And there are more of these "churches" than we know.
David Bromley, professor of religious studies and director of the World Religions and Spirituality Project at Virginia Commonwealth University, said there are thousands of similar small, independent Christian churches around the country. They're typically very conservative, following a very strict fundamentalist theology with a literal interpretation of the Bible.
"Every now and then, one pops up that has gone awry," Bromley said. "That's statistically not shocking because there are so many of them."
This article is relatively short ... but not sweet.
It is a story right out of cult lore: a tightly knit group has been arrested in the death of a member of the "church" who was called in for "spiritual counseling." Pictures of the assailants have gone viral ... and they look positively guilty.
On Sunday night, an ultra-secretive New York church turned into a living hell. Two teenage brothers were brutally beaten--one of them to death--by their own family members and fellow church-goers who wanted them to "confess" to their sins, authorities say.
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