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Doug, you must know friend of TFI and Door editior John Bloom
Of course.
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Miraculously, most of the people who once wanted to murder Ole – or at least rough him up a little – remain members of Trinity Foundation today, and for the most part are peaceable non-weapons-bearing elders. One guy, who was convinced Trinity was a cult, would come to every Bible study armed with questions supplied by Cult Watch, a watchdog group that helps parents deprogram children that are taken away from their families by fanatic religious groups. That same guy is one of the principal leaders of Trinity today.
That was me that this piece is referring to, but Bloom got some of the facts wrong. I never came to Trinity in the early days armed with questions from Cult Watch—or any other ministry or group. I did come with Scriptures I had questions about. I was indeed one of the principal leaders of the group at the time that piece was written.
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"A cult tries to coerce people to stay in the group," Ole said. "I want ALL these people to leave. I'm trying to get them to GO. I tried to leave myself one night, and then I realized that I didn't own the car I was driving. I had stolen a car. I drove back and ate crow."
Ole is being glib when he says he tries to get people to go. He hates it when people leave—especially people who are part of the core group of committed people. The example I can come up with to explain this to you is that it is like when someone says to a cherished relative, “You’re not worth a nickel.” This is not something that is meant to be taken literally, and, in fact, the person saying it means almost the opposite.
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It pretty much settled the issue for me – that, and over a twenty-year period, never hearing him once tell a person what to do. The Baptist teachers of my youth, on the other hand, told me exactly what to do, and re-enforced it with warnings that improper behavior would be rewarded with immense suffering in the afterlife.
Bloom has never been involved directly in the Bible studies in any significant way, except for when he taught his own group. He does not have much direct experience of how Ole treats people except through what Ole tells him.
Ole is kind of subtle in how he manages people, and he does make an effort to maintain plausible deniability on issues of control. When I wanted to marry Wendy, for example, he did not say, “No, Doug, you cannot marry Wendy.” That would have been too blatant. However, he did say, “If you marry Wendy right now, it would be a disaster.” Coming from someone whom I saw as my spiritual leader and mentor, that was pretty heavy.