| Author |
Message |
    
Anonymous (172.170.49.190)
| | Posted on Friday, October 15, 2004 - 7:20 am: | 
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Anyone ever experience this cult? |
Douglas (138.89.30.189)
| | Posted on Friday, October 15, 2004 - 8:34 pm: |
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A couple I am friends with used to be part of it many years ago. I could ask them to tune in here, but can't guarantee they will, if you're interested. |
Anonymous (172.144.225.131)
| | Posted on Friday, October 15, 2004 - 9:09 pm: |
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I was in it back in 1983 in Philadelphia |
Anonymous (205.188.117.12)
| | Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 4:04 pm: |
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dangerous very dangerous things seem to be hapening soon with cobu
i think there should be police checking out this group |
Anonymous (172.140.68.174)
| | Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 5:25 pm: |
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were you in it? what is going on now? |
nwmomike (nwmomike)
Junior Member
Username: nwmomike
Post Number: 32
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 208.24.179.207
| | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 3:36 pm: |
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Here is some reading on this:
http://www.rickross.com/groups/understanding.html
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/c/churchbible/
http://www.csj.org/infoserv_groups/grp_biblebased/cobu/grpindex_cobu.htm
Church of Bible Understanding (C.O.B.U.): A controversial network of churches, headquartered in New York, that historically has been charged with spiritual abuse due to legalism, undue influence, and control mechanisms. http://www.watchman.org/cat95.htm#C
A quick Google search will show up lots of information from various sources and ex members.
M or Michael |
thunder (thunder)
New member
Username: thunder
Post Number: 1
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 141.149.114.205
| | Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2004 - 4:46 am: |
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I was a member in Cleveland and New York in the mid 1970's
What did you wish to know? |
awakened (awakened)
New member
Username: awakened
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 24.96.111.30
| | Posted on Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 7:55 pm: |
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I was part of COBU from '75-'79. I lived in several areas of New England and NYC. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have.
beenthere1975-1979@hotmail.com} |
johnbranzl (johnbranzl)
New member
Username: johnbranzl
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 64.12.117.12
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 10:46 am: |
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I was involved & "experienced" this cult from 76 to 80. Didn't know what I was in till I got out (DC area). |
proudmary (proudmary)
New member
Username: proudmary
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 4.185.201.96
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 2:43 am: |
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I was a member in '76. I joined right after turning 15, and left home to live with the group within 2 weeks (in DC--'T Street'.) The group was emotionally and psychologically brutal, and proud of it. All of the usual cult 'trappings'...constant indoctrination, sleep deprivation, isolation from friends and family. Fear as the key tool for manipulation--if you left the group, not only would you go to hell, you would probably get hit by a truck, or die another horrible death. Men were convinced they would 'turn' gay.
Plenty of folks have left physically, but there are few who have ever truly left. Even decades later, many ex-members still seem haunted, tortured. Lost.
John Branzel...I remember your name, and I think I remember your face. From Silver Spring? |
robertkassmann (robertkassmann)
New member
Username: robertkassmann
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 24.255.50.238
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 11:03 pm: |
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To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Robert Kassmann. I got saved by Jesus at the Syracuse "forever family" house September 9th 1974. I pray for all the brothers and sisters who lived in this cult to be restored. Remember Jesus has a purpose in mind. Be encouraged because Jesus Never Fails i.e. if you see this Primo you know what I mean. |
kielbasi (kielbasi)
New member
Username: kielbasi
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 172.145.227.94
| | Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2005 - 8:16 pm: |
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I was involved with the FF briefly in the fall of 1975 in Pittsburgh. I never met Stewart, and I never lived in, but they still freaked me out enough that even today I have a healthy cynicism vis-a-vis religion.
I don't think I was really brainwashed, but those who were living in and really involved were scary as hell. |
excobu (excobu)
New member
Username: excobu
Post Number: 1
Registered: 8-2005
Posted From: 64.8.24.130
| | Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 2:36 pm: |
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I was a member from 1975-1978. I also am from the Pittsburgh area (Born and raised in Oakland.)and I did meet Stewart on several occassions and sat under his "teaching" for many months in NYC.
I guess I'm one of those guys who were scary as ...!(see kielbasi's post-Good Pgh. name by the way.)
Healthy cynicism of Church and Christianity is good. I am born again and believe Jesus is good. Forever Family/Church of Bible Understanding messed me up for years. I stayed almost three years, but continued to be messed up for 7 years after leaving. Please don't throw the baby out with the bathwater though. Jesus is not FF/COBU and FF/COBU is not Jesus. Stewart is and always has ben a false prophet. Read Matthew 7. Also read 2 Peter and James if you get time. There are a lot of phony baloneys out there (or as we say in Pgh. - Jumbo-That's what we used to call baloney for those non-Pittsburghers out there.)
God bless you all,
excobu. |
exmember (exmember)
New member
Username: exmember
Post Number: 1
Registered: 8-2005
Posted From: 205.188.117.13
| | Posted on Sunday, August 28, 2005 - 9:49 pm: |
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Hello I am an excobu member. I was part of the Clay St fellowship house in Hartford CT and met up at La Grange St in Worcester MA I was very young and did not see the danger of this cult. Its very scary when I look back. I did become a Christian while there. I was able to leave and find a normal church setting. I can remember Stuart making up lists. Like the clean 15 and the dirty dozen. Has anyone else here been to Worcester, Hartford or the Boston House. |
excobu (excobu)
New member
Username: excobu
Post Number: 3
Registered: 8-2005
Posted From: 151.201.109.79
| | Posted on Monday, August 29, 2005 - 8:59 pm: |
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Hi exmember,
Yes I was at the Worcester house for a few weeks after being at the Manhattan Training Center, but was sent back to the MTC because I "wasn't doing good with Jesus" (By COBU standards that is!) I am originally from Pittsburgh, my name is Ed Halferty. I too am in a normal church setting and have been free of this abusive group (COBU/FF) for many years now. Glad to see that you are out and in a normal church. I forgot all about Stewart's lists. That's funny. I remember him calling us ghouls though. I remember the color code and the figures, the 12 salvation verses you needed to memorize to get your button. I still remember them, so I guess there was some good in the Forever Family, in a weird kind of way.
My youngest brother, who was never in COBU, told me after I got out that when he saw our buttons he read them "Get Smart Cross the Street!" I guess we were a bit obnoxious.
God bless you,
Ex-cobu - Ed |
exmember (exmember)
New member
Username: exmember
Post Number: 3
Registered: 8-2005
Posted From: 205.188.117.13
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 4:16 pm: |
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Well I will try again I posted earlier and did not hit the button its not here now. I was just a kid when I was in cobu many moons ago. At that time It was exciting to travel and go to the Big Meetings. I thought it was neet to be in those large warehouses on the hard cement floor in my sleeping bag. I realize now the sleep deprobation tactic they used so traditional of a cult. We studied till we nodded off. Do you remember one of the leaders Skip Oneil. I did not know that in later years Stuart would disallow marriage. I guess that was OK for him and Gail though. I remember the word ghouls. The terminalogy is fuzzy but is coming back. I remember that you were made to feel guilty when you went to see your family. I would stay at the fellowship house during the summer and go home on weekends. I was just 14 when I joined. Most of out group were under 25 This was a good age for cults to try and grab you. There were some people there that did truly loved the Lord but were duped. I remember them starting the carpet cleaning business. We would go to regional meetings in Worcester at this old crummy hotel. I remember wanting to go home and being forced to stay. I have a hard time sitting in any meeting that goes over an hour. I think I feel still almost shutin like at these meetings. Do you remember when someone would ask how are you doing. I still cringe just a wee bit when I hear that question. Remember when someone would say I am having a real trial man. My sister was also in the cult and lived at the Manhatton Training Center. She then went on to the Orange NJ fellowship house. This is bringing back stuff I had totally forgotten. |
omcp (omcp)
New member
Username: omcp
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2005
Posted From: 24.2.221.229
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 2:52 am: |
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It is very late so I will make this brief. I was a FF/COBU member for about 2 years. I was also from the Hartford area. I recieved Christ here and left school then went to Harrisburg PA and enjoyed myself there with Bobby and Pat Whipple. However my time in Hartford was one of the most horendous times of my life. I stayed on Clay Street with Norm Bessett for several weeks of pure hell. All the people there were nice but the surroundings were awfull and there seemed to be no heat. I left there and went to DC Fellowship with Jeff and Louise Wool and enjoyed my time. Then came changes in the organization, I was sent to Manhattan Training Center on Jay St. 5 blocks from the World Trade center, to be basicly tortured and humilliated every day. What had started as a nice fellowship of young people who wanted to serve the Lord turned into a maniacal Cult. I said I would be short but I wasn't and I could go on for all the problems it has caused in my life. (Oh, I am well now and in ministry.) God Bless every one |
expando (expando)
New member
Username: expando
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2005
Posted From: 67.166.136.242
| | Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2005 - 7:19 pm: |
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Hello,
I was recruited by COBU on the streets of los angeles and flown to pennsylvania where i visited their scranton and philly institutions. i was with them for a month before fleeing entirely, and since then have been either way on my opinions of their cult. for most of the last year i felt that they were simply dedicated christians doing what they felt was right, without malicious intent. It maybe possible that the members themselves are nearly all but blinded to the shoddy truth of their organization, but Stuart Traille is not. He lied to my face at a meeting in philadelphia, telling us he built a cyclotron in the mid 1950s. He didn't build a cyclotron. This served as an important keystone lie in my refuting their nonsense.
As an update for anyone who is curious-- They've expanded the Olde Good Things business to Baltimore, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Chicago in the last two years. Also, their member count probably numbered at 100 when I was involved in July of 2004. Rob Whipple, son of Mr. Whipple who was a close friend of Traille's, at the age of 20, I believe, has finally left COBU to be with his father. Rob was the kid I met in LA who I was most interested by when I went with them. I am glad he is out. If anyone knows how to reach Rob Whipple or his father or older sister, please contact me at expando@gmail.com
Freedom for your mind is paramount! |
gotsmarter (gotsmarter)
New member
Username: gotsmarter
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 70.18.249.59
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 04, 2005 - 7:15 pm: |
|
I joined what was then called the Forever Family back in Baltimore in 1974. I stayed for about 1-1/2 years. I met some great people who also got caught up in the group, but nonetheless the experience left me with a life-long skepticism of all organized religions (but not of spirituality in general). On a positive note, because I was in this group I did not engage in the drug experimentation that my friends who did not join did. Unfortunately, my association with the group and the hurtful things I said at the time damaged my relationship with my family, and my father still has not completely forgiven me. |
kielbasi (kielbasi)
New member
Username: kielbasi
Post Number: 2
Registered: 2-2005
Posted From: 172.149.212.83
| | Posted on Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 11:46 pm: |
|
"Also, their member count probably numbered at 100 when I was involved in July of 2004."
In 1975, there were more than a 100 in Pittsburgh alone, and were active in literally dozens of cities.
But within a couple of years they were gone forever, although there was an older black woman who rode the 61 series busses through the 80s who wore the "Get smart get saved" button, I'm certain she wasn't a member but. |
rebmem_tluc_xe (rebmem_tluc_xe)
New member
Username: rebmem_tluc_xe
Post Number: 2
Registered: 1-2006
Posted From: 70.23.99.53
| | Posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 - 3:22 pm: |
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Considering how bad COBU is, I'm surprised that there is not much information available about it. It was primarily evangelical in focus in the 70s and 80s, however you want to define that word, "evangelical." Here I just mean openly evangelizing with Bibles and talking about Jesus and getting people to move in. There was a religious spin on everything and I'd say nearly all the members were sincere about that part of it. Stewart Traill built an empire off it. During the mid 90s they stopped being overtly religious and became essentially a business. With an unpaid, live-in labor force willing to work round the clock, they have been able to form a
vast architectural antique business which is now raking in millions. Members don't receive any of this money. And though they are not openly making converts in the streets and malls, the post from Expando (above) shows that they are still willing to take in unsuspecting people in order to get them to be a cog in the machine. I'm sure they did not fully disclose who they were and what they are about. Fortunately, this person began to see inconsistencies and other things that did not seem right. |
kevindy (kevindy)
New member
Username: kevindy
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2006
Posted From: 63.242.145.209
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 6:59 am: |
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Back in October of 1974, I was a first year student at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. On a Friday night, I was in the student center. A young man named Chico approached me and started a conversation that lasted a few hours. He read from John 3. I remember him telling me of the need to be born again and that I was not right with God the way I was. To his disappointment, I did not understand. But I promised him that I would read the Bible for myself. It was a few nights later that I realized that I needed to be saved and was indeed born again. I never was a part of the Forever Family, but have longed to get in touch with Chico...that's all I know about him. If anyone out there has any information on him or another FF person who was at Rutgers back in '74, please email me at felmccann@yahoo.com
I would really appreciate it...Kevin |
gasolineincome
New member
Username: gasolineincome
Post Number: 1
Registered: 3-2006
Posted From: 24.168.112.142
| | Posted on Saturday, March 25, 2006 - 9:26 am: |
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In 1976 I was on my way back home from work, waiting for the bus at Westchester Square in Bronx NY. Josephine and Paul and others came and talked with me. I prayed with them and was happy in knowing Jesus had paid the price demanded. I felt I was written in the book of Life and was grateful and happy for our Lord's grace toward me.
I attended bible studies with two jewish brothers in Cobu while they took breaks from their carpet cleaning on Saturday afternoons in Parkchester. I became more and more active in going out witnessing, attending bible studies, and eventually moved in.
I lived/worked in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. I don't remember exactly what or why I left. I had been working as a cabinet maker apprentice in the Bronx and commuting there from where I lived w/Cobu... I got laid off from the apprenticeship (just usuall slow season reasons - I'd be hired back no problem when things picked up each year). This was the second time I got laid off in two years 1976-1978...
I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. I'm not sure (I'd have to really delve back into things going on and make this a really long story), but I had gotten away from Cobu and every so often (like now) I think about it. I should register here on this forum before posting... I'll do that and say a little more before I go play with my son. |
gasolineincome
New member
Username: gasolineincome
Post Number: 2
Registered: 3-2006
Posted From: 24.168.112.142
| | Posted on Saturday, March 25, 2006 - 9:58 am: |
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In 1976 I was on my way back home from work, waiting for the bus at Westchester Square in Bronx NY. Josephine and Paul and others came and talked with me. I prayed with them and was happy in knowing Jesus had paid the price demanded. I felt I was written in the book of Life and was grateful and happy for our Lord's grace toward me.
I attended bible studies with two jewish brothers in Cobu while they took breaks from their carpet cleaning on Saturday afternoons in Parkchester. I became more and more active in going out witnessing, attending bible studies, and eventually moved in.
I lived/worked in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. I don't remember exactly what or why I left. I had been working as a cabinet maker apprentice in the Bronx and commuting there from where I lived w/Cobu... I got laid off from the apprenticeship (just usuall slow season reasons - I'd be hired back no problem when things picked up each year). This was the second time I got laid off in two years 1976-1978...
I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. I'm not sure (I'd have to really delve back into things going on and make this a really long story), but I had gotten away from Cobu and every so often (like now) I think about it. I should register here on this forum before posting... I'll do that and say a little more before I go play with my son.
----
Oh, ok, I had to register before posting anything so I copied the above, registered and now pasted what I mentioned earlier.
This morning I felt like doing a google search on cobu and see what's up. I found a few sites (including this one) and it's interesting to me. I saw the names of some of the people I knew, now in an ex-cobu site. That's interesting to me.
I'd like to "network" with them all and others.
Strictly for business though.
I leave my bible studies totally now in the sweet arms of www.familyradio.com who I listen to here in the NYC area on 94.7 FM.
I wish I had FR back when I met Josephine and Paul with Cobu their. Much, much, much better bible studies there at FR.
Well, my son is calling me to come play with him for a while. He loves Thomas and Friends trains. |
madkaugh
New member
Username: madkaugh
Post Number: 2
Registered: 5-2006
Posted From: 134.67.6.44
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 12:56 pm: |
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I was in the CoBU from Aug 1973 through July 1976; Bethlehem, Baltimore, NYC, & Jersey.
They were already a nightmare, but I understand it got much worse as time went on.
Former members may find this Yahoo! group helpful:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/x-cobu/
MadKaugh |
oncewas
New member
Username: oncewas
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2006
Posted From: 216.195.165.241
| | Posted on Friday, May 26, 2006 - 7:54 pm: |
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Fell into the FF in 1976- in NJ. I was struck by the number of very young people involved. Many of us were still in high school, having major issues at home, drugging heavily- seemed like a rescue. This did not last long. The fellowship moved about every 3 months. We had very little money, little food, rodent infestation, no sleep. At times we were able to pull it together enough to look out for each other- actually take care. This was also discouraged. I most remember going to a weekly meeting that ST led. He yelled at me for 5 mins. because I was struggling to stay upright and keep my eyes open. I often think of the others I had gotten to know and hope they have successfully been able to move beyond the fear and shame that COBU fosters. Peace. |
wishtoremainnameless
New member
Username: wishtoremainnameless
Post Number: 1
Registered: 8-2006
Posted From: 68.98.55.145
| | Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 9:45 pm: |
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I was born and raised in COBU. Until I was 18, it was all that I knew of God or Jesus. I'm now 28 years old and consider myself to be agnostic. Anyone that was involved in that place has deep spirital scars as well as physoclogical ones. Some have been able to recover, but others like myself will never fully heal. My advice is to stay as far away from them as you can! |
wishtoremainnameless
New member
Username: wishtoremainnameless
Post Number: 2
Registered: 8-2006
Posted From: 68.98.55.145
| | Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 9:48 pm: |
|
I was born and raised in COBU. Until I was 18, it was all that I knew of God or Jesus. I'm now 28 years old and consider myself to be agnostic. Anyone that was involved in that place has deep spirital scars as well as physoclogical ones. Some have been able to recover, but others like myself will never fully heal. My advice is to stay as far away from them as you can! |
msweetman
New member
Username: msweetman
Post Number: 1
Registered: 12-2006
Posted From: 71.29.210.109
| | Posted on Friday, December 08, 2006 - 8:49 am: |
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Wow, after all these years. I was a COBU kid from the age of 2 to about 14. My mom moved to glen ridge new jersey to a cobu house and got out shortly after that move. I grew up at 529 w48th st in nyc. I remember hanging out and getting food from the coolers over at 515 w47th. I remember art shows in harlem, carpet cleaning demos on braodway. The big meatings were fun for a child. Those times were the only times i think the kids could be kids, other than that they were strange. Most of my memories of cobu are sad. I remember my mom working so hard and we lived in a dump, with roaches. I dont think she was ever trully happy. I am thinking of writing a book about those years. I miss the kids I grew up with. If any of you know any of these people let me know. Eric Fontana, Davey McRae, Jeff Dalton, or any of the other kids that were in there. Chuck marberger, jimmy griener, stephanie whipple, I hope these people are not still wasting thier time in cobu. sweetmans@alltel.net |
billgall
New member
Username: billgall
Post Number: 1
Registered: 12-2006
Posted From: 71.254.224.187
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 4:00 pm: |
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There is an ex-Cobu website that can easily be googled. Chuck Marburger, sadly, is still there.
I was a member from 74' to 78' in Lancaster, Rochester, Utica, Columbus, with the last two years at the Manhattan Training Center. Most of the time I was struggling out from under the scorn of other members, especially the leaders, which I took, as we were wont to do, as a portent of our unworthiness, of our ultimate damnation, if we could not find our way back into the good graces of our leaders and fellow members' estimations of our faithfulness to Christ. And we were merciless, exacting, abusive. And we went witnessing daily to bring others to this one true Church whose leader had the one true method of Bible interpretation. We knew our Bibles, but our "eye" was bad. The training center in New York was the ultimate in degradation. One night, at the Spring St. loft where 200+ of us were jammed together in sleeping bags, Stewart taught that just of few of us had the mind of men; the vast majority of us were beasts who served the physical needs of the fellowship but doomed by our lack of zeal to perish in Hell. All based on the Psalm verse "Man and beast thou savest, O Lord." I eventually left in despair. But through certain others, such as Bill Lauzus and Bert Neikirk, former members, the Lord found me, and I regained hope in Christ again. I spent 20 years in various Protestant Evangelical Churches until I realized that their interpretations of the Bible were really quite varied in a way that could not really be harmonized with what the Bible said about the unity of the Body of Christ (see Christ's prayer in John 17) and through years of study found the Orthodox Church. The worship is awesome and orderly, the foundations of Biblical interpretation sure (in that the Holy Spirit's work throughout the entireity of Church history is given credence). Most ex-Cobuers are very skeptical of organized religion or at least revel in more independent varieties of Protestant evangelicalism, but they are missing the boat, and I don't know how to help them see that they can trust the Tradition. We have for the most part scattered to the winds, though we shared this hellish experience. Lord have mercy on all the ex-Cobuers. |
redhills
New member
Username: redhills
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2007
Posted From: 68.237.3.160
| | Posted on Saturday, May 26, 2007 - 12:06 am: |
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Hi. I am amazed to find a site like this related to the Church of Bible Understanding. I was a member from Spring 1979 until Spring 1981. So, I was between 18 and 20 years old. That was a really bizarre time and place in my life and it affected me for quite some time after. Stewart Traill may or may not be sincere, but he is, or was, certainly a crack-pot. It's sad.
I knew many really wonderful people there. The "fellowship" really took advantage emotionally of its members who were mostly good, if unusual, people, really searching for answers. The fellowship would suck them in by telling them to trust Jesus. The idea was that if they simply had faith, Jesus would never let anything bad happen to them. It's a sticky dilemma for a fledgling in faith: if Jesus revealed himself to me through this group, then it must be good, and to doubt the group is--somehow--to doubt Jesus. It's a harsh thought to deal with when you are struggling to first believe. The "brothers" and "sisters" had tons of words to throw at you, too, all from the Bible. Nobody in the group could recognize how manipulative they were being: everyone was well-trained to justify everything they did and said Biblically.
I recommend to anybody considering this, or any group, to read about many groups first. A good place to start is Whitney R. Cross's book from 1950, "The Burned-over District: the Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800 - 1850". This book will give you a good idea of how easy it has been for Americans to start new religious sects. The traditions that began in the first half of the 19th century in upstate New York are still alive today in a great deal of what is called "fundamentalist Christianity" across America. The Church of Bible Understanding comes right out of that tradition. Americans, and probably many other people as well, pretty easily convince themselves of the "rightness" and "Biblicalness" (if I may) of their ideas, even when those ideas lead to all sorts of pain as well as to demonstrably false results. A good example, to pick a dramatic case, is William Miller's prediction that Jesus would come back between May 1843 and May 1844. When Jesus didn't show up as predicted, the idea changed to his coming back in October 1844; even after he didn't show up in October 1844, many believers (though, apparently, not Miller himself) still couldn't see that they were simply wrong.
Human psychology can be fragile and durable in ways maximally bad for itself. Nonetheless, people are capable of believing just about anything. And when the belief is born of an emotionally-charged sense of guilt and sinfulness, one can be manipulated into living with views as bizarre and as self-destructive as can be imagined.
In the Church of Bible Understanding, there was nothing but psychological pain, constantly. It was a very negative and depressing place that broke down the spirit of just about everyone who was in it. I am really not exaggerating when I say that. It was really bizarre. Everyone was really unhappy and scared and anxious, but, at the same time, afraid to leave because that meant they were going to hell. You weren't supposed to be unhappy, scared, or anxious. Stewart said many many times "anxiety is sin". That was that. So, you somehow had to make yourself not be anxious. If you were anxious that meant you weren't trusting Jesus enough. But, you simply were anxious. You were 18 or 19 years old. At 46 years, I see very clearly how crazy this was. But, back then, 28 or so years ago, there was no way out. It was really horrible.
Be careful.
--Russell |
psjanitz
New member
Username: psjanitz
Post Number: 1
Registered: 8-2007
Posted From: 71.250.232.250
| | Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 - 9:50 am: |
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I need anyones help on here please! My boyfreids parents are sellingthier home and belongings and moving into the chucrh because Stewart has told them to. PLEASE HELP. How do I stop this? I have printed many articles and I am thinking of mailing it to his parents, but I am afraid they will not read it. No one can talk to them if you do not believe in this church. His parents have taken the youngest son (25 years old) and they have brainwashed him as well. His parents have been in and out of this cult since they were 20 and they are now in their 40-50's. This has been said is the worst they have ever been with being in this church. Stewart is a monster and needs to be stopped. I need anyones help on what to do, please! Thank you so much Email me at psjanitz@comcast.net |
exmember
New member
Username: exmember
Post Number: 4
Registered: 8-2005
Posted From: 205.188.117.202
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 10:07 am: |
|
Hi, To the last poster I suggest getting a copy of "Twisted Scriptures" A fantastic book that helps the average person spell out the most common atributes of all cults and give the family members a copy of the book.
(Message edited by exmember on September 25, 2007) |
exmember
New member
Username: exmember
Post Number: 5
Registered: 8-2005
Posted From: 205.188.117.202
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 10:26 am: |
|
I have not been around in a while. I thought I'd do a little name dropping of Cobu members. Some might be exmembers some might be active. You here might be one I name. Do any know of or remember Patty Daniels, Skip Oneil, Norm Bassette. I noticed someone memtioned him earlier. He and his wife were truly very nice and duped like the rest of us. I did stay at the Clay St Fellowship house. I was just a kid. I was in CT. I'm sorry to hear so many lives affected by Evil men like Stuart Trail. This can happen in any church where people practice worship of a leader and not focus on God's Word. |
sofree
Member
Username: sofree
Post Number: 93
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 68.49.86.205
| | Posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 - 10:28 pm: |
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didn't Skip die? |
jb80
New member
Username: jb80
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 71.120.7.139
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 2:30 pm: |
|
hey. if msweetman sees this. i lived with you in jersey. me, my bro and mom. i remember you had a sword in the closet. anyways, i was born into this place. like another on here. i left thought when i was 17. if mike gets this. or anyone that thinks they might know me. email. Casper81180@aol.com |
jb80
New member
Username: jb80
Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 71.120.7.139
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 2:34 pm: |
|
oh, i was born in 80, and left in 97. you wanna talk about damaged. ha. you have no idea... |
e_c
New member
Username: e_c
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2008
Posted From: 71.224.36.209
| | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2008 - 6:06 pm: |
|
Hi,
Looking for Stephanie Whipple, Denise Whipple, or anyone else I was close to in those days. Please reach me at epc1212@yahoo.com. Thank you, Ellen Cuthrell
I wish you well. |
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