- Topic
Hello everyone, I just want to survey how many people were recruited on a or their college campus or knows someone who was. My family member was, I’m not sure on the details. If not on a campus, where then? I just want authoratative figures at school to start taking note of groups and behaviors like these that tske place right on school grounds. I do it more so they can find ways to make an awareness to it. Like I read in a previous post, I don’t think trying to get them kicked off campus would work because that would confirm “persecution.” But I believe someone mentioned that we should educate earlier on and I believe on college grounds.
Okay so here:
Family member about 10 months ago recruites of campus
I am one person who advocates educating young people on cult identification. We warn them about the use of alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, and pretty much everything we can think so that they can remain safe when they are away from us for the first time. But most of us are not educated on the way cults recruit and maintain people. We have to be proactive, and we have to do it early, like in high schools.
I know of a kid who had one hour of instruction at a retreat when he was 16, and 12 years later he was still able to identify the Wms for what it was with just an overview of how they operated. Cult instruction would help tremendously, and it is so much more effective than trying to undo their indoctrination.
They recruit on campuses, at malls, in grocery stores, and door to door. They are not above sneaking into secure buildings and trespassing at gated communities either. That is how they got my son. Two recruiters grabbed the door at his building when someone else was buzzed in, apparently. They weren't supposed to be in there.
I don't know if you can kick them off campus unless they are stalking someone, in which case, I know that campus security was called and they had to stop. One thing I know you can legally do is hand out fliers identifying them as a cult where they are recruiting, even on campus. The Daniel Harper case in Oklahoma at Lawton University confirmed that. The Wms people complained to the administration that they were being persecuted because Daniel Harper was handing out fliers calling them a cult. The administration told Daniel to stop. He sued with "free lawyers" (a term which strikes fear into the hearts of the Wms leadership) and won on grounds of free speech. Also, they were infringing on Daniel's freedom of religion by trying to stifle him. So that has already been tried and freedom and truth won.
Personally I wasn't recruited on campus, but I have preached in campus on various occasions, pretending to be students doing projects and conducting surveys. Yep, done some stuff I am not particularly proud of. Luckily I did not bear any fruit when I was there LOL
I never went preaching on a campus. I hated preaching. I was convinced it was me, and my, “Sinful nature”. Deep down though, I hated disrespecting the views of others and deeming them, “lost, stupid, confused”, becausw they didnt agree with me. It was hard when people I preached to, saw the holes in the WMS doctrine to.
I was preached to on campus and most of the people that were in the location I was at was preached to on campus. If not campuses then like MM said malls, grocery stores, door to door. Also military bases. When I was a member I have went preaching to all of those places except military bases. They particularly like malls and college campuses though. On campuses most of the time they will say they are a bible study group at the school. I have heard people in other situations also ask for help with a homework assignment.
@Selena…I hated using the, “Bible College student” excuse. An overseer told us once, “Its not a lie, because we have Zion University…so its true”. Jesus never told the disciples to use the socalled, Righteous lie. If a WMS member says, “No we dont lie to win a soul”…lets remind them of the lies they teach members to use to win a soul.
UntouchableJ wrote:
@Selena…I hated using the, "Bible College student" excuse. An overseer told us once, "Its not a lie, because we have Zion University…so its true". Jesus never told the disciples to use the socalled, Righteous lie. If a WMS member says, "No we dont lie to win a soul"…lets remind them of the lies they teach members to use to win a soul.A Zion University that I never enrolled in.
@Love The first one was free. Then, we had to pay a couple hundred dollars. That was a HUGE red flag. Imagine I clean your house for free, but then all of a sudden I call it “Mega-Cleaning” and charge you 300$? And it was in the same Zion we were at, until they built the New Windsor facility. Then it was probably an easier sell.
My daughter was recruited when she was in her sophomore year of college by her brother who is in the military. He came back from deployment with lots of money and used it to build out a “church” in part of a shopping center in her campus town. He did it during her Thanksgiving break when he knew she would be there. Her school being 11 hours from home kept us out of the picture. It’s been a year and she’s still in. She witnessed the horrible hurt her brothers involvement caused all of us. (He hasn’t been home since the day he got in 4 1/2 yrs ago) She visited him while he was in town working and was baptized and totally in by the time we found out winter break. One of the things we did was to call the FCA (fellowship of Christian Athletes) leader and tell him what was going on. She had been a regular participate before WSM. He tried to help us with her but he gave up after he realized she wasn’t interested in talking to him anymore. He did begin to speak to the campus FCA group that has 300 plus participates every week about cults and their tactics. He even had a few exmembers of different cults speak of their experiences to the group. I think they gave out flyers about cults awareness and tactics. I always hoped something good came out of this awareness.
@momsix It always seems that they prey on the college student because it is a time of full independence, financial, physical and even spiritual. So many of the members of our old “zion” were recruited at college, and put it on the back-burner or even dropped out. In light of 2012, one Ex-brother who I was close with, confided in me that when he was in High School, he didnt even take college prep serious because he beleived ASH was going to return.
Our family member and the recruiter were both initially introduced to WMSCOG on a major state university campus.
Hurt wrote:
@momsix, I am sorry to hear about both of your children. I don't want to speak for anyone, but it affects me a lot when I hear military and college students are recruited. This organization have truly done their research on who are easiest to pray on. I say easiest since it's been noted that these people are at a very high point of vulnerability. To be honest, I am around your daughter's age and like I have said before, it is way harder for parents especially mothers to deal with this situation. It is more difficult because siblings are involved, but what I have noticed is that many parents say they don't interfere with their children's wms activity, but do you ever support their interest? I don't mean in becoming a member or saying they are right. I know that at first, I rejected going to any events, but I went to a first one and my family member was very happy I went. I went to a couple after and I am going to one tonight for New Year's Eve. My wms member face lit and they thanked me. And honestly, it touched me, because I felt that they felt I cared. Maybe the wms member is happy because that means I mean in zion, but I just got the sense that they felt supported. Or I don't know, and mind you, I didn't want to go and said I wouldn't. My point is, that I realize it's hard on parents and that it might be easier for people around the age of the wms member to understand or some type of willingness to go to the events or at least ask questions that doesn't spur preaching but interest in what the wms member is doing. I know it's the same thing, but (I know I am steortyping) but imagine a really macho father finds out his son likes to dance ballet, and at first he scrutinizes the son and says he doesn't agree and that he's disappointed. Now imagine after a few months the father knows it is still going on, but doesn't say anything. The son is relieved but there's no support. He loves his father and had a relationship before and wishes his dad would come to at least some events. If the dad actually did surprisingly go, then it would make the son happy. I know that you might think these are two different scenarios and they might be different because one is a "cult". But I notice that they are both a parent child disappontment and failed expectations scenario. I don't know you and I may sound like a know it all but I am just saying it from the point of view of the child and a third party as well.I went with my son to his church several times. My husband went to church, and also dressed up in a suit and went with my son all day Saturday, on Tuesday worship, and to two Sabbaths. He tried to ask questions, he was respectful, he showed love to our son. But in the end, when he said he wasn't going to join, my son told him he couldn't trust him and that he was going to burn in the lake of fire. You can understand how awful that was to hear when my husband is one of the most trustworthy people there is and he tried to show interest in my son and what he was involved in. My son actually used my husbands act of showing interest as a way to try to recruit others in our family. He said, "Dad went with me and learned the lesson of the fig tree." Every time I thought this situation couldn't get worse, it did. But of course, no one in our family, not a one has joined. Loving them and showing interest is one thing, but if they feel encouraged in staying in something like this and even try to use you to recruit, it's another. And they do that.
Thanks Mountainmom and Hurt. Yes I did go to both my son and daughters churches. I was very respectful at both. When my son wouldn’t come home I asked to come see him and he always said no until one time he said yes. I flew up to VA with his brother (brain injured Marine who was his mentor) and went to his church. My son tried very hard to recruit me, yelling several times but I was calm and kept my cool. When I left I had the feeling I might not see him again for a long time. Very sad as many people know. I played the game the first two yrs where I did anything to just keep in touch and remind him he was still in the family. Three months later he told me there was no reason to ever see me again and if I died he would not be at my funeral. I still paid for his other brothers to visit but they too were screamed at and ended up leaving early. The problem is when he was in my daughters town I told her to get with him and encouraged her thinking she could reason with him. She did go to the church and now she’s in. He recently started to visit his first cousin who is a model on west coast near the LA church. This time I called her and her mother warning them of his tactics. I have since learned that I was right, he was trying to establish a relationship with her for the purpose of recruiting her. The bottom line, this church is playing with fire, only the strongest should attempt to meet with members. Even then it is dangerous.
It is also of a special note…my daughter came home over Christmas break and it seems they are changing tactics. She ate at the table with us whereas she wouldn’t earlier cause we prayed over our meals, she accepted gifts, visited her friends, shopped with her sister. Completely different than she had acted since she got in a year ago. She always made excuses why she couldn’t come home that had to do with the church. I asked her why things had changed and it seems that the lawsuits have made an affect in her area under NY and NJ churches. They had question and answer about how every one should go home for holidays and how to act in various situations with their families. She said they were changing. They gave out surveys to members to try to I think to prove members were not coerced and forced into marriages etc. I find this interesting…it was wonderful to have my daughter home….
I am so happy you had your daughter home, Momsix! I find the changes are interesting as well. The part about people being coerced into marriages is really kind of funny. Why don't mainstream churches have to do surveys like that? I know of at least four people who were married in that church to someone they barely knew, in at least two cases, the women hardly knew a word of English.
I was recruited at a shopping mall and I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned that.
I will never forget that moment as it changed my life forever.
I was standing in front of a directory map trying to locate a store to purchase a pair of running sneakers. At the time I had made a committment to myself to get back in shape. It was shortly after I graduated college. I was wearing an older pair of sneakers that were given to me by the trainor at my college, everyone on the team was given a couple of pairs a year. So I hadn't paid for sneakers in almost 5 years.
I remember thinking to myself, this sucks, i can't believe I have to pay for my own sneakers. LOL
At that moment, 4 girls about my age maybe a little older, very happy and very excited asked me what store I was looking for.
I told them, then we started talking and within about 45 minutes I pretty much told them everything I did for the past 4 years of my life from being recruited in high school straaight through to graduation. Ironically, almost everything that happened to me had happened to one of them at some point.
I will fast forward here but they invited me to a party at their church where there were other people about the same age as us and most of them were supposedly former athletes. Most of my friends were either still in college or lived in other parts of the country so I decided to go. I really thought it was gonna be something similar to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. To be fair they never said it was but it sure seemed like it was going to be.
So anyhow, I was recruited at a shopping mall.
Friend and I were recruited inside a work environment.
We were often told that the best way to recruit someone is to start a casual friendship first, gain trust, and then let Father and Mother lead them to the truth.
I preached everywhere though. Jobs, shopping malls, walmarts, colleges, and apartment complexes,
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.