The articles I wrote several months ago detailing What happened at Pleasant View Baptist Church were some of the most popular articles ever posted here at The TIW blog. Although I should warn those who are about to make what I consider to be a big mistake by listening to this man, I wrote those articles then primarily as a therapeutic tool to help eradicate some of the residual thoughts in my mind concerning Larry Raynes and the cult. I suspect I sometimes am like many others that escaped that cult before and after I left in that I wonder how and why I wasted so much time, effort, and money in an endeavor that was so clearly pathological. Similarly, I - like others who escaped - have chalked this one up to experience and have aimed to profit from it as my future and that of my family now flourishes.
Although those posts now exist only in Google’s cache, The TIW Blog continues to get more hits from people looking for information about Larry Raynes and Pleasant View Baptist Church than any other non-political topic here at TIW. Because these hits continue at a pace of hundreds and sometimes thousands per week, I thought best to communicate a message to all those who are searching.
First, I address the few remaining cronies of Larry Raynes. I think you people are pathetic. This man has destroyed hundreds of people and their families over several decades and you still don’t want to acknowledge it. This man has exalted himself as a “man of God,” while destroying God’s people as well as those who would have entered into Christ’s kingdom had it not been for Raynes’ self-centered, self-enriching, narcissistic hijack of “the ministry.” Just as all those who were members of Pleasant View Baptist Church during the time of his disastrous tenure, I think that you who continue to support this man and his false doctrine by inviting him into your homes and into your churches are partakers of his evil deeds. I think you help shut up all hope of finding God to those who come under the influence of this man because the truth he teaches is laced with incredible error. For those needing the blessings intended for those who are truly born again, you have hated them, hurt them, and helped to destroy them rather than build them up. I think there is no other legacy possible for Larry Raynes and his followers. My only hope for you is that you share in the same failure, the same defeat, the same ruin, the same wasted life and guilty conscience that I think Larry Raynes has experienced.
To those who have been hurt by Larry Raynes and Pleasant View Baptist Church, I have a message to you: Get over it! Don’t give that man, his cronies, or his followers the satisfaction of knowing that he ruined your life. I mean get over it for real! Don’t go to another bizarre Independent Baptist Cult: you will just get hurt again! You need to realize that there’s enough within you to turn your life around. I think you need to diligently work to purge your minds and your habits of the false doctrines of men that this man has taught as the commandments of God. You need to seek God’s help in freeing yourself of all the hurt, all the lies, and all the hostility that you bought into while you were part of that cult. WIth an open mind, YOU need to seek the Lord, read the Bible for exactly what it says, NOT for what you’ve been told it says. You need to admit your mistakes and move on. God is real and he really is not the way Raynes has presented Him. I don’t care how much he’s preached against you, how many people have gossiped about you, or how disgraced and humiliated Larry Raynes and his cult made you feel: ignore, shun, avoid, repulse all those who continue to follow the cult. Some people will never change and if you associate with them, they will only hurt you. If you try to convert them, you risk being sucked into their disgusting psychological games. If you tell them anything about you it will be repeated as poop in their prayer group. They don’t care about you, they just want some poop to spread in the cult. Leave them alone. Don’t talk to them. If they come to your house, send them away. You are NOT strong enough to fight them at their sick games. MOVE ON. Find God. Find your purpose in life and do it. In that way you can glorify God.
To those interested in the Phil Kidd / Larry Raynes blowout: Just forget about it. In my opinion, the only thing that makes Phil Kidd worthy of any more esteem than Larry Raynes is that he had the balls to confront Larry Raynes publicly, exposing him for the sham that he was and probably still is. Just by providing an open forum where people could say what they think and tell what they know, Phil Kidd was used (probably by God) to destroy Larry Raynes and Pleasant View Baptist Church. Everyone was allowed to know what Larry Raynes was trying to hide and cover up. Everyone learned that neither the pastor nor the church had anything to do with God. But still, do not let the fact that I commend Phil Kidd for ending the horrific reign of Pope Larry mislead into thinking that I in any way support Phil Kidd.
To the rest of you who want to read those articles I posted concerning The Village: What happened at Pleasant View Baptist Church, No, I will not repost those articles. If you want to read them, go to Google and click the “cached” link. I am almost completely recovered from Larry Raynes and Pleasant View Baptist Church so I have no desire to go back over all that stuff again. And - one more thing: I will not respond to your emails, and I will not post your comments. So either get a life and get interested in something else, or just go away.
Best regards,
Bruce