“Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul.” ― Dave Pelzer link
Today we leave the progressives and lurch to the far right in the form of the Independent Fundamentalist Baptists (IFB). Here is a link to explain this group. How many of you remember the following incident?
In 2010, a former member, Tina Anderson, accused Ernest Willis, another former member, of raping her twice in 1997 when she was 15 years old. At the time, the pastor of Trinity was the Rev. Chuck Phelps. (He and his successor, Brian Fuller, are graduates of Bob Jones University.) Anderson charged that Phelps forced her to "confess her sin" before the congregation, covered up the crime by sending her to Colorado during her pregnancy, and had her give up her child for adoption. Anderson's mother has consistently supported Phelps, crediting him with the "purest of motives".
Fuller, the current pastor, expressed regret about the way the church had handled the incident and also regretted that Willis had been allowed to remain a church member for seven years following the incident.
On April 8, 2011, the incident was featured on ABC's 20/20. On May 27, 2011, a jury found Willis guilty of "forcible rape"; and on September 7, 2011, a judge sentenced him to 15-to-30 years in prison. Lawyers on both sides "acknowledged in final arguments that at times it seemed that Trinity Baptist Church and its former pastor, Chuck Phelps, were on trial as well." In December 2011, Phelps resigned as a member of the Cooperating Board of Trustees of Bob Jones University during an online campaign that advocated his removal.
What many people do not realize is that the IFB runs a number of homes for children and teens. Today we are going to focus on one called the New Bethany Home for Girls. (In the beginning they did have boys but that changed.)
A couple of weeks ago, TWW received a call from a woman who is devoted to exposing the horrible stories of abuse that surrounds this home. She preferred not to use her name although she has testified and reported on the abuse. She wants us to know that her story is mild compared to others and does not want this story to be about her. It is about the many who suffered, and continue to suffer, because of this establishment. We do know who she is and how to contact her.
Here is a brief history as reported by NOLA.com/Times Picayune
For three decades starting in the early 1970s, New Bethany took girls no one wanted. It was the outreach ministry of Mack Ford, a high school dropout who worked for a time as a tire repairman before he said he heard God's call to preach.
He once told attorneys he was inspired to build New Bethany after meeting two blonde twins who had been impregnated by their father, a drunk.
"We are reaching out as a mission project to the incorrigible, unwanted rejects," Ford told attorneys in a 1997 court deposition. "Destitute, lonely, prostitutes, drug addicts … These kids haven't been loved and haven't had a chance in life."
Until its final closure in 2001, hundreds of children and young women from across the state and country arrived at the high chain-link gates of the school, tucked off a rural highway in north Louisiana about 50 miles east of Shreveport.
Let me jump in here with an explanation from Anonymous. She says that the home was not just for troubled girls. Girls were recruited from IFB churches to come and grow in the faith under the tutelage of Ford and others. The Home would bring a choir of girls to various IFB churches. The local pastors would recommend the Home to families who wanted to guarantee their daughters would be drawn "closer to God." Unfortunately, for many, it was a nightmare straight from the pit of hell.
She also reports that judges in the surrounding area would refer wayward girls to the home so they could get straightened out. Apparently it was a state approved facility. Anonymous believes that there were undocumented children who were being sent to the school as well. Ford claimed that the school was rescuing kids from gangs but this has never been proven according to Anonymous.
Some churches would send girls there in order to get them away from the men that were sexually abusing them at home. She said these girls were blamed for their abuse because they "seduced" their abusers. This was played out in the Tina Anderson situation described at the beginning of this post. It has also occurred in other IFB churches as well. How sick is that?!
Anonymous went to the school for 8 months and was considered a short termer. She wanted me to convey that her parents and pastor had no idea of the abuse that was ongoing at the school. Her parents have apologized to her and she enjoys a close and loving relationship with them for which she is grateful. That was not the case for many of the girls.
Unfortunately, the girls at this school reported suffering abuse: sexual, physical and spiritual, since its very inception. They were ignored. Anonymous explained that the school tightly controlled any information about the abuse from leaving the school. They were allowed a couple of phone calls a month which were brief in nature and monitored closely. The same went for any written correspondence.
Anonymous told me that when she arrived at the school, she was not allowed to speak to any girls, except her assigned helper, for one month. In fact, she claims that one punishment for any sort of disobedience was not being allowed to speak to anyone for a full month. The threat of "going to hell" was also used on a frequent basis. For example, they were told that if they wore pants or cut their hair, they would go to hell.
They were forced to memorize chapters and books in the Bible and be prepared to say them at a moment's notice. She said that they could be quizzed as they got out of bed in the morning and frequently through the day. If they forgot any lines, punishment would ensue along with threats of burning in hell.
Reports of Abuse were reportedly ignored by the police.
From NOLA.com
Girls who ran away from the school described brutal paddlings and harsh physical punishment to anyone who would hear, but the opportunity to interact with outsiders was rare.
Residents who wanted to get the word out say doing so first required scaling a tall chain-link fence, crawling over the inward facing barbed wire at the top, and running through dense woods to find someone — a driver, a cop, a state trooper, a social worker — who might believe them.
One resident told investigators her head was slammed against the wall repeatedly by another girl while Ford's wife, Thelma, stood by and watched, according to court records. Another told authorities she had refused to take off her jewelry as instructed and Mack Ford slapped her repeatedly across the face until she was quiet. A girl who didn't eat her meal told an investigator she was tackled and held down while a staff member forced peas into her mouth. When the girl spit them out, they were shoved back in until she started to gag, then was paddled 15 to 20 times until she became hysterical.
Anonymous told me that she was once paddled on her backside until she was totally black and blue. She was never sexually abused but the girls in the Home allegedly spoke of being drugged and forced to have sex with men, including Ford. She personally witnessed one of the house mothers dragging a girl down the corridor by her hair. She also witnessed the house mother telling girls to pile on top of a disobedient girl and keep her pinned down for hours. She also heard the housemothers and leaders calling the girls "whores".
Anonymous also witnessed the return of one girl who had scaled the fence which she said could be electrified. The girl was covered in blood from running through the woods. She was forced to run in place all day while the blood from her wounds covered her legs. She was crying so hard that the drippings from her nose covered her upper chest.
NOLA published a comprehensive timeline. Here are a few items from that report. Although this house has been shut down, the grand jury has declined to indict any of the involved.
1980
Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources tries to close the school for refusing to allow state inspection and licensing. A district judge rules the state lacks the authority to do so.
1981
May: L.D. Rapier, manager for New Bethany Home for Boys in Longstreet, La., is arrested and charged with cruelty to children after four boys who ran from the home say they were beaten. Ford is quoted in a wire story saying the school is being harassed, the boys can't be trusted and the school uses "old fashioned ways — discipline." The school is soon closed and the charges against Rapier are dropped.
1982
October: New Bethany Home For Boys in Longstreet home is relocated to Walterboro, S.C.1983
March: Woody Jenkins, then a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, writes an article for the Christian Law Association Newsletter stating that New Bethany, which had 250 girls, was not only cleared of charges that girls were abused there, state officials conclude that "no abuse occurred in the case in question" and "the home was found to be operated in an outstanding manner."June: A graduate of New Bethany Home for Girls who says she attended the school for two years sends a letter to law enforcement, then-Gov. Dave Treen, Jenkins and other elected state officials saying she witnessed abuse.
1988
June: Twenty-eight students are removed from New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, La., following complaints of abuse by two runaways. Though all girls are given the option of leaving, 24 at first remain. New Bethany staff members refuse to cooperate in the investigation, decline to identify themselves and take photos of state workers. According to court documents, interviews with 47 girls produce information that supports allegations of abuse, extreme emotional abuse and threat of further harm or injury: "Many of the residents were exhibiting great anxiety." Ford denies allegations of abuse, but says the home does use a wooden paddle for discipline.July 7: Social services director for the state of Louisiana signs an affidavit saying that he has reasonable cause to believe children have been abused and that male residents were hidden from the facility prior to investigators arriving at the home. He demands a full list of names of kids enrolled as well as employees, volunteers and patrons, and says it is imperative that he interview Ford and other staff. Judge Robert Butler signs an order authorizing him to enter the facility and conduct interviews.
July 12: New Bethany files a motion for protective order from Butler's order.
1989
May: Ford files a federal lawsuit against the State of Louisiana, requesting a permanent order to keep government officials from interfering in New Bethany operations.1992
January: The Associated Press reports that New Bethany Home for Girls has closed, at least temporarily. Ford's wife, Thelma Ford, cites reorganization of the nonprofit. "After 21 years," she says, "everybody deserves a break."July: A judge dismisses Ford's federal lawsuit. Both parties are ordered to bear their own costs and attorneys fees
1996
June 21: State fire marshal and child welfare investigators arrive at New Bethany Home for Girls. Welfare workers want to interview about 80 of 200 students about allegations of abuse and neglect. They are turned away.
2013
July: Joanna Wright, 53, of Houston, Texas, drives to Arcadia, La., to make a report with the Bienville Parish Sheriff's Office claiming sexual abuse by Mack Ford.August: Simone Jones, 46, makes a report with local law enforcement at Elk County Sheriff's Office in Kansas claiming sexual abuse by Mack Ford.
December: Jennifer Halter, 39, of Las Vegas, Nev., travels to Arcadia, La., to make a report with the Bienville Parish Sheriff's Office claiming sexual abuse by Mack Ford and others.
2015
January: District Attorney for the Second Judicial District announces the grand jury declined to indict.
Where do the survivors go from here?
- Anonymous is hoping that more of the former residents will file police reports.
- There is a Facebook group for Survivors of New Bethany.
- Theresa Frye, a former resident of the school is actively helping others. There are other homes just like New Bethany in which abuse has occurred.
She joined with national groups like Survivors of Institutional Abuse and HEAL, which offer resources and support for people who say they were abused in religious boarding homes similar to New Bethany.
The Wartburg Watch actively solicits stories from survivors of abuse in these types of homes. If anyone wants to tell their story, please contact us at: dee@thewartburgwatch.com and deb@thewartburgwatch.com.
Finally, we have been shocked by the numbers of abuse claims which have come out of the IFB including the recent stories out of Bob Jones University. To read more about the IFB and abuse, we highly recommend Jeri Massi's Schizophrenic Christianity which has been re-released. This book caused me to have trouble sleeping.
We thank Anonymous who continues to pursue justice in this situation.
It is time for the IFB to wake up and decide what is more important: protecting our children or making sure girls wear skirts. It's far easier to enforce a dress code than it is to attack institutional sin. May God have mercy on the children who were (and maybe are) being abused in IFB homes today. Any adult who knows of this abuse and does nothing about it should remember these words by Jesus and tremble…
"If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matthew 18:6 Bible Gateway NIV)
Lydia's Corner: Exodus 26:1-27:21 Matthew 25:1-30 Psalm 31:1-8 Proverbs 8:1-11
This story of those who suffer at the hands of “Christian” sociopaths is gut-wrenching. Thank you for sharing this, as painful as it was to read through. Much to pray about.
How very sad that this was allowed to continue for such a long time.
Meant to add this quote
1980
Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources tries to close the school for refusing to allow state inspection and licensing. A district judge rules the state lacks the authority to do so.
1981
May: L.D. Rapier, manager for New Bethany Home for Boys in Longstreet, La., is arrested and charged with cruelty to children after four boys who ran from the home say they were beaten. Ford is quoted in a wire story saying the school is being harassed, the boys can’t be trusted and the school uses “old fashioned ways — discipline.” The school is soon closed and the charges against Rapier are dropped.
1982
October: New Bethany Home For Boys in Longstreet home is relocated to Walterboro, S.C.@ Margaret:
I’ll second that book recommendation that Dee linked to above:
Jeri Massi, Schizophrenic Christianity.
Also Jeri’s “Blog on the Way” at http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2
Just wanted to make a comment on the “girl seduced me” absurdity….
In high school and college I was a lifeguard and a swim coach. After college I worked with youth groups and other after school programs. Like most young guys in my position I knew a number of young girls who had “crushes” on me. Not much unlike one of my first great first “loves” was my pools life guard when I was 11 and she was 16ish. I clearly harbored some “sandlot” type hopes that she would one day rescue me.
It literally makes my skin crawl to think of any “older” guy taking advantage of a little kids crush, especially if they are already “troubled”. Two decades since that time in my life I feel no small amount of pride when I see how the kids I got to coach and mentor have grown up. When one kid in particular, who lost his dad while I was his coach and really latched on to me, recently got accepted to a PHD program in chemistry at an elite school I felt as proud and excited as if he really was one of my own kids.
When you view others as a means to an end(however one would define it) you dehumanize them and can easily cross the line into any manner of abuse. But if you instead view them as immeasurably valuable and wonderful people made in the image of God I contend it is virtually impossible to ever take advantage and use them in any way. There is something disgustingly depraved and broken in a person who, even if the claim of initiation WAS true, thinks a person they are responsible for is justifiably “available”.
In summation, it is impossible for me to envision a situation where there can be any defense of such abhorrent behavior.
Funny… In my state it’s front-page news if the grand jury DOESN’T automatically indict. It’s a rubber-stamp for the District Attorney.
But this is Louisiana. And with LA politics’ reputation, I wonder how many of the Grand Jury (1) are IFB; (2) are BJU; (3) are male with Fundagelical sexual morality; or (4) how much money the perps had to spread around.
Speaking of BJU, have any Republican Presidential Hopefuls started making their pilgrimages to BJU for BJ3 the Kingmaker’s (AKA God the Grandson’s) blessing on their 2016 campaign? Back in the Eighties & Nineties, that was pretty much required for every GOP presidential candidate.
I was also a victim of this abused sob. I could go on for days about my life there. I have problems today dealing with different things because of NEW BETHANY. I am finally able to speak out 25 some years later.
From the age of 4 I started being a victim of Mack Ford. I had also went back at an old age. I spent a good 9 to 10 years there. Being raped, beaten, slaved and having the Bible pushed down your throat is no fun. I also ran away from there. Once caught the officer told me I had to go back because they had no proof of what Mack Ford was doing and also stated that that was my home. Running in place, having high heels on all day, being locked in a small square wooden box in the gym, scrubbing pots in heals, having a cut cleaned out with a DRY scratch pad and comet to being hit with a board and belt soaked in water. Yeah these homes are no joke.
Here’s proof to why atheism and the “nones” is on the rise. The way the girls were treated are disgustingly horrible.
Yes! Yes it was!
The nightmares sometimes can be the worst. I'm/We are fighting back!
The Bienville Parish DA’s office knew what was happening at New Bethany at least as far back as 1988. The DA overseeing this recent grand jury, Jonathan Stewart, was the assistant DA back then and had his hands, eyes and signature all over at least 1 prior investigation into New Bethany.
The assistant DA, Tammy Jump, a lifetime attendee of Mt. Olive Christian School, graduate of Pensacola Christian College, and proud law graduate of Regent University, founded by none other than Pat Robertson, is a member of a very influential N. La. family who has the habit of employing Mack Ford’s grandchildren.
One grandson, Jonathan Johnson, who was a former member of the New Bethany Board of Directors, worked for 10 years as the state director for former La. congressman Rodney Alexander.
Jonathan’s father, Dr. Rev. Tim Johnson, former VP of Louisiana College, the son-in-law of Mack Ford and also a former member of the New Bethany Board of Directors, was also reported to be employed by former congressman Alexander at the La. Dept. of Veteran Affairs. Dr. Rev. Johnson’s latest political step up the ladder is founding his very own Baptist Association.
http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2015/01/new_louisiana_baptist_associat.html
It’s important to note that Dr. Rev. Johnson has admitted to removing a girl who was a victim of his father-in-law’s sexual abuse, and failing to contact the police.
Do you ever wonder why you hear about abuse within these homes designed to operate under the Lester Roloff model, but never see anyone go to jail for abusing, torturing and raping children? Maybe now you have some idea.
And they are open and running full-tilt……all over our country.
Margaret wrote:
It’s STILL happening.
http://www.tampabay.com/faccca/
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
It’s interesting to note that at least one of Mack Ford’s children attended BJU.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
My understanding is that BJU is shunned now by any serious Republican candidates since George W. Bush visited there in 2000. Once the press got a hold of BJU’s interracial dating policy, Bush had to do some serious backpedaling and damage control to keep his campaign from falling apart. Since then, any front runners have given the school a wide berth. Dan Quayle visited the school while I was a student there (can’t believe how long ago that was now).
I am well acquainted with New Bethany, as I was once lived there. Through all of the legal documents I have viewed online, and the girls (now women) that I have spoken to, the one thing that stands out the most is the fact that there is a lack of justice. And that lack of justice for these women, seems to extend far beyond the New Bethany compound. These women deserve so much better than this. And there are still victims who have not come forward publicly. Are they afraid? Let me ask you why grown women would be afraid to speak out about those horrible things that they experienced and were forced to be a part of? If you haven’t yet an answer to this question, I hope you will seek to find that answer. And I am certain the answer is at your fingertips.
How in the world can homes for children operate without a state license or inspections? Barbers and hairdressers have to be licensed, for crying out loud. Are conditions like this ignored because the kids are troubled or difficult or is it just political connections that keep things quiet? What does a parent do with a child that they cannot manage any more?
Those are real questions, and I’m ashamed that things like this just never occurred to me. This is just beyond sickening, but what to do for kids who can’t live at home but are not suited for foster care or foster care is not available?
They Fought Back- The Mack Ford Sex Assault Tape:
http://youtu.be/COH22C6fQ1I
Sad to see Aug 7, 2010 was not reported here as 5 of us went to see if New Bethany still had children there. I was abducted by my mother and her third husband. I had done nothing wrong to get sent there. I came home from school Feb 3,1982. My mother and her third husband drugged me. Dropped me off with out even telling me why. June 2012 a group of us went to take a wreath for Michelle who had died a few weeks earlier as she couldn’t take the flashbacks of what Ford and New Bethany had done to her. I vowed to take a wreath. Ford shot his shotgun off 3 times. To me that was guilt. Rhonda Lundquist, Kim Holt Karen King Kym Rogers & Silvia Midmere were The Fearless Five.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSCg277EIEU
Oh my! How can they get away with this? Could it be called “bribery?” Sorry I don’t understand. It outrages me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7qyCs7cMGs
@ Gram3:
This reminds me of something I read at homeschoolers anonymous about voddie baucham. In his theology; children, at best, are potential mass murderers. children have absolutely no intrinsic value but only potential to cause harm. That is the belief system that drives places like new bethany.
I shudder now when I remember that Ron Williams from the Hephzibah House in Winona Lake, IN, visited my IFB church when I was a teenager. The tales of abuse at that place are also horrific. One blog site for survivors is here: http://hephzibah-girls.blogspot.com. I also echo Gram3’s question . . . how do these places operate without some state/federal agency coming down on them like a ton of bricks?
Nailed it!! @ unraveling:
Could separation of church and state allow these organizations to physically and sexually abuse children with impunity? Ironic IFB and others feel that separation of church and state is wrong, yet they scream when their rights to behave badly are exposed and the claim is that government is intruding into the domain of religion, like it is their right to do what is described in these houses and churches, criminality be _____!
Former Fundy wrote:
Because for way too long now they have been allowed to have their own form of Sharia and have been allowed to practice it with impunity. We have a rich tradition here in America of not meddling in religious affairs and that’s a good thing, it’s long been one of the distinctives that separates the American experiment from all others. But there is also a sharp line at which religious freedom ends and human rights begin. The IFB folks described here have crossed that line and need to be taken to task by the courts for it.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I’d say probably most. Then again that might just be my SoCal stereotypes of the South.
Related in general to this post, but also motivated by many things that are going wrong with the Church in America, I was compelled to blog, “It’s a good thing that the ‘American’ Church is dying”.
For centuries associating yourself with a church and claiming Christian faith was a non-negotiable to power and prestige. It was the largest nationwide country club. In the long run, these publicly devastating stories, I think the Church will be better off.
What are people who desire power and money attracted to? Places and organizations that give them access to those things. With the growth of the nones and dones coupled with the impossibility of hiding abusive leadership behavior, I think we will continue to see a decline in the “popularity” of the modern Americanized church. The corollary effect will be that the Church will have to begin to operate more closely to what it was established to be. A first will be last and last will be first servant hearted organization where the proclamation of the Good News is the only real goal and gathering money and power are no longer options.
I do think God uniquely blessed the American church, and I think we royally screwed that up. More money and freedom than any church in history has ever had, and we allowed it to become about political power and personal wealth acquisition. The sooner that dies, the better.
Sadly, as has been said, these are in operation all over the country. And it is not just IFBs that are doing this. Some time, the Deebs might consider doing some digging into Teen Challenge.
I have heard of Hephzibah House as well. The men (and women) who run these places really do seem to think they are a law unto themselves and they have serious sadistic streaks.
I’m all for keeping government out of religious affairs, but this has about as much to do with religioun as a cesspool. Perhaps my own experiences have colored my view, but when I hear of storied like this, I am wishing there was still a little frontier justice (as the local justice systems seems to be compromised).
I know this is weak and I am a piece of trash for feeling this way but this made me weep. I have got to learn to be more spiritual and discuss real issues like the meaning of day age and the meaning of the word Yom in hebrew in Gen 1. Yes Justin Taylor going against literal 24 hour day creation warranted massive ink from the big wigs online. This horrid abuse, not so much. Talk about a screwed up world view.
@ LittleOne:
Little one,
So sorry to hear about this terrible abuse you experienced. Its terrible and criminal. Praying God brings this wickedness into the light. You are brave.
– Ali
@ Adam Borsay:
Great blog post and I very much agree. The church will continue to lose its power and social status. And if this humbles us and causes us to acknowledge how poor in spirit we are, then I’m all for it.
@ Adam Borsay:
The 30 year debacle with law enforcement and New Bethany needs a serious federal investigation. Calling a business a church should not allow for violations of laws. Mack Ford trafficked children for his sexual pleasure, while $elling je$u$, and the state of Louisiana refuses to prosecute.
Mack Ford was 48 when I was 16. People think of a typical 16 year-old and I was anything but typical; 1976 was a different world from today. Raised in a compound cult, going to New Bethany was returning to what I knew and was comfortable with. I didn’t sign up to be molested and raped by a man over twice my age.
There are victims from New Bethany who are not likely to talk because the depravity of the abuse induced such humiliation, embarrassment, pain, and an added dose of revulsion, none will take the risk. No adult in their right mind wants to talk about horrific events in our childhoods, but secrets kill and Child Sex Abusers do not retire.
Another group of women were sexually abused by the principal, over twice their ages, but they believe that if a teenager initiated or behaved flirtatiously, the Child is responsible! Some of the women invited the molester– a principal, preacher, father, and husband at time of crime– to their wedding. Some actually think this creep is still their friend. He says he sinned and his god made him pay dearly for his sins. He committed crimes against children and convinced the children they had a special relationship, a genuine love, a bond that these women are unable to break to this very day. I wonder how they would feel about a 35 year-old man having sex with their 14 year-old.
I worked with teenagers. At the age of 48, [age of my rapist] I fully realized how vile a human must be to think it is okay to have sex with a child under ANY circumstance. When teenagers behave inappropriately, as adults, we have a duty to protect them and teach them appropriate behavior. Exploiting a child’s need for love and attention for the adults’ pleasure is the behavior of a sick bastard without a conscience.
We teach our children by our actions; inaction is a choice. Kids need strong parents.
I was at NB when I was 15 and 16 years of age. It is, to this day, the most traumatic experience of my life. It hurt me deeply, on many different levels. I certainly came out a different human being. What was left of my childhood was stolen from me, and my sisters and brothers. To try and explain what our lives were like there would be trying to explain a real life horror story. I have very few memories from my time there..except for bad ones. I began dissociative thinking there, and literally could function, talk, respond to questions and be completely in a different world from there. It was the only way to survive. The screaming and religion, memorization of bible versus and chapters..living in constant fear of what was going to happen next, being called whores and liars, sinners..told over and over we were going to hell..At some point in there, I broke..as a human. Although I was not molested, and only severely paddled a couple of times..I was privy to it happening to my sisters, creating a huge vacuum for survivors guilt. After I left I was placed in a mental hospital for being brainwashed and Stolkhoms Syndrome. they told my parents whatever had happened was bad, and that it would most likely influence my entire life. I was unable to really talk about it, and when I did, no one believed me..I mean, who would? and why? My story was out of a children’s monster’s story. There also, sadly, is no help for us, therapeutically. I’ve heard one of my sister’s say that maybe in Texas there is? But, we need help for a variety of things, starting with PTSD, Stolkhoms, Severe Depression, Fugue Type states, Alcoholism and Addiction, Abuse, Rape, Cult Abuse, Brainwashing, Emotional and Mental Abuse (these were the worst for me) After I left, I spent another 30 years drinking and doing drugs trying to make all that go away. I do not blame NB for my choices, but it is my sincere belief that had I not been so terrified of hell, and the nightmares I had daily and sick memories, I would not have needed to keep myself in a state of intoxication in order to function. I can actually remember putting syringes into my arms and saying, “You WILL make that go away..you WILL” and it did..for years. I got sober 6 plus years ago, and am so grateful for that. But, I am forever changed, and ruined, as a human. I cannot go into churches without either feeling terrified or sick to my stomach..religious people make me feel scared, or enraged. I have had a lot of 12 step work and therapy for my issues..but, only from the advocates, my sisters, have I gotten ANY help for what happened at NB. And they are not licensed therapists..still, they do they best they can..take our phone calls and emails day and night..hold our hands while we cry..talk us down off ledges when all we want to do is jump..if it was not for them, I would most likely go to the grave without ever receiving any help. thanks for reading, and thank you to those of you who were not with us, but are reading and learning our stories..you can help help make a difference in the future for children like we were..if you see or know about these types of abuses taking place in churches and alleged ‘schools’ you can step in and call the authorities. You can save other children’s lives. thank you.
brian wrote:
You don’t have to apologise for being a decent human being. If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us.
brian wrote:
It is neither weak nor are you a piece of trash for feeling that way Brian. You are human & caring.This has made me weep – I work with vulnerable & troubled young people, it is my life’s work – & I am gutted to hear these stories, gutted. My whole team would feel the same. How could anyone damage those so disadvantaged & damaged anyway? Did no-one have the normal protective instincts of the older for the younger or the stronger for the weaker? It makes me SO angry.
I wish wish wish that people would only ever be able to have sex with other consenting adults, & no other person or being, forevermore. Imagine how much misery that would alleviate.
I will be thinking about this story & people like you LittleOne, all day. It just makes me more determined.
Hephzibah House and New Bethany have more in common than operating under the Lester Roloff model. I can’t attest to Ron Williams’ financial situation at the time, but there is much evidence to support that Ford was having a rough time in the $$ department. It’s recently been established that back in the 90’s, a church in Long Beach, Ca., Cambodian Baptist Church, pastored by a man named Joe Esposito, had arrangements worked out with Mack Ford and Ron Williams (and possibly more Roloff disciples) to deposit approximately 200 children from the Long Beach area in Indiana and Louisiana. These two “christian youth ministries” are the only ones we’re sure about. There may be more.
These estimated 200 children weren’t just residents of Long Beach. They were mostly undocumented children of Cambodian refugees who had been allowed to enter the U.S. and were sponsored by churches to get here. Many of these children have never lived in Cambodia. I won’t go into the stories of the free construction labor provided by these virtually untraceable children, and with the history of what went on at New Bethany prior to Esposito’s and Ford’s arrangement (see what’s been reported in the New Orleans Times Picayune within the last year)we don’t know about any other services these hidden children were used to provide.
One threat girls and boys from New Bethany were under is that something bad would happen if you spoke against the home after you left. In putting this together, I believe all these refugee kids have had to live with the threat of deportation. I understand some of them, as adults now, are already in line to be sent away from the only country they can ever remember living in. We already know of one who was exiled to Cambodia. He was born in a Thai refugee camp and never lived in Cambodia. I can understand why they are terrified to tell what happened to them. If Joe Esposito had any inkling of what he was contributing to, surely he would follow suit with Ford and tell the kids who made it back to Long Beach “If you speak against New Bethany and lie about being abused, you might have to go back, or you could get in trouble with the law” or “you’ll fall out of favor with the Lord,” or “you’re not really saved”.
I hope some of the gals from Hephzibah House see this and can get the word out that some of these survivors from HH and NB who are living under the fear of deportation can get help.
Mark wrote:
Please do not edit my grammar–it is intentional. Thanks
I am no authority and do not pretend to be, but I do have a tad of prior exposure to things Louisiana. I had an uncle whose construction company did, among other things, street paving on government contract in Louisiana. Listening to tales he told it was evident that that particular area of government contracts was–well, let me say, them folks don’t do like we’uns up here try to do.
Second story. I/we interviewed for a job at LSU at Baton Rouge (back when I thought that academic medicine might be a way to go). They made us an offer but noted that they could not guarantee a check come pay day. They tried to assure us though that since the state administration was just down the road they had somebody with contacts over there who would go see about it. Like I said, them folks is different in how them does. Anybody seen Duck Dynasty? We refused to give them an answer until they paid us the promised travel money for the interview, and then turned them down. Who wants to live like that?
So that is two out of two slices of Louisiana, for what that’s worth, with the same results–politics and money.
You all know I had prior up close exposure to IFB, though I have never been IFB. What I saw and heard of their attitudes toward child rearing and gender and actual sexual behavior (I am saying attitudes toward) was so horrendous that I wrote and wrote and wrote about it at the time-as a way to deal with the awfulness in my own mind. Since I have gone through everything that has been mine and thrown out what needs to be hidden in preparation for dying–I don’t want them to go through my stuff after the funeral and see some things–I threw out all that I had written on this subject. In doing so, and after all these years, I doubled over with emotional pain (I don’t cry much) just for stirring up the memory of what I had heard of heartlessness passing for religion.
Somebody has got to stop these people, hiding hatred and abuse and perversion and criminal behavior behind religion, if indeed they are doing what their accusers say and if they are permitting it on principle as has been said in my hearing. God have mercy on us if we do not put a stop to this.
@ Gram3:
There were many orphans at New Bethany as well. It is listed as an orphanage.
http://genealogytrails.com/lou/eastbatonrouge/historical_directory_orphanages_east_baton_rouge.html
There were also countless girls that were being sexually abused at home. New Bethany offered a place for these children to be hidden away from the states eyes from which they came. Several girls who were at the home, even went by different names.
@ Headless Unicorn Guy:
Maybe we would have seen some justice had the ADA not had ties to Mack Ford, and the former DA hadn’t botched a raid in 1988?
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/01/in_new_bethany_sex_abuse_case_incoming_da_says_he_will_review_grand_jury_proceedings.html#incart_related_stories
We are STIIL waiting on this new DA Danny Newell to contact us in regards to his findings on the GJ’s decision. As of today we have heard nothing…
Mack Ford is not the only one at New Bethany that was sexually abusing the children. The abuse was rampant, sexually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually! There was no safe place, nobody to tell, and nowhere to hide.
New Bethany was a place of terror. I spent years there being raped, tortured, starved, beaten, and spiritually demolished. Still to this day I am unable to walk into a church and listen to a preacher. It takes me back to the times I was being raped and I was being told by my rapist that he was going to help me find the God that I needed.
I ran from the home and made it to the police, after running for what seemed like hours through the bushes and briars into town. When I tried to tell LEO’s what was happening to me at the home the officer looked at me and said “let’s call your parents”. I didn’t have parents? His answer to that was to take me directly back to my abusers! Why didn’t he contact social services? He should have!
There are many of us who told LEO’s what was going on at New Bethany back in the 80’s. For them to say that they didn’t know what was happening at the home is an outright LIE. They weren’t doing their job then, and apparently they still aren’t doing their job now.
In the 90’s Mack Ford was taped while sexually abusing a girl who had been there since the age of 15, she had stayed and turned into staff. The tape was turned over to the house mother Nora Carter, who then gave it to Mack Ford’s wife Thelma Ford. Instead of going to LEO, they removed her from the home. Timothy Johnson said after that incident (in the NOLA article) that HE was responsible for removing ALL of the children from New Bethany? He is a LIAR! He and his wife Robbie (Fords daughter) may have had a part in removing Shannon (the girl turned staff) but as far as them removing all of the other children? That is an outright LIE!
In the mid to late 90’s the New Bethany home was filled with Refugee children, both boys and girls. They were sent to New Bethany by a pastor in Long Beach California by the Name of Joe Espisito. He also sent girls to Hephzibah House in Indiana.
http://www.bimi.org/worldMag/296A2.php
One of the refugee children that was sent to New Bethany has since been exiled and has made a documentary.
http://theadvisorcambodia.com/2015/01/stepping-new-stage/
Listen to his words, he is a poet, he is a survivor, and now he is away from his family in a country he has never stepped foot in.
http://spokenkosal.com/
The trail of survivors from New Bethany is long. Decades of abuse. Decades of failure by the system that was/is supposed to protect children. Law enforcement. Social services. They failed us.
And now we have gone in front of a grand jury and are told that the statutes are prescribed (expired)? Those of us who went in front of the grand jury are from three different decades, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. How can the statutes be expired for ALL of us?
Could it be because the ADA of Bienville Parish has ties to Mack Ford, her brother employs Ford’s grandson. Is this why their decision was a ‘no true bill’? Or could it be because the former DA signed a document in 88 removing only SOME of the children who were being abused at New Bethany, leaving the rest behind to fend for themselves?
We have documentation and proof of everything, yet we have no answers…
The new DA Danny Newell said that he would ‘review’ the case, the grand jury’s decision, yet we haven’t heard a peep out of him.. When will we see justice?
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/01/in_new_bethany_sex_abuse_case_incoming_da_says_he_will_review_grand_jury_proceedings.html#incart_related_stories
I highly recommend Jeri Massi's book Schizophrenic Christianity, linked above. I was raised in the IFB culture and even though I personally saw no abuse like this story, the general attitude of never questioning the "Lord's Annointed Mand of God" easily fostered local cultures of abuse of power and manipulation in varying degrees. This abuse of power is why I left the Baptist denomination. Ms. Massi's book is accurate and points out the flaws of the IFB very well. The problem doesn't exist in EVERY Baptist Church, but the culture of keeping up appearances can and does allow law-breakers and monsters to remain unchallenged. Read the book. Jerri Massi also has a blog devoted to bringing the criminals in the IFB to justice. http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/ Thank you Deebs for all you do here!
@ unraveling:
When the documentary comes out this month, could you please let us know? We might want to post it here.
To all of the new folks posting here please know that I would like to tell you stories. If you are interested please contact us. Also, we would be happy to post on any of the other schools like New Bethany.
My heart breaks for all of you. I believe your stories and would like to help in any way that is possible.
Eric S wrote:
The Deebs had lunch with Jeri. She lives in the Raleigh area. I admire the work that she has done. That book opened my eyes to the utter depravity that exists within some circles of the IFB.
Simone Jones wrote:
Would it help if I made a call to his office? I will talk to Anonymous.
dee wrote:
It premiers on February 14th, 2015.
@ dee:
He hasn’t contacted any of us, calls have been made and still nothing.. I don’t know if you contacting him would be helpful? I do appreciate the offer though. Please let us know if he answers you because he sure isn’t answering or contacting any of us 🙁
I made a post regarding my time at New Bethany, it is still awaiting in moderation.. I was there for years, and was raped and abused. I have tons of information regarding New Bethany, documentation included. @ dee:
Eric S wrote:
May I echo this, having never yet said it?
I was struck when reading this piece earlier at how much appalling pseudo-Christianity you two have rake through, how much suffering you are exposed to in having to – or rather choosing to – hear about what has gone on under the guise of church life. How much mind-boggling hypocrisy from men with Big Bibles and bigger egos, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith.
I hope this is counter-balanced by you enjoying ‘all the good that is ours in Christ Jesus’ as well, and getting a well-earned chance to come away and rest awhile. And I hope that Psalm 91, a magnificent Psalm, is also your experience (good excuse to read it again).
unraveling wrote:
AKA “One Hand Washes the Other.”
All standing together against those HEATHENS.
Jesus is SOOOOOOOO lucky to have them.
Eric S wrote:
Making long prayers (with lotsa SCRIPTURE) while devouring widows and orphans.
Simone Jones wrote:
LITERALLY devouring widows and orphans.
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Nancy wrote:
Louisiana politics has always been “don’t do like we’uns up here try to do.”
Before the War of Yankee Aggression, an election campaign in Nawlins boiled over. Both factions raided National Guard armories and shot it out up and down the length of Canal Street. Fortunately they were lousy shots.
During Reconstruction (After the WofYA), the local Ku Klux Klan in the Big Easy shot it out with Federal occupation troops — and WON. The statue at the foot of Canal Street wasn’t originally what it is nowadays, but an armed Klansman with the pedestal engraved “Dedicated to White Supremacy”.
And the 1930s. Two words — HUEY LONG.
And then the Crook vs the Klansman when David Duke tried for the Governor’s Mansion a couple decades ago. “Vote for the crook — it’s the right thing to do.”
And Katrina and its aftermath. Including the Mayor & cronies who announced “stay in your homes” and got out of dodge with their own goodies and the local Congressman who took a National Guard escort into the Chocolate City to recover something from his home — a deep-freeze full of packs of $100 bills.
@ Headless Unicorn Guy: The one time I was able to make it over the barbed wire fence, topped with electricity, and actually make it to LEO’s, they took me right back to my abusers. I was covered in bruises, literally covered from the middle of my back, all the way down to the backs of my ankles. And I had been sexually abused, and raped.
The officer that I talked too said “let’s call your parents”. I didn’t have any parents… So instead of calling social services, or arresting Mack Ford, he dismissed everything that I had reported to him. I felt like I may as well have reported a stolen trash can…
Even the law enforcement in Bienville Parish treated me like a throw away kid… Unwanted, unloved, trash…
watch wrote:
During the days of the Peculiar Institution, the threat to “Sell animate property Downriver” meant to Louisiana plantations.
Massa gets some Belly-warming Brown Sugah when he feels like it?
(Part of his Animate Property Rights.)
@ Simone Jones:
LEOs or Slave Catchers?
As far as I know, the 15th Amendment cancelled out Dred Scott.
Looks like the Good Ol’ Boys in the Parish still haven’t gotten the word.
Nancy wrote:
You mean the Christianese all-hands “RALLY ROUND THE BEARD, BOYS!” around a year ago?
@ Headless Unicorn Guy: There is definitely reason to suspect that there may have been some monetary gain by those in positions of power in Bienville Parish. Shoot, even the DA Jonathan Stewart had his hand in that pie!
Devouring every single child that ever went through those gates…Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
http://www.bimi.org/worldMag/296A2.php @ watch:
http://theadvisorcambodia.com/2015/01/stepping-new-stage/ @ watch:
I am going to be ugly here….it’s in Louisiana…what’d you expect….and don’t get huffy, I’m 1/4 Cajun French and my house is a 5 minute drive from Calcasieu Parish…but sometimes stuff goes on over there…even with government intervention, you never know….
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k3wfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k1IEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5270%2C1250812
Margaret wrote:
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
My family lives in Louisiana. It isn’t about the money the perps had (although it could be). Rather it is about the prosecution failing to deliver the right bribe…
@ Kimberly Howard:
My heart is breaking for you Kimberly & all the other precious innocents who were damaged by theses evil freaks. So amazing that you were able to get sober six years ago.
Gram3 wrote:
Well, Louisiana is pretty backward, but the short answer is yes. It is cheaper for the state.
Simone Jones wrote:
I can’t make that hurt any less for you, but let me say-truth upon truth. Two of my grandchildren were in fact thrown away-abandoned at birth and put into orphanages. One received good care the first year, the other was so bad off from starvation and infection that the doctors in the country of origin could not assure us that the child would survive or much less be normal. Then at ages 5 and 2 respectively their adoptive father left the home. I wanted to scream at heaven because of the injustice of it all. Fast forward. Today they are two of the finest people I ever met. Smart. Tenacious. Courageous. And scarred of course. I hate the world for their scars, but I thank God for these children.
Even if someone is a thrown away child (actually or treated that way) that says nothing bad about the child, and even less bad about the person they become. I am so sorry for what you went through. I know that is no answer. May God bless you and keep you. And as for the police, the bible says we reap what we sow. Sounds like some reaping will come due in Bienville Parish.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
Whom they honored by naming a bridge after…and the “commission” in charge of the bridge wrote into the contract that they could never be stopped or ticketed by law enforcement while traveling the bridge.
@ Nancy:
This you tube film clip is for you Nancy, but then again it’s really for all of us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM-MGdGwsAQ
Nancy wrote:
Thank you for your kind words… Your Grandchildren are VERY lucky to have you in their lives.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
Please stop perpetuating this urban myth – it is hokum and hogwash.
They were $20 bills.
Simone Jones wrote:
Everything is out of moderation. i was taking my elderly stepfather to his doctor.
Ken wrote:
This blog is a outward expression of the inner me. I have aways wanted to discuss these things with others. I have been blessed by new friends. I have also been able to tell others that they are not alone and that people they have never met believe them. I know this is what I am supposed to be doing and that gives me a lot of energy.
Thank you for your kind comment.
@ Dr. Fundystan, Proctologist:
🙂
@ Kimberly Howard:
Kimberly
Your comment made me cry. I am so, so sorry for the terrible pain you experienced at the hands of despicable human beings. I am amazed that you were able to become sober after all that you went through. You must be a strong person.
If you would ever like to tell you story in the form of a post, I would be willing to post it. I could also help you write it or edit it or whatever.
I want you to know that we care about you and want to know what we can do to be of assistance to your in your journey. One things is for sure, there are some of us crying along with you as we read your comment.
brian wrote:
I am so glad that you wept along with me. That shows me that a wonderful person who cares about others is alive and well. You are a blessing to all of us here. If you ever want to tell you story, let me know. I would be willing to post it but do not feel like you must.
Dr. Fundystan, Proctologist wrote:
Even more half-lies and fabrications….
Everyone knows there was at least one stack of $50 😉
This is Louisiana.
Years ago the Governor’s race was between Edwin Edwards and former KKK Grand Dragon David Duke.
On people’s cars they had bumpers stickers that read….” This is important folks, vote for the crook.”
@ K.D.:
“This is Louisiana” — any relation to “THIS IS SPARTA!”?
And just remembered a third-hand story I heard about someone who was a cop in Louisiana for a short time. Story claimed they deliberately underpaid him (to save money for other purposes), and told him flat-out he was supposed to make up the difference through graft and extortion.
And there was a scandal in Nawlins some years ago where a clique of NOPD cops were running their own freelance Murder Incorporated, hiring out to local criminal types as Muscle and/or Hits.
dee wrote:
…for sure..
You convinced me, and I sent off for Schizo-Xanity. If nothing else the title is worth the purchase price.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
It is, LSP is a lot better than what it was….I hate to say this, the casinos have made the police clean up their act. They want your business, and if you fear the police, you won’t visit.
When my brother was in law school he loved to tell the story, all the professors would tell about how laws were enforced in the states and always they would say, ” this is the law in all 50 states….except Louisiana.” They still have laws under Code Napoleon….my brother is an Asst. DA and hates to call Lake Charles or Lafayette about an extradition, or a crime over there, often neither side understood what they were talking about….
nmgirl wrote:
That’s true. I’ve heard several times how “sinful” babies are. Not even kidding a little bit.
@ Sapphire:
We weren’t believed back then, why would we be believed now? Even forty years later one fears the backlash.
To all of these precious souls who have been a victim of this horrible man and others-
My heart hurts for you. Words fail me. You are in my prayers and I pray that our God of Grace comforts you in your darkest hours.
I believe you. And so do many others.
Thank you. I have over come alot! Sometimes it’s hard to deal with,but I have so many loving sisters that have stood by my side all the way through this. I went before one grand jury over him and I’ll go in front of another 🙂@ Ali:
I will NEVER understand the life that has been given to me. Like I stated before, I was introduced to New Bethany / the Fords. I do NOT recall much of anything that went on at that age. My parents were divorced at that time. When my family found out she was going to send me away at such a young age they tried to adopt me, but out of guilt she did NOT let them. I stayed for many years before I was able to go home. Once home, things seemed to be ok. I mean I would get into trouble at times (what kid wouldn't?). We had our problems as she always chose the man she was with over me and fed my brother with a silver spoon. I was always feeling left out and angry.
One day she said she found my father and wanted to know if I wanted to go live with him (nothing new to me for her to ship me around). With being angry at the age of 8, I said ok. A few weeks later she shipped me off to my dad’s, promising to come get me on the weekends (hardly ever happened) promising me she would call and again hardly ever happened.
Within 3 months of moving in with him, I was (mind you 8 almost 9 years old), doing really bad in school, running the streets, doing drugs, running away you name it I did it. No one knew why and no one really seemed to care. One day my mother came over to talk to me (I was 13) and told me that if anyone ever does anything to hurt you that you tell me, something is going on with you and I’m not sure what because you won’t talk (why would I after being shipped around my whole life?). I didn’t know what to say other than ok.
After being hit, beat, raped so many times by my father on top of it being pregnant I had enough. I called my mother within minutes of it happening, explaining to her that the reason I NEVER said a word was because he was going to kill all of you if I did. We went straight to the hospital to get test done, called the police and had a trial. My father got LIFE and a year without probation or anything. A life sentence!! He did a plea bargain, admitted to 11 of the 13 accounts against him and went from a life sentence to 8 to 10 / 2 to 4 and was out within 2 or 3 years.
I freaked! I started falling back into being angry, needing a mom, needing help. The help I got was sending me away again to a home called Mountain Park. A jail!! I was beat, made to write lines, made to read the Bible 13 hours of the day, made to memorize scriptures, made to clean like a slave, made to run steps for hours at a time, I then needed to take the pain away, so I started to cut myself with anything I could as long as it was sharp . I felt abandoned again from my mother, but not only from her but from everyone.
Once Mr Wells saw that I was cutting, he again beat me many times. I will never forget the day he hit me 27 times with the belt — something inside me snapped, I turned around and just started beating him with my fist, kicking him and having many girls taking me off of him. I just couldn’t take it anymore! I remember for a few days no one bothered me, no one was hitting me or downing me. After those few days my mother showed up. I was told I was going home. I was happy. I thought maybe now I could have a relationship with my mother….
Nope guess again!! While she told me she was taking me home, nope a few days later we’re at New Bethany (again here I am being shipped to someone else). At this point I had given up on life. All I wanted to do was die. I remember walking in with my mother and step-dad. The girls (choir girls) stood by the steps and sang a few songs for them, and they showed them around. I remember them leaving and screaming for them NOT to leave me here (knowing what Mountain Park was like) watching them walk away leaving me behind again. I remember after them leaving I was told to shut up and stop crying or I would get the name of Jesus beat out of me. I was screaming, cussing and hitting.
Before you knew it, I had girls around all over me, but I didn’t care. I fought back. I once had 5 watchers on me at all times. I continued to cut myself while I was there (for the life of them they never knew where I was getting sharp objects). I remember placing ink in the cut on my hand and Mack Ford taking a DRY scratch pad and comet to clean it out, pulling my hair screaming at me and beating me, telling me I am of the devil and he will come out of me. I remember scrubbing pots (that they burned on purpose) in heels, I remember being thrown up against walls with my body and head over and over again, I remember being locked in a small cubby hole in the gym for days and being cold and hungry, I remember running in one place for hours, scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush, sleeping in the hall, being beaten with wet clothes on with a belt, I remember being away from the girls most of the time, being in Mack Fords own house while raping me and Thelma sitting there watching, I remember all the Bible thumping, I remember Brother Garris ripping me out of my chair in the school dorm, taking me upstairs and beating me over and over again. I remember a lot!
I remember running away trying to tell the police what was going on and having them tell me they didn’t have proof, so therefore I had to go back because that was my home. I felt so alone and so ready to die. Still not understanding why my mother was always sending me away instead of being a mother. Even though I do NOT talk to her or my father, I still have that question to this day. I still question what did I do to deserve that?
I have cried all the way through typing this, but I want everyone to know I have overcome a lot in life. I now have my own house, I have a soon to be 16 year old who is my life. I have this place in my heart where I am always wanting to help others the best I can. I don’t want to see others suffer in the type of hand I had to my whole life. I have many struggles I deal with to this day because of these homes and Mack Ford. One being men! I have a hard time trusting anyone let alone men. I have other issues like PTSD like many of us do, but I still go on. The one things that keeps me going other than my daughter, my family and my circle of New Bethany sisters is the fact that Mack Ford was NEVER able to break me!! I can hold my head high knowing that evil, sick man and all his followers NEVER broke the mold!
Thanks for hearing my story!!
To each of you who had to live in this awful ‘hell-home’ on earth you who were accused, abused, attacked, beaten down, made to fear, and walk in shame, not believed, not rescued, lied about, defamed….my heart aches for each of you. I am angry and sick that you experienced such abuse for each of you are precious and a treasure.
I am praying that the truth of each of your grievous abuse becomes fully known that you can walk in truth and freedom knowing that you are believed.
Praying that each of you will grow strong and be free and walk in peace.
With all my ❤ – Ali
Margaret wrote:
Unfortunately, although New Bethany is closed, the abuse continues in countless other facilities around the country (and beyond).
There are boys and girls right now enduring abuses such as this. We must insist on NO AUTONOMY for these places and transparent oversight.
Now, let us go forth and demand justice!
Jeannette Altes wrote:
I will definitely be looking into Teen Challenge. We would appreciate those with information contacting us by email.
Kittybrat wrote:
Amen! We want to do our part in exposing the horrors happening in these facilities. As Dee stated previously, we want to encourage anyone who wants to tell their story to contact us by email.
deb@thewartburgwatch.com
dee@thewartburgwatch.com
I was in Teen Challenge for a short time prior to New Bethany. I have lots of information about Teen Challenge as well. Even though my time there was short, I have done hours upon hours of research. It is open and running ALL over the U.S., and it is a horrific organization!
Deb wrote:
LittleOne-
You have overcome a lot! I’m thankful that you are able to tell your story in this blog. With stories like yours and others, these awful “homes” can be exposed. It has certainly increased my awareness and I will be watching for ways I can help.
@ LittleOne:
Thank you for sharing, Little One. Your message of hope and victory after all of the pain, shame and betrayal, is inspiring, and I’m sure you will touch a lot of lives through your story. Hang in there.
LittleOne wrote:
Little one, I remember exactly what you looked like at New Bethany, and I remember the sadness in your eyes. You were this tiny little thing with big shiny sad eyes. I used to draw pictures for you and the other little ones… Horses, puppy’s, kittens, fish, birds, all sorts of other animals, you always loved the animal pictures the best! You would often talk about how you wanted a little kitty of your very own..
Even though I was only a child myself, I always wanted to just hold you and hug you. I just wanted you to feel loved.
I know now that those feelings came from my having experienced the same types of rejection at such a young age that you were also forced to endure. I wish that I would have been allowed to hug you and hold you while we were at New Bethany…..
We have the now, and you ARE very loved by myself and many others. You are, and always will be my Little One 🙂
You are an amazingly strong woman, a fabulous mother, you give so much to help others in need, and you do have a HUGE heart! I am so proud of you for your strength, so very proud!
P.S.
I am glad to see that you still love animals…
LittleOne,
Stories like yours, and those of other “alumni” of New Bethany and its ilk, are enough to make me sick at heart. I can’t imagine what it was like to endure that, or how strong you must be to have survived and come this far. I doubt I could have.
It bewilders me to see Christendom in America looking less and less Christlike, and more and more like Scientology, Inc. I can’t decide which abomination New Bethany resembles more: Scientology’s now-defunct “ranch” for its members’ children (complete with hard manual labour and harsh punishments for minor infractions), or The Hole. That’s the makeshift prison for Scientology’s top execs, which includes barbed wire, daily beatings and humiliations, non-stop running as “discipline” and sleeping on floors. Both aspects of the same horror: Inhumanity inflicted on fellow human beings, under the cloaking of “religion”.
Maybe Adam Borsay was right. If this is how sick religion has become, perhaps American Christendom really does need to die in its current form, if it’s to have any hope of coming back to life and showing us the love of God.
Simone Jones wrote:
I have only three pieces of information on Teen Challenge:
1) It or its start was associated in some way with David “Cross & Switchblade” Wilkerson.
2) Circa 1970, my high school had an Anti-Drug Assembly featuring a Teen Challenge presentation. From what I remember 45 years later, it began with “You will hear one name very often in this — JESUS CHRIST” (apparently church & state was a “thin area” back then) and turned into Testimony Night. Lots of use of the phrase “Trick of the Devil”. Don’t remember if it ended with an Altar Call, but that probably would have been too blatant for a public high school assembly. (As an Omega Male of the school, for a week afterwards I got pointed at Invasion of the Body Snatchers style with the pod people howl “It’s a TRICK of The DEV-IL! It’s a TRICK of The DEV-IL!”)
3) One of my writing partners (the burned-out preacher-man) told me a horror story of another pastor who upon learning his son played D&D, forcibly committed him to a Teen Challenge halfway house to exorcise the Demon of D&D. (After which, Pastor Dad bragged they would force the kid to choose between a Bible and a D&D book before all the congregation.) My informant said this messes up the kid’s head for life, alternating between all-out Rebellion and Total Pious Submission — whipsawing between Marilyn Manson & Fred Phelps & Marilyn Manson & Fred Phelps & Marilyn Manson & Fred Phelps.
@ LittleOne:
That is a powerful story. From your experience of living through that and then processing it for several years, what can people who are concerned about this kind of thing do? Do we need to work at the level of local law enforcement or legislation or what? In your opinion, what should a parent do who has a child that they cannot manage do? I’m not referring to your situation but rather another young woman who was/is what is commonly called “incorrigible.”
We know that the New Bethany approach is horrible, but what do you think the solution would look like? Any insight would be appreciated because the lack of regulation and oversight is shocking news to me yet I don’t have any idea what the solution might be.
I’ve been thinking about the ‘throwaway children’ thing. There seems to be this mindset somewhat common among unsaved humans, that once a child has been treated as expendable by the first adults in their life, they must really be human trash. In the case of sexual abuse victims who were shipped off by their churches, protecting reputations was part of it. However, the fact of their being called “whores” by Ford and staff (as well as further abuse) indicates that since their virginity was gone, so was their value, unlike the relatively better cared-for daughters of intact families back home. The staff could then treat them however they felt like.
If my analysis is off base here, feel free to correct me. I read about stuff like this and start comparing it to neopatriarchy.
I understand what you are saying,but at the age of 4 I wasn’t a troubled kid. I was full of life. Don’t think for a minute that I don’t have problems with my soon to be 16 year old. The one thing I have learned is to be a parent and deal with the situations as they come,NOT to ship her off and take the easy road. @ Gram3:
To all those abused in group homes affiliated with religious groups:
Deb and I have been talking. We believe that the stories of victims in any of these group homes need to be told.We will need some help from everyone who has written in here to discuss their abuse. I shall also speak with *anonymous.* We are deeply concerned that there has been significant coverup on the abuses in some of these homes.
We exist first to support and expose abuse. To do a series on the group homes as well as to explore how this may have been expedited by a blind judicial system, we will need those who were involved pointing us in the right direction.
Today, Deb is going to look at the Teen Challenge group which was raised by one of our readers who was also sent to Bethany. We need to find a way to get the information to a central place so that we can begin to look at this in a cohesive fashion.
We believe the stories that are being told and want to help you all in anyway we can. But, we need your help as well. We will protect your identities if you wish.
NJ wrote:
I think you are correct. I heard a tape once by Jerry Falwell in which he was talking about a church based youth program and about the necessity, as he saw it, to have two separate programs. He said that you don’t want the daughters of the deacons coming into contact with street boys. Now that was Lynchburg, VA in the 1970s. So I wondered who he classified as street kids and how they got to his church, since Lynchburg was not exactly ground zero for gangs or drugs-certainly not at the time.
But I am here to say, based on later experience in a different town, that some of the daughters of the deacons and such were doing the same things as the “street” kids, only they had somebody hiding that from the public. It is about keeping up appearances in public. And what makes a kid “less than” is partly due to the fact that whatever it is became known and embarrassed people. Some folks have to make a show of how “righteous” they are in order to hide the fact that they are in fact not “righteous.”
This is not the whole story by any means, but it is part of it.
@ LittleOne:
Sorry I wasn’t clear and conveyed to you that you were a troubled child. My question is what can we do to make this better? What can people do when situations like yours come up and a mom dumps her children? What can a parent do with a child they cannot handle.
ISTM there are multiple issues bundled here, and I think you are in a unique position to help us work on the solutions. If a normal 4 year-old enters the “system” and goes through what you went through, then something needs to change.
Likewise, if parents find themselves with a young teen that is acting out by getting DUIs and such, then what can be done? What can a high school teacher do for a young girl who is cutting but the school social worker and counselor and nurse are overwhelmed? We as Christians are failing to address a lot of child welfare issues, ISTM, but I don’t know where to start. I’m so thankful you got out and are doing well.
Nancy wrote:
Being Virginia in the Seventies, it was probably a simple matter of Black & White.
NJ wrote:
What do you mean, among UNSAVED humans?
New Bethany is proof it goes on among the SAVED(TM) as well.
Just the SAVED(TM) have BIBLE! to justify it.
“Missionary Man, he got GAWD on his side…”
— The Eurythmics, “Missionary Man”
Nancy,
I once heard an anecdote about a Baptist deacon in the South driving his 16 year old daughter across state lines in the dead of night to have an abortion, so nobody from their conservative church would ever find out she had been pregnant. Somehow the truth eventually came out anyway, but it is illustrative of how certain sins are viewed as so shameful and unacceptable, they must be covered up at all costs– including the cost of someone’s life.
“He said that you don’t want the daughters of the deacons coming into contact with street boys.”
This sounds similar to a line of thinking within the homeschooling/courtship subculture I once ran across. Fathers were being warned that as homeschooling’s good reputation spread, to watch out for unworthy young men showing up with an interest in these (special) homeschooled daughters who were apparently the cream of the crop. Couldn’t let them get married off to anyone but the next generation of homeschooled, patriarchal young men from the “right” families.
HUG
😀
I trust I shall be forgiven for ASSuming that people abusing helpless kids are probably not (currently) saved…
Who knows? Maybe some of them will actually repent of their participation in the evil deeds of darkness and turn to Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and be like Zaccheus, doing whatever is in their power to make amends. Maybe I’m just dreaming.
NJ wrote:
Note the ego-stroking of the Speshul Homeskooled Daughters’ Fathers.
“Right” families as in House Lannister? House Baratheon? House Tyrell?
(There is no longer a House Stark…)
NJ wrote:
I’m nor sure you need forgiveness for this, going by the number of times the bible tells us to exercise discernment and not be gullible.
Isn’t the mark of an authentic Christian not that they never sin, sometimes seriously, but that their conscience won’t let them get away with it. Sooner or later they have to get right with God, and maybe seek help from the church. Confess it and get it dealt with. They have no peace until they do.
There is no way as far as I can see a child abuser can possibly be a new creation in Christ, it is a contradiction in terms.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
Good observation. Except, I did not see much rush to integrate the churches hereabouts, so I wonder if there would have been enough black kids to scare anybody. I do know Jerry differentiated between those kids in Thomas Road’s day school and those not because I heard that repeatedly from him. At the time I dismissed it as somebody just trying to drum up business for the school. And no doubt early on many schools were segregation academies. That was the driving force, I think, at the time for church based day schools. What I see now is some church based schools who push classical (we start Latin in the fourth grade) and how many kids get into the bigger name schools-that sort of selectivity. Give us your kid and we will get him into Duke, maybe on scholarship.
So I am thinking all of the above, with a swing somewhat away from race and somewhat more toward snobbery. And of course money. Always money. So if you don’t have the money for private school and your kid won’t get into Duke anyhow, you can always still be a religious snob (as long as the kid does not embarrass you.)
NJ wrote:
Unfortunately, there ARE unworthy young men who look upon home schooled daughters as being naive and can easily be taken advantage of. The fathers were give good advice.
Joe2,
I can see how they might have been viewed as naive due to being sheltered. That’s definitely a possibility. The vibe I was picking up, however, was that such young adults were somehow better than the children of other Christians who had gone to private school, or worst of all, the “government schools”.
Joe2 wrote:
In the Seventies, it was Catholic School girls who had that reputation.
(Which puzzled & offended the one Cal Poly Gang female who HAD been Catholic-schooled.)
NJ wrote:
There is that, definitely, and probably the other also.
We should be tweeting the , ahem, hades out of this. Possible hashtags include:
#OldPaths #IFB #KJVO #KJV1600 And find any of the other parody accounts who use them! @TheAnonChurch will help, as well as @BreakngBaptist (probably the most well-known ex-IFB parody acct) 🙁
Dee, already one member of @TheAnonChurch has emailed me privately and asked where he could donate money for these survivors.
dee wrote:
Please feel free to contact me! Thank you for writing about this we have been making noise for such a long time…Trying so hard to get folks to listen to us, to stand up for and with us, and to be believed. Also, thank you for your compassion, and for caring about our situation <3
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I could give you enough information about Teen Challenge to keep you reading (as long as your stomach is strong) for quite some time. Sexual abuse runs rampant there as well.. 🙁
I’ve seen throughout the comments on this post readers asking “what can we do?”, and up to this point, I haven’t seen much in response to this other than “let’s talk about it further”, unless I missed something. (I am astounded by how quickly the comments on this blog post exceeded 100!)
First of all, I believe every single person who has read this has at some point been made aware of these things, or even the possibility of these things happening in “christian” institutional settings. Keep in mind that churches and christian day schools also fall into this category. So I think the shock and disgust isn’t coming from this being brand-new news. I think for some, it’s coming from forced validation. How many of you can recall seeing an article in your newsfeed about someone in charge of children in a “christian” setting being accused/charged/convicted of a sexual crime against a child? Even if you didn’t click on it and read it, you knew what it was about. And even if you did read it, you shook your head at the unpleasantness of it all and shoved it to the back of your brain because it was just too horrible to think about. Knowing these things happen won’t get us far. Everybody already knows. And these things continue, and the people who cover up for those who commit vile, repetitious acts on children continue. Simply because it is too horrible for those who are looking AT it from the outside to think about. These evil people haven’t really had to worry about someone looking IN! Until recently.
So, everyone really does know about these things going on. The questions that need to follow with this is WHY and HOW? Few people are asking that because they are still feigning shock at “just learning about this”.
The HOW and WHY is dangerous water to tread, however. It gets uglier and more viscous the deeper you go in. When you start considering the mind-control and brainwashing methods implemented through purposeful trauma, and the history of these methods being used and who they were used on, and how the development of these methods was approved of by so many people, not to mention covered up, starts to scratch the surface of HOW.
But having an idea of the HOW most certainly should bring WHY to the forefront. There is a method to this madness. And, IMO, the fuel that keeps this machine running is a steady supply of vile, low-level unconvicted child predators. In our little neck of the child sexual exploitation world, it’s understandable the appeal of having a place to hide behind God while having unlimited access to children. It should be understandable why a “home” for girls or boys would be a magnet for these abusers. “Come to work at our school” or “I’ll help you start a school” where they are promised their own harem of kids to do with whatever they want. But there are certain methods they must implement to make sure that their victims are compliant, silent and discredited, because they certainly don’t want info to get to the wrong people about about their little business.
It’s not hard to research the things these people do to children. And it reaches far outside the IFB, and most certainly is not isolated to New Bethany. But you all already know that. When enough people look at what Lester Roloff developed and taught to men whose names most of us already know, and then, for themselves (making up their own minds about it), look up these same methods while keeping in mind how Roloff “modified” some of them, and see where else throughout history they were used. And think about the reason WHY they were used in the past. Perhaps then we can discuss WHY.
My friend Marcus Chatfield in one of a few who has dared to dig deeply into this to expose the WHY. Marcus was raised in a fundamentalist christian family and is a survivor of the STRAIGHT program. His recently released book “Institutionalized Persuasion” delves into this.
http://www.amazon.com/Institutionalized-Persuasion-Marcus-Chatfield/dp/1503137198/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417623236&sr=1-1&keywords=Institutionalized+Persuasion
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Dr. Fundystan, Proctologist wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBp-NXywGcA
Thank you for the kind words. I want to add that from what I have seen of institutions like New Bethany (ie, Hephzibah House and the plethora of Roloff type homes), these teen gulags are also dumping grounds to get rid of children, especially daughters, who have been sexually abused at home or in their home churches. Gabriella Fleury and Susan Grotte and others, all of Hephzibah House, have said that about 50% of the young women incarcerated at HH were victims of childhood sexual abuse, for which they were blamed as the person at fault. They were certainly not given refuge or even well intentioned counsel. Instead they were berated and blamed for being child victims. I don’t know if the percentage is lower, the same, or higher among survivors of NB, but I’m sure that for some NB served that same purpose of maintaining the fundy-required sparkling clean exterior of a happy family and happy church by shipping off victims of abuse to distant places where they would be out of sight and brainwashed to be silent.
I’ve hung around ex-IFB online communities for going on a decade now, so this isn’t a new revelation to me per se, but it still makes me sick to this day every time people who have been so afflicted share their stories. It’s also made me deeply suspicious of any “homes” for “troubled teens,” regardless of their denominational affiliation.
For what it’s worth, here’s a documentary about another such teen gulag that was located outside of the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapped_for_Christ
Hello Jeri! You are correct about children being sent to NB due to being sexually abused at home. One girl was even made to change her name while there (to avoid detection). Mack Ford’s FIRST two little girls at NB were victims of incest at the hands of their father. One was pregnant 🙁
Speaking of pregnancy, there were also girls at NB who were FORCED to give up their infants! How does an unlicensed, unregulated children’s home, that will have nothing to do with the state accomplish an adoption?
jeriwho wrote:
More about New Bethany! :'(
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/02/detectives_turn_to_new_bethany.html
@ Gail:
Gail, thank you so very much for your kind words 🙂 it mean’s a lot to me. I am very blessed to have my sisters and the 12 Step program I am in..and a loving family.
many of my sister’s are not so lucky.
But I appreciate everyone’s comments here that are not part of our world..We feel that the more of you that know, the more likely it is we can get help and also shut down other
IFB or any crazy religious type schools that hurt children the way NB did.
cheering you on!