A compelling memoir and account of the Independent Fundamental Baptist church and its shocking history of religious abuse.Jocelyn Zichterman was born, raised, married into, and finally, with her family, fled the Independent Fundamental Baptist church. Founded by the fiery preacher Bob Jones, with several hundred thousand members, IFB congregants are told they must not associate with members of … associate with members of other Baptist denominations and evangelicals, with an emphasis on secrecy, insular marriages within the church, a subservience for women, and unusual child raising practices.
In I Fired God, Jocelyn Zichterman systematically details the IFB’s disturbing history, exposing a cult-like atmosphere of corruption, greed, and abuse. Having been initiated into its innermost circles, Zichterman knows that the gentle demeanor America sees in the form of the Duggar clan on 19 Kids and Counting disguises the truth about the darker side of the church.
With written documentation and sources so thorough that law enforcement has used her work as a foundation for criminal prosecutions, Zichterman exposes the IFB with revelations including:
– The disturbing world of abuse within the IFB and doctors and teachers who cater exclusively to church members and fail to report physical and sexual abuse
– The IFB-controlled Bob Jones University, which issues degrees of questionable value while making vast sums of money for its founders
– The way the IFB influences politics on the local, state, and national level, and protects its abusive culture under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion
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I have read many books on religious cults, and this book was the most emotionally intense that I’ve ever read. My emotions ranged from sadness and fear to anxiety and anger over what she endured. Jocelyn’s willingness to share her experiences growing up in the IFB in order to help others trapped like she was, is nothing short of bravery. She also detailed the influence and political agendas IFB and other cults like them have. As the author points out, these cults “want freedom for themselves, not all.”
Pulls the reader into the disturbing world behind the scenes.
A book every American should read before choosing a religious practice or choosing one at all.
From reading Jocelyn’s book, I feel that I have a better understanding of
the Religious fundamentalists…and the political right wing. Jocelyn shows us
how easy it is to keep people (mostly women) programmed and controlled.
Eye-opener about the abuses of a so-called “Christian” cult!
Every American, at the least, should be reading this book. I’ve no words to describe how very appalling the truth she describes is. None. If you doubt her veracity I will tell you that the description of the Concord NH situation was reported pretty well in this state (NH). Just this week a similar incident from Utah was reported in New Hampshire as well – about an older but absolutely mirror image of Concord’s. We all keep hollering about “it’s for the kids”. We are either really ignorant or just plain hypocritical. People please read this…THIS matters for everyone. Truly. Cruelty on a grand scale sanctioned by all. Appalling is the best I can say. I hope the author and her family are well and at peace.
The author tells of her life in, then escape from, the International Fundamental Baptist church. Readers who don’t like dark subjects can skip this one, because the church is powerfully patriarchal and brutalizes its members, even the children (although the church calls this “punishment”or “discipline,” not abuse); there are even church- favored parenting books that tell for example, how thick a rod to use for each age of child; for example — a 1/4″ diameter stick for children under a year old, 1/2″ for children up to age six, etc. (size of stick is an illustration, not copied from the book). Another example — the author was very frequently beaten till her back was bloody and her brother (?) was beaten so severely that he never recovered and eventually died. And this is the mild stuff.
The author and her husband and children eventually escaped the cult.
A hard to read story at times given the nature of abuse. The author is brave to tell her story and does a service by exposing how some systems operate with the hope that others might be spared how she was treated. Man is bad, God is good.
Horrible what the children went through; however the book was a little too repetitive.
Excellent book! Emotional read.
Well written account of a religious cult.
An excellently written book, especially considering it is an autobiography/expose. The biggest fault with the book, is it really wasn’t made clear on the cover, that the book contained very graphic descriptions of animal and child abuse, including physical, sexual, and psychological/spiritual. While this was touched on in the preface, many people skip book prefaces. This is a surprising lapse, since the author talked about her own “triggers.” The graphic abuse starts within the first pages of the book, so there isn’t even any “warm-up” where a reader could see where the story was going. I probably would have skipped reading this book, if I had been aware of the graphic descriptions of abuse.
That said, for those who can wade through the abuse descriptions, this book is a very moving, very informative book. Every part of this book rings true. The author gives a deep description of “independent fundamental baptist cults” (which is a catch-all term the author created to describe churches with very similar beliefs that may use different terms to publicly describe themselves.) The author starts with her own childhood which was marked by horrific physical and psychological abuse, as well as some sexual abuse. Not only was she herself abused, she had to watch her siblings also being abused. The church system encouraged abuse, and turned a blind eye to even extreme abuse perpetrated by its members. As she got older, she was spiritually abused by church leaders. She details how favored members of the church, usually men, would be given a slap on the wrist for such horrific crimes as child rape, but their victims would be ostracized and forced to publicly confess their supposed role in the crime. She discusses how each church claims to be independent, but in reality is covertly part of an unofficial ring helping to hide criminals and victims from the police. She lists many well-known names in the Christian community and discusses how they are part of this system (Doug Phillips, Bill Gothard, etc.–many of whom have sense been publicly disgraced by their sexual immorality and crimes). The author discusses how herself, her husband, and her children were finally able to break free of cult beliefs and start a new life. Sadly, the cult refused to accept this and harassed them for years (presumably still harassing them), doing everything possible to tear them down psychologically and financially. The author talks discusses several other victims of the church, and what she does to help these victims. One part which I didn’t really understand was why she made a point of saying that if she had it to do over, to protect other children she would have turned in one of her brothers for sexually abusing her, but she didn’t say that about her other brother. This was strange since the brother she said she would turn in apparently never abused another child and is now deceased, while her other brother is a church leader, in a position to potentially abuse other children.
The author also describes the day when she “Fired God”, and it was a deeply moving moment, and not at all what I expected it would be.
The author spends the last chapter discussing how she thinks government needs to be involved with private schools and home schools, in order to prevent the horrific abuse she and others have endured. I am not sure why she thinks this would work, when throughout the book she detailed how the church purposely has members who were doctors (who did not report abuse or rape–even though mandated by law) and also members who were police officers who refused to investigate abuse cases or arrest perpetrators of abuse. While her detailed solutions may “sound” good, there is no reason to think that the cult wouldn’t just simply infiltrate psychologists or any other mandated reporter group dealing with children in these types of churches. And of course, child abuse does happen among non-church members and in public schools. “Sound” good solutions are often worse than no solutions, because they give the public the false impression that the problem has been solved. Undoubtedly, the real solution to the problem of child abuse and cults is far more complex, but the first step must be informing people of the problem, and the author has done a superb job in that regard.