UXBRIDGE (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Susan Spencer, Shaun Sutner and Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ssutner@telegram.com
UXBRIDGE — At first glance, the Christian Church of the End Times seems like any of a number of small, evangelical churches preparing for the Millennium, the biblically prophesied second coming of Christ. Legally it operates like any other church too; it doesn’t pay taxes or have to report financial information that other nonprofits do.
But some family members and people formerly associated with the nondenominational church and its leaders, brothers David H. Stanley and Dennis H. Stanley, say it’s a cult fueled by sex, lies and lavish lifestyles.
“They want to have a harem of women. They want to have all the sex they can and do it in God’s name,” said Stephanie Stanley of Worcester, a former church member whose husband is a cousin of David and Dennis.
The Stanleys’ mother, Andrea Gault, says her sons began acting hostile toward her and essentially excommunicated her two years ago when she said she criticized their increasingly abusive behavior toward girls and women in their church.
“They look for the people they can control. They prey on them,” Mrs. Gault said in an interview at her home in Rutland. “It’s like they really are possessed.”
The Stanley brothers — a thickly muscled duo who favor tight, embroidered shirts unbuttoned to the sternum, engraved silver belt buckles, reptile skin Western boots and long hair in ’80s rock star style — reject such characterizations.
David Stanley, 40, tells followers he is an anointed prophet and an archangel and that his brother, 36, is a “half-breed” angel, according to Dennis’ wife, Beth.
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