Chain of Command part 1

PRETEND

Javier Leiva

Society & Culture, True Crime, Technology

4.7 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1996, Sarah DeJonghe was a 20-year-old Navy Seabee stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Two guys in uniform approached her on base and invited her to church. She said no. They came back anyway. Four months later, Sarah was out of the Navy and on her way to a Bible seminary in Washington State. She didn't see it coming. Neither did the dozens of other military members who found themselves drawn into the New Testament Christian Churches of America, a church that has spent decades planting itself outside US military bases around the world, marketing itself as a home away from home for single, lonely soldiers. Former members say it's a cult. Want to keep going? Part Two is available right now on PRETEND+ on Apple Podcasts and on Patreon. You'll get every episode of this series ad-free and a week early, plus bonus episodes and full access to the PRETEND archive. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/pretend/id6443456985 Patreon: www.patreon.com/cw/pretendradio Resources mentioned in this episode: NTCC bylaws (publicly available): https://myntcc.org/bylaws/ Stay Away From NTCC (former member YouTube channel run by Tracy Pelfrey) - https://www.youtube.com/@StayAwayFromNTCC Bruce Smith's reporting at The Mountain News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	True Story Media.
0:07.5	This episode is brought to you by Expedia and Visit Scotland.
0:12.2	Start your story in Scotland.
0:14.5	Experience the pool of wide, untamed landscapes and fresh cuisine that feels rooted in place.
0:21.2	Discover castles steeped in legend.
0:24.2	And feel the genuine warmth from locals you meet
0:27.0	in a place that will stay with you long after you leave.
0:30.8	Start planning your own Scottish holiday.
0:33.3	Today at expedia.com.uk slash visit Scotland.
0:39.2	Cult leaders. Every cult book in America that's ever been written by real Christians has a list.
0:46.3	J.W.'s, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventism. Shall we go on?
0:51.8	This is the voice of Michael Keckle, the CEO and the head pastor of the New Testament Christian
0:57.2	Churches of America.
0:58.8	I know, it's a mouthful, so we'll just call them NTCC for short.
1:03.3	All of them are listed because the doctrines are erroneous.
1:08.4	And some of them promote worship of a person over the worship of Jesus Christ.
1:15.6	Those are the people who are all about themselves.
1:19.6	Worship me, I have great knowledge.
1:22.6	Look to me, I have a special revelation.
1:25.6	Look to me, the moron showed me the golden plates.
1:31.9	These clips were pulled from the church's live stream page, and I got to say, your preacher
1:36.2	shouldn't work this hard to convince you that he's not a cult leader. So, why is Michael Keckle
	...

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