Hugo Westphal

From XFamily - Children of God
Revision as of 23:53, 14 November 2005 by Monger (talk | contribs) (cat:Family Art -> cat:Artists)
Hugo Westphal (date unknown)

Hugo Albert Westphal, Jr. (U.S. citizen; born January 9, 1950; pseudonyms used include Eman Artist, Snowy, and Al Eastman) grew up in Texas and was a longtime Mo Letter artist, especially known for illustrating the Flirty Fishing Mo Letters. He was last known to be living in Dallas, Texas.

Hugo Westphal was married to "Genesis". When it was discovered that their baby's skull was fractured, David Berg accused Genesis of being a witch, claimed it was her fault, and had these revelations published for all Children of God members, complete with demoniac illustrations of her. It was later found, however, that Hugo had abused the baby in a fit of anger.

Spanish cover of "You Are the Love of God!" (ML 699, Jun. 1978)

Spirit helper Amaor, by Hugo Westphal. (Published in XN20 pg.16, Apr. 2003)

There have also been a number of cases of alleged child molestation by Hugo Westphal.

He was eventually excommunicated due to lascivious behavior and repeated offences of severe physical abuse against women and children, as explained by David Berg below:

47. I guess we'll have to say this year we lost one of our first & best artists. You could hardly believe that a man like that who could draw such gorgeous pictures & be such a marvelous inspired artist could let himself go like that with such a horrible temper & beat up every woman we ever gave him or ever tried to live with him, & threw his children across the room & all kinds of horrible things!--We just couldn't take it any longer, that's all!

48. [...] That was one of our losses in a way, but let's hope it's not a complete loss & that he'll continue to contribute.--We stood it as long as we could.--Please pray for him! We love him.

50. [...] Maybe when he gets back home & sees how bad the System is, he'll appreciate the Family more, & at least maybe contribute. So PTL!

Source: "Dad's Birthday Message!" (ML 877, Feb. 1980)

Despite this, Hugo Westphal was later reinstated and remained in the group until the early 1990s before leaving again. After his final departure, The Family has regularly hired him to continue artwork from outside the group:-

On the GPU front, Eman Artist, who has been out of the Family for five years, is beginning to work on more artwork for our pubs. "A man's gifts make room for him," and because of our need for more art, the Lord indicated through prophecy that we should use his services.

Source: Grapevine 10, pg.8, "W.S. News" para.3 (Jan. 1997)

Hugo's art continues to be published in internal Family publications today.