Family International a.k.a. Children of God: Once dismissed as 'sex cult,' tiny church launches image makeover
Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 01:52PM The Salt Lake Tribune - June 25, 2009
by Peggy Fletcher Stack
It's a time of intense self-scrutiny for the Family International (formerly known as the Children of God), a tiny Christian fellowship that advocates communal living, extramarital sex and an apocalyptic worldview. Some 40 years after David Berg, a charismatic evangelical preacher, garnered thousands of hippie followers in Southern California with his messages about sharing bodies, food, children and homes, the movement is struggling to reinvent itself. The 1960s church has battled allegations of past child sexual abuse, complaints from disaffected and aging members and dissatisfaction with an outdated theology. All new religious groups face essentially the same question if they hope to endure: How do you revise some teachings and practices for wider appeal without forsaking the faith's unique identity and unconventional doctrines? "Many desire to see innovation, professionalization and modernization," Karen "Maria" Zerby, one of the Family's spiritual and administrative leaders, said last week in her first-ever public address. "We must determine what elements of our theology, culture and context are rooted in the past and no longer hold relevance." Zerby, who was Berg's wife and his successor after his death in 1994, shared her plans for reshaping the Family at the annual meeting of the Center for the Study of New Religions in Salt Lake City. This is no small task for Zerby and her co-leader, Steve Kelly (who goes by "Peter Amsterdam"). The Family now has about 15,000 members gathered in small communal centers in 90 nations -- none in Utah. There is a core group of followers, including some second- and third-generation members, but fewer than 20 percent of the original participants remain, and many of the those are in poor health with no medical insurance or retirement plans. The church made headlines in 2005 when Zerby's son, Ricky Rodriguez, murdered Angela Smith, his former nanny and confidante of his mother, and then shot himself. Rodriguez blamed the Family for ruining his life. That's all behind us, said two public-affairs representatives for the church who were in Salt Lake City for the conference. "We acknowledge that mistakes were made and that there were excesses," said Claire Borowik, who has been with the Family International for 30 years. "We've taken stringent measures to right those wrongs and apologized to former members." Thus, she said, "we find it disheartening for people to focus so much on the past." The Christian counterculture » David Brandt Berg, his first wife, Jane, and four teenage children arrived in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 1968 and felt immediately called to preach among the so-called "Jesus freaks" who had congregated in the seaside town. Berg sought young converts willing to "commit themselves to a radically focused missionary life in which they abandoned worldly occupations to preach salvation, live communally and share all things in common," sociologist brothers Gordon and Gary Shepherd wrote in an essay about the Family in The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions . The point, the Shepherds wrote, was to be "witnesses for Jesus in the end time of human history." When Berg's followers had grown to about 100 members, he became known as "Father David" and the group "the Children of God." One of them was a young Karen Zerby, who later became his wife. Berg communicated his counsel on spiritual and practical aspects of Christianity via letters of instruction, called "Mo letters," to his followers. But Berg's Children of God was controversial from the beginning. It practiced the "law of love," or nonmonogamous sex, as well as using sex to attract new members in a system known as "flirty-fishing." "The demand for total commitment to an unconventional missionary lifestyle that sharply condemned the corruption of the existing social institutions and established churches, while simultaneously flouting traditional sexual norms, quickly stigmatized the Children of God as a religious 'sex cult,' " the Shepherds wrote. "All of this converged with the brainwashing controversy concerning new religious movements in the 1970s." In the aftermath of sensational media attention and hounding by critics, church leaders restructured the group, changing its name in 1978 to the Family International Inc. Responding to child-abuse allegations, Berg and Zerby later barred sexual contact between adults and children and discontinued "flirty-fishing," conceding some members had misapplied Berg's liberal teachings about sex. Since then, the Family has issued seven official apologies to former and current members for any grievances they had with their experiences in the group. It also has worked hard to repair its image and reach out to potential converts. Family spokesman Lonnie Davis -- who notes that the group keeps careful records of each pamphlet distributed, DVD sold and Web page viewed -- said, "We've led 33 million souls to Jesus." What now? » Zerby's speech in Utah was part of the Family's coming-out party, said Utah attorney Michael Homer, one of the conference sponsors. "The Family has made a decision to begin constructing a more public profile," he said. "It plans to enhance its Internet presence and adapt its message to the cultures in which it lives. It also plans to open the membership to persons who are not full-time missionaries and do not want to necessarily commit their entire day to Family activities. This may include allowing members to live outside homes and not participate in communal living." The group is honing its missionary appeals, focusing on humanitarian efforts and social-gospel ministries. It is working to make each community self-sufficient as well as more open, tolerant and egalitarian. And its leaders are looking 30 to 50 years into the future, rather than expecting the return of Jesus at any moment. That is "a monumental shift" for these believers to contemplate," but an essential one, Zerby said in her speech. The hope, she said, is that the Family can "prosper well into the future as a thriving religious community that is relevant to today's world." » There is one true, eternal God, who is the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, invisible spirit of love who created and rules the universe and everything in it. In the Godhead, there are three distinguishable but inseparable persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. » Everyone can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He can speak to our hearts and give us direction, guidance and practical solutions to the challenges we face in society today. » The Holy Bible is the inspired word of God. » The biblical account of creation as depicted in the book of Genesis is to be accepted literally and not allegorically. » Although God has power to heal illnesses, the decision of whether to rely on prayer alone or to seek medical assistance in addition to prayer is a personal one, and members are free to avail themselves of medical assistance. » The New Testament's account of the lifestyle of the early church offers not only a historical narrative, but also an exemplary pattern and model, which God intended succeeding generations of believers to follow. » Heterosexual relations, when practiced as God ordained, designed and intended between consenting adults of legal age, are a pure and natural wonder of God's creation, and permissible according to Scripture. Source: www.thefamily.org This article was found at:
http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_12681558
ADDENDUM BY PERRY BULWER
Some doctrines the Family International won't tell you they believe:
Demonology: The Family claims knowledge of many individual demons, angels and other spirits. They believe that referring to spirits by name gives their prayers extra effect.
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Spirit_World
David Berg espoused extreme sexual doctrines that approve of adultery, incest, child-adult sex, child-brides, polygamy, religious prostitution -- almost everything except bestiality and male homosexuality.
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Sexuality
The current leaders of the cult, Karen Zerby and Steve Kelly, initiated after Berg's death a new sexual doctrine that requires all members, including to children, to imagine themselves having sex with Jesus when they pray to him, and to use sexually explicit language in their prayers.
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Loving_Jesus
The author of the Biblical Book of Revelation describes a city called New Jerusalem. David Berg believed and taught that this "Space City" (or Heaven) existed within a pyramid that measured 1500 miles long, wide and tall and was either travelling through space towards earth or was located inside the moon.
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Heaven
David Berg was a racist who condemned Jews, damned them to hell, praised Hitler, and claimed the Holocaust a fake manufactured by Jewish conspirators.
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Berg_and_Anti-Semitism
Perry Bulwer
I wrote a comment on this article and posted it on the Tribune website. I have copied that comment below, as well as comments by Peter Frouman which were also posted to that article.
UPDATE July 8, 2009: The following comments were removed from the Salt Lake Tribune website soon after they were posted there. I had no idea the Tribune would take that action when I copied those comments here.
Perry Bulwer:
No one should believe a word those cult leaders say. Think about this: why would they have issued 7 official apologies to the people they have harmed? Because their apologies are not genuine, but merely public relations propaganda. Even in this article they continue to say passively that "mistakes were made", and place the blame for those mistakes on cult members, by saying "some members had misapplied Berg's liberal teachings about sex".
It was David Berg and Karen Zerby who initiated and practised lust, adultery, incest, polygamy, child molestation, pedophilia, rape, torture, thought-control, and numerous other physical, psychological and spiritual abuses. To this day, leaders of that cult refuse to place the blame where it belongs, on their pedophile founder David Berg, his enablers and current top leaders Karen Zerby (Maria) and Steve Kelly, and on their perverted and abusive theology.
This cult has tried many times before to remake its public image. They tried changing their name, which didn't work, because a skunk by any other name is still a skunk. No matter what this cult tries to do to remake its image, it is still the same corrupt tree, rotten to the core, producing rotten fruit.
Do not be deceived by this cult, or by its "new religions" apologists in academia who white-wash the facts about this abusive "church". Everything about this cult is deceptive and designed to hide the facts from outsiders. They believe it is entirely ethical for them to deceive outsiders, including the use of fraud and misrepresentation, in order to protect their "work".
The Children of God/Family International is now trying to white-wash their past, but their own words condemn them. How can anyone trust a group and its leaders who continue to teach their children, both girls and boys, to imagine themselves having sex with Jesus when they pray? Would you take seriously anyone who claimed that the heavenly city of Revelations is inside the moon? Do not believe Kare
Peter Frouman:
The child molesters who run The Family International and speak publicly on its behalf should know that the world and the survivors of their horrific crimes against children are never going to forget what they have done and that people like me are never going to stop trying to make them face justice for their crimes and ensure that children are protected from them. They have gone out of their way to make The Family International one of the safest places in the world for child molesters but done virtually nothing to protect children in the organization from abuse. If they truly cared about protecting children from potential harm, they would immediately expel those in their organization who have raped children instead of allowing child rapists to act as leaders and spokespersons. As a survivor of physical and sexual abuse in The Family, I am horrified, disgusted and appalled that the Center for the Study of New Religions would invite child molesters to speak at their conference without extending a similar invitation to those who believe that raping children is wrong and that children have the right to be protected from such people.
It is not enough to merely say you have an "absolute zero-tolerance policy towards abuse of children," you have to actually have one. Even a cursory examination of its written policies and publications on child sexual abuse makes it clear that The Family International does not have a "zero-tolerance policy" on child sexual abuse but is in fact very tolerant of child sexual abuse and that its top leaders (who themselves raped children) have gone out of their way to create an environment where child rapists can feel safe in knowing they will never have to face the consequences of their actions.
If The Family International actually had an "absolute zero-tolerance policy towards abuse of children," one would naturally expect such a policy to require the permanent expulsion of every single child rapist from their organization, the immediate reporting of every single credible allegation of child sexual abuse to law enforcement and child welfare authorities and public warnings to the affected communities about child rapists expelled by the organization. Instead, The Family International's high-tolerance policy towards child sexual abuse has absolutely none of the basic components that would be necessary for anyone to honestly label their policy as "zero-tolerance."
The following factors combined make The Family International a very safe place for child molesters and a dangerous place for children.
1. The Family International was founded by a child molester.
David Berg raped and sexually abused numerous children, including several of his immediate relatives, during his lifetime. At his direction, Family members made child pornography videos for his sexual gratification and he published numerous texts promoting pedophilia and encouraging Family members to sexually abuse their own children and the children of other members. Even though he's dead, he is still revered in The Family.
Family publications routinely contain what are purported to be messages or "prophecies" from both Jesus Christ and David Berg. Outside The Family International, child molesters like David Berg are universally despised and generally regarded as beneath contempt yet in The Family International they are revered and honored.
2. The Family International is run by child molesters.
The two top leaders of The Family International, Karen Zerby (aka Maria) and Steven Douglas Kelly (aka Peter Amsterdam), have raped and otherwise sexually abused a number of children. Under their leadership and direction, an entire generation of children were openly and routinely sexually abused.
3. There are numerous child molesters in The Family International with direct access to children and, in some cases, in positions of leadership.
In October/December 2007, The Family International published GNs 1234-1236 in which it was made clear The Family International would not "excommunicate" those who raped children before July 1989 (the date it now claims to have enacted a policy specifying that raping children would be an "excommunicable offense"). In cases where it is known with certainty that someone raped a child before July 1989, they believe it would be "unfair" to "excommunicate" the rapist. In the same publication series, it was also made clear that "excommunication" for raping children and/or other types of abuse is not always (or hasn't always been) permanent which explains why people who they supposedly "excommunicated" for raping children and/or other forms of abuse were allowed to rejoin a few days (in some cases after only one day), weeks or months later. While no one knows the exact number there are certainly many (perhaps thousands) of child molesters and abusers in The Family International.
It should be obvious that children are at increased risk in an environment in which those who raped children have access (in many cases, these child rapists live in the the same communal home as the child) to them and authority (children in The Family are taught and required to obey and respect adult members and refer to them as Aunt or Uncle) over them.
4. There are no serious consequences for raping a child in The Family International.
The Family claims that its policy of permanently or temporarily "excommunicating" those found to have raped children after July 1989 is a "stringent" policy that adequately protects children. In fact, this policy does virtually nothing to protect children and likely increases the risk they will be sexually abused because it makes it clear to child molesters in The Family International that they have absolutely nothing at all to fear if caught raping a child. They will simply be asked to leave the organization and the rape will never be reported to law enforcement and child protection agencies. Indeed, as far as I know in the entire 40-year history of The Family, no Family member has ever reported the rape of a child by another Family member to a law enforcement or child protection agency. Numerous cases have demonstrated that the first instinct of Family parents whose children have been raped by other Family members is not protect their child or make sure that the rapist is held accountable and punished but rather to protect the rapist and The Family. For example, in a case in Illinois the father of a child who was sexually abused by another Family member over a period of 9 years (starting at age 5) appeared in court not, as would be expected from any normal parent outside The Family, to support his daughter or to demand the maximum sentence but rather to support the rapist and ask for the lightest possible sentence.
In other cases, the parents, siblings and other relatives of child rape survivors raised in The Family have appeared in court to denounce the survivors as mentally unstable liars. Besides counting on the support of the relatives of their victims, child molesters in The Family International can also count on the support of other Family members to do whatever is necessary, including committing perjury or just remaining silent, to protect both The Family and the rapist.
Perry Bulwer
The Family International cult issued a press release announcing their presentation of a paper at the annual conference of the cult apologist organization CENSUR. The conference was held from June 11 to 13, 2009. The Family's press release is dated June 13, 2009, the last day and probably after Zerby had already presented. It mentions the title of the paper, but does not provide access to the paper itself, neither on their own website or on the CENSUR website. In fact, the page on the CENSUR website that sets out the conference programme -- the speakers and titles of their papers -- does not mention the Family International at all as being one of the presenters. Here's that page:
http://www.cesnur.org/2009/slc_prg.htm
It seems to me that the cult leaders, along with their academic apologists, desired to keep the Family presentation at the conference a secret. Gee, I wonder why, and why would CENSUR be complicit in that secrecy? Here's the cult's press release, followed by another comment by me:
SALT LAKE CITY, UT, June 13, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Karen Zerby and Steve Kelly, spiritual and administrative leaders of the Family International, presented a paper at the 2009 Conference of the Center for Studies on New Religious Movements, hosted in Salt Lake City, Utah from June 11th to June 13th, 2009. The paper, entitled: "The Future of the Family International: Establishing a Culture of Innovation and Progress," outlined organizational changes and evangelistic goals.
The Family International (formerly known as the Children of God) is a non-traditional Christian movement founded by David Brandt Berg (1919-1994) in Southern California during the late 1960s. Active in over 90 countries, the movement engages in evangelistic and humanitarian endeavors.
The Family International has undergone much change and progress throughout its 40-year history. In their paper, Zerby and Kelly (known to Family members as Maria and Peter) comment, "Our primary objective in redirecting the vision and impetus of the Family is to enable it to prosper well into the future as a thriving religious community that is relevant to today's world, while preserving its uniqueness and unconventional doctrines. . . We trust that the Family's missionary zeal, coupled with its commitment to our unique brand of Christianity, will empower the Family to successfully transition into the future."
Contact:
Claire Borowik
Publicaffairs@thefamily.org
202-298-0838
www.thefamily.org
First, if anyone has or finds a copy of that apparently secret paper presented by criminal cult leaders please pass it on to me so I can analyze this latest public relations propaganda. If they are truly sincere about making real changes in the Family, they should not fear their biggest critics, but seek their input on how to make the group safer for its members and the general public. But they are not sincere, and are not planning real changes, which is why they seek approval from non-critical accomodationists and apologists.
Second, note the phrases "while preserving its uniqueness and unconventional doctrines" and "commitment to our unique brand of Christianity". What makes the Family cult unique and their doctrines unconvential are the evil rantings of an alchoholic pedophile, the false prophet and con man extraordinaire, David Berg, who claimed he was God's final endtime mouthpiece before the return of Jesus in 1993. What makes them unique is their revered founder, David Berg, who was a sexually deviant shepherd who raped lambs and manipulated, beat, and fleeced his followers.
Third, their statement that they engage in "humanitarian endeavors" is a big lie and an insult to all humanists everywhere. Sure they can show pretty PR pictures that purport to show them engaged in various activities, but it is all for show and PR. All of their prosyletizing, recruiting, fund-raising, is done deceptively with misrepresentations as to who they really are and what they do.
This attempt at an image make-over is just the latest in a long line of similar misrepresentations. There is nothing new here. For many years now this cult has courted mainstream acceptance, while continuing to abuse its members and deceive and defraud outsiders. And where do these criminals court that mainstream acceptance? Why, at a conference that includes some of their best academic enablers, such as G. Gordon Melton, who Family leaders paid $10,000 so he would change his previously highly critical writings on the Family to writings that glossed over their crimes and painted a favourable picture of that cult.
Accelerated Christian Education, Children of God, Family Care Foundation, Protestant, The Family, The Family International, apocalyptic, child brides, child custody, child labor, child protection, child sacrifice, child trafficking, children's rights, coercion, confinement, corporal punishment, creationism, cruelty, cult, deception, education, endangerment, ethical abuse, evangelical, exorcism, exploitation, extremism, financial, fraud, fundamentalism, hate, health, home schooling, human rights, imprisonment, incest, indoctrination, intellectual abuse, intimidation, isolation, lying, manipulation, mental health, messianic, neglect, nondenominational, occult, pedophilia, physical abuse, polygamy, pornography, propaganda, proselytizing, prostitution, psychological abuse, racism, rape, recruiting, religious freedom, ritual abuse, seclusion, secrecy, sect, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, shunning, spiritual abuse, suicide, supernaturalism, teen detention centers, torture, totalitarian, trauma Permalink 
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Reader Comments (4)
I believe TF has taken steps to clean up their present act and become a more bonafide and accepted group for now and going into the future, though they seem to still sorely lack on the educational care of their children as well as financial care for their own futures. But I completely disagree that they have taken stringent steps to apologise and redeem themselves for their past. All I have seen are genuine justifications, excuses, and blame placing on either the children who were mistreated by them, or members who are no longer in the group anyway, and have not seen one genuine repentance by anyone in any position within the group. I have never received an apology from anyone in the group who had power in the decisions made in my life, but rather have read several lies and false claims in their publications to the press and media. I have never had anyone reach out to me and try to recompense me for the years of life I gave to the group in sacrifice of my own future. I don't care now for their help, but I absolutely hate to see them continue lying in this way. I haven't talked to one single second generation member who has left and said "Yes, I received an official apology from so and so for the abuses they carried out against me, and I received adequate financial help to get me started in my new life and to make up for past educational lack.' Most all of us have had to start our lives over by ourselves, with no support or help from the group that swore they loved us forever...paper agape is all it is. My only concern now is that they clean up their act for the future generations that will be raised in that group, but I wish they would stop lying about their so-called good efforts to make up for the past...I haven't seen it yet.
As a former member of the Family of 35 years all I can say is that The Family has had to keep changing in order to survive as a movement. Something I never really understood. Why do they need to survive as a "movement" If the purpose of the group is to be missionaries , why can't we just be that? I asked myself the question many times.
Since I was 13 my life dream was to be a missionary and spread the Gospel.
I intended to do that in Japan, but all these other things kept popping up that hindered the spreading of the Gospel. David Berg's writings always took preeminence over what the Bible said to do.
It was a long struggle, an up and down -in and out relationship with God while I was in The Family. Since leaving I have been able to find peace of mind after going through the initial nervous breakdown of breaking away from the group, hostile reactions from some of its members, and all but total ostracizing. We want to keep some contact with The Family as we have children that are still in.
We cannot give up our children but hope and pray someday they will also come out and start working on their future.
There isn't any future inside The Family except to be a supporter of the leadership and spread their doctrines listed above by several people.
There are Family members who are sincerely helping others and have the right motive, but it is the leadership that has never had the proper motive from the beginning since David Berg abandoned his wife and took his secretary, Keren Zerby , to "wed" with his wife Jane standing right there , and then having hte audacity to say that it is God's ordained will.
Then setting himself up as the David of Ezekiel 34 and if you don't believe that you can't be in the Family, and so I'm not because I don't believe that.
We have one daughter who is successful who has been out of The Family for over ten years, and yet they continued using her picture and name on one of their Family Care Foundation sites until I complained.
The young people CAN find success in the "world" and they can do anything they want, if they will believe that God loves them no matter what they decided to do , and His love is constant and steadfast, and unchangeable.
The Tribune reporter asks: "How do you revise some teachings and practices for wider appeal without forsaking the faith's unique identity and unconventional doctrines?"
My answer: You can't! The Family cult cannot revise its teaching and practices without denouncing their revered founder, David Berg. But they will never do that. One of the primary conditions of membership is to believe that Berg was the final endtime prophet, and that all of his words and teachings were divinely inspired. So are Zerby and Kelly now going to claim that Berg was wrong about some things? I highly doubt it.
Karen "Maria" Zerby is quoted as saying: "We must determine what elements of our theology, culture and context are rooted in the past and no longer hold relevance."
My response: All elements of their theology and culture are rooted in the past and no longer hold relevance. But what the hell does "elements of our ... context" mean? It's just pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo designed to deceive gullible cult apologists at that conference who think that religious freedom means accommodating religious criminals.
As for theology rooted in the past, I find it disgusting, for example, that Zerby would choose to "come out" publicly in the U.S.A. Whatever happened to Berg's teaching about America The Whore and its imminent destruction by God for its wickedness? Are those some of the theological teachings rooted in the past that she now wants to abandon? Berg's message of America's soon coming doom and destruction was a foundational doctrine of his cult, a message that actually began with his mother's Warning Tract prophecy before Berg had any followers. His writings are filled with hate mongering and false prophecies related to America's wickedness and pending judgement. Berg lied to his followers that he was fleeing America's destruction, when he was actually fleeing from the law. But he continued the deception through letter after letter foretelling America's destruction prior to Jesus' supposed return in 1993, warning all his followers to leave the U.S. It was a powerful message for immature, innocent, naive young minds such as mine, who grew up with tv images of the vietnam war, assassinations, mass protests, Watergate, etc.
Less than a year after I joined the COG I was manipulated by leaders to leave the U.S. (I had wanted to stay in the U.S. or Canada to fight the Anti-Christ forces -- yes, I really believed that!). I was part of a group that left Seattle for Hawaii, from where "missionaries" were sent to various countries. There had been both a tv ad campaign and a billboard campaign in Seattle that contained warnings from Berg about the coming destruction of the U.S., which he claimed was heralded by the comet Kohoutek. On the day of our departure, leaders informed the local media that the COG were abandoning the U.S. Camera crews came to the cult compound and then filmed us on the road to the airport and in the airport itself, where the group of about 20 of us sang the Message of Jeramiah as we walked through the airport. That was pretty heady stuff for a just-turned 17 year-old high school drop-out with no critical thinking skills, indoctrinated by Berg's messengers. But it didn't stop there. In Japan I was arrested and threatened with deportation while distributing anti-Semitic and anti-American literature and collecting donations while on a tourist visa.
The point I'm making is that the Family cult was founded on anti-Americanism, with David Berg claiming divine insight into imminent endtime events, including the destruction of the U.S. So what has changed that Zerby feels free to appear publicly in the U.S., where her son murdered and committed suicide in a failed attempt to find and kill her, and where law enforcement officials might have an interest in questioning her? Are Bergs teachings about the U.S. rooted in the past, and are those some of the teachings Zerby is referring to that no longer hold relevance? If so, they would have to refute hundreds of Berg's letters. Furthermore, if they are changing their views on America, why? I can easily argue that the U.S. has become more "wicked" not less, and is therefore still deserving of God's punishment. But, of course, I don't believe that God nonsense anymore, and certainly not in Berg's or his successors' ability to predict the future. As an endtime prophet (more like profit) David Berg was a complete failure. There is not one thing he prophesied or predicted that came true, that could not have been foretold by any informed person. For example, his followers like to claim that Berg predicted the collapse of the U.S. dollar, but anyone following financial news from around the world could have made the same predictions.
Don't get the wrong impression with my little rant above. The anti-American issue is just one of dozens I could expound on, questioning the sincerity of Zerby's claims that they going to examine which of their doctrines or practices are no longer relevant.
To give just one more brief example, the Tribune article states: "The group is honing its missionary appeals, focusing on humanitarian efforts and social-gospel ministries."
First, don't believe a word of it. This cult, from the very beginning, has always misrepresented itself when raising funds. Whether it was the formalized begging of food and goods, called "provisioning", using frontmen wearing suits to falsely claim they did "youth work" or "community work", etc. or using photographs of a onetime event (eg. singing at an old folks home) to fraudulently claim they were helping people, or selling buttons, stickers, posters, pamphlets, tapes, and videos on the streets or door-to-door, always with the claim of "helping young people", all of their so called "missionary" and "humanitarian" work is fraudulent and has only one purpose, to proselytize, recruit and "fleece the sheep".
Finally, if this is a genuine new direction this cult is taking, which I won't believe until they denounce David Berg, then why are they even a necessary group within the blanket of Christianity. Either Berg was right and he was the final endtime prophet with a special connection to God, or he was wrong. I don't think Zerby has the guts to admit that Berg was wrong about anything. Look at her continued belief in the Heaven in the Moon doctrine. She says her followers don't have to believe, but she believes, inspite of common sense, reason, and evidence, because Berg said it.
But David Berg was full of bull-shit. No, wait. At least bull-shit has a useful purpose as a fertilizer to grow things. No, Berg was full of lies and deceit, his words and doctrines a deadly virus, that poisoned and destroyed lives.
Karen "Maria" Zerby is quoted as saying: "We must determine what elements of our theology, culture and context are rooted in the past and no longer hold relevance."
In my opinion, she doesn't want to confess that The Family International leadership, let alone their members, don't really know what to believe anymore. And so their whole "theology" "culture" and "context" is under scrutiny right now.
I talk to my kids still in the group, and they are surprised that I know so much about the inner workings of the group and latest moves.
Rather than over react here, with a multitude of unpleasant adjectives and expressions, I would like to approach the subject in a more practical manner.
Although I am pushing 60 years old now, and spent more than half of my life "in" The Family , I hold no bitterness , but am weary and tired of the endless changes of doctrine or "updates" where we had to change our beliefs hundreds of times again and again.
That's not Christian. The Bible 's theology is constant and steadfast. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. One might get a little more enlightenment and revelation knowledge on a subject, and learn and grow more mature. But maturity is not changing things so much that they no longer resemble the original product.
Spiritual maturity is becoming a more responsible Christian, something David Berg knew nothing of, and in my opinion, remained childish and immature until the day he died, still not taking responsibility for all the mistakes and wrong teaching that he forced on us that hurt so many.
That is not being a responsible mature Christian or person.
Now under the leadership of Keren Zerby and and Kelly, they just want to put all the past behind them, "that's all in the past now" .
Too bad it wans't that easy. Maybe its easy for them to say that and to convince their followers that it all they need to do.
But it is very difficult for former members, especially the younger generation, to do that when they have been abandoned by their parents, have had close friends commit suicide , and have been abused on such a wide scale.
Yes it is the past, and forgiveness should be preeminent, but sad to say most of the victims are having a very hard time forgiving knowing that their abusers are still at large.
And yet the same leadership continues to make changes in their theology saying
"thus saith the Lord" presenting to the members so called "prophecies" to force them to change or else we don't want anything to do with you type of threats.
When you run into a young member or a first generation adult, just ask them to name all of those spirit helpers and demons that they are supposed to know by heart. I wrote something about that on my site. "Peace in the Valley"
Ask the MEN if they spend their devotional times with Jesus fantasizing that they are a woman in the "spirit" so that Jesus can insert His "seeds" into them, or while they are "sharing" with their mate or someone else.
Ask them about the bi-sexual childcare spirit helpers that change themselves to either male or female "according to the need" What need? Why do you need so called angels that are bi-sexual to take care of children? Why even mention their sex?
Listen please, Leadership and members of The Family International. If you are ever going to mature as a Christian group and make progress and grow into mature Christians and servant of God there is only one way.
The only way you will ever change is to completely change your leadership in another "Bloodless Coup" , just relieve them of their leadership responsibility, and choose new leadership that will renounce the erroneous teachings of David Berg, renounce his claim on ever being any kind of an "end time prophet prophesied in Ezekiel 34" Renounce his prophecy about Maria (Keren Zerby) being any kind of an endtime prophetess and his prophecy likening her to Mary in his paraphrase of the Magnificat directly applying it to her, and also renounce his claiming that the Beatle's song "Let It Be" was a prophetic song that God intended to apply to Keren Zerby as "Mother Mary"
And then do damage control to bring condolences, comfort, closure , and compensation to those and their families who have suffered under the dictum of Family rules used and bent to abuse others by errant leadership.
In other words, you need to come clean and do some serious heart searching while you are determining " what elements of our theology, culture and context are rooted in the past and no longer hold relevance."
This ia a time you should be doing just that, serious heart searching when you a re once again on the verge of changing what you believe and about to get it from "Jesus" to dictate it to the rest of The Family.
You know very well that these policies are created by leadership's inner circle and not voted upon by the members themselves.
The only voting the homes do is about their own internal affairs or to confirm higher leadership that has already been selected.
The common everyday homes and members have no say whatsoever in who is leading The Family and are not even allowed to suggest that there be a change in The Family's top leadership.
In other words, as it stands right now, Maria (Keren Zerby) and Kelly (King Peter) are dictators for life. Whatever they say goes, and no one is allowed to question the policies they establish or "there's the door"
This is the first thing that needs to change. The Family International, in order to ever be accepted by mainstream Christianity, has to become mature enough to be able to choose their own top leadership like in any democratic society.
Then you renounce David Berg's interpretation of the Bible, and learn what the Bible really says and means.....
Then and only then can you hope to start to change into the missionary organization that you need to be in order to affect the right kind of change this society needs.
But the Family Members wouldn't dare rebel and push for that. They would be immediately expelled and excommunicated and ostracized if they did.
This is the FEAR that keeps them IN The Family. A fear of leadership retaliation if they get "out of line" and start campaigning for new top leadership.
But you have to start somewhere. Or you can wait until Keren Zerby and Kelly die, but then they will only be replaced by their successors who they named well in advance, who will only continue to carry the same old policies and "radical" doctrines with very little or no change.
As it stands right now, Keren Zerby and King Peter are not looking for real change. Only a few modifications. A remodeling and repainting of the same old building. A rehashing of the same old doctrines they have been feeding you for decades.
Aren't there any brave Family members out there who want change? Or are you stuck in the ruts of your nice secure little home with your income and a little witnessing here and there with some PR volunteer work living in a neighborhood who doesn't even know who you really are because you are hiding the truth from them?
Or maybe you LIKE it like that and don't want to have to confess that your sharing doctrines are anti-Bible because you don't want to forsake those ungodly practices of sharing your wife or husband with another man or woman?
I know, it takes a lot to realize these things, and time too, but someone has to tell you that Berg's Law of Love is NOT the same Law of Love the Bible speaks about.
The REAL law of love Jesus taught had nothing to do with sex. It was a genuine and sincere laying down of your life for your brother or sister, wife or husband or children. Not laying them down for your own selfish pleasure!
It was a denying of your own desires and pleasures to ensure the safety and health and happiness of and welfare of others.
I do not say these things to criticize or condemn, but to open your eyes to what Jesus really meant and what Jesus really said.
After I left The Family I had the opportunity and freedom for the first time in many many years to read and study the Bible without The Family's slant or David Berg's slant on scripture.
I was open to the Holy Spirit and felt such freedom. The Holy Spirit began to show me the truth about the things I had wondered about for so long. And the Word set me free!
All I can say is I hope whoever is reading this is able to experience the true Love of God unconditionally and learn to have a stable and consistent relationship with God instead of the ever changing, unsure and unstable day to day spiritual roller coaster ride you are experiencing in The Family thinking that in order to get God's blessings, you have to do everything Keren Zerby tells you to do, or you will suffer the consequences.
That is not teaching God's steadfast and unconditional love and grace. Change your paradigm, get freed from those old mind sets and receive the freedom of New Life God has for you if you will only see what the Bible really has to say and not just believe in your cut and paste theology you have been spoon fed all these years.
Don't be deceived by letting false leaders always tell you what is in the Spirit and what is not. You should be spiritually mature enough to discern the difference between what is good and what is evil, so use some of that God given wisdom and discernment and get set free today! Tomorrow may be too late!
Are you really experiencing the exuberant joy and freedom of the Spirit? Or are you living in fear and worry hoping your neighbors or landlord wont discover who you really are? May God help you to get set free now!
All the Best