I was member of a group that spurred from Broadway Tabernacle in Seattle in the 60's not long after Derek Prince left the church in the hands of James A Watt. My father Ramon Haas was instrumental in getting this group started. About five years after it began it became very legalistic and authoritarian. This was partly due to an adoption of teachings from the Shepherding movement popular in the 70's. After my father's death the church became ultra-authoritarian under the new leadership. It is, and has always been, strictly a home based group. It now calls itself "The Assembly of the Body of Christ" and is headed up by a man named Gilbert Larson, who considers himself to be the apostle, David North, who is considered to be the prophet, Andy Atwell who is considered to be the evangelist and another individual named Bruce Leonard who has a lot of authority in the church but has no official title. I give the names of these men because most times the actual name of the denomination is not disclosed to newcomers until time has passed. Gilbert Larson and Andy Atwell recently began a radio show which airs in New Mexico and California under the name "Gilbert and Friends". From this show they invite listeners to coffee gatherings in order to win them as a new member of their church. Once you are in though, if you try to leave, you are told you will be "out of fellowship" and "in the wilderness" and God will no longer look peaceably on you.
This church was built on doctrine originally established by the Latter Rain Movement and became intermingled with some very authoritarian practices. To better understand how this church operates a visit to the website
How Cults Work will explain it all.
Many people, including myself, have been ex-communicated and damaged by their authoritarian and downright vicious spiritual attacks. After I was suddenly ex-communicated, without warning, over one sentence I spoke, I was left with anxiety and nightmare issues so severe I ended up in the emergency room several times. I ended up having to sell a home I had just bought in order to hide out from people stopping by to question why I was being called a" blasphemer". Others tried to persuade my wife to leave me and contacted her through her work and relatives in order to try to undermine our relationship. I ended up with severe emotional distress and had to leave my high paying, rather stressful job, since I could not handle the stress they were putting my family through and the stress of the job too. It has taken me years to get to the place where I can even talk about this stuff and I know of many others in the same position. I heard recently that a young couple was ex-communicated and are going through some really tough times but want to see no one. I have been to that point and know how it feels.
This group love bombs you up front but in the end they seek to destroy you with harsh judgments, shunning and ex-communication if you do not agree with the leadership on even the smallest point. Anyone who questions the leadership, or even provides an opinion outside what you are told to believe, is told they must decide if they are "in or out" of the fellowship. If the individual then does not follow the party line you are labeled rebellious and letters are sent or phone calls are made to the other members telling them to have nothing to do with you. You suddenly lose every "friend" you had overnight. It can be quite devastating.
A great deal of money comes into this organization and is funneled, without disclosure, to just a few top men. Gilbert Larson receives the lions share of the money. Anyone inquiring about the money is told they just need to "trust God" and they refuse to disclose how the money is used. I attempted many times to get an accounting but was absolutely refused. Detailed records are kept on who tithes and who doesn't and if it appears you do not give your fair share you find yourself being counted as inferior.
This is a very short synopsis and I plan to come back here and begin listing more specific examples that I have witnessed as examples of the abuse this denomination dishes out. For those like me that do become vocal it is their practice to turn that individual over to satan and I am quite certain they have already done this. For an explanation of my crime that got me ex-communicated visit
My Crime and you can make your own determination if my one sentence was "nearly blasphemy of the Holy Spirit" as I was told. I have read enough now about churches that abuse spiritually to know that this is not the only church that abuses and there are many others. I hope perhaps the examples I give will help others avoid this church and others like it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2008 09:38PM by rrmoderator.