By Brian F. Whyte—Uganda! Written, 24th of January, 2005

You’d never believe the shock that overtook me when I read the first notice that we received about the heinous crime that was committed by Ricky Rodriguez & the further calamity of him taking his own life afterwards.

My shock was for several reasons:

1) I had met him personally on one occasion & thought he was a rather nice sort of person. I also have several other friends & acquaintances who knew him well & also testified to the fact that he was a kind, concerned, loving individual, who was very outgoing & friendly–This seemed like the absolute last thing someone like him would do.

And 2) Having grown up in The Family International & knowing our policies against violence of any kind, I wondered what in the world would’ve possessed someone else who was raised on the same loving principals as I was to do something like this.

About 5 minutes into the notice of this sad news, I realized that some of our, shall we say, “extremely bitter” or “hateful” former members would immediately blame this act of violence on of us, the whole Family International (as if I had anything to do with the actions of this independent—albeit, clearly demented—grown man).

“But are we in some way to blame?” I asked myself, searching for any kind of clue as to how our detractors would be able to connect this to us (& consequently to me). I quickly & silently took a “life’s review” in the “scanner” of my mind.

I raced through memories, instances, situations, lessons, joys, sorrows, things passed on to me by my parents & teachers, etc.—All of the personal experiences that have made up my life so far! But I never found one of the above that coincided with cruelty, heartlessness or brutality, much less violence!—Much less MURDER!

The pictures that I did see, however, were ones of helping the disadvantaged & underprivileged, studying God’s Word both among ourselves & with many others, sharing all things, laughing with friends, a happy childhood, lots of traveling (one of my favorite parts), plenty of good food as well as all my personal needs always met, & the personal happiness that comes from knowing that I am child of God with Jesus in my heart.

I live and work in a potentially dangerous country (Uganda) in a sadly cruel & heartless world (see Matthew chapter 24, verses 6-8). While I hear of terrible acts of violence, rape, murders, theft & all the rest nearly every day (you wouldn’t actually believe some of the things that have taken place in the countries near to me like the Congo, Rwanda & even here in Uganda), never in my whole life (I’ll be 25 in 2 months) have I been the victim of any acts of violence. This is due to the Godly, loving & peaceful atmosphere that I am constantly surrounded with when I am in a Family Home, as well as the supernatural & marvelous protection of the same God who has provided such a wonderful life for me when I go out into the dangerous world.

Sure, their have been a few close calls, like when we were visited by armed robbers in Nigeria, but each time God protected & kept me safe.

All this to say, by the time my “scanner” had ran its course & my life was reviewed, I realized that anything any antagonistic former members, or agnostic anti-cult people have tried or will try to do to The Family International as a group to discredit us or prove us to be “bad people”, will only prove to go completely against the wonderful life that I have experienced & the very words that are meant to drag & throw me down in my quest to change the world for the better, will only serve the purpose of bettering my convictions, by reminding me of the indisputable evidence I see before me—the beautiful life that I was given & will continue living.

Brian F. Whyte is a second-generation member of The Family International