By: First Major John Green
I’ve seen over the past 40 plus years of being in the ministry and being part of the Green family, many moves of God and outpourings of the Spirit. I have also seen God take us through many different phases and disciplines and reveal different sides of Himself to us along the way. We have also seen that every time God is wanting to move us forward or bring us into an aspect of what He is trying to reveal to us we are brought to a choice or a cross-road and He deals with our sins. Many people join up, see the move of God; they like what He is doing, but when He brings them to a choice, will we go His way and enter into what He has (which entails disciplines and cutting away of your old life and sins) or will you hold onto your old sins and pretend you are still following God. So thus, we have the situation where many of our former members were and are at. At some point God faced them over their sins and wanted them to repent, or else He wanted to cut away something out of their life so they could have more of Him, and they rebelled and chose against Him.
When we stop following God, God’s blessedness and covering are not over us, and we begin to go in our own understanding, and the carnal mind and the devil begins to lead and guide us, and we can justify all of our actions because we are no longer subject to God’s way and will. This is what has happened to many if not all of the former members of this ministry. God brought them to a crossroads or faced them up with their sins, and they chose against God and chose to go on their own way instead of the way God had for them. When they chose this, the devil became their covering and their god. He became the god of their imagination that sides with their sins, and they began to hate those who have chosen God’s true way because they have failed to follow God and have to justify that failure by finding ways that those who are truly following God are wrong.
The devil has not changed. He always tries to demonize those that are doing right, so those that have failed to follow God can appear to be the ones in the right. Some of these former members have received fame and media attention for what they went through in the evil cult and they try to degrade and defile what God is doing through their words and accusations. But it doesn’t change the fact that God’s way is still the right way, and His truth remains. No matter how much we accuse it, try to defile and muddle it up, it is still the truth and will remain forever.
So, we have been through persecution, lies, and prosecution, and the Generals and some in this body have been through incarceration, but the bottom line is, no matter how much some persecute the truth, lie about those that are following the truth, try to defile and demonize them in the media, take away their possessions and make them look like the evilest cult that has ever been. Even if they make themselves out to be the expert on the cult, and the victim of the cult, in the end they will still face where they failed to follow God and go in His truth and they will receive the reward of their lies, which will be Hell if they don’t repent. Our choices greatly affect others. This ministry has been greatly affected by many bad choices of former members. Though as Christians we try to endure these things with a good attitude, sometimes these things don’t have to happen if people will make the right choices for God.
In the case of Maura S., she was dealt with because of her sins. She had been counseled for years over her problems, and it finally came to a place where action had to be taken against her because she wouldn’t change. Yes, she was excommunicated for a season so she could see herself and possibly repent, but what has been blown up as happening, is quite a bit different than what actually happened. She stayed in the back, in the kid’s tree fort, which had carpeted walls, and something on the side of it with a fold down window, where the kids sold candy, sodas and lunches. Directly next to that was a building called the chop shop, which recently had been built. It had a brand-new bathroom with a sink and toilet, and hot and cold running water, and also a wood cook stove. She basically only slept at night in the tree fort / kid’s store for probably a few weeks, and was allowed to use the chop shop bathroom, with the running water to do her clean up.
Eventually, within a few weeks, she was moved completely into the chop shop with a wood cook stove and a nice running bathroom and in the day; besides a few chores, she did what she wanted. Numerous times, I passed her as I was going to work at the ministries art shops. She would be walking up and down Broadway, which is the street over from where the ministry had their buildings, she was shopping in thrift stores and doing whatever else she was doing. This is completely outside the ministries “compound”, and this was also very early on in her time staying back in the tree fort.
Eventually, her and a woman named Jacque Rankin moved completely into the chop shop building, sleeping there at night, and doing their toiletries there, because in the day it was used to produce picture frames for the art shops. They would do some chores in the daytime, also like I said, would go to thrift stores or wherever they liked in the daytime. In the very beginning Maura S. had peanut butter sandwiches but later on (a short while later) she would eat whatever we were eating, she just ate after we did and did mess-hall clean up with her son Steven.
Eventually her and Jacque Rankin moved out of the chop shop and into barracks 3 basement where the mess hall was and then eventually to barracks 1. The two were also restored to the Rank of Private and allowed to come to meetings at this time. Jacque was soon restored to her husband, and Maura S. and her son Steven moved into a room outside the sanctuary in the main house, where several other ministry members had previously lived. She stayed there awhile with her son but eventually left the ministry because I guess things were not working out for her. Some time went by; she hooked up with an attorney named Bob Blazer and was convinced she needed to sue the ministry for mistreatment. This was the beginning of 95% of all the troubles we had in the future. It started a wave of persecution that has basically gone on until this day. If this person had truly repented and sought to get right with God instead of reaching out to the world, she most likely would have been restored to her husband and natural family and Godly family, instead of going to the law and taking counsel from the world on how her rights were violated. (See 1 Corinthians 6:1-6, 1 and 2 Corinthians 6:7)
How much different could this circumstance and all of the circumstances that followed after for this ministry and everyone involved could have gone, had this person humbled themselves and sought to get right with God and her brethren instead of seeking counsel of the world and doing it the world’s way, which started a war of persecution against this work and poisoned multitudes of individuals to come in the future, causing problems that we are still dealing with to this day.
I believe the moral of the story is, humble yourself and do it God’s way: if you hit a circumstance that is unpleasant, do not reach out to the arm of the flesh (the world, the law, worldly counselors) seeking to prove you are right, when you are wrong if God is dealing with you. In the end, if we did it God’s way, there will be life that comes out of it, growth and restoration to God and His people, if we do it our way, the world’s way, the way of evil counselors that are in it for their own gain and fame, the end will be destruction and Hell fire. Do things God’s way and live.