I guess I'm a little afraid that he might read my messages here and disappear again. He told me that after reading some of the posts here, he was sickened by what he read. He said it was put together by a bunch of "malcontents." However, after spending a couple of days reading the messages on the board, I have found it to be well-monitored and fair. He has been in the Assembly longer than he was out of it, so I shouldn't be too surprised that he finds freedom offensive.
All the information, the truth, about George and his assembly is readily available at
www.geftakysassemlby.comThere are a few things to keep in mind regarding your brother's situation:
Years ago, only a very few people knew what type of man George is, and most of them kept silent, or were effectively hidden and squelched to the members. Many sincere people were involved in the group unknowingly...they were deceived. Many left, but most felt guilty about it, due to the false teaching that had been taught, re-taught and re-inforced over the years.
Things grew worse, especially in Fullerton and San Luis Obispo. People started to ask questions, which were defelected or "answered" carefully by the leadership. The goal was to protect David Geftakys, and the "Testimony." The membership were happy to protect the testimony, but David's erratic behavior became increasingly difficult to explain away. When pressure was brought to bear on David, he subtly threatened to expose his father's adulteries.
This caused George to re-double his efforts to protect David, in order to protect himself. This seemed to work until 2 big things happened.
David's abuse of his children and wife became known by a few people who took offense, and most importantly, Judy left David.
That event proved very difficult to explain away, and at that time I was writing articles on Rick Ross and MacGregor Ministries. I began, with the help of several pastors in SLO, to attempt to address the issues in SLO, but the leaders would have none of it, and they finally excommunicated me, for telling the truth.
It was at this point that Kirk Cesaretti began to wake up, and I learned even more about the goings on behind the scenes in the leading brothers' meetings. After a last attempt to entreat these men, again with the help of a local pastor, I decided to start the website. I believed that if people knew what I knew, they would leave...and they did.
The fact that your brother has all this information readily available to him, and that he is free to access it discreetly, but for some reason has failed to do so....or even worse, refuses to believe it, doesn't bode well for him ever leaving this group.
As has been said, "there is none so blind as him who will not see." People who read the info and refused to believe it have seared consciences and a under a demonic spell. It's no longer a matter of opinion, or "he said-she said." There is incontrovertable proof of the type of man George is, and the fact that his servants have repeatedly lied in order to protect him. These are not confused people, they know exactly what they are doing. They are apostates.
So, I agree with what has been said by others here. All you can do is try to keep something in common with your brother, something fun that he likes to do. Show him true joy and freedom, and make sure that when you are with him, he is loving life. If, at some point in the future, he is capable of hearing the Holy Spirit, you will be there to support him. However, I want to let you know that it won't be a happy day when your brother comes to his senses. He will be incredibly devastated and confused and will most likely abandon his "faith," such as it is.
It was hard enough for those who recognized they were fooled when they first heard the truth. How much harder for those who heard the truth and destroyed their consciences in order to continue on with their service to an evil man in Christs name. That is going a tough hit to take emotionally. Everything that they have centered their lives around is false, and they have been so arrogant and judgemental towards those can seen clearly.
Here is an example of how bizarre things have gotten.
I have heard that at least one of the remaining assemblies, Pasadena, has begun meeting on Saturday, as a result of George's false 7th day creation teaching. For decades, the "saints" would argue with Adventists that the church should meet on Sunday, the first day of the week, using Acts 20:7 as their proof text.
Now, they have seen to abandon all that and do what they spoke against only a few years earlier...because George says so. Not good, not good at all. This, if indeed it is true, is another step down the path of spectacularly dangerous cult. I have predicted that some really horrible things are going to take place in the remaining groups...let's hope I'm wrong. However, this whole story is remarkably similiar to how Waco, Jonestown, Solar Temple, and Heaven's Gate all progressed.
Make no mistake about it, while in the past there were many sincere believers in the Assembly, the current members do not fall into that category.
That's my opinion.
Brent