Misguided: The Soundtrack To My Life

Chapter Twelve – On The Road AgainMusic featured in this chapter:On The Road Again – Willie NelsonBlack lightning – The BellRaysJet Airliner – Steve Miller BandThis chapter of my memoir opens with my returning to the cult and hooking up with a new member, Rachelle, a mother of two who was nine years older than me.In early December 1979, I separated from the system a second time and left Port Alberni to rejoin the Children of God, now known as the Family of Love, or just the Family. I had accepted Fai Lok’s invitation to join her in a small commune in Nova Scotia on the opposite side of the country. I spent the entire six-day, 6,000 kilometre train trip from Vancouver to Halifax in a coach car. I was on the road again. My indoctrinated mindset and missionary zeal was reemerging as I returned to the Family and a life of constant change. In just a couple months, I would be headed back west, but not alone....... Rachelle’s kids, Karen and Peter, were 12 and 9. She had recently joined the Family with them, recruited by her sister-in-law, Bobbie. Rachelle was in the process of divorcing Bobbie’s brother, Steve, who was neither a Family member, nor the children’s biological father. That was a married man Rachelle had a long term affair with before she married Steve. He was a businessman in Halifax and both kids had his last name. Because their affair was illegitimate, Rachelle didn’t tell her devout Catholic parents about Karen until a year after she was born....... Less than two months after I arrived in Halifax, Rachelle got a phone call from Bobbie and her husband Norm inviting her and the kids to join them in Calgary, Alberta. Bobbie had recently received a small inheritance and used it to buy a school bus that was converted into a motorhome. They were following Berg’s latest instructions to hit the road with mobile ministries. Their initial plan was to travel around Alberta and British Columbia visiting Family homes and evangelizing along the way. When Rachelle told them about me, I was invited too....... With few other options, and bearing in mind Berg’s end-time predictions, we accepted their invitation. Living on the road would give us the ability to quickly head for the hills and avoid the chaos that would follow America’s imminent destruction....... For the next nine months we travelled around Alberta and British Columbia visiting Family homes, and going door-to-door in the towns we passed through selling literature and yellow plastic buttons with slogans like “God’s Only Law Is Love”. Bobbie was also very skilled at convincing businesses to donate goods and services to us, including restaurant meals, groceries, and gas. Having her niece and nephew with her helped when making appeals in person, as people were more likely to give when children were present.In the earliest, hippy years of the cult, David Berg took his followers on the road in a hodgepodge caravan of converted school buses, vans, campers, travel trailers and other vehicles that crossed the U.S. from California to Quebec, Canada. They likened themselves to a band of Gypsies, and they wrote songs accompanied with circle dances that expressed that spirit of travellers with no earthly place to call home, often persecuted and forced to move on. Berg picked up on that and claimed in a series of letters to his followers that one of his “spirit helpers” was an old Gypsy king named Abrahim. Bizarrely, he also claimed other fictional characters were his spirit helpers, such as the Pied Piper, who was helping him steal children away from their parents.On The Road Again – Willie NelsonOn the road again Goin' places that I've never been Seein' things that I may never see again I can't wait to get on the road again Here we go, on the road again Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway We're the best of friends Insisting that the world keep turnin' our wayIn this chapter I also discuss the person referred to as Black Lightening, the creator of cult deprogramming.Ronald Reagan was Governor of California in the late 1960s and early ‘70s when Berg formed the Children of God in Huntington Beach. After the group was accused of brainwashing its members, Reagan’s Special Assistant for Community Affairs, well known African American community activist, Ted Patrick,i became personally involved in helping parents rescue their children from the Children of God.In 1971, acting on a mother’s complaint that the police would not search for her missing 19 year old son, Ted Patrick discovered that he had joined the Children of God. He then learned that the group tried to recruit his own son. Patrick began an investigation, which included briefly joining the group under false pretenses. It was from his experiences with the Children of God that Patrick developed his controversial theory on how to extricate people from cults, and became known as Black Lightening, the father of deprogramming.ii A 1974 report described his deprogramming process:Enter Ted Patrick, kidnapper of kids, deprogrammer of Jesus freaks. Black Lightening, as he likes to be called. His technique sounded a little heavy: getting parents to abduct their kid from a colony, locking the kid in a motel room for three days, berating the kid to “think for himself” until – sometimes – “the fever broke.” The kids Patrick worked on often went through “relapses” and escaped back to the Children of God.iiiPatrick started working closely with concerned parents and helped form the Parents Committee to Free Our Children From the Children of God (FreeCOG).iv He and his accomplices began kidnapping and deprogramming Children of God members, with varying success.v Berg described Patrick as “a Satanist ... who believes in voodoo and demonology ... a Black devil!”viThat danger put the group on high alert, leading to the kind of serious security measures I was part of as a night watchman in the Burlington, Washington compound. Securing our safety became a central feature of life in the Family, which included using aliases, fronts, secret cells, encrypted communications, nightly security checks, and even home invasion escape drills in the event of raids by authorities or enemies. We lived in a heightened state of fear, always ready to run at a moments notice with packed “flee bags” prepared for any emergency.Black lightning – The BellRaysStorm cloud coming Coming straight to you You can’t run for shelter There’s nothing you can do I’m a new sensation. I’m on fire Overload your systems. Gonna jump your wires I’m Black Lightning I’m a sinner baby I’m all the power you need Now I’m out of the bottle I’m gonna set you free I can strike a hundred times a day Nothing ever gets in my way I’m Black Lightning I’ll be in your mind I’ll be in your soul No matter where you are. I’ll be in your head Never gonna rest until I’m dead I’m Black Lightning All across the world. Every night and day I’ll be your Sun to light the way I’m Black LightningWe watched TV coverage of the November 1980 U.S. election while we were in Alberta. Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory worried us because he was our enemy.Reagan’s election made us even more anxious to head south to safer foreign fields. However, our plan abruptly ended when the bus broke down on the highway between Edmonton and Calgary. Norm had it towed to his parents empty farm house about an hour away, but after Berg’s recent recommendation to abandon the mobile ministry they weren’t sure they would keep the bus after it was repaired. They intended to stay there until then, but the house was too small for all of us.We were homeless now. With few options and almost no money, Rachelle and I decided going to Port Alberni was our best move until we could figure out a new plan. We were able to get travel assistance from the government welfare office, which paid for our bus, train, and meals for the overnight trip. When I left Port Alberni almost exactly a year earlier, I was single and had one suitcase. I returned with a wife, two kids and about a dozen bags. We crowded into my parents’ house and spent the Christmas holidays there, while we considered our next move.......Our initial plan was to go to India, based on Berg’s recommendation for Commonwealth citizens. We kept our options open though, by answering a few appeals for help in the Family magazine. One was from a family in Macau, a Portuguese colony on China’s southern border. The other was a couple with two children in Malaysia. We didn’t hear from the Macau family, so we accepted the invitation from the other couple to join them on the tropical island of Penang. We left Canada in the summer of 1983.Jet Airliner – Steve Miller BandLeavin' home, out on the road I've been down before Ridin' along on this big ol' jet plane I've been thinkin' about my home But my love light seems so far away And I feel like it's all been done Somebody's tryin' to make me stay You know I've got to be movin' on Goodbye to all my friends at home Goodbye to people I've trusted I've got to go out and make my way I might get rich, you know, I might get busted But my heart keeps calling me backwards As I get on the 707 Ridin' high, I got tears in my eyes You know you got to go through hell Before you get to heaveni Ted Patrick ii “From the Archives: Mind Control U.S.A. (1979)”, High Times, April 9, 2022iii Thomas Moore, “Where have all the Children of God gone?”, New Times 1974-10-04 iv FreeCOG Parents who did not see the Children of God as a harmful group set up a counter organization called Thankful Parents & Friends of the Children of God (ThankCOG). They challenged FreeCOG claims and negative publicity with a newsletter supporting the group. My mother received some of their material.v Ted Patrick & Tom Dulack, Let our children go! Ballantine Books (April 12, 1979) First chapter of Let our children go! vi David Berg, “Jimmy Carter – America’s last chance?”, June 1976, par. 23 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit perrybulwer344598.substack.com