“Children of God”: demonic cult disguised as Christianity

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David Berg, founder of the Children of God.

Talk about wolves in sheep’s clothing! David Berg, a malignant narcissist extraordinaire, who believed himself to be the Last Great Prophet of God and called himself “Moses David,” founded the hippie-like Jesus cult, the “Children of God” (a/k/a “The Family”) in 1968, as part of the well-known “Jesus movement” of the late 1960s. The Children of God (from here on, abbreviated CoG) believed in millennarianism, the “last days” and Biblical prophecy. Like almost all Christians, they worshipped Jesus Christ as their lord and personal savior. What’s so bad about that, you say? It’s just garden variety fundamentalist, evangelical Christianity, right?

Well, yes and no. Berg gradually began to incorporate very un-Christian, unbiblical principles into his cult and even re-wrote the Bible as he interpreted it. He believed sex was a God-given tool meant to be used by humans to get closer to Him.

Many religions accept sex as a good and beautiful expression of love within the confines of a marriage or a close and committed relationship, but in this cult, promiscuity and “free love” was okay, because it was a way to commune with the Divine. It was okay for a woman to masturbate and “come” for Jesus. They were encouraged to be “God’s Love Slaves.” Baby Boomers and younger members of the Silent Generation who had already become used to the idea of free love and sex with multiple partners were at first attracted to this “understanding” guru who loved Jesus but encouraged them to indulge in their carnal desires.

But it was their Generation X children who were about to really be exploited.

Illustrations in CoG literature and its Bible were cartoon-like (in the Jack Chick style of cartooning) and sexually explicit. Some involved children and S&M scenarios. Some of the illustrations are shown in this documentary series, so if you’re offended by sexually explicit drawings or pornography, you may want to be aware of this before you watch the videos.

Families were regimented, children were raised separately from their parents and raised by nannies (similar to the way the Hebrew kibbutz is run). Children were raised communally by nannies, while their parents spent their time focusing on their spiritual (sexual) relationships with one another and most of all, with Jesus.

But things got even worse. Eventually children themselves were drawn into the depraved sexual activities of this cult, and were encouraged by Berg to be used sexually by adults, even as young toddlers, to “connect” with one another and in the process become closer to God Himself.

Survivors and especially the adult Gen-X children who grew up in this destructive cult were badly damaged and suffer from PTSD and other serious mental conditions, and in some cases committed or attempted suicide.

Here is the video series–it’s in seven parts, but I have only posted the first installment. From there, you can click on the rest. This is very scary stuff.
The cult still exists today under their new name, “The Family International.”

Here’s another video that focuses more on Berg and the cult itself, rather than survivors who are trying to cope with the aftermath.

16 thoughts on ““Children of God”: demonic cult disguised as Christianity”

  2. Blech! This makes me want to vomit. 😣I’m most disturbed by the child sexual abuse in the name of “love.” 😠😔I’m hoping the survivors if this horrible cult are able to find healing, freedom, and *real* love.

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  3. Sick and awful. I just watched the whole documentary. It’s so sad how people who suffer abuse are in denial or just outright lie about it.

    I’ll tell you though, the denial is most definitely a life preservation tactic. I’m only beginning to realize about the abuse I grew up with and it’s not easy to come to grips reality on that subject at all.

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    • If you can’t escape, denial is a survival mechanism. That includes people who believe they can’t escape or haven’t worked up the courage to leave yet.
      It’s why someone in a bad, abusive marriage keeps saying “it’s not so bad” or “I deserve it” and they really believe it. Because if they acknowledged how bad it was and knew they coulnd’t leave, it would be unbearable to live with.
      It works the same way with these cults.

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  4. Some say Jim Jones was a mind control cult. I wonder if this one was run for experiments in mind control too. Jim Jones was not mainstream fundamentalist either. He had insane teachings nothing biblical whatosever. A lot of Communism and world Utopia nonsense. I see Berg as another Jim Jones. One big sicko was the FLDS cult with Warren Jeffs, trading young women off, he would even give himself the power to break up marriages and assign men to other women. May have attested to horrible sex abuse in that one.

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    • The Jim Jones cult was very sick too. Almost all these cults are run by self professed “prophets” who are actually psychopaths and extremely dangerous because of their charisma and charm. They draw you in with honey and before you know it, you become one of them. These cults are very scary things.

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  6. I’ve read a book about this cult called “Not without my sisters”, written by three sisters who grew up in the cult. It’s very disturbing, but tells you more about life in the cult. It’s also interesting how many of the survivors became famous: Christopher Owens (singer), Rose McGowan and the whole River Phoenix family.

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