From Steve Matheson [David of Dove]
Recent tithing Family member, now no longer
A Word of Introduction
Unlike ‘Voice in the wilderness 1’ ‘Voice in the Wilderness 2’ is more from the mind, more of a legal and logical discourse, dealing specifically with the ‘Law of Love’ doctrine. For this reason it probably flows better and is easier to read, it’s a result of my own personal experiences in the Family, and recent conclusions.
VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS 2 [Isaiah chapter 40:3-4].
I thought it might be a good idea to take this opportunity to examine one of the corner stones of David Berg’s teachings; in fact perhaps ‘the corner stone’ of his teachings, one which in David Berg’s own words set the Family apart from other Christian Faiths and continues to keep it separate.
A doctrine and practice that presented the Family’s first and major deviation away from mainstream Biblical teaching.
This of course is David Berg’s doctrine on the ‘Law of Love’, the ‘All Things Revolution’ so called. The doctrine that eventually led to - Sexual sharing, FFing, Prostitution, Adult-Child Sex, Incest and Jesus babies.
More accurately put, I would say this doctrine hasn’t Separated us from, but rather Alienated us from other Christians, and Christian Faith’s.
This would not necessarily be bad in itself if the teachings were right and true and not based entirely on David Bergs own revelations, with little or no scriptures to back them up.
He himself said about this doctrine
“You have to believe these things by Faith, that I am Gods Prophet for today speaking Gods words for today”
He knew there were virtually no scriptures to back up this doctrine, and plenty that spoke against it both in the Old and New Testaments. So he virtually had to say
“You either believe I am Gods Prophet for today, with a whole bunch of new revelations, or you don’t”.
Well, if you take a good look at David Berg’s other so called revelations and prophesies his track record isn’t good. In fact it’s abysmal, as so many have already pointed out. To be honest I can’t think of a single prophesy or prediction that he did get right, there maybe one or two but off hand I can’t think of any.
So what is the difference between all the other revelations and prophecy’s that David Berg got so wrong, and his revelation on the ‘Law of Love’ and ‘Sexual freedoms’?
In theory, I would say there is absolutely no difference whatsoever!
They are all revelations that had to be taken by faith and believed in by faith as Gods words proclaimed by the prophet, the revealed word of God for today.
In practice though, there is a major difference: And that is in the actual enactment and application of such revelations.
For example David Bergs revelation that Space City is in the moon remains a belief albeit a prety bizarre one, there is no way it can be enacted upon.
David Berg’s revelation on the Law of Love has been enacted upon.
It has become a major doctrine and practice of the family.
It has become a foundation and corner stone that nobody in the Family today would even dare to question, or challenge.
Yet it was founded upon a revelation from David Berg, a man whose other so called prophecy’s and revelations have now, by & large been rejected and proven to be false.
Why have the majority of these other revelations and prophesies of David Berg now been proven to be false and discarded?
We have acquired, with the passage of time, something by which to measure them - In fact a very clear and accurate form of measurement.
The ruler we now have to measure them with is the simple fact that these prophecies and revelations simply did not happen, full stop.
Therefore they were false prophecies and did not proceed from God - Simple! [Deuteronomy 18:20-22]
Now, taking this one step further towards a logical conclusion, given David Bergs track record of being wrong about almost every prophecy and revelation he uttered, including sadly now the one about Davidito and his Mother being the two end-time witnesses, does it now make sense to trust and believe he was absolutely right about Sexual Sharing, F.Fing, Prostitution, Jesus Babies, Child-Adult Sex and Incest?
All based entirely on one such revelation and a few obscure verses in the bible such as -
[1 Cor.6:12] All things are Lawful unto me but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful unto me, but I will not be bought under the power of any.
A revelation that, at the risk of being repetitive has now become a major doctrine, corner stone, belief and way of life. One the Family now stands on and holds to be unequivocally true and absolutely unchallengeable.
[Deuteronomy 18:20-22] But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, even that prophet shall die. When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
It reminds me of the song the children used to sing about the wise man building his house upon a rock and the foolish man building his house on the sand.
Strikes me that the Family has chosen to build its foundation on the rather sandy soil of David Berg’s revelations, doctrines and predictions [And now on Maria’s and Peters] Instead of on the good sound doctrine that it actually started out with in the beginning, no wander the Family is now crumbling.
It’s a funny thing but when a house first goes up it looks pretty good, just like any other. It’s only with the passage of time you begin to see if it’s built on a good foundation or not. See [Ezekiel chapter 13] In particular see verses 6 -12.
There may be some who would say that one thing David Berg did get right was his prediction about Maria being the next leader of the Family. Or did he? James Penn posed the question, ‘Who made You and Peter King and Queen over us’?
Well I think I can answer that one James, David Berg did, weather or not God did though is another question.
Prophesies and revelations can be obscure and hard to disprove particularly if you have nothing to lay along side them as a measuring stick, one can almost say anything within reason and it can be believed. As David Berg did for years, in fact some of his weren’t even that believable and we still gobbled them up asking no questions.
A good example of this is the plagiarism of Tamar. The prophecy uttered, supposedly Jesus speaking said; he Jesus had moved her hand to draw the extra finger. [How can you argue with that]
The evidence for this being a false Prophesy and not Jesus speaking only became apparent when it was discovered that Tamar had lied, and had in fact copied the art work, including of course the extra sixth finger.
Not only was Tamar exposed in this instance for her own deception, but much more importantly it exposed an even greater deception, the utterance of a False Prophesy. There was something here to lay along side it and measure it by, namely the truth.
Again see [Deuteronomy 18:20-22]
How many other such false prophesies have been written down and presented to us as the revieled word of God, the G.N.s are no doubt full of them.
A LOOK AT THE FRUITS OF F.F.ING, PROSTITUTION AND OHER SEXUAL FREEDOMS WITHIN THE FAMILY.
Mat.7:18-20 Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them.
[Lev.19:29] Do not Prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore. Lest the land fall into whoredom and the land become full of wickedness.
For the record from my own experience I would say that by far the majority of our; my wives sexual exploits were done for the sole purpose of raising money. I would hazard a confident guess here that the same would apply to most of the so called FFing that took place in the Family.
I am sure many Family members started out with the vision of FFing in its purest form, but later this deteriorated to simple play for pay prostitution. Many Family girls engaged in Escort Work [High Class Prostitution] as my wife did both in Europe, in India, and for a few months in Singapore.
Firstly I would ask the question where those business men who were genuinely FFed now are, are they still supporting and protecting the Family? [As was the original vision]
As for those who paid up front for sexual services [E.Work-Prostitution] well you wouldn’t expect these men to be still around would you?
About the only thing left of both these encounters is some of the seed these men sowed; I wander how many of these young people [Jesus Babies] born into the Family in their quite moments wander just who their Biological Father really was.
Contrary to what David Berg taught I believe it does matter to a lot of people who their biological fathers are, especially if they are aware that they have a different Father.
Probably because as they grow older and start to ask questions and begin to realise they are different to their siblings, they then start to become aware that there’s a part of their own personality and Psyche they don’t quite understand, and would like to know more about.
Maybe this desire for children to know their heritage is inbuilt by God himself, why did the ancients lay so much importance upon their own genealogy, in many cases being able to trace their decent all the way back to Adam. David Berg himself seemed to be quite knowledgeable and proud of his own heritage, particularly his Jewish side.
What if the ancient’s believed as David Berg taught, their genealogy might read something like this.
‘And so and so begat so and so, and so and so begat so and so, and so and so begat so and so who was actually a Jesus Baby’. End of genealogy.
David Berg presented us here with a nice sounding Spanish word that most of us had never heard of before, ‘Jesus Baby’.
In the English vocabulary the name for such babies would be ‘Illegitimate’ or ‘Bastards’, the latter of course being a more derogative term.
Perhaps if he had used such words as these though then it wouldn’t have been so easy to convince young women; many of them young married mothers to have totally unprotected sex with perfect strangers, all in the name of religion, or in the name of fund raising for their religion.
It seems in certain situations it was o.k. for David Berg to use the English or Anglo Saxon words like Fuck, and in others it wasn’t.
For the record I myself was born out of wedlock [illegitimate] and have never met my real Father, it does happen.
WHAT ARE THE FRUITS OF SEXUAL FREEDOMS WITH IN THE FAMILY?
[Mat.7:20] Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them.
I would say and this is just my opinion that there are a lot of insecurities in many marriages in the Family today, perhaps born as a result of past or present extramarital relationships and affairs with other Family members. Also we have the fact that children were often produced as a result of these unions, which no doubt created further problems and complications.
There are also a very high percentage of single mothers in the Family today with children from different Fathers not the ideal.
It’s also a fact today that there are many second generation adults whose marriages have ended up in separation. This would not necessarily be bad if it were not for the fact that children are more often than not involved and suffer because of it. The result of this is there are today in the ‘Family’ many single S.G.A. women with two and three young children.
I would say that by enlarge this problem particularly with S.G.A. men leaving their wife and kids, is endemic in the family today and in most cases I would say is a direct result of growing up in an organisation with the wrong attitudes towards sex, relationships and family responsibilities.
CHILD ADULT SEX
Re. child adult sex relationships some thing it appears Maria still defends or at least doesn’t outright condemn, in spite of it no longer being a Family Practice.
I think the Lord Justice Ward summed it up very well when he said that the doctrine of the ‘Law of Love’ was some thing to be confined to consenting adults, as is bought out very clearly in the Families own Statements to the General Public.
In his wise reasoning’s he stated that to put children on the same level as adults when it came to consenting sex or sexual activities was in itself against the so called practice of the ‘Law of Love’, for obvious reasons.
Children are usually subordinate to adults particularly their Parents and there fore cannot be classed as consenting equals.
This is of course the way God made and intended for it to be, he did not though intend for adults to abuse this power, but rather to use it wisely.
Quoting the Lord Justice Ward
“Berg was well aware when he propounded his law that there was a high risk that many who followed it were not mature enough wisely and responsibly to use the freedom [that dangerous toy] conferred on them in a way which did not cause harm. Harm to children was readily foreseeable as soon as he had schooled the Family that even young children were sexual beings. By endowing children with the same sexual responses as were enjoyed by adults he made them objects of sex. He placed them within the scope of the Law of Love. That law [Law of Love] depends upon full free and informed consent being given to the contemplated activity.
Children’s consent to sexual activity can never be the product of a free will, both because they do not have the maturity to understand the emotional consequences of any sexual engagement, but also because, due to the imbalance of power between adult and child any decision of the child is made under influence and pressure.
Apparent consent is there by vitiated”.
It seems Justice Ward had a better concept of this doctrine than did David Berg, who seemed to think he was practicing the ‘Law of Love’ when attempting to have incestuous sex with his 13 year old grand daughter Mene.
[Leviticus 18:10] The nakedness of thy son’s daughter thou shalt not uncover.
See also [Leviticus 18:6-17] God doesn’t like incest.
The fact that Maria continues to defend this and other such acts by not condemning them out right is absurd, and is truly a case of tying to defend the UN defendable.
The Judge was being rather polite and respectful in saying it this way. It appeared to me he was trying to speak to the Family in their own language and in words he hoped they could understand and relate to. [He’d obviously done his home work]
In not so many words what he was actually saying was “If you as consenting adults wish to participate in all manner of strange and bizarre sexual activities that are perfectly legal and lawful, that’s fine. But you have no right legally or otherwise to force or coerce your own, or others children, into participating in such things”.
These things are not rocket science and are enshrined in the laws of most civilised societies to protect children and the rights of the child.
PERSECUTION FOR SEX SAKE
To be honest I think it’s a bit of an insult to put the kind of persecution the Family has received over the past years in the same category as persecution for righteousness’ sake.
[2Tim.3:12] Yea and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Of course it does help psychologically to create a siege mentality in any group, a kind of them and us thing. What better way to create this in a Christian group than to say “The enemy is persecuting us because we are getting the job done, we’re preaching the Gospel”
Well a close look at the Families so called persecutions in recent years will show that the vast majority of them have taken place because of our beliefs on sex, in particular under age sex and suspicions of paedophilia.
All of which has nothing whatsoever to do with being a Christian or preaching the Gospel, or getting persecuted for righteousness sake.
When the early Christians received persecution it was for preaching Christ, I recently went to hear the testimony of a Chinese Christian who had spent a number of years in a Chinese Jail for witnessing his faith. He wrote a book detailing his experiences called ‘The Heavenly Man’.
The following verses make it very clear what the criteria is for getting persecuted, and as far as I can see it has nothing to do with sexual beliefs.
[Mat. 5:10-12] Blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
[Mark 13:13] And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
[Acts 5:41] And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
See [Mat 10:17-23] [Mat 24:8-10] [Luke 6:22, 23] [Luke 21:12-18]
The fact is if the Family Leadership really were concerned with preaching the Gospel they would renounce any unnecessary beliefs that hindered that process, as did the Mormons when they renounced Polygamy.
‘THE LAW OF LOVE’ OR ‘LAW OF LUST’
I know of one young couple whose marriage was destroyed because the wife’s first two children turned out to be from someone else, and not from her husband.
They were a result of sexual sharing in the home, given the choice this young wife I’m sure would have wished for these children to have been from her husband.
As a result this couple left the Family, which in itself wouldn’t have been bad but sadly they also separated; no doubt for this young couple the trial became unbearable.
The husband was Johnny, Natasha’s [Pearls] brother, mother of Sammy famous for the British Isles court case. Johnny’s wife Rachael just happened to be quite a beautiful young woman, the home or at least one of them, the British Isles Leadership home in London.
I am sure this is by no means an isolated case, but that there are many similar such stories of people who have been unnecessarily hurt and stumbled in their faith, due to the so called practice of the ‘Law of Love’.
There are I am equally sure many others, for example less attractive single mothers who would have liked to have benefited more from the wonderful ‘Law of Love’ doctrine but didn’t, I wander why? [No marks out of 10 for getting the answer to that]
AIDS THE SCOURGE OF FFING AND PROSTITUTION
Not to mention homosexuality and intravenous drug users.
The question I would ask is, if FFing and Prostitution were ordained of God then why did God allow Aids, which effectively put an end to such activities. Or where was David Berg’s faith otherwise. Couldn’t God protect his FFrs and Prostitutes, I mean David Berg was quite willing to expose them to any amount of other harmful sexually transmitted deceases, why not Aids?
The answer is simple it had nothing to with Faith and Belief, at the end of the day he couldn’t risk having an Aids epidemic in his own movement, he might even catch it himself and what would that look like, God’s End time Prophet dying of Aids.
It would also effectively have put an end to sharing within the movement which in turn would have exposed the futiliy and falsenes of the whole doctrine and practice. I would like to think that the secession of FFing and Prostitution was out of genuine concern for the ‘Family’ girls health and well being, but seeing this was not evident before then I doubt it. In the final analysis it was most probably damage limitation and nothing more.
SUMMING UP THE LAW OF LOVE DOCTRINE
[MAT 7:18-20] Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them.
So what have the long term fruits of this Doctrine, belief and practice been, supposing we were to put the pluses and minuses together?
I personally can see no scriptural grounds for this doctrine, in fact as I have said the Bible in no uncertain terms condemns it outright, as it does other Acts such as Homosexuality, Bestiality and Incest Etc. See - [Deuteronomy 27:20-23] [Heb 13:4] [1Cor.6:9] [Mat.15:19]
Even if the principle were to be taken from a purely secular non religious point of view, a grand ideal, a noble experiment if you will.
Even then you would have to say it’s a grand experiment that hasn’t worked, its main architect David Berg himself was unable to practice it and abused it, so you could hardly expect his followers to fare any better.
The fact is, from what we have since found out about David Berg’s sexual indiscretions before starting the Family, it would be fair to say he probably cooked up this ‘All Things’ ‘Law of love’ Doctrine to satisfy his own appetite, simple as that, and then proceeded to serve it up to us his loyal followers. He probably took one look at the pretty young girls joining the Family and said “How can I get me some of that? I know I’ll incorporate it into my religion.” Was it all really that simple? God help us!
ARE RULES NECESSARY?
As I said I play a lot of Tennis, it’s a game I have come to both appreciate and enjoy.
One thing all good sports games have in common and without which they would be virtually unplayable is ‘Clear Defining Rules and Laws’.
Tennis has very clear and defining rules, but as in all other good sports games within the confines of those rules there is plenty of scope for someone to express their individuality, personality and own style of play.
Good rules do not serve to quench and stifle a game in a dictatorial strangle hold but on the contrary enhance that game and keep it flowing.
I wander what would happen if we took all the rules away from the game of Tennis and said ‘Just play by the Law of Love’ I hate to think.
Good rules serve to enhance life as they do a game; life is complicated and unpredictable enough, with many grey areas and unforeseeable happenings.
Rules help us to know where we stand; like creation they remain a constant no matter what is happening around us, they are I am afraid necessary.
DID THE LAW OF LOVE PROVIDE LOVING RULES?
Ironically any one who has experienced living in a Family home especially in a large commune, will be well aware of how strict and regimented it was.
In fact it would be hard to imagine a more stifling, legalistic and controlling environment, maybe in Communist China or something.
Through perverted doctrine David Berg and Maria succeeded in doing away with many good Godly rules whilst at the same time bringing in their own rules, often far stricter, far harsher and in many cases inhumane. ‘The Law of Love’ ? ? ?
Any one who has read the book ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell will understand it to be an allegory on Comunism, but it can easily be applied to any represive oppresive movement that begins crying out revolution and freedom but in the end succeeds in putting people under greater bondage and servitude.
A FINAL ANALYSIS OF THIS DOCTRINE
1. It’s unscriptural [That's the most important]
2. It lacks in over all good fruit. [Mat. 7:20]
3. Even taken secularly as a noble thought or grand idea it hasn’t and doesn’t work, even David Berg abused it and used it for his own ends.
4. The very Laws of nature work against it through sexually transmittable deceases [As they do against Homosexuality] the worst of which being the aids virus.
OTHER THINGS
The other day I was looking through the Aaron David song book [The Music that started the Revolution] some of those songs and pictures of the early Family members so beautiful, many of whom are no longer around.
I believe at that time the Family really did have the Holy Spirit; they also got a lot of persecution, mostly for the right reasons.
I was thinking what changed? How did the Family change from a radical Gospel preaching disciple winning Christian movement, to a sex cult.
It wasn’t over night that’s for sure; such changes are usually gradual,
Of course the ‘All things’, ‘Law of Love’ revolution was the major one and where I personally believe the Family started to go astray, and lose the blessings of God. “They whist not the spirit had departed from them”.
I think one other major change that took place in the Family was the transition from the emphasis on personal witnessing, to that of selling.
It was at the time of ‘Shiners or Shamers’, the point where in David Berg’s words we were all to become news paper boys and start selling Mo. Letters.
If we spent more than a few minutes with some one we were disobeying. “Let my letters do the preaching” we were told, and so we did.
I believe it was at this point the Family ceased from being a witnessing church, and started to become a bunch of salesmen and saleswomen.
Prior to this the main emphasis was on personal witnessing and winning disciples, but all that changed when we became paper boys selling letters like Israel Invaded, Mountain Maid, Revolutionary Sex the list goes on.
My self and Simon Peter were on the road together and were held up as shiners. Not for the amount of disciples we had won to the Family, or for how many souls we had won, but for how many Mo letters we had sold.
I’m not sure whether this transition was for financial reasons or to satisfy David Berg’s ego or both, it for sure didn’t do much to spread the Gospel.
Again the change wasn’t over night it was gradual, but I believe it was at this point the main emphasis began to move away from personal witnessing and disciple winning to plain selling.
Bang went the blue print of the early church that the Family had started out so well with, and in came the doctrine of the quick sale and easy buck. Often referred to as a ’scorched earth policy’.
Since that time the Family has gone from selling Lit, to selling our Bodies, to selling Posters, Tapes, Videos, C.D.s and now Balloons God help us!
In contrast take the Mormons for example, or the Jehovah Witnesses. When was the last time you met one of them trying to sell you religious material? Their denominations are growing by the thousands primarily because their major emphasis is on witnessing, not selling.
I would venture to say that many of us in the Family have even forgotten how to personal witness and some especially the second generation were never taught how. Most young people in the Family today think witnessing consists of dressing up as a clown and selling balloons, or doing some consider the poor ministry, handing out food and clothes etc.
In the homes I have been in over the years the main outreacher’s were primarily the best sales people, and some had quite a ‘hard sell’ technique.
We became more like salespeople working for a company that produced religious material, than a religious movement whose major emphasis was on witnessing, spreading the Gospel and gaining new disciples. [That company being 'World Services']
I say that as some one in the Family who has spent the last 27 years as an outreacher, [salesman] selling Family tools to help support homes.
[Did you ever wander dear Family members why you have toiled on day after day, year after year selling Family tools barely managing to pay the bills and with no lasting 'Fruit that remains' apart from a few salvations?]
Another organisation that has developed along similar lines as the Family in this regard is the Hare Krishna movement, who by the way are very good at selling their own particular brand of religious material.
Over the past few years I have developed a friendship with one of their top sales man Adrian [Not his Hindu name]. We run into each other every time I go to Scotland to do outreach at Christmas, a nice guy.
To cut a long story short in one of our conversations I found out that on his best ever day selling on the street [C.D.S, Books, etc.] he made £2,000, and that he regularly made up to £1,000 a day. And I thought I was good!
By the way that is not an attempt to glorify the Hare Krishna movement, they are though certainly dedicated. In talking with Adrian I couldn’t help but notice how many similarities there were between the Hare Krishna movement and the Family.
Apart from the fact that both organisations sell their own brand of religious material, they were also both founded by one man and are both blindly dedicated to his teachings.
They even live communally, have all things common and are both equally convinced that their own religion is the highest and best way to serve God.
They also both use a certain amount of deception in their selling i.e. raising funds to help work with delinquent youth etc. [Deceivers yet true]
Of course another thing they have in common is they are both in decline.
The ‘Family’ though was originally founded on good Christian principles and doctrines, and in my opinion it is in returning to these fundamental beliefs that present’s the Family with its best and perhaps only chance of survival.
Let’s hope and pray this is the case.
Sincerely Yours
Steve Matheson [David of Dove]
P.S.
SPIRITUAL PROSTITUTION
The form of deceptive selling the ‘Family’ and other organisations such as the Hare Krishna employ is a form of spiritual prostitution. [Mat. 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, niether cast ye your pearls before swine]
Through out my time in the ‘Family’ the people who had the greatest spiritual problems so called were often the poor outreacher’s and provisionor’s.
Looking back it’s little wander this was the case, the kind of selling they had to do was [is] both deceptive and draining. They would get back into the home after a hard day soliciting funds and come under the beady eye of the shepherd who would note in his or her great discernment that they were out of the spirit.
I couldn’t help but notice that a large proportion of the people ‘invited’ to attend the R.T.C.s here in U.K. were outreacher’s [Sales people] . One of the major spiritual problems levelled at them was that they were ’spiritually shallow’ not surprising really when all they did each day was raise funds often under false pretences, their most important hand book being not the ‘Bible’ but ’How to win Friends and Influence People’
Selling like that only serves to drain one of moral strength and courage, in essence the Holy Spirit. No wander they came back to the nice clean isolated home drained, messed up with the world and a little screwed up spiritually.
