This morning, we received a letter from a former member of the Deerfield cult, this short letter sums up the feeling and the reality of the destruction caused by Grant Clarke, Jane Clarke and Gregg Hake as leaders of this group. Thank you for sharing this, it is very important to keep remind every body what happened inside Deerfield.
“I can’t begin to describe this group. How they treated me, as they disected my family. Again, I would’nt know even where to start. It was the most difficult experience in my life. An experience that will never be forgotten. It has been well over a decade since I had to say goodbye to that place. But, for the record, I love my children (now young men) and have become good friends with my x wife, contrary to what they tried so hard to accomplish (being a “DOWNWARD SPIRAL”) I am still here………………..”
International Servers Gathering at Deerfield compound, now Energetix headquarters. Seating in the from Grant and Jane Clarke directors of the Ministry of Spirit of Truth and the Institute of Applied Ontology and Gregg Hake Treasurer
Missing Deerfield, MST, IAO and OCR 
I agree. In the cult we went through a lot, and the difficult experiences were caused by the leaders: Gregg Hake, Grant and Jane Clarke and the Reddicks. Let’s not forget that!
It was an interesting group of people, it was a fake “family”, people with frozen smiles in their faces, but a group of subordinates that obviously had a different purpose and vision than the cult leaders’.
Yes, in spite of everything, we are still here and we are willing to talk and share about our experiences when we were part of MST/ IAO/ OCR, we are trying to understand WTF happened, for crying out loud!
Here’s an excerpt from the book “Captive Hearts, Captive Minds” by Madeleine Landau, talking about the characteristics of the Cult leader:
“People coming out of a cultic group or relationship often struggle with the question, ‘Why would anyone (my leader, my lover, my teacher) do this to me?’ When the deception and exploitation become clear, the enormous unfairness of the victimization and abuse can be very difficult to accept. Those who have been part of such a nightmare often have difficulty placing the blame where it belongs–on the leader.”
By: Former Slave on January 17, 2012
at 3:53 am
I agree there was a deliberate attempt to drive doubt and cause separation between family members. Spouses, parents and children, etc. Both Grant Clarke and Rob Cass ( who is not mentioned enough in this blog) on several occasions made comments designed to separate me from my husband, which did not happen, to separate my daughter from her work, and to separate me from my business partners. None of which happened, thank goodness.
By: escapee on December 5, 2012
at 10:41 pm
I agree the leaders certainly did try to break up families, Winnowing out the strong ones and keeping the weak. While it may feel uncomfortable to be thought of as weak, most of us were as we tended to blindly follow whatever the leaders told us. I watched as members were broken up and reformed in new relationships. I saw the emotional damage done early on. I remained even though I could see the ministry going off the tracks because I had a family member involved and was determined to protect that one when things fell apart, which I knew they eventually would.
The sad thing is, there is nothing inherently wrong in living in community and sharing one another’s joys and sorrows. In fact, this is how we should live. But it cannot be forced.
Just for the record, I always loved all of the people who came through this organization. I can’t even hate Jane, even though she behaved in such hateful ways towards nearly everyone. She is laboring under a desperate need to control and a very deep seated insecurity. Someone like her should never have been given such power over others, but we are at fault, because we, each of us, gave her that power. I remember when her mother, Shirley, died, I always thought that her mother just gave up when she saw the wrong direction the ministry, under Jane’s control, was going. And make no mistake, Jane was the controlling factor. Grant was just bait, to bring folks in.
I wish I could help those who suffered so from their connection with these people. I think everyone has to heal in their own way and there is no right or wrong way to get through it. For me, it was like a prolonged grief over the failure of something that could have worked and been lovely. We do have the ability to live together in harmony that is not forced. That’s how I have dealt with the hurt and loss.
By: The White Witch on March 10, 2018
at 3:44 pm