HEY HEY BROTHER PHILIP, it's me Anna, I do remember you and Esther soo very well. When i was ill, you and Esther took care of me. I first met you in New York City. I was a "new" baby then. Amen,Cher and Martha brought me there from Washington,D.C. Dearest Philip, Bartholomew has passed away. As has Gabriel,Sarah,Clyde,John,Timothy,Noah ove and soo too many more. Hope all is well with you and yours. Take care Brother. Love , Anna

I am hoping someone will enlighten me as to what to look for...the girl that was kill by that state trooper..(you can find the story under Blue Earth Jane Doe)

I am going to go to the site where she was found and follow the drainage ditch up a couple miles...I know it has been thirty years but I also know things work their way up out of the soil (I know this because my property I found out was once a landfill 30 yrs ago and stuff is always coming to the surface) Anyway I am going to go look...ideas of what to look for???? Did they where robes in 79/80?? Would they have had camo jacket?? Did this group have a symbol that might be on something?? Does anyone know of any of them having a van or a 1974 Vega??? None of the girls personal belongings were found.

They commented in the police report at the scene and the medical examiner how heavily calloused her feet were...did you as a member have heavily calloused feet?

Anything at all will give me ideals....I know very very little of this group and even less about their activity in 79/80 in southern MN.

I know the state trooper joined a "cult"/"religion" supposedly shortly after the murder and gave them everything he owned..home..everything including the kids shoes it said????

anyway...I'll wait...but hopefully I would like to go out there tomorrow and it is a 3 hr drive....so hopefully someone is reading this tonight and can school me.

Thanks

HI -

My mother was with them during this time- they wore a necklace or patch with a lightening bolt on it, white robes, no shoes and a bedroll-army blanket and sometimes a patchwork type blanket. That is aweful, but doesn't suprise me. These people are very vulnerable traveling around and putting their trust in strangers. I will ask her is she knows anything about it.

Thank you leftbehind..that would be great..feel like I am banging my head against a wall....just stuck...you would think someone misses this girl....

these are the names of people who I was associated with.

Dear Phillip, this is Joan who used to travel with Seabring John. [...]

[Moderator Note: The rules specifically state that no contact information can be posted at this message board]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2010 08:09AM by rrmoderator.

here is a subsection regarding recovery issues on this site.

See [www.culteducation.com]

There is also a directory of recovery resources listing licensed professional counselors well-acquainted with cults that specifically have experience helping former members.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Recovery from cults does not include "Destroying everything 'legitimate' a person believes in to remove them from a cult."

Instead, it includes understanding the coercive persuasion techniques used by cult leaders.

See [www.culteducation.com]

The basic dynamics of destructive cults is discussed in this subsection.

The best books to read on the subject would include the following:

Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults
[www.amazon.com]

Cults in our Midst
[www.amazon.com]

And from an evangelical Christian perspective:

The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse - Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority within the Church
[www.amazon.com]

The Drift Into Deception - The Eight Characteristics of Abusive Christianity
[www.amazon.com]

Most cult leaders fit the profile of psychopaths. To better understand psychopaths this book is helpful.

Without Conscience
[www.amazon.com]

There is also a large subsection within this Web site concerning "brainwashing."

See [www.culteducation.com]

The key research articles, which can be quite helpful in the recovery process, through gaining an in-depth understanding of manipulative coercive persuasion techniques are:

Coercive Persuasion and Attitude Change
[www.culteducation.com]

Thought Reform and Psychology of Totalsim
[www.culteducation.com]

Cult Formation
[www.culteducation.com]

You can better understand the distinctions between various forms of persuasion by studying this chart prepared by clinical psychologist Margaret Singer, author of "Cults in Our Midst." Singer professionally counseled more than 1,000 former cult members.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Singer also wrote the seminal paper "Coming out of Cults" about the recovery process.

See [www.culteducation.com]

I just recently came across this forum and want to share my experience with the “Christ Family”. In 1980, I was a 15 year old boy living with my Mom and Stepfather in the Akron OH area. My parents were products of the 60’s and had a lot of left over hippie ideals but we basically had a happy Midwest style family. Well, it was happy until the Christ Family showed up at our door!!! My Stepdad had gone to high school with one of its member who I believe called himself Noah (His real name was Don V.). Noah and some other white robe clad, bare foot, vegan eating “Apostle Wannabies” made themselves right at home in our house. They stayed a couple weeks and in that time dug deep into my parents and I guess my, head. They talked about there no KSM doctrine and we shared vegan meals, passed around joints and Bugler cigarettes. As a teen age boy, I guess it seemed kind of cool at the time. These folks had some interesting ideas and I was invited to hang with the group, didn’t have to go to school and got to smoke all the weed I wanted. After a while, they took off but a few weeks later, more came by. This time Noah and I think a “Gabriel” showed up with about 5 others in an old army truck that had a logo consisting of a Star of David with a lightning bolt in the center. This time they stayed longer and I heard all their stories about this savior they called Lightening Amen, his ideas and I think they had some type of manifesto or typed doctrine the based everything on. When I began to notice how much my parents were getting into this, the fun began to die out. Then one day, I came home and saw my Mom sewing a robe from an old sheet. I asked her who it was for and she said it was hers and she was joining to “Walk in the wind” with the group. I begged her not to go but to no avail. I think I actually asked if I could join along but was told some BS about kids being Hobbits and we couldn’t come. My Mom left with them and about a day later she returned, her bare feet bleeding. It didn’t take to long for them to show up again and this time my Mom left and was gone a little over a month. This experience absolutely destroyed my family and 30+ years later my Mom still feels extremely remorseful and guilty for leaving her family. I try to tell her that I forgive her but I guess this is a mental challenge she must struggle with. She told me that she made it out to the CF’s compound in what she believed was Utah. When she got there, she met the Lightning Amen only to realize he was just a man and witnessed no miracles. With her gone, I went to live with my grandparents and that’s where I stayed until I was old enough to go off on my own. My Step Dad and Mom later divorced. As a victim of a cult, I beg anyone considering joining one to open up your eyes and walk away. The CF brought only pain to me and my family and I was very pleased to have read that Lightning’ has since died! What amazes me is that there are still gullible people out there that believe he was indeed GOD. Wake up people!!! He was a convicted child molester, drug addict/dealer, con-man first class, chain smoker and a drunk!!! How is that Godly!!!!

Bryan, I am sorry you had such a bad experience with The Christ Family. I was in that group for about 3 years back in the early eighties. I knew Noah and Gabriel, who I liked. Noah told me a story about being captured for a reprogramming which did not work, and he reported that he escaped out the window. At that time we were wearing white robes and bare feet. I was a young 22 year old naive kid who was looking for something to fill the void in my life. Fortunately I did not have any children or family to crush with my decision to join the group. I have read through much of this forum and most of this discussion is not what I experienced. I actually enjoyed traveling around and feel like it was the single defining experience of my life. I realize the messenger was flawed and unfocused, and we were following a false idol, however I only met Lightening one time in my entire time with the group. He was in a bus in the desert in California with who we called Mary. I talked to him a few moments about my travels so far and went off to the tents. i was a low level nobody in the group who did not have a Saints name like many others. That evening we all got together in the desert and sang our songs the Brothers had developed. We did smoke marijuana when we could get it, because we were told that it was a natural herb. That evening the songs and experience brought me to such a trance like state that I felt like I had left my body. I left the next day and went back on the road. Over half of the time I was in the group I was by myself. I have always been a loner and this was no exception. South in the winter and North in the summer. I followed my vows, no sex, no killing and no materialism. The justification for not working was the work of the priest. I loved the catholic priests who seemed to identify and accept us to some degree. The Baptist preachers seemed to hate us. I was thrown in jail three times for vagrancy and just being a nuisance in Missippi and Baton Rouge. I loved being in the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. Lived on the boats in San Diego, walked through Washington State, walked through Louisiana, Wyoming etc... I slept in my sleeping bag and watched the stars at night. I loved the brothers and sisters and still have a deep admiration for many of them I met along the way. There was so many kind people we met along the way, and I enjoyed talking about God and the beliefs of the group. It was a grand adventure for a young man. I did finally leave the group, went back to school and earned a Masters in psychology and a Ph.D, began in psychology and finished the Ph.D in religious studies. I am still deeply spiritual, unaffiliated with organized religions, and wrote a book on Christian mysticism.