Traumatic Testimonies

Illustration from "Traumatic Testimonies for Teens!", pg.1

In an effort to portray the horrors of the System to the Family's JETTs and teens, Karen Zerby published a letter (GN#393 Traumatic Testimonies For Teens) in June 1989 asking Family adults to send in "gory stories" from before they'd joined the cult. These stories (Traumatic Testimonies) were published in the Hope of the Future and Teen Special magazines.

In her letter, Zerby wrote to the group's young people:

30. If you Family teens willfully go out into the System, you’re not going to be shown as much mercy by the Lord as we were when we were out in the System! Most of us didn’t even know Him then. In some respects, he kept us & protected us because he knew we were His children & that we were searching for the Truth. But we hadn’t even found it yet, so we weren’t nearly as accountable as you teenagers in the Family are. If you leave the Family & willfully go out there, you’re not going to be so protected. You’re going to get it & you’re going to really be severely chastened & punished by the Lord because you know the Truth & would be rejecting it! (Eze.3:18-21, Heb.6:4-8, 10:24-31.)

31. Most of our adults didn’t even have the Truth, so weren’t necessarily rejecting it. Most of us were just wandering around lost in our sins. Of course, we did suffer for our sins, but a lot of our suffering was just to help make us turn to the Lord. But you teens are going to suffer a lot more if you turn away from the Lord & toward the World, rejecting all the Truth you know! Our adults who have backslidden can give you some pretty gory stories of just how bad it will be for anyone who does that!

Source: Traumatic Testimonies For Teens (GN#393)

• HOTF#10 I Was a Teen Terror — Gary (Grant Montgomery) tells of his experiences as a juvenile delinquent in a reform school.

• TSM#2 The Wicked World Behind the Scenes of Rock & Roll — Jeremy Spencer's Traumatic Testimony

• TSM#4 The Madhouse of Higher Education! — Isaac Numbers recounts his college days at M.I.T.

• TSM#6 The ultimate goals of of competitive sports! — Pain, Bloodshed, Hatred & War! — Jeremy Wood recounts playing hockey in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association

• TSM#7 I did it all! — And it was nothing but husks, husks, husks! — Auntie Crystal's Traumatic Testimony

Teens' Reactions from the Far East Teen Farm to Uncle Isaac's "The Madhouse of Higher Education!"

• It completely exposed where System education is really at!
• It helped me see what a devilish trap university is!
• Although I knew that it was bad, I didn't know it was that bad! It's horrible!
• That testimony totally killed any ideas or wishes I had to go to college!
• I saw that the Devil is behind it all, & the end is death & insanity!
• It was really a shock to me because I thought college was like the movies portray it.
• It's much better to know the Bible & study the Word & learn to witness!
• It makes me thankful for the training and education that we get!
• It made me appreciate the Family even more!
• We've got the best life and education right here!
• The Family at its worst beats the System at its best!
• This testimony made me so thankful for teachers & Shepherds who really care for me & love me as a person, not just a number, & who want me to make for the Lord! TYJ!
• I know for sure that "The wisdom of men is foolishness with God." & I am not at all interested in going through the Hell to get any kind of "higher education". PTL!

Points to Pow-Wow

1) How was M.I.T. different from what Uncle Isaac expected? Do you think the System intentionally tries to deceive people & hide what the universities are really like? Why?

5) What do you think is the Devil's plan for taking the "cream of the crop" of the young people & subjecting them to this kind of education?

6) Consider the verse, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Mat.7:20) Compare the fruits of our Godly education in the Family & the fruits of the System's education. List all the ways you can think of how our revolutionary educational system is better than the System's.

Source: The Madhouse of Higher Education! (TSM#4)