accept that anytime I have pointed the finger I have three fingers pointing back at me. If someone were to write a history of my life it would also include a good share of pitfalls, foibles, errors and things I would not be proud of. We all make mistakes.

The majority of my purpose in writing this narrative is to illuminate that the actual path followed by the ABC is not as has been charted and portrayed to its members and followers. The true path it follows is quite far from the map shown to newcomers. In other words there are a great many falsehoods that are told to make the ABC look different than it really is.

While it is true my dad was not very good at the family thing I failed in many ways in that regard too. I was much too hard on my kids as they grew up, did not give them the space they needed to grow, was very overbearing and as a result am not as close to them as I would like to be. I parented the best I could, with the information I had at hand, but that information was highly deficient. I had no good model to follow in my life and this more than anything else brings me the most pain.

Some have expressed sympathy that I have been through so many things. I do not need sympathy because most, if not all of us, go through similar storms in our lives. The storms that passed through my life were just more visible than most because my dad was a bit of a minor celebrity in his own right; having started a new denomination; and was respected for his position as the founder and leader of that new denomination. Even today, long after his death, his teachings are the "ordained" teachings of the ABC and anything outside of that is suspect. My dad's teachings stemmed directly from the other men I have written about (Watt, Prince....) and they undoubtedly had those they drew them from as well. And so it goes back through history.

I have been mostly a willing, even if ignorant, participant in my own life and have made my own decisions based on the information I had at hand. Many times it was clearly the wrong decision. I think nearly every person looks back on their life and wishes they could go back and do it all over again and make the right decisions. It is not possible and we are left to live in the life we construct.

I fear that in my ramblings I may have written things that could be construed as bitterness towards my father. There was a day I was bitter against him but I have years ago resolved that. It has not ended the sadness I feel though when I see our broken family.

I believe my dad meant well when he began the ABC, unfortunately he made the error of translating his family practices into the building of the denomination he started. This carryover into church doctrine has caused, I believe, the many episodes of abandonment that have occurred in the church over the years.

This journey I have taken through a very small part of my own history has brought me through many ups and downs emotionally; and, like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, I too have thrown up my hands at times and stated it is all just vanity and not worth it. In the end, it has been a worthwhile journey to write this and has made me understand where I sprang from. It has helped me burn a great deal of wood, hay and stubble in my thoughts in the process. The fires have burned large at times and when they died down I had not much left to call my own. And so now I, like Solomon, reach the end of my own matter.

23-A letter

2008-05-01T17:47:00.001-07:00

Below is a letter that was sent out about June of 1983. This letter was sent because there were many rumblings about the way money was being used by the “Mexican Ministry”and the rumblings could no longer be ignored. This letter was intended to quiet the agitations but it was not effective. It was essentially a threat to all in the ABC they must not make waves or question how the money was being used or else there would be consequences.

Click on picture to read entire text.

22-The Progression of the Mexican Ministry

2008-05-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

In a previous post I covered the actual rooting of the Mexican Ministry into the ABC with the story of Luis. Things began to take visible shape though about the time I returned to San Diego. My dad’s visits to, and befriending of, the shopkeepers in Tijuana eventually yielded visits to their homes. This brought about a request for teachings which meant, of course, that homes were needed in Mexico for foundation meetings. Most of the available homes in Tijuana were very small, some had dirt floors and none would accommodate a meeting. Rather than rent a building or hall, a small apartment was rented in the La Playa area of Tijuana on the western edge of town. This was not far from San Diego but the Tijuana roads were seldom maintained well and made for treacherous driving. It was a long slow commute up the hill--especially when it rained. It was not unusual, in a heavy downpour, to encounter a roadway that had become a raging torrent of flood water. Very often in Tijuana the homes would get washed downhill in these downpours and there were usually a numbers of deaths. Poverty can be deadly. For those who have never visited Tijuana, many of the dwellings are built on steep hillsides with foundations constructed of old tires. The homes on top of these tires are often constructed of bits of wood and plywood salvaged from other buildings and have only dirt for a floor.

The Crown Victoria and other sedans my dad was using to get to this apartment; as well as to pick up some of the Mexican people on the way; were not suited for the journey over the deeply rutted roads. An offering was requested to buy a large van and the money was raised. The van was purchased but within months it was apparent this vehicle too would not hold up to the strain of the Tijuana roads. Another call went out for more money to purchase a large Chevy Suburban with four wheel drive and high clearance suspension. This was a more effective vehicle to maneuver the back roads and alleys of Tijuana and became a bus of sorts for picking up people to take to the meetings.

I was at a few of the meetings at the La Playa apartment. There were maybe five or six people from Tijuana and about the same number would travel over from the states. They were typical foundation meeting with singing (one of the Mexican people had translated a few of the songs into Spanish), a teaching in English interpreted into Spanish by a man named Pablo and prayer for any needs. It was not possible to construct a teaching in the same manner since the ABC relies heavily on the Greek to develop teaching points. This then required translating from Greek to English and then from English into Spanish. This was proving extremely difficult and the teachings moved in very slow motion. Most attending just nodded their heads but one never knows if the nodding meant they truly understood or were just being courteous.

Not long after the apartment was rented in La Playa a large storm completely washed away the main road and it became inaccessible without a long drive through the side roads. A search was made for a new location to hold the meetings and a large house was rented closer to central Tijuana. It was up on a hill overlooking all of Tijuana and was constructed of stucco, stone and brick with lots of wrought iron. The pictures below were taken at this house. The first picture was at a kid's birthday party and the second is the view from this house at night. It had quite a view looking out over Tijuana.

This house was too big to justify having for just meetings so David North moved his family to the house, enrolled his children in Mexican school. He then commuted to work each day across the border into San Diego. There was not much kept at the La Playa apartment for the meetings; just a whiteboard and some chairs; but after the move to the big house it still needed to be retrieved. I was enlisted for the long drive to retrieve them and David North rode along with me. Since I had to do this after work it meant driving into Tijuana after dark and one of my headlights burned out while I was still deep into Tijuana. I was stopped by a local police officer who spoke very little English. I spoke very little Spanish, although I understood some, but from what I could understand he wanted to take my car from me because it was not "legal" and then he was going to drop us at the airport. David paid the officer some money and this caused him to "forget" about impounding my car and he let us go. It was a tense moment. We found a headlamp at a little shop in La Playa and changed it before heading back to San Diego to avoid further trouble.

Meetings were held at the large central Tijuana house for a number of months but the massive flooding in La Playa and other areas had forced the Mexican government to address the housing situation. Since flooding problems occurred during every storm season the government built large tenements of solid concrete on the mesa near the Tijuana airport. Flooding was not a problem here since it was on top of a large hill with excellent drainage. A great many people were relocated from central Tijuana to these new housing projects, including most of the people who were coming to the Tijuana meetings, so this made it necessary to move the meetings again to the plains by the airport. The house was given up and David North and family moved back across the border to the Casa Grande. The idea of having a permanent house in Tijuana was abandoned. Yvonne would later acquire another home in Tijuana, after my father's death, but I will address that separately since it was not an official "sanctioned" part of the ABC.

After the central Tijuana house was given up the meetings were moved to the home of a woman everyone called "mama" . On meeting days the Suburban would leave San Diego several hours before the start time and make a "bus run" picking up anyone that lived too far to walk. Most of the participants in these meetings were related in some way and all were very poor.

Altogether there was a handful of people that were ever touched by "The Mexican Ministry" and it officially ended not long after my father's death. I do not know exactly when since I was not around at that time but I do know, from what I heard, that San Diego became a battleground for power and control at that time and Yvonne, my stepmother, would leave the ABC and continue the Mexican Ministry on her own. During this time she negotiated a permanent pension from the tithes. I was not part of the ABC then but I received regular updates on the progress from Yvonne by form letter.

In the next post and the one following I will introduce a threatening letter that was sent to all in the ABC and address some of the anomalies that developed, mostly due to the forming of the "Mexican Ministry".

21-San Diego-Heart and Family

2008-05-01T08:34:00.001-07:00

Activities in San Diego over the next few years could only be described as frenetic. The all consuming pace of the San Diego / Mexico events has caused most everything to run together in the sands of my memory so I have divided this section into separate subjects to avoid the need for keeping a precise timeline. Also, I know very little of what happened in the other areas; Grants Pass, Vancouver / Portland, Denver, etc. during this era so I focus my observations strictly on San Diego /Mexico events.

I lived in San Diego this time until February 1985, but was removed from the ABC in January 1984 by my father. I still lived and worked in San Diego but had very little contact with the ABC during that final year. I moved back to the Puget Sound region after I left San Diego.

FAMILY CHANGES

Not long after I had returned to San Diego; in February of 1980; my grandmother on my fathers side passed away. It was not at all unexpected as she had pancreatic cancer; but it was still difficult. I dearly loved this grandmother and knowing she was so ill had made an out of the way trip to her place on the move back to San Diego. I knew this would be the last time I would ever see her and it was heartbreaking to leave. It has been twenty-eight years since she passed away and it still feels like a great loss to me. Her death was quite a blow to my father as well. Being an only child he had always been close to his mother and we visited quite often as I was growing up. We spent nearly every Thanksgiving or Christmas at her house. She was an incredible person and I still miss her very much.

About two years after my grandmother died my grandfather, on my father's side, died as well. His death created a great deal of tension in the family. My dad had me accompany him on a mad dash to Kennewick to empty out the contents of his apartment and drive it all back to San Diego in a U-Haul truck back. I did not know, at the time, that what we were doing was illegal ad probate had not yet completed and removal of any part of the estate was not technically allowed. It was rumored later, by my oldest brother, that we had taken things from the apartment that were actually pledged to him by my grandmother in her will. That may have been; I really don't know; I received nothing myself from my grandmothers things and it all went to my dad's home in San Diego. It was also rumored an account had been established for each of us three boys payable after my grandfather's passing; and this may be true too but my dad was executor of the estate and refused to show any of us the will. No copy was ever filed at the county as the estate was too small. I moved on though; it was only money and things; but the last time I spoke with my oldest brother he was still steaming about the way everything had been removed so quickly. I don't blame him for his upset but the allegation I had been party to this was not true. I had no personal stake whatsoever and simply helped drive the truck at my dad’s request.

My dad was still in recovery from his heart surgery during this trip to Kennewick and it was his plan to drive my grandfather's car back to San Diego. He became too weak to finish the journey back however and we had to drop my dad at an airport (I forget which city that was in) and he flew back. A man named Don and I then finished driving the car and truck back to San Diego. An interesting side note to this journey; the truck given to us by U-Haul was very old and decrepit and literally got two miles per gallon, or less. This meant we had to stop about every fifty miles for fuel. In central California the exits are sometimes fifty miles apart so there were points in our journey we were unsure we could even make it to the next station. We made it fine and documented the fuel guzzling with receipts and U-Haul reimbursed us for the fuel.

HEART DISEASE

During the holiday season of 1981 we went as a group to walk and view the Christmas lights on a lane in Chula Vista. On this excursion after walking just half a block from the van my dad became completely winded. He went back to the van and waited for the rest of us to return. He insisted this was "just a cold" and said he felt like he had "asthma". He actually turned out to have severe congestive heart failure. He ignored this for a while longer but when it got worse he had no choice but to seek medical help. He had avoided visiting the doctor because he lacked health insurance but once he visited a cardiologist, and was tested, he was scheduled nearly immediately for a valve replacement surgery and quadruple bypass. He was actually quite near death on that outing to see the lights. His heart was in very bad shape by the time he made it to a doctor and a special offering was taken to cover the surgery costs.

I was not working at the time; since I had been injured on the job; and spent most of my days at the hospital until he was out of the woods. It was not clear whether he would actually survive the surgery; since it was so extensive; and for about five days two nurses monitored multiple IV lines that kept his heart rhythm stabilized. It was a grueling recovery and there was quite a bit of concern he would not survive.

My dad survived the surgery and directly afterward changed his diet drastically. He lost weight, began walking several miles each day and even joined a gym. These new habits eventually dropped off though as his life returned to the hectic schedule he had kept before the surgery. The surgery saved his life and gave him an extra five or so years. He died on October 25, 1985 of a sudden heart attack in a Mexican Restaurant in San Diego. I know very little of the incident but it is my understanding he was eating out with David North and his wife when he suddenly complained of weakness. After this, he fell from the booth and was gone. There were efforts to revive him by paramedics but they failed. No one ever called me to let me know what happened.

I am convinced now part of him was lost during this heart surgery. I have read up on this extensively and am also acquainted with a doctor who specializes in the treatment of heart disease. This doctor helped move me beyond some major health problems a few years ago; not heart related; and I now follow his plan for my heart and health nearly to the letter. This doctor stated it is well known in the medical community; although not widely publicized; that small brain injuries occur during most heart surgeries. This is due to the plaques and fat globules that break free during surgery and strike the brain. These injuries, when they occur, can alter mood and temperament if the damage occurs in the frontal lobe. There were specific instances after my dad's surgery I believe indicate this happened. My dad became much stronger physically, for a while, but there were things about him mentally that changed dramatically. He had become much more emotional but not everyone noticed this. I did. One of the last times we spent together; was at a restaurant in Alpine California. He broke down sobbing right in the restaurant and this was quite unlike him. He felt he was no longer able to keep up with the pace of things he felt he needed to do but felt it was an obligation "from the people" to keep going. Then he began talking about his death--as if it were imminent. This was a good indicator he had become quite depressed but I didn't understand that at the time. The next time I saw him, after this incident, he was right back to the mad dash that defined his life. He also began to have frequent middle of the night sessions of extreme anxiety and would pace the floor for hours. I discovered this when I spent a few nights at his house after my divorce. It was very soon after our restaurant encounter as well that I would find myself disowned. I do not contribute the disowning itself to the changes after the surgery; it had happened too many times to others over the years; but I do however blame the vicious manner in which it was accomplished on these changes brought about by the surgery. At least I hope so.

RESIDENCE CHANGES

*When I arrived in San Diego the bus had been permanently parked at the San Ysidro RV park and a park model trailer had been purchased and moved in next to it which gave my dad and Yvonne plenty of extra space to live. This also allowed my step-siblings; who were now teenagers; more room and privacy. Both bus and trailer were parked just ten feet from the Interstate 5 freeway though and the roar of traffic, even at night, was deafening. This was an unacceptable place for someone with serious heart disease to live and my dad's doctor ordered a move away from the freeway...right away.

The first move would be to a small apartment nearby in Chula Vista. This move to the apartment would be the first time, since 1973, that my dad and Yvonne had lived in regular housing. After this move David North took over use of the the bus and trailer and my dad never returned again to living in them.

The apartment, a small two bedroom, got my dad into a quiet environment and it was here that he returned from his heart surgery. I picked him up at the hospital to bring him home and, for some reason, he wanted to get his haircut before he went home. This we did. It was a rather unusual request because my dad had very little hair left but he barber made a couple of small snips and then he was done. I think it probably made him feel as though he could get back to normal life and was actually a good moment with him. He was still quite weak and needed help walking so this was one of those rare moments we ever had to just talk and be friends. It was rather odd for me because my dad was never one that needed much help.

I don't recall exactly how long my dad lived in the apartment but the move changed his outlook and he seemed to no longer desire life as an itinerant minister. He just wanted to settle down it seemed and this was quite a change for him. I remember one time one time; when I was thirteen and we had first moved to San Juan Island; we he had gone together looking at an old small ferry. His plan was to move a mobile home onto the car deck for instant living space and then convert the passenger deck into a floating church. He wanted to then travel from island to island preaching. The ferry it turned out had no engine, was sitting next to the Puget Sound up on dry ground, and it would have cost a great deal to bring it back to useable shape. Then there was also the little problem of needing an engine crew to run it. It was a fun idea at the time but was also one he quickly abandoned as impossible.

Once my dad recovered from the surgery he decided the apartment was too small and also felt it was senseless to pay rent on an apartment as well as two RV spaces. For the same cost he could purchase one large home . I was not involved in the search for this home but he eventually found a very large home in a rather nice neighborhood of Chula Vista and it was soon labeled "The Casa Grande" due to it's enormous size. It had, as I recall, four bedrooms, a huge den / family room as well as a very large living / dining room. A large kitchen sat in the middle of it all and in back was a huge patio with nicely landscaped yard. This house was sold years later and another even larger home with an in ground pool was then purchased. I was not in the ABC at the time but saw it when I returned for the funeral.

No long after the move to Casa Grande, David North and his wife also moved into the Casa Grande as well. The trailer was towed to the Alpine RV park and the bus, I believe, was moved into a storage lot. It was never used again by the ABC and assume it was eventually sold.

In my next post I will detail the development of the Mexican Ministry and in the following post will cover a few of the anomalies it spawned.

20-Back to San Diego-"Mexican Ministry" Roots

2008-04-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

The rooting of the "Mexican Ministry of the Assembly of the Body of Christ" as part of the ABC dates to May 9, 1978. This is the day a tape was sent to all of the elders asking for extra money to be paid for a man named Luis in Mexico. It introduced that this event could be the catalyst that would "open a new ministry for every one of us". The tape was recorded in San Diego just before I left to Grants Pass to finish school and, at the very end, names me as the contact person. I did not actually remain in San Diego long enough to fulfill that role and was unaware, at the time the tape was made, my dad was placing me in that role. It appeared to be an afterthought of his the next day. I probably would have assumed that role at first if I had remained but based on the direction the “Mexican Ministry” took I am quite certain I would not have remained.
The entire tape is 26 minutes long and has been converted to an .mp3 file. The link is found below should you want to listen to the entire twenty-six minutes. For those not wanting to spend the twenty-six minutes I provide a quick synopsis in bullet points below. Should you choose to listen, it does take a moment for the recording to begin and it should open automatically in your default audio player (Real, Windows Media Player,etc.) If you desire to save the file, for review later, "right click" and then choose "save link as".

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE "LUIS TAPE"

Tape purpose: To open a new ministry for everyone.
My dad became close to man in Mexico named Luis; age 29 from Nicaragua; took a trip with him from Tijuana to Ensenada.
On this trip Luis told a story to my dad in confidence about leaving Nicaragua after the earthquake. He intended to enter the U.S. while the border was open for disaster evacuees so Luis got a Visa to Mexico then hitchhiked from Mexico City to Tijuana. H then discovered the US border had been closed to evacuees and became stranded in Mexico.
Luis is stated to be an honest man, knows English, Japanese and other languages; began work in Mexico, established himself in Tijuana; married, had a child, but then lost his citizenship in Nicaragua since had been away for five years. He became a man without a country so he had to lie on his marriage certificate about his age, place of birth, fathers name and even falsified his own name in order to get married. (Note: Luis never stated what his real name was and there were a few, including me, who questioned the validity of his story.)
Wants help now to become a citizen of the US ;dad spoke with a US attorney; would only happen if Luis had $40,000 or could find job no one else could do. Neither is possible for him.
Luis wants instead now to become a Mexican citizen; then he can get a passport to enter US and get a job. Is a long process and very costly since there are lies on his marriage certificate. Not possible without Mexican attorney.
Dad found a tourist public defender in Mexico with ties to the Mexican Government. Attorney can bribe officials to have marriage license changed to eliminate the four lies. If not fixed, Luis could be jailed; Luis is considered a responsible citizen, not a smoker, drinker, and happily married, etc. so this may be possible.
Reason for the tape is to ask for $2000.00, maybe more, to have this attorney pay off the four Mexican government officials and have the marriage license corrected.
My dad prayed about it and “the Lord showed him” the ABC had learned about tithing, and also about offerings, but now God wants to use this as a chance for the ABC to learn about alms too.
My dad feels this is an opportunity to minister to Luis and have him become part of the ABC. Also through Luis he is getting acquainted with other Mexican men and families that may want to associate with the ABC.
To help Luis the money cannot be used from tithes or offerings, it must come only from alms. If people will send the money for this my dad is confident "the Lord will bless the whole congregation."
Will take a year or two to complete and the attorney needs at least $200.00 to get started.
Luis's wife was “impressed with my dad and the honesty in his face”. My dad states God is moving in the Mexican area and they are dealing with another family too and plan to spend the night at this families house. Another man volunteered to become an interpreter if my dad begins to teach in Mexico. (It is interesting to note that no one in “The Mexican Ministry” took the effort to become fluent in Spanish. Instead more money was always asked of the people to hire interpreters.)
Afterthought on tape: My dad said he couldn't sleep after making the tape and paced the floor all all night. He discovered there was an error on the tape and stated that alms are to be given only in secret and should never be made public. We are commanded to tithe he stated and are expected to give offerings as well he commented and we are blessed in these things through our obedience. However it is only in giving alms that we are truly blessed. Alms should be given quickly before the right hand knows what the left has done.

I know very little of what happened in San Diego the two years I was away at school and by the time we returned in May of 1980 "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" group in San Diego had become much less Navy. Most of the guys had fulfilled their enlistments, many had married, and most of the the original "San Diego group" had moved on to other cities. In their place, a smaller group of "just plain working folk" existed. While there were a few "new babes", most living in San Diego now had either moved from other areas or had been around a while. This made the San Diego group mostly self-sustaining and my dad, freed from having to assist with the daily activities of the church in San Diego, and all other areas as well, began focusing his efforts out of the country, in Tijuana Mexico.

The bus was now permanently parked at the San Ysidro RV Park in South San Diego; just one mile from the Mexican border; and my dad had purchased a park model trailer as well that sat next to the bus giving them much more room to live. This permanently ended their cramped living style in the school bus. Jon and Lavonne maintained their bedrooms in the dual lofts in the school bus and my dad and Yvonne used the trailer for their primary living area now. The downside was that LaVonne had very little oversight now and her drug habit was completely out of control. David North and his wife and family had also moved into the RV park and were assisting with the newly forming "Mexican Ministry."

Gilbert Larson had begun forming a new group in Denver Colorado; Bruce Leonard had moved to Vancouver Washington from Seattle and there were meetings being held in both Vancouver Washington and Portland Oregon; across the Columbia river. Grants Pass still continued meetings after I left but was in a slow process of separating themselves permanently from the ABC. A few of the ex-navy guys from San Diego had moved to Belfair Washington to begin civilian work at the naval shipyard and had begun a very small meeting with just their families. This group never gained much in attendance beyond just those few families.

We spent the first few nights after our return to San Diego on the fold out bed in the back of the bus while we looked for a place to live. We eventually found a nice apartment near where we had lived before and, about a year later, moved to an apartment in subsidized housing.

This time I would not be attending school so I set out to look for work. I could not find work right away but got by fine with a few temporary positions; such as delivering telephone books. Borrowing on my previous vending experience I eventually found a job with a vending company. It was a great place to work and I had a great couple of bosses. My wife was able to find work at the Glorietta Bay Inn in Coronado.
In Grants Pass we were able to sustain our family on just my income, and my wife stayed home with the kids. In San Diego it was much more expensive to live and that required both of us to work. Not ideal, but we managed.

My first introduction to how the "Mexican Ministry" operated came about a week after we arrived back in San Diego. My dad invited us to go along with him on his “rounds” in Tijuana. I had been to Tijuana many times as a tourist but my dad now had certain shopkeepers; in a mall area below the main boulevard; that he visited several times per week and during these visits he would pray for their businesses. He had, it seemed, become good friends with many of the people in the mall and a few in the shops on the main street above as well.

In the next post, we settle into San Diego again and things begin to take a lot of turns.

NEXT POST

19-State of the Family Address

2008-04-22T17:59:00.001-07:00

As I move into the final San Diego period; well final for me anyhow since I have no plans to live there again; I jump slightly ahead in the story and talk about the impact my dad's "church-building" had on both his natural and adopted family. This is important to reference because if a man cannot build an earthly family correctly, and give it some glue, how can he be expected to build a spiritual family that also maintains some glue. It is, I believe, not possible.

...but if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the assembly of God?

1 Timothy 3:5

I claim no perfection on family building. In many ways I failed that role myself. I did what I learned; even if what I learned was wrong. I have no intention of starting a church, as my dad did, and I do not feel qualified. I don’t regard him as qualified either.

A major era in my life ended in San Diego and it is the events during this period that caused my dad to thrust me completely out of the church he started and out of his life. In many ways I was present but never really in his life at any time. When he finally disowned me completely because I would not see everything exactly as he did not tell me himself. He left word through another for me that he never wanted to see me again. It is a promise he kept and is a scar that will probably never heal. Despite our differences and despite the pain he brought to my and many other people’s life I still wish we had been close for a short period at least. It never happened. Sadly, only a very few ever questioned his actions then or now. It is, and was, assumed that since he had appointed himself "the apostle", everything he did or said must have been correct and "from God." That viewpoint is not justified. He was fallible just like anyone else and did many things which would have caused another in the church to be "disciplined" or cast out. Yet he was never once called to account for his actions.

After my dad's death, and after many of the facts of the "Mexican Ministry" period began to surface, Gilbert Larson visited me at my home in Port Orchard WA. (I had moved there shortly after being ex-communicated the first time.) Gilbert acknowledged that I had been wronged, apologized on everyone's behalf, and told me God needed me "in the body" again and requested I return. After my dad thrust me out I had no intention of returning to the ABC; especially after the humiliation I suffered in front of my brothers when I was told by David North I was not welcome at his funeral. My brothers; who had long ago rejected the ABC; were apparently welcome, yet I was not. (Note: after my oldest brother made a scene and threatened a lawsuit against the ABC they backed down and let me attend. However I was told if I attended I was not allowed to speak. I went but in reality it felt like the final abandonment by my father. He seemed to reach beyond the grave to wound me one more time. That sting hurts to this day.)

After Gilbert visited my home I did not return to the ABC right away but my wife did. I waited a few months then took the apology bait and returned. I had no idea I was simply being played on a hook by Gilbert so he could trade more easily on my dad's name. My first realization of this came when I discovered that Gilbert was reprinting the book "The Three Rests" and was putting my father's name, picture and mailing address on the back cover as if he was still alive! I was deeply offended by this practice and told Gilbert so quite emphatically. He suggested, when we spoke, that perhaps he should have talked to me first before representing my dad on the book as if he was alive but the practice did not end. I would have said no" and I am quite certain this is why he did not ask.

My brother, two years my senior; and also at one time an elder in the ABC holding regular meetings in his home; left "the group" suddenly in 1978 declaring it to be "cultlike" and overly authoritative. He told me then that he did not like the directions things were heading. He saw that people were beginning to lose their ability to think for themselves and, at the time, mildly suggested I get out too. I did not listen then and I wish I had.

My oldest brother ran away from home on a frequent basis and had to be forced back. This made him an angry person when I was a kid and when he turned seventeen he began bothering my parents about dropping out of high school and joining the Navy instead. He could not stand living at home any longer. This was much more than a teen rebellion. He had good reason for wanting to get away. There is no reason to list all the messy details here but life at our home was much less than calm. My parents would not sign for him right away so he continued to bug them until they did. When he graduated high school seven months later, in June the following year, they finally relented and signed him into the navy. He left home, four months before his eighteenth birthday, and shipped out to Viet Nam. The last time I saw him, about thirteen years ago, he was still venting about the abuse he suffered. He is no longer that oldest boy however. Soon after our last contact, at age fifty, he chose to change his gender through surgery and now lives in Seattle as a woman. He has never been part of the ABC.

I have two step-siblings; a stepbrother Jon and a stepsister LaVonne. I have not seen them since the day I was disowned so I know little first hand about their current lives and know only what I have heard through the grapevine. My stepbrother, while I lived in San Diego, had a few run-ins with the law, as well as a substance abuse problem. The last I heard anything about him he had moved to LA, straightened out his life and had a great job with a telecommunications company. He was very smart when he applied himself and I have no doubt he has done well. He too separated himself from the ABC, as soon as he was able to leave home, and did not ever return.

My stepsister began drifting into heavy drug use at about age twelve. At last report, several years ago, she was trying to survive on the streets of San Diego with a serious substance abuse problem and was making money for her drug addictions in any way she could. If she has straightened out her life since I last heard, I wish her well.

My stepmother, Yvonne, retains a loose monetary connection with the ABC through a retirement fund paid from the monthly tithes. That retirement plan has been a point of contention within the church for many years. She no longer has any connection to the meetings, decision making or to the church in any other way than monetary.

There was a time, not many years ago, all of the anger I had stuffed about what my dad had done to our family, as well as his adopted family, began leaking out whenever I was alone. I would shout at him, even though I knew very well he lay silent beneath the ground at the Naval cemetery in Point Loma and could never hear or respond. These one-sided angry dialogues served no real purpose other than to reveal to me I had plenty of buried anger to deal with. I have done that, but I still so much wish he was not beyond the reach of my words so I could tell him how I feel. He left behind quite a lot of pain in our family, as well as many other peoples families and lives.

The last day I saw my dad alive was in that hastily called "body counsel" in San Diego, I had asked to speak to him privately in his office about some of these things but he adamantly refused. He became enraged at my request, ran out the door got in his van and in his rage drove out of control across the lawn. He did not return that night before I left and passed word through others he had disowned me. It was heartbreaking then, and even more so now. When I see others present him as a "man of God" and feel that he had something more from God than the rest of us do it is quite honestly painful. I have no doubt the grace of God and his mercy will cover the mistakes he made but I cannot view him as someone more special than any other person. He was simply a man with faults like any other and the myths that have grown around his life are sometimes hard to hear because I was there and know the truth.

My dad was loved by many and honestly, despite my anger at his actions toward our family, I loved him too. He was my dad, he did have a good side, and I would never regard him as plotting or evil. He was simply driven to fulfill his goal of heading up a church and he mistakenly let that goal own him. Even to the point of abandoning his family responsibilities and even to point of being deliberately manipulating through lies. I was, at one time, early on, an admirer of what I thought was his vision--that of a group of people could serve God in peace, love and true fellowship but the words he spoke never quite matched the reality of what actually happened.

While I loved my dad, he did not ever truly love or respect his natural family back. We were mostly a burden to him that interfered with his "mission" of building a church of his own design. He pulled us along on his ever growing quest to build the church simply out of obligation. On San Juan Island, when that burden became too great, he simply left his family behind and pursued his "church building" instead with even more fervor. For some reason, at this time; and this has always confused me; he abandoned his natural family and then immediately adopted a brand new family.

My dad left a legacy of a broken family and then left behind a very broken church. This church "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" follows in the footsteps he left behind and leaves in its wake broken hearts and broken people. Just like my father left behind a very broken family. The concept of abandonment in the ABC was learned directly from the practices and example of my father Ramon A Haas. Gilbert Larson told me more times than I can possibly count that God hates divorce. Yet my father not only divorced my mother, he abandoned his family. It is only because my mother was not a stronger person that we boys ended up living with him. It was clear we were not entirely welcome.

The bible states that Jesus came to heal, lift burdens and set us free:

The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to the captives, Recovering of sight to the blind, To deliver those who are crushed, And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:17-19

When I removed the polarized lenses that shielded my view of all that is unpleasant, it became glaringly clear to me the concepts of Christ's ministry; healing, lifting burdens and setting at liberty, etc. are opposite of those in evidence in the ABC. That causes me great sadness.

In the next post I will share a tape sent to the elders at the very beginning of the "Mexican Ministry and a little on how the Mexican Ministry got started.

18-Grants Pass

2008-04-13T21:53:00.001-07:00

I loved everything about Grants Pass. The town, the climate, the people, the river, Blind George's popcorn, and especially the peace and quiet of a small town. I've been back a few times since I lived there, just passing through mostly, and this small town has now grown into a small city and it is not the same. In the 70's, it was a wonderful peaceful small town place to be and very friendly.

When we arrived in Grants Pass from San Diego we had an apartment waiting for us. Gabriel, the guy with the figs in San Diego, had left the navy and moved there and since he was friends with the manager of the complex where he lived he had arranged to have an apartment ready and waiting for us when we arrived. We just showed up, moved our stuff in that night and the next morning signed the paperwork. It was the easiest move I had ever made.

We settled in quickly and I enrolled in school for my remaining two terms. Before long I had earned all the credits I needed to graduate and received my diploma from Southwestern College in Chula Vista CA in May of 1979...but without the transfer certificate. I contacted a few four-year schools and found that without that transfer certificate many of my credits would not ever transfer, not even in California. It was disappointing and my trust was scheduled to be broken soon anyhow; on my twenty-fifth birthday; and that was just a little over one year away. To continue school would have meant making another move and we decided we were not quite ready for that yet. For now, I planned to pursue full time work so I could pay the bills for my two small children.

It was not a large group in Grants Pass. Altogether, at that time, there was only about a dozen or so people, not counting children. Thursday foundation meetings were held at Rod's house and Saturday communion meeting was at Lowell's. Gilbert Larson still lived in town for part of the time I was there but then moved away to Denver. He and Craig and I worked together one summer on a small surveying project in Northern California slope staking a new logging road. It was a lot of hard work pushing through fields of Manzanita but we did take out to dig out an enormous boulder perched on a hillside and let it roll down a very large hill. It was our the last day in the woods and it was such a great experience watching that boulder tumble. Only later did we begin to wonder if there was perhaps a scout camp or a ranger station at the base of the hill. I saw no news reports of flattened cabins so I think we're probably ok.

A few families lived outside Grants Pass; in Cave junction and Merlin; and meetings were occasionally held at their houses as well as in town. I taught a small foundation meeting in an unnamed community west of Grants Pass once per week on Tuesdays and every other week I traveled north up I-5 to teach at Mel's house in Merlin. On alternate weeks, on Saturdays, he and his wife would drive down to Grants Pass and attend the Saturday meeting there.

My dad was spending most of his time in San Diego and the bus had been moved away from its place outside Lowell's house in Grants Pass and was now permanently parked at the San Ysidro RV park near the Mexican Border. This was the beginning of my dad’s forays into Tijuana and he had befriended a number of the shopkeepers and was praying for their businesses. This was the seed that would later become "The Mexican Ministry" and it would be spun off into its own separate corporation.

My dad still made occasional trips up and down I-5 to teach at the Apex Airpark, Vancouver and Grants Pass, but always by car since the bus was permanently planted in San Ysidro. Most times he would stop in Grants Pass for just a day or two at Craig's house, and I generally saw him only at the meetings. He never visited me when he was in town. Not once.

At one Saturday meeting my dad made comment he was having a difficult time keeping up with the request for his teaching tapes. He was using four cassette players with patch cords between them and copying tapes in real time. I told him, after the meeting, there were machines that copied tapes at high speed and with one of these machines he could duplicate a tape in about five minutes instead of the current hour. He elected me to the task of locating one of these machines and and after a couple trips to the library--the Internet did not yet exist--I found a mail order supply house called "Wholesale Tape and Supply" in Chattanooga Tennessee (a company I highly recommend if you have need for such things) and they seemed very reputable and catered mostly to churches. My dad purchased the machine along with a case of blank tapes and had them delivered to my house and put me in charge of the tape duplication.

Tapes of my dad's teachings had been available for quite some time and had been built into a small library but this was the official beginning of what would be called "the tape ministry". The next edition of "The Communion" (the Assembly of the Body of Christ" newsletter); listed me as the direct contact for tapes and the going rate for a tape was just a buck to cover expenses. "The tape ministry" would remain in my control for about the next five years and was given to someone else to manage when I was ex-communicated. The individual who took it over did not understand the necessity of using "slave tapes" for high speed duplication and instead used the "master tape" on every run. The last I heard, most of the masters had been destroyed from overuse.

The group in Grants Pass was a cohesive group. Most were related in some way, by blood or by marriage, so kinship already existed naturally and nearly all who were not kin had known each other throughout school and had been good friends most of their life. This kinship and friendship carried over into everyday life as well as in the meetings. A few were related directly to Gilbert Larson ; the Apostle; by marriage. I was not related to anyone directly, but I had known most for years, felt very accepted and was just part of the "family" as soon as I moved there.

After I moved from San Diego my dad began making regular telephone calls to me in Grants Pass. It was pure manipulation and not love. He would call and ask me to make suggestions to the elders or group about this or that. At times he would ask me to make sure everyone understood how great the financial needs were for his new ministry in San Diego and would also ask me to drop hints in the meetings as well that more money was needed for such and such special need. As time wore on the phone calls became even more frequent, more urgent, and it seemed to me he was becoming very frustrated with the people in Grants Pass. (I knew nothing at that time about the contentions many in Grants Pass had about the abuses they saw happening in San Diego with the tithe money.) He began suggesting that perhaps there was "rebellion" brewing among the leaders, although I had personally sensed nothing, but he was quite insistent in his phone calls. He wanted me to let him know about anything I might see or hear that would indicate any sort of rebellion brewing. I felt as if I was becoming a spy stuck in the middle of something I didn't really want to be stuck in the middle of. It was a very uncomfortable situation but I had learned not to question and there was also the thought in my head that perhaps he saw things I just didn't see. I kept my eyes and ears open thought and after a while it did seem as though a storm was brewing in the distance, like it had years earlier in Snohomish county, but I wasn't sure of the cause. I was a little concerned that perhaps the waters were about to get rough again and was not pleased I was in the thick of it.

When the storm finally erupted and the Grants Pass wave finally rose and crested I was living in San Diego again on my father’s orders but had also been ex-communicated. My family and several other families in San Diego, were pushed out of the church in a mass ex-communication. This ex-communication took place after an impromptu "body counsel" session called by my dad and at the end of it, three whole families were ex-communicated and I was completely and publicly disowned by my father. (Robin Hesley and his wife, were one of the families expelled at that time. Robin later divorced this wife and then married his way back into the ABC.) After this meeting, I had very little contact with anyone on the inside of the ABC for roughly the next six years. Thus, I know only tidbits of what happened during that period. Most I know I have gleaned from the details told by others who remained through the big turmoil. I can only speculate, based on my dads earlier complaints, and the little bits I have heard here and there, exactly why the Grants Pass group seceded from the ABC but it seems to me it was the same as in previous turmoil...the secrecy over the money and autonomy.

There was one specific event during my Grants Pass days that is probably worth a mention since it hits at the heart of the ABC's attitude toward natural family. It may seem straight out of "Sound of Music", and somewhat comical now, and I think you might agree too it was not one of my brighter moments.

The story is this. My natural mother; who my dad had instructed I was never to see again at age fourteen; discovered I had moved from San Diego and now lived much closer...in Grants Pass. She lived in Bellingham still, near the Canadian Border, and how she discovered I had moved is a story too long and convoluted to tell here but it involved an ex-communicated member who had moved to Bellingham. The grapevine that told her I had moved apparently worked in both directions as my dad also heard about my mother’s plan to stop in Grants Pass. He knew of her intent to visit before I ever did. (Note: My brother and I had made just one trip up to Bellingham when I was seventeen and he twenty to see her. Other than this trip, I had had no other contact with her, by mail, in -person or by phone. This trip when I was seventeen came off as rather tense since none of us knew how to approach our long estrangement from each other. My mother was also never informed I was to marry and she would have been forbidden to come to my "wedding" anyhow if she had somehow found out. There were many years she would completely lose contact with where I lived and had no idea I had even moved to San Diego until she found out I was moving back. This was mostly my doing but I had been led to believe, over the years, that I would be sinning if I ever contacted her. I was told that, at the least, I would become "oppressed" and would need to be prayed for and, at the worst, she might even cause me to fall away by encouraging me to leave “the body” and fellowship, which would then cause me to lose my salvation. I was gullible and bought into it.)

I received an urgent call from my dad a few days before my mom's impending visit. At this point, I had not even heard she was coming and was surprised that he knew about it before I did. Much later I pieced together how that all happened and it had to do with someone who used to be in the ABC but now attended my mom's church. It’s a long convoluted story.

My dad, on this phone call, commanded me as my "father in the Lord" not to see her when she arrived. He told me she was coming to "entice me away from the body with her lies." He also told me; and looking back now I don't think it was actually true; that he was going to have one of the elders watch my house the day she was to arrive in order to prevent her from seeing me.

My mother had my phone number from information and she waited until the day she arrived in Grants Pass before calling me. She telephoned on a Sunday afternoon but, following my instructions, I turned her away rudely and told her not to come to my house. After the call my wife was upset about the way I had treated her and felt I was wrong. We had a rather heated discussion and I discovered she was right, I was wrong, and I had a change of heart. I called my mom at the motel and said we would come over a little later.

In order to avoid detection we waited until dark, left out our back door, pushed the car down the alley without the lights or engine on and, once we figured no one could hear us, started the car, got in and drove to her motel. Since it was late when we arrived, we didn't have much time to spend with her and she didn't "entice me away from the body" on her visit. Although she did have some rather unkind words about not being able to find me all those years. I do not recall becoming "oppressed" in any way and looking back I have been more oppressed by the authoritarian abusive ways of the ABC than I could possibly have been by her visit. Perhaps if she had enticed me away it might have actually been a blessing.

That whole incident of pushing the car down the alley in the dark that night seems laughable now, but at the time I was only twenty-four and I was sincerely afraid of getting caught and suffering through another ABC "discipline". I had been put through disciplines repeatedly for more than a decade at that point. I still wonder to myself if anyone was really watching my house that day, or if it was just a ruse my dad used to prevent me from seeing her. I'll never really know but it would not have been the first or last time my dad lied to me to maintain control. My inclination is that the elders in Grants Pass probably would have not gotten involved in such a scheme. Most did not even know I had a natural mother and assumed Yvonne was my natural mother. Honestly, I don't think anyone was outside my house but who knows. It was some very weird times.

My job at JC Penney was going very well for me, and I was in line for the next slot at managers training in Portland. I was to be trained as a buyer for the shoe department but I would not be afforded that opportunity. In March of 1980, I received a very distressing phone call from my dad calling me at work. He was quite agitated and began telling me one of the elders in Grants Pass was directly involved in some rather serious "evil" and; referencing the churches at the beginning of Revelation; said God was going to remove his candlestick from its place in Grants Pass. I should get out as quickly as possible, he told me, and when I did I should "wipe the dust from the bottoms of my feet" as a sign against them. His words sounded ominous and were a loose reference to the scripture in Luke 10:10-12 which reads:

But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaves on us, we do wipe off against you: nevertheless be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near unto you. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.

He recommended I return to San Diego instead of going north.

Even though I didn't see all this "rebellion" and "sin" he warned against I thought perhaps he just saw something I didn't. I began making plans to leave and head back to San Diego. I was still young, very impressionable (OK I'll admit it...ridiculously gullible), extremely immature and, despite the many times my dad had led me astray and outright lied to me I just always did what he said. Over the years I have tried to figure out why I was so obedient to his commands. Having read books on the subject I have found it is quite common. To be honest, as I write this post I realize how stupid I may seem to have been. I'll grant that as a fair assessment but I had also been raised in a household system, since I was a youth, that required I do exactly what I was told or else be disciplined severely or humiliated before all. At this time in my life I did whatever I could to avoid that as much as possible and so I obeyed. I hated it but I felt very trapped.

I was not exactly thrilled with leaving my job at JC Penney's, since I would soon have the prospect of becoming a manager. But, I still readied myself and my family to leave behind a really nice group of people and return to San Diego. Upon my return to San Diego I would find the atmosphere quite the opposite of the love and peace I knew before. In its place was a state of constant and extreme agitation, most caused by my dad and Yvonne. I still regret this move from Grants Pass and have no doubt had I not returned to San Diego my life would have gone much better. The move to San Diego would leave what remained of our family in utter ruins and my somewhat fragile marriage, which was going along fine in Grants Pass, would end and I would also end up being disowned forever by my dad. I was labeled as being "in rebellion" for refusing to participate in things that were fraudulent or illegal. More on that later.

After my dad disowned me, I would never see him again. He died very soon afterward and when he died, no one from the ABC had the decency to even call me and let me know. I heard days later from my oldest brother who had heard from David North. I was told by David North on the day of the funeral I was to be forbidden to attend. But, it seems I've jumped ahead of the story a bit and I will elaborate more on that topic in a future post. I mention this here only as a focus point on where San Diego was headed during this period.

After moving to San Diego I discovered that the "evil" thing the elder and his wife in Grants Pass had done was he and his wife had traveled to Portland Oregon to attend a Neil Diamond concert. Worse yet they had returned home with Neil Diamond tapes to play at home. By doing so they supposedly had "invited demons" to "the body" in Grants Pass. They had been commanded to get rid of the tapes but passed it off as a silly request and kept them. Since they had not "repented of their actions", they were considered to have rebelled against my dads authority and God, in turn, was going to remove the candlestick from Grants Pass and the group would die. God’s presence would leave, I was told, and they would no longer have a "sanctioned" meeting if they continued.

Yvonne apparently had received "good information", and was of the belief, that Neil Diamond was a warlock and his music was meant to "call demons". I heard this story of their "spiritual crime" and their "giving place to the devil" as part of a lecture from my dad about my own music "rebellion" and how I was "advocating drug use" by the music I listened to. At issue was a song on a tape I owned sung by John Denver called "Rocky Mountain High".

Much of this ultra-restrictive outlook about music was influenced by a teaching from Bob Larson called "Rock Music Uncovered" and this tape could be found in the ABC tape library. One need only Google Bob Larson to discover he is very obsessed with demonology, exorcisms, oppression and the like. His message during this time completely flavored the environment in San Diego though and the only way I can really describe it is that things got very very weird.

Near the end of the lecture about John Denver music, and my supposed "impending drug addiction" if I continued to listen, my dad loudly exclaimed that I was no better than the elder and his wife in Grants Pass who worshipped the warlock Neil Diamond. They, he said, were now fully caught up in rebellion and it was destroying the whole area. I, he said, must have learned their rebellion when I lived in Grants Pass and he commanded me as my “father in the Lord” to listen to John Denver. My defending of John Denver's music as fairly docile; as compared to lets say Inna Gada da Vida by Iron Butterfly; he considered to be rebellion. I still listened to his music but did so in secret.

This incident was one of the things that started opening my eyes that something was really not quite right. I was an adult, married with children and I began to realize that all of these commands to go here, go there, do this, do that, were really an abuse of authority and I should be allowed to lead my own life and make my own decisions. Most go through this "rebellion" as a teen but I had missed that period either locked in my room or on some other sort of discipline. My natural teenage rebellion had been pushed into my twenties and, to this point anyhow I had never really ever rebelled against my father. I began to rebel now though and stopped just doing everything he told me to do.

Teenage rebellion, I have learned now, is a natural stage of growing up. I was slow in realizing that I need not obey his every command, even if he was my "father in the Lord" as he claimed. Unfortunately this would end up causing me major problems later. (Note: My dad began calling himself my "father in the Lord" after the first time I balked at one of his commands on the phone in Grants Pass. I had tried to reason with him that I was married, had kids, and had long ago had "home leave me". I had my own life I had told him and was not required to do what he ordered me to do any longer. After some back and forth on this, he laid out a compelling argument that it was different for him since he had baptized me and was therefore also my "father in the Lord" not just my natural father and I must still obey him. It seemed scriptural at the moment but then lost much of its air as time wore on. Eventually, in San Diego I began to not obey his "father in the lord" commands and this earned me the label of "rebellious son". It is a label I carried with me even long after his death. I didn't deserve that label.)

Yvonne, as well as my dad, had adopted some other strange viewpoints in San Diego. One of them came from a book they discovered about symbols. After reading this book, they came to the belief that star symbols (as well as many other symbols) were witchcraft symbols and if one had them displayed anywhere on their belongings it would invite demons and cause oppression. An elder up north was considered to be "in rebellion" since he had been told to to sell his Chrysler car that had stars on the upholstery but refused. Even Miss Piggy of the Muppets was not off the hook as Yvonne began teaching that Miss Piggy represented a witch since she carried a wand and had symbols on her clothes. The instruction was that children should be forbidden to watch the Muppet Show as well as even other fairly innocuous kids shows like Sesame Street since there were symbols displayed. To turn these shows on was alleged to "invite demon oppression." Having left peaceful Grants Pass, San Diego was a shock to my system. It had changed drastically from when I lived there prior and was not the peaceful place it used to be. I did not realize it though until it was much too late.

About a year after returning to San Diego my dad started dropping hints to me that there was something major brewing with the money again. This time his focus was on several individuals in Grants Pass who were pushing for the formation of a corporation. They, it seemed, from what he was telling me,were threatening to to start a corporation of their own and run all the tithe through it first before sending it along to him. Undoubtedly, this probably meant they may not send all of it and keep some of it in Grants Pass.

I do not know exactly who led the charge to form the first corporation in Grants Pass, and I can only speculate based on hearsay, but the dispute, or an issue that spawned from this dispute, would eventually cause an end to the relationship between the ABC and Grants Pass years later and that first corporation would be dissolved.

It would be a few years after I left Grants Pass before the ABC connection would be completely broken and I never did see "God's destruction" rain down on the area as my dad had told me would happen. I am sad to say I followed his instructions and even brushed the dirt off my feet as a sign against them when I drove out of town. I did it because he told me to and did not really understand why. It would seem that only the carpet in my car got an extra dusting from my ridiculous action that day and not much else happened. I probably owe them an apology now since I have told on myself. They did not deserve my, or anyone else's scorn.

I have covered a slight bit of the San Diego period here since there were a few links between San Diego and the Grants Pass stories. In the next post I will cover some more family history then follow up with an introduction to the newly forming "Mexican Ministry".

17-A Corporate History Primer

2008-04-09T15:56:00.001-07:00

Now that I and entering the "Grants Pass" period in my narrative; and the years when "the group" officially became "the Assembly of the Body of Christ" instead; I felt it easier to give the corporate history in a single post since the transformation happened over a period of years. It is much easier to show how the money side of the business works all at once rather than trying to list the details separately.

This post is a short history of the corporate structure of the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC). I have acquired as much information as I am able through public sources and also from the bits and pieces I heard from my dad, and others but there are still bits of the story deliberately left shrouded behind veils. Some of the mystery is left behind from the various power struggles that have taken place over the years. Money is power after all, and there is considerable money, and power, in the tithe of the ABC.

Prior to 01/21/1982 the ABC; actually just called “the group” stood alone and without any sort of legal structure. When persons would ask for proof of tithes paid for taxes my dad instructed them that it was unscriptural to claim the tithe on your taxes. Certain persons however became unhappy with this explanation and pushed for a legal structure so they could claim the tithe as a deduction on their itemized tax return. This meant “the group” would need to form a legal structure and acquire a name in the process in order to gain status as a non-profit. There was a great bit of consternation with many about forming "the group" into a non-profit corporation and acquiring a name but "the group" in Grants Pass hired an attorney and on 01/21/1982 and officially became a non-profit corporation named "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" based in Grants Pass OR. Rodney Graham, a man who was then in the group, was listed as registered agent. On 9/13/1982 my dad countered this move with a California corporation he named "The Mexican Ministry of the Assembly of the Body of Christ". The registered agent was Michelle Oslund, a woman in the group at the time. After my father's death Michelle left the ABC completely and joined with a group Yvonne had started in Tijuana Mexico and that corporation was dissolved.

In 1983, and well into 1984, the ABC went through the largest upheaval of its existence in both San Diego and Grants Pass. A separate corporat ion was formed in Colorado in August 1984 by Gilbert Larson and this removed corporate money control from the Grants Pass group entirely. The Grants Pass corporation remained in existence a short while longer and, on 7/24/1985 it was dissolved.

Three months later, in October of 1985, my father had a massive heart attack in a Mexican restaurant in San Diego and died. I had been disowned by my father in January of 1984, as well as being ex-communicated from the church, so I work from third party reports on some of the facts for these years. From the reports I have heard the torch of control was uncertain for quite some time. Ultimately the torch of control passed to Gilbert Larson, who had now proclaimed himself to be an apostle since he had founded a new group in Denver Colorado. David North who, from what I heard, was one of the contenders for control, was eventually named "the prophet" , and was given a home to live in, a salary, and partial control. David had been one of the predominant players in "The Mexican Ministry" but ultimately was not able to wrest full control in the power chess game that was ensuing. Yvonne had attempted to maintain control as well but was unable.

A little over five years later, on 3/11/91, two new corporations were formed in Washington state and that is where they remain today. The officers of both of these corporations are Gilbert Larson, Caralee Larson and James Shierman per the last public record I obtained. Previously David North had shown as an officer. I am uncertain what led to the forming of these new corporations. The corporations are named "Assembly of the Body of Christ" and "Assembly of the Body of Christ, N orthwest Ministry". Click on "Additional Information" when following these links to view the officers. It is unclear why two separate corporations were formed instead of just one. Both have always been renewed when they are about to expire. (Click pictures to enlarge)

I asked over the years, as a faithful contributor, for an accounting of how the money was spent. Each time my request for information was refused and I was instructed I just needed to trust God that the money was being spent correctly. I had seen how the money was spent over the years and what I saw was certain individuals fulfilling their own desires with the money and I knew the system in place allowed no method of oversight by the people and was subject to abuse by those who had set themselves as leaders.

16-On to San Diego

2008-04-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

The phone call came quite unexpectedly. I was at work at Sambo's restaurant the day my dad called from San Diego. He called to inform me that my great aunt, Elsie, had died and left me an inheritance. I barely knew her. I had seen her only on holidays perhaps five or six times on Thanksgiving but when her will was read she had left a good size trust fund in my and my brother’s names to be used only for college. School's were cheaper in California he told me that day and I was counseled again that God wanted me to move. This time to San Diego, as soon as possible, so I could attend college there.

Neither myself nor my wife had ever been to Southern California and we were not sure we would even like it. We had both been born in the Pacific Northwest and southern California seemed like foreign territory. We decided to go there first on vacation and see if it was to our liking. If we did then we would commit to the move.

It was a couple months later we finally headed to San Diego and drove straight through the whole way, with the exception of just one brief stop for lunch at a relatives place near San Francisco. We arrived in San Diego dead tired, just in time for a meeting at Susan's house. My eyes may have been open that evening, but my brain was definitely asleep and I remember only that my dad taught at the meeting. I have no idea who was even there.

We spent less than a week in San Diego, saw a few of the sights, including a jaunt north to Disneyland, but the highlight of the trip for my wife was the beach at Coronado. She loved it even more than Disneyland, and this convinced her that San Diego was the place she wanted to be. I am not a beach person so I was not quite as thrilled about the beach.

We returned to Klamath Falls and shortly after the birth of our first child I gave my notice at work; it wasn't a great job anyhow; and we loaded everything we owned in the trunk of the car and set sail for San Diego. This time, since we had our child with us, we did not drive straight through and stopped just south of San Francisco to rest. Our daughter was very sick, had very bad intestinal problems with severe colic and was in constant pain. It was a very long drive with a screaming infant in the back seat.

On our vacation trip we had been introduced only to Susan and a few others in San Diego but this time we had been given the address of someone I had not yet met. His name was David North and David and his wife lived in Imperial Beach; just south of San Diego, not far from the Mexican border. When we found their apartment, the front door was wide open and inside there were Navy guys laying all over the floor, listening to music, talking, having fun and doing lots of eating. Unlike most guys up north with long hair; this was the 70's; all of these guys had neat and trim short navy haircuts. Everyone said "Hi', we were invited in with open arms, and given something to eat.

David North was the brother of Jackie; one of the original attendees at the Wilcrest apartment) and she had introduced him to “the group”. He was in the Navy and all these guys were friends of his that he had introduced to "the group". Everyone seemed very happy, the mood was raucous, and the most prominent thought I have of that day was of a man named Gabriel showing up with an enormous bag of figs of which he ate nearly the whole bag all by himself. He ate so many he had become quite sick and had to suddenly leave the room.

David North was on duty at the base when we arrived so he was not there. He showed up later that evening and seemed to me like a nice guy. He was very laid back and both he and his wife were extremely tolerant of this gang of navy guys that seemed to be just hanging around their house relaxing as if it were their own place. The David I knew then, is not the David I know of today. He was a kind and gentle person who was very tolerant of others. This would change over the years and years later he would be told that his new name “given to him by God” was "Face of Flint". This name was given to him through “prophecy” by Andy Atwell (the evangelist). I personally do not regard that as a compliment even though it was fitting. The David I met on this first trip to San Diego was a man of love, extremely tolerant, seemingly very compassionate and humble. The David I knew years later was stony faced and stony hearted with little tolerance. It is sad to me that this man I once knew with a huge soft heart is now praised as having a hard face born of a hardened heart. If this was truly a prophecy of God by Andy then I do not believe it was meant to be complimentary as all assumed. A heart of mercy will always trump a face of judgment.

So speak, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy; and mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12-13

There was seldom a time there was not at least one navy guy lounging around David North's apartment; day or night. The whole aura in San Diego seemed to be one of love and complete acceptance of each others blemishes and wrinkles. I felt very welcome at their house, and we lived, for just a short while, their on their living room floor while I found work and a place to live. Work was much more plentiful in San Diego than it was in the northwest and finding a job took only about a week.

My dad and Yvonne were still in San Diego when we arrived but, soon after, major trouble erupted in the Snohomish County Washington area. It was actually the same issues over tithe and autonomy that had been brewing under the surface since nearly the very beginning but it had now erupted completely and was visible to all. Even the “new babes”. Because of this my dad and Yvonne left San Diego in a hurry to handle the problem.

I don't recall how long they were gone up north exactly but I believe it was about a month. When my dad returned he had a letter which he had drafted and distributed it to all the people in San Diego. He had already distributed the letter in all the other areas. The letter addressed the “problems” up north, detailed the "disciplines" that had been laid down and ordered that these men “causing trouble”, and their wives and entire families were to be shunned as "rebellious". Some, including myself, also received a tape of that meeting.

The meeting was held at Gary's house and all of the elders from the groups in Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, and Monroe were there. Gary, and two of the elders, were essentially removed from performing any duties as elders. This is essentially the same "discipline" I was given after my assumed "blasphemy" in Vancouver years later. In the ABC it is called "discipline, but it is really just shunning or ex-communication since the common theme is that you are forbidden to speak to anyone. Gary, the perceived ringleader, of "the uprising", was found to be "trying to usurp the authority of an apostle", and he was then to be turned over to satan as part of his "discipline" and we were all ordered not to speak to him until he “repented”. I was not at the meeting but roughly one-half of it was recorded and I listened to as much as I could stand.

There had been discipline in the group prior to this event ,but it generally meant you were talked to by the elders or brought before all and counseled and that was the end of it. This new level of discipline; a result of that Bob Mumford meeting; was intended to leave you completely humiliated. That is in stark contrast to the the bible; which the ABC contends they follow more closely than all others; tells us we are to build each other up and to show mercy. A few were "disciplined" that day who were not in leadership positions and these were forbidden to take communion and told they must sit in the back of the room and they were not allowed to speak while in a meeting.

Paul the apostle realized he had it within his nature and temperament to cause this type of destruction simply by weight of his authority. Rather than visit Corinth personally he sent them a letter instead. At the very end of his letter to the Corinthian church (a church with some huge issues by the way) he wrote:

Now I pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable, though we are as reprobate. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. And this we also pray for, even your perfecting. For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not deal sharply when present, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for tearing down. 2 Corinthians 13:7-10

The tape I was given was ninety minutes long and did not actually contain a recording of the entire meeting. My understanding is that the meeting ran about three hours and, since there was only one blank tape available, only the first half was actually recorded. Ninety minutes however was plenty of tape to realize the room was full of puffed egos on both sides of the debate and nothing was being done for anyone's edification. The meeting did not bear any good fruit and should have never happened.

I listened only to a small segment of the tape before turning it off. It was not very edifying to listen to and only brought me sadness. Many years later, I found that tape again, during a move, and listened to the entire ninety minutes. Most of the emotion of this event was gone now and having listened to the entire tape, it was mostly just a lot of incoherent shouting, bickering and arguing over what seemed like very petty matters. The predominant issue on my dad's side was the differing viewpoint over when a person receives the Spirit (going into the water or coming out.) Gary, on the tape, tried to acquiesce many times, saying that it was a minor point to him and he did not wish to argue it any longer. My dad, however, did not want to let it go as the real issue was money and autonomy but that subject was being were pushed aside by this petty argument. It was an issue that would never truly be resolved.

This event would divide all of the meetings in the entire Snohomish county area into warring factions as arguments ensued on who was right, who was wrong. Not long afterward, only a very small meeting in Seattle and at the Apex Airpark were left. All of the people in the Mountlake Terrace / Lynnwood / Monroe area dispersed, and most I would never see again. This would be the first of many times arguments such as this would rise and "the group" would split after "disciplines" were placed. Based on my own event, a person is now "eternally judged" and is also now forbidden to even speak in their own defense. This practice ends any arguments, makes the accusers always right; at least in their own eyes; and nearly finishes the progression of conquering the people.

I found work in San Diego with Aero-Pacific vending very soon after arriving. My wife and I would settle in to our own place and my job went well at first. I had a few conversations with the bank that held my college trust fund and discovered right away it was not large enough to pay my tuition and books, plus living expenses for a guy with a family. I decided full time college would have to wait, so I took only one night class for a year (1975-76). Unlike high school, college was very enjoyable and this taste made me look forward to continuing my education.

After living in San Diego for just a short time a man named Robin Hesley and his first wife felt "impressed by God" that I, and my family, should move with he and his family to Phoenix Arizona and begin meetings there. My job with the vending company was requiring me to go to some rather obscene book stores to service the machines and I decided it was probably best to quit that job anyhow. I gave notice at work, and at our apartment, and one month later moved to Phoenix Arizona. Robin, and his family, intended to follow us a few weeks later. His wife was pregnant and, since Robin had been in the Navy when she became pregnant, she wanted to give birth to her baby in San Diego at the Naval hospital. That way there would be no cost for the delivery.

We were in Phoenix for only two short weeks and we received a call from Robin in San Diego. His baby had died shortly after birth and the plans to move to Phoenix had changed and they were no longer coming. We found ourselves left all alone in the middle of a hot Phoenix summer with a small child and a car that had no air conditioning. Phoenix was not turning out to be the picnic we had expected it to be and decided, that night, we would not stay.

We begged the apartment manager to let us out of our two-week old one-year lease and made plans to move at the end of the month. After the dreadful heat of Phoenix we both missed the Northwest and decided not to return to San Diego but instead drove back to San Diego, made a brief stop to visit, then headed north to the Apex Airpark. On our route, we made a brief stop in Beaverton Oregon at Gilbert Larson's house and I spent a few weeks working with the surveying firm he worked for. I knew very little about the business so this employment did not go well. We would end up not staying long in the northwest anyhow as my dad came again to the area, told us we were wrong to have left San Diego and “God wanted us to return”. So obediently we returned.

I returned to San Diego in the spring of 1977 and enrolled in Southwestern College again, but now as a full time student. I declared my major as undecided but my unspoken goal was to attend Southwestern for two years then transfer to a four-year school and pursue a degree in Geology. My ultimate goal was to work for the United States Geological Survey. I would have continued on that path however, in my first semester, I had enrolled in a Psychology class. The class was part of the requirements to receive a transfer certificate from Southwestern. My dad quizzed me, shortly after enrolling on what classes I had signed up for. I mentioned the psychology class and he chastised me for enrolling in it and demanded I drop the class. The reason given was that it would “teach me earthly wisdom" and “shake my faith in God”. I had attended only one session of the class so I chose to drop it rather than fight my dad on the issue.

I sought a major that did not require psychology but that was very difficult and the only option was to opt out of getting a transfer certificate. I found only one path that did not require psychology and that was "Recreation and Leisure Studies”. I declared this major and have regretted not fighting my dad on this issue ever since. It altered completely the career path I wanted and I truly do not think a few psychology classes would have shaken my faith in God. In fact it may have actually opened my eyes to the abusive manipulation of my father and his church.

I continued at Southwestern College through Spring of 1978 when Proposition 13 closed the school. I was advised by Southwestern College there was a school in Hayward where I could finish my credits. The Hayward school would transferred my credits to Southwestern for my degree. This school also ended up closing due to Prop 13 and Southwestern advised me I could attend an out of state school and they would still accept all of the credits as their own and issue me a degree. I chose Rogue Community College in Grants Pass Oregon since I had known people in Grants Pass for years and loved the town. We gave notice on our apartment and moved north to Grants Pass.

After a short "corporate history primer" the following post will cover my Grants Pass days and the turn of events that caused me to be ordered by my dad who was now calling himself my "father in the Lord" to suddenly vacate Grants Pass and move back again to San Diego. It would turn out to be a very very bad decision to follow his instructions.

15-Apex Airpark

2008-04-02T09:05:00.001-07:00

Some who left the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC), and found peace, later remarked that looking back they must have been wearing rose colored glasses. I have pondered this statement for quite some time and have felt that way myself. However I came to the realization one day the glasses were not actually rose colored...they were polarized. These "polarized" glasses effectively masked the glaring errors and problems that were truly very apparent. There have been many glaring problems and upheavals over the years but we just all put on our polarized lenses and pretended they did not exist.

As I look back at my life in the ABC, and how I and my family was and still is treated, I realize how much I actually just blocked out. There have been several periods in my life when I was able to escape all, or most, of the ABC's influence and it was during these periods I found times of peace.

Much of the "under the surface" tumult; glare if you will; is invisible to the newcomer since they are deliberately shielded from it. This way, by the standard practice of the ABC, the "new babe is not harmed". It is impossible to keep these glaring problems hidden forever and when it finally comes to light the new person is advised, "for the sake of unity" to just put on polarized lenses like everyone else, ignore the glaring problems and upheavals, and just continue in the same direction.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace. James 3:17-18

The goal in life should be peace. There is not a great deal of peace in the ABC.

___________________________________

I lived just a short while in Santa Cruz after my dad and Yvonne suddenly left. The restaurant where I worked shut down and I was then in an even worse financial situation. My single option was to call my dad. I was surviving only because my neighbors were very generous and were providing me with food and companionship. For their kindness I had already been ordered to have nothing to do with them any longer since they would “pull me away from the body”. They were very good friends but I however was no longer able to pay my space rent or buy food and I could not rely on their generosity forever. I had little choice but to live on the street or return "home".

I called my dad and told him about my situation and he ordered me to come back to the Seattle area. They were now staying at the Apex Airpark in Silverdale Washington owned by Roberta Walker. I had been told that if I could find a way to get there they he knew someone that would buy my trailer from me and they would then help me out until I found work. I borrowed forty dollars from my charitable neighbor and headed north up I-5 to the Apex Airpark arriving two days later after a brief stop in Grants Pass.

The Apex Airpark is a small private airport community that was then owned by a sweet woman named Roberta Walker. Most called her either Mom or Grandma, depending on their age, since she was extremely generous in many ways. Roberta's husband had built Apex Airpark from raw piece of ground decades earlier and he had unfortunately died before his visions of a planned community were completed. Roberta now ran this private airport, on her own, with a little help from a few of the local residents. The runway has since been paved but back then it was still just dirt and gravel.

Roberta was introduced to "the group" through her daughter Janet who was one of the original group in the Mountlake Terrace area. Roberta had offered the use of a large space next to her home for the bus to be parked and since the bus was not handling the strain of the additional weight of the conversion my dad used this as an opportunity to rebuild the engine. He was in the middle of that project when I arrive at the airpark.

On the very evening I arrived, my dad told me to clean out my trailer, sign over the title to him, then tow the trailer to Ralph and Karen’s house on the back side of the airpark. It was my understanding they were buying the trailer from me; I had made all of the payments on it except for the first sixty-dollar down payment. My dad had made that payment for me in Klamath Falls. I never saw a dime from the “sale” and very soon after the trailer was gutted and converted to a goat shed. It was sad to see since, even though it was very small, this had been my home. I was angry and I felt cheated and lied to but I remained gullibly obedient feeling that if I did not do what I was told God would certainly punish me.

After I dropped the trailer off at at Ralph and Karen's house I asked my dad where I was supposed to live. He showed me to an old bus that had been left at the airpark by Jim; the man who had help construct my dad's bus. The bus had no bed, no stove, no table, and was basically just a ramshackle empty space full of garbage and mouse droppings. An old mattress was thrown on the floor and this was to be my new home. My dad promised he would help me fix it up and told me he wanted me to begin traveling on the road with him. It was not true but the lie ended my balking. I slept in the bus on the old mattress the first night but when Roberta Walker heard I was to live in Jim's old bus she offered to let me live in her back bedroom instead. This would give me an opportunity to make the bus more livable, I thought, and I was happy about that. The bus project never got off the ground and my dad reneged on his promise to help me fix it up. He instead recommended that I drive it to Ernie’s house and let him work on the engine. In reality he had given the bus to Ernie since I was “no longer using it”. On the trip out to Ernie’s; to get the engine work done; the bus caught fire and it ended up scrapped.

Within two weeks of arriving at the airpark I found myself married to a girl I had met only once before, for just a few hours, when she had attended a church picnic in Santa Cruz. There is a much larger story to all of this, but for the sake of this narrative suffice it to say that matchmaking or "arranged marriages" were quite common in the early days of "the group". I was nineteen then and she just seventeen. We had each been counseled separately that God wanted us to marry each other. We were both very young, impressionable, gullible and believed this was something we had to do to "stay in God's will". My dad officiated the marriage outside at the airpark, and Roberta's daughter, Janet, made the cake. About a dozen people attended, most of them I had never met.

I had thought that marriages in the ABC were no longer arranged in quite the same fashion but marrying someone from outside the group is still frowned upon and I heard recently of marriages still being arranged. A baptism from outside the group is not accepted as valid so marrying this person would mean you had "unequally yoked yourself with an unbeliever". The only solution is for the person to volunteer to be baptized by someone in the ABC.

It is 1974 now and I suddenly find myself newly married, living in the back bedroom of Roberta's house with my new wife. I am unemployed and Seattle is in a major recession. Finding a job was not easy for a guy that barely graduated high School so I was forced to take whatever odd jobs I could find through temporary employment agencies. Emotionally and in every other way I was not ready for marriage and neither was my new wife. The marriage lasted only a short while; perhaps a month; and things fell apart. She left and went to lived at the home of a couple that had broken off from "the group" to start their own ultra-authoritarian, mostly communal, "Shepherding / Discipleship" group.

The Shepherding Movement / Discipleship teachings had been introduced to "the group" when Bob Mumford, and others from his movement, came to Seattle and spoke. Mumford, at this time, was directly connected with Derek Prince and Ern Baxter from "The Sharon Orphanage" days (and thus the Broadway Tabernacle days as well) and it was this connection to Derek Prince that had attracted my dad to attend this meeting. My dad came back from this meeting quite excited about what he had learned about "church discipline". It is this meeting and this moment in time that would end up painting a great deal of havoc into many peoples lives for decades to come. Indeed, my own ex-communication, twice, is a distant result of that meeting and the erroneous teachings of Bob Mumford and gang.

The "shepherding movement" affected both mainstream and home-based churches, but regardless of the structure of the church or group, the scripture still states, in Paul's words to Peter:

"…not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock…" (I Peter 5:3, NKJV)

Below is a very small excerpt from an article in the Cephas Library. It is a rather long article, but I encourage those following along on my historical narrative to read the entire article as it explains very well the source of the "discipline" abuses that still happen in the ABC. These abuses are a direct result of that teaching by Mumford in Seattle that was attended by my dad and a few other men. This excerpt has to do with Bob Mumford's alleged repentance in 1990. There is indication he did not truly repent however as many individuals in his movement, as late as two years ago, have had to seek treatment for severe PTSD,anxiety, depression etc. Here is that excerpt:

... in a subsequent Charisma & Christian Life article published in February, 1990, reportedly after having sought the advice and counsel of Jack Hayford and others, according to the article, Mumford spoke more as one who was genuinely chastened, repentant, and willing to deal with the issue in a more direct fashion, accepting full responsibility for his error. According to the article, Mumford read a statement in November of 1989 "to a gathering of pastors at the Christian Believers United meeting in Ridgecrest, North Carolina,"11 in which he said,

"I repent. I was wrong. I ask for forgiveness," Mumford said about his involvement in the discipleship movement.

The article went on to say:

...Mumford decided that he needed to publicly 'repent' of his responsibility in setting up a system where so many people were hurt by misuses of authority. "Some families were split up and lives turned upside down," says Mumford. "Some of these families are still not back together."

Here are two links for further study of this movement.

LINK: THE FAB FIVE INTRODUCE THE DISCIPLESHIP DOCTRINES

READ CHAPTER 4 OF "SPIRITUAL WARFARE"

Ripping families apart has been a recurring theme in the ABC and it is justified by stating "the body is your family now” and the quoting of this scripture:

And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:36-37

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One of the men who listened to Bob Mumford speak that night, split from "the group" and began his own "discipleship" gathering at his home in Everett Washington. This gathering was not officially part of 'the group" and he demanded complete submission in every way to his leadership. The setting was mostly communal as all lived together in his very large home. This man rejoined "the group" for just a short period of time, then suddenly left again.

As a single man again I was able to find a straight commission "job" selling Electrolux vacuum cleaners but that did not go well. I was still broke, and my future as a "married man" again was pretty uncertain. At the time I had no idea where my new wife even went to, and frankly did not really care. I was not financially or emotionally ready for marriage and really wanted out. After a few weeks, the man who was operating this spun off “discipling” group visited me. He told me my wife was living at his house, had submitted to his authority, and told me I should come and join her and submit to his authority as well. I did not and when word of our separation began to get out to the people it started to cause scandal in “the group”.

My dad called a man named Tom in "the group" who managed a store in Bellevue where I was now living. Tom searched me out and had me come by his store and told me to call my dad. On this call, my dad asked if I would come to the airpark and teach on the armor of God. I agreed that I would. Being asked to teach however was simply a ruse to get me to the airpark. My new wife, who was now living in Everett, was also called and asked to come to the airpark "just to talk". I arrived at the meeting that night, much to my new wife's surprise, and the moment I stepped through the door we were both whisked to the back room. Once there we were counseled that God wanted us to stay together and move to Klamath Falls Oregon. Here we were told we could get our marriage stabilized. We were told that Don and Darlene lived in K-Falls now and they would help us patch up the marriage God had joined us together in.

Both my new wife and I, wanting to stay in "God's will", and under "spiritual duress" to stay together, agreed to go. We were really just very confused kids, completely broke, dependent on others for our support, thrown together into a mixing bowl and given a good stir. We had been trained well that what we must do what we were told by “the elders” and anything else was rebellion. We left Silverdale the next day and traveled to Klamath Falls to live with Don and Darlene.

I had known Don and Darlene since I was about sixteen. Don and I fished quite often together in the Puget Sound and we had many good times together. I babysat their kids when they went out. They were good friends, very good people; gentle, kind and admirable. Our time together in Klamath Falls would turn out to be just as pleasant and through their love and encouragement my new wife and I were able to calm our marriage and live mostly peaceably.

We lived at Don and Darlene's house for a few months, had meetings, talked, played games, patched up our ill-timed marriage and let life settle down. My new wife and I worked our way off welfare, and I took whatever odd jobs I could find for additional money. Winter of that year I found a job full time as a cook at Sambo's restaurant and was able to get off welfare except for just a little from food stamps and medical. This would be my second time living in Klamath Falls and it was mostly a time of peace. However, I was soon to receive another phone call which, for a second time, would take me to California. But this time it would be San Diego not Santa Cruz and this time as a married boy.

------------------

The Shepherding Movement plays a large role in the abuses of the ABC and I am not able to adequately cover it in this post. I am developing a list of resources, and links, and I will post this list on the site. I continue my research on the subject and will continue to provide information about this movement, and its influence on the ABC, in future posts.

In the next post, my wife and I travel to San Diego, meet David North (the prophet) for the first time, and settle in to real life.

NEXT POST

14-Our Mother

2008-03-27T11:33:00.001-07:00

One of the doctrines used by the “Assembly of the Body of Christ” to keep control of its people is a teaching that "The Body of Christ" is our "mother" and therefore we must obey it. This they prove by quoting this from the New Testament:

While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. One said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you." But he answered him who spoke to him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" He stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." Matthew 12:46-50

If we read this for what it is saying Christ was merely stating that his true family is those who do His will and follow in His path. He was not, in any way, indicating who was His spiritual mother.

With this doctrine the ABC tries to prove that one must heed the opinions of the leaders, a delegate of the leaders, or an assembly of local members. Each, or all of these, dictate based on their own opinions and perceptions what the mind of God is. The individual or family is then expected to obey these "commands of God" and may even suffer "discipline" or ex-communication if they don't follow the advice.

To effect this, the ABC has established what they term "body counsels". These "body counsels" are fraught with personal opinion as groups of individuals come together to pray, read passages from the bible and offer up opinion on what they feel "the mind of God" is. These opinions are dictated not with suggestion but with force as though god had spoken and it must be obeyed. In times pas I have made some very poor decisions because I assumed, wrongly,a "body counsel" was "the voice of God", irrefutable, and not merely the opinions of mere men. I followed the advice blindly,without judging its validity or verifying if it was even prudent.

Not long before I was ex-communicated from the ABC, an individual came to me very confused. This person had been confronted with a huge decision and did not know what to do. They had traveled to another meeting, in another state, and at this meeting asked for a "body counsel" to help them make this decision. There was much talk, prayer, some reading of passages from bible that night then "God told them”, through this body counsel, to make a particular decision.

When this person returned to their home town meeting, they mentioned the need to make this major decision to the group they normally fellowshipped with. Once again there was much speaking, prayer, reading of bible passages but this time there was also a “prophesy”. As "God spoke” this time, again through a body counsel, "He told the individual” to do the exact opposite thing as "He" had told them in the meeting out of state. This very confused individual asked me; "How do I know which "God" to believe?

My only answer to them was that if God was speaking to them he would speak to them directly and not through another person. While it is fine, and perhaps wise, to obtain opinions from others, it must still be regarded as just that...opinion. If it were God that was speaking it would not be in a manner such as this that was so easily made frail by the presence of personal opinions. Even if the opinion “manifests through "prophecy". All opinions rendered, especially through prophecy, must be weighed for validity since many false prophets exist in this world and there is only one who is truly wise one...God.

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. 1 Corinthians 14:29

The largest flaw in this "mother" teaching is that it is impossible for Christ to be his own mother and thereby give birth to Himself. After all, if Christ's own body is his mother, does that not then mean that Christ and the mother are one and the same. This is confusion and if we are to believe Paul in the New Testament "God is not the author of confusion...1 Corinthians 14:3.

This doctrine is clearly, and plainly, disproved in the bible as I will show below. Galatians chapter 4, verse 26 offers the most clear explanation of who our spiritual mother is:

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. (26) But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.Galatians 4:21-31

By this account if we have been born of God, "Jerusalem above" is our mother and we are then a child of the freewoman. To determine who exactly "Jerusalem above" is, we need only look at a few other places in the bible.

We have seen in Galatians that those born after the flesh are a child of the bondwoman, but one can be a child of the freewoman if we are born of the Spirit. If we look at John 3, verse 6-8 we see that:

That which is born of the flesh is flesh. [but] That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

This shows a juxtaposition between those born of the flesh and those born of the Spirit. The New Testament shows that Christ was born both in the flesh by Mary, but he was also born again of the Spirit, after his death, at his resurrection. Thus if we follow him in the likeness of His death and resurrection we too can be born of the Spirit.

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: Romans 1:4

If we are to believe the Old and New Testament there are many examples of God being our father. There is little doubt that can be proven using the bible. When Christ made his way to earth, He told us He came in the likeness of his Father (God).

Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. John 14:10-11

So the bible states that Christ came to earth and dwelt among us in the image of His Father (God). When Christ left the earth then it meant we, mankind, would once again be without a representation of a spiritual parent on earth and would again be as orphans. Take a look at John 14: 15-21:

If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,-- the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive; for it doesn't see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him." John 14:15-21

Some translations use the word "comfortless" but this is actually the Greek word "orphanos" or "orphans". Jesus assured his followers that when He left the earth, and they no longer had an image of the Father (God) dwelling among them, he would send back another image, another Counselor--the Holy Spirit--to be with them. In short Jesus, the image of God the father is replaced by the Spirit, the image of the mother. It is the only possible way we would not be left orphans.

To encapsulate this story, prior to Jesus birth as a man, mankind was orphaned on the earth, without image of father or mother for comfort. When Christ came in the image of His Father (God) we were no longer orphans due to his presence on earth. However He knew He could not remain on earth forever in the image of the Father (God) so He assured his followers that once He left He would send back the image of the other parent; the Holy Spirit, and mankind would no longer be orphaned again (without father or mother). Jesus, in the image of the father, left us then sent back the the image of the mother; Holy Spirit; to give us comfort and counsel.

Note what he spoke just after these statements.

I have said these things to you, while still living with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. John 14:25-27

The true Counselor, our true mother, is clearly the Holy Spirit, not "The Body of Christ" as the ABC would have you believe. Christ was born of the Spirit at his resurrection and He was, I assure you, not born of Himself.

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood...Revelation 1:5

God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you.Acts 13:33

I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. Psalms 2:7

The bible clearly states that when Christ died, and was resurrected, he was born of the Spirit, born again of God, became the begotten of God, was born out of Zion (Jerusalem above) and it is He who established Her womb as He became the firstborn of God, allowing us the same exact privilege of being born of the Spirit.

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. Psalms 87:5

We are clearly born of the Spirit; our mother; and have forever within us the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father [] send[s] in [Christ's] name, [and] he will teach you all things. John 14:15 [paraphrased]. If we are born of God and born of the Spirit we have identified who our true parents are. Jesus was not born of a pairing of God and himself and to speak otherwise is confusion.

NEXT POST

It Hurts

2008-03-24T12:40:00.001-07:00

Some may read this site and have never gone through the pain of being ex-communicated. For you I include this poem, written by Jan Groenweld, an Australian, who was apparently hurt by an organization similar to the Assembly of the Body of Christ. Permission is granted for reprinting her poem provided reference is made to the original source.

I have experienced, or know someone that has experienced, nearly every single emotion of which she has written. In this situation you find yourself suddenly very alone, often angry and filled with grief. Only time heal these deep wounds.

"It Hurts"
By Jan Groenveld

IT HURTS to discover you were deceived - that what you thought was the "one true religion," the "path to total freedom," or "truth" was in reality a cult.

IT HURTS when you learn that people you trusted implicitly - whom you were taught not to question - were "pulling the wool over your eyes" albeit unwittingly.

IT HURTS when you learn that those you were taught were your "enemies" were telling the truth after all -- but you had been told they were liars, deceivers, repressive, satanic etc and not to listen to them.

IT HURTS when you know your faith in God hasn't changed - only your trust in an organization - yet you are accused of apostasy, being a trouble maker, a "Judas". It hurts even more when it is your family and friends making these accusations.

IT HURTS to realize their love and acceptance was conditional on you remaining a member of good standing. This cuts so deeply you try and suppress it. All you want to do is forget - but how can you forget your family and friends?

IT HURTS to see the looks of hatred coming from the faces of those you love - to hear the deafening silence when you try and talk to them. It cuts deeply when you try and give your child a hug and they stand like a statue, pretending you aren't there. It stabs like a knife when you know your spouse looks upon you as demonized and teaches your children to hate you.

IT HURTS to know you must start all over again. You feel you have wasted so much time. You feel betrayed, disillusioned, suspicious of everyone including family, friends and other former members.

IT HURTS when you find yourself feeling guilty or ashamed of what you were - even about leaving them. You feel depressed, confused, lonely. You find it difficult to make decisions. You don't know what to do with yourself because you have so much time on your hands now - yet you still feel guilty for spending time on recreation.

IT HURTS when you feel as though you have lost touch with reality. You feel as though you are "floating" and wonder if you really are better off and long for the security you had in the organization and yet you know you cannot go back.

IT HURTS when you feel you are all alone - that no one seems to understand what you are feeling. It hurts when you realize your self confidence and self worth are almost non-existent.

IT HURTS when you have to front up to friends and family to hear their "I told you so" whether that statement is verbal or not. It makes you feel even more stupid than you already do - your confidence and self worth plummet even further.

IT HURTS when you realize you gave up everything for the cult - your education, career, finances, time and energy - and now have to seek employment or restart your education. How do you explain all those missing years?

IT HURTS because you know that even though you were deceived, you are responsible for being taken in. All that wasted time........ at least that is what it seems to you - wasted time.

THE PAIN OF GRIEF
Leaving a cult is like experiencing the death of a close relative or a broken relationship. The feeling is often described as like having been betrayed by someone with whom you were in love. You feel you were simply used.

There is a grieving process to pass through. Whereas most people understand that a person must grieve after a death etc, they find it difficult to understand the same applies in this situation. There is no instant cure for the grief, confusion and pain. Like all grieving periods, time is the healer. Some feel guilty, or wrong about this grief. They shouldn't -- It IS normal. It is NOT wrong to feel confused, uncertain, disillusioned, guilty, angry, untrusting - these are all part of the process. In time the negative feelings will be replaced with clear thinking, joy, peace, and trust.
YES - IT HURTS BUT THE HURTS WILL HEAL WITH TIME, PATIENCE & UNDERSTANDING
There is life after the cult.

Copyright (c) Jan Groenveld
Cult Awareness & Information Centre, PO Box 2444, Mansfield, 4122, Australia (61-(0)7-3216 8514)

13-Monroe WA

2008-03-24T11:22:00.001-07:00

By 1973 "the group" had been growing, and changing, for about four years. It was operating well now all on its own in various peoples homes and the turmoil over tithe, autonomy and power, while still brewing beneath the surface, was all but invisible to newcomers. Newcomers simply accepted that the way things were now is the way it had always been and had no clue about the previous turmoil. The newcomers knew no different and thus were not seeking to go back to the old way. My dad had "back burnered" the disputes during this period and this ended most of the arguments that were so pervasive in the Seattle area. At the farm his focus changed to preparations for starting a traveling ministry instead of moving about the Seattle home groups. He also began to devote a great deal of his time to writing and produced several booklets and papers such as the "Dear Jon Letter" shown below.

(Click page image above for entire text.)

During Spring Break, 1973 my dad was leaving the house and invited me to go with him. On this venture out we went to a bank where my dad met a man from "the group" named Doug. Doug was a Viet Nam veteran who had been severely injured during a surgery gone awry years before. As a result of the botched surgery he had received a sizeable settlement from the VA for his malpractice injuries. On several occasions dad had sought funds from Doug to keep things going and Doug made special offerings for each requested need. On this day, we were at the bank to pick up a check from Doug’s account that was to be used for the purchase of an old school bus. It was my dad's intention to use the bus as a traveling home while he began ministering from state to state. The school bus had been previously converted to a camper and when he picked it up he felt it was livable. That plan was immediately vetoed by Yvonne after she took one look inside. The bus would have been great for camping, but full time living would definitely have been very primitive.

After a few days had gone by my dad began gutting the bus. While he was in the process another man in "the group", Jim, came visiting the farm to let his dogs run in the pastures. While he was there, my dad showed him the bus, discussed his plan and talked about its deficiencies. Jim walked around the bus, examined all of its details then simply stated with a smile; "I know how to fix that". By the end of that day my dad and Jim had cut the bottom of the front door off, cut a new door hole near the back and gutted out what remained. From here it took a couple more months of work before my dad and Jim had a master bedroom area constructed in the back, a kitchen and a tiny bath situated in the middle, and two bunks up front behind the drivers area for my step-siblings Jon and Lavonne. Later, as Jon and LaVonne became older, two “humps” would be added to the top of bus which would become loft bedrooms for each.

For me, that spring and final semester of high school went fast and that summer, in July, I knew I would turn eighteen and finally be free. I had only two classes remaining to obtain my high school diploma so my school days were abbreviated and I had a little more spare time which I filled with mending fences and caring for the herd of cows behind our house. As my graduation approached, the pace of life at the farm became very busy as my dad and Yvonne made final preparations for moving into the the bus. It was a lengthy process deciding what they could take into the bus and the rest was packed or given away. In May, we began the process of cleaning the house for moving out but I was spared the last few weeks of clean up since I contracted chicken pox and nearly missed my commencement.

After commencement, there was a small party at a restaurant. The following morning my dad drove me to my oldest brothers place in Everett, said a quick goodbye as he dropped me off and left instructions with my brother he was teach me how to drive. Then he was gone and that day he and Yvonne finished moving the last things into the bus. The following morning they hit the road for Grants Pass Oregon. I have many times joked that I never left home, it just moved away from me, but in reality that is exactly what happened.

The Monroe farm brought about the end of an era for me. I was no longer privy to the inner workings of my dads life and the years of hearing about all the behind the scenes turmoil nearly daily ended. Life seemed now much more peaceful and I was no longer under Yvonne's constant put downs, name calling and domineering rule. Where previously I was at three or four meetings per week, sometimes even more, I now just attended the usual Thursday Foundation and Saturday Communion meeting with others. It felt good to be free.

My oldest brother had just returned from Viet Nam and, after just a few months living in his apartment, it became clear my staying there was not a good idea. I was counseled by my dad and Yvonne that I should move to Grants Pass Oregon and find work there. I used my final paycheck to fund my way and stayed in Grants Pass less than a month unable to find a job. A man in "the group", named Harvey, called and told me he had a job for me in Klamath Falls Oregon at the Winema Hotel. He said I could stay with he, and his new wife, until I got settled and found my own place to live. So, I moved to K-Falls.

My dad, during this time, had moved on to Santa Cruz California from Grants Pass in the bus and he had started three meetings in three homes in three cities. He also had a fourth meeting, monthly, in Paradise CA at the home of a woman named Vivian. Vivian would be the one responsible for re-introducing one of the stranger doctrines into "the group"; and it persisted for a number of years even though it was not actually accepted by most. This doctrine alleged that persons of color were actually "beasts of the field". In other worlds they were animals and not human, and therefore could not find salvation. This doctrine had shown up back in Mountlake Terrace briefly but Vivian was very vocal on this subject and my dad bought in. She based this doctrine on the scripture in Genesis which reads:

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:14-15

Her take on this scripture was that satan; the chief "beast of the field"; was a black man, and he had conned "white" Adam and Eve into sinning and... well, it was a very weird teaching but to my, and other peoples, embarrassment dad picked up the ball and ran with it for a number of years.

Vivian had been born and raised in the deep south and was actually a white supremacist who belonged to a very fringe Pentecostal group. How my dad could adopt this teaching was as much beyond me then as it is now.

My dad later changed his mind on this subject when a black man named Aubrey; a friend of someone in "the group"; came to him and asked to be baptized. He held a meeting of a few of the men to determine if this was even possible. I was at that meeting and the overwhelming consensus caused a reversal in his thinking and Aubrey was baptized.

I had lived in K-Falls for about six months when my dad called and counseled me that God wanted me to move to Santa Cruz to help with his new work. Harvey and his wife Kathy were also counseled that "since God was not blessing K-Falls" they should also move to Santa Cruz. They did and Harvey was appointed as an elder there. I moved right away to Santa Cruz with my travel trailer I was living in. My dad had promised that if I moved it to the park where they were staying in the bus he would help me get settled and on my feet financially. However after several months there was a major dispute in the groups in all three cities that ended all three meetings suddenly. I never did learn the details but within a week of this new development my dad drove the bus back to the Seattle area and parked it at the Apex Airpark. Apex was a private airstrip / housing community in Silverdale WA owned by a woman named Roberta Walker. A short time later, Harvey and his wife also moved away from Santa Cruz and I was left alone, with little money, working part time as a dishwasher, and unable to buy food. One of my neighbors in the RV park, and also the assistant manager of the restaurant where I worked, helped me out with food while I applied for food stamps. It became evident I could not stay in Santa Cruz and I called my dad to see what I should do.

In my next post I will cover the origins of a major doctrine of control used by the ABC as the introduction of the "disciplining / shepherding"movement brings about the doctrine of "body council".

12-History

2008-03-16T12:11:00.001-07:00

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good life his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, boast not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace. James 3:13-18

If we are to believe these words and the book they are derived from then we must admit that the ways of God are peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and truth. Those who claim to have wisdom, but yield only strife without a meekness of wisdom, according to these words are earthly, perhaps even following demonic doctrines, and are full of confusion. In reality they are not doing God’s work but are really just working evil.

Please forgive me as a use a little figurative speech to illustrate a point. History has seen many authoritarian, legalistic, religious men and movements rise like huge waves and capture men for their own purpose. These men and movements push up at mankind's shore leaving only faint ripples in the sands of time, then cast off bits of flotsam as they once again recede. Those who witness the event do their best to describe it but find it a nearly impossible since they can only point to the ripples left in the sand and hold up the bits of cast off flotsam as evidence the wave was one there. They try to form an adequate picture of what occurred but the picture never quite comes close to describing the actual fury of the event.

As I write this history of the ABC I too am left with only bare traces in the sands of mine and other peoples memories, and a knowledge of where bits of the cast off flotsam lay. From the ripples and cast off flotsam I attempt to piece together the dynamics of the wave that struck the shores of my and many other peoples life. From my singular perspective, aided with various recounts of history, I try to retell the fury and lack of grace that accompanied this destructive wave upon the shore but it is a sometimes difficult task.

I have been witness to more than one destructive wave that passed through the ABC. During my time within it’s walls there were two separate large waves of destruction and various smaller ones which did less damage but were still very rogue. Part of me became a bit of cast off flotsam in both of the large waves.

I now inhabit the shore having escaped the last wave successfully and around me lay bits of cast off flotsam among the ripples. I occasionally peer out to sea, watching for the next batch of storm clouds to form that will produce yet another destructive wave. Most of all I hope there will be no more flotsam cast ashore because the flotsam I refer to are living breathing people who are left weakened by the churning of the wave. I know history repeats itself and, among the appearance of calm, another storm brews somewhere beyond the horizon. Soon another wave will appear in the distance, and a new round of cast off flotsam will be flung to the shore. I know firsthand the awesome power of these destructive waves and how much damage they do to peoples lives.

Before the first wave ever crested in the sea of the Assembly of the Body of Christ, before the first bit of flotsam was pushed from the ranks, there was a man who had a song he sang to "the group". It began;

Can't you see that flash of fire

Ten times brighter than the day

For behold that mighty city

How we've failed you once again.

There are many verses to the song and the chorus below repeats several times,

Oh Lord, God of man

How we've failed you once again

Look around, start once more

Follow him, while you can.

This man stayed around "the group" for just a few short weeks and after he departed this song, "Mystery Babylon", was interpreted as being about those other people, those on the outside of the ABC, who were trapped in the "Mystery Babylon" of denominational churches. We, “the chosen” huddled safely under our unnamed non-denominational tower, speaking our common language, knowing we were secure and protected in "The Body of Christ" and could not be scattered. We did not understand then that, not far in the future, we would become just like the denominations we pointed to. We too would acquire a name just like they which denominated our tower. We did not know that soon a corporate body would be birthed for the sole purpose of hiding the gold. I too felt protected in those days but, inwardly, I also wondered if this song was not really a warning to us. Perhaps it was time to look around, start again in a new, right, way...while there was still time. I wish we had.

There were others that felt this was a warning too but, "for the sake of unity" said nothing. Keeping quiet “for the sake of unity” is a major doctrine in the ABC just as it is a major them in every other cult. We, every one of us, remained quiet beneath our proverbial tower, and continued to point the finger at the denominational masses calling themselves by a name worshipping in their brick and mortar buildings. We felt pure in our pride.

We were certain we were different since we had no brick tower. We were certain God looked on us with more favor because of it. We cried out to those we saw "in Mystery Babylon" in an attempt to “rescue them from the pit”. We talked endlessly of our hope of "drawing them out of Babylon", so they too could find "peace and safety" just like us beneath our, as yet, unnamed, virtual tower constructed from a "new" design.

It was only a few short years that drifted by before the first storm would brew at sea and a large wave would be seen rising in the distance. It would rise up out of the seas of the "the group" and, with great fury, cast the first bits of flotsam to the shore. The ripples, though greatly faded now, can still be seen to this day if one looks closely.

In the bible in Genesis there was once a people who said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth." That story is found in Genesis 11 and took place not long after man first became upon the earth:

The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. They said one to another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth." Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. Come, let's go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. Therefore the name of it was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth. Genesis 11:1-9

One of the prevailing doctrines in “the group” and carried over into the Assembly of the Body of Christ is that one must never vocalize a differing opinion, challenge the leadership, or balk at a "discipline" lest "the unity" of "the body" be disrupted. It was worried that the "new babes" would discover the turmoil that brews beneath the surface and become injured. It is this very same doctrine that caused God to destroy the tower man created at Babel. Afterward he scattered the perpetrators of the hoax that the tower meant safety to the corners of the earth and separated them by language. Those that sheltered under their tower thought they had found a perfect unity in language and had convinced themselves they could now see eye to eye on all things. It was a false unity and one of their own design.

The tower of Babel stood within the ancient city of Babylon. This is disclosed in Zechariah 5:11 which shows Babylon was in the plains of Shinar, precisely where we see the tower of Babel stood. What we have today in authoritarian, legalistic movements, like the "Assembly of the Body of Christ", which demand a false "unity" by enforced silence, or by destroying and casting off anyone who disagrees with the leadership, is simply another manifestation of Babel. But this time it is a Mystery (or hidden) Babylon.

One of the main facets of Mystery (or hidden) Babylon is the constructing of a tower; whether brick and mortar or virtual; for the purpose of having a common name and common language. While this does give one a sense of safety in belonging to a movement, it is a false sense of security. Building towering movements like “the group / ABC” that are perceived as "perfect and in order" or "God's perfect will" is not what God intended for his creations.

The United States has satellites that fly high above the earth looking for any anomaly that might indicate a threat to our nation. Man-made threats are easy to pinpoint because man-made objects are built using man's geography; that is with straight lines, squares and perfect circles. God in my view has a better geography but his geography, on the surface, seems chaotic and random. Science calls this fractal geometry and it is by complex, random design the entire universe is constructed. What seems random, chaotic and imperfect to the mind of man actually creates a perfection, strength and longevity man is not able to duplicate. Compare the lines of a mighty gnarly oak to that of a manmade straight wall tower. Which is stronger? The oak will outlive us and our towers. It is written that God's ways are not our ways and His ways are not ours. Perhaps God's kingdom is of a chaotic, fractal random design that yields patterns that are not only beautiful, but strong and perfect.

So why do we, as mere men, feel we must build our proper square and perfect circle or square towers of religious authoritarian movements? Why do we then huddle under them and demand all around us have a common name and a common language? Is not God everywhere and not contained?

Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! If I take the wings of the dawn, And settle in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there your hand will lead me, And your right hand will hold me. Psalms 139:7-10

In my view God does not desire straight wall towering authoritarian movements like the ABC. It does not matter if we have constructed our towers from brick and mortar or virtually through house movements, any attempt by man to design and build a tower that is "perfect and in order" is truly vain. It is only God who can build the house and unless He builds it the laborers are laboring in vain.

Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus about being born again, said:

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8

God's kingdom is designed to be carried on the wind throughout all of the earth like seeds that cannot be confined or controlled.

He said, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn't know how. Mark 4:26-27

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 1 Corinthians 3:7

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Isaiah 55:8-13

Imagine if the lives of those touched by God were quickly edified, just as nature designed, and were then set free into the world like seeds on the wind. Able to blow about without constraint or imposed guilt. To man this may seem chaotic and uncontrolled but, like the rest of God's creation, it is a fractal perfection that yields beauty...not bondage.

One imposition of the ABC is that, once you have stepped below its tower, you are not free to leave. You must continue to pay your homage and tithe to the ABC, even if you feel God is taking you elsewhere. That is bondage.

If you leave the base of the ABC tower, you are considered "out of fellowship" or "in the wilderness" and are sometimes visited by emissaries who try to draw you back beneath the base of the tower. Should you return, you must then prove yourself to be worthy of the tower again and trustworthy to its people. Quite often, you simply are never truly trusted again.

Another imposition is that you must speak in exacting words, follow the exacting patterns previously laid down and it is assumed, in the ABC that this pattern was designed by my father Ramon A Haas. This as we have seen is a myth and a wrong assumption.

Any variance from the established ABC order, any questioning of authority, no matter how small, is treated as dissent and rebellion and is dealt with harshly through "discipline" or ex-communication.

The Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC) retains a facade of "peace and safety" on the surface but beneath that surface lies a great churning turmoil. A remnant of the many storms that passed through and now lay beyond the horizon. Those who vary from the accepted language, or challenge a doctrine set down by the leadership, in even the smallest degree, will soon find themselves caught up in this turmoil or cast like flotsam from the next destructive wave. Those who remain hand in hand beneath the towering wave, "protecting the unity" are unaware they are really just in Babylon and held in a yoke of bondage.

Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17

Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

11-Lake Forest Park

2008-03-14T14:39:00.001-07:00

In 1972 a man named Ray offered us his home to use in Lake Forest Park. He and his family had been in "the group" for just a very short time and as an effort to “help the cause” he allowed us to live there without payment. Having moved already eighteen times in less than seventeen years I was not thrilled with moving again because it would mean yet another change of schools. I was now in high school and I spoke with the school and they allowed me to get a waiver allowing me to cross district boundaries and continue at the same school. I then walked the eight miles round trip each day from Lake Forest Park to school and back but I enjoyed the walk and became somewhat fit in the process.

Three years had gone by now since the Wilcrest Apartment days and "the group" had grown in numbers substantially. The grumblings were still present but were effectively kept beneath the surface. Most new members were not aware of the trouble brewing beneath the surface and only saw the new friendships they acquired at the meetings. The grumblings generally focused on the use of tithe money and the autonomy of the meetings. Most still speaking up were still feeling like they were not being heard and this created even more agitation brewing under the surface.

Meeting homes had changed quite a bit over the years and now, in 1972, there were regularly scheduled home meetings in Snohomish WA, West Seattle, Lynnwood WA, Everett WA, Grants Pass OR, and a few other homes I may have forgotten. There were also a few individuals who had been baptized in the ABC that did not live close to an existing home meeting, and we would visit them on occasion, holding small communion meetings in their homes with just their families.

The tithe remained centralized and all home meetings, under the direction of my dad Ramon A Haas the apostle, paid their money directly to him. Yvonne remained in charge of the books. The tithe was never given back to each home group to decide how it was spent, nor were they ever given any accounting of how it was spent. This would eventually culminate in a major split in the group decimating all of the groups north of Seattle, and leaving only just one small group in West Seattle remaining which not long after disbanded as well.

Having all of the tithe directed to my dad meant he now had enough money to pass "Medic Repair" on to his assistant Earl and it essentially became Earl's business. My dad was now free to focus his time on writing books, making tapes and traveling in a circuit Thursdays and Saturdays to different home meetings and teach. For me, this meant I heard most of his teaching at least half a dozen times as we traveled from home to home.

Within a few weeks after moving into the house in Lake Forest Park, my stepmother Yvonne; a woman who ruled all children with an iron fist determined I was a rebellious teen and needed to be put "on discipline". To this date I still wonder what I did that brought about such a fierce discipline from her and my dad and this would be just the first of many major "disciplines" I would be put through, even well into adulthood.

The discipline chosen for my teen rebellion was that I would be confined to my bedroom for my entire Junior year in high school, unless I was at a church meeting or in school. During this confinement, I was to do my homework, then any remaining time I was to only read the bible and do Greek Word Studies from the Stegenga. To prove I had been studying the bible and not just sitting in my room I had to write a weekly report on what I had learned. Then each Friday night I had to sit with Yvonne, read her my report and listen to her critique. She was then ultra-demeaning, the sessions were tortuous, and it was of course her opinion against mine. The upside was I did become very good at research ad I used that to my advantage and it allowed me to get out of some months of that "discipline".

At that time my dad was in the middle of developing a new teaching on Creation, including new information on the Pre-Adamic world and how dinosaurs fit in to the scheme. I had signed up for several extra-curricular activities in high school, one of them working as an aide in the teachers center creating mimeographs, slides and other materials for the school staff; the other in the library audio-visual department operating the projectors and organizing the films. This allowed me access to school facilities after hours and so I struck a deal with my dad that I would stay behind at school each day researching for him, typing up excerpts from books and articles related to the science of creation, prepare slides of pictures in books and type and mimeographing his notes. In exchange I would be freed from the remaining confinement in my room to do Greek word studies and the hellish sessions with Yvonne. I considered it a small victory in life since it got me away from the house into a little more "normalcy" and under this arrangement I would return home just in time for dinner, then go to my room to do my homework. It wasn't perfect, but not as bad as the full time room confinement and report writing.

Being considered "rebellious" is a label I have lived with, on and off, for many years and just learned to live with it. I suppose, since I am writing this history, I am once again considered a rebel no doubt. I was "brought before the elders" more times than I can possibly list here and for things that would normally have been just parental or fatherly instruction to a teen or young adult. For me, they were humiliating meetings before the elders for minor offenses and I was sometimes humiliated and defamed before all. In my senior year I began to have anxiety and panic attacks but these did not concern my dad or Yvonne. It was just another proof I was “in sin” and rebellious.

This label of "rebellious" would eventually be attached to many, many people and they too would be "disciplined" and humiliated before all in the same manner. The discipline of others included things such as being commanded not to speak with anyone else, both in and out of the meetings, being forced to sit in the back and being forbidden to take communion. It was very humiliating treatment. This type of "discipline" continues in the ABC and is very wrong.

The Lake Forest Park days lasted about a year and a half, ending halfway through my senior year in high school. It was then time to move...again. This time there would be no walking to school though since we moved about twenty miles north to a large farm in Monroe WA . This move was being made to allow room for the purchase of a large bus which was to be converted to a "mobile ministering machine" and it would be used to bring the ABC to other states and eventually to Mexico. After a short bit about history I will continue my posts by covering the Monroe WA era.

NEXT POST

10-The Big Brown House

2008-03-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

The stench at the "sewer house" had become unbearable and something had to be done. A city inspector was called and tests showed the property simply would not perk. The problem was unfixable without city sewer service and these tract homes had been built without proper permits when Mountlake Terrace was a newly formed city. The city began work on a plan to rescue the entire neighborhood, rather than condemn it completely, but the fix would take years. In the meantime, the home was considered uninhabitable and we had to move.

My dad located a huge four bedroom rental home, still in Mountlake Terrace, and not far from the "sewer house". Due to it's size and color it would become known as the "big brown house" and was the site of some major changes for our family and "the group". In this house my brother graduated high school, left home and married and my dad quit his job and started a very successful business called "Medic Repair". Many new people were introduced to the group at this house; some young, some old, and some of the previous members would leave. The numbers continued to grow and the large living room could no longer handle the numbers.

The meetings were split again but the previous attempted breaking up of "the group" into three smaller meetings had caused quite a bit of unrest and the small squabbles that resulted then were once again becoming very vocal. The central point of the argument was a huge disagreement over who should fellowship at who's house. One individual wanted "district lines" drawn. In his plan, if you lived in such and such district you would fellowship at so and so's house. Most just wanted the freedom to fellowship wherever they wished, whenever they wanted. To end the squabbling, a decision was finally made; by whom I do not know; that for a short period the "Foundation Meetings", on Thursdays, would continue as they were in three separate homes. The "Communion Meetings", on Saturdays, intended only for those who had been baptized in the ABC, would be combined back into one single meeting in our very large living room at the "big brown house". This worked fine for a while and the return to a single Saturday "Communion Meeting" eased some of the tensions. It was apparent thought that our living room, even though quite large, would never handle the ever increasing crowd and a return to three separate Saturday meetings was inevitable. This time, however, it would be at different homes than before to avoid any more "trouble".

The year, 1971, also brought about the very first All-Church Gathering. The gathering was not officially called the "all-church" that first year, and was really nothing more than just a picnic in a large park in Snohomish County Washington. This single event would bring about the custom of having all of the home meetings everywhere gather once each year in a central rented facility. After the second event it was decided outsiders would be prohibited from attending and only those who have been baptized in the ABC were allowed.

At the big brown house, my dad, now self-employed and able to schedule his own work, began making regular trips to Grants Pass Oregon to hold small meetings with Gilbert Larson (the current apostle of the ABC) and his close friend Pat, who drove over from Klamath Falls to attend. Gilbert Larson would eventually marry a woman named CaraLee in Grants Pass and most members of her family would also began attending the meetings, some becoming elders in "the group". They, in turn, brought to the meetings other acquaintances and before long Grants Pass had regularly scheduled weekly meetings on both Thursday and Saturday. Many years later, after disagreements over autonomy and money, every single person who lived in Grants Pass either left "the group", left town, or found themselves forced out. As a result there are no longer any persons in Grants Pass associated with the ABC and the meetings ended decades ago. I will cover the Grants Pass meetings in more detail in a later post.

This pattern of growth, then sudden annihilation, has played itself out numerous times in the history of the ABC and is a direct result of the overbearing, legalistic, authoritarian leadership. This philosophy and doctrine leads to the shunning and ex-communication of members over minor doctrinal disagreements. Most times it results in large groups of people finding themselves accused of some "crime" against God (as I was numerous times) followed by a frenzy of furious spiritual and emotional "backstabbings" and "browbeatings" by the leaders. This destroys a person completely and leaves broken people behind to wonder what happened. These spiritual "stabbings" and "beatings" do not even spare family members and the justification given for this practice is the scripture that reads:

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:34-37

But if we are to count the bible as a guidebook Jesus also said:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Additionally He warned us we should not be like those that lay heavy burdens on others,

[The scribes and the Pharisees]...bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments...Matthew 23:4-5

I have watched individuals, and indeed whole families, destroyed by the leadership and doctrines of the ABC. The ABC praised the making of broad phylacteries filled with the derivation of Greek and Hebrew words and tenses. They feel they have achieved a higher plain of perfection than all others and find justification when they suddenly and viciously turn on others. I am just as guilty in times past but I woke up.

There are two lions mentioned in the bible. The Lion of Judah, for which it is safe for even the smallest lamb to lie next to in peace without fear of torment, and then there is the devil, [who] the bible states walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. I have seen many souls crushed and devoured by the "disciplines" of the ABC and one day I asked myself the question. Which lion do they represent? The lion of Judah, or the lion who seeks to devour. For me, the evidence spoke for itself. It is unfortunate it took being “devoured” by their falsehoods before I saw them for who and what they are.

In the next post, our family moves from the "big brown house" to Lake Forest Park, my dad gives his business to Earl, then begins full time ministry as the "apostle" of the Assembly of the Body of Christ.

9-The Sewer House

2008-03-09T13:53:00.001-07:00

The move to the "sewer house" brought many changes to "the group". The group would much later become known as "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" (ABC) but for now “the group” was the only way it was referenced and actually that simplicity was a draw for many people. Some of the more unusual practices which began at the Wilcrest; such as chopping up, or burning, "demon possessed" furniture in dumpsters; began to drop off but other weird doctrines would surface such as the teaching that persons of color were actually beasts of the field and therefore not human, and thus they could not be “saved”. These, and other doctrines would make brief appearances in the ABC and then, after a few years, disappear but then reappear again years later.

The sewer house had a large garage which had been converted into a "church" of sorts complete with rows of folding chairs, a pulpit-like podium, and a huge whiteboard on the rear wall. The informal living room meetings were gone and this drastic change to a structure of rows of chairs did not sit well with the original attendees from the Wilcrest apartment days. They had come to "the group" because they were looking for something less conventional and they now felt "the group" was drifting back toward becoming just a regular church. There were many discussions about this subject, some heated, and it was decided the meetings were becoming too large and “the group” would need to be split. By splitting the meeting between two or more houses it was determined the meetings could return to the more informal living room format everyone loved.

To make this split however required more leaders so elders were appointed following the pattern of the early church. These men it was determined must be were married, have some bible knowledge and be respected among the people. After a few men were appointed the meetings were then split into three separate houses headed by these men as elders and my dad as apostle.

One meeting would stay at the "sewer house', another would be at Gary's house, and the third was at Earl's house. Each new group would then be an autonomous unit, united, in theory, “by the Spirit” and would collect it's own tithe. Each group was free to use the money collected through tithe as they saw fit and then could essentially take control of the meetings completely on their own.

This tithe arrangement worked fine for only a short while but soon my dad; claiming the title of Apostle ( he claimed this title because he had spawned three new churches) was not happy with the amount the new churches had decided to send him each month. This became a point of continuous contention between my dad, Gary and Earl and eventually one of the groups, dismayed by his insistence on a larger percentage of the tithe collected, stopped sending money to him altogether. This started a small division to form, then a bitter feud began to be fought beneath the surface. All appeared on the outside as love but under the surface a fire was raging.

As it goes with feuds, the true issue gets lost completely and a small issue is then argued in its place. In this case the small issue, the sticking point, would be the question: "Does a person receive the Holy Spirit as they are going into the water at baptism, or as they are coming out of the water at baptism?" I honestly don't remember who was in which camp; the argument was pointless and senseless; and I refused to get involved. My dad selected one principle nemesis in the feud; a man who had previously had political aspirations and loved to question things in a Socratic manner; and the war began.

This man's questionings of the status quo were perceived by my dad as rebellion. I was witness to a meeting; years later; where this individual sought a way to end the feud. My dad, still angry about the money, began accusing this man of trying to be an apostle and adamantly refused to end the feud. I was quite embarrassed and really wanted a way out of it all then.

This meeting would, sometime later, lead to the first instance of ex-communication in the ABC. At least two vicious letters deriding this man were sent to everyone in "the group", along with an audiotape “proving” he was evil. We were all instructed to have nothing more to do with this man or his family and if we did we too would be disowned. Two other families who were perceived to be in his camp were also put out at the same time. All three of these men were eventually "turned over to satan".

I ran into one of these three men, many many years later. He was a broken man who shortly after the experience had lapsed into alcoholism and a deep depression. When I ran into him he had just returned from a rehab center. This man had been an elder in the church, but like many others to come, his life had been ripped apart at the seams and he was simply trying to cope. It takes a lot of strength to recover from the grief of loss this brings to your life.

The money, not the baptism issue, had always been the true issue. There were many meetings about all of the issues, quite a bit of petty arguing, accusations and people wrangling. It caused quite an emotional split for everyone and divided the church into two camps. This gave cause for the money being brought once again into a central tithe with Yvonne managing it. Divide and conquer as they say. I was a punk high school kid then, had no real voice and there was little I could have done or said. I admit to a vast amount of gullibility as well. Not just then but for many decades to come.

In the next post, people grumble about the three way split, an all-church picnic is arranged in an attempt rebuild unity and we move from the "sewer house" into a large home nearby. The meetings are then brought back under one roof for a short period until things can settle down again.

Am I Trouble?

2008-03-02T23:34:00.001-08:00

Over the years I have witnessed many things within the Assembly of the Body of Christ which deeply disturbed me. To this point I have remained mostly silent, and even to some point participative. Someone once said to me "There are things that are bad, but they are not truly bad until they happen to you. Then they are completely bad." It is such a true statement I ended up using it with many of my clients. However I only truly understood it after I was ambushed by Bruce Leonard, Andy Atwell and the company of silent men they had with them.

Over the years, after I was ambushed and then ex-communicated, my silence has inwardly disturbed me. I had been trained well that you "don't make waves" to "protect the unity of the body". Many people, over the years, have expressed to me their dismay at the emotional, spiritual and, in the case of children, downright physical abuse that was occurring in the ABC but were afraid to say anything. They felt, just like I then that they would be "speaking against God's anointed". I had been trained in this manner since I was fourteen so to even begin to speak out was a struggle. The few times I actually did I was severely "disciplined". What we all failed to realize is that we are all God's anointed and the leadership had no special right to this designation.

On February 16, 2008 I prayed about my silence. The very next morning I received the correspondence quoted below from a gentleman who knows nothing about what I, and others, have gone through at the hands of the ABC. I considered it an answer to my prayer and, despite any pain or anxiety it may bring me, I pledged to begin telling what I know of the ABC, and its abuses, so more will not be hurt. If I am successful...praise God. If I am not...then I will have done my part and my hands are clean. Here is the correspondence I received:

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" And he answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals." (1 Kings 18:17,18; ESV)

The prophet Elijah lived during a very difficult time in the history of Israel. He was appointed by God to confront King Ahab. King Ahab was the most evil king of Israel to date (see 1 Kings 16:30). The intensity of his evil was partly due to his marrying Jezebel; a princess of the city of Sidon. It appears that she encouraged Ahab in the establishment in Israel of the worship of the false god Baal.

God sent Elijah to prophesy to Ahab of the coming three-year drought (see 1 Kings 17:1ff). After Elijah gave Ahab this message, Elijah went into hiding. For those of us from countries with ample water supply, it is difficult to fully appreciate what this means. At that time in history, the land of Israel was very dependent upon rainfall, even more than it is today. Drought inevitably led to famine, which meant national disaster. Lack of rain, therefore, would be understood as a sign of God's displeasure.

After the three-year period, we come to the interchange that includes what I quoted at the start. Ahab's first words to Elijah were, "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" - an accusation which Elijah contradicted. He would not allow Ahab to transfer the blame for Israel's troubles from the true villain to himself.

But isn't Ahab's accusation typical? True trouble makers will shift the blame for the trouble they cause to the ones who expose their bad behavior. I don't think one has to be a psychologist to understand what is going on here. What it comes down to is that real trouble makers don't want their bad behavior confronted. They want to do what they want to do without having to face the consequences. They will protect themselves by any means, which almost always includes attacking anyone who gets in their way. In this case, Ahab used blame shifting. He did so, because it is often effective. Elijah brought the bad news of God's judgment on the nation. Ahab may not have been the only one who put the blame on Elijah, when the real cause of the disaster was Ahab and his evil ways.

People whom God uses to deal with evil today are often the last people who want to make trouble. In fact, they want to speak up out of a desire to avoid trouble, not make more trouble. They care deeply about people and are sensitive to the consequences of bad behavior. So they speak up. And what happens? They are the ones who are called trouble makers.

This is enough to shut some down. They may even believe these accusations. At one level life seemed more peaceful before they spoke up. They forget what it was that originally spurned them on. They forget the origin of the trouble. They take the blame, and the real trouble makers continue as before.

If you are someone God has called to speak out, then you mustn't be afraid to do what Elijah did. He contradicted Ahab to his face by saying, "I have not troubled Israel, but you have...". If God has called you to speak, then don't back down. Don't take the blame for trouble you have not caused. Keep close to the Lord, and let him guide you as to what you should and should not say and do. Don't let your critics confuse and intimidate you. When the true trouble makers call you, "trouble," it most likely means you are doing a good job.

8-The Wilcrest Apartments

2008-02-28T14:50:00.001-08:00

I first met Ralph and Karen on my second day back in Seattle. There had been a tragic death in Karen’s family and they had come by the apartment for comfort and prayer. I recall Karen's mom had died suddenly and Karen was devastated by the loss and was beside herself in tears. My dad and Yvonne met with them in the hallway and I came briefly out of my room to see what was going on. This event would be my first introduction to the practice of head coverings.

In our previous church experiences the women had not worn head coverings, but this day Yvonne and Karen had doilies on their heads as they prayed. This practice has remained consistent, but regularly challenged, in the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC) since it's inception. The practice is based on Paul's admonishment to the Corinthians that women should have a covering on their head whenever they pray. There is only this one mention of the practice found in the bible and Paul, at the end of his discourse on the subject, indicates if the practice is contended there really is no defined practice in the church of God. He states essentially it is best just to move on to more important matters. However, in the ABC it has always been a hotly debated and legalistic subject filled with contention and quiet discord. Surely if any woman chose not to adopt the practice she would be labeled as “rebellious”.

I was unsure, until recently, how this practice was started in the ABC. There is no indication other fellowships had such a practice in the early church. My most recent research shows this modern carryover of Paul's words also descended from the Sharon Orphanage days and it is still practiced in their assembly as evidenced by this report in the Sharon Star. The report begins on page 7. HEAD COVERING

The first meeting I attended in Seattle; the following Saturday; was at Ralph and Karen's house and was simply a prayer meeting. The following Thursday we had a teaching meeting at the Wilcrest apartments along with a meal and Ralph and Karen were in attendance, as well as Greta; sister of Gilbert Larson, the current apostle of the ABC, There was also a man named Earl and a few other people that attended. Most of that night is a blur to me and Greta is the only one that really spoke to me and we became good friends that night. Greta had a wonderful sense of humor and since I was known to be a bit of a practical joker we swapped a few stories.

The year then was 1969 and the Jesus People movement was taking off in Seattle under the leadership of Linda Meissner. Teens and college students, confused over the massive political and racial tensions in society, were looking for answers and finding them in unusual places. You might say that, at least in Seattle, a Jesus revolution was about to take off. Meissner had been able to form several ragtag groups of teens and young adults into a congealed group called the "Jesus People Army". It was clear she was looking to make a big splash in Seattle first and then carry the movement beyond.

The ABC, at this time, was a very informal group and for many years would be referred to simply as "the group". There was no specific name attached at this time nor was their really any intention to seek a name. Every member, except for my dad and Yvonne, were very young and most were college age and connected with other Christian organizations or groups as well and they passed word among their friends that a new group had formed.

The news spread fast and attendance at the meetings quickly began to fill the small apartment living room. On several occasions we had to open the sliding glass door to allow some to sit on the patio while my dad preached up front from a portable podium on a card table.

It was not long before Linda Meissner paid a visit to "the group" and I remember her visit only vaguely. She seemed an intense person and wanted "the group" to join forces with her "Jesus People Army". This was her style to infiltrate other groups and bring them into her fold. It was effective and she had amassed a large group very quickly. However none within “the group” had any intent of joining with her mission and so "The group" remained separate. Linda Meissner eventually joined her group to "The Children of God" and soon after that lost all control of the "Jesus People Army" completely.

Several years later a separate faction broke off of "the group" and formed into a quasi-children of God communal movement, complete with the inherent sexual promiscuity and wife swapping that pervaded that group. This faction was patterned after not just "The Children of God" but also the Discipleship / Shepherding movement emulated by the "Florida Five" and was catalyzed into being by a visit from Bob Mumford to Seattle. This first meeting was attended by my dad and several others and I will cover this topic more specifically in a later post since it had a large influence on the doctrines of the ABC and the associated loss of love and tolerance.

The age range of "the group" expanded greatly when Greta introduced her mother, Agatha to everyone. Agatha was baptized by my dad and nearly immediately made a trip to California to visit her son, Gilbert Larson. When she arrived in California she commanded Gilbert to be baptized by my dad. Gilbert, not sure if it was the right thing to do, made a trip to Seattle the very next day, spoke with my dad, was baptized, and soon thereafter relocated to Grants Pass, Oregon. Later, regular meetings would begin in Grants Pass and I will cover the Grants Pass era in more detail later.

"The group" grew weekly and would soon outgrow the apartment so plans were made to move our family to the suburbs and find more space. My dad found a home in Mountlake Terrace, which became affectionately known as "the sewer house" due to its faulty plumbing . On very hot days the sewer gasses would back up and the smell at times was unbearable. We lived there only a short time before we moved to a much larger home nearby.

In my next post I will cover those "sewer house" days since it explains how "the group" began meeting in many homes instead of just one. It is also where the five-fold ministry doctrine was introduced and established and my dad declared himself to be an apostle. I will also details first big tumult that nearly divided "the group" into two factions and eventually ended with a great leaving. This leaving would reoccur in different ways over and over again.

Assembly of the Body of Christ Geneaology

2008-02-26T16:00:00.001-08:00

This genealogy has been tweaked a few times since its first inception to make it more readable. This thanks to the input of others. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive time line but hits the major points of time only. The Azusa Street Revival caused a number of smaller groups to form but these finally divided, mostly racially, into two main streams; the Assembly of God and United Pentecostal denominations. The Sharon Orphanage associated somewhat with the Assembly of God but it was not always a close or mutual relationship. Eventually the ties ended completely and they became a new entity with the goal of reviving the Latter Rain perceived to have begun at Azusa Street in 1906. There was not a direct working relationship between the Sharon Orphanage and School and the United Pentecostal church however many of the members of Sharon Orphanage had left the United Pentecostal church to join the movement and brought many of their doctrines with them. This Latter Rain movement would eventually make its way to Seattle WA through James Watt, Derek Prince, Ern Baxter and others.

Click to enlarge diagram or

CLICK HERE for full size .pdf version.

7-How it all got started

2008-02-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

At this point in the story I find I must give a little family history. In doing so it becomes necessary to reveal things about persons, living and dead, that ordinarily would be best kept under wraps. I have tried to limit those things to just the parts which had a principle effect on the founding of the Assembly of the Body of Christ denomination. Many of the things I relate are still painful but they always will be painful and I put them into print now only to reveal the truth of the origins of "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" (ABC) denomination. My only intent is to dispel some of the myths that have developed since the founding and to an even greater degree after my father’s death.

From my perspective there are no levels of sin or transgression. We often gasp at one type of sin or transgression but then turn a blind eye to another, as though one is worse and one is better. The evidence indicates that all sin or transgression is simply something to be forgiven. End of story. Having said that, I have no intent of laying a judgment on any person through my writings and this account is simply a retelling of the facts that brought about the creation of the Assembly of the Body of Christ denomination and nothing more.

The founder of the ABC in its current iteration, was my father, Ramon A Haas. In order to understand how he came to starting a new denomination is important. To understand the man who set in motion the founding can tell a person a great deal about the organization since the founders philosophies guide the formation and form it into what it is and will become.

In many ways my father was a great man. I say that sincerely and without hesitation. My father was a decorated veteran in World War II, having piloted landing crafts filled with Marines to beaches in the Pacific theater under heavy enemy fire. He was commended in his military records for his bravery under fire and you might say he was part of “The Greatest Generation”. It is evidenced that the strain of battle was obviously intense as he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in New Zealand following an intense battle. The documents only list the problem as “battle fatigue”. My father came back from the war in the Pacific against the Japanese intent on changing the world and making a difference. This is a common theme among those returning from World War II. My father’s goal, for as long as I can remember, was to start or head up a church. It was the pervasive theme of out household and most of my memories of my father are him hunched over a desk reading, studying and writing or ministering in one form or another. Unfortunately, in the process of pursuing this goal he brought about a great deal of pain to his family and many others.

I am fascinated with the Second World War era and have researched my dad’s involvement in it as much as is possible. I have the bulk of his military records from the war and am proud of the bravery he exhibited. I am actually not sure I would be as brave under fire.

My dad left military service just prior to my birth in 1955 and had brought two additional sons into this world before me; one two years older and the other seven years older than myself. There are many pictures of the days before I was born but first true recollection of life was in a little hamlet of less than two-hundred people called Noti, Oregon. We lived in and around the Noti area from the time I was two until I was just shy of turning nine. During this time our family was connected with several churches but for the majority of the time we attended the Noti Pentecostal Church. My dad was an assistant pastor and we spent a great many hours at the church and at the home of the pastor Don McGregor. We were dirt poor in Noti and lived mostly hand to mouth on what we could grow or obtain from government commodities. The homes we lived in were mostly shack like structures and for a time we had no running water and used an outhouse. Jobs were not plentiful in the mid to late fifties so my dad floated from job to job making money in any way he could.

In 1963 my dad was able to land a very good job with American Sterilizer Company in Seattle Washington repairing hospital equipment. At this job he had a good salary, a company car and benefits. He was initially assigned to the Eugene to Florence Oregon territory while the company made preparations for him to enter the Seattle market. It was not long before that was accomplished and the day was a mix of sadness and joy when the Mayflower moving van showed up to box our belongings and move them to our new home in Mountlake Terrace Washington. I loved my life in Noti and have very good memories of those days. I have returned there a number of times and it has not changed much since the fifties and holds some good memories.

We moved to Mountlake Terrace just before school was to start in 1964 and we began attending Ballinger Terrace Assembly of God church not far from our new home. This church had no established pastor when we arrived so it was in the process of selecting a new one. For the first few Sundays we attended there were different petitioners for the position and they would give a sermon so the congregation could decide if they were right for the position. When all of the applicants had preached, the congregation voted for a man named Finch. After a matter of just a few weeks however it was evident to most he was not the best choice as membership in the church began to dwindle rapidly.

It was at Ballinger Terrace AG my parents met a couple, about a decade younger, named John and Esther (Yvonne) VanDeKamp. They had two small adopted children named Jon and LaVonne. My parents and this couple became close friends and did many things together...including summer vacations. My brother and I regularly babysat Jon and Lavonne while they went ministering at missions with the VandeKamps.

The Van de Kamps; unsatisfied at Ballinger Terrace Assembly of God; were one of the first to leave in search of a new church. They discovered Broadway Tabernacle in Seattle which was now being pastored by James A Watt and brought word back that they were leaving Ballinger Terrace to join this new church led by James Watt. Our family remained perhaps one or two more weeks at Ballinger Terrace AG then began attending Broadway Tabernacle with the Van de Kamps.

My dad rose quickly in this new church and not long after began sitting on the platform as an assistant pastor. The Van de Kamps lived in Edmonds at the time and we soon moved to Edmonds from Mountlake Terrace to be near them. About a year later, when they moved from Edmonds to Ballard we also moved to a home in Ballard as well.

In the summer of 1967, the Van DeKamps planned a vacation to a resort on San Juan Island which lies in the middle of the Puget Sound so we followed along with them to the same resort. During this vacation there were tremendous fights that developed between my parents and the Van deKamps were feuding as well. I did not understand the dynamics then, as a twelve year old child, but the marriages on both sides were decaying rapidly and my dad and Yvonne were becoming romantically involved. The tensions of the situation began rapidly tearing both marriages apart by the seams.

At this time my dad, was teaching a class at Philadelphia Bible College along with James Watt. When my dad and Yvonne’s romantic involvement became public knowledge however he was asked to leave the college and a huge rift also developed between my dad and James Watt. Not long after these events my dad moved us to San Juan Island where we had vacationed and began a church in a rented historic church building by the cemetery. San Juan Island is accessible only by a several hour ferry ride so there was now a great separation from our old life in Seattle. We lived at first, all four of us, in a 15” travel trailer. We then moved to a one-bedroom cabin on the beach and finally moved into a large house we rented from Seattle City Light. As kids we knew nothing about the reasons for these moves. We just knew the island was a great place to live with plenty of woods to roam in and great places to fish.

On January 14, 1968, the day of the second Superbowl, only one elderly woman showed up for church in the rented building by the cemetery. Since it was determined senseless for my dad to preach to just one person in the church building, we moved the meeting to the house that day intending to have just a prayer meeting. For several months after this we continued home meetings and eventually my dad gave up the church building altogether and we had meetings at the house exclusively. The meetings however never exceeded more than one or two people.

My dad continued work and live in our home in Seattle during the days on the island while the rest of the family continued to live exclusively on the island. He would come to the island on Saturday afternoon, preach on Sunday, then returned to Seattle on Sunday afternoon to get ready for work on Monday morning. This continued through that summer and into the fall.

For Thanksgiving of 1968 a family trip had been planned to Victoria. We were all in great anticipation of dad showing up to take us on vacation. When he arrived I was in the barn but came out when I heard him drive in. I noticed then he had a trailer with him and so I returned to the house to see what was up. I discovered right away my dad was leaving us on the island and he did not plan to ever return again. He took the checkbook, all of the money and then left…permanently. After that he never wrote or called. My brother,very ill at the time with pleurisy, ended up going to Seattle for medical treatment and thus ended up living with my dad instead of with my mom. In the divorce, my dad was awarded custody of my brother and my dad signed over custody of me to my mom. My mom and I remained on the island for just a short time after he left.

Since my mom had never worked a day in her life, having always been a housewife, she now found herself on an island with a thirteen year old to care for, no money and no way off. She contemplated suicide by jumping off the nearby high cliffs a number of times but never worked up the courage to actually step off the edge. She would go on long walks, most evenings, and I only found out many years later she was trying to commit suicide on these walks. She would be gone for long periods in the evening and when she returned was always in a highly agitated state. She would shout statements at me like “What am I going to do with you! How am I supposed to take care of you! Maybe I should I just kill you!” I do not think she meant those things in an actual sense but this was still a pretty full plate for a thirteen year old to carry. Each day she became increasingly more unstable emotionally thought and quite often I would run to the barn, or out into the woods, to hide until she calmed down. In many ways, to this day, she has never recovered from the day we were abandoned.

We lived on the island about another month or two but left when my grandmother sent us money to move to Bellingham Washington. We left everything behind except what we could fit in our “62 Ford Falcon Wagon…which wasn’t much and we lived first in a storage closet in the basement of the Bellingham Hotel. My grandmother lived and worked at the hotel and so the manager let us eat free at the cafeteria for lunch, we ate dry cereal for breakfast in our basement closet and most nights my grandmother bought us dinner when she got off work. Eventually we were able to get on welfare and were able to buy some of our own food but times were lean.

After about a month of living in the basement, my great uncle, who owned a large house on Lake Whatcom, let us stay at his house until my mom could find a better living situation. He also allowed us to buy groceries on his account at the local store so we began eating much better. He, and my aunt, were going traveling in Europe, intending to be gone for several months, so we more or less house-sat for them. Food and the use of their car were the payment for our “services”.

My dad made it clear in the divorce he did not want custody of his children but since my brother was already living with him the courts did not change this custody arrangement. It was just me and my mom left to care for ourselves the best we could.

After a few months living at the lake, my grandmother bought a small house and so we moved in with her. My mom started technical school and also found a part time job with a military recruiter to supplement the welfare we received. Her emotional state did not improve much though but honestly who could blame her. I began high school as a freshman and my health began to deteriorate as well from the family stress. My brother came to Bellingham to visit me and was shocked to see my physical condition. At that time I was under weekly medical care for my illness, was passing out in school on a regular basis, had kidney stones, severe hypoglycemia and was also beginning to have a difficult time walking. This was a result of an exacerbation of a congenital hip defect.

My brother gave me money in secret and told me to run away from Bellingham to Seattle so we could be together. It was obvious my mom was not able to care for me properly. I was dropped off at school the next morning after he left but I went straight through the school and out the other side to the Greyhound station and took a bus to Seattle. My brother had told my grandmother I was coming, but he had failed to tell my dad. My grandmother met me at the Greyhound station, and we took the city bus back to her house. She then called my dad, told him I was in Seattle and he was not happy with the news. When my dad showed up that evening there was no hug, no hello, nothing. He was steaming mad I had come to Seattle to live with him and I was treated with total silence all the way to his home at the Wilcrest Apartments.

When I arrived at his home I discovered his extra-marital affair had now led to his marriage to Yvonne (previously VandeKamp), and I now had Jon and Lavonne as my “brothers and sisters”. I was given direct orders that night that if I was going to live at their house I must never tell anyone Yvonne was not my real mom. I was happy to be with my brother though so I planned to do whatever I needed to do to stay. I only slipped one time and mentioned that Yvonne was a step-mother and was subjected to severe punishment.

The small bible study that would become the incorporated "Assembly of the Body of Christ" denomination with meetings in several Western states had started just a few weeks prior to my arrival at the Wilcrest Apartments. My Dad and Yvonne, having met another couple named Ralph and Karen at the Assembly of God church they were attending, and having become close friends with them, had started a prayer meeting at their house as an adjunct to church. It would soon turned into much more.

In my next post I will talk more about the beginnings of the church and describe the introduction of Gilbert Larson to the church during this time. I will also discuss how it came to be that different homes were used for the meetings.

6-Broadway Tabernacle Days

2008-02-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

The days at Broadway Tabernacle were very busy for my father, Ramon A Haas since he was an assistant pastor and also helped out frequently with outreach campaigns. This meant he was at the church quite often. He was also deeply involved in many other church organizations in the Seattle area as well. A short list would include: Philadelphia Bible College, Kings Gardens, Kings Teens, Campus Crusade for Christ, Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship, David Wilkerson Crusades, Billy Graham Crusades, Nicky Cruz Crusades, Union Gospel Mission and many many others.

In 1965 Bill Bright introduced his brand new tract "The Four Spiritual Laws" and one day several cases of this new tract appeared at our house. My dad was spearheading an effort to distribute these tracts to all of the major churches in Seattle. He was heavily involved with visiting and preaching at the local missions and my brother and I spent countless nights locked in the basement of the church while he ministered in the streets of Seattle with various church-led groups. It was very rare our dad was home for any length of time and, when he was at home, it was usually just to study or hold a meeting in our house with college kids from Philadelphia Bible College.

The tools used by the Assembly of the Body of Christ to conduct Greek Word Studies were developed during these Broadway Tabernacle days. James A Watt, having been emboldened in his quest to develop an exhaustive Greek study method by Ern Baxter, worked diligently on a workbook he named "Through the Word, Word by Word". It was essentially a reprinting of select pages of the book by John Stegenga called "An Analytical Concordance of the Greek-English New Testament" and allowed a person to read the scripture in context and then write down the applicable section on the page.

The "Through the Word..." book listed every scripture found in the bible for repentance, faith, baptism, etc. as found in Hebrews 6:1-2 along with the Greek derivatives, tenses mood, scriptural context, etc. for each. It was an attractive book with a red and black cover and depicted a microscope and a telescope on the cover. The connotation of the cover design was that it was possible to examine the bible microscopically with this book but in doing so see God telescopically in the heavens more clearly. Our family spent quite a few hours in the basement of the church collating and stapling these booklets together.

My dad and Watt were excited about the new method of study so they began a "Through the Word" class at Philadelphia Bible College in Seattle. The school was hesitant at first to allow the class but after an experiment using the Greek word "Dorea", or gift, was a seeming success they allowed it on a limited basis.

A number of the students from the college wanted to study more words from the Greek so my dad began a special meeting once per week on Thursdays for college students at our home. Since there was no table big enough to handle the group each week he would bring out a large plywood sheet and lay it over the dining room table. At this meeting the students and my dad pored over Greek word studies, had lively discussion about the words and seemed to be having a great time. Several year later, after the formation of the ABC, this "Through the Word" booklet was reformatted into a loose leaf notebook and renamed "The Foundation Truths" but it essentially the same exact book. It is usually distributed at the cost of printing to all new members.

The development of the "foundation" book has been attributed erroneously over years to my dad. In reality, it was James A Watt that developed the method of using John Stegenga's book to study the foundation principles found in He. 6:1-2 and it was James A Watt who developed the original foundation booklet. This was later adopted by my dad for use in the Assembly of the Body of Christ.
In the ABC it is general practice that you read three or four scriptures per day out of these books, then write them down. Once you have completed the entire book you are considered to have “completed your foundation".

Another project James A Watt completed while we were at Broadway Tabernacle is the "Daily Reading Card shown here. (Click to enlarge.)

This Daily Reading Card, developed by Watt allows a person to read the entire Bible through in one year while alternating between Old and New Testament. This card was also adopted by the Assembly of the Body of Christ as can be seen here.

The only thing changed was the removal of James A Watt's name and address which was replaced with a name from the ABC. (Click on picture to enlarge)

The Broadway Tabernacle days lasted just shy of four years for us. They ended suddenly with our move away from the Seattle area to the San Juan Islands in the middle of Puget Sound and that will be the subject of my next post. I will delve into the catalyst that moved my dad away from Broadway Tabernacle and into strictly home based meetings. This concept would be later incorporated into a denomination called "The Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC).

After the formation of the ABC, the teachings moved rapidly towards isolationism, forbidding contact with any other church, forbidding of reading other church publications or Christian book and the banning of any sort of other viewpoint than the ones espoused by my dad. The philosophy also became one that any person not associated with the ABC was either unsaved or in Mystery Babylon and one should not associate with them unless it was to try and bring them into the safety of the ABC.
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5-A Quick Synopsis

2008-02-26T13:24:00.001-08:00

To bring this all together so far I synopsize the lineage of events so far in this post. In 1906, a small church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles became the scene of a revival that became known as "The Latter Rain Movement". From this movement were born several denominations, the most prominent being the Assemblies of God, United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Church of God. The Pentecostal Church of God, which formed at the Sharon Bible School in Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada, is directly in the lineage of the birth of the Assembly of the Body of Christ denomination.

Several individuals directly connected with the Sharon Bible School passed on many of the doctrines incorporated into the Assembly of the Body of Christ. The most prominent of these individuals who influenced my dad, the founder of the ABC being, Derek Prince, James A Watt, and Ern Baxter. These men were trained, as well as taught at, the Sharon school and were greatly influenced in their path by a man named William Branham; known also to many simply as Brother Branham.

Having been greatly influenced by the teachings of Branham in Vancouver BC these men and others began what would become known as "The Latter Rain Revival" movement at the Sharon Orphanage. It was envisioned by these men that this revival would be a renewing of the Azusa Street revival that took place in 1906 and they felt this new movement would spread like wildfire through Canada and then to the rest of the world. That did not happen yet and last year it was predicted again that there would be yet another revival of the Latter Rain movement in Canada that would then spread to the rest of the world.

My dad spoke frequently of the Azusa Street happenings throughout my life and had high regard for the Latter Rain movement. Below is a picture of one of the ABC tape lists and one can see the teachings of Brother Branham held a prominent place on the list. (Click on Tape List to Enlarge)

CLICK HERE to read the "Mystery Babylon" Teaching by William Branham upon which the tape shown above;"The Great Harlot"; is based.

CLICK HERE to read the booklet "Mystery Babylon" upon which the tape of the same name is based. This teaching derived from the Branham teaching shown above. The highlights in the book are those of my father Ramon A Haas. (Note: it may be necessary to rotate the document in your reader.)

To encapsulate this a little further my father, Ramon A Haas, steeped in the teachings of William Branham, and others pursued a goal of becoming a Pentecostal minister. To fulfill this goal he attended two seminaries then teamed first with Pastor Donald McGregor in Noti Oregon and later with James A Watt in Seattle.

I moved to the Noti Oregon area when I was about age one and moved away when I was approaching my ninth birthday. This meant that Noti is one of the first moments in my life of which I was personally aware. Our time spent in Noti was one of extreme poverty and hardship and we lived in a series of ramshackle dwellings surviving on what we could grow, government commodities and donated food. The welfare safety net present since the Johnson era did not yet exist. My dad was offered a good job in Seattle with American Sterilizer so we relocated to Seattle from Noti. It was in Seattle my dad first met James A Watt.

James A Watt was directly connected to the Sharon Orphanage, Derek Prince, Ern Baxter as well as William Branham. This was also a sort of reuniting with the Branham teachings for my dad as he had been a follower of Branham in the late forties prior to my birth.

My dad spoke often of Branham and retold the stories of Branham’s “miracles” quite often. His favorite Branham miracle story being that of a time when Branham allegedly entered a field in 1945 in Macon Georgia and was about to be killed by a large bull. As Branham recounted the story he rebuked the bull and it pacified and went and lay down under a tree.

James A Watt had just acquired Broadway Tabernacle from Derek Prince shortly after our move to Seattle. Prince had moved on to Minneapolis Minnesota to start a tape and broadcast ministry instead.

James A Watt and Derek Prince; both close friends with Ern Baxter; had both left the Sharon Orphanage and School about the same time and with the intent of bringing the Latter Rain message first to Vancouver Brtish Columbia, then to Seattle Washington. After this the plan was to bring the message to the rest of the world. My dad, a previous Branhamite, joined himself to the Broadway Tabernacle church in Seattle then studied intensely under James A Watt becoming an assistant pastor at his church.

To this point there is a direct lineage which ties the roots of the ABC to the doctrines of William Branham, Ern Baxter, Derek Prince, James A Watt and the Latter Rain Revival movement. The latter Rain Movement had ties to the Azusa Street movement in Los Angeles California which had ties to persons on back through history. As stated in Proverbs there is nothing new under the sun. All denominations have roots in history and none popped onto the earth from a vacuum.

In my next post I will cover the Broadway Tabernacle days in more detail, then move on to the sudden split between my dad and James A Watt. This split is what eventually caused the formation of the Assembly of the Body of Christ denomination which was then patterned after James A Watt's church and bible study methodology.
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4-The James Watt / Ern Baxter Connection

2008-02-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

Situated kitty corner to the old Post Intelligencer building in Seattle Washington was a church building called “Broadway Tabernacle”. It is no longer standing. This was the church we attended shortly after moving to the Seattle area from Noti, Oregon and my dad became and assistant pastor at this church and worked side by side with James A Watt on various projects. It also meant that on some weekends we would be at the church performing various maintenance duties. On on particular Saturday, March 18,1967, my dad and I were at Broadway Tabernacle to change light bulbs in an enormous chandelier that hung from the huge vault ceiling. To change these bulbs we had to climb high into the attic; about thirty feet above the main floor; and crank the chandelier down on a cable. The bulbs could then be easily changed from he ground floor. It was quite an exciting event for an eleven-year old kid.

After returning to the main floor from the attic, James A Watt, the pastor, met us as he came out of his study. He was quite excited about a new method of study he felt the Lord had given him and this new method he stated used a set of books he had recently acquired. Even though it still remains a vivid memory I feel it is best described in his own words. (Link follows.)

"On Saturday morning March 18, 1967 I was preparing for our Sunday services at Broadway Tabernacle, Seattle. Totally unexpectedly—in a split second I saw how to use the works of Englishman's Greek Concordance, John Stegenga's Greek Concordance, and Panin's New Testament numeric Greek and English texts to produce Greek word studies in a new format, but easily usable by lay leaders. It took me two hours to write up the insights given to me at that time by the Holy Spirit." (Link)

I recall sitting in Mr. Watt’s study to the left of the platform for an extended period while he showed my dad the method of using the new book by John Stegenga. Mr. Watt later wrote, describing the 4000 page manuscript that took shape after this moment:

The idea for these 4000 MS. pages came to me in a split second on March 18, 1967. At the request of Pastor W.J.Ern Baxter, we prepared these papers. We started out with a research committee of some 40 helpers, but this soon dwindled down to one – Dean Finnestad. The main leg-work and production of this research was carried on by my associate Dean. (Link)

Mr. Watt began this work and my dad was part of that original team of 40 helpers for a time, and the last remaining member, Dean Finnestad continued the work. This is an excerpt from a writing by Dean Finnestad:

________

The Word Study Format

I have received several requests regarding the word studies and books which God has had me working on for the past 25 years. The first book “Foundation Truths” was done at the request of W.J. “Ern” Baxter who felt that the basic words listed in Hebrews 6:1, 2 are foundational for the Christ-like walk. This book uses lesson plans to discuss and develop the concepts involved in each of the major Greek words used in this passage of Scripture. I have since completed a book about angels entitled “Angels in Charge” which uses the word studies to develop a subject rather than an exposition of Scripture. In any case there are over 50 projected books based upon this word study format. Please keep in mind that although these books, and indeed all the word studies, can be studied by an individual they are really designed to be used in a group as a study guide.

The purpose of the word study is to help us focus on the definitions of words and relate them to our understanding of and relationship with God. Language is communication and understanding Scripture is a key to communicating with God. If we just open our minds and our hearts while studying His Word in this unique way we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. And He is the best teacher of all!

One of the biggest problems facing the church today is the mis-use and mis-translation of the original languages used in Scripture. For the most part, our modern translations of Scripture have been done by men who don’t really know God. They have a head knowledge but no heart knowledge. They have intelligence but no wisdom. They have reason but no spiritual insight. Thus, their work reflects much doctrinal bias and it is this doctrinal bias which has lead to an apostate church, i.e. a church that has fallen away from the truth.

Lately God has shown me that this was all part of His plan. The Word of God is full of mysteries and these mysteries are only revealed by the Holy Spirit to men who seek for truth. He has kept the truth covered through the medium of language in order to shock the world as He begins to reveal the truth in His people in these last days.

God has also shown me that these word studies which He has inspired are a tool for His people to use to open and uncover and manifest and reveal His truth. A unique principle behind these studies and their related books is that once you have learned how to use them you become a teacher, able to pass on God’s truth to others as well as giving them this tool so that they, in turn, become teachers. Wasn’t this Paul’s commission to Timothy, to teach others to be teachers? This is how the nations of this earth will be brought into the Kingdom of God!

This is not a knowledge game. The goal is not to know more than others. The goal is that the truth of God will shine in His people and radiate His glory to all of creation. God’s people must not just know the truth, we must live it, and in living it we will attract the lost of this world just like a light in the darkness attracts insects.

The pages below have been taken from “Foundation Truths” and tweaked just a bit to give you a better understanding of how the word studies are created. After reading this article please read “A Sample Study” also found on this web site.

Tools Used To Produce Greek Word Studies

John Stegenga's "Greek/English Analytical Concordance."

This unique concordance combines all Greek words into some 1619 root words. A root word is the basic word from which other parts of speech are derived. The root is sometimes a part of speech which isn't even used in the New Testament, yet other words which come out of the root are used. By looking at any word in the Greek text we are able to trace it to its root word and examine all the different parts of speech, i.e. verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc. By examining these different parts of speech, each in its own context, we are able to produce accurate definitions through usage rather than preconceptions.

Englishmen's Greek Concordance

This concordance, which uses the same Greek text (Stephanus) as Stegenga, takes the various parts of speech and then lists the verses in which the word is used. A short section of each verse is listed with the word under consideration in italics. This concordance establishes a common and consistent phrase for each reference in our word studies in the King James Version. However, we use any translation which is useful in creating a good title.

Panin's Greek Interlinear New Testament

This Greek text is our ultimate plumbline. Every reference we use is checked against Panin's Greek. If a reference is missing from Stegenga or Englishmen's we add it. If a reference is omitted in Panin we omit it from our study (hence, the notation "omitted in best mss"). If the Greek case form is changed by Panin we change it for our study. Panin also provides extremely accurate contexts. (See "Numerics vs. Numerology" for more about Panin.)

Kittel's "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament"

We use this work as a plumbline to our accuracy in evaluating the meanings derived from our approach. The exhaustive scholarship that has gone in to this work makes it a worthy comparison. Any conclusions based upon a word study which do not agree in essence with Kittel are suspect.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

This work provides a rapid reference for our word studies. It is useful in quickly providing basic definitions of words used with the word study being done. It is also a good reference to double check meanings which emerge from the word study.

A Note about Strong's Concordance

This concordance is such a popular one and again is based on the Stephanus manuscript. While we do not consider this book one of our vital resources, we do include the cross numbering system found in Strong's on the root word outline from Stegenga in case anyone wants to use Strong's numbering system as a resource. Doing a word study using Strong's can be extremely tedious just trying to track related parts of speech. Our word study approach supercedes Strong's in that the tedious research has already been done. Using Strong's would only be a duplication of our work.

7. Another work we strongly recommend is "KJV Hebrew-Greek Study Bible" by Spiros Zodhiates. Not only does this study Bible reference all of Strong's numbers for both Hebrew and Greek words but Mr. Zodhiates also indicates by bold type those words which carry significant theological value and for which he has created his own index of special thoughts and definitions.

If one compares the method of study designed by James A Watt and Dean Finnestad using an Interlinear Bible, Concordance by John Stegenga and the Panin's Numeric English New Testament Translation; with the method currently used by the Assembly of the Body of Christ you will find them identical in every way. This is because they stemmed from precisely the same place...James A Watt and Ern Baxter.

Ern Baxter was once pastor of the largest church in Vancouver, British Columbia and had been the primary Bible Teacher for the William Branham Crusades. Ern was an individual who read passionately and considered books his "friends” and felt they could "enlighten mankind about great people and ideas". It was, in fact, Ern Baxter who encouraged James A Watt to further develop his method of study using John Stegenga's "Greek/English Analytical Concordance in companion with the other books. My dad was part of his "team of 40" and I helped collate and staple the first version of his book which was titled "Through the Word, Word by Word." The book was red and black and had the a microscope and a telescope on the cover. Watt's method of study was adopted by my father, Ramon A Haas, and used extensively during the formation of the "Assembly of the Body of Christ" denomination. It is still used today exclusively and any other method of study can bring about admonishment or discipline. Nearing the end of my time in the ABC I witnessed one individual; a newcomer; be chastised very strongly for using the wrong translation of the bible. The individual was quite hurt and never came back.

The use of Watt's study method comprises a great deal of the purpose of the ABC. Most of what is taught it derives from these Greek Word Studies from He 6:1-2. To study and learn is not a bad thing however love, justice, mercy and respect for one another has unfortunately taken a back seat to this endless pursuit of knowledge.

Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:6

From my observations of the major quarrels that have developed over the proper interpretation of Greek words this pursuit of perfect knowledge is to no real profit and has in fact caused the destruction of many.

The pursuit of knowledge, when kept in a proper perspective, is a wonderful thing but I must defer to the wisdom of my good friend Solomon. Solomon is considered to be the wisest man who ever lived and he wrote near the end of end of the book of Ecclesiastes;

“This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.” Ecc. 12:13-14.

Solomon showed he was a wise man because he realized that "

furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Ecc. 12:12

and knew that

"our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Paul emulated these thoughts as well when he wrote to the Corinthians

"Such confidence we have through Christ toward God; not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.2 Co. 3:4-6.

He knew when books and studies outpaced love and the fruit of the Spirit…"there will be many words that create vanity”. Ecc. 6:11.

3-The Sharon Orphanage Connection

2008-02-24T09:28:00.001-08:00

Before I was born my father, Ramon A Haas, studied at two seminaries with the intent of one day becoming an ordained Pentecostal minister. He was also, at the same time, learning from a man named William Branham, who was a very famous Pentecostal minister.

One of Branham’s teachings was the ability to use the “Spirit of God” to make things move on their own accord. My dad related to me he had tried this, only once, and said that things in the room did indeed move on their own but he also stated the air had become very cold, dark and heavy. This incident, he told me, had scared him and so he never tried it again. He did however, throughout his life, maintain many of the principles taught by Branham and the Latter Rain Movement and he incorporated a great many of the Branham / Latter Rain Movement principles into the fabric of his teachings to the Assembly of the Body of Christ.

One of my dad’s favorite songs, and one we sang quite often, was the tune “This is the Promise of the Coming Latter Rain. Lift Up Your Eyes...” In his heart he had every intent to restore and revive the “Latter Rain” movement of his youth and he spoke quite often of the Latter Rain movement at home.

Branham History

William Branham was born in 1909 in Kentucky. On the day he was born, or so it was reported anyhow, a halo formed above his head. His mother, not a Christian, dabbled heavily in fortune telling and the occult and decided after this sign her best option was to take him to a Baptist church in the community for a blessing. Why she did this is not really known and she and her family did not continue at this church during Branham's childhood. Even so he did grow up to become a Baptist preacher.

In 1948, Branham, unexplainably, left the Baptist church to become a Pentecostal minister instead and soon acquired a faithful group of followers in the Pentecostal church. My dad not long back from the war was one of those followers. These followers declared Branham to be “the apostle of the final church age” and my father, after starting the Assembly of the Body of Christ, declared himself to be an apostle of the final church age as well.

Branham believed the church was in the seventh, and final, church age and in order to exhibit this belief he developed a teaching he called "God’s Seventh Church Age". In this teaching, he taught that God’s kingdom would soon return to earth leaning heavily on the scripture in Joel 2:23 that speaks of the latter rain. Thus his movement would eventually become known as “The Latter Rain Revival”.

While it appeared Branham had immense healing power, this was later proven to be a scam. He also alleged to hear “The Voice” which instructed him in the way he should live his life morally. “The Voice” was with Branham his entire life and he later claimed it revealed itself to him as an angel. Angel, however, simply means messenger, and it is unclear from whence this angel came. It is highly doubtful it came from God.

Branham’s life ended in a tragic head-on collision in Arizona and his followers; believing he had come in the spirit of Elijah; expected he would rise from the dead any day and therefore kept a regular vigil by his grave. He didn’t however rise from the dead at any time as they expected but facets of his teachings live on in many movements today.

The principle vehicle for carrying Branham’s message forward was the Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. One of the students at this school was a man named George Hawtin; a man my dad knew personally; and Hawtin would end up befriending several other men who would bring the Latter Rain doctrines to Seattle.

It was in the fall of 1947 when the group at the Sharon Orphanage and School; some of whom had been at Azusa Street; first traveled to Vancouver BC and heard Branham speak. They returned to Saskatchewan from this meeting excited by some new ideas and developed a plan to rebuild the “Latter Rain Movement” that had originally started at Azusa street. This group held the belief that the Pentecostal church, which they had recently left behind, was "stale, dry and lacking in spiritual gifts" and they felt a revival of the “Latter Rain Movement" that had originally began at Azusa Street was the only means to bring life back to the church.

By 1949, the Pentecostal church had begun an effort to squash this new movement, but they were mostly unsuccessful. The "Latter Rain Revival" movement continued to spread and many ministers even left the Pentecostal and Assemblies of God churches to take an active role in the movement. By the 1950s however the movement had lost most of its steam,had run its course, and most of the men who had been in the forefront sinmply faded into the distance. Many of the doctrines they taught are alive and well today however, for good or for bad.

One of the doctrines that carried through from this era to the present is “the fivefold ministry”; which teaches that the church must have an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor and a teacher. Also there is an emphasis on restoring and observing the feasts of Israel as well as a very heavy emphasis on teaching primarily the foundational truths found in Hebrews 6:1-2 and ignoring some of Christ’s original message of tolerance with one another and love.

Paul, the apostle, seemed to have battled this tendency as well in his era as he often mentions those who followed the law and were mired in legalism. Paul stated to them in He. 6 that they should be "leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, (so they could) press on to perfection."

The next few paragraphs are excerpted from the Apologetics Index and the links are provided after. These paragraphs show that some of the principle players in the birth of the ABC; Ern Baxter, William Branham, James A Watt and Derek Prince (shown later to be directly connected to James Watt) were all tied to the Sharon Orphanage and schools.

A significant event in the history of Sharon Orphanage and School was its July 7-18, 1948 Camp Meeting, during which thousands of people from Canada and the United States flocked in hopes of receiving something special from God. Residents from at least twenty states attended, and the great Latter Rain Movement burst upon the world.

From that time the movement spread rapidly and Sharon shortly became just one of many centers of teaching for the Latter Rain Movement. Link

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Among those present at the Sharon Camp Meeting in July, 1948, was George Warnock who at one time had been personal secretary to Ern Baxter (an associate with William Branham's healing ministry). At this meeting one of the teachers, James Watt, made a passing remark that the third of Israel's feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles, was yet to be fulfilled. This struck Warnock and he began to associate it with the end-time ministry of the Church, and the concept of restoration.

In the fall of 1949 Warnock took up residence at Sharon, "assisting in the office work, and helping in the Bible School and in the local church."

In 1951 Warnock wrote his book, 'The Feast of Tabernacles,' in which he layed out a specific doctrine for the Latter Rain Movement, and those who came after. He taught that the Church was about to usher in the completion of God's feasts for Israel, through perfection of the saints and their dominion over the earth.

Essentially, this Latter Rain teaching implies that the three great annual feasts of the Lord in Israel's worship (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) pre-figure and typify the whole Church Age, beginning with the death of Jesus on the cross, and consummating in "the manifestation of the Sons of God" - the "overcomers" who will step into immortality and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

Warnock teaches that this will be accomplished through the restoration of the Church in unity and, once done, the saints will "eat the Lord's Supper in reality." (as if we are not doing so now).

"Unity" as defined by Kingdom Theology entails the putting on of "the mind of Christ" so that we all think, say, believe, and confess the same things. What we will think, say, believe, and confess will be told to us by the apostles and prophets.

Unity without regard to "doctrine" (except the doctrine of those imposing the unity) is the great cry among those today who think that the Body of Christ has thus far failed in its commission. We will deal with these teachings in more detail later. Link

A short video excerpt can be seen here of Jim Watt talking about the 1948 revival in Saskatchewan.

Next post I will discuss the influence of James A Watt and Ern Baxter on the development of the teachings of the ABC.

Note: To delineate further the tie-in the ABC has with these “Latter Rain” doctrines please reference these links to their official site. Jewish Calendar and Last Days Calendar About the time I was being pushed out of the ABC these feasts were being physically observed by the men at thee yearly special gatherings.

2-It happened at Azusa Street

2008-02-24T09:27:00.001-08:00

All denominations have their roots in prior church history and there is not a single one that sprang spontaneously from a vacuum so despite the Assembly of the Body of Christ's allegation they are not a denomination, have no historical root and sprang spontaneously from a prayer meeting at the Wilcrest Apartments in Seattle Washington, this simply is not a true fact. To completely understand the beginnings of the history of the ABC it is necessary to find their ties to the Latter Rain Movement; Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, William Branham and a few other people and movements. But first, we must step back to April 14, 1906 to a little church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles CA and the first days of the Pentecostal church.

AZUSA STREET

In 1906, at a small African Methodist Episcopal church on Azusa Street, in Los Angeles CA, the Pentecostal movement got its first start. For about nine years at this location some rather vibrant meetings occurred, and this segment of religious history became known as both the Azusa Street Revival and "Latter Rain Movement". From this movement several denominations took root including the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, the United Pentecostal Church, and most importantly the Pentecostal Church of God at the Sharon Orphanage in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Meetings held under the name “The Pentecostal Church of God” started in 1948 at the Sharon Orphanage and these meetings were the seed that began the rebirth of what is still called the “Latter Rain Movement”. This movement through several of its key players would directly influence the creation of the “Assembly of the Body of Christ” denomination twenty-one years later in Seattle WA by my father, Ramon A Haas. The following is an excerpt from a text held at the University of Virginia Library about the Sharon Orphanage revival. To read the entire text, go to RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

"The Latter Rain Movement began as a revival at Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, among students assembled by former Pentecostal Assemblies ministers George Hawtin, and P.G. Hunt and Four-Square Gospel minister Herrick Holt" (Melton 84) in 1948. This was a Pentecostal movement parallel to the healing movement that arose in the midst of the post-World War II evangelical awakening. The movement also bears similarity to the movement that arose at Azusa Street.

The movement was led by William Branham and Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts was a Pentecostal Holiness Preacher who started his own independent healing ministry in 1947 (Riss, 107). In the fall of 1947, Branham held meetings in Vancouver, B.C. and the meetings were attended by many pastors and teachers (Riss, 106). Among those that attended were people from North Battleford and they "returned to supply the spark that ignited the controversial Latter Rain movement" (Riss, 106). Therefore, the Latter Rain Revival actually originated at Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. Former Pentecostal Assemblies minister George Hawtin, and P.G. Hunt and Four-Square Gospel minister Herrick Holt assembled the students (Melton 84). The need for a new revival such as the healing movements by Roberts and Branham and the Latter Rain movement, stemmed from the perceived "dryness" of the Pentecostal faith. Pentecostalism was lacking in the manifestations of the Spiritual gifts and the Latter Rain revival focused primarily on the Spirit so it catered to exactly what people wanted (Riss, 113). In 1949, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada tried to suppress the revival and the revival was forced out of the Assemblies of God church.

The reasons for denouncing the revival according to the Assemblies of God were "(1) it relied too heavily upon present-day apostles and prophets (i.e., a self-appointed charismatic leadership); (2) it practiced the confessing and pronouncing of forgiveness by one member upon another; (3) it advocated the practice of bestowing spiritual gifts by the laying-on-of-hands; and (4) it distorted Scripture so as to arrive at conclusions not generally accepted by members of the Assemblies" (Melton, 84).

The revival continued to spread and ministers left the Assemblies of God church and took part in the Latter Rain movement. In the 1950s, William Branham and Oral Roberts were very influential in encouraging the spread of the Latter Rain revival. The revival died down slowly and most people considered the Latter Rain movement dead along with all of its doctrines. In actuality, the Latter Rain movement had quite an impact on Pentecostal beliefs and certain Latter Rain doctrines can be seen in Pentecostalism such as: the fivefold ministry, the laying on of hands, the feast of Tabernacles and the foundational truths of Hebrews 6:1-2 (Riss, 124). Manifestations of the Latter Rain movement can be seen in the Vineyard movement and most recently the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola Revival. These movements are not new but really just resurgences of Latter Rain."

If one examines closely the specific doctrines of the ABC you will find them nearly identical to those espoused by the Latter rain Movement such as: the fivefold ministry, the laying on of hands, the feast of Tabernacles and the foundational truths of Hebrews 6:1-2. These are all carryovers from the teachings at the Sharon Orphanage which were directly influenced by William Branham’s teachings in the fall of 1947.

In the next post I will examine the link between William Branham and the three men who most influenced the development of the Assembly of the Body of Christ denomination; Derek Prince, James A Watt and Ern Baxter and will review their ties to the Sharon Orphanage and School and some of the connections the ABC has to these people and movements.

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1-My Crime

2008-02-24T09:24:00.001-08:00

I was once an "elder", and a teacher, in the Assembly of the Body of Christ (ABC), and am the son of Ramon A Haas, the founder. At least once per week I taught in various home meetings throughout the Portland OR / Vancouver WA area and was at no time a paid teacher. In truth, despite the ordination paper given to me 1976, as shown below,

I never regarded myself as an “elder”. I was one who shared the Word of God as I understood it and did so freely.

With the exception of a several year period, during which I had been previously ex-communicated by my father, I taught in the ABC for over thirty years. I will give the details on that first ex-communication in a later post.

The day of my "crime", a Saturday, I was teaching at a man's home named Mark. Saturday nights were the "communion nights" at their house, and only those who had been baptized by a member of the ABC would gather in a small group to sing, pray, eat a meal together and have a teaching. There were other nights called "Foundation Nights" , usually Thursday, where those who had been baptized elsewhere, or had not been baptized at all, were allowed to attend.

I was the teacher most Saturday evenings at Mark's house and, on the day of my “crime” I referred to the story of Christ when, at age twelve, he was found missing as he, his parents and siblings traveled by caravan through the desert. Here is the story as is found in Luke:

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why have you thus dealt with us? behold, your father and I have sought you sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that you sought me? knew you not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Luke 2:41-52

After relating this story in my teaching a woman asked me this question

"Did Christ sin when he stayed behind in Jerusalem? I mean he made his parents come back and get him, didn't he? I thought He was perfect."

My response to the question was:

"No, Christ did not sin against God, however he may have trespassed against his parents by making them go out of their way to retrieve him."

I said nothing more about the subject and no one balked at my answer that night. My teaching, and the rest of the meeting, went as planned. However, there was one individual in the room who inwardly felt my answer was blasphemous. This person did not approach me to voice their concern or get the point clarified. This person instead reported my “blasphemy” to Bruce Leonard, the overseeing or ruling elder of the area. He then reported this to Gilbert Larson, the apostle, who made the determination I had in fact nearly blasphemed the Holy Spirit with my comment and must be "eternally judged" and ex-communicated since this type of blasphemy is essentially unforgiveable and it was not yet clear if I could be forgiven. No one spoke to any of the other participants of that Saturday meeting to get their views of my statement or to see if I had actually “blasphemed”.

A few days after that meeting I received a phone call from Andy Atwell and Mark, the owner of the home where the meetings are held. The pair wanted to meet with me so I invited them to my house. They refused to come to my house and stated they wanted to meet me at the local International House of Pancakes instead. They planned to be there in half an hour and instructed me not to bring my wife, that I must come alone. This should have been a clue as the ABC believes that it is “unsafe'” spiritually to enter the home of someone who has become “unclean”.

I met Andy and Mark at the IHOP that night and the only topic of conversation was a statement they claimed was made by another guy named Wayne at a previous meeting I had not attended. They alleged Wayne had stated Christ had sinned and they intended to confront Wayne about this statement, pass an "eternal judgment" on him, and planned to "put him on discipline". That discipline meeting would be the following Sunday morning. I told Andy and Mark that night I did not feel Wayne, in his heart, would ever believe such a thing, and if he said something like that it must have been misconstrued. I also told them I had seen many people's lives destroyed over the years by "the body's disciplines” and made it clear I did not agree with their plan to discipline Wayne. I told them I would attend their meeting and I would not be on Wayne's side, nor would I would be on their side, wherever the truth fell, that's where I would be. Those were the exact words I related. Nothing was ever mentioned to me at the IHOP that night of the allegation that I too had supposedly stated Christ had sinned and therefore blasphemed. Not a single word.

I arrived at the "discipline" meeting the following Sunday. It was at Bruce Leonard's house and nearly every single elder from the area was there (a few refused to attend and not long after suffered retribution), but Wayne, the purported subject of the meeting, was not. Instead Bruce Leonard opened the meeting with a lengthy prayer then brought out a legal pad with pages and pages of accusations scrawled on it. After telling me first I was being "eternally judged", and that my crime had been witnessed by two elders and therefore must be true I was informed I would not allowed to speak on my own behalf. He then began reading the accusations to me. The only thing I could think at the time he was reading was that I thank God he is mercy and truth because these things being read exhibited neither mercy nor truth. The scripture tells us it is Satan, the enemy, not God who is the accuser of our souls.

The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:9-10

I was condemned that day as a "blasphemer" and, as far as the ABC was concerned, the judgment was final and eternal and could not be rebutted. I was forbidden to speak to anyone in the ABC unless another elder was present and I was forbidden to continue Foundation Meetings in my home or even invite anyone to my house unless I also invited an elder in good standing as well.

After this meeting, every person I knew; some whom had been my "friend" since I was a child; received a letter or phone call telling them I was a "blasphemer" and they should have nothing more to do with me. I had grown up with many of these people; having spent more than thirty years being "family" with them; and I was now forbidden to speak to anyone unless another elder was present. It was a lot to bear and I did not bear well under the strain and eventually suffered some stress related health issues.

A few disobeyed the orders and dropped by my house anyhow. Some to inquire what I had done that made me such a pariah and others to offer encouragement and show a little love. All were eventually pressured into not talking to me and told they must decide if they were "in the body" or they had to get "out of the body". Most stopped visiting me and a couple continued to come by but only to question my life it seemed at the time. The grief at the time was overwhelming and I ended up twice in the emergency room with severe emotional distress. It took years to recover, mostly, and I ended up leaving my employer of more than a dozen years soon after what I termed “the lynching” as I could not handle the life stress this had caused and the work stress too. I sold my house, which I had just bought, and moved out of the area. It was at the time as if I had lost my entire family in one day.

If I were the only one this had ever happened to, it could be considered an anomaly but I am not. Most are afraid to speak out thinking God will deal them a punishment.

The intention of my words that night were this and I make no excuse nor feel any regret for my statements and taken in context feel they were accurate. If I step on your toe by accident, have I not trespassed against you? But was it a sin? Of course not. Sin and trespass are two separate things. From a biblical standpoint one need only review the Old Law to see that sin and trespass are not one and the same.

In the story in Luke Christ made his parents leave their caravan (it is not clear if the siblings stayed behind or not), travel a day through the desert alone back to Jerusalem (a very dangerous thing in that day and age), then spend three additional days searching for him. In the light of this story he did indeed trespass against them since he was not at the place he was supposed to be, (he was supposed to be on the caravan) and he did not do it intentionally out of spite against God or his parents. In his youthful mind he thought he was doing good by staying behind and teaching at the temple. However, this unintentional act caused his parents to suffer hardship. Was that a sin? Of course not. Was he where he was supposed to be? No. Was he in perfect obedience to his parents wishes? No again. But it was simply a minor infraction...a trespass. His parents reaction when they found him verify this as they ask him incredulously

"Son, why have you thus dealt with us? behold, your father and I have sought you sorrowing."

The scriptures tell us Christ, on earth, came as a man and had to learn obedience by the things he suffered.

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Hebrews 5:7-9

Christ put aside his Godhead status, made himself not just lower than a man but also lower than the angels.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Hebrews 2:9

I see no example in the scripture Christ was anything other than a normal child as he was growing up...yet without sin against God. His mother, father and brothers knew him only as a part of the family until his ministry began as a young adult. We see evidence in this scripture as well when it says,

"And they understood not the saying which he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them:"

The scriptures state that God sent Christ to earth in the flesh, as a man, lower than the angels even, so he could know and suffer our human frailties. Those who deny this basic truth are deceivers and part of the antichrist.

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 2 John 1:7-8

That is the short story of my faux pas. If I was in error in my words, well I am saved by grace anyhow, not by Bruce Leonard, and my faith in that grace is all I need to see me through to the end. If someone chooses to remove mercy and grace from me, well, they'll need to wrestle it away from God first and I am quite certain that is not possible.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:4-10

I am not alone in this type of judgment and many others have been "condemned" just like me, over words, and on similar or even lesser charges. My hope is they too would tell their stories but most are too devastated, afraid or unable. For this reason I have taken on this endeavor to write out a bit of my own history in the ABC.

Welcome

2008-02-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

On this blog I have posted a few of my personal recollections of the origins, goals and purposes of a church named "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" (ABC) started by my father, Ramon A Haas, in 1969. Over the decades this church has evolved into something that is not always peaceable. A great deal about the origins has been kept deliberately hidden from view and the true roots of the church are buried deep within several denominations with influences from several movements intertwining these roots as well. For a lengthy period of time I simply accepted at face value what I was told and then just did as I was told. I was after all a rather immature youth of thirteen years when it all began and having suffered through several major family traumas already I simply went along and did not question. In these postings I do not draw simply on my own recollections of my decades within the confines of the ABC but have also performed many hours of research as well. As my research unfolded the true story of the origins carried me into places I did not expect it would. When I had put all of the pieces I could find together the reasons for many things that happened over the years made much more sense.

After my father's death in October 1985 at sixty-two years of age four men took the reins of the church; Gilbert Larson (the Apostle), Andy Atwell (the Evangelist), Bruce Leonard, and David North (the Prophet). This reportedly was after a sustained power struggle between these leaders and my step-mother Yvonne. Based on the churches current website it appears Gilbert Larson may be now taking a lesser role and this is assumed to be due to his failing health. Three men are now the represented leaders; David North, Andy Atwell and Robin Hesley. It is important to note the designation of these leaders because the ABC purports to have a doctrine that there are no leaders. Yet, as can be clearly seen by their own materials, they in fact do. Under these top men (women are not allowed a leadership role) are those considered to be ruling elders, then under them elders, and scattered about the various groups designated musicians. The title lines are not finely drawn but as a general rule only the top men receive pay for their services, the remainder are unpaid.

The ABC grew straight out of the roots of the Pentecostal, Latter Rain and Branhamism denominational movements and has a scattering of other influences which will be addressed later. The visible church stem we see today began as a small gathering in Seattle at the Wilcrest Apartments and over the years grew into an official denomination, albeit an aberrant one. This denomination continues to meet nearly exclusively in homes across a wide swath of mostly western states but in fact has relatively few members. Over the years there have been many many that joined the church but most drifted away when the burden became too heavy to bear. Some indeed left crushed and very broken. It is in fact difficult to keep members when the worship of God is a hugely complex system of Greek studies and the harsh manners of keeping things in line and questions at bay destroys any joy one has.

Having grown up in "Assembly of the Body of Christ" (ABC) I know and witnessed personally many things about the origins of its doctrines, its practices, and it's current leadership. I knew all of the current leaders personally. And while I do not think any of them, with the possible exception of one, start their day intending to do harm the ultra-fundamentalism and unbending nature of the doctrine they teach leaves little room for anything else.

When I view the ABC in retrospect it is clear to me that persons are drawn in with the empty promise of love and a larger knowledge of scripture but many; and it could be argued most; are eventually pushed out the back end disillusioned and a great many crushed by burdens too heavy to bear. It pains me that I was once part of the system of influences that caused such pain.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Matthew 23:4

Over they years I withstood many of the "disciplines" I saw meted out and stood defiant against many of the abuses I saw inflicted on others; even many children. Why I put up with the abuses and why I did not speak out louder and sooner is a matter that bothers me immensely. However I have come to realize that when one lives and grows up in a culture of false oneness and secrecy silence and blind obedience is inevitably the usual outcome. Silence is taught to be the “righteous” endeavor while speaking out finds on labeled as “rebellious”. When I began to speak up about the abuses I saw being inflicted on others and when the “disciplines” given to me by a man named Bruce Leonard in Vancouver WA became nothing short of sadistic; and even life threatening for a time after I was involved in a major auto accident; the leaders sought to discredit me. The worst charge they could level was to accuse me of blasphemy which they did with the intent to silence me . I was ex-communicated after I did not agree to abide by their discipline. Those who chose to communicate with me still were eventually told they must decide if they were “in the body” or “out of the body”. This is a scary scenario to an ABC member since it is taught heavily that to achieve salvation you must be “in the body”. The “body” of course meaning only “the ABC”.

The ABC is only one of many similar aberrant churches that do great damage to people. Here is a good site that explains how aberrant churches work. If you are in a aberrant group, like the ABC, or wonder if you are, there is also a great test on the web located at Super Apostle Detector. I have no affiliation with and did not prepare either of these sites; they are the works of others. The detector is a quick "yes or no" test that will tell you if your church is overly authoritarian like the ABC. You need not give any personal information to take this test.
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