Re: peace
Yours is a typical reaction to learning about the Family and other cults like it. That's why it is hard for those who leave to open upa nd get the help they need. Perhaps you would get moreunderstanding by reading "Snapping" by conway and Siegelman, as well as Lifton's book about the 8 steps to mind control. POW's know the enemy is trying to brainwash them and so they resist, but even they break under torture. Cults like Family of Love, Unification Church, etc. etc. use love bombing, gaining trust in the name of God, so the brainwashing is not so evident. By the way, they attract a LOT of very strong individuals, and use guilt and lack of bible knowledge to perform their mental gyrations. (mostly circular reasoning). If you really want to help - be patient, loving, and let them talk at their own speed and gve them those books to read as well.

I understand how horrifying it is to hear about the atrocities of the Family. I spent 20 years there and delivered seven children into that cult world. I was 20 years old when I entered, and 40 when I was able to get out. Now I am 63. I met the COG soon after I met the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and as a rich kid who had it all, and suffered a date rape at 17, I was searching and broken. I was attracted to their happy, forsake-all, carefree spirit and their desire to serve the Lord. I was like the frog who jumped into a nice pot of cool water sitting on the stove. It slowly got worse and worse. I was brainwashed into believing we were the spearhead of Christianity, the special elite, head and shoulders above the world-lings, privileged to have our very own prophet and king. I had no prior religious doctrines to overcome, and free love was an attractive concept, particularly when viewed through the lens of Christianity. The soil was ripe and ready for those satanical evil seeds to take root in my heart. I learned from day one, to follow the leader and not question. When I began to question things, it became very very scary, and leaving was even more scary. The Lord made a way to leave France with all my children and return to Idaho in 1994, but it took a few years to fully comprehend what I actually was able to escape from, and the brainwashing that had transpired. We had thankfully missed the worst places in the Family, but still the recovery has been a long hard road toward finding answers to life and those years living in the cult. My children are well, and I am currently working toward a degree in counseling. My faith in the Lord never wavered, and truly, only my faith in the Lord is what has kept me grounded and sane in a world of insanity. Blessings to you. Sincerely, BeverlyAnn

Hi BeverlyAnn
I was in France july 1976 with Cog,Paris.Join the group in Canada February 1976,and left them in august 1976 for good from Paris.I`m trying to find menbers who know the colonies of Paris of that summer.
Can I know more of you to share?
I`m back in Canada since 1978.
Wish you well!
J0seph