Preying on the mentally ill

[Easeful]

I saw a mention in another post that made me remember this, not saying that person is a member of the brotherhood but this is a very real group and they are very dangerous. So as a warning to all parents and students:

If you Google brothers and cult, you'll find links to web sites about this group. On the face of it they sound wonderful, young Christian men and women who've forsaken worldly possessions (and family connections) and taken vows of poverty and celibacy to follow Christ. The men do not shave, the women do not cut their hair and they wear a curious mix of extremely modest homemade clothing. They are also known as dumpster divers. The little money they do handle is made by repairing bicycles.

Their leader is a 60 something year old x marine who makes all of the decisions for everyone. They are cut off from their families and no one within the cult has been deemed worthy of marriage in decades.

The recruit from extremely bright emotionally fragile students on college campuses, especially around exam time. When these recruits suffer psychotic breaks (which has happened often due to nature of their target recruits) they are abandoned in cities far from home (the first thing they do with a new recruit is to move them x-country), without money, without i.d. and without hope of salvation (since heaven can only be attained by remaining in the group).

I have more information including parent support contacts and contact info for former members if anyone is interested or concerned.

[best]

Though I would never join the group, if what is said about them is true...
They are a group that accepts people in of their own free will and allows them to leave of their own free will.
I do not agree with some of their theology but from what I was reading they seem harmless. Not all cult groups are that way and no matter what group of any kind a person joins up with... they should make their choices with an open mind.

Here is the site author's comment...

Author's comments:

The Brethren is a secretive group of very dedicated believers about which little is known. Many of the factors found in destructive cults are missing in this group. We would identify them as a high-demand but benign Christian group. Membership requires almost total personal commitment. They are attempting to live a simple life, free of encumbrances, avoiding sin and seeking after righteousness. They feel that the route to a close relationship with God is to simulate the experiences of Jesus' original disciples.

[Easeful]

From the viewpoint of this forum probably the most destructive aspect of the cult is their conviction that if you're "right with the Lord" you do not need medication or medical care. Ergo in order to be accepted as a full participants in the family, they must give up their medications, even their eye glasses.

Like I said, on the surface they sound like a good thing. Scratch a little deeper and what they've done to people's lives is terrifying.

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I did not see that in what I read at all.
Yes there are some groups who believe that way and there are people who live that way. That doesn't make them wrong...just different.