Former Children of God Cult HQ

The roots of the Children of God (AKA the Family) can be traced back to the counter-culture movement of the late 1960's. Many young adults, called flower children, or hippies, left the middle-class life of their families of origin and sought a simpler lifestyle in the form of communal life in southern California. Out of this hippie movement came a loosely connected group of Evangelical Christian organizations collectively known as The Jesus People, which were described as "a diverse collection of pastors, street-preachers, oddballs and intellectuals all trying to communicate the gospel to the counterculture."  The Children of God were founded by one of these individuals.

David Berg began his professional life as an evangelist for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in 1964. He became the leader of a Teen Challenge chapter in Huntington Beach, CA. in 1967. Teen Challenge was a youth ministry of the Assemblies of God denomination. He separated the group from the national Teen Challenge organization in 1968 and renamed it Light Club. Members were called "Lightclubbers." Many flower children were encouraged by rock music and free peanut butter sandwiches to spend some time in the coffee house. Some evangelized other hippies; a few on a full time basis. Berg received a "revelation" from God in 1969 that a disastrous earthquake was about to hit California, and cause part of the state to slide into the ocean. He led the group out of Huntington Beach to wander throughout the American southwest for 8 months. During that time, they changed their name to the Children of God. The earthquake never materialized as Berg prophesied.

In 1976, Berg encouraged the women members of the group to engage in "flirty fishing". The term was based on Jesus' injunction "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). Women members were urged to go into bars and befriend men. They were expected to seduce potential male converts if necessary to in order to encourage them towards a religious conversion and membership in the organization. The media had a feeding frenzy with this innovative form of evangelism, portraying the COG women as "Hookers for Jesus." In his 1979 annual report, Berg stated that his "FFers" (Flirty Fishers) had "witnessed to over a quarter of a million souls, loved over 25,000 of them and won about 19,000 to the Lord."