As I pondered the Merz tragedy this morning, I came to a stark realization. The borderline retarded have been easy prey to the recruiters of the New Testament Christian Church. This morning I began to think about the mentality of a bunch of brothers who I've personally known living in the serviceman's homes. A good many of these dudes had loose screws and they absolutely were and are NOT playing with a full deck. I can think of 5 guys right off the top of my head who lived in the serviceman's home at Ft Hood Tx who really had something wrong upstairs. I can think of 3 in Columbus Ga who fell in the same category. Of this bunch, 4 immediately come to mind who wound up becoming minsters in the NTCC.
These are the people who give marriage counseling. These are the people who give financial guidance. These are the people who give spiritual guidance. One such person, (by all accounts) recently murdered his room mate. The NTCC has issues. Would you want your child to receive life altering guidance and counseling from the likes of these kind of guys? The NTCC is sick in the head both literately and figuratively.
The reason these types are such easy prey is because they are so odd, they don't have many friends to begin with. Then here comes this "friendly" NTCC recruiter who picks up the mentally impaired for church, goes to dinner with him or her, has them spend time or stay over at the serviceman's home and the fish swims right into the net. Easy prey. It's even easier to get the mentally impaired to part with their money but here is the sick part. The NTCC leadership will occasionally let one of these types become a pastor and they routinely allow them to become ministers and worker bees and in the process they attract more of the same. The NTCC is FULL of dudes who ain't playing with a full deck.
I'm telling you, some of these guys that come to mind absolutely didn't have it all upstairs and they never got it all upstairs and in fact they got worse as the years went on in the NTCC. They not only were "off" to begin with but they totally lost touch with reality as a result of their involvement with the NTCC. That's how you arrive at Mr. Merz. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last because the NTCC targets those kind of guys. Guys who are mentally impaired are easy to get to church, (numbers) and it's easy to convince them to part with their cash, (money). With RWD it's all about two things and he openly said it over and over again in conference, (money and numbers) and a mentally challenged individual contributes to both.
So the end result is you have an abnormally high percentage of mentally challenged in the NTCC who've become ministers. I could name names right now but I won't for the sake of the guys who fall in this category but you better believe this; I'm 100% right on this one. The NTCC leadership takes advantage of these dudes and I know of one in the NTCC right here in Columbus GA.
Chief
When you shake apples out of a tree, they don't fall too far away from the tree. The same goes for nuts. The ntcc does have a special ministry. Some of the weirdest people I have ever met have been members of the ntcc. To become a minister in the ntcc you have to subject yourself to an inordinate amount of stress and duress. Many that graduate from ntcc become nut cases and they are placed in a position of responsibility to give life altering advise to others.
ReplyDeleteI remember in one Servicemen's Home we used to go soul winning at barracks by the hospital where people that had all kinds of mental challenges lived. Now I'm not making fun of anyone and there are people with mental challenges that God loves, but we had an outreach to people that had all kinds of psychological disabilities and even had one that had a nervous breakdown right in front of the church. One dude use to say words that would come into his mind that didn't make any sense at all. Another dude was on huge amounts of lithium because of manic depression. You just opened a whole new can of worms Jeff. Do you know what the common denominator was with this bunch of wacked out people we brought to church was? Tithe. They all were active duty military. We had a bunch of people coming to church with all kinds of psychological disabilities and mental impairments at the same time. They were very impressionable and needed help so we brought them in and they became tithe paying church members.
Throughout my time in the ntcc and military I remember many people that were extremely challenged mentally and emotionally that attended the ntcc regularly, paying tithe and sometimes even living in the home.
Many cult members are of above average intelligence statistically but there are also many which are very simple minded and as described of Kelly Merz, borderline. In Kelly's case it seems that he became that way in time. In his earlier years in the ntcc, he described as mild mannered and quiet, but now he is being described as slow, having mental problems or was disturbed in some way, something was not right with him, he stuttered and was child like and compulsive.
Back to my original point about shaking apples and nuts out of trees, you have to consider the phrase, "The apple has not fallen far from the tree". We look at Rwd as a genius and a man with a twisted yet brilliant pyramid scheme that made him millions off of all types of people with different backgrounds. I would say that at the least, 50% of the people reached by ntcc, if diagnosed would have some kind of mental impairment and that's a conservative estimate. We know that Rwd himself is a severe narcissist, which is a clinical diagnoses in itself.
What a mess!
DnA
I was reading in 1 Samuel today about the sons of Eli and how they were laying with women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle, and how they abused their office by hoarding the part of the burnt offering that they wanted to themselves. Eli was judged in his old age, both sons being killed on the same day as was prophesied earlier.
ReplyDelete1 Sam 4:17-18 "And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years."
People that have been through the ntcc experience have more baggage than a carousel at O'hare International during Christmas travel season.
ReplyDeleteNEEDTOBREATHE - Slumber
ReplyDeleteFrom the album The Reckoning
Days they force you
Back under those covers
Lazy mornings they multiply
But glory's waiting
Outside your window
So wake on up from your slumber
And open up your eyes
Tongues are violent
Personal and focused
Tough to beat with
Your steady mind
But hearts are stronger after broken
So wake on up from your slumber
And open up your eyes
All these victims
Stand in line for
The crumbs that fall from the table.
Just enough to get by
All the while your
Invitation
Wake on up from your slumber
Come on; open up your eyes (repeat)
Take from vandals
All you want now
But please don't trade it in for life
Replace the feeble
With the fable
Wake on up from your slumber,
And open up your eyes
All these victims
Stand in line for
The crumbs that fall from the table.
Just enough to get by
All the while your
Invitation
Wake on up from your slumber
Come on; open up your eyes (repeat)
Sing like we used to
Dance when you want to
Taste of the breakthrough
And open wide
All these victims
Stand in line for
The crumbs that fall from the table.
Just enough to get by
All the while your
Invitation
Wake on up from your slumber
Come on; open up your eyes (repeat)
Sing like we used to
And dance like you want to
Open up your eyes.
(Repeat)
Here's a link to a video for that song:
ReplyDeleteSLUMBER
It really fits with what's been shared here. You may want to watch it to fully understand.
The monkey reminded me of someone who wandered aimlessly through his days and nights, speaking unintelligible words to himself. He said he heard AM radio in his head. And often carried one with him with random aluminum foil pieces attached.
Some would diagnose that as psychosis. Some would call it demon possession.
From what Don shared ntcc has exploited such individuals. That is truly sad.
There are many in the world who need help. The bible has many accounts of not only Christ, but also the disciples praying for such individuals, who, by God's grace, are miraculously healed.
That should be our approach and focus. Not the tithe.
Don and Ange
By the way, if you are still in the ntcc; and you feel like that goldfish swimming around, trapped in a circular file.... We would encourage you to heed the placard in the video -- "FOLLOW ME"
ReplyDeleteYou too can be free from the shackles and prison of ntcc's system of rules that hinder you from following the Holy Spirit's leading.
To stay in the ntcc and follow their rules is to severely limit the Holy Spirit. But the bible admonishes Christians to "quench NOT the Spirit".
Ask God to lead you. And soon you will, in the words from the Christmas animation "put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walkin' 'cross the floor... put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walkin' out the door..." After all, isn't that what davis is always telling you to do anyway? "If you don't like it here, there's the door."
We recommend it. You'll be glad you went through that open door that God has provided for your freedom in Him.
Don and Ange
I want to be sure everyone understands my point concerning this article. Bring anyone to church that you want, but you don't turn a guy with OBVIOUS mental issues into a minister who's job is to lead others. You leave them in the church as a church member. You don't take advantage of them either. You don't have them doing a bunch of trivial labor around the church just because they are easy prey. You don't stress them out more than they already are. You don't drive them to be nuttier than they were in the first place with a bunch of unnecessary rules, demands and added stress that they can't effectively deal with. You don't use them like this dude in Columbus has been used. You don't sell them cars for more than they are worth you manipulative bunch of creeps.
ReplyDeleteAnd your leadership had a problem with me being a New Toyota automobile salesman? You guys suck. The NTCC leadership talks about lawyers, car salesmen, and salesmen in general, and the NTCC leadership is FAR WORSE then all of them put together. RWD sucks and so do his overseers. I'll guarantee that I did more good for Columbus GA and the surrounding cities as a Toyota Salesman than RWD and all his leaders have ever done for mankind. I saved people a LOT of money because I truly cared. The NTCC leadership takes a LOT of money from everyone and spends it on their own greedy business ventures.
Cha Chief
"I was reading in 1 Samuel today about the sons of Eli..."
ReplyDeleteYeah, that shoe fits the NTCC situation all right. In fact, years ago in a conference, I heard Jim Ashmore preach a message from this text right down RW's gullet, but it was like water off a duck's back. Ever since then, I've been wondering when their Ichabod moment is going to arrive.
survey says.....
ReplyDeleteDING DING DING !!!
Chief is correct once again !
Wow! It is really great to come across folks that made it out of NTCC alive. I was one of those who had no friend, and had just gotten out of a strained relationship. I was at Fort Drum, NY at the time, and while in the mall, two sisters approached me and sucked me right in. Something was never totally right about NTCC, but of course, I chalked those thoughts up to Satan and kept it moving. Thank goodness for two Sergeants that I met a couple of years later. They helped me to see that NTCC was indeed a cult. So grateful that I left!
ReplyDelete"So grateful that I left!"
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the X-er communtity!
Very sad to have been duped by this organization, I quess all the drugs I was partaker of prior to my recruitment retarded my judgement. I was ripe for the picking and sad to say fit in with the other nuts at the Fort Hood home. I have no problem admitting to that, my wife thinks anyone spending time rehashing their days in the cult via this blog is a little off...who knows?....
ReplyDelete"I have no problem admitting to that, my wife thinks anyone spending time rehashing their days in the cult via this blog is a little off...who knows?...."
ReplyDeleteThere's a method to the madness--we just want this info out there so the unwary can be forewarned of what a soul-trap NTCC is. It's also cathartic and psychologically beneficial to air it all out.