In Reply to: Re: reposted letter from Mr. John LaMattery Sr. posted by my thoughts on February 09, 2005 at 09:27:33:
and it also probably depends on the individual. I took it pretty hard. It was also harder for me to sever all ties as it was my new hubby. As soon as we walked out of a home, he was done. I kept tithing and trying to stay involved, even though I hated nearly everything about TF, I was terrified that God was going to hurt me or worse, my children. I was still under the delusion that if I kept tithing, I'd have the benefit of being under the umbrella of God's protection. Maria's letter on that was very clever at getting doubters to leave yet keep tithing - I know several families like that, they are still tithing and living normal system lives!!! As long as she gets their tithe, she doesn't care a hill of beans about them.
So it took me about 2 more years of tithing as a TRF supporter before I could verbalize the words - David Berg is NOT God's endtime prophet. Once I came to that horrible realization, I quit tithing and cut off all communications with F. members. Then there was a process, I was angry, horribly angry, angry at God, angry at myself, angry at a wasted life, angry at Berg for blatantly lying to me, just plain angry. I went through that for several years, then I went through remorse, just constantly kicking myself and being in the depths of depression for making such an awful mistake. Then there was the confusion "why did I believe that? - what's wrong with me? why did God allow it?" There's been years of soul searching. It has not been easy. I finally went to a therapist trained in trauma and abuse and I'm getting a grip on some of these areas and I'm still trying to make my peace with God. It's been 15 years almost since I quit tithing, so Joppa could very well be right. Joppa - who is that cult expert? I'd be interested in knowing.