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"...I consider anyone whohas left NTCC an enemy." |
Senior
Pastor Kekel calls him “Ramtha Man (but, don’t call him Kekel or Mike, et
cetera; as he takes offense at anything less than the utmost respect/deference shown to him, he just doesn't reciprocate).” The rest of us know him as Bruce.
Below are links to all his articles that are relevant to this piece (followed by my foolish and unlearned commentary):
Below are links to all his articles that are relevant to this piece (followed by my foolish and unlearned commentary):
When
I first contacted local veteran reporter Bruce Smith about doing an
investigative story on our Cult he was interested. He shared that he had wanted
to do a story on the “Church Behind the Fence” for a long time, since it was such
a big part of Graham and its surrounding cities; and had a long standing negative
(and well deserved, in my opinion) reputation in the community.
Different things had prevented this, such as how busy he is churning out a high volume of quality investigative local articles for “The Mountain News – WA.”
Different things had prevented this, such as how busy he is churning out a high volume of quality investigative local articles for “The Mountain News – WA.”
But,
once Deb and I had talked to him on the phone, and we told him a truncated
version of our NTCC experiences—and I gave him information on finding the
Blogs, and some other points of contact, to include the contact information of our
Cult's leadership—he was on his own.
These
informal cursory beginnings started the long process of countless interviews,
phone calls, emails, visits to the Graham compound, Church Service and Bible Study visits
for him. He eventually presented us all with his findings in a 5 part series on
New Testament Christian Church in Graham WA in 2010, with a follow-up article in
2011.
Why
am I bringing this up now, so long after the events above? Well, on 26 October
2012 Bruce published a long and in-depth investigative article (with updates) on JZ
Knight/Ramtha. Bruce Smith has always been up front with those of us he
interviewed about his long-term personal involvement with JZ Knight/Ramtha, not trying
to hide anything, and definitely not ashamed. Not that his personal beliefs are even
relevant to the facts about NTCC.
Contrast
this with our Cults conduct during Bruce’s investigation of them. Contrast this
with what you personally know about NTCC.
If
you had any doubts about the veracity of his reporting on our Cult you should
consider his new article on JZ Knight/Ramtha. He presents the good with the
bad, does not hide anything, or massage the facts to present things in a
certain light. The reader is left to form their own opinion; or none at all (I chose none at all).
Again,
this is an article by a fan of JZ Knight’s/Ramtha’s teachings. He should have
recused himself, but he didn’t. Why? It wasn’t necessary since he can obviously
report impartially on things he is partial to; as we see in his article. So, we
can trust what he wrote about our Cult. In the few years I have known him I have always found Bruce to be
approachable, forthright, curious, and agenda-less. Contrast this with your
personal experiences with NTCC's leadership.
You
may “think” your Cult is a certain way, but a now proven-impartial outside source says
you’re wrong. Or you could even just stop ignoring your own personal negative experiences. Escape while there’s still time…you’re not getting any younger.
Good
job Bruce, keep up the good work.
Gregory
6 comments:
Bruce is a good man, and Ange and I owe him a great debt of gratitude. I am grateful that he helped Ange track me down. We most likely would not be together if he hadn't encouraged her to look me up.
We enjoy reading Bruces articles, even the ones that have nothing to do with the ntcc. I have a great deal of respect for him, and think that he has done as much as anyone to publicly shed light on the ntcc's corruption. He did this with an unbiased approach, giving ntcc leaders a chance to tell their side of the story and was very balanced in his investigative reporting. He also was unafraid to ask hard questions and didn't back down from issues that other media outlets were afraid to cover.
DnA,
I also read many of Bruce’s non-NTCC articles.
Wow, wow, wow. Bruce played a part in you all getting together after decades of separation from each other. Bruce keeps getting better and gooder.
So Bruce (an outsider) has done more for you both than NTCC did in all the years you were involved? Amazing.
I would also be grateful to anyone who helped me get with Deb. I pursued her on my own, but it was Senior Pastor Davis who gave me permission to court her on the wall only. NTCC policy also required me to ask Senior Pastor Davis’ permission to ask her to marry me (they both said yes…unreservedly). Thanks Senior Pastor Davis, it’s been 18+ years, and counting.
The fact that the Cult had a chance to get their side out is evident in Bruce's Ramtha article. Bruce even published 2 subsequent statements (press releases) from Ramtha's Organization. NTCC could have done the same…But instead, they shut him out when their rote “trying to control him and his story” wasn’t working. So he was left reporting the information he had. Blasting him from the pulpit was not a good idea either. We all know they do this, but it was gross incompetence to do it to a reporter who was doing a story on them.
If NTCC wants to get their story/side out, they could just finish their website that has been under construction since 2005.
NTCC gave Bruce the nails and the hammer; he just used them.
You’re right; other media outlets did have a chance to cover our Cult. As you may remember I contacted a lot of Newspapers to investigate NTCC (as announced on the Yahoo Group)…local to NTCC Graham, and local to the Campground in Missouri. This included Drudge…no takers to date (other than Bruce).
The only reason this was done is because at the time the NTCC Wikipedia page had been deleted or reduced to a stub, since there was not enough outside source references to support the information it contained. This is also why the NTCC stuff was put on Scribd, so it could be linked to Wikipedia. Thus providing enough references to support an article.
Bruce’s 5-part series came out between March 31 and April 28, 2010. All the Scribd stuff was uploaded and linked to the old Wikipedia article by this time. The Wikipedia page was restored 22 June 2010.
The content of Bruce’s articles, and the subsequent negative content added to the Wikipedia page is entirely NTCC’s fault. They can’t even act decent when it is in their best interest. If the Cult could have minded their P’s and Q’s during Bruce’s visits they would have received a glowing article, and the negative stuff we all told Bruce could have been downplayed, or even deleted from his published pieces. Or he could have decided not to publish anything at all.
But instead, the things the Exer’s told Bruce were given more weight by NTCC’s bad conduct. Bruce can only use what he is given, and in the case of the Cult, what he was given was negative…so he reported it. Shocking isn’t it, that a reporter would report his findings.
Please note, I did not start the Wikipedia page (I wish I had), I did not write the Wikipedia page (I wish I had), and I did none of the initial investigation for source documents that brought the page into existence (I wish I had). The page was started in March of 2006. I didn’t participate in the “talks” page where what is on the page is hashed out by all concerned parties (I wish I had). I didn’t do what I did until 2010, and it is only a small part of what went into the page.
But, we all play a part in keeping NTCC exposed.
So, the Wikipedia page stays as an established page, we got a 5-part series on our Cult…with one follow up article, you both married each-other, and we all now know Bruce...A happy ending (beginning) all around.
Gregory
Gregory wrote...
but it was Senior Pastor Davis who gave me permission to court her on the wall only.
Chief said...
And senior pastor Davis can go take a long walk off a short pier into shark infested waters. Stand against the wall. I can't stand the NTCC and their control freak ways. Knowing what I know now, I'd certainly tell Davis and Kekel where they can stick that wall. You know where that is; where the sun don't shine.
It's true Gregory. Ange and I were both afraid to try to contact each other. We both thought that the other was still in the ntcc. I thought she was married and she thought that I was married and probably had Grand Kids. I'm not sure if Ange would have ever contacted me and I was avoiding the ntcc like the plague. Bruce looked me up and found an address for me on the internet and convinced Ange to get in touch with me.
When I got her letter, we immediately started corresponding through email and then over the phone. We picked up where we left off. We both still loved each other and got married within two weeks, and it has been wonderful. When Ange contacted me I was drinking, smoking, doing drugs occasionally and miserable as could be. I was so far away from God, I thought I'd never get back. She helped me realize that God wasn't done with me. I went back to the cross and found mercy and grace.
So if you look at it, in a round about way, Bruce helped me get back to God, also. I wrote a letter to Bruce and copied Ange on it, before Ange and I got together in which I spilled my guts about the ntcc and the experiences that I had. That letter became our first blog post.
Things are going really good for us now. We are happy and free, and our priorities are in the right place. I'm not drinking a fifth of Captain Morgan every night or smoking two packs of Marlboro's every day. I'm not out here condemning anyone for anything but we contribute our part to warning folks about the ntcc.
Bruce will always play a role in whatever we accomplish together because he cared enough to help us put together what was driven asunder by the ntcc, and for that we are forever thankful.
DnA
Very nice article, and straight to the point.
dead blog
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