I originally posted this under Destructive Churches [board.culteducation.com] but decided that former cult members might have more information to offer.

Have there been other cases of people who are deeply involved with questionable religious organizations simply vanishing? Do these groups have so much control over an individual that the person would willingly go to who-knows-where without mentioning it to any family members? Would a person who may be trying to escape a group simply go into hiding without telling any family members.

Please forgive my ignorance. My family and I are trying to understand this bizarre and horrible situation.

Well, I know that when my dad joined Rajneesh he totally cut off all ties with his friends and family. They gave him a new name as well.

His mum didn't see him again after that...they didn't have any contact for the last 30 or so years of her life.

I tracked my dad down about 14 years ago (it took me 6 years to find him) and he was really surprised when eventually I did find him. It wasn't easy.

I'm really sorry you're in this situation.

I am very sorry for your family.I know nothing about the group you name, but there are certainly some groups who would expect a member to cut off all ties with their family.Often though, these groups would also expect the member to donate their money to the group, which you mention has not happened.Some groups might not want money at all though. i don't know what the behaviors are re money of the group once known as the "garbage eaters?"

Also, sometimes people having problems run away from them.Good luck, and I hope you find your nephew soon,
Yasmin

Was just re reading the links someone gave you on the other thread: where SRA was mentioned.

Don't know if it relates to this particular church group or not.

However the basic deal here is that there is the possibility that people can be convinced to have false memories that their families abused them satanically, and hence the only way to be safe is to hide from their families.This has happened in some psychotherapy cults. You may want to read about false memory syndrome.

(Disclaimer:Both SRA and false memory syndrome are controversial.In my opinion, some real memories of abuse may be repressed,and some false memories can be created in such a way as to seem real.A lot of people with strong feelings on this stuff)

Anyway, given that this is one possible explanation for your nephews behavior, you may want to look into it. A good private eye might be helpful too.

I'm not familiar with SRA and I don't know whether this church group induces any of it's members to have false memories.

Here is what I do know about this group. When my nephew first became involved with them it was through a campus ministry when he lived with his family in Nashville. A college friend introduced him to it. The group criticized his family's church, (Catholic) said it was a sham and they were not true Christians. They tried to "save" my nephew's siblings by getting them involved in their group and even convinced my niece to come to one of their services. She found the experience very unsettling and thought the group leaders were far too controlling. She said they seemed to want to control every aspect of your life. For example, single members of the group had to have permission from the group leaders in order to date anyone and preferred you date people who were part of the group. Anyone outside the group had to be approved first. In fact, most people outside the group are considered to be somehow "unholy".

My nephew's parents and siblings were quite uneasy about his involvement with this ministry and tried to convince him to get away from it. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Army and was stationed in Hawaii for a couple of years or so. Everyone thought he had severed his ties with this group and it was forgotten. It looks like we were wrong. When my nephew left the service he decided not to return to college. Instead he moved to, and remained in Arizona where he worked as a RN. We think this decision was based soley on his friendship with his college buddy who introduced him to this group. His college buddy is an associate pastor with a church there and the senior pastor is the same individual who helped organize and lead the campus ministry my nephew joined when he was at T.S.U.

Money? This ministry seems to be very "into" money. According to this church's web site they stress, "Equal Sacrifice - Not Equal Giving". It goes on to say, "Commitments are made either by giving weekly, monthly or annually. A commitment may either be increased or decreased at any time the Lord leads. Some may also be led to give non-cash gifts such as real estate, jewelry, stocks and bonds." My nephew who is single, made pretty good money as an RN yet was always broke. He lived modestly in a small apartment, didn't smoke, drink or gamble, drove an older car. He couldn't afford to visit his family back in Nashville for the holidays unless they paid for the trip. That's another thing that puzzling us. If he simply decided to get away, how did he afford it?