FAMILY UPDATE NEWS #5--AUGUST 1993. DO
"The Lord pictures persecution not as something to be feared, but as something beautiful, priceless, treasured, a beautiful work of art, pure gold, gem-studded, as though He treasures each of these experiences of our persecution and our clinging to Him all the tighter as beautiful treasures!--Real beautiful works of art, masterpieces! It's very precious to the Lord and we should look at it as He does--not fear it or dread it or complain about the suffering...We're to treasure it, value it, admire it and be thankful for it! We're to `take pleasure in persecutions!'--2Cor.12:10. It's beautiful! That's how the Lord looks at it!" (ML#2828:32,35)
BARCELONA, Spain (Family News Network--FNN)--The Family reports: Since the positive verdict in our case, the media has continued to report on the Family, with much of this quite favourable. The brethren are getting out the message, exposing our enemies and preaching the Gospel. There is talk that the government may appeal the court's verdict.
Some really good news is that on July 4, the press reported that Pilar Salarrullana, one of our bitterest enemies and the author of several anti-cult books, has decided to quit her fight against cults! The article stated that she has spent thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees to pay for 23 suits filed against her! Besides political and economical reasons, her decision was also based on the fact that we were acquitted! PTL! [TYJ! He did it!--D.]
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (FNN)--LATE NEWS FLASH! THE CHILDREN IN FRANCE HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO THEIR PARENTS! The following is quoted from a press release that the Family sent out:
Minor's Judge Peremanget of Aix-en-Provence has ordered that the 38 children of the missionary church known as "The Family" be returned to their parents.
On July 28th, two Dutch teenage members of The Family were released by the judge to their parents. The Dutch Consul General in Paris and the Dutch Vice-Consul in Marseille assisted in the release of these teens.
On July 29th, Judge Peremanget issued the order releasing the other children with two conditions: 1) that the parents, who home school their children, register their home schooling with the educational authorities; 2) that the children participate for six months in a program of planned activities, managed and paid for by social services.
The parents had already presented their home schooling program to the educational authorities in early July. Although the parents see no need for their children to participate in state-sponsored activities to "socialize" them, they agreed to this condition in order to gain the immediate release of their children.
More news on the battle in France in the next FUN!
Other developments:
The Family Members in Aix received a registered letter from the Tribunal mentioning that ADFI (Association for the Defense of the Family and Individual, the French anti-cult group) is officially working against us in the case. This confirms what we've been telling the public, how ADFI is behind all of this persecution. ADFI has apparently fed the minors' judge the lie that the children are programmed and that contact with their parents will have a detrimental effect on them.
--After two years of investigation, the purpose of the police was to penetrate the Family in Europe. Apparently they had also gone to the U.S. and other countries. Their main aims are:
a) Dismantle the Family in Europe
b) Take the children away from the parents
c) Put all the adults in jail
--The police went a lot by ex-members' testimonies.
--The police went ahead with the raids when they did because, after two years of investigation, they still had no evidence to be used against us! So the raids were a last-ditch attempt to try to get some evidence.
--We discovered that when the minors' judge first made the decision to keep the children, we could have appealed this decision within 10 days, but we didn't even know that, so we didn't do anything, which was a serious mistake! That's how things got hung up in this long process! So this would be good for our Media Teams and leadership to research in various countries--all the laws concerning arrest, appeals and basic rights. (Ed. note: For more on this, see FSM 210, "Don't Fear Persecution", page 24.)
--A Catalonian newspaper stated, "The raid on the Barcelona Home was used as a reference point for the French police to perform their operation. In the last years, the French and the Catalonian police have had close ties related to this matter. Two months ago, representatives of the French police came to visit the headquarters of the Catalonian police in Barcelona to talk about the Children of God."
LONDON, England (FNN)--On July 1st, The Family held a press conference in London. The goal was to dispel the negative media coverage of the raids in France, as well as to expose the anti-cult movement (ACM) as being behind the media propaganda and raids. The major newspapers and BBC radio attended.
YA Celeste spoke briefly, refuting the lies of her backslidden mother Valerie. Teens sang songs, and then a press release was read, followed by a question and answer period. The subsequent media reports were quite favourable! PTL!
Later that day, Family Member Gideon took part in a radio interview on BBC. Also participating was Marie-Christine Haworth, (a very antagonistic ex-COG member) of the Cult Information Center (CIC) in London. When refuting the charges of child abuse, Gideon brought out how over the past few years, over 500 of our children have been examined by authorities in different countries and not one has been found to be abused.
*The Family has learned that CIC members have been actively seeking out backslidden teens, paying them to publicly testify against the Family.
WARSAW, Poland (FNN)--A few unfavourable newspaper articles about the Family have appeared, mainly relating to the raids in France. The brethren have written rebuttals and met with a journalist who wrote one of the stories. Although unapologetic, she agreed to write another article, giving our side of the story.
MOSCOW, Russia (FNN)--A second negative article appeared in a national newspaper, giving their negative slant to the police raids in France. The brethren had previously met with the editors of this paper, who seem to have chosen to believe the lies of our detractors.
* Some members of the Russian Orthodox Church have been following some of our witnessers, telling passersby that we're "part of the AC conspiracy to take over and destroy the church!" They seem to believe that the ACs are using missionaries of Protestant denominations to ruin the power of the Russian Orthodox Church!
SOFIA, Bulgaria (FNN)-- In a period of two weeks, nine different articles about the Family have appeared in local Bulgarian papers--about half of these related to Barcelona and the other half to the raids in France. The brethren also report that there's a real vacuum in Bulgaria for the unofficial side of the Waco tragedy, and that many people are interested in the news articles that the Family has reprinted.
SYDNEY, Australia (FNN)--Michael, the backslidden mate of Lamb, has been threatening to take Lamb to court if he does not have more access to the children. Apparently he already owes the Child Maintenance Board $30,000.00 but treats it like a joke. He seems very angry, bitter and selfish, and swears profusely when he doesn't get his way.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (FNN)--The Family reports that Silleta, the most outspoken enemy of the Family in Argentina, has been on television eight times in one month speaking against us. The Family has learned that Silleta is apparently financed by a powerful Catholic business association which is directly affiliated with Opus Dei. It seems that Silleta is the hatchet man of Opus Dei and the Catholic Church, which explains why he is able to get so much publicity so easily.
* Plans are being made to form a federal commission to study cults and sects, and pass judgement on them. It will be headed by a senator who ordered raids against the Family in 1989 and who is still quite antagonistic. Silleta will also be a member. This commission may investigate the Family further, ordering examinations of our children, etc. If they issue a negative report it could seriously hinder our activities in Argentina. [PRAY!--D.]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (FNN)--In early June a very favourable full-page article came out in a large newspaper. It gives a really good summary of our history, including excerpts from the Statements and five beautiful colour pictures--all in all, one of the best articles we've ever had on the Family in Mexico. PTL! [TYJ!--He's working!--D.]
LOS ANGELES, USA (FNN)--Family Members report: NBC (a major American TV network) is filming an in-depth documentary about the Family! The general theme will be to show how The Family has changed since NBC made the "First Tuesday" documentary in 1970. Camera crews have spent several days in some of our Homes filming and interviewing. They have also accompanied us on witnessing excursions and our "consider the poor" outreach. TTL it has gone very well so far! The show will be broadcast in the last half of August.
While out filming the witnessers, the producer showed us an additional hidden camera that he was using. It was completely concealed inside his shoulder bag, with the lens filming through a small rivet hole. The camera runs silently and has a three-day battery. Our team was able to view the footage that this type of camera captures and were very impressed with the high quality! It made us realise that there were no "off the record" comments, and that we needed to be very prayerful about any and all comments supposedly made "off camera" while in the presence of media crews.
* On July 1st, CAN deprogrammer Rick Ross was indicted on a charge of false imprisonment in the State of Washington. PTL! A real answer to prayer. Rick Ross acted as a "cult expert" to the ATF at Waco, and was recently featured arm in arm with Deborah on an American talk show regarding cults. Ross' indictment is based on the unlawful imprisonment of a teenage boy back in 1991. According to police reports, Ross and three accomplices violently abducted an 18-year-old boy, handcuffed and gagged him, and then held him prisoner to deprogramme him from his church. The boy, Jason Scott, escaped after five days and called the police.
Ross has an arrest record stretching back to 1975, when he was convicted of grand theft and embezzlement for stealing $100,000 worth of diamonds from a Phoenix department store. He was on probation at the time for an attempted break-in and he went to jail. Several years later, Ross emerged as a CAN deprogrammer and became a favourite of CAN executive director Cynthia Kisser.
* One of our 18-year-old YAs passed her midwife license exam with flying colours, whereas many college graduates in the same class flunked! She said her training from the Letters over the years on such subjects as nutrition helped greatly! She now travels with an adult Family Member who is also a midwife to assist with Family births.
SAN FRANCISCO, USA (FNN)--The Family gives the following update on Eric Pryor, ex-Wicca priest: Eric has read all the Statements and half of Treasures! He has told both us and the "Jubilee Christian Center" (his former church) that he wants to join the Family! Jubilee does not like us at all, so came to his house to "rescue" him, and really blasted us (to him)! He said he saw right through them and how Pharisaical they are, and knows that we have the Truth! He said he would live with us and just wash dishes--he just wants to drop out!
When we went to find him later, he was gone! Considering how unstable he is, he could have just taken off, but we think Jubilee could have ripped him off and deprogramed him because they're afraid he's going to join us! Jubilee is quite systemy and out of it!
Eric is extremely confused and drinks continually. The Lord does punch through to him, but at other times he opens the door to other spirits! [PRAY!--D.]
WASHINGTON, D.C. (FNN)--Family Members report: Four Family Members attended a meeting on cults given by a Lutheran pastor, Richard Dowhower, who is an active supporter and advisor to the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). Dowhower was taken by surprise and lost his composure when he discovered we were in the audience. During the meeting, we refuted many of his lies, which rattled and weakened him even more. We talked to him personally afterwards, gave him the Mind Control Statement and affirmed that we are going to fight to maintain our religious liberty.
Although these CAN speakers seem to do well when they're in a crowd with no opposition, when confronted, they seem to weaken quickly. It really reminded us of "The Joseph Lewis Story"!
* Good news concerning the American military draft! The Boston Globe of June 29 reported the following:
"WASHINGTON--The House voted yesterday to kill the Selective Service System that registers 18-year-olds for the draft, despite warnings that scrapping it would hurt the nation's ability to prepare in case of war.
"The House voted 207-202 not to restore the $20 million for the program, which had been stripped from a spending bill by the House Appropriations Committee.
"....However, the Senate has not taken up the bill and could still restore the money.
"The system keeps computerized data on 18-to-25-year-olds in case the nation needs to mobilise its forces quickly."--End of article.
There are opposing views to this move, and of course without Senate approval it is not "killed" yet.
*****
GBY for continuing to pray for the Family worldwide! "If you believe, the World can still be moved by your prayers!" MOP 97:115. WLY! [Amen! GBY! WLY! Keep it up!--D.]
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family