THE FAMILY FULFILLS EZEKIEL 34--through force andcruelty
What Happened to Rick Dupuy/Watchman?
Posted by Tommy Gunn on May 31, 1998 The FamilyCOG likes to imagine that David Berg or MO is afulfillment of the verses in Ezekiel chapter 34 about David the "oneshepherd". Any student of Bible prophecy can show you these predictions werefulfilled in Jesus Christ. But the COG/Family does fulfill some of theprophecy, the part about the cruel and evil shepherds: "Thediseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neitherhave ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again thatwhich was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with FORCEand with CRUELTY have ye ruled them."(Ezk34:4) Becauseof their cruelty, I believe the Family is as guilty in the suicide of Rick Dupuy,or Watchman as he was known, as if THE FAMILY had MURDERED HIMthemselves! I've known Rick for many years and I'd like to share a little about him andwhy I believe the Family is implicated in his suicide. Rick Dupuy was an extremely intelligent and multi-talentedindividual. He was a songwriter and producer whose music and videos havecircled the globe--A gifted speaker and performer whoshared his beliefs and played his music to literally millions--A genuine comedianwho could make a small group of friends or a large audience convulse with laughter at hismany and varied characterizations. But ,if there was one word to describe him, it would bethat Rick was a "pioneer". He had the vision, faith, initiative andcourage that true pioneers must have to break out of comfortable conformity and startsomething completely new. Even as a young teenager he had the boldness to go running offon his own, living in New York City, hitch-hiking across the States and finally ending upin Tucson, Arizona in the early part of 1969. While living in a commune in the mountainsnear Tuscon he had a spiritual conversion to Jesus Christ. He also met a group ofJesus freaks called Teens for Christ who said they were revolutionaries for Jesus. Rickliked their all or nothing commitment and decided to join them. One of the first songsthat Rick ever wrote reflects this commitment: "ALL I WANT TO DO IS SERVE HIM"
One day I took I took an honest look I tried everything, I played every game in thebook,
And I saw that there was nothing in this world to live for anymore. Then one day, one dayI heard about,
A certain man who could work things out,
So I came to Jesus, you know He came in and He showed me the way. Now all I want to do is serve Him, that's all I wannado now,
Now all I want to do is serve the King, that Others may know Him, And the power, the powerof His Love.
With some poetic license, Rick took most of the words right out of the Bible andstraight out of Jesus' mouth. The song goes on to demand that we be hot or cold andsell all that we have to follow Jesus Christ. It was a heart-felt, bold cry for totalcommitment and this song became one of the anthems of the revolution for Jesus. The Teens for Christ grew to the Children of God and Rick became oneof its chief proponents. Rick led the way on countless witnessingexcursions going places most other Christians would never dare. He openedup some of the first Children of God communes in tough cities like Detroitand with his fluency in Spanish he pioneered works throughout Mexico and CentralAmerica. As the Latin work grew, Rick opened clubs and discos to reach theyouth and appeared with other musicians on radio and televisionsinging and sharing his faith with hundreds of thousands. When David Berg dissolved the Children of God leadershipstructure in 1978, so he could assume even greater control, Rick suddenly foundhimself outside of a movement that he had helped to create. Lacking formal education,but armed with his characteristic ingenuity, Rick talked his way into a job with theHoliday Inn Corporation and in only a short while worked his way into an executiveposition with the company. Rick had a beautiful, loving wife, Katrina, growing children,and opportunity for a great future. Sad to say, Rick didn't get to see it. Instead,Faithy, Berg's daughter met with Rick and some other "backslidden" formerCOG leaders and musicians and pleaded with them to come back to help the"new" Family. Faithy really knew how to win her men and soon Rick, and manyothers found themselves back in the supposedly new "Family of Love". The Family was at the height of its sexual insanity, as well as itsworldwide radio ministry. Soon Rick was totally immersed in organizing a mailministry to respond to the thousands of listeners all over Latin America whowere writing in to Musica Con Vida. Shortly thereafter, he began working with Familymusicians and dancers, and produced a series of television shows and some award-winningChristmas specials which were seen by millions throughout Latin America. Rick's last effort for the Family was to produce a series of musicand children's videos which were sold worldwide by the Family (gaining hundredsof thousands if not millions of dollars) and are still used to supporttheir work. It was during this time that the Family decided to put Rick through its new"loving" mental-meat-grinder called the "Victor Program",It was the Victor Program that Rick attended at the Family compounds in Japan that turnedRick from an outgoing, confident, positive, leader and pioneer into an introspective,depressed, hopeless suicide. He became a man who was so tortured by what had happened tohim that he chose death to escape the memory of the nightmare of the "Familyof Love". To understand What happened to Rick in the Victor Program it'snecessary to lay a little groundwork. I see the Family's descent intoits present state of delusion and Victor Camp brainwashing as a gradual slide intodarkness. In the beginning of the Family, despite David Berg's personal perversionsand heavy-handed leadership, most of the teachings were based on the real gold of God'sWord. But very early on, when MO began his MO-Letters, he took the teachings completelyoff the 'gold'-based theology of the Word beginningwith the "David" series where he claimed to fulfill messianic prophecy.Then, with his concept of "sharing" sex with other disciples, andhis "flirty-fishy" series, promoting sex as a main witnessingtool, he tossed out the last vestige of 'silver'-based moralityof the Word. The MO-Letters became nothing but MO'sjunk-metal-theories and crap covered "paper-pig-prophecies". Butthe Family still think it's God's real gold-- they still have the faith inMO's worthless words, his "Paper Pig", and run in terror everytimeMO (and now Mama) unleashes their paper-pig on them. People in the Family are trapped there because of theirbelief in the MO-Letters. Their belief and faith inMO's paper prophecy, has taken it from the dirty little pig in Papa's poopyard, that itreally is, and inflated it into this enormous monster that can devour them with horriblejudgments from God for forsaking MO, or David the Endtime Prophet, as they like to thinkof him. Contrarily, they also believe, MO's (and now Mama's) poop-plastered paper pig willlead them into tremendous blessings and rewards from God for following MO. This beliefis reinforced by "vested interests" in the group, which includeshaving your family and friends in the group, years spent in the group, leadershippositions in the group, things, family or positions given up to join or stay in the group.not wanting to face the humiliation of saying you were wrong to former family and friendsif you leave the group, etc., etc. These two dynamics of belief and vestedinterest act as prison bars which keep people in the group.They are the restraints which have always allowed MO's mental manipulation to work fromthe beginning and which now allow the Victor Program to work and to be able todestroy people like Rick Dupuy. Besides MO's other problems with alcoholism child abuse,channeling demons, false prophecies and so forth, he was also an EXTREME CONTROLFREAK!!! The reason he gave for dismantling the leadership structurethe COG at the "RNR" in 1978 was so that he could, "'assume moredirect control"-- as if the Family needed more. This move of his almostdestroyed his work, which just shows you what lengths he felt compelled to go in order tofulfill his obsesslon with control. Gradually, though, he was able tosurround himself with a brand new core of underlings, the typical no-conscience,step-and-fetch-it, yes men and women that all tyrants love having around. Actually it wasnot much different than the way it had been before the "RNR" but now it was tobe total, absolute control, tolerating no difference of opinion in the new "parentalregime" of Daddy and his paper "Queen", Mama Maria. MO began by publicly humiliating all the "old Bottle"leadership in the MO-Letters and systematically purging them out. By 1983, afterrebuilding his yes-man leadership structure, he was ready for more control.Since MO had an "only-room-for-one-personality-in-this-town-pardner"mentality, he decided he had to humble all leaders who had developed a "cultof the personality following". He "invited" his daughter Faithy,co-leader with her "mate" Juan over Musica con Vida, to come to the "King'shouse". Then MO and Maria began Faith's personal and private "rehabilitationprogram" which included some mind-boggling sexual sessions that we just won'tgo into here. The MO-Letter "You Must Obey the Least of TheseCommandments!" was the beginning of Faithy's public humiliation.MO raked her over the coals for the "sin" of getting a suntan. With thisletter, MO began to equate ALL his nit-picky, eccentric rules of behavior ascommandments from God. He said, "Even to doubt some of these rules!That is the seed of treason in your heart!... I beg you, not to breaka single rule or it will be an avenue for the Devil to get in...& it will be worse from there on until you fail God & me and theFamily... and gotoHell Because that's where you're going to go if youspend your life just doing it your way!" (ML DO 1827) Faithy was reduced to"babes status" and began a litany of published confessions about herpride, stubbornness, self-will and, above all, "NOT DOING IT DADDY's WAY"and of course, "HOW SHE WAS A NOTHING". Maria now became Mamato Faithy and everyone in the "King's house" was her elder. Around this same time, Keda Sky, the leader of theFamily in all .of the Pacific and Asia area was also "invited" to"Daddy's house" as they started calling it. Keda, later redubbed Magdalene,was the lesbian leader whom MO had put in charge of his son Hosea andthe Dietrich brothers, Caleb and Big Josh" to humble their damn pride".Keda was the "poor sex-hungry" lesbian of MO's Letter "The Girl WhoWouldn't" where MO scathingly rebukes and calls down the fires of hell on aheterosexual Family girl for not wanting to get it on with Keda- a letter which, by theway, gave Keda a field day with Family women. After one of MO's talks to his householdstaff, Keda made a dumb, innocent remark that she'd like to have more teaching instead ofdancing as the "Endtime Prophet" had just suggested. This comment sent MO into anutcase rage at her insolent pride and macho lesbian posturing, as he called it in hislengthy diatribe. Immediately, Keda joined Faithy on "Babes's Status"and humiliation training, some of which you can read about in the "Keda.Series" of MO-Letters. So, at "Daddy's house", the new "babes", Faithyand Keda/Magdalene, were treated to months of endless vocal and written self-incriminationsessions; continuous mind-numbing work details; abasement and humiliation training;screaming-in-your-face and frothing-at-the-mouth exorcism sessions to deliver them fromtheir demons of pride and self-righteousness; hours of daily reading assigned MO-Lettersabout their "problems"; and learning how to bring every minute detail of theirlives in line with "Daddy and Mama's way". Finally, thoroughly retrainedDaddy and Mama pronounced them "sweet and humble". United as a team, Faithyand Magdalene were then commissioned by Mama and Mama's boyman Peter, to goto Family HQ in Japan and "invite" Family leaders in for the exact same "RetraininingProgram" they went through in "Daddy's house".
SOUNDS LIKE A FUN PLACE--DOESN'T IT? In the middle of 1984 (remember Orwell's "1984" abouttotalitarian mind-control?) Faithy and Magdalene set up the firstRetrainingProgram at the Family's School. in Japan. (Remember MO'snightmare letter "The School", with its "parentalregime" and its "Retraining Program") It took somedoing to get it going, but with the help of some "humble nobodies" from Daddy'shouse and other "humble" non-leaders from Japan they started the first session.Leaders were invited in, their marriages broken up, their children taken away, and theywere relieved of all responsibilities so they could concentrate on getting rid of their"problems"-HA! The "School" motto was "LearningTo Do It Daddy And Mama's Way". Courses offered were: "HowTo Identify Yourself With Other Problem Cases In The MO-Letters"-"ConfessYour Worries, Doubts, Fears and Phobias to Your 'Loving' Leaders"--"Your ConfessionWill Be Used Against You"-"Let Us Scream In YourFace"--"Exorcising Your Personality"--"You'll NeverSee Your Mate Again"-"We Will Schedule Your Sex Life"--"YourChildren are Not Your Own"--"Why You Don't DeserveTo Be Here"-"Constant Correction"-"Isolation"-"SilenceRestriction"-"Abject Humiliation"-"Public ConfessionI-to-lnfinity"--"Video Confession To Dad And Mama"--"HardLabor I, II, and III", and finally, to graduate "MentalBreakdown". Leaders were sent to the Victor Program becauseof "deep seated problems" so deep seated in fact, that most leaders didn'teven know they had them. The typical reaction to not knowing why they are atthe rehab center is reflected in this comment by long time Family leader Job (now"humbly" called Bert). "When I arrived at the "Rehab" or RTC, Ididn't realize what bad shape I was in. So after we explained why we thought wewere there, then our Shepherds spelled it out more clearlytold each of us in front of the others the extent of our spiritual problems.Whcw!" ( FSM 121) One Family advertisement for these Retraining Centers, in the sameFSM, said you could be sent to "rehab" for being "extremely critical,self-righteous, overly-pushy or uncooperative, etc.". "ETC."soon proved to be a category that included the ENTIRE FAMILY-HA! "Etc,"was having a haircut that could be considered "coo!" or wearing clothes deemed"too bright". These became "sins" because you were "drawing toomuch attention to yourself". "Etc." was "thinking"you were somebody. "Etc." was having a carbonated drink, or ice in yourdrink or, God forbid, sugar. "Etc." was having pictures of your lovedones; having that unauthorized, extra cup of coffee; watching a moviethat wasn't on MOron's OK list; accidentally breaking a dish as you washeddishes; teens wanting to skateboard or climb trees; anyone wanting totry something new; getting asthma; not wearing a hat outside; wanting to be alonefor a while; etc.; etc.; etc.; etc. These, and myriad more "ETC.'s", wereconsidered by the Family to be -- "just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG brother/sister,that is on the surface, that shows there is plenty more :problems, evil and demons wecan't see and which the Victor Program will expose and purge out", The first graduates from the "retraining program" turnedaround to help reprogram the next batch of leaders, everyone falling over themselvesto prove how "retrained" and faithful "MObots" and"Zerby Zombies" they were (Karen Zerby is Maria'sname). Some graduates were commissioned to to back to their countries and launchmind-mashing, personality-purging programs identical to the one in Japan. The Program wascontinually refined and perfected and "graduates" often found themselves goingback for a more thorough purging in more perfect programs. Faithy and Magdalene bothbecame repeat students in "The School" and have gone in for muchmore retraining in the mental meat-grinder "loving Daddy and Mama" told them tocreate. Faithy, as well as MO's son Hosea thanks to numerous"rehab's", have been ground into mental mush, at the instigationof Mama who views the more charismatic Berg's as a threat to her wallflowerpersonality: as well as, her throne. MO/Mama first called these brain-busting bases"Retraining Centers" or "RTC's" or "RehabilitationHomes". Soon these refraining centers became known as the "VictorProgram" -- a rehab center where you were sent to "get the Victory"over yourself and you joined the "Attack Team" to attack the"problem" of your personality and "demons" created by the programitself. In 1991, after much of the Family had gone through "Victor Programs",Mama Mafia concocted a way to implement the "Victor Program" in everyFamily home and called it the "Discipleship Training Revolution" or"DTR". The rehabilitation camp for Family teens, first called the"Detained Teen Home" was where the Family began to use the term"Victor Program" to describe their brainwashing "Victim Program".This is the one Merry Berg, MO's own granddaughter, helped to launch in Macauand Hong Kong when she became its first victim. Why was Merry Berg,or Mene, sent to her Victor Program? Because she was "dumb" enough to confessto "loving" Mama Maria that she had doubts about MO. Like, whydoes he get drunk all the time when he doesn't let anyone else drink? And,why does he have such jealous rages when Maria makes love to others but hesays we shouldn't get jealous? And, why does he have such horrible nightmaresand demonic attacks if really is so close to God? Mama's "loving"response was to accuse Merry of being demon-possessed and sendher to a mental and spiritual torture chamber in Macau. There shewas constantly..beaten, put in isolation and silence restriction forweeks at a time, tied to her bed for countless exorcisms, and made to confessher "sins" of "Doubting Father David" andof "Pride" until she was literally driven out of her mind and putin a mental institution. Thank God, by a total miracle of God, she is well andthriving today. Others weren't as fortunate, like young Ben Farnsworth, whojumped to his death off a high-rise in Hong Kong thanks to"Mama's" mind-destroying, hope and faith-destroying Victor Program hewent through in Macau with Merry Berg and others. So now we come back to Rick. Rick came to Japan in 1988 when the VictorProgramwas already going strong. He organized a video production team and producedstate-of-the-art videos of Family music and children's shows still used today. But no-onewas exempt, from "Retraining"--everyone had sinsthat must be purged. Rick was found to be "too pushy" and accused that hedrank too much (only MO was allowed to be an alcoholic). Rickdrank a little beer, but was far from being an alcoholic and "too pushy"really means he was "too innovative" and stepped on too manytoes to get things moving, which you had to do in the centralized, bureaucratic inertia ofthe Family. Who knows why the Family really came down so hard on Rick? It'sdifficult to understand what goes on in the minds of megalomaniac psychopaths like MO andMama. Rick was one of the last leaders in the Family with his own unique personality. Hehad been a leader for years. He was always successful in what he did and others looked upto Watchman as someone to follow. Could MO in his unhinged obsession with totalcontrol have wanted to eradicate every "personality" in the group sothat there would be absolutely no other possibility for "cult of thepersonality" worship other than his own and his "IMAGE"that he created, his "MAMA MARIA", his blind, robotic, sex-slave,his FICTION "QUEEN" THAT ONLY EXISTS IN MO'S MAD LETTERS, and who now runs theFamily? MO and
Mama received reports on the "progress" Watchmanand others were making in these mind-mashing rehab centers. He also received video "confession"from those in the program. MO and his personal robot creation, "Mama Maria", hadliterally hundreds of hours of these videos with "victorious" confessions of nowthoroughly "humbled" leaders who completely prostrated themselves before him inthese confessions, "confessing" in detail their sins and how theywere absolute nothings and nobodies and they owed "Daddy andMama" their whole existence. Do you think he received some sort of twisted,sadistic, sexual thrill and perverted pleasure in all of this?--I think heprobably did!--Don't you?--WHAT A SICKO! In Japan, throughout a 4 year period, Rick was put through the VictorProgram several times. Lying leadership never let his wife Katrina join himin Japan despite his pleas. Other Family style "mated" relationships hehad were arbitrarily and ruthlessly broken up by leadership in an attempt to"punish" him and isolate him. Two of these relationships involved his unbornchildren. He was removed from all leadership position and restricted fromany type of innovative creative activity. His name, Watchman, was takenaway from him and he was only allowed to be called "brother" until suchtime as someone else would get a new "humble" name for him- he was put on silencerestriction and forbidden to speak to anyone. When he was allowed to speak again, hewas forbidden to talk about any accomplishments he had ever done inthe Family ( "From this moment on you will have 'no history' "). He wasonly allowed to do the most menial of jobs, often under the supervision of a teen.His guitar was taken from him and he was told he would not beallowed to play it until he was sufficiently "humble" and then only thesongs that the "home teamwork" (the 3 Mobots who now run Family homes) asked himto play. All his clothes were deemed too "cool", burned andreplaced with the dorkiest the Family could find. His hairstyle was deemed too"Cool" and cut to the nerdiest the Family could create. He was deprivedof sleep and made to sit for hours at a time, to be harangued byscreaming "loving" rehab leaders for what a scum he was. He was labeled a"dog, a pig and a vile worm" by the same "loving" leaders. He wasput in isolation time and again "to stew in his own juice" (until an"appropriate punishment "was decided and dished out to him) for the leastinfraction of MO's stupid rules or for innocent remarks like onetime saying to a co-worker that "getting the necessary equipment from Peter Amsterdamis like pulling teeth"- which Peter,. the little Mama's boy. justcouldn't handle. This endless, grueling regime of hard labor, self-incrimination, publicconfession of his "sins", personality-destroying humiliation routines andexorcisms by demon-possessed exorcists finally took its toil. -After four years, Rick hada nervous breakdown. If Rick could have submitted to the Victor Program and gone throughthe "expected" mental Iobotomy he would have come out mindlessly"sweet" as other Family members have before and after him. He would havebecome the "sweet little nobody" that the Victor Program was designed to create.But he couldn't. Rick was trapped in a mental prison of his own beliefs. Try as he wouldto go along with the program, he was too "real" and honest and couldn't give upthe truth about himself, but on the other hand, his total dedication to the MO-Letterbelief System wouldn't let him leave the Family and as the pressure increased, hecollapsed. At the point where Rick had reached a state of almost complete mentaland emotional confusion, the Family finally granted his long-standing request, shovedhim on a plane and shipped him back to the States. Instead of the extroverted,pioneering leader Rick had become a human wreck who looked and actedlike he had just come out of a combination Nazi concentration and communistreindoctrination camp. Rick's family did what they could to help their son with counselorsand psychologists. Rick began to read books on cults and saw how the Family fit thedescription to a "T". As he gradually got his senses back, he began to get madas hell for what the COG/Family had done to him. He decided to go back to Japan and demandto see his wife and kids. But his wife and children convinced that Rick was a"backslidden demon" rejected him and refused to go with him. Rick threatened theFamily with media exposure--the Family retaliated by printing prayers where his ownchildren prayed for God to kill him. Things got nasty, and Rick along with otherex-members, went on an all-out media campaign to expose and stop the Family. It seemed that Rick was really pulling out of the nightmare theFamily had put him through and at times he seemed like he would be able to leave itall behind him. It didn't happen. The traumatic horror and humiliation of hisexperience kept coming back to haunt him, Probably the hardest question to answer forany of us who have experienced similar situations in the Family is "Why did I allowthis to happen to me ?" Nobody put a gun to our head to go through any of MO's MentalMeatgrinders, before or after the RNR, we volunteered for it!--This is very hard to livewith. It goes to the very core of your being and can cause many Uncertainties about yourown ability to make right decision and even to ascertain the truth. In Rick's case; it just became too much. He couldn'tunderstand how his wife Katrina and his own children could turn on him and prayfor God to kill him. He couldn't understand how people he had once admired andtrusted, like Faithy could have led the way in his mental torturechamber. He couldn't understand how close friends in the Family, whom he'dknown for years, like Solomon could stab him in his back cursehim, and hope for his destruction. He couldn't understand how he could have invested 22years of his life in something that had turned out to be so diabolical.He couldn't understand how he could have allowed himself to be put through thetorture and abject humiliation of the "Victor Program. The utter betrayalof his wife and friends in the Family and the humiliating horrors he had livedthrough kept playing over and over in Rick's mind like a never endingnightmare until he just couldn't take it anymore--That's what happened to RickDupuy, may God rest his tortured soul.
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