Through the corporate structure of the group how are the bylaws structured to guarantee Ole Anthony absolute power?

Is there no way he could be voted out or removed by the board?

Is there no democratic process per the constitution and bylaws of the group for Ole Anthony to be held accountable?

Are members assigned a specific discipling partner as they are in ICC?

Is someone specifically assigned that is your "spiritual covering" per this arrangement?

Who is Ole Anthony accountable to? Has he ever sat in the "hot seat"?

Again, has Ole Anthony grown rich and does he live well as a result of Trinity Foundation funds?

The organization files 990s. Do you think not enough is disclosed and do you suspect hidden conpensation or wealth?

The by-laws are not structured to guarantee Ole absolute power. Ole's power derives from his charisma and his ability to intimidate his followers. If a strong enough person were to come in, it would theoretically be possible for him or her to challenge Ole. However, you have to understand that Ole has surrounded himself with people who have been loyal to him for over 20 years, and people like that form the majority of the board. It is not likely that anyone will come in and change that.

The board could vote Ole out, but the same taboo attaches to that as to patricide.

Ole could certainly be held accountable by the board according to the by-laws and constitution, but, again, most of the people on the board are his own disciples and some are employees of the foundation. It is legally possible that the board could hold him accountable, but I do not think it is possible psychologically.

There are not discipling partners at Trinity. The discipling is done by the various Bible study teachers, who, in turn, report to Ole. Your Bible study teacher is your "spiritual covering."

Ole is not accountable to anyone, and he has certainly never been on the hot seat.

Ole has not grown rich as a result of his activities at Trinity, as far as I know. In my opinion, Ole is an ascetic and does not seem to be motivated by being financially wealthy. I think he is more interested in the esteem he gets from being seen as a defender of the faith.

In regards to the 990's, I do not believe that is the area to look for the main problems. I would draw this analogy: it is possible for someone to be an outwardly law-abiding citizen who is honest in his business dealings and who pays his taxes, but nevertheless is cruelly abusive to his wife and children. Ole is pretty good about doing things above board in terms of the formal legal requirements for running a 501(c)(3) organization. Nevertheless, most of the former members will tell you that Trinity is a psychologically and spiritually abusive place, and thus qualifies as a cult.

Rick, ask Ole these questions.

matthewtoo:

These are questions relevant to the book.

Ole's a curmudgeony old man and half the time he can't even get out of bed. He's sure not Mr. Rogers, but is he a paranoid, megalomaniacal "cult leader" and are all of us puppets kidnapped mentally into participating in his fantasy world? That idea is totally ludicrous. I myself have only been part of this community for a few months now; I've have never felt manipulated, controlled, and certainly not abused in any sense of the word here. I'm shocked that we could be percieved as Ole's "cult". No, as of now I have not read the book, but it's on the way. I'll post more of my comments after I read the book.
For anyone who's curious, please visit us if you're in the Dallas area; our address and other information about us can be found at www.trinityfi.org We gather for Bible studies and fellowship freqently, so please call or write for more information. Goodbye for now.

I have put this out there to challenge anyone: show me one of the points of Lifton's thought reform model, or any other such model, that we conform to at the present time. Come over and meet us anytime; hell, I'll take you out for a beer and we'll taalk about it. By no stretch of the imagination, by no means, is Trinity Foundation some type of isolated, paranoid, apocolyptic mind-control cult and any perception that we compare to Jonestown or Heaven's Gate, or that Ole is some kind of Jim Jones-type characcter, disturbs me greatly. That is preposterous.

zeuszor:

Former members in the book talk about something called the "hot seat." A group practice that was allegedly highly confrontational.

Have you heard anything about that?

Do you somehow consider your bible teacher a kind of "spiritual covering," someone you must submit yourself to?

And in some sense can the mind be seen as "anti-Christ"?

Have you ever heard that?

When you receive the book there is and interesting chapter, which you might want to review titled "Twisted Scriptures."

In this chapter the author makes some interesting claims about Ole Anthony's teachings and how they might in some way be compared to the features of thought reform as outlined by Lifton.

The book doesn't seem to say that Anthony is as bad as Jim Jones, or Applewhite, the deranged leader of "Heaven's Gate."

But the author and former members quoted are describing Ole Anthony as authoritarian and very controlling.

Perhaps only a Trinity community member of many years can answer these questions and address the issues raised within the book in any meaningful depth.

The stuff in which some guy who's never met us is comparing us to HG and Jonestown is on FACTnet. No, I do not consider my Bible Study teacher to be my "covering" in the sense of some type of abusive relationship, but I do believe that as members of the community we are, as a body, in covenant with one another and as such in a position of accountability to another. As far as the mind being Anti-Christ, to me that serves as a description of our self-seeking and inherently corrupt nature as humans, fallen creatures. What Ole has to say about these things is no more or less "ego-dissolving" or whatever than what Jesus or the Apostle Paul taught. The message: repent, take up the cross, anf follow Him. I personally have never felt like this principle was being used, distorted in any way, to manipulate me through guilt or fear or anything. I am here and part of this community entirely of my own choice. Nobody recruited me or anything and in fact believing or agreeing with what Ole has to say about certain Bblical matters was never a requirement for my continued involvemnt, nor are there any inordinate strictures of any kind put on my behavior or belief system at all, and I hardly feel as if they're trying to disorient my sense of self or undermine my identity or whatever. Like I said, at least any more than Paul would. Ole (to my perception) speaks very authoritatively, but it's not like you're required to believe him, except of course in the essentials of the faith.
As far as the hotseat thing, no, I've never asked and nobody's ever told me of it. It's not happening now and so is not so important to me. In my opinion, maybe there were problems in the past, but from where I sit it looks like these have been dealt with and the fact that others have been hurt hurts me. But I really know nothing of it and have not read the book yet. Being abused here or anything even close is simply not part of my my experience. Exhorted, challenged, but certainly not abused, manipulated or anything like that. Not at all. As far as Lifton's model somehow being compared to what Ole teaches goes, well, an orange can be compared to a tangerine, but they're two different fruits. You know?

I mean, I hang out with my family all the time (they live closeby) and come and go as I please. I have plenty of free time and privacy to do what I want. I do not feel inordinately controlled in behavior or thought in the least, so this stuff about how we're a cult sounds bizarre from my point of view. My experience is quite the opposite. It sounds almost unbelievable.