Official book site here: The Threefold Chord
Despite an indifferent father and a mother who develops a serious mood disorder, young twins Kevin and Robert, and their younger brother Jonah, experience an idyllic early life in rural Manitoba during the 1950s while in the loving care of their grandparents. However, that life comes to an abrupt end after their father converts to the esoteric beliefs of the Radio Church of God, a radical fundamentalist sect that preaches strict discipline in preparation for an anticipated end time worldwide cataclysm. Forced to move back home to live with their parents, the boys are victimized by their father’s extreme religious fanaticism, which for the twins, includes indoctrination sessions, beatings, and confinement in a basement coal cellar.
Rather than giving in to their father’s brutality and brainwashing efforts, the twins remain strong and find clever ways to survive their circumstances and even thrive within them. Determined to be their younger brother’s keeper, the twins and Jonah form an unbreakable bond – a proverbial threefold cord. It is a bond of mutual support for one another that enables them to better cope with their father’s abusive and controlling behaviour.
Although fictional, The Threefold Cord explores many of the real-life beliefs and practices of the Radio Church of God and deftly examines the grey area between a cult and a religion, between discipline and abuse, and asks what it takes for a person to decide where those lines should be drawn.
About the Author
JAMES ANDERSON is a retired professional engineer, who was involved in tele-communications for over thirty years. He and his wife, Julie, live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They have three adult children and three grandchildren. An avid amateur radio operator and electronics hobbyist, Anderson turned to writing later in life. He credits this, in part, to his experience as a former member of the Worldwide Church of God (previously known as the Radio Church of God, which is featured in The Threefold Cord).
Anderson says, "I turned to writing to express my frustrations as to how my family and I had been exploited and lied to by that church organization, as well as how the church victimized, abused, and impoverished so many others. Although I am an ardent fan of non-fiction, writing fiction has been where my writing activities have been the most prolific."The Threefold Cord is Anderson's first book and also the first instalment of a story series that explores how children are adversely affected by parents who are willing to follow extreme fundamentalist doctrines.
No need to read this! Though from the USA, my own experiences were very similar to those of these fictional children. It does reaffirm something that was very obvious during that era. Most of the kids growing up in the church were experiencing exactly the same abusive childhood. Very typical of the so-called Church of God, and very, very different from what non-WCG friends and cousins were going through.
ReplyDeleteIt might help latter time true believers who in their rosy view of worldwide were possibly oblivious to all the bad things?
ReplyDeleteOk that's fiction, but there is non-fiction too when we remember 4 Chaisson girls losing their winter clothing after RCG duped their parents into assuming the clothes might as well be donated away since Dave Pack said so (he promised the return of Jesus before winter). Kids victimized by Dave's lie.
ReplyDeleteI was rather shocked to see this posted as I am the author of this series. I started writing the series in 2015 as a fun retirement project, and I had no idea how far it would go. I had no publishing ambitions at first. It wasn't until a writer friend gave me some positive feedback on my lengthy manuscripts that I decided to go ahead and self publish. The series is still undergoing minor revisions as the first and second books were recently re-issued and the fourth will have a cover change shortly. Book six is complete but I have no idea when I'll publish it. The process has been incredibly engaging, but sometimes also rather frustrating. I didn't do this for the royalties as I know that I will never earn back even a small fraction of my initial investment. The series is also a coming of age saga, and another fictional abusive (albeit fictional) religious cult is featured later on.
ReplyDeleteAt least anyone growing up in Winnipeg had good music to listen to! That's where the Guess Who grew up!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, imagine what a shock it was for a young Methodist boy and his siblings whose parents suddenly joined the Radio Church of God in the mid-1950s. We grew up singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" in Sunday School, and then suddenly we were being told that the Germans were coming, and the Gentiles amongst us were going to rise up and start riots, and beat us up and steal our stuff. Instead of our parents reasoning with us in instructive ways, we were constantly getting 40 lashes with belts, and if none were around, spatulas, wooden spoons, switches, or Bit-Bat paddles were used. It was embarrassing in gym class taking a shower with all those black and blue welts. The parents created a barrier that had never been there before by insisting on us calling them Sir and Ma'am. I can remember being forced to stand resolutely at a hedge full of big bumblebees, disrupting them with my every stroke of the hedge trimmer as I trimmed away, my brother being forced to squash rotten apples in his bare hands when he was a bit timid about cleaning them up from around the tree. Getting kicked out of the house for the day and having to wander around town looking for soda bottles to cash in so I could buy food and something to drink. Couldn't watch much of anything on TV, and weren't supposed to listen to rock n roll music. Clothes from thrift stores, and always out of style. Had to eat lots of beans cause much of our food money was being sent to Pasadena. Back then, it was just embarrassing, but in retrospect, I now feel real badly for the kids who sat in back of me in class. I just couldn't help it! I also learned that it really made you a pariah amongst the neighbors and classmates if you shared with them about the Germans, and the tribulation, and Jesus coming in 1975. it was a hot mess. A very painful hot mess.
I'm a child of the institution. But the accounts of abuse don't reflect my experience. My parents of the WCG era treated us well and apparently aspired to live up to the holiness and love of God. I guess it depends on each individual, and whether they were led by the WCG literature and culture, or by God's holy word, Holy Spirit and the example of the holy Son.
ReplyDeleteWell, yeah, what you described would have been great if only that had been the primary, typical situation. In my house, it was difficult to imagine that there was any such entity as the Holy Spirit. My parents did slavishly adhere to the church rituals, and we kids were viewed and treated not so much as little persons with emotional needs that required nourishing, but as obstacles or interruptions to my parents obsessive adherence to the church's rituals. It was as if they had a demanding hobby that took precedence over everything else in their lives, and that excluding and shutting out everything else was their way of displaying love for God. The problem was that this type of behavior did not produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit which are enumerated in the Bible. There was always extreme anger and violence in our home when any interruption prevented the Armstrong dictated ideal. To me, the term "conversion" was a laughable description of the spiritual condition of church members.
DeleteDid kiddies in the 70's get to watch Sat. morn. cartoons in a WCG household?
DeleteTom Chapin Make A Wish had good science stuff, even Bugs Bunny taught a few lessons here & there.
"I guess it depends on each individual, and whether they were led by the WCG literature and culture, or by God's holy word, Holy Spirit and the example of the holy Son."
ReplyDeleteYour answer smells of blaming the victims. The bible instructs to "prove all things," but that's an ongoing process. In the meanwhile members find themselves relying on WCG literature and culture. Also no one could completely escape the church's brainwashing. It's only the odd knowledgeable person with a healthy sense of normalcy that wasn't deeply affected. It takes most people a lifetime to untangle all the lies and distortions, and that's even with the holy Spirit and the example of the holy son. Reading the dissident sites of other Christian cults, it's the same story.
"Your answer smells of blaming the victims."
DeleteThat is true, but it is intended as a form of marginalization via self-magnification. Oh, "those" people weren't there for the right reason, they can be dismissed from thought or concern (with the implication that "*I*, myself, am not one of of "those" people").
I do not see Anon338 as victim shaming in the least. When he refers to the individual, he is referring to whether the parents followed WCG literature and dictates rather than a Christ-led approach.
DeleteI’m surprised several viewed it as potentially victim shaming. I admit when I began reading it I thought it was headed that way but in the end the blame was placed on the WCG.
Life was a Gas at 4:20 PM said...“Seriously, imagine what a shock it was for a young Methodist boy and his siblings whose parents suddenly joined the Radio Church of God in the mid-1950s. We grew up singing 'Jesus Loves the Little Children' in Sunday School, and then suddenly we were being told that the Germans were coming, and the Gentiles amongst us were going to rise up and start riots, and beat us up and steal our stuff. Instead of our parents reasoning with us in instructive ways, we were constantly getting 40 lashes with belts, and if none were around, spatulas, wooden spoons, switches, or Bit-Bat paddles were used. It was embarrassing in gym class taking a shower with all those black and blue welts. The parents created a barrier that had never been there before by insisting on us calling them Sir and Ma'am.”
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like some so-called “parents” were merciless monsters inspired by Satan rather than true Christians full of the love of God. The so-called “parents” could have given their children just 30 lashes some times, or even just 10 lashes, or even 0 lashes. It did not always have to be 40 lashes. Good thing there is a law of 40 lashes maximum in the Bible. Otherwise, the demonic so-called “parents” out there would have given their unfortunate children 100 lashes or more.
It is no wonder that some children did not stay in the church when they grew up and that HWA later had to try to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. GTA and his Plain Truth About Child Beating booklet had to be put out, and the WCG came to understand that God is a family rather than a military organization.
Oh, as I grew into adulthood, I forgave them and stuck with the church. But then came the disappointment of 1975, and that failure spurred me into doing my own due diligence. I ended up realizing that it wasn't just the prophecy they got wrong. It was just another false church from the very beginning, which is why it was plagued by all the bad fruits that we had to endure. Took a while to recover, but let's just say I have a better appreciation for freedom than most humans ever experience in their entire live time.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible Story: Little Children Blessed, not Beaten Mercilessly
ReplyDeleteI do not recall ever reading about Jesus beating little children mercilessly when He was on earth in the first century. However, I do recall reading (in Matthew 19:13-15, NKJV; Mark 10:13-16, NKJV; and Luke 18:15-17, NKJV) about Jesus being greatly displeased and correcting His own disciples for rebuking people who tried to bring their little children to Jesus. Jesus said not to forbid the little children from coming to him. Jesus took the little children in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
I never heard of such a thing as beating children in WCG. Unless you are an extremist and call ordinary spanking "beating". Any parent who acted as described would not be in tune with God's Spirit through daily prayer. How many critics are?
ReplyDeleteIt's Fiction. You are setting yourself up for legal action.
Actually, no. No legal action. The people who taught and indulged in the beatings are all dead, and the "kids" who suffered it are mostly in their seventies.
DeleteBut, see how you guys are? You treat the child abuse just like you do Herbie's incest, the people who died because of the anti-medical doctrines, the farmers who lost their farms due to the picked and badly chosen land sabbaths and banning of commercial feetilizers, the happy marriages that were falsely broken up due to early D&R doctrines, and the many other negatives, and bad aspects of the WCG in the so-called "Golden Era".
Anyone who ever attended a Feast of Tabernacles in the late '50s and throughout the '60s can tell you stories about what went on in the Mothers' Rooms, or watching kids get whipped like a horse over the hoods of cars in the parking lot! Know what happened to the parents? Many of them were considered to be diligent and exemplary Philadelphians, and were ordained as deacons and elders!
But, don't worry! Soon we'll all be gone, and you'll be free to spread your fantasy version of Herbie's cult!
Anonymous at 3:47 PM said...“Anyone who ever attended a Feast of Tabernacles in the late '50s and throughout the '60s can tell you stories about what went on in the Mothers' Rooms, or watching kids get whipped like a horse over the hoods of cars in the parking lot!”
ReplyDeleteIt is supposed to be the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths, not the Feast of Beatings. It is supposed to be a time for everyone to eat well and rejoice, not to suffer and weep.
That said, I do know of some godless teenage brats who grew up in the WCG and behaved so badly at the Feast of Tabernacles that they probably should have been whipped a it.
The Mt Pocono Feast site originally had a spanking tent outside the main seating area (at that time the tent). Teh beating of children was so horrendous that the public went to the authorities and tried to shut the site down. The spanking tent was quickly removed. In the early days of the site, they had no way of knowing who from the public was showing.
ReplyDeleteThe cover illustrating the three brothers on my website only represented an interim cover redesign concept that never made it to publication. The latest edition of the Threefold Cord issued recently, features a different cover without the AI images of the main characters. It suddenly occurred to me that some might get the wrong idea that the book is non-fiction. It might be better said that The Threefold Cord is a fictional account with non-fictional components folded in. There is much material featured about the Radio Church and its oppressive doctrines throughout the book. I'm also in the process of eliminating the AI imagery for Book 4. Then I plan to take a breather before publishing Book 6.
ReplyDelete