I am still getting a ton of stuff together for the upcoming posts on "Gothardised" police departments, but for now, there's been some very interesting developments.
One biggie is the apparent resignation of Gothard's "Joel's Army with Guns" frontgroup ALERT's leader--and the other hints at a rather disturbing troika between ALERT (and Gothard), Hobby Lobby, and another disturbing Bible-based cult.
First, some potential shakeups in ALERT
We've written distressingly frequently on Gothard's paramilitary frontgroup ALERT Teams--a group that can literally be described as "God Warriors with Guns" (and at least one anonymous reporter has noted to me--I am trying to get secondary verification of this--of possible training with assault weapons, at that), which has disturbing links to US Air Force commanders as well as police departments and other public safety officials via Gothard frontgroup PDI.
It also appears that a website focusing towards Church of God devotees--and potentially Worldwide Church of God, at that--has made an announcement about the departure of Ron Fuhrman from the hydra of Gothard frontgroups including ALERT:
BIG SANDY--The director of the Big Sandy branch of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP)--the IBLP is the international ministry of Bill Gothard of Oak Brook, Ill.--has resigned.
Ron Fuhrman, who directed the IBLP's Air-Land Emergency Response Team (ALERT), which owns and occupies the former Ambassador College campus, resigned as of July 22. ALERT was the brainchild nine years ago of Mr. Fuhrman, an IBLP employee. He will soon supervise another branch of ALERT in Michigan.
ALERT, also called the International ALERT Academy, moved from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the former Ambassador campus in March 2000.
However, this may be less of a true resignation and more of a shuffling of departments:
John Tanner, the new Big Sandy supervisor of ALERT, said Mr. Fuhrman will head a program in Holland, Mich., working with ALERT cadets to teach them construction skills.
"Col. Fuhrman and his family decided it was time to move on," said Mr. Tanner.
(ALERT bestows military ranks on its employees and cadets. Mr. Fuhrman is a colonel; Mr. Tanner is a lieutenant colonel.)
Interestingly, the article also mentions that ALERT is a male-only organisation; this would fit in with not only the paramilitary aspects, but with Gothard's teachings that women must have the "covering of their husbands or their fathers" and that the place of the woman in the home is to be barefoot, pregnant, led around by her husband, and squirting out "quiverfulls" of future "God Warriors" for "Joel's Army" by the litter. (And no, I am not exaggerating on that last point; the Duggar family is a Gothardite family and held up as a prime example of a "Godly" household in Gothard's groups.)
Links to the Assemblies and WWCoG?
Interestingly, this isn't the only article on Gothardism within the Church of God Journal--this article hints at some very interesting relationships between Gothard and Hobby Lobby:
BIG SANDY, Texas--The owner of the property that for 33 years was the campus of Ambassador College (which became a university in 1994) wants to sell the metal swan sculpture that graces the area in front of the administration building.
Ron Fuhrman of Big Sandy, director of Air-Land Emergency Response Team (ALERT), which has owned the grounds since Dec. 31, 2001, said ALERT would like to sell the sculpture and other items and wonders if anyone among the Churches of God would be interested in buying it.
. . .
The Worldwide Church of God sold the property in 2000 to the Green Family Trust, owner of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., of Oklahoma City, for an undisclosed sum.
Green in turn leased it to the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), a nonprofit educational and service ministry based in Oak Brook, Ill., headed by Bill Gothard. The Big Sandy acquisition joined about 50 other IBLP schools in several states.
The ownership formally transferred Dec. 31, 2001, from Green to the IBLP, of which ALERT is a department.
Mr. Fuhrman said ALERT and the campus will soon become a "stand-alone" operation of the IBLP.
Interesting indeed--especially as the article also notes that apparently the majority of ALERT Teams' membership is "Baptist".
I've written about Hobby Lobby in past--the chain of hobby stores that literally can be stated as a funding-front for the Assemblies of God's international missions division (and in particular its targeting of "people of the book"--including Orthodox, Catholic and Maronite Christians--in Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq).
One thing I hadn't mentioned in that article--in part because at the time I wrote the article, I accidentially neglected to include it--is Hobby Lobby's relationship with Gothard. And very interestingly, an article off a now-defunct survivor forum for ex-WWCoG members notes the relationship between WWCoG, Gothard, and Hobby Lobby (and the Assemblies by extension):
[Update: In March 2000 WCG sold the Ambassador College Big Sandy campus to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., who leased the campus to Bill Gothard, president of Institute in Basic Life Principles. Gothard bought all the property in the buildings. (Calvary Contender, May 15, 2000) For an in-depth expose` on Bill Gothard and his pharisaical, cultic "system," read: Bill Gothard.]
So let's review; WWCoG sold property to Hobby Lobby, who in turn sold the property to Gothard for ALERT Teams.)
The links to the Assemblies (via Hobby Lobby) are not that surprising--quite a lot of Assemblies walkaways have reported increased popularity of Gothardism (I myself remember hearing the Gothard stories about Cabbage Patch Kids supposedly being "doorways to Satan" as a youth), in stories not dissimilar to that experienced by an ex-Assemblies pastor:
I was finally pulled out by a lovely woman who had heard that Jimmy Swaggert, at that time (early 1980's), was calling the UPC a cult. This woman got me involved in an AG Church in Bellevue, NE. From there I went to college and became a minister in the AG.
My first church was quite an experience. I was an associate working with 2 other associates and a workaholic senior pastor. One by one, the associates quit. I was the last to quit, being new and uninvolved with what was going on and absorbed in my own ministry with inner city children.
I didn't pay too much attention to what was happening until one day, my wife and I had had enough of the demands of trying to build this pastor's vision of having a 5000 member church. The 80 plus hour weeks almost flung us into divorce court. I resigned and was immediately called into a meeting with the elders.
The meeting was rough and during the meeting, I was accused of not coming under the umbrella of authority of the senior pastor (Bill Gothard teaching). One of the elders was a Gothard worshipper. This elder accused me of practicing witchcraft - he deduced that since I used illusions to illustrate Bible stories to the kids that I must be doing witchcraft because "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft".
The senior sat up in his chair and pointed his finger at me and said, "Do you realize that if you resign, God will curse you?" I almost fell off my chair! He suggested that if we left without his "blessing" then my wife could bleed to death! (My wife has a bleeding disorder.) We ended up leaving, but not without an all-church meeting. Everyone was invited to learn what was going on. I was made out to be the bad person - being rebellious and as this was going on during the time that Swaggert and Baker were national news; I was likened to the status of them.
It's also not all that surprising, based on the similarity of "Joel's Army" theology by Gothard and by the Assemblies (to the point it can be argued that Gothard's IBLP can be considered a possible method of steeplejacking of the SBC, which is officially promoting Gothard's material more and more).
The surprising--and distressing--thing is that the WWCoG (a group itself subject to concerns about being a coercive religious group, in particular during its operations under Herbert Armstrong) also seems to have a relationship with ALERT Teams.
A bit more about "Joel's Army with Guns"
I've written extensively about ALERT in past, but interestingly, there is some info from Gothard's own organisation that sheds light on concerns on what the heck is going on in Big Sandy, TX:
Col. Ron Fuhrman, ALERT’s commanding officer, said he was in bed with a back problem eight years ago when he started "daydreaming" about a program that would challenge young men physically and spiritually. He put it on paper, and in February 1993, IBLP approved the first group of ALERT applicants.
"There were some concerns from law enforcement agencies in the Upper Peninsula (of Michigan) when the ALERT group first organized," said Richard Heitkemper, Sheriff of Price County, Wisconsin. "They were afraid they were a religious cult or a militia. But I can tell you they are absolutely the furthest thing from that. I believe they’re here to serve humanity."
Other reports would seem to point out that the bit about not being a "militia" is a bit of a porky-pie. From an expose of Gothard published by a Christian anti-dominionist group which in large part notes specific quotations from Gothard's groups:
Gothard operates what appears to be a paramilitary-like training school for teenagers on a 2,200-acre former college campus in Big Sandy, Texas, as part of his ALERT program (Air Land Emergency Resource Team) -- purportedly for domestic missions work via the providing of disaster relief and humanitarian aid (see second paragraph of Endnote #9). Gothard states that "ALERT is an intensive program in which young men [male graduates of ATI] ages sixteen and older are trained in Biblical principles, Godly character, and practical skills. ALERT utilizes military disciplines to train young men to restore life, rather than take it, and to bring peace and encouragement to those in distress. The present program involves the following phases: (1) Discipline: in physical strength, endurance, and self-control; (2) Skills: in a wide range of vocational specialties; and (3) Emergency Services: in response to calls from cities, states, and nations." (Source: IBLP Internet web site, 8/97.) As of July, 2000, the program had 181 enrolled and 600 graduates.
Since the hyper-spiritual warfare motifs of the Latter Rain movement are beginning to take a sinister shift towards actual military, Gothard's involvement in paramilitary-like things causes us to wonder if there is a connection. Don't forget that Joel's Army has a "chosen seed" (the coming generation) to carry out its purpose on earth, which is dominion (both physical and spiritual). In this context, Christians should have some grave concerns about Gothard's activities.
Along these lines, Gothard has clearly bought into the "Christian America Myth" (ATI Wisdom Booklet 53). He believes that "Christian" conviction can be equated with Biblical faith. But, all religions offer some form of moral basis for society. Christian conviction cannot save a nation that continues to reject true faith in Jesus Christ. America flourished upon a "Biblical ethic" that has sustained it until recent years. But a Biblical ethic is not necessarily evidence of a Biblical faith.
The actual link from IBLP is also enlightening as to the business relationship between Hobby Lobby and Gothard--namely, apparently the land that ALERT Teams sits on is literally leased from a de facto Assemblies front:
In March, the Worldwide Church of God sold the 2,200-acre Big Sandy campus to Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., which in turn leased the property to IBLP. Fuhrman said the Ambassador campus has provided much-needed space for recruits and equipment—and a much more flyer-friendly climate for getting their three aircraft airborne.
"We can maintain our own airplanes here," said Lt. Cliff Scott, 58, a former missionary pilot and mechanic, who teaches Cadets aviation mechanics. "And we train our men with the hope that they will be excellent in their careers, working with a Christian perspective," he added.
In addition to aviation training facilities and a radio station operated on site, Oklahoma City--a Gothard "demonstration city" which will be the focus of its own article in this series--apparently used ALERT Teams in murder investigations and plane crash investigations in collection of forensic evidence (something, of note, normally done only by trained police officers due to the risk of destroying clues) in lieu of a proper police forensics or FAA crash investigation team:
Heitkemper has called on ALERT services twice in the past few years and recommends them highly. "I’ve never seen a group of young men so dedicated, and with such professionalism, pride, and integrity as we saw with the ALERT group," said Richard Heitkemper, Sheriff of Price County, Wisconsin. "I wish I had a department full of the young men," he added.
Heitkemper first called on ALERT for help after a plane crashed in his county. "I said, ‘I don’t know if you people get into this, but an airplane crashed here two weeks ago, with two people inside. My people are burned out, and I need some replacements to search.’
"They said, ‘What time tomorrow morning would you like for us to be there?’" Heitkemper said ALERT Cadets were closing in on the place when it was spotted by an aircraft overhead.
In October 1999, Heitkemper called on the ALERT Cadets again, this time to search for a murder weapon. Heitkemper said he told them he had reason to believe a pistol was thrown from a car somewhere along a 13-mile stretch of road leading away from the crime scene.
And a little about WWCoG
As noted, some of the concerns about this center around what seem to be a meeting of coercive groups--Hobby Lobby's funding of known coercive orgs (including the Assemblies front Teen Challenge--which indirectly led to the total deregulation of "Bible-based boot camps" and similar facilities in Texas from 1994 to 2003 when Dubya passed a broad licensing exemption for "faith based" facilities for children--due to accusations of abuse at the Texas Teen Challenge facility; this, ironically, made it easy for ALERT Teams to set up shop in TX), Gothard's coercive groups, and the WWCoG.
The WWCoG is probably the most obscure of the three to those following my diaries--it is, however, not terribly obscure to those researching "Bible-based" coercive groups.
The WWCoG--which has undergone a number of name changes, including to "United Church of God" and the like--is one of a number of pentecostal churches operating under the name "Church of God" (other COG denominations include CoG of Cleveland, TN and the like).
What makes WWCoG notable is that--until very recently, after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong--it was one of the very few "Bible-based" groups almost universally considered a coercive religious group (along with the Boston Church of Christ); International Cultic Studies Association, Rick Ross Institute, Freedom of Mind Institute, and others have documented the abuses common in the group during Armstrong's reign. In another telltale sign of a potentially abusive group, multiple survivor forums exist.
WWCoG is notable for having been a highly coercive group, including links with suicides, extreme mandatory tithing, major social isolation (to the point the only acceptable reading materials were the Bible and the WWCoG publication "The Plain Truth"), involuntary "exorcisms" for criticism of church government, and so on; much of what went on in WWCoG is a particularly extreme version of practices all too common in coercive neopente dominionist groups into "name it and claim it" with the major exception that WWCoG was from the "Oneness Pentecostal" or "Jesus Only" strains of pentecostalism (whereas the majority of neopentecostals are trinitarians). A "You Might Have Grown Up WWCoG If.." list on a survivor's forum notes the sorts of abuses common throughout the denomination; it can in fact be legitimately stated that WWCoG may have been one of the earlier "televangelist cults" (much like "Assemblies daughter" International Foursquare, WWCoG started as a radio church).
WWCoG's entire theology--aside from the "Oneness" aspect--was almost identical to highly abusive neopente dominionist groups, in particular the promotions of Hal Lindsay, Tim LaHaye, and many an Assemblies preacher--namely, WWCoG's entire schtick was based on linking modern events (by hook or by crook) to various "revelations" that The Rapture Was Nigh. Much like many pentecostal groups (and the pentecostal movement in general, at least with pentecostal groups that came about before 1960 or so), there was a strong strain of British Israelism--the idea that White Anglo-Saxon Protestants were in fact the true Children of Israel; this evolved into "Joel's Army" theology in neopentecostal churches, and also resulted in Christian Identity's eventual split from neopentecostalism (as a specifically racist "Foursquare daughter" church) in the late 40s.
WWCoG was also rather infamous for Scientology-esque SLAPPs against critics.
In other words...other than the "Oneness Pentecostal" aspect...WWCoG could well have been a long-lost twin of Gothard's present neopentecostal dominionist cult.
It's also interesting to note (per info from walkaway forums) that the facility now owned by Hobby Lobby--and leased to ALERT--is in fact the former "diploma mill" operated by WWCoG. Specifically, the facility used to be "Ambassador College", a WWCoG-operated facility that practiced similar methods of coercion which was completely unaccredited (the only legal authorisation it had to operate at all was state authorisation). And apparently the sale to Hobby Lobby was to avoid an auction--and the risk of dirty laundry--coming out:
The Worldwide Church of God, based in Pasadena, California, today announced that its Ambassador University campus in Big Sandy, Texas has been sold, for an undisclosed sum, to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a privately owned corporation headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who in turn is leasing it to the Institute in Basic Life Principles ("IBLP"), a nonprofit educational and service organization based in Oak Brook, Illinois.
The sale preempts an auction which had been scheduled for the University campus on April 4. While the Church fully intended to proceed with the auction, it had stated from the beginning that it would entertain preemptive offers and cancel the sale if it was offered acceptable terms. A spokesman for the Church, Dr. Bernard W. Schnippert, Chief Financial Officer, remarked that the Church was pleased to find itself approached by about a half a dozen parties interested in making a deal before the auction. Other than price, a strong motivating factor in choosing IBLF and Hobby Lobby was their desire and ability to purchase the entire campus and to effectuate a deal quickly.
And this news release also reveals something disturbing about ALERT Teams--apparently they've been working quite aggressively in Russia.
Yes, the same Russia where the dominant form of pentecostalism is a particularly horrific version of "Joel's Army" theology that is resulting in literal progroms against LGBT people across Eastern Europe as well as in the western US--with quite a bit of support from regional Assemblies heads here in the States:
The Buyers intend to use the property primarily for two important missions according to information released by the IBLP. The first is to train young men for local, national, and international emergency response. The second is for an international orphanage. The two programs will make good and full use of the entire campus with all of its facilities. Six years ago, Mr. Ron Fuhrman, a leader with the IBLP and the one who will oversee day-to-day operations on the University site, saw a need to challenge and train young men to be givers rather than take. He designed the Air Land Emergency Resource Team (ALERT) to train qualified young men to effectively respond to disasters and emergency needs. The campus will now become a training center for this program.
Additionally, the IBLP has been deeply involved with orphanage work overseas, especially in Russia, where they were invited by education officials to teach character and English in their public schools, to work with orphans, to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents, visit youth prisons, and assist pensioner teachers. IBLP anticipates the Ambassador campus can be an ideal place to expand their work with orphans from other nations as they continue serving the nations they represent.
Next post--we focus on cities that have been "Gothardised", and the consequences for those of us who aren't "God Warriors".