We’d like to ask you to picture a belief system as a series of brush strokes in a painting or, if you prefer, small threads woven together into a whole. In a place under the ANTM, how often do we stop with our weaving and actually stand back and look at the whole tapestry, the entire painting? Even if one by one, the brush strokes are "correct" or, maybe not great, but not terrible, what is the overall thing we are making and portraying? 

 

Many of us remember the first time we allowed ourselves to consider if the ANTM met the criteria as a mind control group, a high control religious group, or a cult. Many came across a list like the one below, from world renowned cult expert Steve Hassan's BITE model.

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One thing that’s difficult but essential to consider as you go through this list is the sum, or totality of what is being presented here. It’s so important to remember that many groups have elements that are probably not great - they can even be toxic and cult-like, but they fall short of attaining the label of “cult” because they don’t check enough of the following characteristics. 

Just as importantly, there are many items below that in isolation would not be an issue. The ANTM may teach many things that are good, or are close to being good. Concern for morality and holiness are good things. It’s the manner in which, and again, the totality of all of these characteristics, that make it add up to what we believe is the proper label to attach to this church.

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The BITE model considers a groups Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotional control. Consider just how many boxes the ANTM churches check.

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Behavior Control

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• Promote dependence and obedience

  • They foster an environment of seeking advice from the pastor on many decisions, making you doubt your own judgment

  • Create an atmosphere of making sure you do what you are told to stay "off their radar"
     

• Modify behavior with rewards and punishments

  • Affirmation is occasionally given when following the standards, but primarily, compliance prevents negative feedback, which is in itself a reward.
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• Dictate where and with whom you live

  • Pastors are often involved in young people's roommate decisions. ​

  • Students are discouraged from going to colleges that are outside the cities where the churches are located.

  • College students are not to live on campus.

  • Most church members live within 15 minutes of the church

  • ​Apostle sent numerous people to move from one church city to another based on where he thought they should go​

  • Young people getting married in inter-church relationships are told which church/city they will live in
     

• Restrict or control sexuality​

  • Just think about the 'God's Pattern For Choosing a Mate' material and how unnatural the dating process becomes

  • Think about the amount of church and parental involvement there is in relationship forming and its progress. 

  • Young people were only allowed to double date while they were in high school.

  • Young people are only allowed to date other church members (rarely, an outsider is brought in by another member and once it is determined that they are there 'for the Lord' and not a dating relationship, then they can date a member).

  • College aged people could not "spend time" with high school students. 
     

• Control clothing and hairstyle

  • Suit and ties still required for services.

  • Women not allowed to wear pants to church. ​

  • ​No jeans for leadership​ while in public.

  • In an effort to "maintain unity" and conformity, there were rules set up between the 4 churches stating:

    • When girls could pierce ears

    • When they could start wearing nail polish

    • When they could start wearing makeup

  • Women must wear hosiery.
     

• Regulate what and how much you eat and drink

  • We do not recall having seen direct food and drink restrictions, other than advising to avoid alcohol.
     

• Deprive you of seven to nine hours of sleep

  • Not in the typical cult sense, but if you are a child in their school (or their parent) , you are always tired​
     

• Exploit you financially

  • The leaders regularly remind the group that they are to be giving 10% of their gross income for tithes. And reluctantly they will advise that when God says he requires tithe and offering, He expects 3% - 5% of gross income for His offering as well. Whenever this is spoken from the pulpit, the leaders remind everyone that it was not because they needed it - but because it was what God required.

  • Elders solicit the congregation for large Christmas cash gifts to the pastors. They worded it carefully to not sound like it was required, but it was definitely expected.
     

• Restrict leisure time and activities

  • The busyness that the church life and their church school life creates, limits any time for outside activities.​

  • Parents are required to volunteer at the school​​

  • Vacations and time with non-church family or friends is discouraged.
     

• Require you to seek permission for major decisions

  • For every major decision it is recommended that you check with the pastor. ​

  • Young people are generally steered into careers in accounting, nursing, or engineering, even if they express interest in other fields of study.

  • Selection of home type and size, car brand and cost, and vacation destinations and their length are routinely run by the pastor. 

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Information Control

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• Deliberately withhold and distort information

  • The church business meetings hide the particulars of the pastor's salary and benefits from the congregation​

  • When members leave, a narrative is put out as to the reasons, that is skewed from the truth and limits further questioning.
     

• Forbid you from speaking with ex-members and critics

  • This has been an ongoing practice in the ANTM for decades. Some members will say "hello" in a store to a former member so they are convinced in their own mind that they aren't truly "shunning", since they say "Hello".
     

• Discourage access to non-cult sources of information

  • People are discouraged from reading negative online reviews.

  • People are discouraged from having social media accounts.

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• Divide information into Insider vs. Outsider doctrine

  • The ANTM websites are generic and leave out their doctrinal peculiarities to avoid criticism and scrutiny

  • They believe that "God is not in" other denominational churches (listen to the KDKA report link in the
    FIND HELP section of the website to hear the audio of this)
     

• Generate and use propaganda extensively

  • Not true in the typical cult sense pertaining to the outside world, but they have their own doctrinal book, ‘The Christian Life Series’, their own training materials ‘Ministry Training School’, and a newsletter that reinforces doctrine called ‘The Sword and Trowel'.
     

• Use information gained in confession sessions against you

  • Notes are taken in counselling sessions and used against you in subsequent sessions.

  • When you threaten to leave or do leave, your past is often brought up in your face to make you doubt your decision, make you feel guilty, make you feel like you did not appreciate what they did for you when you were struggling spiritually (but, in actuality, it is used to remind you that you can’t make it without the church)

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• Gaslight to make you doubt your own memory

  • They use your past to blame you for leaving.

  • They often claim the real reason you want to leave is that "you have a problem with authority", "you've taken up an offense, which has opened you up to deception" or "you were never teachable".

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• Require you to report thoughts, feelings, & activities to superiors

  • We have not personally found this to be true.
     

• Encourage you to spy and report on others’ “misconduct”

  • Home meeting leader reports, youth leader meeting reports, and conversation reports were routinely used by leadership and include information on member behavior.

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Thought Control  
 

• Instill Black vs. White, Us vs. Them, & Good vs. Evil thinking

  • They believe they are the only true church ‘that they know of’. While they say it is possible that there are others, they would only accept others that had the same doctrine as them. Interestingly, with the power of the internet, they do not seek out like-minded churches anymore.

  • Efforts in the past to find like-minded churches in the US, when the founding "apostle" was in charge resulted in the "apostle" wanting like-minded churches to "come under his apostolic authority". When those requests were declined, the relationship with those other churches was ended. This gives credence that they only want relationships with those they can control, which also further explains their motivation for the practice of shunning.

  • When discussing other denominations, they invariably conclude that 'if they don’t believe this *insert doctrinal position here*, then they are not really a New Testament church'. It is used to make the congregation fearful that if they left, then they would never find a church to attend that God would be pleased with.

  • They believe that even if there was a church that believed everything that they did, you couldn't attend that church because "you weren't birthed into the Kingdom there"
     

• Change your identity, possibly even your name

  • In ‘prophetic meetings’, several people have been given new names by the pastor, without asking them how they felt about it until the announcement was made, at which time, no one would push back against the "apostle's" recommendation.
     

• Use loaded language and cliches to stop complex thought

  • Opposing views of others are routinely dismissed. They refuse to thoughtfully deal with the complexities of 2,000 years of Christian history, considering that heroes of the faith over the centuries did not believe as the ANTM does, by simply saying ‘they weren’t called’ or ‘God wasn’t requiring that then, or the worst one, which sets up levels in heaven…‘in My Father’s house there are many dwelling places, they must have a dwelling place, it just won’t be where we will be.”
     

• Induce hypnotic or trance states to indoctrinate        

  • Although speaking in tongues is not a hypnotic state, per se, the experience of praise and worship in the ANTM produces loyalty to the group and is a reason many stay, citing "where else can I find 'scriptural' praise and worship."

  • They also use the belief that they "have true praise in the 'Spirit' " as proof that God is pleased with how the church conducts itself.                                 
     

• Teach thought-stopping techniques to prevent critical thoughts

  • When doubts arise about the church, its doctrines and especially its controlling practices, you are taught that it is the enemy causing those doubts and you are told to ‘take those thoughts captive’.
     

• Allow only positive thoughts

  • No direct questioning of the church, its doctrine or practice is received favorably. You are put on a mental list of suspicion if you do.
     

• Use excessive meditation, singing, prayer, & chanting to block thoughts

  • Praise is to be used as a weapon of “spiritual warfare”. Fighting sympathetic feelings toward former members/family or fighting doubts of the church’s doctrine and practices would fall into the category of things to be “fought” against.
     

• Reject rational analysis, critical thinking, & doubt

  • All debate with those with opposing views starts from a premise that the ANTM’s way is right.

  • Thoughts of what happens to the 1,900 years of Christian believers who did not experience a 3 part gospel and ‘what are the consequences of partial salvation and eternity?’, are all dismissed with, ‘God knew this would happen and God is just. Let’s leave those with incorrect or incomplete experiences up to Him and He will sort it out. When we see how it all sorts out, we will say God is good.’

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Emotional Control
 

• Instill irrational fears (phobias) of questioning or leaving the group

  • Routinely told you will ‘lose your place in the Kingdom if you leave the church'

  • Implanted a fear that you will be consigned to Outer Darkness if you leave (not heaven, not hell, some place in between)

  • Make you feel afraid that you will never find “another church like this” if you leave
     

• Label some emotions as evil, worldly, sinful, or wrong

  • Told that ‘independence’ is wrong

  • Told that things that would fall under the category of ‘self-care’, like taking a Sunday off or not volunteering are ‘selfish’
     

• Teach emotion-stopping techniques to prevent anger, homesickness

  • Advised to ‘take thoughts captive’, especially when you are missing family who has left
     

• Promote feelings of guilt, shame, & unworthiness

  • The performance-based gospel that the ANTM teaches leaves lifelong feelings of never measuring up, worthlessness and only being worthy of conditional love based on your behavior
     

• Shower you with praise and attention (“love bombing”)

  • This mainly happens when you first come in and when family members of yours leave.
     

• Threaten your friends and family

  • You are definitely threatened with losing your family and friends if you leave the church.
     

• Shun you if you disobey or disbelieve

  • If you leave, you are completely shunned.
     

• Teach that there is no happiness or peace outside the group

  • Taught from Hebrews 10:27 and Hebrews 12:17 that there is no place for repentance for the one who leaves.

  • Stories are circulated about how bad off people who leave are and how their faith is often shipwrecked.

  • For those who do well after leaving, they are told that ‘they are having their kingdom now’ and that in the judgment they will still be punished for leaving the ‘truth’

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Pretty damning isn't. It is a terrible, crushing, heart-wrenching thing to wrestle with the realization that the thing that is your primary identity and purpose - that which you have devoted your life to build, or the entire structure of the world you were born into - is at its core a destructive thing. Now that you objectively see that what you are a part of is unhealthy, isn't it time to consider leaving?  There is healing on the other side.

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