00:00:10
secret strip shows and sacred
00:00:13
prostitution a and he investigates the
00:00:16
children of God when I was still in the
00:00:21
cult
00:00:21
I watched several documentaries exposing
00:00:24
some of the things and I was sitting in
00:00:27
my living room and they were showing it
00:00:28
to us to kind of prepare us for what was
00:00:30
coming out against us and there on the
00:00:33
screen there's me as a child dancing in
00:00:41
a semi state of undress and it took me a
00:00:45
few seconds to catch my breath it all
00:00:48
kind of brought me to a realization that
00:00:52
I had been really abused as a child I
00:00:55
had no idea it was the sexualization of
00:00:59
children was so rampant within this
00:01:01
group we were being groomed by a master
00:01:07
pedophile David Berg one day Amy comes
00:01:10
up to me and she says Oh see that guy
00:01:12
there he molested me when I was 11 years
00:01:15
old
00:01:16
the youth scripture and he used
00:01:17
spiritual principles to excuse his
00:01:20
behavior I believe you're the son of God
00:01:25
I believe you died for me please forgive
00:01:28
me of my sins there is an epidemic we've
00:01:32
lost a lot of people to suicide
00:01:35
the suicide rate with ex-members is so
00:01:39
high how many do you think I know
00:01:41
hundred we've gone to the FBI we've
00:01:45
given them our affidavits and they keep
00:01:47
telling us their hands are tied
00:01:48
this organization are they sorry for
00:01:51
what they did do they have any remorse I
00:01:53
don't think so
00:01:54
people literally are losing their lives
00:01:56
and their their hopes and dreams and
00:01:59
their families
00:02:00
for this
00:02:04
[Music]
00:02:23
[Music]
00:02:28
this was my first home you know since
00:02:33
I've you know once I left the cult it's
00:02:37
interesting coming back here and seeing
00:02:38
how far we've come you know
00:02:42
I was here last
00:02:44
[Music]
00:02:45
I'm planning an event this weekend for
00:02:48
my friend who was in the cult she's not
00:02:53
with us anymore
00:02:55
you can't be close to a fire and not get
00:02:58
burned you know I think people are quick
00:03:02
to pass judgment on survivors and
00:03:04
victims but this is a very complex and
00:03:09
detailed story this is a serious matter
00:03:16
these are people's lives at stake when
00:03:24
my dad was 14 years old he met Berg and
00:03:28
his family right before they started the
00:03:31
children of God this was on Huntington
00:03:33
Beach they were just starting to create
00:03:36
a Jesus Movement and my dad was a very
00:03:39
talented singer and he fell right in
00:03:42
line with what they were trying to put
00:03:44
together which was a talented group of
00:03:55
young people that could inspire other
00:03:57
young people to evangelize and sort of
00:04:01
rally some hippies and people that were
00:04:03
like Runaways and people looking for a
00:04:06
better life
00:04:07
they were kind of high on Jesus
00:04:11
and in the beginning it seemed to be
00:04:13
pretty fun the late 1960s was a period
00:04:18
of cultural term art especially for
00:04:20
American youth and indeed youth
00:04:24
throughout the Western world David Berg
00:04:27
was able to use the language the symbols
00:04:30
of the counterculture to present his own
00:04:33
attitudes about Christianity that
00:04:37
movement portrayed Jesus as the ultimate
00:04:40
revolutionary they used music a lot in
00:04:43
their lifestyle and in their evangelism
00:04:45
they had several bands one of the more
00:04:47
popular ones in France was called lays
00:04:50
off on the Jew which is also the
00:04:52
children of God and they produced an
00:04:54
album that was a top seller at the time
00:04:56
called the Bible
00:04:59
[Music]
00:04:59
[Applause]
00:05:00
[Music]
00:05:16
most of Berg's teachings were
00:05:19
communicated to the cult through his
00:05:21
writings they were coined mole letters
00:05:24
Berg would just go on for hours and
00:05:27
hours talking about orders about
00:05:29
policies and interpretation of Scripture
00:05:33
because he's sort of fancied himself as
00:05:36
a pastor King prophet enforcer all of
00:05:41
the above
00:05:52
the concept of flirty fishing started in
00:05:56
the late 70s where they would use
00:05:58
specifically female but also male sex
00:06:01
appeal to proselytize and to get
00:06:04
supporters from the outside world
00:06:11
he taught it as God has given you this
00:06:16
body and this ability to make men happy
00:06:18
because he wants you to use it he wants
00:06:21
you to use your talents and your talent
00:06:23
to sexuality to bring in big fish or
00:06:27
kings to donate to the group and it
00:06:30
worked
00:06:35
Berg was constantly coming out with new
00:06:39
revelations and one of his revelations
00:06:42
that came out right around the time of
00:06:44
flirty fishing was called the law of
00:06:47
love we no longer under the laws of
00:06:49
Moses we're no longer under the Ten
00:06:51
Commandments just this one law of love
00:06:54
fulfills all ten and all of us put
00:06:57
together
00:06:58
Berg believed he'd boiled down the
00:07:01
essential Christian scripture to one
00:07:02
doctrine that was the law of love the
00:07:05
law of love was to encompass everything
00:07:07
else that Christianity taught and as
00:07:10
long as people acted in the context of
00:07:13
love he was able to justify and sanctify
00:07:16
their behaviors including sexual
00:07:18
behaviors very cleverly manipulated
00:07:27
those that he drew into his inner circle
00:07:29
to believe that he was truly a prophet
00:07:32
and a visionary that was going to
00:07:35
liberate all of us from the shackles of
00:07:37
society but actually we were a liberated
00:07:41
Christian sex cult make your body my
00:07:45
death allowed come in this is the temple
00:07:49
of God today
00:07:56
what is striking to me is how open David
00:08:00
Berg was about his most controversial
00:08:04
preachings which were basically sex is
00:08:07
love and should be spread to everyone
00:08:09
and there's nothing wrong with sex as
00:08:11
long as it's done lovingly if you think
00:08:14
of our generation which we were born
00:08:17
into it anything that you're told when
00:08:19
you're born into something if that's
00:08:21
what the culture is telling you is okay
00:08:24
you pretty much accept it as well the
00:08:29
adults know best you know must be okay
00:08:31
or that's what God wants us to do so or
00:08:34
the second generation of course we had
00:08:36
questions you did that was also they had
00:08:41
they had safeguards in place for that as
00:08:43
well fine if you doubt the leader you're
00:08:46
gonna be ostracized you're gonna be
00:08:49
punished there were there was a lot of I
00:08:52
guess you'd say peer pressure in the
00:08:55
society within the cults to basically go
00:08:59
along and follow whatever was being told
00:09:02
by Burke
00:09:05
both of my parents were teenagers when
00:09:08
they had me and I was one of the first
00:09:10
children born into the cult when I was
00:09:15
about eight years old I was living in
00:09:17
France and I was invited with my parents
00:09:19
too
00:09:20
recording music unit in Greece that Berg
00:09:23
was overseeing he wasn't there but he
00:09:25
would oversee it and we were creating
00:09:27
this show that was broadcast in several
00:09:30
countries so I went back to France with
00:09:45
my parents after the visit and then we
00:09:47
got a letter from Berg asking my parents
00:09:51
if they could let me go back to the
00:09:54
music unit but without them they just
00:09:57
wanted me from then on out I was called
00:10:00
into the studio almost on a daily basis
00:10:02
to do recordings but as soon as I got
00:10:06
away from my parents this is when I
00:10:08
started being introduced to the
00:10:11
sexuality aspect of the cults we
00:10:15
literally were just surrounded by
00:10:18
sexuality at that point and children can
00:10:22
suffer the most I think because the
00:10:24
Loblaw crossed the the barrier between
00:10:26
adults and children and there were no
00:10:28
safety nets put in place for the
00:10:30
children there were a lot of
00:10:34
inappropriate sexual advances that we
00:10:36
had to endure as young as eight years
00:10:38
old
00:10:40
me personally and all of the young women
00:10:45
my age that I knew all of them when I
00:10:50
was still at this music unit Berg sent
00:10:54
out a letter called glorify God in the
00:10:55
dance and we read it and all the women
00:10:58
were going to do these dances for Berg's
00:11:00
birthday and he made a very detailed
00:11:03
explanation of what they should do and
00:11:06
how it's glorifying God if you disrobe
00:11:09
in a very I guess you'd say gracious
00:11:12
manner and that's how he presented it as
00:11:16
your like a heavenly a woman who's
00:11:19
dancing with veils so women started
00:11:23
making videos for him at his behest and
00:11:27
then someone got the bright idea that
00:11:29
let's include the children
00:11:38
the video crew would set up in a setting
00:11:43
and put on two or three pieces of music
00:11:46
and have you start off with your you
00:11:48
know your veil on and then you slowly
00:11:51
start playing around with your veil as
00:11:53
you dance nude and we didn't really
00:11:57
understand the sexual aspect of it we
00:12:02
were already performing and singing it
00:12:04
didn't seem to be a stretch it was just
00:12:07
like a slow introduction to sexuality
00:12:09
which was like being groomed that's
00:12:12
exactly what was happening we were being
00:12:13
essentially groomed by a master
00:12:17
pedophile David Berg I was introduced to
00:12:24
a lot of sexual situations that children
00:12:27
just aren't introduced to a lot of
00:12:30
nudity a lot of dancing and it was open
00:12:33
season anybody could approach you and
00:12:35
touch right there yeah and you couldn't
00:12:37
they didn't teach you to say no is what
00:12:40
it was there was no such thing as no so
00:12:43
you could kind of get away from it if
00:12:46
you if you could if you could outsmart
00:12:48
whoever was coming after you but
00:12:50
essentially when a leader did it was
00:12:53
almost like you were afraid of what
00:12:55
would happen if you didn't comply all
00:12:58
those arrangements are to inhibit
00:13:01
prohibit emotional bonds forming between
00:13:04
the individuals emotional connections
00:13:07
between parents and children
00:13:10
oh sure oh yeah these patterns occur
00:13:13
again and again in group after group and
00:13:15
the closer you got to the top or to the
00:13:18
leadership apex the more you were
00:13:22
disconnected from your family and from
00:13:24
society
00:13:25
and the most isolated I ever was was at
00:13:28
Berg's household when I was about 13
00:13:32
years old they told me Berg's calling
00:13:35
you to join his household in the
00:13:38
Philippines and in a way I felt like I
00:13:42
was the chosen you know because that's
00:13:44
how they made me feel like well you've
00:13:45
been chosen when I first met Berg I was
00:13:50
expecting the earth to shake and
00:13:52
something like I was going to have this
00:13:54
experience from meeting the Prophet but
00:13:57
actually I just kind of thought he
00:13:58
looked really old and really fat and I
00:14:01
thought this is just a human being and
00:14:04
but then I noticed everyone around him
00:14:06
would basically kiss his you know behind
00:14:10
all the time everything he said was
00:14:14
written down his wife Karen Zerby was
00:14:16
like walking around behind him you know
00:14:18
recording everything he said he was
00:14:21
basically being enabled by the team
00:14:24
around him he would call different women
00:14:26
up to his room where each of the women
00:14:29
in the household would spend time with
00:14:30
him and this was on a rotating basis
00:14:36
one day I was called in his room and he
00:14:39
said well you're now gonna become one of
00:14:41
my wives and we're gonna get married I'm
00:14:45
only 13 this is like not this is crazy
00:14:49
like it just came out of nowhere and
00:14:51
there was no what do you want to do you
00:14:52
don't want to know we're getting married
00:14:54
so he puts the ring on my finger it was
00:14:59
almost like from here on out you belong
00:15:01
to me and whatever you do from here on
00:15:04
out you are mine and you answer to me
00:15:07
and after that we had you know intimacy
00:15:13
I don't think that I was always the most
00:15:24
docile and receptive teenager so that's
00:15:30
how I got sent away but I was very sad
00:15:32
that I left Mary
00:15:38
[Music]
00:15:42
Mary Burke
00:15:43
David Berg's granddaughter then and now
00:15:46
they put this silver ring on my hand and
00:15:49
they he said I now Wed thee you know I
00:15:52
David now whether I was supposed to be
00:15:55
now one of his wives and I was his grand
00:15:57
grandchild he also wanted to have sexual
00:15:59
relations with me
00:16:05
Mary was also one of the children that
00:16:07
was asked to come and join the music
00:16:10
unit and that's where Mary and I became
00:16:12
sisters because they put us in the same
00:16:14
family we roomed together we did
00:16:18
everything together we went through a
00:16:19
lot of the same experiences together and
00:16:21
we traveled to several countries all the
00:16:25
way up to the time that we ended up both
00:16:28
going to Berg's household in the
00:16:31
Philippines and what ended up happening
00:16:35
to her should never have happened her
00:16:49
[Music]
00:16:53
she went completely crazy you know from
00:16:56
the abuse and she did end up having a
00:16:59
mental breakdown and the way that the
00:17:01
breakdown was handled was just horrible
00:17:03
they thought her emotional reactions to
00:17:06
what was happening to her was demonic
00:17:08
possession
00:17:09
you know sent away to this training camp
00:17:12
where she was treated very inhumane Lee
00:17:17
[Music]
00:17:27
to hear about all the the horrible
00:17:30
things that happened to the beatings and
00:17:34
her being basically tied up it was a
00:17:38
terrible thing feeling helpless and
00:17:49
feeling powerless to help people that
00:17:52
you love is probably the worst thing
00:17:56
that I experienced it just showed me how
00:18:01
horrible you know they could they could
00:18:03
turn on someone that sweet you know in
00:18:05
that vulnerable and there were no limits
00:18:09
to how far they would go with their
00:18:12
abuse
00:18:14
[Music]
00:18:22
[Music]
00:18:31
[Laughter]
00:18:39
I guess I'll take it that as a
00:18:41
compliment I think I would recognize you
00:18:43
anywhere
00:18:44
yeah are you doing pretty good how was
00:18:46
your flight
00:18:47
I'd say good yeah I'm so glad you got to
00:18:49
come yeah yeah thank you for inviting me
00:18:53
I did not know Mary Berg personally it
00:19:03
was only the image that we had of her
00:19:05
growing up as children and then her
00:19:07
story afterwards but we knew about her
00:19:11
because she would come out in videos and
00:19:14
she would sing
00:19:18
[Music]
00:19:22
like wow you know there's she's singing
00:19:24
she lives with David Burke she's his
00:19:26
granddaughter
00:19:27
so she was put on a pedestal of
00:19:29
celebrity status
00:19:37
when she got out she got involved in a
00:19:40
court case and she willingly gave her
00:19:43
testimony about living with David Berg
00:19:45
and living through these abuses mary
00:19:48
says contesting her doubts to family
00:19:50
members brought on the wrath of a man
00:19:52
she called grandpa he started yelling
00:19:54
real loud in tongues and and and and
00:19:57
took a hold of my head and started
00:19:58
shaking it real hard and and I thought
00:20:02
you know this is it I mean that I have
00:20:04
reached the end of the line is at the
00:20:05
bottom later on we heard about how
00:20:10
difficult her life became as an adult
00:20:13
she was at the lowest low living on the
00:20:16
streets you know addicted without
00:20:19
anything on the brink of dying so many
00:20:21
times but she came back from that and
00:20:24
that's when she became to a lot of us
00:20:28
second-generation members a hero you
00:20:33
know with Mary passing even though it
00:20:36
wasn't a suicide I think the early death
00:20:42
had something to do with her PTSD and
00:20:45
the condition that led her into drug and
00:20:49
alcohol abuse for many years and it's
00:20:52
all related the suicide rate with
00:20:56
ex-members is so high and it's sadly
00:20:59
it's expected when one of our fellow
00:21:03
friends passes away
00:21:05
we immediately assume suicide because it
00:21:09
makes sense
00:21:11
this organization are they sorry for
00:21:15
what they did do they feel that they
00:21:17
have anything to be sorry for
00:21:19
do they have any remorse I don't think
00:21:21
so because they haven't done anything to
00:21:24
really help people that need it that
00:21:29
have left
00:21:31
people literally are losing their lives
00:21:34
and their their hopes and dreams and
00:21:36
their families over this
00:21:38
[Music]
00:21:45
tell me about Mary Mary did not commit
00:21:48
suicide no she didn't a many other
00:21:52
members and former members of children
00:21:55
of God have how many do you think I know
00:22:00
hundred by name or by face that have
00:22:06
committed suicide you know 100 former
00:22:09
members who have committed suicide no of
00:22:11
them yes that's a lot and I would put
00:22:15
into that category the slow death of
00:22:17
addiction and by the way so many people
00:22:19
suffering from addiction are going to
00:22:21
know some sort of trauma inside it's not
00:22:24
officially that but it's it's related
00:22:37
when I was in my mid-20s I got the news
00:22:43
that my father had committed suicide
00:22:51
he was one of those very sensitive
00:22:55
artists a wonderful musician people
00:22:57
still remember his music he was a true
00:23:00
believer but he was shunned for
00:23:04
disagreeing with leadership I think it
00:23:08
devastated him because he felt rejected
00:23:10
he felt like his family had rejected him
00:23:13
at the end of his life he started
00:23:16
realizing all the things that had
00:23:18
happened to him you know he just he
00:23:25
couldn't handle it you know the world
00:23:27
was too it was too much for him to do it
00:23:29
alone like he needed more help but he
00:23:32
didn't get it so he's a casualty he's a
00:23:36
casualty of what the cult does to people
00:23:51
[Music]
00:24:01
for quite some time I wasn't happy with
00:24:04
the cult I was very very dissatisfied
00:24:09
with the way that life was going but I
00:24:12
didn't really see a practical way out at
00:24:16
that point but then my dad passed away
00:24:19
and I went to Germany to the funeral and
00:24:24
at the funeral I was able to reconnect
00:24:27
with this couple Anika and Ron who had
00:24:30
maintained a friendship with my dad so
00:24:33
when I met them at the funeral they told
00:24:36
me that if I ever wanted a way out and
00:24:39
if I ever wanted to leave that they
00:24:42
would help me as much as they could and
00:24:44
they would provide a place for me to
00:24:46
land and that's when I really started
00:24:48
thinking this is it I'm out here
00:24:57
[Music]
00:25:05
marry it came to us a lot too
00:25:08
just for somebody to listen to her you
00:25:10
know going through leaving the groove
00:25:13
and then trying to find herself and all
00:25:16
the experiences that she went through
00:25:18
when her eyes closed and I think that at
00:25:22
the end of her life she was definitely
00:25:24
at a high yes you know being on the
00:25:26
witness stand was a huge battle but
00:25:28
being able to fight your own demons and
00:25:30
come out on the other side to find peace
00:25:32
even at the just the last years of your
00:25:34
life that was such a feat and not only
00:25:36
that but if she did it then anyone who
00:25:39
leaves no matter what your story there's
00:25:42
hope for you yes so my question is how
00:25:45
did you get your name out there so
00:25:48
people knew we were first of all we were
00:25:53
written about in letters we were enemies
00:25:54
enemies they were they were the and so
00:25:57
probably the bad publicity about it let
00:26:00
people know right and they they knew
00:26:03
that every person we came across that
00:26:06
was in the group that we would offer if
00:26:08
you want to leave that's the first thing
00:26:09
we said to you if you ever want to leave
00:26:11
we'll help you
00:26:16
this is what caused us to leave
00:26:19
leadership came up to him and said
00:26:22
there's a 12 year old girls being
00:26:24
haughty and lifted up we want you to
00:26:26
have sex with her to Humble her and he
00:26:30
looked at that leader and Ron doesn't
00:26:33
cause he still doesn't cuss to this day
00:26:34
he looked at that leader and he said you
00:26:36
want me to have sex with a child you go
00:26:39
yourself and he said and if I hear of
00:26:41
anyone having sex with her he says
00:26:44
you're gonna answer to me and he came to
00:26:46
the room that night and just said this
00:26:49
is we can't we can't stay here you
00:26:53
literally have have to face that I made
00:26:55
a mistake
00:26:55
and this isn't going to be this group
00:26:59
that I want to be in till the day I die
00:27:01
you had to say no it's not that
00:27:05
so it's not just like it's not like just
00:27:08
quitting a job or changing a vocation
00:27:11
it's a hard thing to deal with to be
00:27:13
able to leave that groove the main thing
00:27:16
is that people think when you leave the
00:27:19
group that all of a sudden you're going
00:27:21
to go back to seven times worse than you
00:27:24
were you're trying to stigmatize you
00:27:27
into thinking you can't leave because
00:27:29
once you leave you're turning your back
00:27:30
on God and bad things happen to those
00:27:33
people so with that understanding how do
00:27:40
you having helped so many people I'm
00:27:44
over 50 members at least and then in
00:27:47
over 20 years
00:27:49
is there an ingredient where you take
00:27:51
them from denial through that break down
00:27:53
that you were speaking of the main thing
00:27:58
is you don't judge them for example with
00:28:04
Mary when she was out of the group we
00:28:08
got a call from the train station one
00:28:09
night and it was about 10 o'clock at
00:28:11
night and she asked if Ron and I would
00:28:13
go pick her up and she didn't want to
00:28:16
see her brother she didn't want to see
00:28:17
her mother she said I just I have to
00:28:19
talk to you so we came back to our house
00:28:23
and after a little while Ron went to bed
00:28:26
and Mary and I started talking at
00:28:28
midnight
00:28:28
and we talked to a four o'clock in the
00:28:30
morning and she confessed to me the next
00:28:33
morning she said the whole reason I came
00:28:36
to your house was to kill myself
00:28:38
and she said I've I just felt like I
00:28:42
would be more comfortable at your house
00:28:45
doing this and she said after we talked
00:28:48
all night I realized that I do have hope
00:28:52
she realized she did not want to kill
00:28:55
herself and that she did want to live
00:28:57
and we learned the deaths
00:28:59
mostly what she needed was just a year
00:29:02
for somebody listened to and it was so
00:29:04
it was something to be you know joyful
00:29:06
for we need more advocates you know like
00:29:10
Anika and Ron if someone is suicidal you
00:29:14
know somewhere they can go to get the
00:29:16
counsel they need if they need a place
00:29:19
and a sort of a sanctuary even just if
00:29:22
it's for a couple weeks to get some
00:29:25
resources to get the help they need
00:29:29
the children aren't God basically
00:29:31
created this problem they bred all these
00:29:35
children within the organization and
00:29:37
they didn't give them the skills to
00:29:40
survive in the outside world and that's
00:29:44
why people are dying that I know
00:29:47
everyday of things that can be prevented
00:29:58
well hey everyone this is Rick you know
00:30:12
I used to think a lot about suicide it's
00:30:14
it actually believe it or not it should
00:30:17
have started a long time ago should a
00:30:19
start or actually
00:30:24
[Music]
00:30:36
[Music]
00:30:48
you know if it had just gotten a little
00:30:50
better a little better even emotionally
00:30:55
mentally for me it would have been okay
00:30:59
to give me hope
00:31:05
[Music]
00:31:23
[Music]
00:31:25
are you doing good thank you
00:31:35
there was a destructive force in all of
00:31:38
our lives that we were put through
00:31:41
systematically and we are still dealing
00:31:44
with the effects of our upbringing so
00:31:54
glad you made it
00:31:58
[Music]
00:32:04
a lot of us who've been at this for a
00:32:06
while you know the struggle this journey
00:32:08
and recovering we have kind of changed
00:32:11
our opinion about what we want because
00:32:13
I've seen so many of my peers die trying
00:32:17
to get some sort of justice if you watch
00:32:19
the Ricky Rodriguez videos you can see
00:32:22
how intangible it was for him it's like
00:32:26
he couldn't he couldn't make it make
00:32:28
sense that these people could do this
00:32:30
and all of us could experience this and
00:32:34
I think we've all hit so many brick
00:32:35
walls with it and watched people die
00:32:37
over it that now all we want is to stop
00:32:40
it immediately because as survivors we
00:32:43
are a community trying to help each
00:32:45
other not die stories like ours have
00:32:51
been told before so I want to not only
00:32:54
make this a story about what happened to
00:32:58
us but what didn't happen to us yeah we
00:33:02
didn't have that education we didn't
00:33:04
have that community we didn't have that
00:33:07
family backing we didn't have a way to
00:33:09
get a job you know and all those things
00:33:10
combined are what's missing it's of that
00:33:14
stable foundation and when that is not
00:33:16
there then you are gonna have people
00:33:18
taking their lives because there's
00:33:20
nothing to stand on you know we can
00:33:23
point to the sexual abuse and we can
00:33:25
point to the physical abuse and say you
00:33:27
know we were abused and our younger
00:33:30
siblings tend to struggle with that
00:33:32
because they didn't have the group sex
00:33:34
you know and and the the type of stuff
00:33:37
that we dealt with yeah they supposedly
00:33:39
abolished adult with child sex so it's
00:33:43
not orchestrated like it was before it's
00:33:46
kind of like ripping the policies out
00:33:47
but continuing them right because that's
00:33:49
what they did they burned the books
00:33:56
[Music]
00:34:07
and then they send out this secret
00:34:11
letter that says well we're only doing
00:34:13
that because the system says to but we
00:34:15
actually still believe it
00:34:20
[Music]
00:34:28
we all know that it can the abuses
00:34:31
continue to happen not blatantly there
00:34:33
were no longer sharing rooms there were
00:34:34
no longer public orgies but the abuse
00:34:37
was still going because the people were
00:34:39
still there what I experienced was a lot
00:34:42
of dealing with men's advances older
00:34:48
men's advances this was when these
00:34:50
policies were out supposedly and these
00:34:53
publications had been burned I was 12
00:34:56
and he was in his 20s where he would
00:34:59
what he would kiss me and he would touch
00:35:02
me what I went through was that they
00:35:05
made us have naked communion because
00:35:08
they were like we want you to understand
00:35:10
the spirit of the family of love and so
00:35:14
in front of a group of peers we had to
00:35:16
strip naked and what they told me was
00:35:21
that if I would just allow myself to
00:35:27
admit that I enjoyed it I would be able
00:35:30
to get over it so there's still that
00:35:32
philosophy in place and that play
00:35:33
because it's still hurting people it's
00:35:35
still producing the same results I'm
00:35:38
still watching my younger siblings walk
00:35:40
out you know a year ago two years ago
00:35:43
you know and still trying to assimilate
00:35:46
in the world just like I did having the
00:35:47
same issues that I did because morality
00:35:50
was turned on its head for all of us
00:35:56
what she's describing this kind of
00:36:00
sexual abuse of children so rampant and
00:36:03
open and it's written down in pamphlets
00:36:07
and teachings how did this go on for so
00:36:12
many years
00:36:19
how did this go on for so many years
00:36:23
well probably went on in part because
00:36:26
people did not see it as sexual abuse
00:36:31
they saw it as variations of
00:36:33
transmitting God's love and nobody on
00:36:35
the outside uterus was going on
00:36:37
well people knew but it was hard to
00:36:39
reach into the group and stop it many of
00:36:42
us have spent countless hours informing
00:36:45
the FBI on the specific abusers their
00:36:48
names last-known locations but it's very
00:36:52
difficult for the arm of justice to
00:36:55
reach across borders as well so we need
00:36:58
to understand that is a factor I ate
00:37:01
just it to me it's mind boggling when
00:37:03
you read what he's preaching how on
00:37:06
earth is that not leading to a federal
00:37:09
raid and there were a lot of rates and
00:37:11
in various countries they did arrest
00:37:13
they did have raids yeah but nobody ever
00:37:15
got convicted Mary was one of the first
00:37:18
people to speak out publicly was it must
00:37:21
have been especially powerful for her to
00:37:23
be speaking out given the fact that she
00:37:25
was the granddaughter of the leader
00:37:27
everyone knew that she was there that
00:37:29
she was Berg's granddaughter so her
00:37:32
statement made a big impact it carried a
00:37:35
lot of weight and the fact that she was
00:37:36
willing to stand up against her
00:37:38
grandfather gave a lot of us the courage
00:37:42
to do so later on and she did and I did
00:37:46
[Music]
00:37:55
nobody can understand what we went
00:37:58
through but I can say one thing is no
00:38:00
matter what she always has a smile on
00:38:01
her face you know I just remember her
00:38:05
being an icon of standing up to Berg she
00:38:08
literally went through the worst of what
00:38:12
there was to experience in the in the
00:38:14
cult but no matter what they could never
00:38:17
kill her lights her soul it carried
00:38:20
through everything you know I I think
00:38:23
that's the most beautiful thing about
00:38:25
her I don't want to let this be the end
00:38:27
of her legacy so in light of this this
00:38:31
is our chance to to talk about what what
00:38:34
we want to see happen and what we want
00:38:37
to do to help people leaving the cult
00:38:39
this isn't a cult survivor escaping
00:38:42
issue its women's issues its children's
00:38:45
issues it's here in trafficking it's
00:38:47
issues that are the focus of pro bono
00:38:50
programs like that so if someone is
00:38:52
looking for a pro bono lawyer please let
00:38:55
me know awesome
00:38:56
yeah we'd love to give them a job in our
00:38:58
business if they want to start off we
00:39:01
can actually create a group that's
00:39:03
solely for resources I mean it all adds
00:39:06
up and then before we know it I think
00:39:08
we're gonna find that others are going
00:39:11
to want to help because we're actually
00:39:12
doing the work and let's not stop the
00:39:15
conversation opening a dialogue not
00:39:18
about our past and not about the bad
00:39:20
things that happen to us but opening a
00:39:22
dialogue about where we're going and
00:39:24
what our needs are I think it's gonna
00:39:26
change the type of support that we can
00:39:28
give to each other okay and so what I'm
00:39:30
gonna do is I'm gonna circulate this
00:39:32
list between everyone who's on the list
00:39:34
you know so that we can just like start
00:39:36
right away
00:39:37
a lot of lives were lost it's impossible
00:39:39
to say if our idea could have saved
00:39:42
anybody but we can't not try we can just
00:39:45
help kind of offer a cushion so that
00:39:48
they can get back up and turn around and
00:39:51
do the same for others I think that's
00:39:53
how it works
00:39:57
I have to admit until I worked on this
00:40:00
series I had no idea it was the
00:40:03
sexualization of children was so rampant
00:40:06
and condoned within this group do you
00:40:10
think anything's changed Amy
00:40:11
[Music]
00:40:12
you
00:40:13
[Music]
00:40:17
I have to admit until I worked on this
00:40:22
series I had no idea it was the
00:40:26
sexualization of children was so rampant
00:40:28
and condoned and encouraged and required
00:40:33
within this group do you think
00:40:36
anything's changed Amy I think a lot of
00:40:39
people that are still affiliated with
00:40:42
some of their offshoots I don't think
00:40:44
that they understand the background of
00:40:46
the people running them and that many of
00:40:48
these people were involved in pedophilia
00:40:50
directly right because David Berg is now
00:40:53
dead
00:40:54
his second wife is now leading yes
00:40:57
children of God by another name the
00:41:00
family international
00:41:05
[Music]
00:41:21
the abusers the leaders and a lot of the
00:41:25
members are still in the family
00:41:27
structure Wow
00:41:30
Mary must've had a lot of courage she
00:41:33
did she's a hero to many of us like she
00:41:37
just had so many people that loved her
00:41:39
not only from the cult but people that
00:41:42
she influenced after in her fight you
00:41:46
know dealing with her mental illness and
00:41:48
she donated her time to just go out and
00:41:52
help people and give friendship and you
00:41:57
know whatever she could do she she did
00:41:59
it and for my age to have to have so
00:42:02
many peers that have passed in those
00:42:05
very sad circumstances it's it's
00:42:09
distressing it's sad you know but one
00:42:13
thing that it does for me is it it makes
00:42:15
me want to be more resolute in speaking
00:42:19
out in carrying on the work to help my
00:42:22
peers not only my peers but just to
00:42:25
reach out and be a support network for
00:42:28
people that need it you know cuz we
00:42:30
understand that's that's one of the ways
00:42:32
that I try to find a reason you know
00:42:36
like bring some kind of justice in my
00:42:40
own life is just to help people
00:42:42
sometimes that's all you can do that's
00:42:44
why I keep speaking about my experiences
00:42:47
that's why you know I talked to
00:42:49
journalists and hope that you know
00:42:53
something can be done to help
00:42:57
[Music]
00:43:01
some people may question why there
00:43:04
aren't more people willing to speak out
00:43:07
about their experiences with the cult or
00:43:10
sexual abuse and I think that one of the
00:43:13
reasons is because of the sensationalism
00:43:16
that is attached to these stories we
00:43:20
need to remove the stigma you don't have
00:43:22
to be ashamed if things happen to you
00:43:24
can you can talk about it you can find
00:43:26
help you can find people that are
00:43:28
compassionate and I think everybody
00:43:31
needs to look around them and say how
00:43:33
can we help people succeed they just
00:43:35
need a little helping hand
00:43:37
[Music]
00:43:43
[Music]
00:43:54
you
