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:: 5.12.2003 ::
My friend Steve sent me this link Friday.
It is an engrossing and terrifying story about a secret Jesus movement that has been influencing heads of state for 40 years. The guy who wrote it went undercover to become a member of one of the cells of "the Family," as they call themselves. Their mission is to spread the word of Christ and take over the world. I am so not joking.
Here are some possible connections I found to "the Family":
International Fellowship House, in Boston, which describes itself as "...started by a group of Christian couples who wanted to provide a place for male international students to stay while they were studying in Boston. The house has a Christian emphasis though we do not require students to be Christians to live here. We pray before dinner and may have Christian discussion times in the house which you have the option of attending." Sounds lovely, eh? Note: "Opportunity will be provided for meaningful discussion of the Christian faith and of residents’ personal values and beliefs." Maybe I'm just cynical, but in my experience this kind of statement really means: "you can tell us about your silly heathen ideas and we'll explain why Jesus is so cool."
One of the founding members of IFH is a guy named Butch Dickerson, who I found in a google search at this site, and also as a member of the Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association. Trinity Church seems to be consistent with what I read of "the Family," which is based around the idea of "covenant." Here's an excerpt from the history of the the church: "From its humble beginnings to the present time the 'heartbeat' of Trinity Church has been expressed in it's covenant: "We covenant with the Lord and with one another and do bind ourselves in the presence of God to walk together in his holy ways.""
Does every church have a covenant? Maybe this is just something I don't know much about... also, this church does not mention any denomination, and it's all about the congregation's direct relationship with Jesus: "Trinity Church seeks to be a vibrant community of believers in Jesus Christ who glorify God and impact our world and neighbors through evangelism, equipping, worship, and service." Men and women have their own programs and ministries, just as "the Family" does.
There's also this. Note item 9 under "How Fellowship Houses Work!": "Encourage others to stay focused, but stop Satan in his tracks and blow the whistle on anyone that is not interested in following a new life. It is good not to be judgmental, but it is important to deal with problems. The House can loose its charter for not dealing with these problems." In other words, any person or group not complying with the greater mission gets kicked out - the charter for each house includes the item: "That the houses expel those individuals not interested in pursuing the life of Christ."
There's also Christian Leadership Ministries, which sounds very similar to the other groups listed in the story as designed to prevent the Family from becoming "a target for misunderstanding." (sound like Mafia fronts to anyone else? well, after all they base a lot of their ideas for organization and proliferation on the Mafia and the Nazis.) the CLM's mission is: "In partnership with professors, we build spiritual leaders, help them continually saturate the campus with the gospel, and fully integrate their faith into their academic discipline and culture. This partnership will change the way decision makers around the world think by giving them a biblical perspective on relevant topics that are at issue on campuses and in the culture." They sponsor something called Leadership U, and are the faculty outreach and training arm for Campus Crusade for Christ International. And here's another associated organization/project, devoted to spreading the Word over the world wide web.
[[I know there's more out there, but I do have a job.]]
In other words, these people are everywhere, they're organized and motivated, and they've got lots of money available to them. How do you feel about that?
:: Deb 1:00 PM :: permalink ::
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