the “rod of god”. I started screaming – I thought this was the end, that I was going to be beaten to death, and prayed for the end to come quickly. I was then handed over to Pastor Williams himself who also began beating me with this long rod from the top of my body to my knees. The pain was unbearable! Oh God – the pain – and my heart was exploding in a desperate sadness as I watched my own father being ordered by Pastor Williams to take the rod and help beat me with it. My father seemed to almost be afraid of Pastor Williams, and he seemed disoriented, so with tears streaming down his face, he raised the rod in the air and meeklypopulation. This created a scapegoating atmosphere. It was unhealthy, unhappy, and generally abusive. There were other girls I saw who had been given unreasonable tasks as punishment or "therapy". Some girls were taken "off talk" as I had been taken "off reading". They were not allowed to talk to anyone or they would be punished. One girl had to carry rocks with her constantly. This was an extremely heavy load and she had to bring them on 40 mile bike trips, cross country skiing expeditions and every other place to which she went. It was supposed to represent her burden and issues that were dragging her down, but it caused bruising all over her back.

MMS was the lowest time in my life. I would like to take this