United States

Ex-Members Describe Military-Style Christian Sect Now Accused of Child Abuse

"To not believe Lila Green is equal to sin"

A secretive Christian sect that waits for Armageddon at its remote New Mexico compound has been thrust into the national spotlight when its self-appointed "general," Deborah "Lila" Green, and three of her followers were arrested and charged with rape and child abuse, NBC News reported.

Green's word is law among the hundred or so members of the Aggressive Christian Missions Training Corps, former followers said.

"Lila claims to be God's prophet and people in the group don't question her," former member Maura Schmierer told NBC News. "To not believe Lila Green is equal to sin."

Branded an active hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the corps allegedly had a compound where births were not reported to authorities and one girl was "treated like a dog" as Green's personal slave, according to arrest warrants.

"The accusations are just re-runs of old lies that have been investigated and shown to be malicious attacks against a legitimate ministry," the group said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

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