by S.D. West

Created on: April 22, 2008   Last Updated: October 09, 2008

Testimonies: Being a victim of spiritual abuse

He set himself up as the final authority in all matters concerning the church. He was not to be questioned, demanding complete loyalty. Having the final word and always being right took priority over the welfare of the people. He told us over and over again that we were all one. I know this to be true, but from where I stood from my place in the family; this certainly wasn't the case within the culture that was created. There was a wide gulf between the lifestyle of the regular people of the group and the leader himself. The reality of daily life was way different than the words that were preached.

The aspect of "group think" was detrimental to my personal outlook in the long run but in all fairness there never was the extreme or unreasonable control such as Charlie Manson or Jim Jones. There was mind manipulation, nonetheless, and power that we gave to who we thought was our spiritual guide was a heady thing. We built it, allowed it for all those years but no one man is infallible and the kingdom must fall. There was a major crack in 1984 when a number of people tried to address the issues of financial and spiritual mismanagement and it fell on deaf ears so a large number of the people left. There was another crack in 2003 when the family went bankrupt and lost the land, leaving a handful of loyal followers.

We were taught that the family was the only group that realized the truth, the only group that was a living example of what Jesus Christ taught. In the early years the Bible was the only book we were allowed to read. The New Testament was emphasized as a way of life. The Old Testament was a history of God's people. In our effort to separate ourselves from the world there were no clocks, and no mirrors in our home. We weren't allowed to touch money. After all, we had given up our past and took on new names and a new life, denying and thereby alienating our parents and families. There was the feeling of an "us" and "them" (meaning the world at large because the world wasn't enlightened as we were). This situation was less practiced as the years went on and we eventually reached out to our parents and others of our past.
The women not allowed to wear pants, but long skirts instead. We didn't cut our hair or wear make up. Were taught to serve the men; to do their laundry, to turn down the beds at night, to brush and braid the men's hair in the mornings. We were taught to uplift the brothers and to defer to them. The

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