Position Statement on Sound Doctrine Ministries

By Nathan A. Randall

I became aware of Sound Doctrine Ministries about two years ago, when I learned that a friend of an acquaintence had recently joined the organization named David Becker. I asked for information regarding Sound Doctrine from others on message boards, and subsequently found people familiar with Sound Doctrine. In December 2003 I started a yahoo message board for ex-members of Sound Doctrine Ministries called “Investigate Sound Doctrine”. This message board was designed to facilitate communication among those who were fearful to discuss their experiences in Sound Doctrine. I later created a public yahoo message board called Investigate Sound Doctrine II. I have spoken with numerous individuals who claim to have been victimized by Sound Doctrine and its leaders.

Sound Doctrine Ministries is, in my opinion, a cult. (See the following link to my web site for a more detailed explanation of why I believe this) http://www.geocities.com/natedawg1604

One classic cultic activity is supression of negative criticism. In march of 2004, Sound Doctrine opened up a small section of their message board to the public. I posted a question about their bylaws, and another individual posted a question regarding the thelogy and practices of Sound Doctrine. Shortly after these two questions were posted, Sound Doctrine first deleted some of the postings and then shut down the public section of the message board entirely. In May of 2005, Sound Doctrine created a new web site, www.antisd.org. The front page of this site reads, in part:

Over the years, there have been numerous attempts by others to build an "anti-Sound Doctrine" website or set up message boards to "investigate" Sound Doctrine Ministries. However, these have all suffered from highly unscriptural standards, shoddy research, inaccurate information, and lazy design. Inevitably, they have turned out to be nothing more than breeding grounds of gossip and slander, and magnets for anyone with a personal ax to grind.(1)

This new web site contained a message board for the apparent purpose of 'properly' criticizing Sound Doctrine. I signed up for this message board, and posted a message challenging the aforementioned statement. In this post, I stated that (1) Sound Doctrine has a private message board only for church members, so how could they criticize me for having a private message board? Secondly, I stated that Sound Doctrine has previously erected a 'public' message board and then subsequently deleted postings they didn't like. In my public message board, no messages were deleted and anyone was and is allowed to register. This message was then posted. An hour later, my message was deleted and my account with the message board was deleted. Sound Doctrine then changed the requirements for registration, so that anyone wishing to register for this new 'public' message board must submit their name, address, phone number and picture. It seems logical to conclude that Sound Doctrine must have something to hide, if they refuse to let people publicly ask questions.

Another common cultic behavior occurs when publicly taught doctrine conflicts with the actual practices of the group. For example, Sound Doctrine admonishes people to 'hate money'. A Sound Doctrine Tract entitled “Despising the Dollar” states

“The man who does not hate money is not a christian. The church goer who does not despise money will not go to heaven”. (1)

A search of court records reveals several Sound Doctrine members have recently filed for bankruptcy, including Timothy Williams and Athena Dean/Winepress Publishing. Public Bankruptcy filings indicate Timothy Williams owed $31,365.36 in credit card and consumer debt, including $14,199.00 on 2 discover cards as of January 28, 2003. (2) Winepress Publishing has had numerous problems with the IRS. For example, Court records show Winepress to owe $114,000.00 to the Washington State Deparment of Revenue. (3) The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries and the Washington State Deparment of Revenue filed Warrants against winepress for unpaid taxes. (4) The IRS also filed a Federal Tax Lien against Winepress on July 4^th, 2002 for $85,142.31 with the King County Auditor. It would seem difficult to believe an organization with these types of problems truly does “hate money”. In summary, my research to date has found Sound Doctrine to meet numerous criteria of a cultic organization. I would encourage others to search out the truth for themselves regarding this matter.

-Nathan A. Randall

(1) All quotes from Sound Doctrine web sites or publications are cited pursuant to the “Fair Use” Doctrine. See 17 U.S.C. § 107.

(2) Bankruptcy Petition; United States Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Washington. In re: Timothy Williams, Case No. 03-11082

(3) Bankruptcy Petition. United States Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Washington. Case No. 03-11085-KAO

(4) King County Superior Court, case Nos. 03-2-03757-5 & 03-2-03544-1