RE: NB ~~~ The exes (no name of sender/s) sent MASS of information to the friends in mid-80s and 90's. My companion and I in Oregon got to read some of letters which the friends got.
That was how I finally located the Secret Sect. Through a mass mailing to some of the Oklahoma friends that some of my family received. I am so thankful to those who cared enough to send mass mailings!
Sequence of Events From:
www.tellingthetruth.info/history_articles/hiddenhis.phpIn the first decade following the turn of the 20th century: When the sect was getting off the ground in Ireland, much was written in the Irish newspapers about the group, their activities, conventions, preachers, teachings and manner of preaching. The agency to report most extensively on the group was a newspaper named The Impartial Reporter and Farmers Journal located then and NOW in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.
Four (4) miles from Enniskillen is Crocknacrieve, where the group's first large-scale annual conventions were held on the property of John and Sarah West. Long ago, the land, home and buildings changed owners; however, they are still standing and are being used by the present owners.
While the events that took place at the formation of the group were well reported in that day, over decades the historical aspects of the group’s formation have become somewhat lost, or perhaps in some areas, hidden. In the UK and Ireland especially, there were those who had grandparents present at the beginnings, so the history had been preserved orally to an extent, but in areas to which the early workers travelled, such as USA and Canada, only that version as those pioneer workers allowed was known generally. In some areas, there appears to have been a deliberate effort to hide the history of the early days, perhaps to support the notion that the “Truth” goes back to “the beginning”. Bolstered by the zeal of new converts and new workers, this new tradition managed to escape truth and become even more firmly established through the middle of the 1900’s.
Here's how it came about - Blowing the Whistle! Out with the Truth!1954: Doug Parker published a newspaper titled: Spiritual Fraud Exposed and thousands were circulated to the friends and workers.
1958: Religion Analysis Services, of Robbinsdale, MN (RAS) a counter cult agency, became aware of the 2x2 sect and printed an article in their magazine for Jan-Mar, 1958, called The Discerner (Vol II, No. 9, Pp 12-15), titled "Who are the Cooneyites?" by Roy Divers.
1977: William E. Paul printed a booklet titled: The TWO BY TWOS, Who are They? What Do They Believe? This was later republished under the title of: They Go about TWO BY TWO, The History and Doctrine of a Little Known Cult.
1982: Through the years, many encouraged Doug Parker to enlarge upon His manuscript Spiritual Fraud Exposed, and make it into a detailed, durable book. Eventually, he and his wife, Helen, a librarian, moved to England temporarily to research and gather data from the British Library and other sources in the British Isles. Following 30 years of researching the group, the book The Secret Sect by Doug & Helen Parker was published.
1983: Booksellers USA, of Richland, WA was formed in order to help distribute Parkers' book. They advertised in weekly newspapers throughout the States and the Canadian provinces, using words that left no room for doubt in the friends' minds that, "This book is about US!" Words such as: "workers, Nameless House Sect or Church; 2x2s; Cooneyites." The books travelled far and wide as friends ordered these books from BookSellers USA.
1984: The first time many of the American friends and workers learned about The Secret Sect was through the press in 1984. Some news reporters for the Coeur d'Alene Press (Idaho) attended the Post Falls, ID convention. The June 8, 1984, newspaper came out while convention was being held which contained two articles covering the reporters' experiences at the convention, critics' viewpoints and interview replies compared with information contained in The Secret Sect. The newspaper also gave a source where Parkers' book could be purchased locally. Word went like wildfire around the convention grounds and the newspapers sold like hotcakes. So did the books!
News about Parkers' controversial book trickled slowly to the East coast, about ten years behind the West coast. Many friends knew a book existed, but without knowing the name of it, were unable to locate copies. Some spent countless hours trying to locate it.
1985: A second article was published in Religion Analysis Services magazine, The Discerner, Vol XI, No. 9, Jan-Mar, 1985, Pp 9-11, "The Nameless Cult" by Ewald Eisele. A new section offering books and literature about the Two-by-Twos or Cooneyites turned up in their Catalogue of Books and Tracts Exposing Cults and Unscriptural Teachings in the Light of God's Word.
1989: Threshing Floor Ministries, Spokane, WA, (TFM) began researching the group in the early 1970's, and in 1989, TFM began providing the public with information about the group. They travelled to the British Isles for independent research in 1981, verifying much of what was later published in The Secret Sect. TFM laboriously obtained copies of the Impartial Reporter & Farmers Journal newspaper while travelling in N. Ireland, and combined them into a booklet. These news articles are frequently quoted in The Secret Sect and other books about the sect as well, but the articles are not cited in their entirety, nor is there a visual record of the actual news clipping. So TFM did a great service to the friends and workers by making readily available the Impartial Reporter & Farmers Journal newspaper articles; and TFM began to advertise them through mailings. Gradually, Threshing Floor Ministries became THE major source of information on the group in America, and today TFM is one of the largest archives of documents and evidence about the group.
Christian Research Institute of San Juan Capistrano, CA (CRI) became aware of the group, studied their doctrine and wrote up their 4-page opinion of the group, which can be obtained by request. CRI stated the group has many cultic elements and is unorthodox in its views of essential Christian doctrine.
MacGregor Ministries of Nelson, B.C., Canada received so many inquiries about the group that they put together a tract titled: The Cooneyites--The TWO BY TWOS--The Nameless Sect. Various Christian book stores around the country began stocking books about the group. Books turned up on the shelves of public libraries.
1990: After 8 years, another book was published: The Church Without a Name, under the pseudonym of David Stone. The following year, 1991, Grace & Gene Luxon published Has the Truth Set you Free. In Northern Ireland, Patricia Roberts published her book in 1990: The Life and Ministry of Edward Cooney 1867-1960. And in 1991 she published: Selected Letters Hymns and Poems of Edward Cooney 1867-1960. Miss Roberts is one of a group of friends who separated from the Two-by-Twos, or "Testimony" as it is sometimes called in United Kingdom, and remained loyal to Edward Cooney after he was excommunicated. They use the 1951 edition of Hymns Old & New and are loosely referred to as "Cooneyites."
More and more friends began to leave the group, protesting the hidden and covered up history and betrayal by the workers. Many wrote exit letters to friends and/or family explaining why they left. Some friends preferred to disregard the actual historical evidence that the group was less than 100 years old, preferring to believe what they had been taught concerning the beginning of the group; that it was from "the beginning" or started with Jesus sending out the disciples 2 by 2.
1990: The first quarterly newsletter was published, titled Forward Press, standing for Friends, Outsiders, & Rational Workers Against Religious Deceit. The newsletter was intended to be a support system and sounding board for those emotionally and spiritually drained by the Two-by-Two experience. Its purpose was to spotlight doctrine and deception and put pressure on the workers to be more responsible and honest. After 7 years, the Forward Press ceased to be printed, as of Dec. 1996.
1993: Research & Information Services, Sisters, OR (RIS) was formed with the goal of enabling people to investigate the historical evidence of the founding of this church and examine its doctrine in the light of the Scripture. To accomplish this goal, RIS began compiling an on-going list of the addresses of all the friends and workers and launched a mass mailing campaign. About this time, sporadic mailings also began appearing in various Canadian friends' mailboxes, from an unidentified source.
1994: Three more books were printed by Research & Information Services: Reinventing the Truthby Kevin Daniel; Search for the Truth by Lloyd Fortt; and Reflections, edited by Daurelle Chapman, consisting of 57 accounts written by individuals who left the group.
1995: Telling The Truth was formed as a resource center for information, documents and publications not available elsewhere. TTT started their Book Lending Library.
1996: Reflected Truth edited by Joan F. Daniel and The Church With No Name by Lynn Cooper both came off the press in 1996. Lynn Cooper published her book: The Church With No Name.
1996: In January, a Canadian woman placed the FIRST Veterans of the Truth (VOT) on the internet. The site was frozen and no modifications were made for several years. Then in 2008, the VOT was revived by a new Administrator and currently operates as: Veterans of Truth - Past and Present.
1996: In November, Research & Information Services (RIS) created a website that included photographs of the early workers. See:
workersect.org/1996: In July, the 2x2-Church List Serve was created using E-Mail. Within a year, there were over 100 participants in this discussion/support network. Within 2 years, there were (usually) upwards of 225 subscribers.
1997: Some of today's followers of William Irvine's Omega Gospel, nicknamed the Witnesses or Message People, contacted Telling the Truth. When the split in 1914 occurred, and Irvine and the other workers went their separate ways, there were some friends and workers loyal to William Irvine who also left. Wm Irvine kept in contact with his followers from Jerusalem from 1919 til his death in 1947, through letters, which are estimated to possibly total 5,000 letters. He wrote his followers more of the details of his Omega Gospel, as they unfolded to him. Copies of these letters have been circulated and passed down through generations, and most every adherent has their own collection.
1997: Telling The Truth (TTT) placed a website on the internet. Our URL is:
tellingthetruth.info A virtual archive of 2x2 information and home of the infamous: Basic Researchers Guide. TTT also maintains an extensive archive of information about the sect.
1997: Patricia Roberts published her book: Selected Letters of Fred Wood 1890-1986. And in 2000 she published: The Go Preacher Movement- An Anthology.
2000: Ex-worker Willis G. D. Young, a Canadian, published his book In Vain They do Worship.
Around 1999: The Professing Message Board came on-line; and subsequently, several other Message Boards popped up. Hundreds of ex-2x2s and 2x2s from all over the world dialogue there daily. News, events, experiences and opinions travel around the world in just a matter of minutes or hours. Several other websites also surfaced regarding the 2x2 fellowship.
2008, January 23, the Veterans of Truth website (VOT) was reborn by a new Administrator. A wealth of current information has been added, and it is now operating as Veterans of Truth - Past and Present.
2008, March: The WINGS website went on line. Working to Inform, Guide and Support those who have been sexually abused within the Truth Fellowship. The site is devoted to children and personal stories of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) are on the website, as well as letters by those concerned. WINGS maintains a private database of CSA offenders and offers a method to privately submit names of offenders to be added to the database.
2008, July: The Truth Archive went on the internet. It is strictly an archive of notes and letters by friends and workers, without comments.