This is a very disturbing and uncomfortable subject matter, but I think it’s a story that needs to be told. Cults are certainly nothing new in American culture.
Almost everyone is familiar with Jim Jones and his “People’s Temple” that ended in mass suicide. Most have heard of the crazy “Heaven’s Gate” cult that committed suicide to catch an alien spacecraft trailing the “HaleBop” comet some years back.
However, one cult you probably haven’t heard about is called “The Family” or “Children of God” or as it’s known today “The Family International.”
This particular group is without a doubt the most disturbing and I dangerous cult I have ever heard of. I became interested in this story after accidentally coming upon a site created by some of the survivors of “The Family.” I decided to find out more about this group, but what I found was more horrifying than anything I could have ever imagined.
Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago an excellent documentary aired on television made by a handful of young men who were raised in the “The Family” but escaped in there late teens and early twenties.
It was a very unpleasant but very revealing look at the devastating psychological effects there upbringing has had on them. You can read a review of ‘Children of God‘ from the Los Angeles Times and find out a little more about the film.
Sex is the driving force behind the group and children are thought of as “sexual beings” and the sexual abuse of children begins at infancy and continues to adulthood. Sexual intercourse with siblings and other children and adults is encouraged by the group’s leaders David Berg and Karen Zerby.
David Berg and Karen Zerby gave birth to a boy in 1976, and were determined to make Ricky a “poster boy” for their followers. They named the boy Ricky, but called him “Davidito.” He was, according to them, a divine prince, destined to lead the Children of God through the biblical end time. As such, they felt that Ricky must be molded into an ideal follower, an incarnation of their beliefs and practices. His upbringing was exhaustively documented and highly publicized as a model for all parents in The Family to follow. As a result, Ricky’s childhood and youth was spent in a highly controlled environment characterized by intense indoctrination, stringent discipline, and sexual initiation by adults.
In early 2001 Ricky made his escape, but the psychological damage he suffered made it impossible for him to live a normal life. He spent several years plotting revenge and in 2005 Ricky Rodriguez hunted down a member of “The Family” who was his “nanny” and routinely sexually abused him. He kidnapped, tortured, and murdered her then committed suicide shortly after that.
Rodriguez left behind a videotape confession nearly an hour in length discussing why he did what he did and what the cult did to him and his siblings. It’s important to remember that this group still operates in large numbers both in the U.S. and around the world.
I think most people will be very surprised that such a sick and disturbing group has been allowed to operate with impunity inside the United States.
David Berg died in 1995 leaving his wife Karen solely in charge of the group. Her exact whereabouts are a closely guarded secret within the organization, because of death threats made by some of her former victims.
Write your Congressman and tell him/her that you want an investigation by the Justice Department into this group.
Written By Chris Jones
Editor-In-Chief
The Hot Joints
webmaster@thehotjoints.com
See related Video from “A Current Affair”
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8 users commented in " “The Family” is a cult everyone should know about "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackRediculous! This guy, Chris Jones, sounds like Jim Jones’ brother. He obviously hasn’t read the academic papers and studies from some of the world’s leading authorities on New Religious movements that have been studying the Family International over the last 15 years to prove or disprove many of these outlandish allegations regarding sexual abuse of Family Children which, even though 100’s of Family children have been institutionalized and studied in depth for months, none of them have been substantiated. Anyone that has had any contact with sexually abused kids can tell you that they become introverted and carry the scars with them for years. The documentary that Chris is pushing never mentions the fact the every allegation of sexual abuse of children and misconduct that has been leveled at the Family International has been dismissed, disproved and thrown out of court. The Family even won counter suits again the instigators of such accusations and was paid reparations for the actions of the Child Protective services in Australia. The judge that was behind the raids in Argentina was disbarred for his conduct and the Family still goes on, preaching the Gospel of love and faith in Jesus!
Destructive cults are around I used to be in one.
All you need to know about the Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they say “Jesus had his return to power” aka his second coming in the year 1914.
What do you think?
Debunking the Jehovah’s Witnesses propaganda:
A) They are at your door to recruit you for enslavement to their watchtower corporation,they will say that “we are just here to share a message from the Bible” this is deception right off.
B) The ‘message’ is their false Gospel that Jesus had his second coming already in 1914.The problem with this,is it’s not just a cute fairy tale,Jesus warned of the false prophets who would claim “..look he is here in the wilderness,or see here he is at the temple”
C) Their anti-blood transfusion ban has killed hundreds if not thousands
D) once they recruit you they will “love bomb” you in cult fashion to also recruit your family & friends or cut them off. There are many more dangers,Jehovah’s Witnesses got a bad rap for good and valid reasons.
—-
Danny Haszard Jehovah’s Witness X 33 years and 3rd generation
http://www.freeminds.org
The Family cult has not only been helped by highly paid lawyers but also by religion professionals who have gained the reputation of ‘cult defenders.’ Primary amongst them is J. Gordon Melton.
Fortunately enough evidence is still available to demonstrate that The Family is a sex cult. Its values then and now have nothing to do with Biblical Christianity:
The Family / Children of God examined.
I am current second generation member of the Family International, and now raising my own family currently consisting of 5 children within the Family International.
There are so many insinuations, half-truths, misrepresentations, and lies written about the Family International, some of the same are regurgitated and written in this post, that to go into detail necessary to clarify, refute and set the record straight, I’d have to spend time you & I just don’t have. –hey did I mention I have 5 kids?
But I’ll refute a few of them; there is NO SEXUAL ABUSE (or other abuse) in the Family International communities I have lived in! -and if you want to see how other hundreds of SGA (Second Generation Adults) refute these (and other) allegations, go to this site http://www.myconclusion.com
Noah Thompson, one of those who created the documentary referred to here, and who I knew for a couple years, did not ‘escape’ he simply did want many other thousands did when they decided to leave our church —they left freely, of their own volition, and without constraint, in fact most were encouraged to move on if/when it became clear they no longer wished to remain part of our church, to say he ‘escaped’ is absurd.
To see what we actually believe and practice, regarding Children you can click here and read part of our statement of faith http://www.thefamily.org/about/beliefs.php#26, and as the post preceding mine states, we’ve won every court case, and have even counter sued and won. Remember the words ‘If they persecuted Me they will also persecute you’ John.15:20, and ‘all that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ 2.Timothy 3:12, much (if not most sad to say) of what you’ll hear and read today about the Family International is just plain and old fashioned religious persecution, it’s been around for millenniums and will be around for millennia to come.
I was born and raised in the group that now calls itself The Family International and left the group 5 years ago.
First, let me state that Josh is correct in saying that sexual abuse does not currently occur within the group and is no longer promoted. Sadly, this has not always been the case.
During my time in The Family, I too, defended the group in the same naive way that Josh does now. I was convinced that it was not sexual abuse when I at the age of 8 I had sexual contact with an adult woman. I was convinced that the weekly “sharing nights” during which our adult supervisor had children aged 5 through 10 pair up for sex were not abusive. I was convinced that the fact that I only had a 6th grade education at the age of 18 was not educational neglect. I was convinced that the harsh beatings I received during the “Victor Camp” (http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Swiss_Victor_Camp) were not physical abuse.
I, like Josh, was adamant that no abuse had occurred despite the fact that I had experienced it. I have come to learn that I was not alone in my experiences, and that many of my friends and peers–particularly the girls–experienced much worse abuse than I.
Furthermore, the fact that the abuse was widespread is clearly documented in the group’s own (now expunged) publications. For one example, see http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Story_of_Davidito#Page_scans. I challenge anyone to say that what is being done to Davidito (Rick Rodriguez) in these images is not sexual abuse and is not a crime. These images were taken by his caregivers and their publication to Family members sanctioned by his own mother who remains a leader of the group to this day. The Family’s leadership has never publicly denounced those images as sexual abuse.
Another point on which I must agree with Josh is about “escaping” the cult. In most cases, it is not a matter of escaping physically. It is, however, indisputably, nearly always a matter of escaping psychologically.
I find it disheartening that those of us who were victims of such abuse are now being called liars and are accused of twisting the truth by our own peers. One would hope that an organization that is truly interested in “making a difference” would show more compassion and attempt to make amends with those they have hurt.
Maybe there’s still hope for that.
Been studying the family for a good while thanks for getting the word out good luck.
perhaps someone an help me. my husband “funds” a longtime member of the OG and his now very large family. he sends monthly money and often they “appeal” to him to help them do God’s work by financing thier tryst around the ounty for family get togethers etc. i have no clue what the hell it is that they do…where the money goes and why they can’t get jobs. our bloodsuckers are in india and the new wife has become very skilled at getting money out of him. i can never trae them or thier work. the new wife’s name is hema mooney but changed it to abbey fisher (why?) can you help?
M
David Wells you sound like your one of them!Thank you Chris for being profoundly moved as I am.Even the thought that they had to change there publication is proof enough for me.Beleive me when I tell you David wells,kids know how to keep quit and play the roles around adults and out siders and shrinks.I am sure not all kid in this group are being abused and I would hope the organization doesn’t promote it( any more)But you at a group of people say 50 you can bet someone is a child molester and that is anywere.So, to defend such a large group and say no one does this is just plan bull!! I believe.
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