Religion

I Believe in One God....

      "Do you renounce Satan -- all his angels,
      all his works, all his service, and all his pride?"
                "I do renounce him."
      "Have you united yourself with Christ?"
                "I have."
      "Do you believe in Him?"
                "I believe in Him as King and God."
                            -- The Office of Holy Baptism
                                       (Russian Orthodox Rite)

I am an Eastern Orthodox Christian, albeit one who quotes C. S. Lewis at the drop of a hat. :) I'm a convert (I was received into the Church at Easter in 1995), excited about my faith, and therefore somewhat dangerous to unsuspecting bystanders. But I try to be considerate. <grin> Here are some resources for fellow Orthodox Christians, or if you're curious.

The International Churches of Christ

For ten years I was part of a movement within an evangelical Protestant church which later developed into the International Churches of Christ (ICOC), an aggressive, fast growing and destructive cult. While things weren't as bad when I was involved, I have come to regret a great deal of what I did and lived through in my time in that movement. And it's gotten much worse since I left. For those who want to know more, I include a link to my bio from the years I spent in this group.

Down from Kingdom Mountain: My Story

The links below are to organizations and web sites founded and maintained by former members of the International Churches of Christ or others who have had close contact with the organization. The Barnabas Ministry is the work of John Engler, a former twenty-plus-year member of the ICOC in the Denver area who started off during the days of the Crossroads Movement. KipMcKean.com and ICOCInvestigation.com are the work of a former member whose identity I know, but who does not want their name posted publicly. Both sites contain a wealth of current information about Kip McKean and the ICOC, however, and I know from other, independent sources that many of the details are true. REVEAL was founded by Michelle Campbell, a former member of the San Francisco Church of Christ, and me, although I left many years ago. It is out of date, but still contains valuable information about the ICOC. RightCyberUp is the brainchild of Dave Anderson, a near-convert whom the ICOC tried to recruit, but who backed away after several months of involvement shortly before being baptized.

The ICOC largely disintegrated in late 2002 and 2003, after the resignation of its leader, Kip McKean, and a scathing open letter by a prominent evangelist, Henry Kriete. (That letter is posted on REVEAL and a number of other sites. A recent follow-up letter by Kriete is posted on KipMcKean.com.) Unfortunately, as of summer 2005, McKean is making an effort to "call out" a "remnant" from the former ICOC churches, and some of those churches are playing right along. :/ So the need for the web pages and organizations listed below is as great as ever.

The Barnabas Ministry

August 2005: John Engler's Take on Recent Events in the ICOC

The links below are to the web sites of the International Cultic Studies Organization (ICSO), formerly the American Family Foundation (AFF), and the Ex-Cult Resource Center. The ICSO is the largest and most widely respected anti-cult organization in the world. It is non-partisan and has a lot of good information on the ICOC and on cults in general. The Ex-Cult Resource Center contains some important general documents about cults and dealing with them, but the site consists primarily of working links to other sites with cult information.

Links to Interesting Sites

Below are links to articles and web pages I've found informative or inspirational. They aren't all by Orthodox Christians, and they aren't all by people I otherwise agree with about many things. I do find all of these links worth reading, though.

Last modified on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 8:40 AM PDT.