Photo: Courtesy of the subject At around midnight, Sarah Green got out of bed and crept from the house. A full moon illuminated her path to the wood stack, where she’d hidden a backpack in preparation for her escape. The air was cold and smelled of the piñon pines that stretched in every direction. Rushing past the flower beds, Sarah glanced back at the shacks and scattered trailers on the compound she’d called home for the last year.
Soon he appeared. They walked quietly to a stone wall at the edge of the compound. They threw their bags over and climbed to the other side, gathering themselves among the chaparral and mesquite.Before Sarah’s mother was the General, she was Lila Carter, herself a young woman on the run. The Greens pursued their new faith with the same intensity they’d brought to the Bear Tribe. Following Sarah’s birth in 1972 and the birth of her younger brother, Josh, the family went on a series of harrowing mission trips to far-flung locations: Panama, Aruba, Nicaragua.
Clockwise from upper left: Jim, Josh, Lila, and Sarah Green, circa 1976. Photo: Courtesy of the subject. The Greens relocated to an old single-family house off a noisy freeway in downtown Sacramento. They bought three adjacent homes, or “barracks,” that shared a backyard. About 50 followers ultimately moved to “Fort Freedom,” as Lila called the compound. Sarah lived with her parents in the main house, or “the Citadel.” In sixth grade, Lila pulled her from school.
When we think of cult leaders, we almost always think of men — and for good reason: Of the most notorious cults in American history, almost none have been run by women. From Charles Manson to Jim Jones, it is male fanatics who usually run the show. For Christian groups, the Bible has served as a helpful justification for these patriarchal structures. As 1 Timothy 2:12 commands, “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Sarah wasn’t the only member to anger Deborah. Maura Schmierer, an early convert in her mid-30s, found herself a frequent object of the General’s wrath. “I was always in trouble because my demons wouldn’t come out,” she told me. Other members screamed, vomited, and writhed on the floor when Deborah exorcised them, but Maura could never summon such a vigorous response.
Deborah was furious. Rather than allow such blasphemy, she called for the compound’s destruction. According to several former followers, Sarah and other members sneaked back on Deborah’s orders, climbing over the chain-link fence near the old pomegranate tree. They mauled the house with sledgehammers, tearing up floors, severing beams, and punching through Sheetrock.In June 1989, the group fled Sacramento, eventually settling in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
1harrisonhill So she left them all to rot...
1harrisonhill Fascinating story and reveals much about human nature and tribalism
1harrisonhill --- Seriously --- So What Makes One Superstition More Legitimate Than Another ?
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