Feb 2003 - Judy Writes about the Zach's Visit
In February 2003 Judy Geftakys replies to an inquiry from Verne C. in Chicago about the Zach's extended stay in David and Judy's home in September, 1999, for the purpose of counseling them.
Dear Verne,
I have tried to just get on with the life I have left and leave these horrible men to face their own consciences. However, there are a few who don't seem to have ANY. Mike Zach is one. I am more than willing to tell you what he and Cheryl did. At a time when they could have done so much to truly help, that couple caused incredible trouble and heartache for me and my youngest daughter, Rebecca. I think it is honest to even say they put us in some of the greatest danger because of their ignorance and self-importance.
I fled on the floorboard of my brother's pick-up truck on September 2000. That summer David and I with our youngest daughter had been living alone in a small town about 25 miles outside of San Luis Obispo. Everyone was told that David's diabetes was causing complications which required him to slow way down and rest. Actually, David had been unpredictable for a couple years, going into rages and refusing to be accountable to anyone but his mother.
I had spoken out against George and Betty's public rejection and condemnation of his granddaughter, my oldest, Rachel. This had brought criticism and "discipline" on me by the Leading Brothers. David was sensing that I was no longer afraid to confront his parents with their un-Biblical conduct and in turn he began to seek new ways to keep control of what I did, where I went or what I said.
At this time, I was teaching around the county schools as an art instructor through a private grant program. I hadn't received permission from the Work to do so, however. David was hoarding all income and I was trying to survive. David had agreed to allow me to do this work yet he was stalking me at my studio and campuses, and my principals and instructors were beginning to ask if something was wrong. [editor's note, I have a signed statement to this fact from one of Judy's instructors.] He had begun to insist on some strange routine that I won't share, but which indicated to me that he was losing what reality he had had. I lived in fear of him doing something horrible to either me or someone who crossed him. This is not a dramatic evaluation. It was a very serious situation. I was trying to move David into some counseling and had met with a Christian counselor in a nearby town. My daughter, Rebecca, refused to come to the house unless I was home, and even then she would sometimes leave when her father came home in an especially difficult frame of mind.
It was into this situation that the Work sent Mike and Cheryl Zach to live with David and me for a month. When they arrived they made it clear that they were there for two reasons. One was to reconcile David with his brethren. David was in a feud with Jeff Lehmkuhl, Roberto Sanchez and Kurt C. The other reason was to help David with his rebellious wife, who they had been told was "ruining David's testimony."
They met with us for hours each morning. Cheryl stayed back at the house with me, while the men went off, and brought up her concerns to me. At this point in my situation, I didn't count on much help with the real problems. Their mission was about what George's "Work" wanted from us.
They weren't really capable of helping David. The effect they had on him was similar to putting gas on a fire to put it out. They saw all this firsthand.
One morning Cheryl was at home with David and me when David got it in his head that I had cheated him out of some money in paying a bill. I was explaining the situation when David went into a rage and came at me with a dinner plate. Cheryl was in the guest room at a desk from which she could hear and see the whole thing. After this, she asked me to forgive her for judging me. She told me that she now saw that I loved my husband and was trying to help him in every way I could.
After that, Mike Zach seemed to believe that he should get me to sit down with Betty. He offered to stay an extra week and meet with us. I wanted no part of it because I had tried working with Betty for years and it had always proved to be more of the same thing; manipulating her older son to her mind of how things should be. But in the end Mike persuaded me that if I would do this, he wouldn't leave California without getting a commitment from Tim Geftakys and Mark Miller to get me help and protection.
I met with Mike and Betty three mornings for three hours each morning. Each morning, Betty came to the table with statements printed from her computer. As we talked, she read from her papers. She denied things that I could easily prove and claimed things that even David would later discredit when Mike asked him about them.
After this, Mike and Cheryl left promising me that I would now have advocates in this difficult situation with David and Betty.
I NEVER got any thing but a couple of e-mails and phone calls saying they hoped we were doing better. Any attempt on my part to ask HOW they had made arrangements to get me some support and protection was deflected with remarks that I needed to cooperate with the local leadership. This was ludicrous since they had seen first-hand how angry and unwilling David was with those men.
The thing that makes me write at the beginning that Mike and Cheryl are people without consciences is this. They, more than almost anyone at that time, witnessed how truly mentally sick David had become. They sat for hours witnessing his rationalizations for bizarre behavior, his temper when challenged. These two came into my home, reinforced to David that his wife was his problem, stirred up all kinds of discussions that enraged him, and then they left.
They left me alone with David and all his outrage. They had no concern that possibly there would be repercussions from all their evaluating and investigating into our lives. David already saw himself under attack, but after them he saw himself as spied on and misrepresented and I was the one who had allowed them to see it all.
My life, after they left until I rode away with my brother, is still the subject of nightmares. I write this knowing that this kind of remark could bring all kinds of ridicule. But it is a true statement and it indicates that what went on was enough to still disturb my sleep two and a half years later.
Verne, this is the most I have written before or after the paper I gave to Brent to "break" my silence. I write it to you because I trust you to understand what their play-acting at counseling and care-giving cost me. It would be worth my effort here, if those two could be stopped from ever again injecting their act on another's life.
You definitely have my prayers for your effort with them.
Judy Geftakys
