Money in ministry: A re-post on Amway Quixtar worth reading...

It was the subtitle that grabbed me: "Former Federal Auditor and High Ranking Amway Distributor Documents and Exposes Global Consumer Fraud". An Emerald Direct distributor with a worldwide business had written a book and started a grassroots movement to, as he puts it, 'drop a house' on the deception that is Amway. (Read the press release here.)

There had been exposes of Amway before, but 'fraud'? Perhaps I just hadn't wanted to admit it. You see, we had been successful Amway distributors a few years ago, pouring all our time, loyalty, heart, soul and money into the promise of financial freedom. And we built a relatively large business for our time and location (although nowhere near as a big as this chap's). Then we spent a few years knowing that something was wrong, and then progressively weaning ourselves from 'the Business'. We now know that we were withdrawing ourselves, unaided, from a cult.

You might wonder - but only if you've not been involved seriously - why this story is in a Christian blog. The answer is, I'm sorry to say, that Amway is inextricably linked with evangelical Christianity. Download the book - it's free at the moment - and Ctrl F to list the 51 times that 'Christian' appears. Here's the first time, in the endorsements at the beginning:

Far too often Evangelical Christians have remained silent or ignorant when it comes to abuses within its own ranks. Little is said about abusive pastors, or cultic churches. Even less is said about helping victims of cults or spiritual abuse. Such things rarely come up on anyone's missions committees, or any committees as a worthy cause. It would be unheard to even dream that the great Christian businessman such as Rich DeVos may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Yet that is exactly what Jacob's contends. His experience in Amway is compelling evidence that Amway is abusive.

John P. Jacob's Merchant's of Deception masterfully and prophetically exposes this system of serious abuses in Amway and Quixtar. Jacob spells out a modern day tragedy the promise of financial success, the subtle conditioning to achieve such success, the inability to gain the wealth promised, the ensuing blame and guilt management lays on distributors for not making it, and then the incredible high cost to achieve the false promise (i.e., 100 hr. work weeks, exhaustion, financial ruin, depression, etc.)

Concurrently, Jacob gradually realized that Amway and all its related enterprises was a program of lies, deceit, false promises, moral blackmail, and possible criminality at the top levels.

For John Jacob, possession of this truth was dangerous, it was possible (sic) life threatening. In sum, John Jacob in Merchants of Deception was a victim of a type of social influence that I have commonly seen over the last 17 years in my full time practice with victims of destructive cults.

In spite of several serious reports of death threats John Jacob refused to be silenced. Typically, the church unknowingly reveres the abuser and discredits the victims. Yet the mission of the church is the opposite. It's mission is to silence the ''Wolf" and mend the "Sheep." not silence the 'Sheep" and feed the "Wolf". In Jacob's case Christian publishers nearly succeeded in silencing the sheep by refusing to publish his book!!! Jacob's Merchants of Deception should serve as a wake up call to those is the church who are unwittingly feeding the wolves!! His book is a must read. It is a call to action.

Paul R. Martin, Ph.D.
Psychologist and Director
Wellspring Retreat
A Rehabilitation and Retreat Center for those recovering from spiritual abuse and cultic affiliation

I have read enough of the book to tell you that it is factual. (We know many of the names, even the disguised ones.) For anybody who got to the Direct level and beyond, and are no longer involved, it is likely to be disturbing. Not the least because of the money side of the business. From the press release:

For those who have not read the book, it's the chilling portrayal of the process by which intelligent people "reach for the stars" year after year in Amway or Quixtar, while 'Kingpins' reach for their wallet, systematically bilking their downlines of tens of millions of dollars through a hidden business which MSNBC Dateline called a "dirty little secret".

We have a duty to warn our loved ones, our friends. Please email me if you need help.