“Ran into some COGs back in their heyday - weird bunch.”
Some friends and I were wandering around downtown Huntington Beach one night in the late ‘60s, back in its seedier days. We came across some sort of meeting and we stopped and listened for awhile out of curiosity. It turned out to be the group that became the Children of God and I’m sure it was old ‘Moses David’ up front leading the show.
I dunno if they were into their flirty fishing routine at the time or if that came later. They struck me as just another cult, which SoCal was rife with back then. COG, Hare Krishnas, witch covens, even the Calvary Chapel in its tent days would prolly qualify, you name it we had it.
“I dunno if they were into their flirty fishing routine at the time or if that came later.”
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That came a bit later, the were just getting their act together in the late 60s. I ran into ‘em in the early 70s, nice people, but weird beliefs once you knew them a bit. Not a Californian (thankfully) :) but I’m reasonably knowledgeable on most cults.
You can read more about the COG at this site, run by ex-members. It has info about “Flirty Fishing” and other resources. The group still exists as “The Family International”, but they have supposedly given up their unsavory practices years back. “Moses David” is long since gone.
http://www.exfamily.org/index.htm