The Bible Speaks ‘Cult Survivor’ Speaks at Ventfort Hall
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LENOX, Mass. — A dream made of pure intentions to follow in the word of God turned out to be, for many, served in a poisoned chalice.
Despite the manipulation and exploitation wrapped in a shroud, light still shines through. Buried in the history of the “forgotten cult” is the path to healing. So say two women who had been wrapped up in its inner workings.
Cult survivor Elita Galvin spoke before nearly 60 people at Ventfort Hall at its recent Tea and Talk series, outlining the evolution of the church and its cult-like actions.
Galvin and her sister, Karen Briggs, host the podcast “Children of Grace,” in which they research the church’s history and hear from fellow survivors — a journey that has become healing.
“I think coming to understand how we got here was hugely helpful in healing, and being able to sort out some of the things that maybe we had been ingrained to think that weren’t great and maybe some things that were,” Galvin said.
“But then also to hear other people’s stories and understand that, while we wouldn’t wish our experiences, or worse experiences, on anybody else, there’s a comfort in knowing you’re not alone and being able to share those stories and experiences with each other. It’s like, we’ve all been able to help each other address our stories and begin the healing process.”
A lot of the organization’s former members that Galvin and Briggs speak to or are told about were wonderful people who genuinely had a desire to get to know God, help their community, and do good for other people, she said.
“While certainly, there was a fair share of people who may not have had the best intent with what they were doing, a lot of people who did get wrapped up in this, even though they ended up in maybe not the best situation, they were personally there, for the right reasons, and ended up in the wrong place doing it,” Galvin said.
The fundamentalist church had its headquarters in Lenox for more than a dozen years until Elizabeth Dovydenas sued founder Carl Stevens and the religious organization for coercion and fraudulent manipulation, winning a $5.5 million judgement. She had donated some $6.6 million to support the church and pay off its Kemble Street property, the former Lenox School for Boys and now the home of Shakespeare & Company. Ventfort Hall had been used as a restaurant.
Stevens made an enterprise out of his claims of being appointed by God, fostering messaging infected by greed and establishing loyalty out of fear, say survivors.
“While he would preach from the pulpit about things such as virtue and chastity, he was reportedly engaging in inappropriate commentary behavior toward women, and was also alleged to have had several affairs prior to his first wife passing away. So, it appears as though quite a bit of time he was not always practicing what he preached,” Galvin said.
She illuminated Stevens’ decades-long cycle of domineering, tyranny, facing criticism and, at times, fleeing only to begin again under the guise of expansion or making false promises of change.
In his lifetime, Stevens and his church were the spotlight of several scandals. In the early 1980s, Stevens requested an independent report from the Christian Research Institute because “they were trying to ingratiate themselves with some of the other local churches, and were not having a lot of success,” Galvin said.
“So they asked them to come in and maybe take a poke around and see if they could help them figure out what the disconnect was and what they could be doing better.”
The “very lengthy” report expressed support for the church, “but one of the things they raised the most concern about were the teachings surrounding pastoral authority and loyalty to one pastor teacher, which was Carl,” Galvin said.
At first, The Bible Speaks and Stevens praised the report and promised change. However, the reaction was different behind closed doors, she said.
“So, there was a group of concerned people, some of whom were very much involved in the first report, who would reach back out to the Christian Research Institute and ask them if they would come back, because what they were actually hearing from Carl behind closed doors was not at all what was being said publicly,” Galvin said.
“And so they came back and they amended the report and had to withdraw a lot of the support they initially had for the church because of what they found.”
Some believe this cycle continues today under Stevens’ successors or for some at Ventfort Hall, a haunting visit by Stevens, who died in 2008.
“Unfortunately, I just think at this point, I don’t know that there’s any way to convince them that what they believe for 40 to 50 years is not necessarily accurate, and the way they do things is accurate,” Galvin said.
When the church relocated to Baltimore, it was renamed Greater Grace World Outreach, which it is still called today. It has dozens of ministries in the United States, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. It no longer has a presence in Berkshire County.
Content retrieved from: https://www.iberkshires.com/story/80144/The-Bible-Speaks-Cult-Survivor-Speaks-at-Ventfort-Hall-.html.
