The Children of God was a sex cult who translated their teachings into comic form. Cool right? No, not when children are involved.......
The Children of God was a California-based religious sex cult started by David Berg in 1968 that drew on the myriads of impressionable and indulgent hippies. The basic tenet of the cult held that a connection with Jesus could be found through sex. This resulted in a lot of creepy and exploitative practices:
- "Flirty Fishing": the cult's ingenious way of attracting new converts in which male and females members would sexual seduce outsiders.
- Female followers were instructed sleep with male cult members with the aim of bringing them closer to Christ
- Underage boys serviced their nannies for "spiritual" purposes — River Phoenix, whose parents were members, told Details magazine in 1991 that he'd lost his virginity at age four to another cult member.
- Pushing female followers towards prostitution to raise money for the cult.
- Unsurprisngly: the cult forbids male homosexuality while sanctioning female bisexuality (though female homosexuality at the complete exclusion of men is not permitted)
Even more bizarre, all of David Berg's weird-o sexual teachings (often advocating adult-child sexual contact), called Mo Letters, were documented in photograph, video, and comic form. Not surprisingly, shit hit the fan pretty soon and Father David went into hiding and later rebranded his cult The Family International (now with a creepily legit-looking website)
David Berg's teachings in comic form- entitled the True Komix series (Read more True Komix here)
Famous people who had their childhood ruined by the Children of God
- Jeremy Spencer: founding member of Fleetwood Mac
- Rose McGowan: slutty actress
- Actors River Phoenix and Joaquin Phoenix,
More about the Children of God
Tons of good stuff about the Children of God/The Family
Previously in Misc/Awesome:
- 12/28: Terrible Boyfriend/ Girlfriend Generator.
- 12/1: The John Waters Advent Calendar-it starts today
- 11/28: It Chooses You: All I Want for Christmas is Everything from Miranda July's Pop-Up Shop
- 11/3: Things I'd Move to Minnesota For
- 9/6: PHOTOS: Maloof $$ Money Cup
- 9/2: PHOTOS: Chantilly Model Train Show
- 9/1: Libby's List: 5 Things I Want Right Now...
- 8/22: PHOTOS: Best Friends Day
- 8/10: PHOTOS: Lawn Mover Racing, Eastern Seaboard Regionals @ Bowles Farm
- 7/26: Special List: Things the BYGays Want Now That We Can Marry In DC (and NY!)
God loves a cheerful giver.
i feel like i read about this in seventeen magazine awhile back. creepydeeky.
Well are their kids hot or not?
No wonder I was baked out of my mind on Letterman.
You should visit them for a few days to get your facts straight before you publish trash like this on your site. They're fantastic people.
Seth, which "facts" are you disputing? If even a fraction of these things are true (and it seems like there's plenty of evidence it is), I don't see how you can argue that these are fantastic people (I'm sure of course you're a member of the cult and therefore came here to defend them). But if you want to defend them, go ahead and actually explain which facts aren't true, and why.
I really do believe that adult contact like this with children screws them up, in way, where if they are dealing with other adults in a real world ,after being delivered from a place, where being exploited and having some sort of conception that having even willing intercourse with another person is just like kissing your mom, on the mouth , would subject any one to be out of place with others, I think it's really sad my ex from four years ago was with a women whom befriended his family, cut too the jest he couldn't even take ex his wife after a year later when I met him, whom is this women prior was very devoted to him and attractive well adjusted, he couldn't even take her seriously, even though she cared about him a lot , and what did that kind of damage do my ex boyfriend, he couldn't take any women seriously and yet again anyone, he was very well loved to be around with other people but honestly if that didn't happen to him, I think he would have tooken people as adults in completely different perspective and had a better life and I wouldn't have known him , and I remember crying after and being very upset and I said to myself I would have wanted it that way instead.
“I shouldn’t have known you at all’
Wow, really powerful stuff Nicole. You have such a clear insight into the issue, have you ever thought about writing a book on your experiences?
sike u crazy
Read your bible Jesus Loves his church as his bride The Family has learned and growed from their past and are fantastic people who love Jusus and the world. Their past of Love and literature is alot better that the Mother churches past of Death!
Some time back, I began having frequent interactions with one home that was part of the network of The Family. I had the benefit of becoming friends with some great people, and learning a great deal about the bible.
It was the single greatest spiritual awakening I've ever had in my life. The biggest distinction between a normal churches' literature is that they do not believe sex to be a sin. I know - that's shocking to hear about a group that was formed at the height of the hippy movement, right?
All of that said, I don't share their beliefs. Nor do I think there is an institutionally sanctioned pattern of sexual abuse directed toward their children. Have bad things happened to children behind closed doors in some of the homes? Probably. Though it certainly doesn't mean such behavior is condoned by the leadership of the movement.
The Family is an international organization. There are going to be some bad apples. There's also going to be a whole lot more good ones.
And Comics? Really? The Children of God were not the first religious group to get the bright idea of illustrating their literature. Or am I the only one who's been handed a colorful pamphlet by a Jehovah's Witness at my doorstep?