My computer has been out since June 30th so I haven't been able to read anything at home and very little at work.
There are lots of posts further down the board I am going to reply to but I wanted to write this one while I'm thinking about it. Here goes.
I am absolutely sure that the undoing of the Family will be the internet.
I have personally witnessed the internet completely change several industries. It revolutionized the real estate industry. It used to be that if you were in Seattle and needed a house in Miami, you had to find yourself a real estate agent to go look for that house. Now, every real estate company puts all the listings for their city on their site and the best web site attracts the most buyers. It's that simple.
It also used to be that if you wanted to travel, you called a travel agent. Not any more. You get on the internet in most cases and book your flight directly with the airline. This has drastically changed the travel industry.
I remember when I left the family in 1986, all I had was one person who was telling me the truth, and I also had my instincts that were speaking to me. Then, when I got out, I read that book about Howard Hughes which completely convinced me Moses David was crazy because he was just like Howard Hughes. But that's all I had and there were very few facts to help me make a decision compared to what's available to people now.
A few weeks ago, someone sent me a letter he had received from a relative still in the family. It was immediately obvious to me that this person, from the way they were quoting the party line, had not read anything on this web site or on the Moving On site. There is no way he could have said the things he did had he known some of the truths that we know.
And it dawned on me that once a person in the family gets some kind of inclination that perhaps there is something wrong with it, everything he needs to help him make a decision is on the internet. Anyone with the slightest desire to know the truth has all the truth they need right at their fingertips.
And I believe that as people become more and more miserable and disillusioned as they are badly treated, they will find their way to things like James Penn's article and many of the great articles on our site and Moving On. Davidito's story and the whole thing about Merry Berg is so convincing that you have to absolutely wholeheartedly want to believe a lie if you don't see the truth after reading those. I don't think God can or will do a whole lot for people who don't want the truth.
So I think we all just need to sit back and wait. The availability of the truth at people's fingertips any time they want it is going to lead to the demise of the Family, in my opinion. Only those who want to believe the lie will end up staying.
The thing we have to think about is, as people get older and unable to take care of themselves and the Family makes it clear they are no longer welcome because they're "useless," where are those folks going to go? They'll be refugees. I wouldn't be surprised if God raises up among us people with sufficient resources to help these folks. But the mind boggles at the thought of it – hundreds of older people with no skills half in and half out of the family. When I think about stuff like this, I want to be the one who gets to torture Moses David for the rest of eternity.