In about 2000 I came across the work of Gary and Marie Ezzo and the parenting course they were teaching -- both within churches and in a secular version. Babies and young children were being severely emotionally and physically harmed, and the American Academy of Paediatrics tried unsuccessfully to get the Ezzo's "Raising Kids God's Way" shut down. Gary's own history was checkered to say the least. He repeatedly either left, or was thrown out of churches for stirring dissent. If the definition of a cult covers cherry picking controversial verses out of the Bible to create a belief system that is contrary to the spirit of the Bible (and especially the New Testament) as a whole, and the endangerment of it's followers (in this case babies and children) then Gary Ezzo definitely qualifies as a cult leader. There are others like him, but he is the one that first came to my attention. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has had experience with the Ezzos and their materials. They have changed the name of the programme and also the books from time to time as a way to "sanitise" what they are doing, but the Ezzos remain the Ezzos, continuing to twist scripture verses, taken totally out of context, in order to back what they are doing, which in this case is abusing babies and children.

What Wikipedia has to say about Babywise and Gary Ezzo -- they are looking at it from the secular position. I will follow this with a few remarks about what Ezzo claims that could make him be seen as a "cult leader" from the Biblical viewpoint:

[en.wikipedia.org]

If you have read what Wikipedia has to say, you will have noticed that Ezzo recommends not picking up babies when they cry, or feeding them when they are hungry. This is very serious, because at this time the baby's brain is developing and the task they are working on is "trust". Not meeting their needs when they express them, makes it impossible for the baby to trust his/her caregivers, and this lack of trust is later generalised to include the world. Ezzo's justification for not feeding babies when they cry, is best described by Wikipedia...

"The book justified the act of leaving a baby to cry alone by comparing that choice to the crucifixion of Jesus: "Praise God that the Father did not intervene when His Son cried out on the cross."[4] The Ezzos wrote that leaving the infant "crying for 15, 20, even 30 minutes is not going to hurt your baby physically or emotionally."[2] To counter the book's conclusions, Laura Bassi Zaff, PhD, an expert in childhood cognitive development, wrote that careful research has shown that leaving a baby crying may result in emotional harm, perhaps manifesting as "attachment disorder, or anxiety disorder, or crippling problems with self esteem and interpersonal relationships".[2]"

This is very clear misuse of scripture. "Praise God that the Father did not intervene when His Son cried out on the cross", has nothing whatsoever to do with the crying of hungry babies. Ezzo misuses other scripture texts in the same way -- totally out of contect, but "sounding nice" and "sounding spiritual" to young Christian parents who want to do what is best for their baby. The way the teachings comes into the churches is also very subtle. A young couple who have been trained in the Ezzo material will approach their minister offering to give a series of classes on "Christian Childrearing". The minister knows nothing of the background, and announces the classes at Sunday service. Believing it is endorsed by their church, expectant couples, and couples with young children, sign up.

Wikipedia further says... "In 1998, 'Dr. Bill' Sears, evangelical author, pediatrician, and clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, best known as the foremost proponent of attachment parenting,[13] said of the Baby Wise book, "People began calling me about the stuff in this book several years ago, but I basically ignored it, thinking that it was so far out that it would just die out."[4] Sears regretted not speaking out earlier against Baby Wise. He said about the book that it was "probably the most dangerous program of teaching about babies and children that I have seen in my 25 years of being a pediatrician."[4]"

People at this site are interested in Ezzo:

www.SGMSurvivors.com

Thank you Maranatha Trail. I have checked out the site.

Anne Marie and Gary Ezzo are just a couple of radical fundamentalist ministers abusing children and I would like to bring a few of the others to the attention of people here. Michael and Debbie Perls were very much in the news about a year ago. They recommend "breaking a child's will" and this is done by starting hitting babies with something that stings from six months of age (in response to the baby crying). Their book, "To Train up a Child" is selling up a storm, and three children have been beaten to death by parents following their method. I find it hard to believe that something like this can be allowed in the US. The book seems to have found its way into Sweden and when it was found out that one Swedish couple were beating their children, the couple were sent to jail and the children placed in safe custody. Like the Ezzos, the Pearls are cherry picking verses out of the bible, out of context to back up what they want to do (they are people who need to vent violence). Their follows seem unable to read the Bible and to see that these people are not only way off, but dangerous. What is it about cult like figures that makes people follow them blindly?

[groupsects.wordpress.com] Read this!

Hi Cultnomore, What you describe is violence and control in the extreme. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. As a parenting professional I am working mostly with babies and young children, but I thank you for keeping us up to date with what is happening to older kids. One can't help wondering how people who are abused in this way are going to "turn out" later...

The upbringing of children has been a bone of contention in the secular and Christian community for many years. Physical violence was widespread in the secular world for many years but today it is frowned upon. Nowadays it is the Christians who cling to physical methods and society rejects them. It would be a mistake to think Christians agree anymore than general society as to the correct procedure. As pointed out the Bible is open to interpretation like everything else. I believe children are far more resilient than we give them credit for and adapt to most circumstances that are not extreme if they are shown loving concern.