The Family / Family International / Children of God cult

wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this cult? the only thread i could find about it was from 2003 :confused:

Excerpt from their site:

The Family International in Taiwan has been active on the beautiful Island of Taiwan since 1980. Our goal is to share God’s love, comfort, and joy in a tolerant, inclusive, and practical way. Volunteer projects have included personal counseling and life coaching, family counseling, youth programs and youth clubs, and counseling in juvenile detention centers and prisons. Volunteers have assisted in disaster relief since the 921 earthquake in 1999, and conducted field trips to impoverished areas such as aboriginal communities to distribute food, clothing, and educational materials.

Our members have also hosted seminars and workshops focusing on current topics: parenting, early learning, health, personal development, alleviating stress, and improving quality of life.

https://www.thefamilyinternational.org/en/work/asia-pacific/taiwan/

There are a lot of cults in Taiwan. Like pyramid schemes, the government doesn’t care enough.

Your experience was?

Their founder, Dave Berg (Moses David), was a hippy who encouraged his followers (including underaged children) to have sex with him, each other, and prospective recruits. I think he claimed to be Christ or something? Anyway, they say they’ve reformed.

I have a little insight. I lived next door to them in a gated community near Danshui. They seemed OK people, nothing too scary, pretty friendly. But the kids were always looked a little like they weren’t really into the whole mixed up families thing (they still practice mixed parenting). The creepy stuff is long gone (fishy flirting, underage sex). I later encountered some of the kids in other situations. A lot of them run away. One girl I worked with ran away and spent several years trying to get her birth certificate so she could get a passport and leave Taiwan.

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i was born into it. i didn’t suffer as much as my older siblings did, my family left when i was about 8. thinking maybe i could set up a support group of sorts for those affected by it.

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http://www.exfamily.org/index.htm

This is wild that they’re still in business.
When I was a kid, me and my friends would go and ogle the scantily covered hippie girls hanging around the busy corners downtown, handing out David Berg’s dirty-ass comic books.

Didn’t Joaquin and River Phoenix grew up in one of their family deals?

River Phoenix lost his virginity at age, ahem, four, while a cult member.

A fascinating problem! Was this an ROC passport? What documents did she have to produce?

they supposedly have? i know a lot of ex-members and they seem to shy away from being associated with it

to my knowledge it’s mostly just a bunch of ex-members being creepy and ‘doing good’.

More bizarre comic art:

https://www.google.com.tw/search?q=flirty+fishing&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfi-KCpoPdAhWT7GEKHa7eDp8QsAR6BAgDEAE&biw=1280&bih=887

The Holy Grail was always Mountin’ Maid

Back in the day, a hands on copy was hard friggin currency…

After Berg died (1995?) there was an attempt to distance the church from practices like Flirty Fishing, which had gotten a lot of media coverage. Actual practice probably varied a lot from group to group, and over time (as a lot of the old group homes fell apart due to defections).

yeah. some homes just became their own little cult. i think flirty fishing was denounced by Berg before his death, because of the widespread STDs. i could be wrong though.

I’d never heard of this group. But as for “flirty fishing”…When I was about 19 and at university, I met a 25-year-old, Southern Baptist preacher’s daughter who told me, “If I can use sex to bring someone to God, then it’s not a sin.”

From the illustrations, I’m guessing Moses was a breast man. :dizzy_face:

His name was David Berg.
And I doubt he was all that fussy

Hi! Seraphina, I was totally shocked when I read about this cult and your story.

As a Christian and a Taiwanese, it makes me feel sick and sad knowing this kind of mess happened in Taiwan.

Hope your older siblings will recover from this tragedy soon.