Reference: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/msg/30548f0984804086
1. I , Tory Christman, declare as follows: my name is Tory Christman, formerly Tory Bezazian.
2. I am over 18 years of age.
3. I am writing this of my own free will. The statements herein are of my own personal knowledge and if called up as a witness, I can testify competently thereto.
4. I got into Scientology in 1969 and left in July of 2000. I went there a young woman, hoping to handle things that bothered me, and learn how to help others. Shortly after getting into Scientology I was recruited to join what is known as The Sea Organization. I was asked to sign a billion year contract, agreeing I would do whatever was needed to help Ron Hubbard and The Sea Org (from here on known as the S.O) Clear the Planet.
5. I was routed to the Bolivar (which was an old tanker ship) located out in LA harbor, where we were supposed to do ship's training. This lasted a few weeks, and then we were brought back on land. While in the SO, one is given a place to sleep and food to eat. Since I had quit college to get into Scientology, writing my father I had finally found what I wanted to do in life, I felt I had found my new career.
6. A few months after joining the Sea Organization I realized I needed to re-order the medication I was on for Epilepsy. I was routed to a person they called the Medical Liaison Officer, or the MLO. This was a young man I was told was studying nutrition. He had no actual medical training that I knew of. He informed me that I needed to get off of my medication, and that he would write out a program to get off of it. In Scientology if you have ANY illness it is considered there is something wrong with you, not just physically, but that this is a very bad thing, caused by you being connected to someone who is suppressive to you. At least that was the beginning pitch I heard.
(my comments follow in red. Highlighting in bold above is mine)
So an unqualified staff informed her that she needed to get off of her medication.
7. Being young and totally believing these people, I was ordered onto a "leave of absence" to get off of my medication. I found a place to live, and began my program. It consisted of cutting down one table by ¼th. I never succeeded farther than that. I began having Grand Mal Seizures at home in the morning, out on the street by myself, and in the Scientology organizations. This was living Hell for me.
8. This went on for I think 3 months. I was losing my memory due to all of the seizures. I would wake up in the morning and try to dash into the refrigerator. Daily I would have a petit mal (small seizure), and come to with all of the vitamins spread out all over the kitchen floor. The lady I was renting a room from had two children. Constantly they would come in and find me on the floor, and yell "Mommy, Tory dropped her vitamins again". This woman was one of the kindest people to me, and I will never forget her. Her name is Mary Jessup, and she was married previously to Nate Jessup. All during this time the Scientologists were very evaluative to me, and many treated me like a leper, but not Mary. She was always very compassionate. She had left Scientology some time earlier.
9. Finally one morning in the shower I knocked my front teeth out during a Grand Mal seizure. All during this time my mother was begging me to go back on all of my medication. Being new in Scientology, I assured her Dianetics and Scientology would handle this. Finally, after so many seizures and so much trauma, I realized no matter what these people thought, I wasn't going to live if I kept doing this. At that point I decided to go back on my medication in full, no matter what.
Point 7-9 above is what she speaks about in her video and to journalists. She now tries to present this as a typical experience in Scientology, omitting all what follows and which is vital to understand whether Scientology allows people to be medicated for their seizures or not.
10. I went over to the MLO and told him my decision. Now remember I really had my heart set on being a Sea Org member. This was what I wanted to do with my life. He assured me in no uncertain terms that now I was not fit for the Sea Org, if I needed to take this medication. He routed me to Ethics who informed me I was now considered a Freeloader, and they gave me a bill in the thousands for leaving.
11. After much arguing, I finally told them I wanted a pen and paper as I was writing Hubbard. He wrote me back and informed me I was not a Freeloader and that was incorrect. I needed to pay for the 2 courses I had then taken and "continue getting auditing in the HGC and we will see you up the line". It was because of this that I so rigorously tried for another 26 years to handle or get rid of Epilepsy. Of course never did!
Tory Christman now just completely blank out this part from her video and statements she makes to the press. That's where the lying lies. Yet, it is very significant. L.Ron Hubbard himself canceled the order and asked her to continue on the bridge in spite of her medication!
How can Tory now make video and talk to the press accusing Scientology of preventing people to get their medication when the founder himself proved right there the contrary?
12. Once out of the Sea Org, I decided I needed to get trained to figure out why these people were so weird and insisting I needed to do something so stupid. I figured if I was trained I could then understand. I trained up to Grad 4 auditor, interned at Celebrity Center in LA. It was during this time that I met my husband, and in 1974 we were married.
She trained up to Grad 4 auditor, while still being allowed to be on medication.
13. I joined staff at Celebrity Center as an auditor. I loved auditing, and this was probably my happiest time in Scientology. I felt I was finally doing what I had come into Scientology for: helping other people. But typical of Scientology, they are always changing things. I was what was called a non-sea org staff member.
She was allowed to join staff at Celebrity Center as an auditor, while still being allowed to take her medication.
14. After about 6 months someone cancelled all NSO (non-sea org) contracts, and once again I was let go. As bad as this was, AOLA was hiring NSO staff, so I went over there. I audited there until I was about 8 months pregnant, at which point I left staff to have our son.
She was allowed to be an auditor at AOLA, all the while being on her medication.
15. I attest to what at that time had come out as "natural Clear". Now Clear is supposedly where you have perfect memory, no somatics, and etc. From all the seizures I now had a horrible memory, and of course still had Epilepsy, but somehow it was indicated I was natural Clear, and I attested. This later came to haunt me, as I never really felt like I had achieved the state of Clear. Later, after I left, I found out this is common amongst many people who had attested to Clear. There really are not any Clears, per the definition. But Scientologists get around this with ... that was only on your FIRST dynamic (related to self). DUH~ errrrr, are there pains I have that aren't connected to me??? Well, Hubbard covered that too.
She was allowed to attest as "natural Clear", while still being on medication.
16. OK... I did up through OT 3 and I will say I had huge wins on this level. I will explain how this worked FOR ME. I think it is very different for each person, but this is how it worked for me. In my teens as I have posted, I was looking for truth. While looking, one day I started having "Petit Mals" (or tiny seizures), and later a Grand Mal Seizure. Now doctors to this day don't really know what causes seizures, and certainly not me. However, I did know for me a Grand Mal seizure felt like I had died. When I would return, I would have absolutely no memory of anything, and I had often wondered if I had sort of died, and then returned. Now I am reading the OT 3 info, and Hubbard mentioned while getting close to these incidents, HE NEARLY DIED!!!
She did up through OT3, while still being on medication.
17. To the average person this may seem like a huge leap, but in Scientology you are sort of taught or brought along early on to make these leaps. So with that in mind, suddenly I realized why I had this horrible thing called Epilepsy! It wasn't just some physical condition as the doctors had tried to tell me early on. It was due to theses things called Body Thetans or Clusters (groups of Body Thetans or 'BT's who were stuck to me). This was an amazing revelation for me and excited me greatly. If you have ever seen a Grand Mal Seizure you are familiar with their overwhelming power and uncontrollability. The force was amazing to me and I used to wonder all the time, what could POSSILBY have caused all of this? Suddenly I had what I thought was the true answer! Before I continue, Please let me say that this was one of the worst things for me in Scientology. People were ALWAYS asking me if I had gotten rid of Epilepsy? It was horrible, as it is assumed it is not physical, or even if it is, Hubbard says all physical problems are caused by the spirit... thus assuming one SHOULD be able to "fix" it. Finally, at last I had found out why. So even though OT 3 is completely weird and a space opera story... I was so ready for ANYTHING, that this filled the bill. If it nearly killed Hubbard, the master of all everything, why not give me Epilepsy? See?
18. Actually on OT 3 I had great wins, or successes. Each session I felt like I was getting rid of the cause of this thing that had stopped me from doing my life's work (Clearing the planet in the Sea Org). Also, I was now finally going OT I thought. OT is a state where you are supposed to be Cause over Matter, Energy, Space and Time. That is what the original definition stated. So if I were to achieve OT, I would be done with Seizures, one would think.
19. After attesting to OT 3, I once again tried to get off of my medication, only to end up in a hospital with status epileptis, or many seizures. I finally went back on all medication, and have stayed on it, and have never had a seizure since.
Tory, of her own will and volition, without anybody telling her to do so, get off of her medication again! She now writes "I nearly died twice", trying to make it look bad on the CoS, when in this case the CoS can't be blamed for it at all!
20. I continued in Scientology for years after this. Scientology now has numerous signs all over their "Churches" stating "Scientology does not cure people and IF you have a medical problem, to go see a Doctor". However, in truth they were still implying that all I needed was "The next level" to finally "handle" (their word for get rid of) Epilepsy.
Tory continues in Scientology for years after this last incident, while continuing to take her medication.
21. In 1989 I arrived to Flag in Clearwater, Florida to do OT 4-8 which my mother-in-law had given to me and my husband for our 'inheritance'. When you arrive to do any service there one must do what is known as a "routing form". This routes you around to various people. I got to a 15 year old Italian young man who was supposed to be the Master-At-Arms (or head of Ethics) and he told me, "You are not allowed on the Flag Land Base".
A 15 year old boy (!!!) told her that she was not allowed on the Flag Land Base.
This totally surprised me, and I didn't actually find out why until I left Scientology in the year 2000 and finally read what ~actually~ happened. (Someone about one month earlier was there and had Epilepsy, and they had made him stop his medication. He died there). However, in 1989 I didn't know this, and insisted he was wrong.
Long story short, I fought ALL of the technical people there and insisted my folders be sent up to RTC (the top Management/Technical people). After one month of reviewing my situation, the Senior Case Supervisor called Flag and told them I had a FULL Ok to do all of the levels up to OT 8. They also sent a full Cram (Correction) for every single Technical terminal there re medication, and they wrote a Senior C/S International bulletin, and I'm the first example. It basically says if someone has tried to get off of medication and they cannot, and they have an OK from their Doctor, they should not be stopped from getting auditing.
The C/S bulletin says that if someone has tried to get off of medication and they cannot, and they have an OK from their Doctor, they should not be stopped from getting auditing!!!
This is literally what Tory wrote in 2003! And what is Tory saying now to the press? Check it out here and here And also listen to her video. Here are some examples of what she is saying now:
"THOUSANDS of members of the Church of Scientology may be suffering from untreated mental and neurological conditions, according to a former follower who taught John Travolta, the Hollywood star."
"Sufferers are told to cure themselves with vitamins and saunas while it is denied that they have problems such as epilepsy or autism, said Tory Christman, now a fierce critic of the church. "
"Fellow Scientolo-gists refused to accept that she had a “real” illness, insisting that she work harder studying the teachings of the church’s founder, L Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer, she said. "
"Tory Christman, who reached the upper echelons of the church, claims she was told to stop taking the drugs by an unqualified medical official, which led to her seizures returning and to her knocking her teeth out in the bath."
Note that this last bit is true, but is only part of the full story. By taking part of the story and presenting it as the whole story, Tory fully illustrates what Anonymous described as her "deceitful and manipulative ways" and for which they virtually "expelled" her from their mist.
The reasons they brought about are remarkably similar to what she is doing now:
"You have lied about the situation, manipulated those who care about you, and shown a lack of remorse for anything other than getting caught." [...]
"You are still welcome to appear at Anonymous protests and pickets [...] However, we recommend that in your future contacts with the media you learn to keep your story straight."[...]
"We respectfully suggest that you seek professional help in properly deprogramming yourself, as it appears you still have a long way to go before you can declare yourself healthy
That was my final "win" re medication, after 20 years of fighting with them. I then stayed on what is known as "OT" 7 for 7 years, again trying to "handle" Epilepsy, to no avail, of course.
Once I finally woke up and realized this was one gigantic sham, I have been free ever since. However I continue to speak out in hopes ANY ONE with any physical problems stay miles and miles away from Scientology. I cannot tell you how many people I know who have died from lack of correct medical help, who were supposed "OT's".
I attest that the above is true.
Tory Christman
January, 2001
Revised: February, 2003
