Model Repentance Letters From Abusive Ministries

[firstgarden]

Would to God there were more letters like these in the body of Christ!

This was written to Steve Harrison with CCs to:
Henry Weber
Robert Duran
Louis Solomon
Peter Cawthon
Gabriel Arosemena
Greg Lanson

November 11, 1988

Dear Steve,

This letter comes to you after much prayer and much deliberation. I felt
deeply provoked in my spirit last week to write each one of Agape Forces'
former elders, and I cannot put off this task any longer. I pray that you
will take what I have to say with the utmost seriousness, thought, and prayer.

With the nature of this letter being gravely important I will be as precise
and to the point as possible. As you already know, after a bitter personal
health crisis I was finally in a position for the Lord to speak to my heart.
I was weighed in His scales, and found miserably wanting. Being so distraught
and under heavy conviction, I set time aside to fast and pray. What God had
to say was not something I was expecting to hear. He told me to do two
things. The first thing was to apologize: to Tony Salerno, to the eldership,
and to the members of the Agape Force for failing to fulfill my
responsibilities and duties. I also failed to share my feelings, insights and
beliefs, when I felt checked in my heart about various business decisions, the
way people were being mistreated, Tony having no accountability, and
ministry's direction.

Tony and I had an endearing relationship, and I dreaded doing what God was
asking me to do. I prided myself in being like one of David's men who, when
their leader was thirsty, braved life-threatening circumstances to get David a
drink of water. There wasn't anything within reason that I wouldn't attempt
to do for Tony. The challenge of getting things done, in spite of the
obstacles, was something I thrived on. But in the end, I did fail. In my
accommodating way, I ended up failing him, as well as the Lord. Instead of
helping the cause of Christ, I contributed in building a machine that has hurt
the Lord and many people. While this reality overwhelmed me, I knew that it
would also build a wall between Tony and myself. Again, I dreaded doing what
God was asking me to do. Bu He wasn't suggesting I go...He was telling me to
go. I knew that if I wasn't obedient, greater judgment awaited me.

The second thing God told me to do was to give Tony a specific and direct
warning. The message was contained in Jeremiah 22.:2, 5, 17, and was right to
the point. I shuddered and wept as I recalled how we had been conducting our
business matters, and the mistreating people over the years. How could these
offenses not be dealt with? Though I believe the Lord has used Agape Force in
many ways, it is now very clear that also much damage was done in the name of
the Lord. And now, God in His infinite love and mercy, was exposing our inner
secrets and secret sins, and requiring us to turn and repent.

When I shared with Tony my apology and the warning, he went into a rage and
steadfast denial. I made repeated attempts to appeal to his conscience and
his sense of morality in view of the mounting evidence. It was clear...we
were guilty and now accountable to both God and man. I assured him that I was
truly concerned for him, and the inevitable destruction of the work if he did
not obey the warning. However, instead of agreeing to do what was right, in
his confusion and fury, he maintained his deceptive belief that he was right.

[firstgarden]

Aside from the recent health problems, I can't recall any other event in my
life that has caused me more pain, torment, and grief. Being obedient to the
deep convictions and duty I now have before God has brought an end to a
friendship, and years of service with this ministry. It pains me to the
depths of my heart just recalling it. Perhaps I would not have come to this
point if I had only seen how far we were getting away from the Lord. How
utterly damning and deceptive hard work and zeal is without the touch of His
Spirit and His gentle hand guiding us! Like so many others in ministry, the
work had become the priority over the Lord Himself. The end result of such
hypocrisy is that we then end up worshiping the "lord of the work"...namely
Tony. It is a hellish abomination to be giving to man that which only belongs
to Christ. This form of idolatry is so very subtle. Nevertheless, it yields
the same spirit-deadening results.

The shifting of our eyes and loyalty off Jesus is why He stopped His blessings
and anointing upon our work. But how stubborn the leadership was. Instead of
taking note that something terrible had happened, we just worked, sacrificed,
and strove a little harder under duress. We were busy erecting idols of both
work and man, while hardening our hearts toward the real truth. How it must
have grieved the Lord to have His once tender children now in a state of
denial, and resisting His gentle promptings and warnings. The horror of it
all! May the Lord forgive me for grieving Him those many years. What great
regret the Lord must have in judging and destroying something that He intended
for good.

Now, in direct obedience to God, I humbly submit the following mandate for
your prayerful consideration and response. In order for justice to prevail,
God to be honored, and for there to be an end to the mental, physical, and
spiritual devastation that many people have suffered, we need to publicly
declare that we were wrong! No more compromising! No more cover-ups! No
more holding secret sins in the closet! No more making excuses for the
leaders! No more pretending that the cries and complaints of our fellowman
are without cause! Why?....because their cry and petition has come before a
holy and just God. He is fed up with all the abominations that have been done
in His Name. He will not continue to allow this work that He raised up to
become a spiritually dead, self-exalting, man-revering organization.

He is also against the leader who has mistreated and exploited his people.
Every elder and leader must repent. His people have suffered enough. Their
night of terror and confusion is over! The Great Shepherd is now declaring
His holy vengeance upon everyone who has offended His sheep. The Bible is
explicitly clear that not only will the false prophets be judged for their
sins, but also those who have helped them in their lies and deceptions! Stand
back and see what the Lover of the downcast and broken is now doing. Woe to
the man who will lift up a proud neck and say "All is well", when all is not
well. Woe to the one who says "Who and where did I offend?", when the carnage
of broken lives is all around. We have to declare before the world that the
idolatry of a man and his organization is over!

[firstgarden]

What I have shared with you has come from a heart that is bleeding for the
wounded and dejected people of our ministry. I am crushed in my spirit over
what has been done to them. I am also angry against the offenders. I know
that you share the same heart. Only God knows your own secret hell of pain
and great regret. No one but Him can really know your thoughts and inner-
anguish. He has wept with you, and is intimately acquainted with your need to
make things right. As we repent of our part of secretly condoning the wrong
and even participating in it, let His Spirit of forgiveness, healing, and
restoring power now begin to flow over you. Let Him minister to every hurt,
regret, and failed expectation. He has been anxious for this hour to come.

There is a task ahead of us. He is giving us another chance to join together,
as a team, for this one final mission - the mission of making a public
declaration of apology, remorse, and regret for the wrong that has been done.
And also the mission to bring loving affirmation and restoration of our
brothers and sisters. Their dawn from discouragement, pain, and self doubt is
now here if we will now be obedient to the Spirit of God.

Let us again assume our intended role as "servants of the people" and continue
the healing process. We were a team that was put together by God, and sadly
taken apart by man. I want to assume the post once more, even if it means
standing alone. I know that you feel the same. It grieves me to know that
God would have wanted someone else to be writing this letter to you. So, as
the next in charge, former elder and vice president, I want to assume my
responsibility as a servant, and do what is most pleasing to God.

Will you join me? We might have failed in times past, but there is a God Who
is now calling you and I to be failures no longer; to be men that act on
wisdom and principle. Men of love and compassion, not men of schemes and evil
devices. Men of healing and restoration instead of hurt and destruction. But
most important of all, God is calling us to be men who are servants and not
lords. I know now, more than ever before, that hell will contain the lords of
this life.

What I have shared with you is not only difficult to accept, but impossible to
fulfill without God's help. Could we together just stop or a moment and with
one voice renounce the past, and humbly reach out to the people that are yet
in despair? I believe so. As I write this letter, I sense the hand of the
Lord upon me, and an urgency as well. I pray that you have felt conviction,
brokenness, and a sense of duty as I have. The action I feel that we must take
immediately is as follows:

1.) Open and public letter of apology.
2.) Open and public renunciation of our leader
3.) Make ourselves available to anyone who wants to share with us their
complaints, hurts, and grievances. I propose that a national and
international WATS line be established for their calls. It would be
ridiculously cruel and uncaring for anyone to have to pay for the ability to
share with us.
4.) Offer ourselves and various resources, in any way, to help former Agape
Force Members who are in special need.

If you feel the way I do about this entire manner and wish to participate,
please let me know by written response as soon as possible. I would be most
privileged to hear from you. I will pray much for you and your decision in
the days ahead. Let the Lord guide your heart as to your duty before Him. In
Christ's love...

Your servant and friend,

Tim Klubnikin

[firstgarden]

These are excerpts of two amazing letters. One was an open letter calling for Keith's repentance; the other, Keith's response.

February 8, 1981

To: Keith Green
From: Former Community Members and Friends
Subject: Last Days Ministries

Dear Keith,

It is with much love, prayer, counsel and consideration that we, your friends in the Lord write to you. There is so much good that you have accomplished for us and the Lord that, if we took the time, we could write pages and pages full of appreciation for such examples of your good works and intentions. We haven't the time or space, though, to write such a list, so please know that we have noticed and appreciate much of what you have done. So, we now thank you, and Jesus for you.

We regret, however, that the thrust of this letter, though birthed out of love, is chiefly one of concern and correction. As all, or most of us know, when you first got saved, you and Melody spent most of your first year in the Lord, nightly at Bible studies. What developed after that first year is now history. You desired to see brand new baby-believers taken care of, and fed daily, and not left to wither away and die in the spiritual alleys or doorsteps, immediately after given new birth. You have cited certain evangelists and evangelical crusades, as well as nominal Christians, as having failed in caring to see that baby Christians grow into spiritual maturity. Praise God for your compassion in this much needed area of concern. As you proceeded to open up your home in Woodland Hills, California to strangers and new born babes in Christ, you were in fact practicing the Biblical message that you preached. It was probably a little while after, when, we believe, you entered into one of the first areas of serious error... that of becoming a pastor at such an early age, in your spiritual walk.
(1 Timothy 3:6)

Yes Keith, you had the love, and much compassion, not to mention ample Bible knowledge and enough zeal, if not wisely channeled, to give birth to an Ishmael. Good intentions can, in the process of time, almost be canceled, by violating wise Biblical commands and principles. Today, we can see these same young Christians who you hoped to nourish to spiritual maturity, now dealing with hurt, bitterness, often utter devastation through condemnation and unnecessary fears.

We love you Keith, and that is why we are writing this letter; but, we also love and are concerned for the many lives touched by your ministry, and are grieved with each one that is hurt. We know of more than a few who are recovering, or not yet recovered, from effects of the ministry...

Some other areas of strong concern are the working conditions, and financial structure of the ministry. We know that some things are subject to debate because of the concept of "communities," but who can debate 12-16 hour work days, with frequent 48 hour ``burns" (work without stopping)...

In much of what you teach, you are obviously endeavoring to be doctrinally sound, and that is always encouraging. You have done well to notice the over-emphasis of the faith teaching in recent years... You have also mentioned that prosperity, likewise, is being preached to an excess, and that many are giving money with wrong motives... By your own admission, you have publicly stated that you will preach, and continue to teach the opposite side of the coin, including strong "discipleship," until the church finally wakes up, or Jesus returns. Beloved brother, in your trying to be the balancer, you have tried to counteract the "easy faith syndrome" by strongly emphasizing works; and, as a result, many who have left Last Days feel that when they fail in good works, it is equivalent to losing their salvation.

(Message edited by firstgarden on December 24, 2007)

[firstgarden]

In the beginning of this letter, we mentioned that when you became a pastor at such an early age in your Christian walk, you were in Biblical error in doing so. Perhaps the most serious error that is directly related to this, is your continuing lack of submission to any one body of believers. Without trying to be unkind, but yet sincerely trying to help seek out and solve the root problem, most, or all of us, believe that many of the aforementioned problems have lack of submission as their common source. We have seen you vacillate from one body to another: from The Vineyard, to Jesus People USA, back to the Vineyard, then influenced by the Hiway Missionaries, then to Church On The Way. Then, back to The Vineyard once more, and inspired by Winkie Pratney and Agape Force... Lately, you have let it be known that you are under submission to Leonard Ravenhill.

You have well over 200,000 people on your mailing list alone, and that figure doesn't even touch the hundreds of thousands of people who attend your concerts. There are a lot of souls who are influenced by your type of teaching, as well as your beautiful song ministry. For these, we are concerned, but even more so, for those still living with you, who are in direct submission to you.

No Keith, we are not the Holy Spirit, and so we aren't going to tell you "what God's will is for your life, or the community." Nevertheless, you are going to be held accountable for those people you have assumed responsibility for, and a definite change is obviously in order ... We do love you, Keith.

Signed by Denny Kepler, (Its probable author), and friends

(Message edited by firstgarden on December 24, 2007)

[firstgarden]

The following response letter by Keith could serve as a model letter of repentance for many ministries:

LAST DAYS MINISTRIES
Box 40, Lindale, Texas 75771
February 16, 1981

Although unfortunately, it has been some time since many of you have heard from us, we felt urged from the Lord to write this letter. (We are sending a copy of this letter to most everyone who used to live in our community, whom we still have an address for).

The Bible says, "If at possible, be at peace with all men." And since the Lord, through His patient and loving hand, has recently shown us where we have erred in the past, in respect to many of our attitudes, rules, directions, and policies, we feel that apologies and repentance are in order...

When Melody and I first started taking people into our home, during our early Christian walk, we never dreamed that it would evolve into a full-on Christian community. But, during the fall of 1977, we visited Jesus People USA in Chicago, and were very impressed by their zeal and commitment to the Lord, and each other. Because of the visit, our excitement was heightened, and a desire grew in our hearts to see our little one-horse, halfway-house turn into a large Christian discipleship community, just like JPUSA. As we shared this vision with the elders there, we mistakenly thought that God wanted us to use their whole set up (rules, working and living arrangements, financial policies, etc.) as a model. As most of you know, we even bought two vans the next Spring, and packed up our whole troop, and took them to Chicago so that each person could see for themselves why we were so into patterning ourselves after their set-up... To make a long story a bit shorter, we got caught-up in some very grievous error... we should have been patterning ourselves after Jesus!

In February 1979, God revealed to my heart the fallacy of such a system of human control, and we immediately made many changes in our rules and policies, (that resulted in a substantial decrease in the number of our community). Unfortunately, old habits and patterns of dealing with people die hard, and we failed to reform our rules to the extent that the Gospel demands. What I am trying to say is, God revealed much light to us at that time, but since then (of course!) we have learned much more from the Lord.

(I want to make it clear, that, we are not saying it is Jesus People's fault for our sin. We were the ones who had our eyes in the wrong direction!)

We realize that many of you were verbally assaulted, made to feel horrible, and generally greatly discouraged, when you were with us (and especially when you finally left us.) We really had a great love for you, (although it might have been hard to see it), and we, through fear, thought that some of you might not stand firm and stay with the Lord if you left. That is why we tried so hard to talk many of you into staying, (which really boils down to us not trusting God for you.) We thought we were doing all this for you and Jesus, when really, our unbelief and lack of faith led us into sin.

[firstgarden]

I mistakenly thought that the best way to make a point was to force the issue. I realize now that counsel, (quiet and gentle), is the only recourse I have for someone I believe is in rebellion toward God. I am totally, completely, and utterly sorry for my horrible behavior, and terrible displays of human, fleshly temper ...

Be that as it may, God has used us in spite of our mistakes, (probably because we never really wanted to do anything that would dishonor or shame Him). And, since we believe He is directing us to continue publishing the newsletter, as a ministry staff, we have recently begun the dismantling of most of our rules. (Of course, we still keep a schedule, and there are some policies that have to do exclusively with our living arrangements and work-atmosphere), we basically believe that most everyone here is now mature enough (or should be), to hear the voice of the Lord concerning spiritual and personal matters. As elders, we feel we only have the responsibility to give our advice, and then it's up to that person to make their own decisions. (This absolutely also goes for leaving our ministry, and moving on.)

Because of our recent reformation, we felt it necessary to send this letter out to those who still might be scarred, or are harboring bad feelings towards us (or me personally). Maybe you won't believe we've really changed that much (in the light of the last "revival", and how we failed to completely learn our lesson about "over-shepherding"); but, as you know, God is faithful to them that love Him (and we know, you know, we do)! We also believe that many of you have been praying for us to come to this decision for a long time, and we thank you in Jesus for your concern and loving prayers.

We hope that in the future, you will be able to hear a good report about us. But, even if we have failed now to completely change what's wrong with our ministry, we know that your prayers, and God's faithfulness, will continue to shed new light on our hearts, eager to "learn what is pleasing to the Lord."

If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know. I, Keith, am writing this letter. The reason I am having the current elders (and their wives) sign with me, is because, we have all agreed together on many of our mistaken policies, and I believe we should all repent together, and stand together in stating what we believe the Lord wanted us to know, AND LIVE, all along.

We really love you, and encourage you to keep seeking the Lord's will for your life!

Yours in repentance,
Keith and Melody Green

[firstgarden]

A repentance letter from Keith Green - 1978
During painful growing stages in the early years of Last Days Ministries:

To my fellow soldiers, in the battle we are waging:

The reason I am writing this letter is because I am at a place in my walk with the Lord that I have never yet had to face. I have reached the point in my ministry with Jesus where I have completely run out of my ability. So far, as a Christian, I have been able to rely (sometimes totally) on my talents, gifts, strengths and zeal to pull me through trials and battles. As you probably have noticed, I have a way with words and can usually talk my way out of trouble. The Lord, in His perfect will for my life (and this ministry), has completely allowed my supply of energy and self-confidence to become depleted. You might have noticed me looking exhausted, defeated, or even downright depressed lately. That is because the Lord has cornered me, pulled the old rug out, and it is time for a new phase of my walk, and of this community, to begin. Change is terribly difficult and I have prayed for a total breaking from Jesus, and He is being faithful to me -- but it is hurting so much through this time.

The main thing I want to do is confess my deep (even passionate-in the Spirit-of course) love that I have for you. And also I need to confess my total inability to be any kind of a good, gentle, patient, encouraging pastor -- and for this, I indeed need your forgiveness and your patience! You see, I have, many times, come and shown no encouragement to you, and "busted" you and bruised you. And the Lord has given much grace to us, and used these times -- but now that I have alienated many in the flock (I am so, so, so sorry for this), I have gotten the same treatment from a lot of them (not that I don't deserve it). You see, lately my time has gotten so squeezed...

Time seems to be my biggest enemy, besides working eight hours a day on the album and teaching up to four nights a week, there have been piles of mail to read, and answer (mostly about more people coming to join us! -- Help!) And the phone just never stops ringing, and it's almost always an "emergency!" Most of the calls aren't even from you, but from people all over the country who either want to come join us or just have a "Keith Green" concert (which I've completely stopped booking, so that I can give each of you my total life and heart); or, someone desperate, who has to have "Keith Green" counsel him, or give him "advice" on how to start a music ministry! I've been going bananas and praying for God to send more help!! Then, almost every one of you needs to talk or council with me; (some people need to be talked to five times a day!). And, believe me, I'd rather spend time counseling, praying and being with you, more than anywhere else in the world, for God has given me a shepherd's heart for you, and I love you so much...

(Message edited by firstgarden on December 24, 2007)

[firstgarden]

But "Keith Green" is such a failure! I don't deserve incredible sheep like you, nor to be considered a pastor, but the Lord uses whomever He can, and I was elected. So here we are, a beautiful flock of sheep, with deep, incredible hurts, needs, and potential. And a completely incompetent child to lead them; who, most the time acts like little Caesar, especially when he's under pressure because of lack of time, a lot of concerns, and intense desire to be all places, doing all things at once, which is totally unscriptural, (not to mention, impossible). Help me! I beg you! Please pray for me. Please be patient with me. Please forgive me, and please see that inside, I too, am a little lamb that needs love, and a shoulder to cry on. It's true that people have been judging and condemning me, and I realize that if I got what I deserved, I'd go to hell right now!

But Jesus has covered us all in His blood, and is making us into His image. The past few days, I almost quit. I heard a lot of things that people around me had been saying, and thinking about me; and it broke my heart when I realized how much I'd been mistrusted, and how much bitterness you might have in your heart toward me. Satan has been attacking at an unprecedented rate, and I've wanted to run away and close up and never get hurt anymore ... please don't hurt me. Please look for the good in me. Please pray that I will do these things for you too. And please try and understand how much pressure I'm under. For Jesus and you, I will go through anything, but if you stop loving me, I will die from a broken heart. I love you, and need your love more than you'll ever know. Have mercy on me ... your shepherd and brother,

Keith

[turtle]

Keith,
Keep hanging on and looking up. Keep speaking truth We never know where God will lead us. Just remember the life of Joseph, Paul, Annaise(cant' spell the one that went to paul) and not least Jonah. All human, all with failings, but all that love God. Go to the hurting the dying, the sick those that are falling from Jesus and most of all those that do not know Christ.

[firstgarden]

Thank you turtle for the kind post. Keith had a great ministry and was working closely with Youth With A Mission when he passed away in 1982. He died in a tragic plane crash in East Texas. What a way to lose a close friend. But he's probably the one feeling sorry for us. Lol.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has in entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those that love Him.

Blessings!

[bachman]

I was a "weeknight" visitor to Keith and Melody's Friday Bible studies in Woodland Hills, CA during the time between his debut album and when NO COMPROMISE was released. My mom would bake a casserole to take to the community shared meal before the Bible study and Melody LOVED that--a "home cooked" meal versus "community food."

And when NO COMPROMISE was about finished, Keith brought a "test pressing" and we all got to hear it a few months before it was released to the public! (I remember "YOU!" the first song on side 2 skipped when Keith played it!)

He also had a big fight with Sparrow Records over the cover. They wanted his face -- BIG -- on the cover, like his debut. He was selling a LOT of records for Sparrow and making a lot of $$ for them. But he did NOT want his face on the cover, feeling it took from God's glory...so the illustration was used.

Keith was caught up a lot under the "law" at the time and "behavior" and hanging around Winkie and Leonard didn't help. So he was never really happy with himself or his "ministry." Not a lot of joy and I know it was tough on Melody and obviously members of the community. They wanted me to join but I was finishing high school (!) and then off to college.

Keith did come and play at my high school (Agoura) --I was president of the Maranatha! Club and he started playing piano in front of about 15 Christians...within 10 minutes, more than 200 kids had crowded the room, drawn by the music and the truth he was preaching.

I couldn't listen to his music for years after he died, it meant so much to me in my early days.

"Trials Turned To Gold" was my favorite by Keith, especially this line:

"Oh Lord, forgive the times
I try to read Your mind
For You said,
That if I'd be still
Then I would hear Your voice."

[firstgarden]

Yeah - I did the bass work on that first album and co-wrote "Your Love Broke Through" with Keith and Randy Stonehill. Those were some amazing times, weren't they?

I'm sure that the problems/abuse issues in ministries like Last Days and Agape Force are really small potatoes compared with the major mind-control issues addressed at this site. They did not practice conscious mind-control at all. But guilt manipulation and other means of control are not distant relatives, either. Exploitation of submission is common too. This amd elitism were definite issues with the Agape Force experiment. In many ministries and cults (using both entities in the same breath - gulp) people HAVE been badly abused, mind-control or not.

I thought it would be refreshing to post these apology letters, as they are so rare, it seems, and can be so healing. If anyone has an apology letter from an abusive group, and if it seems in good taste to share it, please do so here.

I have yet another from Last Days in the mid-late 80s that was pretty precious. I hope to find it soon so I can share it.

All blessings

~fg~

[turtle]

You know it hard to believe these groups could swallow their pride to even write a letter, but when Christ speaks to the heart, people do listen.I did not listen to keith green music, but probably have heard it. I like sandy patti, Michael w. smith and steve green, and so forth. Actually I really was not into alot of music it was to much flash for me. Seen a concert for the first time at a baptist retreat and the music was just way to loud for my liking and words seemed to distorted. So Christian music in a since has not influence me like it has so many.

I can understand how young christians in the music industry could really find themselves in a mess if it is like the rest of the music industry. To much confusion and pressure to perform. You have big bucks looking at you and it is very tempting, especially coming from a poor family I could see a problem. Still it is a choice what you do and how your serve God, but to get through pressure at a young age is almost impossible.

I think this is why so many young that start in ministry go through such a hard time. My problem was not that I could sing but loved to teach, and when decisions for my life came, I did not know I really need to know more about life and have a solid education to teach/preach, even though I had good examples before me. You can say maybe I was to zealous with a lack of understanding. It happens to people without alot of money as well as the big shots.

[bachman]

Firstgarden (TF!) -- any idea why Randy used the "extra lyrics" of Love Broke Through when he recorded his version on "Love Beyond Reason"? I've always wondered if they were written with you and Keith or Randy added them when he recorded it.

And talk about cults/misbehavior from the early days of the Jesus Movement--I've just finished writing a book about the All Saved Freak Band. Their band "leader" was Larry Hill and he did horrible things to them.

The manuscript is currently being reviewed by several agents for publication -- here's the basic premise of the book, a "query letter" that I sent to the agents:
====

One reporter told me, “On the day you hear Larry Hill has died, remember to wear extra thick-soled shoes because hell will be stoked up extra hot.”

What really happened on the farm at 8179 Fortney Road in the town of Windsor, Ohio from 1968 to 1979, the years that Larry Hill’s Church of the Risen Christ (CRC) cult was in existence? Now, for the first time, the account of those who survived the ordeal is told.

IN A DARK PLACE: The True Story of a Group of Believers who were Deceived, Almost Destroyed and Finally Delivered From One of the Most Brutal Cults of the 1970s is a powerful and compelling tale of deception, brainwashing, and the emotional, physical and mental abuse of adults and children as young as four. Three members never made it out alive, and for those who did, what was left of their lives and spirits was shattered almost beyond recognition.

When compared to the well-publicized physical and sexual brutality of the Unification Church and the Children of God cults, one former member of CRC told me, “Ours was much worse.”

For the first time, 17 former members of the cult of more than 50 people tell their story. They include a counseling pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church who was a close friend of the late Dr. Jerry Falwell; a daughter whose father was a member of the White House administration; one of the infamous “Kent 25” activists from the Kent State shootings; one of cult leader Larry Hill’s sons; and the legendary blues-guitar player Glenn Schwartz, a founding member of the James Gang (and Joe Walsh’s “guitar guru”), Pacific Gas and Electric and lead guitarist for CRC’s All Saved Freak Band, one of the top religious rock groups of the day.

The 518-page manuscript for IN A DARK PLACE is abundantly illustrated with rare photos of life on the farm, excerpts from Larry Hill’s teachings, church services and dozens of images from the cult’s Freedom Bell evangelistic newspaper. The book is fully referenced, has been fact checked with more than 70 sources, features comments from musicians of the day (e.g., Fleetwood Mac, Canned Heat, the James Gang) and contains 30 interviews, including one with the judge who presided over the 1978 horse-whipping trial of an 11-year-old girl that ultimately caused the demise of the cult. The final chapter “No Darkness At All” updates the reader on how the former members are doing today as revealed in their August 2007 reunion. Although it is a heartbreaking story and the reader does walk through that very dark valley, there is great hope, light and inspiration to be drawn from what occurred.

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The significance of the events covered throughout IN A DARK PLACE are perhaps more relevant today than when they occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Back then, cult leader Larry Hill warned his followers, “I have had visions from God, there is a Great War coming, be prepared or be afraid if you are outside of my ‘Ark of Safety.’”

In our time, President Bush has stated, “I am driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did.”

He has called the al-Qaeda network “a cult of evil” and has claimed, “this nation is at war with Islamic fascists.”

Osama bin Laden has declared that his acts of terrorism are actually “the battle of Islam in this age” and he casts himself in a messianic role: “We are firm on the road of jihad for the sake of God!”

In other words: A Great War is coming. Be prepared. Or be afraid if you are not on the right side.

Larry Hill’s Church of the Risen Christ cult is a microcosm of what the world is facing today, and the readers of IN A DARK PLACE will find themselves in strangely familiar and frightening territory.

In a time when Westerners have trouble comprehending what drives Islamic fundamentalists to terrorize and kill, we need only to look within America’s own borders and small towns to discover the answer.