NCCG Overview

"PATRIARCH" CULT LEADER

Christopher C. Warren has been described to me by several former members. My impression was that their descriptions of him resembled what experts describe as a "charismatic" cult leader. Some web links about this are:

http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/cprofile.htm

http://www.freeminds.org/Psychology/Cults/take-back-your-life-chapter-5-characteristics-of-a-cult-leader.html

COMPOUND DWELLING

NCCG has a small compound about 18.5 miles from Arvika, Sweden. It is in a fairly rural area, in an isolated location that is difficult to see from the main road. The compound was purchased in piecemeal, with the first sections being purchased in 1997. Residents on the property are varied in age, from small children to elderly, and children are home schooled within the compound. At least one of the residents may not be an NCCG member. The address published by NCCG is a post office box, Box 120, S-671 23 ARVIKA, Sweden. More information about the compound may be available, see the "exit counselors" link for details.

A diagram of the compound, taken from the cult's web site and rotated to an approximately correct compass orientation, is shown below:

POLYGAMY

The more deeply involved members of this cult, including Warren himself, practice polygamy (one man, multiple wives, with the man as the authority in the household). The extra marriages are not legally official within Sweden. Warren has fathered a number of children with the young women who live at the compound.

BIBLE KNOCK-OFF PUBLISHED

Warren is the primary author of a book named "The Olive Branch" that closely resembles a Bible. It's an obvious Bible "knock-off".

Grammar: Warren's writing emulates Early Modern English throughout the book (like the The King James Version Bible).
Organization: It does not use page numbers but "PWNC" and "Section" instead, which works the same as the Bible's "Book" and "Chapter"
Cover design: It has a very dark blue cover, almost black, with a texture that looks like a hardcover Bible. It has gold inlaid print on the front that says "The Olive Branch" where "The Bible" would have been.
Its page layout is double-column, very much like a Bible.
Its physical dimensions resemble a Bible
Its written content emulates the Bible, containing some of Warren's prophecies, revelations, historical accounts from the cult's history, rules, and similar.

The pictures shown below demonstrate some of the content and language use of "The Olive Branch" (and should be within the book's copyright permissions based on a stated word count maximum of 500 words). The text depicted in the images and quotes below is Copyright 1997, 1999, The New Covenant Church of God, B'rit Chahdashah Assembly of Yahweh, Box 120, S=671 23 ARVIKA, Sweden. URL: http://www.nccg.org | email: nccg@nccg.org.

THINGS WHICH HAVE NOT CHANGED OVER TIME

Warren's writing of large amounts of material related to NCCG.
Warren's claiming to have divine prophecies/visions/revelations (often received in the form of dreams), or sometimes other cult members' having them.
Warren's position as the functional leader of NCCG,
Warren's title of "Presiding Patriarch" within NCCG. He has also been called other titles, like "Lev-Tsiyon haEfrayim"
The display of large, colorful banners with cult-specific symbols at cult functions

THINGS WHICH CHANGED OVER TIME

The cult's beliefs about God.
The cult leader's titles for himself, not including "presiding patriarch".
The cult's name for "God" (IE: Yah'shua and Yeshua and Jesus) and other religious deities
The members in the cult other than Warren
The methods and means of evangelizing (internet vs. in person),
The country in which the cult is based (1984 -UK, 1988 - Norway, 1997 - Sweden)
NCCG's perceived "direction" from God
The cult's name.Some of the names used have been:

Messianic Evangelicals
New Covenant Church of God
New Covenant Christian Fellowship
Guds Nya Förbunds Kyrka
"Mishpachah Gan Lev-Tsiyon", supposedly meaning "Family of the Garden of the Heart of Zion" or "The Birth of Josephite Messianic Israel"
B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh
New Covenant Ministries
Chavurah Bekorot/The Holy Order
Restoration Christian Fellowship
Independent Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

CULT RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

At the time of this writing, NCCG could be broadly described as a messianic, prophecy, polygamy cult with many additional things. The cult leader has been inventing the cult's belief system by combining aspects of other religions and various concepts. This belief system changes from time to time. NCCG's religious beliefs always reflect the current decisions of it's leader, Christoper C. Warren.

Warren was apparently involved in the Mormon Church before starting NCCG. In the beginning, the cult maintained primarily Mormon beliefs, but that has since changed.

As of the time of this writing, these precepts are noteworthy:

there is a cultist living at the cult's compound, Sharon Harvey, who reportedly consults God and gives Warren answers to his questions.
Multiple Personality Disorder being induced in some cult members.
theophosticism
acknowledgment of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) as being real
demonic manifestation
illnesses being caused by demonic influence
persecution by supposed "satanists"

VISIONS AND PROPHECIES

Christopher C. Warren has a history of making prophecies and having visions and revelations that are supposed to be of divine origin, or, of having his cult members do it. Sometimes these prophecies, etc. attempt to predict the future or explain current events. Should these prophecies prove to be incorrect, he is often able to persuade members that the situation is acceptable.

CULT RECRUITMENT

At the time of this writing, NCCG brainwashes victims using the internet. This process usually begins with the victim reading portions of the cult's web site and becoming more or less hypnotized by it. The hypnotic state causes them to start believing things which normally they would not have (for example, they will begin to accept that Warren and certain cult members are prophets of God). Brainwashing can also involve internet chat and forum communication between the cult members and the victim. Some victims have been made mentally ill as a result of internet chat with the leadership of NCCG.

The cult's web site has an initial draw for victims because on the surface, it appears to contain Christian content. The less mainstream, non-christian beliefs are not brought to the attention of new recruits immediately, but will eventually be revealed through the recruit's thorough exploration of NCCG's websites or in the private cult chatrooms and forums.

Cult members/leadership have been known to adopt fake personas and misrepresent themselves in Instant Messenger chats to others. In the directly observed cases, the cultist would pretend in IM and email to be in need of some sort of rescue or counseling. At first she would pretend that the victims were talking her through her rescue/counseling problems and succesfully helping her. Then, the nature of the contact would change, and the cultist would pretend that the victims' attempts at counseling her were now failing. The intent was to induce stress in the victims and, ultimately, cause mental illness and instability. Then, in specific moments when the victims appeared to have been made mentally vulnerable, she would inject the cult's ideas and precepts into the conversation to try to gain undue influence.

The new recruit's behavior changes as the indoctrination and chatroom contact with Warren and NCCG members progresses. Some of the new characteristics are:

Changes in dietary habits - - recruit begins maintaining "kosher" eating habits, possibly in spite of any social or family friction this may cause.
Actively rejecting Christmas and other typical holidays, insisting instead upon celebrating holidays that will appear more in-line with Judaism.
Time spent using the internet may increase. The extra time may be due to extended conversations with individuals, or, communication in the group-at-once medium. Internet use may be rigid at certain days and times (due to attending internet cult sessions at pre-determined times).
May demonstrate a "Saturday Sabbath" observance pattern in which the recruit will refuse to do work, trading, or travel on Saturdays, possibly in spite of any social or family friction this may cause.
Disregard or disrespect for parents may increase (attitude: You're not really my parents").
Attitudes of recruits of both sexes may change to be more in-line with male chauvinism/polygamy. For example, a husband may begin to claim to his wife that the Bible gives him the right to have more than one wife in his family at the same time.
The recruit expects his or her family and friends to reject them due to their beliefs, while at the same time, an attitude of rejection toward them is being fostered through indoctrination. Parents may be vilified by the cult as having caused demonic influence to the recruit. The recruit will tend to begin isolating themselves from their biological family and non-cult friends, possibly including moving away from them.
The recruit may send money to the cult.
The recruit may receive directions from the cult regarding big changes in his or her personal life, such as ceasing contact with a friend or family member, relocation to a new residence, or terminating a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.
The recruit may come to believe that the cult leaders, above all others, "know what is best" for that individual, and feel driven to obey directions from them.
Some recruits may make plans to move to Sweden to live at the compound. In the past, this has most frequently involved a female recruit who was intending to become one of Warren's wives, but men have b
Women may begin to wear headscarves.
Recruits may be interested in making temporary visits to the compound in Sweden, most likely during the cult's declared holy periods.

GROUP INTERNET CHAT FOR CULT RECRUITMENT AND PARTICIPATION

The conversations within one of the cult's intended-private chat rooms was observed on a number of occasions ("Deliverance from Demons" on the former "groups.msn.com" messageboard/chat system). This chatroom was a clear example of what cult researchers call a "milieu control environment." For an explanation of this, see:

Some characteristics of this internet chat were:

Much cult discussion and activities were led by people using chat usernames "Community Moderator" (usually Christopher Warren) and "Female Moderator" (who was one of Warren's wives who lived at the compound);
Chat participants kept referring to Warren and the wife as "Dad" and "Mom", and it was extensive and repetitive. Warren and female_moderator were being treated as parent-like figures by chat participants.
When chat participants would describe their strange dreams and other mental phenomena, including those which resembled psychotic episodes or psychological problems, the cult would often say that they were being caused by demons.
Chat participants who do not follow what appears to be an expected path of accepting the determinations provided by Warren and others are ejected from the chatroom.
Young people who have relationships with non-cult biological parents were being coached to cut the relationships and cultural ties off.

Things which were seen to happen in either group internet chat or private Instant Messenger chat were:

"Deliverance sessions" were being performed in which the recruit was supposedly having demons ejected from their minds. Psychotic eposides in the person receiving the deliverance (called a "client") have happened to some victims as a result of these sessions.
Participation in an altered state of consciousness called "The Garden".
A dependent and controlling relationship between the cult member and the cult's leadership can be fostered through the cult's internet chat.

EXTREME VOLUME OF CULT RELATED WRITTEN MATERIAL ON CULT WEB SITE

This cult's web site contains a huge amount of writing authored by the cult leader. As a result of the sheer volume of material provided and its writing style, the information is difficult to absorb in a comprehensive, organized way. Some of this material is contradictory, even within the same piece of writing.

Some of Warren's self-contradictory writings are in regard to the more radical beliefs of NCCG, such as demonically-induced sickness. In effect, the extreme volume of writing plus the contradictions mean that it may not be possible to state conclusions about NCCG without Warren being able, at least superficially, to explain away the conclusions to cult members or others.