Public Spanking With Belts, Periods Of Isolation And Propositions By Older Men For Free S3x’ : Woman Reveals How She Grew Up In Notorious 'Children of God' Cult

 

Petra Velzeboer, a lady, has described what she and other children went through growing up in the infamous 'Children of God' cult.

Throughout her upbringing, Petra claimed she lived in Brazil, Belgium, Africa, and Russia under the watchful supervision of cult leader David Berg, whom Petra and her siblings were told to call 'grandpa' despite never meeting him until his death when Petra was 13 years old.

'Growing up, it seemed like every three years was some kind of deadline for when the world would end or Armageddon would appear.' Petra spoke to Metro UK.

She reports that public spankings with paddles or belts were widespread, as were enforced quiet restrictions, periods of seclusion, and offers of 'free sex' from older men.

'By the time I was ten, he'd pretty much gone from being on the frontlines to hiding,' she adds.

'The story for us was that he needed to be able to hear God's voice, but the reality was that police were investigating specific families and communities and child abuse charges.'

Despite the fact that David Berg was investigated for these acts, he was never charged or convicted of any crimes before his death.

Berg's idea, and the foundations of the cult's formation in 1968, was that 'a generation safeguarded from the pressures of groupthink would be protected from being shaped into society's view of what life should be and would be able to think for themselves'.

Petra spent her first 22 years of life immersed in the cult, which has subsequently rebranded as The Family International.

The Family International continues to operate in 70 countries throughout the world, despite the fact that the organisation 'disassembled [its] former organisational structure' in 2010 and 'now functions as a small online network of roughly 1,300 members'.

Petra, now 41 and a mental health advocate, is speaking out about the'regular indoctrination' she and her family went through.

'Every song had lyrics that said "God's the truth," and we would read letters or remarks from the cult leader,' she claims.

'Every piece of propaganda, every piece of literature, comic books, music, story books, was affected by him and was frequently his narration, voice, prophecy, and teaching.

'So by the time you say "oh, I'm not sure about this" or "this doesn't feel right," you already have the counter argument in your head because it's been there since birth.'

According to Petra in her book, Begin With You, she and her family "traded one groupthink for another," which is why, as a mental health practitioner now, she can't emphasise the value of independent thought enough.

In her memoir, Petra recalls incidents from her cult existence as well as the 'double-life' she began outside of it, both of which left her with profound PTSD.

She lived a 'hedonistic' lifestyle of severe drinking and drug usage in her teens and early twenties, getting arrested, facing serious sexual violence, and attempting suicide at 26 after leaving the cult at 22 due to becoming pregnant with her first child.

Petra says: ‘What’s interesting is seeing the parallels between cult life and how we survive toxic behaviour. What I see in the corporate world is people doing similar things like giving up their own values in favour of survival and getting paid.’

Falling pregnant with her son gave her the final push she needed to leave the cult.

‘People often ask, “how did you escape?” As if it were a prison or walls or a compound and it’s nothing like that when it’s these sorts of communities. It’s more the prison of your mind,’ she says.

‘You could leave at any time, and they would tell you so, but then in the messaging you would receive daily, it was people who left, God punished, so if bad things happened to them it’s because they weren’t listening, which would make people afraid of leaving’.

 

‘For me and my siblings, we didn’t go to school, we didn’t have an education, we thought the world was going to end imminently, so everything out there was painted as other or evil.

‘It was a big leap in your mind to betray it and for many people they were ostracised by their own parents and support networks and would struggle in a big way once they left that safety net.’

When she left at 22, Petra moved in with her partner in London and cut contact with her family for a while. Transitioning to life outside the cult was difficult, which increased her depression and alcohol addiction.

‘You have the shock of “what this isn’t how other people think? My parents lied to me?” and then there’s depression and anger before you get to that acceptance,’ Petra says.

‘I think expression in the right way is key for your mental health,’ says Petra.

‘It can be deeply personal like art which can help you – journaling, writing – all these things can help you go “oh that’s what I think”.