I came across some entries from FACT.net and thought I'd share them with you today, on the Anniversary of the day we made the decision to leave NTCC.
It wasn't until January 1, 2006 that we actually physically made our way in a vehicle away from the cult.
This was the entry Brian posted:
Posted on Monday, December 25, 2006 - 10:50 pm:
Tomorrow is the official anniversary date for our escape from NTCC.
We feel wonderful, life is getting better all the time, the freedom is exhilarating, and we could not be more pleased.
Please do not send cards or flowers; just remember the Pelfreys tomorrow and be thankful.
----- There were several responses which followed. I've chosen just a couple:
----------victorjohanson
Advanced Member Username: victorjohanson Post Number: 584 Registered: 9-2005
Posted on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 2:10 am:
Stay encouraged, bro; it gets even better. Eleven years and counting...
Vic Johanson
----------------------------
Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 12:29 am:
pelfd,
Congratulations! (I think?!)
I actually left after a PCS from Ft. Kobbe, Panama to Ft. Campbell, KY. After all these years, I do not regret leaving. I am just now able to share and open up after all these years keeping this "bottled up."
In a nutshell, why did you leave ntcc? If you already answered somewhere in this site or on the web, pls direct me to that link. i am fascinated reading your entries.
leftin1992
-------------------- Brian then answered "leftin1992":
Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 4:10 pm:
leftin1992,
The balloon of disgust began to inflate in the beginning. I attended ntcc because I realized instinctively that they would drive a wedge in the middle of our marriage if I did not "get in" as had my wife. This was quite subconscious, and I am certainly open to criticism for this piece of reflection.
Having been a Christian for but two years, possessed of zeal without experience, I relished the idea of being part of the movement that God was using to spearhead true Christian dedication in these times.
Therefore I learned very early to shut out all questions and doubts, and to justify systematically all of the faults and abusive behaviors I began to see taking place. My wife and I both bought in to the typical cult-style mentality that we must even police one another in the event of disloyalty to--or disagreement with--the Man of God.
So, to continue with the balloon metaphor, the membrane of credulity was thickening and strengthening, while the fresh air of truth was filling the volume and stretching the membrane to high tension.
When RW Davis maintained from the pulpit that the thief on the cross went to hell, I stopped strengthening the membrane of credulity, and began to realize that it was possible for the Man of God to be dead wrong.
The membrane was weakened further when I began to realize that specific Church members who had been abused by their pastor had long experience with ntcc, and had never known pastoral behavior to be different.
Into the now-at-the-bursting-point membrane was added a voluminous injection of truth when I realized the following: Hundreds of people at all levels of ntcc have been personally abused, coerced or otherwise hurt by ntcc pastors, and they all think the same things, which are:
1) It only happened to me and maybe a couple other people
2) It was just that one pastor
3) The rest of the organization is not that way.
I realized the entire group is in fact "that way".
The pinprick came at two AM on 12-26-05, when it struck me that our holiness doctrines were unprovable, yet we were setting them up as the very standard that defined us and justified our existence.
These standards were used to make individuals fearful of the impossibility of leaving ntcc without suffering for Eternity. This feeling of entrapment caused people to willingly subject themselves to pastoral abuse and overreaching authority.
Most of my opinions have developed since that time, since time and distance provide greater objectivity.