The Love Family, or the Church of Jesus Christ at Armageddon, was a U.S. communal religious movement formed in 1968 and led by Paul Erdmann, who renamed himself Love Israel.

After a fractious conflict in 1984, the community was reduced to a small fraction residing on their property in Arlington, Washington. The Love Family flourished on that acreage from 1984 until 2004, when they were forced to sell the properties due to bankruptcy.

Beliefs and practices

The group practiced meditation (often with the use of hallucinogenics) and believed that life was eternal and all people were one. Because life was 'eternal', the group did not observe birthdays or perform marriages.

Additional prohibitions including smoking, owning clocks, mirrors, or watches, and reading books or magazines other than the Bible. The group did not use driver's licenses.

History

Paul Erdmann, a former television salesman from California, moved to Seattle in 1968. The Love Family began in October 1968 as a communal household on Queen Anne Hill, Seattle, with their charter being written in 1971.

By 1979, the group had about 300 members. Membership dwindled from 500 to 100 as the group was forced to give back assets and money to disenchanted members. The remaining members moved to China Bend, a property along the Columbia River, in April 2004, and later to a property in Bothell, Washington.

Current status

The small remaining core of Erdmann's community continues to this day.

The Love Family evolved from being a highly concentrated communal society with a shared economy to what some non-members call a cult with their own laws and ways. The greater community became a social network of autonomous households that interacted through a shared culture they have continued to create together, without the robes and peer-enforced order. Presently, those that continue to claim membership in what remains of the Family are concentrated in homes and lots on the shore of the Columbia River (Lake Roosevelt), where they own the China Bend Winery, just south of Canada.

Remaining family members still maintain they were called together to help each other "cultivate" love, oneness, and the presence of God in everyday family life. Very little is spoken about the continuing belief that Love Israel is a leader directed through his vision from God. They also believe that their gathering has Biblical roots and that their purpose is to help fulfill directed prophecies to benefit man and the promises of Jesus.

The current members still claim to view themselves as both the spiritual tribe of Israel and the Church of Jesus Christ at Armageddon, where Armageddon means the time and place of the gathering of God's family. A few family members continue to be renamed (and newborns named) to remind all that each person's character is gifted with a predominant attribute such as Charity, Honor, Honesty, or Contentment that may already be who they are or part of where they need to be.

In media

A film It Takes A Cult, about the Love Israel Family (directed by Eric Johannsen, who grew up as part of the Love Family), was shown at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival.

Rachel Israel, who spent 8 years of her childhood as part of the family, published a memoir on her experiences in 2018, called Counterculture Crossover: Growing up in the Love Family.

References

  • Love Family website