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| Notorious bachelor Bill Gothard, abuser of young women, posed with the Duggar daughters. Where did Josh meet his future wife Anna? At a Gothard event. |
I Fired God: My Life Inside---and Escape from---the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult
Kindle Edition
Jocelyn Zichterman was born, raised, married into, and finally, with her family, fled the Independent Fundamental Baptist church. Founded by the fiery preacher Bob Jones, with several hundred thousand members, IFB congregants are told they must not associate with members of other Baptist denominations and evangelicals, with an emphasis on secrecy, insular marriages within the church, a subservience for women, and unusual child raising practices.
In I Fired God, Jocelyn Zichterman systematically details the IFB's disturbing history, exposing a cult-like atmosphere of corruption, greed, and abuse. Having been initiated into its innermost circles, Zichterman knows that the gentle demeanor America sees in the form of the Duggar clan on 19 Kids and Counting disguises the truth about the darker side of the church.
With written documentation and sources so thorough that law enforcement has used her work as a foundation for criminal prosecutions, Zichterman exposes the IFB with revelations including:
- The disturbing world of abuse within the IFB and doctors and teachers who cater exclusively to church members and fail to report physical and sexual abuse
- The IFB-controlled Bob Jones University, which issues degrees of questionable value while making vast sums of money for its founders
- The way the IFB influences politics on the local, state, and national level, and protects its abusive culture under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.
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GJ - This book put two things together for me - the extensive, overlapping financial network of the Independent Fundamentalist Baptists, and the parallels to Lutherdom.
- Bob Jones University (which gave Billy Graham an honorary doctorate),
- Quiverful Movement (babies galore),
- The Hyles connection with hundreds of abuse cases.
- The Duggar clan's secret language.
- Spying and reporting on each other.
- Phony doctorates (like Dr. Bob Jones and Dr. Paul Kelm).
- Parallels to WELS, the LCMS, the ELS, and the CLC (sic).
Caution - the author does not come out of this Purgatory a political conservative, after experiencing "conservative family values" masking incest, child abuse, and a network of deceptions.
The interlocking business aspect of this abusive cult is impressive. As Luther said, deception and greed rule the world. The IFB pretends to be independent, but the cult controls people, congregations, and escape attempts by having a file on everyone. They can build up a person and give him plenty of income, or they can make him a leper and deny him income, friendship, and family.
The author suffered horrible physical and sexual abuse from her father, sexual abuse from her brothers, and cult abuse from the IFB, her high school, her college, and the college where her husband worked until they walked out of the cult.
IFB and WELS are quite similar, in many departments. What makes an IFB or WELS person a professor? Answer - education in their inbred system, where similar poorly educated people have been allowed to rule the roost. This yields a dictatorial class of people who use their secret language to control everyone while they live lawless lives.
How did WELS happen to ignore decades of a District President abusing young girls in his own congregation? His entire district knew about it and used the information to have their own fun.
My wife and I enjoyed the Duggar programs at first but I became suspicious of the special language and the weird rules explained by Josh Duggar. I said to Mrs. I, "He does not have his heart in this. Look at his face while talking about defrauding the eyes."
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| The Duggar women glammed up later, but in the early days they looked like cult Mormons on parade. |
Some other Duggar terms and practices were -
- No hand holding until engagement.
- Side hugs, because a regular hug is fraught with danger.
- No kissing until the marriage ceremony.
- "Nike!" - the girls ordering all the men not to look an attractive woman walking by, but to look at their shoes instead. Guffaw.
- The wife has to be totally available at all times for the husband's pleasure.
Where did all these special rules and words come from? Answer - Bill Gothard, whose seminars made millions of dollars while this bachelor kept a harem of beautiful young girls at his headquarters so he seduce them with his emotional support and blackmail. That does sound like the founder of the LCMS, Martin Stephan, does it not? And no one knew! Well, they knew about Stephan's adultery but they didn't know. Both stories are out there.
The Missouri Synod did not officially start until Stephan was robbed, kidnapped, and left to die in Illinois, where he did pass on later. So Walther founded the LCMS. Oh yeah, sure. Who got 700 people into ships when he was under house arrest for promiscuity and misuse of funds? Stephan did, not Walther. CFW was the betwitched or cynical follower who went along with the cult and kidnapped his own niece and nephew for the trip.
Spying, lying, and control are crucial in the IFB network and in WELS. Jack Preus compared WELS spying to the KGB, but that is unfair to the KGB. That was disbanded. WELS spying continues unabated.
Here is a partial list of SynCon abuses.
Here is a partial list of SynCon abuses.
A totally controlled sect is a money machine, because everyone has to go to the seminars and buy the materials. Everyone has to work for nothing because they are serving the Lord.
Guilt, guilt, and more guilt is a great way to control people. Abusive families do this instinctively. The author's father was a sadist who tortured and killed their pets and abused all his children with savage beatings and humiliation. Any infraction was a horrible sin that had to be punished.
The school system for Bob Jones and IFB affiliates will sound familiar to WELS survivors. Girls were routinely humiliated in what is now called slut-shaming. That is one of the paradoxes of Pietistic Calvinistic cults like WELS. They act holier than thou and purer than the snows of Kilimanjaro, but they treat young women like dirt and think of wives as dumb slaves.
Northwestern College had Score Reports, where the men shared intimate details about their dates. When one wife objected to the practice, her Circuit Pastor husband roared with laughter.
The author writes about the leaders encouraging abuse and enjoying it. That reminded me of Mequon faculty watching GA hazing rites and enjoy them all over again. Acceptance of abuse is what glues a cult together.
When John Brug was on the front page Christian News, his wife had no idea. She said, "I know about WELS, but it is getting better." Brug seems to be one of the WELS minders, whose job it is to keep Otten controlled. Every congregation and every pastor has a minder or two. Nothing happens without it being reported the the higher ups.
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| Pastor Jon Stern's enthusiasm about the Starr-Barefoot gay ministry program is contagious. |
Does anyone know what the District Presidents earn? And what about their perks like the winter vacation in the Carib? The Synod President's salary and benefits are none of your business, but all of your business is his business.
In Lutherdom, sin has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. First Table - false doctrine? No problem.
Second Table? Every pervert was forgiven 2,000 years ago. Adultery and homosexuality are only sins when getting rid of someone. In the leadership, even at headquarters - no problem at all. The radicals can do no wrong in Lutherdom unless they start drawing fire on the denomination. Even then, the leadership would rather promote the unrepentant, move them, and defend them.
But to question the synod? That is a horrible, unforgivable sin. In fact, even bringing up the problem is a sin, so any meeting or discussion will involve a denunciation of the despicable way in which it was brought up. We said, write a letter, but look at the horrible language, Eighth Commandment violations, and failure to follow Matthew 18!
The Abusive Sect Hates People Out and Demands Them Back
The author describes how the abusive leaders hated them out of the college and connected IFB business arrnagements, but the cult also demanded they come back as servile and repentant slaves to the organization.
I have seen so many cases where WELS pastors or laity were driven out, hated out, shunned and abused, only to see them work their way back in. They complained about the abuse, loudly, and went back for a second helping. Of course WELS loves to have troublesome pastors back, broken of their habit of dissenting.
Every so often I see a prominent leaker of information announce in public he is so grateful to be in WELS and loves his fellowship so much. Truly, such evidence of mind control should draw iron tears down Pluto's cheeks (Milton).
The sub-cult of UOJ works the same way. One dentist questioned every assumption of UOJ, found himself completely pistol-whipped by Rolf Preus and others, and came back repentant and embracing UOJ. Now he is so nasty about UOJ, without being prompted or asked, that I had to block him on Facebook. I do not mind debating UOJ the rest of my life, but ridiculous and gratuitous insults are not welcome. If I missed that so much, I would post on SpenerQuest.
