Born into The Children of God by Natacha Tormey

Born into The Children of God: My life in a religious sex cult and my struggle for survival on the outside, Natacha Tormey. London: HarperElement/ HarperCollins Publishers, 2014. e-book, 233 pps.


     Several kids in my high school joined up with The Children of God-- as the sex cult was known in its early days. One of them took me to the commune in New York City once. Even back then, the commune residents were dependent upon the charity of others/ donations/ garbage-raiding for food. The commune itself was a converted warehouse, rather grungy-looking. It was a place I knew I didn't want to wind up living in.

     The girl who took me to the commune got kicked out of our high school. She was intellectually brilliant but had decided to rely on "the Lord" to give her the answers to tests. Homework remained undone in favor of memorization of Bible verses, reading Moe Letters, and preaching to whatever bugs were flying around her head at any given time. I figured that this stuff wasn't really working for her all that well so I continued to do my homework [most of it anyways-- I refused to do proofs in geometry because I figured that if I could just look at the drawings and deduce the answer, doing other stuff was redundant and didn't make sense] and to study for tests.

     The girl told me about Flirty Fishing and Moe David's [David Berg's] excuses for having the C.O.G. women offering sex to businessmen while trying to convert them. It made sense to her. Made no sense to me. Another distinct turn-off.

     A few years ago, people who had escaped from the sex cult that the Children of God had devolved into began to tell their stories on the Internet via forums for ex-members and in published books. And the stuff that was coming out was horrid, sick, depraved. Adults having sex with other adults and children. Beatings of kids. Living in poverty. Begging on the streets or 'selling' COG lit in order to eat. Communes getting kicked out of various countries.

     I picked up Born into The Children of God thinking that I was prepared for whatever Natacha Tormey had written about. Perhaps not so prepared. Her book is a personal memoir of what it was like being born into a sex cult and how difficult life is outside of that cult when that was all she ever knew. Kids were abused in there [and I deeply suspect probably still are under the auspices of The Family International or whatever what is left of COG is calling itself these days]. Natacha Tormey was fortunate. Two of her brothers weren't. 

sapphoq reviews says: Natacha Tormey has written about her experiences in a clear and direct voice. For adults who are interested in coercive religions and cultic studies, personal memoirs and child abuse: highly recommended.

Not Without My Sister by Celeste Jones, Juliana Buhring and Kristina Jones

Not Without My Sister: The True Story of Three Girls Violated and Betrayed by Those They Trusted. Celeste Jones, Juliana Buhring and Kristina Jones. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2012. e-book, 342 pps.


     I knew a couple of teens who had gotten involved with the Children of God, now known as The Family of Love or The Family International. One committed suicide. The other eventually went to Puerto Rico as a C.O.G. "missionary." I heard she got out. I hope that is true.

     Rebekah [not the Rebekah in the book] took me along to visit the commune in a rundown section of New York City. I've forgotten now what borough it was in. The adults who lived there-- I didn't see any children or teens-- appeared to be happy. While we were there, someone arrived with some food "donations" for the day. There was bits of singing and speaking in tongues. I remember that distinctly. The commune itself was located in a rundown dark warehouse, not anyplace that I would want to live. 

     I knew about Flirty Fishing from Rebekah but I was not interested in being involved with anything that promoted "winning souls" through sex. Rebekah claimed that sex with prospective converts never resulted in pregnancy because god made sure of that. I didn't think that could possibly be true. [It wasn't]. I'd seen a few of the Mo letters too. The ones that I saw must have been rather tame. I don't recall anything striking about them other than lots of Bible verses. I did not see the comic books or any films.

     High school life went on and I lost track of Rebekah sometime after her enforced transfer out. I'd forgotten about her until I ran across the ex-COG websites. I'm glad that I didn't get involved with the C.O.G. Reading Not Without My Sister made me even more happy. What held me back was my dad. I could not and would not leave him behind.

     Not Without My Sister describes the horrific abuse of teens, children, toddlers, and babies under the guise of "love." The C.O.G. had evolved into the Family of Love. Under Mo's dictatorship-- and later his second wife's-- disciples were ordered to "date" each other on a rotating basis. This included children with adults as well as children with children.

sapphoq reviews says: The three siblings who authored Not Without My Sister did an excellent job of exposing the sexual and other abuse as practiced by the C.O.G./ The Family of Love/ The Family International. The book also exposed bits of the practices of the higher-ups which co-incidentally included developing dossiers on people who are brave enough to leave the cult, a practice borrowed directly from Scientology.
     This book is not for the faint-hearted or the easily triggered. For other adults, highly recommended.

Escaping Cult Entrapment by Gabriella Gallo

Escaping Cult Entrapment: (Our Journey to Victory), Gabriella Gallo.  Bloomington, IN.:WestBow Press: 2012.    e-book, 190 pps.

Escaping Cult Entrapment is about one cult: The Children of God which later changed its' name to The Family or The Family International.  This book is a testament to the author's mother.  The author's parents (the Santinos) were young and poor with a couple of kids and one on the way.  A commune ran by The Children of God took them in.  Sometimes the mom wanted to stay in the cult and sometimes the dad did.  The dad was into flirty fishing and sharing partners.  Mom wasn't.  They lived in a few C.O.G. communes and in a bus and at times in a car.  There were some more kids born and the Santino family became COG missionaries in Mexico.  Dad dumped Mom with all of the kids and took off for parts unknown.  After a couple of false starts, Mom and all nine kids settled in Texas in their own rickety trailer.  They were firmly out of the cult by then and a local non-cultish Christian church helped them fix up their trailer.  The author and her brothers and sisters grew up.  Through the actions of a younger now adult sister, their dad was found to be living in another country with a new wife and nine more kids and still in The Children of God cult.

Throughout all of the bad stuff and the poverty, the author's mother remained committed to her children and did the best she knew how with them.

sapphoq reviews says: Gabriella Gallo says she is not a professional writer.  She more than succeeded at communicating her experiences growing up as a child in a cult and later a child out of a cult.  Highly recommended to any former members of The Children of God and anyone else interested in reading about cults.