Author Archives: The Fairfield Kid

BDH has advanced ‘Hinn’s’ Syndrome.

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Bruce is suffering folks! He has had this disease for some years and fairly recently it has become full blown and very probably inoperable. This nasty condition was first seen in the United States and there are several cases of it now, on our shores. Doctors say there is no known cure although theologians, being the optimists that they are, say it is curable with something of a personal epiphany. However, the likelihood of this is at best, remote. The great leader has not sought treatment and it is unlikely that he ever will.

Bruce, being the stalwart that he is, together with his immediate family round him, is fighting on. His quest to spread the gospel has now been lost in the mists of time, having been completely overrun by his mission to be richer. And richer. Only last week, his cohorts and he raked in another 3 million bucks from his crazy business 'church' meetings. Now you don't even have to attend. You can log on, on the 'pipeline of filth' - but don't forget to pay your $850.00 entry fee.

A few weeks ago they even brought in a New Zealand Rugby player to one of their business hype sessions, to tell them how to focus and train and go for the touch down! The absurdity of that almost makes my head spin clean off!  But folks- these are your Brethren in the new millennium.  A money making machine - with the profits going straight to the top.

And so it follows that they start to become dissatisfied with their digs- the Hales are all following suit in the quest for even more luxurious surroundings as the Great Man has shown us in recent times with his new ponderosa. I found this on the web - so the medium they once reviled and now embrace as a money maker is valuable to all of us. Hales' posh properties need to be posher.

Bruce's brother Stephen - who has resided right under the sign of the Big 'dubbleya' -for those who have watched "It's a Mad Mad Mad World" - where the money was buried under crossed Palm trees - has now sold his Symington maddening palatial pad and is heading to greater opulence somewhere else. The money is on Cherrybrook - slightly further north - and where you need a big chequebook to put your stake on a piece of dirt. Apparently Bruce has been buying properties up there for some time now. Brother Steve sold the old place in Ryde for a cool $3.8 million the other day and upon looking at this residence of the Great Man's brother, who married his brother's (BDH) wife's sister, Steve has not been doing it tough for a long time.

What does impress are the gardens - manicured to a blade and leaf - and in direct opposition to the beliefs of his own father- the other Great One - who had as little time for gardening and its pursuits - and exhorted the Brethren not to engage in the worldliness and futility of it. Symington would also turn over in his grave if he could see the opulence of the Hales circa 2017. He spent years grinding the Brethren down, forcing them to divest themselves of any trace of privilege and to send the proceeds to him so he could increase his rural holdings.  Which he did. And admitted to.

Either way - the Hales are living large and well. And they can thank those regular donations coming in through the letterbox from the ordinary Brethren and the windfall that is UBT and its money raking branches all over the world. Universally! And probably the odd inheritance which would have found its way into their pockets. Just like it did in the days of his father and uncle when they would counsel the widows to leave it all to them.

This is what happens when mere men become so called religious 'leaders' of scared and sycophantic plebs and one day they realise that people will do whatever you tell them or threaten them with. I sometimes feel for the ordinary Brethren - those that have plodded away in life - but have failed to make a fortune like the Hales and the Gadsdens. You can imagine their importance to people like the Hales these days- somewhere between zero and zilch. Which is why religion and wealth should never mix. One eventually over-rides the other. And with the Hales - money is God. It always was. With money comes power. With money comes lifestyle. People without money are to be distrusted and pretty well- completely ignored.

And that folks is 'Hinn's' Syndrome. It takes its name from a shonky little Israeli (so called) Christian- who is now on the VIP list of every Versace, Gucci and Loius Vuitton store in the world. His crusades around the world always see him spreading his version of the gospel and returning home with his pockets bulging with cash. His homes match those of the Hales. His jets sit alongside Bruce's at airports. And like them- he found out that there is money in God. 

Anyway 'outs' - check out Stephen Hales recently disposed of joint. That by the way is what John Gadsden calls us. 'Outs!' All I can say is - sometimes it pays to be an 'IN'.

The PBCC – as fatally flawed as any Sect can be

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The PBCC – as fatally flawed as any Sect can be

The bible tells us at every turn of the page, to beware of false prophets. It seems that over the ages -mere men have been eyeing off God's tenets with a view to making them their own. And in the last century - in particular - we have seen a raft of such individuals rewriting the bible to their own ends.

The PBCC's Hales gang are by no means the forerunners of this practice. You might argue that Darby was - but he really only took exception to the developed practices of the High Anglican church -preferring a simpler model with guys at the pulpit who did not dress up like Thomas Becket. Actually he is not the best example as they murdered him not that far into his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury. Either way- old Darby didn't like the pomp and ceremony of religion per se and opted for the Baptist model of robe-less, smokeless, pulpit jockeys belting their bibles without the aid of ornate chapels and Gothic religious insignia. He also translated his own version of the bible - which today would be done with the aid of a Thesaurus anyway. So he gets points for that in an age when the candle and quill were the only way of getting such a task onto the Vellum.

It was the 'Brooklyn factor' that was to diametrically change Darby's bling-ed-down version of his breakaway church. And the name Taylor. But it wasn't until we got to Taylor 'Junior' that we saw men intent on fiddling with what many considered was a really good idea. Taylor Junior basically went ballistic midway through his twenty year reign -succumbing to the demon alcohol and probably the pleasures of the flesh if the universally detested Aberdeen chapter holds as much water as everyone says it does. The photograph doesn't lie I say. I would no more put my arm round another man's wife with my hand lying perilously close to one of the main attributes of her womanhood, in his position, than fly to the moon. His excuse that he got into bed with her because he was rooting out traitors is spectacularly unbelievable and I'm sure, would be scoffed at by a team of 12 true and tested jurors.

All that aside - the heavies of the day knew to a man - that if they agreed that Taylor was indeed a drunken philanderer, the gig was basically up. Their breakaway 'church' would have lost most -if not all- of its credibility on the spot. So they backed the man up. Sadly his other pursuits ended his life shortly thereafter. Those that didn't back him up - unconditionally- were thrown out on the spot. Which ironically spawned another raft of breakaway - er - sect-like gatherings.

But this Baptist modeled breakaway mini- church was to be turned into a sect the moment Taylor Junior decided he wanted to shut the world out altogether. It was a grotesquely flawed directive- if for no other reason that it flew in the face of Christianity and the bible itself at every turn. This is why people today cannot get their head around doing business with the Brethren - but being shunned everywhere else. If you are really 'not of this world' then you need to take yourself hither and really mean it - shutting yourself off into a closeted community of religious weirdos with big fences and gates. Well - they've already got the really big fences and gates -supposedly because they are fearful of what lies beyond them - but it begs the question - why haven't they also got them round their homes and businesses as well, due to the same impending worldly threat? (Well apart from Bruce Hales who does have really big fences and gates around his mega-peeb-palace. Because like most dictators- he believes in conspiracies.)

So by fiddling with the Bible and Christianity itself - these men have progressively degraded the real spirit of Christianity - to a point where they now believe that they are the only right ones- they have the only true church -and that their man at the top is in fact the Man of God. Which is a pretty blasphemous thing to call yourself.

And Hales Junior (it's appears that the 'juniors' are the real threat here) is flat out rewriting not only history but the sins of his father. Although - technically he has two father's being the 'Man of God' if you get my drift. Worse- he says that any criticism of him is blasphemous and traitorous and will lead to an eternity in hell! Some call! I thought that God himself was the only one with his hand on the drafting gate in the heavenly waiting room. But no doubt he takes recommendations from Hales on the issue as well.

America is full of false prophets - who - with the wonder of television - a once vile, offensive, reviled medium in Peeb-land - have connected the dots and seen that they can do their religious tap dance for MONEY! For them! Or as they call it - for their 'ministry'.

Hales likewise has connected the dots - the ones that Taylor didn't get his head around due to being too preoccupied with booze and women it would seem - and after one bungled effort by his father John, and uncle Bwooce to make their followers subscribe to a fiscal loss as well as their own selfish wills- he has finally delivered his masterplan of milking every last cent from his followers and governments that he can. And to hell with frugality and parsimony. Hales now lives like - well - Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn, Brian Houston and Jimmy Swaggert to name but a few shining examples of the hundreds of people who thumbed their way through the good book while putting the claw out for a big pay day. They had connected the dots that Religion + A broadcast medium + A suitably ear-bashed and brainwashed audience = MONEY. And lots of it! To a man (and woman because there have been several) they have raked it in and lived beyond their wildest dreams. As Hales and his tribe are doing today. While exhorting the flock for more.

But Hales has taken the whole idea that little bit further. He un-bans stuff because there is also a quid in it. And screw principles. So while his 'church' is madly ruining families in the 70's and 80's and 90's for even mouthing the word 'computer' - or 'electronic garage door closer' or 'mobile phone' - he suddenly reverses the edict because he needs all these things to grow his own empire - his 'Universal' empire - and he figures- he can also do a Bill Gates and become the exclusive agent to his 44,000 followers for all their computer and electronic needs. By law! Most of Hales' edicts are law.

Screw all the poor buggers that they threw out and tried to destroy for doing- or thinking about doing - what he was now doing! If ever there was a case for taking them to the cleaners for having your life wrecked with the loss of all you hold dear - this is it! I mean - have you ever heard of anything more transparently wicked and unjust in your whole life? One day it's a sin - and the next- it's mandatory practice! How in the name of anything holy- can that be right??

But at the end of the day - Hales is just another bloke playing games with people's hearts and minds. Like his father did before him. And Symington and Taylor before them. It's just a big bloody game masquerading as a highly tweaked religion. Any religion - that departs dramatically from the intent of its Christian foundation is a SECT. Of that we can be absolutely sure.

Any religion where a man says he is God - or the Man of God or the Son of God is immediately dodgy and should be avoided like the plague. Because you just know that the mechanisms for separating you from your hard earned are about to follow. Because men who set themselves up as these things are utterly deluded, and without exception - GREEDY! They have succumbed to one of the great highlighted evils of the good book itself.

I mean look at Hales. He drives a car worth in excess of $100,000. He lives in a home that cost him many millions. He flies in a jet costing more millions because he doesn't like waiting round at airports and hunkering down in Business Class with the Plebs. Worldly plebs! He likes to be important. Because his father told him that he was the next Man of God!

Whatever happened to living like Christ himself lived? Well funnily enough - that only applies to the ordinary Brethren. They can't afford to live like Hales. Unless they are immediate family they are there to feed this insatiable lust for greed. So the very lifestyle of this man flies in the face of the very religion he professes to love. And the reason why he does this is because he is making the rules - and not God! As Mel Brooks said - It pays to be the King!

So anyone who looks at this now cruel, divisive, SECT - be they government administrators or souls looking for a religious model - don't be fooled by the platitudes and mentions of 'normality' and 'simple Christianity.' Because the last thing the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is - is normal or Christian. I mean we are talking about a highly- tuned business here where they don't even believe in what they call themselves. A couple of years ago they were simply known as the Exclusive Brethren. Which was at very least - honest. But honesty has long gone by the wayside where these people are concerned as the sudden name change might imply.

But I'll tell you exactly where the PBCC lost me altogether. And that is Bruce Hales' almost manic dedication to rewriting history where it concerns his father. The man was withdrawn from three times for his sins. Sins I might add that he acknowledged. And today Bruce says he was sinless - he was incapable of sin. He never sinned. He doesn't know what sin is. Funnily enough - drawing from what I was taught in the bible - there is only one sinless entity and that is Christ himself. So for Bruce to elevate his natural father to being parallel to Christ is blasphemous at worst and the statement of a mad man at best. Let me be more emphatic in my rebuttal of the Hales mentality here. That means that Christ did not die for John Hales. Because as we are taught he died for our sins. Except of course- John Hales'. Who was sinless and therefore not in need of the sacrifice.

See what I mean?

Hales, the bully – with one of his cruelest lines of thought – Suicide

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“He’d be better to take arsenic, or go and get some rat poison or something, take a bottle of it.”

Suicide and Bruce Hales, leader of the Exclusive Brethren, or Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

The delusion of men who pronounce themselves as direct conduits from God - and who meter out their OWN interpretations of divine justice - is as wicked and delusional as anything I have ever heard.

The Brethren do it. And so do others like the Scientologists. They basically say - if you don't believe in me, then you are better off in complete exile from me and your families. Or dead! And if you dare say 'Hang on! - that's not right " then you are branded as an evil 'opposer'. There is no right of reply with these people.

The result is that you have congregations of people who then live in fear of the wrath - not of their God- but of their leader. God doesn't tear families apart and make pronouncements on a person's fate. These tin Gods do. The Brethren basically say - if you have trouble being a fully compliant member of our congregation -then you are better off dead. (This was stated to me in those exact words when I left - a confused upset young man.) Hales has said - in essence that if you do not comply - then the only way out of it, is for you to die! Or as they put it- for God to 'take you'.

It's not God who is doing the 'taking' here - it's the likes of Hales. He is the man making the pronouncements. For any man to promote the concept that he is God's actual anointed deputy is plain nuts. It's not God's mind at play here - but a mere man's! Show me the transaction- the directive - the charter from God to Bruce Hales and I will admit I am wrong. God didn't tell Hales he was to be his main representative on earth. John Hales did! But I digress.

And so we see the most recent take on this reoccurring problem of confusion and non-compliance - particularly among young people. Pushed around by numerous Brethren heavies - they get confused. I know all about it. I was pushed around by the Brethren until I could take it no more. They had stuffed with my life and my future to the point of my absolute despair. They had sneered- they had made all my decisions - that had told me what to do and it didn't work out. So they sneered some more. And when they had me on the ropes - a broken young man in his teens - they still threatened. I wanted to leave - to give myself some sort of chance in life. I couldn't get the education that I would have liked because it had been banned by a pig farmer who hated people who went to University. Because I presume he didn't. They told you who to work for. They controlled every aspect of your life. You had no say in your own life. Not bullshit! A fact in my case and hundreds of others.

And so we see this young man who Hales is at pains to point out is a grown man. At 25 - he is. But Brethren kids are not that smart at 25 either. Because they have been deprived of development normality and threatened with the loss of everything they hold dear all their lives, they are retarded in some way - unaware of the realities and normalities of life. Deprived of further education and forced to work only for Brethren -and having most important decisions made for them (forced on them) they are not like normal 25 year olds. So this young chap is confused and sick of being bullied and cajoled, I presume, by the Brethren. I've seen it before. And the man charged with the care of this young man says to Hales in the meeting where he is holding 'court' because that is what it is - 'How do I help him? He's confused - he doesn't want to come to 'church' anymore - what do we do Oh great oracle of all that is good and true.'

And Hales barks a few questions on this fellow's life status and then embarks on a Taylor-esque tirade that harks back to the madness of the late 60's. He decides that this young man who has had contact with someone outside - should perhaps just take rat poison or cyanide. Having gotten pretty deep into the subject of what works best and what would do the job more effectively- he then has a few seconds of clarity where he says - he cannot advocate suicide of course- but goes onto discuss the concept further anyway.

This is crazy on all sorts of levels. Firstly- the Hales themselves have not been immune to the sort of personal desperation where someone is so confused- so upset - so despairing, that they take their own life. This alone should temper his wild foray into such a subject - even jokingly. Secondly, it ISN'T a joke. Thirdly - it is not something that a genuine, caring, thinking man of any religion - would or should say. The Pope for example - would never say such a thing. It is therefore a stupid- cruel- unconscionable thing to say. I mean- how did this young man's family feel while Hales discussed the potential killing of their son with rat poison or cyanide? How desperate did this make them feel? How cruel was the concept to them? Hales doesn't care about that of course- it's not his family. God knows heaps of people have suicided both in the church and even some who left it who could no reconcile their lives. I know a couple myself. But Hales treats them with total disdain.

OK - so let's examine Hales for his obvious stupidity. And Taylor in the same context as he displayed exactly the same traits as Hales displays now. Including his rudeness to the Brethren. BDH and JTJnr. were more similar than you might think. They both have this arrogance - this right - that they can speak to people however they like. THEY CAN'T! It's bloody rude at best - and unforgivable for anyone in that position to do - at worst.

Look at Taylor. In his last years he called people in the church - while IN CHURCH or the assembly as they call it- 'Bums', 'stinking bums', 'Bastards', and 'Sons of Bitches'. He not only called some brother's wives 'Bitches' but 'Mad'. How dare a man in his position say any of these things to people! If you called a man in the world a Son of a Bitch he would probably punch you on the nose. And rightly so. But Taylor called people's mothers bitches - in a place of worship and gets away with it. In fact they sat there and laughed.

Hales similarly talks to people very rudely. There's no respect. There's no decency or contrition. The Hales can speak exactly how they like to people. His father and uncle did it too - before him. Hales does not concede this is true however. He's now promoting a stream of thought - which is probably already a directive that his father was incapable of sin. Which is plain silly because every man is capable of sin. Just because you say something doesn't make it so.

But Hales is also the authority on what makes a Christian. Which is more arrogance! I keep saying that 44,000 out of 5 billion is not a number that God is happy with. Or would be happy with. According to censuses, there are 2.2 billion Christians in the World. According to Hales - there are not real Christians- but just them- the PBCC. He says that (so called) "Christianity is the light they (evil people in the world) have got and we leave it to them." But if you leave the Brethren - 'you can never claim to be a Christian'. Which is similarly ludicrous! And offensive. And patently wrong. And as usual - bloody arrogant. But they then bugger their own argument by saying in all manner of worldly mediums that they are just a 'normal' Christian church! Not you're not Mister Hales- you just said the opposite in your ministry!

Which is why Hales advocates discussion on killing yourself if you intend to leave or talk to anyone outside their church.

Now I know how Hales would take this line of thought if he read it. He would do what they all do and wave his hand dismissively and say something along the mines of - that's what you would expect a Godless opposer to say. No it's not Mister Hales. It's what you would expect a reasonable, decent person to say. And Hales sadly- with his tenure as Man of God - is adding more weight to the theory, that to be in his position you need to rude, arrogant, a bully and probably quite mad to fill the role effectively.

I know this - that being in this 'evil world' that they shun - I have never- been treated with complete disrespect, had my family called vile names, and been made to feel as worthless as the Brethren are told they are from time to time. I only got that in the Brethren.

I feel for this young man. I was him once. And I too was treated appallingly by their heavies and their men of God. And my enduring respect and decency has now turned, many years later, into complete astonishment that anyone would be expected to put up with their nasty, bullying tactics and cruel predictions, their evil threats and their prophecies of death and destruction. Hales has no right - NO RIGHT - to discuss anyone's extermination because they don't conform to his model of acquiescence.

I wonder if any of these so called Brethren priests told this confused and bewildered young man that Hales had floated the concept of him killing himself with rat poison or cyanide? I daresay - if he had done it- they would say it was the devil that made him do it. Sadly - the devil comes in more forms than a myth with horns in a hot place.

It also takes the form of a delusional fat man with his hand in the till.

Hales’ great Blunder Unfolds

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Hales certainly fancies himself as a great businessman – schooled by his late father as he loves to tell his followers. No doubt he also sees himself as the greatest architect of Brethren structure and makeovers in their checkered and increasingly cruel and illogical history.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. While he’s far too clever by half – he has stuffed up monumentally with some of his recent reversals. By embracing several things that were for years a Brethren no no – (and in so doing insulting the hell out of all those who were dealt with for these issues) he must today be stroking his jaw and wondering whether he did the right thing.  But I’ll ease you into this because the issues and effects are astounding.

When Hales gave his throng the green light on computers – he in effect- opened up a Pandora’s box that many – having loads of time on their hands – sought to exploit and plunder to its full and wonderful depths. I will wager that there are Exclusive Brethren out there today who know more about computers and how they work and what you can do with them than most of us. (With the exception of course- of Admin!)

For example- scores of Brethren mothers today Skype all over the world to talk to loved ones and friends. Up until two years ago I thought a Skype was an English water-bird. But now – your average Brethren woman might be trussed up in denim dresses and scarves and be devoid of hair dye and makeup- but she can set up her cam and direct her search engine to get her buddies on the line for a nice sit down and some face to face dialogue. The only trouble with this medium is that the young people can do it too. And they are far more adventurous. And quick on the technological uptake.

But – I hear you screaming- this can’t be true! Mister Bruce said they must only use HIS computers with the seriously dumbed down software that doesn’t let you have unfettered access to the internet and which can be accessed by his IT KGB henchmen looking to see what you are looking at – and accessing your turnover for the month. And I respond with the words of a once famous Australian politician- Pig’s arse!

The modern day Peeb is no dill. He gets the same catalogues in the mail as everyone else – and when he reads the ads from Dick Smith or Harvey Norman flogging the latest laptops with ALL the bells and whistles – he (or she) now knows what it all means. So they quietly shelve Bruce’s antiquated, lethargic, wheezing, over-priced old laptop and go and buy the new uncensored model with all the apps and the 2TB memory card.  They can do what they like now with no repercussions.

You might recall that this was a problem that Bruce became aware of  – probably because his IT KGB henchmen said – ‘Woo Bruce- these buggers aren’t using their computers half enough! How are we gonna make money from this – er- going forward?’ So Bruce- issued an official memo to each assembly to be read out loud – offering an amnesty to those who had hidden PC’s and Blackberries and mobile thingummies in their abodes – with a further offer to even buy them back at agreed market prices. According to my source- they didn’t even get a tenth of them.

Which is why today – you will see a faint glow in every Peeb bedroom at night, in every town from here to Barbados. Not forgetting the poor old love in a bedroom somewhere in Australia whom I have reported on in the past, who despite being close to 80 – and never having experienced the joy of a man in her life – who has discovered through the wonder of the Net – entertainment. She has now fallen deeply in love with George Clooney. It’s home from the supper and straight into a re-run of Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen for her. All courtesy of Bruce’s new thrust for technology and income.

Of course I welcome this. I also urge the Peebs who are suitably set up with a Bruce free model – although God knows I am probably several years too late here- to discover You Tube. The greatest entertainment medium ever devised. Think of something you want to see- type it in and sit back. In three hours you will have been prompted around the world and back again. Start with “Exclusive Brethren” it will fascinate you!

Of course- there is a downside to this sort of wonderful – what’s the word – Worldliness! And that is the kids. They have discovered dating sites – some to their misadventure and most have probably stumbled across something called pornography. Unthinkable in my day. There’s many the Brethren youth today who spends much of his down time as it were, being a Merchant Banker. And many have left because they can see a world of opportunity out there. Many have searched for something called a ‘career’ and planned their getaway in their bedrooms months in advance. All thanks to Bruce’s newly allowed technology.

According to my source – young kids are still leaving in droves. I protested to my informer – “Surely you jest! Mister Bruce’s website says that they practically lose no one and have practically no divorces”. “Rubbish”- was the answer – “there’s a whole new wave of kids who are walking away. Just like they did in the 70’s and 80’s.”

Bruce’s fiscal greed and quest to create a Universal Business model has also created problems. We hear reports recently of a major Brethren business in Australia – which has special Bruce dispensation to operate 24 /7 due to its success in its field. It is currently sacking all of its Brethren employees- but not the worldly ones. Why – we don’t know as yet – but we will. Some younger brothers were working overtime here instead of going to meetings – so this might explain this bizarre reversal of fortune for them.

And – as I reported several years ago- many married Brethren wives work- despite the falsehoods of the official Peeb Website. Each and every day. Especially the poorer ones who are trying to raise and feed a tribe of kids. Apparently Bruce turns a blind eye to this activity – because it means more money into his coffers and family trusts and the Brethren system as a whole.

So while Bruce thinks he is very smart and clever by introducing things into the Brethren arena that they can no longer live without (despite wrecking thousands of families for the same thing) little by little – it is all starting to unravel.

And the news for the future is not good- as more people become disenchanted with his huge business emphasis, his constant grabs for cash, his all seeing Hench-teams – and his general rudeness and arrogance in his dealings with the Brethren themselves. Like making them wait for him constantly and his constant shuffling of the rules that they had gotten used to.
But it will be this technology that does more damage to them than anything else.

Remember I said that.

The power of Christianity shows up the Peebs

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Christianity shows up the Peebs – While the Peebs close their doors and their minds to the evil -that to them -is the world -somewhere in that real world -real Christianity can be heard in heaven.

While they shut their doors and gates and hide behind their security guards and gate checkers and door persons and sit quivering waiting for the great man to arrive – they think they are the only true church on earth. A closed sect that offers no olive branches to the world -which they are not part of despite being flesh and blood like the rest of us. Poor deluded fools. In the grip of a strange almost anti-Christian belief system and an even stranger commercial system, they huddle in their bricked up windowless halls separate from mankind. The same mankind that Jesus himself went amongst and celebrated and communicated with.

Dear Bruce- get a grip!

Let me show you how powerful real Christianity is. And we are talking about young people here- not just adults. It was after all a World Youth Day event.
Last weekend on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro -there was the most extraordinary scene in recent times. If you mustered up every claimed Peeb in the world and multiplied it by 75 – you might get close to the number of people from 175 countries who came together to sing and pray and confess and celebrate their faith and meet their Pope. Three million people! All in one place at the one time. The second biggest gathering of humans on earth apparently.

Lucia Newman, based in Buenos Aires, is Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor and she takes up the story;

“….. without hesitation, I confess that the scene on Copacabana Beach on Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday was extraordinary. The most emblematic beach of Rio de Janeiro turned into a human carpet. Hundreds of thousands, of young Catholic pilgrims who had come to see and hear Pope Francis on his next to last World Youth Day event, made camp on the famous, and enormous , beachfront Copacabana . Many had brought sleeping bags, others just pieces of cardboard and a blanket. A few came better prepared with inflatable mattresses.

For at least two kilometres, it was impossible to walk: the improvised pilgrim camp went all the way up to the entrances of Copacabana’s most expensive hotels and apartment buildings overlooking the beach.

Exhausted pilgrims from 175 countries slept side by side like sardines in a tin, while next to them those who still had energy sang and danced, including a group of nuns from Argentina who bounced up and down to a Catholic hymn with a distinct rhythm of samba. Not even the unbearable stench from the overflowing portable toilets could wipe the smiles off their faces.

Still, as I look over the beach at the millions who are now waiting for their final chance to hear Pope Francis , what this often incredulous journalist will go away with is the extraordinary ability of these young people with a common purpose to overcome adversity and project a joy that is impossible for anyone of any religion – or no religion – to ignore.”

Now that’s a congregation. And the Peebs will look you in the eye and say they are in darkness. That this is not a true religion. That this is the worship of a man and not God. (Something that they know nothing about!)

I can never recall such universal joy at any Exclusive Brethren gathering.

The Revenge of Bruce Hales

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The revenge of Bruce Hales – I have been very astute when it comes to Bruce Hales and his Hench team.  Mind you- it’s not hard to work him out. I saw the posturing after his father’s death and the bravado and insecurity of his bible fumbling’s in his first meetings. And fumble he did. But luckily he had a father in law with loads of front row service under his belt who it is reported used to help out with scripture and verse and topics for fellowship and three days meetings.

But the real story here is that this is not a tale of the next link in the unbroken line – but a tale of revenge. A bloody tale. Most coups are bloody and not without their victims and casualties. Names like Paskewitz come to mind when JSH grabbed the reigns from Symington’s dying hands. There was a worldwide expectation that the eminently qualified Mr P. would take over as the Elect Vessel. And there were people with other candidates in mind when JSH was ailing. But his sons had formed the wagons into a circle at the time and there was never any other option. BDH was filled with talk of keeping the pure line in family hands. And of revenge.  The most telling thing that Bruce Hales said at the time, according to former Sydney heavyweight Bob Thorncroft, who was the recipient of this pearl of intention, was- and I quote:

“The Hales name has been dirt for a number of years, but it is going to be different now”.

This was a family grasping back the power that it has lost – not once but three times. And it rankled them- you could tell.  They were peeved in the extreme and humiliated that their father and uncle and others had been dealt with for their misdemeanours.  Sadly – in the Exclusive Brethren- if a Man of God says it- you’re stuck with it! So when Hales’ father was thrown out three times by Taylor and Symington- the younger Hales could do no more at the time but sit there and grind their teeth as the shame and anger welled up inside them. Of course they paid lip service to Symington – BDH even ringing him to say that he agreed with him for the judgment on his father. Symington then told BDH to stay close to Ron Fawkes- before Fawkes met his Waterloo, along with other threats to the top job.  I could say that he was a grovelling little bastard but to be fair- if BDH didn’t take this line he would have been out on his ear too. Like I said- Brethren leaders are as infallible as any Pope.

But as John Hales’ health was failing him, including the reported over reliance on anti-depressants by both John and Helen Hales, together with the underlying fear of what he had placed on his brethren coming back to bite him in the afterlife   – his son was already working hard to ensure that he would be the one to take over from him – thus destroying the conception that Elect Vessels come from heaven. They don’t. Trust me. And this letter from Bob Thorncroft, a once prominent stalwart in the Sydney assembly, is more telling than many may realize.  And Thorncroft provides not only an insight – but actual words that provide evidence of this transition of power from JSH to BDH. He witnessed it.

You can see the intent and venom in that one line. Of course, Hales would refute this or dilute it today – but Bob Thorncroft was from the old school and was not a man to tell lies and he remembers this is exactly what BDH said on that particular day.

Now I have maintained for years that the Hales are by nature- power freaks. And we also know that they are nepotistic to their core. And they have become known to be very cruel people too. There is evidence that John Hales liked to push younger Peebs around as far back as WW11, reading and learning tactics of control from books. And the evidence of their System day’s shenanigans is still top of mind with most people who lived through it. They ran roughshod over the poor unsuspecting Brethren who were powerless to respond as they might have liked to at the time. This of course is one of the main issues with Sect leaders….you can’t back chat them. Your opinion does not matter. Your feelings don’t matter to them either.

Bruce has been good to his word. He has reversed just about everything that was wrong with his extended family and bestowed privilege on his brothers and relatives. He has brought back his uncle and cousin, he has whitewashed his aunt’s name and reputation, he has expunged and paid for debts and he has set them up like never before. Their family trusts runneth over. He has rebuilt the Hales name – better make that- Brand- and he has built a new castle for himself and his family and provided for his relatives. His name is on every legal title and he has raped and pillaged the Brethren financially – reversing every rule in the book to maximize every last buck out of their wallets and now their companies. His fingers are in every pie and he now presides over his empire with the aggression and watchfulness of a Kim ll Sung.

The wicked thing is that this family has not reversed its judgments on those they deposed and dealt with appallingly- from other families. Like the man who refused John Hales’ requests to look at his business books. Hales contacted his wife and told her that he had ways and means to assist her to leave her husband. Then they threw the man out and took him to court so many times that he really never saw his kids again. Oh- he won the court case but by then the children were so poisoned against their father that the result was the way Hales had orchestrated it anyway. And this was not because this man was doing anything unspiritual. It was because he had an accountant and didn’t want John Hales nosing through his personal financial records as well. Remember this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tVdoRRUT2o

This is where a church becomes a sect. Right there! When your leader stops being your religious leader and tries to get his fingers on your finances and records – you have your definition proven in an instant.

Poor old Bob Thorncroft was thrown out in a vengeful way and never wished to be reinstated. He died out of the fellowship. But his thoughts at the time bewildered him as he set them down for us to see the early history of this current Brethren leader.

He goes on to say “I am convinced that pride and the love of prominence is at the root of his (BDH’s) trouble.”

When you get away from the EB – you can see them very clearly for what they are. And what they are not. And the last 10 years have perhaps been the most disturbing. We have watched an inept, greedy man and his brothers with a genetic lust for power and a love of other people’s money, wrestle the leadership from the hands of an ailing father and go into areas never before plumbed by the EB.

Bob goes on -“The brutal way that we, as old brethren have been treated particularly over the last three years by Bruce, Daniel and Ross Hales and the party stalwarts is something I would rather not go into, even to rejecting that we can have communion privately with the Lord. What more could they do to un-Christianise a person? I can well understand some persons treated like this becoming bitter.  We pray for grace to preserve us from this. The fact is Bruce was furious because concern was expressed publicly about the worldly conduct in which his own family had a leading part, and has done his utmost to find or fabricate some reason to get me out of the way.  Searching for imagined evil has entered into it and he resorts to bluff to get brethren to believe what he wants them told.  Unfortunately many have been so mesmerized that they think he can’t possibly do any wrong.”

Amazingly, Bob was a long-time supporter of John Hales and his family. But boy – didn’t he get bitten by the junior Hales members! Indeed they have done it to many people. All of their perceived threats have been removed. John Hales’s meticulously recorded personal files from his terror filled regime were apparently carefully destroyed by the sons so that their fathers  interference in other people’s lives could not be pinned on the newly cleansed Hales name. But the waters have never been so muddy since his youngest son has taken over the reins. Indeed his reversals are in many cases -a direct opposite to what his father was throwing people out for 20 years ago. Of course this sort of inconsistency and human flotsam is of no consequence to a Hales.

The controlling position and the desire to obtain wealth from others is everything. And the removal of ‘mud’ from the Hales name.

The Exclusive Brethren House of Cards

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I have been intrigued by a dialogue going on the Richard Stay site which highlights the very murky, strange doctrine that is printed and held sacrosanct by the Exclusive Brethren. And even more intriguing are the number of Brethren followers who post their views and comments there – which of course are devoid of any real debate or conviction – just a common loathing of all things us -i.e.  Opposers.  They love that fact that they can take a jab – anonymously. They love it that they can show their true colours and nobody knows who it really is.

The internet is now a big part of their day obviously. Now officially approved – they troll our websites looking for the opportunity to comment and denigrate -but conveniently forgetting that thousands were thrown out and families torn asunder for even typing a letter on a computer.  You cannot backpedal on a once mortal sin like computers  by now saying it is progress. It was the progress bit that they always fought against wasn’t it? More Brethren have been booted out because of ‘progress’ than anything else.

Bruce Hales’ ravings about the evil of computers and the net are there in print to be seen by all  -except he finally relented on himself  and exploited its full potential for his own business interests.  So that means his words are worthless. The anomalies and arguments do not hold water today. But try telling that to the fathers who haven’t seen their kids and grandkids for 20 years.

What it of course highlights is the strange way they ignore what their Men of God have said or done in the past -while flagging complete support for them unconditionally. Taylor’s ramblings for example prior to his demise were ridiculous! The ravings of either a madman or a drunk. His language deteriorated appallingly -which makes you wonder how he talked at home. Some say he was in fact an evil man in his closing days. The fact that he got into bed with a woman – another man’s wife  is strange enough.  But to try and justify it by saying he was laying in ambush is beyond belief. You can call him all the great men titles you like- his reasoning here was as ridiculous as it was untrue. There are a million ambushes you could have dreamed up to flush out any perceived element you imagined – that did not include getting into a bed with another man’s wife. But they prefer to cloud it in a veil of wisdom and awe. You can hear similar justifications from the many cult leaders who also liked to sleep with other mens wives.  They had a raft of wise sayings to justify their lust and greed. Still doesn’t make it right or acceptable by any standard does it?

But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the strange double standards of this mob. I mean – when I and thousands like me were thrown out on the street – we were told we were ‘dead’ and that we could never contact our families again. A few of us tested the dictum and had the door shut firmly in our faces. And when it upset us – we stopped.

But Hales has decreed that certain ex-Peebs are allowed to have regular visits and contact with their families. And they do. The rest of us cannot. Another strange double standard. We have seen Hales look after people that he knew in his own past – and extend the hand of friendship and support. But not to all those that they threw out. Just the ones he knew and remembers. An appalling anomaly! But more importantly- it goes against the reason they got rid of us in the first place.

Hales says that time is the thing here. He says that if it was 20 – 30 – 40 years ago – you should get over it.  Move on. Leave us alone. We got your family and your inheritance – go away. Except for a chosen few he dictates can have a foot in each camp and enjoy regular contact. I am one of those that believes that the forced loss of family is wide open to legal action. They like to say that sin destroys families – not them. But the majority of people I knew who were thrown out, committed no sin to justify such a life term and such a life changing, inhuman  loss.

Hales has even reversed  his take on people who are dying seeing their ‘withdrawn from’ relatives before they die.  Most never got this chance and resent it. Indeed when they covered their asses by finally telling us that a parent had died – they did so just before the funeral was to take place, leaving  little time to get there.  And if we did they turned their backs on us. What a bastardly act!

My point is that there is nothing concrete or honest about their dictums and rules. They are changed as they see fit. Hales needs computers for his business – he changes the hard and fast rules. Hales wants contact with relatives outside- he changes the rules for himself. Hales wants a few errant rellies to come back – he makes them an offer they cannot refuse. Hales wants to whitewash his family honour – he simply changes the record of their past. Most recently he whitewashed the behaviour of his aunt saying the church got it all wrong at the time. Everyone else’s aunts and uncles and children can get stuffed. Only his are able to be whitewashed and exonerated.

The biggest and most glaring anomaly surrounds Hales’ complete reversal of belief in what his predecessors said and did. While going on endlessly about their ‘greatness’ as ‘Men of God’ ,he ignores much of what they said as not being right today.

JT Jnr for example. According to Hales- he got it totally wrong. Commerce in the assembly is a good thing and is to be exploited for all it is worth. Symington’s ramblings about electronics and business devices are according to Hales – complete hogwash! If they aren’t- why is it that Symington’s rules have now been totally ignored and overridden by Hales? Symington threw Hales’ father out twice. Bruce says he got it wrong. So that makes Symington wrong doesn’t it? You can’t have it both ways. These men are either wrong or right. There is no in between Mister Hales. If there are degrees of wrong – then what the hell are we all doing out here?

The whole thing has become a bunch of lies. A world of half truths and self serving reflex actions.  If a thing is not consistent – it cannot be right. If you have rules that change people’s lives- then stick by them. Don’t bend them to suit yourself.

It’s called credibility Mister Hales. And without it you have nothing. And your house of cards will come tumbling down.

The Fairfield Kid, remember me?

Exclusive Brethren Hypocrisy

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I refuse to call the Exclusive Brethren by their deceitful new handle of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. They are the Exclusive Brethren and have been since 1959.

Their leader Bruce Hales can’t work it out why we ‘opposers’ as they call us – the people whom they have dealt with badly and in many cases wrongly – can’t ‘get over it’ and move on. Why we can’t just leave them alone.

I’ll tell you why. Because they are offensive. They are dishonest and they hurt people. They wreck families, they take money that isn’t theirs to take and then they tell lies about their actions. So some of us feel an anger and obligation to fight back.

Their website is a barrage of lies put together with the help of spin doctors to show them as something they are not. To a politician it all looks innocent enough but to those of us who were in it – it is so offensive to show happy families frolicking at seaside locations and flying kites and the like when you know damn well that a handful of years ago- they were wrecking families for going anywhere near a beach.

They would have you believe -if you read their website that they are the milk of human kindness -rushing from one disaster site to the next -desperate for attention and praise. Indeed they are so desperate- that when the world is not forthcoming with strident accolades for their good works they write their own testimonials on the website. Trust me- you can tell it is them because they run out of superlatives when they talk about themselves and they cannot spell due to their extremely dodgy education system.

Try this lot – which is every entry in the feedback, following their attendance with sandwiches, at a local fire scene in Britain:

Once again, the RRT bring in some comfort to a stressful situation.
Well done!

Thank goodness that this Rapid Relief Team is there and to think that noone (sic) has known about it for so long. Now perhaps we can all pray for all those that help and serve so willingly. I am sure they will need it. You can tell that firemen and policemen sure are glad of you all.

Excellent work – you’re a great team!

To be ready to help out at a moment’s notice is truly unselfish.
Keep at the good work

Incredible – I was on the scene for a while and was able to witness the excellant, (sic) unselfish service provided, many thanks and keep it up.

Wow! Once again, you are there to serve as and when you’re needed. keep up the good work! We need you!

We need you indeed! Well tell me this then. Why is it that these people who are so desperate to help the fire brigade and the police and the supposedly downtrodden, treat their own so badly. Why have they wrecked thousands of families and caused so much anguish in the lives of people who used to be members of their cruel misguided sect?

Why did the Exclusive Brethren throw children out onto the street with no means of support? They will tell you that they don’t do this today – but trust me when I say they did. They couldn’t care less a few years ago. If you didn’t see eye to eye with them as a teenager- they slung you onto the street with the clothes you were wearing and nothing else. They did it to me. Couldn’t have cared less if I lived or died. I have trouble describing my feelings and confusion at that time. It was cataclysmic. The sense of loss is something that has lost none of its shock many years later. I was not alone. I knew many kids at the time who suffered the same treatment. Then they gave us the vilest of brands in Brethren terms – ‘Opposers’

Something like that in your life never leaves you. You don’t lose your family for life along with everything else and just ‘move on’. It hangs over you like a pall.

Predictably enough, the current world leader has rounded up the errant members of his own family and brought them all back with fat salaries and places to live – but thumbs his nose at everyone else. They don’t matter.

Long live the opposers I say. They remember the truth about this evil sect of people. And their vile actions.

If you want to know the truth about the Exclusive Brethren -don’t ask them or read their websites – which are designed to deceive and to mask the real truth. They deal in fiction.

Ask someone whom they has suffered from their inhumanity and who knows what it means to be on the receiving end of their vile brand of religion.

Barking Mad and Bloody Dangerous

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I have just finished reading a fair chunk of Bruce Hales very recent ministry and I have to say, apart for the mind numbing repetition of messages -most of which warns of the danger of not adhering to their strange belief in separatism, the rest consists of the glorification of the current leader’s father and the usual sycophantic mumblings of those wishing to ingratiate themselves with him.

The Exclusive Brethren are a strange bunch. They decide – 54 years ago- that they – and they alone should go against the example of Jesus Christ – and closet themselves off from the perceived evil of all around them and become a sect. Not a church. Despite the example of Christ who was IN the world and shared his message WITH the world and met what the Brethren would tell you are the dregs of society – they decided to pull away from any non Brethren as these people were evil, unclean and a source of contamination.

Sadly for the Brethren, many had relatives who were not Brethren and the pain of enforcing this strangely anti-Christian rule is a memory that will stay with me till I die. My own mother sobbed herself to sleep for years at the loss of her greatly loved family. Themselves good Christian folk -but according to the new Brethren edict – evil.

So the Brethren tried to maintain the impression that they were still a legitimate church by going out once a week to a local commercial centre and mumbling their dogma at a telegraph pole. Street preaching – far from being a rousing and powerful message for the masses – is in fact more often than not -three blokes mumbling something at passing cars, a street bench and a dog before shuffling off back to their closet.

I wonder if someone anywhere in the world can show me one person who has been  ‘saved’ by an Exclusive Brethren street preaching. Just one! Trust me- no such person exists. So a complete waste of time. A folly. But it serves the purpose of embarrassing their young and making them feel like they are doing something that Christ might have done.

Imagine how much good the Brethren would do if they moved freely in the world -like Jesus- being good citizens and helping their neighbours and others like the rest of the world. I wonder if Mister Bruce ever mows his elderly neighbour’s lawns for them like I do. Everywhere I have ever lived over the past 40 years has seen me – like most normal people- do things for others including ‘adopting’ an elderly couple who need assistance with everyday things from time to time. It’s a normal part of life. Unless you are in the Brethren.

They however, shun the world and the people in it and did so up until the British Charities Commission called into question their role and actions as a church.

The Brethren’s dilemma was to work out how they could appear to be good worldly citizens -without actually having anything overtly to do with it. How could they not engage with these evil, unclean, worldly individuals – and do something that might be deemed as potentially good for the community?

So a pie or a sandwich- held forth in a latex-gloved hand -in a tent -in a carpark was settled upon as the best way to achieve this ‘contact’ without contamination. You can pack up when you’re finished, lock the gates again and go back to your closet – relatively undefiled. Almost uncontaminated. What a farce!

The thing that really puzzles me is how the Brethren love doing business with the world – hungry to sell you their products and services – and wish you well at Christmas -while underneath they seethe with disgust at your position in life. In the world. A world to which, they don’t belong. Unless they are doing business with you. I mean if you are really honest to your ideal and core charter – then maintain complete separation. Not just bits of it. Your doctrine is ridiculously flawed.

Bruce Hales is at pains to point out constantly the evil of our ‘position’ – lost for eternity because we live in this world.  Even those that were thrown from their midst wrongly by their devious and hypocritical elders -are lost for this life and the next one according to him.

The truth is that we pick ourselves up – most of us – and get on with living a decent life as God intended, doing far more good than the Brethren. Bruce Hales has relatives who immersed themselves in the world far more grotesquely than most of us ever did. But they are exonerated – because as I’ve said before- they are Hales. His doctrine and principles resemble a Swiss cheese for the holes and inconsistencies.

All of which calls into question the legitimacy of this strange misguided sect of people who sit there while Bruce Hales barks at them. “Who’s that! What’s your first name! “How old are you!  Have you got anything to say!”

Today I could not attend a church like that. Way too confronting – way too domineering – way too un-Christian. No spiritual leader has the right to speak like he does to his congregation at times. His arrogance -which he inherited- is quite gobsmacking on reflection – but that is something the Exclusive Brethren have in spades. You only have to encounter them in a supermarket queue. Rude, sad, strange people. With a trolley full of grog.

The only hope the Exclusive Brethren ever have of being accorded the status of a legitimate church and not a cruel and misguided sect which they most assuredly are – is if they ditch this strange edict of ‘not being of this world’ -and realizing that they are in the same world as everyone else- they are human beings like everyone else and they should be model citizens -like most people are in this world. All working for a common good.

When any so called church crosses the line from spiritual and religious doctrine dissemination into the full detail of people’s lives including their businesses, their dress, their time, their general appearance, (their haircuts!) and demands mandatory attendance at their church on a frequency that eclipses reasonable practice and destroys normal family balance – you have a dashboard glowing with warning lights.

And to listen to Hales’ at times misinformed drivel and somewhat dodgy (albeit improving to be honest) grasp of doctrine, worthy of a leader -would cause my internal computer to quietly malfunction and shut down. One week would see me in. And if he barked at me – “have you got anything to say!” -I would have to quietly say “Nope Mister Hales- I think you have said it all.” At which point I would be thrown out again.

It mystifies me that for an organisation, which loathes the world and everything in it so much -they sure spend a lot of time throwing people INTO it. It’s no wonder that so many of us see the light and choose to stay here. It’s far safer for a start. And a lot more harmonious. And so much better for your general well being.

If I had to sum them up in word – I’d probably just say they are Nuts! Completely barking. Which is a pity as some of them used to be very nice people once.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- if Jesus himself was a member of the Exclusive Brethren today – they would throw him out. Apart from his sideburns which Mister Hales loathes the sight of, there was that matter where he was seen speaking to a prostitute. Not to mention -eating with people. Which begs the question- who is the Brethren’s real God?

But we all know the answer to that one don’t we.

Barking mad and bloody dangerous.

The Cleansing of the Hales Clan

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Over the past 10 years, we have witnessed the gradual but determined efforts of the Exclusive Brethren World leader to reinvigorate and sanitize the Hales brand. His family brand.
Let’s face it, Team Hales has been besieged with flaws and ‘matters’ over the past 45 years, which have at times, left the family in tatters. A shadow of its former self. Gasping for recognition. Groaning for attention. Grasping for respect.

For all their arrogance today- the Hales have known what biting comeuppance means. They have sat there biting their bottoms lips as they watched their patriarchs, uncles, cousins and sons being given the boot for one misdemeanour or another. Three times in the case of Bruce’s father. And every time it happened, they clenched their fists under their bibles swearing silent but eventual revenge on any who dared be party to the coups that displaced their parents and relatives.

I have long promoted the theory, that despite being on the wrong side of the tracks today – a victim of severely misguided Brethren arbitration – I am not as big a sinner as John Stephen Hales. Or any other Hales for that matter. He got the boot thrice to my once. Nor have I delved as deeply into the sin-pits of the world as the current leader’s aunt – once the most recognisable Brethren woman of them all. Reduced to a life of booze and poker machines. And a whole lot more according to some witnesses which I won’t touch on here because it’s not fair or decent to sink the boot in to the Hales – even though they have sunk it in to a few of us.

Bruce is nothing but persistent however when it comes to relaunching the Hales history with all the bad bits erased and ‘whited out.’  His father may have been withdrawn from three times, but that was because the saints got it all wrong. It is them that need to take a good long hard look at themselves- not his father. How dare they get it so wrong! If you were a major player in this eviction of the main man, I daresay that today- you are looking in – from without.

Of course those that DO remember the shenanigans of the Hales brothers in the 1960’s and some fibs years later know better, but no doubt today, have had their minds bent to their master’s will. He did no wrong.

Hales’ determination to cleanse his family history -while admirable – is misguided. Moreover- it’s just not honest. Rather than just say “Look, my Dad – God love him – didn’t always get it right, but you have to forgive right?” Not a bar of it. He says – ‘Purge your filthy minds of any thought that he may have been wrong – and get right yourself. He was incapable of wrong! You were wrong.’

His Uncle Bruce was bought back after an eternity in the wilderness -twice- and had the fatted calf killed for him. Within months he was reading the riot act for his new master and nephew – a meteoric step for a cab driver – a giant leap for mankind. Well – Brethrenkind. His wife- and JTJnr’s daughter -from whom he spent a period of estrangement -was also booted out for 14 years and I have just read Bruce’s reversal of the assembly judgment on this which I will share in a moment.

His son – the rather grandly named (in Peeb terms) James Taylor Hales – was also delving that little bit too precariously in the pleasures of the world and the flesh -and from all reports spent a great deal of his life without- at the track where he also ended up without the where-with-all to gamble any further. Legend has it that part of his re-entry package involved having all his gambling debts paid off for him prior to his dovetailing back into the clan and the sect in the immediate role of accredited spokesman. He even bought his Catholic wife with him and I wonder today – does she still see her own family? I heard initially that there were no restrictions at the outset. Which when you think of the hundreds if not thousands who were withdrawn from for lapses in separation over the years- is a wicked Hales double standard in itself.

It’s at this point – if you look at Clan Hales in context – you can see an absolutely appalling lineup of sin and debacle and expulsions. I can think of no other family that was tinged with as much drama as the Hales. I’ve known some rotten Brethren families in my time- but no one holds a candle to Clan Hales.

Let’s take a look at the tally- and for non Peeb readers- being ‘withdrawn from’ is the biggest kick in the kidneys a Peeb can face in their lifetime:
• John S. Hales – withdrawn from three times.
• W.Bruce Hales- withdrawn from twice.
• Consuela Hales- withdrawn from once.
• Gordon Hales – withdrawn from for affairs with married sisters.
• Jessie Hales- withdrawn from once.
• Lois Hales (JSH sister) withdrawn from once.
• Stephen Hales- withdrawn from at least once.
• Jimmy (James Taylor) Hales – withdrawn from for over 20 years.
• Roger Kirkpatrick (Hales relative) booted out – leaving a couple of things in his wake when he returned.

No wonder Symington called them the ‘Hales Stones!’

Now I could be even more frank than I have been and divulge even grubbier grubby bits concerning Hales misdemeanours – but I am not going to. I have said before that one thing the world has taught me that the Brethren didn’t – was that forgiveness is given if repentance is evident. But what really riles me – and this is the point of this missive – is how Bruce Hales has campaigned tirelessly to restore his family and make them comfortable and to erase any wrong done to them.

I refer to a care meeting just over 5 months ago, where I read of Bruce telling the Sydney Brethren to reverse the judgment on Consuela Hales. It happened in 1976 when his father was in the midst of ‘a conspiracy against him’ and was basically forced by the Brethren, despite his better judgment, to withdraw from her. And so they took it back – they admitted they got it wrong. ‘While she is still with us’.

And here is where I get pissed off.

Why can’t Bruce Hales be even handed – and honest -in his reversals of judgment? Why can’t he look into the thousands of other families who were withdrawn from for ridiculous notions and reasons -wrongly! Why does it just have to be about the Hales family having their records expunged? Why don’t other people’s families matter as much as the Hales family?

I know of many people who were withdrawn from wrongly. Myself included. Why hasn’t Bruce felt the same pain and grief he feels for Consuela Hales- for them -and set about setting the record straight? Why hasn’t he fixed things up like he did for Jimmy and others of his family – for the rest of us? Why? Because we don’t matter to him. Other Brethren families don’t matter. It’s all about being Hales. He feels no such compunction for other people. Which in itself is a wickedness and one for which I hold him to account.

I can forgive the Hales family their appalling record (in Brethren values) quite happily -but I cannot forgive their nepotistic, self focused, selfish, distain for all of the other families that the Brethren have adversely affected and in some cases destroyed.

I feel your pain Bruce for your aunt. But where was your pain for the many people who were so affected by their treatment at the hands of the Brethren, that they took their own lives? Something I might add that affected the Hales clan – twice. Where was your pain Mister Bruce when I as a teenager who had committed no actual sin – spent my first nights cast out with a suitcase and no money in a bus shelter?

I didn’t hear any reversals of judgment or ‘humbling yourself under Almighty God’ as an 18 year old kid tried to work out what the hell had just happened to him all those years ago. But then again – I wasn’t a Hales. It’s good to be a Hales.

Think on it if you want to have any credibility at all. Think on it if you have a shred of decency and honesty at your core.

*Note- I am happy to be put right if the facts of Hales family assembly judgments stated above, are either incorrect or insufficient in their tallies.