False prophets – new book

How many kinds of false prophet are there? Today’s BBC Heaven and Earth show featured three sisters and their new book that shows one kind of false prophet;

Children of God – child abuse
Three sisters, Kristina, Celeste and Juliana, join Gloria to talk about their harrowing upbringing within the new religious movement known then as ‘The Children of God’.

From the age of three, the girls were considered to be sexual beings by their ‘guardians’. They were abused and were the victims of advances from men old enough to be their grandfather. They were denied formal schooling; they were forced to beg on the streets and were beaten for ‘crimes’ as benign as reading an encyclopaedia.

Eventually the sisters escaped, along with their mother, when they realised that the group’s leader was a false prophet. The three sisters, now grown women, have started their own organisation called RISE International to help other victims of abusive religious groups. Their new book is called Not Without My Sister.

Book Description (from Amazon)
The true story of three sisters’ courageous struggle to escape
a perverse community that betrayed them in the name of love, deprived of
their childhood and robbed of their innocence.
This is a horrific story of perversion and loss but, ultimately, it is an
account of immense love and immeasurable bravery.

Synopsis
The devastating account of three sisters, torn apart and forced to suffer abuse and exploitation at the hands of a community that robbed them of their childhood. They reveal three lives, separate but entwined, that have experienced unspeakable horror, unrelenting loyalty and unforgettable courage. From as early as 3 years old, Juliana, Celeste and Kristina were treated by their ‘guardians’ as sexual beings. They received love letters and sexual advances from men old enough to be their grandfather, and were forced into abusive relationships that barely went unhidden. They were denied access to formal schooling, forced to wander the streets begging for money, and were mercilessly beaten for ‘crimes’ as unpredictable as reading an encyclopaedia. Finally, realizing that the cult’s leader, David Berg, was a false prophet, their mother escaped with Kristina, leaving Celeste behind with their father. Juliana, his daughter by another woman, also remained behind. Celeste finally broke free after falling pregnant and realising that the child she was carrying would be subjected to the same fate if she could not find the courage to escape. Juliana was the last to leave, staying behind long enough to look after her younger siblings and feed Celeste information from the inside. Now the three sisters have finally come together to reveal in full and horrific detail their existence within a group that has destroyed the lives of so many. Their stories intertwine throughout the years, revealing a community spread throughout the world whose legacy of anorexia, depression, drug abuse, suicide and even murder are impossible to erase. Lives that follow parallel paths are ripped apart and painstakingly mended with a shared strength that finally enabled the sisters to free themselves from the shadows of their past.

—–0—–

All postings to this site relate to the central model in the PhD. Summaries are HERE