{"id":74,"date":"2014-07-18T03:15:20","date_gmt":"2014-07-18T03:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leavinglinda.starthistlemedia.com\/?page_id=74"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:40:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T23:40:26","slug":"about-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.leavinglinda.starthistlemedia.com\/?page_id=74","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bucket\"<\/a>
Bucket List<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In January and February of 2014 for various reasons I happened to attend a variety of church services in many different locations. I went to a memorial service for the brother of an old friend at the Community Church in Loma Rica, California, attended a graduation ceremony for a family member at the Salvation Army\u2019s Adult Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco, took part in an interfaith musical event at the Mormon Church in Wheatland, joined Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Olivehurst for their gathering one Sunday morning, accompanied my brother to a service at Crossroads Community Church in Yuba City, and warmed the pew a few times at Grace Episcopal Church in Wheatland, where my wife is the organist.<\/p>\n

While I sat in the church in Loma Rica for the memorial service for my friend\u2019s brother, I thought back to the times when my friend and his many brothers would play baseball together, or pick peaches, or go fishing or hunting in the Yuba Gold fields, referred to by us as the Dredger Ponds.<\/p>\n

My friend\u2019s brother died at sixty-two, not much older than me. I had heard of other people passing away that were close to my age and thought, I need to make and accomplish my \u201cbucket list\u201c.<\/em><\/p>\n

One thing I want to achieve before I depart this life is tell my story. Another thing I want to do is promote the faith community, including of course my own, in the best way I know how.<\/p>\n

An Episcopalian priest at Grace Church in Wheatland said, in a sermon I heard on a chilly winter Sunday, that it\u2019s not a good thing when we\u2019re feeling comfortable in church. We need to challenge ourselves. We need to go beyond our comfort zone. (And I didn\u2019t think he was referring to when Marge turned the heat up too high in the sanctuary.)\u00a0 That\u2019s when I decided I would visit and learn about as many churches as possible in the Yuba-Sutter area.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll be writing about my experiences while visiting places of worship in the Yuba-Sutter area and as well, I\u2019m writing my own story. Who knows how far I\u2019ll get before \u201ckicking the bucket\u201d…<\/p>\n

**********************<\/p>\n

In July of 1978 I joined the Unification Church in Seattle Washington. Not too long ago, someone close to me questioned if I had ever thought that perhaps I had made the wrong decision. I listened quietly all the while thinking sarcastically, \u201cNo, I really never did stop to think about it. I\u2019ve been under that \u201cMoon Spell\u201d for nearly forty years and I just can\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years ago, a student reporter for the University of Auckland newspaper Craccum wrote an article about how he “infiltrated” one of the evening programs of the Unification Church\u2019s student organization CARP and how he was able to resist their \u201cbrain-washing\u201d techniques.<\/p>\n

Now I thought that the idea of infiltrating one of our programs took about as much courage as attending an Amway meeting and wrote a letter to the editor of Craccum stating so. I also offered to meet the reporter for lunch which I would \u201cshout\u201d. (New Zealand talk for, \u201cI will pay for it\u201d.) I wrote that if that reporter could offer me some great new insights about life and how to live, then maybe I would be his first disciple. Well he never did take me up on that offer; I\u2019m still waiting.<\/p>\n

Diane Benscoter, self-proclaimed ex-Moonie and \u201cdeprogrammer\u201d (otherwise known as faith-breaker), has made a career of attacking so-called cults and has given a \u201cTed Talk\u201d about \u201cHow Cults Think\u201d. In her talk she opines about how cultists’ brains are affected, and that people like myself and my fellow Unificationists are suffering from \u201cExtremist Viral Memetic Infection.\u201d (Wonder if that\u2019s covered by Obama Care?)<\/p>\n