Daily Deprogramming

I find Ardith Keef’s Daily Devotional very deceptive today and it smacks of cultish elitism!  Here is the first line.  “The life of the Lord flows from those who have decided to follow Him with all they are and all they have.  Apart from that, His Life does not flow through Believers.”

The Bible teaches that every person who receives Christ, and is Born Again has the Holy Spirit, and His Life indwells them. There is nothing  in the Word of God that adds to this.  We become His child  initially at our new birth and unless we fall into sin which is unconfessed and live there, we can be sure His life flows through us.  It does not ever depend on us.  Only the Blood of Jesus  applied to our  heart can make room for us to be filled with His  Spirit  and Love , and allows that Love and Life to flow through us.  There is nothing we can do to add to the Power of the Blood in a believers life. 

We love because He first Loved us.   We have had His Love poured out into our hearts ,and in turn whenever we  as His born Again Children, are “warm, understanding, and supportive”  or loving, merciful, and compassionate, it is His Love that reaches out to those others around us. 

Even if we are deceived , but are His,  He is still Faithful and many times we can still Love others as His Love flows through us.  But when we believe His Love is only for certain people, and can only flow through certain ones who do special things, and we teach this, IT IS A FALSE TEACHING.  It may come from our own lack of honest emotions ,and  our having never experienced  receiving or giving True and Genuine  unconditional Love, but it can cripple those who listen to us, if they believe it to be true.  

Ardith says, “But the Life of the Lord is “raw”  heavenly Love. It is ministered with a sweet burning of the center of the being of the object of that Love.”  Jesus never made things hard to understand or spoke in a heady way to them.  There is nothing I have ever seen in the Bible that talks about “raw heavenly Love.”  

When Jesus talked of love He talked of giving a cup of cold water to a thirsty brother, healing the sick, feeding the hungry,  going in to prisons, taking care of widows and orphans. To Jesus , love was hands on, getting down in the trenches to warm the hearts of  the lowly and hurting, the sick and the dying and bringing them Hope.  When we do these things the Love  and Life of God flows through us, His children!  We are His hands, His feet, His  heart.

When one knows little or nothing of unconditional  Love, they can only mimic others descriptions which they have read in books , adding their own opinions, and then they put laws down for people to obey and work for, in order to somehow earn the Love and the Life  God has freely given them without strings attached.  This keeps their followers  in a place where they are never quite sure of where they are with God.  It keeps them sucking milk instead of finally growing up and into Christ. 

It reminds me  of  an interesting adventure  my husband  had  the other day:  He was uncovering  something out in the garden and when the light shown in, a family of mice scurried away with the a litter of nearly full-grown babies still holding on and sucking milk from their mother.  This is the condition in which cult leaders like to keep their followers;  always their children , never growing up and maturing in Christ.   Then they will stay under the cult leaders authority and control!  Not only is it  very sad that people are kept in such a condition,  but these teachings are deceptive and have  nothing to do  at all with the Truth of God’s Word.    These false doctrines violate the Truth of the Freedom their followers should as Christians have in Jesus Christ, and puts them under a yoke of slavery and keeps them there. 

We do not have a Daily Devotional by Ardith Keef again today so I found one that I hadn’t rebutted.  It came from August 9, 2007.   On or about July 24, 2007 my husband, my self, and my son-in-law were served with papers to go to court.  We opted to stop writing the web-site until we went to court.  This finally happened on October 5, 2007.  So from July 24, 2007 until October 5, 2007 I wrote no Daily Deprogrammings.

We are being sued again this year, but opted to keep the web-site going. I guess the Judge agreed with our choice and freedom of speech,  because he refused to grant them an injunction that would have kept it  down until the court date.   

On July 1, 2007 Pastor Bill Keef was caught red-handed  by an officer in plain clothing, planting an illegal listening  device in the ground where my husband parked his truck weekly to demonstrate.  The bomb-squard had to be called and the police had to be interrupted while they were all at President Bush’s home in Kennebunkport.  No one knew at first what had been buried!  It could have been a bomb!

Then later that month we were served with papers filled with lies about our “harrassment “of them ,and even my stalking of them.  Everything we have done has been open and above-board for all to see. I believe their false accusations  were  used to cover over and draw attention away from  their own evil deeds.  As Ardith said, “Without a strong devotional life the Believer will become a chameleon over the flesh, and will step into the role of defending the things that develop the self-life”……… 

The life of the cult leader is secretive, covert, and much of their actions are hidden. They imitate their master and father, the master deceiver and the father of lies.  They have come to hate the Truth since the enemy has perverted their thinking.  When honest-hearted servants of the Lord speak the Truth  to them they hate them for it.  They love the lies and the darkness and hate being reproved by the Light of Truth!

What kind of Christian leader loves to read about blood and guts, heads being cut off and  brutal murders, along with their “strong devotional life”  ,and daily Bible reading?  Then when you check the fruit of their lives you find strewn along  in their wake  families, children, mothers, pastors, churches, marriages, friends, all  of them tattered and torn-up spiritually and emotionally, hurting and in pain.   The kind of books we read might just be another  ”red-flag indicator of cult/abusive leader  behaviors. 

These are Ardith’s “red-flag indicators” that the flesh is governing the thought life according to her Daily D of August 9, 2008: Perhaps she should be a bit more concerned about her own fleshly tendencies and her own thought life as her own “red-flag” indicators might closely resemble her own behaviors.

1. “Being easily offended.”  

2. “Having to settle a score.”

3. ”Needing stimulation all the time.”

4.  “Passivity”

5.  “Being a fussy eater.”

6.  “A sharp tongue.”

7.  “Being quick to spot a weakness in another.”

8.  “Resenting authority.”

9.  “Sloppy work.”

0. “predictable tardiness.”

OK lets take these one at a time:

 1. “Being easily offended”.   Accusing people of “being offended”  who question cult leaders practices  is a  common way cult leaders use of explaining to the rest of the group why these have “left the church” rather than telling the truth that they have been shunned and cast out because the leaders were themselves easily offended by the Truth.

2.  “Having to settle a score”:   Cult leaders are devious and deceitful about this,  and they stealthily  work undercover to settle the score no matter how long it takes while they “preserve and defend the things that develop their own self life”  at any cost to anyone but them. They will break up your family, bruise your soul, destroy whole churches, take down pastors. They will do anything in their power to “settle the score.” They will do anything no matter who it hurts to maintain their power and authority over others.

3.  “Needing stimulation all the time.”  Cult leaders demand stimulation all the time by their followers. They need their ego’s constantly stroked and petted. They need to be looked up to, they need to be bowed down to, they need to be listened to and obeyed, they need to have everyone around them think they are in authority and act that way towards them all the time. These leaders are in essence weak and insecure. Some might even have to wear shoulder pads to make them feel better about themselves.  Perhaps even to the point of asking someone to be sure they were wearing shoulder pads in their casket!  

4.  “Passivity”:   A pastor who quits his good paying job , stays home in the guise of “taking care of the Lords sheep” etc , then hangs around all day with other mens young wives has a problem with passivity or worse. He leads the young women away from their homes and family duties and makes them passive about their true calling , which is making a home. This is another red-flag indication  of a cult: The “pastor ” quits his  day job to stay home. Then he flitters away time with other men’s  young wives.

5.  “Being a fussy eater”:  I remember cooking for the Pastor. He was never satisfied. For 4 years I bought the food ,and I cooked the food. He had to have special things that were organic and  he often  complained about how the food was cooked or prepared. Ardith Keef likes cheese. So the poor woman who now does a lot of the cooking for the church puts cheese in almost everything to please Ardith.  She does it because she loves Ardith, but one day she will find out that she is nothing to them but their servant,(her nick name is Spud)  and if she ever questions or criticizes them without bowing  to their false authority and asking for forgiveness, she will be gone.

6.  “A sharp Tongue”   There is more than one kind of sharp tongue.  Some are loud and abrasive, but some are smooth-edged like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. I would much rather face a person who chews me out good than one who is deceitful and slippery ,and flatters me with falsehoods just before they quickly inject  me with their lethal bite of death!  This is what cult leaders do.  Watch out for smooth, cunning words of flattery, and spiritual wisdom. It might be a red-flag indicator of a cult leader!

7. “Being quick to spot a weakness in another.”   Whenever I was with Ardith Keef she always complained about  and criticized people. “The men never gave, only the women did.”  The women weren’t hard enough on their children.  The woman upstairs was always “stealing things” and she never did anything right.  No one was ever good enough for Ardith Keef. If anyone left the church for any reason there was something wrong with them. Even if they were elderly and needed to leave for their health for a better climate they were deserting their post and cowardly.  (But the leaders kept taking the money sent to them by these unfaithful ones!) The small children  in the apartment above Ardith lit matches, struck them on the side of the Isaac  House , and their mother taught them to do it!?, so Ardith Keef said.   What did Attorney, Guardian ad Litem,  Keef do? Nothing. She talked about the situation and criticized the woman.  The last I knew she never even told the childrens father. 

Now I don’t believe the above incident  ever happened as I now  believe very little I was told.  Only what I actually saw for myself do I believe especially about others.  Everyone  but Ardith  was weak and had something wrong with them according to her.  Her husband  “the Pastor screamed all night, he saw demons, he hit her all night “, so she said.  She made him out to be weak to the women of the church. they in turn saw their own husbands the same way. 

The women  of Anchor feel and act superior to the men because of her teachings. I have never heard Ardith once in 21 years speak to the women about submitting to their husbands.  By her actions she has taught them to dishonor, disregard, over power, manipulate, and control their husbands, and to put both husbands, marriages, and family life on the back burner as unimportant.  Five or six marriages under Ardith’s belt shows that this is exactly how she feels about marriage and family life herself. This is another red-flag indicator that something is awry with Ardith Keef’s teachings.

8. “Resenting authority.”  Let’s turn this around and the red-flag is that Cult leaders resent you  for not adhering to  and respecting their “self appointed” authority.  This is the main way they can keep you under their control, if they can keep you believing they are “God’s Authority.”   This keeps their followers in fear of “disobeying” them, keeping the followers from or questioning or criticizing  the feigned, pretended, authority figure. Of course they demand you not “Resent ” their “Authority”, then they would lose control!

9. “Sloppy work.”    Cult leaders demand,  ”do as I say not as I do.”   The paperwork  Attorney Ardith  Keef passes in  even to the court is sloppy and ill-informed.  Names are spelled wrong.  Addresses are not right at  times, and the pages are often messy.   Ages of clients and opposing parties are  often entered incorrectly  and in some cases the paperwork is even sent to the wrong court, but she holds others to a much higher standard.  I remember when I first went to work for her. She made me put a stamp on a letter 5 or 6 times until I got it straight! 

0.  “Predictable tardiness”   This is another way cult leaders control people and make themselves look good. They make you feel inadaquate when you’re late  as you work and slave for them, (you may be late simply trying to fit in a few things of your own)  , so the leaders can always be on time themselves , and appear  to have it all together and look good to others.  As long as their things get done, they have no consideration for your necessities ,and the things you might need to do for yourself or your own family.  They will even criticize you when  your  ”predictable tardiness”  is a product of your giving all to help them.  It is always all about the cult leader and their having power and control.  It is about them looking good at any cost to you.

Ardith Keef says in the Daily D of August 9, 2007, “You do not  need to describe to the Lord how He should alter you to bring this about. He will usher in the Gift of circumstances so that you can make choices.  Those choices will bring about the answer to prayer - that you be transformed and become more like Him.”   However, when Ardith Keef  was confronted with “the Gift of circumstances”, she took other Christians to court!   I DOUBT that God answered her prayer by saying, “Go against My Word and take these Christians to Court. Don’t sit down and talk with them as My word says to do.  You are so special and they had better yield to your authority!”  No , Cult leaders take exception to the rules they lay down for others. this is another red-flag indicator of a cult leader in progress.

There are red-flags everywhere in the Anchor Missionary Fellowship, church leadership, if one cares to see them. They are  often covert and hidden unless one loves the Truth and is willing to persue it. 

 Lastly in this Daily Devotional Ardith says, “You have only a few more hours, if even that.”  I wonder how many times Jim Jones and David Koresh said this type of thing  before the reality of a  terrible tragedy, and needless death and heartache came to fruition?”   Perhaps this statement , which Ardith  often implies or openly repeats  , is one of the most serious red-flags of the Anchor Church leadership.  Only time will tell……..