Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 1988 Page 81
We knew [B] had a divisive spirit and an arrogant spirit. Eventually he was
disciplined ...and 20 went out the door with him. There was division that had been
going on for a year -a slow rot, and the brothers were young and they didn't know
how to deal with it. But once they got rid of him God blessed and they just grew.
[B]'s been going after people for years. It‘s a miserable occupation and life. He just
sits around the edges and tries to pick off somebody, but there have been ones like
that all throughout God‘s program, around the edges of God's program throughout
the centuries.
The devil wants every man to do what‘s right in his own eyes. ―If they're saved I
can't touch them,‖ he says, ―so I'll just scare them so that they can't be unified and
so that they won't have any impact.‖ We need to be aware of his schemes. Do not
be ignorant of his schemes. This has been [B] and [H]'s track record for ten years.
It seems clear that [B] was the trailblazer within the sect. Before him there were no scapegoats.
There were no ―fingerprint questions.‖ There were no troubles and trials with faction and slander.
But after the expulsion of [B], faction and slander were elevated in a matter of a few short years
to the most insidious and dangerous sins within the sect Also, it appeared to the sect that there
were more slanderous and factious people than there had ever been. What was the explanation?
There seems little doubt that the 1976 event elevated and sensitized the sea to this type of
―crime.‖ The sect leadership did not know how many people [B] affected during his tenure as a
national teacher. Since the 1976 excommunication is seen as the precedent-setting boundary
crisis within the sect, [B] assumed an almost omniscient and omnipotent stature from the outset.
The remaining leaders may have become entrapped within their own definitions of fear. The more
they looked for evidence of this man's faction, the more they found it.
In the prior quotes, where [B] and [H] are mentioned, one might find it confusing that the
meetings in which the statements were made were actually focused on two separate targets
within the same church, who were excommunicated approximately two weeks apart in 1985.
When one listens to these two tapes, [B] and [H] are mentioned more times than the targets are,
and, more significantly, every time the targets are mentioned, they are tied in some way to the
enemies, [B] and [H].
The last quote cited about [B] and [H] illustrates that the leadership freely interchanges
discussion of the enemies with Satan himself. The enemies have attained the ultimate master
status, that of the ―embodiment of Satan.‖ Their behaviors are Satan's behaviors. Their deeds
become his. It is a powerful example of the imputation of ultimate deviance.
[B]'s name seems to come up in nearly every excommunication ceremony at one time or another
as the probable instigator of the crisis. His mythology has grown way beyond normal human
proportions, as he has been imagined to be involved in church disputes thousands of miles apart
within hours or days of each other. His image almost seems to be one of perpetual troublemaker,
who has no home life, no job, no personal goals in life other than to systematically destroy the
work of God on earth. In an excommunication event ten years after [B]'s own excommunication,
he is mentioned again as the ultimate deceiver and trickster to an OASIS congregation that had
never heard of him before:
[Elders] If [B] called you up, and you were a young saint and you really respected
this man because of his teaching and his life, and he says, ―Hey, how's it going?‖
and then he just dropped one little dainty morsel, what would you do with it? It‘s
easy to be defiled. You don't need to be afraid of boogie men if you're righteous.
In the meeting, the elders note that [B]'s stated goal is ―to destroy the entire church of Jesus,‖
and his image takes on a clearly god-like air. The seeds of this exaggerated status were sown in
[B]'s 1976 excommunication meeting:
We knew [B] had a divisive spirit and an arrogant spirit. Eventually he was
disciplined ...and 20 went out the door with him. There was division that had been
going on for a year -a slow rot, and the brothers were young and they didn't know
how to deal with it. But once they got rid of him God blessed and they just grew.
[B]'s been going after people for years. It‘s a miserable occupation and life. He just
sits around the edges and tries to pick off somebody, but there have been ones like
that all throughout God‘s program, around the edges of God's program throughout
the centuries.
The devil wants every man to do what‘s right in his own eyes. ―If they're saved I
can't touch them,‖ he says, ―so I'll just scare them so that they can't be unified and
so that they won't have any impact.‖ We need to be aware of his schemes. Do not
be ignorant of his schemes. This has been [B] and [H]'s track record for ten years.
It seems clear that [B] was the trailblazer within the sect. Before him there were no scapegoats.
There were no ―fingerprint questions.‖ There were no troubles and trials with faction and slander.
But after the expulsion of [B], faction and slander were elevated in a matter of a few short years
to the most insidious and dangerous sins within the sect Also, it appeared to the sect that there
were more slanderous and factious people than there had ever been. What was the explanation?
There seems little doubt that the 1976 event elevated and sensitized the sea to this type of
―crime.‖ The sect leadership did not know how many people [B] affected during his tenure as a
national teacher. Since the 1976 excommunication is seen as the precedent-setting boundary
crisis within the sect, [B] assumed an almost omniscient and omnipotent stature from the outset.
The remaining leaders may have become entrapped within their own definitions of fear. The more
they looked for evidence of this man's faction, the more they found it.
In the prior quotes, where [B] and [H] are mentioned, one might find it confusing that the
meetings in which the statements were made were actually focused on two separate targets
within the same church, who were excommunicated approximately two weeks apart in 1985.
When one listens to these two tapes, [B] and [H] are mentioned more times than the targets are,
and, more significantly, every time the targets are mentioned, they are tied in some way to the
enemies, [B] and [H].
The last quote cited about [B] and [H] illustrates that the leadership freely interchanges
discussion of the enemies with Satan himself. The enemies have attained the ultimate master
status, that of the ―embodiment of Satan.‖ Their behaviors are Satan's behaviors. Their deeds
become his. It is a powerful example of the imputation of ultimate deviance.
[B]'s name seems to come up in nearly every excommunication ceremony at one time or another
as the probable instigator of the crisis. His mythology has grown way beyond normal human
proportions, as he has been imagined to be involved in church disputes thousands of miles apart
within hours or days of each other. His image almost seems to be one of perpetual troublemaker,
who has no home life, no job, no personal goals in life other than to systematically destroy the
work of God on earth. In an excommunication event ten years after [B]'s own excommunication,
he is mentioned again as the ultimate deceiver and trickster to an OASIS congregation that had
never heard of him before:
[Elders] If [B] called you up, and you were a young saint and you really respected
this man because of his teaching and his life, and he says, ―Hey, how's it going?‖
and then he just dropped one little dainty morsel, what would you do with it? It‘s
easy to be defiled. You don't need to be afraid of boogie men if you're righteous.
In the meeting, the elders note that [B]'s stated goal is ―to destroy the entire church of Jesus,‖
and his image takes on a clearly god-like air. The seeds of this exaggerated status were sown in
[B]'s 1976 excommunication meeting:
