Writer Eryl Davies Calls Taylorite Exclusive Brethren a Cult, Citing Leader Control and Legalism

Writing in Evangelical Times in May 1999, Eryl Davies, an elder at Heath Evangelical Church, Cardiff, and a consulting editor of the Evangelical Magazine, argued that the Raven/Taylor group within the Exclusive Brethren movement is a cult. His article, a follow-up to one from the previous month, set out four reasons for that view. He said the group’s official teaching had long been that Christ alone is the head of the church, and that its members still affirm this in theory while, in his assessment, denying it in practice.

On leadership, Davies wrote that Jim Taylor Sr died in 1953 and that his son established himself as successor six years later. He said the group has taught in recent years that the Lord directs it through one man, and that its leader has been given titles such as “the Lord’s representative,” “the contemporary Paul,” and “the great man” whose position is “apostolic in character.” He also reported that James Symington, leader from 1970 to 1987, was known as “God’s representative on earth,” and that his successor, John S. Hales, was described publicly as “the personification of the Holy Spirit.” According to Davies, claims of “new light” given to members through the leader made his interpretation of Scripture binding on them.

Davies illustrated this with events in Aberdeen in July 1970. He wrote that two independent persons witnessed an adulterous relationship between Jim Taylor Jr and the young wife of a member. He also said that the woman’s husband later spoke to reporters in support of her, and that the behaviour was described as “quite suitable” because she was “ministering” to Taylor. Davies further described a meeting called a “Bible reading” at which, he wrote, Taylor laughed hysterically, whistled, and frequently used obscene language. He said many attendees left the group, while about eighty of the 850 present chose to support Taylor. Davies presented these as accounts he had gathered and as evidence of his argument, not as findings of any tribunal.

Davies cited Mark Gillingham, a former Taylorite excommunicated in 1990, who described members as having “a slavish and fanatical loyalty to the ‘Men of God.'” Davies concluded from this that the leader is beyond criticism and that members’ thinking is controlled in a way he compared to a Waco-type relationship between leader and followers.

The second reason concerned control over members. Davies said Taylor Jr started “Levitical meetings,” based on Leviticus instructions about isolating a person or house where leprosy was suspected. He wrote that Taylor applied this to members suspected of sin or of breaking his directives, who were barred from meetings and from contact with other members, including close relatives. According to Davies, assembly leaders acted as “priests” who visited these individuals and decided their fate. He gave one example: a husband, expelled fifteen years earlier, was banned from living with his wife and children. Davies wrote that the man’s brother and wife did not know the reason for the decision but accepted it. A call to defend those who cannot defend themselves applies to a household divided in this way (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Davies’s third reason was that the group undermines the authority and sufficiency of the Bible. He quoted an early Exclusive Brethren leader, F. E. Raven, who wrote that he would have “studied Scripture less and prayed more” had he lived his life again. Davies said this emphasis tends toward subjectivity. He also wrote that James Taylor Sr taught that the Holy Spirit speaks in the group’s meetings beyond what is recorded in Scripture, and that the Spirit gives truth today that was not given to the apostles. Davies said these teachings are plain error and that all beliefs and practices, including those of prominent leaders, must be tested by Scripture.

Finally, Davies argued that members are bound by legalism on the question of “separation.” He said the teaching draws on 2 Corinthians 6:17, Amos 3:3, and 2 Timothy 2:19-22, with Taylor Jr treating the last passage as the group’s “Magna Carta.” He wrote that in 1959 Taylor Jr began urging members not to eat with non-members, and that a member had estimated, ten years later, that Taylor had issued 150 new directives. Davies said members must not attend religious services outside the movement, join a trade union or professional association, or live in the same building as non-members, and that the rule has been applied to paths, driveways, and even sewers.

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