The Arresting Behaviour Of Brother Stair

    Shortwave radio preacher R G "Brother" Stair was arrested Thursday May 16th 2002 at his South Carolina commune. Heavily under fire for months on the Internet and Shortwave radio over allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls at the "farm," the fiery 69 year old is now seeing his international ministry unravel.

    As Internet bulletin boards instantly posted triumphant and jubilant commentaries from inarticulate and scripturally illiterate enemies of Brother Stair, I am saddened by his long developing fall from grace. Although Christian Media has known about Stair's impending disaster for months, we've chosen only to observe the action from the sidelines.

    The full story, with a scriptural analysis, is in the new 2 hour tape program Stair Wars: The True Story Of Brother Stair (see the online Christian Media tape index for details).

    Briefly stated, Brother Stair is implicated in more than sexual impropriety. Former members of what many are calling a cult have also accused him of providing herbs that induced spontaneous miscarriages (read abortions) in 2 young women that he had impregnated. Even more sordid is the accusation that more than one female victim has been infected with a venereal disease.

    As if that isn't bad enough, Stair opponents claim he sent husbands from the commune off to various projects in order to attempt a seduction of their wives. With the alleged victim count rapidly escalating and eyewitnesses coming forward, his arrest almost certainly signals the end for Brother Stair.

    Over the years, Ralph G Stair has been soundly criticized for clustering Christian believers on small, self-sufficient farming communes in several locations. This approach is ostensibly due to Stair's view that America is scheduled for utter devastation in a forthcoming nuclear war. Although we don't follow the communal approach, we can't find fault with this provisionist perspective.

    Indeed, some people are very comfortable with their lives structured in the fashion one finds on a commune. Although that way of life is not for everyone, others find it completely satisfying. In the wake of many publicized defections from Stair's farm, I have yet to document one person who wanted to leave Stair's farm that wasn't allowed to leave, or was being coerced into staying.

    That's not saying much as a common characteristic of cultic mind control is a continual programming that "convinces" followers their eternal souls will be in danger if they choose to break away from the control of the cult leader. This is the primary weakness of the kind of overt control one finds in a communal setting.

    Having been accused of being a cult leader myself, I can categorically state that the Godly course of leadership requires that the personality in control of a ministry is supposed to be Jesus Christ - pointed towards Him through the power of the Holy Spirit working through the agency of leaders and followers in a scripturally sound environment. This is but one of the reasons Christian Media has rejected the communal approach.

    Conversely, we've been told Stair's recorded messages were played on loudspeakers 24 hours per day at every place on the farm. That kind of Orwellian immersion is reminiscent of Jim Jones & the Guyana disaster at "Jonestown." It is also evident that verbal manipulation and the Hitlerian "divide and conquer" form of pitting members against each other is standard fare in Stair's spiritual arsenal.

    Apparently, the policy for entrance into Stair's way to heaven required the initiate to give everything they own in order to join the "Overcomer" group (the proper name of the ministry). Rather than seeing the classic cult pattern of enslaved followers that wanted to leave but couldn't, the opposite seems to be true.

    For example, former members have cited several examples of families that gave substantial sums of money to the 501(c)(3) federally sanctioned ministry, and then were maneuvered into leaving so Stair could make room for more "new" members that would, in turn, generate new endowments.

    In Acts 2:44, where we find a description of the first Christian commune, there is no provision for leaving the group with what you started with. Obviously, before committing to such a radical lifestyle, the scriptural imperative of "counting the cost" comes to mind.

    As a Shortwave radio prophecy teacher who has many enemies, I am deeply concerned at this turn of events - but not surprised. While Brother Stair has much to answer for, I can categorically predict that Satan will manipulate these events to seek to discredit those that preach the truth of impending judgment on America. Indeed, this is a classic tactic of the adversary as he will take the little portion of truth from Stair's doctrine and seek to distort it with the leaven that has clearly overcome the Overcomer ministry.

    While there are responsible Christians in the geographic area of the farm that are seeking to find ways to minister to those that physically live with Brother Stair, Christian Media hopes to focus on reaching Stair's radio audience with a balanced scriptural perspective on what has occurred.

    While the mainstream corporate counter-cult "ministries" are most likely salivating at Stair's de facto demise, many Christians that have been following Stair were not in error in many things they've come to believe. As Brother Stair repeatedly stated on Shortwave radio, America IS scheduled for a horrifying judgment in the near future.

    We should be preparing our hearts and our homes with spiritual (and physical) provisions for the epic battle that is just ahead. The Bible still tells the Remnant believer to "come out" of the Beast sanctioned whore of Babylon - the commercial religion of Christianity, Inc.

    The challenge before all of us is to truly hear the voice of the bridegroom - because in Mystery Babylon, that "voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all...." (Revelation 18:23). Apparently, the voice of the bridegroom, "the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), hasn't been heard at the farm of Brother Stair for quite some time.

May 20, 2002 -- James Lloyd

Copyright © 2002 Christian Media Network

See Also

Stair Wars

The Culting Of Christianity

The Skin Of The Serpent