Grace In The Dark Places: Conquering the Cultic Mindset (Part 1)

Grace in the Dark Places: Conquering the Cultic Mindset

by  Jim Turner

Xulon Press

2010

337 pages

Following are some excepts from Jim Turners book on his life as a youth growing up in Armstrongism.  His part as a minister in the church and his escape from the cultic mindset of Armstrongism.  He has done extensive research into the psychology of why people join cults and remain in them.  Almost all of his experiences were like mine growing up in Armstrongism in the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Dayton Ohio area in the 60's and 70's.  It still amazes me that people in various of the splinter groups deny to this day that any of this ever happened.

From the back cover:

Why are people drawn to alternative religions that deviate from the norm of Christian belief?  Why do they stay? What compels them to cling to false dogma, even in the face of evidence that their beliefs are in error?  Why do they engage in scriptural gymnastics in defense of beliefs that have no grounding in Christian theology?  Why do they tolerate abusiveness from charismatic leaders and cede personal freedom?  Why are they willing to defend these leaders and their institutions to the bitter end?

After a lifetime of spiritual incarceration, Jim Turner began studying the cult mentality in order to better understand his actions.  He researched religious cults and their practices and traced their teachings throughout history as they found their way into the 'New Religions." His studies have convinced him that there is indeed "nothing new under the sun."  New Religions offer amended ideas that identified past cults. Modern cults have extracted beliefs from past groups and added a spin that presents them as original and, of course, inspired.

Psychological manipulation plays a significant role in the development and continuation of modern cults, but Jim Turner has presented a convincing argument that the psychological condition and willingness of cultists to surrender their freedom to cult leaders and their irrational tendencies to elevate a revered leader to a semi-divine level are equally responsible for the advancement of cults.

Follow the author through the early stages of cult indoctrination, the personal abuses he experienced at the hands of the cult, his personal choices as he rose through the ranks of the cult and his eventual enlightenment to eh deceptiveness of the cult led by Herbert Armstrong.  Walk with him out of the darkness of cultic deception into the glorious light of the Grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Preface

(pg. xviii) From the time of that ignoble birth, my mind developed along a singular path of religion mixed with superstition and fear, for my mother, notwithstanding her poverty and lack of education, was determined to leave her children a legacy of religions instructions.  The earliest memories I have involve the elements of the pietism that drove her to focus all her maternal energies toward that end. She swaddled her children in a tight cocoon of biblical mishmash, intended to protect them from the corruption of the world around having the collateral effect of restricting them from social and intellectual development.  Sabbath keeping, observance of the Jewish holy days, adherence to biblical dietary laws – including no pork, catfish, rabbits, squirrels, or lard, along with other taboos from Herbert Armstrong’s theology – ruled our home.

We ate no white bread and no white sugar (brown sugar processed with awful-tasting molasses was substituted), took regular doses of cod liver oil, ate prunes to keep us regular, and took no medicines, not even aspirin for headaches.  Mom taught us that the girls in the neighborhood who wore shorts were sinful, that women were to wear dresses and occasionally long pants if working in the fields.  In her religious fervor, she itemized sinful behavior to include virtually every action of everyone around us.

As I began to investigate the chain of circumstances that led to the twists and turns in my life, I came to realize that others would benefit from my experience through recognition of similar traits and influences that brought them to a similar place in life.  I was deceived.  (pg. xix) I was conscripted into a clever collusion, to which I eventually consigned my body and soul.  The torturous and serpentine journey into spiritual confusion that describes my life is complex and indistinct, even perplexing at times.

There came a time when my subjugation expired and I willingly reenlisted, accepting the consequences of my actions. I elected to ascend through the ranks, disregarding the abuse and compromise that attended such advancement.  There were vague crossroads, times when circumstances dictated my decisions as well as times when, clearly, I acted according to the fortuitous winds of personal advantage.  There were moments of uncertainty when I opted to follow the crowd rather than taking the moral high road that my conscience futilely prescribed.  Guilt played a huge role in my actions, a contentious double-edged guilt that often implied that I must follow the dictates of the man whom I had come to believe was the true servant of God while at the same time suggesting that I must buck the crowd and openly acknowledge the abuses.

No one will find, in my exact footsteps, the exact path of his own life.  I believe we will find that notwithstanding the deviations in our course, we crossed the Rubicon together and arrived at the same destination. We became members of a cult.  We sacrificed our vision through acceptance of that of a charismatic figure to whom we pledged undying loyalty.  Inherent to that sacrifice came a willingness to separate ourselves from others, including family and friends, who failed to see the privileged status to which we had subscribed. We became spiritual elitists.  Parasitically, we attached ourselves to the one and only true servant of God in hopes of obtaining exclusive positions in the divine appointment.

(pg. xx)  From early on, I subscribed to the belief that Herbert Armstrong was the man of God that he purported to be.  I was willing to blindly follow him, sometimes not knowing which way I was moving, going up or going down, upright or upside down – it mattered not as long as I was keeping my eyes on the leader. His vision was my vision.  As I matured, there were times when I entertained doubts, still willing to follow his lead, but subconsciously strapping on a parachute so that if a crash seemed imminent, I could bail out.

Ultimately, slowly at first, more rapidly toward the end of my career as a minister in Armstrong’s church, I came to the realization that I must assume control of my life, utilize the instruments available to me as a child of God and abandon the passive acceptance of his leadership.  As I swerved away from his superintendence, I experienced fear and hesitancy, doubtful of my ability to navigate the ship of my life.  For a while, I was free-falling, spinning out of control, lacking the confidence to grab hold of the yoke that controlled the flight of my life.  Myriad emotions racked my mind.  I felt angry, abandoned, deceived, betrayed, and, most frighteningly, cut off from God.

Into this chaotic and befuddled state, the light of Jesus Christ began to penetrate the darkness, and fragmentary and ever so slowly, I began to walk in the freedom that had eluded me for most of my life.

Thankfully I escaped the clutches of the cultic establishment of Herbert Armstrong before I became so languorously entangles (pg. xxi) within them that I lost the courage to walk away.  This was not the case with many of his followers. Numerous splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God emerged, beginning even before his death and prodigiously after he passed away.  These groups consist of people who ardently and desperately seep to perpetuate Armstrong’s beliefs.  I am certain that many of these schismatic groups cling to their beliefs, fearful that to abandon them is tantamount to apostasy.  I am equally certain that some of them egotistically nurture the idea that they are the divinely appointed heirs of the truth that grants them the same power and authority that Armstrong enjoyed.

I am under no illusions that my story will bring about change in the beliefs of those who are content to maintain the delusion of their own superiority in the spiritual realm.  Nor will it change the minds of those who happily trudge down the road to deception, doggedly guarding the beliefs to which they have adhered for most of their lives.  A system to which they have ceded so much control over life cannot be a lie.  To acknowledge such requires personal honesty and scrupulous confession that many are unable to muster.

While I know that these people cannot be contrarily convinced, I am nevertheless hopeful that I can embolden some of those who struggle with their position and to begin to make the course corrections that will allow them to experience the true freedom in Jesus Christ.  I have discovered that road and somehow found the courage to renounce former beliefs that held me captive.  I was as entrenched into the etchings of Herbert Armstrong as one could possibly be. It was all I knew. Spurning those beliefs required deep soul searching and complete surrender to God and a generous amount of guidance from the Holy Spirit.

(pg. xxii) My story is an invitation to walk in the shoes of a common ordinary person who has been there and done that when it comes to the cult experience. I will attempt to describe the conditions in my early life that set the stage for my induction into a cult and to tale you with me on a bizarre journey into the depths of oppression, and finally through my escape from such darkness into the light of freedom.  I sincerely hope that through sharing some of my studies on the psychology of cultism and reflections upon grace that enabled me to surrender to it, I can impart some practical information that will serve others on their journey.

I find that many of my friends and peers who traveled this journey with me are afraid to honestly admit to the wrongdoings of this misguided institution.  It seems that inherent in all of us is a need to justify decisions we have made, especially those that have influenced the direction of our lives for years. Perhaps through my coming forth with candidness’, others might be encouraged to also acknowledge (pg. xxiii) the truth.  It is not my intent to vent anger toward those who were instrumental in fashioning my experience, but rather to openly acknowledge the fact that I was deceived.  To that end and with a prayer toward that outcome, I offer my story.