From YouTube:
Kim Meyer, “Ex-World Wide Church of God” member, PCC-S, LICDC-CS, is now a licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Independently Licensed Substance Abuse counselor and Director of Campus Outpatient and Alcohol and Other Drug Services at Beech Brook in Cleveland Ohio. Her husband Bill, also an ex-member of the WCG, was interviewed too by Steve Hassan while he was in Cleveland as the keynote speaker at the Human Trafficking Symposium co-sponsored by Beech Brook and the Rene Jones Empowerment Center on January 10, 2014. Kim grew up in the WCG from the age of eight, exiting in the mid 90’s after 30 years. She and her husband raised 3 children while in the church, all of whom are no longer affiliated with the WCG.
In her role at Beech Brook, Kim oversees the psychotherapeutic treatment of 70 Residential children with severe mental health disorders including trauma resulting from Human Trafficking experiences. She feels it is vital that Mental Health professionals treating the trafficked adolescent or adult have a working knowledge of destructive influence, coercion and mind control to adequately address the relationship trauma experienced by the trafficked victim. Kim also maintains a private practice working with those who are contemplating leaving their groups, or have left and need someone who can relate to their experience while providing therapeutic support. As a trauma trained clinician she draws on several treatment models which inform her practice including Steve Hassan’s Strategic Interaction Approach and BITE model, as well as the Lifton and Singer models of understanding cultic mind control. She along with Steve, Rachel Thomas and Christine Marie Katas will be participating in a workshop at the International Cultic Studies Conference (ICSA) in July in Washington D.C. looking at the topic of Human Trafficking and the Cult/Mind Control phenomenon. Kim can be reached at meyerkim@roadrunner.com.
Rev. Bill Meyer is a former member of the World Wide Church of God. He joined the group on his own as a sixteen year old in the mid 1960’s. He became a lay pastor who planted and pastored a WCG congregation in Northeast Ohio in the mid 1990’s. When he resigned and quit the WCG after about two years – and explained why to the congregation – it also voted to exit the WCG. To avoid just replicating the old system in new clothes, the congregation joined the mainline Protestant Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Meyer, a graduate of the Worldwide Church of God’s former Ambassador College, Ohio State University and Ashland Theological Seminary, was later ordained by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and has partner status in the United Church of Christ. He has pastored Disciple of Christ, UCC and Presbyterian Church USA congregations part time. He works full time as an editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and is also an Ohio licensed Professional Counselor. Bill can be reached at williamdmeyer@msn.com.
WCG is now known (and has been for sometime) as Grace Communion International (GCI).
I'd recognise that slow and deliberate tone of voice anywhere. Good to see where you went Bill from back when.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the theologian seminary part. I wish I had read the bible prior to reading the old WCG material. The problem is that you end up reading the bible through the paradigm of someone else's belief system. Once deceived, it's very hard to see the truth, even if it's front of your nose. It's a great benefit to be able to see the bible through your own eyes. Every seminary will push their particular compromised map of reality.
ReplyDeleteRight, 9:50. Humans always filter incoming material through some sort of fund of knowledge. That fund consists either of one's personal collection, or a collection that one has adopted from another group or individual. Due diligence and personal responsibility are always in good form when collecting or applying such a fund. Even most thinking people are incabable of allowing an evidentiary trail to lead them on their journeys. Both religious and secularly orientated individuals are capable of great superstition. Human emotions are also a great modifier.
ReplyDeleteBB
No question WWCG was run in many cultish ways. I could see that from the beginning and it angered me. I was never under "mind control" I always questioned everything as any normal person should.
ReplyDeleteI still hold that the only reason I stayed was that most of the theology was backed up by scripture. The "last lap" thing, anti make up, anti-birthdays, anti-women, Petra garbage was just that and I openly protested right to those locally who preached that.
These three individuals in this film seemed to be confused, easily lead personalities.
Ask the same questions to any person belonging to any "Christian" group and you can easily find cultish aspects. I was raised Catholic, and based on scripture, they are the biggest cult on Earth. But when your mind is controlled by Group Think, the Catholic Church for the most part is given a pass, because they are big and old.
2.04PM. The deception in the WCG was largely on a emotional subconscious level. Even if a person intellectually sees the truth, the repetition of subtle lies still effects you. For instance, nthe constant repetition of obey, yield, surrender, submit. Most former and present members don't comprehend that God is a God of freedom and self responsibility. They see God and His ministers as puppet masters. Whilst I'm on the topic, the word 'obey' appears 26 times in the New Testament, but only 4 times does the original Greek word have the flavour of military obedience, such as 'obey God rather than man' or 'obey the magistrates.' All the other Greek words translated obey are better translated, take heed if, take note of, or be persuaded by. The English word 'obey' is a poor translation since it has a military flavour. I read this in a book on abusive churches recently. And how can the ministers not know this they would have super religiously studied the word obey in their bibles.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, that no one can come out unscathed after attended church services. It takes years to shake off the brainwashing.
Good interview! I'm glad they went the length they did, instead of ending at the 45-minute mark which seems to have been the original plan.
ReplyDeleteBill and Kim are obviously sincere people, tho I may disagree with their particular presently held theologies.
The thing is (and a great point made), though, is that it's not really about theology. It's more about techniques of manipulation that cultish orgs teaching wildly different things have in common.
I've done many a facepalm when hearing people say they joined 'their' cult because of it's extreme truthiness, and they fail to see the role of the psychological hooks involved. (Statements like, "It was only the truth I was after. I was above falling for the more crazy things they taught, and I never worshiped their leader like many stupid members did!")
I've also noticed a great commonality in those reasonings- by people who were once in wildly differing cults and are now at a stage that they're still unable to admit that they'd been hoodwinked by slick cult salespersons and their bags of tricks.
One last point: It's nice to see that Kim is in a position to use knowledge she's acquired about cult dynamics to help the women she works with.