hello, looking for help, approx a month ago after 15 yrs of marriage my wife left with another man after knowing him for approx 6weeks, as it turns out the man belongs to the church[if you can call it that] of scientology, he now has her working in his business for no pay, what do i do?can anyone help?

Welcome to the board, fmfs987. Very sorry to hear about what has happened with your wife.

First of all, so far you are ok, but I would be careful not to give geographical details, or other things such as age or whatnot, so that they can't figure out who you are.

Second, this is going to be tricky, unfortunately. Is your wife now a Scientologist? Do you know how involved she is?

The reason I ask is before a person has been totally indoctrinated it seems like there's a window of time where they are still receptive to getting information. If she is already deep in the mindset, it's going to be really hard.

The problem is that Scientologists are told not to talk to people who have bad things to say about the church, and to not even read the internet or articles about the church. They are told that their spiritual freedom could be lost forever if they hear negative ideas about the church.

Since it's only been a few weeks, there might still be hope though. I would recommend researching like crazy so that you can answer the question, "What's so bad about Scientology" and then figure out a gentle way of presenting the information to her.

If you can tell her things that are going to happen, perhaps she will see that when it in fact does happen that it will cause her to think.

For instance, they absolutely will ask for money, money, and more money. They will find out how much she has in savings and how much credit she has.

They will also start separating her from family and friends who aren't Scientologists.

If you could possibly point these two things out to her, maybe that would be a start. Perhaps when your prediction comes true, she will be about to connect the dots.

Good luck, and hopefully others will chime in.

Here are a couple posts I found that describe some things that might happen:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36073&p=401302&hilit=credit+cards#p401302

viewtopic.php?p=385724#p385724

Also, watch this interview with Jason Beghe, an actor and ex-scientologist:

http://www.xenutv.com/blog/?p=241#more-241

I am going to give an advice that not everyone would agree with, but I think it might be productive.
If your wife works for that person for no pay, you might consider reporting him to the authorities as an illegal firm in violation of the minimum wage provision of the labor laws.

This will sound like a cold thing to do but you need to do it.

If you have a joint account with her, do what you have to do to keep her from accessing those funds.

Otherwise $cientology will find out about that money and manipulate her to give all of it to them.

If you have any other jointly owned assets you need to get that sorted out as soon as you can.

Before the sun sets today, get your hands on a copy of Releasing the Bonds by Steven Hassan and read it.

Do not deal with your wife in any kind of angry emotional state. Do not say anything bad about $cientology to her.

Full indoctrination can happen with a person in five days.

You may be part of her "ruin." $cientology may know everything about you. You have probably been painted as a very bad man.

If she has left and is no longer living with you in your residence then, I'm sorry but, you have to assume the worst. If she is no longer talking to you she may have already disconnected from you but not yet informed you.

If you have her power of attorney, and she hasn't made a new one since leaving you, you might be able to invoke that. See a lawyer about that as soon as possible.

I don't like to say this, but your situation does not look optimistic. You may have to do what you must to cut your losses and move on.

I think Wieber's advice is better than mine.

It is probably good to assume the worst and PROTECT YOURSELF.

If there are kids involved I think you need to protect them, too, and preserve your parental rights.

Also, fmfs987, one of your posts might have accidentally gotten mixed up with a bunch of spam posts, and may have been deleted. Sorry about that. We get 100s of spam posts a day.

Please post again if that's what happened.

I can tell you from experience what to do. First of all, never make her wrong. You have to be her friend and never push the CULT stuff in her face or she will die to be right. Ask her very kindly to look at all aspects of the people in Scientology. Ask her to look at the good, the bad and the ugly. If she is defensive, it may be too late. Ask her to meet some Clears and OT's and ask her how much it costs to get there. She will see that they are just as crazy as the rest of us but the "admiration" is soooooo nice when you are a newbie. She will feel very loved and cared for until she is broke and then it will all stop!! Don't try to pull her out. You will push her in to it and could take years to get out. If the marriage is done, you have a good chance at getting everything from her. Don't fight. Do the divorce yourself and make agreements to rip up all credit cards until it is legally done. If you help her get what she wants, you will get what you want. If you love her, show it and show it and show it. What happened?

Hi, Just a Stat-ICK. Welcome to the board. It sounds like you have a story to tell. We love stories.