I recently had occasion to visit [www.christianforums.com,] and much to my chagrin found that JPUSA has a couple of members that frequent the site and promote their cult every now and then. I had no idea they did this sort of thing in cyber.

JPUSA has had a long, controversial history of cult activity. My complaints to their site administrator have resulted in no action (one of the moderators even condones it!), and so I thought I'd pass along this alert to everyone for your thoughts and suggestions.

This is but a brief excerpt from the Christian Apologetics Index to give you a background of what they're all about:

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A controversial, Christian commune known for its ministry to the poor and the elderly, Cornerstone Magazine, the REZ band, and its Cornerstone Music Festivals.

While the JPUSA (Jesus People USA) commune has many positive aspect, over the years, the group has grown increasingly controversial due to, among other things, charges of authoritarianism and other forms of spiritual abuse, as well as the movement's increasing support for - and use of - cult apologists, including the late Jeffrey K. Hadden, J. Gordon Melton, and Massimo Introvigne - men who, under the guise of defending religious freedom, support cults, promote religious pluralism, and attack apostates (whom cult apologist generally view as liars whose testimony is unreliable).

Dr. Ron Enroth has written about former JPUSA members in his book Recovering From Churches That Abuse.

''The JP story is a tragic tale of good intentions gone bad,'' writes a former member of the Jesus People USA. JPUSA (''ja-P00-zah''), as it is commonly called, is a Christian community founded in 1972 in inner-city Chicago. It ministers to the poor and the elderly and operates a Crisis Pregnancy Center in the Uptown section of the city. It is perhaps best-known to the evangelical world through two highly visible ministries, Cornerstone magazine and REZ, a Christian rock band. JPUSA's annual Cornerstone Festival features Christian rock music, conducts seminars on various topics, and draws thousands of young people. In 1989 JPUSA joined the Evangelical Covenant Church. A council of nine elders-pastors presides over de community of about five-hundred members.

There is a side to the JPUSA story, suggested in the opening statement, that is largely unknown. I became aware of problems in the group after receiving letters and phone calls from former members who had read Churches That Abuse and saw parallels with their own experiences. The pain and frustration they expressed point to a long-standing pattern of abuse within the organization that cannot be denied, despite some evidence of amelioration in recent years.
Source: Recovering From Churches That Abuse, Ron Enroth, Zondervan Publishing House, 1994. P. 121-122


[www.apologeticsindex.org]A controversial, Christian commune known for its ministry to the poor and the elderly, Cornerstone Magazine, the REZ band, and its Cornerstone Music Festivals.