THE FAMILY
THE CHILDREN OF GOD


 
HISTORY

February 18, 1919 Moses David Berg was born David Brandt Berg in Oakland, California.

Berg’s family (parents and grandparents) had a long history of evangelical activity. As a child Berg traveled  with his family while they evangelized

1941 Berg was drafted into the Army

1944 married Jane Miller (known in The Family as Mother Eve). The couple had four children  – Linda (Deborah), Paul (Aaron), Jonathan (Hosea), and (Faith).

1948 Berg became a minister in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church (conservative holiness denomination) and was assigned to an interracial congregation in Valley Farms, Arizona. Berg came into conflict with the denomination's leaders over his advocacy of racial integration and redistribution of wealth, and in 1951 he was relieved of his position as pastor.

1954 working as a school teacher when he met Fred Jordan, and independent minister who headed the American Soul Clinic, a missionary organization in Los Angeles. Berg worked for Jordan briefly and then established the Florida Soul Clinic, a missionary training school, in Miami.

1961 received a prophecy, the “Message of Jeremiah,” that instructed him to pronounce the established churches as doomed for forsaking God. For the next several years Berg and his family now took to the road with a small coterie of disciples, evangelizing across America, Canada, and Mexico before returning to Fred Jordan’s Soul Clinic Ranch in Texas.

1965 Berg was working for Fred Jordan at the Texas Soul Clinic when he was visited by his mother who reported receiving the Warning Prophecy which spoke of the Endtime.

1967 Berg arrived at his mother’s home in Huntington Beach, California with his family and disciples. He began witnessing to "hippies" at the Light Club Mission coffeehouse that had previously been run by an evangelical ministry. Berg’s children formed a singing group, Teens for Christ, that became a major vehicle for recruitment. Berg preached that the System was hopelessly corrupted and its destruction was imminent. Berg taught that Jesus was the true revolutionary and the Bible the textbook for a spiritual revolution.

1967 Berg went to work for Fred Jordan who ran the Soul Clinic, an independent Pentecostal ministry in Los Angeles

1967-1968 Small group of former drug users begin living communally under the name Teens for Christ

1969 Teens for Christ grew to at least fifty and moved to Tuscon

1969 Berg's elevated his status to God's Endtime Prophet

1969 Expectations of the imminent destruction of California circulated within the group. Members also had some problems with authorities when some members were arrested for distributing tracts and some members had not registered with draft boards. The entire group left California in a journey that members described as the “Exodus” from “Egypt”and a “long march” that ended in Quebec, Canada. The group converted more members during its trek northward.

1969 Berg had one of the pivotal visions, the Old Church-New Church prophecy. Berg announced that God had rejected the established church and looked with favor on the new church that was embodied in his movement. As part of this revelation Berg also announced that he was ending his marital relationship with Jane Miller (Mother Eve), who represented the old system, and initiating a relationship with a recent convert to the movement, Karen Zerby (Maria).

1970  Berg led his group of 100-200 disciples to Fred Jordan’s Texas Soul Clinic Ranch where the Family began building “a new nation” modelled on the early Christian church. Members The goal of witnessing efforts was the total commitment of the "sheep." Joining required that the prospective member "forsake-all" worldly goods to the group and sever worldly ties.

1971 Berg and Maria settled in London

1970-1971 Berg had two major revelations that dramatically changed the character of the movement. The first was “I Gotta Split” in which he announced he was withdrawing from contact with all but a few of his closest disciples. Henceforth he communicated with Family members through his writings, which for much of the movement’s history were titled the “Mo Letters.” The second was his call for the Family to expand to other nations. In 1971 members began arriving in Europe and soon thereafter established a presence in several European countries.

1971 Intense opposition to Family recruitment tactics produced the first anti-cult organization was established, FREECOG (Free Our Children from the Children of God)

1972 Berg revealed a dream he had of the destruction of the United States

1973 Berg and Maria began experimenting with the practice of Flirty Fishing (FFing) when Berg observed lonely men and women who frequented local bars in search of companionship. Berg encouraged Maria to dance with men and then bring them back to the table for conversation that turned to witnessing.

Mid 1970s Berg warns of destruction by the Comet Kohoutek

1979 Berg therefore abolished the Children of God and renamed the movement the Family of Love, displaced more than 300 movement leaders, and mandated election of leaders who would be responsible directly to King David. The RNR swept away most of the leadership levels between Berg and local homes, creating a direct link between Berg and individual members. FFing spread through the movement.

1981 Berg announced the Fellowship Revolution. Berg urged members to move to Third World countries to avoid impending nuclear conflagration and to spread the movement’s message worldwide before the coming apocalypse. Through the mid-1980s there was an exodus of several hundred members from North America for Latin America and Asia

1987 Practice of flirty fishing is discontinued as a result of internal and external problems as well as STDs

Late 1980s Berg's health became increasingly more marginal. He gradually turned over administration of the movement to Maria, and two trusted disciples, Appollos and Peter Amersterdam.

1990-1993 Family homes were raided in Spain, France, Australia, and Argentina. In each case children were removed from the homes and examined by police and social workers. The Family was legally exonerated in each case.

October, 1994 Berg died at age 75. His death was celebrated as his personal “graduation” and as yet another sign that the Endtime was fast approaching. Maria and Peter Amersterdam were married within a short time after Berg’s death and assumed leadership of the movement. Family leaders report that Berg continues to communicate with them from the spirit world.
 
MYTH

The Family accepts certain basic Christian doctrines but departs from others
The Family accepts the basic precept of a triune God who created the universe and humans in six days. However,  The Family teaches that the Holy Spirit is the female facet of God.

The Family accepts the doctrine that ttemptation by Satan that led to the fall from the state of grace. Attonement for original sin was achieved when God sent his Son, who was born sinless to the Virgin Mary, to offer his life on behalf of humankind

The Family teachers that evil and Satan are the creations of God. Satan is a very real figure engaged in unrelenting resistance to God and is assisted in his quest by a host of other demonic spirits.
Berg preached progressive revelation through which God provides the knowledge necessary for humankind as history unfolds.  Berg is believed to be God’s Endtime Prophet.

Family members anticipate that the Endtime is imminent, most likely within their lifetimes.

Berg railed against all established institutions –  political, economic, educational, and familial – but held special contempt for Christian churches which he derisively referred to as “churchianity.”

They view humanity’s increasing depravity and the emergence of godless communism in the Soviet Union as signs of the end.

As the Endtime approaches, the corrupt, ungodly world order will finally collapse. During the Tribulation, the Antichrist, who is possessed by Satan, will force humans to accept his authority and bear the “Mark of the Beast.” The faithful remnant, including The Family, will have to practice their faith in secret and be raptured before Satan is able to annihilate them. After the Tribulation, Christ will return, the Antichrist will be vanquished at Armageddon, and the millennium will begin.

 At the end of the millennium there will be a final confrontation between the forces of God and Satan. Satan  will be destroyed and the Kingdom of Heaven instituted for eternity

The Family can hasten the Endtime by saving souls and spreading God’s word. The Family also will play a pivotal role in world governance during the millennium. Berg promised that members would constitute an elite who will live inside the walls of the New Jerusalem while other saved souls would reside outside the city

There have been numerous expectations of the imminent arrival of the Endtime. Sometimes these expectations have come from members and sometimes from Berg. The various dates have been treated more as possibilities than firm predictions.
In 1972 Berg revealed a dream he had of the destruction of the United States. He advised members to leave America and expand their evangelistic activity across the globe

Prior to the appearance of the comet Kohoutek in 1974 there was speculation that this event might be a signal for the beginning of the Endtime.

Later, Berg  advised members that the Endtime might occur around 1985 and again around 1993.
Berg also reported receiving a number of revelations about the direction the movement should take.
In 1961 he received the Message of Jeremiah revelation that pronounced the established churches as doomed moved The Family in a more radical direction.

In 1969 he received the Old Church-New Church prophecy elevated the spiritual status of The Family and created the beginnings of the Royal Family that led the movement.

His I Gotta Split revelation created a unique communication through The Letters. The succession of revelations about the Endtime kept the movement in a state of heightened expectation throughout its history.
    
One of Berg’s most historic revelations was the “Law of Love,” which Berg  revealed in a series of letters beginning in 1973.  Berg reminded his disciples that the Bible (Matthew 22:36) records Jesus’ assertion that the greatest commandments concern love: “Love the Lord your God with all your hear and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as your self.”Berg concluded Jesus’ commandments superceded Old Testament law and that as God’s chosen movement The Family was bound only by  the Law of Love. all acts be carried out in a loving spirit and be judged by that standard.
Berg interpreted the Law of Love to permit use of sexual allure in winning souls to Christ. Beginning in 1974 Berg began encouraging female members to use their physical allure to attract men to the group in a practice he referred to as Flirty Fishing (FFing). Berg also concluded that extra-marital sexuality was appropriate providing that it conformed to the Law of Love, which led to the practice of “sexual sharing.”.
RITUAL

Witnessing  –  Members regard witnessing as their primary, ongoing personal responsibility they are preparing the way for Christ’s return, saving individuals from the suffering and destruction during the apocalypse, and recruiting members to God’s End Time Army. Witnessing has emphasized saving souls, through recitation of a salvationist prayer, at some times and recruitment of new movement members at others.
Witnessing activities have employed a variety of means.

“Witnessing” – Family members approach individuals and offer them salvation through personal prayer.

“Litnessing” – Family members distribute Family literature in return for a small donation which supports the movement.    

Music  –  Huntington Beach coffee house,  Les Enfants de Dieu in France, Music with Meaning radio show
By its own estimate, The Family has witnessed to over two hundred million individuals through its history, and members have engaged in personal prayers with twenty million individuals who have acknowledged Jesus as their savior.

Provisioning  –  Provisioning is a form of solicitation in which Family members approach anyone they think might help their needs, identify themselves as Christian missionaries, and request assistance. Members believe that provisioning success is not the product of personal persuasiveness but rather of faith in God. They will be rewarded by God with donations to the extent they are acting in accord with their divine mandate.

Flirty Fishing (FFing)
Berg and Maria began experimenting with FFing at local bars in 1973 in London. Berg encouraged Maria to dance with lonely men and to bring them back to the table where she and Berg would witness to them.

Berg had already concluded that sex was a natural desire that should be expressed rather than repressed and that witnessing to others to insure their spiritual salvation was the prime mandate of the movement. FFing linked these two ideas. FFing was a method of last resort and came to constitute the supreme sacrificial act by disciples to demonstrate Christ’s love in a concrete way that was meaningful to the other person.
    
The Family estimates that through movement history just over one million individuals were FFed and over two hundred thousand were given “full physical love”


LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

LEADERSHIP

Berg was fifty years old when he assumed leadership of The Family. His early life had been filled with spiritual experiences, but his attempts to carve out a career as a minister and an evangelist met with mixed success.

Berg’s spiritual status continued to rise.  Initially, Berg assumed the role of  a fatherly “Uncle Dave” who guided the movement. However, Berg soon declared himself God’s Prophet for the Endtime and the King of God’s New Nation with absolute spiritual authority within the movement. His extended family was referred to as the Royal Family

Within a few years Berg withdrew from active contact with Family members. His ongoing revelations that were disseminated to his followers through “The Mo Letters.”

The inner circle of leaders around Berg remained stable until the late 1970s when Berg became disillusioned with the exploitive, authoritarian style of his leadership as well as their resistance to his charismatic authority He displaced virtually the entire movement leadership and sent them into the field to missionize.


ORGANIZATION

Throughout its history The Family has been organized communally as “colonies” or “homes.”

The Family is held together through familial organization, member mobility, a division of labor, and The Mo Letters.

The Family has maintained its distance from conventional institutions.
Members do not vote or serve in the armed forces within countries in which they reside.

The Family does not seek governmental recognition as a church nor does it construct places of worship.

Members typically do not hold conventional jobs, own property beyond a few personal possessions, carry medical insurance, obtain credit, maintain personal bank accounts, or set up retirement plans. The Family developed several methods of generating resources: forsake alls, procuring, provisioning, and litnessing

Members do not pay taxes since they have no personal income or property.

Homes are rented rather than owned, and they are not listed in telephone books.

Members consider The Family their true family, children are treated as members of the group first and their biological families second.

The Family has moved toward home schooling to avoid the secularized education.

Most members decline higher education in favor of pursuing their religious missions.
Berg used his charismatic authority to create constant change within The Family through “Revolutions.”.
Leadership structures and personnel changed frequently

Governance fluctuated between centralized and democratic

Missionizing objectives changed every few years

The size and organization of homes constantly changed

Missionizing and witnessing priorities frequently shifted

Marginal members were alternately encouraged and rejected
Alliances with wealthy and powerful individuals and institutions were established to protect the movement against its opponents.