So I was stumbling around the internet and came across a youtube video about sex cults. And one in particular that had been undergoing investigation by the FBI. They call themselves "Family International".
Needless to say my curiousity was piqued so I went onward to their Familyx.com website. It's set up like a Wiki and has an assload of links and information. I begin looking into the background of the creator of the group, David Berg, completely convinced that this man is fucked in the head.
Of course I was right. Some (Read: all) of what this man claimed to be was insanely ridiculous.
From looking at the bulk of the cult's wiki page, I get the feeling that the majority of the cult's practices were sexually based. He felt that if you weren't practicing an angle of Good Love then you were a Devil Worshipper. He wrote an entire booklet on the practices of Sex and how the Devil attempts to taint the "Good Love" with different things.
His believers rarely saw him, as he seemed to prefer living in private, but that didn't stop his words from spreading. He also had a "Victor Program" established for teens within the cult who would rebel against any and all practices.
Basically all they did was Wake, Eat, Do Devotions and then clean. Their schedule was mapped down to the hour and branched out for a six day week.
In the earlier days of the cult, David would encourage even children that engaging in "Good Love" was acceptable and the "right" thing to do. This was put to a stop later in the 80's, as was sex with non-members under the threat of excommunication. Mainly due to the AIDs epidemic that was occurring heavily at the time.
There are extremely long portions of writing strictly dedicated to "Good Love" during Child-hood. Much of which I couldn't even get a quarter of the way through without being disgusted.
I guess my amazement lies mainly in how this was encouraged and actually happened [[and still does]]. I never understood cults, but after reading parts of "The Devil Hates Sex!" I can see how easily influenced many can be if they allow themselves to listen to this shit.
As a Religious Sort of gal, I found this all semi-insulting.
Here is a man portraying himself to be just as much God as the Man he prays to. He claims he is something of a "vessel", yet he creates his own deluded ideas of what it is God is saying and then forces whoever is with him to follow them. -- You don't mock His practices or attempt to create your own and claim them to be "just as good" as God's.
And if you didn't follow David's words, then you were put in what basically reads as a concentration camp. Which was given a mis-leading name. Victor Camp? I don't think so. Anyone who was sent there had to deal with the following:
- Hard labour (long work days, up to seven days a week.
- Silence restriction
- Corporal punishment (including public beatings on bare backs and buttocks)
- Strict diet & forced fasting
- Seclusion from other children or teens
- Denial of any and all entertainment (including movies, music, dancing, socialising, etc.)
- Constant supervision
- Locked in rooms at night (sometimes even tied to the bed)
- Public humiliations & shamings (often yelling)
- Rigourous physical exercises ('Duck walking' around courtyards, 50 star-jumps, etc.)
- 'Smile machines' (a crude elastic divice attached to the ears and mouth corners to create a 'smile'.)
That's another thing that pisses me off: --He forced these people to follow his word and if they didn't, they were punished. He wasn't "helping" them Follow God. He wanted them to follow him while he attempted to "play" God.
Another practice that was instilled to "encourage" others to share in the "Word of God" was, plainly put, prostitution. But of course they gave it a super-duper fun name. This practice was called "Flirty Fishing".
Check out some of these Practice book covers, they're a trip:
Plain and simple: "Flirty Fishing" in all of it's glory was/is Prostitution. But to make that practice seem less "dirty" they claimed it was somewhat inspired from the biblical line:
Matthew 4:19 where Jesus says, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
They would send women out to have sex with men in return for money for the organization, or to convert them to their practice.
This is the practice that was claimed to have ended in the 80's, but I buy that for a dollar.
This, in my opinion is just another form of attempting to force someone to follow a belief system that has been a crock of shit from word Go.
The Cult actually wrote up a Q & A report on FF as it was called. Here are some of the more.. interesting pieces from the document:
Q: "What is FF'ing?" Many of you asked for a definition and what should be reported as actual FF'ing.
A: We would like to answer that FF'ing is going out witnessing the love of Jesus with the serious intent to use sex or sex appeal as the bait, regardless of the situation or place. This can be anywhere!–On the street, in a park, while going to the local store, in discotheques or in clubs!
Q: Does "Loved Sexually" also include kissing and light petting?
A: We suggest you only include masturbation, sucking and actual intercourse in the figures of fish, mate, brother or sister loved sexually. It's all, or nothing at all! Hallelujah!
Q: If I make love with a fish three times on occasion, do I count it as three times, or just one?
A: Credit to whom credit is due! If you loved him or her three times then you deserve to count it as such! God Bless you! Happy Lovin!
Q: Witnessing over the telephone: Can this be included on the FF Report?
A: In order for a telephone witness to be included on the FF Report, you should have been actually flirting with your fish on the phone and actually FF'ing him or her. If not, please include this witness only in the Personal Witnessing Section of the Home Servant Monthly Report.
And then they end the report with this Gem:
And because I was curious and I figured who else that has been reading this is; I also got a picture of what their Servant Monthly Report papers looked like:
Now I haven't even gotten into the article on the Devil hating sex, or the most hysterical part of all this: David producing books about himself for children followers. But, I've made this blog long enough, so I'll touch on that in a second installment.
I hope you all were as amused as I was by this.
