Dawn Watson "Children Of God" Cult Escapee Shares Her Heartbreaking Story

#1

Dawn Watson who was born into the cult lived the first thirteen years of her life in the cult before she was able to escape. Dawn revealed that she was taught to have sex at a very young age. She forced to perform sex acts on 'uncles' and shown images of naked women nailed to crucifixes. The Brazilian native also revealed that when they refused, they were shown images of naked women nailed to crucifixes as an instrument of fear. That wasn’t all as teenage girl and women were encouraged to have sex outside of the cult to source for funds for the cult.

She said,"As you learned to brush your teeth as children, we learned to have sex. We learnt God is love and the way to express God’s love is through sexuality."

This act was called ‘Flirty Fishing’ and was essentially a form of prostitution.

#2

There have also been many famous names involved with the court in the past. Hollywood actors Rose McGowan, who became embroiled in the recent sexual harassment scandal surrounding movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and Joaquin Phoenix were also once members of the cult.

Dawn Watson told,"I think that no one will truly understand unless you have lived it, what abuse is. And abuse I say in all forms. Abused sexually, abused emotionally and abused spiritually."

#3

She revealed that while in the court, she was able to stay sane by frequently seeking alone time. Dawn mentioned that she had a dog named Midnight who she would sit with all through the night in a bubble of her own making.

She said,"I used to have a dog called Midnight and he was the cutest thing and he had a big doghouse and I would sit down in that doghouse for hours and hours and just look at him. Because I could talk to him about anything and I knew he wasn't going to judge me. He wasn't going to punish me."

#4

The Children of God began in 1968 and was founded by David Brandt Berg in Huntington California. By 1972, there were 130 communities of full-time members scattered throughout the world including Brazil where Dawn was raised. Purporting himself to be a man of God who wanted to start up a network of global communities of likeminded individuals, Berg had a troubled history.

Dawn explained,"David Brandt Berg had a lot of darkness inside him. Before he even began this community he had problems with his own children. He used to abuse at his own children. He was kicked out of the church before starting this community because he wanted to have many wives. He didn’t know how to have one woman."

#5

By the time Dawn was born into the cult, Berg was a shadowy figure who existed to the members through his teachings and status as "Father David." But the culture of abuse and hyper sexuality was still rife. Dawn recalls as a child being exposed to images of naked women nailed to crucifixes, and 'Hookers for Jesus' captioned posters, produced by the Children of God. It’s been reported the cult brainwashed its members into believing that being part of sex acts – even if they were at a young age and didn’t understand what they were doing - was all part of God’s expression of love.

Dawn said,"I never had any father figure growing up in the community. Not someone that as a man I could relate to and can feel was protective of me. I always looked at men and uncles of the community as danger and I wanted to be as far away as I could from them."

#6

Questioning the ways of the community was frowned upon - and those that did were punished.

Dawn said,"A lot of the kids would get scotch tape on their mouth as in you don't talk about things that are not of this culture or our belief systems. I remember one day, we were just kids being kids, and we ended up getting a punishment and I remember I got so many spankings that my whole leg was bruised and I remember going to my mom and saying: Is this love?"

#7

Dawn, who was born into the cult, said,"My mom definitely did not know many of the things that were happening; they always put her to go and sing and always gave her so many jobs to do. A lot of times women were not taking care of their own children. They were always with uncles and aunties."

#8

The children in the community weren’t given a real education, further trapping them in the cycle of abuse and brainwashing.

Dawn said,"We weren’t permitted a lot to study or read books or anything that was going to take our mind away from the education that they were giving us."

#9

Frustrated with the lack of answers to her questions, Dawn started to sneak out some nights, bringing back with her cigars and music. One of the first songs she ever heard - other than one of Children of God's own - was by Eminem. Dawn couldn't get rid of the unshakeable feeling that the so-called expressions of love in the community were not right, so she decided, age 13, to leave.

She said,"I finally got to a point in my life where I needed a way out. I desperately said: ‘You know what? If the outside world is a terrible place, if God is going to judge me and kill me and I am going to hell. I really don’t care. Leaving the community and having to figure out life in the outside world was really difficult, exciting, scary, bunch of different emotions."