None Dare Call It Brainwashing
I have high hopes that one day I should retire in full from this field of open and public controversy. I should like to apply the appellation of “Farewell Address” to this article. Indeed, it will be followed by a period of self-imposed exile from the discussion of these rather important matters.
I say “important” because, in spite of NTCC’s gross distortion of its own significance in the world, I count it as a victory to help to enlighten and therefore rescue even one soul that is deceived thereby.
I have chosen not to engage in the many forms of running debate available on the subject of NTCC, preferring to insist upon a few primary principles rather than to escalate range-of-the-moment arguments that only serve to direct attention away from essential truths. And make no mistake, the light of truth-or, to be more specifically accurate, the inconvenience of unwanted attention directed at it’s doctrines and customs–is a radiation under which this cult-like organization must whither.
This explains the irrational, almost agonized, reaction of its loyalists to any and all criticism. A dangerous group whose power is maintained in part through secrecy and revisionism cannot, by definition, withstand (nor will it tolerate) exposure. The source of the light must be destroyed. Thus, the smear campaign against us.
A good deal of misunderstanding arises over terminology.
NTCC defenders actually enjoy being on the receiving end of the “brainwash” accusation. It affords them a useful straw dog–one they can easily kick over while claiming to have defeated the accuser. This is due to the elastic meaning of the term, and more especially to its frequent misuse. Few words conjure more frighteningly praetor natural images, or are more easily deflected as absurdity by those who are actively engaged in the sinister use of the process described by the word.
The cultural backdrop of one’s life establishes the texture of the canvas upon which the pigment of personal experience is applied. Many of us learned of Brainwashing through the agency of science fiction and/or Gothic horror. The word seems to imply the cleansing of the thoughts, memories, and personalities of the individual to make way for some wicked mechanism of control by an outside force or some other party with evil designs.
Surely this would never take place in a church!
Surely it does.
The term specifically conjures for many of us an image of the laboratory slab; the horizontal victim, the complex equipment, the skullcap from which race various non-descript wires and, most importantly, coils of tubing intended to carry {chemicals?} to liquefy the cells of the brain for easy transport to “the machine” for the purpose of {storage?}, making room for liquid “thoughts” to be introduced by way of still more tubing…the cries of protest, the victim strapped down and immobilized, the skullcap on the head, the whirr of inexplicable gears and belts…soon followed by pre-programmed actions and perfect quiescence to the mad scientists’ demands.
It could never happen in a church!
Impossible!
Not…”Brainwashing!”
Happens everyday, if you must know.
I can vividly recall the strange apparatus that stood, rusting and neglected, along the wood line behind the football field next to Greentown Elementary School. It was, in retrospect, what is known as a “blocking sled”; consisting of a flat bottom like the hull of a rowboat, and two upright steel plates to which heavy pads were laced to provide simulated “defensive linemen” for blocking drills. As small children, we thought of this contraption as a torture device. A group of boys would single out a timid victim, position him between the two plates, and imitate the sounds of the mad scientist’s laboratory,
...something like this.....
After several minutes of this, the victim was to obey all commands with pretended mindless detachment. Just like in the movies. The device was called “The Brainwasher”. Surely, a collection of saintly souls would never gang up on an unsuspecting creature for such purposes! Surely they would, not because they are evil, but because they are themselves convinced of the need to push you into their mold.
I should like to examine some of the methods employed by NTCC to this end. Many have already been addressed in the articles on this site, yet certain individual points (and objections raised by loyalists) must at this time be dealt with.
Why do we refer to NTCC as a “cult”?
Upon what are its claims based?
Are their actions and practices defensible?
What is behind the accusations leveled by this church at its critics?
I find it fascinating that, in the mind of the NTCC defender, criticism of the organization is defined in reflexive fashion, without sufficient reason, as an act of devilish wickedness, without a trace of rational or credible evidence for support.
Surely, these partisan individuals are not responding as a brainwashed herd!
Surely they are.
The Essential Question
It is always important, and instructive, to return to basic principles. This serves to clarify all of the facts and burn off the dross of temporary issues and spiraling arguments.
I make several assertions to which I have not received sufficient rebuttal to cease pestering the universe with my statements. These are as follows:
A) That NTCC, reflecting the fear-based control reflexes of it’s Founder and guiding spirit, RW Davis, seeks to institute and enforce upon it’s ministers AND members a laundry list of “standards”, taboos, and abstinences that reach quite outside of and beyond the exhortation and/or specific restriction of the scripture.
B) That in doing so, NTCC frustrates Grace and truncates the growth of the Christian man or woman, denying them Liberty in Christ as recognized by the larger body of believers throughout the world. While cloistering in stagnation, NTCC further consigns the balance of the world’s Christians to the Lake of Fire, whose only offense is the violation of the personal opinions of RW Davis.
C) That in order to enforce and propagate these regulatory burdens on numerous proselytes, NTCC has established an Anti-Christian hierarchy of ministers who enjoy non-scriptural authority over Christ’s followers while exacting undue adoration and deference, thus abusing the Body fo the Lord and wantonly wearing out the saints.
Need I remind the patient reader–may I solicit your patience yet further?–of the reason for the existence of NTCC? The blustery spittle of it’s many pulpiteers could be mopped up and wrung into a veritable ocean of lofty self-importance. NTCC declares itself to be special, a modern move of God, the last chance, the last hope for our time, God’s very own elite special forces, established “For such a time as this” to snatch from the fire those many so-called Christians who have been deceived by the wily tricks of the enemy and have soiled their spiritual underpants by indulging in games such as Go Fish, Uno, Old Maid and Monopoly (with dice) and have endangered their eternal inheritance at the Arcade, the Bowling Alley and the Football stadium.
NTCC seeks to deliver the planet form tight trousers, goatees, cigars, shorts, scissors (in some cases), lack of scissors (in other cases), french fries, and chewing gum. In summary, NTCC exalts it’s opinion-based, para-scriptural definition of “Holiness” so as to maintain an exclusive claim to righteousness.
This presents a chain of problems from which they are unable to disentangle themselves. These difficulties can be delineated thusly:
A) Should the leader of NTCC come to acknowledge his erroneous blunders according to the scripture, he will have effectively penciled himself onto the lengthy roster of would-be gurus who claimed to have the market cornered on Truth, only to be unmasked as fraudulent carnival hucksters.
B) As the secondary leadership of the group continues to de-emphasize the artificial standards that define the movement, (for utilitarian reasons) the members, though pleased with the development, must now ask “What is special and different about NTCC?” They should wonder why they altered their own lives in drastic fashion if the standards are unimportant. They should be scratching their heads over the fact that they left their original church home and willingly cast off the velvet ropes of true friendship that once bound them to precious saints that they have been wrongly taught to label as “compromisers”.
C) The abusive, ridiculous level of patrician authority that ministers enjoy in the presence of their congregations is encouraged by a twisted view of pastoral authority, and only maintains its bite into the life and flesh of each member because the “Holiness” rules–promoted as God’s rules and lauded as the NTCC claim to special status as God’s very own Last Day’s brainchild–hold the individual captive beyond the power of his or her will.
The member feels an obligation to obey in all things, lest the disfavor of the Pastor result in the condemnation of God. The fear of separation from the organization is evidence to the fact that NTCC equates departure from it’s ranks with spiritual death.
D) The softening, mitigation, or outright abandonment of any or all of the group’s standards or practices can only amount to a statement of futility; that all has been in vain, which means; the ministry of RW Davis is non-existent, which means; his organization is operating without the charter of the Holy Spirit, which means; it has no purpose other than existence for the sake of existence. It will be revealed as simply one more fractious cult whose members are owed an explanation.
