Offspring of God: History and Teachings of the Notorious Cult

Offspring of God is a strict gathering that began in California in 1968. Since its chiefs have verifiably restricted individuals’ admittance to the rest of the world and requested that they surrender their cash and common belongings, Children of God is for the most part thought to be a religion. The gathering became infamous when reports arose blaming its individuals for explicitly manhandling kids. Offspring of God, presently known as The Family International, is as yet dynamic today.

Roots and Early Years

The faction’s initial beginnings are established in the nonconformity development of the last part of the 1960s. Originator David Brandt Berg, a minister, and evangelist for the Christian and Missionary Alliance turned into the head of a young service called Teen Challenge in Huntington Beach, California, in 1967. Berg enrolled his gathering’s individuals out of the radicals and untouchables that rushed to southern California during the “free love” time and coordinated a gathering of youngsters to wander the roads converting about the adoration for Jesus.

In 1969, Berg left the public Teen Challenge gathering and framed his own gathering called Light Club, which in the long run got known as the Children of God. He changed his name to Moses David and wedded a subsequent spouse, expressing that polygamy was authorized by the Old Testament. He told his adherents that God had selected him as the “End Time Prophet,” and that he would assume a critical part in the second happening to Christ, who might before long be getting back to earth. Berg likewise kept up that he’d been in contact with a soul control named Abraham who was transferring heavenly messages to him.

Lessons and Practices

Subsequent to asserting that God himself had talented him with predictions, Berg before long started setting outrageous expectations of his devotees. New individuals from COG were approached to give all that they possessed to the gathering, at that point cut off all contact with their families. They were likewise urged to surrender such a business and become full-time evangelists for Christ. Pinion framed cooperatives the nation over, and inside only a couple of years, there were more than 120 networks situated around the planet.

During the seventies, Berg started to energize the female individuals from COG to rehearse what he called “coquettish fishing.” Based upon Jesus’ order in Matthew 4:19, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men,” Berg taught his female adherents to go to bars, get men, and entice them into changing over and joining Children of God. In a 1979 yearly report, Berg expressed that his COG evangelists had “saw to over a fourth of 1,000,000 spirits, adored more than 25,000 of them and won around 19,000 to the Lord.”

In 1978, Berg changed the gathering’s name to The Family of Love and later transformed it again to just The Family. Sexual contact with potential proselytes turned into a standard practice inside the gathering’s participation, and at times, Family evangelists even utilized escort administrations to recognize possible focuses for enlistment. The act of “sexual sharing” and open sexual connections between existing individuals was energized.

Charges of Abuse

In 1989, The Family gave an official statement and official proclamation denouncing sexual acts including minors and declared that any part discovered to manhandle youngsters would be promptly expelled.

Previous individuals from COG have been blunt about the youth misuse they endured experiencing childhood in COG cooperatives. Entertainer Rose McGowan lived with her folks in a COG bunch in Italy until she was nine years of age. In her journal, Brave, McGowan expounded on her initial recollections of being beaten by faction individuals and reviewed how the gathering upheld sexual connections among grown-ups and youngsters.

Christina Babin, whose guardians brought her up in COG, portrayed the youngster maltreatment in the accompanying terms:

“A letter showed up from the Children of God pioneer, Moses David, urging grown-ups to show kids how to have intercourse, asserting it was solid and acceptable. Thus the sexual maltreatment started. I was disregarded in this manner from the age of 12 too often than I want to recollect, however sex was empowered with kids who were far more youthful.”

Other striking previous individuals incorporate entertainer Joaquin Phoenix, writer Susan Dupuy, and Fleetwood Mac fellow benefactor Jeremy Spencer.

Later Years

Following Berg’s demise in 1994, The Family was taken over by his widow, Karen Zerby. In 1995, the gathering was the subject of a British claim.

Following a preliminary identifying with the authority of a youngster naturally introduced to the faction, the Rt. Hon. Master Justice Ward composed a 295-page assessment on The Family. Ward established that the gathering had allowed sexual maltreatment of minors, intentionally detached and sequestered kids from their folks, and utilized broad whipping. Ward additionally inferred that when of the preliminary, these practices had stopped, and that he trusted The Family was not by and by a perilous climate for kids.

The Family International is as yet a functioning gathering. Previous individuals keep on shouting out about the maltreatment they looked during their time in the religion.

Offspring of God Fast Facts

Offspring of God, otherwise called The Family and The Family International, started during the 1960s is as yet dynamic today.

Since its chiefs restricted individuals’ admittance to the rest of the world and requested that they surrender cash and assets, Children of God is viewed as a faction.

Various previous individuals have claimed that, as youngsters, they encountered rehashed physical, enthusiastic, and sexual maltreatment because of COG individuals and pioneers.