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 "Moses David" Berg
Family International
Family International
Children of God, Family Care Foundation, Family of Love, Music with Meaning, 12 Foundation Stones, Aurora Production AG, Activated Ministries
David Brandt Berg (a.k.a. "Moses David," "Grandpa") (1919–1994)
Karen Zerby (a.k.a. "Mama Maria") (1946-), Steven Douglas Kelly (a.k.a. "Peter Amsterdam") (1951-)
Huntington Beach, CA USA (1968)
Family Care Foundation, World Services, Aurora Productions, Radio Active Productions
include The Future Foretold, Hearing from Heaven
include Activated!, Gen-Up, Kidz Biz
include Music with Meaning, NuBeat, Reflections, KidsWorld
include belief in "Moses David" Berg as God’s special end-time prophet. As one Family publication tells followers: "Your calling is to go and make disciples of all nations, to spread the words and spirit of David, and to teach and train others. The Family has been ordained and instructed to reach and train labor leaders—those who can teach and train others. It is your destiny to be the leaders of the Christian world in the Endtime. It is the destiny of all Family members to be propagators of the full and radical truths of the Words of David."
Extreme and unconventional sexual teaching and conduct — including religious prostitution and encouragement of sexual activity between adults and children (now discouraged) — have made the group a target of press exposés, government investigations, and public scorn. A 2005 murder-suicide by "Ricky" Rodriguez, once named as a future leader in the group, drew renewed attention to its sordid history. The group encourages followers to develop a sexualized relationship with Jesus.
The group is highly secretive; its actual headquarters, and the physical whereabouts of its current top leaders are not publicly disclosed.
Some observe that the group is advancing its cause through products directly or indirectly associated with it, such as the "Cherub Wings" video series for children (Sunny-Side Up Entertainment), Treasure Attic, Fantastic Friends, and Kiddie Viddie.
25,000
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Japan, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe
A complete listing of nations and territories where the group’s missionaries are active is not currently available. It recently claimed that "There are approximately 14,000 full time and associate adult volunteer members in The Family working out of 1,400 centres situated in over 100 countries."
include Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Thai
www.makestraightpaths.com
www.xfamily.org
www.exfamily.org
www.angelfire.com/clone/charityalert
www.arcapologetics.org/articles/article17.htm
www.religionnewsblog.com/category/children-of-god/
www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_12681558
www.thefamily.org
www.familycare.org
family-missions.org/links?cat=all
www.countdown.org
www.nubeat.org
www.radioact.org
www.auroraproduction.com
www.thefamilyinternationalwiki.com
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