How can a church claiming "Victory over sin"
get into so much trouble?
I am confronting the top leadership of the sect in which I got married, raised a family, and spent 15 of the best years of my life. This is just the beginning.
The sect now calls itself Brunstad Christian Church (BCC) -- formerly and more widely known as "Smith's Friends" in English, "Smiths Venner" in Scandinavia, and in other parts of the world by translations of the "Norwegian Brothers".
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I recently published information about BCC, some of it historical, some of it reported over the last several years in the European press, and some of it my personal account of what BCC did to my family in the early 1990s -- things which we are still suffering from and struggling with. You can read about it in my blog post: Kåre J. “Waldo” Smith, Where Are You? (Note: My personal blog is not connected in any way to Vårt Land or any other organization.)
I wrote the "Waldo" post on the occasion of a letter to BCC's top leader. I knew him well enough to talk with him when I was a member of the sect. He knew me well enough to expel and excommunicate me from it in early 1994. I wrote him back then, too. The full text of both letters are featured in the "Waldo" post, plus quite a few articles from the Dutch and Norwegian press, as well as insider information from current and former members.
BCC's top accountant, possibly the organization's third most powerful figure at the time, was arrested in March of 2016 in the Netherlands. Who knows how much incriminating evidence authorities have obtained from his testimony and his computers, including some 200,000 emails? In an email to BCC leaders, he wrote, "I had to go along with no less than swindling, tax evasion, and manipulation of the members and leadership of its various organizations," and, "Leave me in peace and I'll leave you in peace," according to this Dagens Næringsliv article. He was arrested a few weeks later.
The title of the "Waldo" post alludes to the fact that two of BCC's top leaders have left their beloved Norway and remain beyond the reach of the authorities that want to interview them.
If you think that BCC is a benign, normal Christian church, I encourage you to read my post about our experiences with it and its practices. Apart from my family's story, the information I present in the post is well-known among people in the sect and those familiar with it, most of it published in recognized European newspapers. I merely assembled and summarized that information. Authorities at local and national levels in Norway, the Netherlands and are now investigating the organization and its leaders.
If you or anyone you care about is involved with BCC, I urge you to educate yourself from sources that are more objective than people who sympathize and support the organization. Only then will you have the means to make an informed, unbiased, intelligent decision about it.
Millard J. Melnyk
Seattle, Washington, USA
millardjmelnyk@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/millard.j.melnyk
