Tmason Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The law is always a tricky thing. There is a
> (minors) farming exemption in FLSA that permits
> those "standing in place of a parent" to put the
> kids to work on the farm.
> I found many, many of my teachers to be of
> superior quality really. Many were educated and
> had their hearts in the job so I fault them none.
> The teachers were just victims of the cult like
> everyone else. Upon attending public school in
> 1983 I discovered that for the subjects taught in
> both the Kingdom school and the Public School, I
> was at least a grade ahead of the public school
> kids.
> I don't know of anyone that graduated from the
> church school. I received a high school diploma
> from the Sate but I attended public HS for my last
> two years.
> Again, I didn't find the education itself to be
> lacking. Socialization in the real world, or lack
> thereof, and never leaving the influence of the
> walk was a problem. I had many many terrific
> friends in the walk and some are doing great,
> others not so much. Seems like real life to me any
> way you slice it. I have no regrets of my own and
> I do not have any animus towards my parents for
> being in the walk, it just was what it was. Peace
> and Love

I guess the key is that parents might need to objectively understand what they are agreeing to for their child before rushing to sign on the dotted line. Just because a shepherd tells you what to do with your kid does not obligate you to abdicate your parental responsibilities.

Tmason, I'm still curious as to why you had to hide under a blanket to go to school?

GoingRogue Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tmason Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > A culture of drinking that permitted 13 and 14
> > year olds to drink.
>
> Scary!

If these 13-14 year olds eventually became drunkards, then they should have been subject to church disciplinary actions, according to a section of a document filed by Hargave Family Ministries when it applied for IRS exemption as a nonprofit in the 90's:


Church Discipline

24. Church discipline is outlined in Lesson 11 of the New Testament Church manual which forms a part of the fabric of the doctrine or tenets that the church follows. Certain portions of that teaching is quoted as follows:

SECTION IV.

IV. FOR WHAT OFFENSES SHOULD A BELIEVER BE DISCIPLINED?

A. If he is a fornicator, covetous, idolater, railer, drunkard or extortioner.
I Cor. 5:11.

I assume stating that a church authority put you on the path to alcoholism is not a valid defense.

GoingRogue Wrote:

> I guess the key is that parents might need to
> objectively understand what they are agreeing to
> for their child before rushing to sign on the
> dotted line. Just because a shepherd tells you
> what to do with your kid does not obligate you to
> abdicate your parental responsibilities.

Yes, the parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing of the children. They can't allow church authorities to usurp this role.

I find that one of the scariest things about the cult experience is how much it replaces decision making and sound reasoning even regarding child rearing, having children, getting married, health, etc. The list is really endless. Even if the specific goal of those in control is not to take over those areas, having people place the leaders in proxy positions is part and parcel of what happens when they own your soul.

Part of the submissive mentality too, is not placing your personal health and safety in priority in your life. So when those leaders tell you to do things that you might not want to do, you will do it because it doesn't matter if it only impacts your life since you have decided not to matter in order to focus on the "greater good" or the "first fruits" or the whatever has taken that role.

But regardless - giving up those roles doesn't eliminate the truth that it is still your responsibility for whatever you do whether you were enslaved or not.

It's bad. People should run. Sometimes snippets of corny country songs pop into my brain and there's one that goes, "Detour! There's a muddy road ahead - detour!"

The following excerpt seems pertinent to this conversation. My sense of meaning has become the family that I nearly lost by cutting myself off from them while in this exclusive, high-demand group. They say they are serving God, but they are really serving themselves at your expense. They will not stop until they control your heart, your thoughts, your finances, your children and your very being.

From Cults in Our Midst
by Margaret Thaler

QUOTE

Psychological and Emotional Difficulties

With their twenty-four-hour regimes of ritual, work, worship, and community, cults provide members with tasks and purpose. When these members leave, a sense of meaningless surfaces. Leaving the cult means losing friends, a mission of life, and direction. Former members also soon realize that they have lost their innocence. They entered the cult full of reverential amazement and with wide-eyed naivete only to discover that they had been deceived and betrayed. As a result, they may be pervaded with a feeling of mourning.

Former members have a variety of other losses to contend with. They often speak of their regret for the lost years during which they wandered off the main paths of everyday life. They regret being out of step and behind their peers in career and life pursuits. They feel the loss of a solid sense of self-esteen and self-confidence as they come to realize that they were used to or that they surrendered their autonomy.

[culteducation.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2018 03:06AM by GoingRogue.

The author of the book Cults in Our Midst is Margaret Thaler Singer.

GoingRogue,

Hiding in the car while entering the home where school was held was likely due to several factors. Zoning, licensing for the school, insurance and of course the always paranoid cult mentality probably all play a part. The glaring stares of the neighbors watching twenty little kids marching in and out every morning may have been undesirable to the adults. I can tell you the kids didn't give a damn.
This is just my guess on the subject forty years later.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2018 09:43PM by Tmason.

Tmason Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GoingRogue,
>
> Hiding in the car while entering the home where
> school was held was likely due to several factors.
> Zoning, licensing for the school, insurance and of
> course the always paranoid cult mentality probably
> all play a part. The glaring stares of the
> neighbors watching twenty little kids marching in
> and out every morning may have been undesirable to
> the adults. I can tell you the kids didn't give a
> damn.
> This is just my guess on the subject forty years
> later.

The ways of the Lord are so strange.

changedagain Wrote:
------------------------------------
>
> The ways of the Lord are so strange.

I wouldn’t know. According to LW folks, apparently I never knew the Lord. I was told that if He showed up at a service and sat in the back with a hat on, I wouldn’t recognize him.

And I was told recently that I never was a son. Or part of the kingdom. Even after 30+ years, while I was in the congragation, I was just an imposter. Not a real disciple. Just a vessle of satan.

And why is that? Because I left. A true disciple would never leave the LW.

puddington - Unfortunately, many others were told the same thing after leaving. I wonder if there has been any attempt by TLWF to refund offerings, since "true sons" would never want to receive dirty money from vessels of Satan. I would suggest that using people for personal gain as long as possible and then discarding them to be more the MO of the "true sons". The abuse is so sad and so destructive. Someday it will become even more evident where the free labor and money went. In the meanwhile, a few on this site and God know.