Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge

I wouldn't recommend this to those looking for in-depth history on COG/TFI or the 'Jesus People' movement. I was hoping Lattin would delve further into the early history &amp; cultural environment in which high-demand groups like this one were able to flourish.<br /><br />This book seems to sell itself on the sensationalism of already-sensational events, which makes me wonder why many reviewers seem shocked at the content, knowing in advance what the themes are. <br /><br />Hopefully this book's existence serves as a small sort of victory for (instead of a simple exploitation of) those who were victimized.

I am intrigued by the people who get sucked into abusive cults. What draws them in? At what point do they forget common sense? This nonfiction book follows the life of "Prophet Prince" Ricky Rodriguez, who was born into the Children of God/The Family International cult and, according to cult founder David Berg, an alcoholic pedophile, was destined to become one of two "witnesses" who would sacrifice himself to bring on the apocalypse. Berg claimed that sex between adults and children (including those who were related) was an expression of God's love. He made Ricky his experiment, sexually abusing him from his birth with a team of adults, and chronicled that abuse in parenting pamphlets that were distributed to the cult's thousands of followers. For any child who resisted abuse (even a flippant remark was considered a serious offense), an "exorcism" was performed, during which that child was severely beaten.<br />Author Don Lattin does a good job of collecting interviews with ex-members of the cult, which offer some insight into the blind faith adopted by converts. Lattin also gained access to copies of "Moses Letters" written by the cult's founder and various photographs of the cult. Unfortunately, all of this information is tossed into the book haphazardly and I had a difficult time trying to piece together the chronology of events and figuring out who was who. Ultimately, this book is 211 nauseating pages that graphically describe child abuse and it ends, disappointingly, without justice being served to the cult's monstrous offenders. One wonders how the cult leaders still remain free. Save yourself some nightmares and skip this one.

An interesting (if tragic) account of the Children of God, a new religious group (aka "cult") that came out of the late 60s Southern California Jesus movement. I think some of the negative reviews of this book come from readers who expected either an in-depth sociological study of the Children of God or a true crime thriller. It's neither, although it has elements of both. Don Lattin has covered new religious movements for decades and has a good grasp of the subject, and also consults academic experts throughout the book, but the narrative is structured around the disturbing story of Ricky Rodriguez, scion of the group's leadership and its appointed heir and "prophet," whose life ended in 2005 at age 29 in a murder/suicide. The Children of God are fascinating both because of their ability to combine hippie free love ethos with elements of conservative Christianity, and for just how far off the rails this toxic combination led them. The story is a quintessentially American tragedy, and raises philosophical questions regarding intentions and beliefs vs. actions, consequences, and interpretations. As implied in the publisher's summary, if you liked Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, or if you're interested in either new religious movements or the counterculture, this book is a good bet. If you're sensitive to accounts of child abuse or children and sexuality, you'll probably want to avoid it.

This book was so badly written and disorganized that it made a compelling subject almost uninteresting. I expected this books to be sensational and tabloid-like, but the writing was so bad that i couldn't even enjoy it as a trashy non-fiction book about an interesting subject.

WOW... Did I say WOW?<br /><br />I was so caught up in this book. I have studied religion and have an arts degree with a major in Religious Studies, but NEVER... WOW! I am floored. I know that people do some wacky things in the name of Religion, but this one tops the cake so far. Child sexuality, prostitution (oh, sorry, flirty fishing), multiple partners, orgies... and all in the name of Jesus Christ? WOW! I couldn't put this book down, and the whole time, the only thing running through my head was "what makes a person think this way? This is CRAZY!"<br /><br />If you have any interest in Religion/Religious Cults at all, I suggest reading this book. After reading this book I did more research on the cult and found out that stars, such as Rose McGowan of Scream/Charmed fame escaped this cult with her family when she was young. Her family left because of the child molestation claims. It's CRAZY!<br /><br />The reason for the 4 stars is because I didn't find the book to be overly well written. At times I was a bit confused as to who was who (which couldn't totally be placed on the researchers fault, seeing as they were changing their names for security reasons every couple of years). I also found that the book jumped all over the place, from the 60's, to the 90's, back to the 70's then to the 2000s... Overall though, a book worth reading!!!

This book is... problematic. It veers between wanting to look at the larger sociocultural scene around the rise of cults in the 1960s, being a sensationalist exposé of what is by any standard a <i>real</i>, real shady cult, looking at the underpinnings of the religious doctrine of said cult, and covering a murder suicide committed by a cult member. It wants to do all of those things and does a little of each, but without giving readers any type of functional analysis. It reads amateurishly and is poorly organized, but to be fair, it does manage to construct a deep introduction to this particular cult supported by first-hand sources. <br /><br />tw: child abuse:<br /><input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="57f7fcad-e78d-4fcf-a6fb-3f6aed333d16" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="57f7fcad-e78d-4fcf-a6fb-3f6aed333d16">It's also problematic that while it's indisputable that The Family espoused and practiced sexual abuse of children, the author uses the cult's own term for it, "sex play between adults and children", (a term that frankly does not exist in my vocabulary) and that comes off as an endorsement. Gross.</label>

The subject matter is fascinating, and I appreciate all the effort the author put into researching the events and conducting interviews. I just felt that the writing of it was scattered, especially in a chronological sense--it seemed like it jumped around all over the place, back and forth. There were also some repetitive sections, while parts I would have liked to have had more in-depth were skimmed over. (A challenge when you're piecing a story like this together, I know, but overall it made the pacing feel uneven.) Maybe I would have enjoyed it more as a longform article?

Both a detailed description of the workings of the Family International (aka Children of God or COG), led by David Berg, and an attempt to make sense of Ricky Rodriguez’s murder-suicide, Jesus Freaks ultimately does little of either, instead wallowing in the exploitative nature of one of the most dangerous, horrifically abusive, and destructive cults in American history. <br /><br />The Family International, led by Berg, arose out of the counterculture in the 1960s, attempting to unite the hippy ideal with the primitive church; its creeds focusing heavily around sex, flirty fishing, and eventually systemic child abuse as Berg increasingly took the mantra “to the pure, all things are pure” to heart (forgetting the second half of Titus 1:15 – “but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”)<br /><br />Ricky Rodriguez was born into this cauldron of sexual exploitation as the so-called heir to Berg’s prophetic cult. He, like many other children raised in the Family, was subject to severe and constant sexual abuse by many people. He eventually escaped and, traumatized by his time, murdered his former nanny then killed himself. <br /><br />Jesus Freaks sums up the core of the Family pretty accurately, but this book does not do much justice to the suffering of those victims nor does it attempt to be an organized history of the movement. Rather, it leans heavily into the pulpy elements of the story: the sex, the abuse, the violence, and rather haphazardly tries to be a history of the group. <br /><br />As the leaders of this cult remain free, all that this book can be now is a monument to the suffering and heartbreak Berg and his group have caused, otherwise Jesus Freaks struggles to rise above its sensationalized narrative to its detriment.

This was a disturbing book, obviously, but also was not particularly well-written and would have been served by some good editing. It was hard to get through because of the content, but also because it was confusing, not compelling, and repetitive.

There's not many books about The Children of God aka The Family, so we're kind of stuck with this one. There's a lot of information here, but it's disorganized which made it hard to read.