The Thousand Word Project - Red and Green

The Cult Next Door - A Documentary on Bill Gothard and the Institute of Basic Life Principles

This is a short documentary on a very large subject. Having done some of my own research on this as well as reading things others have written, listening to the experiences of others (both positive and negative), and watching the Duggar's shows and also one or two video exposes, I feel that it is an important subject to address. Bill Gothard's teachings have wormed their way into Christendom in many areas and ways that many of us are not even aware of. People from almost every Christian denomination and cult have attended his seminars at some point and carried his teachings back with them, thus spreading ideologies and beliefs that appear biblical on the surface but most definitely are not.

Clear back in the 1970s my own dad rejected the teachings of Bill Gothard because of the fact that his brother who was living in gross sexual sin assisted in writing the early materials, but when he was exposed for his sin the book(s) was not pulled back and re-examined and rewritten. Bill Gothard chose to continue using material written with assistance from a man who was living in significant defeat in the very areas that Gothard was so interested in - sexual purity, character, authority, etc.

Furthermore, while there is nothing wrong with a single man doing some teaching on the family and marriage and raising children (the apostle Paul did), it is completely unbiblical for a single man to become an expert, a spiritual authority so highly esteemed, whose words are followed so religiously. In the position into which he has pushed himself with his claims to have the "perfect plan" for having a perfect godly family ("perfect plans" dependent upon a man's teaching are always a big red flag), he absolutely should have been the husband of one wife. Based on the exposure of his sexual harassment of young women who worked for him at his headquarters, we might wonder if he had entirely honorable motives in his choosing to never marry.

1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife...

Titus 1:6-7 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless...

Mr. Gothard is disqualified on more than one point here. He is not blameless, nor is he the husband of one wife.


The Cult Next Door (Official Short Film) from Youngman Films on Vimeo.

For more information on this please visit:

RecoveringGrace.org

The Wartburg Watch: Category Bill Gothard

   Specifically: Bill Gothard's Umbrella of Protection

Evening Song - A New Day In A New Life

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.



The John Marshall Family.

Creatures Great and Small - Dinner for One

The Indwelling Christ - by Martha Snell Nicholson

Years ago when my family was visiting the home of an elderly couple in Massachusetts, the lady handed me a small pot and told me that it had been excavated from Hebron in Israel and was dated from the time when David had his capitol city there before it was moved to Jerusalem. I didn't want to hold it because it was obviously something of great value. But, it was hard to get my head around the thought that this little piece of pottery was something so old and had been in use when Kind David was a young king. This poem reminds me a little of that. In a small way, I can relate to Mrs. Nicholson's experience.

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The Indwelling Christ

It was an ancient copper plate which stirred me so,
Made in Jerusalem two thousand years ago.
I trembled strangely as I held it in my hands,
And thought of how my Lord lived in those far-off lands;
And then I wondered, breathless, if perhaps He ate
When at the home of friends, from off this self-same plate!
And at the very thought my hands drew back, for such
My hushed and holy awe, it seemed my lightest touch
Profaned . . . And yet there is a mystery so deep
That often in the night hours, when I ponder sleep
Forsakes my eyelids, time is lost and space is gone.

My spirit and my flesh, mysterious two-in-one,
Forever bound together! This my flesh has been
At sundry times, in sundry ways, at once my bane
And my delight, my cross, my joy. And yet, the door
Is locked and bolted, and the soul grows lonely, for
The body is a prison where the spirit lives
Alone through all of life, and only death’s hand gives
Release to it at last and sets that spirit free.
Yet to the child of God — ah, here the mystery! —
Comes One who knocks and enters. Nevermore alone,
The spirit has a sweet Companion now!

O blessed One,
Though pain has twisted me, and care has lined my brow,
This flesh of mine is Thy most holy temple now,
And when I touch my hand I touch Thy dwelling place!
May I so live that those who look upon my face
May find Thy radiance shining there, that they may see
Not my poor flesh, but Thee, my Lord, but only Thee!

- Martha Snell Nicholson

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Evening Song - Blessed Redeemer

Isaiah 47:4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.