During the late 1960s, California experienced an influx of "Jesus Freaks" and free love fanatics. Among these groups was the Huntington Beach Light Club, or as they are known today the Family, also known as the Children of God. The Family was just one of many groups to begin in this time of change but they are one of the few surviving groups today. Not only are they surviving but with over ten million members worldwide, the Family is thriving. As an evangelical denomination of Christianity, the Children of God (COG) minister to people around the world to those in need. Since its inception in 1968, COG as ministered on every continent except Antarctica by providing medical aid for the injured and ill, food for the hungry, clothing for the underprivileged and other such volunteer work in orphanages, prisons, hospitals, and homeless shelters but this is just the outer layer of a religious group that goes much deeper than philanthropy and evangelism. COG has a seedy underside that it has worked tirelessly to keep from prying eyes of the outside world. Less than twenty years after its beginning, COG was deemed “the sex cult of the ‘80s.” Since that time, COG has reestablished itself as a reliable community but with the secrecy of family communes, the teachings of founder the late David “Moses” Berg still being taught, and accounts of life within the community by researchers and ex-members, many people on the outside are uncertain as to the legality and morality of COG.
In 1968 David Brandt Berg, later known as Father David, Mo and Moses David, along with his wife and teenage children, began to evangelize to the youth of the Huntington Beach area after he received a vision. After reaching a group size of about one hundred me...
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...ut outsiders are still skeptical of the Children of God and their unconventional beliefs and practices.
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