Throughout the 1980’s as Xenos continued to grow, it was not without both a seriously cautionary amount of inner controversy and outer tension that we must note. It’s uneasy incorporation as a church brought with it all the complexity and challenge that goes into running a non profit corporate body such as an ecclesiastical institution. Among the many necessities it mandated was the designing and building of a church campus for Xenos members who were marrying, beginning families of their own and who began to require the kind of church congregational structures that it’s iconoclastic small group setting could no longer provide. The very thing which Xenos had decried for years was now something they had to invest in, an irony seemingly lost on them except when the inevitable conflict erupted between different factions over how the church was to be built, a long and exhausting struggle that all of the church’s apparent devotion to close relationships didn’t seem to mediate. This factionalism festered into the 1990’s where it would become part of a major split in Xenos. But even these growth pains, however, became overshadowed when the first public charges of cultism and extreme practice among Xenos began to surface and be documented.
A 1984 Columbus Dispatch newspaper article was published that critically examined Xenos’ discipling practices and contained charges by area ministers about how disturbingly extreme they’d become. The now defunct Cult Awareness Network (CAN) became involved and provided further investigative services that detailed a prevalence of abusive practices there. With such painfully glaring outrages reported by CAN and local ministers in the media, these charges couldn’t be glossed over or ignored by Xenos’ leaders, and their response to this unpleasant episode, as revealed by an online history, was quite telling and bears quoting in full:
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Xenos elders got feedback from the network and from area pastors before launching an internal inventory that uncovered a number of incidents involving cult-like behavior. In response, the leadership launched numerous reforms. Training was dramatically increased. The elders reasoned that leaders lacking knowledge might rely on pressure instead of persuasion. That could lead to some of the bossiness evident in some groups. The elders also went back over all their training materials to root out statements that could be misinterpreted as condoning the controlling of members. They also convened several re-evaluation meetings with existing leaders to rethink their philosophy of ministry, including the possible overuse of church discipline.
It’s noteworthy to see how Xenos conducted itself here and how much of a template for the future their reaction then would become.
First Xenos stated that their internal investigation “uncovered” instances in which “cult-like behavior” was occurring within their movement. They frame the narrative as if they were blithely unaware of what was going on, which is certainly an unacceptable form of deceptive dialogue. Secondly, they made no attempt to substantially clarify what these abuses were, who was involved and made no other reference to the substance of the charges. And thirdly, they resort to a cunning revisionism about their past over any kind of Christian repentance that should have been done by all leaders involved when this wrongdoing was discovered. While Paul the apostle writes in 2 Corinthians 7 of the passionate and heartbreaking remorse over sins found in the ancient Corinthian church by its members that resulted in their open cry of congregational repentance, to Xenos, their “pressure” issue was just a simple bit of misunderstanding which their “reform” more than adequately addressed. And their efforts were a re-training of leaders and re-evaluation of their curricula by what was essentially an effective sanitizing of their writings and history in plain sight!
The only details Xenos provides is a downplaying description of “bossiness evident in some groups”, a reference to their home group ministries that was a “controlling of members” and the “possible” misusage of what they called “church discipline.” But, Xenos reassured readers of it’s self-representations, it was all taken care of by a “rooting out” and “retraining.” That’s all that a well written bit of damage control needed to address. And nothing was said about any attempt by Xenos elders or leaders to provide healing or care for those impacted by the religious abuses, outrages or damages that were certainly incurred. If Xenos was to be believed, these “cult like practices” were just a shot in the dark, an odd yet bloodless anomaly they could quickly move on from. Indeed, there’s nothing mentioned that shows that Xenos learned anything from what was quite obviously a massive failure by its leaders to provide basic pastoral care and shepherding vigilance over their flocks in a time of acute crisis.
This self-absolving false humility is a pattern of behavior that Xenos has resorted to again and again as the years went by. Their concern is for polishing their corporate image and there isn’t any sense of responsibility or identification with those their corporate jackboots had kicked around. The towering and arrogant contempt displayed here by an elitist authoritarian leadership too ready to move on beyond responsibility is beyond grotesque. The incident demonstrated beyond all question where Xenos would proceed when responding to those outside it’s religious hothouses who would question what it does. This is the playbook of spin doctoring for any questionable movement in handling controversy and Xenos’ pride over being such eloquent scribes of “truth” surely must have swelled further. This has been their pattern of response ever since as seen in the recent response of XD to the NBC investigative reporting that brought you here. Take a listen to this self absorbed and caustic sniping set forth by an unidentified Xenos leader that can't be dignified with the word "preaching", unless you want to call the raving of upset partisans who were found out that very thing.
This public commitment by Xenos leadership to redefining legitimate criticism of its actions as Satanic attack contributes to their ongoing evasion of accountability and top-down hierarchical control. This is what likely led to a massive disillusionment with them in the early to mid 1990’s at a time when the church’s new campus was being built. It had become a megachurch in keeping with the McCallam and Delashmutt vision of a renewed Christian faith and ethos. However, for all of their lofty declarations, the beautiful dream was ravaged by ugly facts. Well over 1700 people would leave Xenos as a result of church frictions that were no doubt inflamed by the highly questionable quality of governance which had been displayed during the 1984 “cult” crisis; it was inevitable that the organization would be ultimately impacted.
Even though their devotion to family life programming, Christian world missions, apologetics and Christian education became new emphases which they launched and continued, Xenos never forgot their neverending emphasis of small group intimacy and engagement of college students continued even if at a lower key that would a few years later dramatically redouble as new growth. This new growth occurred by a new emphasis of the “ministry house” concept that continued to provide great carrots for a lot of Xenos’ sticks in recruitment of new prospects for Xenos’ agenda. And despite their loss of thousands of members in the last decade of the twentieth century - a story in and of itself - Xenos managed to stabilize its growth efforts and now, in 2022 remains at a plateau of about 5000 people. This growth as we have seen has hardly been a healthy surge of new life as Xenos loves to characterize it, with so much questionable about it. Yet it never stops them from claiming their growth is a sign of God’s favor upon their doings.
And their self-inflated belief that the trouble they bring upon themselves is obviously not for any fault of their own continues to fortify their delusion: they would do well to remember what McCallum has noted in his own writings about this very thing:
.. These masterpieces of deception have shaped the non-Christian world’s view of Christianity to a saddening degree. Believers will have difficulty understanding why some non-believers feel such hostility and scorn for the church if we fail to learn what they know about “Christian” misbehavior and foolishness. .. A surprising percentage of Christians go so far as to defend, minimalize or excuse past wicked actions, thus further implicating themselves and Jesus in the evildoing. .. Christians should learn about church atrocities and denounce them firmly. (Satan And His KIngdom, p 77)
Our work here is just our attempt to help Xenos / Dwell do that very thing.
The Existential Deception Of The Xenos Heresy
I have mentioned that despite it’s professed passion for Christian truth that the XD organization can be called heretical, or socially and spiritually divisive and out of conformity with the very principles it purports to advance. Such division is a confusing and damaging worldview that can truly be called heresy, a word we deliberately choose here to describe the group’s elitist and exclusive agenda which has judged all other Christian bodies as inferior to their own and which militates with recruits to leave them behind and join with XD. This blatant proselytizing is not uncommon in what I have come to call the Cultworld, the culture of culture and world of worlds where dangerous cultism is the operative principle. Cultism can and does appear more Christian than anyone else and prides itself as able to sing hymns, make confessions of faith and shape more lives than most modern churches.
I have beheld this throughout my entire career as a Christian minister and pastor (You can read our other articles here about what's been seen). Within cultism today, there are countless examples of “churches” that proudly embrace their own positions that at first glance lead you to believe that they are indeed bastions of sound doctrine and practice. Their energy and mission seems quite legitimate. And yet one of the most disturbing axioms about deception I’ve heard sweeps this kind of casual observation aside as one realizes that “the most dangerous lie is the one that most closely resembles the truth.” Such is the heresy of Xenos, whose existence is a testimony to the power of division leveraged by abuses that are easily as deplorable as those committed by other abusive churches.
There are plenty of these counterfeits in the Buckeye state like the Gladstone community, the International Churches of Christ and Remnant Fellowship as well as groups like the New Apostolic Reformation, the Unification movement, the Watchtower Society and the Mormon Church. All profess cardinal Christian truths through their media, example and teaching all the while understanding from a “hidden doctrine” point of view that their public belief and practice has self-serving application hidden from outsiders. All happily have found niches there - as in the rest of our country. And all enthusiastically advocate their divisive agendas as cutting edge Christian mission and focus their attentions on Christian church members to draw them away after their own siren songs.
The divisive and damaging heresy of Xenos / Dwell, simply put, is not chiefly doctrinal whatsoever but is primarily identifiable by their practical lifestyle.
Read it again: this is the takeaway of this article
The divisive and damaging heresy of Xenos / Dwell, simply put, is not chiefly doctrinal whatsoever but is primarily identifiable by their practical lifestyle.
The evils of XD aren’t as much in its theology but in its society. That’s not to say XD is free from laboring under questionable doctrinal issues but it’s heretically divisive presence is most recognizable in how it glosses over the personal violation and injury that regularly occurs there. These oppressions occur quite invisibly among the fellowship’s many social structures in the name of “discipling” and of course are virtually a secret to those outside XD. Within the innumerable and hidden venues of XD socialization, verbal abuse leading to religious abuse regularly occurs which is regularly overlooked.
Such concealment is virtually assured to those who don't regularly involve themselves with XD. That would especially include include many stars of the larger Evangelical firmament such as Ben Witherington, D.A Carson, Grant Osborne, John Perkins and Crawford Loritts who have chosen to commend XD’s work as a cutting edge "church." XD makes much of it's place citing the cooperative ventures such men - and women - from the local community as well as the larger Christian culture outside of Columbus that are supposedly a sanction of their legitimacy and of course, orthodoxy. With this kind of affirmation in place, the abusive history regularly occurring among XD social circles is thrust even deeper into a silence and secrecy that has existed for too long.
This ready association by Evangelical leaders with Xenos' work reminds me of the overwhelming acceptance of the apologetics work of Ravi Zacharias by virtually the entire Evangelical world and the accolades he accepted as one of the greatest apologists of the 20th century .. until the fit hit the shan about his secret and shagnasty life as a sexual predator that he kept well away from the spotlights on his storied life. I suspect a bit of reflection by these same Evangelical stars, who I deeply respect, concerning their ongoing involvement with XD is direly needed. One of the truly lamentable sins of the Evangelical movement is our desire to rally around heroes who look the part. We want to believe someone’s credentials and thought provoking work without doing a lot of digging. In the case of XD, where there’s smoke there really is, under the smolder, a very livid fire. I’d suggest to all these men - and women - to listen up and start doing their diligence - the world you want to reach is watching if you identify with the flocks of the Lord or hirelings who treat them hideously.
The spiritual bullying and oppression that is quite common in XD has arisen out of an unbelievably intrusive misapplication of their teachings on relational or “organic discipleship” as they call it. Their “every member ministry” foundational belief is presented as a recovery of lost truth about the true nature of the Christian faith which is to be replicated through small group ministry where all professing Christians are to take their place as disciplers of one another and as part of the movement’s efforts to evangelize and plant home churches. While this perspective on Christian faith is hardly original to XD and has been used by many churches in one way or another for the past 500 years (such as in the early Methodist movement), there has been ample occasion for abuses of power and a crushing inequality of relationship using this model among Xenos leaders for decades. And most of the bad press that they’ve received has been for what is known is going on just within their young adult discipling circles. For decades, this ill treatment of XD members by leaders has been trickling down and so tolerated within the larger and older Xenos constituency to the point that it’s just considered “normal.”
The amount of intellectual busywork Xenos has put in to framing their convictions on this has resulted in scores of books, innumerable hours of preaching, lectures and teaching and the endless restating going on in position papers and leadership training courses. All of these focus sharply on providing an exhaustingly methodical intentionality in the creation of intimate relationships within XD social circles and it’s impossible to overstate how obsessed with this unifying principle they are. It’s within these contexts that the overlap of personal connections, especially those in ministry house settings, that frequent incidents of unacceptable forms of negatively cruel behavior characterized as “Christian formation.” For all of their doctrinal and theological precision about the necessity for intimate koinonia, or deep spiritual fellowship, to lead believers into spiritual maturity, XD’s utter silence on their readiness to employ harsh, shaming group dynamics or personal criticism is something they obviously never quite let on.
The Original Sin Of The “Aliens”: Why Xenos Is No “New Testament” Church
While having revelled in it’s self-imposed and grotesquely romantic notion that it is a community of “aliens and strangers” (drawn from the vivid New Testament imagery of Ephesians 2:19), Xenos / Dwell misses the mark of Christian perfection it has set by a country mile. Perhaps the gravest failure Xenos has fallen into has been the absence of genuine compassion and love for it’s own struggling membership as seen in its vicious treatment of members who fail their group standards whether through sin or just plain weakness. This is by far the most onerous and disturbing thing to have to say about a "church" when it falls away from this kind of “first love’, but it is none other than Jesus Christ Himself minced no words rebuking the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:4 for having done just that. We can only bear testimony to His censure here that XD falls directly under.
Love, Scripture reveals in Romans 5:5 and in 1 Corinthians 13 is a divinely bestowed grace of God that all committed believers, regardless of their maturity, receive from God and is meant to enable them to lift up those around them in a pure manner that helps restore, heal and bless them. The apostle Paul’s admonition in Galatians 6:1 wasn’t a suggestion: he commanded the “spiritual”, those mature in the faith in the Galatian church, to stand ready to offer a path of restoration for those caught up in sin through a humble and gentle approach to them. And certainly, the gentle spirit the mature discipler should bring to the altars of restorative discipline can only be energized by God’s love - not the fickle, impatient species of “sloppy agape” meted out by Xenosian “reconciliation.” That has, for too many Xenos members over fifty years of operation, not what has met their situation, as painfully recounted by this former member:
X (her discipler) still argued that I was selfish in focusing on the shitty way people had treated me and that not being the real problem. That’s the real motherfucking problem. My initial withdrawal stemmed from the lack of support from my “friends” who ended up being hypocrites. So when X told me that the only thing she had to offer me in friendship going forward was that she’d think of me when God placed me on her heart, but other that that...well that was it. And that’s not acceptable as a friendship. Doesn’t even come close to meeting my working definition of friendship. Sixteen years of friendship...flushed down the fucking toilet.
The position that this former member sets forth is that all of the grandiose posturing Xenos makes about it's doctrinal commitment to mentoring Christians is pure baloney. The abrupt dismissal from her discipler's memory or concern is clearly not one of XD's success stories that will show up in a recruitment video. It's not something middle school and high school students are aware of, much less their parents, but who will find people like this "discipler" knocking themselves out to persuade them to consider XD events. Situational ethics and conditional affection are what this former member found meted out as needed by disinterested and calloused disciplers. The “friendship” ended with a typical expression of Xenosian “positive regard”, a reminder that the discipler would think of the former member when God put the memory there, and no other time. This kind of petty vindictiveness is found in schoolyards among prepubescent teens and yet it’s what passes as “love” in the Orwellian world of Xenos where war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Love in Xenos is readily redefined as a cruel grudging of barely concealed intolerance, and is certainly a grossly flawed aping of the character of God's Spirit who seems to be anywhere but in the average Xenos discipler or leader charged to correct in His love .. not theirs.
And this is hardly one aggrieved and isolate case. Hundreds of testimonies exist relating this same terrible climate still exists in XD. That such shameful riptides of hateful extremism are just routinely accepted as normal in a place where love is supposed to be expressed is perhaps the foundational error of Xenos / Dwell. Decades ago, when the first Xenosian disciple was found caught up in failure or sin was verbally pistol whipped and objectified as a spiritual loser and instrument of Satan, that was when XD lost it's integrity and functions as nothing more than a great, self-oiling religious machine ready to grind all who don't fit into its' gears into hamburger. That is their original sin. Xenos despises the imago dei, the image of God in all the people under their control and cruelly conditions them to become robots. For all of it's theological "purity", it takes the place of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual lives of its members and imposes a hierarchy of dictatorial authoritarianism upon them to master their lives. Where is the love, really?
In the sharpest contrast, listen to what part of 1 Corinthians 13 says and read for yourself just how vital this Godly love, given by God by His Spirit, should be in the lifestyle of Christians grappling with a difficult and challenging world:
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [b]puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.
Without this kind of ardent grace in the heart, mind and soul of the professing Christian, according to verses 1 to 3, their professed spirituality is worthless if not completely counterfeit. If they resist this foundational reality in their lives to the point that it doesn’t change their behavior or treatment of those around them, then they wallow in a spirituality stinking of carnality, materialism and self-righteousness calling their faith into serious question. How can you claim to love the fallen world order and hate the struggler in the ministry house pne bunk over? Their spirituality is empty and their connection to God would seem to be tragically nonexistent. Don't shoot me. I just tell you what I see and what the Bible says.
A respected Christian apologist and scholar I have known for years, Dr. James Bjornstad of Cedarville University, shared with me that when he and another well known authority on cults, the late Dr. Paul Martin visited Xenos years ago on a fact finding mission regarding it’s activity, they noted the cold and often sharp manner in which McCallum treated their congregants as they interacted conversationally right in front of them, causing Martin to remark that “he’s (Dennis) got it pretty tight here” (personal phone call 2/25/22 with Dr. Bjornstad). Dr. Martin’s observation was that McCallum’s treatment of his church members was a revealing glimpse into just how browbeaten and controlled by ill temper that Xenos members would expect to be by their leaders. Such treatment is plain evidence that the kind of Spirit-bestowed divine love and preference Christians should show for others isn’t found in Xenos very easily, if at all. Therefore, by the standards of 1 Corinthians 13 and what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23 about those who claim to know God and have done great things for them yet who fail to live in a truly loving way toward others, it’s hard to conclude anything else but that Xenos / Dwell has been weighed and seriously found wanting by the Word of God.
Let’s just leave this here with the thought that in the day of Judgment, I wouldn’t want to be Dennis McCallum or any of the goon squad elders and house leaders of Xenos / Dwell who failed this most basic test of Christian integrity.
The Christian educator Dr. Larry Richards helpfully observed that the term “hidden curricula” decades ago is where the real influence in Christian learning settings occurs wherever they occur. The hidden curricula is all the social and spiritual influences brought to bear by teachers and disciplers that are usually unspoken, unintended and not easily perceived but which are the most transformative of all as another educator, Dr. Perry Shaw well states:
The hidden curriculum is subtle but is in fact far more powerful than the explicit curriculum, as the messages we communicate through how we teach embed themselves deeply within the psyches of our students and influence their attitudes, motivations, and behaviors in a way that our words rarely accomplish. .. the hidden curriculum always overrides the explicit curriculum. .. Consequently we ignore the hidden curriculum at our own peril. The hidden curriculum is pervasive..
In other words, a church institution will assert a written or scribally defined position or value on a given subject but the actual personal and communal influences among them model a reality quite the opposite of the ideal. The discipled then come under a far more formative power through the oral and social interaction of the discipler and the written values come to be redefined. What you read and are even told is subject or even negated by what you experience and the social influences become the real way some one learns what the real positions and values are.
This pedagogical principle is hardly just some dry educational theory but a powerful insight into the power of XD’s damage and abuse. Using a hidden curricula of unspoken rules and unspecified religious pressures to drive members, XD compels largely young and impressionable college students into a slavishly compliant submission to the authority of their disciplers who are hardly much older than they, with life experience not much greater than their own. This likely occurs quite regularly in older Dwell social settings as well since the fellowship has institutionalized this imbalance for years. Such indoctrination is a harsh reality in XD and in other cultic movements. The true values of XD - that unthinking obedience to a dominant person's snap judgment of your life is a Christian virtue, among others - are then modeled by these unstable leader figures and "caught" by student disciples by socialization.
The twisting of the BIblical values supposed to be underlying them is what is really "taught" and this is the warped power of XD's "hidden curricula". When McCallum insists that all Christians have a hand in discipling those around them, he completely ignores the plain fact that all who are church leaders are to be mature and established in their personal integrity and temperament and “not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.” ( 1 Timothy 3:6). Despite the need to ensure such maturity should be present in the life of a church leader, XD presses on with it’s mechanical discipling operation, with little to no regard for how errant such leadership can be and actually has been. It foolishly and arrogantly continues to make it's abusive control the Big Idea meant to be "caught" by those being "taught."
This kind of damaging divisiveness that turned newer disciples into pawns on the Xenos board of worldview chess has been going on for decades, It is why for many, the Xenos / Dwell organization should be considered a cultic movement, or at bare minimum an abusive church movement. Despite XD’s community advanced as a “non traditional” small group with Christian discipling models mandated by their interpretation of Biblical theology and relentlessly emphasized as the standard for truth, we have found something far more malevolent there.
Xenos / Dwell, in essence wields an organic oppression against its most vulnerable members who are almost entirely disenfranchised young people who have been conditioned to a passive obedience which an Evangelical theology covers Xenos’ antipathy for more traditional - and Biblical - varieties of Christian discipleship. Their establishment of a coercive community based on authoritarian manipulation by mind control and exploitation of their young adults’ faith and zeal can no longer be dismissed. It is an affront to the Christian liberty all believers are called to enjoy in responsible community for growth in the good grace of Jesus Christ which He intends all to enjoy.
Moving Forward: Light That Darkness Refuses To Comprehend
We would strongly commend the work of the website XenosIsACult.com for providing far more detail about the history, the work and the abuses of Xenos / Dwell. I first came across them a few years back but never have had the opportunity to connect with them until l ater last year in 2021. They have created a space on the internet where unfiltered and honest perspectives on the toxic culture that exists in Xenos have been shared. We owe an incredible debt to their work which has enabled us to help objectively measure just what kind of a place that XD really is.
It is one thing to visit, read books, watch videos and study position papers and hear that all is well within a group that has had a troublingly checkered past. But upon realization that there has been literally hundreds of testimonies by former Xenos / Dwell members who supply a decidedly alternate perspective upon the existence of the movement, you can readily see how important such a site can be. For a great share of insight upon their questionable doings, we recommend you visit the site and prepare to have your eyes opened a lot more. There’s no reason the wheel needs to be reinvented by much more writing I can offer as the site has done an outstanding job covering so much about the Xenos heresy that I recommend you visit them for more information.
Newer voices of dissent and avowed determination to call Xenos / Dwell to task for their abuses are fast emerging. Reddit and Twitter have long been the soapboxes of a variety of concerned people. A new website with companion blog named dwellchurchcolumbusisacult.com has joined the picket line of Internet based voices calling for Xenos / Dwell to open its eyes wider to its abuses (the site owner's story and a summary of their observations can be found here, and is one of the most probing critiques I've ever read of a cultic movement).. A YouTube channel is planned for the releasing of even more former member testimony by video by a small group of them. .
It’s important to remember as you consider where you stand on this that Xenos counts on their ability to continually rebuff, evade, deny and push back against any voice of dissent with their carnal behavior or any call for dialogue on their abusive ways. They do not stand and directly engage those who directly question them as it appears that they have no such moral fortitude (or “spine”) to be confronted by people not interested in their gaslighting. Their behavior is 
that of the fanatical Boston Red Sox fan Ben in the movie “Fever Pitch” who would clap his hands over his ears and wail syllabically to avoid hearing someone around him speak of the ongoing progress of his team’s baseball game. Xenos spin doctoring concerning some outrage relies upon their grotesque pretense that they can’t hear what’s being said because they’ve already released a paper or have a committee to address any issue. Nothing else is ever admitted to or addressed in any substantial and frank face to face exchange as equals with those who have legitimate grievances.
This state of affairs has continued for well over fifty years and championed by the heavy hands of McCallum and Delashmutt since Xenos’ inception. It’s a well known fact among Xenos / Dwell members that this is a tactic their senior leaders will sustain indefinitely, turning people back to PDF files or meetings filled with lower level leaders eager to keep toeing the group line for them.
We have little hope that Xenos / Dwell leaders will themselves submit to anything remotely resembling a face to face and direct dialogue which requires them to be made accountable to someone other than themselves. It would be swell if they would yield to the conviction of God’s Spirit as well as listen to the outrage of those they continually offend , a sign that there may actually be the presence of truly Christian character and moral courage within them to answer for their injuries. I’m not holding my breath but I will keep praying with thousands of others who have been interceding for this megachurch of manipulation to let God’s Spirit see them as he does (Ezekiel 34).
After twenty years of contention with Gwen Shamblin Lara, the leader of the Remnant Fellowship movement and seeing her own hardened heart only get stonier up to the point that her Cessna private jet fatally fell out of the sky in May 2021, I have no illusions about what these false shepherds in Columbus, Ohio will do. I will just commend them to the hand of God for His power to deal with them just as He has done up to and including the events in Smyrna, Tennessee. In our next two articles we will share how we got involved with Xenos and our attempts to engage XD.
I leave for them a final bit of Scripture they would do well to read and act upon personally, not in focus groups:
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.
Revelation 3:19
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The vision came unbidden,
That's a pretty tall tale to many, I'm sure. It's nothing I as a minister want to ever say about any church anywhere. I believe in the relevance and necessity of thriving churches as lights in our increasingly dark world. But it's a story you have to heed. I’m a preacher and those of my tribe use Scripture to tell the Story of stories - the Gospel of Jesus Christ - as part of our calling. And while this account of the aberrance of Xenos / Dwell is a story fifty years in the making, there is no absolutely no pleasure I take in telling it. There is no beauty in the narrative except the bleak, stark truth it contains about Xenos / Dwell , which has been involved in decades of questionable activity that the people of Columbus need to be aware of. But it must be told and the stories faithfully recounted by others for so much longer than I have should also be remembered.
In what is a Biblical parable of paradox, the apostle James posed in his New Testament epistle a prickly question: Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? (James 3:11). He asks his hearers to consider this illustration of a spring of water and how impossible it is for both good and bad tasting water to come from the same fount. He goes on to ask “Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?” Such an obvious question uses crop growth familiar to the audience James was writing to, pointing out that you cannot expect but one kind of fruit from its source, concluding that “Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.”
It will also become evident as this article is read that Xenos / Dwell’s loudly voiced claims of orthodoxy are largely in name only. Their hidden doctrinal agenda actually reveals a commitment to a unique form of it’s own form of home grown heresy (a word derived from New Testament Greek that literally means “division”). The church’s imbalanced approach to discipling actually divides Christians from one another in the most excruciating fashion by setting XD members up as examples of Satanic evil and rebellion. This reveals how Xenos / Dwell clearly has become a fouled spring of bitter water for a host of members and former adherents who have found its towering hypocrisy on doctrinal purity versus practical impurity as a state of affairs that is simply no longer tolerable.
OSU was at the center of the volcanic age of protest that rocked American college campuses over the Vietnam War, the draft and social injustices. Despite the tragedy of the Kent State shootings by Ohio National Guardsmen that left several students dead, the far more intensive contention actually was taking place on the OSU campus in 1970 with incidents like the Six Hour War. The massive outcry for revolutional change in American society was uppermost in the student body and was too often a perceived challenge to discipline and order by the college and local civic leaders. People were restless, dissatisfied and seeking change. The whole civic order was a barely concealed internecine warfare of unrest between traditionalists and radicals.
restless desire to bring to fruition their own ideals of a restored, renewed Christian faith that would shake the world.