A visitor shared her takeaways from her experiences with GE and ATF in the early 90s. While she didn’t attend the HA, she did work at a church that espoused a lot of the same beliefs. These are the values that came to mind when she watched Shiny Happy People season 2.
Us versus them mentality (we are righteous and set apart; all others are wicked)
Dying for the cause is acceptable, but quitting the cause is not
Accept that your highest calling may be to be martyred
Don’t ask questions – it’s self-centered and disrespectful
Incorporate lots of hype and emotions when sharing the Gospel
Frame your mission as a high-stakes endeavor that needs everyone’s participation or it will fail (and it will be your fault that it failed)
Die to your desires, all of them – after all, looking out for your health and happiness is carnal
Personal goals are selfish, only corporate goals are important
When the leaders make you do stupid projects to test your faith, endurance, and willingness to suffer (projects that they supervise, but don’t participate in themselves), you must persevere even to your detriment and remind yourself that if you fail, you are letting God down
View unsaved people as just a commodity to be rescued and recruited
Villainize anything not part of christian culture.
Suffering proves that you are spiritually mature
It’s ok to pressure people to do what you think is in their best interest (or even your company’s best interest)
Be willing to report other people’s sinful behavior to those in authority while calling your tattling “love and accountability”
Know that the leader has a agenda that “we” have to participate in or the culture will be lost to Satan
Individuals should refrain from asking what God wants them to do – instead just follow the leader’s vision
When people oppose the mission or the method, it’s because they’re being influenced by Satan
People who don’t comply with everything deserve to be dismissed and shunned
It’s up to you to prove your worth constantly because your worth is a commodity with fluctuating value
You are chosen, elite, and set-apart yet nothing you do is ever good enough. Accept this and act accordingly
Free thinking is not permitted nor is freedom in Christ. Just do what is prescribed for you by the leader
You must protect the ministry and the leader’s reputations at all times
You must allow yourself to be controlled through guilt, condemnation, and shame
There is an expectation that you will always be on a spiritual high
Be willing to follow lots of rules that aren’t in the bible
Be visibly angry about sin but not necessarily privately repentent
Remember: if you follow the leader’s formula for the Christian life, you are guaranteed success
The leader’s big personality takes center stage but that’s ok because God appointed them to that role
If you begin to burn out or feel fatigued, just serve God more and better
Remember that leaders aren’t regular people – they are more spiritually elite, never fail, and they have authority over you so you must obey them in everything
The better your conversion testimony is, the most effective you will be at winning people to Jesus
Make sure you keep track of the number of people you get to pray the sinner’s prayer
Appearing holy is more important than becoming holy through sanctification
When we say you are saved by grace, what we really mean is your salvation is performance based
If the ministry is struggling, you must work harder to make it succeed
You will be held to an impossibly high standard of sexual purity to keep you single minded in your focus on ministry (or maybe to keep you focused on God, but most likely to make sure ministry comes first)
Forget about maintaining relationships outside of the group – there won’t be time or privacy for that.
