Children of God Plan 15-Acre Colony near City

By Jerry Dean, The Sun Bulletin—Binghamton, N.Y.

March 23, 1971, North America

The Children of God are coming.

Led by two advance men named Brother Josea and Brother Abel of the Tribe of Levi, the Children of God will set up a colony of 15 acres near Binghamton.

Brothers Josea and Abel—the only names they use—said yesterday their mission is to reach young people who “want to get rid of their hang-ups by serving the Lord.”

Youths’ hang-ups,

The hang-ups prevailing among today’s young people, they said, are sex, drugs, long hair, the radical movements and, yes, even the church system.

The brothers, both with neatly trimmed short hair and formal clothing, laughed as they talked with groups of people.

“People expect to see us with long hair and beads and blue jeans.

“But this is different than all those other Jesus groups which have to do their own thing. Life in one of our colonies is discipline and self-denial.

“We want to reach the world with the gospel, because the only solution to the problems of the world today is the power of Jesus Christ.” Brother Josea said.

The Broome County resident who has offered the use of his 15 acres for the colony—“Don’t call it a commune.” Brother Abel warned—asked that his name not be used, nor the site located.

No telephone

The Children of God do not even have a telephone number where a young person with sexual or drug hangups can call for assistance.

“We’ll go out and meet the people who need us,” Josea and Abel said. A two man team of brothers will arrive in Broome County sometime within the next six months and begin talking to people on the streets.

At present the Children of God have colonies in Texas, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, and California. Brother Abel trained at a 400 acre ranch in Mingus, Texas, before going out to spread the gospel. Teams are being trained to go to Mexico, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain.

The Children of God was started 13 months ago on the Texas ranch. By word of mouth it grew and grew and grew.

At a vigil in Washington D.C., last year, where all members wore sackcloth, like the old prophets, as a sign that people need to repent and return to the ways of God.” Josea explained the word spread even further.

Live in the open

“We live out in the open in our colonies,” Abel said.

A member of a colony is assigned to one of the 12 tribes of Israel, depending on his or her profession. Josea and Abel, both Texans before they became Children of God said the average age of a colony resident is 22 years.

Living in the open, or in tents or barns, the Children of God, “eat what is set before us by the Lord.” They complement the Lord’s offering by asking food stores for donations of unsaleable items.

“We’re here to fill the vacuum in young people…a vacuum which is not being filled by the churches. Ours is not a fad—there’ll be no bumper stickers—but the taking up of the Cross and obeying the word of God,” Josea said.