by Neville and Philippa McCallum
Neville McCallum experienced the full wrath of the Exclusive Brethren in New Zealand during the notorious reign of James H Symington (cult leader through the 1970′s until his death in 1987). In Cast Outside The Camp, Neville and his wife Philippa recount how it felt to be pursued, interrogated and eventually cast-out of the Exclusive Brethren. They pull no punches in this often deep, always insightful and sinister human drama which is presented by peebs.net as a multi-part serialization.
We build too many walls and not enough bridges
Aftermath - The Social Chains
Going back to our apprehension about making decisions, what happens now, that Pip and I have to decide if our children eat their lunch at school, and 100 other matters that we had never had to think about? We had been good (most of the time) Exclusive Brethren, with the one-and-only decision to make, which was to unconditionally obey every dictate of the ‘world leader.’ There was, and is today, no other important decision to be made. Your head and every breath is spared or lost by this cultish behaviour. Due to the above, we were not well resourced to survive on the outside.
There were two situations that we feared –
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by Neville and Philippa McCallum
Neville McCallum experienced the full wrath of the Exclusive Brethren in New Zealand during the notorious reign of James H Symington (cult leader through the 1970′s until his death in 1987). In Cast Outside The Camp, Neville and his wife Philippa recount how it felt to be pursued, interrogated and eventually cast-out of the Exclusive Brethren. They pull no punches in this often deep, always insightful and sinister human drama which is presented by peebs.net as a multi-part serialization.
And now matters start coming to a head ...
And now matters start coming to a head ...
ROUND 15 (Part 1)
- Excommunication -
After the last Round, I had to do a little homework, in case I was employing the 18 year old illegally. I contacted the Labour Department, and enquired into the matter. The laws of the land were as follows –
It was lawful to employ any person who reached the age of 18 yrs without joining them to a union, providing they had not been approached by a union official. There was no responsibility on the part of the employer to even suggest to any employee that they should join a union. The fact that no union official had ever set foot on my property let alone speak to my employees, left me in the clear legally.
I asked my 18 yr old employee, if she had ever considered belonging to a union. I got an emphatic NO. The result of the above enquiry was like ‘music to my ears’.
I was ready for the return of the thugs.
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by Tim Twinam
“We now move into Assembly” was first published in 1998 on the ‘Wyman Website‘ – a website forced to close in 2003 due to Exclusive Brethren litigation.
The Exclusive Brethren create spiritual and social refugees as dramatically as any regime in history
I have a horror of arriving late for an appointment. I believe that this minor psychosis has its origins in the acute embarrassment of arriving late for an Exclusive Brethren meeting.
If you arrived late for the Lords Supper in the late sixties, you would have a problem – unless you possessed a key to the locked door. If determined to enter, you would have to knock on the door to alert an investigating brother.
A gentle tap on a window to attract attention would fail miserably today as anyone that knows the structure of a modern Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room would understand. Further adding to access problems are the padlocked steel gates and perimeter security fences.
One could slip fairly anonymously into a Preaching, in the 1960′s, as long as only the lectern faced the door, but as most gatherings involved a circular arrangement of chairs, you were almost certainly going to be noticed. Arriving late therefore was not an option and only bearable in dire emergencies.
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Craig Hoyle, NZ
Part 2 of the Craig Hoyle story
If you ever wondered how the Exclusive Brethren treat those who dare to question their rules and lifestyle, Craig Hoyle’s continuing story will tell you far more than you probably want to know.
Craig Hoyle is gay – a ‘mortal sin’ and, as far as the Exclusive Brethren cult are concerned, a sickness that must be suppressed and cured. The way that Craig was treated is both heart-rending and anger-inducing.
How dare these people call themselves ‘Christian’!
We continue Craig’s story below. The first part of his journey can be read here - ‘What is it like to be gay in the Exclusive Brethren’ -
20-year-old Craig Hoyle, who was brought up in the Exclusive Brethren Church, risked losing everything when he told his priests and family he was gay.
After several meetings with church leaders, and a period under hormonal suppressant medication given to him by a Brethren doctor, Craig just couldn’t take it anymore. He was placed into the first stage of ‘excommunication’.
