69
by Clyde_Archive
skoz wrote:Clyde wrote:Aha. I knew the I AM stuff was also an offshoot but I didn't realize CUT was an offshoot of I AM. I mistakenly thought they were contemporaneous. I don't mean to impose but, if you're comfortable, would you mind telling us a little more about your experience in CUT? How your family got involved/got out, for example? Or any positive memories you have of the experience? Or anything you think is worth telling. Again, if you'd rather not, I understand completely.The I AM movement stared in the 30's and Mark Prophet started the Summit in the 50's I believe drawing from an interest in the I AM movement. In regards to my family and Summit Lighthouse/CUT, it's a pretty long involved topic but I'll summarize. My parents joined the organization in the early 70s and worked for the leaders Mark and Elizabeth Prophet. As staff members they lived in poverty gave all of there assets to the church and cut off contact with there family's. My dads income in 1974 was $200. After Mark prophet died in 73 things got dark. Elizabeth arranged marriages between staff members including my parents and encouraged them to have kids. She wanted them to bring forth a new generation of avatars to balance the earths karma or something like that. There were lots of rules governing all aspects of life including married couples sex lives. staff members were encouraged to rat one another out when rules were broken. Elizabeth started having staff members prepare for nuclear war my Dad was involved in stockpiling survivalist gear, weapons and gold. My Dad decided he couldn't deal and left.My parents split up. Ultimately he was exiled for 300,000 years in 76. My mom stayed involved but no longer was on staff. I do remember spending a lot of time at the church compound in Malibu when I was 4 or so. We moved to the east coast in 1979 and regularly attended church in DC. My Mom married a man who wasn't involved in the church so I while grew up with some of the crazy supernatural/social/political ideas it was sort of a watered down version. After my stepdad passed away in 88 my Mom and siblings moved close to the Montana headquarters and got much more involved building a bomb shelter and purchasing weapons. I had moved in with my Dad by this point and missed out on a lot of the Montana period but my siblings we pretty negatively affected by it. My mom got out for good in the late 90s but has a lot of friends who are former members. She looks back on a lot of it negatively. My dad who got out much earlier has plenty of criticisms but also credits the church for helping him develop discipline and a work ethic. He also for reasons I don't understand is still into various types gurus and spirituality. I don't have anything positive to say about my experiences with the church.Thank you so much for sharing that. It sounds like an amazing story that was pretty awful to live through. I have a ton of follow-up questions but I'll stop harassing you, at least for now.