MK forum

Not everyone agrees with my inspired ramblings either, but most are polite enough to not shoot me down to often and those who consider my enlightened wisdom to be heretical nonsense would never admit to having read it on such a site as this.

Your term "emotional manipulation" is very apt, for that is exactly what was going on. It ripped many families apart, pitted father against child, sibling against sibling and left mothers bewildered at what had happened to their once cohesive unit of little christian soliders.

Yes, emotional manipulation was just the first step for many on a path that lead ultimately to sexual abuse. And it was emotional manipulation and sexual abuse on a grand scale.
And what of those that did this, shouldn't they be looking at the effects of their handywork donning sackcloth and ashes and wailing "Oh God what have we done'? Not likely, for they still believe that what they did was worth the collateral damage.

As my mother put it after I had spoken with PII investigators last August:

" have you forgiven, forgotten and moved on?"


That would mean someone has done something wrong, but NO ONE has even come close to saying "sorry, we messed up"...

I hope and pray that those in PNG find their voices.

*going to practice my vocals so I can speak my mind in April*

That's about as bizzare as the letter I got. Paraphrasing "We would like you to mend our relationship with us, be at our house at x o'clock on xday, but we won't talk about the past".

From what I can decipher, PNG was somewhat of a rogue field, where a collection of odd bods ended up and policies were taken much further than other fields (i.e. the seperation debate). Alliances were made and deals done. Decades latter there is still much to cover up and not all MKs want the doors opened, because it will not reflect well on some of those they are or were close to. The Saints must be protected at all costs and only the Sinners will dare tell what they know.
However if you scratch a Saint in the right place, you'll find that even their perception of harmony in PNG is a myth they don't personally believe in, because there is considerable illfeeling and bitterness between the various factions and individuals. And how does this Sinner know this, simple, I've scratched enough Saints over the years to know that the public facade is exactly that, a facade to cover up what are the real feelings and goings on.

And do you know what's really frightening about this subject: the widespread control and abuse that went on in PNG?

What group of people have exerted MORE POWER AND CONTROL over the changes that have come about within New Tribes Mission in the past 20 years than anyone else?

Men from the leadership of NTM-PNG!

Am I the only one who finds this frightening???

Raz,

Why I am so worried about any of this change. As some of these very men I saw hand out emotional abuse and control that was in the end harmful to so many kids and ended their life's as "humans" at that point.

They have not come clean nor have they ever offered an apology that was meaningful. The one time they wanted to talk they wanted to fly me out on their terms, sit down in their comfort zone, same tactics they used in PNG. Cut off outside influence and overwhelm the individual with the sense that they are nothing and have no right to even be questioning their authority. And this always happens with numbers, they won't face you one on one, the use numbers and force to intimidate.

Yunker, I know exactly what you mean.

More than a few of us do.

When dogmatism mistaken for dedication and then one is allowed to speak the will of God for others, it is a recipe for disaster.

For then the godmen become less good men and more gods in their own image. It has happened over and over in many religons.

Perhaps there are a couple of good men who came out of PNG, but ironically they do not claim to be godmen at all, nor even good men/women, just a couple of MKs who keep asking hard questions so we can all think why did this all go so wrong. The deeds of the past cannot be undone, but by being understood how they eventuated, may give the best chance of making sure they don't go on and on and on . . . to the next generation and the next . . . .

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
Bertrand Russell

Well said, Yunker.

What is the possibility that "birds of a feather were flocking together"? Did the choice of ones "field" have less to do with devine inspiration for some, but being attracted to an already established culture? i.e. a missionary on furlough lectures prospective candidates on the virtues of serving on their particular field and in the process is the culture of that particular field communicated. This could explain why some fields became repositories for certain types of missionaries and other fields had quite different cultures.
I'm just speculating on this one, but it's a theory worth throwing in the pot for discussion.