Daily Deprogramming

A couple of weeks ago we met with our Attorney.  Among other things he said to me, “I havn’t known you for long , Sherry, but I believe you are still hoping that the Keefs will listen, respond to your writings, and change what they are doing. That is not going to happen.”  He has dealt with cult groups before.  I must admit he was right about my feelings and, foolish or not  I still have hope that the people I have loved and served for over 20 years would respond to the truth, humble themselves and repent of the abuses inflicted on others because of deception.  I continue to pray for their restoration.

The week after Pastor Keef took over my daughter-in-law’s life in a bizzare way and “adopted” both her  , (another man’s wife) , as well as her infant child , I placed my hands on the Church and Bungalow beside it and prayed for them all.   I could not believe that those who said so often, “God’s Word is more real than the way you feel,”  would continue in the way of sin against Him and His Word when actually confronted with the truth.  I could not believe that the people who use His name have done things that are absolutely opposite the Kingdom of Heaven, and continue to engage is such evil works even when confronted with the Truth.   I am still stunned by it!  

My prayer and my deepest hope is that the leadership of Anchor Missionary Fellowship Church would turn to the Lord , and that they be given sight.  I heard a faithful brother once say that only one abusive church in thousands is ever truly restored.  I was willing to pull out all the stops to pull my friends out of the fire.  By God’s Grace, I am still willing , and my love is still unconditional.  I have forgiven them all even from the onset and have layed myself on the line for them all for almost 3 years.   My love and concern is steadfast and remains constant, although they seem to hate me more and more for relating the truth. 

I pray for God’s best for them and that He would pull down the high places and break down the strongholds and deception in the Anchor Church.  That He would break down the resistance in their hard hearts!  Repentence would bring restoration!  I may be a fool, but I will never give up hope.  May the enemy be defeated and God’s people be set free. God is able to deliver His own.  ”Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with the powers and principalities of darkness.”

Today I am truly thankful to the Lord for sight, freedom, and healing.  Inside a religious cult these are nearly impossible to attain as the follower is not allowed to feel, or to see anything except what the cult leaders teach and believe, and one has to feel emotions to get well and in order for God to deal with them.  My grandchild died , and I was not allowed to grieve without feeling guilty and faithless.  This is wrong and unhealthy.  Stifling ones feelings and emotions over time causes one to become numb and causes the conscience to become seared.

Today, I have much to feel sorrow for, which was brought on by my being part of a cult, but now I have a grateful heart instead of anxiety and pain because the cult leader is no longer between myself and the Savior.  The cruel demands of the cult leader are not the demands of God.  The Holy Spirit is The Comforter, Jesus is Merciful and Compassionate and cult leaders are not.  He cares about the sorrow we face day by day, the cult leader does not.  The cult leader may say a lot of godly words,  but their interest and hidden agenda is power and control for themselves.

The Lord does not lead people to leave their mates, divorcing them without scriptural reason.  Just that one thing alone is evidence that Ardith Keef is only a religious cult leader, and Anchor Missionary Fellowship Church is not a True Church that follows the Word of God.  There is much more evidence that Anchor leaders are false to the Truth, and are leading people astray. 

It took a hard blow for us to see the truth, find freedom and healing .  We are so thankful to the Lord, for satan meant the cult abuse against us for evil, but God used it for good.  We continue to pray for the breaking down of strongholds and the pulling down of the high places in the leadership of the Anchor Missionary Fellowship Church.   We do not take our freedom, healing, and sight for granted and pray for our brothers and sisters to experience the same unconditional love and acceptance of Christ for themselves. 

What better way for the real giants in the land to deceive people than to tell them about the other giants in the land?   Truly, the giants in the land for  Christians today are often the false shepherds and the false apostles Jesus and Paul warned us  about in scripture.  Jesus warned us over and over about these deceitful shepherds who were not His.  He said  they were “pretenders,  imposters and liars.”  

The Apostle Paul also spoke of them in his second letter to the Corinthians Chapter 11.  ” I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpents cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received , or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” Verses 3-4   He goes on, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising then if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.  Their end will be what their actions deserve.”  Verses 13-15

Jesus told his people to look at the fruit in order to tell who belongs to Him.  When you uncover multiple divorces, abuse of parents, uprooted fractured churches, believers being taken to court, people being cast out for questioning or criticizing these abuse tactics, the personality of one individual being in the center of the church, other than Jesus Christ,  one person usurping authority and wielding power and control, and elders who are simply emasculated  ”yes men”,  this is unhealthy, decaying fruit. 

The deceitful ones who force followers to obey them and their self-appointed authority are the true giants in the land.   Beware of these false shepherds.  They are devious and cunning , and say a lot of good things from the Bible, but the fruit of their lives and ministry tell the whole story.  People who commit  the above inappropriate and abusive  offenses toward the people of God are truly preaching another  self-promoting Jesus, another Gospel ; by their actions and demanding unquestioning loyalty and obedience to themselves, forcing their added laws on people, they are saying Jesus did not accomplish all on the Cross, and they are under the influence of another cruel spirit which moves and leads them to lusting after power and control over God’s little sheep at any cost.   The Holy Spirit is  The Comforter not the abuser.  

Friends,  beware of the false apostles and the false shepherds who are easily exposed.   Upon removing their false sheeps fleece covering , one can see clearly they are the  actual giants in the land.  They will lead you astray, for they do not love His people, they only love themselves.  We as Christians are sometimes naive and easily follow someone who says a lot of smooth sounding spiritual things. I was this way for over 20 years, I didn’t ever question, I simply obeyed Ardith Keef.  It wasn’t until the leaders of Anchor showed their ugly teeth toward myself and my family that I realized that they did not truly belong to my Lord , and were not His true shepherds, but were imposters.   satan meant it for evil, but God used it for good.  I am thankful to be free , and have recovered my first love with Jesus Christ as my all in all.

I write to try to help others before they get to the place where the spiritual and emotional abuse is almost overwhelming.  Like a wolf or any animal of prey the enemy is suddenly, lethally,  upon a person, and many cannot and do not survive the wicked assault.  Many do not recover their original first love for Christ and live in agony for years.  It pays to research leaders lives if you have any questions as to their actions and behaviors.  Some have said of Anchor, “It just didn’t seem right. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.”   Often these false shepherds are such adept pretenders and deceivers  much is covered over with all the right spiritual words.  My suggestion is to ask serious questions. These questions will uncover the true attitude and motive of the leader. If they won’t deal with the questions, are not accountable, have no humility but are evasive, or angry  and refuse to answer or put you off, beware.   They may just be the giants in your land. 

The Victory for the people of God was won by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the cross of Calvary.  As He breathed His last breath, He said, “It is finished.”  He did it all, He paid it all.  The words of this old hymn say it all.  By the way, this is my all time favorite hymn as well as my son-in-law’s.

Victory in Jesus

I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from Glory,

How He gave His life on Calvary, to save a wretch like me:

I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood’s atoning,

Then I repented of my sin, and won the victory.

I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing,

How He made the lame to walk again, and caused the blind to see;

And then I cried, “Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit”,

And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory.

I heard about a mansion He has built for me in Glory,

And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;

About the Angels singing and the old redemption story,

And some sweet day I’ll sing up there the song of victory.

Chorus:

O victory in Jesus, my Savior,  forever!

He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood,

He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.

Eugene M. Bartlett   1885-1941

Religious Cult Leaders continually tell their followers how to “minister” to others.  It pays to take a good look at the so-called “ministry ” of the cult leader before one follows their destructive path.   They may declare all kinds of great, smooth words or thoughts from  the scriptures to promote their doctrines, but a short summory of their own behaviors and life actions are the proof of the true fruit of their lives.  Broken homes, multiple divorces, dishonored parents, destroyed and fractured churches, the Lord’s people being ongoingly abused and abandoned for questioning, children emotionally and spiritually abused and worse are all demonstrations of something being dreadfully wrong.

“Look up and move on” is the type of term used in cults to keep people from looking back or examining past behaviors that would be a warning to anyone who dared dig up the truth. 

Today the misery of being in a cult has been replaced with Hope, joy, peace, calmness, and the Blessed Assurance of His Presence and acceptance in my own life.  For years I was anxious and lived with an unsettledness inside my soul and spirit because I was following a person other than the Lord Jesus Christ.  Life in a cult is disfunctional, chaotic, and confusing at best as one tries to serve the Lord, while listening to a “leader” who is self-centered and power-hungry.  They tell you what to do, using spiritual terms that sound oh so true, but their foundation is not Jesus, it is their own secret, hidden agenda.  

Friend, the fruit of a leader’s life tells you where they stand. Jesus told us to look at the fruit and “by their fruit you will know whether or not they are His.”  Dare to take a good look!  You might just get free and become a true “minister.”

Cult leaders love to take the Word of God out of context to suit their false teaching. Today Ardith Keef tells her followers about “supping with Him” , but conveniently forgets the previous verses.  Lets see what the Bible says.  Her words come from Revelation 3 and is where Jesus is counseling the church of the Laodiceans. 

The church in Laodicea was elitist much like the Anchor Missionary Fellowship in that according to Jesus they say, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” but Jesus said,” thou knowest not that thou art wretched , and miserable, and poor and blind and naked.” Verse 17  

 Jesus then warned them, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich;  and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;  and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten;  be zealous therefore and repent.  Then Jesus goes on to the verses Ardith uses today, “Behold , I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come it to him, and will sup with Him, and he with Me.”  Revelation 3:17-20

Elitism is a problem with leaders of churches who think they have and know it all.  They silence and destroy anyone who disagrees with them or questions their tactics.  They cast out and abuse the people of God (His own heritage) to suit their twisted doctrines.  After years of elitist abuse, the dishonor of parents, breaking up of churches, multiple divorces and breaking of vows, disregard for the Word of God, and dividing of whole families there must be “zealous repentence” then there will be forgiveness and supping with Him.  Those He loves, He rebukes and chastens.  Those who truly Love Him, fall on their knees and repent when He brings their sin to their attention.

Religious Cult leaders bring a whole new meaning to the old religion albeit quite hidden….  Here’s the lyrics to an old hymn of the faith of which Ardith Keef makes a mockery by her ongoing abuses of the people of God.  Be careful whom you are following , and examine where they are taking you and where they have been.  Their twisted teachings might be a trap for your soul….

Follow On  by William O. Cushing 1823-1902

Down in  the valley with my Savior I would go,

Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow;

Everywhere He leads me, I would follow follow on,

Walking in  His footsteps till the crown be won.

Down in the valley with my Savior I would go,

Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow;

With His hand to lead me I will never never fear,

Danger cannot fright me if my Lord is near.

Down in the valley, or on the mountain steep,

Close beside my Savior would my soul ever keep;

He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod,

Up to where they gather on the hills of God.

Chorus:

Follow!  Follow!  I would follow Jesus!

Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on!

Everywhere He leads me I would follow on!

“Our God is creative”  However,  in His dealings with His people He does not go against His Own Word.  He does not lead us to break His laws on marriage, dishonor of  our parents, or the abuse of His people over and over again and then excusing our behaviors with , “God led me here.”   He does not lead us to disfunction and confusion or sin.  Only a fool see’s he is going the wrong way, and doesn’t turn around.  “Look up and move on” is cult leader talk for “Don’t look back, you just might discover the truth about the situation and change your course.”   This would be a difficulty for the controlling cult leader.  Keeping power and control is their hidden agenda.  It is about you following them “anywhere, everywhere” , not about following God!  

Beware, the enemy is like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you……  He is a master deceiver and he uses the proud , self-conceited, wise in their own eyes , charismatic person to do his bidding.  He is clever and wily.   He can change the truth and your direction with an un-noticed twist of words and/or teachings.  He will lead you “anywhere and everywhere” away from the Kingdom of Heaven and deeper into his kingdom of darkness.  He doesn’t have a tail and horns.  His agenda is to be like God and to pretend with masquerades and fabrication.  Sometimes he is not easily spotted and people are kept in his cultish clutches for years and years as his cult leaders are masked in the guise of Truth and Reality. 

Moral:  The Lord will lead you away from darkness, but He will not force His will on you.  Dare to step away and seek Him out alone without the cult leader.  He will never leave you ,and He will help you stand.  Do not fear men or women, fear God alone!   We did, and we have never been sorry….

Today Ardith Keef chides some poor soul for having a “flesh flash.”  Believe me when I tell you, I have been there.  It took a heaping dose of abuse to wake me up!  (Thank God, I am free of her control today.)  She uses the term, “flesh flash”  many times today as she tries to control someone who has a “problem.”  It is designed to bring shame and guilt to someone who is upset about something, and perhaps, (God forbid)  the person is even displaying a measure of human emotion.  Friend, she knows you read her twisted doctrines every day , and she is leading you along her path like a lamb to the slaughter.  How long will you give in to her demands?  How long will you listen to the cult leader with your marshmallo stuffed brains?  Can’t you see it is getting you nowhere, and giving her full control of everything and everyone around her?  Your life is getting smaller and smaller, and you are miserable, are you not?

Yesterday she talked of the need for “a multitude of counselors.”  Why now?  Cult leaders use the Word of God to benefit themselves , and to feed their need for control.  They pick and choose what to use to lead people here or there at any given time, they don’t even believe  or heed the same thing when it is not useful to themselves.

She asks, “Where do you stand?”   We might respond with a question, “Do you stand with her or do you stand with God.”  You cannot serve both.  Do you have her convoluted doctrines confused with God’s Truth?  Does it seem as though she has mastered the tongue, and has great wisdom?  Be careful..  The Lord says of deceitful, cunning, people who say they are His, ” You use your mouth for evil, and harness your tongue to deceit.” Psalm 50:19   When one is a deceiver the control of the tongue is designed to do damage to others, and to benefit themselves in the way of satisfying their lust for power and control.  Their fabricated “wisdom” is useless garbage unless one believes it to be true and it overcomes that one.  Then it becomes useful, but only to the masquerading pretender.

The only way out of a cult is to step away from the leader and the cult , and seek God away from them.  Jesus is faithful and true. He draws near to all who draw near to Him in Spirit and Truth.  He promises never to leave us or forsake us, but He will not share His glory with anyone else, not even a cult leader. 

This was originally submitted on Mar 21, 2009.  It was a rebuttal to a Ardith Keef’s daily devotional for that day, by the same name.  The  spiritual jargon and the control techniques may be a little different today , but the cult abuse holds true to form…..

These words come from a Psalm of David. It is found in Psalm 37:4  “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

In an abusive church/cult it is almost impossible to delight thyself in the Lord.  However it is not impossible to be reached by Him in spite of the cult leader standing in His place.  The last few years in the Anchor Cult  I couldn’t sing hymns about the Love of God, or His Grace and Mercy because the leaders were so unloving, unmerciful and unkind.  They talked about God , but in reality, their behaviors were so far away from His Goodness,  it caused a dilemma within the soul, because the cult member so closely equates the leaders to the Person of God.   I began to see Him as an angry, detached, cold, unloving God , and all the hymns that talked of His loving virtues , seemed hypocritical , and could not compute with what I knew of “His appointed leaders.”  Today I sing with my whole heart and soul bursting with love, worship, and adoration for my Lord and Savior.   Thank God I am free!

Ardith calls this “The year of joy.”  She says, “In the year of Joy , we will learn to delight in the Lord.”  By my own experience, I can tell you that any Joy in the Anchor cult/church is manufactured at best, because people caught like flies on a spider web cannot be “joyful.”  People who are forced to pray in a certain way without a conscience guiding them , and thinking such unbiblical doctrines as divorce for no Biblical reason is alright, taking believers to a court of law is just fine, dishonoring parents and dividing families is loving and Godly,  are not able to “delight themselves in the Lord.”  People who are not allowed any feelings or emotions are in a state of unexpressed misery.  At best they try to please the cult leader.  They struggle just to survive spiritually as they try to somehow make sense of the great chasm between the Truth of the Bible , and the  bizarre , twisted, interpretations of cult leaders such as Ardith Keef.

Listen to the condescension and superiority in Ardith’s teaching, “First, the Soldier of the Cross must learn to enjoy the Lord in prayer. This happens when he or she tells the Lord the ways in which He is enjoyed.”  She treats everyone else as ignorant ,and acts as if they are 1st graders in the faith.  Some of these people have been Christians for a lifetime,  but have no mind of their own anymore.   They follow her in a similar way as a grown dog follows a man with a bone in his hand.  It is truly pathetic.  I was there myself and I know the power of God can set a person or a whole family free. 

May He break down the strongholds ,and pull down the high places in the Anchor Missionary Fellowship Church and set the captives free.  Friends, the battle is not with flesh and blood, but with the powers and principalities of darkness.  God is still Able!

My mom used to tell me “beauty is as beauty does.”  It goes the same for “Love.”  The treatment of those closest to us and around us over the years pretty much describes our take on love.  When our husbands are  deserted, our mothers shamelessly abandoned to die without remedy, faithful friends thrown along the wayside, pastors debunked, churches we lead destroyed, families broken up , fellow believers taken to court instead of having a reasonable conversation, underhanded disfellowshippings and slander toward God’s people,  there seems to be a problem with that person’s view of love.

Today Ardith Keef says, “Love does not look for flaws.”   We believe this to be true.  In our case we never looked for flaws and spent over 20 years refusing to examine the fruit as Jesus told us to do in order to recognize false shepherds.  Had we taken a good look at the decaying, disgusting fruit of continual ongoing abuse of others who belonged to God, instead of the facade of  pretended “love” , we may have been spared the disastrous outcome which we have experienced.  but God is faithful and He has used the difficulties for good.

The One called Wisdom Himself  told us to look at the fruit. Matthew 7:15-20  Jesus personifies Wisdom and examining the fruit of shepherds is the only way  He gives us to tell the true from the false.  It is the very same chapter that tells us to “judge not that we might not  be judged.”  Examining the fruit is not judging or looking for flaws.  We hope that our experience might help someone else who may find themselves caught in a religious cult and feeling like there is no way out because their  seared , defective , cult damaged conscience does not allow them to look at the truth.  

Check the fruit.   It speaks volumes.  How many people have been thrown aside , how many names has the church had?  How many families are still in tact spiritually and physically in the church/cult?  Are leaders accountable?  How do they act when you have a differing opinion?  What if you ask questions? Do leaders demand unquestioning authority? How many times have the leaders been divorced and remarried?   These questions are not looking for flaws , they are examining the fruit of a leader or group.   If the leaders are ongoingly involved in the above disfunction and abusive chaos the fruit is not good and healthy.  Is the church growing? or are so many people cast aside as to keep it a tiny group of arrogant elitists following one persons doctrines and dogma? 

Friend, don’t let twenty years slip by because of fear of man or woman.  If you are in a kind of spiritual agony and inner struggle , you may be in a cult/abusive church.   We checked the fruit of Anchor Missionary Fellowship Church  as well as the leadership, and found it destructive and ongoingly unsound.  Now we are free and serving the Lord in a healthy, sound church where the Fruit of God’s Holy Spirit Love abounds.  We are in a church that has had only 4 pastors in over 100 years.   The church is centered in Jesus instead of the personality and teachings of one egotistical member.  It is so refreshing !   There are good churches and shepherds out there who truly do Love with the Love of God!   Dare to let go!  Jesus will catch you because He is faithful!  He will never, no never leave you or forsake you, no never!  He said so…..