The Children of God

The founder was David Berg (1919-1994), he became a minister of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. He claimed to have a "direct line" to God and he had an anti-social view towards society called anti-system. His message was to save as many souls as possible before the end of time. He opened a coffee-house to attract new members and he called this access strategy and it works pretty well. His most dedicated followers would sell everything they had to give to the Children of God! Before leaving California with his group, he started a relationship (sexual and otherwise) with a woman called Maria, this is very important because Maria is now the leader. But then Berg had to admit to the group that he was already married and had children (which were part of the group) and this was accepted by the group. They moved to Texas and established a branch in Los Angeles. Because family members kept trying to get their relatives out of the movement, the Children of God became more and more secretive and elusive. David Berg made another group, mainly the leaders, of which was somewhere else and almost no one knew the location of this group. Berg thought society was going to get him so he moved to Europe and started writing to keep a certain control over the groups. And soon his letters, to be known later as the "Mo Letters", became as holy as the Bible.

The group was not large and still is not large (10000 to 12000 members). Berg convinced the majority of his followers to move to third world countries (especially Latin America) because the countries they were living in were not good environments for good Christians.

Some of Berg's family members had key roles in the chain of command. To get new members, they would do litnessing, a combination of witnessing and literature, handing out literature and trying to get a person to pray with them. If they would succeed in doing this, they could consider that person saved. Another tactic is flirty fishing, female members would flirt and maybe use sex to get new members. It started out as an expirement in the Canary Islands in hotels, bars, night clubs....... But this technique was not that successful because it was time consumming. But Berg thought it was good because it showed the type of relationship between members towards the outside world. It started in 1977 and was banned in 1987. Berg was totally agaisnt birth control and before you know it, 2/3 of the group were minors. Therefore you can find a decrease in new members from outside the group but not from the inside!

Berg then destroyed the chain of command and he called this RNR: Reorganization Nationalisation Revolution, people became disatisfied and left the group. Including a daughter Deborah and her husband Jethro and they published a book agaisnt the movement. With all the bad publicity, Berg recommended to the goups to split up in smaller groups and to keep on the move.

To strenghtened the link between the groups and Berg, the groups are to fill-out TRF forms, to report the activities, money and new members. Berg did this in anticipation of the opposition, to protect themselves, especially since this was right after the Jonestown incident. And he knew that his group was one of the prime suspect.

Not only Berg allowed sex between members and recommended flirty fishing but also sex between andults and minors. But this did not last long and Berg started to re-establish communal groups, the reinstitution of the hierarchy and a new training for leadership. This is a critical point for the group because this is when he reinstituted sexual restrictions which includes no sex with new members without a trial period, and sex should be kept within the colony or group and not with a member from another colony.

In the early 1980's, the children in the group became teens and the group became concerned with education and not only control. But this second generation brings a problem because they bring with them a shift of obligation and also you have to educate them to be just like you. Thus the group must compromise their way of living to keep them from going away. In 1984, the symptoms of change appear. One hint about the change were the changes on the boundary. For example, a new rule is set forth: do not brake off all relations from your family thus saving energy to help with the problems in the inside. Another example, if possible, was to move back to your own home country so you will have less problems with the law if ever they get in trouble with the law. They invented "Teen Training Camps" to help the transition of the teens into the group and to further help this transition, they banned sex with members under 18 years old and later on 21 years old. But the adults who are leading the groups seem to re-adopt "ancient ways" of which they seemed to reject when they joined the group in the first place.

In 1987, flirty fishing is cancelled because of the threat of AIDS. Thus literature is used but even that will be stopped because trying to get new recruits from the streets attracts too much bad publicity. Also during the late 1980's, their building new schools. In 1988, a woman called Vivian Shillander took back her kids to the USA from Thailand. This was the first case. Thus a new concern for the children and so custodies for the children become very common. And in court, the cults have an even chance.

A new membership was created: TRF-Supporters ---> members who are less trustworthy so they will not get all of the readings a true member would get. It would seemed that some information was being leeked to the opposition. They also developped codes of behavior and if you do not follow them you could get demoted, declassified or even kicked out. In 1990, is the era of some serious opposition especially when it comes from the gevernment. In July in Barcelona, the government raids a home and takes away 22 children for suspicion of child abuse, but they were all returned. In May 1992, over a hundred children, June 1993 in France and September 1993 in Argentina children were taken but every time, they were all returned. Even with all this, the members do not return in their shell. They are asked to be friendly with sympathizers because they are looking for external legitimazation.

In 1994, Maria makes a public relations order, making information available not only for members but for outsiders also. And members are encouraged to go to church. In November 1994, David Berg dies and Maria is now the leader and now we must ask this: how long can Maria maintain the group together?

For further help or comments