Against The Grain: The American Mega-Church and Its Culture of Control

By Roy A. Teel, Jr.

How can something meant for such good go so bad? Against the Grain takes you inside the mega-church machine, dissects the structure of these monolithic temples (claimed to be dedicated to God) and shows them for what they really are: huge mega-businesses that survive by using fear, guilt and psychological terror to control their followers. Against the Grain reveals the often unknown mission of these Goliaths of God and the dark recesses of the church, and it explores the psychology they use to manipulate and control their congregations. This book shows the power that the church has over all aspects of American life, whether you are Christian or not. These churches and their followers shape the country and world that we live in. How? Against the Grain takes you behind the scenes and allows you to read, feel and experience the Christian mega-church step by step. It takes a pointed look at church aspects that no one wants to talk about, Against the Grain challenges readers to see for themselves what these churches really are, as well as the message they propagate to an oftentimes unwitting audience. Also, it shows readers the humanity that is affected by these churches and those who founded them, run them and control them. For decades, these churches have been influencing Americans and growing in popularity. But for the first time, Against the Grain guides readers through the paces of membership amid the charismatic influence of puppet masters who tug, stomp, guilt and cajole the hearts and minds of America. Join author Roy A. Teel, Jr. as he goes against the grain of the Christian right, and show you how they go against the grain of the people they have sworn to lead--all in the name of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Narroway Press
• Release date: Apr 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9780976639275

Book preview

AGAINST THE GRAIN

The American Mega-Church and Its Culture of Control

ROY A. TEEL JR.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2008 Roy A. Teel Jr. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

Published by NarroWay Press

An Imprint of NarroWay Publishing LLC

9400 Topanga Canyon Blvd. Suite 100

Chatsworth, CA 91311

www.narrowaypublishing.com

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New King James Version® (NKJV), copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., used by permission.

Publishers Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Teel, Roy A.

Against the grain : the American mega-church and its culture

of control / by Roy A. Teel Jr. -- Chatsworth, CA :

NarroWay Press, c2008.

p. ; cm.

ISBN: 978-0-9766392-7-5

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Big churches--United States--Psychological aspects.

2. Clergy--Malpractice--United States. 3. Christian sects--United States--Psychological aspects. 4. Cults--United States-Psychological aspects. 5. Manipulative behavior. 6. Christian leadership. I. Title. II. Title: The American mega-church and its culture of control.

BV637.9 .T44 2008

253.7--dc22

0812

Editor: Colleen Spears

Book Designer: Patricia Bacall

Author Photo by: A

This book is dedicated to Lawrence W. Myers, MD

Thank you, Larry

Also by Roy A. Teel Jr.

Nonfiction:

The Way, the Truth, and the Lies: How the Gospels Mislead Christians About Jesus’ True Message

Fiction:

The Light of Darkness: Dialogues in Death

Collected Short Stories

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One Indoctrination

Two Church and Money

Three Church Member or Visitor: Is There a Difference?

Four From Covenants to Proselytizing: Who Really Runs a Mega-Church?

Five Getting Out the Message / Snaring the Prayer

Six Fear and Abuse: The Pillars of Control

Seven Church Outreach and Inner Counseling

Eight Not Even the Church is Impervious to Evil

Nine Denominational vs. Non-Denominational

Ten It’s Time for an Intellectual Revival

Eleven Carpé Diem

Selected Bibliography

Appendix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When we as writers undertake the task of a new book, it is with great sacrifice. I once read that writing is the loneliest profession in the world. For me, as an author, I spend hours sitting alone in my office here in my home and write words that I hope will enlighten and encourage. But it is a slow and methodical process of research and study.

If you are a writer, then you know this is a labor of love. To my wife Tracy, thank you. Thank you for your inspiration and your diligence in helping to keep me on task. Thank you for the countless hours you spent discussing this work (and all of the others) and for your expert time in editing and correcting the final copy. Love like yours can’t be measured by any means that I know of in linear time, but I know how much you love me and sacrifice for me and I don’t take you for granted. I love you and adore you and thank you endlessly, just as I thank God for you every day.

To my daughter Stephanie Rachel (Rache), you are a source of strength for me, and you inspire me to be a better person. I am proud of you and stand by you come what may. Your daddy I will always be, even though you are all grown up and in college.

To my good friend Dr. Joey Brett, MD, whose love of people has kept me alive in my 15-year battle with MS and cancer, there aren’t many people like you, and I am proud to call you my friend as well as my physician. You have given me the opportunity to write these books and to keep physically and emotionally healthy. There is not another friend or personal physician I could desire. I am the luckiest man alive, thanks to you.

To Stephen and Patti Parker, who never let me down: You are like parents to me. I love you both and thank God for you every day.

And a heartfelt thank you to my good friend Jim, for the countless hours we have spent in deep conversation on subjects such as religion, philosophy, history, and all those conversations that make life worth living. You are a true friend. One of these days you have to get lunch! I love you, my friend, and thank you.

INTRODUCTION

On any given weekend, from Friday night to Sunday night, people the world over are entering into the houses of God where they worship. The practice of worshiping God is as old as humankind, and the manners in which we as humans worship are as varied as the stars in the sky.

For the purposes of this book, I am discussing Christianity as it is the religion in which I am educated and hold my credentials. When I say Christianity I am not speaking of any single denomination, but a general outline of the worship recognized and adhered to by all sects of the faith. No matter what language or country you worship in—indeed, no matter your faith—the house of God has some pretty uniform rules for worship and also some very regular rituals observed in practicing that religion. Although my focus in this book is the Christian mega-churches throughout the United States and abroad, I want to make the reader painfully aware that these institutions’ rights and practices cross almost all schools of religious thought and practice—short of the dogmatic Christian rituals of Christ worship, meaning communion.

The teachings of Christianity along with Gospel (literally, Good News) accounts written by multiple authors over several centuries make up the books of the New Testament and the fundamental beliefs of the Christian followers. (For more information on this subject, refer to my book The Way, the Truth, and the Lies for a forensic breakdown of Christian thought and beliefs based on the writings of these authors.) While each group of Christians may follow a little different format, all are pretty much the same in their systems of belief.

We all know there are many good church leaders helping their followers to grow spiritually. Yet Christianity, like all religions, has its dark side. The purpose of this book is to take you behind the scenes of the American mega-churches, to give a glimpse of that man behind the curtain—but there is no Dorothy, tin man, lion, or scarecrow. There is, however, a Professor Marvel (the con artist of L. Frank Baum’s wonderful fiction work The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and he or she is the man or woman behind the mega-church’s curtain who doesn’t want us to see who he or she really is. I want you to understand how these organizations prosper and grow in twenty-first century America, and the tools, tactics and manipulations that have made them one of the most powerful forces in American religion and politics.

We have all heard stories of litigation, rape and molestation in the Catholic Church, of lawsuits leveled against Catholic archdioceses in different parts of the U.S. and the world; we know about the out-of-court settlements, the hush money paid to buy silence from those who suffered at the hands of men of God. That’s just Catholics; there are other churches, other victims. The world demonizes parts of Catholicism without understanding that abuses run throughout Christianity.

In the past three decades the Fundamentalist Christian movement and its puritan leadership have even led their own congregations to murder and suicide. The Reverend Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple were based in San Francisco in the early 1970s. As scandal began to engulf Jones, he told his faithful that God had called them to start their own utopia in Guyana. The followers of Jones sold everything they hadn’t already donated to their church and a large number followed their leader to the Peoples Temple compound named Jonestown in South America in 1978. Family members and friends feared that their loved ones were involved