You have probably witnessed it many times. The victim rarely sees
it coming. He is standing in the church vestibule engaged in
conversation with a handful of brethren, when suddenly he receives that
signature “look” from one of the fellows; that look that silently warns
“watch out, Pastor’s behind you”, but it’s too late. The stinging impact
comes quickly as the target’s head tucks forward amid laughter from his
friends. Wearing a smile, he turns to greet RW Davis with a cheerful
“Hello, Pastor”.
Circling within the group, Davis eyes each potential mark as a
predator surveys its prey. The “boys” are giggling and grinning, as a
second gets it in the solar plexus, trying hard not to double over in
pain, trying harder to keep smiling. “What are you laughin’ at?” he
jokingly demands of a third. “Nothing, sir!” he answers with an attempt
at a straight face. Davis seizes him by the brachial nerve that runs
just above the elbow inside the upper arm. The young man stiffens,
turning several shades of red in the next ten to twenty seconds as Davis
casually talks to the group, never releasing his arm. He turns now and
punches another hard in the shoulder, knocking him backward, eliciting
another laugh. Finally he departs, and the group is left to return to
the conversation, each one grateful that “Pastor” has paid attention to
him. “If he’s hitting you” they say, “then at least you know he hasn’t
forgotten about you.”
I told myself for many years that this was indeed the case. Like an
abused wife, I thought that Davis’ physical beatings were akin to “love
taps”, and that I ought to be grateful for the attention–any
attention–from the “man of God”. I was sufficiently convinced of Davis’
status as God’s Man For Our Time to regard his poundings as
grandfatherly renderings of affection. In retrospect, and in light of
NTCC’s overall abusive character, I must now question my own view.
Successfully rationalizing my own situation, I did not feel personally
abused; yet I saw the abuse handed out to others. I wonder why this is
excused and explained away in the context of a Christian church. I
wonder why so many Davis loyalists become more and more childlike with
the passing of time. I am forced to ask the penetrating question: Why
does RW Davis do this to people?
If RW Davis is truly a great prophet and spokesman for God, why is it
that so few of his contemporaries joined him in his push to start a new
organization and Bible school during the formative years of NTCC? We are
given to understand that many of them were able to see through his
spiritual veneer to the ambitious man beneath. It is reported that he
made efforts to place himself at the forefront, to “have the supremacy”
over others, through clever maneuvering and posturing. We are not
privileged with detailed information concerning financial and legal
maneuvers, but it comes to our attention that his posturing involved a
pattern of behavior that was obvious to the more seasoned members of
Davis’ would-be entourage.
Davis developed the habit of treating his equals as subordinates,
making it clear that he was to be the chief of the tribe. He called
other men “son”, as in “Come here son, I want to talk to you.” His
fictional status as “God’s man” seems to have fooled a very few in the
beginning, such as Jim Johnson and Joe Olson, who were only boys at the
time and looked to Davis as a father. To this day, their primary duty is
to promote Davis as God’s Man On Earth For Our Time. Such an individual
forms a life-long habit of keeping everyone around him in a
subordinated position by any means necessary.
Davis is surrounded on all sides by a loyal mob of obsequiously
obedient lackeys who have long since surrendered all pretense of
individuality in exchange for whatever crumbs Davis might condescend to
mete out to them. Lacking a proper perspective on the world around them,
they live for the next opportunity to rebuke a fellow human being with
“Don’t you say that about MY PASTOR!” He is clearly their vicar, as well
as the bane of their lives in that they live in fear of his disfavor.
They fear the moment may come when Davis demotes them for some perceived
offense or failure. They know that they are subject to public
humiliation for any or no reason. They know that there is no defending
oneself even if Davis accuses them unjustly. The philosophy is often
expressed among them that “If Pastor blames me for something I didn’t
do, I should be thankful, because there are plenty of things I have done
about which Pastor never said anything.” The implication is not that
Davis does not know everything, but rather that he does indeed know
everything by way of the “Holy Ghost” yet mercifully chooses not to take
action in select cases.
Add to this tension the dreadful environment of physical danger in
which grown men flinch in the presence of one who thinks he has the
right to strike them. Davis may lash out “playfully” at any moment and
inflict pain upon an individual whose responsibility is to accept
without question the fact that he had it coming. Clearly the motive
behind this is nothing more or less than chest-thumping assertion and
dominance of the immediate environment. But what is the eventual result
of this sort of treatment?
The psychology of the Dominant Male is one about which volumes are
written. For example, it is no secret that many cult leaders are
attractive to the women with whom they come in contact, and that they
frequently take advantage of a woman’s being drawn to a powerful man.
The combination of bold assertion of power over other men, plus the
tearing down of the dignity and status of other men, weakens the bond of
respect and admiration between those men and their spouses while
simultaneously drawing the women toward the focus of power, which is
none other than the cult leader himself. We are not attempting to
perpetuate rumors of Davis’ misbehavior long ago, only to point out a
common pattern of those who strive to manipulate others into submission.
The cult leader can tolerate no division of loyalty or admiration, and
those who garner respect from the vassals on their own account must be
either neutered or embarrassed.
The modus operandus of RW Davis–even today–is to strengthen the tie of
dependency and obedience to the leadership (himself), while severing
the horizontal ties of loyalty among his followers. This means that
friends will shun friends who are disloyal to Davis, spouses will view
departure from the cult as grounds for divorce, and even children are
encouraged to disown their parents (and parents their children) in favor
of the cult leader. Davis uses fear and intimidation combined with a
reckless disregard for the dignity of the men who call him “Pastor”,
abusing them verbally and physically in the presence, not only of the
larger group, but also of their wives and children. This is easily
disguised as mere manly horseplay. “Manly” fathers often trounce their
sons playfully, punching them harmlessly on the arm and wrestling in a
good-natured fashion. Friends do the same to one another. Yet RW Davis
is neither the father nor the social equal of the men on whom he
inflicts this “affection”. He has no fear that anyone around him will
dare to touch The Lord’s Annointed. He also sprinkles in ocassional
expressions of “real” playfulness and even loving gestures, which
balances his approach and leaves everyone guessing as to his thoughts
and motives. Nobody can predict his next move. It is the very nature of
control.
This behavior is an apt metaphor. It reflects and summarizes RW Davis’
entire approach to what he calls “The Ministry”. Push, and people have
to move. If they don’t, you don’t need them. If they push back, they
will be dealt with. His ministry is nothing more than a clenched fist
poised to enforce his will and opinions. Yes, they do write books about
this stuff, but the truly skillful practitioners do not need to be told
how. They simply have an impulse to control, and acting always upon that
impulse they learn quickly by experimentation the best ways to
manipulate people. They are the case studies that the authors observe
when gathering material.
If you doubt or scoff at what we are saying here, perhaps you would
like to tour the inside of a child’s mind for a few moments to see what
this atmosphere creates in the eyes of the most keenly observant among
us: your kids and mine. The following essay is compiled from the words
of my daughters…
“Sometimes I would see Pastor coming and thought maybe I should stand
in front of my dad–that way he wouldn’t hit him. But then I thought he
might bonk me on the head, which he had done a few times (and one time
it hurt all night afterward). I would wince sometimes when I saw him do
it to people, because it looked like it really hurt. I just thought he
was mean. A lot of kids think the same thing, and we were all sort of
afraid of him. When we were all playing and Pastor would come driving
up, we quickly found something to do that looked less,
well…rambunctious. We weren’t doing anything wrong…we just tried to
avoid getting his attention if we were playing because he always had
something to say about it, and we were afraid our parents would get in
trouble. And when we went to church, we never knew if we were going to
get hit on the top of the head, or if our dad was going to get punched,
and it was just uncomfortable because here was this room full of adults
ready to flinch when he walked past them. When Pastor would hit daddy, I
knew he wasn’t trying to hurt him, but I thought it was demeaning.
There was something about it that took away his dignity a little bit. I
just thought, ‘ Why does he have to do that?’ He does whatever he wants
to do to people knowing that they won’t hit him back. I sometimes
wondered, ‘Why doesn’t anybody hit him back?’ I always thought it was
pretty obvious that he goes around hitting people because he knows they
aren’t supposed to touch him at all.”
These children are not lying. They are not making this up. And do you
know something else? They have friends among the other children whose
parents were subjected to the same treatment, some of whom remain loyal
to NTCC. Many children are afraid to speak their minds to their own
parents but feel very comfortable addressing their misgivings to other
children whom they trust. If you are reading these words and are
currently an NTCC member or minister, be aware: there exists an
underground tremor among your own children and their friends at church.
They feel the same way that our children do. They have said so. They
largely agree with these feelings and observations. They see RW Davis as
a fearful figure, someone to stear clear of. They hope that they
themselves will not be singled out for abuse or ridicule. The
environment is stressful for them, and they hate it. As your children,
they would do anything to please you. They know that this church and
your ministry are important to you, and so they go along seemingly happy
and content. And yet…
And yet.
