Deja vu anybody? FBI investigates NZ cult…

Opinion piece: Liz Gregory.

(Thoughts, opinions and views expressed here belong to Liz Gregory and may or may not represent the views of all leavers, current members or the Trust).

 This is a blog post on the contents of three news artielces that were printed at the end of April 2024 about the Two-by-Two’s.

Article 1: FBI investigates reports of historical child sexual abuse within sect also operating in New Zealand

Article 2: The Truth 2×2 religous sect confirms police investigation.

Article 3: Sect leaders tried for three years to get member to admit guilt

Who is this secretive group? (And are they similar to Gloriavale?)

The Two-by-Twos, Cooneyites, The Way, The Truth, the Church with No Name” – call them what you will. but they are not just a sect. They are extremely similar to Gloriavale in their sociologically harmful practices, the high demand nature of their organisation (which they declare is not an organisation), the similar pattern of alleged abuse and coverups, and their unbelievably similar doctrine too. All told, that puts them into the category of a cult.

I’ve been watching this expose one unfold in overseas branches of this group, knowing that the ripples of the TRUTH (the real truth) would soon hit the shores of NZ. Did you know there are more than 2500 members and 60 ministers in New Zealand?

This group says they have no name and this makes it difficult to find a structure of the group. But there is always a structure and a hierarchy – just follow the money!! Perhaps having no easily identifiable structure, it’s more difficult to be pinned down for liability issues if things go wrong…

How are they different to Gloriavale?

In the 2×2’s they don’t have a live-in community like Gloriavale, but instead they are known for their house meetings, and conventions. Their usual ways of operating is to have “Celibate pairs of workers” living in members’ houses for weeks at a time conducting meetings, and you can’t say no to them staying. (Recipe for disaster anybody?!).

They say that the instructions given to the apostles in Matthew were normative (ie it’s the pattern for call Christian churches moving forwards in history). For them that means all ministry workers are itinerant, have no permanent dwelling places, minister in pairs, sell all and go out with only minimal worldly possessions, and rely only upon hospitality and generosity.

Whereas Gloriavale believes the pattern in Acts to be normative – where they sold their worldly possessions and shared things in common. Biblical Christianity would declare that they are both incorrect to state that their way is the only acceptable expression of the church.

The 2×2’s also interestingly deny the traditional understanding of the Trinity.

Apart from that, Gloriavale and the 2×2’s share a lot of similar beliefs – which made me wonder whether Neville Cooper (Hopeful Christian) ever came in contact with the 2×2’s in Australia.

Similarities

We know there has been a lot of sexual abuse in this group, as there has been in Gloriavale and other similar groups. Why do culty groups often have an abusive element?

There is usually a very strong power imbalance in groups like this – especially as women tend to be subjugated. However, sexual abuse is not limited to females. A former member of the 2×2’s said,

“The culture of don’t talk about bad things, don’t make trouble… for the most part historically you didn’t go to police, you didn’t go to media. I think the culture is you don’t talk about it. It’s damaging.”

Peter Lineham (Massey University) said,

“What I have seen is [an] extraordinary sort of shame about the group, the feeling that in some way or other this group was in their heads, they couldn’t get it out [out of their head], they felt guilty for leaving, they found it very hard to make the break, and that’s the classic behaviour of people who have been in a very closed sectarian group.”

The article above revealed the sexual abuse they are hearing about is “historic” – but I don’t think for a minute that the abuse isn’t occurring presently. It’s just that today’s victims haven’t come forward yet to report. But they will eventually.

How do we know this? Because it’s a pattern in closed, culty groups. It’s not rocket science. Abuse explodes through generations if the conditions are the same. Abuse doesn’t just magically stop in a group like this – because they have set beliefs and doctrines that are indoctrinated into the group from birth and these help to silence people. They use fear, guilt and shame to keep people in the group. This has occurred in Gloriavale, and is now publicly being exposed with this group, and we could repeat countless examples inside other similar groups.

Beliefs & Practices

Some interesting practices of the 2×2’s (you may recognise some similarities to Gloriavale):

*Works are considered acts of self denial such as wearing modest skirts and long hair in a bun

* Salvation is deemed to require self-sacrifice and suffering is revered.

*The church does not do any outreach programs or encourage its members to participate in charities.

* The King James Bible is the only book used * Great weight is given to the thoughts of workers, especially more senior workers.

* Salvation is achieved through willingness to uphold the church’s standards, by faithfully following in “the way”, and by personal worthiness.

* The church is exclusive — all other churches, religions and ministries are held to be false * Members are encouraged to attend meetings and to publicly pray and testify at them

* Other standards include modest dress, not wearing jewelry, long hair for women and short hair for men, not getting piercings, not dying hair, not getting a tattoo, and avoiding activities deemed to be worldly or frivolous

*The use of television, social media sites and other mass media is discouraged

* They represent the “true Christian Church” originating directly with Christ during the 1st century AD.

The list could go on.

Please read Elizabeth Coleman’s book “Cult to Christ”, which gives huge insight into this group. Gloriavale leavers who have read this book are astounded by the similarities, and it’s helped them to understand and put words to the impacts the group has had on their lives. This assists with the healing process.

Concession or a real Apology that will lead to Real Change?

The last few paragraphs in the article linked above might sound really great (the group acknowledge some wrong, and now day they have policies and practices, and are undergoing an external review etc ). But I have heard those same phrases come from Gloriavale over the past few years, and so the cynic in me says that now the revelations have become public, there seems to be an urgency to act around issues of child safety. (A concession is simply an acknowledgment because the evidence is overwhelming and damning, and it’s best they front-foot it). In my experience, groups that continue to hold onto their harmful doctrines and indoctrination programme, and their high-control/thought-controlling ways of thinking, has no hope of making real substantive cultural change. You can have all the reviews and pieces of paper in the world but it may be a waste of time…

They have claimed that people can go to the Police, and that after three years of trying to work with an alleged offender they finally told the member she should go to the Police if she wanted it resolved….

However, we know from past experience in these kind of groups, that you can tell people they can go to the Police – but if everyone in your organisation has been indoctrinated for 50 years that it’s wrong to go to the Police, that abused people will be punished and blamed, that they might be cast out from the midst of the exclusive group then people are NOT truly free to go to the Police. People in cults are trapped. It’s a HIGH COST religion. They don’t have mental FREEDOM.

This is confirmed in one of the articles. Here is a quote from it,

“The Herald has spoken to current and former members of the sect, all on condition of anonymity. Those still attending worry they would be asked to leave the church for speaking to media, while ex-members are concerned for family and friends still in the fold.“

“Even if you’re still in the church it will cost you dearly to speak out or have somebody else speak out.“

So on the one hand the group is saying people are welcome to go to the Police, but the heavy indoctrination of the members over decades actually prevents members doing this. They know if they do, it’s not safe for them to remain in the fold.

Other quotes that sound very Gloriavalesque:

“It’s taught … it’s there from the moment you’re born the way things are, the world is unsafe out there but within the fold it’s safe and nobody would harm a child in there because they’re living by the Bible.”

“Unfortunately, there have been some amongst us that have given in to the desires of their sinful nature and in darkness and secrecy have abused the innocent. Like the rest of society, we are appalled by this and would never condone such behaviour.“

We seek to live a quiet and peaceful life amongst our fellow men, hoping to show a good example of Christian living,” he said in an email.

It’s time we wake up to this. The 2×2’s have been caught out. These is a wave of abuse exposure that hit Europe, hit Australia and is finally landing on our shores. But the leaders’ responses are classic cult responses. By soley blaming the individual who has “given in to the desires of their sinful nature” they are passing the buck. They are not taking ownership of the issue at a structural level.

Groups like this love to pass the buck. They forget that they created and participated in and upheld a system where abuse would flourish. Commonsense even tells us sexual abuse was going to occur en masse under such conditions – celibacy for workers, living in houses filled with children, huge power differential, indoctrination around going to Police, media, keeping secrets in-house and all the other unhealthy culty attachments – patriarchal, isolated, lack of trust, you name it. The list is as long as every other culty list. They all play by the same book remember. And it’s not the Bible. It’s the cult playbook on how to control people and keep them in submission. In this instance it’s sadly religion again hitting the headlines.

There are 2500 members as part of this group in New Zealand. And they might be your neighbors. And they might be lovely people. And they might not be a perpetrator. Perhaps they are a victim. The reality is, they are participants (willingly or unwillingly) of an organisation which sets up the pre-conditions for rife abuse. And the abuse won’t just be sexual, it’s the mental, spiritual and emotional abuse that keeps people enslaved and confused. People involved with Gloriavale understand these issues all too well. We know it’s difficult and courageous to extract yourself from such groups, but there is a life of hope and healing ahead.

If you want to follow more, head to Telling the Truth. It’s a website looking to expose the origins of the group. They hope current members will read it and learn more about their history and the TRUTH about The Truth.

Additionally head to The Brave Truth for more information on the unfolding revelations and to report abuse if you were a former member. They even wrote an open letter to the Workers.

I’ll be watching the response of the NZ 2×2’s closely to see how they respond to this crisis. It won’t be easy for the members or the leavers. Is this another Pandora’s box opening? I can guarantee you the leaders won’t be wanting the kind of exposure Gloriavale has had in the past several years. So perhaps they will do something drastic as Jillian Hishon suggested in the article, “This is something that every single Worker should be banging a drum about. In my opinion, they should have just stopped all their meetings and conventions and everything, and sorted all this out and … put across [to] people that they were serious about clearing this up. They’re not doing that.”

Let’s watch this space…