From Peter McSimple –born and raised in the Family
Age:22
Missionary in East Asia

To Whom It May Concern:
Those who try to make us burn
You certainly sound stern,
But you’ll never make us turn
With all your fancy terms
Like Herod eaten by worms
You spew your verbal germs
Proudly the truth you spurn
You think that you have nothing to learn
But wait till God has his turn
Then suddenly you will squirm
When the judgment wheels they churn
I will pity you then
For it is you who will bend
For all the evil you did send
Upon David’s mighty men

What can I say that hasn’t already been said by my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. For the sake of the truth I’ll say what I believe even if it risks being repetitious. Because it seems you—our bitter antagonists–need to continually be reminded why some people in this world choose to live and work together and follow Jesus the way we do–because we love it and are crazy enough to believe and try to live what the Lord has shown us. It does get a bit wearisome after awhile to hear the same old things, same old bitterness’s, same old accusations, and lies. But it should occur to you that you are doing us a favor through your opposition, because every time you attack us and provoke us with your slander and misinformation, you force us to repeat yet again our beliefs and strengthen our resolve even more. I hate to break it to you blokes (Philip Sherwood, Daniel Roselle, Sam Ajemian and whoever is in the “anti-cult woodpile”) but the fact is we aren’t going to abandon our beliefs and give up our calling. Even if, get this…you don’t like us…(gasp), or don’t like what we do….(gulp, cough, wheeze), or don’t like what we believe…(oh my God has it come to that….).

I love the Family, and am happy to be where I am and I personally feel fulfilled in what I do. I am currently serving the Lord in a rather difficult and sometime dangerous third world country because I love Jesus and I think that it is important to tell others about Jesus and His gift of salvation and I feel that is what He wants me to do. I don’t always live up to my ideals and goals and I’m certainly not some great hero or saint but I have found the joy that you get from serving the Lord and helping others. And it honestly doesn’t bother me one bit whether people think I am a fool to do so. I especially don’t feel any loss because of the vocal and sometimes desperate opposition to what I believe, by our antagonists of whom the majority, lets face it, are living in developed Western countries, particularly America and Western Europe. It would be rather interesting reversal of roles to see headlines such as “Anti-cult leader hands in Holiday to help Tsunami Victims—hundreds shocked”, or “James Penn, drops pen and heads for Darfur” or “Philip Sherwood–modern day Robin of Sherwood–shares with poor” or “Daniel Roselle digs wells in Rawanda” or “Sam Ajemian gives aid to Armenians” or “Moving On—moving on money to Monrovia” instead of all the useless slanders and smears we hear originating from your part of the world. Some times a healthy dose of living around and seeing the millions of seriously unfortunate people there in most other parts of the world helps put life in perspective and makes you realize that there is always something to be thankful for and that there are a lot of meaningful things to do in life.

You see as long as each one of us Family members are in the Family, we are here because we believe in it and love it and don’t want to be anywhere else, or be doing anything else. If you really think about it, it does make perfectly simple sense.—if not…just take my word for it! And really when it comes down to it, no matter what you say or do, it won’t change our beliefs and convictions any more than Nero was able to change the beliefs and convictions of the Early Christian church by prosecuting them, imprisoning them, torturing them, throwing them to the lions etc, etc.

I don’t personally know Ricky or Angela but I certainly was very and grieved in spirit when I heard about what happened, it is almost impossible to express the deep sadness I felt after hearing the news. I prayed desperately for the families of both Ricky and Angela that the Lord would comfort and solace them. Seems to be a similar reaction most of the others who posted something on this site expressed in one way or another.

Now personal differences and beliefs aside I do have somewhat to say to you, our antagonists and detractors. In all fairness, I do feel the need to protest what to me and many others of my friends thought was the most outrageous and deplorable actions and conduct of some of you our bitter antagonists in the aftermath of this tragedy and I feel it is my right to speak up against it. It seems that almost immediately after the murder of Angela by Ricky Rodreguez became known, even before the full police investigation had been finalized, and in spite of the obvious tragic events, with no regards or sympathy whatsoever to the grieving relatives of both Ricky and Angela, some of our bitter antagonists started to capitalize on the deceased’s misfortune for their own personal gain and quest for revenge. Some even went as far as posting very shocking statements on certain website’s which stated among other things, some peoples thinly veiled support and justification for the murder committed by Ricky Rodreguez, because of their own hatred for the group that they used to be in. Personally I don’t considered that civilized or decent for any human being to do regardless of their make or place in society, much more so would I expect of people who claim to be helping others see the light and rescue them from that “dangerous cult”. They also tried to mendaciously blame our group, of which neither of the deceased where currently members of, for the evil and murderous act committed by Ricky Rodriguez. Come on, you may present whatever you want to the media but the reality is that these kind of accusations, your “evidence” and flimsy justifications would never and will never pass in a court of law under any circumstances. Your hero and former protégée, God rest his poor soul, committed premeditated murder!!!!! What in the world is your goal? Is that the message you want to get out? Is that really the length that some of you anti-cult activist are willing to go? Please remember that when Ricky Rodreguez committed the murder he wasn’t a member of The Family and hadn’t been for some time but HE WAS a regular, active, and vocal member and participant in some your very own “anti-cult” and “anti-Family” circles. So please for God’s sake wake up to the real facts and stop going around spreading your false stories and twisting the truth.

Lastly I would like to say that I personally abhor murder and sensless violence in whatever way shape or form as do all members of the Family. I believe in peace, love, happiness, love for God and love for my fellow man—morals that were instilled in me from the time I was born till now by my parents and other members of The Family. We are strictly a non-violent group who does not and will not ever condone or promote violence or murder as a way to solve things. But let it also be known that you cannot make me cower or give up my faith and beliefs just because some may threaten us with extreme actions such as in the case of Ricky Rodreguez. I am not afraid and I will stand by what I believe in come what may!!!!!! As the famous words of Martin Luther so aptly say: “Here I stand I can do no other”!

MIC.7:8 – Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
MAT.10:28 – And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Peter McSimple is a second-generation member of The Family International