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The Children of God
The Inside Story By The Daughter Of The Founder, Moses David Berg by Deborah (Linda Berg) Davis with Bill Davis, 1984
In April 1972, Mo left his hideout in Oklahoma for England, never to set foot on American soil again. England would become his headquarters for the next two years. By the beginning of 1972, Moses David had successfully retarded the spread of immoral behavior throughout the COG family. Those who had been involved, were removed from their positions of leadership, and of some Mo made a public spectacle. He was always—and still is—quite fond of public verbal executions. He feels it puts the fear of God in others and encourages obedience—discipline by terror, an effective tactic used, for example, by the Ayatollah Khomeini in recent years. Nevertheless, Dad was able to curb the premature outbreak of sexual liberties, and even caused those who were guilty, but had not been caught, to stop their licentious behavior. Then, in the spring of '72, Dad began to wield some new "scare tactics" designed to shift the direction and momentum of his Revolution for Jesus. It was now time for the "Great Escape", a special warning revelation he received from the spirit world. On April 24, 1972, he announced: "The storm of God's judgments upon the ease and luxury of these nations, particularly America, is fast approaching, and the sea and waves of the uprisings of people are about to rage!" 59 He warned his faithful followers that all escape routes out of America would be closed as soon as "the Storm of God's judgments begins to break upon the wickedness of the Lowlands of America!" In a subsequent, emergency Mo Letter, entitled "Flee As A Bird To Your Mountain," he warned his disciples to run for their lives while there was still a chance. 60 Soon the COG began a mass exodus out of the States. Many fled to South America; others escaped to England and the Continent. Mo himself had already left for England. Faithy and Hosea had been there for well over a year, and had established a work in the London suburb of Bromley. No doubt my father saw the handwriting on the wall, and realized that he would not be able to continue his immoral practices in the United States and get away with it. He was scared of FREE-COG and terrified of America's justice system. A guilty man has reason to fear, and David Berg knew that in the near future, he would become a lot more vulnerable in expanding a movement dedicated to wholesale debauchery. Knowing full well the dangers that faced him, he gathered his prophetic robes about him and left.*
Shortly afterward, the NBC television network aired its second documentary on the Children of God. The first program, "First Tuesday", had presented a sympathetic picture in 1971; but "Chronolog" painted quite a different scene in 1972. Because reports of sexual promiscuity in the COG had begun to emerge by the time of the showing on "First Tuesday", Bob Rogers, the producer, looked the fool in the eyes of the public."First Tuesday" led America to believe that we were ultra-puritanical in our moral standards—which we were at the time of the filming, except for my father. But things had changed in the movement, and Bob Rogers had a score to settle. Feigning friendship, Rogers flew to England to interview my brother Hosea. Naturally Hosea received him with open arms. But in a carefully constructed interview, Rogers broached the subject of immorality in the Family; he zeroed in on the person of David Berg, his sexual exploits, and his totalitarian rule as "prophet" of the COG. Mr. Rogers was intent upon showing the public what was truly behind this highly organized, regimented Christian organization. When asked if there was immorality going on within the COG, Hosea flatly denied it. Roger's countered Hosea's statements with interviews he had filmed in America of female ex-members who gave eyewitness accounts. The stark contrast between Hosea's denial and the witnesses' testimony was incredible. But why would Hosea lie? To him it was not lying. All cult members are taught instinctively to lie; the COG is not unlike other cults in that matter. One is taught that it is okay to "cover" the truth of things because "other people wouldn't understand our beliefs." Therefore, when Mr. Rogers asked Hosea about immorality, Hosea flatly denied it. Hosea did not believe it was "immorality." Hosea's thoughts: "To the public it may appear as immorality, but to us it is the freedom of God's spirit, which they know nothing of." The final documentary for "Chronolog" showed Hosea to be an outright, bold-faced liar. And he was. FREE-COG, which had helped Bob Rogers compile much of the negative evidence for the show, hoped that the "Chronolog" documentary would force the COG out of the States. Basically it did just that, although Mo himself had already left. Rogers had struck back with a powerful blow that drove us underground. The documentary, combined with the "Great Escape" Mo Letter, forced the disciples to leave the States and marked the beginning of the end of active work by the COG in America. But, in typical fashion, Moses David simply used the "Chronolog" film to renew the dedication of his followers to the cause and strengthen his position as Prophet and leader. The film was "an attack of the Devil" and representative of "righteous persecution." The Bible clearly states, Mo noted, that "all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Thus "Chronolog" was one more proof that we were living the true gospel, and that Mo was truly the Prophet. Mo proclaimed that the incident was God's way of purging the ranks and preparing the way for the COG to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We had conquered the United States; now it was time to conquer Europe and the rest of the World! Bromley, England, served as a landing place for all the "refugees " fleeing America before its "imminent destruction." It was in this setting that Mo developed the concept of the Royal Family and crowned me Queen. From Bromley the disciples were sent into different parts of England and eventually to the Continent. Pioneering teams began to establish colonies in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. Our message and radical approach appealed to the European youth, and our American drive and industriousness were also admired as the Revolution for Jesus surged forward. We were making great advances in Latin America as well. Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Brazil received the songs and smiles of the Children with great enthusiasm. We spread to Hawaii (which was a little safer than the contiguous states), Australia, and New Zealand. Late in 1972 our first pioneering team arrived in India; today India is a major focal point of Children of God activity. By September 1973 we had approximately two hundred colonies scattered through about fifty countries. In February 1973 the COG experienced a turning point in its public witness. It occurred on February 18—my father's birthday. On that day he received a special revelation that he should begin the mass publication of the Mo Letters for the entire world. Until this time, the Letters had been strictly for consumption by the faithful followers and, on occasion, friends of the Family. But in a prophecy entitled "The Birthday Warning," Moses David was rebuked for restricting the use of the Letters—because the Mo Letters were now as important as the Bible. Therefore it was time to begin publishing these Letters for everyone. We were on the threshold of the "Literature Revolution." Furthermore, the COG's growth rate had seriously declined, and Mo offered this explanation: Nobody ever heard of little old Mo, either, until his words began to work. . . . We must put them in print on paper so they can circulate around the globe available to all! Millions for the billions!63 Overnight, print shops sprang up all over the world producing Mo Letters. Then Moses David wrote a Letter called "Shiners?—Or Shamers?" that outlined the principles and directives of "litnessing"; distributing Mo Letters on the street as a new method of witnessing. 65 No longer were we to go out and win people to Christ through conversation: our No. 1 job was to distribute literature and collect donations. Quotas were established; those who distributed the most were rewarded, and those who failed to meet their quotas were chastised. During 1972 we had published 3 million pieces of literature; but in 1973, the figure soared to 19 million. The numbers grew: 55 million in 1974; 58 million in 1975; and 68 million in 1976. Literature distribution has continued to rise every year. In the early days of the Literature Revolution, disciples were frequently forbidden to return to their colony until they had dis- tributed their quotas. It was not uncommon to see disciples searching the streets at three o'clock in the morning looking for someone to buy a piece of literature. Before long, the financial status of the Family began to change. Dad had written a Letter entitled "Rags to Riches" in which he exhorted the leadership to think big, to think success, and not to be content with remaining at the poverty level. 66 "Shiners?—Or Shamers?" seemed to offer an effective strategy for improving our financial condition. Until we began selling Mo Letters on the street, we had been a very poor organization. We lived merely on the money received from new disciples "forsaking all", and donations of material goods solicited from local businesses. I recall one man who joined with his family and forsook his house—which we sold for $75,000. This, of course, was the rare exception. Most of the people joining were lost youth who owned nothing but the clothes on their backs. All the finances were pooled, and we struggled along. Nearly all our food came through our "provisioning teams"—specially designated disciples who phoned and visited businesses requesting support for our work in "helping youth off drugs." Litnessing gave each colony a specific means of financial support. Yet our financial success never reached the proportions of cults like the Unification Church—the "Moonies"—who enjoy the benefits of affluence; we always seemed to have just enough to keep things running, even after intense litnessing. Finances were a perpetual concern. With the advent of relative wealth, however, the complexion of the Family began to change rapidly. As our economic conditions improved in late 1973, Mo began to publish more and more messages on sex. Among them were "Revolutionary Sex," "Revolutionary Women," "Revolutionary Marriage," "One Wife," and "Mountain Maid", along with his Letters on the "Goddesses" with whom he was having sexual experiences." 67 In a calculated barrage of sexually provocative literature, he began to inflame the imaginations of his followers with sexual desires, but all in the name of Jesus—in the name of what is "natural, God-given, God-created, and perfectly normal." In a Letter entitled "Come On Ma! Burn Your Bra!", he condemned those within our ranks who continued to hang onto their "misconceived Christian morality". As in days past—when I was classed with the "unspirituals"—the disciples who were dragging their conservative heels were in peril of receiving the same condemnation It began in London. Mo and Maria enrolled in an evening dance school. Dad's ploy was to send Maria out on the dance floor as "bait" to lure unsuspecting men into their lair. The very first person caught through Flirty Fishing was an Englishman named Arthur. After numerous evenings on the dance floor, Arthur and Maria began a sexual relationship. After Arthur was thoroughly caught in Moses David's net of immorality, he was passed on to one of Mo's other wives; Maria was commissioned to catch another "fish." If my father's cup of iniquity was not presently full, it would soon be overflowing beyond all imagination. Maria kept up her new tactic of seducing men into the "kingdom." Each night Dad and his team would get a detailed report, record it, and transcribe and edit it for eventual publication. My father boasted that he had found a new method of ministry, but in reality, he had only resurrected the pagan practice of religious prostitution. It was nothing more or less than the kind of worship with which the prophets of Baal led the Israelites astray thousands of years ago. Along with this, however, I believe the demonic influence in my father's life reached new depths. Sexual perversion is a stock feature of occultic practices. Mo credited his revelations on sex, like his other prophecies, to Abrahim, his spirit guide, of whom he wrote, As the "Flirty Fishing" continued, Dad grew fearful that it could spell trouble for him in sophisticated England. He didn't feel he could promote it on a large scale among the followers there. So in March 1974, he and Maria and a small group of disciples moved to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, near Spain. There, in the freer atmosphere of the tourist resorts, the technique of "FFing", as Mo calls it, was developed and refined practically into an artform. In Tenerife, Mo virtually abandoned the name "Children of God" for his movement. Henceforth he would call it the "Family of Love". He adopted for himself the title "Father David". This reflected the strong impact that certain aspects of the island's Catholic culture made on Moses David. He used the title while he lived there, but abandoned it when he left. Other changes came in the movement with the advent of Flirty Fishing. Not all the "fish" became "Forsake All" disciples. Tenerife was a tourist resort, and many of the "fish" were interested only in the prostitution. Others were established citizens such as businessmen or civil service workers; they were not interested in giving up homes, families, jobs, or lifestyles to join the movement. Rather, Moses David accommodated them by conducting "Love Church" meetings. These meetings were more or less informal church services conducted by disciples and attended by various "fish" or interested tourists. This marked a significant change in the movement. No longer was every proselyte to the movement expected to become a "Forsake All" follower. There were now "closet" followers who indulged in the Children of God as their religion, but kept their established way of life. This pattern has been maintained in the movement ever since Moses David initiated it on Tenerife. For every disciple living full-time in a COG colony somewhere in the world today, there are countless others who align themselves to the movement clandestinely—including government officials, wealthy buisnessmen, and the man on the street. In the spring of 1975, Moses David interrupted his activities on the island of Tenerife to visit Moammar Gadahfi, the head of state of Libya. Dad had been courting a relationship with the dictatorial colonel from long distance after he began to receive special revelations about Gadahfi from Abrahim in 1971. In June 1973, Mo wrote a special Letter, "Gadahfi—and The Children Of God", in which he explained why Gadahfi was someone special. We're to be absolutely friendly toward him. . . . We are to help him, we are to cooperate with him, be friendly toward him, and agree with his Third Alternative. . . ." 72 The disciples also were distributing, by the thousands, a particular Mo Letter that was favorable to Gadahfi. Entitled "Gadahfi's Third World", it praised the colonel and his "Third International Theory"—a plea for worldwide "godly socialism." Mo said that the Libyan was "the only world leader I've heard of who is raising his voice against both Capitalism and Communism and offering us the only alternative of a Godly Socialism. . . ." 74 Impressed by this enthusiasm, and the unexpected and unsolicited promotion of his cause, Gadahfi was prompted to invite COG representatives to visit him. After a visit from my brother Hosea and my sister, Gadahfi arranged for Mo to fly to Tripoli, the Libyan capital. Dad spent about a month in Libya, but things weren't going the way he thought they would. He had taken with him a troupe of girls and started an FF ministry among some military leaders and Gadahfi's personal staff. But Gadahfi was not interested in prostitution—the Koran forbids it—even though his officers were. Rather, the Libyan wanted only to make use of the ten thousand COG disciples who were distributing literature around the world. Certainly we represented an efficient means of promoting Gadahfi's "Third International Theory". But Moses David was not interested—he was in over his head, and he knew it. He realized that Gadahfi could crush him like a bug if he wished. In the beginning, Dad was flattered to receive a personal invitation from a world leader, and he nurtured hopes of somehow using Gadahfi. But Dad soon saw that Gadahfi was out to use "this old man who was running around the world trying to act like a prophet and king". After spending his second month in Libya in a house guarded by armed soldiers, Dad realized that he was virtually a prisoner. He decided it would be better to keep his relationship with Gadahfi at a distance; so he quickly left Libya while he still had the chance. From Libya, Dad flew directly to Italy, where he lived in my home for about five months. I was writing childcare and educational material for the Family in that country at the time. Upon leaving Italy, Dad returned to Tenerife and devoted his attention to promoting the still fledgling "Flirty Fishing" ministry. Moses David launched a full-scale assault on the bars, discos, and night clubs of the small island. He brought in disciples from many other colonies. In the first of a series of Letters on "Flirty Fishing", published in April 1976, Mo announced, We have already written a whole series on our FF experiences during the past three years, but which for security reasons we have not felt wise to release until now. We also felt it better to more thoroughly explore this new area of our ministry and pioneer it before revealing it to you. . . ." 75 But success didn't come without a struggle."Flirty Fishing" brought Dad unwanted publicity and attention from the law. It eventually spelled the end for his sojourn and prostitution network on Tenerife. It happened this way: A man I can only describe as "a very good friend" of my father had been with him on Tenerife for some time—whether more or less than a year, I do not recall. He obviously had become a good friend, because Dad allowed the man to photograph him—something Dad had scrupulously forbidden for years in order to maintain his prophetic mystique. Whether the man was "planted" by journalists, or was simply a tourist who at some point decided to exploit a ripe situation, I do not know. What is known is that the man left Tenerife in 1977 and published in Stern, a prominent West German magazine, a sensational article and the photograph—a picture of Moses David with a bevy of Flirty Fishers, including Maria. The publicity went worldwide. Time magazine published the photograph along with a full-page article entitled "Tracking the Children of God" in its issue of August 22, 1977.* The results were predictable. Moses David described the situation in a subsequent Mo Letter:
A flock of FFers was arrested and charged with prostitution by Canary Islands authorities. As the leader of the group, Dad was indicted and summoned to court. He appeared for questioning on two occasions, but at the first opportunity, he fled from the island and the authorities. He left the women there to stand trial. Yet "Flirty Fishing" prospered elsewhere. Moses David's annual statistical newsletter for 1979 reported the growth of his new "ministry":
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