Misguided - Photos of People Mentioned in My Memoir

The photos on this page are of people mentioned in my memoir MISGUIDED: My Jesus Freak Life in a Doomsday Cult. They are mostly in the same chronological order that these people appear in my story. [Work In Progress]

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 My maternal grandparents, Fleurdinanda (Babe) and Joseph. The photo is undated. It could be in Pine Falls, Manitoba where they're from. He worked on her dad's farm, which is how they met. They moved to Port Alberni in the 1940s, so this could also be sometime after that.

1956. My second Christmas, 1 year 3 months old, with mum Yvonne and dad Rod.

Undated photo. Potty training.

 

 

Spring 1958. I'm two and a half years old and my sister Brenda is a year and three months old. Outside the house on the corner of View Street and Falls Road, on the hill above River Road where in 1964 we heard the late night news that a tsunami had hit Port Alberni.

 

January 1960. I'm four and half years old, and Brenda is almost three. 

 My dad, mum, and Brenda and I are holding our new sister Crystal, shortly after we adopted her in 1966. We were now living in the house on 5th Avenue in uptown Port Alberni.

 Me, Brenda, Crystal and new brother Jay, shortly after we adopted him in 1967.

 Me on the back porch of our 5th Avenue house. Probably about 10 or 11 years old and on a Sunday, since the only time I wore a suit and tie was for Catholic Mass.

 My cousin's Catholic baptism. I'm his godfather. The priest is Father Siggy, who I served as an altar boy, which I discuss in Chapter 1 - Gotta Serve Somebody. This is around 1965 or 66, so I'm 10 or 11 years old.

 

The exact spot in the kitchen where I was standing a few years after this photo was taken, when I told my mum I was leaving home to move into the Children of God commune, which I describe in Chapter 3 - He's Leaving Home.

 The summer of 1970. I'm 14-years-old, just before my 15th birthday. We were on a family summer vacation to visit my dad's brother and his family in Vernon, B.C.  Our cousin Joy is holding Jay. I went with her to see the movie Woodstock, which had just come out. I would go see it again when we returned home to Port Alberni.

On a field trip with my E.J. Dunn Junior Secondary School grade 9 class. Notice the headband and flower in my hair. I'm with Steve, a recent immigrant from Hong Kong, who longed to return there. He found small town Port Alberni boring after living in that bustling city. He told me stories of his life in Hong Kong that fed my wanderlust to see the world.

 My E.J. Dunn Junior Secondary School student ID card, grade 10, which I started in September 1970, a couple months after the summer break in the previous photo.

 

The political protest I participated in while in high school that I write about in Chapter 3:  "There were numerous protests against the Alaskan nuclear tests in the following months, including in Port Alberni where the threat of a tsunami generated by the underground blast was a real, relevant risk. My first political action was participating in that protest march shortly before the bomb was detonated in November 1971."

This is the photo that accompanied the front page article about me "joining" the local Children of God commune in the Alberni Valley Times, May 26, 1972, which I included in Chapter 5 - Indoctrination. You can also read that full article on this page of the blog here.  That's me in the forefront on the lower right side of the photo. Japheth, the leader of the commune who recruited me is in the forefront on the left side, and his wife Hannah is in the center holding their infant. On the left side, the little girl being held by the adult is Japheth and Hannah's child, Becky. She is who Hannah was having extreme difficulty delivering when they were in the Texas commune, a story I tell in Chapter 9 - I Felt The Earth Move, where David Berg condemned Hannah and Japheth for lacking faith in God to birth Becky without professional medical care. The letter that Berg wrote as a consequence of that situation, "Faith and Healing", led to widespread medical neglect resulting in great harms, and even deaths, of many members and much worse, many of their children. Many still suffer the consequences of that medical neglect today.

This is me after I moved into the COG commune in Port Alberni. It's outside my parent's house, so my mum probably took this photo, cutting off my head. I'm giving the three-finger salute that the COG was famous for, the only Jesus People group who used it. It represents the holy trinity -- father, son, and holy ghost. We usually used it in a call and response ritual; someone would shout "revolution" and we would respond by raising our hand in the air with that salute and shouting "for Jesus". Notice the watch I'm wearing, which my dad had given me. I mention it in the memoir after I moved to the Nanaimo boot camp for new recruits and I had to give it to one of the leaders.

This is one of the billboards the Children of God had around the United States warning people that the 1973 comet Kohoutek was a sign that God was going to destroy America in early 1974. I tell that story in Chapter 7 - Fleeing Babylon The Whore. 

Abby, Laadah and Jephthah, the first leaders of the Children of God in Japan, and the first child born in the group there. I tell the story of moving into their headquarters in Ikebukuro, Tokyo to help take care of Jephthah in Chapter 9 - I Felt The Earth Move.

Some Children of God members visiting with Little Sisters of Jesus nuns. Laadah is next to them. In Chapter 9 - I Felt The Earth Move, I describe staying in their convent overnight during my first road trip in Japan with Brother Sun in 1975.

American Brother Sun with his Japanese wife Deborah. He met her on the last leg of our road trip, on the train back to Tokyo. He recruited her into the Children of God. When we returned to Tokyo I moved into Abby and Laahdah's leadership home in Ikebukuro to help care for their son Jephthah.

Children of God members in Tokyo 1975. My head is poking out in the middle back row. Brother Sun is on the far left of the back row. On the left bottom row is Shiloh, one of the co-leaders with her husband Meda, Abby and Laadah. Shiloh is holding one of her twins, and Deborah next to her is holding the other twin. Laadah is on the far right bottom row with her infant, and her toddler Jephthah next to her. In the second top row, second from the right is Canadian Peninah (see photo of me and her below). In the center of the photo is American Mercy (later Sweetie) who joined the COG in Japan when she was 15 years old. Sweetie is the one who told me about my wife's affair when we were living in a secret top leader's home, a story I tell in Chapter 15 - Mr. Big In Japan.

Christmas 1974.  This is at the last Japan commune I lived in before I moved to the Philippines, which I describe at the end of Chapter 9 - I Felt The Earth Move. It was in a residential neighbourhood in Nerima, Tokyo where Abby and Laadah moved their office to after shutting down the Ikebukuro headquarters.  Obil was my first cult name. That pendant around my neck is a yoke, symbolizing servitude to God.

Spring 1975. This is at the same Tokyo commune as the previous photo. My publisher chose this photo for the cover of my memoir.

 Me with some neighbourhood kids I played ball with in the large front yard of that same Tokyo home.

May 1975, shortly before I moved to the Philippines,  in that same Tokyo home in the previous photos. With Lorinda Stewart (Peninah), who I mention in an endnote in Chapter 4 - Revolution For Jesus, in relation to the story I tell about the Children of God requiring signed parental permission for minors like me and her (we were both 16 at the time) to live with them. Lorinda is the author of One Day Closer: A Mother's Quest to Bring Her Kidnapped Daughter Home. We each have a parakeet on our shoulders. It was uncommon for Children of God communes in the early years to have pets, but those birds were brought home by David Berg's first disciple, Arnold "Big Josh" Dietrich, who was living in that home with us.

On the left is Caleb Dietrich, an American who with his brother Arnold (see previous photo description) were David Berg's first disciples. Caleb was the leader of the Burlington, Washington commune when I was there. Next to him is American-Filipino Zichri and his American wife Shalisha, who established the Children of God in the Philippines and were the leaders of the Manila commune where I lived when I first arrived in the Philippines in 1975, which I discuss in Chapter 10 - Welcome To The Jungle, Or The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave.

Five Filipina members of the Children of God, outside the Manila commune I lived in when I first arrived in the Philippines in 1975. In the top row far left is Maria, who I was infatuated with and ran away with briefly.

Me and Maria. The left side of the photo was double-exposed, so I cut it off. I only have this photo, and many others, because I sent it to my mum in a letter. In Chapter 10 I discuss how me and Maria often spent our free time together, and how we had recorded a cassette of me and her singing songs and telling stories. I probably included that photo with the cassette when I sent it to my family.

American Daniel, on the far left, and his Filipina wife, Ruth, in front of him. They were the leaders of the Baguio commune in the northern Philippines where I moved to after the Manila commune. Daniel is the one who changed my cult name from Obil to Michael. Shalisha and Zichri are in the back row on the right.

Jun, his wife Amy, their daughter Maris and son Whilcey. Their daughter Sandy is missing from the photo.  This is the Filipino family in Cagayan de Oro, on the island of Mindanao, that took me in for several months after I left the village of Portulin, where I had lived for about six months after I left the Children of God for a couple years. 

Christmas 1976, with the family I was living with in Cagayan de Oro. Sandy, who is missing from the previous photo is directly in the center, the girl with her eyes open.

Undated photo, but probably 1977 or early 1978, not long after I returned to Port Alberni after leaving the Philippines. Jay and I playing the board game Battleship.

 

 

These two family portrait were probably taken several months after the previous photo as my hair has grown a bit longer.

 

 Christmas 1978 in Port Alberni. It's difficult to see, but I had permed my hair because it was a popular fad for guys in the 1970s and I was trying to fit in. When my dad first saw it he ridiculed me. I look a bit like Weird Al Yankovic.

Karen, me, Rachelle and Peter. This is early 1980, shortly after I got together with Rachelle and we left Halifax to live with Norm and Bobbi in their converted school bus. We are outside Norm's brother's house in Calgary, Alberta.

1980, road trip in the bus on our way from Alberta to British Columbia. Rachelle, Peter and I at the edge of a glacier, part of the Columbia Icefield, near Jasper, Alberta.

Me and Peter outside the converted school bus. That picnic table folded up and fit into a slot underneath the back of the bus.

1980 in British Columbia. Still living in the bus, we visited several Children of God communes around B.C. On the far left is Aaron, who I first met in Hong Kong when I passed through there from Japan on my way to the Philippines. He was in the Halifax commune where I met and hooked up with Rachelle. We were visiting him in the interior of B.C. I'm on the right playing guitar, and on the bottom right is Bobbi, Rachelle's sister-in-law, who owned the bus with her husband Norm.

 Christmas 1980 at my parents house, just a couple weeks after the school bus broke down in Alberta and Rachelle, Karen, Peter and I moved to Port Alberni. That's Karen and Peter with my sister Crystal and brother Jay.

1981 or 82, after we moved to our own apartment in Port Alberni.

1983, Rachelle and Karen in our apartment in Port Alberni. A few months before Rachelle, Peter and I left for Penang, Malaysia.

May 4, 1984, the day Rachelle and I got married at Hong Kong City Hall. We were living in Macau at the time, so travelled to Hong Kong to get married there since it was still a British colony at the time.

September 1984, at a retreat for all the Children of God members in Macau and Hong Kong at the YMCA campground in rural Hong Kong that had cabins, a communal kitchen, conference hall, outdoor swimming pool and other amenities. This is where James recruited Rachelle and I to work in his leadership office home. I describe this in Chapter 13 - Pearls Of The Orient.

1984 or 85 at the office home in Sai Kung, New Terroritories, Hong Kong. The two girls are the children of James and Amana who were the regional leaders of COG members in Macau and Hong Kong. The boy is the child of their secretary. Rachelle took care of the children and we often took them for walks in the hill trails behind the house. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside the Beijing Friendship Hotel and Apartment Complex where we lived in 1985/86.

Outside the Beijing Friendship Store where foreigners could buy food and other products not yet available to locals. Me in the white coat, with Joe in the blue coat and hat. He was visiting from the northern city, Harbin, where he taught English.

The entrance to the Institute of Finance and Banking in Beijing as it looked when I taught English there in 1985/86. You can see the ongoing construction in the background as it was being renovated after being reclaimed from the cigarette factory that took over the buildings during the Cultural Revolution.  It is now called the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Rachelle and Peter ahead of me on a bike ride on the outskirts of Beijing. In front of them is a horse-drawn cart, probably returning to a rural farm after delivering produce to the city.

 

 

Christmas 1988. Rachelle, Karen, Peter and I at the Heavenly City School in Tateyama, Japan. Karen had come from Canada to visit us. It was the last time all four of us were together. I tell that story in Chapter 15- Mr. Big In Japan.

 

 November 1989 at the Heavenly City School in Tateyama, Japan. Peter and Joanna got married in a group ceremony with several other teen couples, which I mention at the end of Chapter 15 - Mr. Big In Japan.

September 1991, Port Alberni. The birthday party for me at my mum's place that all my relatives on her side attended. The girl on the right in the red top is Karen's first child, Amanda, who she was pregnant with when we left her behind in Port Alberni when we moved to Malaysia in 1983. On my mum's lap is my sister Crystal's 2nd child, Jack. I had been gone for about 8 years, and everyone assumed they might not see me again, so everyone showed up. I did return to Japan a few days later, but less than 2 weeks later was back in Canada and out of the cult for good. I discuss this in Chapter 18 - Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

June 1995. Back in Canada after leaving the cult in 1991. I was living in Nanaimo, B.C., attending what is now called Vancouver Island University. I had a circle of friends I socialized with, and we attended several out of town concerts. This photo is in Seattle where we went to see Bob Dylan at the Paramount Theater, which I mention in Chapter 20 - Law And Disorder.

Summer 1998. After graduating from Vancouver Island University in 1996, I moved to Vancouver to attend Simon Fraser University's teacher training program. I dropped out of that after the 1st semester and worked as an English tutor for international high school students from South Korea. This photo is from that period. I was a volunteer in the gym where I worked out at the Britannia Community Center near Commercial Drive.

 

 

1998 or 99, with my colleague Pat at the Lion's Den Adult Day Care Centre on Commercial Drive where I worked until the end of August 1999 before starting law school in September.

 

2001, at my desk in what is now called the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside where I worked while I was studying law at the University of British Columbia from 1999 to 2002.

 

 

 

Indigenous art work gifted to me after I worked in what is now called the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic while I was studying law at the University of British Columbia from 1999 to 2002.

      
2001-02. I'm with Janet, the woman I dated for 10 months, the only intimate relationship I've had after leaving the cult in 1991.

2002. Graduating with a law degree from the University of British Columbia.

 2003. Law Society ceremony calling me to the Bar of British Columbia as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

2003, the day I was called to the Bar, in my office at the law firm Mandell Pinder.

 

 

March 2005, in my Vancouver apartment on Pandora Street, where I finally opened the box in the back of mind and released all my cult secrets. On the wall are my University of Vancouver Island B.A. degree; my University of British Columbia law degree; and my Law Society certificate admitting me to the Bar of B.C. as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

 The log cabin I retreated to for a life of quiet solitude in order to heal and write my memoir, mentioned at the end of the last Chapter 22 - Everything Is Broken.

 

 

Undated photo. Me adjusting my hat, with Greg who lived directly across the road, and my dog Susie, who I was reminded of when writing the last couple paragraphs of the final chapter of my memoir, Chapter 23 - Everything Is Broken.