Breaking Free Ministries USA
A Search For Truth (Part I)
WHY I  WROTE THIS STORY

The  purpose of this story is five-fold. First, to encourage everyone who reads it not to settle for false
Christianity or false religions. If you do, your life will be affected in some degree, which may
permanently scar you for life.

Secondly, to encourage Christians to quit talking about loving one another and start proving it by
their actions. I wonder how many souls, after visiting our churches, have not returned because they
found us very cold? Because many Christians in traditional Christian denominations do not display
genuine Christian love, many are accepting false, cult-like religions where people display love, and
offer them answers to their daily problems - not just only a pie-in-the-sky hope.

Thirdly, this story is to encourage fellow Christians not to be like the Corinth Christians Paul
addressed his letter to: There is among you envying, strife, divisions, adultery, etc. (I Corinthians 1:2;
3:3; 5:1,9-11; 6:9-11). When non-Christians read such examples as this in their newspaper about
division in the church, does this help in our call to the ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:17-
21)?: "Factional squabbles have temporarily closed the venerable Baptist church...The
133-year-old...church is torn by infighting so severe that the pastor gets heckled during sermons and
police once had to shut the place down when arguing got out of hand."

The fourth purpose of my story is very personal. I am one of many young souls who have gotten
involved in a [once] cultic church at a young age, the effects of which is still being felt in my personal
life even now.

My fifth purpose of my story is to help you recognize a cult and their false teachings when you hear
or read them. Most cult churches teach one or more of the following:   

* Salvation: You are saved, receive eternal life from God ONLY IF you are a member of their church
group.
* Works are required  for salvation. Works may include keeping the Sabbath (Saturday), Jewish
festivals/ holy-days, food laws (certain meats to eat and not to eat); etc.
* Jesus Christ is not God. Most cults deny the Deity of Jesus Christ.
* No Triune God -the Trinity.
* Predicts the date of Christ return.
* Reincarnation (a process whereby, at the death of the body, the soul passes into the body of a lower
animal or a another human in an ever-rotating cycle (from body to body) until purification from sin
is accomplished.

What does the scripture say about  these teachings? "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is
good" (I Thessalonians 5:21).

INTRODUCTION & SHORT BIO    Mankind, since the beginning of the world, has been searching
for their purpose in life. I am no exception.  I was brought-up in a traditional Baptist church by my
mother. Therefore, Christianity has been part of my heritage. Like many others brought-up attending
church, it became time when I desired to become a Christian. I did become a Christian, but got
side-tracked by the cult teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, the head of World Wide Church of God,
the speaker of The World Tomorrow radio program.                                                                          



















I was born in Kansas City, Kansas on March 27, 1945 to Jessie and Inez Swinton. I am the youngest
of six children: four sisters and one brother, who is the oldest.                                                



















Our family  left Kansas City and moved to Kenwood, Arkansas in 1947. Two years later, my parents
divorced and my mother moved my sisters and I to Sardis (Mt. Zion) community, approximately five
miles southeast of Morrilton, Arkansas. Our brother remained with our father, who is now deceased.  
                         


















I attended elementary school in Mt. Zion and high school at L.W. Sullivan in Morrilton, graduating
in May 1964 as class valedictorian. In May 1980, I graduated from Kansas City Kansas Community
College, acquiring an Associate in General Studies degree, majoring in business. I also have attended
The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas majoring in African Studies.

I am a self-taught Bible student who has been married to my wife, Janice, since July 1975. I taught
several Bible classes at Theological Institute of the East in the Philippines, while there as a
missionary, October 1987 through February 1988. I also spent eighteen years as a member of the
Worldwide Church of God, once a cult, between February 1965 and March 1983. I left Worldwide in
1983 in search of Christ.  In 1996, my wife and I were also pastors of Breaking Free Fellowship in
Lawrence, Kansas before moving to Maine.













































BECOMING A CHRISTIAN                                           
For me becoming a Christian meant joining the Baptist church. It was my mother's tradition to take
us, my sisters and myself to church regularly. It was a small congregation with approximately
twenty-five to thirty in attendance. Usually  we walked to church, which is about one and one-half
miles from home. It was called "Mt. Zion Baptist Church."  I do not remember much about what
was preached there, but I do remember the pastor coming to our home for his after church serve
lunch; all church families took turns in providing lunch in their home for the pastor.  He preached
every other Sunday at the church.                                  

I desired to join church at the age of eleven, but traditional Baptists do not allow anyone to join
church until the age of twelve. When I became twelve, the same desire had slacken. The following
year, at the age of thirteen, I decided again I wanted to become a Christian and join a church. But
before I could come a Christian, as a candidate to join the Baptist church, I had to sit on the
mourning bench, a row of seats in front of the church directing facing the minister preaching. For
several nights, during the church revival, the minister would preach abut God, Christ, salvation, etc.,
and the church congregation would sing all those old gospel songs like "Give Me That Old Time
Religion" that would emotionally stir anyone. I do not remember how many candidates were on the
mourning bench, but I was one of the last ones who experienced that Holy Spirit possession that
made you come-off the mourning bench. This was the traditional way for young  men and women to
become Christians in the Baptist church. I do not remember the actual event of coming off the
bench, but I do know I did. This occurred the last night of the annual evangelistic campaign. I was
baptized the following Sunday.
james ~ age 15
mother and step-father
James & Janice, his wife [7/18/1975]
Janice, KK, & James [7/20/1975]
James & Janice Reception