Pastor accused of Molesting Girls (part of religious ritual)

[Rigorous Intuition]

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Pastor accused of Molesting Girls</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Thursday August 24, 2006 3:46 AM<br><br>By MARCUS KABEL<br><br>Associated Press Writer <br><br>WASHBURN, Mo. (AP) - The minister of a rural Ozarks church, his wife and her two brothers have been accused of molesting young girls from their congregation for years, sometimes as part of a religious ritual, officials said.<br><br>The county prosecutor says the Rev. Raymond Lambert, 51, of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, repeatedly had sex with two underage girls with the help of his 49-year-old wife, Patty, according to court records.<br><br>For 10 years, the pastor told the girls, ``We are preparing your body for service to God,'' the prosecutor said.<br><br>Patty Lambert's brothers - Paul Epling, 53, and Tom Epling, 51 - each are accused of repeatedly having sex with girls as young as age 4 in the late 1970s and early 1980s.<br><br>All four defendants face molestation and sodomy charges. Their attorney said they denied the allegations.<br><br>Lambert's church is on property owned by the Epling brothers and houses up to 100 people on a 100-acre farm in western McDonald County, Sheriff's Deputy Michael F. Le Seuer said.<br><br>``They refer to it as a compound,'' Le Seuer told The Associated Press.<br><br>The compound is behind a high gate marked ``Grand Valley Farm'' on a gravel road about 13 miles west of the small town of Washburn. The gate was barred with ``No Trespassing'' signs on Wednesday, and attorney Robert W. Evenson said the four would not speak to reporters.<br><br>``This is a matter of facts for the court, not of public opinion,'' Evenson said. <br><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6034410,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

[biaothanatoi]

More details in <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.neoshodailynews.com/articles/2006/08/17/news/01charges.txt" target="top">this article</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> - very interesting:<br><br>"His wife faces a <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Class B felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child in a ritual or ceremony</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> and a Class D felony count of second degree child molestation."<br><br>"In a telephone interview Tuesday night, Le Sueur said several former church members had come forward in the past six months, claiming they had been molested for several years. The deputy said incest was involved, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>adding he understood that this was the third generation of church officials who participated in child sexual abuse.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->" <p></p><i></i>

[starroute]

I'm starting to get an almost Lovecraftian vibe off stories like this one -- strange, inbred backwoods folks with bizarre multi-generation cults.<br><br>Not that I'm suggesting these people are Cthulhu-worshippers, you understand. Just that whatever the reality was that inspired Lovecraft and his precursors and followers to associate backwoods cults with evil alien entities must have been something of this sort.<br><br>Supernatural horror in general has almost always been closely associated with incest, child molestation, and rape, going back to Vathek and The Monk. In Lovecraft, the sexual aspects are generally not emphasized, but I suspect they're not far beneath the surface.<br><br>I wonder whether there are early 20th century sources -- whether newspaper articles or scholarly studies -- available on the topic of what would now be called SRA. It would certainly help in understanding the nature of the phenomenon if we had a historical perspective on it and not merely contemporary anecdotal evidence. For example, it might answer the question of whether there really are continuing cults or merely isolated occurrences following a common template.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[biaothanatoi]

A psychiastric textbook from the late 1920s mentions Black Masses and the impact on victims ... will try and remember the source.<br><br>Stephen Kent's essays on "Scriptural Deviancy" and ritual abuse (in the journal Religion in 1993) mentions three early articles on ritual abuse -<br><br>Winnipeg Free Press (26 Nov 1959) - Mr Leslie Roberts of Brighton, England, told British Columbia reporters that "All over Europe and America organized groups fo satanists - including some of the wealthiest and most respected members of the community - meet regularly to celebrate their infamous rites'. He went on to say that for these groups '[h]uman sacrifice is essential. Therefore there is a big trade in unborn children, infants and young girls. Many of Britain's unsolved murders are related to black magic'. The article concluded with Roberts saying that 'he had information that a baby was used in a human sacrifice a year ago in the Sussex village of Rottingdean. Detectives investigated his claim but told him that knowing it was one thing and proving it was another."<br><br>Berkely Barb (14-20 Nov 1969) - Article in which a journalist attended a rite that included probable human sacrifice, although the terrified journalist fled the site before the conclusion of the ritual. (Editorial comment: I've personally been contacted by people who claim to have been in Berkely in the 60s and had knowledge of the activities of a "Baphomet Lodge".)<br><br>Bugle-American (12 Nov 1975) - Article on satanic orgy and animal sacrifice in a satanic group that had recently formed.<br><br>I've come across references to satanic groups in Australia in articles in the 1970s, including allegations amounting to the ritual abuse of children. <p></p><i></i>