A Botkin Update: Who is Geoff Botkin and What is the New Zealand Exit Strategy? (I think it is a reading from Jim McCotter's old script.)

A few months ago, I posted a substantial portion of Geoff Botkin’s history with the cultic evangelical group, the Great Commission Ministries (GCM). Since that time, I’ve been contacted by several people who have reported information about Botkin’s past, his present activities, as well as his declared plans for the future.

THE PAST: Recruitment of the Botkins into the GCM Cult

It seems that Geoff and his brother, Gregory (now a family practice physician who now works in an Emergency Department), grew up in Tulsa, OK and were recruited into Jim McCotter’s Great Commission cult while attending Oklahoma University during the 1970s. McCotter spent time on the campus of OU during his “Blitz,” his evangelical recruitment campaign. The sources that contacted me and had knowledge of the family stated that they had absolutely no knowledge about the family professing Marxism, and neither Gregory nor Geoffrey were known to these sources to be Marxists. What is interesting to note is that there was a cult member in Norman, OK who interacted with Geoff who members report had a history of some involvement with Marxism and whose family immigrated to the US from the USSR. (This man whose name has been removed from this post reports that left the Great Commision cult decades ago.) It appears that, based upon the testimony of those who contacted me, unless the Botkin Family of Tulsa went to great lengths to keep their Marxism under wraps, Geoff Botkin may have absorbed aspects of the testimony of this man in order to embellish his own

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Where the Chisel Meets the Stone

Please say a prayer for some new friends of mine today, for abundant wisdom for them so that God's words would be found in their mouths. Currently, they are walking out of a patriarchal spiritual abuse situation, making the hard decisions about what to do and how to do it. I'm so grateful that there are so many resources now for this couple who are new to the whole idea of spiritual abuse, resources that I wish I had as my husband and I made decisions about how to exit our own group years ago.
Their situation reminded me of my favorite 4Him song, which along with nearly everything else, can be found in some manner or form on YouTube. When I first heard this song, I was commuting from Norman to work in OKC in the early '90s, and I would play this song over and over and weep. My sinful nature and my self want to have their way, but I have relinquished my heart to the Lord and want my wheels to turn for Him, not for me.

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Comments Welcome! Discussing "Not of My Making"

Today we are doing something a bit different here on this blog. Please post your comments in the discussion of “Not of My Making: Bullying, Scapegoating and Misconduct in Churches.”

In a previous post, I reviewed the book, and I also summarized the different subjects discussed in the book for those of you who have not read this new book. You can read more about her background at Pluck Press.

I would like to point out for the reader that Dr. Jones now attends an Episcopal Church, but unlike my own background and many of the readers here, she is not from an evangelical Christian background. That proved very insightful for me, for the dynamics of human interaction in groups that are spiritually abusive all operate in the same ways, though there are distinct differences in manner and degree. Approaching things from a Catholic experience as a child, the book outlines involvement in a couple of Unitarian Universalist churches where I find it amusing that the author was censured for being too traditional and Christian. An initial experience in the Evangelical Lutheran Church did not prove to be much safer for her.

The pastor of the ELCA affiliated church that the author attended shared inappropriate and private information with members of the church board and congregation. The Jones family also adopted a foster child, an older young man whom Lutheran Social Services brought from the Sudan, and this situation intensified their problems with the church. The book also describes the legal action that Dr. Jones pursued in an effort to hold the pastor and church accountable for what had happened to her in one too many settings where she was awarded a favorable verdict.

For those who come out of a spiritual abuse situation, I recommend reading several personal accounts, including "Combating Cult Mind Control" by Steve Hassan. Though Hassan's book traces his experience through the "Moonines," it is amazing to read it because his experience does not differ much from that of people in abusive evangelical churches. The trappings of the politics cross all denominational and even religious boundaries.

Join in the discussion and don’t worry about being off topic if we’ve moved on to a new one in what I hope will be an informative discussion about spiritual abuse!

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A Cyber Reminder About Monday's Cyber Guest on a Cyber Book Tour Stop

On Monday, May 4th,

Margaret Jones, PhD

will stop by for a cyber chat to discuss her book

"Not Of My Making:

Bullying, Scapegoating and Misconduct in Churches."

Though I have written a general review of the book (scroll down!), there are many aspects of the book that caught my attention. I identified with several of the topics and with the experience of the author, her autobiography through spiritual abuse. Along the way, the reader introduces many related themes that are not limited to:

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