#davidberg

[ex-cogtfi]

To close 2023, we're sharing this heartfelt poem by COG-TFI survivor E.S. @poetry_catharsis that traces the impact of psychological and emotional abuse inflicted upon children, the devastating repercussions, and the reclaiming and unlearning we choose as survivors. The choices we make each day to choose self love and freedom, to rewrite the messages ingrained in us. To take back what was stolen from us before we were born.

May 2024 be a year of continued healing and awareness, as we support survivors in telling their stories and healing, and shine a light on cults and cultic abuse.

[cultvault]

Across the month of December, I will be highlighting the various authors who have contributed to the show by sharing their writing. Mary’s book “Abnormal Normal - My Life in The Children of God” was an enlightening read for me. I found myself asking “how could anyone stay?” And of course its so much more than that. This writing offered the beginning of that learning curve. For your own copy 👉🏼 https://amzn.to/3UDL3TE Find our conversation at episode 154. #cult #cults #cultleader #childrenofgod #familyinternational #cog #tfi #cogtfi #cultsurvivors #cultsurvivor #memoir #memoirwriting #memoirs #davidberg #culteducation #cultpodcast #truecrime #truecrimecommunity #truecrimepodcast #truecrimepodcasts #podcasthost #podcastinterview https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl4IE0XIEnr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[notpulpcovers]

1955 illustration by David Berger https://flic.kr/p/2o9sazP

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

DAVID BERGER

DAVID BERGER

24 May 1944 - 6 September 1972

WEIGHTLIFTER / VICTIM MUNICH MASSACRE

            David Berger was an American-Israeli Olympic weightlifter who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, US, and was raised in America. He was an A-grade student who went on to study psychology and then studied to become a lawyer. Whilst studying he did weightlifting training. He immigrated to Israel after taking part in the 1969 Maccabiah Games where he won a Gold medal.

            Berger was one of eleven Israeli Olympians who was taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian group Black September during the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympics in Germany. On the morning of 5 September 1972, Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic village and took Berger and five of his roommates hostage. They also seized six officials in a different apartment as well as wounding wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg. The terrorists went to move the athletes to a different apartment, and Weinberg took on one of the terrorists, which allowed wrestler Gad Tosbari to escape. The terrorists killed Weinberg as a result. The terrorists took all the hostages into the officals apartment. At this time, weightlifter Yossef Romano also attempted to overpower the terrorists, he was killed and Berger was shot in his left shoulder.  

            After negotiations, the terrorists and their terrorists were transferred from the Olympic Village by helicopter to Furstenfeldbruck airbase, Munich, where the terrorists negotiated to be flown to an Arabic country. It didn’t go as planned, and the German guards and Munich police attempted to ambush the terrorists to free the hostages. A gunfight went on for two hours, Berger was with other hostages inside a helicopter, all the hostages were bound and were unable to escape. One of the terrorists went up to the helicopter and fired onto them, three hostages were killed however Berger was still alive and only his legs was wounded. The terrorist then threw a hand grenade inside the helicopter which killed everybody inside. Berger died aged 28, from smoke inhalation. The hostages in the other helicopter were also killed by a different terrorist. President Richard Nixon ordered to have David Berger’s body returned to the United States on a special Air Force jet. He is buried at the Mayfield Cemetery in Cleveland.

            Three terrorists survived and were arrested, they were released a month later in a hostage exchange. This was due to terrorists hijacking Lufthansa Flight 615, who ordered that the terrorists be released and they were returned to a hero's welcome in the Middle East.

#davidberger #weightlifter #munichmassacre

[bustedbonestees]

Happy Friday folks, and it is in this day that I would like to introduce to you our newest addition to our true crime and cults collection, David Berg from the Children of God. Links in bio folks #davidberg #childrenofgodcult #childrenofgod #alternativestyle #alternativefashion #alternative #goth #gothaesthetic #gothgirl #grungestyle #grungeaesthetic #grunge #shopping #shopsmall #truecrime #truecrimecommunity #truecrimeaddict #serialkillers #cults #tshirtshop #bundy https://www.instagram.com/p/CQjktW2sKuH/?utm_medium=tumblr

[manaclark]

ManaClark.com #davidberg @strainprint where can I buy this #shirt and how do i sign up for the club? #datanerd #supportgroup #strainprint #Canadian #Cannabis #cannabos101 #cannabiscommunity @wemapleofficial @justinpjtrudeau @themommyjane @thehighly_ (at Calgary, Alberta)

[wayn0rx]

#madmagazine #davidberg #amadlookatchristmas #HOHOHO https://ift.tt/2LHk212

[studioc2]

#joy_de #davidberger #c2studio (hier: C2 Studio)

[ronevry]

#MisterRonBluePaper #OriginalArt #DavidBerg #Mad #Magazine

[madarasenfelde]

Dāvis Ķimenis:

http://instagram.com/daiivid_berg https://www.facebook.com/davis.kimenis

[ex-cogtfi]

TW child abuse, religious abuse

February 18th. On THE DATE that the cult of COG-TFI is still celebrating as the "birthday" of the cult and its late pedophiliac founder David Berg, COG-TFI survivors are speaking out in The Sunday Mail and on Episode 2 of the explosive documentary series Prayed Upon by the Courier Mail.

We are incredibly proud of these brave survivors for speaking out, as it is an emotionally intense, vulnerable, and demanding experience to go public with such personal and painful stories. Please support COG-TFI survivors and help us raise awareness by sharing this post and signing our petition to bring COG-TFI cofounder and current leader Karen Zerby to justice (link in bio).

[cultvault]

Episode 173 is live. I had the privilege of chatting with Angela about her experiences growing up in the Children of God. We discussed the history of the movement, what the group looked like from the perspective of child moving from commune to commune within and outside of the United Kingdom. Angela talks of the systemic child abuse experienced by those inside the movement and how the vulnerable were exploited in despicable ways. How families were separated and weaponised against one another. A truly inspirational story of a second-generation CoG member to a thriving individual pursuing personal interests and further education. Another prevalent conversation given the themes of Christian Dominionism in the world right now. #childrenofgod #cog #familyinternational #davidberg #zerby #cult #cults #cultsurvivors #cultsurvivor #cultawareness #cultrecovery #hdrg #spiritualabuse #religioustrauma #rts #humantraffickingawareness #childtraffickingmuststop #podcasthost #podcasthosts #cultpodcast #truecrimepodcast https://www.instagram.com/p/CdikYmpoxpz/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ex-cogtfi]

This is part two of a look at the context of the word “security” in the cult.

The Family International (formerly the Children of God and the Family of Love) have spent over 50 years avoiding prosecution for their crimes, conning donors, and developing and honing strategies to handle legal attacks and combat public criticism.

They’ve worked to create a carefully curated image of a wholesome missionary group, misunderstood by the public and maligned by detractors. Through setting up charitable fronts, befriending people with influence, and coaching members to practice the doctrine of “deceivers yet true”, TFI have attempted to publicly distance themselves from policies that resulted in the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse of children. TFI has been so successful in their rebranding campaigns and coverups that they were invited to perform at the White House during the administrations of two United States presidents.

Meanwhile, TFIs internal publications show that the cult’s leadership have no remorse for the harms they have and continue to cause. Internal documents by the current leader and co-founder Karen Zerby explicitly state that the cult still believes there is nothing inherently wrong with adult-child sex and adult-child sexual interactions.

(The content of these posts has been adapted and excerpted from articles on exfamily.org, especially “The Family - Official Policy on Lying & Deception”. Underlining is consistent with the original cult publications.)

[ex-cogtfi]

This deeply disturbing children’s publication was created by COG-TFI and was required reading for children across COG-TFI. It taught children that illnesses and accidents are punishments from God for disobedience or spiritual failings and compared these events to being spanked. It explicitly promoted the idea that children are to blame for the illnesses and accidents that befall them.

Thus, when injured or sick, children in the cult were typically ordered to “pray about it”, ask God how they had transgressed against the cult’s teachings, and repent in order to be healed. This emotional abuse inflicted anxiety and false guilt upon children in COG-TFI, as they were blamed while suffering from untreated sickness or injury. The publication also depicts a child forcibly disrobed and in a humiliating position while being spanked, a form of abuse that was universal to children in the cult, and this image added to the shame that innocent children suffered while being sick or injured and being denied medical care.

[ex-cogtfi]

This post outlines COG-TFI’s long, consistent, and ongoing history of denying sexual abuse, including a public denial of child sexual abuse in 1988 that they were forced to walk back in 1994 when compelled by a UK court to acknowledge that because of cult teachings and writings, more children in the cult than outside it had become victims of child sexual abuse.

The cult’s campaign of denial and coverup included brainwashing and training children to deny the abuse perpetrated against them. With cult literature and comics that children were forced to read from a young age, children were taught to be watchful of their words around non-members to avoid disclosing abuse. Internally, COG-TFI continued to defend its sexual practices and sexualization of minors, even as it declared to the world that it had completely renounced such doctrines and strived to falsely portray such abuse as a thing of the past.

Moreover, little known to the public is the 2004 publication “Renewal: Amnesty” by current COG-TFI leaders Karen Zerby and Steven Kelly that proves ongoing sexual abuse in the cult and leadership’s awareness of it. In an effort to motivate members to confess to offenses including sexual abuse against minors, Zerby and Kelly enacted a period of “amnnesty” for excommunicable offenses including what in many jurisdictions is statutory rape, and the sexual molestation of minors. This "amnesty" also allowed excommunicated sexual offenders back into the cult. The cult’s awareness of the criminality of these offenses is seen in its statement in the aforementioned 2004 publication that this amnesty “does not absolve anyone from legal ramifications of breaking laws of the country in which they live”.

(The content of these posts has been adapted and excerpted from an article on exfamily.org: “The Family - Official Policy on Lying & Deception” and references the 2004 COG-TFI publication “Renewal: Amnesty” found at pubs.xfamily.org)

[ex-cogtfi]

TW: child sexual abuse and other child abuse

The Family International cult (previously known as the Children of God) has attempted to whitewash their image as a happy Christian fellowship spreading God's love across the globe. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this brave survivor’s story demonstrates.

Music With Meaning (MWM) was a radio and television show created by the cult in the 1980’s. It generated significant revenue for the cult with its cheerful Christian children singing songs about faith and love. However, away from the public eye, MWM was rife with sexual and other abuse against minors, all in the name of the cult’s twisted interpretation of love (for more details see Music With Meaning - XFamily - Children of God).

This brave survivor shares her story of contracting a herpes infection in her eye whilst living in the MWM compound at only four years old. As a result of the abuse and medical neglect this survivor experienced, she has been left with lifelong vision loss.

Please share this story and help us hold the abusive leaders who are still operating and profiting from the cult accountable: bit.ly/3rt5Bms