Cult News

Some basic background information for those readers who may be less familiar with the so-called “Jesus Christians” (JCs), led by American Dave McKay, who now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

The McKay group is more or less a watered-down version of the Roberts Group/Brethren, nick named the “garbage eaters” for their practice of scrounging food from dumpsters. The JCs, like the Roberts group founded and led by Jim Roberts (now deceased see Medical Examiner Report), is defined and controlled by its founder and leader Dave McKay.

Dave McKay

Though McKay and his followers seem a bit angrier and more resentful that the Roberts group.

Both groups see themselves as the epitome of First Century Christian disciples living minimally on the road, while sharing what they represent as the original teachings of Christianity.

Dave McKay’s craving for attention has put his group in the news at times. Most notably when he hatched a scheme to have his followers donate their kidneys to strangers. For a time, the JCs were called the “kidney cult.”

McKay himself was once a member of the notorious “Children of God” (COG) led by pedophile Moses David Berg (now deceased).

Moses David Berg

McKay has incorporated facets of COG and other teachings he copied to create what can be seen as a composite of cult beliefs, which are used by the JCs.

The net result is that in many ways the JCs are a cloned version of very early COG, with the wandering nomadic aspect of the Roberts Group thrown in and just a sprinkle of the Jesus Army (disbanded) for flavor and a dash of Heaven’s Gate-ish sci-fi (mass suicide all deceased) overtones thrown in for good measure.

If you are looking through a menu of groups called “cults” Dave McKay has concocted quite a stew. But his recipe isn’t very original.

The JCs are pretty much an Australian version of the Roberts group, with two major differences:

1. The McKay group uses the Internet. The JCs create and promote videos online and also actively recruits online. Whereas the Roberts group (again, as far as I know) never made the transition to online proselytizing.

2. The McKay group does not have a uniform, unlike the Roberts group, which has a very distinct style of dress.

Here is What most people don’t know. The similarities between the McKay and Roberts groups are not a mere coincidence. Dave McKay and his followers met Jim Roberts in Oregon, and even camped with the Roberts group for a while in Berkeley, California. This was around 1990.

But when Jim Roberts found out that Dave was in fact not a mere junior member of the group, which he represented himself to be, and instead the group’s leader, things got just a bit testy.

Jim Roberts

Roberts concluded that McKay was in fact attempting to infiltrate and poach his group. Subsequently, he told Dave McKay and his followers to leave the NE Ivy Street house, where they were all staying in Oregon at the time.

JC member Attilla Danko and a woman, who were in the USA at the time, met with two Roberts group members. One is named Jonathon Schmidt, who is still with the Roberts group to this day. Another Roberts group member named Thomas was also there in Berkeley at that time. Thomas has since left the Roberts group.

Eventually, McKay met face to face with Jim Roberts in Oregon. The two “cult leaders” apparently had a confrontation at the house on NE Ivy Street.

Thomas shared this information with CultNews about the Dave McKay and Jim Roberts’ meeting in Oregon.

Thomas was there and witnessed everything first hand.

This history demonstrates that the McKay group is simply a mishmash copied from other “cults” and that McKay has historically drifted through various groups, which he studied and then appropriated teachings from them as he saw fit. Making the JCs a highly eclectic and syncretistic group.

That meeting in Oregon must have been quite a scene. Two mutually exclusive “cult leaders” facing off, each wanting to be dominant top dog demanding obedience.

Of course, most of McKay’s followers today probably have no idea how Dave McKay manufactured his group’s identity and what groups and events contributed to its teachings.

It seems that the readers of CultNews now may know more about this group’s history than the so-called “Jesus Christians.”

But it’s not surprising that Dave McKay probably wants to keep his followers ignorant about all of this.

As the Bible says, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

And as some might also observe, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

But Dave McKay is an old dog that learned old tricks, which he copied from even older now deceased “cult leaders.”

Note: The Medical Examiner Report concerning Jim Roberts linked in this report was first obtained by Brian Birmingham to be archived online at the Cult Education Institute.