Has anyone seen the article in Charisma magagine about Trinity Foundation: Critic of Televangelists Comes Under fire

"Ole Anthony, best known for his work investigating televangelists, came under fire recently for allegedly fostering spiritual abuse in the Trinity Foundation, a charismatic community he leads in Dallas.
The eclectic group of about 40 people gather for Bible studies, and aid the poor and homeless. But last spring former member Wendy Duncan labeled the foundation a cult in her self-published book, I Can't Hear God Anymore.

Among her allegations were that Anthony exerted undue influence over community decisions and individual members—including forbidding her to marry Doug Duncan, who was part of the community for 21 years before departing six years ago. She also described Anthony as an overbearing figure with an inordinate need for control and a grandiose sense of self.

The book sparked a pair of lengthy stories in the Dallas Observer in early August that painted Anthony as a megalomaniac whose manipulations wreaked havoc on some members' lives. The weekly newspaper also questioned whether Anthony manufactured some of the evidence against Robert Tilton that ABC-TV used in its 1991 Prime Time Live exposé of televangelists Tilton, Larry Lea and W.V. Grant. "


This made add credence to what counselor and zeus are saying.

Consider too that Charisma is a magazine that works in the same strain as many word of faith/health and wealth/signs and wonders teachers. I would read very critically. It does not seem hard to believe that they may not take a high view of Trinity Foundation.

Are the morning bible studies still mandatory? I love it when Ole says contemptuously, " Does anyone understand what I am saying?". After 25 years or so Gary, John or Harry pipes up to try to prove that they do understand what Ole has been saying after all this time. It seems Ole's message is a mystery only he can comprehend.
cultaware

Yes, they are still manditory. Ole of late has been ill (what else is new?) and is apparently bedridden most of the time these days. However, Gary has been conducting the morning Bible studies. Bible study my foot...what's really sad is when Ole berates the group (as he does often) to say, "Twenty-five years I've been telling you this and [i:cd16759d99]you still don't get it."[/i:cd16759d99] As if [i:cd16759d99]he's[/i:cd16759d99] the only one in the room who understands what he's talking about. This is one of his mechanisms of control over the group. Most present sit rapt in their attention, hanging on to Ole's every word, as if he is the source and author of Truth.
All this negative attention (Wendy's book, the Observer piece, etc.) has hit TFI pretty hard, both financially and in terms of it's psychological effect on the individual "core group" members. They've lost donation $$$ over this and I hear that they're existing in the red right now. It really has made them face up to some of TFI's ugly realities and has produced a lot of cognitive dissonance and stress in the proces...Pete has taken it particularly hard and is pretty stressed out and dealing with a lot of anxiety right now. But Ole's getting busted has been a shock to the system of more folks than just Pete's. That's what I am told, anyway; I haven't seen or spoken with any of them since last August. But I still speak with certain individuals in the community who keep me informed about what's going on with certain things. You never know what somebody might overhear over a bowl of oatmeal, huh?
I further was told that there was a woman who showed up at the Feast of Tabernacles and had never been on the block before. She knew TFI by reputation (a good one in the mainstream press until lately) but was aware of Wendy's book and it's claims. This woman came to get an more personal impression of TFI and was considering making a donation of $10,000. Well, she goes to Tabernacles, right? Guess what, Ole was there, berating, bad-mouthing and generally gossipping mercilessly about a member who was in good standing with the community and for whatever reason couldn't make it to the feast. So here's Ole talking s**t about a community member, fully in the prescence of a first-time visitor, a guest who knew about TFI through the [i:cd16759d99]New Yorker[/i:cd16759d99] piece and other butt-kissing articles. She was going to make a substantial donation before she actually [i:cd16759d99]met[/i:cd16759d99] Ole in person and saw how he [i:cd16759d99]really[/i:cd16759d99] is. I've seen Ole mistreat visitors before; his pet peeve is when somebody is looking in their Bible or reading ahead, otherwise not paying full attention to him while he is lecturing. I've seen Ole berate guests to the block for doing that and seen people never come back. His attitude is, when asked about why he treats people this way: "If you don't like it, leave. I didn't invite you here." This is a "man of God"?

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NathanA
Consider too that Charisma is a magazine that works in the same strain as many word of faith/health and wealth/signs and wonders teachers. I would read very critically. It does not seem hard to believe that they may not take a high view of Trinity Foundation.

Basically, the article is a straight reporting of the fact that there is a controversy. They do not take sides. The reporter did a good job telling what is happening as an objective news piece.

Ole is quoted as saying of the allegations in my wife's book, "It's just a revision of what Tilton tried to say" in his lawsuits filed in the 1990s. This is misleading. Ole is trying to discredit us by tying us to Robert Tilton, but the things Wendy wrote about have little or nothing to do with Ole's controversy with Robert Tilton. They have everything to do with Ole's own behavior, which this comment makes clear he is still not ready to examine honestly, much less take responsibility for.

I do agree with you that the article is actually just straight reporting that there is controversy over the group. There does not seem to be a bias present in the blurb that was quoted. I am wrong if I try to paint it that way. I am however quite skeptical of any real discernment that many writers in the magazine might show. If you look in that issue for example, there are articles by Joyce Meyers and Gloria Copeland. Theologically speaking, they have both shown 'word of faith' deviance in their teachings that in my opinion disagree with Biblical Christianity.

And Brian, you accuse Ole of gossiping? Reread your own words.

Nathan, Nathan. What is annoying about your presence here is that you actually contribute little to the discussion of TFI, instead, you are a gadfly and turn up every once in a while to stir the pot. Usually I would ignore you here. You baited me and so I feel compelled to respond. Well, I take your point, nevertheless. At the time I wrote that stuff yesterday, in my mind, I felt that I was reporting on the state of things within TFI at the present time, which is different than gossiping. I am not spreading rumors nor trying to defame anybody's character. I am sending a message to whoever that's still in TFI, and that message is: there are people there who are watching you and see things that you do not. They tell these things to me. Not everybody still on the block thinks everything there is peachy-keen. They just show up for freee oatmeal and coffee.

The thing about Ole is that he actually reduces himself to calling people names and slandering their characters behind their backs. I have been told that he tells the community not to associate with me and refers to me as an "idiot". I myself 1) have had fortitude enough to air my greivance, as well as my own personal "dirty laundry" in a public forum (this one) and 2) never childishly resorted to name-calling or character-assassinating, defamitory tactics. I have said that in my opinion Ole is a bullying, egotistical creep, but hey, that's [i:acc8f42b44]just my opinion.[/i:acc8f42b44] For one thing, Ole loves to talk s**t, and for another thing, he does it behind people's backs when he thinks nobody's paying attention. But they are paying attention, and they tell me what's going on. Ole talks lots of s**t about people behind closed doors when he thinks those around agree with him. So what I have done is not gossiping, it's reporting, and it sends anybody within TFI who is reading this a message:
not everybody who goes to a Bible study thinks that all is well in TFI. The only person here who anybody has a personal problem with is Ole Anthony.
Anything I have to say about TFI I say in public (here). I do not sit in my my ivory tower and talk s**t about people and have a condescending attitude about people who don't think like I do. That's Ole's way.


My reasoning in posting this information lately is to try and force some accountability from this man. He has hurt a lot of people. He has taken advantage of a lot of people. We are trying to force him to see that for years he has hypocritically held to one standard for himself and his followers to another one. See if he can take a dose of his own medicine.
Apparently he cannot. My goal is to get him to see that 1)people ARE paying attention to what he says "in private", and 2) that they think that he's an a-hole for saying it, and so in my mind I'm not gossiping. I am reporting and it'll make him pay more attention to what he says and who he says it to. That's all.

Hey, and another thing. I have been told that Sue and Carolyn like to talk a lot of crap about me too now that I'm gone. That's not nice, ladies.

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NathanA
I do agree with you that the article is actually just straight reporting that there is controversy over the group. There does not seem to be a bias present in the blurb that was quoted. I am wrong if I try to paint it that way. I am however quite skeptical of any real discernment that many writers in the magazine might show. If you look in that issue for example, there are articles by Joyce Meyers and Gloria Copeland. Theologically speaking, they have both shown 'word of faith' deviance in their teachings that in my opinion disagree with Biblical Christianity.

[i:04357f0ea4]Charisma[/i:04357f0ea4] does not represent where I am coming from theologically, but fairness dictates that we give credit where credit is due. The piece about our controversy with Trinity was well done. Ken Walker, the reporter, is a freelancer and not on staff at [i:04357f0ea4]Charisma[/i:04357f0ea4].

Having said that, I think there were some other good things in that issue. For example, I thought the front piece by Lee Grady was excellent.

I just received Wendy Duncan's book, I Can't Hear God Anymore: Life in a Dallas Cult. It looks very interesting.
Zeus, I didn't think there was anything wrong with what you wrote. It didn't sound like gossip to me.
I think we need to be willing to speak out about corrupt things.
Just my opinion.