A
Family Affair
By Rev. Keith
Gibson
You
may have seen them in the mall in front of the local
toy store or J.C. Penney’s. Friendly people,
dressed as clowns, tying balloons and telling dramatic
stories of their missionary work around the world,
complete with pictures and, of course, accepting
donations to help with the on-going ministry. You
may have volunteered alongside them at the Red Cross.
Businesses in your community may be making large
donations to them or one of their front organizations.
Hotel chains allow them to stay for free. They may
even have performed in a local church under the guise
of being independent Christian missionaries raising
support to get out on the field. Yet these happy,
smiling people are part of a destructive, sexually
perverse and theologically bankrupt religious group
formerly known as the Children of God, now simply
calling themselves, The Family.
A Brief History
The
Children of God are an outgrowth of the 60’s
counter-culture founded by David Brandt Berg. Berg
had deep roots in Christianity with both his mother
and grandfather being traveling evangelists. (1)
Berg began his own ministry as an evangelist with the
Christian
and Missionary Alliance from which he was expelled
in 1950. He migrated to youth ministry and became the
leader of a Teen Challenge Chapter in 1967, an Assembly
of God ministry. A pivotal event occurred in 1968 when
Berg broke from the national organization, founding
his own ministry called “Light Club”. Very
early in the formation of this new organization, Berg
began to receive supposed revelations from God. In
1969 he moved the group out of California in response
to a revelation he received regarding a severe earthquake
that was about to hit the area causing part of the
state to slip into the ocean. (2) The earthquake never
materialized but this didn’t stop the momentum
of the new religious movement which took on the name
Children of God. The group became communal in nature
very early. This remains one of its most visible peculiarities
to the present.
It was also during
this time that Berg received his “Old
Church, New Church” revelation. (3) In this revelation
the word “church” contained a double meaning.
Not only was God rejecting the established church in
favor of Berg’s movement but Berg and others
were free to reject their wives and take new ones.
Berg did not divorce his current wife of over 30 years,
Jane (Mama Eve), but did make public an on-going affair
and began a common law relationship with Karen Zerby,
aka Maria, aka. Mama, the current leader of the movement.
Part of the appeal of the movement, both now and in
the past, is the call to a radical discipleship, forsaking
all to follow Christ. However, as in most cults of
this nature, the group began to practice extreme forms
of control. Members were rarely permitted to be alone.
They were to sever all ties with parents and other
family members. Various forms of mind control were
also employed though the group vehemently denies this.
Names were changed making efforts to track children
difficult. This was the first issue that began to gain
the movement significant negative attention.
The situation
in the Children of God continued to deteriorate through
the 1970’s.
It was during this time that Berg changed his name
to Moses David
believing himself to be the fulfillment of Deuteronomy
18:15 and began to issue the now infamous MO letters,
direct revelations from God. Typical of many doomsday
cults, Berg prophesied the return of Christ. According
to Berg, Jesus was to return in 1993. (4)
In 1973 he prophesied that the Kohoutek Comet would
hit the
United States
and destroy it. (5) The group fled the country. Once
again, Berg proved to be a false prophet but the gullible
remained and grew. Berg at this time made contact with
a spirit guide named Abrahim. He would later receive
more revelations from the dead, a practice that continues
within The Family to this day.
In 1976, Moses
began to issue some of his most controversial declarations
which involved the practice of “flirty
fishing or FFing”. This amounted to female members
meeting and seducing men in order to demonstrate the
love of Christ to them. (If the logic of this escapes
you, praise God you’re normal) Later, the women
would also receive money for services rendered, becoming
full-fledged sacred prostitutes. An account of this
activity can be found in the book, “Heaven’s
Harlot”, the testimony of Miriam Williams, aka.
Jeshanah. (6) God began to be described as a sexy god.
Heaven was a place of orgiastic activity. The Holy
Spirit was believed to be female. MO letters began
to be produced containing pornographically explicit
drawings.
A purge of Children
of God leadership occurred in 1977 and the group
reconstituted
under the name “The
Family of Love” which has now been shortened
to “The Family”.
Sexual practices
in The Family continued to become more and more extreme
until the end of Berg’s
life, ultimately involving sexual sharing within the
Family, lesbianism, teen sex and even pedophilia and
incest. Today, the Family vehemently denies that pedophilia
and incest were ever condoned but the literature and
the testimony of hundreds of witnesses speaks for itself.
(7) Ironically, male homosexuality
was, and continues to be, forbidden though Berg vacillated
even here. (8)
As
can be anticipated, all of these abuses led to a rampant
outbreak of venereal disease among members, numbers
of babies born out of wedlock (called Jesus babies
by the cult), close governmental scrutiny including
expulsion from some nations and occasional prosecution
for child abuse. Flirty fishing was discontinued in
1987, officially in order to give more time to other
forms of evangelism but it is certain that much of
the decision was due to negative media coverage, venereal
disease and court cases. However, sources very close
to the Family have informed the author that FFing is
rumored to have begun again in Europe and involves
minors. Also in 1987 incest was specifically banned.
Life After Berg
Berg died in 1994 at the age of approximately 75 and
his common law wife, Karen Zerby aka. Maria, assumed
leadership over the movement. Her new lover, Stephen
Douglas Kelly aka. Peter Amsterdam aka. King Peter
is second in command and heir apparent to the throne.
Under Maria, some token reforms have taken place. Sex
with outsiders or those who have been in The Family
for less than six months is forbidden. Sexual activity
among teens must wait until 18 years of age and then
is allowable only with those no more than 7 years older
than themselves until the age of 21 at which time all
restraint is off.
Despite these
efforts to clean up their soiled image, the root
perversions
persist. The communal nature of
the group is still reinforced by sexual sharing among
members. In fact, the blasphemous nature of the organization
is worse than ever. The most disgusting is a recent
series of Maria Letters entitled the, “Loving
Jesus” series. Common decency forbids the direct
citation of this material in a newsletter such as this.
However, the essence of this teaching is that believers
can minister to the needs of Jesus by having sex with
him. This is accomplished by masturbation done while
envisioning a sexual encounter with Christ. Men are
encouraged to envision themselves as possessing a vagina
in order to accomplish this activity. Words cannot
describe the absolute horror and revulsion one feels
when encountering this material. To see the sinless,
spotless, Holy Son of God described as He is in this
literature makes one sick.
This newest revelation
has been met with a significant amount of resistance
within the movement. Maria’s
comments to those who are struggling prove insightful
in understanding how the Family deals with the questions
raised by such seemingly bizarre teachings. In Part
3 Mama writes, “Think of all the other things
through the years that you had to accept totally by
faith!-That Dad was God’s Endtime Prophet…that
I am Dad’s appointed and anointed successor;
Dad’s numerous and varying revelations on Endtime
events;….Dad’s special relationship with
Abrahim and other Heavenly counselors; salvation in
the spirit world….the accounts of Dad’s
sexual experiences with various spirit beings and goddesses;
the concept that the Holy Spirit is female…Space
City being in the moon….All your life in the
Family you’ve been accepting things by faith,
so this is just a further step. Well, the Lord said
it will be a leap for some of you, but that’s
how you exercise your faith muscles.” (9) Authors
paraphrase, “You have been swallowing unbiblical
sewage for the entire time you’ve been in the
Family. Why are you fools choking on this latest mouthful?
Put your brains back in neutral and just do what I
tell you because I’m God’s anointed.”
Why This Article?
The basic point of this article is not to titillate
or to disgust. The necessity of this article is due
to the fact that many Christians are unwittingly
supporting and funding these bizarre and blasphemous
activities.
The tactics The Family uses to accomplish this objective,
as well as the rationale supporting these activities
will occupy the remainder of this article.
Deceptive by Design
One
of the issues making dealing with The Family so difficult
is the
deceptive
way information is disseminated
to those outside the group. Family literature comes
in multiple layers. GP material is that which is deemed
suitable for the general public. These materials hide
or mask over the group’s true beliefs. In general,
this material deals with benign subjects such as prayer.
The cult’s website contains a statement of faith
subtle enough, sadly, to slip by many Christians. Item
number 12, briefly discusses receiving revelations
from departed saints, a pseudonym for necromancy, but
does so in the context of Saul’s encounter with
Samuel during his visit with the witch at Endor and
Jesus visit with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.
(10) In the current cultural climate one seriously
wonders if many Christians would even find this alarming.
Too
many wouldn’t bother to read that far and the
vast majority of those who donate probably never check
out the group at all.
The next level
is DO (disciple only), also known as “MM” for
missionary member and “AM” for active member.
This is material which is meant to be available only
to those who have joined the group. Here is where the
true doctrines of the group are taught. Here the convert
finds out about the law of love, the female nature
of the Holy Spirit, communication with the dead (the
group receives revelations from such “saints” as
Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley (11)), and a host
of other perversions.
Beyond even the DO is the LO (leader only) material
which is to be read by the shepherds of the commune
with parts being relayed verbally to the underlings.
The final level being what is referred to as BAR (burn
after reading) material which contains information
the cult considers so potentially destructive, it is
necessary to destroy the evidence.
The deception
is carried out further in the way the cult represents
itself.
Rarely do members state outright
that they are members of “The Family”.
Solicitation in malls and in front of toy stores is
carried out by members dressed as clowns. Businesses
are approached over the phone and in person for contributions
to help the underprivileged. Home owners and property
owners of vacant structures are asked to allow the
group to stay there in return for maintaining and improving
the property. In each case this work is accomplished
by representatives who describe themselves as “independent
Christian missionaries.” Additionally a host
of front organizations and pseudonyms have been established,
as well as businesses owned by, or affiliated with,
the cult. These include but are not limited to: (12)
• Activated
magazine
• Aurora Productions
• World Services
• New Teens for Christ
• Helping Hand- Mexico
• Cheer Up Missions, USA
• Calico Charities, USA
• Family Missions
• Family Project Hope
• Lifeline Ministries
• Brookside Farm
• KidzVids International
• Family Care Foundation
• Sunny Side Up Entertainment
• Martinelli
The Family has
produced multiple series of award-winning videos
aimed at
children. The most famous of these
are, “Treasure Attic” and “Cherub
Wings”. These videos have been widely acclaimed
and well-received, at times even selling in the past
at Wal-Mart. Today, most of these videos are peddled
by cult members directly to local Christian bookstores.
The doctrinal content of these videos, though minor,
is directly from the MO Letters. Parents purchasing
these materials have no idea that much of the proceeds
are used to support the cult.
Church Invasion
Another
tactic that should cause Christians not only to rage
at
the audacity
of the cult but weep at the
lack of discernment in the pulpit is “church
invasion”. In this activity the cultists call
local churches, focusing particularly on Pentecostal
and charismatic, “Spirit-led”, churches.
The independent Christian missionaries introduce themselves
stating that they are traveling locally to raise support
to enter the mission field in a particular country.
They ask the pastor if he would be willing to meet
with them and consider allowing them to “minister” in
a service for a love offering. If the pastor accepts
the meeting, the cultists visit his office scrubbed
and shined. They are masters at Christian-speak and
frequently are able to disarm the pastor who allows
them to sing and bring the message in an evening service
without ever checking references or doctrinal positions.
In this way, the group is afforded the opportunity
not only to raise significant funds, but also to encounter
spiritually weak members of the church to whom they
can continue to “minister” through “bible
studies” on an on-going basis. Instructions for
carrying out this work can be found in some undated
pieces like, “How to Invade Churches!”.
It
might be interesting to note how The Family really views
the church. In, “The
Fruitful But Dangerous Ministry of “Invading
the Churches”!”,
the anonymous author states, “THE LORD HAS ACTUALLY
GIVEN US A TRUE LOVE for many of these “mentally
handicapped Christians.” (emphasis in the original)
Another Family publication, written by Maria in December
of 1985, contains this warning, “Beware of Church
Christians!”. (13)
Of
course all of this lying has to be justified somehow.
The key
text is “as deceivers, and yet true” (2
Corinthians 6:8). When the full text is studied, it
becomes obvious that Paul is dealing with accusations
and sufferings that have come upon him for the cause
of Christ not with his methodology in dealing with
society at large. But groups like The Family never
let an insignificant thing like context stop them. The Law of Love
It
is impossible to understand the past and current
activities of
The Family without
understanding their
most foundational belief, second only to the prophet
status of Berg and now Maria, the law of love. This
belief is a perversion of Jesus’ teaching regarding
the second great commandment, to love your neighbor
as yourself coupled with an extreme antinomianism.
Roughly stated, the Family believes and teaches nothing
done in love can be sin.
This gets translated
into a cover for a variety of aberrant practices
within
the Family. The distorted
logic that follows is that to really love your neighbor
as yourself is to meet their needs. Intercourse is
determined to be a need not a desire. Therefore, members
of the cult are commanded to share sexually with one
another in order to meet each others “needs”.
Of course, one must never consider that one might be
harming a brother or sister by enticing and assisting
them to sin. Sin is impossible in love and, besides,
we are no longer under law but under grace, so those
old requirements for such silly issues as sexual purity
are gone with the temple and the animal sacrifices.
Admonitions against fornication and adultery found
within the epistles are dismissed as the apostles still
having legalistic hang-ups.
Naturally, this
escape from all law doesn’t
apply to issues like murder, theft or even homosexuality.
But one struggles in vain to find any rationale for
how a member of the Family can determine right from
wrong without reference to the MO Letters or Maria
Letters. When asked, members of the cult will state
that these activities are wrong because the bible forbids
them. When asked about the biblical prohibitions on
fornication and adultery, cultists will state that
they are too busy doing the critical work of evangelism
to banter over petty issues such as doctrine. They
will simply ask you to agree to disagree. The same
can be said for their belief in communication with
the dead.
Adding Up the Numbers
The
Family proudly touts its accomplishments in the face
of the “do nothing” church and professional
clergy. The group’s website, for instance, proclaims,
“The Family
sees its prime task as that of bringing the message
of God's love to all. How successful have
we been at this? As of yet we have personally
shared the Gospel message with over 237 million
individuals,
while billions have heard our message through
the mass media. As a result, over 23.3 million
people have personally
prayed with our members to receive God's love,
forgiveness and salvation. We have distributed
over 850 million
pieces of Gospel literature in 61 languages.
A total of over 1.4 million videos and eight million
audio
tapes in more than 20 languages have also been
distributed.” (14)
In spite of this
apparent evangelistic success, the Family only claims
12,000
members. One simply must
ask where the rest of the 23.3 million people who have
personally prayed to receive Christ have gone. It needs
to be understood that the Family maintains an extreme
form of easy believism. In order to be saved, one simply
need repeat the words of a prayer. It is not even essential
that a person have any foundational understanding of
who Jesus was. No commitment to follow Christ is necessary.
Biblical doctrines such as repentance are absent in
the literature used for witnessing. Jesus is presented
as the cure for loneliness, longing, depression etc.
Additionally, according to Miriam Williams, many of
these converts prayed the sinner’s prayer while
lying next to a prostitute for the cult presumably
in order to be able to move on with other business
or to encourage future encounters of a similar nature.
But in scripture Christ commands the church to make
disciples not converts. Biblical salvation requires
a commitment to Christ not merely the recitation of
a prayer and certainly not one made under such dubious
circumstances.
The Eclectic Cult
In
addition to all of the aforementioned issues, the cult
has become,
over
the years, a repository of a
variety of other heretical doctrines. This occurred
because Berg developed few unique doctrines outside
of the sexual arena but simply borrowed from other
groups, particularly Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
For instance,
like JW’s,
the Family believes that Jesus was the first creation
of God. Berg further
felt that Witnesses were very nearly right in their
eschatology and felt that blood transfusions were forbidden
in the prohibitions against drinking blood. Mormons
have been an even bigger influence. Berg, like Mormons,
taught that God has plural wives, marriage continues
in eternity, the incarnation is the result of sexual
intercourse between God the Father and Mary (on another
occasion Berg taught that Gabriel impregnated Mary),
Jesus had intercourse with Mary and Martha (Berg adds
that Jesus was probably infected with V.D.), and salvation
can occur after death. (15)
Mixed in with all of this is a healthy dose of New
Age teaching. Berg had numerous spirit guides. The
group believes that speaking in tongues is the result
of a departed spirit helper speaking an ancient language
(channeling). Members of the group regularly receive
direct words from deceased individuals.
Does anyone have a map for all of this???
The Call for Discernment
Like
many other cults, the Family finds fertile recruiting
soil among those who have become disillusioned with
the modern church. The Family points at the churches
seeming obsession with lavish buildings and ministers
who receive excessive salaries as examples of the churches
departure from the sacrifice and commitment to which
Christ has called believers in order to reach the lost.
They accuse the average church member of being inactive
in vital ministry. Sadly, in many cases, the church
has made itself an easy target. Christians must, once
again, take seriously the call of Christ upon their
lives. We must live with mission and purpose.
Additionally,
Christians who find that they are being solicited for
funds must learn to ask probing questions.
The fact that a person claims to be a Christian missionary
proves nothing. As with any cult, one must scale
the language barrier. What Jesus are we speaking
about?
Is Jesus the holy, eternal Son of God, possessing
all the attributes of deity, the second person of
the Trinity
born of the virgin Mary in his incarnation or is
he the first creation of God, needy, sinful, disease
ridden
and the product of a physical cohabitation? The answer
is critical. The Jesus of the Family cannot save.
Believers must be careful to know that their dollars
are not
supporting those who pervert the name of Christ and
preach a powerless gospel. Rev.
Keith Gibson
Notes:
1
“The
Family” Children
of God/Family of Love Vital Information. Internet
article by Ed Priebe.
Sword of the Lord Ministries. www.swordofthelord.officehiway.com/vital.html
2 Children of God-Family of Love-The Family. Internet article which is, on
the whole, positive toward The Family. www.religioustolerance.org/fam_love.htm
3 “The Old Church and the New Church”, David Berg. August 26, 1969.
Published in London, England.
4 “70 years prophecy of the end!” written by David Berg, March 1,
1972 MO #156.
5 A series of writings were published including, “The Great Comet: Warning!
40 Days! And Ninevah shall be Destroyed”, “Kohoutek! What will
the Christmas Monster Bring?”, and “The 3rd Letter of Moses on
the Comet!”.
All of these were written by David Berg in the month of November, 1973.
6 There are too many Family publications on this activity to site them all.
Examples would include, “God’s Whores?”, DO #560, “God’s
Love Slave!”, DO #537 and “The Ministry of Love!” DO #538.
All written by David Berg. Current Family leadership both acknowledges and
defends this practice. An extensive article entitled, “Women in the Family” contains
information on this practice and can be found at www.thefamily.org/dossier/statements/women.htm
7 The now infamous “Davidito” material is widely available on the
internet and was the basis for the Justice Ward decision that clearly found
the Family
endorsed the practice of pedophilia. Another example is a deeply disturbed
publication, which is undated, entitled, “The Little Girl Dream” boldly
states, “Of
course, as there are no longer any such thing as Man’s legalistic laws
against incest in the loving kingdom of God.”
8 “Homos! A Question of Sodomy” MO-DO #719, July 1978, by David Berg.
This article endorses mutual masturbation and fellatio between men.
9 “Loving Jesus!-Part 3” Maria #310, DO 3029, Jan. 1996, Zurich,
Switzerland page 16. The list is actually much longer. I have chosen to include
excerpts
rather than the full quote for the sake of space.
10 “Our Statement of Faith” found at www.thefamily.org/dossier/statements/faith.htm
11 One example, a World Services newsletter, “Good News!” dated August
1996, written by WS staff contains a column entitled, “Sex in Heaven!
By Marilyn Monroe”. A statement in parenthesis underneath the titles
says, “This
message from beyond was received through Valerie Bright.)
12 A much more complete list can be found at www.exfamily.org/list/pseudonyms.shtml.
This site is maintained by former members of the cult.
13 “Beware of Church Christians!” by Maria, 12/85. Maria letter 69.
14 Found at the Family website, www.thefamily.org/about/history.php
15 A complete discussion of this subject can be found in an excellent article
by former member, Ed Priebe, in an article entitled, “Hodgepodge of Heresy” at
www.swordofthelord.officehiway.com/ed/heresy.htm
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