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Posted by on February 06, 2012 at 20:19:50
To Whom it may concern,
I am what I guess you can call an ex family member. I was in the group for over 30 years, was a follower, an administrator, small time local leader, witnesser & many more things.
I have to be honest & say that now it retrospect there were negative things that happened to me & my family, things that I always thought or hoped would change for the better & many did. Also I feel that I dedicated my youth to a cause that left me no real future as far as retirement & also some of my older kids have issues about all this which I cannot blame them for.
I do tend to blame myself for mistakes made as far as my decisions & what affected my family negatively within the group. Hey in all honesty nobody ever forced me to stay.
I think it's a cop out when folks tend to blame all their woe's on any group, company or individual. I think we should just own up to our own mistakes & go on with life. Again I really do see the negaitive things & regret certain aspects, although I never saw nor lived any of the big time abuses I have heard about.
I must say Dad's (David Bergs) words really did help me & changed my life helping me to get to know Jesus in a way that words cannot describe. I went from a confused, pretty much useless & hopeless youth to a man who has been able to help others on many occasions & I have a much deeper outlook on life than I feel I ever would have had if I had not been in the family. Also I spent a couple weeks with Peter once & although that is not enough time to really get to know someone, I was impressed with this kind, honest & forthright individual who never came off to me as someone who thought he was anyone great nor better than me. I sincerely liked him.
It is a bit confusing to me in some ways trying to sort out the good & the bad & I think maybe had I left the family like 10 or more years sooner I may have had a better chance at life having learned whatever good I did, but still being young enough to use it for other pursuits. But hey, what can I do now? Go on.
I have 9 kids & so far 6 grandkids. One of my boys died at 24 & although it affected me severely, I feel the relationship I learned to have with Jesus has pulled me through & helped me to see it in a positive light & also has helped all my other kids to see this tragedy postively.
Although we are no longer "missionaries", when we were, we were sincere & folks still seem to look to us for guidance & often comment on how great our kids are etc. even though we often do not "witness" to them.
So what can I say, sure I feel some big mistakes were made by folks & leadership in the family, many of which have been apologized for, but I feel much good was also done & I still love to fellowship with family or ex family folks.
That's just me, but I think we can easily tend to place the blame on others more than they deserve & thus excuse ourselves.
So God bless you all & may you find happiness in all you do, may you prosper & may you find peace!
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