
My Childhood in an Apocalyptic Cult  - wallflower
http://narrative.ly/desperately-seeking-something/my-childhood-in-an-apocalyptic-cult/
======
jacquesm
Most of Christianity (and quite a few other religions beside) is apocalyptic.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypticism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypticism)

The big difference is that the smaller cults tend to place their 'due date' a
lot closer by, this in turn requires extreme (peer) pressure on the followers
to keep them from doing what their common sense tells them to do (to get out).

Cults are horrible. Religions are typically marginally better but they still
play the same tricks on people.

The biggest problem is that if the prophesied end does not come about as
predicted that some of these will not shy away from bringing it about all by
themselves.

~~~
nsxwolf
Science is also apocalyptic. The universe will end. Religions just intuited
this earlier.

~~~
wpietri
Not in the same sense, I think.

Apocalyptic religions want an apocalypse, and followers arrange their views to
fit. Note how often the date just gets revised when it misses. If I understand
rightly, early Christians expected Jesus to return while they were still
alive, and quite a lot of modern Christians expect the same thing, dozens of
generations later.

The apocalypses that science predicts [1], though, are narratively
unsatisfying. A bunch of bad things will happen, but most are so far in the
future that it's hard to imagine that humans will be around for them. It's
just not about us. In contrast, the science-y things that people seize upon in
an apocalyptic way are generally un-scary to people who can do math. E.g.,
planetary alignments, the LHC.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_the_Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_the_Earth)

------
cmsefton
A good friend of mine also grew up in the same group, and is currently crowd
funding a documentary about her experiences, as well as other cults in the US.
If anyone's interested, you can check it out here.
[http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/happiness-is-submission-
to...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/happiness-is-submission-to-god)

------
Theodores
The article links to an image of what 'Flirty Fishing' is about. Following
that link you can find more graphics produced by the cult leader. This gives a
good idea of what the cult is about:

[http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Family_Art](http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Family_Art)

They were not alone in promoting the 'free love' angle. Orange people thought
they were in on the same deal, some flavours of Mormonism have the same deal,
just so long as you are male. "The devil hates sex but God loves it!' has a
certain appeal to it for young recruits...

~~~
wlj
This is the specific one referenced in the article[0]

[0] [http://www.xfamily.org/index.php?title=File:America-the-
whor...](http://www.xfamily.org/index.php?title=File:America-the-whore-
ml216-cover.jpg&filetimestamp=20050909021739)

------
mhb
Recent New Yorker article about the Branch Davidians at Waco:

[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/03/31/140331fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/03/31/140331fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all)

------
mercurial
Quite interesting. It's fortunate that she didn't end up abused. Sad to see
that other cults like the Church of Scientology keep preying on vulnerable
people, though.

~~~
brazzy
I think the horrible cases of institutionalized abuse that make it to the
media blind most people to the fact that the majority of cult followers,
perhaps even leaders, are well-meaning people who care for their loved ones
and want to do the right thing.

~~~
mercurial
I think most people would agree that the majority of cult members are, in
fact, victims. However, since cults encourage the members to cut contact with
the outside world, this mechanically facilitate behaviours prohibited by
society at large, such as sexual abuse, corporal punishment, forced labour,
etc. I don't doubt many of the abusers have managed to convince themselves
that they're doing for the greater good, but then again, so do abusers outside
of a cult.

~~~
timje1
I believe that many of the thought processes enforced by charismatic cult
leaders (respect the elders, listen to the elders / leader in all things,
avoid thinking for yourself, submit to god - through me) are designed to
create docile followers - open to exploitation in any number of ways (get them
to sell their old belongings, hand over their savings, open their legs..).

These vulnerable people can and will be exploited by anyone with the will to
do it, whether it's the leader or another elder that does it.

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kijin
Children of God is now known as The Family International.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_International](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_International)

Curiously, the Wikipedia page makes no mention of the 1993 apocalypse prophecy
that failed to materialize.

~~~
midas007
Interesting. The Moonies ships an army of Korean boys and girls to the US to
solicit money from college students, old people and generally anyone that will
look at their flipover clipboards with pictures of impoverished people. [0] It
also owns a great deal of wealth and businesses [1].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonies)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unification_Church_aff...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unification_Church_affiliated_organizations)

~~~
GFischer
They had a lot of power in my country, and own an impressive mansion as their
headquarters (they open it to the public on a national holiday, it's
beautiful).

It seems to be on the decline here, they used to own a major newspaper, a
Radisson hotel (in the emblematic independance plaza), and several other
companies:

[http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/231655/el-declive-
del...](http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/231655/el-declive-del-grupo-
moon-en-uruguay/)

------
daturkel
The story is fascinating but I also wasn't aware of this site and I quite like
it.

~~~
spiritplumber
Agree, other than the insta-popup begging for a social media like.

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PerryBulwer
I'm a survivor of that cult too. Here's a blog article I wrote about the
world's worst aviation disaster and the beginnings of Flirty Fishing
(religious prostitution) in Tenerife with pictures of cult leader David Berg
and his first FFers. The cult tried unsuccessfully to bury the documents that
expose this. You can see one of those documents and links to others in the
article below.

"Secret letter claims Family International leader caused deadliest air crash
in history"

[http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2011/11/secret-letter-
claim...](http://chainthedogma.blogspot.ca/2011/11/secret-letter-claims-
family.html)

------
emmelaich
If you like this you might be interested in:

    
    
        Enlightenment Blues:
            My Years with an American Guru
        by André Van Der Braak
    

[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2134031.Enlightenment_Blu...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2134031.Enlightenment_Blues)

(disclosure; I'm a friend of André's)

~~~
wpietri
I'd also recommend the copyright-suppressed book *Life 102: What to Do When
Your Guru Sues You": [http://www.amazon.com/Life-102-What-When-
Your/dp/093158034X](http://www.amazon.com/Life-102-What-When-
Your/dp/093158034X)

The author, who had written tech books, got sucked into an LA-based cult. When
an old friend suggested he try antidepressants, he woke up and got the fuck
out. When he later fell sick, the cult sued him over the book and got the
copyright to it.

It's not a perfect book, because the author was clearly still struggling to
come to terms with his experience. But I think that makes it even more
interesting.

------
jstalin
I recommend the book "Combatting Cult Mind Control" by Steven Hassan. He was
in the moonies and talks about his experience leaving the organization and now
he helps other escape from similar cults.

