“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
They seemed cultish to me just from that first exposure. I don’t recall the particulars, but it was probably from how Moses David treated his flock. They looked pretty much like the crew attending the Calvary Chapel tent but Chuck Smith wasn’t running a cult