T ➔ R the leader cult the murder-suicide age 29. Ricky Rodriguez, pictured Ricky Rodriguez, , would commit David Berg, would commit REPO with his stepfather, founder founder with his stepfather, Kristina and Celeste Jones and their half-sister Juliana july 07 question: “How can you do that to kids and sleep at night?” Buhring have long wondered the same thing. In their book , released this month, they sexual c add their horrifi suffered have to claim who others the to voices abuse while growing up in the Children of God. “From birth we were conditioned to obey and follow the way of the cult,“ they write. “We had no choice and knew no other The way.” in place took which experiences, their chronicle bravely sisters knowledge sexual a developing included and Asia, and UK the questioning hide to forced being years, their surpassed far that minds beneath obedience, relying on other children instead of adults, and expressing their frustration, depression and and bringing her to his home. Smith, who as had spent Zerby’s secretary years and also looked time after in his younger years, would Rodriguez never leave that for apartment. a Rodriguez stabbed her to death and, early the next morning, ended his own life with a bullet to nal his head. Among his fi words on his video murder-suicide note was this haunting 041

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LIFE INSIDE THE CHILDRENTHEINSIDE LIFE OFGOD CULT OBEY we were we icky icky Rodriguez had a plan. Sitting in his home on Arizona January 7, 2005, wearing a top, sleeveless 41 Sum a with and scalp, the to close shaved hair his record pressed he background, the in playing album on his video camera. Over the next 56 minutes his to It was time for Rodriguez to take his fi nal It stand was against time for to Rodriguez take his fi The next day, 29-year-old Rodriguez put his plan in WHO GREW UP INSIDE THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS SECT? BY KERRIE DAVIES WHO GREW UP INSIDE THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS ESCAPING PAEDOPHILIA AND PROSTITUTION … WHAT BECOMES OF THE CHILDREN … WHAT AND PROSTITUTION ESCAPING PAEDOPHILIA the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his own mother, during Karen his Zerby, childhood in one most of the world’s notorious , Children of God said, [COG]. it’s had Zerby, sex with Rodriguez when he was just 12 . fucked “Man, up they our sure brains,” he there just … us of one ranted. fucking last every – were we what “Used that’s us as slaves. And voice would see-saw from an eerie calm to angry confusion. He He confusion. angry to calm eerie an from see-saw would voice because justice, for “a need he said, revenge”, for “a need had I go can’t on like this”. Before him lay his tools of retribution tape. duct and knife a handgun, a including – motion, inviting former cult member Angela Smith to dinner for those sick fuckers’ pleasure.” R FROM LEFT Kristina Jones, FROM LEFT Kristina Jones, after years of sexual abuse. Juliana Buhring and Celeste Juliana Buhring and Celeste Jones escaped the religious cult Jones escaped the religious july 07 040 both members of Children of God. Juliana), pictured here in 1976, were and Christopher Jones (also father of madison Kristina and Celeste’s parents, Rebecca Kristina and Celeste’s

, is left, ➔ ➔ Children Children conceived this stayed Cults: Cults: Too Good To Be True, the literature the cult cult a was was called this men.) of shers because fi were Jesus’s followers way were called Jesus and Babies, Ricky Rodriguez was of them. “One one of the issues with who of disillusioned “Essentially the it. of wife, those rst

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Kristina, Celeste and Juliana’s father, Christopher Jones, Christopher father, Juliana’s and Celeste Kristina, But not everyone agreed with Berg’s interpretation Berg died in 1994, but Zerby is now believed to direct and four age at photos for naked posing of writes Kristina disgusted, defi love. leads interventions and counsels those who have left cults. cults. left have who those counsels and interventions leads joined COG like many others, as an idealistic Christian youth. He had three children – Celeste, Kristina and David – with fellow cult member Rebecca, who joined in they were her faithful teens to each and other until Berg decreed in his Law of 1976 Love as a way to justify taking Zerby as his second wife. “Berg told his followers that the Ten Commandments were now obsolete. Everything done in love (including and extramarital incest, Adultery, God. of eyes the in sex) okay was adult–child sex were no longer sins,” write the sisters. of of love. Two rst wife, disillusioned thirds fi including including Berg’s of the cult and and left, disgusted, but those who obediently obediently stayed embraced it. “Essentially, ning characteristic of the the a defi cult is that is the the notion of surrender, been anticipated and stringent rules established earlier on.” been anticipated and from organisation a no secret longer location practices unacceptable elements and the of Berg’s doctrine. the Activities abusive relating and prior renounced, formally were children with contact sexual to socially to Berg’s death, in 1986 have and, linked no though COG members police conclusively to investigations sexual abuse, Borowik did also state early in the year of death, Rodriguez’s that “during a transitional stage of our movement, from 1978 to about 1985, there were cases when minors were subject to advances.” sexually inappropriate various of hands the at abuse sexual of acts shocking enduring of naked danced sisters three the them, Between members. COG for Berg, had with “dates” and other scheduled children older members of the sect, and Kristina even brushed her mother’s would – followers female Fishing” she “Flirty went before hair offer sex to recruit new male members and benefactors. (It are,” fathers their who know don’t people of lot a that] [is COG says Raphael Aron, who wrote arising from our liberal stance towards sexuality should have july 07 FOR BERG 042 Story article, madison New York

Early hand-outs from Children of God, promoting the practice to sex. shing” and extremely liberal attitudes irty fi of “fl The Rolling Stone Rolling . A 762-page how-to Bedtime reading, as for all in all for as reading, Bedtime DANCED NAKED OF THE SECT THE OLDER MEMBERS OF of Davidito guide for raising book children, chronicled the the upbringing of Ricky “Davidito” Rodriguez. rebellion and escape. rebellion and escape. thecult, was the disturbing exhaustion exhaustion through such as anorexia disorders ultimately, (which and 16), age Juliana at suffered T “DATES” WITH OTHER WITH OTHER “DATES” SCHEDULED R

ince the ’60s when California-based Berg created the created Berg California-based when ’60s the ince cult, a kind of religious twist on the hippy mindset, it has undergone reformation. Their spokesperson today, Claire Borowik, describes it as fellowship a with Christian 4,000 children and 4,000 adult was referred to as “unabashed child pornography”, that she had assured him in that phone call “things In the 24 hours before Rodriguez died, he had called When When Kristina heard about Rodriguez’s fate, she had

Zerby and her son Ricky said she slept with - it’s him when he was 12. Cult “Queen” Karen Cult “Queen” Karen THE THREE SISTERS THREE THE AND HAD CHILDREN AND CHILDREN As the stepson of cult founder David Berg, (Berg took Zerby, secondwife),hisMaria, asMama orQueen the asknown now 2005 a In Messiah. the considered was he was as distressed, deeply was and years for cult the of out been him. with lived and did, Celeste but him know didn’t “I Celeste. He was the poster Everyone in boy. the group knew him in a the see to heartbreaking extremely and shocking was It … way … up stored had he pain the and with deal to had he culties diffi him.” affected childhood his much how shows It Celeste saying he could not go on. She told Davidito and called “perhaps the most disturbing book ever published in the name of religion”. In it, accordingwas a photographnanny suckingof to Rodriguez’s the two-year- Kristina, there secretaryshownlyingnakedwas penis,whileZerby’s boy’s old the prophesisedin not was it course,Of . top” on [Ricky] “with book that this young boy would later commit murder-suicide.

members who live across 100 countries (including Australia) in Australia) (including countries 100 across live who members aid sends group The houses. communal 718 workers and missionaries to disaster areas and its more musical members have organisation’s even The House. White the at sung name has changed from Children of God to the Family International, controversial and Berg’s views “There’s wrote, once on he Though addressed. sex have nothing in the been world at all wrong with sex as long as it is practiced in love whatever it is, or whoever with, it’s no matter who, or manner”, what or relative what or age what in 2005, Borowik said, “In became hindsight, it clear that potential problems S Greece. So where do you go for legal redress?” would be taken seriously.” Still, she added to the newspaper, the abuse “happened everywhere – in the Philippines, Japan, Times Times REPO REPORT

giving up of one’s individuality; surrender in an emotional, In Sri Lanka, physical and spiritual sense under the powerful infl uence of a Christopher and higher authority,” explains Aron. Serena (holding Kristina and Celeste’s father, Christopher, took COG Juliana) and Celeste lovers, including Serena Buhring, who gave birth to their (next to her father). half-sister Juliana. Their mother began a relationship with The sisters’ book of an Australian-born, violent former drug addict, Bill*, and their experience they later moved to the UK, taking Kristina and David, while growing up inside Celeste stayed with her father at the commune in India where the cult is available they had been living. Confusingly, Kristina, Celeste and July 1 ($29.99, Juliana are just three of 15 half-siblings from their father’s HarperCollins). relationships within the cult. “As children, we were taught that we were the hope of the future, untainted by TV and the ‘system’. We felt we were on this ride where we lived in fear – of [the cult members], of the police … We were beaten down, mentally and physically …” says Kristina, now 30 and living in the UK. “Despite being indoctrinated into radical sexual beliefs, I was disgusted,” she writes in the book. “I did not want my baby sister to suffer what [Bill] had done to me [physical and sexual abuse] … All this contributed to making me anxious if I did not know where my brothers and sister were at all times … I was a nine-year-old girl heading for a nervous breakdown.” and get the courage to go against it. Meanwhile, Celeste and Juliana were abused as they I love her very much.” travelled with their father, Christopher, to communes around The transition to normal society Asia. When Rebecca later confronted him about Celeste’s abuse, for ex-cult members is rarely easy, explains Aron, and this is he dismissed the claims as “ridiculous”, adding that she was a especially so for those who have grown up in a cult. “COG kids virgin. To Celeste he said he hadn’t known about abuse within [who leave] have had the rug pulled out from under their own the cult. “Really? I’m sorry … I … I didn’t know”, he said. sanctity. They have lost their purity and innocence and they The sisters now worry about the fi ve young half-siblings didn’t choose this. They are angry and they don’t know where still with their father in the cult. “It must be hard for him to to vent … [During rehabilitation] you reawaken their pre-cult believe something so strongly for so long and admit he was mentality. But when you have someone who has always been in wrong. He doesn’t see [the abuse] in the same perspective, a cult, it’s one big blank.” which doesn’t give him any understanding. He doesn’t care. Kristina knows how hard it is to adjust to the outside He can’t care because it’s against what he has been taught … world. “There are a lot of suicides within the second generation He doesn’t realise the [damage] abuse can do to a child … It’s because basically, when you decide to leave, there is little help infuriating,” Kristina explains. and it’s hard to accept help even if it is offered. There is the By the time child welfare was concerned, so was stigma of being in a cult and a lot of people don’t admit to it Kristina’s mother Rebecca. She fl ed the cult – and Bill – and don’t know who to trust because of that disconnection. with her children in 1987, after being told to send Kristina to One girl left the group at 16 and sat in a pub for weeks listening a commune in the Philippines for “training for the last days”. to people’s conversation and [watching] how they acted. It’s a Instead, Kristina’s mother found strength and began fi ghting culture shock,” she recalls. to fi nd her other daughter, Celeste, still living with her father. Many turn to the website movingon.org, which has helped Celeste was secreted in a number of communes throughout the the two thirds of children of COG members who have left the world until publicity forced the cult to allow a supervised, tense cult. The organisation, which was created by and for young meeting between Celeste, her mother and Kristina. Later, people with parents who were members of COG, currently has Celeste left the cult of her own accord, as did Juliana, who was 4,250 registered users and even sells a baseball cap emblazoned by then living with her mother in Germany. with “I think therefore I left”. Moving On also directs members Away from the grip of the Family, Rebecca was ready to New York based group, Safe Passage, which helps children to face the truth when she read a memoir by Berg’s eldest connected to cults or high-demand organisations. daughter, Deborah, which spoke of how her father abused her. Berg would be turning in his grave to know that “Worried, Mum asked me if anything sexual had ever happened members of his “untainted generation” are now success stories to me. I relayed to her how I had been sexually and physically of the system he despised, despite most being denied a proper abused and she cried, feeling terrible,” Kristina writes. “[She education. Kristina works with Safe Passage; Celeste is a said,] ‘That vile, hateful man [Bill]! How could I have not seen. clinical psychologist; Juliana, a writer and David is an Oxford How could I have brought him into your life?’” University math scholar. But Kristina has found the strength to forgive her After escaping COG, Kristina holds out hope for the mother. “I’m proud of her. I know how hard it was for her to future. “I took a stance. I’m the victim here, but I am not going leave. She didn’t have any of the life lessons other people have to feel ashamed,” she says. “… There are horror stories and

had. She still managed to fi nd herself somewhere in there tragedies, but there is hope … I see good in the world.” m PICTURE MEDIA. SUE GREENHILL; XFAMILY.ORG; BY * NAME AS BEEN CHANGED. PHOTOGRAPHY 044 madison july 07