Tuesday, September 05, 2006

AP story tells how McDonald County cult unraveled


AP reporter Marcus Kabel's latest chapter in the ongoing Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church saga, which so far has resulted in the arrests of four church leaders and the pastor of its sister church in Newton County details how the arrests came to take place:

Turning their backs on the isolated religious commune in the rugged Ozarks where many had grown up, a group of members fled with only the clothes on their back, trudging several miles down a gravel road to the nearest phone to call friends or family for help.

A woman in the group soon told a sheriff's deputy horrific stories of how the compound's leaders had molested girls as part of religious ceremonies during which they were told their bodies were being prepared for "service to God."


(Photo- Grand Valley Baptist Church North pastor George Otis Johnston at a court hearing- AP Photo)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

All I can say is thank God someone finally told and they got out!