By Elisabeth Jayla S.

My name is Liz (Elisabeth) and I am 17 years old. The second eldest of nine children, I was born and raised in the Family, living first in Japan and later Taiwan.

I don’t think I need to reiterate the cruelty of what happened or refute the ridiculous rationale put forth by our detractors, because many others have already done so quite satisfactorily.

But I am sick of those who are trying to throw mud at our upbringing, to demean our chosen lifestyle, and to insult our intelligence by insinuating that we of the second generation remain in the group because we are bereft and ignorant of any other lifestyle.

That is baseless, and I have the experiences to prove it. (more…)

From Pandita Gil, 27, mother of three.

I was born into this wonderful missionary group of believers, known as “The Family International.” I wanted to address this to those of you who may know little or nothing about our missionary group (since my friends don’t need an explanation and our enemies don’t want to believe it anyway).

My name is Pandita Gil, though in the Family I’ve been Sharon since I was 14, which was when I made the decision to apply myself to my missionary training. When I was 17 I told myself that no matter what, I wanted to dedicate my life to serving the Lord full time. I’m now 27 years old and I don’t regret having made that choice in life. By the way, I have three beautiful and priceless possessions here on Earth, and those are my children. God’s entrusted them into our care, and we ensure that they grow up in a substantial and spiritually healthy environment. They are smart, cute, loving and active kids. I love them dearly and I pray that I can continue to give them a godly heritage and upbringing in this wonderful Family.
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My name is David de Gaalon. I am 13. I was born in Denmark. I’ve lived in 5 countries and visited about 3 or 4 other countries.

In my 13 years in the Family I can truly say that I have never been abused. I have been home schooled all my life and my life in the Family has been happy, fun and fulfilling! And there is no place on this earth I would rather be!

I have two loving wonderful parents, who have never, in any way abused me, so don’t be so quick to say that kids in the Family are abused. (more…)

By Jason Paone, 19, Mexico

1. Prey upon a predator
First choose the organization most likely to defeat you. Do some research; discover one with an excellent track record, undefeated if possible. Look for an organization known for miraculous protective intervention. Find yourself the largest metaphorical hive, and provoke it. Put a finger in God’s eye. You’ll find the results to be astounding, and unprecedented. Not even millstone diving will work as effectively. Your efforts will surely fail.

2. Bizarre/outrageous accusations
Stimulate your creativity; brainstorm as many of the most absurd, unthinkable crimes as you can. Once your brain is sore from mischief, begin to compile your heinous atrocities in random order, with as many twists, and ironies as possible. Complete your creation with a few “Cultist nouns/adjectives” I.E. Brain washers, perverts, child abductors/molesters, communists, blasphemers, etc. (more…)

My name is Cherish Rider, I’m 15 (just turned in January) and I live in Japan.

I am (like all my friends in the Family) un-abused, unhurt, un-brainwashed, and quite un-in need of being rescued from my wonderful, loving, and caring family by unfulfilled, unforgiving, un-"moving on", bitter, pro-suicidal pro-murderers like those to whom most of this site is addressed.
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My Name is Michael Sooter, I’m 22 years old. I live in Brazil. I was born and raised in the Family.

For me it’s pretty pitiful how some of you (Apostates) can make up such atrocious lies about something that is so cool. The Family is the best place to be. I grew up with the nicest parents you could ever imagine, who only set me on the right path and I can honestly say that I was never abused or harmed emotionally, spiritually or physically.

I mean get a life! Chill for a minute and look at society today and the way kids are brought up in the system. I know for a fact. I left The Family myself for about 2 years only to realize those were the worst ones of my life, and that I would not trade my place in The Family for anything. (more…)

My name is Angelina Lloyd. I’m 27 years old, was born and raised in the Family International and am a current member. Seeing all that has transpired in the last few weeks, the deaths of Ricky Rodriguez and Angela Smith, and the way the media has chosen to report about it, has been very difficult. It’s especially been hard having to read and hear some of the absurd things being said by people I once considered my closest friends, but who are now trying to destroy everything I’ve lived and worked for my entire life.

I’ve had so many wonderful experiences in my life. I grew up in South America, as that was the mission field of choice for my parents. I’m the youngest of four children, and we were always treated with love. Just like anyone else growing up, there were some things I didn’t like, but looking back, if there were hurts or disappointments, it wasn’t because of abuse. It was just part of growing up.

My parents greatly loved and cared for us and did their very best to give us the best education possible, not only scholastically, but also in daily living, in the things that I now see are of much greater value than text book schooling. Sure, at times I had some teachers that I didn’t particularly like, and I did grow up with some children who teased me, but it was nothing compared to what most kids in secular society have to face. (more…)