The sermon tried to explain what a "healthy" church looks like, and by comparison, how The Crossing Church is supposedly healthy. (It's not.) Eric Dykstra says that a healthy church is not label focused, not person focused and not system focused. This from the person that put his and his wife's faces on a billboard. This from the person that tries to brand everything with the Crossing logo. This from the church that has a fully system focused Code!
I broke this down in my post "I'm Offended" as to why people called The Crossing Church a Cult. I'll list the reasons again:
- A mother was trying to save her son after your reckless comments and authority trip caused him to leave his family, get married hastily and leave college. Here is her story: One Mother's Journey
- You were kicking people out of your church, ruining lives and acting like a cult. Another story: Open Letter to Eric Dykstra
- You were so focused on church growth and yourselves that people were treated like they were disposable. Another story:Keeping the Faith
- You were forcing submission, insane amounts of tithing and promoting fear. WCCO news report: Community in Elk River Discusses Controversial Church
- You wouldn't take accountability for anything. WCCO news report: Pastor Addresses Controversy
- You were allowing abusive leadership to lie and hurt others. My Story
Here are typical signs of possibly being in a cult (see below). It's fair to note that some of these signs can be present, and maybe the organization isn't necessarily a cult, but it's still controlling and dangerous.
The Crossing Church members are expected to orbit their lives around that church, they are expected to tithe (big!) and serve to exhaustion. No, The Crossing it's Jonestown about to drink the Kool Aid (yet), but it has domineering leadership, manipulative tactics and unhealthy behaviors.
As Eric Dykstra loves to say, "Run, Forest, Run!!"
- •Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
No one is allowed to question.
No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget or expenses, such as an independently audited financial statement.
- Ask for a statement of the church's finances. Ask to know the Dykstra's salaries. You'll get nothing.
There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.
- People that leave are outcasts.
Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
- See blog posts in list above.
There are records, books, news articles, or broadcast reports that document the abuses of the group/leader.
- WCCO news did multiple reports on the abuses of The Crossing.
• The group/leader is always right.
- Read The Code. Eric Dykstra is felt to have a Vision from God!
As Eric Dykstra loves to say, "Run, Forest, Run!!"
5 comments:
My name is Don and my wife is Ange. We run a cult survivor's blog to warn people about our former church/cult that is called New Testament Chrisitian Churches of America, Inc. This morning I stumbled across your blog and was glad to see others actively engaged in exposing a spiritually abusive group for hypocrisy and double standards. You are spot on in your evaluation of your former church or cult if you consider it to be a cult. We call them like we see them. In our former group people were called out for stealing paperclips from work while the con artists that preached at us were raking in millions of dollars in tithes and offerings every year. While there is not one scripture in the bible that commands Gentiles or New Testament Christians to pay tithe, many Christians were ostracized for not paying tithe. They were called God robbers and treated like all of the other "sinners" in the world.
Women were required to wear long dresses, not allowed to cut their hair, not allowed to wear make up or ear rings. In fact ear rings were called "devil Stirrups" and make up was called "clown paint". Many of the men in the ministry went out and got vasectomies because they were taught that "Children hinder the work of the Lord". We had to participate in so many church functions which included but were not limited to 4 or 5 church services per week, bible study, multiple soul winning functions throughout the week, mandatory fellowship after each function, Monthly fellowship meetings and biannual conventions to name a few. If you missed any of this it was because you didn't love God enough.
Meanwhile the hucksters that ran this dog and pony show ignored many of these standards and broke the rules all of the time. The daughter of the now deceased founder wears her clothing so tight that she looks like a ziplock baggy full of Jello. Her husband who now runs the show has women clean his mansion every week and some have testified of him making unwanted advances towards them. There also have been many accounts of adultery, child molestation, incest, rape and physical child abuse among this group. The chief offender was the founder, R.W. Davis who recently passed away.
Thank God for people like you that hold their feet to the fire. There are so many occasions that abusive groups who masquerade as Christian churches are hiding many other kinds of abuse, and the ones who are making a profit off of the suffering of others often are hiding even more sinister activities than you would ever imagine. Keep up the good work.
@backalley I don't understand blogger at all, so this may be posted somewhere. But, how can I contact you? Email address?
You can send a message to my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Thoughts-from-the-Back-Alley-311173785584812/
Hi Anonymous - you can email me at TFTBA@mail.com
Sent.
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