Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge

Jesus Freaks / 978-0-06-111804-3 Sometimes you're walking through the "True Crime" section of the bookstore, and a book leaps out at you, and you realize that it's the true account of that one Law & Order episode you caught that one time that totally wasn't based on a true story or anything, except of course they all are. And because you thought the episode (Season 15, Episode 19, "Sects") was interesting (in a horrifying kind of way), you take the book home and you read it, and you find a gripping tale of horror and sadness. That's what this book is. I knew I would like "Jesus Freaks" right off the bat, when I saw that the author had thoughtfully included a 'cheat sheet' of important personas as the first page. Having just spent this winter reading through the labyrinthine family trees of the Warren Jeffs' FLDS cult, I appreciated immediately that the author of "Jesus Freaks" recognized how difficult it can be to keep straight all the names when plumbing decades of cult behavior. What I hadn't expected, however, was that the writing and characterization here would be so clear and memorable, that I would rarely have to refer to my cheat sheet. Although this book deals with some truly horrible human behavior, Lattin does a wonderful job of keeping the material accessible. He has a very careful way of zooming into the terrible history of this cult, but then zooming back out to cover some other, less distasteful history in order to let the reader get their bearings back. It takes a careful hand to write about the history of a cult, and Lattin manages wonderfully - he is careful never to blame the victims, he humanizes the adult members of the cult wherever possible, he carefully outlines the blame on the leaders, and how they gained and maintained control over the others, and he understands how to keep the subject gripping without becoming so heavy that the reader can't go on. What was most fascinating for me, however, was seeing how closely the cult of the Children of God parallels the Warren Jeffs' FLDS cult, despite the fact that the two seem, superficially, to be so different. Whereas the FLDS cult is ostensibly about 'conservative' polygamous marriage, contracted at a young age (on the part of the women and girls, at least), the Children of God professed to be ostensibly about free love and polyamory. However, in practice, both cults boiled down ultimately to the complete control of the leader over the followers, with the women being ordered to sleep with whomever the leader desired - the Children of God had their 'flirty fishing' and the FLDS have their 'priesthood prostitutes' (due to the Warren Jeffs' habit of "reassigning" wives frequently - and on multiple occasions - when their current husband falls out of favor with the cult leader). And, of course, both cults involved the systematic abuse of the children within their community. (I was surprised, though, to note that both David Berg (founder of the Children of God) and Warren Jeffs

This book provides a background and context for the murder-suicide of Ricky Rodriguez, the involuntary prophet-apparent of The Family, an international religious cult. Also known as The Children of God, the group began in the late sixties under direction of David Berg, a self-appointed prophet, polygamist, pedophile, and narcissist. It continues today, led by Karen (sp?) Zerby, Ricky Rodriguez's mother. The book is a very well-rounded account of the cult's beginnings, compared with other so-called new religions, written by a journalist who covered religion for major newspapers for many years. It's a quick, informative read. I also recommend Not Without My Sisters, a memoir by three girls who grew up moving in the cult around the world.

My name is Josh Bruni and while I haven't yet read the book, I have heard about it and would like to make a few comments about COG/the family. I was born and raised in "the family". I left when I was 20 in the year 2000. My mother and 6 brothers and sisters still live in "the family" in various parts of the world. I'll never rejoin and I don't recomend anyone else join. What a lot of people who've never been a member don't realize is, when you have been born into "the family" you don't know what "normal" is. When you leave, it takes a while, several years in my case, to realize how weird and twisted some of the things you've been taught actually are. Any book that exposes the inner goings on of that group, I strongly recomend. See also the book "Not without my sister" by ex-members of the same group. Josh Bruni [...]

Very well written, although disturbing book: I didn't know much about the Children of God/The Family except for a short segment on 60 Minutes several years ago about Ricky Rodriguez and the murder-suicide. I read this book a few months ago, and it's still in my head. Definitely worth reading but the level of abuse described is horrific.

Strap yourself in for a ride into true sickness. The "Children of God," known today as "The Family" is a cult that started in the 1970s and descended into true sexual madness by following the "God-inspired" personal prophecies of a drunken, sex maniac who called himself Moses David. Yes, sex between adults, sex with children, sex between children, sex with your own children too. In one section you discover that the murderer had been having sex since he was a few months old (his nannies played with him) and then at 18 months was engaging in sex with a five month old! This cult wanders from place to place around the world to this day. Adherents have numerous kids and numerous grandchildren but no one knows whose kids are really theirs or whose are those from when these individuals' wives were prostitutes luring men to join the cult by sharing God's love through sexual relations. To say this is the story of sickness is to underplay how truly vile this "religion" is. This is eye-opening reading. Frank Scoblete: author of Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution!