Is It a Cult? - A Fellowship of Fear.

An Isolated social System

It's a social system bent on isolating itself from the world, from other Christians, and, sometimes, from a church member's family and friends.

"What you and I are involved in this fellowship, in any fellowship that is moving in the dimension of the spirit of God, it is in direct opposition to the religious community, in case you haven't realized that," Campo preached at a recent Bible conference, tapes of which were obtained by the Times. "And so why are you trying to make peace with all of them, when what you possess is a spirit of God? There is no way what you have can mix with what they have."

"You need to stand with righteousness, even if it's against your own flesh and blood," Campo said during another Bible conference sermon. Fellowship members become fearful of leaving; afraid to face what might await them on the "outside."

"You get the fear of thinking, 'Are our lives going to fall apart now that we're here, now that we're away?'" Trina Ragan said.

"They put such a fear into you at a young age," Richard Montes said. "That's way they clamp onto

young people. They put such a fear in you, especially those who are looking for something. You're afraid to take a stand, or to say, 'Hey, wait, I don't agree.' In fact, if you can say I don't agree, it says you're rebellious. That's why I left. I disagreed, and they asked me to leave."

Ross Ragan, husband of Trina, worked closely with Campo for several years. He said he thinks Campo might suffer from the same fear. "I don't think he knows what's right any more," Ragan said. "The bottom line is that he is just a very deceived person. He's trying to do what's right, but he's been deceived in the process, and he's a person that has taken a lot of people down with him.

"I think at some point he was able to see exactly what we saw, but was, again, faced with the fear," Ragan said. "Wouldn't dare came against his leadership to correct the problem"