The Roberts Group Parents Network

MISSION -- Release the members from the control of the Roberts Group and establish two-way communication and an open and loving relationship between members and their families.

We, The Roberts Group Parents Network, are the parents and families of people who have disappeared in the last thirty years. We don't know where they are. We do know they've been lured away from us by a nomadic, bible-based cult, who forsake their families, possessions, and all of society, to wander the streets of our cities and states, witnessing to or proselytizing other unsuspecting young men and women, and recruiting them to their group. If a member or your family or a friend has disappeared, and you don't know where to start looking, or you suspect cult activity, you might find them in...

• THE ROBERTS GROUP
• THE BRETHREN 
• THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS
• THE GARBAGE EATERS

We will refer to them in this document as the Roberts Group. They live in accordance with the teaching of an authoritarian leader, who determines the members' beliefs and their daily behavior. The leader's interpretation of Bible scripture is the foundation for this cult. It is a highly structured, strictly disciplined group that demands the total time, allegiance, dedication and resources of the members. They see themselves as the only possessors of truth and regard outsiders, parents, and family members as unsaved, unenlightened, unspiritual and hostile to the truth.

This document addresses three main areas: what our sons and daughters were like before they entered the Roberts Group, a general discussion and description of the Roberts Group's lifestyle, and pictures of unidentified persons within the Roberts Group. We will provide additional resources for those of you who recognize any of the unidentified or suspect your son, daughter, brother, sister, or other loved one has entered the Roberts Group.

If you recognize anyone on these pages or if you suspect your loved one is a part of the Roberts Group, we empathize with you. We know the pain you feel and deeply regret that you share our situation. On the other hand, we'd like to welcome you to our fellowship. We've been brought together from all parts of the country by our common loss. Our sorrow is the same. In supporting each other we find new strength to make it through one day at a time and the new hope that we'll be reunited with the loved ones that were taken from our lives.

We hope this website serves several purposes. First and foremost, we hope it will be an aid to the parents and families of the Roberts Group members. Second, we hope to provide the truth and educate and forewarn the public about Jim Roberts and his control. Third, we hope this might be an aid in helping us find our sons and daughters.

http://nfishel.tripod.com/

I joined a secretive American cult: SA woman's gripping memoir

SUNDAY TIMES LIFESTYLE
STAFF REPORTER
March 7, 2017

In 'Cult Sister' (Tafelberg), author Lesley Smailes (pictured) details the 10 years she spent in a secretive US cult.


After matric Lesley Smailes took a gap year to the US.

Before she left, her mother, either in jest or premonition, said: "Don't get married and don't join a cult" - words that would echo for more than a decade in a mind of a girl who became a woman while caught in the snare of what is believed to be one of the most insidious and dangerous existing cults in the US.

In Cult Sister Smailes shares the story of her life-changing 10 years spent journeying around the US as a member of this controversial religious group - living out of a backpack, having home births, living the freeman lifestyle, an arranged marriage, threats of losing her children, and surviving in strange and glorious ways.

The book is told largely through a series of letters exchanged between Smailes and her mother.


10 compelling new books to read this March
This is her true story:

I am a people person. I love the sense of belonging that comes from being part of a group, a greater whole. Community.

"You should have been an impala, you are so gregarious," my Granny Precious once told me. She was right.

So was my Nanny Goodness. With me tied to her back sitting straddled across her ponderous buttocks, she told my mom: "This one - her name is Thandabantu!" That means "the one who loves people" in isiXhosa.

My friends have always been important to me, especially when I was a teenager. We were rebels, wild and free, smoking joints, gate-crashing parties and getting sozzled at popular drinking spots. Like strands of thread on a poncho fringe, we joined our lives. What we had in common was the "jol". The high. The experience. The strangeness of growing up in our apartheid-censored country of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Patti Smith, Talking Heads, The Cure, Rodriguez - music helped us define ourselves and make sense of our world. Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Are You Experienced? Confused and full of wow-wonder, the lyrics of this Jimi Hendrix song became my personal anthem. The way I saw it, rules were there to be broken.

Even now at age 52, though wiser and more circumspect, I am still an unconventional, boundary-pushing person. This has sometimes landed me in a whole lot of trouble, but it has also opened the door for some incredible adventures, leaving me with my abundance of stories.

For a whole decade I turned my back on almost everything I knew to be part of a religious group in which adherents spurned almost all modern comforts
This one has been painful to remember. How do I explain that for 10 long years I was a member of one of America's most conservative and secretive cults? That for most of the 1980s I dropped out of the world, changed the way I dressed and spoke, bought into a system of beliefs in which women are completely subservient, married a man I barely knew and had three children with him - all of this while crisscrossing the US, camping in the woods or squatting in unoccupied buildings that often had no electricity and running water, and eating food from garbage bins.

I know it sounds crazy, but I did it. For a whole decade I turned my back on almost everything I knew to be part of a religious group in which adherents spurned almost all modern comforts and behaved as though they lived in olden times.

We did not have an official title, although we referred to ourselves as "The Church" or "The Brothers". Others called us "The Bicycle Christians", "The Jim Roberts Group", "The Brethren" and some "The Raincoat People", probably because of the long garments the Brothers wore.

The less imaginative called us names like ''The Dumpster Divers" and ''The Garbage Eaters".

Many people would be revolted at the thought of eating ''rubbish", but to be fair the items we procured were generally more than edible and I can't say I lacked for sustenance.

Nor was I made ill by any of it in my years of scavenging for what was freely available. In fact, I reckon I probably ate better than the average American.

The Roberts Group

MISSING: OUR CHILDREN HAVE DISAPPEARED, AND WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE

The Roberts Group

The Roberts Group

We are "The Roberts Parents Group". We are the families of children who have disappeared in the last twenty-five years, and we don't know where they are. We do know they've been lured away from us by a nomadic, bible based cult , who forsake their families, possessions, and all of society, to wander the streets of our cities and states, witnessing to other unsuspecting children, and recruiting them to their group. If your child has disappeared, and you don't know where to start, or you suspect cult activity, you might find them in:

• THE ROBERTS GROUP, aka
• THE BRETHREN, aka
• THE GARBAGE EATERS, aka
• THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS

Since this group goes by many names, for simplicity sake, we will refer to them in this document as, "the Roberts group. We will refer to the parents of the children as "The Roberts parents group."

This document will address three major issues. Number one, what our children were like before they entered the cult. Number two, a general discussion and description of cult life. And number three, the unknown brothers and sisters.

We will also provide resources for any of you who recognize any of the unknown brothers and sisters, or suspect your child or loved one is a member of the cult.

If you recognize a child or a loved one on these pages, or if you suspect your child or loved one is a part of this cult, we empathize with you. We know the pain you feel, and deeply regret you are a part of our group. On the other hand, we'd like to welcome you to our fellowship. We've been brought together from all parts of the country by an unfortunate twist of fate. Our sorrow is the same. Our common sorrow taken in total, has given us a new strength to make it through the day, one day at a time, and given us the hope that we'll be reunited with the loved ones that were snatched out of our lives.

We hope this page serves many purposes. First and foremost, we hope to be an aid to the families of the Roberts Group who don't know where there children are. Second, we hope to expose Jim Roberts for what he is. Third, we hope this might be an aid in helping us find our children. And finally, we hope readers of this page might be forewarned of the group.

http://minet.org/www.trancenet.net/roberts/index.html

God Willing, a film about Jim Roberts Brotherhood

GOD WILLING is a powerful exploration of a 35-year-old American religious sect known as “The Church” or “The Brotherhood.” It also outlines the struggles of families whose children turn away from them to become “Brothers” and “Sisters” in the group, renouncing their past lives and the world – often, without ever turning back.

This documentary offers an inside look at the group, offering searing testimonials from both family members and former members of The Church.  The film details the appeal of Roberts’ message to the sincere spiritual needs of young people, and the struggle that some of them face with fellow members and themselves when they find little more comfort in the fold than they had in their previous lives.  It also grippingly presents the anguish of parents and other loved ones who grapple with the urge to pursue and rescue their children, and the psychological, emotional and tactical impediments that so often get in the way of reconciliation.  Extensive surveillance footage of Brothers and Sisters and rare, candid on-camera encounters further enhance this examination of families torn asunder, belief systems at war, and the perilous balance of futility and hope.

Founded in 1971 by shadowy messianic figure Jim Roberts, the group has survived for decades as a separatist society that preaches a strict path to salvation, proselytizes for new members, adheres to strict ascetic values, subsists on discarded food and refuse, and shuttles its members from town to town, often on the run from concerned parents and family members who try to see or communicate with their children.