Disappointing Discovery

Well, my dying hope has now gone even further and turned into a deeper sense of sadness. Today I decided to check around on the internet and see what other information I could find about the 12 Tribes communities. I realized that not everything I would find would necessarily be correct or unbiased and I viewed much of what I found with a healthy skepticism, but at the same time I found a great deal of credible information which confirmed what I had already come to suspect. Some of what I read of course was tinged with an agenda and was skewed to deliberately make them look bad. But I also found some sources of legitimate information from former members that gave me a much clearer picture of life inside the communities.

But what made me the most sad was when I came across some records of inside discussions among the top leaders of the organization about one of the midwives that delivered our own baby many years ago who later died of cancer. The things they said about her and her husband made me literally sick to my stomach. The top leader who maintains an absolute and unquestioned control over the minds and wills of every person in all the communities made it very clear to his top people that he believed her death was a direct punishment of God against her for daring to say a few words that aroused questions about his own leadership.

Because she had entertained thoughts of leaving the communities a couple of times and had at one time mentioned to her daughter that the top man had an anger problem, he emphatically insisted that her cancer was brought upon herself and that the Holy Spirit prevented the elders from praying over her in faith for her healing. Basically he demanded that everyone who had survived her had to believe that it was not only her sin that had brought on her death but also the sins of those around her and her husband who had not been strong enough in rebuking her spirit of rebellion.

The spirit of this man as evidenced by many of the things I read about him from various sources is apparently quite self-serving and exploitive of those who come under his domination. He demands unquestioned obedience from all of his followers and stands in the place of God in the lives of all of the members of the communities. While many of the lower echelon people are required to live a life like slaves getting by on almost nothing and working long hard hours, the leader moves around secretly living in luxury homes and lavishing favors on the upper leaders. Anyone daring to every question anything he says or decides is met with stern discipline or immediate excommunication if he deems them a threat to his absolute authority.

Evidently our midwife friend dared to think slightly outside the box and attempted to think for herself a few times and for this she was labeled as something of a heretic who came under the judgment of a severe God very much like the leader of the 12 Tribes himself. This makes me very sick to think of all these people under the total mind control of such a diabolical, deceptive, power-hungry man. He is evidently using this whole network of blind believers to support his growing empire and attract even more hungry souls into his spell. How very opposite of the real truth about the God of heaven.

Learning all of these things has put me back into the cloud of dark emotions for awhile and I once again need a fresh infusion of truth, grace and the sweet presence of Jesus. What I desire is the Jesus that this man has labeled a demonic spirit. They declare in the writings and teachings of their leader (the only teachings allowed to be used throughout their whole network of communities) that Christianity is all full of demonic influences so much so that none of their members are ever allowed to even enter a Christian church on a worship day. According to reports from former members their children are severely disciplined on a very regular basis and all outside information is completely cutoff so that the mind-control enforced by the inside leadership can be more effective.

I did not realize that the insiders of this group felt this way about this midwife. Now I wonder what was really going on in the minds of the people I have talked to about her. I met two of her sons last weekend but had no idea that this kind of judgment hung over their lives from the opinion of the leadership about their mother. I am really hoping I can get in touch with two of her children who are not part of the communities so that I can find out more about the real story.

We have very fond memories of our brief encounter with this lady and I am quite sure that she was a victim of the severe repression and was trying to look out for her children with a mother's heart that is natural and God-given. When this natural affection crossed the self-serving dictatorial grip of the leader in charge she was severely censored and judged even as she was losing her life to cancer without any medical treatment. What a tragedy.

I am sure that if the things I have written about them find their way into the hands of people in these communities then I may well be added to their black list of people not welcome anymore. I would hope that is not going to happen but according to the dictates of their rules that I read that is all that I could expect. They believe that anyone who says anything at all negative about them is persecuting them and is to be cut off from all contact with anyone in the communities. They do not tolerate any openness or dissension of any kind to spoil the complete domination of their leader over the consciences of the members. About the best I can hope for I suppose is that they will not read this post and add me to their black list.

I still enjoy the positive externals that I enjoyed in their worship services though it is seriously diluted by the knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes in the lives of those involved. This knowledge makes me even more hungry for God to bring about the real deal under the guidance and compulsion of His true Spirit of love and selflessness. The empty counterfeits only leave me feeling a more intense desire for the genuine. I hope it comes soon. Maranatha, even so come Lord Jesus.