More thoughts regarding the Church of Wells...and The Way...and us humans...and...

Since around Tuesday of last week, I have been reading about the Church of Wells. Much of what I've read and seen has been directly from the Church of Wells own website - members' and leaders' testimonies and rebuttals, some of the doctrines and leaders' blogs.

I have so many thoughts that go through my mind...just about human groups in general. It's a fascinating subject, at least for me.

Part of me wants to compose a comparison between the tactics of the Church of Wells and tactics of The Way. But that sounds draining to me. Plus, there are plenty of essays, articles, etc., on the web that outline coercive tactics in human groups.

One thing (among many other things) that has struck me in reading some of the Church of Wells' testimonies, is that many of the followers were already Christians before joining up with or, in the case of the founders, initiating the Church of Wells. In fact, some of the testimonies I've read state that the encounters within their former Christian groups/churches acted as catalysts or confirmations to join up with (or initiate) the Church of Wells.

I can imagine that the same would be true of others who have joined fringe groups. I know that was the case for me; I was already a Christian when I hooked up with The Way.

I recall my own fervent zeal from over 36 years ago. The hours upon hours, days upon days, months upon months, I spent in prayer and tears and anguish, longing to know God's will for my life. My desire had been to learn Greek and Hebrew so I could know what the Word said; the many various interpretations confused me, not to mention what I perceived as hypocritical lifestyles and behaviors. So I applied and got accepted at a college with a biblical leaning located in a community with non-denominational, spirit-filled home churches. At the time, I thought I'd go into Christian counseling as my major. During my first semester of college, I was introduced to The Way.

My fellow Christian friends at Bible college warned me The Way was a cult. These same friends interrogated me regarding the devilish doctrines of The Way; The Way was of Satan who poses as an angel of light. The Way taught "another Jesus," not the true Jesus. These same friends blamed me for my college dorm roommate's mental illness challenges; it was my going to Way fellowships that caused her to get possessed of demons. Their warnings and interrogations and accusations simply drove me deeper into Way fellowships where Way believers welcomed me with open arms.

At 18 years old I quit college to study and serve with The Way. I thought I had found the living Book of Acts; the love of God was real, tangible, life giving.

Immediately upon quitting college, I moved into a Way Home to live with like-minded believers. Some five months later I volunteered for Word Over North Carolina, a two-month summer outreach program. On the heels of Summer Outreach, I volunteered as a Word Over the World (WOW) Ambassador which was a one-year commitment. At the end of my WOW year, I entered the in-residence Way Corps leadership training program - a lifetime commitment which involved four years of training with at least two of those years on Way properties.

The Way Corps training was the modern-day "School of the Prophets." I would get to live with leaders and be trained like Timothy was with Paul; iron sharpeneth iron. I would be immersed in the Word 24/7, away from the world. I would learn to believe God bigger. I would learn to better operate the nine "manifestations." I would learn how to do things right, from setting at table to shooting a rifle. I would learn how to lead God's people.

We, the Way Corps, were the Levites of our day and time. We were elite, God's crack troops. As Wierwille would say, something along the lines of, "As goes the Corps, so goes the world." We, the Way Corps, were spiritually responsible for the believers of whom we were charged oversight; we were responsible to know the spiritual atmosphere of the cities to which we were assigned.

The Way Ministry was the "true Household of God," the "functioning Body of Christ." Every other person on earth was either an "unbelieving believer," [unsaved] natural man, or born of the seed of the serpent. Way believers alone were "the remnant." As believers, we were responsible for keeping the integrity and accuracy of God's Word alive for the next generation. The "whore houses" (churches) on the corners couldn't do it; they were steeped in spiritual adultery and idolatry; they taught the false Jesus where the adversary posed as an angel of light.

It took time, but eventually the crack troops of The Way cracked and the cards of the house lay scattered. Lives and families were deeply harmed. Former followers coming forward, lawsuits, and the internet spawned its unraveling. Eventually the exposure of the dishonesty and arrogance of top leaders brought down The Way from its high and mighty stance on which it had set itself. The Way, though crippled, managed to hang on and is still around today but is now much smaller when compared to its previous size and influence.

The current Way isn't as abusive as it once was; it had to clean up its act if it was going to maintain incoming financial donations. At least, that is my opinion. Top leadership of The Way has never (to my knowledge) been accountable to Way followers for their actions. I'm not holding my breath that they will ever step up to the plate

Some would say The Way in its former days wasn't as bad as this Church of Wells. I'm not sure. In some respects it's probably worse and in others not as bad. As an online acquaintance once stated to me, "Comparing abuses is like comparing Dante's levels of hell."

Human groups are intriguing. Actually, all sorts of animal groups and herds are intriguing. But, I don't think non-human animals use manipulation to control their herds; I imagine herds are directed due to instinct. I think manipulation and coercion are probably unique to us two-legged human creatures.

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Dr. Laurie Roth provides a phone number and email for Church of Wells followers considering an exit from CoW. The contact information is: churchofwellsexitplan@hushmail.com and 206-984-6859.

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Links to my blog posts regarding Church of Wells:
Church of Wells: I see no good end ....
More thoughts regarding the Church of Wells...and The Way...and us humans...and...
Church of Wells ...when the doubts arise...

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Sacred

This past Tuesday I took a hike.
For a few minutes, I stood on the trail facing southwest.
Breeze was blowing.
Eyes were closed.
Sun warmed my cheeks and eyelids.
Sacred.

And then a song came through my Bluetooth earpiece.
It was my first time ever hearing this song.
Yes, sacred.




Ben Taylor, son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, wrote Nothing I Can Do for his mom.


Nothing I Can Do by Ben Taylor

First morning ever to have seen the sun
Must have run the other way
Until she found that it was only getting earlier that way
When she spun one-hundred eighty degrees
And beheld the sweet light rising through the trees
She fell to her knees and she began to smile, because
She had been in darkness for a long long while,
She said...

There is nothing that I can do but belong to you
Heaven and Earth and I find myself
Singing this song for you
As luck would have it, it just so happens that there's
Nothing I'd Rather do

And the first lesson ever to have learned its way
Must've been surprised
All I can say is I'm just glad that I survived,
And the first river to have met the sea,
I believe he must've sighed, said
All this rambling I'm glad to finally find, that
After all I haven't just been wasting my time.

There is nothing that I can do but belong to you
Heaven and Earth and I find myself
Singing this song for you
As luck would have it, it just so happens that there's
Nothing I'd Rather do.

Just so long as your flying around high
Whatever you find out in the sky
Don't forget to fall down sometimes
I'm easy to find, look around you
It's a good thing that I finally found you.

There is nothing that I can do but belong to you
Heaven and Earth and I find myself
Singing this song for you
As luck would have it, it just so happens that there's
Nothing I'd Rather do.

Church of Wells: I see no good end ....

... to this small group in Texas. I hope I'm wrong and that the group will eventually dissolve. Time will tell.



The group has a website here: The Church of Wells.
Here is a link to access the bios of the founders: About Us
Apparently the Church of Wells had its beginnings as Ye Must Be Born Again Ministries and started in Arlington, Texas, in 2010 before moving to Wells, Texas, in 2012.

To me, the above video and the bios of the young founders are almost more telling of, and are at the very least corroborative with, the cult-like allegations from various news reports.

Exclusiveness and elitism, emotional conversion, literalism, obedience to elders, and the perception of persecution - all justified by scripture - are only a few of the telltale indications of "my-no-good-end" statement.

The group has been in the news due to at least a couple events linked below.

• A three-day old infant, of parents who are members of the group, died in May 2012; the parents, along with the leaders of the group, had chosen to pray over the infant instead of seeking medical care. 911 was called fifteen hours after the infant died.
• Parents of Catherine Grove became concerned after their 26-year old daughter went missing. Catherine contacted her parents about a week after her disappearance. At that time, according to her parents, "[Catherine] said I'm in Wells, Texas and I'm with a group of people that are taking good care of me and that I can't listen to you mom and dad anymore that I have to keep my hands over my ears and I can only listen to my elders." Here is one link, among many, regarding the story: CNN...'The Church of Wells' controversy. Here is another link which gives more background about Catherine Grove, about the Church of Wells, and about the town of Wells: Searching for Souls in Wells, Texas

A former member of the group, Patrick Jones, who (at 23 years old) quit school and his job and cut ties with his family to join the group, shares his experience in a two part interview series linked below. Jones was a part of the group for one year while the group was based in Arlington, Texas. Good on Patrick for leaving the group and for speaking up.

EXCLUSIVE PART I: Interview with former Church of Wells member
EXCLUSIVE PART II: Interview with former Church of Wells member

From the Part 1 Interview:

...Jones says he felt trapped, he felt like he was being held "spiritually captive" and there was no way out.

"I felt like, if I leave, I felt like where am I going to go? You know that was my first question. At this time, I had preached very harshly to my mom and basically told her and just condemned her and told her she was going to go to hell because some of the elders told me that I needed to cut all ties and that I need to stop talking to friends and family and cut everything loose, and so I did because they felt like I was holding on to some stuff and Houston, and so I did. I called her and preached to her and I said unless you repent, I can't have a fellowship with you, basically I couldn't talk to her."

He said he felt like he had no family to turn to besides his "spiritual" family in the church, so Jones stayed. ...


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Dr. Laurie Roth provides a phone number and email for Church of Wells followers considering an exit from CoW. The contact information is: churchofwellsexitplan@hushmail.com and 206-984-6859.

***
Links to my blog posts regarding Church of Wells:
Church of Wells: I see no good end ....
More thoughts regarding the Church of Wells...and The Way...and us humans...and...
Church of Wells ...when the doubts arise...

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This following link directs to a discussion forum regarding the Church of Wells: Church of Wells/YMBBA Ministries. As of 3/16/14, the board is not accepting new registrations, but threads can be read by the public.

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The following was posted on 3/13/14.
Religious group staking its claim in Texas town of Wells

The Al Jazeera America video is no longer available. According to their website: Select video clips are available on Al Jazeera America’s website for a limited time. If you are unable to locate a specific video clip by using the search bar, they are currently not available.

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The following was posted on 3/17/14.
Family fears their daughter is lost to controversial Church of Wells

The Al Jazeera America video is no longer available. According to their website: Select video clips are available on Al Jazeera America’s website for a limited time. If you are unable to locate a specific video clip by using the search bar, they are currently not available.

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