The Flame of Truth Homeless Shelter

If you live in this city, you would have to be blind to miss The Flame of Truth Homeless Shelter just around the corner of our city’s local fire department. I had the opportunity to tour the facility last night, and it is exactly what you would expect of a homeless shelter, in fact possibly a bit better. Everything was clean and tidy. The front of the facility was equipped with an information desk, and of course various credentials and information hanging from the walls, including their mission statement.

Here is an excerpt:

“The Shelter is available to any that need its help and protection. Warm, dry, and clean beds and three freshly made hot meals a day. All we ask is that you treat your fellow residents with the same respect you feel they should give you.”

The Flame of Truth Shelter is sponsored by The House of the Eternal Flame, a religious group which has taken up residence in our city. The name may be familiar to you because they have been linked with the terrorist group, Adherents of Belial.

Recently the Daily had the opportunity to sit down with Sergie Stankic, Administrator of the shelter, and member The House of the Eternal Flame. Mr. Stankic wished to dispel the rumors that his church and the Adherents were at all affiliated.

“The shelter was founded by members of the church. Dion Lambert had also been a member of the church at one point. Mind you, I came to town after all of this. He broke from the church, making claims he is the son of our God. He broke from us and has taken our teachings, twisting them to his own ends”

If you have heard anything about the Adherents of Belial, or have encountered them in some way, it would have probably been difficult to miss the fact that they are ruthless, and seem to be devoid of any scruples whatsoever. That does leaves us to question just how much twisting has been done. Most beliefs, even the most outrageous have SOME roots in reality. Just how much has been twisted? Why is The House of Eternal Flame so tight lipped? Mr. Stankic had something to say about that when I inquired about his standings within the church:

“I’m a member. Beyond that it would be against my faiths practices to go into more. Hell, by even admitting I am a part of the church I’m breaking from tradition”

A church that does not spread their word? Mr. Stankic states that they have lived secretly, indoctrinating families and letting in only a select few whom they believe has the same mindset as they do. This has kept their numbers low, but strong. Why have they done this? Persecution, the Church’s spokesperson says.

“We believe in two core principles. Think of it as the philosophy that guides our faith. We believe that all notions of morality are fabrications… artificial constructs that we must abandon to be free. We also believe that some people are born to serve. Those that are meant and born to serve must find that place for themselves and give themselves to another of their own free will. The Lier as we call him wants us to be shackled.”

To summarize, the House of the Eternal Flame believes that it is Gods will that some people are inferior to others, and should live to serve their superiors, and they don’t believe in conformity to the rules of right conduct.

Still, Mr. Stankic states that they are not the terrorist things they may be, given their loose affiliation with The Adherents of Belial. They insist that the Adherents are to the House of Eternal Flame as the Westboro Baptist Church would be to the Christian community.

“The best way of describing the difference between my church and the Adherents… Think of my faith as the modern church, while the adherents are fundamentalists. They believe and follow a strict old form of our faith. And well, Mr. Lambert has this delusion that he is some kind of Antichrist… and that’s not even going into the cannibalism.”

He also goes on to say:

“Where we believe that one must willingly give themselves to another, the Adherents force that unto people. They are no better than slavers. They are anarchists. They think that our Lord Belial wants them to tear down the establishment.”

These explanations beg the question… Are these two groups really so different? If the Adherents of Belial are so fervent in their desire to force their will on others, and Mr. Stankic admits to the fact that one of their core beliefs is a complete and utter lack of morality, can we really not see the two in the same light?

As our talk went on, I had difficulty seeing Mr. Stankic and his group as anything more than a man who spoke for an alternative religion… One that did not pose any real threat simply went against the norms of society. Then he started opening up. Mr. Stankic was gracious enough to get a little more in depth in to the beliefs of his church. What he said made it difficult to hide my shock.

“Belial, our God is one of the beings that made us all, along with Jehovah. He is the one that wants us to remain as we were intended to be… Free of morality. The followers of Jehovah turned Him (Belial) in to its visage of evil. Some would call him the devil or a demon. There is some truth in that.”

At Mr. Stankic’s admission they are devil worshippers. Their god is what the majority of reality sees as evil. The one we blame on all the bad and ugly in the world.

Only one two questions remain. Is the shelter run by the members of the House of the Eternal Flame really as harmless as we hope they are? And are they really as different from the Adherents as they may seem?