Wednesday, March 18, 2015

A Personal Story of Spiritual Abuse (A Glimpse inside The Agape Players)

I had been a Christian for just a few short months when I auditioned and was accepted to travel with a singing/drama group, The Agape Players. I knew nothing of the Bible, did not know how to study or articulate anything outside of my own experience, and even that was cloudy.

What I had done before going with the group was memorize Scripture and hear my pastor tell me over and over again that I didn't have to take anyone's word for anything the Bible said because I could look it up for myself.

Finding things out for myself was a completely new concept for me. For me to be considered as someone who could actually know something was a foreign idea to me. All my life I had few choices. I generally felt confused and alone, despite the fact that I had seven siblings. My dad was an alcoholic, very violent and reminded me often how stupid I was.

Finding out I could actually read the Bible for myself and make my own spiritual decisions was beyond my comprehension. But, I watched and listened and learned. And, unexpectedly to even myself, I grew in my faith.

When I got to Tampa, Florida to begin training with The Agape Players, the young man who had taken me to church to hear about Jesus, the young man to whom I was engaged by then, committed suicide by throwing himself off the town's water tower. I was in Florida; I could not travel back to Ohio for his funeral or for any comfort from home.

The leaders of The Agape Players, Rocky and Alice Adkins,  took me to their hotel suite that night and tried to comfort me. All I remember doing is sleeping and crying. The next day, it was practice and rehearsals as usual. But I was undone. Except for my grandpa when I was nine years old, no one I knew had ever died. I had no idea what to feel/say/do/react. I cried inconsolably at times without seeing it coming.

Later that day, the day after I found out he was dead, Alice came to get me and she sat me down and took my face in her hands and told me to stop crying right then and there. She got very close to my face and told me I had cried all night and enough was enough and I was to never, ever cry about this again, nor was I to speak of him ever again. She said I was being ridiculous and disruptive with all this crying and she wasn't going to have it. She said that if she ever caught me crying or talking about him, I would be sent home immediately.

And that was that, at least Alice thought so. But, I did cry, at night, alone. And in the shower. And in the bathroom. And whenever I was alone, (which was not often since we even showered together some of the time, in the name of saving water).

Then they put me on "The Diet." I weighed 98 pounds when I first arrived, but had gained 3 pounds and was now "grossly overweight" at 101 pounds. So, I was put on "The Diet" to lose all this gross weight. Because I had been, according to Rocky and Alice, so careless with my weight and gained those horrid three pounds, they decided I should then weigh 96 pounds, losing an additional two pounds in hopes that it would teach me my lesson, so suddenly I was an even worse five whole, gross pounds overweight. This would not do.

Alice took me aside and told me that I was out of God's will because God said that "a false balance is an abomination to the Lord," quoting Proverbs 11:1, and that "a just weight is his delight." and I was not pleasing God at all in being so overweight and He would deal with me if I didn't lose that five pounds and weigh 96 pounds. They had public weigh-ins where many times, the guys weighed the girls and announced the weight out loud for all to hear. Imagine my horror when this guy said, out loud, "Oh, wow, still at 101! C'mon, girl, you have to lose this!" I would hang my head in shame, then secretly eat chocolate.

But, something didn't feel right to me. I could not have told you what it was to save my life, but it just didn't feel right. I didn't know what else to do, so I questioned Alice. She and Rocky had set themselves up as the authorities in my life. They owned The Agape Players, they had all authority over my daily schedule, my diet and what I talked and grieved about. I simply asked Alice why God wanted me to weigh 96 pounds and where in the Bible I could find this information for myself.

And Alice, always filled with drama, began to sing. I felt awkward. She and I were the only people in the room, yet she was singing and that felt odd to me. After she sang, she looked at me very closely and said, "You will not, you cannot, understand these things. You are such a sinner. You are still a sinner. I am not a sinner any more. I have grown to the point of no more sin in my spiritual walk. This is why I am in charge here. This is why God gave me the leadership here. So, you cannot ask questions since you are still such a sinner. You do not get to question me."

Nothing of this felt right to me. I did not respond to Alice when she was in my face telling me all this. I simply sat and listened and quietly determined that I had to find out for myself. Somehow. I had to know if my 101 pounds was really an abomination to the Lord. I had to find out if Alice was no longer a sinner. I had to find out if it was right to only grieve for a day after such a loss as I had suffered.

I stayed with the group for that year, as I had signed on for a year and had to honor that contract. But, I was filled with inexplicable relief when my year was over and could not wait to leave.


Years later, Rocky and Alice had troubles of their own. While they were busy being in charge of us down to our diets and spiritual teachings, Rocky was busy raping some of the young men who had joined the group. He sexually abused countless young men, and Alice knew and hid this sin, all while they were holding themselves up as the righteous ones. The ones who were no longer sinners. The ones whom God had gifted with leadership.

They used their experience and leadership as proof of God's blessings on them, blessings they claimed came from their righteous living. Blessings they claim came as a reward for their obedience to God. Blessings they claim were a result of their own faithfulness.

They were able to keep this abuse quiet even after the group disbanded. A local newspaper in Lake Wales, FL announced their decision to disband, but said, "Officials for the group are not explaining the reasons for the action." Of course they are not going to explain the reasons for the action. They can't bring themselves to say that Rocky Adkins was a pedophile who sexually abused the young men in the group while his wife, Alice, watched and hid the actions.

So, this might be why, when I see people misuse my precious Scriptures and take things out of context to prove some human point or to sell a book, I speak up about it. To this day, others who were involved with The Agape Players are very quiet about what Rocky and Alice did.

I will continue to speak up about spiritual, physical, emotional and all kinds of abuse.
I will speak up.
I realize this is long. Thanks for hanging on to the end.
~Tricia

16 comments:

  1. Wow. I Googled "The Agape Players" as I so remember them coming to my repressive Southern Baptist Church and performing, at least twice, in the late 1970s, early 1980s.

    When I tell people the stories about the 'players' that we housed, and what they said to me, they are shocked. ha.

    We had one couple that stayed with us, who were hilarious and not typical, to me, concerning Agape Players. They were somewhat laid back, though they encouraged me not to date until I was 18, and absolutely no fooling around.

    But, it was the next 'player' that stayed with us. Wow. He went through my LP album collection, took out a Shaun Cassidy album and told me I was on my way to hell. wow. He told me that rock music had been proven to change your brain patterns and heartbeats, and it would change your emotions after listening to it.

    I had no idea the song, "Da Doo Ron Ron" would turn me into a pervert. ha.

    When I countered that classical music can do the same thing, he really got into with me. Beethoven can make your emotions change, no doubt, right?

    Anyway, when I got older, I wondered about that whole organization and what happened to them. I'm so sorry you had to experience that. Thanks for sharing your story too.

    God Bless.

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    1. Thanks for posting, Lisa. I hadn't thought about the abuse they might have done in the homes they stayed in. Oh, my. I'm sorry they did that to you. It's been a consistent experience that those who hold others to high standards are generally hiding something far more sinister behind their own closed doors. To this day, not one Agape Player has spoken to me about this, nor have they allowed me to bring it up in their presence. Silence = approval in the minds of the abusers. Never be silent. God bless you.

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    2. I always felt something was repressively wrong with the group, but I have to say the Agape Players were very good and very entertaining as performers. Even with the sinister stuff going on, all of you made an impact on young people, like me, who saw you perform. God still worked through all of it. I'm so saddened, but not shocked, to read your words about what happened to you and what happened to others, too, at the hands of the leaders.

      Keep speaking your truth, Tricia. You have a great blog too.

      email me: Lac6511@gmail.com if you ever want to talk.

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    3. Yes, God can use even evil to bring about good. That's a blessing! I'll be in touch. Thanks for your kind comments.

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  2. Alice Adkins passed away April 2, 2015

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    1. Thanks for letting me know that. I had no idea as I have lost touch with nearly everyone who was with Agape.

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  3. I remember when the Agape Players came to my church and did a play about the end of the world and the rapture. I was 6 and it terrified me to the point that I couldn't be in a room with a Bible opened to the book of Revelation until I was 28 years old. I'm sorry that happened to you. I don't guess anyone might remember that play?

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    1. Wow, Molly, that was traumatic! So glad you're better now and have made progress since then. My group did not do that play, but it sounds scary for a little girl to see. Agape had several groups traveling at the same time.

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  4. I was at the hotel in Lake Wales from September 1982 to December 1983 as a student at their conservatory. My main problem with the whole situation was that I was supposed to be there learning music and drama, and it just felt as if running the hotel was far more important than the "conservatory". We may have both been there at the same time. I left just before the whole blowout happened. I was very shy and reserved, and totally naive to the reality going on behind the facade. I do remember thinking that Alice was a very scary person, and that everything was her way or the highway.

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  5. I was there when I was 18. The whole ordeal was a nightmare. As a young, trusting, man I was sexually abused by two male staff members. I quite literally escaped, scarred for life.

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  6. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Thanks so much for sharing, though. God bless you.

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    1. Thank YOU for sharing!

      Priscilla, your story helped me so very much. That, and your empassioned exhortation that we all read scripture for ourselves, and not merely rely on others' interpretation of it.

      Alice also spiritually abused me, too.

      She would not allow me to see a doctor for something seriously wrong with the skin on my face that started about a month after I arrived in Florida for AP training to go on tour in the fall.

      Rather than allow me to see a doctor, Alice insisted my skin condition arose from me "not trusting in God enough."

      Instead, Alice forced upon me HER way of treating my skin condition, which was to coat my face in Vitamin E oil at all times. Shiney, oily, Vitamin E.

      If Alice caught me without my face covered in the oil, she'd force me to immediately go put it on.

      After I escaped and arrived home (a whole 'nother story), a dermatologist diagnosed it as the worst case of a bacterial infection called "tropical cystic acne" he'd ever seen.

      The dermatologist said that putting Vitamin E oil on the infection was like "pouring gasoline on a fire." (His exact words.)

      I underwent extensive treatments to heal the infection. And that was followed by several years of painful and expensive procedures I paid for to reduce the deep scarring caused by the infection, attempting to look close to normal again.

      Priscilla, hearing your story was extraordinarily validating for me.

      You've helped me---and I hope others---more than you may ever know.

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    2. I apologize for mistakenly referring to you as Priscilla instead of Tricia!

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  7. It's ok about the name. LOL. I'm really sorry for what you went through with Rocky and Alice. How awful! So glad you got out and got better. I'm so thankful my story helped you. It's such a relief when someone speaks out and validates what we have gone through.

    During my time in FL during training, Alice took me to an eye doctor to get contact lenses, which I had never worn. When I got them, she made me wear them full time and not my glasses at all. No easing into it, just wear them all day long every day. She told me to throw my glasses away, but I secretly kept them. Good think I did because my eyes swelled up badly and became infected and I had to wear only my glasses for weeks! MY eyes did heal but she used spiritual abuse to make me wear the contacts so much. She told me it was God's will and that He would take care of any adjustments I had to make for them!!

    So abusive on every front!
    Thanks for opening up more.

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  8. We had an Agape Player stay in our home while living in Maine. We kept up a pen pal relationship for several years. She shared after the group disbanded that she had suffered with bulimia while in the group. I guess I understand now why that would happen to her.

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    1. I hope she's ok now. Yes, it's easy to see how their actions/attitudes could cause that.

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