Please help me understand this. Any honest input is appreciated!


My brother, who was a very successful member of the medical community, recently lost everything due to a drug addiction. He is now in a rehab center. His counselor at the rehab center got him involved in her "church". The conselor told my brother, who is at probably the most vulnerable time in his life righ now, that God "speaks to her" and that he can be "healed" only if he goes to her church. My brother is married and has 2 beautiful, severely disabled children. The counselor told my brother that his children are actually forms of Satan. She told him they must be "healed" at a ceremony in her church. His wife drove with her children to a church service at the request of my brother. She stayed for 15 minutes and left. She said there were bean bag chairs all over the floor because of people passing out when they are "healed." My brother claims to have passed out himself at one of these services, due to the healing powers of the clergy. His drug rehab counselor told him she was sent to earth from God to heal people.

His wife told him that she would not tolerate her family being a member of that church. My brother said he would stop going, but then he changed his mind after talking again with the drug counselor. His wife even told him that they could find a church to attend after he was out of rehab, but right now was not the time to make such a huge decision. My brother is convinced that he is doing the right thing.

My first question is, could this be a cult? Second question is, and this may be unrelated to this forum, does the rehab center, which claims no ties with ANY religious group, have a responsibility in this? Doesn't seem right that a counselor can go after people like this at such a vulnerable time.

Your insights are appreciated!
Thanks.

Your husband is in a cult.

[www.wellspringretreat.org] can help you immensely to further understand what is happening and how to help your family.

It certainly sounds like your brother is in need of emotional support. No one should use this fragile state of mind that he is in to promote their personal agendas.

Besides, no one, especially a "spiritual" person should link a physical defect (as in case of the children) to Satan. That is cruel.

I feel for him, for you, his family and his wife.

I am sorry about you brothers troubles. My heart goes out to your family. After reading this I can give you advice in two aspects. The first one is dealing with the Professional that suggested this Church to your Brother. I work in the health care field. I am a Nurse that works with Mentaly Retarded, and Physically Handicapt Children. I work closely with their Therapists, and I can tell you that no professional person who works with emotionally or physically challanged people should ever suggest something like this to one of their patients. It is not right, and yes they can be held liable. As a professional I also have personal views on every case that I work with, but it is that professional side of me that keeps me from interjecting my personal opinion. It is ethically wrong to do so, and any negative reprocussions that come from it I am liable for. My advise to you would be to contact this womans supervisor.
My second piece of advise would be to tell you that his children are most definitly not from the devil, but I do know of a church that would think so. It is the church that I have been dealing with for some time now. They are called the Followes of Christ, and they are a cult. I am not saying that this is what your brother is into, but they deffinitly has some of the same views. I have been dealing with my husbands family and this cult for a long time, and they have a way of making things look so good to those in need. They do like the councelor does by suggesting quick fixes to a problem that will plegue someone the rest of their life. They try to show that they are there for you, that you are the most important person to them. People that are emotionally unstable like your brother feed into this, and they are just the type of people that a cult like this loves to get. They can mold them into anything, and the people on the outside looking at their loved one soon see a huge change in them. Often they start to move closer to the church family, and farther from their own. It is much like an addiction to drugs and booze. The Church supplys you with what you think that you need, where they are actually just substituting for the real problem. It will change him into someone that you no longer know, and soon if you speak against them he will seperate himself from you.
It is a very sad thing, and it will distroy his life, and relationship with you, his wife, and the rest of the family. My suggestion would be to rally with his wife. Try to support him, but ask him to try different alternatives. Ask him to see a different councelor for a second opinion before getting in to deep. Do love him, and show him that you care, remind him that you will always be there for him, and lend your ear to his wife, and a shoulder too, because this must be very hard on her also. By all means call his Councelors supervisor, and tell him your concerns, or if that is not an option ask you brother if you all can have a group session where your brother, his wife, and you can all sit down and try to resolve this situation. Let your voice out, try to let him see that there are other things out there, and that his family is above all most important.

Best Wishes, and Prayers