A survivor of the notorious ‘Children of God’ cult has detailed the horrific abuse she suffered from the age of five, and how the group’s so-called ‘free love’ ideals encouraged child sexual abuse. revealed that.
Daniela Mesjanek Young, 36, escaped a “sex cult” at the age of 15 and now works as a self-described “researcher of cults, extremists, and extremely bad leadership.” She said in an interview with The Sun:.
While the cult touted sex, God, and free love, Mesjanek Young revealed the horrifying truth about what was going on behind the scenes. She describes how adults are encouraged to have sex with minors, and the group’s “free love” ideals include the need to sacrifice one’s own children to be trafficked. He said that it includes things that must be done.
“They’ve officially announced that it’s not going to happen anymore,” she said of the abuse, noting that the cult “survived by being whitewashed and changing its name.”
Founded in 1968 by former priest David Berg, the infamous cult had more than 15,000 members at its peak, before the group was disgraced on charges of rape, child abuse, incest, and religious prostitution. I was holding it.
“[David] “Berg was an alcoholic and a failed preacher who suddenly turned thousands of people into submission when he turned 50, forcing them to give up their freedom, their children, everything,” she said.
Meschanek-Young’s grandfather, a senior leader who still “controls the funds”, suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of the cult.
“We’ve been taught that the outside world is evil and very bad,” she says.
Meanwhile, her world, which banned non-biblical education, was filled with “all kinds of abuse, corporal punishment, dual-personality parents, programming, medical neglect, sexual abuse, and denial of education,” she said.
Mesjanek-Young said she was sexually abused when she was 5 years old, and by the time she was 6, she started having suicidal thoughts.
“I experienced a terrible sexual assault, and if this is the love of God, I want nothing to do with it,” she said.
“They watched me being dragged away. [away] By a pedophile…and I was missing for 10 hours. And no one asked questions. ”
Mesjanek-Young said abuse became commonplace because parents were convinced they had to sacrifice their children for God.
The FBI began pursuing Berg in 1974, but the cult simply went underground and relaunched as Family International in the 1990s, Mesjanek-Young said.
“We called ourselves one big family,” she said, adding, “We spent a lot of time rehearsing answers as to why we weren’t a cult.” .
When Berg died in 1994, the investigation into the group all but collapsed, but even as the cult began to disintegrate, some “defectors” never experienced “the cracks of brainwashing,” he said. Mesjanek Young said.
She estimates it currently has about 1,500 members and brings in more than $1 million in revenue each year.
“Part of the genius of ‘Children of God’ was that it moved around the world and changed names, right?” She added that you can’t get justice if you don’t know the true identity of your abuser. Ta.
Now a mother of one and author of Uncultured, a memoir about her cult experiences, Meschanek-Young dedicates her time to teaching others about cult psychology.
“What I always try to teach people is that the only way to protect yourself from extremism is to live comfortably in the gray and understand that there are many valid ways to live life. ” she said. “Because the whole thesis of the cult is, ‘There’s one right way to live life, and we have it.'”
“I think the best anti-cult mantra is to always tell yourself that there are many valid ways to live life.”
