The following are testimonials from past members of this dangerous cult and families who have loved ones involved. In respect for their privacy I will not use their names. They come from various reliable sources. Here they are:
"I was unfortunately caught up in this cult until a little while ago. I would still be there had it not been for my family hiring a professional exit counselor to do an intervention. I am still going through a recovery period because of the mind control they employ to reform people’s thoughts and get them to be mindlessly obedient (or what they call “Trust with abandonment” and “Obedience without expectation”). I have been left scared and confused, unable to trust even my own thoughts and perspectives but thankfully I am on the mend. I have gone through bouts of anxiety and depression and have had nightmares about something evil “getting” me. I know there are many good people being deceived into giving up their families, careers, possessions and any part of their lives which do not fall into the group’s way of thinking. Spending many hours a day recruiting (or so the group calls it “trumpeting”) both in person and on many internet venues such as facebook and youtube. I myself used to spend at least 2.5 to 3 hours studying and approximately 2 hours every day “trumpeting” plus the group study sessions 3 or 4 times a week each at about 4 hours long, it doesn’t leave much time for anything else. of course didn't realize it was a cult when I started, but I began reading the letters after I saw a video on youtube. They sparked my interest as I had already been feeling that we are nearing Jesus' return for some time and something in these letters grabbed hold of that. I was at first just curious and so I kept reading them. They brought up answers to questions which had been bugging me and hadn't been satisfied with answers I recieved from others I'd talked to (like Sabbath observation) and that intrigued me even further. The letters point to things like Joel 28-29 (28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy , your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit) and since I felt the return was near I thought "maybe this is a prophet of the last days". There was mystery and intrigue in the fact that there is little information given about the man Timothy himself as well, which seemed different than others calling themselves prophets on the web, he seemed humble because he didn't "toot his own horn" and he wasn't looking for money. He seemed to give all the glory to God and that also drew me further in, knowing that a true prophet of God would not bring glory to himself but to God. Needless to say I eventually began to believe fully that these were messages from God. At first I was just reading the letters on my own, I had stopped going to Church and was observing Sabbath on my own. After a while, I was invited by Trent to come to the group study meetings after I met him through a website. I was excited and started attending them (4 of them each week). I felt closer to God and grateful to be chosen to be one of the few in this group, it was like God himself was directing my life (which I know he always is but even more obviously than before) and I was absolutely on fire for Him. I strived to obey in all things out of love for Him, I ached to get rid of the "world" in me and cried out to God to break everything that was standing in the way between Him and I. Of course out of letters and group studies I recieved the answers on how that could happen, at first it was encouragement and the leaders modeling their own lives that led me to do things, but later it got very demanding people were being kicked out if the didn't obey the demands (leave the church because the groups view is that they are all led by leaders who have been decieved and were prideful and stubborn they were called "man-made" churches, believe in no eternal torment in hell, give of your money, time, strength, everything... or else) . I completely separated from my family emailing them all to tell them I couldn't be with them if they rejected the letters (because I believed they were God's word) and didn't accept Jesus in thier lives, I gave money and even jewelry (because I didn't have enough money) out of fear that I would have to leave the group if I didn't give enough. I nearly lost my husband (I didn't separate from him but was basically living very much apart from him) and felt like a martyr when he wanted to kick me out of my home. My daughter apparently felt very distanced from me because I was always on the computer, which she told others (I found out during my intervention). I was involved in the group for only about 4 months but I was so deep in I would have put everything on the line at the drop of a hat. A couple of weeks ago my mom called me up and asked me to come over to explain the letters to her and the rest of my family, they were all there waiting and wanted to know more. I was at first skeptical but had told them I would if they only asked, so I went. After I got there a stranger showed up and started talking to me about the group, asking me questions. I didn't like them at first because they were the "scholar" in my eyes we had been told would try to decieve us with "man's doctrine" and even practically yelled at my family that I wanted to leave unless they wanted to ask me questions about the letters (excluding the stranger). Later in the process (it was 4 days long) I found out that the stranger was an "exit-counselor" and was shown alot of things about the group that slowly weared at my defenses. I was shown that Timothy and his wife bring in $93,000 and owned 3 or 4 homes in several locations in the US. I was adamant that the letters lined up with Scripture as well but was told that many groups like this will give you mostly "good stuff" but then slip a little "bad stuff" in there, then I was later shown things like the fact that the letters say if you reject the letters but believe the Bible you are denying God, when in the cult that seemed right to me (by that time I had totally bought in) but during the intervention I could see that is not scriptural at all. I was also taught about mind-control and realized that the group was in fact performing mind-control techniques on us, there were 8 "warning signs" and this group exibited all of them. I even found out that one technique many groups use in mind-control is to assess if person is a "Feeler", "Thinker" or "Doer" and this group did that to me in the guise that it was a "counseling session" that Trent wanted to practice (I'm not sure if Trent knew what it was for or not). That information can then be used to "tailor" information that comes to you, to hieghten your experience and "confirm" the messages to you so that you internalize them easier. I have had ups and downs in recovery, and have had to make amends with alot of people but I am happy to be free and am re-discovering God's true Grace. He is teaching me to worship in the storm and praise Him in ALL things and I know He will restore and heal me completely as only He can! I hope the others can be freed as well and I hope that Timothy will be turned from his ways. Anyone who comes across these letters, PLEASE do not fall for the deception because that is what it is."
"In the group I was involved with called the “Trumpet call of God”, we had an entire study conducted during Sabbath which was focused entirely on “Being Separate”; it was an intense 4 hour lecture on how we need to be separate from all things worldly, including our own family members who did not believe in the letters produced by the leader/prophet. We were to separate from the church (meaning the mainstream churches) and from all “unbelievers”. We were taught by the prophet in letters and study sessions about these same things over and over and were warned about “worldly” reading material, anything other than the prophet’s letters and the Bible (which was severely undermined anyway) and even watching the news or weather network. I asked the prophet at one point, if this meant I had to stay away from my entire family for good and he told me that he believes that God wants us to be completely separate from our families who did not believe in Jesus and the letters. We were told to “silence the scoffers” by separating or blocking them out so they would not hurt themselves by mocking God and the prophet any more than they had already."
"This is a very dangerous cult. I would know. I was once involved. Timothy told me I had to leave my family and friends or ELSE! They manipulated me and hurt me Spiritually and Emotionally and when I needed them the most, they threw me out to the dogs."
"My Cousin Emily has been involved in this group VERY heavily for several years. Her family has fallen apart, she has given away everything, even moved to Nebraska to be near Timothy and several of the other followers and is now living in Texas with another family along with her 3 young children who I worry about constantly. She helps create some of the videos that are posted. PLEASE pray for my cousin Emily and her children to be removed from this group. She has cut me off because I "interfered" and refuse to believe Timothy's word as the Lords."
"I will tell you a little about me. I love my grandchildren with all my heart. I am very close to them and have helped raise them. About two months ago, my daughter took them (and her husband) to Nebraska to live in a free trailer owned by Timothy's relatives. He has indoctrinated my daughter to separate from me because I don't believe those letters. And that's what she has done, cutting off all communication with me and the rest of her family. None of us have been able to talk to the kids in about a month. I miss them so much and am so disturbed at what Timothy has done to our family. He is an evil man, and while his facebook page has a new posting that says no one is to say anything against him, I'm here to tell you that he is NOT a prophet of God. And he is laying up some very serious punishment against him
by God for leading these people astray in the name of God and Jesus."
"Soooo glad Im out of that horrible cult!! So sad :( This cult paid for me to move from my friends & family in Las Vegas to Texas. Thankful my family stepped in before I could get on the plane!!!! I was involved in that cult for about 9 months. They said "The Lord" was going to destroy Las Vegas because of its filth and that I needed to obey "The Lord" and leave my friends & family & job and everything behind to be "saved". They were telling me "The Lord" HATED the place I grew up! :( I know Las Vegas isn't that great of a place but nonetheless I love the Lord very very much and Las Vegas is my home and the place I love. I was always treated like the "bad guy". They said I was welcome to the "table" once I obeyed "The Lord" and left Las Vegas. Until then I was in direct disobedience to "The Lord" for living here."
"As a former member of the "Trumpet Call of God", I believe this group is destructive in nature. By their fruit you will know them. The fruit of this group is not love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22) but rather hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group (see Galatians 5:20) Before joining this group I was a loving, humble and forgiving person I have been a born again Christian for 5 years and I love the Lord more than anything in this world. When I was in this group though, I became hostile, I would spew scripture as though they were weapons towards those I felt were against my views. I felt self-righteous as though I knew more than anyone else I knew outside the group and so I felt justified in telling them so (in the name of so called love of course), there was no grace or mercy given, either you believe what I do or you are the enemy, one side of the fence or the other. I was constantly trying desperately to "separate" from anything worldly including family members and became uncaring toward anything that didn't work towards that goal including those who needed me and needed my care (like my own children). Many of the members in this group have separated from family members, marriages have been dissolved relationships torn to shreds, people have lost jobs, been left bankrupt and many other hardships have been faced as a result. I constantly struggle now after being out of that group with what I believe and have to "chew" things for weeks or months before I will trust it, I'm very afraid of being deceived again. On the positive side, the Lord has given me wonderful opportunities to minister to others and encourage them. I have deep love for the Lord and though I still have not attended church (that was against the rules in this group and I still struggle with attending) I have a relationship with Him that I depend on and couldn't imagine living without. Please beware of this group and their teachings, I pray fervently for those in it and those affected by it."
"IF YOU ARE READING THE 'LETTERS FROM GOD AND HIS CHRIST' .... YOU NEED TO QUIT, AND READ ONLY THE HOLY BIBLE , THE SCRIPTURES OF TRUTH, there you will find the Holy Spirit, and be led into the "real" truth.... please.. I beg you, after being involved with this group for over 2 1/2 years, I was "thrown out" because it was said that I " disobeyed"... the only disobedience I showed was that I did not give mr. rathbun his "tithe' every month... which I have tithed over 20,000+ in the last two years... they are nothing but GREEDY....I have personally caught a Mr. Timothy Rathbun in 6...yes...6...different lies, and of those, the Lord led me personally to understand that this man is using the bible for his own gain, and in so doing, is going to reap the plagues on himself and those associated with him from revelations 22:18-20. Mr. Rathbun has described himself as a "prophet" for the Lord,...but I can tell you from personal involvement with this group, NOT ONE PROPHESY WHICH MR.RATHBUN EVER MADE EVER CAME TRUE I also have proof that I never stole any tithes, and for being disobedient, I was "forbidden" to get married to a woman who truly loves Christ. I became extremely suspicious of Timothy when I was commanded to "depart" from this woman, after being told that I could not share the "letters" with her, nor even Scripture !! If the very front page of the "letters" book states, " for God's word is Free to ALL," ...then why not HER ???? I rest my case."
"My wife abducted my 1 year old to the states to be close to the cult. Timothy is only using THE LORD to get an audiance from men. she is very selfish. I am in constant pain and anguish from missing my daughter, I am getting sick from the stress. Yet she claims to know God and Love God. She is a false prophet in the making."
√Cults are best known for dominating and alienating members from their families and friends...This is what sets them apart. These leaders convince followers that only they hold "their best intrests" at heart and "their own families are now somehow the "enemy"... This is nothing new, many infamous cults which have come and gone and some who still thrive operate similarly. SECLUSION..Both mental and physical...
The mind control techniques Timothy utilizes on his "flock" are obviously simple to grasp. In order to achieve complete mind control, he must get rid of all obstacles-and those obstacles which are his the FAMILIES of his followers whom he knows will pose a challenge to him. The only way to ensure his flock's unwavering devotion to him as-the "lord's prophet" is to eliminate all outside influences such as FAMILY, FRIENDS, close relations etc in order to achieve his goal.
"Either you believe exactly what i believe or else..."
Is this what it all boils down to?
Isn't BLOOD supposed to be thicker than water?
Different views and/or beliefs should not be an ultimate deciding factor in keeping or casting someone out of one's life!
This is treading on dangerous ground...
The main requirements of "trumpet call of god" is that followers and members "separate"-CUT OFF ALL CONTACT from *anyone* who won't accept and belive Timothy's letters as "the word of God",this includes *family and friends. They must only communicate with fellow members. They are also FORBIDDEN to attend church because according to Timothy "all churches and their doctrines now belong to satan" and only HIS "gospel" is the "truth". (This makes the indoctrination process easier).
Violating any of Timothy's "rules" such as attending church, not separating from friends and/or family often results in EXPULSION from the group ("the lord's banquet table"), if he cannot exercise complete control over you, you are thrown out.
Now "trumpeters" will often reference and twist Scripture to justify this(separating from loved ones), but the Bible never commands anyone to "separate" from fellow believers! The irony...
BEWARE! No legitimate "ministry" would command such thing...
I'm sure some of us have non-christians in our families even-Does this make them bad people? Should we coldly cast aside just anyone because they dont "think exactly like us?"
"Prophet Timothy" is responsible for alienating members from their own familes,friends, causing division among marriages etc. The "fruits" of this cult are broken friendships, families torn to shreds, marriages dissolved, stress, anguish, debt--the list goes on. Wives have left husbands, husbands have left wives. many are on the brink of divorce because of their involvement this cult.
*One contradiction that I want to point out is that the Bible-that they also claim to uphold says that one should NOT forsake their non-believing(non christian) spouse! Clarify this one trumpet call of god...
1Corinthians 7:13-15
"And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace."
Maybe Timothy is trying to burn bridges (family ties) so that members are left with nothing if cast out. But like the prodigal son who has lost his way, Families will eagerly welcome them back...
Please continue praying for those who are involved in this group...
₩If anyone reading this is somehow involved with trumpet call of god--FLEE while you still can!
•*If one really studies how cults work, it all falls right into place. It's almost as if Timothy looked up a manual for starting a cult and followed it step by step...
Insights into the inner workings of this cult (this is from a former member):
#°Timothy says he is one of the 144,000 (of course he knows of the other 143,999 but if you ask "who" you are asked why do you ask) and the verse is not actually talking about Jewish male virgin converts but about "those who haven't defiled themselves with the "woman" (the church)" also he is not Jewish by birth but was "grafted" in the the tribe of Levi.
#°Anytime you have a question you are directed to a counsellor for counseling, Timothy will not answer your questions most of the time, he has someone else do it for him. After your doctrinal questions are explained and you have any more questions, you are made to feel you are a horrible person for ever questioning them and just the accept them "holding nothing back" and block out all you ever knew before and if they sense that you do not blindly and willingly accept their doctrines, you will be blocked from study and ostracized.
°All Timothy has to do is say something negative about one of the members and they all will turn on you "poor so and so, let us pray double for them, but first lets post tons of letters to their account and then block them or stop communicating with them" You are to cut yourself off from anyone who does not believe in the letters.
°Many things in the letters are pulled from other cults other religious movements-- with all their so called "doctrines" rolled into one. They believe in soul sleep, there is no such thing as eternal torment in hell, no one is in heaven except Jesus, Moses, Elijah, and children, abstain from eating pork, only drink purified water, eat little meat etc.
°Timothy and his wife Amy allow you to send money to certain "international ministries" through them, and the "Lord" commands that the flock members do it.
°Jayse-(FORMER member whose name is featured on some of the letters ) was a "prophet" in training, every letter to Jayse and/or others members is first "corrected" and rewritten by Timothy and Amy.
°Jayse did not work, one of the other members supported him; this cult also has the tendency of moving people across states and "supporting" them if you will. When this is the case they are at their complete mercy.
°Coincidentally Jayse started getting letters 2 days after he moved in with the another member.
°You are always trying to earn God's love and your best is never good enough, you must give more money, more time, and more self.
°If you are not raptured (and you die during the tribulation) you will not reproduce in the "new kingdom" but if you are raptured you will be able to have lots of children in the new kingdom and be married and have sex, etc.
°The letters say that "God" will search the hearts and minds but Timothy has said NO ONE who believes in eternal hell whether by false leading or free will-will be "raptured" because "they do not know God."
°"The Jesus of the churches are not and never were the Jesus of the letters" God is no longer the "church goer's 'God'."
°You do not have the power to cast out demons, only a "select few" have this power.
°You "NEED" Timothy because he is the "prophet" and not all flesh has this gift spoken about in Acts 2:17.
°If you "disobey" the letters and go to church you will NOT be raptured. Many many people will not be raptured.
°Timothy will "confirm" if the "Lord says you will be".
°You are discouraged to watch the news, sermons, tv, radio etc.
°*A male once posed as a female wanting to join study and Timothy said the lord told him to "let 'HER' come"! (what does that tell you? Would allmighty God not be able to tell one's gender?)
°"God's spirit" has "left" the church. "A demon has entered the church" so any "form of spirit" you feel while attending church is of a "demon" and not "God".
°Many are told they need to fast during the Sabbath and you are to be looked down upon if you dont.
°Once time Timothy even said to a member "the 'Lord' said he is upset with you for leaving to get food during study" *But now the Lord says only the watchmen must fast.
*(not allowing you to eat makes it easier to mind control you and manipulate your emotions)
°They stay on study from 11:00am eastern time till usually 3:30-4:30pm.
°Timothy and wife Amy Rathbun do not "trumpet the letters" (pass out cards/letters) in person, this is only for the "flock" members.
°Timothy and Army were to trumpet the letters from home only.
°You will only be "raptured" once you have been "broken" but one day you can be "rapture ready" and the next not.
°There sometimes are breaking processes during "studies" that involve spilling all of your guts to everyone in the study such as your failures and shameful feelings so that they can "fix" you.
°This is typical of a cult in the way you expose yourself to the leaders, so they can learn what your weaknesses are so that they can "counsel" you.#
There you have it...
*You shall know them by their "fruit". Mind control, friendships dissolved, marriages destroyed, debt etc...
~Are these letters really of "divine" origin?
You be the judge...
Galatians 1:6-7 (Amplified Bible)
I am surprised and astonished that you are so quickly [a] turning renegade and deserting Him Who invited and called you [b] by the grace (unmerited favor) of Christ (the Messiah) [and that you are transferring your allegiance] to a different gospel. Not that there is [or could be] any other [genuine Gospel], but there are [obviously] some who are troubling and disturbing and bewildering you with a different kind of teaching which they offer as a gospel] and want to pervert and distort the Gospel of Christ (the Messiah) [into something which it absolutely is not].
Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.-Galatians 4:15-17
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.-2 Peter 2:1
