god has a purpose for me (part 2)

when i met bob, i met a hero. he had written a book and had worked with rock stars and other celebrities. he was “the father of drug intervention”...and he said needed my help.

we spent the night together, in his hotel room, while he gently coaxed me into telling him everything about myself--my fears, my struggles, my beliefs. at times i cried. he held me in his arms and told me he loved me. that he alone understood. that he, like me, had found god’s purpose for his life.

he told me that god had brought us together. he said that he had helped thousands and that together we would help thousands more.

i left his hotel room, as the sun was rising, energized, waiting for the phone to ring...for that next call, that next opportunity to help someone. this is what i do. i help people.

bob aligned his pulse with mine. he systematically drew me in. my faith, which was strength to me, represented vulnerability to him. he used that faith, my purpose, to draw me into his fold and destroy my essence for his own selfish purposes.

i was young and naive. i had assumed since he also “walked with god” that he would not deceive me. i didn’t even realize that this level of deception was possible. it never crossed my mind that he was anything other than the child of a loving god who had been rescued from a life, much more painful than my own, and given a purpose.

i also didn’t know that, at that time, his programs in the west were being shut-down. he needed another program fast and my father was the president of the board of directors of a struggling non-profit treatment program in the midwest. bob had traveled to come offering to help the crippling program, which was about to close.

he began by building on my judeo-christian beliefs, fortifying those beliefs with his own stories of the “miracles” he’d experienced, witnessed. in time, he replaced others who’d had an influence on me, giving me insight into god’s ways, explaining the spiritual significance of events, writings, biblical passages. he introduced me to new literature. he presented himself as a true believer, never hinting at the deep hatred he had for jews and christians.

he patiently and methodically began to reshape my beliefs.

i didn't see it coming. i had never known a sociopath.

(more later)