Chain of Command part 5

Speaker: The Split to House of Prayer

Javier: I kept hearing the rumors about a split, a split, and I'm like, "What are they talking about?" After the split with NTCC, members across the country had to pick a side. For Gladys Jordan, that choice came down to one thing: her friends. Her friends were going with Ronnie Dennis, so was she. There's been a split. what do you wanna do?" I said, "Well, what are you guys are gonna do?" And she's like, "Well, um, Reverend Dennis started a new church." And I'm like, "Are you guys going over there?" And she's like, "Yeah." I said, "Well, I'm going with you guys." I don't know. I'm following them 'cause they're my friends, you know? Ronnie Dennis successfully convinced dozens of NTCC members to pack up and follow him to Georgia

Rony Denis: I love you

Arlen Bradeen: he knew how to make it as close to God as he can and then he would, Bring it all together from the beginning, he was grooming the whole movement to actually follow him. He allowed those of us that were pastors that came from New Testament, he allowed us to operate in our churches as pastors,

Javier: And we're not talking about one church. Ronnie Dennis starts planting these churches everywhere. Military towns specifically. Killeen near Fort Hood, Augusta near Fort Gordon, and then his headquarters, the main church, sits right there in Hinesville, less than eight miles from Fort Stewart.

Greg Shepard: But then once the 30 ministers come, he had already had 30 churches now, and he already had a staff, uh, to run the organization, the new organization. He had everything.

Speaker: Money And Construction Crew

Greg Shepard: it was really easy. Once they had the 30 ministers, they had all the tithes, and the money was still spinning, and everything was spinning. It was very easy. Very easy.

Javier: He already had the template, right? So now he just has Yeah. that's it. Yeah ...

Rony Denis: Well, that's it. Yeah ... Yeah. Yeah, Amnesty was given to the entire House of Prayer from the very beginning because of God Almighty, His mercy, and because also He knows who I am, the way we work.

Speaker: INTRO

Javier: God knows who he is? At least that's what Ronnie Dennis wants all of us to believe. He was more than just a pastor. He was their god. I'm Javier Leva, and this is Pretend, stories about real people pretending to be someone else.

Speaker: ACT ONE

Javier: In the beginning, House of Prayer felt like a fresh start. No Michael Kekko, no NTCC, no money-hungry leadership, just Christianity the way it was supposed to be. But that honeymoon did not last long. Almost immediately, former members started seeing things that just didn't add up. Gladys Jordan was one of them

Gladys Jordan: And here comes Dennis busting in through the door saying, "I am he. I am Elijah, the one that you preach about." And we're like Wait a minute. things were going on, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Javier: In the Old Testament, Elijah is the prophet who ascends to heaven without dying. Jewish tradition holds that he'll return to Earth to announce the coming of the Messiah, and now Ronnie Dennis is saying that he is Elijah?

Speaker: THE FIRST RED FLAG

Javier: this was the first red flag. He said, "I'm gonna write a book about God and call God a liar if he doesn't bless me." Me and my husband looked at each other and we're like, "Huh?" why would a Christian, especially a pastor, say that? It didn't take long for him to start over and flexing that control. When it came to confessing your sins, it was everyone's business. Here's audio of Ronnie Dennis asking everyone in the room to follow his command

Rony Denis: Okay, let's close the deal. All you guys that are on pornography doing this stuff, you have your cell phone with it, with you. Well, those who have it or don't have it, if you have it, follow the suit.

Javier: For those of you who had a hard time understanding what Ronnie Dennis is saying, he's commanding everyone in the room to whip out their cell phones

Gladys Jordan: He always used to think that, uh, people, uh, with cell phones and with internet on the phone, they used to go and do pornography, right?

Rony Denis: Let Jehovah break it right there. Let there in this church, right there, break all these cell phones, all these smartphones that are really not smart. Now, the phone is not the problem, but this would help you break this. And don't go buy another one.

Gladys Jordan: So he had... I was there. He had all of the people go to the front, bring their cell phones to the front, and stomp on them.

Rony Denis: But do you have a cell phone? Uh, uh, one of those smartphones. Is that what you use it, use to watch pornography? Do you have it with you? I want you to break it right now. Drop it out of your pocket, then break

Javier: House of Prayer members began stomping on their phones, it. All right. Lord. and they did.

Followers: Thank you, Lord

Gladys Jordan: I got a brand-new phone. I'm not stomping on my phone.

Javier: Then one by one, men would confess to their sins.

Speaker: I've been looking at pornography, sir, Okay. So when you asked us all, if you're looking for pornography, to run, I ran, sir. I wanna be delivered from it. I said, "I, I don't wanna be a pervert, sir. I wanna be a Christian." Okay.

Javier: In case that wasn't clear, the man said that he had been looking at pornography and he doesn't wanna be a pervert anymore. He wants to be a Christian.

Rony Denis: You are

Speaker: delivered. Break-Every-Cell-Phone-2.mp3 The Lord has answered your prayers. I don't forget, I don't answer people's prayers by force. So keep praying. Someone else. Anyone else?

Javier: A man stands up and confesses his sexual sins. Ronnie Dennis asks, "How long have you had these desires?"

Speaker: All my life, sir. Ever since I was a little child. Anyone else? I'm talking about the homosexual, homosexuality.

Javier: I guess these confessions weren't juicy enough for him. Now he wants to get more specific. He wants to know if anyone in the room is secretly gay. I don't have a phone with pornography on it, but I fight filthy spirits in my mind all the time concerning the flesh of men, women, and children, anything, The man said that he has pornography on his phone, and he fights the filthy spirits in his mind concerning the flesh of men, women, and children And I just wanna be delivered. I, I, I suppress it very much in my mind and push it away, and I fight it, but I, I still come. why is that, Brother Michael? Uh, I live a filthy life of sin,

Speaker: You have given them a chance to come forward to publicly confess their sins. Father, in your mercy, I ask for forgiveness for all who are under the sound of my voice. That the spirit of prayer will fall on them.

Javier: Unlike Catholic confessions that are done in private, the House of Prayer confessions are intentionally public. it's a form of humiliation and control

Speaker: Targeting Adam And Julie

Greg Shepard: like I said, I think power overcame him.

Javier: When, when power is corrupt, brother, Greg Shepard, who you heard from in the last episode, says that Ronnie Dennis tried to get him to confess to molesting his own son, a crime he swears he did not commit. In this case, the confession wasn't just to embarrass Greg. Greg told me that it was meant to create a wedge between him and his family. He wanted Greg out of the way. Let me explain. Greg Shepard's sister-in-law, Julie, was married to a man named Adam Bowles. Greg tells me that Ronnie Dennis had his eyes set on Julie he started to aim for Adam because he wanted Julie, his wife, to be his wife. Multiple former members have told me that Ronnie Dennis secretly wanted Adam's wife, Julie, all to himself, but he knew that Greg and his wife would see right through it and try to stop him. so Ronnie Dennis tarnished Greg's reputation and ran him out of the church. At least that's what Greg tells me. But this all sounds a little far-fetched, right? Ronnie Dennis wanted to steal another man's wife? So I called up Adam Bowles, who no longer is part of the House of Prayer, and he told me he doesn't wanna talk about this because every time he thinks about this time period, it puts him in a really dark place, and I respect that. However, Adam Bowles has already publicly shared his testimony of escaping Ronnie Dennis's control. In a blog post, Adam wrote that he endured a decade of mental and spiritual torment, which included Ronnie Dennis forcing him to confess to horrific acts. He also accused Ronnie Dennis of stealing his wife. But he says that it wasn't always this way. In the beginning, Adam and his wife Julie followed Ronnie Dennis out of NTCC and into the House of Prayer without any hesitation. But little by little, Adam Bowles said that Ronnie Dennis was paranoid and jealous of their relationship. The first step was physical separation. Ronnie Dennis would send Adam Bowles away on grueling out-of-state projects for the churchAnd he accused him of something, sent him to Washington, and kept his wife at his house. With Adam out of the picture, Adam says that Ronnie Dennis went to work on both of them. He started filling Julie's head with lies, telling her that her husband is secretly gay, a child molester, and at the same time, he's calling Adam Bowles late at night screaming at him, wearing him down. Adam Bowles says that he finally couldn't take it anymore. He was desperate to save his marriage and get right with God. So he confessed to everything. Homosexuality, bestiality, child molestation, acts he says that he never committed. Ronnie Dennis even broadcasted those confessions over the church PolyCom for everyone to hear

Gladys Jordan: And he was asking Bowles to confess that he had molested over 30 kids. All this, people are listening to this, even little kids, and we're like, "What is going on?"

Javier: Adam says that he was completely broken. That's when Ronnie Dennis made his move.

Gladys Jordan: And one day, she didn't wear her ring anymore, and Dennis had stood her up and said, "You see this woman right there? I adopted her," talking about Reverend Bowles' wife. And we're like, "Who adopts a grown woman?" And next thing you know, she walks in with a big old rock. and had her as his second wife.

Javier: Second wife? Yeah, that's right. According to former members, Ronnie Dennis took Adam Bold's wife, Julie, and moved her straight into his mansion, right alongside his first wife, Marjorie

Greg Shepard: He wanted to marry Julie. He was going to spiritually divorce Marjorie because, uh, she wouldn't comply to him, quote, unquote, "as a wife." He justified it, ga- uh, gave her a divorce, not so much on paper, and then he put her on one side of his house and put Julie on the other side of the house 'cause they know we wouldn't accept it. We'd call him out on it. So he ran me off,

Javier: Julie divorced Adam, moved into Ronnie Dennis' mansion, and legally changed her name to Phoebe Ruth Dennis. Adam says that he was left with nothing. The church drained his life savings, racked up $50,000 in debt under his name, and took his wife. He spent years in isolation

Greg Shepard: He got rid of his own wife, Reverend Dennis, and he took Julie to wife. You can't do that.

Javier: and I know what you're thinking. Do NTCC and House of Prayer practice polygamy? No, actually. Ronnie just made up whatever rule suits him. I know in his mind he justified it that his wife was not saved, she's not right with God, and I'll divorce her and remarry. And he thinks he's right, and he's definitely not right. Definitely not right. Biblically, he's definitely not right. He's an adulterer, Here's a recorded call between Adam Bowles and Ronnie Dennis. Who have you been talking to? I've been talking to Jesus, sir, for the last 10 years you left me alone. I've been reading my Bible and praying, and I reject you. The next part, it's a little tricky to understand. I think Ronnie Dennis says, "What are you gonna do? Are you going to the house of prayer now?" So what are you gonna do? What, are you gonna go to the house of prayer now? No, of course not. Bunch of lies. Adam. Filthy lies. Adam. Reject you. Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam, what about all the stuff you wrote? Oh, yes, sir. All the lies. Dennis said, "What about the stuff you wrote?" Meaning the confessions Are they true now? They are not true. Everything is false. False. You're my manipulator. Adam. You're a thought controller, liar, you reject of hell. Uh-uh. Yes, you are, sir. You know you are. You deceived so many. You stole my wife. You lied to her. You told her all these things. You've lied to all these people. I'm no longer under your control, sir. Jesus has set me free. I belong to him. He saved me, I don't need you, sir. I don't want you. Adam Bowles was finally free, but Julie was not. Protesters outside the House of Prayer made sure that she knew that they hadn't forgotten about her

Speaker: Shame on you, Julie Ball. Your-

Javier: He's living in a trailer in Killeen, Texas. And guess what, Margery? Dennis forbids him to go to the altar ever. He says he doesn't even know if he's gonna go to heaven.Greg told me that he has no way of contacting Julie, but he and his wife want her back.

Greg Shepard: It's been horrific. My wife has nightmares all of the time about her sister. My wife is horrified and wants to see her sister.

Javier: He told me that he doesn't care what it takes.

Speaker: Final Plans To Reach Julie

Greg Shepard: I'm going to be going to those houses. He's got about three of them in gated communities. I'm going to get around that. I'm going to go to that house where she's at.

Javier: I'm going there. I'm going to take my wife there. We're going there. We're going to tell her that we love her. I don't care if I have to put signs outside the gated community, go inside and drive in there somehow, sneak in there. when we come back from the break, we're going to hear a heartbreaking story of a mother whose son is still inside The House of Prayer.

Desperate Mom: I know you love you. C. Love. when you come home, cj, we love you.

Speaker: ///AD BREAK///ACT TWO- Gladys Jordan

Javier: Gladys Jordan and her family joined The House of Prayer right after the split with NTCC. Her son, CJ, was six years old at the time. From the very start, something felt off.

Gladys Jordan: I don't know, the vibe wasn't right.

Javier: Something about this preacher, Ronnie Dennis, made her mama bird instincts go off My son had to be only, like, 10 years old, I saw Dennis in the hallway and he grabbed my son, like, by the neck and, like, pulled him towards him, and he said, "You need to give me your son CJ, 'cause he's my son." I said, "You crazy. I'm not giving you my son. That's not your son, that's my son." The only thing I understand is that when he says, "Give me your son," what does that mean?

Gladys Jordan: Yeah, like, he wanted me to, like, I guess give him custody. I don't know. He just said, "Give me your son, 'cause that's my son."

Javier: why did he want your son? Like, what did he want with your son? I

Gladys Jordan: I have no idea. I think it's the control. Like, he wanted to see how... I think he does that to see how loyal you are to him or how loyal you are to the church,

Javier: And how exactly was he going to do that? Gladys says by driving a wedge right between them. So little by little, he started taking things away from us, Gladys told me that Ronnie Dennis banned kids from playing sports and playing with toys he wanted total control. He want nobody questioning him. She also said that Ronnie Dennis turned her faith against her. Then he pointed to my husband and said, "You gonna mess him up." Then he pointed to me and said, "You got a curse on your life." So Javier, all these years up until 2015, I'm thinking that I got a curse on my life, Remember, CJ was just nine years old when they joined the House of Prayer. At this point, he, at this point in the story, he's 20 or 21 So in 2015 when my son got married, I waited for him to go to the, um, bathroom, and I waited for him in the vestibule, and I said, "Sir, let me ask you something." He said, "What, what do you want, Gladys?" I said, "Remember that, that time you told me that I had a curse on my life?" I said, "I wanna know whatever happened with that." He said, "Oh, Gladys, go pray. Read your Bible, and I'll get back with you." From then on, I started paying more attention. I'm like, "No, this man is a phony." He took so much away from us that if he would've did that at the beginning of House of Prayer, a lot of people would've left. But slowly, him saying that he could finish God's sentences and that, oh, he's in the room with God, and all this stuff,

Speaker: We were drinking the kool-aid

Javier: we was drinking the Kool-Aid. We really believed. we was like hypnotized, by this man, Was he at the

Gladys Jordan: that he was really of God.

Javier: By the time Gladys put the pieces together, it was too late. Her son CJ was no longer hers.

Speaker: CJ Transformation

Javier: I started noticing at the age of 14, he was already, um, uh, ironing his own clothes, wearing the suit and they... When I tell you they love-bombed the mess out of my son, I did not notice that, and I'm thinking, "Oh, man, they love him." My mom and my sister were like, "Gladys, hmm, something's not going right there. Why are they always after CJ? the red flags were there, and we chose to stay. I wanted to leave, but the fear of my son getting messed up kept me there, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's like you were stuck, Yes, yes.

Gladys Jordan: Yes, yes. So right there before he got married, that's when I knew. I'm like, "Oh, man, if I leave, CJ's not gonna come with me."

Speaker: LEAVING

Gladys Jordan: If she leaves, she loses her son. If she stays, her son is lost to her anyway. She only... Her only option was to fight back.

Speaker: gladys is outspoken

Gladys: I've always been outspoken, like not confrontational, but like quest- asking questions, and that's one thing they don't want. They don't want anybody asking questions. So I waited there for Dennis to come out. I said, "Dennis, Dennis, be a man, be a man. Come and talk to me." And the ministers try to, like, stop me. I said, "Don't, don't touch me. Don't touch me. I'll call the cops on you." And here comes Dennis, and I kept saying, "Be a man. Come and talk to me." He's like, "What's going on, Gladys?" and he comes up to me he says, "Gladys, I'm Jesus." I'm like, "Pfft, get out of here, you ain't no Jesus." And he takes his handkerchief and flings it on my, in my face, Gladys wasn't done. She and other former members started showing up outside the church, protesting while current members filed in. It was the only way that she could get close to CJ.

Javier: he was around 22 when she started protesting. But CJ had his own life at this point. He was married, and according to Gladys, more than $50,000 in debt tied to the church. He was a grown man making his own decisions,and that is what made it so hard

Speaker: rallys

Gladys: I said, all of you worship this man like he's your God. He's not your God. He's not your creator." We didn't even have a bullhorn. Janessa had just ordered a bullhorn, and the bullhorn didn't come on time. And as soon as I'm walking to start the rally, she's like, "Gladys, the bullhorn is here. I got it ready for you."

Speaker: What about Jesus? What about Jesus?

Gladys Jordan: And that's how we started doing the rallies, and we just stand out there. Because this is the thing, Javier, we've been with these people for almost 20 years. We've known these people for a long time. For you to cut us off like that for my son... I'm sorry. To cut me off like that, that hurts. I'm sorry.

Javier: No, uh, I mean, this is-- I've seen the video you outside at one of those rallies, like begging for your son.

Desperate Mom: I know you hear me. Cj. Come home, cj. You know in there. There's nothing in there. Cj. Love you, son. I love you.

Javier: I mean, that... I didn't even know you and that broke my heart. Like, I cannot even imagine, you know?

Gladys Jordan: And this is the thing, we love those people. Like, a lot of the people that left, Javier, they were like, after they left, they were like, "Gladys, thank you. We, we could hear you in there. Like, we could hear you clearly. We could hear you. Thank you for being out there."

Javier: Today, CJ is about to turn thirty-two years old. And do you have any hope that you're gonna see your son again, or do you think he'll snap

Gladys Jordan: I do. I do. it's gotta take God, Javier,

Speaker: Family History and Regret

Gladys Jordan: 'Cause sometimes I be like, "Was I a bad mother?" Like, did I... I know I didn't do everything, but I'm not a perfect person. There's no perfect mothers out there, but I gave my son the best that I could, you know? It's like my hus- what my husband said. He said, "Gladys, God had a plan for CJ, and the devil has, uh, had a plan for CJ." He saw the potential in CJ, He just got ahold of CJ. But it's like what my husband said, it's our fault, and because we brought him into that church. We left them there,

Javier: It's been almost ten years since Gladys left the church, and ten years since she had a relationship with her son. During that time, she only gets glimpses of him walking in and out of church. Gladys told me that she takes any opportunity to have a moment with CJ. She does whatever it takes We had went to Walmart and we saw him. I said, "CJ, listen to me, like, let me talk to you," he ignored me.

Gladys: CJ, you know that you could come home, right? You know Dennis is a cult leader. You know that. Why don't you talk to me, CJ?

Gladys Jordan: and I'm still following CJ, and I'm like, "CJ, Grandma passed away." And when he went to check out, he told the, one of the Walmart workers, "Hey, this lady's harassing me."

Gladys: No, I'm not, ma'am. Yes, you are. This is my son, and I haven't seen him in eight years because he's stuck in a cult. I'm trying to talk to my son. I haven't seen, I haven't talked to him in eight years, ma'am. CJ,

Speaker: And, you know, I had to leave him alone, Ma'am, then you gonna have to- No ... ma'am, you gonna have to step away.

Gladys: Really, CJ?

Speaker: Ma'am, please.

Gladys Jordan: Dennis doesn't love you, CJ. Go get lost. Dennis doesn't love you.

Speaker: END OF ACT TWO. MUSIC UP AND OUT

Javier: Two very different stories, but the same playbook. Adam Bold says that Ronnie Dennis took his wife. Gladys Jordan says that he took her son. In both cases, Ronnie Dennis saw something he wanted and he took it, and nobody inside the church could do a thing to stop him. But somebody else was about to try.

Speaker: CLOSE

Javier: Next time on Pretend, the feds are going to pay Ronnie Dennis a visit,

Speaker: FBI search warrant. Come out with your hands up. Hands. Come out with your hands up.

Javier: and it turns out that Ronnie Dennis isn't who he says he is. And I'm going to visit one of the House of Prayer churches to experience it for myself. That's it right there. Shit, it's a packed house That's next time on Pretend.

Speaker: SHOW NOTES

Javier: You know, these stories are painful to listen to, these recordings. So many families that I've spoken to have been torn apart by both of these churches, and honestly, I'm shocked that this isn't a bigger national story, right? Are you? Like, I'd never heard this before. I'd love to know what you guys think of the series. Leave me a comment on Spotify, on YouTube, and also do me a favor. While you're thinking about it, can you leave a rating and a review? I know you hear this all the time, but it actually really does help. You, you have no idea. Lately, I've been getting a lot of one-star reviews. So let's drown out these one-star reviews. And I wanna give a very heartfelt thank you to my Patreon and Pretend+ supporters on Apple Podcasts. Listen, a lot happens behind the scenes that you don't, just don't know about, that cost a lot of money to keep this show going, and I genuinely could not do this without you, this type of reporting takes time, money, and a whole lot of late nights and weekends So your support is what makes this possible. I'm already working on something new. I'm traveling for this one, and it's a really big one. I can't say a lot about it right now, but trust me, as soon as I can, you will be the first to know. Another big series coming your way. All right, talk to you soon