Dick Brand shared that even if he knew he was being scammed, he would remain because he truly believed God called him to stay there. He still believes that even though the leadership shipped him off to California (to be fair, I think the move was in part his wife Barb's idea so she could be closer to her son Ruben).

John Erickson, who apparently left around 2008 or 2009, once crowed about being called for life to be in CFCMI. In John Erickson's case, I think he realized he was a far better con artist than Pete or Ed could dream of being. Let's be real - John worked as a circus carney prior to joining the Navy, and he had to be effective to earn a living as a con man.

After sitting through enough lectures, sermons, and even private lambasting sessions, one of two things will happen. Either we are finally conditioned to accept what is said to be true and go along with, or we get fed up and walk out. Many of the guys who are still there are heavily conditioned into staying, and may never leave. We can also debate whether or not there was a spirit about L.R. Davis that was able to captivate his followers to a much greater degree than his successors; he was able to instill in folks a fear of leaving, and in many cases it worked.

This is where God, in His amazing and infinite wisdom, shows He is more powerful than the spellbinders. Why do I say this? Regardless of how long we were in CFCMI, at some point we began to question what was really going on, especially behind the scenes. God was waking us up. For some of us, the process took longer. Still, the important thing is this: God broke through, showed us the door, and we finally walked out.

Returning to Leo's original statement, why were we allowed to be manipulated into staying? In my opinion, it's probably because we were at the time so focused on doing what we believed was the right thing we were willing to follow the leaders at their very word. That kind of blind trust allows for fear and intimidation to enter. It also creates that tinge of worry when we realize all isn't well and it's actually in our best interests to leave.

Don't feel bad if you felt this way. We all have at one point or another.