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In Reply to: Re: Stephen David bio -- final version posted by Comment on December 02, 2005 at 14:52:12:
Stephen Bruce Ferguson (Stephen David), an American citizen, was a longtime member of the Children of God, aka The Family International. He joined in 1969, when the Family first began. In the 1998 documentary, The Love Prophet, the narrator describes Stephen thus: “In 1969, Stephen Ferguson is an acid-head going nowhere. Then Berg and his entourage, who now call themselves Children of God, come to town.” Stephen converted and joined.
Within two years, Stephen married into the family of David Berg, the leader and ‘prophet’ of the cult. Berg had taken Karen Zerby on as a second wife, and not long after Berg and his first wife, Jane Miller (Mother Eve), separated. Jane needed a chauffeur/boyfriend so Stephen became mated to Jane though she was old enough to be his mother. It was an odd relationship, but marrying into the Royal Family entitled Stephen to use ‘David’ as his last name and gave him special privileges.
In the early 70’s, Berg put a team together called the Fearsome Foursome consisting of Jane, Stephen, Aaron (Paul Berg) and Shulamite. Berg sent them to help a Family member, Ebed, pioneer the Toronto, Canada colony. Aaron and Stephen were both musicians/inspirational leaders, and after Aaron died in 1973, Stephen became more of a charismatic leader and ‘prophet.’ His devotion to the ‘music of the Spirit’ (as defined by Berg in ML 32, ‘Sock It To Me,’ and ML 92, ‘Inspired Songs’), led Stephen to declare himself a guardian of the Family’s musical heritage.
Stephen professed great love for Berg and a desire to obey and be loyal to him, and Berg trusted Stephen as a faithful messenger. After Berg’s and Karen Zerby’s son, Davidito, was born, Berg summoned his ex-wife, Jane, to Tenerife to help with childcare and Stephen accompanied her. It was there that Stephen ran afoul of Berg. (See: ‘Rebuke to Stephen!’ 1448 12/4/75.)
In The New Revolution (beginning February 18, 1975) Berg instituted a leadership structure called the Chain of Cooperation, commonly called The Chain. (See the ‘New Revolution’ series, MLs # 328A-332B.) Jane and Stephen, however, used their Royal Family status to keep out of the chain of command and begin a group called ‘Mother’s Team.’ By this time Jane was mated with an American ‘brother’ named John and Stephen was mated with Adria (former wife of Berg’s handyman, Dave), although Jane and Stephen continued to have sex.
Stephen received ‘prophecies’ to do a sackcloth vigil against regular Family members at the Family’s Poorboy Club in Rome, Italy, so he and a group of followers protested against the Family band (Uncle Dave’s Fish Camp) and the ‘worldly’ music they played to attract disciples. Stephen’s vigil caused a major division between him and Silas and Timothy Concerned, the leaders of Italy at the time.
By 1976, Stephen, Jane and their team had begun to pioneer Tunisia. Stephen began his own news magazine called ‘The Land of Not Too Much.’ He published and preached to Family members to drop out of the Chain in order to be free to pioneer new countries, especially in North Africa. Because of their special status, there were no Letters from Berg to Family members warning about Jane and Stephen. As a result, many followers were recruited and border base homes were established in Malta, Italy, Switzerland and France. These communities were free from the lit quotas that existed in normal Family Homes.
In the early days, Berg had considered Stephen a true prophet. (In 1973 he stated, ‘I know that Stephen's a prophet.’) But now Jane began getting prophecies that Stephen would take Berg’s place and be his successor. Stephen even began to imitate Berg, wearing a cape and carrying a cane like he had seen Berg do in Tenerife (‘False Prophets’ ML 1552:26-27, 27, 67, 106 - 25/01/79). Berg then declared that Stephen was a deceived false prophet and that Eve had him wrapped around her finger. Berg now referred to him as ‘Stephen Eve’ instead of ‘Stephen David.’
Mother’s Team had operated in Malta, Tunisia and Libya. Then, against Berg’s orders, and against the wishes of Col. Godhafi of Libya, Stephen and Eve insisted on having a permanent base in Tripoli. Berg complained, ‘Stephen even had the nerve to ask Godahfi if he could live in his house with him so he could go to the University and study Arabic!’
Berg came out with a Letter called ‘The Division,’ in which he said that Stephen and Jane were part of a prophesied division in the Family’s ranks. Berg stated: ‘Stephen has had such a hard self-righteous attitude toward some people that he’s even gotten into actual physical violence with some and threatened it with others ... threatening to break into homes to demand housing.’ Berg complained about ‘Stephen’s wild sexual forays on other people’s wives without the consent of the people’s mates, without agreement and unity, and insisting that he share, or even take away wives of others or their mates!’ (Berg himself severely reprimanded women for resisting his sexual advances and also took other men’s wives.)
An ex-member named MG confirms this, stating: ‘As the leader and prophet of the ‘Drop out of the Chain’ movement, at times Stephen D. was extremely dictatorial and harsh. Once he was seen violently losing his temper with John who had become Mother Eve’s partner. John and Mother Eve had made some plans Stephen D. disagreed with. Stephen D. would have sex with the wives of others behind their husbands’ backs. He was a manipulator, very much true to David Berg’s style of leading.’
As time went on, Stephen’s and Jane’s followers began to defect and to rejoin regular Family Homes. Some time later, Stephen & Eve drifted away from the Family. Berg said, ‘Stephen only grew worse, until both he and Eve departed from us!—May God help you to be warned by their horrible disobedient example!’ It’s unclear whether ‘departed’ meant that Stephen and Eve left the Family. They had had an independent, ‘floating’ status while in the group; now they simply returned to the States without officially leaving the Family.
In 1979, Berg came out with a new Letter entitled, It's Time to INVADE THE CHURCHES! (Father David DFO 834 21/9/79), and this is what Stephen and Jane set out to do. Ex-members report, however that charismatic church leaders asked Stephen, Adria and Jane to leave after discovering them having sex in a motor home in the church’s parking lot. Stephen and Adria presently reside in Texas where they and their children are listed as the Star Family, famous for the ‘No Bible no Breakfast’ Star Family show.
Though no longer members of The Family, Stephen Ferguson and Jane Miller remain positive toward it. (Jane, as Berg’s ex-wife, was still receiving monthly support from him.) In 1997, Stephen was interviewed by DLI Productions, along with other ex-members and current members, for the documentary The Love Prophet, released in 1998. (See http://media.xfamily.org/video/loveprophet.avi) Though other ex-members spoke out against the group’s abuses, Stephen chose to focus on happy memories and gave a positive spin to things. His statements of praise for The Family were delivered with the same exuberance as the testimonies of current members being interviewed.
Stephen said, ‘I think the unique thing about the Children of God that really touched the kids was that you could serve God now. You didn't have to go to four years of Bible school or the conventional route, but that you could actually today forsake all you have and go and serve the Lord.’ Stephen also said, ‘They thought the gypsies had landed, but this was different than the gypsies cuz these were a lot of long-haired teenagers, singin’, praisin’ the Lord, talkin’ about Jesus. No cigarettes, no drugs, no alcohol, no sex outside marriage. It was very puritanical in its origins.’
The Family was somewhat puritanical in its very earliest days, but for him to focus only on those earliest memories and ignore the decades of sexual excesses, abuses and crimes that later permeated the group, shows that Stephen Ferguson has not come to terms with the past, has not renounced its policies and practices and is living in denial.
An early photo of Stephen David (left in photo) is here:
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Newark_Advocate:_Children_of_God_find_new_home
OUR LOVE STORY! DFO 1358 Switzerland, 1/4/78
185. WELL, THAT'S THE STORY, OUR LOVE STORY! That was the birth of the Revolution, too!--Richard's driveway! We spent virtually all our honeymoon & courting days in parking lots!--Ha! There're a lot of weird things going on in parking lots! Well, when Mother Eve got away & began to have more or less her own ministry, her own little team & everything, she was happy. She was fine, & she always had some boyfriend. (Maria: Alf was her boyfriend for awhile!) What happened that you got ripped off? (Alf: I met Sara!)
186. SO THEN ALONG CAME STEPHEN! Steve was a good boy, he took good care of her, TTL, & I was so happy when she finally got somebody that really loved her & cared for her & chauffeured her. She always needed a chauffeur, somebody to drive her, & she was perfectly content then. She's had quite a few since then! When she finally abandoned her self-righteous attitude about sex, she went to the opposite extreme! I wish she had been that way when I knew her! Whew! She's a hot one now!
187. THEN SHE STARTED HER LITTLE SEX REVOLUTION, going around visiting all the different Colonies. Her ministry was to upset the fruit basket & get everybody scrambled up & mismated & whatnot!--& it looks like she's still at it! Well, I hated to have to put those things in the FN, but we have warned Mother Eve so many times to stop causing trouble, stop going in & bringing division & defying leaders & ripping off workers & all kinds of things, doing everything she's been told not to do, like going back to Libya all the time. So that's the happy tale & the sad tale!--Our happy tale & Eve's sad tale.
THE TALKING IMAGE! DFO 1522 London, 28/11/73
--A Revelation after Seeing "IT" Movie Re: The Golem Image.
28. YOU WERE THE ONE, BECKY, THAT I KNEW THE LORD WANTED TO SPEAK THROUGH TONIGHT! I know that Stephen's a prophet, & Maria also gets things from the Lord, but I was tempted to say Becky. But I thought, "No, Lord, You know!"--& I wanted the Lord to do it by His Spirit! Thank you for yielding to His Spirit! Amen, the Lord's got quite a line, huh? (Stephen: Like "The Spider's Web!") (No.227) Hallelujah! TYJ! Wasn't that "Spider's Web" beautiful? Those little things thrill me so!
REBUKE TO STEPHEN!--Gen Story Part 8. DO 1448 12/4/75
1. I WAS AMAZED AT SOME OF YOU, PARTICULARLY YOU, STEPHEN & MOTHER EVE, AT HOW SLOW YOU'VE BEEN IN BELIEVING THE WORD, ME & GOD! Have you heard the tapes of the revelation that I got from the Lord in the bathroom? Who was it who first told you about the Scripture that I got? (Faith: I told them at the dinner table that day.)--The day that we sent you girls down to deal with her, that was the second time? Well, praise God, maybe the third time is going to be the so-called charm! The second time that I sent you down to do it, still you guys stalled around & didn't do it. And apparently, Mother Eve, I don't know how you did it, but I've gotten reports that you hurt their faith on the issue & argued & tried to persuade them that it wasn't really so! That's the way I've heard it. Maybe I heard wrong?
23. THE PITIFUL PART ABOUT IT, STEPHEN, IS IT HAS HAPPENED WITH YOU & EVE AGAIN & AGAIN & ALWAYS THROUGH DISOBEDIENCE, not doing exactly what we told you, having some other "better" idea & doing that instead!--Right? I don't care to go back into ancient history, but I can think of several instances where it's happened before, & this is why I got so angry before! You cannot have faith & believe in God & in His spiritual power when you're acting in direct disobedience & when you don't do what we told you to do! You were disobeying God, because we are your superiors in the Lord & you should have done it!
24. GOD PICKED OUT A SCRIPTURE THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED, speaking about Jonathan's mother as being the perverse & rebellious woman through which the Enemy was trying to kill David, through Jonathan! How you could disbelieve that the very next day is beyond me!--Except you were disobeying, so you were subject to the lies of the Devil!
25. I THINK YOU NEED TO REALLY STAY CLOSE TO THE LORD, SON, & WATCH OUT ABOUT SUCH DISOBEDIENCE, since you seem to be a little prone to this sort of thing. You have professed great love & desire to obey & be faithful & loyal & so on, & we've spoken many many times about being a faithful messenger. This is one thing that God has used you almost the most in, & yet it's the one thing that you've had to learn the most lessons on, along this line of being a faithful messenger. Apparently the Enemy really attacks you on it because God is trying to use you as a faithful messenger, so quite often you're very unfaithful! The Devil really attacks you, but you should beware of that & not be ignorant of his devices & be expecting his attacks! (But poor Stephen only grew worse, until both he & Eve departed from us!--May God help you to be warned by their horrible disobedient example! It could happen to you if you don't stay close to Him & His Word & His Work! God help you not to disobey & go back like they did!--In Jesus' name, amen!)
THE DIVISION! — By Father David June 9, 1978 MO-DO 716
25. THE NIGHT THE LORD GAVE ME THIS”DIVISION” LETTER AS THE ANSWER, I WAS WORRIED ABOUT MOTHER AND STEPHEN and some of their questionable activities, and stated, “We may have to excommunicate Mother and Stephen.—Mao even had to defy his own wife and condemn her Gang of Four!” The Lord gave me the verse I Samuel 15:23: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry”.
28. MOTHER AND STEPHEN WERE IN THE SAME VEIN and became divided from me in spirit as well as in the flesh and departed from my way of doing things and my polices.—Stephen has had such a hard self-righteous attitude toward some people that he’s even gotten into actual physical violence with some and threatened it with others.
31. IT IS NOT OUR WAY FOR THEM TO ENCOURAGE SUCH HARDNESS and even seriously threatening to break into homes to demand housing, confiscating vehicles which had been given to the Family—all very poor examples of love and the Family. Sorry, but you asked for it!
33. THEY REINTERPRETED THE LETTERS TO SUIT THEMSELVES, wresting the Scriptures, until Mother and Stephen themselves seem to be almost totally deceived and led astray by the Enemy into false doctrines, false prophecies and extreme disobedience!
34. I HAD INSISTED THAT MOTHER STICK TO HER WRITING AND NOT INTERFERE IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE COLONIES nor the members nor much less the leadership! But instead, she went around visiting Colonies, disrupting and ripping off leadership and materials and going to places that I had forbidden her to go, such as Libya.
35. IT HAD BEEN MADE VERY PLAIN TO US by its leader that we were welcome to come on visits but not to stay. Whereas, Mother was constantly bugging him for a permanent headquarters there, which he did not want.
36. HE FELT WE COULD DO HIM MORE GOOD IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD as good PR for him, to which I had agreed. But not Mother and Stephen! They insisted on going back to see him time and again against my direct orders, imposing on his hospitality and running up big hotel bills left behind for others to pay.
39. THEY WERE SO NERVY as to virtually demand a place to stay there so they could remain the country against his wishes! Stephen even had the nerve to ask Godahfi if he could live in his house with him so he could go to the University and study Arabic!
43. THEY HAVE DRIVEN THESE PEOPLE AWAY AND LOST THEM AS FRIENDS by their foolish antics, some of them sexual indiscretions to say the least, particularly some of Stephen’s wild sexual forays on other people’s wives without the consent of the people’s mates, without agreement and unity, and insisting that he share, or even take away wives of others or their mates!
FAITHFUL SERVANTS!--Are YOU One? DO 1373 Tenerife 18/9/75
1. WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THAT I WAS REALLY FED UP! I don't think Adria should be in any kind of position of leadership at all! She's no example, running off & leaving her husband & even leaving her child a good deal of the time while she was off being a great mother!--Teaching other mothers! (David Handyman's ex-Adria--another of Eve & Stephen's disciples!) (P.S. Let's call him Stephen Eve! He's not Stephen David anymore! He's departed from us & gone back with Eve!)
FALSE PROPHETS! DFO 1552 25/01/79
Note: this Mo Letter has never been published. However, it is listed on page 75 of the Family’s Pubdex and entries mentioning Stephen David (Stephen Eve) were indexed on page 721 of THE KWIC – Key Word Instant Concordance (1300–1599). They are:
STEPHEN EVE
1552: 5– It’s like dear Mother Eve & #
5– According to their prophecies about #
26– Eve prophesies about #,
26– # prophesies about her,
27– #’s going to be my successor,
67– in the way of # taking my place
67– Eve wants # to take my place
105– # & Mom got off into it too
106– # always around trying to imitate me
106– (Tim: # wears a cape & carries a
107– Look at poor Mom & #
