10-The Big Brown House

The stench at the "sewer house" was unbearable and something had to be done so my father called a city inspector. Tests showed the property would not perk, the septic tank issue was not fixable and without connection to the city sewer system the home was to be condemned. These tract homes had been built without proper permits when Mountlake Terrace was newly forming and no one at the city had been paying attention. Quite a number of homes were affected so the city began work on a plan to rescue the entire neighborhood, rather than condemn it completely. But that fix would take years so, in the meantime, the home was uninhabitable. We had to move.

My father located a  huge four bedroom rental home in Mountlake Terrace, not far from the "sewer house". Because of its size and color it would become known as "the big brown house". This was the site of major changes for both our family and "the group".  It was at this house my brother graduated high school, left home then soon married. (The ABC believes in arranged marriages and this was an arranged marriage.) My father quit his job, started a successful business called "Medic Repair" and this gave him a more flexible schedule.  Many new people would be introduced to the group; some young, some old, and more of the previous members would leave. But the numbers continued to grow and reached the point that even the large living room could not handle the crowd. The meetings were split once again.

The previous attempt at breaking up "the group" into three smaller meetings caused much unrest. Those original squabbles once again rose to the surface, the central point being a huge disagreement over who should fellowship at who's house. One individual wanted "district lines" drawn and 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, and with whoever, they wished, whenever they wanted.  To end the squabbling, it was decided; by whom I do not know, that for a short period the "Foundation Meetings", on Thursdays, would continue in three separate homes but the "Communion Meetings", on Saturdays, intended only for those who had been baptized in the ABC, would be combined back into one meeting in our large living room at the "big brown house".  This worked fine, at first, and the return to a single Saturday "Communion Meeting" eased some of the tensions, but it was clear our living room, even though large, would never handle the ever-increasing crowd. A return to three separate Saturday meetings was inevitable but this time it would be at different homes than  before to avoid any more "trouble".

It was now 1971. This would be the year of the first "All-Church Gathering". This gathering was not officially called the "all-church" the first year, and was nothing more than 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. Originally open to all persons the first two years, it was decided "outsiders" would be prohibited from attending future "all-church gathering" so it could be classified as a "communion meeting". 

At the big brown house, my father, 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. Gilbert Larson would marry a woman named CaraLee  in Grants Pass and most members of her family would begin to attend the meetings, some becoming elders in "the group".  They then 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 through ex-communication. I will discuss that in detail in a later post. As a result, there are no longer any persons in Grants Pass directly associated with the ABC and those meetings ended decades ago.

This pattern of growth, then sudden annihilation, has played itself out many many times in the history of the ABC and directly results from  overbearing, legalistic, authoritarian leadership tactics that are devoid of mercy, compassion and love.  The doctrinal philosophies of the ABC inevitably lead to shunning and ex-communication of members over minor disagreements. Most times it results in not just one person but instead large swaths of people finding themselves accused of some "crime" against God (as I have been many times). A frenzy of furious spiritual and emotional backstabbing would  follow the browbeating and thumb squashing by the leaders. This tactic destroys a person completely and has left many broken people behind to wonder what happened to their life and their joy. These spiritual "stabbings" and "beatings" do not spare family members. 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 whole families destroyed by the leadership and doctrines of the ABC. The ABC praises the making of broad phylacteries filled with derivations of Greek and Hebrew words and tenses and also feel they have achieved a higher plane of perfection than all others. It is an egotistical view. It is this view that allows the justification to suddenly, and viciously without warning, turn on others as prey.  I am just as guilty over the years of having just gone along but I woke up and saw my error.

There are two lions mentioned in the scriptures. The Lion of Judah, for which it is safe for even the smallest lamb to lie in peace without fear of torment, and there is the devil, who the bible states walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. I have seen souls crushed and devoured by the false "disciplines" of the ABC. There came a day when I asked myself the question. Which lion do we/they actually 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 nearly “devoured” by falsehoods before I saw the ABC for what it really is. A vicious cult that has deceived many.
 
In the next post, our family moves from the "big brown house" to Lake Forest Park. My father, in exchange for a truce over the tithe squabble, gives his Medic Repair business to Earl then begins full-time ministry as the recognized "apostle" of "the group".

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