A little more history to add to the history section

Short History---5th & Towne, 1971


I joined the Children of God in April of 1971 at their commune located in the depths of skid row(downtown Los Angeles). I came with my entire bank account ($700) some clothes and a guitar. I remember being greeted at the door by Lois and Apollo (who were latter married in Europe) and by a strange skinny blond haired guy named “Sir Robert” (is that in the Bible?). I was immediately shown a room up on the 3rd floor of this converted Mission for the poor. At the time I would estimate there was about 150 to 175 people (average age about 22). I was placed in a room with about 9 other “Disciples”. I remember the first “tribe” meeting we had (little Josh was the Tribe leader who was also the head mechanic in LA, in charge of keeping the vehicles running) we were told we needed to memorize at least “2 verses per day” so that we would be ready if the “communists” took our Bibles away.
Generally in the evening the COG band would play (with Jeremy Spencer, who had left the band Fleetwood Mac about 7 months previous, on guitar). After singing and dancing we had “Big Josh” (Faith’s husband) exhort us for about an hour followed by the current leader of the L.A. commune, Abraham (who was latter to mysteriously disappear)? The night always followed up with ice cream and hostess cupcakes (standard dessert at that time).
Fred Jordan (who David Berg use to work for) let the COG use the building for their work with certain conditions. The first was that they continued to hand out sandwiches to the poor and homeless who inhibited that area of town and also that the COG be a weekly presence on Fred’s local TV show.
The first week I joined I was told we had to play like a “systemite” and dress up with coat and ties to show the viewing audience how effective Fred had been in bringing the “hippies” to Christ. Generally “Singing Sam” and Faithy would be the leaders of this Sunday “façade” and Fred would interview the new “converts”.
Behind Fred’s back though everyone laughed at him and his staff---- I got the impression it is “OK” to use people, as long as it is for the COG’s purpose.
Another way of wearing down members was the hours and hours of preaching (that would sometimes go on till 1am) ---there were a variety of speakers ranging from Aaron and Faithy (Bergs kids) to Big Josh or Abraham.
I also remember getting very sick the first week (according to other members almost everyone gets sick in the first week) and having an out of body experience (due to extreme pain??).
It was experiences like these that, I believe, really bonded people to the family. There would be a crisis (sickness or a family member trying to get you to leave) followed by members of the COG telling you “that’s the devil trying to get you!!” Over time it was very effective getting disciples “on board” the Cog’s bus of deception!

PS I was reading some past COG History and realized that David Berg met his first wife at the Church I attended in Sherman Oaks , Calif for 15 years !!! She was working there as a secretary---- the weird thing is I later taught Sunday school in that same room !!!! Weird !!!!----by the way, the Church is "The Little Church of Sherman Oaks" that later went bankrupt a year after I left .