CultNEWS101 News: 7/1/2026

Culture & Media

Videos

Vice: Growing Up Inside A Sex Cult With Daniella Mestyanek Young

Vice sat down with Daniella Mestyanek Young, who is a Cult Expert, Cult Survivor, U.S. Army Veteran, Harvard grad in organizational psychology, and author of two books on cults. Her memoir Uncultured came out in 2022, covering her experience growing up in the Children of God cult & comparing it to her time in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer.   She now has a new book coming out in January called "The Culting of America," in which she more clearly defines what a cult is using a 10-part framework.

Raja Leaks: Epstein’s Secret Iowa Mission: How the TM Empire Landed on Moscow’s Hit List

"When Jeffrey Epstein quietly slipped into Fairfield, Iowa, in 1988—far from Manhattan penthouses and blackmail-soaked social circuits—he wasn’t seeking enlightenment. His visit to the Maharishi International University, escorted by investor Bill Elkus, opened a window into a strange convergence of billionaires, meditation elites, and geopolitical intrigue. As former KGB sources later confirmed Soviet interest in the TM movement, a darker picture emerges: a spiritual empire courted by global power players, from Moscow’s intelligence operatives to Wall Street’s richest men. Epstein’s Iowa pilgrimage wasn’t a detour—it was a clue to a hidden struggle over influence, ideology, and control."

Ongoing Focus

Spirituality Without Religion? How the New Age Came into Being

This article from The Mind Revolution by Rajeev Balasubramanyam traces the origins of the movement toward "spirituality without religion" in the United States, positioning it as a reaction against the restrictive, work-focused nature of colonial Calvinism.

Key points include:

• A Reaction to Calvinism: Early American spirituality was influenced by a desire to escape the "dreary" Calvinist view that humanity was inherently sinful and that life was not intended to be enjoyable.

• Eastern Influence: In the 19th century, the arrival of translated Eastern texts (Vedic, Buddhist, Taoist, and Islamic) provided an alternative framework to Western religious orthodoxy.

• Key Figures:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson: A scholarly figure who encouraged self-realization and emphasized the "integrity of your own mind" over mainstream religious dogma and materialism.

• Helena Blavatsky: A flamboyant and controversial figure who founded the Theosophical Society in New York. She was a vocal opponent of traditional Christianity and Western materialism, blending elements of spiritualism, occultism, and Eastern philosophy to create a new, esoteric approach to spirituality.

American Songwriter: How The Beatles Got Wrapped up in India and How It Completely Changed the Trajectory of Their Career

The Beatles' 1968 trip to India marked a pivotal turning point in their career, serving as both a creative catalyst and a precursor to the band's ultimate dissolution.

Seeking an alternative to the drug-fueled culture of the 1960s, the band—guided by George Harrison’s burgeoning interest in Eastern philosophy—turned to Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. While the retreat proved incredibly prolific, resulting in the writing of songs like "Dear Prudence," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," and "Mother Nature's Son," it simultaneously de-influenced the group. Disillusionment set in as the band members grew wary of the Maharishi’s financial demands and allegations regarding his behavior toward women in their group.

The lasting impact, however, was the profound shift in the band's internal dynamic. Upon returning, they emerged as individuals rather than a cohesive unit. Harrison deepened his commitment to Eastern philosophy, Paul McCartney pursued his own pragmatic songwriting path, and John Lennon adopted a hardened, cynical perspective that would define his solo work.

While the trip to India provided a unique creative atmosphere that gave rise to lasting music, it also highlighted and accelerated divergent personalities and creative differences among the members. Ultimately, the experience shifted the trajectory of their careers, fostering a focus on individualism that made the band's survival impossible and rendered their eventual breakup almost inevitable.

AI Research Disclosure: To bring you the most relevant stories, parts of this newsletter utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools to search the web, source articles, and assist with content curation. This content is for informational purposes only; we recommend verifying critical facts independently.

The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan, Joseph Kelly, or Ashlen Hilliard endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.

Please forward articles you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

CultNEWS101 Articles: 11/3/2025

Children of God, Twelve Tribes

The Daily: A legacy of hurt: What we can learn from the Children of God, David Berg's destructive cult

" ... In 1968, in Huntington Beach, California, David Berg founded the Children of God. The apocalyptic, evangelical Christian cult infamously preached sex as a pathway to salvation. By his followers, Berg was considered the "end-time prophet," someone who possessed supernatural power and would lead them into the end of the world. A collision of the broader Jesus people movement and the free love movement, Berg's doctrine boiled down to a multitude of sexually abusive practices justified by loose ties to Christianity. The group, still active, has since rebranded as The Family International.

The 1960s are recognized as a period of upheaval and transition, where counterculture was at its height. It is easy to look back on the decade with a nostalgic rosy lens, like one long Van Morrison song. But in actuality, political tumult, divisiveness surrounding the Vietnam War, and lingering tensions left many individuals vulnerable and lost, giving rise to cult culture.

"People join so-called cults, right, or sects for the same reason that people join churches," Lattin said. "You know, a lot of people often have a transition in their lives. You know, they're going through a difficult period in their life … They're searching for meaning, they're searching for community … a lot of the people who joined Berg's group were kind of rebelling against everything. They were in the counterculture."

Characteristics of the Children of God included recruitment methods and doctrine taught in subscription-style pamphlets, some copies of which can be found at UW's Special Collections. One such series, "Poorkid Magazine," targeted younger audiences, offering exaggerated cartoons, testimonies from other young people who followed Berg, and stories centered on the group's evangelism. Everything was penned by Berg, who wrote under the alias Moses David, a name more aligned with the identity he assumed as a modern prophet. In the second issue of "Poorkid," one particularly disturbing comic introduces the infamous "Look of love" concept that was an inescapable aspect of the Children of God's doctrine."

Vermont Daily Chronicle: A former Twelve Tribes member finds her voice through TikTok

" ... Tamara Mathieu starts all of her TikTok videos with a version of this introduction: "I'm a cult survivor. I lived for 14 years in the religious group called the Twelve Tribes, and I share videos about things that we were not allowed to do in this group."

Some of the things she says she couldn't do: Participate in some athletic competitions, celebrate her birthday, and read texts other than the Bible or publications by the Twelve Tribes. 

Last year, the Swanton resident published a memoir about her experience. Now, she's taking to TikTok. Mathieu started sharing her videos in July.

She currently has 3,403 followers, with each video receiving over 1,000 views. "A lot of people have contacted me who were also in the Twelve Tribes," she said, "or people who have family in the Twelve Tribes."

One viewer said they are devastated that a young family member joined the group. Another viewer commented, "Thank you for helping me understand what my granddaughter is going through, being there for almost three years."

Social media can play an essential role in helping survivors of cults connect, said Megan Goodwin, senior editor for Religion Dispatches and co-author of "Religion is Not Done With You."

"One of the most powerful parts of recovery is learning about people who have shared similar experiences," Goodwin said. "In my research, I see it being empowering for a lot of people. The connection part of it is really positive."

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Twelve Tribes as "a Christian fundamentalist cult." Still, Hadassah Hebert, a current member of the Twelve Tribes community in Plymouth, Massachusetts, who grew up in the religious group, describes it as "a selfless endeavour."

"We all have a common goal to not live for ourselves, but to create a place where people can come and find love," Hebert said.

Mathieu remembers first hearing about the religious group from her college boyfriend, whose relatives were in the Twelve Tribes. Mathieu met her boyfriend at the University of Vermont, where she majored in nutrition and food science.

During her junior year, she became pregnant and eventually decided to leave the university to care for her newborn. She remembers feeling lonely and isolated.

The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.

CultNEWS101 Articles: 6/30/2025

Children of God, Podcast, Zizians, Legal

Far West: The Incredible Story of God's Children Sect

"They preached the love of God on the sidelines. But behind the guitars, the songs and the community life, a daily violence was consumed made of sexual abuse, beatings, control and manipulation. Also, and above all, on minors. They were the "Children of God", members of the apocalyptic sect founded in 1968 in California by the guru David Berg and then spread throughout the world, including Italy. With unpublished testimonies of victims and former members of the group, FarWest reconstructs a controversial story, not yet finished. Revealing exclusively how, in reality, some old members of the sect are continuing to make proselytes."

iheart: Author Investigates Twisted Legacy Of One Of History's Worst Cult Leaders

"Cults and cult leaders are shrouded in controversy and mystery, often stirring intense fascination and fear.

David Berg, one of the "worst humans in history" founded the Children of God cult in 1968, known today as The Family International.

iHeartRadio podcast Behind the Bastards explores "bizarre realities" in depth, and recently dedicated an episode to examining the disturbing legacy of the cult leader who "retreated to seclusion" before his death in 1994."

6 ABC: Woman with ties to cult-like group to appear in court after border agent's killing

"A woman charged in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont is due in federal court Tuesday in one of multiple criminal cases linked to a cultlike group known as Zizians.

Authorities have said Teresa Youngblut fired the bullet that killed agent David Maland during the January traffic stop. Another agent fired back, wounding Youngblut and killing her companion, Felix Bauckholt, officials have said."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

WYFP - Cult Talk, Knitting Cult Lady

Mortifyd
Daily Kos
May 31, 2025

Uncultured, by Daniella Mestyanek Young

" ... She grew up in the Children of God pedo cult (they regularly had sex with prepubescent girls) got out of that as a young person, and then joined the Army, which is it’s own sort of cult.  She went to Harvard to study cults and cult behavior and now educates people on cult mentality and techniques for controlling members.  She also knits constantly at high speed.

She is working on another book at the moment, and puts out regular Youtube content which is how I found her, she is mutuals with Parkrose Permaculture, who I introduced in a previous diary.   I’m enjoying the book as much as you can on a subject like that, she reads it herself and does a really good job.  "

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/5/31/2325259/-WYFP-Cult-Talk-Knitting-Cult-Lady

CultNEWS101 Articles: 6/3/2025 (Transcendental Meditation, Andrew Tate, Grooming of Children, Children of God, Branch Davidians, Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, Devadasi)

Transcendental Meditation, Andrew Tate, Grooming of Children, Children of God, Branch Davidians, Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, Devadasi

Watauga Democrat: This week in the archives: Crops wiped out, Smoking costs locals, traffic solutions (May 20, 1994)

"Construction on the first phases of a resort east of Blowing Rock dedicated to Transcendental Meditation (TM) could begin this October," read an article from this week in the Watauga Democrat. The lead developer was David Kaplan.

"Since September 1993, Kaplan and other followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian-born mystic who developed TM, had bought almost 1,500 acres of land for the retreat and have worked on its development plans," the article said.

According to the article, the group of followers was led by Kaplan and they spent more than $2 million on land in the Blue Ridge and Elk townships in Watauga County. At the time, Kaplan said the development would take up to 10 years to complete. The development was expected to include four or five villages, homesites, hotels and a health spa. There were also two non-profit sites to be developed.

The non-profit site was to consist of 100 villas, which was to become the home of 100 full-time meditators, which the TM organization called "world peace professionals."

Kaplan named that site "The Spiritual Center of America."

The first for-profit phase was to include a village of villas, condominiums, a hotel, and a health spa.

"That part, which has been named Heavenly Mountain Resort, will be developed by Kaplan, who is the sole owner of Heavenly Mountain Inc., the site's development company," the article said.

Telegraph: Andrew Tate charged with rape in UK

The Tate brothers have been charged with more than 20 offences against four women in the UK, including rape and prostitution, The Telegraph can reveal.

Andrew Tate, 38, is accused of 10 charges including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain against three women.

His brother, Tristan, 36, has been charged with 11 offences including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking; charges connected to one alleged victim.

A CPS spokesman said: "We can confirm that we have authorised charges against Andrew and Tristan Tate for offences including rape, human trafficking, controlling prostitution and actual bodily harm against three women.

 "These charging decisions followed receipt of a file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police.

"A European Arrest Warrant was issued in England in 2024, and as a result the Romanian courts ordered the extradition to the UK of Andrew and Tristan Tate.

"However, the domestic criminal matters in Romania must be settled first.

"The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendants have the right to a fair trial.

"It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."

International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation (IJCAM):  The Grooming of Children for Sexual Abuse in Religious Settings: Unique Characteristics and Select Case Studies ( Susan Raine and Stephen A. Kent)

Abstract

"This article examines the sexual grooming of children and their caregivers in a wide variety of religious settings. We argue that unique aspects of religion facilitate institutional and interpersonal grooming in ways that often differ from forms of manipulation in secular settings. Drawing from Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, and Seventh Day Adventism) and various sects (the Children of God, the Branch Davidians, the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, a Hindu ashram, and the Devadasis), we show how some religious institutions and leadership figures in them can slowly cultivate children and their caregivers into harmful and illegal sexual activity. A number of uniquely religious characteristics facilitate this cultivation: theodicies of legitimation; power, patriarchy, obedience, protection, and reverence toward authority figures; victims' fears about spiritual punishments; and scriptural uses to justify adult-child sex."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.

Children of the Cult

Time Out

October 4, 2021

Refusing to let a story of heinous abuse die, this scalpel-sharp doc slices into the deep tissue of a (somehow) extant free love cult to find something seriously rotten beneath. Directors Maroesja Perizonius and Alice McShane investigate the Rajneesh movement, a cult led by a guru called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (aka ‘Osho’), that spread its malignancy into more than 30 countries in the 1970s and ’80s. Osho and his orange-clad believers dressed up a culture of child abuse in the hippie trappings of mysticism and free love. Children of the Cult delivers a passionate #MeToo message through the testimony of those grown-up but still haunted kids. It’s not a fun watch but it’s a must-see for anyone into vivid, Louis Theroux-esque investigative filmmaking. 

https://www.timeout.com/movies/children-of-the-cult-2024

Prayed Upon - COG

Assessable: Prayed Upon - COG

https://youtu.be/GVbGm6nI4-k?si=pa4IPuwap3YVkvlh 

CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/29/2024 (Children of God, Divine Light Mission, Krishnacore, Bateman, Child Sexual Abuse, Polygamy, Legal, Japan, Aum Shinrikyo)

Children of God, Divine Light Mission, Krishnacore,  Bateman, Child Sexual Abuse, Polygamy, Legal, Japan, Aum Shinrikyo

CR's Video Vaults: In Search Of Meaning, Ireland 1972

There has been a growth in popularity of religious groups like The Children of God and Divine Light Mission (DLM) who are meeting the needs of some young people looking to find meaning in their lives.

The Pit: How A Religious Movement Infiltrated An Atheist Hardcore Scene

"When it comes to punk and hardcore, a nearly palpable disdain for high-handed theology has long been the party line of the scene.

More than music, these bands are traditionally known to espouse a full-throated rejection of the dogma that many had force-fed to them during their formative years. Even those who weren't raised with religion and therefore dodged the personal indoctrination bullet can't turn a blind eye to Bible-thumpers influencing policies that clamp down on reproductive rights, gut social services, and fan the flames of international conflicts.

Of course, there's been a Christian hardcore scene smashing it out since the late '80s, parading their faith around right in the heart of a community that's built on giving the proverbial middle finger to tradition. And then there's hardline zealots like Vegan Reich, who somehow married the teachings of fundamentalist Islam with hardline fury. These groups have always lingered on the fringes, tolerated rather than embraced.

In the early '90s, a different kind of religious fervor began to snake its way into the scene, gaining a level of acceptance that was without parallel or precedent.

Invoking the serenity and communal ethos of the peace and love flower children of the 1960s, the Hare Krishnas represented a significant cultural and spiritual extension of the hippie movement. Disillusioned by the Western religious traditions they were raised in, these seekers pivoted towards the East in their quest for a form of enlightenment that promised a more profound connection with the divine and an escape from the materialistic trappings of modern society.

Easily identifiable by their distinctive shaved heads and saffron robes, Krishna devotees became a familiar sight in cities across the U.S. and Europe in decades past. They were often seen selling flowers, stickers, and spiritual literature or engaging passersby with their melodic chanting. Although walking a fine line between being labeled a cult and embraced as a legitimate religion, their peaceful, rhythmic voices and acts of kindness echoed the flower-power ethos, appealing to those seeking spirituality beyond the confines of the conventional.

In the 1980s, a unique convergence occurred as groups of straightedge hardcore kids from New York City and surrounding areas began to show an interest in the path towards enlightenment espoused by the movement. This road emphasized self-realization over sensory gratification—a principle that resonated deeply with the willful abstinence from drugs, alcohol, and casual sex that many were already practicing.

Disillusioned by the hedonism and nihilism that often surrounded people in the hardcore scene, the discipline and purpose offered by the Hare Krishna faith provided a means of personal improvement and greater meaning in life.

The origins of the Krishnacore can be traced back to New York hardcore bands like Antidote and Cause For Alarm, whose members were known to frequent Temples and openly utilized Krishna imagery in their visual art. The movement saw its ideas propelled into the wider punk consciousness with the release of Cro-Mags' debut, The Age Of Quarrel. This seminal album drew its title from Vedic scriptures, referencing a time of widespread conflict and sin referred to as the Kali Yuga."

AP: Polygamous sect member pleads guilty in scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children

"A businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring with the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border to transport underage girls across state lines, making him the first man to be convicted in what authorities say was a scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children.

Moroni Johnson, who faces 10 years to life in prison, acknowledged that he participated in a scheme to transport four girls under the age of 18 for sexual activity. Authorities say the conspiracy between the 53-year-old Johnson and the sect's leader, self-proclaimed prophet Samuel Bateman, occurred over a three-year period ending in September 2022.

Authorities say Bateman had created a sprawling network spanning at least four states as he tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which historically has been based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. He and his followers practice polygamy, a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it. Bateman and his followers believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven."

WFIN: Former Priest Dismissed From Catholic Church

"Former Ohio priest Michael Zacharias, who is serving life in prison for sexual abuse, has been dismissed from the Catholic Church by the Pope.

According to the Diocese, his case was transmitted to the Holy See, which is the governing body overseeing Vatican City.

The case was sent with the request that the Pope dismiss Zacharias from the clerical state. acharias was sentenced to life in prison last year for sex trafficking minors and adults. He served in multiple parishes, including in Toledo, Fremont, and Findlay."

Jiji Press: Japan Marks 29th Anniversary of Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack

Japan on Wednesday marked the 29th anniversary of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult's sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 14 people and injured more than 6,000.

At Tokyo Metro Co.'s Kasumigaseki Station, 16 station staff members offered a silent prayer around 8 a.m., close to the time of the attack. Shizue Takahashi, 77, a bereaved family member, visited the station to lay flowers around 10 a.m. "We are not in a situation where we can say the incident is over," she said, calling for efforts to keep the attack from being forgotten.

The attack occurred during the morning rush hour of March 20, 1995. Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin in trains on the three lines of Tokyo Metro's predecessor running through the station, close to the Kasumigaseki district where central government offices are concentrated.

At the station, two senior subway officials died, namely Takahashi's husband, Kazumasa, then 50, and Tsuneo Hishinuma, then 51.

Over the sarin attack and other crimes by Aum Shinrikyo, 13 people were executed in July 2018, including former leader Chizuo Matsumoto, then 63, who went by the name of Shoko Asahara."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

I was born into one of the world's most notorious religious cults, we thought Armageddon was coming

Alice Giddings
METRO
January 29, 2024

‘I didn’t have a life plan,’ says Petra Velzeboer, who grew up in the notorious Children of God cult.

‘If you think about growing up, pretty much every three years was some deadline for when the world was going to end or Armageddon was going to show up.’

Public spanking with paddles or belts were commonplace, she claims, as were enforced silence restrictions, periods of isolation, and propositions by older men for ‘free sex’.

The cult, which has since rebranded as The Family International, was all Petra knew for the first 22 years of her life.

The Family International still operates in 70 countries globally, though in a lengthy statement given to Metro.co.uk, the organisation said it ‘disassembled [its] previous organisational structure’ in 2010 and ‘currently functions as a small online network of approximately 1,300 people’.

‘The Family International has had a zero-tolerance policy in place for over three decades for the protection of minors, and is diametrically opposed to the abuse of minors in any form, whether physical, sexual, educational, or emotional,’ it added.

Throughout her childhood, Petra lived in communes spanning Brazil, Belgium, Africa and Russia, under the watchful eye of leader David Berg, whom Petra and her siblings were told to call ‘grandpa’, despite never meeting him before his death when Petra was 13 years old.

‘By the time I was 10 years old, he had pretty much gone from being on the frontline into hiding,’ she says.

‘The narrative for us was he needed to be able to listen to God’s voice, but the reality is police were investigating certain homes and communities and investigating child abuse allegations.’

While David Berg was investigated for these crimes, he was never charged or convicted with any offences before his death.

Berg’s theory, and the foundations of the cult’s birth in 1968, was that ‘a generation protected from the influences of groupthink would be protected from being moulded into society’s view of what life should be and would be able to think for themselves’.

But Petra, now 41, tells Metro.co.uk about the ‘regular indoctrination’ she and her family experienced.

‘Every song had lyrics that had their messaging in it saying “God’s the truth” and we would read letters or words from the cult leader,’ she says.

‘Every bit of propaganda, everything we read, every bit of literature, comic books, music, story books, was influenced by him and was often his narration, his voice, his prophecy and instruction.

‘So by the time you’re saying “oh I don’t know about this” or “this doesn’t feel right”, you already have the counter argument in your brain, because it’s been there from birth.’

As Petra says in her book, Begin With You, she and her family ‘traded one groupthink for another’ and it’s why, as a mental health practitioner today, she can’t stress enough the importance of independent thinking.

In Petra’s memoir she recalls events from life inside the cult, plus the ‘double-life’ she started leading outside of it, both of which left her with complex PTSD.

In her teens and early twenties she lived what she describes as a ‘hedonistic’ lifestyle of excessive drinking and drug use, getting arrested, experiencing extreme sexual violence and attempting to take her own life at 26, after leaving the cult at 22 due to falling pregnant with her first child.

Petra says: ‘What’s interesting is seeing the parallels between cult life and how we survive toxic behaviour. What I see in the corporate world is people doing similar things like giving up their own values in favour of survival and getting paid.’

Falling pregnant with her son gave her the final push she needed to leave.

‘People often ask, “how did you escape?” As if it were a prison or walls or a compound and it’s nothing like that when it’s these sorts of communities. It’s more the prison of your mind,’ she says.

‘You could leave at any time, and they would tell you so, but then in the messaging you would receive daily, it was people who left, God punished, so if bad things happened to them it’s because they weren’t listening, which would make people afraid of leaving’.

She adds: ‘For me and my siblings, we didn’t go to school, we didn’t have an education, we thought the world was going to end imminently, so everything out there was painted as other or evil.

‘It was a big leap in your mind to betray it and for many people they were ostracised by their own parents and support networks and would struggle in a big way once they left that safety net.’

When she left at 22, Petra moved in with her partner in London and cut contact with her family for a while. Transitioning to life outside the cult was difficult, exacerbating her depression and alcohol addiction.

‘You have the shock of “what this isn’t how other people think? My parents lied to me?” and then there’s depression and anger before you get to that acceptance,’ Petra says.

In time, she learnt healthy coping mechanisms to better manage her trauma. Now, as a full-qualified mental health practitioner, Petra wants the people who read her book to understand our ‘wellbeing, focus, plans or tactics can change over time’.

‘What I needed in the early days was to get sober and to learn how to be honest and to understand my feelings and emotions,’ she says. ‘These days, it’s movement and exercise, it’s having good people around me.’

Fostering independent thinking is also vital, she says.

‘I think expression in the right way is key for your mental health,’ says Petra.

‘It can be deeply personal like art which can help you – journaling, writing – all these things can help you go “oh that’s what I think”.

Petra does have some positive memories from the cult and notes that she had ‘adventures’ and enjoyed music in particular with her siblings.

The Family International told Metro.co.uk it has issued ‘official apologies on several occasions to any members or former members who were hurt in any way during their membership, and made the latest of these publicly available.’

Looking to the future, Petra believes that her experience with groupthink and mental health can be translated into other areas of life.

At one keynote event, a young woman said: ‘I’m waking up at 5am, I’m journaling, meditating, exercising, taking cold showers and I’m more anxious than I’ve ever been’.

‘I was thinking “no wonder”,’ says Petra. ‘We all think that we have to “do wellbeing” and achieve it by following all these people that seem to have these perfect Instagram lives and I just think the challenge to ourselves is to, even in this space, learn to think for ourselves, check our influences and then allow that to evolve over time.’

With that in mind, Petra said one of the most important things to do to preserve your mental health is to be ‘radically honest’ and ‘challenge your own bullsh*t’.

‘That doesn’t just mean speaking to a therapist, it could, but it means being radically honest with yourself,’ she says.

‘For example, asking yourself “what do I really want?”. If fear of other people’s opinions didn’t matter, how would I be living my life and I think more people are starting to ask some of these questions in a post pandemic world.’

She also stresses that while it’s important not to ‘minimise trauma’ it’s important not to get stuck there.

‘Trauma, big T little T, it doesn’t matter,’ she says. ‘It’s less about the thing and more about how it’s affecting your body and mind.

‘We don’t want to minimise trauma and mental illness, but we also don’t want to get stuck there, because I’ve been in that stuck place where I was like “well I’ve got depression, if you grew up like me you’d have it to” and I would surround myself with people that would feed that information back to me.

‘No matter what context you’re in, whether it’s a toxic relationship or a work environment that’s affecting your physical or mental health, so many people just say, “well that’s the way the world is”.

‘So I challenge people to begin with themselves and think what is one small thing that is within my control.

‘I used to listen to a one minute guided meditation, that was the only thing in my control. I challenge people to experiment with wellbeing tools and being honest and learning about themselves and what can work for them.’





https://metro.co.uk/2024/01/29/born-one-worlds-notorious-religious-cults-20187163/

Book review: Doomsday cult memoir tracks being 'blinded by faith' but seeking the light

Perry Bulwer’s memoir offers innumerable revelations and the price paid for blind faith

Brett Josef Grubisic
Vancouver Sun
October 6, 2023


Misguided: My Jesus Freak Life In a Doomsday Cult
Perry Bulwer | New Star Books
320 pages

Without a glance at the fine print (or, for that matter, even bothering with the publisher’s description), I jumped at the chance to read and then write about Perry Bulwer’s Misguided.

The book’s vibrant jacket — a smiling long-haired ‘70s dude in an ascot who’s strumming an acoustic guitar, that tantalizing subtitle, My Jesus Freak Life In a Doomsday Cult — inspired me to jump to the conclusion that I’d be amused by material David Sedaris might have concocted after he made a wrong turn into a brief residence at a commune.

Misguided’s not that, it really isn’t. Bulwer’s not a humorist, for one, and irreverent witticisms don’t appear on his pages. Nor does he make light of the damaging events of his past.

Informative and fascinating, the memoir is disturbing and not a little saddening. Bulwer’s well-intended “cautionary tale” recounts a dedicated search for meaning and a promised land that led him to a confining place of falsehood and lasting psychological harm.

Broken, impoverished, licking his wounds, and living in reclusive solitude at the end of the memoir where there’s “no happy ending,” Bulwer’s account of his decades being swayed by “irrational religious dogma” is an exceptional story. How unfortunate, though, that he draws the tale from personal experiences.

Bulwer’s history begins in the early 1970s, with a large Catholic family in Port Alberni, then Vancouver Island’s primary mill town.

Eager to not follow in the family’s tradition of mill work, young Bulwer, a thoughtful if impressionable altar boy, began to question norms. After an impromptu hitchhiking trip to California, he met groovy evangelicals, “part of a wave of Jesus People who came to Canada from California.” Their promises of peace, a new path, and being “set free by the truth” enticed him. Only later would Bulwer — taking the biblical name Obil — learn they considered themselves “endtime Christian soldiers fighting a spiritual war.”

Listless and lacking in adult guidance, the 16-year old quit school, left his family, and moved into the first of many, many Children of God communes. This “teen menace” and “radical religious sect” — as a Vancouver Sun article deemed Children of God — assigned him to a new commune in Nanaimo for basic training. Bulwer did not see his family again for four years.

Bursting with startling information, the memoir chronicles Bulwer’s indoctrination and years of travel across North America and Southeast Asia.

Misguided also describes daily life and routines; and Bulwer explores the effects of toeing the line and remaining obedient to the orthodoxy of his community, where “doubts were devilish.” “It narrowed my worldview, closed my mind, and broke my will,” he summarizes.

The portrait of the self-described “God’s final endgame prophet,” Children of God founder David Berg, a.k.a. Moses, is likewise remarkable. The man’s history as well as his beliefs and claims are never short of astonishing.

In voluminous writings, called Mo Letters — that covered everything from vaccines and homosexuality to masturbation and Ronald Reagan — he both addressed and attracted followers. Letters included 40 Days and a prediction that the U.S. would be destroyed the Kohoutek comet in 1973, Revolutionary Sex (which celebrates sex, including polygamy and child marriage, but labelled male homosexuality, abortion, and birth control contrary to God), and The Little Flirty Fishy, where Berg approved of prostitution in the name of religious gain.

In hundreds of communes, converts “litnessed” on street corners, asking donations for Children of God pamphlets; all communes tithed income to Berg and his management.

The man — autocratic, paranoid, capricious, punitive, and somehow charismatic, too — proclaimed himself to be clairvoyant and a visitor to the heavenly realm, which he believed was inside the moon; he also had a direct line to God.

He preached that he’d send messages to a wicked world and point to specific events with biblical significance. After the appearance of the Antichrist in Jerusalem, Jesus would return in 1993. His “chosen cadre” would then frolic in paradise for the next 1,000 years.

Needless to say, Bulwer observes, Berg was a “master manipulator.”

Later renamed Mike — after Michael, the archangel named in Revelation — Bulwer continued to work overseas. After a spiritual crisis in 1977, he returned home as “a high-school dropout with no work history, money, possessions or plans.”

Bulwer quit his mill job before his first shift ended and turned to “drinks and drugs.” Finding the “real world” difficult he soon learned the autocratic and paranoid Children of God had rebranded itself as tolerant, inclusive, and sexually progressive Family of Love, albeit still apocalyptic and advocating exorcisms: Reagan and Mount St. Helens proved to Berg that “the end is coming, & it’s getting might close!”

Unfulfilled, sad, lonely, and fearful in 1991 Bulwer returned to Port Alberni, done with the “strangeness of (his) Jesus-freak life” and a stranger to his own homeland. Despite plans and considerable efforts, breakdowns, rebounds, and acceptance of his brokenness ensued.

Documenting a hard-won release from bondage, Bulwer’s memoir offers innumerable revelations and the price paid for blind faith.

Salt Spring Island resident Brett Josef Grubisic is the author of five novels, including My Two-Faced Luck and The Age of Cities.



https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/review-misguided-my-jesus-freak-life-doomsday-cult

 

Vancouver Island author recalls 'Life in a Doomsday Cult' in new memoir

Perry Bulwer escaped from the religious cult Children of God

Vancouver Island Free Daily
BLACK PRESS September 13, 2023.


A Port Alberni writer has released a memoir where he talks about his experience escaping from a religious cult.

In 1972, author Perry Bulwer says he was a naive 16-year-old growing up in Port Alberni, a mill town on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He dropped out of high school to run away with the Children of God, also known as The Family—one of a number of Christian cults that sprang up in the 1960s and 1970s. Soon, Bulwer was preaching the cult’s doomsday message on the streets of some of the largest cities in the world.

In his book, Bulwer takes the reader on a trip through the world of biblical literalism, fundamentalist endtime fantasies, paranormal spirituality, evangelical extremism, ritual abuse and liberally interpreted biblical teachings that were used to justify licentious sexual doctrines, evangelical sex work and child sexual abuse.

Bulwer managed to escape The Family’s tight control in 1991. Returning to Canada, he tried to pick up his life where he had left off two decades earlier. Through education, Bulwer lost his religion, turning from religious extremist to a secular humanist lawyer, fighting for the rights of sex workers and drug users living on the streets of Vancouver.

Haunted by his own past, Bulwer has now become an advocate for thousands of second-generation survivors of the cult’s child abuse and psychological trauma scattered around the world.

Bulwer will be launching his new memoir, Misguided: My Jesus Freak Life in a Doomsday Cult, at Mobius Books in Port Alberni on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 11 a.m.

Misguided, published by New Star Books, is available at Mobius Books or online through Indigo or Amazon.

https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/entertainment/vancouver-island-author-recalls-life-in-a-doomsday-cult-in-new-memoir/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/1/2023 (Children of God, Guru Jagat, 3HO, Sextortion)

Children of God, Guru Jagat, 3HO, Sextortion

Mary Mahoney: Abnormal Normal: My Life in the Children of God - Kindle edition by Mahoney, Mary (You can read this survivor memoir for free!)

"A rational look into a very irrational group mentality.

The early 1970's was a turbulent time in the US. Anti-war protesters took to the streets, countless students dropped out and became hippies, and drug use spread among the young. As if to offer the youth a way out of this societal storm, there arose a rebirth of Christianity, the Jesus People. The Children of God was at the cutting edge of this movement. It is behind the curtains of this enigmatic group that our story unfolds.

Mary was only 16 when she was swept into the Children of God. The hugs, the camaraderie, the sincerity of the members touched her deeply, and she fell in love with their pure ideology of living simply and freely for Jesus. She threw herself heart, mind, and soul into what she saw as a noble life of self-sacrifice. Her days were filled with studying and memorizing the Bible and the group's texts, and telling others of her new-found faith. From that naive and well-meaning beginning, her world ever so gradually transformed through the years into a veritable house of horrors. But by then, she could not see the abuse, the exploitation, and the cruelty that surrounded her for what it was. Her sense of normal had also been transformed. Determined to never go back on her initial commitment, she continued on in denial, doing her best to be what she had been told "the Lord wanted her to be."

Imagine the shock she felt when the curtain was lifted after 31 years and she saw the Children of God for what it was. The guilt she felt for having been part of that abusive and exploitative group, the years she had lost, the family she had given up—all these had been sacrificed on the altar of her misplaced idealism. But worst of all, what weighed the most heavily on her broken spirit was the horrific realization that she had raised her children—the ones she loved the most in the world—in that toxic atmosphere.

How Mary pulled herself out of the darkness of despair and rebuilt her life is a tribute to the power of education and the indomitable strength of the human spirit."

Not The Good Girl: The Scandalous Celebrity Cult Leader From Suburbia | Guru Jagat and Yogi Bhajan Documentary

"In a spiritual world dominated by men, a young girl from Colorado was determined to be her own guru, and that's what she did… Katie from the suburbs became Guru Jagat. Having been anointed by a spiritual Kundalini master, Guru Jagat was ready to change the world. She wrote a book, spoke at Harvard, and was CEO of 7 businesses - including three global yoga studios where Hollywood housewives and celebrities like Kate Hudson and Alicia Keys flocked. But somewhere along the way, the girlboss facade began to fade… This is a story about luxury, fraud, businesses becoming massive empires, a cult-like work environment and much more… This is the story of a guru's fall from grace."

BBC: What is sextortion?

" ... The scam typically consists of someone posing as a woman on social media and luring people into sending explicit images of themselves. The scammer then threatens to make the images public unless the victim sends money.

Children are being targeted in their homes using gaming devices and other apps, officials said, adding that scammers often encourage victims to move to a secondary messaging platform after making initial contact.

Boys between the age of 14 and 17 are generally targeted but children as young as 10 have been interviewed by the FBI.

While the crime is estimated to have garnered millions of dollars in total, an individual scam usually results in a victim sending amounts in the thousands.

"This is a growing crisis and we've seen sextortion completely devastate children and families," Michelle DeLaune, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said.

"The best defence against this crime is to talk to your children about what to do if they're targeted online," she added."

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