NCCG_CONCERN - phoney "cult-watcher" exposed

Critique of

Character assassination of Rick Ross as written by NCCG's leader, Christopher C. Warren

[The phrase "character assassination" is still a favourite. By reading this post, I understood what nccg_concern really means about character assassination. As you're about to see, it takes only to disagree to effectively character assassinate someone.]

Background:

Rick Ross runs a prominent cult education and awareness web site, http://www.rickross.com . Around January, 2006, Rick included a link to this "nccg_concern" web site in a list of similar sites on his web page. There is also a message board on his web site where I occasionally post NCCG-related information. [Nccg_concern joined the Rick Ross message board hosted by that website in the beginning of December practically advertising himself and the nccg_concern website. It comes to me as little surprise that this website was included about a month later in Rick Ross's list (in which, among other funny links, Wikipedia appears as a cult, so I suppose Rick Ross doesn't apply much "face-control" to what he includes there). Looks like this is why he went into such trouble to record the supposed "character assassinations" for Rick Ross's benefit. He wouldn't want his mentor discredited.]

Christopher C. Warren fantasized that Rick Ross is in some way cooperating directly with me in the creation of this "nccg_concern" web site, and at times insinuated that this site author (nccg_concern) is actually Rick Ross himself. [The first thing nccg_concern did was go to Rick Ross's website and find the criteria that supposedly characterise a cult and try to apply them in this ministry. It's pretty obvious who he looks up to and who he consults. The funny thing is that Rick Ross is not exactly the role-model you'd like to have (he has made MANY blunders in his career, some of which have cost lives), but nccg_concern didn't seem to care or he simply didn't do enough research to find out. That creates a particularly weak spot all along his website. He can't afford to say that Rick Ross is a criminal (which he is), and the only thing he can do is sing praises to him, which are quite laughable.]

The conclusions made within the Scientology articles used by Christopher Warren in this character assassination were addressed by Rick Ross in the article Rick Ross Responds to his Critics. It was easy for this web site author (nccg_concern) to locate this discussion, I just emailed Rick Ross at the email address prominently displayed on http://www.rickross.com and asked him for feedback regarding the Scientology character assassinations.

This character assassination was originally published on the groups.msn.com/nccgcybercommunity web site, in the message board "NCCG Critics", in an article named "Updates on www.geocities.com/nccg_concern: they keep sneaking in". The thread also contains comments made by a very involved group member about the subject. [The "very involved group member" is the guy mentioned so often around this website and the one who has written the theology-related articles as a contribution: no other than Derek Rumpler. Now why does nccg_concern keep this member's identity secret is an interesting discussion. Elsewhere in this website, D. Rumpler is directly accused through an e-mail sent by a former member of the NCCG groups. Nccg_concern didn't bother to erase his name there. Also, nccg_concern has sent unsolicited e-mail to D. Rumpler and has written about 45% of his website "inspired by D. Rumpler. What becomes obvious is that nccg_concern is as "kind" as to remove D. Rumpler's name when he is labelling him as a character assassin. That isn't particularly honest, but I'm moving on to my main point.]

[Directly below, nccg_concern had a larger list of "character assassinations" which included newspaper and internet articles. I do not believe that reproducing someone ELSE'S supposed "character assassination" makes one a character assassin so I omitted them. For reference's sake, I'm pasting here the definition of "character assassination" so you know what you're looking for:

character assassination (n.): A vicious personal verbal attack, especially one intended to destroy or damage a public figure's reputation. (The American Heritage Dictionaries).

Just to keep things balanced, every adult person is responsible for their activities. If recorded criminal activities are published, then the public knows of them and the public is absolutely free to discuss it. Not to mention that all that follows was posted in a NON-PUBLIC message board, meaning that even if someone was accused "viciously", it was definitely not in public and could hardly destroy reputations. Oh, unless people in private forums don't have the right to express their opinion??? And last but not least: Character assassination does NOT equal negative opinion, because it requires viciousness.]

Character Assassination(s):

From: group member's name removed [i.e. D. Rumpler wrote:]

Sent: 5/13/2006 6:53 PM

Apparently Rick Ross use to practice involuntary kidnapping of adult cult members. There is an e-mail debate revealing this here: http://www.rickross.com/reference/deprogramming/deprogramming9.html

An article of which he apparently approves of (giving its availability on his site) likewise chronicles how some cult deprogrammers kidnapped a couple to get them out of a cult:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/deprogramming/deprogramming28.html

The question remains is following: If cult deprogrammers are free to kidnap people (Rick Ross only seemed to stop not because he deemed it immoral, but to keep from being sued), why can't we snatch atheists off the street and 'deprogram' them from atheism? What is it about these actions that makes cult deprogrammers 'moral' while making us 'immoral' if we do the same things?

Now maybe NCCG_Concern does not do these things, but nonetheless I would love to hear his opinion on the matter. So you know, I joined NCCG of my own free will. Likewise, I am free to leave. Freedom of choice is never restricted in NCCG. However, while involved in this group, people are expected to follow a set code of rules, just like they would in a school or the workplace. Those who don't follow our rules are forcibly removed. Do you then apply this criteria to these social institutions? Bottom line: anything can be a cult if you want it to be. As Ross himself said, Cults can be a four-letter filth word to discredit anything you disagree with.

[OK, where is the "vicious personal attack"? D. Rumpler pasted two links from Rick Ross's own website, not even a Scientology website. He then argued that people have the right to choose their belief system and finally quoted Rick Ross. How does the above intend to destroy or damage Rick Ross's reputation since Rick Ross himself has said/published most of it? All D. Rumpler did, as I see it, was disagree. Does disagreeing equal character assassination? Obviously, to nccg_concern's eyes.]

From: Community_Moderator

Sent: 5/12/2006 12:02 PM

Now an honest investigative ministry would insist on properly checking out motives, at best a difficult task and often impossible because the deliberate liars will always seek to actively remain concealed. That is why in Torah accusers were always expected to present themselves physically within a community where they were well known where living witnesses could testify as to their integrity or lack of it. Morever, the accusations should be to the one accused in full opennness.

Now none of these safeguards is actually maintained by the Rick Ross group. Everything is shrouded in secrecy, there are no proper accountability structures other than, we suppose, a cabal of those who share the same life philosophy (hence Ross' universal categorisation of all Messianic Jews as 'cultic') which is never identified.

We now jokingly call our barn the "Rickh Ross Interrogation Center". We do noit take these people seriously any more. We know their dishonest methods, their paranoia and the vaccuousness of their belief system. It's plain to see. I challenge them to come clean and allow themselves to be examined in as much microscopic detail as they are attempting (rather badly) to do with us. We see through their pretenses, their false humility and benificence to the world. It is plain that there is a grudge or some kind of an agenda. People are suffering because of them and they are ultimately accountable for aiding and abetting that. Yahweh will not hold them guiltless.

[The only part of this last post which could classify as character assassination is the following: "We know their dishonest methods, their paranoia and the vaccuousness of their belief system. […] We see through their pretences, their false humility and beneficence to the world." This is an opinion mentioned in private. Is it vicious? No, it's just a negative opinion – this might be news to nccg_concern, but people are entitled to voice negative opinions too. Does it destroy Rick Ross's reputation? No more than Scientology does.]

For reference's sake, compare the above with the following quote:

"This web site author has observed Christopher C. Warren to apparently be a skilled, creative manipulator of facts and situations." – nccg_concern

This is not opinion, this is allegedly the result of observation, therefore it has different weight. Moreover, the quote above was published for the whole world to see and directly aimed at another person's reputation. Therefore, that last quote is much more of a character assassination than what C.C. Warren wrote.]

From: Community_Moderator

Sent: 5/13/2006 8:08 PM

It is becoming more and more clear as we invetigate the criminal activities of these "cult deprogammers" that not only are these people highly violent and unstable with criminal records but they show unmistakable signs of being rabidly anti-religious. We will show later that their criteria of judgment are bogus and that what they are actually doing is using the real cults as a stringboard for victimising and persecuting all Bible-believing Christians. Since they refuse to tell us who they are or what they believe in, we must inevitably draw our own conclusions based on the evidence of their criminal past. Whilst some may just be financial opportunists, others clearly have a communist or satanistic agenda or something akin to it.

How foolish we were to even believe that they might be decent but misguided people. The truth will out and we shall see these people for what they are. More information coming anon.

[Here there are no names named, only "cult deprogrammers" and anonymous ones at that. By the definition of character assassination, it's impossible to character assassinate someone who is anonymous because then there is no personal attack and no reputation to destroy.]

From: group member's name removed [i.e. D. Rumpler wrote:]

Sent: 5/17/2006 7:01 PM

Just one example of Ross's criteria for determining cults and my response:

http://www.cultnews.com/index.php/2006/04/08/should-passover-provide-platform-for-annual-christian-missionary-programs/

Should Passover provide platform for annual Christian missionary programs?

Posted in Jews for Jesus at 8:52 am by Rick Ross

It’s Passover time and that means it’s the season for the annual traveling road show produced by the so-called “Jews for Jesus” (JFJ), an evangelical Christian missionary organization that targets Jews for conversion. The group sends out its faithful in touring buses every year to present “Christ in the Passover,” as reported by the Dakota Voice.

JFJ couple practicing for Passover

These programs are typically staged within evangelical and fundamentalist churches where JFJ puts on the program and then profits from contributions.

Passover is a proven fundraiser for JFJ, which has a multi-million-dollar budget and payroll to meet.

But the organized Jewish community has repeatedly expressed concern about such programs, which superimpose fundamentalist Christian beliefs over the historic understanding of the Jewish Passover observance.

JFJ presents its own rather ethnocentric, idiosyncratic version of Passover to evangelical Christian churches across the United States such as Grace Church of Toledo Ohio, Fremont Berean Bible Church in Nebraska and occasionally at mainline Protestant churches like Trinity United Methodist Church of Seymour, Indiana.

JFJ Seder display

Needless to say Christian missionaries parading about, as “Jews” for Passover doesn’t exactly inspire enthusiasm amongst Jews, who most often observe its traditional Seder dinner in the privacy of home.

After all Passover and its Seder symbols have a long-established historic meaning that predates both Jesus and Christianity.

For those that have read Book of Exodus or watched the movie “Ten Commandments” Passover is not about Jesus or Christianity, it is a holiday specifically observed to commemorate the deliverance of Jews from bondage in ancient Egypt more than a millenium before the birth of Jesus.

But for JFJ this sacred Jewish holiday has been reduced essentially to a fund raising hook.

JFJ’s founder is Martin Rosen, a retired Baptist minister, who hit the road again not long ago when his brainchild had some budget problems.

Pastor Martin prefers to be called “Moishe,” which he seems to think makes him seem Jewish.

Jewish surnames also suffuse the list of front line JFJ staff, again giving the group a seemingly “Jewish” patina.

David Brickner

However, Rosen’s successor as the top “Jew” at JFJ, David Brickner, was recently exposed by author David Klinghoffer in the Jewish Journal as a “non-Jew.”

His bio on the JFJ Web site refers to him as “a fifth-generation Jewish believer in Jesus,” which means his family actually has been Christian for some time.

And Brickner’s mother was not Jewish, which means he isn’t either according to any Orthodox understanding.

By Orthodox definition if a mother isn’t Jewish her baby isn’t either. And Brickner’s maternal grandmother was not Jewish.

Oops.

This means that by no Jewish definition would the JFJ leader even qualify as an apostate Jew, let alone simply as “Jewish.”

Not surprisingly JFJ’s funding comes essentially from sympathetic fellow believers within the Christian fundamentalist community.

But are these the same Christians who frequently say they “love” both Jews and Israel?

If these evangelicals truly “love” Jews why do they continue to so stubbornly support groups that offend Jews by falsely reinterpreting Jewish holidays?

It would seem that this continued support by many Christian fundamentalists demonstrates a disregard and/or insensitivity to the concerns of Jews, which has been repeatedly and publicly expressed?

In fairness it should be noted that some evangelical leaders have spoken out critically against groups like JFJ, such as Billy Graham.

group member's name removed Said:

May 13, 2006 at 6:40 am

What bothers me is the so-called superriority of many Jews when their cultural or ethnic traditions are challenged. So what! Let people think what they want to think. I myself am a Hebrew Roots Christian and identify Yah’shua Messiah (Jesus Chrst) as being a fulfillment of the Passover seder. Does this mean that I should stop believing as I do because such a belief upsets the Jews? I could feel threatened when people tell me I’m not Christian for keeping the Torah, but my philosophy is to move on — why does it matter what people think about what I believe? And why should their beliefs dictate my own?

People forget this wonderful thing called “choice”. While I do believe there is only one truth (how narrow-minded of me!), people have the freedom to regard it or disregard it. And as the previous poster said, it was Messiah who first identified Himself with the Passover meal, not the Christians.

If the Jews don’t want to convert to Christianity, they are free to disagree with the Christian missionaries. But that doesn’t mean it should thus become “illegal” for us to preach our own faith. We are just doing as our Messiah told us — making disciples of all nations. To cease doing what He says would cease to make us Christians just as to cease following Rabbinical Jewish traditions would cease to make someone a Rabbinical Jew. I say, if you are going to believe something, believe it totally or you don’t really believe in it at all. Thus I will proselytise the Jews because I believe it is right for me to do so and they are free to ignore me. Fair enough?

[No comments here, there isn't even a personal attack to be found in it. I wonder under what pretext nccg_concern included this.]

Exerpt from: groups.msn.com/nccgcybercommunity, "NCCG Critics" message board, "NCCG Response to a Swedish Newspaper" thread dated 6/6/2006

9. To begin with, though he denies it, Mr.Concern belongs to an financially opportunistic 'profession', without any kind of credentials, which has been thoroughly discredited in the United States. His agenda, far from being altruistic, is anti-Christian and especially anti-minority religious groups. And whilst many of the groups who are investigated by such 'cult watchers' are truly cults in the broadest definition of the term, many are not, and are merely 'investigated' for financial gain or other agendas. Mr. Concern maintains a discussion board on NCCG at the 'Rick Ross Institute', a man regarded as the foremost 'cult deprogrammer' in the world but who is a well known criminal. He has been found guilty in the United States of embezzlement, fraud, kidnapping, and the violation of human rights, and by his own testimony, remains unrepentant of these misdemeanours. Victims of his kidnappings and 'deprogrammings' have been given awards of millions of US dollars, and one 'deprogramming' organisation was sued for criminal activity and went bankrupt. You should be aware that this is the kind of 'company' that Mr. Concern keeps.

[I personally doubt that nccg_concern would ever be bothered to deprogram anybody. The statement "His agenda, far from being altruistic, is anti-Christian and especially anti-minority religious groups" is expressing opinion and the rest is known and documented facts. I don't see the character assassination here either. Unless nccg_concern was deeply offended by being told that his agenda is not altruistic, the rest is common-knowledge, at least among those that care to do a bit of research.]

[I expected to find some dirty laundry here, but unfortunately, I found nothing, except 2-3 statements of negative opinion, which, I suspect, WOULD be considered character assassinations had they been expanded with more emotionally engaging language and were they available to the public. Neither is the case however.]