Surviving the Jesus Army: November 2009

Friday, 27 November 2009

Stockholm Syndrome

I have just posted this on Jesus Army Watch, in response to Sarah Hughes's assertion that I wanted to control her, which is why she decided to pull out of JAD:

"I didn't want to control you. I wanted to share a
responsibility with you as an equal.

Which means that I took a leap of faith and took you at your word and trusted you. I went out on a limb in what could have been something quite revolutionary.....in which, far from controlling you, I was undertaking to relinquish control to you, a member of the JA.

Your good will and trustworthiness lasted less than a week.

But at the end of the day, I don't hold you entirely responsible because I know that you are not in control of your own life. Everyone on this site [Jesus Army Watch] knows how hard it is to resist the will of the Elders...and if you are to be able to live in peace with the brethren, you must find a way to suppress your own feelings and accept that you are wrong.

....and then demonstrate your loyalty to the brethren by attacking those whose trust you had previously enjoyed outside the fellowship."

A meeting with the Prophet.

Talking to Noel Stanton and Mick Temperate again more than vindicated all our whistle blowing activities. This was a life affirming experience. We had always hoped that we'd had an impact, but we could not have anticipated quite how massive an impact it had been. Their candour on this point was illuminating.

The most important outcome, was an acknowledgement made by Mick "Temperate" Haines that throughout our campaign we had not been untruthful, only "unhelpful". Given their legal threats in the 1980s, this was quite a revelation. I'd always been scrupulous about only telling the truth, but I'd never dreamed that anyone in the JA would ever admit this.

Who are the JA anyway?

In this blog I make frequent reference to the JA (Jesus Army) despite the fact that when I was a member the JA didn't actually exist yet. I left the New Creation Christian Community (a commune), which formed part of the JFC (Jesus Fellowship Church), then regarded by many as a cult, in 1984 after 3 years there. When I was there, we were known as the Jesus People (or in Christian circles as Bugbrooke). The JA came into being in 1987.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Army
I co-wrote the Wikipedia article with a "neutral" editor, Rumiton and with the JA's Representative, John Campbell. I wrote as Bristol Sycamore. Here you can read the some of the negotiations. There are 2 archives as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Jesus_Army

However, I eventually stopped contributing a couple of months ago when the JA team stopped consulting and started comprehensively sanitising the wikipedia article. It now reads very much like an advert for the JA.....and cannot be considered neutral in any sense at all.