2 Year Anniversary for Breakout by David Tchappat

Two years ago this week, Australian David Tchappat launched his autobiographical Breakout: How I escaped from the Exclusive Brethren – and last weekend David married Rachel – they are currently on honeymoon.

A Double Congratulation is therefore due to a brave young man who managed to escape the clutches of the Exclusive Brethren, wrote the most recent story of what life was like in the secretive cult, used his media power to launch the book following his appearance in Australia’s ‘Big Brother’ TV show and doggedly rebuilt his life.

peebs.net has reached agreement with David and the publishers of Breakout to serialize a portion of his book. We are hoping that the limited serialization will raise interest in David’s story and help spread the truth regarding the Exclusive Brethren.

As part of the peebs.net coverage of this 2 year anniversary, we hope to arrange a live Webinar where David will answer questions over a live Internet video feed about his life in the cult, his escape and subsequent new life.  The Webinar is yet to be scheduled – it will be recorded and made available from this website for those who miss the live event. We will be providing members of the public an opportunity to submit questions for David Tchappat prior to the event.

Enter your email address below to be notified by email of when there is news of the Breakout serialization and forthcoming Webinar.

June 1st, 2009

We were sent a copy of David Tchappat’s ‘Breakout: My Escape from the Exclusive Brethren’ and have just finished reading this 278 page book – officially released today.

David has written an unique autobiography in that it represents the first published story of life in the Exclusive Brethren during the last 30 years.  There have been a number of books written regarding life in the 1950′s and 1960′s, but David Tchappat was born after the Aberdeen Incident of 1970 and grew up in a brethren family in Australia under the iron-fisted rule of Neche, ND pig farmer James Symington and following his death, John Hales who is the father of Bruce Hales, the current Exclusive Brethren leader.

It is very much an Australian book – Aussie slang terms pepper the pages – non-Aussie readers will need to know the meaning of such words as ‘stoked‘, ‘bloke‘ and the visually effective ‘ropeable‘.

Written over a 5 year period, the autobiography covers the author’s upbringing in the Exclusive Brethren cult and his eventual departure as a 19 year old in the mid-1990′s. It is an important publication in that it is the most contemporary book detailing life within the EB.

The book is really in two parts. There is the harrowing story of life under the strict Exclusive Brethren regime and then the often shocking story of a young man desperate to try and find something or someone to hold onto in the outside world following his rebellion-fueled escape. Written in an easy-to-read style, most ex-members will recognize the difficulties of attempting to understand ind integrate into a society that Exclusive Brethren members are taught is evil and doomed for hell.

Although the topic is about a young man’s religious upbringing and his escape from it, some readers will be surprised at the lack of spiritual references in the book. Underlining major changes in the Exclusive Brethren over the years, David Tchappats story remains a sad one. This extremist branch of the Plymouth Brethren has all but lost it’s Christian evangelical roots and today is little more than a business.

David experienced and covers the Bruce Hales Review and there is a glimpse of the pain that was inflicted by this intentionally duplicitous strategy to increase numbers within the EB.  Of all the tactics that have ever been employed by the Exclusive Brethren in recent years, the ‘Review’ period of 2002 is one of the most objectionable.

David has used his ’15 minutes of fame’ from his highly publicized appearance on Australia’s Big Brother reality TV show to launch this book.  It pulls no punches and is an honest story of a young man often lost in a spiral of anger and destructive behavior.  As such, it is an indictment against the educational abilities of the Exclusive Brethren and should help Australian politicians comprehend the damage caused by this little-understood cult.

Order the book via:

Abbey’s Bookshop – http://www.abbeys.com.au/items.asp?id=237716

National Library of Australia – http://shop.nla.gov.au/product_info.php?products_id=11183

Planet Books – http://www.planetvideo.com.au/library/books/view/9781741108163/

QBD Books – http://www.qbd.com.au/product/9781741108163-Breakout_How_I_Escaped_from_the_Exclusive_Brethren_by_David_Tchappat.htm

For an even deeper insight into the Exclusive Brethren cult and how it operates, we recommend Michael Bachelard’s ‘Behind the Exclusive Brethren’ which is still available on Amazon and other online bookstores.

May 30, 2008

A well-researched and sourced compilation of related news appeared today in the Hong Kong-based ‘Mister-Info’ news portal. The article and stated sources appear below:

‘Big Brother Australia’ evictee recounts youth in controversial religious group

David Tchappat, a popular housemate recently evicted from the television reality program Big Brother Australia, has spoken out critically of his childhood experiences in the controversial religious group “Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren”, referred to in Australian media as “Exclusive Brethren”. Tchappat was a participant in the edition Big Brother Australia 2008, and was voted off the show on May 25.

Tchappat, 33, a former police officer and presently a firefighter, left the controversial group at age 19. He says he attempted to leave at age 17 but was brought back by members of the group and “interrogated” by group leadership for months. Up until he left he had never eaten in a restaurant, listened to the radio or been to the movie theater. According to Macquarie National News, Tchappat’s former community numbers number approximately 15,000 in Australia. Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren is a sect of Protestant Christianity and a breakaway group from Exclusive Brethren.

Due to his departure from the group, Tchappat had to break off contact with family members still inside the organization, though at times he speaks with his parents. Members do not vote in elections because they feel it contradicts their belief that God should determine who is in power, but they provide finances to the Liberal Party of Australia. Tchappat’s cousin Andrew left the group a few months after he did.

After getting to know his fellow Big Brother Australia housemates for three weeks, Tchappat recounted some of his experiences in his former religious group. “Look, I don’t like to say it’s a cult, but it basically is. My whole life was controlled. I didn’t have a say in it myself,” he said on one episode. He grew up in the Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren community in Gosford, New South Wales, and explained: “It’s based on Christian values but it’s very strict. So I had no TV, no radio, no computer, never been to a movie or a restaurant or kissed a girl – you name it, I didn’t do it.”

In an interview Tuesday with former Big Brother Australia runner-up Tim Brunero on Macquarie National News, Tchappat said he is planning on releasing a book about his experiences growing up in the controversial religious group. “I’ve spent the last two years writing it. It just happened that I got into Big Brother in the tail-end of it. Obviously there’s a few more chapters to add, but I’m really pumped, it’s an interesting story,” he said. He plans to title the book Losing my Religion.

He was also interviewed by ninemsn on Tuesday, and said he does not regret discussing his experiences in Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren on Australian national television. “I’m an example of how you can go out and be successful. I say to people that if you are thinking about leaving, and you’re serious, take a punt and give it a go. You can always go back if you don’t like it.” Former members of the group were inspired by Tchappat’s comments and empathized with his experiences in posts to Big Brother Internet message boards.

Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd criticized the Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren group in August 2007. At the time he was leader of the Australian Labor Party, and requested that then-Prime Minister John Howard reveal what took place in a private meeting with senior members of the religious group. “I believe this is an extremist cult and sect. I also believe that it breaks up families,” said Rudd to reporters in Adelaide according to The Sydney Morning Herald. He noted that the organization was being investigated by the Australian Federal Police for prior election activities, and wanted to know how much funding had been given by the group to the Liberal Party.

During his election campaign Rudd called on Australian federal agencies including the anti-money laundering agency Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Taxation Office, and the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate the activities of Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren. In spite of Rudd’s criticism of Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren, the religious group was guaranteed AUD10 million in taxpayer funding for its school facilities in January 2008. Rudd had promised during his election campaign to maintain education funding levels for non-government schools if he became Prime Minister.

Australia media reported on May 18 that Rudd rejected a request from former members of Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren to investigate the group. 34 ex-members of the religious group had sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s office asking him to investigate how they were treated in the the organization. A spokesman for Rudd said that the ex-members should instead take their request to the police, and that a government investigation would raise religious freedom issues. Rudd’s chief of staff David Epstein said that the Prime Minister “does not resile from the views he expressed last year” and “remains concerned about the reported imposition of doctrines that weaken family bonds”.

Australian Greens spokeswoman Christine Milne told Australia’s ABC News said that the well-being of children still in the group should be of primary concern. “The issue here is not about religious freedom, it is about what this cult is doing to destroy families and effectively to undermine the law,” said Milne.

Ex-member Peter Flinn, who wrote the letter sent to Rudd which was signed by 33 other former members, was disappointed by the Prime Minister’s response. “We just want to highlight other equally fundamental human rights, such as access to family who remain Brethren members, a right callously denied for decades,” he said in a statement in The Sydney Morning Herald. Senator Bob Brown of the Australian Greens party has proposed a government inquiry into the group’s public funding, tax concessions and possible practices that harm children.

Mister-Info – ‘Big Brother Australia’ evictee recounts youth in controversial religious group

Sources

* ninemsn staff “Big Brother’s David a cult hero: Big Brother evictee David Tchappat has urged cult members who hate their lives to leave and rejoin the outside world“. National Nine News, May 27, 2008

* Tim Brunero “Big Brother’s David to write ‘cult’ book“. Macquarie National News, May 27, 2008

* Shannon Molloy “Double trouble for BB“. The Age, May 26, 2008

* Tim Brunero “Blokes punted in shock double eviction“. Macquarie National News, May 25, 2008

* “Quiet is the new loud“. The Australian, May 19, 2008

* “Rudd backflips over Exclusive Brethren inquiry“. Scopical, May 19, 2008

* Christine Sams “Big Brother house just like living with sect“. The Sydney Morning Herald, May 18, 2008

* Michael Bachelard “Rudd knocks back pleas for inquiry into Brethren“. The Sydney Morning Herald, May 18, 2008

* “Rudd knocks back Exclusive Brethren inquiry call“. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, May 18, 2008

* Tim Brunero “Cults, racism and man-children: Big Brother’s far from bland“. Macquarie National News, May 16, 2008

* Anita Beaumont, Dan Proudman “Cult escapee fires up for stint in the house“. The Newcastle Herald, April 29, 2008

* Yoni Bashan “Labor backflip on Brethren“. Macquarie National News, January 15, 2008

* “‘Extremist cult’ slammed“. The Sydney Morning Herald, August 22, 2007

May 28, 2008

So David was ‘evicted’ from the Big Brother house because he was “boring”. What some people do not understand is that it can take years to recover from the damage caused from the trauma of being locked away from society. A typical ex-member of the Exclusive Brethren has been surrounded by rules and restrictions since birth. The ability to hold a ‘normal’ conversation with someone not part of the cult is a skill that has to be learned.

Certainly David Tchappat has had 13 or more years to learn how to socially interact, but his chosen routes of employment are telling – a policeman and currently a fireman. Both roles allow physical communication and an associated authority. Try and pick two other jobs (necessarily attainable without a university education) that depend more on rules and regulations as much as these … ex-Exclusive Brethren are expert at maintaining existence around rules. For the first few years, an ex-member without some form of structure is the psychological equivalent of a body without a skeleton.

It is common to hear of someone recently released from the cult as being described as ‘unstable’ or ‘fragile’. This is because we are ‘fish out of water’ – it is a form of social acrophobia to suddenly find ourselves in an environment where the conversation or interaction could literally be on any topic under the sun! With no TV, restricted media of all all types and a controlled schedule that surrounds mandatory Exclusive Brethren events, an ex-member is a social dwarf until enough life has been lived to play ‘catch-up’.

Big Brother evictee David Tchappat wants to release a book about his experiences growing up in the Exclusive Brethren sect.

The 33-year-old fire-fighter has already penned the story of his experiences growing up in the reclusive group who shun TV, radio and the outside world and is now looking for a publisher.

“I want to call it ‘Losing my religion’… there’s a bit of interest in it… A Current Affair want me this week some time… so hopefully something can come of it,” Tchappat told LIVENEWS.com.au

Tchappat escaped the isolated community of his upbringing at 19 where he had to start his life from scratch.

Before entering the ‘real world’ 13 years ago he’d never seen a movie, kissed a girl, listened to radio or seen a movie.

The American sect, that has 15,000 members in Australia, has cast out the good looking housemate out, forbidding him to break bread with his own family.

While the Christian group’s members don’t vote in elections because it interferes with God’s right to ordain who rules the earth but they do controversially fund the Liberal Party.

Source: Live News – Big Brother’s David to write ‘cult’ book

We certainly hope David is successful in producing his book. He at least he has a story to tell and the more people that tell their story and experiences, the more glimpses we can see of life within such a mysterious and reclusive environment. The faster society will start to realize that from the cradle to the grave, some people are being denied the right to Live the lives they could.

In a world where material possessions often denote rank and position, the Exclusive Brethren as a tiny sub-culture perhaps seem to have everything they need. They have nice homes, modern vehicles, their businesses are well-funded and successful. With no vacations to plan or pay for, no electronic entertainment centers to escape within, an average Exclusive Brethren family is normally politely remote – as you would expect from a culture that only lives among us because they must.

From the moment that JN Darby made the momentous decision to exclude rather than include in the mid-1800′s, the increasingly Exclusive Brethren have been moving toward the place they now find themselves – a cult frightened by the self-inflicted removal from an unknown world outside, an inability to communicate coherently and easily, a warped world-view and … increasingly damaged children.

In 1970, just following the Aberdeen Incident and the resulting major division among the Exclusive Brethren, it has been estimated that their world-wide numbers were approximately 18,000. Today, almost 40 years later, there are an estimated 45,000. As they do not actively recruit people to join them, this growth has come naturally from within through carefully arranged marriages. The EB hierarchy move their ‘young people’ around geographically but eventually natural genetics will begin to display the unmistakable signs of a limited genetic pool.

The Exclusive Brethren doctrine of Separation can be assessed by the most fundamental of Christian litmus tests – by its fruits. Has it caused Good? Is it Healthy? Is it Attractive? Is it Kind? Does it help fulfill the Great Commission? Is it of benefit to the human family? Some would call it systematized abuse.

It is arithmetically probable that the genetic damage caused by the Exclusive Brethren insistence of being separate from society will soon become obvious. Meanwhile it is our task to highlight the symptoms and warn.

A good first step would be to remove public funding from their growing school system.

May 26, 2008

David Tchappat is already a winner.

For those mentally and physically trapped within the Exclusive Brethren, leaving is not a rational option. From the moment you are taken as a child a few days old and immersed in a tub of luke warm water under the watchful eyes of your family members and a few local Exclusive Brethren representatives, you are given no choices. Your future is mapped and your ambitions will become sublimated to become part of ‘supporting the Assembly’.

The concept of ‘Household Baptism’ is just one example of where the Exclusive Brethren take choices out of the hands of an individual. To most Christians, Baptism is quite simply a personal decision and an outward expression of a life ‘reborn’. Although Christening is a common practice in many denominations, this is simpler to view as a dedication by the parents to bring up a child in the Christian tradition.

There is no ‘Believers Baptism’ in the Exclusive Brethren. This is the most common form of Baptism in the Christian community where a new believer will decide voluntarily to ‘be baptized’ as a public expression of their new faith and that they have left their old life behind them. It is this form of Baptism that many feel has the greatest meaning and significance – because they made the decision.

Not all who leave the Exclusive Brethren wish to maintain any form of religious observance. The only form of Christianity they have experienced has been forced and surrounded by rules and the decisions of others. To even the most uneducated observer, the Exclusive Brethren today offer very little to satisfy any form of spiritual hunger and this is primarily due to an assumption of ‘birthright’.

When born into an Exclusive Brethren family, there are no options. You will be immersed in water and then, a few years later, it will be made clear that the parents are expected to ensure the child takes the final outward step of partaking in the Lords Supper (holy communion). Once the child starts partaking of the home-made bread and sipping the Ruby Port wine a few minutes after 6:00 AM on a Sunday, the future is assumed secured for another member of the Exclusives.

There is only one further option open to a member and it is a huge decsion that should never be underestimated. Not many can handle even the concept, let alone have the tenacity to plan and enact an escape. It is a choice that no-one should ever have to make.

Double trouble for BB

After running away from a “strict and controlling” religious sect at the age of 19, Big Brother evictee David Tchappat said he doesn’t regret the decision that saw him cut off from his entire family.

The 33-year-old fire fighter was a member of the Exclusive Brethren group until he decided to leave the secretive confines of total domination and venture into the real world.

Despite discussing on national television the organisation’s authoritative stance over its members, Tchappat said he doesn’t fear any backlash from his former “brothers”.

“I don’t answer to them anymore… I’m happy with my life and they leave me alone now,” he said.

He spent three weeks in the Big Brother house before deciding to share the story of his unusual upbringing with his fellow housemates.

“It’s not something I go around promoting… I tell people when I am close to them.”

He attempted to leave the sect at 17-years-old, but was dragged back and “interrogated” by senior members for several months, he said.

Two years later he left for good and said he hasn’t looked back.

However, he said life was difficult for several years and he battled through some “tough experiences”, including the breakdown of his marriage, because of his naivety about the world.

“I had no idea… some people took advantage of me and I blew a lot of money but thankfully I didn’t do anything that was life-changing.

“If I had stayed out when I was 17, I probably would have crashed and burned.”

Leaving the sect required numerous sacrifices, including severing ties with his family, but Tchappat said he occasionally speaks with his parents.

“I don’t have much of a relationship with my family anymore… we moved in different directions and we have different lives.

“I took a punt in entering the real world and I think it has paid off.”

While every facet of his entire life was controlled, including who he would one day marry, Tchappat said he still had a happy childhood.

But life was vastly different to that of other Australian kids.

“I wasn’t allowed to do anything that was considered fun… playing sports, going to the movies, watching TV, sleeping over at a mate’s place, playing computer games, Christmas… I didn’t have any of that.

“We went to church every night, a half day on Saturday and all day Sunday… it’s a very strict and regimented life that is completely planned for you.

“Your life is controlled and you don’t have a choice about anything.”

Source: The Age – Double trouble for BB

When David Tchappat finally left the Exclusive Brethren, it was in a time where there was no established help available ‘outside’. David made the decision to leave as a teenager and the few words surrounding this decision hide the enormity of what he faced as a 17 year old trying to find a way in a world for which he had intentionally been untrained to handle.

He was brought back inside and the emotional and psychological brow-beatings began. It is possible to find similarities in the stories of prisoners-of-war who decide to demonstrate all the outward signs of repentance and willingness to obey the rules, while biding their time for the next opportunity to escape.

David tells us he eventually managed to escape when he was 19 – this means that he was again on his own in the late 1980′s – a time well before the Internet and any form of easy connectivity and communication among others who had left the cult.

Dick Wyman did not commence his web site until the late 1990′s and Peebs.Net has only been available on the Web since the Wyman site was forced to close by the Exclusive Brethren in 2004. Today there are over 100 people in 9 countries who will answer a telephone call or email within minutes of a request for help. In the 1980′s David Tchappat was on his own.

It takes a strong man to walk the road that David has walked. He admits his mistakes and his errors quite openly. But how can he be blamed? Part of the most sinister aspect of the Exclusive Brethren is their clamp-down on all matters relating to society. It is of course easily recognized as a standard Cult Tactic, but the ban on material and enforced Separation from all those not Exclusive Brethren results in social ‘pygmies’ with little or no appreciation of what the human family is about.

One look at the inability of the current leader, Bruce Hales in Sydney Australia, to conduct even a simple political campaign, underscores how ineffectual and intellectually lacking those that lead this group of 45,000 human beings actually are. They are starting to display the inescapable effect of over 40 years of banned meaningful further education for their young.

Reduced to employing non-EB teachers and other professionals, they maintain their restrictive form of education by controlling the syllabus and any form of contact with non-members. Hardly surprisingly, they fear the media with a ferocity born out of fear. When the structure of a cult is designed to restrict the flow of information, and then, when those who know the Truth start to find a voice, it is the most telling weapon that the Exclusive Brethren hierarchy have to face.

One cannot blame the parents – an easy target. They too are ‘pygmies’ who are far more deeply entrenched and trapped than their children will be for some time. For them it is not just their lives and the promise of freedom – there are extended families, mortgages, established businesses, loans – and the fear of losing eternal salvation.

David Tchappat left at the perfect time. He left before he could be forced into a loveless arranged marriage or was trapped by the money that flows freely among cult members. He left because something inside him would not allow him to stay – and he was successful.

Today, someone wishing to leave this restrictive and damaging cult can write an email requesting help. Within minutes, the request is being handled by those who live nearby. It is not necessary for those who take this huge leap into a world they have little knowledge of to do this alone – many have fought this deeply personal and intense battle themselves.

Some have lost the will to fight and have returned. Like breaking an addiction, it sometimes takes several attempts. Others were ground down to a level where the loneliness and entrenched fears brought them to a place of complete desperation and at that point they either succumb and return, fall deep into the self-medication offered by drugs or alcohol – or take their own lives.

Well done David – may your story and will to survive encourage those who read this and wish to leave.

If you wish to leave the Exclusive Brethren, contact us in complete confidence.

If you are already out and are feeling desperate – contact us or press the Emergency Button on the site front page.

If you want to Help, join our Helpers around the world.

The worst thing to do, is to do nothing. If the Exclusive Brethren apply to build a school or a new Meeting Room in your vicinity, it is your duty to try and prevent more children being forced to do what David eventually managed to achieve.  He had the will to survive, but we are not all made of the same stuff.

Children belong with their parents – and parents belong with their children. The most significant evil of the Exclusive Brethren is the way they do not hesitate to separate one from the other. It is an evil that they call ‘truth’ but really, it is just a psychological weapon of fear.

May 25th, 2008

So the ‘Big Brother’ era for David Tchappat is over. The level of interest stemming from his brief sojourn in the Australian reality TV series was quite noticeable. Hits on this blog and the Peebs.Net Exclusive Brethren Information web site increased by almost 25% following the announcement that an escaped cult member was going to appear on the aptly named ‘Big Brother’ show.

Two of Big Brother’s most controversial housemates were punted from the show tonight after a shock double eviction rocked the famous Gold Coast Share house.

Former cult member David bit the dust even after cleverly revealing his intriguing past strategically a fortnight into the show.

The 33-year-old firefighter was raised as a member of the ‘Exclusive Brethren’ an extreme Christian sect that denies members access to TV, radio, and even restaurants.

Sensationally, David escaped the cult as a 19-year-old.

Source: Live News – Blokes punted in shock double eviction

There is a genuine fascination with what life is like for those trapped inside the Exclusives. Although the Peebs.Net Forums have many hundred ex-members, the truth of what the Exclusive Brethren are prepared to do to families and those who oppose their dangerous teachings is only just starting to be understood by a wider society.

This site and its supporters are dedicated to helping members of the media and the general public understand the impact of having spent formative years separated from society – an impact that can kill.

The message that should be heard by those who seek to establish the truth surrounding the Exclusive Brethren is that today’s Exclusive Brethren are light years away from the sober genteel Christians who first became known as the Plymouth Brethren in the early 19th century. Following a destructive division in the 1840′s, the Darbyites or Closed Brethren were formed. From this group developed one of the most vicious and tyrannical regimes in modern-day ‘christianity’.

Other churches denounce their teachings and testimony, expressing concern that has mounted from the moment the ‘Bethesda Division’ occurred:

Published in 1869

“So late as March last one of the most extraordinary scenes of religious discord ever witnessed took place in the Freemasons’ Hall. Between four and five hundred Brethren were asked to come from all parts of the country to hold a conference together. The Darbyites and Bethesdaites were equally invited. Those who invited them did not mention for what special purpose they were to come. It was simply said it was desirable they should assemble together, and that the Holy Ghost would direct them as to what they should say and do when they met together. The expenses of the poorer Brethren were paid by some unknown and wealthy Brethren. They had only been met an hour or so before they were found controversially fighting with each other with a fierceness which could hardly be believed. And this state of things lasted four or five hours for three successive days. It by-and-by transpired that the real purpose for which the Conference was called was to endeavor to bring about a reconciliation between the Darby and Bethesda sections of Brethrenism. The very idea was enough to plunge the Darbyites into a state of something more than indignation. Scenes of indescribable uproar, mingled with expressions of the very worst feelings, took place on each of the three days. And I am assured by one who was present, who does not belong to either the Darbyite or Bethesda section of the Brethren, that not only the prime, but the sole movers in these most unseemly scenes were the Darbyites. What the exhibitions were which occurred may be inferred from the fact that a lady who was present said she could have wept tears of blood at what she saw and heard; and a gentleman of education and social position, who also witnessed these lamentable scenes, remarked to me that it was enough to have made even angels weep. This may seem incredible, but it is nevertheless the fact.

“But the saddest of all in connection with these deplorable scenes is that they are actually, in effect, represented as the results of the guidance of the Holy Ghost. There is no principle which the Darbyites more firmly hold, or to which they give greater prominence in their ‘teaching,’ than this—that the Holy Ghost is with them in all their assemblies, and that whatever conclusions they come to are the result of his special guidance.

- Charles H. Spurgeon quoting James Grant (June 1869)

And the die was cast. The famous and celebrated 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon went on to describe two unhappy 19th century scenes which astonishingly still occur to this day:

“Another illustration of the estrangement which Brethrenism causes in families, consisting with my own personal knowledge, presents itself at this moment to my mind. A Plymouth Sister, whose family do not share her views, cannot help expressing her dissent from any and every act of worship in the family. She even turns away her face when the head of the house asks the divine blessing on the meals of which they are all about to partake. Is not this sad? Does it not display a lamentable state of feeling on the part of the individual, and gives a deplorable view of the denominational system that could produce it.

“I am also acquainted personally with another case, in which it happened that a mother and daughter had adopted the opposite views on Brethrenism. The result was, that the two would not sit down together at the same Lord’s-table. What an unhappy condition it must have been, for each to be living together in this state of antagonism in relation to religious matters!”

- Charles H. Spurgeon quoting James Grant (June 1869)

It is a sad indictment that people are trained to treat others in this way – in the name of Jesus Christ, a man whose entire purpose and mission was one of love. Love is a commodity that the Exclusive Brethren may show to their own (providing you are a fully ‘paid-up’ member), but from their very beginnings, it is not a spiritual gift for which they are known from those outside their barred and gated compounds.

It should be a sobering thought for those who wish to view the Exclusive Brethren from a doctrinal viewpoint that the same Jesus whom the Exclusive Brethren profess to follow stated very clearly – “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:18-20).

The Testimony of the Exclusive Brethren is appalling. Merely scan the news headlines for the past few years! The headlines tell you all you need to know.

David, we’re sorry you’ve been kicked out mate – but our solid congratulations for having been kicked-out of the one that mattered. More importantly, you are a member of a very select band of survivors – we salute you!

Now go do something useful for Heaven’s sake!

In a possible Quote of the Week, David Tchappat is quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as stating “Living with the Exclusive Brethren is like living in the Big Brother house…”.

Um … probably not David. Although, we do admit there are some possible similarities.

If you remove the fact that you are living, eating and under the same roof with people who are distinctly not EB material – and add to this the fact that this is a manufactured environment for Television (a pipeline of filth) – and of course, sadly, you are a ‘Person under Discipline’ and this means that you are denied a number of things: including eternal salvation, ability to speak freely with members of your family still inside, and darnit, you’re going to miss the Rapture …

No – we concur that you are there because of money, that you are there because you’re ‘different’ and you’re there because you miss not having a family around you – a circular observation perhaps.

Big Brother house just like living with sect
Christine Sams
May 18, 2008

Living with the Exclusive Brethren is like living in the Big Brother house, a contestant on the Channel Ten reality show says.

David Tchappat, 33, escaped the religious sect when he was 19, leaving behind family and friends.

Tchappat has begun to open up about his life with the sect during the filming of Big Brother. He has described a life of no television – and countless rules.

On Big Brother last week he said: “Look, I don’t like to say it’s a cult, but it basically is. My whole life was controlled. I didn’t have a say in it myself.”

He described his life growing up with the Exclusive Brethren in Gosford. “It’s based on Christian values but it’s very strict,” he said. “So I had no TV, no radio, no computer, never been to a movie or a restaurant or kissed a girl – you name it, I didn’t do it.”

His cousin, Andrew Tchappat, escaped a few months later.

Sydney Morning Herald – Big Brother house just like living with sect

Of course, if you were with the Exclusive Brethren, you would not be able to speak your mind, you would not be able to date anyone not in the EB and frankly, the word ‘Christian’ doesn’t really apply when you consider how they treat families.

The key phrase here is in the last sentence – ‘His cousin, Andrew Tchappat, escaped a few months later.’

May 16th, 2008

It is a unique experience. A young thirty-something fireman called David is participating in Australian TV’s ‘Big Brother’. Described as a cult-survivor, David has walked a road that not many people have known. In leaving the Exclusive Brethren, David left the first 19 years of his life completely behind him. It is gone. And as many of us know, it is a deeply damaging experience.

A cult survivor called David.

You see David looks like your average well-muscled fireman. But at the age of 32 he’s only been living in the real world for 13 years. He had to start from scratch after escaping an extreme religious sect at 19. Before then he’d never seen a movie, kissed a girl, listened to the radio or eaten at a restaurant. The group was called the Exclusive Brethren and they have some kooky folks. They live apart from the rest of us in their own isolated communities. And get this: they don’t vote in elections because it interferes with God’s right to ordain who rules – but they do fund the Liberal Party. You tell me the logic there and I’ll buy you lunch. Speaking of lunch – Exclusive Brethren can’t even share a meal with people outside their sect. David will never be able to break bread with his family ever again. And there are 15,000 in Australia. Bet you didn’t know about these guys… but you know Big Brother is boring.

Cults, racism and man-children: Big Brother’s far from bland

Perhaps the Exclusive Brethren are finding their true role in the scheme of things? The journey from oddity to cause célèbre is sometimes far shorter than anticipated. Admittedly the Exclusive Brethren are different. By erecting their high-fenced and steel-gated compounds, they are highlighting their belief that they are ‘not of us’. But if you suggest that by locking their doors and refusing casual visitors to their ‘meeting rooms’ they should not receive tax-exemption as a ‘public place of worship’, they will immediately cry ‘foul!’.

In their dealings with Governments they present themselves as unique arbiters of Christianity, deep-thinking and sober members of a cloistered group who are ‘not of this world’. Most politicians have traditionally been scared of the ‘religious discrimination’ accusation that would follow a refusal to meet such representatives. However, one of the side-effects of such self-labeling is that the spotlight of Truth can sometimes publicly showcase hypocrisy – and a publicly uncovered Hypocrite is a particularly uncomfortable position to be found in.

For all its faults, the democratic west has an instinctive moral knowledge of some issues, particularly those that deal with children and families. The arrogance of the Exclusive Brethren extends to splitting families apart over doctrinal differences and then in negatively influencing the children who remain against the normally departed father. The harshness and indifference that the EB display in such situations is breathtaking.

When you finally realize that the Exclusive Brethren do not actively recruit new members and that their international growth is entirely from within, their concentration upon the creation of new Exclusive school campuses takes on a new and sinister significance. By carefully controlling the education of their young and then refusing them the opportunity to go to universities, the Exclusive Brethren are indoctrinating a new generation and preventing their individual growth – and it is you, the tax-payer, who is assisting this process!

It is a sad indictment of a religious movement that spontaneously arose in early 19th century Europe. The Taylorite-Hales Exclusive Brethren could not be further from the original simplicity sought by the their Plymouth Brethren forefathers. The moment the doors first slammed shut against ‘outsiders’ in the late 1840′s, a form of spiritual xenophobia started to take root. We are today watching a cult that judges its success in materialist terms rather than by the souls it saves. Perhaps society should be grateful they do not wish us to join their ‘business’, but those who have family members physically and psychologically trapped behind their barred gates must continue to ensure they are not forgotten.

For further information, see Peebs.Net.