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muppet
Hi Apostate,
DM is duplicitous and very strategic in his recruitment and retention od members. Anyone who retains any sense of self worth on exiting this group is a very strong person. His aim is always to breed dependency on the group and discourage any maverick thinking., so leaving is very painful but staying is worse. You will have witnessed people being reduced to almost infantile states and being unable to support them because of the dire consequences it would lead to. In truth, noone has any say on important matters in the group but D is manipulative and makes it seem as if there sreally is a grievance system that is fair.
Ex members are survivors of an abusive regime. You are very brave to have identified yourself as an ex member and challenge him openly. Meanwhile he has retreated to a forum he has generated and controls himself, because freedom is his enemy.
If he had any conscience he would acknowledge that what he puts pople through is wrong but then as he himself says, he abaqndoned his social conscience a long time ago. Dave knows exactly what he is doing and he knows it is wrong but instead of facing up to it, he has chosen to grab whoever he can find and create a dependency in them that feeds his own need for attention and respect.
Some comments were made about his childhood further up, but on its one, that does not explain his behaviour. Attempts made by his family to change him have failed too, by all accounts, and thise that stayed with him have, become almost as cold as he is. It is incredibly difficult for family members of such leaders to come to terms with the behaviour of their parents. What a lot of suffering he has generated.
Were you in during the young Liverpool lads time? DM speaks so disrespectfully of him.
Here's to freedom Apostate! Keep it real.[/color:6c38694c28]
Hi Muppet. No I was not in the JC's when the Liverpool lad saga was happening. I was out by that time, but I was aware of it. I found it interesting listening to Fran's story of events. He has become as slippery as Dave. Fran said that he never told Liverpool lads mother the he was no longer her son, all he said was "he's a child of god". Duh.. how else was she supposed to interpret that.
I have checked out his forum. It is very notable that he dominates the entire forum having the last word on practically every topic. I note that there were a few people who disgreed with him, but they ended up bailing out when Dave started to accuse them of working together against him. It is a typical tactic of Dave to surround those who would criticise him with accusations to deflect what is being said. In that way he cons his followers into thinking he is being persecuted. Now his "forum" is little more than a reflection of his community, i.e. total agreeance, with all his followers rallying around him.
Regarding seeing people reduced to infantile states, yes, I did see that. From my perspective it seems to be a continual cycle of abuse with such members, except that those being abused end up apologising to the abuser for making him angry or needing to "discipline" them.
He has generated so much suffering in people. He has a wake of destruction behind him. Going by his past behavior and record of retaining people, the majority of his followers currently with him will they themselves be discarded as failing to live up to his unrealistic expectations. Some of them will have given up their kidneys, or taken a whipping for someone else in some delusional scheme of "Christian" justice. Left to themselves none of these individuals would have done this, and he has the audacity to say that there is no peer pressure involved. He says this, while using twisted Bible verses to back such actions; i.e. "he who has two should give to those who have none".
Thanks for your encouragement Muppet. Were you in the JC's at all?