On London's streets, Carapella confronts women about their appearance and clothing, triggering complaints and an active investigation by local police and the city's bylaw enforcement officers. Women told CBC they've been called "whores" and "prostitutes" for wearing pants or having short hair. Collins said The Message members often don't have a regular place of worship, but instead have "tape services" where they gather in members' homes to listen to any of more than 1, audio files of his sermons posted online.
It's these recordings that continue to influence new followers more than 40 years after Branham's death. Collins, who is 41, was able to leave the group in and now operates a website Seek Ye The Truth that aims to inform people about Branham-inspired groups. He also helps people whose family members have fallen under the spell of such groups which publicly claim up to four million members worldwide, but lack a cohesive leadership structure. Collins says breaking free from the group was a painful, life-altering process that forever severed ties with friends and family members.
He advises anyone with loved ones involved in The Message or similar groups to be "patient and persistent. The family member said Matthew is under the influence of "a cult" and said family members are trying to help him.
The family member acknowledged the behaviour — calling out women for how they dress and confronting people in their place of worship — is unacceptable. The family member also reached out to two churches where parishioners were confronted to apologize for Matthew Carapella's behaviour.
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Already have an account? I never dreamed my life would turn out the way it did. After almost 11 years and two children, we ended in a divorce. I felt destroyed, knowing I was committing the forbidden sin. Once again, more hurt and abuse by people that were supposed to love me the most. The pain felt unbearable. Why was I so unlovable? Why could people physically and mentally hurt me, knowing they were causing me pain, but still say they loved me? The spiral began. I was told I had no rights, but no one wanted to know my story.
Is the statement about barrel slats unquestioned? Why use this language and metaphor? If one can unquestioningly endorse statements of physical abuse with a barrel slat, then this raises questions about actions towards women following from it, as this man, within The Message, is considered a Prophet. At the same time, in The Message, women are considered of the devil. Branham is considered the Prophet of God. Who is a follower of The Message to question a Voice of God, especially a woman who is of the devil, anyhow?
Either Branham was ordinary or not, whether ordinary made prophet of God to become extraordinary or ordinary and a liar about professed prophet status.
Even with ignoring these claims about divinity or divine representation of He on High, there can be explicit statements, by the raised standards of today, of sexist statements by Branham, and behaviours within the churches. Therefore, this should qualify as a destructive cult. All four have been integral to helping hundreds of thousands of people around the continent, and probably the world, in working to combat destructive cults, which remain the main issue or problem now.
Collins explained the general context in which the leadership, the pastor even, can further victimize a mother who has been abused by a husband including the husband abusing the children. The mother was shamed to be in submission to the husband, as per their interpretations of supposedly sacred scripture. As a result, many members of the group are unaware that sexual abuse exists. All the while this happens decades after the death of Branham in We continue to see the admonishments.
Collins described how the culture of abuse can create a situation in which the abused individuals remain accustomed, engendered, to the abuse culture. In the family, this can mean more of the normalization of the abuse in a cult setting with aberrant worship, doctrine, and leadership with destructive consequences under the guise of Christian theology, ethics, and norms.
Many Christians would be appalled, probably. Collins only knew of a few situations in which the law enforcement agencies became actively involved in these cases of abuse.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the victim of rape or sexual assault is afraid to speak up and the abuse is never mentioned to anyone in church authority. In both instances of speaking out, the victim is almost always shamed and found at some fault. For sexual abuse towards girls and women, teachings of WMB place blame on the female body for being seductive and therefore a temptation.
Indeed, as Hamilton further explained, they distrust the secular systems of jurisprudence and social services. She explained:. Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest laws courts? In a criminal case, such as physical or sexual abuse, the state opposes the perpetrator in court, not the victim. Often, cases do not go to the court or to a sufficient authority to deal with these issues.
Robinson from Current Affairs around Joe Biden in a larger sociopolitical context about the Democrats and in extensive commentary about President Donald J. Trump in the examination of the claimants with substantive stories of sexual abuse and rape by the sitting president of the United States of America. Another relevant aspect of this cultural phenomenon of cults.
Someone in non-normal, aberrant circumstances, where murder became a mind-set induced by coercive control in the case of Challen.
A woman who murdered, but who killed someone intentionally with a long background of abuse. Peterson says, and society needs to work to make sure those men are married.
Louis went on to ask about the factors needing change for incels to stop being incels. Society retains a deep interest in the men becoming married. In having this, not the men, but the society or factors external to the individual should hold responsibility for the men, perhaps, the small group of online men who may struggle with heterosexual relations and shifting of norms in some societies towards pragmatic egalitarian norms should focus on individual change.
When the cowboy-shepherd is shown to be naked, he meant the more positive egalitarian notion all along. Implication: How could you be so dishonest and stupid to not get the message the whole time? Und so weiter. I love this statement from their article:. Abusive, controlling partners initially shower a potential target with intense flattery designed to seduce them. This initial period of idealisation succeeds in forging an intense bond with the abuser, a bond that will later be used against the victim, who will always seek to return to this state, or emotional high, following periods of cruelty.
Exactly, this becomes the basis for the abusive destructive cult tactics one can find in the world created in the post-WWII Healing Revival Movement of William Marrion Branham and others. As we see in the world of coercive control abuse tactics, or in the idealization of a state of nature with God, man, woman, and children, where the man is the head of the household and the woman exists below the man in service of husband and in devotion to the caretaking of the children and the maintenance of the home.
God loves you. He is there for you, except during coercive control, during the abuse, after the scars heal while the mind reels, and still while his representative authority in the church shames you. If you come forward, the overwhelming response is a claim as a liar. Abusers in the Message are more protected than their victims through the forced silence. All functioning independently while under the common theological banner of The Message. Given the history and theology, these seem like plausible hypotheses about the organizations.
Is there abuse near you? Are there considerations of trying to get out of community without community reprisal? There is help if you need it. There are the authorities — the police, the secret service agencies, the safe houses, the Casting Pearls Project, or other initiatives devoted to the safety of women and men who may be experiencing abuse — who can help you.
To the last question from the interview with Hamilton and Collins, I leave this to them prefaced by the original questions:. Hamilton: Time unfortunately impedes most abusers from facing the justice they deserve. After leaving the cult, there is a processing period for de-programming and realizing that the abuse had been normalized and that justice was not served. No matter the length of time, victims can contact their local police station or Salvation Army for resources and advocates.
Collins: The only way justice can be served is through education and accountability. Members of any church — cult or not — must hold elders of the church to an acceptable standard of accountability. Leaders of church bodies must be trained in how to respond to abuse, when to report abuse, and how to properly warn members of their church when another member has abusive tendencies. At the same time, members of the church must be educated to recognize signs of abuse and recognize abuse of power.
This becomes problematic for leaders, however, in the case of a destructive cult. In all cases where members are trained to recognize abuse of power, those same members become former members. Photo by vaun on Unsplash. He focuses on North America for News Intervention.
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