Sup Steem punks and Steem princesses!
I played in a band for several years with an awesome group of brothers.
I joined the band because I was friends with their former bassist, whom of which passed away. After playing in this band for about a year I began learning more about my friends dark pasts. 3 of the members of the band were not only brothers, but also escaped a cult.
Children of God
If you dont know what the Children of God is, it is a Christian faith extremist cult. The cult is based around some misconceptions(typical) read from the bible stating things about sexual contact. The cult is almost like a fucking hippy commune but not only having the adults being "swingers" but also the children were involved in sexual abuse. Basically they belived that through sex with each other, and with children, that you were giving gods love. It was looked at as something that you just did, like eating or drinking.
My bands mates experiences.
When I asked the 3 brothers in my band about their previous memories of the cult, they were always semi reluctant to speak on it. I think maybe they were slightly embarrassed or ashamed, which to me was not warranted because they were children who had no idea that they were being brainwashed. Eventually I was able to get some minor details about their modern experiences with this cult and this is what they said. There would be a huge household of a bunch of people who all worshiped, lived together, and fucked each other. Like a hippy swingers house or something.
If you are interested in more information in general about the cult, here is their wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_International
Here is our band, if you were curious :
The journey of being kicked from the cult
As young kids they were separated around the world in different places and countries and raised in this cult. Later in their childhood they were brought back together and took an interest in music. They spoke about how the women in the cult were shared by all the men and vice versa. They were also not allowed to read ANYTHING that wasnt written within the confines of the cult OR listen to any music that wasnt approved or directly written by the cult. They were forced to read books that supported this nonsense and listen to cheesy dumbass music... they soon learned that other music existed in the world. Through this music they began to see how wrong the cult was. They were eventually kicked out of the cult for writing music that the leaders did not agree with. They left their parents behind to start a new life.
Surprisingly enough all 3 brothers were just like me in a way. They were awesome people and the cult did not leave a lasting effect on their mental status from what I had seen. I am sure they struggle with the complexities of things, but they sure were good at hiding it and being normal. They certainly struggled a lot in their lives and I am sure that it takes its tolls.
I want to make a film.
Luckily 2/3 are happily married and the other one runs a very successful business. They continued to play music and thats where their paths crossed with mine. I really had a good time hanging with these guys and wouldnt trade it for the world. I do want to make a documentary about this concept. I always found it intriguing. I am going to start putting together the foundation of this documentary and with your support it will get made. Let me know if this topic interests you enough to watch a film over it. Love you all. Stay awesome and dont join cults.