Where Do We Go from Here?

Believe in and Receive Christ Jesus, Your Lord

Go into your bedroom and get on your knees or stand with your hands uplifted and pray out loud something like this: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for showing me who you are! Thank you for dying to pay the price for my sins! I am so sad that you had to suffer so much! Thank you for the totality of your forgiveness of my past, present and future sins! Your infinite character and Blood paid the infinite price.

I praise you Father, Son and Holy Spirit for your Supreme Holiness and Majesty for caring for me enough to send Jesus to this earth. I renounce every deceiving spirit that has kept me from understanding your Holy Word. I repent of and renounce every sin that has troubled me all my life. I renounce every unforgiving thought I have ever had of anyone. I forgive every person who has ever hurt me.

If there is someone I need to apologize to, help me think of him or her and do it. Thank you for allowing me to be born again. I receive you Father, Son and Holy Spirit into my heart and I overflow with your love. I accept the gift of Christ’s cleansing Blood. Thank you for new eyes to see the sad people around me who don’t know you. Thank you for new eyes to see my brothers and sisters in Christ that I didn’t know before. Thank you that I don’t have to be a good example in order for people to be saved because you are the Savior. All I have to do is love them and share the gospel with them. Thank you for a new heart to love them. And I do love them.

I forgive the Two by Twos for their blindness. Help them to know you. I love them, Lord. Help them to see what Jesus did to set them free. Thank you for this beautiful world that you gave us. I praise you for every natural and spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Forgive me for taking anything you have given me for granted. Thank you for every experience that has brought me to this point in my life. Help me now to lay up treasure in heaven by sharing the good things you have given to me with others. Help me see myself and others with new and forgiving eyes. Let the love of Jesus shine on my face and love other people through me. Help me read your Word with understanding and true fruitfulness. I praise you, Father. May your will be done on earth and in me as it is in heaven. If there is anything that you want me to know or to do, please prompt me through your Holy Word. Amen

Now go tell someone you love that you have been born again. Mail a few exit letters and information to your loved ones. After receiving Christ you should feel free. But some people do experience anxiety every once in awhile. It may be Satan or it may simply be the habit of anxiety acquired while professing.

Pray for God’s help and guidance before reading and studying. Be objective. Set aside every attitude, prejudice, cliché and thought that the workers instilled.

Blindness, Fear and Loneliness: Irvine’s Legacy

To get rid of the blindness learn to do Inductive Bible Study, a method of study that gives the meaning of the text out of the text, by the process of observation, interpretation and application.

Observation. Read one or two verses or one paragraph. What does the passage say? Summarize it in your own words and write it down. Determine the grammatical context and the historical context. How did the original readers understand the passage? Define any unusual words, using their literal meanings. Ask the questions: Who? What? Where? Why? When? How?

Interpretation.What does the passage mean? Keep the meaning in context. Get to know scripture as a whole. Scripture will never contradict scripture. If it seems to contradict information found elsewhere in the Bible, you have made a mistake. God didn’t make the mistake. Interpret scripture literally, always, unless the text obviously indicates that it is to be understood symbolically. Look for the author’s intended meaning to his target audience. Check your conclusions with other Bible students or teachers if you have questions.

Application. Ask, how does this passage apply to me? Is there something I need to ask God to forgive? Do I need to forgive someone else? Do I need to apologize to anyone? Do I need to make things right with anyone? Do I need to change my attitude or behavior? Should I pray for someone? Should I share the gospel with someone? Should I praise and worship God because of this passage? Does this passage have any meaning to me at all? Or is it just for the people at that time? Is this a prophecy that has been fulfilled or is it for the future? Sometimes information is just information, without any direct bearing on us. It was intended for the original readers only.

Listen to Christian radio and praise music. Get some Christian videos or attend some seminars to make up for wasted years so that you can learn all the things that you missed knowing and experiencing.

How To Handle Fear Or Loneliness

Satan has instilled fear in everyone who has been a part of this group. The fear will remain until a person recognizes the errors, deceit and bondage that produce the fear. It may take about five years and lots of talking, praying, and study of Christian doctrine.

II Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”Memorizing and quoting scripture is a good method for dealing with fear.

The built-in friends and relatives in the church and the isolation induced by mind control socially stunts people born and raised within the group. People are accustomed to social rejection outside of the church because of their critical or gloomy attitudes and unusual appearance. When a person sheds the bondage of this church he should find a happier, freer personality that attracts new friends. He will also learn that what he thought was friendship inside the group was not friendship at all, but merely a collection of people united in confusion and depression. True friends have heart-to-heart, honest communication without fear of reprisals.

Identity Crisis is a major hurdle for professing women, especially. Hairstyle and clothing is a major factor in a woman’s identity and affects how others treat her. A complete makeover is in order. As long as a woman wears her hair long and in a bun the workers have her under their mental control. Discard as many meeting clothes as possible.

Avoid the “friends” and professing relatives as much as possible. Being with them and talking to them sometimes induces nightmares and depression.

Helping Someone Else Out Of The Church

If you are trying to help someone leave the church you might find that one scriptural visit will be all that he will allow you. If he finds he cannot deal with your questions or objections he may avoid you altogether because of fear or pride. It will depend on your relationship. If you are married to a professing person, don’t be surprised if the workers start hinting to your spouse that he or she might start preparing for a divorce. For those reasons you might find that sending information anonymously may help the person better than head-on confrontation. Only you will be able to ascertain which method might be best. Go to meetings to gather all the information, addresses, sermon quotes, names and even tape recordings, if possible. If you are married, try to keep the workers from being alone with your spouse. Gather all the books, tracts, news articles from the Impartial Reporter, all the historical evidence that you can find. Don’t waste time asking questions. Confront the member or workers with concrete evidence of the doctrine and history. At every opportunity make good comments to help him or her think. Avoid ugly confrontations with the friends or workers. Pray that God will protect your mind from deception.

Remember, the blindness of professing people can only be removed by God. So pray diligently, asking others to join you in prayer for him or her. He will need to become suspicious of the church doctrine or policies before he will take you seriously. Pin him down on the word “Truth.” Ask him to define the word Truth. Ask who the Bible calls Truth. Challenge him to be truthful. Show him how and why he needs to be truthful. It is wrong to call the church the Truth.

The places of greatest indoctrination are Special Meetings and Convention. The fewer meetings one attends the greater opportunity to shed the mind control that is generated from the group. There is definitely a mind control at work. Never underestimate it.

Frequent Responses To Questions Or Questioners

“You mean you’ve gone to meeting all these years and don’t know the answer to that?”

“What do you think the answer is? ”

“It is dangerous to question God’s true servants. It is the sin of presumption. It is blasphemy to doubt the Holy Spirit.”

Snappy body language and heavy silence and frowns.

The question is answered with a “true story” about someone else who had the same question with a “terrible ending” for the person or his children.

They will use partial scripture to defend their position or say the Spirit gave the revelation.

A whisper campaign against you to discredit your “spirit,” integrity, understanding or sanity.

They will turn your family and friends against you by telling them you are the enemy, poison, have the wrong spirit or are confused.

They will refuse to say amen to your prayers in meeting, obviously saying amen to everyone else’s.

They will shuffle their feet during your testimony and then refute everything you said when they give their testimonies. This silently warns everyone in meeting against you.

They will refuse to speak or shake hands with you after meeting.

They will ban the address and phone lists of the friends in the field.

They will fib or stretch the truth in order to convince you of something. Don’t believe anything they say without written proof.

They may tell you that people have complained about your spirit or testimonies. (This is an excuse and not usually true.)

They change the subject as quickly as possible. They deflect the question to another area in which they feel more comfortable.

They may ask you not to take part in meetings anymore and tell others that you made the decision to leave.

They will ask you not to partake of the emblems anymore.

If you are a worker, they will remove your name from the workers’ list.

They will tell people you are bitter and are trying to start your own church or movement.

They will say that anyone who leaves the church will suffer for the rest of his life until he re-professes

They call any historical or doctrinal information about the church “poison” or “garbage” and warn everyone not to read it.

If anyone causes the workers too much trouble, the workers will move the meeting place and refuse to tell him where it is.

Announcing Your Decision To Leave

If you are a member and have decided to leave the church there are different ways you might handle it. It will depend on you and your situation.

You could speak on doctrinal topics in every one of your testimonies. Stay as sweetly kind and humble as Jesus would.
You could announce your decision to leave meetings in your testimony.
You could just quit going to meeting but if you don’t announce your reason they will attempt to draw you back in or they will invent their own reasons about why you left.
Write a letter to all your friends and relatives, giving the scriptural errors you have found within the doctrines.
Send as much information as you can to explain your decision. Send copies of letters from Irvine and Cooney or other workers and point out their scriptural errors and historical lies.
Avoid personal reasons of dissatisfaction. Those are the worker’s favorite reasons. They regard them as proof that you aren’t worthy of salvation.
Journaling your experience is a very helpful way to work your way out of the mind control.
Send old sermon notes, pictures, convention lists, address lists and correspondence to counter-cult ministries who are interested in helping others.

How To Handle Emotional After-Effects

There are definitely lingering psychological problems that occur after being a part of this cult or any cult. After a healthy church and doctrinal help have been found, it may be necessary to find an “exit counselor” to help shed the emotional problems related to cult membership and legalistic bondage. Contact Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center for information.

Hundreds of people inside and outside the “way”, including countless workers have locked horns with the mindset of this church and have had no success in reasoning with them from scripture. Six of the original nine workers who followed Irvine later renounced this “way” as being unscriptural and dishonest. It did no good.

God may have been allowing you to go through adversity or depression so that you would examine your faith. Have you been relying on people more than on scripture? Have you been robbing God of money that you should have given to Him? Have you failed to praise and glorify God? Have you been living a life of secret sin? If you have any residual confusion after leaving the group, it may be grief.

Reasons For Grieving

Loss of childhood
Loss of time and wasted years
Loss of identity
Loss of talents you might have developed and used
Loss of boundaries that felt safe
Loss of direction
Loss of friends and relatives
Loss of the old reality as one understood it
Lost opportunities to lay up treasure in heaven
Loss of approval from peers
Loss of health
Loss of emotional stability
Loss of career opportunities

Anxiety Attacks

Satan troubles professing people and ex-professing people with several questions: Who will have my funeral if I die? Is it wrong for me to be angry? Why did God let this happen? People who are critical of the workers are just bitter! What if the workers are right? These are thoughts from the accuser. These questions must be answered immediately each time they occur. When the thought occurs, talk to God. Thank God for setting you free. Quote the 23^rd Psalm out loud. Think about each reason why the church doctrine is wrong. Focus on scripture and doctrine. Take every thought captive with scripture. Don’t think about people or how your feelings have been hurt.

Although the King James Version is an excellent Bible it is important to get a different Bible because it will be a painful reminder of the workers’ doctrine. A Study Bible is exceptionally helpful. Do a Bible read-through at least once a year, plus learn to do inductive Bible study. Reading the Bible is not the same thing as studying the Bible. In order to understand the Bible, one must Hear the Word taught, Read the Word, Study the Word, Memorize the Word and Meditate on the Word.

Bible Study Fellowship, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is an excellent inter-denominational Bible study program, free classes open all over the world.

There are several things that are crucial to Christian Faith

Believe that God is Who He says He is.
Worship God.
Believe God will do what He says He will do.
Believe you are who God says you are.
Believe you can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens you.
Believe God’s Word and Spirit is alive and active in you and the universe.
Believe God’s Word is true.
Practice prayer daily and continually.
Read the Bible with understanding and obey it.
Fellowship with other Christians.

Church Without a Name, The (Chapter 10)