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In Reply to: Irf'er's on the other hand posted by IRF'ers on August 10, 2005 at 00:57:17:
There is a heartbreaking commentary and very good analysis of the letter on this site when I look up IRFers beware. It covers a lot of what is being discussed here.
In 1978, Berg had instructed his followers to stage a disbanding [1], to go home en masse [2] to their families for Christmas [3], to go underground, and to take up jobs [4]. Berg had begun to feel the full effects of COG members' obedience to his orders to stop street-litnessing (selling literature) and go underground. In May 1979, he was already looking for someone to blame:
"Our lit distribution has dropped off two-thirds since the RNR! Is this due to genuine persecution & prohibition?--Or is it just plain pure laziness & cowardice?" ("Knew Disciples!--Dad's digest of our World Stats for Dec.78, the end of our 11th Year!", ML 773, Mar.7, 1979)
"Our World income is off over 25% this year! Who is to blame?--Are you?--It cannot be altogether the reorganisation, the Homegoing & the persecution." ("Eleven Years of Family History!", ML 791, May, 1979)
This drop in income continued into 1980, despite the implementation of FFing, a method of proselytizing where (mostly) female members use sex and were instructed by Berg to make it a financially rewarding activity -- he urged his members to be "God's whores", and to "Make it pay!" Having witnessed firsthand how lucrative the sex trade was, Berg, who prided himself as being "God's pimp", was angered about not getting his cut.
Read between the lines and you will notice several classic Berg teachings:
Use your relatives, get their money:
Children in The Family (of Love) cannot be raised around "Systemite" relatives; however, they can take good care of the children the murdered mother leaves behind. They are a bad influence; however, we want their money. If we live amongst rich systemite parents, what is our excuse for not tithing?
No sacrificial, unconditional love or compassion:
Those members should have been tithing, but they didn't; now that they are in need, The Family (of Love) is not going to help them.
You cannot choose your level of involvement:
Once you enter the inner circles of The Family (of Love), a decision to leave or taper down your involvement is a sin punishable by death.
Berg can change his mind at any time. God uses entrapment:
Berg told them to go home and take up jobs; he gave his followers the option of being IRFers. They were baited into believing they were free to taper down their involvement. Berg then informed them that they wouldn't have taken the option unless there was something wrong with them spiritually. The murder was God's punishment for his followers taking the option Berg had set up for them.
Footnotes:
Under instructions from Berg, the Children of God staged its disbanding.
"Let's also try to get away from being called the 'Children of God' where that name is hated, and simply call ourselves the new Family of Love!" ("Re-organizaton, Nationalization Revolution" ML 650)
"They are really out to get us as an organisation! So one of the best thing we can do is to apparently disorganise!--Ha!" ("Where to Now?--NRS 3" ML 749, Dec.14, 1978)
"If they suspect or have any proof that you were members, you can tell them you no longer belong to that outfit at all. In fact...the RNR changed the name, everything! ...you can say there was an absolute split & we have nothing to do with those people anymore." ("Maltese Doublecross--Part 1!" ML 797-1)
"Even though we may have changed our name! We are the same people!" ("Where to Now?--NRS 3" ML 749)
"...we were being technically honest: We were no longer 'those people', officially, legally, by that name... in our own hearts we knew we were the people they were talking about, regardless of our name change!" ("The Four Deadly Sins!--NRS 9", ML 759, January, 1979)
Berg instructed his followers to go underground:
"it means you have to go underground... close it up and go some place else and open a totally new underground unknown selah [secret] Home that they don't know anything about, and get jobs and go to work to support yourselves in order to survive." ("Where to Now?--NRS 3" ML 749, Dec.14, 1978)
"Dive underground totally out of the picture into some unknown place & destroy or carry with you any high-security materials, such as mailing lists, files, financial records, etc. Grab'm & run for the nearest hide out!" ("Going Underground!--NRS 4", Letter 750, paras.47,48; December 14, 1978)
"There's only one way to get them off your back, & that's just to make it impossible for them to find you." ("Why the Family?--NRS 5", ML 752, Dec.1978)
"Once this storm is over & the heat's off & the persecution dies down &/or disappears, the public quickly forgets & maybe you can return to the streets again." ("The IRF!--NRS 7", ML 757, Jan.1979)
In 1978, Berg instructed his followers to go home for Christmas just like they did 7 years before in 1971, to refute charges of cult mind control. They were instructed to follow the directives of ML 144A written 7 years earlier:
"One of the main purpose of this Homegoing is the publicity of it to answer the enemy's media charges that we're not free" ("Homegoing II Message!", ML 751, Dec.20, 1978)
"We are going to send all of our members home to their loved ones or relatives for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. This will be a massive, worldwide demonstration..." ("Emergency Call Home!", ML 144A, Nov.21, 1971)
He then instructed his followers to take up jobs:
"It's a whole different kettle of fish now: Our average member today is now one of a young couple with small children & some kind of a home... If you are therefore settled down in a community with a job, home & family, in some ways the community will respect you much more & say, 'Well, now you have come to your senses!'... ("The Maturation of a Movement!--NRS 14", ML 770, Jan.5, 1979)
"...go some place else and open a totally new underground unknown selah [secret] Home that they don't know anything about, and get jobs and go to work to support yourselves in order to survive. ("Where to Now?--NRS 3" ML 749, Dec.14, 1978)
