I've been thinking about this all day.
Supposing a man took his son outside and said, "Son, I want to teach you a lesson. Stand over in the driveway because I'm going to run your feet over with the car so you learn never to run in front of cars." The son, trusting his father, does what he says. His feet are destroyed and he'll never run again.
In ANY civilized country, the father would go to jail for 10 or 20 years. No jury would take more than half an hour to declare him guilty and every child-loving person in the country would be watching that trial to make sure the judge gave him the maximum sentence. There would be no pity for that father anywhere. But the damage is done with the child. His life is ruined. That child will never, ever, ever trust that father again and might end up not trusting anyone.
My question to you is, why is it wrong for man to do stuff like that, but it's okay for God to it? If we're made in the image of God and we are revolted by things like that, why do we think God is not revolted? Why would we think God could commit atrocities like that?
Extrapolate this out to our time in the family. Why would God ever say to someone who loved him dearly, "Son, I'm going to let you spend the better part of your adult life in a Satanic cult run by a sex-crazed mind-controlling alcoholic pervert. Your heart will be broken many times. You will bring children into the world who will end up hating you or, even worse, will be completely separated from you and you'll never see them again. You will be very poor and much of the time your needs will not be met. What little money you do have will be stolen from you to line someone else's pockets while your children will lack even bare necessities. You will be bombarded with the filthiest lies and the pressure to believe them will be so strong that you will succumb. But this is all part of your spiritual journey. It's good for you, believe me. I promise you there is a purpose."
Hasn't anyone read the verse, "The thief cometh not but for to steal, kill and to destroy, but I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly?" "The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it?" "For this purpose is the Son of Man come, to destroy the works of the devil." When I think of the phrase "the works of the devil," I think it describes the family pretty darn well.
I will never forget in 1988 (a year after leaving the family) I made a trip by train from Thailand to Malaysia. Coming back, when we got to the Thai border town of Hadyai, I looked out the window and 20 feet down the platform was a brother I had known very well for 14 years. I first met him in England, and later I lived with him and his wife in Thailand. His name was Phinehas. When I knew Phin, he was dark haired, handsome, energetic, always up to something. He took me in as a single mother with two kids and I was forever grateful to him for that. He had his faults but I did love Phinehas. I thought he had a good heart. When I saw him on the platform, I almost fainted. His hair was white. He had aged 15 years since I last saw him the year before. His shoulders sagged. His face was emotionless. I later found out that they had taken his wife and kids from him. There, standing on the platform, this shrunken hull of a man was a ghastly reminder to me of what the family does: it destroys people. How can you read the pain and anger and bitterness and hatred towards God of the poor kids on Moving On and think for one moment that God led us into the family so we could have kids who would end up like that? They may turn out all right eventually, but it will be completely in spite of, and not because of, the Children of God. I believe it's going to be very, very difficult for those kids to ever have a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't know what it would take for the Moving On kids to ever trust Jesus. Only a miracle. It's hard for me to understand why God would lead anyone into a cult that not only destroys faith in him, but destroys the individual. What possible purpose could it have? As I've said before, I don't believe for a moment that God led a single one of us into that hell-hole.