Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 36
Through our CAN contacts we continued to learn more and more about cults. We had
mistakenly assumed that most cults had gone by the wayside as the hippie generation grew
up, and we were amazed to learn that there were at least 3000 active cults in the United
States in 1991. While it is not easy sorting through all the different cults, my wife gradually
narrowed our choices down to one that seemed the most likely cult. The ―fingerprint‖ was a
composite of specific words or phrases, like ―God willing,‖ ―scriptural family,‖ and ―please
consider,‖ which were contained in our first three letters, and a sense of how the group was
very nomadic and tended to move from town to town rather than remain in one location.
CAN put us in contact with some former members of the suspected group and families
impacted by cults. Through conversations with them and their help in studying the letters,
it seemed highly probable that our son was with the Jim Roberts cult. I can‘t stress how
important those contacts were for us and how much we appreciated the help from former
members, as well as the other families who had a long running association with the group.
One of the former members was kind enough to send us an unfinished manuscript he was
writing, so we would have a better understanding of what our son was going through, if he
was with the Roberts group. Although several people pass through the group every year,
some stayed in the group for extended periods and we concentrated our search on those
who had been with the group for at least several years, so they could help us learn what we
were up against. In all cases, those who left the group after extended periods did so
because they eventually became disenchanted with Jim Roberts and walked away on their
own. In the early years of the group, there were some successful forced deprogrammings
however, we had not heard of any one being taken forcibly from the cult and successfully
deprogrammed in the past 15 years. The former members have only limited, if any, regrets
about the time spent in the group, and the major regret seems to be the lost contact with
family, not the scriptural life they led within the group. Many forged very close friendships
that still flourish today and they remain in contact with those friends. They have produced
a couple of newsletters about former members, have held a few reunions, and most recently
have implemented a former member Web site and two Internet discussion groups, one for
former JRG members and one for former JRG members and TRGPN families.
As we met, or talked to more and more of the former members, it became obvious that
these people were not your run of the mill ―down and outers.‖ These folks were generally
well educated, caring, and idealistic at the time they were recruited. Most were sincerely
seeking the best way to serve the Lord and were extremely vulnerable to Roberts‘ particular
brand of Christianity. The author of the manuscript was on the Dean‘s List when he was
recruited off the Harvard campus during his sophomore year. They specifically target the
best and the brightest, and recruit them with a promise of life without sin or responsibility
and a chance to earn eternal salvation. The end is near, and the only way to be saved is to
―forsake all‖ worldly ties, including their ―flesh‖ family, live the Spartan life of the Roberts
cult, and believe in the twisted version of the King James version of the bible as espoused
by Jim Roberts.
In July of ‗91 we learned of a way house in Portland, Oregon used by JRG members and
decided to include a stop there during our vacation that fall. After six months of speculation
and guessing, this visit proved to be the first confirmation of our son‘s affiliation with the
Roberts‘ group. When my wife approached the wife of one of the long-time (17 years)
group members, she commented on her British accent. The woman responded that she was
from South Africa. My wife then told her that our son had been an exchange student there,
and she replied she knew that, because our son had told her he had been an exchange
student to Capetown. The young lady subsequently produced a letter she had written to my
wife but hadn‘t yet mailed. In the letter she described what a wonderful boy our son was,
and how good he was with children and in witnessing to people.
Through our CAN contacts we continued to learn more and more about cults. We had
mistakenly assumed that most cults had gone by the wayside as the hippie generation grew
up, and we were amazed to learn that there were at least 3000 active cults in the United
States in 1991. While it is not easy sorting through all the different cults, my wife gradually
narrowed our choices down to one that seemed the most likely cult. The ―fingerprint‖ was a
composite of specific words or phrases, like ―God willing,‖ ―scriptural family,‖ and ―please
consider,‖ which were contained in our first three letters, and a sense of how the group was
very nomadic and tended to move from town to town rather than remain in one location.
CAN put us in contact with some former members of the suspected group and families
impacted by cults. Through conversations with them and their help in studying the letters,
it seemed highly probable that our son was with the Jim Roberts cult. I can‘t stress how
important those contacts were for us and how much we appreciated the help from former
members, as well as the other families who had a long running association with the group.
One of the former members was kind enough to send us an unfinished manuscript he was
writing, so we would have a better understanding of what our son was going through, if he
was with the Roberts group. Although several people pass through the group every year,
some stayed in the group for extended periods and we concentrated our search on those
who had been with the group for at least several years, so they could help us learn what we
were up against. In all cases, those who left the group after extended periods did so
because they eventually became disenchanted with Jim Roberts and walked away on their
own. In the early years of the group, there were some successful forced deprogrammings
however, we had not heard of any one being taken forcibly from the cult and successfully
deprogrammed in the past 15 years. The former members have only limited, if any, regrets
about the time spent in the group, and the major regret seems to be the lost contact with
family, not the scriptural life they led within the group. Many forged very close friendships
that still flourish today and they remain in contact with those friends. They have produced
a couple of newsletters about former members, have held a few reunions, and most recently
have implemented a former member Web site and two Internet discussion groups, one for
former JRG members and one for former JRG members and TRGPN families.
As we met, or talked to more and more of the former members, it became obvious that
these people were not your run of the mill ―down and outers.‖ These folks were generally
well educated, caring, and idealistic at the time they were recruited. Most were sincerely
seeking the best way to serve the Lord and were extremely vulnerable to Roberts‘ particular
brand of Christianity. The author of the manuscript was on the Dean‘s List when he was
recruited off the Harvard campus during his sophomore year. They specifically target the
best and the brightest, and recruit them with a promise of life without sin or responsibility
and a chance to earn eternal salvation. The end is near, and the only way to be saved is to
―forsake all‖ worldly ties, including their ―flesh‖ family, live the Spartan life of the Roberts
cult, and believe in the twisted version of the King James version of the bible as espoused
by Jim Roberts.
In July of ‗91 we learned of a way house in Portland, Oregon used by JRG members and
decided to include a stop there during our vacation that fall. After six months of speculation
and guessing, this visit proved to be the first confirmation of our son‘s affiliation with the
Roberts‘ group. When my wife approached the wife of one of the long-time (17 years)
group members, she commented on her British accent. The woman responded that she was
from South Africa. My wife then told her that our son had been an exchange student there,
and she replied she knew that, because our son had told her he had been an exchange
student to Capetown. The young lady subsequently produced a letter she had written to my
wife but hadn‘t yet mailed. In the letter she described what a wonderful boy our son was,
and how good he was with children and in witnessing to people.
