Moving On - Children of the Children of God

wow-! i've been reading about all the abuse to children(male and female alike)in the family.i first met them about 94-95,i had just read an article on them in the Birmingham news,a local paper,about a week previously.i was sitting in my business office at lunch time(i used to manufacture concrete products for the yard-i.e. birdbaths,planters,fountains and such) when i got a call from a girl named reina who told me she was calling for the 'family singers',she told me they were seeking donations by calling all the local businesses in the area.,a little about what they did,ect. i told them i could help them a little bit-a check and maybe a few items for their home--she said great and someone would stop by later.that's when i met the house daddy,and one of his older (17) daughters.we talked,and he invited me out for dinner on the weekend.all i saw(i went for nearly a year after that) was a lot of happy people,singing and guitar playing,and good fellowship-i did see many people come and go-mostly teenagers who came(or so i was told)from many broken homes across the U.S.i never saw anything weird,but then again i did not live with them.,(i was asked later if i wanted to give up my home and business to join up with them)but i did not--as i was comfortable with my life. i did bring them food on a regular basis and remember they went about town to all the Wal-Marts doing animal ballons for a small 'donation'.,amoung other things,some even held part time jobs to keep up the home.(the one they lived in was huge-it had like 6 bedrooms)are all family homes like the ones described here-? or just a few-? i did have a couple of those people who were really nice to me--and kept a friendship up with reina,but alas i lost touch with her some years ago.thanks for reading my little blurb here. peace to all, seawater.

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from Sonderval
Friday, April 15, 2005 - 10:51
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There's good and bad everywhere, and I'm afraid I have no idea of whether the family you were in contact was one of the good ones or not. But one thing that is almost impossible to believe unless you've seen it from the inside is the efficiency of the mask that we learnt to wear while in the cult, regardless of what you've been through you learn never to let it slip. To the outside world I was the model of a happy christian youth who wanted nothing more than to be allowed to continue to live my idyllic life in the organisation that I represented, right up until I left at 15.

We became very very adept at doublespeak and doublethink (to anyone who doesn't know what I mean read 1984), it's possible that the family you meant were truly happy and fulfilled, I truly hope so, I would not wish anyone to have gone through what many here have.
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from My Broken Family
Friday, April 15, 2005 - 10:06
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The tragic thing is that any of the teenagers that *were* from broken families likely had their families broken by The Family itself.
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from ErikMagnusLehnsher
Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 18:08
(Agree/Disagree?)

It's entirely possible that the Home you interacted with was legitimately doing their CTP ministries and stuff and no abuse was occuring there at that time given that fact that this was mid 1990's. It's impossible to really opine on that particular situation one way or the other but if you spent that much time with them you could probably trust your gut and come to your own conclusions (though some members are admittedly pretty slick when it comes to P.R.) I don't think anyone here has stated that ALL Homes open at anytime were bastions of hedonism and abuse run by devils.

I still object to the way that most Family Homes still hide their real beliefs and internal doctrines but I think most former members who left in the last 5 - 10 years would agree that most of the illegal activities and abuse described on this site occured prior to 1994.
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from Banshee
Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 17:41
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Yes, unfortunately, TF is an expert in Public Relations, Bullshitting, side-stepping, and pretty veneers. One of the most important things members are trained in is how to put on a show for outsiders, and how to sugar-coat the beliefs, and which ones to hide, etc. New members aren't even exposed to the more bizarre beliefs and practices until they've been in for at least 3-6 months, and by that time, they've got them pretty much ripe for unquestioning loyalty from 3-4 hour daily indoctrinating "Word" sessions, reading on such subjects as pride, "yieldedness", submission, taking correction without question, obedience, etc, etc. Every Family home attempts to do as much "humanitarian work" as they can as well, which also serves, at times, as a smokescreen for their cult status.

Besides this, there is also the fact that they have cleaned up their act in recent years, and have attempted to become more "mainstream" in their practices (but not beliefs!!). Most of the stories you have been reading about on here are our stories of growing up, and the state of TF from those years. We are asking TF to take accountability for their actions and practices of past years, more than for their present state.
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