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The Cult Dossier · No. 051 · Christian-Derived

Children of God

The Family; The Family of Love; The Family International

1968 – present · Huntington Beach, California; then over 100 countries

VI. THE 1970s — THE GREAT PROLIFERATION

Fully religious — Jesus Movement offshoot

Who led it

DAVID BRANDT BERG (1919–1994), known as Moses David, Mo, Dad, Grandpa and King David. Second wife KAREN ZERBY (Maria, b.1946), leader since 1994, with her partner Steve Kelly (Peter Amsterdam).

What it worshipped and taught

Jesus, with Berg as God's End-Time Prophet. Doctrine came through the MO LETTERS — roughly 3,000 illustrated newsletters carrying instructions on everything from theology to sexual technique. Core teachings: the LAW OF LOVE, under which any act done in love was permitted; FLIRTY FISHING (from 1974), in which female members used sex to recruit converts and to obtain money and favours, described internally as being hookers for Jesus. THE FIGURE OF ROUGHLY 224,000 MEN 'FISHED' IS THE GROUP'S OWN. It comes from an internal publication titled FFING STATISTICS dated 1 OCTOBER 1988, covering the period from 1978, and rests on the exact records female members were required to keep of their 'fruits'. It is not an outside estimate — it is the organisation counting and reporting its own output, and is archived at xfamily.org. Related internal figures indicate over 10,000 children were born to members between 1971 and 2001; and the elimination of age and family boundaries in sexual matters, documented in the group's own publications, notably The Story of Davidito (1982), a childcare manual containing images and descriptions of the sexual handling of a toddler. Berg predicted the Comet Kohoutek would destroy America in 1973 and that the Second Coming would occur in 1993.

Who was in it

David Berg; Jane Miller (Mother Eve), first wife; Karen Zerby (Maria); Steve Kelly (Peter Amsterdam); RICKY RODRIGUEZ (Davidito), Zerby's son, raised as the prophesied End-Time leader and sexually abused as a child by adult women in the group; Deborah Davis (Linda Berg), Berg's daughter, who defected and published The Children of God: The Inside Story (1984); Angela Smith (Sue Kauten), Ricky's former nanny; the actors River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix and Rose McGowan, all raised in the group as children; Christina McNair (Merry Berg), Berg's granddaughter, whose abuse by Berg is documented in the group's own literature.

How it ended, or where it stands

Restructured and much diminished; still exists as an online network.

The dead

2 (Rodriguez and Smith); an unknown number of member suicides among the second generation

Of note

The most extensively documented case of institutionalised child sexual abuse by a new religious movement, largely because the group documented it itself. The second-generation testimony archive (movingon.org, xfamily.org) is one of the most important primary sources in the entire field.

Its timeline

  1. 1968 Berg takes over a Teen Challenge coffee house in Huntington Beach; the group forms among Jesus Freaks.
  2. 1969 Berg prophesies a California earthquake; the group goes nomadic.
  3. 1970 The Mo Letters begin.
  4. 1974 FLIRTY FISHING introduced formally in the letter of that name.
  5. 1976–1978 One Wife and other letters extend sexual sharing to all adult members; the RNR (Reorganisation Nationalisation Revolution) of February 1978 purges 300 leaders.
  6. 1978–1986 Peak of documented child sexual abuse. Internal publications from this period were later used as evidence in courts on several continents.
  7. 1987 Flirty Fishing officially discontinued, publicly attributed to AIDS.
  8. 1989–1993 Raids in Argentina, Australia, France, Spain and Peru; hundreds of children taken into temporary care. Most prosecutions fail on evidentiary grounds.
  9. 1994 Berg dies in Portugal; Karen Zerby takes over. The Love Charter of 1995 nominally reforms the group.
  10. 7–9 JANUARY 2005 RICKY RODRIGUEZ, aged 29, records a video explaining his intent, then on 8 January murders Angela Smith, a woman who had abused him as a child, in Tucson, Arizona, and drives to Blythe, California, where he shoots himself early on 9 January. He had been trying to locate his mother.
  11. 2010 The Reboot — the communal structure is dissolved; the group continues online as a diffuse network.

Its people

David Brandt Berg

Moses David; Mo; Father David; Grandpa; King David

Founder, the Children of God · 18 February 1919 – 1 October 1994 · active 1968–1994

Son of an evangelist mother, he took over a Teen Challenge coffee house in Huntington Beach in 1968 and built a global movement of Jesus Freaks. He governed through roughly 3,000 illustrated newsletters, the Mo Letters, issued from hiding — most members never met him. He introduced the Law of Love, under which any act done in love was permitted; Flirty Fishing in 1974, in which female members used sex to recruit and to obtain money, generating a reported 223,989 recorded sexual contacts; and a doctrine erasing age boundaries in sexual matters, documented in the group's own publications. He sexually abused his own granddaughter, a fact recorded in the group's literature. He died in Portugal, never having been charged with anything.

Before the law. NEVER CHARGED. He remained in hiding under assumed names from the early 1970s until his death.

Where things stand. Deceased 1994. The group continues online as The Family International.

  1. 1968 Takes over the Huntington Beach coffee house.
  2. 1970 The Mo Letters begin.
  3. 1974 Flirty Fishing introduced.
  4. 1978 The RNR purge removes 300 leaders.
  5. 1978–86 Peak of documented child sexual abuse; the group's own publications become evidence.
  6. 1987 Flirty Fishing discontinued, publicly attributed to AIDS.
  7. 1 October 1994 Dies in Portugal, aged 75, having lived in hiding for over 20 years.

Checked 2026-08-24

Karen Zerby

Maria; Mama Maria; Queen Maria

Leader, The Family International · born 31 July 1946 · active 1969–present

Berg's second wife and successor, and by many accounts the operational driver of the group's worst period rather than a passive inheritor — she co-authored the Mo Letters and personally supervised the raising of her son Ricky Rodriguez as the prophesied End-Time leader, a childhood documented in the group's own manual The Story of Davidito, which contains descriptions and images of his sexual abuse as a toddler. She has led the group since 1994 and has lived under assumed names, largely unlocated, for decades.

Before the law. NEVER CHARGED IN ANY JURISDICTION. Has never been located for service of process.

Where things stand. LIVING, AND NO LONGER THE LEADER — A CORRECTION. This file said she 'still nominally leads The Family International'. SHE RETIRED IN 2025. She led the movement from 1994, and after the 2010 reorganisation served as its CO-ADMINISTRATIVE AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR until stepping down. Her whereabouts remain unpublished. She LEGALLY CHANGED HER NAME TO KATHERINE RIANNA SMITH IN 1997 and has written throughout under the pen name MARIA FONTAINE, among others — Maria David, Maria Berg, Mama Maria, Queen Maria. She was born 31 July 1946 at Camden, New Jersey, was married to David Berg, and is married to STEVEN DOUGLAS KELLY (L132).

  1. 1969 Joins the Children of God as a secretary; becomes Berg's partner.
  2. 1975 Gives birth to Ricky Rodriguez, raised as the End-Time prophet.
  3. 1982 The Story of Davidito published internally.
  4. 1994 Takes over on Berg's death.
  5. 1995 The Love Charter nominally reforms the group.
  6. 8–9 January 2005 Ricky Rodriguez kills a former nanny in Tucson and then, early the next morning, himself, having been trying to find her.
  7. 2010 The Reboot dissolves the communal structure.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

Steve Kelly

Peter Amsterdam

Co-leader, The Family International · born 1951 · active 1970s–present

Karen Zerby's partner and the group's principal administrator and public theologian since Berg's death. He authored much of the post-1995 literature that reframed the group's history, and has issued the statements acknowledging that abuse occurred while disputing its scale and the leadership's responsibility. He is the closest thing the organisation has had to a public face in thirty years.

Before the law. Never charged.

Where things stand. Living. This file describes him as CO-LEADING The Family International alongside his wife Karen Zerby (L131) — BUT THAT CLAIM NOW NEEDS RE-CHECKING AND IS FLAGGED RATHER THAN RESTATED: ZERBY RETIRED FROM THE LEADERSHIP IN 2025, and no source consulted establishes what became of the co-directorship or of his own role after that point.

  1. 1970s Joins the Children of God.
  2. 1994 Becomes co-leader with Zerby.
  3. 1995 Co-authors the Love Charter.
  4. 2005–10 Issues statements after Ricky Rodriguez's death and during the Reboot.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

Deborah Davis

Linda Berg

Children of God defector; David Berg's eldest daughter · born 1946 · active 1968–1978

David Berg's eldest daughter, who held a senior position in the Children of God before leaving in 1978. Her 1984 book The Children of God: The Inside Story was the first detailed account from within the family and described her father's conduct, the Flirty Fishing programme and the sexual doctrine. She published it at considerable personal cost and was denounced by the group. Much of what she described was later confirmed by the group's own internal publications when they surfaced in litigation.

Before the law. Never charged.

Where things stand. THIS FILE CANNOT CONFIRM HER PRESENT STATUS; it previously asserted 'Living'. She would be about 80, and nothing consulted reports on her since 2019, nor records her death. What is documented: she was born LINDA BERG, eldest daughter of DAVID BERG and JANE MILLER; she LEFT THE CHILDREN OF GOD IN APRIL 1978; and in 1984 Zondervan published THE CHILDREN OF GOD: THE INSIDE STORY, written with Bill Davis — the first substantial account of the group from inside the founder's own family.

  1. 1968 Joins her father's movement at its founding.
  2. 1970s Holds a senior leadership position.
  3. 1978 Leaves the group.
  4. 1984 Publishes The Children of God: The Inside Story.
  5. 1990s Her account is substantially corroborated by internal documents produced in raids and litigation.

Checked 2026-08-24

Celeste Jones, Kristina Jones and Juliana Buhring

—

Children of God second-generation survivors and authors · born 1970s–1981 · active birth–1990s

Three sisters, all born into the Children of God, who in 2007 jointly published Not Without My Sister — one of the most important second-generation testimonies in the field, written in three alternating voices describing childhoods across multiple countries under the group's sexual doctrine. Juliana Buhring later became the first woman to cycle around the world, setting a Guinness record in 2012, and has said plainly that the endurance was built in childhood. Their book is a primary source for the scale of second-generation harm.

Before the law. None charged.

Where things stand. All living.

  1. 1970s–81 All three born into the Children of God.
  2. 1980s–90s Raised across communes in several countries under the group's sexual regime.
  3. 1990s All three leave.
  4. 2007 Publish Not Without My Sister jointly.
  5. 2012 Juliana Buhring becomes the first woman to cycle around the world.

Checked · living: health details are kept at home

Ricky Rodriguez

Davidito; Pete

Children of God second-generation survivor · 25 January 1975 – 9 January 2005 · active 1975–2001

Karen Zerby's son, raised from birth as the prophesied End-Time leader and sexually abused as a toddler by adult women — abuse documented, with photographs, in the group's own childcare manual The Story of Davidito, which was distributed internally as instruction. He left in 2000, worked as an electrician in Texas, and spent years trying to locate his mother. In January 2005 he recorded a video explaining what had been done to him and to others, killed a woman who had abused him as a child, and then killed himself. He was 29. His file belongs in this tranche and in no other: he was a victim first.

Before the law. Died before any proceedings. NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN PROSECUTED for the abuse documented in the group's own publications.

Where things stand. Deceased 2005. An unknown number of other second-generation members have died by suicide.

  1. 1975 Born to Karen Zerby; designated the End-Time prophet from birth.
  2. 1970s–80s Sexually abused as a small child; the abuse is documented in the group's own published manual.
  3. 2000 Leaves the group; works as an electrician in Texas.
  4. 2000–04 Attempts to locate his mother and to obtain some accountability.
  5. 7–8 JANUARY 2005 Records a video statement on the night of 7 January, then on 8 January kills Angela Smith, a former nanny who had abused him.
  6. 9 JANUARY 2005 Takes his own life in Blythe, California, aged 29.

Checked

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