Just A Simple Village

My spontaneous young brother and his wife decided to sell everything and move to Tennessee. Florida was too hot, too crowded, and too expensive. Besides, they wanted their beautiful young boys to grow up surrounded by nature. Our entire family was very supportive, and excited. That was until two days ago. They have been there for one year.

Being raised Southern Baptist was never easy for any of we three children. My older brother turned to drugs, I, martinis...yet the youngest wanted to become a minister. He met Becky in Sunday School and they are  now married with two beautiful children. I guess Satan does try to break us down, because the wanna-be-preacher found the world of pornography...and was "busted" by my ever-so-strange-sister-in-law.

This created a need to get away from horrible Orlando. Florida was simply not the place to be.....they headed for the hills of Tennessee to a delightful little village. Oddly enough, that is the name of the town; RoseCreek Village. Sounds innocent, right? In fact, if you go to their website you might be tempted to move as well. Lush green fields, children with lemonade stands, country stores, you know, kind of like Mayberry ...or Stepford.

It turned out to be religious cult. They live three families to a household, and move every six months so as not to develop ill feelings for each other. They base their lives on the book of Acts in The Bible. They profess the teachings of Jesus, yet refer to their "leader" as Father Noah...and Yashwah. All of the members change their pagan names to Biblical names, or Hebrew names, or something like that.

They are not allowed access to television, or computers...yes, this includes all of the children. The men work from 5:00 am until 7:00 pm, daily. They receive no paycheck..The Village supplies all of their needs. In fact, my dear brother told me they are required to turn over their tax refunds to the "leaders". No hospital visits are allowed, as they "take care of their own" and my sister-in-law is training to be a midwife.

All of this unfolded at my father's 70th birthday party. My entire family attended, including the hippies...and questions brought answers. Happy Birthday Dad.