To those who may be considering Mercy Ministries

9 Mar

This piece by Chelsea was originally published on her personal blog.  Chelsea is a pillar of support to other girls who are emerging from their Mercy Ministries experience.

I cannot tell you what to do. I cannot persuade you away from Mercy Ministries.  You see in the end your going or not going doesn’t really effect my cause.  In the end it’s your decision.  What I can do is educate you.  I am not writing this to scare you.  I am writing this because you deserve to know how to defend yourselves.

I’ve had some other Mercy Survivors help me out with this list.

  1. Your entire future does not lay in the hands of what plays out at Mercy Ministries. If Mercy doesn’t work out, they are not the end. There is HOPE after Mercy. Mercy is never the end. Their success rate is extremely questionable.
  2. You are allowed to leave there at any time. NO really you are. If they tell you to go “pray long and hard about it” or to “find ungodly beliefs that may be causing you to want to leave”. This is a brainwashing technique. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE. If you have to physically get up and go find a phone yourself at a nearby neighbors, go. Even if they won’t let you use theirs. You have this right. They cannot hold you hostage. They do not have this right. You will not shut the place down if you leave. You are there voluntarily and you can leave at anytime you please.
  3. If you don’t believe your parents abused you now, they didn’t. Mercy uses repressed memory therapy. Repressed memory therapy is a coercive technique that may cause you to start thinking that your parents abused you when they did not. This will cause you to start hating them and not return home. This is especially true of the California home.
  4. If you are having self harm issues/ eating disorder issues and the staff make you feel guilty for this, it’s not right. You are not ungodly, you are not a failure, you are not attention seeking. You are struggling and you need help. Finding godly beliefs will not help you.
  5. If something makes you feel uncomfortable, anything at all. You need to speak up. From some recreational activity, to something in the church. If they berate you for speaking up, you need to leave. You have the right to boundaries.
  6. What you’re allowed to share with other girls is very limited. And girls will tell on you if you share too much. You are not allowed to speak at all about what brought you into Mercy. This helps Mercy to gain better control and not give a sense of bonding to the girls. Sometimes this may make you feel like you don’t know what you’re ALLOWED to say, because you don’t want to get in trouble. It’s okay you’re not alone. Other girls have felt like this too.
  7. Your level of godliness does not depend on how high you can jump during praise and worship. You do not have to speak in tongues. If they attempt to perform exorcisms on you and this makes you feel uncomfortable, tell them immediately. They may respond with “that’s just a demon speaking”. This is not a demon speaking. This is your ability to judge well and use logic. In this case don’t fight. It will only make it worse. But try to leave as soon as possible. Remember there is REAL treatment out there that will help you. Please remember if you are saved that it’s actually not possible to be possessed by a demon. So feel safe knowing that.
  8. They may speak about a “spirit of rebellion”. Being critical of Mercy’s program and being rebellious are two very separate things okay?
  9. At Mercy you’re not really allowed to feel negative emotions. You have thirty days to feel homesick and then it’s expected to disappear immediately. Feeling sad, or angry is extremely discouraged. But can I just tell you that it’s okay to feel those things. And even okay to feel those things AT mercy or pertaining to your time there. If you’re homesick, you’re allowed to feel homesick. Even if you can’t talk about it. If the program makes you angry. That’s okay too. If cleaning the toilets makes you mad. That’s fine too. It’s all okay. It’s okay to feel those things. Your anger may (or may not) actually be in response to your boundaries being crossed. Our emotions are often responses to external stimuli, where as Mercy may play off as “Spirits of bitterness or stubbornness”.
  10. They depend on you to get them sponsors and money. They want you smiling a lot.
  11. Mercy will keep you very busy and not give you much time to think. You will jump from one thing to the next thing. Try not to get to caught up in it all.
  12. You will not be allowed to use the internet, or watch TV, your phone use will be extremely limited. This is called information control in cults.
  13. You are allowed to stay on your psychiatric drugs. Mercy Ministries cannot coerce you or force you to get off of them. This includes forcing you to listen to materials about how psychiatric drugs don’t actually help psychiatric illnesses. They do help psychiatric illnesses. And plenty of real scientists and people in the psychiatric community will back me up on this.
  14. If you have done something to make them upset Mercy will abandon you. They are not about unconditional love. They will give you three hours notice and send you home on a flight. Or abandon you at some psych ward or a Bus stop. I have heard story after story after story after story. So don’t feel like a failure. You are NOT the only one. Okay?
  15. They may speak about an “unwillingness to change”. But just because Mercy didn’t work out for you does not in anyway mean that you are “unwilling to change”. In fact it might mean quite the opposite. Try not to beat yourself up.
  16. Don’t walk in and expect to see girls chanting in the hallways, voodoo dolls hanging from the ceilings and batches of cyanide laced kool aid in the back room.  Mercy manipulates people. They take away their core being. They are not the typical thought of “cult”. They are very underhanded. You will see the opposite. Girls with smiles plastered on their faces. And staff who are overly nice.

Take a quote from Jeanine Mills From the People’s Temple

“When you meet the friendliest people you have ever known, who introduce you to the most loving group of people you’ve ever encountered, and you find the leader to be the most inspired, caring, compassionate and understanding person you’ve ever met, and then you learn the cause of the group is something you never dared hope could be accomplished, and all of this sounds too good to be true-it probably is too good to be true! Don’t give up your education, your hopes and ambitions to follow a rainbow.”

This is a good piece to read before you go:

This is a good pieceMercy Ministries and How it Fits the BITE Model For Mind Control

If when you get back you need us. Please go to the Mercy Survivors Website. Mercysurvivors.com.

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My Journey

13 Feb

This piece by Mercy Survivor OA shares her story of finding hope after trauma at the hands of Mercy Ministries.

Many years ago I found a place that advertised unconditional love – I thought it was the cure I had been searching for.

I knew the process would be tough, but I thought it was for our protection – that’s what we were told.

It was supposedly to protect us from the ones who were not mean to be there.

But looking back now, it was more like they were weeding out the ones who would work them out pretty quickly.

It was a long wait but finally it was my turn – I arrived nervous and not knowing what to expect.

And so began an 11 month descent into a journey I called hell.

Everything was fine for the first week or so – I was given time to settle and feel like I fit right in.

And then slowly and subtly things began to change – the free-of-charge place was not free.

We either signed over our benefits or we left – so not only were we paying for ourselves but also we paid for those who had no benefits.

And as for the unconditional love they advertised – it wasn’t long before I found out that that too was full of conditions.

I came out of that place worse than when I went in and with even more negative beliefs about myself.

Those beliefs were even worse than the ones I first went in with – they left me with no hope.

I ended up hellbent on destroying myself – my anger was out of control.

I had tried so hard not to believe what they said about me – to do so would leave me with no hope.

But when you’re vulnerable and someone programs you, you find that no matter how hard you try not to, you end up believing what they say.

And so I believed that I was beyond help and I lived like there was no hope for me.

Something that took many years and a heck of a lot of hard work to overcome.

But I did overcome it, and I certainly proved them so very wrong – and then my eyes were opened to the truth.

A truth that allowed me to be angry in the right way.

Angry enough to take up a fight – a fight to get the truth out there.

One that I will fight to the end as the truth NEEDS to come out.

No matter what anyone says – the truth will always come out in the end.

And if it saves just one girl from further pain, heartache, torment, hopelessness and despair…

Then it has been so worth it.

I am now doing the very things they said I was incapable of doing – every single thing they said I couldn’t, I have done.

They tried to keep us isolated from others, even after we left – but we found each other.

And story after story echoes my own, and some are much worse.

But still we fight on, because we are survivors and we support each other on our journeys.

We stand united, despite our pain, because we know there are many more out there like us.

And even though we still suffer, we can still reach out to those who are still to come.

By reaching out to others, we begin to heal just that little bit more.

We are survivors – better than what they said we were!

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Mercy Ministries' counselling manual exposed

8 Feb

Been having trouble locating a copy of Mercy Ministries’ counselling curriculum?  Well, now you can download it here!

We are very frequently contacted by potential Mercy residents and their families seeking accurate information about Mercy Ministries.

Mercy’s website stands in vast contrast to what dozens of media articles and first-hand accounts of former residents testify, which can no doubt be confusing to those seeking information to have to wade through conflicting stories and determine what is true.

There is so much we could explore on this subject, but for now, I would like to present some much sought-after evidence exposing Mercy Ministries’ approach to treating extremely serious, vastly complex and often life-threatening conditions.

Mercy Ministries’ blurb as shown above states their curriculum:

“…combines biblical principles of healing and unconditional love with best-practice clinical interventions”.

However,  as you will see from this piece and full copies of both counselling manuals, no trace of “best-practice clinical interventions” can be found in their approach, let alone their entire program.

Furthermore, even if their counsellors were in fact qualified (a piece to be published on this soon ), what aspect of Mercy Ministries’ approach to treatment requires them to draw upon a single aspect of their professional training?

Mercy Ministries’ counselling curriculum is currently called “Choices That Bring Change”.  Since its inception in 2008, it has been long suspected that this was merely their previous curriculum “Restoring the Foundations” with a new name.

As at the date of this article, Mercy Ministries’ website says of their counselling approach:

MM counselling

Allow us to interpret the spin for you…

Choices That Bring Change explores issues of:

Faith

The part where a non-Christian is forced to become a Christian, despite Mercy Ministries’ admission of girls who identify as non-Christian.  For non-Christians, or Christians who have not had charismatic experiences, it may also serve as a process where they are prayed over to speak in tongues, among other things.

Forgiveness

This part requires you to forgive any abusers and ask God’s forgiveness for your sin.

Mercy Ministries’ approach to forgiveness is heavily influenced by the teachings of Joyce Meyer that forgiveness is a choice, and that thoughts and feelings of forgiveness will eventually follow.  During this module, a girl is not only required to forgive any and all offenders, but is also required to ask that God forgive her for her sins of unforgiveness against those people and any other sins on her part.  This can be extremely confusing and distressing in cases of sexual abuse where they have struggled to not take on the guilt and shame of their abuser’s actions.

Family

The part is called “Generational Curses” in the manual, and this is where things get spooky.

They mix the old covenant with the new, and tell you that you must break off generational curses to the fourth and fifth generation.  (This module is almost identical to the last, which is known as “Demonic Oppression”).

Overcoming past abuse and hurts

This is spin for a form of theophosic prayer which they call “Soul/Spirit Hurts” where they get you to regress to your past (sometimes to a time or an event that you cannot remember), to seek out some singular event (or maybe two) that is behind your current “symptoms” (aka life controlling issues).  Whilst some forms of guided prayer or even guided imagery may be beneficial, the form used at Mercy is highly suggestive and can result in false memories surfacing, which has happened in many cases personally known to us.

General life principles

This is a convenient umbrella term for “the rest of the manual”.  I discuss the remaining modules below:

Godly/Ungodly Beliefs involves identifying “lies” and replacing them with truth.  This happens by reciting faith-based affirmations to counteract them.  This is very much in line with word of faith doctrine and a booklet by Charles Capps called “God’s Creative Power” which girls are required to recite daily.

Whenever a girl comes to staff with an issue or struggle, they are glibly told to go away and recite their godly beliefs.

Demonic oppression is another aspect covered under their statement “general life principles” – an aspect that Mercy Ministries have vehemently denied practicing for years, in spite of surmounting evidence.  More recently, they have re-labelled it as “spiritual warfare”.

Demonic oppression involves the casting out of demons.  It follows from certain charismatic theologies that a Christian cannot be possessed, because they belong to God, however they can be oppressed.  And the determined symptoms of being possessed and oppressed, as well as the practice of deliverance, are exactly identical.  Except that it is believed that demons have the authority to remain in/on/around a non-Christian altogether, and in/on/around Christians who have not addressed what they call “footholds” such as unforgiveness, generational curses, etc, allowing them to have a stronghold in or over a Christian.

Like Generational Curses, this involves filling out a comprehensive checklist of various sins, such as “rock n roll”, “little girl” and “Jezabel” in Restoring The Foundations (which has been somewhat condensed in the Choices That Bring Change version).  Ironically, “mind control” is among these items.

Upon completion, you then pray through scripted prayers, renouncing each and every aspect, and commanding demons to leave.  This is done in the presence of two counsellors who are usually speaking in tongues throughout the process and having you take a physical step forward upon each renouncement.

In many girls’ experiences, some counsellors (and other unqualified staff) like to mix it up and shout at demons to leave, or use physical restraint whilst casting out demons.  These variations are not uncommon themes throughout many of our experiences.

Is this hearsay, or is there proof of this?  How can you be sure that this isn’t just other misinformation floating around about Mercy Ministries?  What proof do we have that the modules of Choices That Bring Change are the same as Restoring The Foundations?

Well, it is now possible for you to judge for yourself:

“Choices That Bring Change” can be downloaded here;

“Restoring the Foundations” can be downloaded RTF; and

Comprehensive checklists of Restoring The Foundations regarding ungodly beliefs, generational curses and demonic influences can be viewed here and here, and pages from the counsellor’s manual on performing deliverance (including comprehensive checklists) can be viewed here.

For further reading, you may wish to visit the Restoring The Foundations website.  This page discusses the origins of their approach, and this page goes into detail regarding the theology behind each module.

Happy reading!

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Bitter? Non-Christian? Think again!

2 Feb

Mercy Survivor Torie gives Christian insight into her decision to speak out about Mercy Ministries.  Torie shared bravely in an exclusive radio interview with Cameron Reilly in 2008 under pseudonym “Sarah Mac”.

I’m fairly sure I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been confronted with the line…

“Well, you must no longer be a Christian”

This is the line that makes me so completely angry.  I totally respect those who have walked away from Christianity as a direct or not-so-direct result of Mercy Ministries.  But that doesn’t mean that that all of us have.

I think the thing that I hate the most is a person’s assumption that if you choose to come out publicly and speak out against a Christian organisation, that you can’t possibly be a Christian, because it must be coming from a place of bitterness and hate.

My best answer that I’ve been able to come up with is

“So if a doctor cut off the wrong leg, would you keep quiet about it just because he’s a Christian man?”

I will admit that when I got out of Mercy, I started questioning my beliefs and took a break from “all things church” so I could figure out what I wanted and what I believed and whether I wanted to walk away from God completely.  But instead of breaking up my relationship with God, it just made it stronger.  I think I have a better walk with God now than I have had in a very long time, because I’ve chosen to go back to my basic knowledge and re-build from the ground up.

I in no way think that those who have walked away from God have done the wrong thing.  I think they’ve made the right decision for themselves and no one can tell them that’s not right, because it’s every person’s own choice.

I think my biggest point in all of this is that speaking out against Mercy Ministries in NOT speaking out against God.  It’s not a case of attacking God or “allowing the enemy” to attack Mercy.  We are not just a jaded bunch of girls who are bitter or resentful about being kicked out of Mercy Ministries.  Many girls coming out with horrific stories are in fact graduates.

For 2 ½ years after leaving Mercy Ministries, I said nothing against them.  I kept quiet and didn’t feel the need to speak out because I truly believed that I was the only one who had a bad experience at Mercy, and because I was the only one I didn’t need to say anything against what happened because it was a one-off event.

To my absolute shock on the 17 March 2008, I woke up to the media articles and could not keep my story quiet any longer.

Before I chose to speak about my experience I did a lot of soul searching, and sought out counsel from Christian friends as well as from my family.  All things pointed towards needing to publicly come forward with my story.  Every single step of the way, I have sought the counsel of godly people, and have always searched my own heart to ensure I wasn’t going to speak out of a place of bitterness or resentment.

I’m never going to say it’s an easy road speaking out.  It has been anything but easy for me.  I have lost friends and faced many other challenges with speaking to media and putting my heart on the line so that the truth about Mercy Ministries can be shown.  But here’s something I’ve learned throughout this experience – I don’t regret any of it.  Sure, it’s brought me some heartache and pain, but it’s all worth it.

There have been times when I’ve just wanted to drop the whole thing and stop talking about it, because it brings up so many memories.  But my motivation in speaking out is this: if I can reach just one girl, and help her overcome the things that Mercy did by sharing my story, then it’s all worth it.

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Do Right Mercy campaign launched!

27 Jan

We are excited to announce that Do Right Mercy has been officially launched!

Do Right Mercy is a campaign that “serves to amplify the issues of abuse at Mercy Ministries that have been repeatedly raised over several years in our private verbal and written correspondence, in order that we may publicly and collectively bring biblical correction to Nancy Alcorn, Founder and President of Mercy Ministries“.

It is our hope that all who have had harmful experiences at Mercy Ministries, as well as loved ones of survivors and concerned members of the general public, may have an opportunity to initiate public dialogue with Nancy Alcorn (especially where attempts at private dialogue have failed) in order that the all-prevalent abuse culture and dishonest claims of what the Mercy Ministries program involves may cease.

The goal of this campaign is ultimately to stop girls and young women from continuing to be hurt by Mercy Ministries.

Do Right Mercy welcome any ideas you may have. If you are interested in being involved in Do Right Mercy, you can check out their website or follow them on Facebook.  (Twitter details and email address will be forthcoming).

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