Four years ago there was a media firestorm in Oregon about a Church of God couple who abused their children. Church of God circles were quick to cover it up and to make excuses. This couple was indicted on 11 felony counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment and 14 counts of
second-degree assault against their nine youngest children.
While these disgusting parents were not typical of COG parents, they did represent many in the fringe element of the church that had the same attitude. Armstrongism has always attracted a fringe group of people who are attracted to all the death, doom and destruction supposedly to be coming on the world. These people are also the ones who are into the conspiracy theories, concentration camps, into survivalist/white supremacy and other aberrant beliefs. These people also look at any writings of the founders, HWA/GTA, Rod Meredith, Gerald Flurry and Dave Pack and others, as God inspired and therefore equal to the Bible. These people have bought into the aberrant beliefs of Armstrongism and have taken it to a darker level.
You all know who I am speaking of. Every church area had a couple of families or members who were like this. Their women wore long dresses with sleeves, no make up. Personal hygiene was not a necessary part of life. Their cars were old run down things that somehow miraculously got them to church each week. They either lived in low income areas or on land outside of town that was set back from the road, hidden from view. Abandoned cars, trash, run down homes and trailers was the scenery. Their Bibles were the Moffat translation with it's wide margins so color coded that you would never recognize it as a Bible. They were almost always hard core legalists who would get bent out of shape at the slightest infractions by others. Their church face was one of pious humility in following God to the letter of the law. Their mantra was. "God looks at the inward things of the heart and not at the outward appearances."
However, once they got in their cars to go home they were returning to a different world. Husbands beat their wives, parents beat their children, children were starved and locked up. Child abuse was rampant, mentally, physically and sexually.
Now back to the Oregon Church of God couple. Their names were Robyn and Graydon Drown from Turner Oregon.
The Drown's took Herbert Armstrong's, Garner Ted's and Rod Meredith's child rearing tactics to heart and to the extreme. In the early years of the church the Church of God advocated corporal punishment as the highest form of child training. HWA, Merdith and others thundered from the pulpit child rearing sermons. Parents were to spank their children for being rebellions. In the Dayton area, Carn Catherwood, fresh out of Ambassador College Pasadena, told parents from the pulpit that they were to spank their children 25 times and that he wanted to hear the swats carry out into the meeting room. Spokesman Club, as a fundraiser, sold one inch thick paddles with holes drilled through them to cut down on wind resistance. These paddles were covered with scripture advocating spanking.
The Drown's actually moved from California which has harsh corporal punishment laws to Alaska where they could dish out punishment without restrictions while maintaining their ties to the WCG. After the WCG started making its theology changes the Drowns then jumped ship to be "Jewish". Graydon had been injured in an accident and claimed that his recovered lead him to Judaism. It was eventually the Rabbi that help put them into prison. No Church of God minister ever intervened in these kids lives.
Robyn Drown (nee Lewis) and Graydon Drown both grew up in Alaska. As
children she and Graydon attended church congregations of the Worldwide
Church of God about 100 miles apart, but their families knew each
other. Graydon Drown then moved closer to Anchorage and began attending
the same church as she did. Robyn Lewis and Graydon Drown were
married, with Robyn's parents consent, when Robyn was 15. Their first
child was born a few months later. Following their marriage Robyn and
Graydon Drown lived in California, Alaska, Oregon, and Hawaii. Leading a
sparse and insulated lifestyle, at one point the entire family set up
camp near Mill City in a sport utility vehicle and a tent. The children
who testified this week said they never attended school or saw a
doctor or dentist. Portland IndyMedia
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Robyn and Graydon Drown were
raised in Alaska, about 100 miles apart. Both of their families attended
the Worldwide Church of God, a fundamentalist sect dictated by
oversight from church elders and stringent moral codes.
When Graydon Drown moved to Anchorage, Alaska, as a young man, it was closer to Robyn Drown's family, and they began dating.
Later,
while he was studying at Ambassador College, the church's college in
Texas, Graydon Drown wrote a letter to Robyn and told her that God
ordained her to be his wife, just as Rebecca became Isaac's wife in the
Bible.
Robyn Drown's
parents, Roger and Sandra Lewis, described to the jury how their
daughter increasingly was under the control of her husband. The Lewises
spoke of times when Robyn left Graydon to seek shelter with them, but
eventually returned. Statesman Journal
-----------------
While pregnant with their fourth child, the oldest of the nine who have
recently been placed in protective custody, it is alleged that Robyn
and Graydon Drown fled California to Alaska to ensure they could raise
their newborn with their harsh form of discipline and avoid paying
child support for the oldest three. The Drowns and her family, by the
last name of Lewis, of Anchorage, were members of the radical Worldwide
Church of God in Alaska. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_Church_of_God
) The Drowns moved to Oregon a couple of years ago and claim to have
recently converted to Judaism, however acquaintances say that they are
not Jewish and their religion changes to suit their circumstances. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/383631.shtml
--------------
"...witnesses for Robyn Drown's
defense, her younger sister Heather Larson described to the jury how she
and her sister were raised in Anchorage, Alaska, under the faith of
the Worldwide Church of God. Larson described the ministers having
nearly complete control over the family's lives, including
relationships, child-rearing and financial decisions.Larson said the church sanctioned"
"...Graydon Drown
believed he was the Messiah and told Robyn Drown that his orders to her
came from God. The two were both raised as believers of the Worldwide
Church of God and lived in remote parts of Alaska during their marriage before moving to Oregon in 2004.
Holstedt
described how Graydon Drown often would recite passages from the Old
Testament as arguments for why she should obey him."http://www.statesmanjournal.com
----------------------
As a witness for her sister's defence, Robyn Drown's younger sister
Heather Larson said she and her sister were raised in Anchorage, Alaska
under the faith of the Worldwide Church of God. (
link to en.wikipedia.org)
Members of the Worldwide Church of God consent to giving the ministers
nearly complete control over a family's life, including relationships,
child-rearing and financial decisions. Larson said the church
sanctioned punishing children using belts, but that she never struck
her own children. ("The Plain Truth About Child Rearing" by Herbert W.
Armstrong) Robyn Drown's supporters outside the courtroom, however,
deny that family and extended family have had any affiliation in over
twenty years with the Worldwide Church of God or its offshoots. Robyn
Drown's family supported her marriage to Graydon throughout.
Larson said the church sanctioned punishing children using belts, but that she never struck her own children.
The Drown's were firm believers in corporal punishment. I guess they felt they needed to beat the devil out of the kids. That is what the COG actually taught. Parents were to beat the satanic influences out of the children so that they would not be rebellious.
The Drwon's methods of punishment were 2"x4".s, metal and plastic pipes, whips, and fiberglass tent poles with rope at the end with knots.
At one of the court proceedings one of their daughters said this:
The oldest daughter recently
described being spanked numerous times for the infraction of holding her
aunt's hand without permission during a walk, court records show.
According
to a 1991 California appellate case that was filed on behalf of
child-welfare officials, a psychiatric evaluation of Graydon Drown was
done at that time. The report described Graydon Drown as adamant that
he would continue to discipline his children in accordance with a
religious treatise, which called for punishment immediately upon
disobedience to the point of pain, but not bruising.
One of the older boys still at home got tired of the
abuse and secretly videotaped his father beating his younger sister while their mother stood by watching and not intervening. He
laid the camera on the bed so all that could be seen was some clothing
and a blanket, but is what was heard that was frightening. It records
the sound of Graydon beating his daughter with a fiberglass tent pole with a rope with knots on the end.
Marion County sheriff's Detective Mike Myers testified that he was one
of the deputies who went to the couple's home in a rural area of
Turner. Myers identified two of the alleged weapons seized during the
investigation, the switchlike device and a four-foot pipe made of
galvanized metal, allegedly used in beating one of the teenage sons.
-------------------------
The camera lens was apparently nestled on a bed, capturing a home video of jeans and a towel.
But
what was unseen was most telling, as the soft and indistinct tones of a
child's voice suddenly gave way to pistol-like cracks of what sounded
like a whip, followed by bawling and shrieks of pain.
A man's voice was speaking, at most times inaudibly, in a stony, staccato tone.
The oldest boy secretly
videotaped one of the beatings against his younger sibling. He gave the
recording to Salem Rabbi Avrohom Perlstein, who then turned it over to
authorities.
During
Perlstein's testimony Tuesday, he identified the voices on the tape as
Graydon and Robyn Drown, the child being beaten and the background
voices of other children.
Morris
showed the jury Tuesday the alleged weapon thought to have been used
for that beating, a fiberglass tent pole segment about two feet long,
with an elastic cord tied in a knot that dangled from one end.
On the video, a murmur of voices were exchanged. A man's voice was heard on the recording, asking,
"Where's the stick?"
Then,
nearly a dozen sharp cracks are heard. The girl was heard to sob
"Daddy," and then a second series of cracks was heard, lasting twice as
long. The girl's cries persisted.
The man also was heard to mention the "land of promise."
-----------------------
The children described how Graydon Drown would preach his doctrine, telling them that he was the Messiah.
Agnes
Opgenorth, now caring for some of the Drown children, wrote in a letter
to the judge about the shifting blame - how Robyn blamed Graydon, and
Graydon blamed God.
"And
yes, Graydon, I said you blamed God because I am completely sure that
God has never had a hand in any of your deeds," Opgenorth wrote. "If,
as you claim, you hear a voice, I can promise you that it's not the
voice of God because you are not a man of God ... If God ever even
noticed your lowly existence at all, it could only have been a passing
glance, while intervening to save your suffering children."
Perlstein,
who runs Chabad of Salem, said that it wasn't until after the Drowns'
arrest that Perlstein learned Graydon Drown lied about being Jewish.
During the trial, Graydon Drown wore a yarmulke, but was not wearing it
when he was sentenced on Wednesday.
Les
Gutfreund testified how he employed Graydon Drown on a few carpentry
jobs with his contracting business and was able to closely observe the
family. He noticed bruises and red welts on some of the children, who
always explained they were from horseplay or accidents. Later, he
discussed his concerns with Rabbi Perlstein.
Perlstein
described in court the emphasis on secrecy and the expediency of
reporting the abuse to authorities without Graydon Drown knowing.
"From
what we've learned from the kids, and me, personally, there was no
doubt that if Graydon knew, he'd pick up the house and go."
At the trial, one of the Graydon's daughters read this to the court:
Religion News Blog reports on their sentencing:
Marion
County Judge Thomas Hart sentenced Graydon Drown on Wednesday to 29
years in prison. Robyn Drown got 20 years. The sentences were longer, by
at least two years, than what was recommended by prosecutors.
“God
did bless you with these children,” Hart said when sentencing Robyn
Drown, 42. “And you did not do for your children what God did for you.”
Sadly this is not an isolated case
. Child abuse has been rampant in the church.
Just one more sad legacy that the Churches of God cannot ignore.
You can read more here:
Graydon & Robyn Drown have 9 kids taken from them for abuse & neglect
Child-abuse victims' lives were 'a horror story'
Disturbing details - Robyn and Graydon Drown CHILD ABUSE TRIAL continues
Turner, Oregon residents Robyn and Graydon Drown to face 25 each in charges of CHILD ABUSE
Children of Robyn & Graydon Drown will remain in Protective Care
Fox News: Prosecutor: Oregon Couple Beat 9 of Their Children With Boards, Pipes and Spoons
Mother in child-abuse case says she also was victim She seeks bail, but judge asks why she stayed silent for years
Stunning admission in Robyn Drown CHILD ABUSE case