Jesus Freaks Read Free

of the June 7, 1844, edition of the Expositor , a newspaper published by a Mormon faction. Dissident Mormons at the newspaper were opposed to plural marriage and on that day printed a well-documented exposé of Smith’s previously secret revelation on the taking of multiple wives. 10
    Like Smith, Noyes and Berg inaugurated plural marriage in secret and only among their inner circle. Noyes encouraged the members of his community to engage in nonejaculatory sex to avoid unwanted children. Berg, on the other hand, outlawed birth control, encouraging the production of babies to increase his flock and spread his message.
    My fascination with this story began with these children—the children born into The Family. During the nineties, I began interviewing young adults who grew up in some of the most notorious cults to emerge from the spiritual turmoil of the sixties and seventies. Part of that research was published in February 2001 in a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled “Children of a Lesser God” and in a later book, Following Our Bliss . 11 My research examined two generations in the Church of Scientology, the Unification Church (the Moonies), the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the Hare Krishnas), and The Family. 12
    According to The Family’s own statistics, there were more than 13,000 children born into The Family between 1971 and 2001. This book chronicles the short and tragic life of one of them—a young man named Richard Peter Rodriguez, who was raised to be the Prophet Prince in the coming Endtime. Ricky was born in the Canary Islands on January 25, 1975. He was the first child brought into the world from “flirty fishing,” which could very well be the most unusual evangelical tool in modern Christian history.
    Ricky grew up in the center of David Berg’s sexual cyclone. He was born to Karen Zerby, a young convert who became sexually involved with Berg in 1969 and was later anointed as his heir apparent. His biological father was Carlos BelAir, a waiter Berg and Zerby befriended when they first came to the Canary Islands. Carlos was one of countless “fish” who swam through The Family during the flirty fishing years. He stuck around long enough to impregnate Zerby and get a glimpse of the child he fathered.
    David Berg and Karen Zerby raised Ricky to be one of the heroes in their theological fantasy. In the gospel according to Berg, Ricky would be christened “Davidito.” Ricky’s mother would be crowned “Maria.” They would be the “two witnesses” destined to sacrifice themselves and bring on the apocalyptic battles foretold in the Book of Revelation.
    It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, but with a twist. Ricky would grow up, leave the fold, and denounce his estranged mother and spiritual father, making his own date with destiny. Consumed with rage, Ricky would become the reluctant martyr for an abused army of troubled souls—a lost generation that would return to haunt Karen Zerby and the rest of The Family.

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Revenge of the Savior
    NEAR THE ARIZONA/CALIFORNIA STATE LINE
January 8, 2005 – Westbound on Interstate 10
    Ricky Rodriguez in his Tucson apartment on January 7, 2005.
    PREPARE TO STOP! Prepare to Stop! Prepare to Stop! Ricky eased off the accelerator when he saw the flashing yellow signs. He’d been jamming it since he fled Tucson earlier that night and headed out toward California on Interstate 10. Now, approaching the state line, Ricky slowed down at the inspection gate, steering his silver Chevy Cavalier toward two open lanes on the left. It looked like easy passage for regular automobile traffic. Then he glanced down at the bloodied pants crumpled on the floor by the front passenger seat. Should he stop and stash the incriminating evidence? Would his Washington plates make his car more likely to be searched than vehicles returning with California tags? What should he do?