I AM NOT IN THE FAMILY

I would like to post some of my original email to Sam in this board so that those of you who are objective can make your own sound judgement. On September 6, 2003 I wrote to Sam:

"My name is [Christina], and I just found a reference on your
site about me and my activities in Perm, Russia, as part of the
organization Love's Bridge. In the beginning of your article you
write: "Let me give you a who-is-who tour of some of the people that I
recognize and tell you a little about them". This is where your deceit
begins, since you could not possibly "recognize" me since you do not
even know me. How can you tell anyone "a little about" me, if you
don't know a thing about me. You remind me of the very pervert
that we both hate--David Berg--who feared appearing incompetent, so
insisted that he knew something about everything, which ended up in a
lot of distorted, twisted accusations bubbling out of his perverted
mouth. I would think you, who have been deceived by this very man and
the cult, the Children of God, because you believed false information,
would have learned to verify your information before publishing it on
your site.

Let me explain a bit about myself and my connection to the Children of
God aka The Family. I will start by a personal statement: I am not
connected in any way, shape or form to the perverse cult that I was
born into! I was born and raised in the family, and if you consider
that in itself a crime, then adults like you who chose to join the
cult at a responsible age and willingly partook in its activities
should be sitting on death row. I stopped reading any Family
literature two years ago, and officially broke off ties with the cult
a bit over a year ago. My parents, brothers, sisters and friends have
all left the Family and are not connected with it in any way. I am not
a follower of David Berg, who I think was a sexual pervert and a mad
man. Love's Bridge is a non-profit organization with Board members
from all walks of life and backgrounds. Three of the five board
members of our non-profit organization were never in the cult and
never had any ties to it whatsoever. When Love's Bridge received
funding from USAID we were not part of a cult! I have chosen, until
the end of this year, to live in Russia and work with homeless
children, but that decision was not based on anything to do with the
cult.

You sound like you are some expert on my personal life when you
say "Christina was born around the late seventies or early eighties, a
time when free sex and prostitution exploded in the Family. Some of
those born during this time don't even know who their fathers are.
Many of them were molested as children. Many of them suffered physical
abuse. Many of them are still traumatized from these experiences." How
could you call me by my first name and act like you have the "inside
scope" on my life and experiences. I happen to have been conceived
before free sex and prostitution exploded in the family, and I do know
who my father is. Don't patronize us "second generation adults" by
comparing us with you. You do this when you write: "I joined at that
age myself and know the feeling. They are however deeply indoctrinated
in the ways of the cult and highly deceived." You do not, and never
could, know the feeling of being forced to grow up in a cult. How
could you even compare the "feeling" of joining the cult of your own
free will when you were a responsible adult to the "feeling" of
someone who was born into the cult and had no choice in the matter? It
was because of young, deluded adults like you that the Children of God
machine continued to run. If adults like you wouldn't have joined the
cult, it would have run out of fuel, and it would not have produced my
generation. Instead of pointing the finger at victims like me who are
now trying to get on with their lives, why don't you take a look at
all the fingers pointing back at yourself, the victimizer?

I am sorry
that you think everything us young people know is related to the cult
that we grew up in. You think that just because we have a reward
system that involves the words gold, silver and bronze in our shelter
we have to have adapted it from The Family's sick little "Go for the
Gold" revolution. Well, "gold", "silver" and "bronze" happen to also
be very common words used in any Olympic or other sport competition.
If you would know anything about helping street children give up
substances (besides the fact that I am getting my college degree at
the end of the Spring semester, 2004, I have done numerous studies on
street children and toxic substances and attended seminars), you would
know that a comparison of an athlete is commonly used to show them
that in order to reach their goals (finish school, get a job) they
have to give up certain things (toxic substances) just like an athlete
has to give up certain foods and activities. That is why a reward
system including those words is appropriate for a homeless kids'
shelter.

I study on the weekends, and my daughter just woke up, so I
have to go. I am sorry for lashing out at you personally, but I hope
you understand that after not having a voice in the cult for most of
my life, I cannot sit by and be accused without answering back. I
would like to hear back from you if you have any questions or want any
proof of my separation from The Family.


Sincerely, [Christina]"

I then received an email back from Sam which he posted in this thread. Here is my response: I do not know of any "proof" that I can give you, Sam, which will appease you since it seems that you are quite adamant about insisting that I am still in some way connected with the cult. My parents left the family in 2000, after being in it for 25 years, and my Dad and Mom both have worked hard to make a life for themselves outside the family. You could write either of them an email (Alex and Gail) at and ask them if their daughter has any ties with the family. Since leaving I have been studying Business Management in a California community college through a distance learning program. I will get my A.A degree next year and transfer to a UC (my husband and I are moving to the US in January, 2004). One of the reasons I left the family originally was to study, because the family had printed letters in 2001 saying it was basically forbidden to study full-time. I live in an apartment with my husband and daughter: we are not even enough people to make up a family home. Many of my former friends and people I know (some have already posted in this thread--thanks guys!) can attest to the fact that I have left the cult. Furthermore, as someone who was born into a cult without any choice in the matter, I do not feel a need to "reform" my ways or "come clean". Do you think a rape victim should tell each potential employer that he or she was raped? I think it would surprise you to know how many young people in the world that haven't grown up in a cult experienced abuse as children; should they also "come clean" and wear a label saying that they have been abused. I do not consider myself to be an inferior person or tarnished goods just because I grew up in a cult, which was not a choice I made. I do not need to reform my ways, since the cult was not something I was deluded by, it was something I was born into, and is something that I perfectly hate. Love's Bridge is separating from the FCF (we opened our own non-profit organization in a different State) but it has taken almost the full year since leaving the family to work this out and to inform donors to switch their donations to a different account. Grant Montgomery from FCF was here six months ago, as part of a grant that we had applied for and received before we left the family (we applied in March, received the grant in June, and officially cut off ties with The Family in September). Grant stayed in a hotel (since we do not have a "family home" for him to stay at) while he was here, and we barely discussed The Family while he was here at all, besides telling him about the reasons why we left. I have dedicated years of my life to the street children we work with, and I do not consider this effort to be tied in to The Family at all. I never proselytized to these kids, they are not "saved" as the family would put it, and I have always worked with the kids and staff on a professional, non-religious, level. I have had church people I have met here chide me for not "witnessing" to the children. I will soon leave Russia, but even while I am studying at a UC or working at a different job in the US, I will still be on the Board of Directors of Love's Bridge and I will continue to help the street children here in Perm, because I know that what Love’s Bridge does in Perm is saving lives, and I can see no better cause that I would like to keep supporting.