Pastors Molested Girls to "Prepare Them for Service to God"
Fleeing with only what they were wearing, members of a religious commune walked several miles to the nearest phone to call for help. The sheriff’s deputy who answered was told by a woman in the group that the compound’s leaders were sexually molesting girls, claiming the acts were to get them ready for "service to God."
The awareness of these sex acts has caused uproar amongst the leaders of the communes as well as the people in the remote areas of the Ozarks, where this commune existed. Five ministers were arrested and accused of molesting five girls. More victims have come forward since the five men were charged, and officers predict more people will be arrested. The defendants have pleaded not guilty and they are not releasing any comments.
George Otis Johnston, 63, one of the men arrested, told one girl that he was giving her "angel kisses" when he touched her sexually before and after church services. The girl he abused also said that Johnston had said, "God told him to come to her and to fulfill her needs as a woman." The abuse against this girl started when she was eight years old and ended right after her 16th birthday. The youngest of the alleged victims was only four years old. As far back as the late 1970s and as recently as last April is how long the abuse has been happening.
Johnston is charged with sodomy and child molestation. Also charged are Johnson's nephew, the Rev. Raymond Lambert, 51; Lambert's wife, Patty Lambert, 49; and her brothers Paul Epling, 53, and Tom Epling, 51.
Johnston is the pastor of Grandview Valley Baptist Church North, which is an offshoot of the older and larger community led by Lambert, the Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church. Not a lot is known about the two church communities, which are about 40 miles apart in the far southwestern corner of Missouri. The Grand Valley commune is on a 100-acre farm. Officials estimate that over 100 people lived there until May, but when the news of the molestation came to light, many left the compound. Now there are only about 25 people remaining.
According to experts, religious groups are not uncommon in the Ozarks, with most of them being fundamentalist Christian, Hindu or New Age. According to Gary Brock, professor of sociology at Missouri State University in Springfield, you don’t find this type of behavior in the larger cities. You find this in the smaller, tightly knit communities because no one wants to talk.
When a religious leader gives you instruction, you believe it because you are taught not to go against God and his wishes. Facing the reality of what is happening is even harder to deal with.
In May, the situation at the compound became public when eight people walked away from the compound and made their way to the nearest town. A man in his 30s got a court order of protection to retrieve his paralyzed wife. A deputy accompanied him. It was on the drive to the compound that a 27-year-old woman, who had also left, rode along with the sheriff, Deputy Mike LeSueur, and described her experience with the abuse at the compound.
LeSueur said that many members of the commune left because there was some kind of dispute within the church, possibly over the child abuse, LeSueur said. Obviously with most of the members, reality became more important than "obeying" spiritual "guidance" and they left. They left with the only thing they had—the clothes on their back—and hopefully they walked towards a better life.
Post Comment