"An audience is in some sense timeless...an artist must trust his audience, and know that his audience trusts him and he cannot cheat that invisible one or two or multitude of people. Between him...and that audience, there is an unspoken bond, an unspoken promise not to betray..." - James Baldwin

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Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

My thoughts on the word cult.

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Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

Today we speak with Dr. Patrick Knapp, PhD who, along with is wife, Heidi Knapp, CLC, runs an organization called Becoming Free where they "assist people to better understand and recover from their unique harmful religious or spiritual experiences and the painful relational dynamics of family estrangement." Their goal is "to support people to process their abusive experiences for improved insight, emotional growth, relational healing and spiritual development." They believe that this can be "accomplished through life-recovery coaching, periodic support and recovery groups, and various online and in-person educational resources.”

Dr. Knapp is also the author of “Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery: Discovering Essential Principles for Hope and Healing” where he discusses different perspectives on how people best understand and recover from religious abuse.

In addition, Dr. Knapp and Heidi Knapp are contributing authors to a book called Wounded Faith where they write a chapter about marital repair after being a part of a religiously abusive situation.

Dr. Knapp speaks with us today about his experience in a bible-based cult and how that has helped to shape the work that he has been doing since 1984.

Dr. Knapp can be reached at becomingfree.org or you can email him at becomingfree.org@gmail.com

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Stay updated on Aldo's current and future projects by signing up for his Newsletter
Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

Today we speak with Alan Allard. Alan was a psychotherapist in private practice for 12 years in the Chicago suburbs. Since 2005 he has been a coach and is an expert in helping abuse and trauma victims take ownership of their life and begin to thrive. He works with clients who have experienced sexual abuse, abusive relationships, adverse childhood experiences, and especially spiritual and religious abuse.

More specifically, Alan has spent many years as a therapist or coach to members of the ICOC or similar religious organizations. It should also be mentioned that he was a member of the ICOC in Chicago, from 1987 until the year 2000.

Alan speaks to us today about those days when he was a therapist, in part, to members of the ICOC and how what was discussed in his therapy sessions was a contradiction with what the church taught.

Alan discusses the concept of Personal Agency vs. Spiritual Authority and how the latter has been used to undermine the former.

Alan further explains that if one isn’t the authority in their own life, then they will find someone or something to fill that void.

He also speaks to us about the idea of blind obedience or toxic trust and it’s potential harmful impact within the context of spiritual authority.

Alan is the author of Enlightened Happiness: Seven Secrets to the Life You Were Meant to live available on amazon.com. To get in contact with Alan, you can reach him at AlanAllard.com or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanallard/. He has a private Facebook group, "Growing Through Adversity: How to Own Your Life and Thrive you are welcome to check out--contact Alan for a link to the group.

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Stay updated on Aldo's current and future projects by signing up for his Newsletter
Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

In February 2003, the Henry Kriete Letter was released. He titled it "Honest to God." The letter's impact was immediate. Aldo has always wondered why the letter had such an impact. "Honest to God" was not the first time that criticisms of the church were penned, published, and distributed. However, those writings did not have the same impact that the letter did. Why? Aldo concludes that the reason for the immediate impact of the letter was due to "our level of indoctrination." Aldo asserts that had Henry Kriete not been a standing evangelist with the organization, his letter would not have had the immediate impact that it did, as the organization was a "self sealing system."

Aldo didn't read the letter back then. He skimmed it. However, he finally read it 20 years later and gives us his thoughts. He also invited two previous guests from Season 2 to join him. Del from London and Tricia from Kentucky sat down with Aldo and had a discussion about the letter's impact. Del first read it 20 years ago and re-read it for this discussion, while Tricia has never read it until now. They discuss a variety of topics in regards to the letter, such as:
- the reason for the letter's impact
- the letter's intended audience.
- the letter's indication of the subculture that existed within the group
- why is the letter still discussed 20 years later
- the letter's argument for the church being a "cult of personality."

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Stay updated on Aldo's current and future projects by signing up for his Newsletter
Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

Long before the Henry Kriete Letter was delivered to the hands of ICOC members around the globe, the brothers and sisters of the London Church of Christ set the table. The regular disciples of that church began to speak up about the injustices that they’ve experienced. It seems that they did so because they wanted to preserve and protect the church that they loved from continuing their harmful practices. They held open forums and created the working groups. Today, we are going to hear from three men who were present at one of these meetings. The three of them sat down to have a conversation and recollected the tone and outcome of that meeting. The original meeting took place on February 1, 2003. This episode is being released on February 1, 2023. Twenty years to the day.

Why is this important? Simply put, notion of such a meeting and it's subsequent minutes demonstrate that the issues that the ICOC has had and continues to have, according to the people that have recently left, are not new. The issues have been spoken about before. The issues have been written about before. As former members attempt to make sense of what they were a part of, it is important to take a look back, in order to move forward.

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Stay updated on Aldo's current and future projects by signing up for his Newsletter
Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

Shortly before the release of Henry Kriete's letter in early 2003, the London Church of Christ experienced an upheaval. The members of the London Church of Christ spoke up and against the systemic failures of their congregation. As a result, members of the London Church of Christ formed a "Working Group." The "Working Group" was comprised of paid staff members and unpaid members of their church. They were tasked with addressing the issues of the church and to create a path moving forward. As these meetings took place, notes, or minutes, were taken at these meetings. Elena and Aldo got a hold of the minutes for one of these particular meetings. Elena and Aldo could not help but to notice that the issues addressed at this particular meeting in 2003, were similar to the issues that the "Discipling Dilemma" brought up in 1988. Join them as they discuss what stood out to them.

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Stay updated on Aldo's current and future projects by signing up for his Newsletter
Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook

The "Discipling Dilemma" by Dr. Flavil Yeakley Jr, is at the crux of season 3. Christina, Chris T, Jenn, and Matthew met with Aldo to discuss their views on the book. The five of them all joined the church in different years. In addition they also represent different parts of the church; London 1988, North Carolina 1990, New York City 1995 and 2000, Los Angeles 2001.

Some of the topics raised in the book and discussed on this episode:
- The ICOC resembling a multi level marketing system.
- "The Discipling Dilemma" finding good qualities in the ICOC
- Members conforming to the desired personality type
- Results of the Myers-Briggs Personality Exam.
- Recommendations to the church made by the authors

The five person panel discuss how elements of this book, which was published in 1988 provided some insight into their individual experiences with the organization.

Support the show

Stay updated on Aldo's current and future projects by signing up for his Newsletter
Other Podcasts by Aldo B. Martin:
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years
Jammin' on the One
The Fatherhood Project
YALD. The Podcast
So...Tell Me About Your Podcast

To get in touch with Aldo, you can find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook