Hi everyone. My name is David. I too was a member of the Christ Family. I think I “may” be able to say some things here that shed some light and can possibly help former and existing members. I hope all people that read this take from it the facts that are true, whether they believe in god or not and it also reminds us all of the importance of the choices we make.

This is very serious situation concerning brainwashing. Although many different cults/sects use brainwashing, the error of their teachings is easily identified, and thus the fraud is exposed. This particular group has certain core fundamentals that are not disprovable and align with the moral compass of many people. Additionally, psychiatrists and psychologists, as people of science from many different fields, have a substantially lower percentage of belief in God than other people practicing different forms of science, such as astronomy or physics. Here is an example I saw recently, “A survey of 1,100 college professors in the United States found that psychologists were much more skeptical about the existence of psi than their colleagues in the natural sciences, the other social sciences, or the humanities (Wagner & Monnet, 1979). I read that in an article that was recently published:

Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for
Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect
Daryl J. Bem
Cornell University.

Although the article above is controversial, the study cited by Wagner & Monnet, 1979 is not.

I believe the combination of the exceptional devotion that is required of a person to live this life, compounded by the profound real moral implications, and the lack of competent professionals that actually believe in God and/or apparently godly powers, makes withdrawal from this group more difficult than any other cult/sect/group in the world. Additionally, as soon as you are wrong about something you say to a member or former member, you are dismissed as not being “Inspired by God” or not, “In the flow”, and thus you will make no more or little progress in exposing the truth to them. If you are sitting there with leather shoes on and trying to help them, they won’t listen to a word you say, probably ever. Why should they, if you are hypocrite too?

I would like to tell everyone here a little about myself, my experiences in the Christ Family, and hopefully, provide some information for better mental health of the members, previous and still in there.

I am a 45 years old. I did about a year in a robe. I was studying various religions seeking to find God. I met a guy named James in Newbury Park, California, at a friend’s house. We talked philosophy for a while and became friends quickly. It then became clear that James was actually a devil worshiper. I kid you not. I then proceeded to talk with him about his choice to be a devil worshiper. It took a couple of days, but I was able to “logically” prove to him his choice to be evil was lacking logic and basic commonsense. He conceded and removed his pentagon necklace.

The next day, I was in his room and he said to me, Jesus is a vegetarian. I sat down and though about it for about thirty seconds. I didn’t open the bible. I just thought about my personal view of God. A true God that is superior. For me, this was the truth. It was logical to me for the creator of life and love, to be superior, God must be vegetarian. I was a big meat eater and hated vegetables. Nevertheless, I became a moral vegetarian that day and have been so ever since. Soon after that, James said to me, “Jesus is back”. I said, “I know.” I have always been a firm believer in words of Christ.” In this case, my gut was telling me that Christ really is “there”, when two or more are gathered in his name. 100%, completely there! Why would he say he would be there if it were not true? Either, he, “Christ”, was not really from God, his words were changed, or the whole thing is a lie, or perhaps, Christ was actually representing God with verifiable words to back it up. It was a revelation moment for me. Christ is really present at that time. Fom that moment on acknowledging his actual presence in your space just as you would another living being actually being there. That’s what those words say. “I will be there”. That is testable. From the biblical words it seems the only criteria required is two or more and that it be in his name. The two or more cannot be representing a false Christ. It seemed simple, provable, testable, and logical. It had nothing to with the Christ Family. This was 100% belief in life. It was a testable, but not temptable, way to pursue God. I wanted to know. I quickly went from 100% me being legit with God, to keeping the 100% up! I was high on God and weed. I did not want to come down. I was ready to do anything to keep believing for real that Christ was there.

He then proceeded to tell me about the Christ Family. He had a Manifesto, a song book, and a white robe that he pulled from a drawer. We then talked about, “Charles Franklin McHugh”, AKA, Lightning Amen, the life of Christ, the three keys to heaven, in the wind, etc. I asked myself, “What happens when you do everything 100%?” Be as honest with yourself as you possibly can? Give up everything? Your ego, your things? Ask forgiveness, and try to do no evil or harm again? What happens when you can logically say, we all need to improve ourselves and do everything we can that makes logical sense to save the human race from the actual real problems we are currently facing? The children!!! This world is mess. You don’t go driving down the road with your hands in the air saying let God drive. You actually have to do things to improve the situation for the future of humanity to have any hope at all. Faith? Great, just don’t expect me to believe God is going to save millions or billions of people that did not do enough correctly to stop several severe potential problems.

What happens when you give 100% and you are truly innocent of any wrong doing, serving God with your life and with another person that is the same and actually believes Christ is right there with you all the time?

As I went over every aspect with him, it became clear to me that indeed, of all the religions I had studied, this life, as explained to me, was clearly the most devout, selfless, honest, truthful, and realistic of any religion I knew of on earth.
I was young, on my own, and a point in my life where the horrors of this world had already taken many tolls on me. I was in pain. My heart was heavy by the suffering I knew of in this world. In this real world, we have serious problems and I could see no way more to serve my maker and support a solution for peace on earth, than living this life of serving God. I was young man ready to put myself to work for God in the most serious way I could find.

There was more. I asked, “Why did you leave?” James then told me of several stories of the different brothers and sisters accusing him of being possessed by demons and blaming him for any bad dreams they had in his presence. He was clearly very hurt. He had been in and out of the robe a few times. Eventually, he ended up almost dead and alone in the desert and lived several horrors that are considered very damaging to a person, but they were dwarfed by his hurt over the betrayal of these people he believed were of God. Dwarfed! Wow! My eyes were wide open. I saw the hurt in him. They said more horrible things to him then his near death experiences he had after. He was more hurt by them! I knew right then, there were sick/evil people in this group. Yet, the life intrigued me and I was perusing Christ, so hit the road with James after sewing up my own robe.

James was a very nice, beautiful and sincere person. He was not looking for anything, but to serve God. I had not met Charles McHugh, and could make no association in my mind of him being Christ. I was very honest with myself, and my God on the inside. I could not see the two as the same. I was doing this for Christ. If Charles is him, than perhaps I am somehow flawed. God would have to understand. I will live the life regardless and with this I will have faith, that God will protect me from evil as I am here for him, not this other man. I then traveled to Mexico, to the east coast, up to Canada, and back down to Mexico. We met two brothers in Yuma, Terrance and David. Terrance had no teeth. We camped for about a week and then I split with David and Terrance split with James. David and I met up with another bother, Steven, in Tucson. He had been out of a robe and put it back on when he met us. When we were in Baltimore, we met another bother who had just put his robe back on, Christopher. I believe his real name was Raymond, his friends called him Buddha. We traveled to Philadelphia where another brother name Manuel put his robe back on and traveled with us. Manuel split soon after and the three of us met Charles, a sixteen year old, in Canada. Christopher and Stephen split from us outside of Toronto. I guess Christopher got tired of yelling at me constantly. After having to sneak Charles into the USA, I split from him because he would not listen to me about walking the white line on the shoulder of the road. He wanted the paint from the white line to make his feet feel better. His feet were still new to being barefoot, but not that bad. He was risking being hit by a car and spacing out while walking. He was not listening for cars and taking chances with his life. He was a very depressed and hurt person. He had been through a lot in his short life. I did not think God was going to just stop cars from hitting us and he would not listen. So, I did as they say, “shot him in the wind”. This was a difficult decision and is a testament to the actual dangers of choosing to live your life a different way then the general public. The odds of being hit by a car, walking the road, every day, are much more than the average person and it requires logical and reasonable measures. Stay right of the line seems required to me. However, my young age and involvement with the life and inability to know what to do, was difficult to say the least. I chose to abandon Charles somewhere in Nebraska. I was only seventeen at the time. He did not have a safe home to return to. I worry about him to this day. It was the wrong thing to do.

By this point I had met and talked with many people, religious historians, priests, etc. from many religions. Every single time I sat down and talked with them and they actually spent the time with me, they admitted what I was doing was correct, yet did not profess Charles as Christ and also did not make personal changes themselves. Can you see a parallel there? I can, after all these years. If the religion that is teaching the most logical and verifiable truth is requiring the belief that someone is Christ, that is not, then most that witness the life being lived by another, won’t live the life. Better to have a bunch of nuts living the life of Christ on the street, embarrassing the life, than actually have people living the life and not being fooled by someone. It’s as sick as it gets.

I then traveled down to Brownsville, into Mexico, then back up to one hundred miles north of San Antonio, at a place called Junction, Texas. By this point I had seen tens of thousands of amazing events. Call it statistically probability, the kindness of others, or miracles. It makes no difference to me. I had run barefoot on train track rocks to catch freight trains, had my feet turn yellow from cold, slept in the rain, etc. I sat under a bridge in the middle of nowhere and a storm started. It rained hard. Then lightning started to strike the bridge I was under about four times a minute. It was a torrential downpour. There was only a very small spot left under the bridge that was not wet and I sat in my sleeping bag there. I was about to get soaking wet with lightning striking the bridge. I had zero fear. A few moments later a girl and her mom pulled over and picked me up. This was Gail. She had been in a robe several times before and was on her way to Florida with here mom. They were going the other way and turned around to pick me up. I rode with her until Huston, where she left with her family. She gave me the address for a house that the Christ Family had in Baton Rouge. I had never been to their so called, “Weigh Stations”. She had also told me that she had met Charles/Lightning and of similar stories of abuse by the brothers and sisters in the group and was no longer wearing a robe because if it. I went to the house and left with a brother and sister that I do not remember the names of. The sister left by herself in Mississippi. The brother and I traveled to Florida, where we split up. I then traveled over to Tampa to see how Gail was doing. I heard more and more horror stories from her of abuse from the members to other members. She explained to me that in her travels she went through an area in Colorado where there were many sheep. The sheep had brands on them that were half the size of their bodies. I understood. I had a wool army blanket. This was hypocritical. I was not using honey because it was stealing from the bees. This was clearly to me, a more damaging and unnecessary violent action. It was hypocritical, so I put back on normal clothes. Gail and I became girlfriend and boyfriend. It took a few months, but we eventually made it out to see Charles in their Hemet house. She still had concerns and beliefs that this guy was possibly Jesus. It was destroying her mind. She wanted to do all she could for God. I had months to think about it. Okay, what am I going to ask this guy when I finally meet him? I finally decided to ask him why the wool blanket. When we got down that dirt road to the house we were invited in. I walked over to him and said, “I have only one question for you; why the wool blanket?” He responded, “Because it was given to me.” I know now others heard “Because God gave it to me.” It makes no difference, but he did say, “Because it was given to me.” I stood up, stated out loud, so everyone could still hear clearly, “You are not Christ”, and walked out. Gail was still inside and I threatened to burn the house down if she didn’t come out. They called the police on me. pff Gail came out and picked me up in the car and we saw the cops red lights pass us on the dirt road out of there. A superior entity or person is not hypocritical, or they are not superior. I really thought they were done forever after that and that abuse would stop.

As it turns out, Gail and I spent the next fix to six years together. We were homeless. She had many medical problems. One of which was sun poisoning. She would get red blisters that scared for life in fifteen minutes of direct sunlight. It was a direct result of being marched in the desert with no shade in a robe, by sick sisters in group. From what I know, Gail is either dead or still on the street. I found her in a motel in Ventura about ten years ago. She was still homeless, after an additional twelve to thirteen years. All a result of the Christ Family members staining the life of Christ. You want to talk about grief. Try living on the street all those years. She had been homeless now about twenty plus years. A single woman, with serious medical issues, a sound mind, and on the street, is a very painful experience.

To this day I still smoke. I started smoking the Burglar with them. Smoking is destroying me. I have been alone in my thoughts for over twenty years now trying to live practical solutions for a better planet. I am frequently seen as someone to tolerate and accept, rather than someone to work with and support. It is very frustrating. The second I state I had any involvement with this group, I am stained, misunderstood and disrespected.

You don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.
I remember hearing the line, “Smoke your brains out!” No, thank you. God gave me a brain to think, just like eyes to see.

In all fairness, not all of the wrong caused by the members of these groups are directly contributable to intentional brain washing and lying. My members that joined had no desire to take people’s houses, cars, have sex, drink, etc. I for one, refused to accept these things. Unfortunately, it is a well documented fact that people without management training have a much higher tendency to abuse their position of authority over others. This made a very bad situation much worse.

You can believe Jesus was a vegetarian and not wear white robe, and still represent God. What you wear defiles you no more than what you eat. Only that which comes from the heart really matters.

For all of you members upset with my words. You need to ask yourself a question. What is the most important thing in life? Your answer to that question will have more of an influence on your life than any question you can ask yourself. For me, it’s life itself. That it be realized to its fullest potential. Brainwashing, bullying, humiliating, and hurting others, to believe anything, even the truth, robs that person of the free choice to choose to give that part of them freely. Any superior being would make it possible for you to love and believe in them, without coercion and force.

I ask you that read this to think about the realities of this world again. Mathematically, per Hawking and Segan, the human race has less than a one percent chance of survival to make it the next one hundred years. It’s a very big deal and this world does have serious problems. I for one believe to have life survive, we need peace. I believe if everyone that could, chose to be a moral vegetarian, the rest of the steps for peace on earth would follow. I think that is step one. I am not saying meat eaters are going to hell or moral vegetarians are going to heaven. I am not telling anyone to believe in God. You should be able to have a healthy mind and then find God, if you want. This is what I am doing. I have chosen to not support killing, but to support life, first, as a first step and to live it as an example to my fellowman. It is just something I do. Others do other things. Most people, do nothing much, their entire lives, to actually try and save this place before it actually does become hell on earth for our kids. Most leave this world a much worse place than they found it.

The deceptions of the group run deep. The lies and hypocrisy of many of its members are human. The lives they have ruined are countless. The pain is still felt by a great many people and still continues. My heart goes out to all those that have posted here talking about being abandoned as children or being raised around so many of these messed up people.

If you really want to help someone that has been in there get their head right, do it by example. Do something positive and productive things that can logically and clearly help this world survive and leave God out of it all together. Show practically, through your own actions, that you are making this world a better place than you found it, somehow, someway. If you are not, you will find it virtually impossible to help them recover completely. You need to provide and live answers and not just point out flaws. You need to check your ego at the door. As messed up as many of them are, you must be able to concede a logical point that they are right on, while restating your correct disbelief to their other actions. Let’s face it. We all make mistakes. Sometimes, they are very big ones. Most of us can learn to be better, look inward, be selfless, and give for the joy of giving. We all just need to do it for the purpose of giving. A sunset can be very beautiful. A sunset shared with another is more beautiful. How beautiful would a sun be if you were the last human on earth? How beautiful would the sunset be if all humans were gone? The only thing more beautiful then the universe, in its entire splendor, is the ability to appreciate that beauty. We all need to get to work and fix this place and not let groups like this steal entire lives of valuable caring people that can actually make a difference. We can only do that through actually doing better at acknowledging factual truths and working towards realistic solutions.

Remember, Charles died in the dark of night. Not in the light of day.

Take care everyone and do what you can,

Dave

DavidWish:

Please refrain from preaching or arguing about religious beliefs.

That is not the purpose of this message board and violates the rules you agreed to before posting here.

The purpose of this board is cult eduction, i.e. discussing cults, cult-like groups and coercive persuasion techniques.

The people that have decided to post on this thread are sharing about their experiences in "Christ Family," i.e. how the group fit the pattern of a "cult" and how it hurt them.

This thread is not about sharing your religious beliefs and urging people to consider them.

I will try. Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2011 11:07PM by DavidWish.

DavidWish:

There 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]

To whom it may concern:

The primary thread for "Christ Family" led by "Lightening Amen" can be found at the link below.

See [forum.culteducation.com]

That is really good stuff Rick. You are helping a lot of people. I have not read the books above. They sound very helpful for a full, in-depth, sound understanding. Perhaps, elementary school level, no surely. I am sure they are filled with insightful ways to have proper thinking, through understanding and the facts. I.e. Ground work level stuff. Instilling basic commonsense and practicing it, and getting the rewards from it. Good mental health is a good thing. I have not visited the rest of your site much, I will, but I hope you consider condensing this stuff in a way for preemptive education at an earlier level, if you have not already. However, your work in recovery is, in my opinion, legit. Good job.

I have always been amazed at how easily people fall victim to cults and abusive situations. I am pleased others are making it their work through these techniques of being aware and conscious. I agree and think any viable solution for mankind includes proper mental health.

The book "Cult Proofing Your Kids" by clinical psychologist Paul Martin is a sound way of approaching the subject with children.

See [www.amazon.com]

To whom it may concern:

This thread has been closed since there is already an ongoing thread about the "Christ Family."