Kriete Stands by Letter, Says ICC was a Cult

"...let me be painfully honest. I have come to believe the ICOC was a cult or if you prefer: a cult-like/ authoritarian Christian sect." -- Henry Kriete, "Still Honest To God," September 2005.

September 2005

Two-and-a-half years after writing a letter that rocked the ICC (International Church of Christ), former ICC evangelist Henry Kriete stood by Honest to God in a follow up letter he wrote to Chicago Church of Christ elder Steve Staten. Wrote Kriete, “The only difference now is my convictions have become stronger with the passing of time...”

Kriete wrote that the conclusions he had drawn in the original Honest to God – that the ICC had a “corrupted hierarchy”, an “obsession with numbers”, a “shameful arrogance” and seduction by money among 40 other “wide scale problems” detailed in the letter – were plainly evident to anyone who served in ICC leadership:

“In my letter, I only spoke of the things that were happening before our very eyes. Nothing was made up. Nothing I said was not known to almost all of us who had been around for even a short length of time. If you will read Kip's RR1 [Revolution through Restoration I] and RR2 [Revolution through Restoration II] once again (those much vaunted 'historical documents' ) you might be embarrassed to see how easily, cowardly, and shamefully we all fell in step.”

Recently, some ICC evangelists including founder Kip McKean have tried to blame Kriete for many of the problems facing the movement, including large numbers of members leaving (or having already left), distrust of leadership and perceived “lukewarmness” in congregations. Kriete responded to this, implying that the abuses of the ICC system are responsible, saying, ”you will still say my letter caused untold damage? Can't you see where the real damage came from, or the widespread anguish?” Kriete wrote that the reaction to his letter was "a fallout based on honest reaction to the twisting of Scriptures, to warped loyalties, to authoritarian and often harsh shepherding finally being admitted to, and to the revelation of greed and hypocrisy in the highest levels of leadership."

In particular, Kriete pointed to the movement’s damaging exclusivism and “one true church” beliefs of the past – and present:

“To this day, tens of thousands of our members still think that to leave the ICOC is to leave God. Or at least believe it is probably so. And now that same kind of hubris has spawned a calling out of the remnant from within the ICOC itself! [Reference to Kip McKean’s Portland Story letter.] Shame. Shame. Shame. That my friend, is the real reason for the damage, the 'human wreckage'.”

Kriete went on to say that all those who have left the ICC have not left God, and he urged the recipient(s) of his letter to stop others from calling the ICC “the Kingdom”.

Says ICC Was a Cult

Kriete wrote that one area where his convictions had strengthened was about the ICC having been a cult. He wrote, “God knows I tried not to come to this conclusion, but I just can't see it any other way. And I think I can prove it a thousand times over (remember – I have the testimony of nearly 10,000 emails, calls and letters, not to mention 22 years 'inside' and two years' outside')”

At another point in the letter, Kriete wrote:

“If you merely glance through the LA Story's 20th anniversary issue once more-you also might see, like I do, we were a cult, plain and simple. I have no doubts about that anymore.”

LA Story 20th anniversary issue

(To look inside the 20th anniversary issue of LA Story, click here.)

Kriete told Staten he was happy that some ICC churches has reformed significantly, but asserted that “you still have a few unrepentant/unreformed cult leaders kicking around... That is intolerable, in my view.”

Sources:

Henry Kriete, "Still Honest To God" a.k.a.Response to a Friend (PDF), September, 2005.

Henry Kriete, Honest to God: Revolution through repentance and freedom in Christ, February, 2003.

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