Ex CoG/TFI

Survivors of the cult Children of God/The Family International. Sign the Petition

[ex-cogtfi]

TRIGGER WARNING FOR DISTURBING CONTENT

“Kidz Mop” was a COG-TFI publication directed towards children raised in the cult. It was a collection of cult doctrines considered essential for the indoctrination and training of faithful cult members. Many cult children were compelled to memorize these cult proverbs and recite them daily. Since cult children were not permitted to read secular books, cult literature was the primary source of intellectual stimulation and entertainment for children.

“Kidz Mop” was divided into topical sections. This post includes an excerpt from the section titled “Chastening”, which describes God’s way of disciplining wayward children. The illustrations and text taught children that tragedies, accidents, abusive behavior from caregivers, and illnesses were all God’s methods of punishment for disobedience. Such literature served to justify physical and emotional abuse of children in the cult, and laid a burden of guilt on children even for suffering accidents or sickness beyond their control, since all these things were deemed the consequences of spiritual rebellion.

These teachings have had long-term damaging psychological effects on second-generation survivors who now strive to free themselves from the indoctrination forced on them in their childhood.

#igotout #cultseries #awareness #cogtfisurvivors #mindcontrol #cultsurvivors #traumahealing #spiritualabuse

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For those in the cult of COG-TFI, New Year was a time when cult members were required to confess their spiritual shortcomings and renew vows of dedication to the cult. While the new year is a time of reflection in many religions and cultures, COG-TFI exploited such traditions to detect signs of potential rebellion. Consequently, children raised in COG-TFI often suffered fear and dread during Christmas and New Year.

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At Christmas time, there may be social, cultural, or moral inclinations to be generous and charitable in many social contexts. Leadership in many COG-TFI communes would take advantage of the Christmas season to conduct large-scale fundraising campaigns for the cult. Due to the cult’s carefully crafted public image as a charitable organization, many people were unaware that their donations were going toward the operations of a notorious cult.

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In this first hand account by a second generation COG-TFI survivor Verity, the themes that we have explored in this series are evident in her real-life experience. Her story describes how children raised in COG-TFI were exploited as sources of additional income during the Christmas season, in addition to being the targets of abuse by adults. In spite of all that she suffered in COG-TFI, Verity has determined to make Christmas a special time for herself and for her children, because she believes that everyone deserves to be celebrated.

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Christmas in COG-TFI was often a time of heightened expectations, especially for women. Although women in the cult were already expected to use their sexuality to attract potential recruits, the push to “spread God’s love” during the Christmas season made it even harder for women to resist being exploited. With Christmas being the time of Jesus’ birth, many cult members were expected to show their best demonstration of loyalty and service to the cult.

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Maintaining a public image of the cult being a nurturing environment for children was vital for cult fundraising and the sale of cult multimedia, many of which were targeted to young viewers. Consequently, cult children were widely exploited to perform and produce propaganda, especially at Christmas time, since Christmas was the prime time to exploit cultural nostalgia towards children during a holiday.

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Holidays such as Christmas can be a joyful time for friends and family. However, for children born into the cult of COG-TFI, Christmas could be a period of increased scrutiny, abuse, and disappointment, as cult children were often used as fundraising tools and sources of child labor. Since the cult was spread throughout numerous countries and cultures, experiences varied widely within cult communes. In this series, we aim to discuss some frequent cult practices during Christmas, but we do not intend to define the COG-TFI cult experience. We hope that this short series can shed more light on how holidays are exploited by high control groups.

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This post concludes our series on comics used in COG-TFI to groom children for SA and exploitation. The comics we featured are not even close to the amount of content children were exposed to, due to the cult destroying the most incriminating comics and due to this series featuring only “children’s literature”.

Throughout this series, we have covered heavy topics such as inc*st, child sexual exploitation, r*pe, CSA, grooming, and forced prostitution. As born-in survivors, we fully realize that these comics are disturbing to view. Thank you to those who engaged with the content. We hope that by spreading awareness of cult propaganda and the tools cults use to groom and indoctrinate cult members including children, others can more easily spot these tactics and better protect themselves and their loved ones.

We also continue to raise awareness about the cult of COG-TFI because it is still active and harming people to this day.

[ex-cogtfi]

TW: disturbing content

In this comic, we see yet another example of how comics in COG-TFI were in fact instruction manuals for exploitation and abuse. Although this comic refrains from explicit language to protect the cult from legal repercussions and public backlash (unlike many of the comics featured, this comic was not an internal publication but was created for the general public), it depicts a detailed model of words, actions, and dress for the cult practice of Flirty Fishing, in which cult women were forced to use sex to lure potential converts. While the text and images of this comic are clearly suggestive of sexual favors, the comic couches these perversions in terms of love and spirituality. Children not only read this comic but were forced to distribute it to strangers in return for donations.

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TW: disturbing content

While Christians are familiar with the Biblical teaching that “God is love”, this doctrine was twisted for perverted intents in COG-TFI. In the name of divine love that is superior to human culture, traditions, and laws, the cult concocted the “Law of Love” to sanction virtually all sexual acts as long as they are done “in love”. Such acts included CSA, inc*st, molestation, r*pe, pedophilia, assault, and more. Members were taught that the cult was special, that cult members were superior to other Christians, that God had entrusted them with this “Law of Love” that superseded the Mosaic Law. Not enacting the “Law of Love” was seen as a spiritual failure. Since SA was advocated as an expression of God’s love, victims were condemned and shamed for resisting, including children who were punished for not being "loving" enough to submit to abuse.

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TW disturbing explicit content

TW: disturbing content

In COG-TFI’s children’s comics, sexual services were depicted as spiritual services. This insidious propaganda taught children that they would be unloving to resist being sexualized and SAed. Cult children were thus groomed for sexual exploitation and abuse. The word "love", instead of referring to divine love or genuine human love, became a euphemism for offering sexual favors and submitting to unwanted sexual contact. This comic depicts sexual commodification as a magical spiritual experience, completely opposite of the reality of the prostitution and sex trafficking (Flirty Fishing) that the cult forced women into.

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TW: disturbing / explicit content

TW explicit, disturbing

In order to promote and justify their perversions, COG-TFI produced propaganda that portrayed any resistance to the cult's sexual practices as being evil and of the Devil. In this post, we discuss a comic that demonizes any disapproval of the cult's deviant sexual beliefs and practices, which included p*dophilia and inc*st. With literature and comics like this, COG-TFI leadership squashed potential voices of dissent in the cult and conditioned children not to question the horrific acts being done to them and which they were sometimes forced to take part in.

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TW: Child sexualization, disturbing image

Throughout the years, COG-TFI has attempted to deny the existence of the many perverted doctrines that its founder David Berg created. One of Berg's teachings was his blatant promotion of child marriage, as seen in this comic. Although underage sexual practices were later officially banned in the cult, sexual abuse of minors has continued in various forms throughout cult communes. These cult teachings legitimized sexual abuse and put grave obstacles in the way of victims who sought justice.

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This sexually explicit comic is one of many officially recommended by the cult for children of all ages (see the reading list previously posted). This comic shows how children born into COG-TFI were deliberately indoctrinated to accept sexual exploitation and abuse under the guise of free sexuality and revolutionary spirituality. As depicted in the comic, women in the cult were blatantly objectified and expected to respond willingly to sexual advances, regardless of their preference or consent. Worse yet, such comics framed Berg's perverted sexual inclinations as spiritual ministry and the will ofGod, legitimizing women's and girl’s servitude as sex objects.

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This explicit comic appears on the (previously posted) cult reading list for children of ALL AGES, and is based on one of the key missives from cult founder David Berg on the practice of FFing (Flirty Fishing), which involved cult women using sexual favors to lure male

converts and supporters. Berg's rationale for FFing was that women are like fishing bait which attract men, who are the “fish” to be caught. Berg falsely aligned FFing with Scripture and, in disregard for women's humanity and autonomy, called for women to submit to being "devoured" by the cult’s sexual exploitation and commodification in the name of God. FFing inflicted untold damage on the women who were sex trafficked and their families. The cult deliberately assigned this comic as children’s reading to groom another generation of girls for exploitation and abuse.

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Children born into COG-TFI were subjected to a systematic program of cult brainwashing and grooming, as can be seen in this list of sexually explicit comics that the cult published as recommended reading for children. The titles listed here were officially intended for CHILDREN OF ALL AGES.

If anyone thought survivors were exaggerating, read for yourself the cult's published children's reading list. In these comics, “love” and spiritual qualities were often equated with providing sexual services. Many titles were so explicit and legally dangerous that the cult later ordered members to destroy them and no copies remain. Since most COG-TFI children were limited to consuming cult literature for education and entertainment, this depraved content was cemented into their most formative years.

[ex-cogtfi]

TW: grooming, incest, CSA

This disturbing cult children's comic depicts the late COG-TFI founder David Berg’s published fantasy of inc*st with his stepdaughter, who was only eight years old at the time. Such comics served to promote and normalize inc*stuous relations and CSA in the cult, equating sexual deviance and abuse with spirituality. Berg maintained that COG-TFI

members were God's specially chosen people, and thus were above the law and could pursue sexuality beyond legal and moral limits. The trauma and damage of the widespread nature of familial sexual abuse in COG-TFI continues to impact survivors today.