[Vision2020] Love, Douggie Style

Mon Feb 27 09:20:20 PST 2006

J Ford, Joan, et al,

J:  Thank you for sharing with us this bitter pill sent to Cult insider, but Cult critic Michael Metzler, from Cultmaster Douglas Wilson.  The careful reader will find it not without interest and revelations about the Cultmaster:

http://www.poohsthink.com/  See:  The Love of Douglas Wilson
[Including Michael's introductory comments.]  Words in the letter below surrounded by [] are also Michaels comments.

Love letter from Doug Wilson to a parishioner:

___________________________________________________

Dear Michael,

You have asked me a couple or three times about why I deleted Mr. Moore's post from my blog [and that is all I asked him]. 

... I deleted his post because it gave the address to poohsthink, and I don't want people going there. This is not because I am afraid of people seeing the "evidence" against me, but rather because I do not want people to see your disgraceful behavior. I believe that you are well into the process of ruining your reputation, perhaps beyond repair [ouch], and I don't want to be any part of  accelerating that process. 

I do not believe that your "insubordination," as I think you called it once, is a sin that will cause you to spiritually implode down the road sometime. I believe that you are spiritually imploding  right now, in public view [well he would know, he's my pastor]. I want as few people to see it as possible, for your sake and your family's.

Whether you believe it or not, I believe myself to be more concerned about the Metzler name than I believe you are. That is why I deleted the post. 

Honestly.

Cordially in Christ,

Douglas
_________________________________________________________________

This bitchy, self-serving, clearly unchristlike, unpastor-like letter temptingly invites a number of comments.  Please pardon my indulgence.

1.    Whenever someone says "X" and follows it with "Honestly", the prudent person would do well to protect their purse with one hand and their genitals with the other.  Saying/writing "Honestly" is one of the well-known signs that a significant lie has just been told.

2.     The Cultmaster claims he deleted the entire blog response entry of Moore (which was point-on critical of Wilson) so that people wouldn't be referred to Pooh's Think.  If that were his sincere intention as claimed, then Wilson could have just edited out the Pooh's Think address/reference, not the entire blog entry.

3.    Deleting responses on his blog which expose him or make him look near-perfectly asinine, unchristian, cruel, etc is exactly the way one would the Cultmaster to behave.  He cannot participate in an unedited public forum like V 2020 with being skewered, and shown to be logically, epistemologically, and spiritually deficient.  His pathetic "I am smarter, more godly than anyone else" ego/self image cannot allow that to happen.  Hence, he only speaks/writes where he has complete control of the content or thinks he has little to fear from responders.  

Hence, Wilson is a yellow-bellied coward and for that reason alone cannot be called a Christian.  Can you imagine that Christ would not bravely, squarely, and lovingly not face his accusers?  Did Jesus not do so in the accounts from the four Gospels?  Perhaps Wilson believes that the Christ of the Gospels is an impostor; Wilson's actions in this case and others certainly do not suggest a belief in or a will to emulate the Christ of the Gospels.

Is what flows above from the Cultmaster's keyboard not venomous, spiteful, and a transparent attempt to deflect attention from serious charges supported with documentary evidence made against his character?  And made by someone - Michael - not only with knowledge and courage, but someone sincerely acting in the character of Christ as revealed in the Gospels as he sees it?  It would take a blind sheep not to see the toxic hypocrisy of Wilson's unchristian defense of his ego and will-to-power for complete control.  Can you say "Unchristian egomania, megalomania at it noxious worst"?

4.    Posted below is a list of cult characteristics by well-known scholars in the field.  The careful, interested reader can read and then apply them to the characteristics of the Wilson & Family Cult & Cash Machine, aka the Christ Church Cult, and draw their own conclusions.  [Remember, this is a list of what Wittgenstein would call "family resemblances"; it is not necessary to fit each and every item in order to be properly called a "cult".]

Of particular interest in this list to the sordid behavior of Wilson in this case is:

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.

As a nonbeliever, the hero I see in this appalling mess is Michael.  Although I do not share his religious beliefs, I do share many of the human values implicit in Michael's crusade against dishonesty, hypocrisy, repression, unscrupulous personal wealth-building, egomania, and megalomania.  

Michael, not just by words but by brave actions, is at least exhibiting the defining moral characteristics of the alleged God he worships.

That is far more than can be said of Cultmaster Wilson and almost all of his congregants.  It is also far more than most of those so-called local Christians, especially the professionals, who sit idly, nonchalantly on the sidelines watching this struggle between Christians and the Antichrist-like forces of evil without the courage or strength of conviction to take sides and to engage in this battle so that their Christ might prevail.

5.    That the Cultmaster has stooped to such a transparently antichristian battle tactic of publicly punishing, belittling, and attempting to abase Michael is perhaps encouraging.  Wilson's abusive letter tells me that Michael's courageous actions are beginning to have effect:  That some cult members and other Wilson aficionados are starting to listen more carefully, and thus Cultmaster Wilson is starting to realize how deeply he has sunk into the toxic, clasping quagmire of his own selfish, egoistical making.

It tells me that with courage and perseverance that Michael, those that understand and share his religious and/or moral beliefs, and his hero Christ have a very good chance of being victorious despite the numbers, power, money, and scrupulouslessness of those with whom he is locked in this epic struggle.

Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

(208) 882-7975
waf at moscow.com

http://www.csj.org/infoserv_cult101/checklis.htm
_______________________________________________________________
                  Characteristics Associated with Cultic Groups - Revised
                  Janja Lalich, Ph.D. & Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

                  Concerted efforts at influence and control lie at the core of cultic groups, programs, and relationships. Many members, former members, and supporters of cults are not fully aware of the extent to which members may have been manipulated, exploited, even abused. The following list of social-structural, social-psychological, and interpersonal behavioral patterns commonly found in cultic environments may be helpful in assessing a particular group or relationship.

                  Compare these patterns to the situation you were in (or in which you, a family member, or friend is currently involved). This list may help you determine if there is cause for concern. Bear in mind that this list is not meant to be a “cult scale” or a definitive checklist to determine if a specific group is a cult. This is not so much a diagnostic instrument as it is an analytical tool.

                  ‪ The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law. 

                  ‪ Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

                  ‪ Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).

                  ‪ The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (for example, members must get permission to date, change jobs, marry—or leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth). 

                  ‪ The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity). 

                  ‪ The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.

                  ‪ The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).

                  ‪ The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members' participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).

                  ‪ The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt iin order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.

                  ‪ Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.

                  ‪ The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. 

                  ‪ The group is preoccupied with making money. 

                  ‪ Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.

                  ‪ Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

                  ‪ The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group.

                  This checklist will be published in the new book, Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias (Berkeley: Bay Tree Publishing, 2006). It was adapted from a checklist originally developed by Michael Langone.

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