The Making of a Cult Counselor
by Larry Pile
(Wellspring Retreat)
My interest in comparative religion began while I was in grade school in Beachwood,
Ohio, where the majority of my classmates and friends were Jewish. There I was introduced
to many Jewish customs and traditions, especially surrounding the several holidays
celebrated by members of the Jewish faith. These contacts at school helped to make
my Christian Sunday school lessons come alive for me, in particular when our studies
were in the Old Testament.
Various contacts with members of other religious persuasions, including cults such
as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, piqued my interest even more. As religious
faith had always been important to my family it was perhaps natural that I would
be drawn to a desire to learn what I could about different faiths.
While a student at Wheaton College in Illinois I took classes in Bible and theology.
Part of the course work included an examination of major world religions and the
larger, older, and more well-known American cults. These studies aroused my interest
more than most other facets of my education, and prepared me for later encounters
with adherents of those same cults after I left college.
Two years after my separation from the military in 1969 I moved to Tucson, Arizona,
to join a young house church begun by a team of college and post-college-age young
people from churches in Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and other states in the region.
The fellowship was part of the fledgling Christian movement then known informally
by outsiders as "The Blitz" (from the name of the evangelistic campaign that gave
the movement a strong boost in the summer of 1970).
The house I moved into with several single brothers gave me my first real close
encounter with religious cultists, other than an army roommate who was a Mormon.
Our house was the third from the corner on University Boulevard, and just three
blocks from the campus of the University of Arizona. The house next to us on our
right was owned by a family of Jehovah's Witnesses. The house next to them was the
Divine Light Mission of the then teenaged Guru Maharaj Ji. Next to us on our left,
toward the corner, was a house occupied by some "hippie types" living communally.
The corner house was the Kundalini Yoga house occupied by disciples of the Indian
Yogi Bhajan, and next to them around the corner was the Hare Krishna ashram and
free vegetarian kitchen.
So you can see I received a rather sudden and intense introduction to the world
of the cults that I couldn't (and wouldn't!) have planned myself if I could.
In addition to this, we often encountered members of the Children of God cult, who
sometimes sat in on our Bible studies on campus, and one family in our fellowship
had formerly been members of the "local church" of Witness Lee, and we had to be
alert for any aberrational teachings from those two groups being introduced to our
church. The Mormons had an attractive Institute of Religion just off campus (where
I obtained my copy of The Book of Mormon), and I had the opportunity to go head-to-head
with a Jehovah's Witness evangelist at a friend's house on a couple of occasions.
In 1973 I moved to Columbus, Ohio as a leader of another church planting team. During
the four years I lived there I encountered many more cults in addition to local
branches of those I met in Tucson. Here I learned about the the "Moonies," the Church
of Bible Understanding, The Way International, the Holy Order of MANS, Ba'ha the
Church of Scientology, Silva Mind Control, Eckankar, Nichiren Shoshu of America,
and a whole host of gurus and swamis who made The Ohio State University a stop on
their "karma corn" lecture circuit. Among the latter were the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
of Transcendental Meditation and the late Baba Muktananda of Siddha Yoga Dham, who
were afforded meeting space by the University Christian Center and the Wesley Foundation.
Another cult we learned about first-hand was one known as the "Garbage Eaters";
we lost a brother to this group, though I'm happy to say he's out now. Somehow I
became the "resident expert" on cults for our fellowship, ultimately writing eight
or nine tracts and pamphlets on specific cults and cult-related themes.
Finally, I learned to my sorrow that even otherwise orthodox Christian groups and
churches can acquire cult-like aspects and tendencies, such as a demand for near
total submission to the leadership, unquestioning acceptance of certain non-scriptural
teachings and practices, spiritual legalism, and an individuality-numbing uniformity
of thought and life. This was forcefully brought home to me when I observed these
and similar characteristics close at hand in my own church, part of the movement
that later became known as Great Commission International. At the present time GCI
is undergoing a gradual process of reform; some important and healthy changes have
been made in doctrine and practice, though others remain to be effected, and certain
past actions that were grossly unjust still need to be rectified.
In 1985 I was invited to participate in two conferences of former members and leaders
of GCI to help explain what the problems with it were, how to seek to correct the
problems, and how to get on with life in the meantime.
The following year Paul and Barb Martin (along with Paul's brother, Steve) began
Wellspring as a haven for former members of cults and abusive churches to come for
counseling to help them get their broken lives back together. As the ministry grew
and the need for additional staff became apparent, Paul and Barb asked Linda and
me to consider joining them. I had already felt a need to make a change in my occupation
(I had spent 10 years as a printer), and as Linda and I discussed it, it became
clear to us both that this was the just the ministry for which my earlier experiences
had been preparing me all these years. Having been at Wellspring for 4 years we
remain convinced of this, even though there have been some difficult times. Knowing
that we've helped many people find a new sense of their self-worth and a new experience
of God's love and grace makes the trials worthwhile.