[www.exfamily.org]

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The religious apologist organization CESNUR is holding its 2011 conference in Taipei in the summer. One of the sessions is on TFI: The Beauty of Belief and Place: On the Family International in Taiwan - Daniel TARPY (Taipei, Taiwan) There is also a session on the COG break away group, Jesus Christians: From Quackers to Kidneys: The New-new Faith of the Jesus Christians - Chris HARTNEY (University of Sydney) The program for the conference is at: [url
http://www.cesnur.org/2011/dan_programme.html[/url]]

The open encouragement of paedophilia amongst the members seems to date from the late 70's:


[www.exfamily.org]

'The Story of Davidito
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a series of chapters were published about Davidito (Ricky Rodriguez), the adoptive son of Berg's mistress Karen Zerby. Written by his nanny who called herself "Sara Davidito," they detailed his education, home life and care. They were endorsed by Berg and Zerby, and released as Mo Letter-styled publications along with regular Mo Letter mailings.

Some "Davidito letters" such as one titled "My Flirty Fish" contained some very graphic imagery of child-adult sexual activites and children in a clear sexual context, although the faces of the adults were whited-out and drawn over to protect their anonymity. This publication, along with several others were watered down somewhat, and republished in a book called The Story of Davidito in 1982. The 762-page book, intended as an example of child rearing, included photographs depicting the child engaged in sexual play with his governesses.

This Davidito book, along with all other publications approving pedophilia and incest, were later sanitized and eventually reprinted in sanitized form in the 1990s.'


And this COG teaching might indicate where Davejc's fascination with masturbation come from:

'The Loving Jesus Revolution
Of the teachings Zerby has propagated, her encouragement to followers to engage in a spiritual sexual relationship with Jesus stands out as the most unusual. All members, including male members of the group are encouraged to visualize themselves as women "in the spirit" during masturbation or intercourse in order to accommodate this practice. This doctrine is explained in the Family publications Loving Jesus Part 1 and 2. (see The Loving Jesus Revelation)

Practiced since 1995 by members of the Children of God/Family International — both male and female members as young as 12, but more fully from the age of 14, are taught that Jesus literally desires to have sex with them.

The "Loving Jesus revelation" calls on Family members to do three things:

They are to visualise their sexual activity as happening with Jesus;
They are called on to masturbate to Jesus — men are instructed to visualise themselves as women so that Jesus can make love to them; and

They are told to say "love words," or talk dirty, to Jesus as they are having sex. Karen Zerby has published a list of sexually explicit expressions that her followers could use when making love to Jesus.'

Thank you very much, for the information there Matilda,...you describe them as a "religious apologist organization"....I presume then, that you would consider they glibly refrain from being seen to criticize at all, (and so "tarnish" their academic objectivity..) those organizations that they study....?

Taiwan's not too far from me....although I'd prefer not to go to the trouble, if it's simply a "whitewash" of McKay

Dear Stoic,

Must say that I felt much the same as you did, reading the history of Berg and his malpractise....in the sense that McKay's chicanery appeared to have been almost "scripted" (David imitating whatever he thought might possibly benefit him at all....)....

....going "underground" though with a little over a dozen in his "flock" still true to him....more like "Koresh" to me, though....McKays' way of killing off any streak of independance in them, by isolating them from any contrary information....but yes, a carbon coby of Berg's approach.

...the Catholic Worker exposure though is what will, IMO, slowly erode away, any sliver of crediblity that McKay might still tentatively hold, on his former minions....

McKay is a third rate, two-bit, one time "Apostle".....my suspicion is that at the moment, in their minds, they are trying to stay "true" to the "dream", while desperately trying to explain away McKays faults as "minor foibles"....that we unfairly "pick on"!

'.....my suspicion is that at the moment, in their minds, they are trying to stay "true" to the "dream", while desperately trying to explain away McKays faults as "minor foibles"....that we unfairly "pick on"!

Yes, I'm sure that is the case.
Such dreams and ideals are not so easily shucked off and if the Catholic Workers provide a stepping stone out of the mire, a half-way house between the lunacy of McKay's 'thought world' and something more realistic then the younger 'graduated' JC's are lucky to have that chance.

I not sure, however, that those with 20+ years of more or less 'willing' involvement will ever make the break. It's remotely possible but old habits die hard.
As you pointed out earlier, it is psychologically more congruent when the decision to break away is, to a large degree, made by the follower, not thrust upon him by others.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2011 04:48PM by Stoic.

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Malcolm
Dear Stoic,

Must say that I felt much the same as you did, reading the history of Berg and his malpractise....in the sense that McKay's chicanery appeared to have been almost "scripted" (David imitating whatever he thought might possibly benefit him at all....)....

....going "underground" though with a little over a dozen in his "flock" still true to him....more like "Koresh" to me, though....McKays' way of killing off any streak of independance in them, by isolating them from any contrary information....but yes, a carbon coby of Berg's approach.

...the Catholic Worker exposure though is what will, IMO, slowly erode away, any sliver of crediblity that McKay might still tentatively hold, on his former minions....

McKay is a third rate, two-bit, one time "Apostle".....my suspicion is that at the moment, in their minds, they are trying to stay "true" to the "dream", while desperately trying to explain away McKays faults as "minor foibles"....that we unfairly "pick on"!

Agree with what you say here, Malcolm. Thanks for keeping this thread on track.

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Stoic
"As you pointed out earlier, it is psychologically more congruent when the decision to break away is, to a large degree, made by the follower, not thrust upon him by others."

Have you any information suggesting that it wasn't the followers' wishes which led to the Jesus Christians officially disbanding?

Everything I have read suggests that it was a group decision, and that Dave might not have been part of the original thrust to oust him as Leader....

When did the Jesus Christians officially disband?

Everything I have read suggests that the cult have not disbanded, and that McKay (former ''Shepherd'' of the notorious ''Children of God'') is in fact still ''calling the shots''. It looks like a lame attempt to fool his critics and anyone who buys this is being extremely naive. As it stands I still consider the Jesus Christians to be an extremely dangerous and destructive cult. I believe that the victims/followers are still out there peddling McKay's propaganda and I still believe they are offering a platform for paedodpile's to sexually abuse children. I have seen no solid evidence to suggest that ''X'' is no longer a fully fledged member of the cult and still in a position to work alongside vulnerable children in extreme poverty. I call for anyone who has any information regarding the identity of ''X'' to come forward now. We may just be able to put an end to a potenitally abusive situation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2011 02:19AM by Apollo.

You again seem very willing to take Davejc's propaganda at face value, Blackhat, despite the prodigious evidence of his pathological deception.

Have you any information from a credible source suggesting that it was the followers' wishes which led to the Jesus Christians officially disbanding?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2011 02:31AM by Stoic.

Blackhat has a history of taking Dave's word at face value. She seems unwilling to tackle the real issues and in fact would rather bury her head in the sand and castigate those who do. Thankfully we have brave souls like Franky who are happy to tackle the real issues head on!