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The Family’s Policy on Lying & Deception
Original compilation by ed Priebe
Revised and edited by WC


Print this

this edition 2005


The Family

Official Policy on Lying & Deception

"The Family still cannot be fully frank"
(THE RT. HON. LORD JUSTICE WARD)



The Family International call themselves "an International Christian fellowship," and present themselves as a loose-knit group of independent missionaries. They claim to be the best examples of Christians living the truth, endowed with more truth than any other, and boast about proclaiming The Truth to the world. By contrast, their history of speaking to law enforcement agencies, the court and the media has been one of deception, misinformation, cover-ups and outright lies.
  • In a single court case in the U.K. the Lord Justice Ward found members of The Family: "lying"; "dishonest"; "economical with the truth"; "evading the truth"; trying to "rewrite the truth"; "did not tell truth"; not telling "the whole truth"; presenting a "distortion of truth"; having a "failure to face the truth" and "failure to tell the truth"; having a "habit of lying"; "not frank"; "less than frank"; "not forthcoming"; "disassembling the truth"; "disingenuous" in their attempts to shirk responsibility.

    The judgement is replete with descriptions such as: "travesty of truth"; "half truth"; "not the whole truth"; "could not get near the truth"; "not made privy to the truth"; "doubt I heard the whole truth"; "the (actual) truth is"; "must face the truth"; "evidence was neither full nor frank"; "lack of frankness"; "less than full and frank"; "sought to deny the authenticity"; "evasive"; "very evasive"; "lies"; "clear evidence of cover up"; "frankness was probably lacking"; "The Family still cannot be fully frank"; etc.
  • Charity Fronts: The Family now operates as a collection of charitable organizations under the umbrella of the FCF (Family Care Foundation). While the FCF is clearly connected to The Family, they are on record supressing and denying this fact.

  • Sexual abuse: The Family has printed publications and videos which can only be interpreted as condoning child-sexual abuse and child-adult sex, many recently exposed on TV worldwide. Scores of second generation members have already testified, appeared in court and on television, and sworn affidavits that they have been sexually abused. Yet Family spokespersons regularly refute these claims and deny full responsibility and accountability, ignoring the ruling of the court that "rather than suppress these horrors, they should be brought out into the open, fully and frankly acknowledged."

The questions we address in this article:

  • Why would The Family, while claiming to be an honest bonafide Christian organization, enshrine lying and deception as part of their internal policies?
  • Why are their PR Spokespersons under standing orders to lie?
  • Why do these individuals in The Family lie so willingly?
In this article we examine their secret documents and insider publications to show how The Family has gone to great lengths to define what is a “lie,” when it is permissible to lie, and the justifications for lying. In tracing the history and roots of The Family’s Policy on Lying and Deception, we hope to bring public understanding of their mindset, and the reasons why The Family’s spokespersons are not always up front:

Outline of topics covered:

  • DOCTRINES: The Family believes in being “deceivers, yet true”
    • The Family has distinctions between "lying" and "lying"
      • reconciling lying and the scriptures—“Let’s not call it deceit”
        • lying to "accomplish God's purpose"
        • The Family has a list of scriptural references to justify lying and deceit
      • The Family believes in "being technically honest"
      • The Family has directives on how to lie the "right way"
      • The Family compiled a publication of all Berg's writings on how and when to lie
      • The Family believes in finding the "proper balance" about lying
  • SECURITY: The Family feels “compelled” to deceive to protect their security
    • The Family holds apocalyptic and paranoic beliefs about a "coming Jewish Antichrist" world
    • The Family believes it cannot trust other Christians
    • The Family hides incriminating literature
    • The Family by their own admission lied to authorities in the face of irrefutable evidence
    • The Family is briefed on what to say to authorities
    • The Family advises its members to hide their identity
    • The Family: siege, exaggerated sense of threat & heightened security
      • The Family has a definition for lying to "save a life"
      • The Family believes in lying to protect their leaders
  • SEX: The Family believes the world doesn't understand their sexual freedoms
    • The Family has a history of denying sexual abuse ever occured
    • The Family avoids prosecution for years of promoting adult-child sexual contact
    • The Family endorses Adult-Child sex in secret
  • MONEY: The Family conceals its true identity to collect donations
    • The Family believes it must deceive "the system" (society at large) to survive
    • The Family doesn't want to be connected to the FCF
  • CHILDREN: The Family teaches their children how to be tight-lipped and to lie
    • The Family has special publications teaching children to lie
    • The Family uses deceit on its own children, manufacturing Bible stories
  • SPIN CONTROL: For years, The Family denied that it was connected to the Children of God
    • The Family: "Deny it flatly, absolutely" that you are The Children of God


“DECEIVERS YET TRUE”


“Deceivers, yet true” captures The Family’s thinking on lying. It is a catch phrase used among Family members meaning “condoned lying,” originating from the Mo letter Deceivers, Yet True! in which their founder Berg wrote:
"The Lord & His Prophets frequently used deceit & sometimes outright lies, believe it or not, to accomplish God’s purpose. The law is the standard, but there are always exceptions to the rules, particularly if God’s the One Who makes the exceptions! God Himself is going to lie to them & deceive them because they refused the truth ... God lied to them & deceived them & deluded them & damned them! What better proof can you have than that?—God sometimes uses lies!" (ML 1248, par. 4-5) “Deceivers, yet true” is Berg's (mis)application* of the KJV Bible verse (2Cor.6:8) “By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true.” The Family allows its adherents free license to use deception as long as they remain "true in their hearts": "Paul says, 'As deceivers & yet true'. (2Co.6:8) Sometimes you are almost compelled to deceive people, to make them think a certain thing when really that’s not the thing.—Being misleading & evasive." (To Lie?--Or Not to Lie!--That is the Question!, ML 1400, par.5)

"(Maria: Deceivers yet true!) (2Cor.6:8) Yes ... we are deceivers yet true." (Deceivers, Yet True!, letter 1278, par.6)
*Christian scholars note that this is a misinterpretation—The NIV BIble reads: “Through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as imposters.” (Paul was saying that he was genuine and had integrity, despite the fact that some regarded him as not genuine).



LYING “TO PROTECT SECURITY”


The Family feels “compelled” to deceive - this arises from their belief that they need to do so in order to "protect their security." Security is a major buzzword in The Family. To understand what motivates this "need" it is necessary to understand a bit about their world view.

The Family holds apocalyptic and paranoic beliefs about the so-called "coming Jewish Antichrist" world government. They believe the final Antichrist dictator predicted in the Bible is about to appear on the world scene to persecute and kill Christians, and that he is actually already ruling the world from behind the scenes through his followers, the Jews (whom Berg refers to as “Antichrists”); that Jewish people (all “Antichrists”) hate The Family and want to destroy them for exposing the Jew’s so-called plans to take over the world: "The Antichrist government is already here! The Antichrist is already here! He’s undoubtedly running things from behind the scenes!"(The Antichrist & His Government are Already Here! ML 2184, par. 64) "Our bitterest enemies, the Antichrists, are out to get us more than the general system is out to get terrorists, because we are a terror to our enemies! They fear us more than anybody because ... governments don’t even know what is going on, but we do & we are spreading the Word abroad & telling the World about it, & they hate that.

"We are living now almost like under Antichrist conditions, because the Antichrists are after us right now & they would like to hurt us now just as much as if the Antichrist reign had already begun, because it has—in them! They’d like to kill us if they could, if they could do it legally or illegally or strangle us or imprison us or anything they could do to stop our work, but most of all, shut our mouths!

"Well, all that to say that we really need to be more prayerful & more careful & more scrupulously conscious of security in everything we do from now on, because we are their bitterest & most powerful enemies on Earth & there is no one they would like to get like us, nobody!" (Know Your Enemies! ML 1931, par. 2–5)
The Family believes it cannot trust other Christians because most of them supposedly work with the forces of the Antichrist:
"The Devil has found out that by using the religionists, whatever their religion may be, whether it’s Churchianity [mainline Christianity]  or ... whatever it is, he can rule the world! So don’t think you’re going to get any more mercy from the religious people, not even the Christians, they’ll probably be the worst! So don’t be surprised when good Christians, even more likely the died-in-the-wool fundamentalist evangelical Pentecostal Christians, want to murder you and beat you up, kill you if they can ... I meant to talk about security; but this is to apprise & advise you of why we have to have security." (Constant Vigilance is the Price of Security!, ML 1889, par. 25, 50, 52 & 54) The Family believes the world doesn't understand their sexual freedoms. For decades, The Family of enforced The Law of Love doctrine, a policy that promoted promiscuity, prostitution, sexual abuse of children and teens, and incest. When facing charges of widespread sexual abuse of minors, The Family decided that they could never let the public know their true beliefs on the subject, and responded with official denials: 
"(MARIA: WELL, WHAT ABOUT INCEST?—THAT'S A BIG BIG QUESTION IN THE FAMILY RIGHT NOW.) Honey, this subject of incest is so dangerous I hardly even dare talk about it in the privacy of our bedroom! I mean the System practically goes berserk when you talk about incest! (Maria: Well, we'll just have to tell the kids that it's not prohibited by God, but you'd better watch out because it's dangerous!) Of course it is!" (The Devil Hates Sex, but God Loves It! ML 999, par. 20, written May 20, 1980) The Family had promoted adult-child sexual contact for years and was criminally guilty on a massive scale. When forced by a court to acknowlege widespread sexual abuse, the strategy of The Family was to claim there were only isolated incidents, but nothing on an institutionalized scale, and that nothing was orchestrated from the top. However, a court investigating reports of child sexual abuse in The Family found it was:
"totally satisfied that there was widespread sexual abuse of young children and teenagers by adult members of The Family, and that this abuse occurred to a significantly greater extent within The Family than occurred in society outside it."

A court investigation into The Family's literature, sex videos and living practices found:
"[The] Family encouraged the sexuality of children, they became [...] objects of the Law of Love when [...] by reason of their want of age and understanding they were unable to give full and free consent especially under the pressure of advances made upon them by adults. [...] a high proportion of children were exposed to [...] adult sexual activity. [...] a significant number of children, more within The Family than outside it, had masturbation and even sexual intercourse forced upon them by adults."
To avoid criminal prosecution for its crimes and as a condition for winning a landmark custody case, and, leader of The Family Peter Amsterdam (a.k.a. Kelly Smith) quietly acknowleged that The Family was indeed responsible for promoting child sexual abuse, and gave the court a cosmetic apology.


The Family continues to try to distance itself from the topic of sexual abuse. To avoid prosecution, The Family still responds to accusations by victims of abuse by denying it happened, and labeling the victims vindictive, bitter “apostates” who are out to destroy The Family.

The Family denies culpability for Child Sexual Abuse. Investigations by the court found: "[The Family] failed fully to acknowledge [their] responsibility for this past misconduct." The Family does not believe that adult-child sex is intriniscally wrong. After The Family had reached a settlement with the British court and publicly renounced child/adult sex, Karen Zerby, the current leader of The Family, told Family leaders that the truth was they still saw nothing intrinsically wrong with child/adult sexual contact:
"This [sexual contact between adults and minors]` is about the only subject where we're really going along with the System, we're playing along with them, we're acting like we believe what we did was wrong, because we have changed, and stopped doing it." (Current leader Maria a.k.a. Karen Zerby, in "Summit '93 Mama Jewels #2)

The Family believes it must lie in order to collect donations. The stigmatization of being known as a cult, and the bad publicity connecting them to their sexual practices would cause the public to stop giving donations. Frequently members of The Family refuse to divulge that they are The Family when soliciting donations in exchange for their literature, tapes and videos. Instead, they present themselves as "independant missionaries."

To enhance the perception of being Christian missionaries, they engage in a vigorous program of public aid, “helping the poor” and disaster victims. The FCF (Family Care Foundation) was formed in 1997 to advance the goals of The Family's public relations program, to broaden their financial support, and redistribute funds internally through a tax-exempt operation. Members of The Family registered various charities operating under the umbrella of the FCF, to lend legitimacy and credibility to their local operations. As a rule, members srunning these "charities" as project managers do not mention their affiliation with The Family.
The Family believes it must deceive "the system" (society at large) to survive. Various directives urged members of The Family to infiltrate churches, and seek the favor of city councils, politicians and other officials.

Prefering to be known as wholesome Christian missionaries, The Family hired PR consultants and embarked on marketing and branding campaign to remake their image and disassociate their name with their past crimes and controversial practices. They deliberately conceal their controversial policies and practices from the public as much as possible.

During the administrations of George Bush Sr and Bill Clinton, The Family had a singing troupe sing in the White House, but made no mention of their connection to any controversial doctrines and practices.

The Family believes the enemy is everywhere, and it must conceal its identity by using "deceit," "decoy work" and "camouflage" to protect themselves from public scrutiny; and that there is a scriptual license for such actions: “Isn’t that what we’re doing when we come in under seemingly false pretenses & pretending not to be who we really are? Aren’t we deceiving & lying?”—No! We’re [using] a little bit of camouflage, a tiny bit of deceit or decoy work. We are simply coming in & doing our best not to reveal our exact identity. We can’t go around broadcasting to everybody exactly who we are.” (A Rose By Another Name! ML 1858, par. 2, 3, 16)

“Anything that calls the attention of people & neighbours to your home is dangerous. Anybody who is out of the Family is not safe. I don’t care how peaceful the contact seems to be. Always consider that...whatever you say out loud is going to be heard by the enemy & whoever you greet at the door could be the enemy! The enemy is always listening. Don’t tell him what he wants to know. Don’t ever give any sensitive information unless somebody asks, & then don’t tell’m if you can help it. Don’t give out any more information than you have to. Never give out information about yourself if you can possibly help it.”(The Mop, Section 116, "Security" points 173, 142, 73, 39, 59, 61 & 124)

“Let me tell you, all through the Bible there was a lot of concealment & cover-up used for the sake of security! Let’s not call it deceit, let’s call it secrecy.” (A Rose by Another Name! ML 1858, par. 5)

“We’re in a dangerous war & when it’s necessary to protect the security of the Lord’s work & His children you may have to lead people to believe that something is a certain way when it’s really not that way.” (To Lie?—Or Not to Lie!--That is the Question! ML 1400, par. 5)

"You don’t have to tell everything you know, & for the sake of security you don’t always have to tell the whole Truth ... in order to protect yourself & others from unnecessary trouble!" (Contend For the Faith!, What’s in a Name? ML 143A par.139, written Dec.2, 1971)


The Family has distinctions between
"lying" and "lying"

Doctrinal schisms about lying


The Family gradually condoned deception and later outright lying as part of its policy. The very first directives of The Children of God (earlier name for The Family) have their founder Berg admonishing against lying. But his later writings have him explaining that although using deceit and being misleading are better than outright lying, even outright lying is acceptable if it "protects security and prevents persecution (read: adverse media attention)," and that "God's prophets often lied and used subterfuge."

Lying is bad:
"You’re all becoming liars! Where did you get the idea you could keep on lying like this and get away with it? What does God’s Word have to say about liars? How far are you going to go to lie to save your neck, to deceive people!

"And why do you folks lie when it’s not even necessary? The truth would have served your purpose much better. You just don’t have to tell him the whole Truth!" (Personal Visits--Parts II & III, ML 143A par. 137-138)

"I hate to lie! It hurts me, it bothers me ... I hate it!" (Deceivers, Yet True! ML 1278, par. 7)

"It’s a terrible thing to tell lies! The Lord is against lying, He hates it! It is awful! God hates it! Liars shall have their part in the Lake of Fire, he says. (Rev.21;8)" (To Lie?--Or Not to Lie!--That is the Question! ML 1400, par.4)
Lying is good: "Thank God you did deny..." (The Four Deadly Sins!--NRS 9, ML 759 par. 15) Don't Lie—Never deny being with The Children of God. Founder David Berg admonished against denying affiliation with The Children of God (the earlier name of The Family), and denying his name, "Mo" or "David Berg":
"I can already smell the stink of compromise in some of you who have become ashamed of the name and changed yours for fear of persecution, trying to change your name outwardly and still call yourselves Children of God inwardly! If you really are a Child of God, but you change your outward name, you’re going to have to deny that you’re ... a member of the Children of God, and you’ll be lying! And one lie leads to another! One lie can never stand alone! It always has to have several others to prop it up. 'Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!' (Personal Visits--Parts II & III, ML 143A par. 130) Do lie—never say you are the Children of God:
"deny it flatly, absolutely... So that’s your story & don’t forget it!" (The Maltese Doublecross–Pt.1! ML 797–1)

The Family: Lying the "right way"

lie, but don't lie


The Family does not believe in telling the whole truth:
"For God’s Sake, don’t wind up a perpetual liar! You don’t have to tell everything you know, and for the sake of security, you don’t have to always have to tell the whole Truth, and sometimes, you may even have to say one thing that is true, but give someone the impression you mean something else in order to protect yourself and others from unnecessary trouble! But for God’s sake and His Work’s sake, and your own sake, don’t come right out with bold-faced lies that aren’t even necessary and that are going to require more lying to prop it up!

"Ask God for the right answers! Ask God to lead you what to say and to protect you and the Truth! He’s a lot smarter than you are, and He certainly won’t lead you to tell those stupid, unnecessary and damaging lies! May God help us! 'As deceivers, yet True!'—Not liars! There’s a difference!" (Personal Visits--Parts II & III, ML 143A par. 139-140)


The Family: don't connect the dots, please

"being technically honest"



For years, The Family denied being the Children of God. In the late 70s, the group's founder David Berg was summoned to court in Tenerife Spain, to face charges about the movement's new practice of religious prostitution ("FFing" or "Flirty Fishing"). Berg fled the island and a wave of negative publicity followed worldwide. Shortly after, the ‘Jonestown’ suicides happened, and Berg was convinced the Devil (through the world media and supposed coming government crackdowns) was now ‘out to get them.’ He decided it was time to deny being The Children of God, orchestrated a fake disbanding, and changed the group's name to "The Family of Love."
(THE IRF!--NRS 7, ML 757, par. 14, Jan 1979) "...you can't hurt us anymore!--We've already disbanded!--I fired 300 leaders last year, and this year we all split!--So now what are you going to do about us?--Hunt us down to the last young mother and small child?" (Whose Fool Are You? ML 800 par.19)

"we disbanded in face of the persecution of sects this year" (An Answer to BBC!, ML 583)

"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!" (The Re-Organisation Nationalisation Revolution! ML 650 par. 28)
The Family is briefed on what to say to authorities: "Thank God I had briefed them before about what to say. If it ever came up ... they were to deny it flatly, absolutely. If they suspect or have any proof that you were members, you can tell them you no longer belong to that outfit at all. So that’s your story & don’t forget it!" (The Maltese Doublecross) The Family: "Deny it flatly, absolutely" about being the Children of God (late 70s). While living in hiding in Malta, Berg and his staff had trouble extending their visas, due to suspicions of their being the Children of God. On questioning by Police, Berg denied that he was connected to The Children of God, and instructed his followers to do the same: "But the main line of questions was, 'Are you folks connected with some kind of religious organisation? Are you sure you’re not connected...with that certain group? Are you those people?' And thank God I had briefed them before about what to say. If it ever came up, if they ever approached any of them ... they were to deny it flatly, absolutely. They have nothing to do with them!

"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! I told them you can say there was an absolute split & we have nothing to do with those people anymore.

"So that’s your story & don’t forget it! It’s very important in case they nail you." (The Maltese Doublecross–Pt.1! ML 797–1, par.9, 12, 13, 15, 28, 29)
The Family hid all incriminating literature identifying them as the Children of God: "Then after that, the next thing would be a search to see if they could find anything to prove you’re identified with those people. And of course you know what would have proved it the easiest was lit [literature], or books & stuff like that. So we had them pack all lit, books, anything at all that would identify them as belonging to an organisation at all ... in a couple of big suitcases & hid them. So when they came they didn’t find a thing that could prove that they were those people, not a scrap of literature, not a book, nothing!" (The Maltese Doublecross—Pt.2! ML 797-2, par.19-21) "During the middle of the night we had collected all the selah [security] material together, apart from the RD [Rough Drafts of Berg’s letters] suitcase. Since we had no fireplace or shredder, we all sat in the livingroom & began tearing up the FF Letters & anything we wouldn’t want to fall into someone else’s hands.

"As each garbage bag got full we’d add in some leftover garbage & brave Bepe would run out to various areas & distribute it on the street for the garbage men to pick up the next day!—This was between the hours of 3 to 6 a.m., so he had to be real careful. Bepe found a sewer manhole & dumped a suitcase full of GP [General Public] Lit & Books down it! Whew! He was really shaking when he got home!" (by Berg's aide Alfred, The Maltese Doublecross--Pt.4! ML 797:4 par.33–35
The Family by their own admission, has lied to authorities in the face of irrefutable evidence. Berg's aide Alfred, relating what happened when he followed Berg's instructions to lie when questioned by a policeman: "Then he said, 'But you belong to the COG, right?' I told him no. He flipped through our photobook ... then he said, 'And you want me to believe that you are not with the COG?'And I said, 'Yes.'But he shook his head saying, 'No, I don’t believe it.' I know you don’t', I told him.

"He showed me a picture of me with a poster in the background saying 'Les Enfants de Dieu' [French for 'Children of God']. And he said, 'What about that?' So I ended up admitting that I had been with the COG, but that was quite a few years ago. He showed me another photo that had the words COG written on a poster. I told him that photo was taken about 6 years ago, but that I was not with them anymore.

"He referred to Sara’s files & said, 'But all this is COG writings!' I said, 'Yes, we have a lot of friends in the COG.' Well, no matter what I said, he didn’t believe me. He was sure I was lying." (The Maltese Doublecross—Pt.4! ML 797-4 par. 5, 7–10)

The Family believes in "being technically honest" —because of a name change, they have flatly denied being part of the Children of God: "There’s just something about false denial that the Lord doesn’t like! Even our attempt in Malta didn’t work, although we were being technically honest: We were no longer 'those people', officially, legally, by that name.

"But the Lord knew in our own hearts we knew we were the people they were talking about, regardless of our name change! So in a way, although it was the truth, it was also a deceit!"

"In a way it was a lie, & apparently God didn’t like it, because it didn’t work. Maybe it would have worked better if we’d been honest in the beginning & said so.

"We may try to cover, we may go underground, we may hide, we may flee, we may do everything we can do to keep from getting caught, but once they catch us ... we’d have a hard time denying it! They wouldn’t be questioning us if they didn’t have a pretty good reason to believe it, huh?—Like the police in Malta:"

"Thank God you did deny us there! But you put it in a way that you convinced them you’re no longer part of that organisation, & you aren’t!--Ha!--And probably the Lord spared you to spare me. But I don’t think, when it comes to the showdown & swearing under oath in court before witnesses & things like that, that we’re going to get away with denying we belong to either one or the other, or that we’re 'those people'!" (The Four Deadly Sins!--NRS 9, ML 759 par. 3, 4, 9, 10, 15 - written Jan, 1979)
The Family now admits to being the CHildren opf God. In recent years, with the scare over the post-Jonestown suicides gone, Family spokespersons no longer deny the link between the Children of God and The Family. The pretense & deception served its purpose, but has since been dropped.



The Family: siege & heightened security

Lying “to save a life”


The Family believes in outright lying to protect their leaders.
As we have established, The Family live in a stage of siege, in an exaggerated sense of threat and heightened security, believing there are enemies everywhere out to get them. Every Home is supposed to have a fleebag packed and ready****. Above and beyond using deception “to protect yourself from unnecessary trouble” or to “protect security,” protecting the leadership and inner circle staff (WS) from being identified and caught is considered a matter of “absolute extreme emergency” and a matter of life and death:
****(Eternal vigilance: The price of freedom! ML 1104; Gotcher "FLEE BAG"? ML 386, etc) "Of course, there’s an exception to every rule, if there’s some very good reason. I know we were denying it there in Malta & Sicily to save me as much as yourselves, because we were in a pretty tough spot. Besides, I was at stake, & if they had gotten you, they might have gotten me too! So thank God you did! There is a time & an exception for every rule.” (The Four Deadly Sins!--NRS 9, ML 759 par. 16--written Jan, 1979)

"If you have to lie to save a life, I think it’s worth it! And I think the people who would strain at a gnat of a little lie at a time like that & swallow a camel of costing someone’s life are just hypocritically self-righteous!—And let somebody go to prison or torture or death just because they weren’t willing to tell one little falsehood to save them! But I certainly don’t recommend it & it would be in the absolute extreme emergency, just like it was with our folks in Malta. (See No.797!)" Deceivers, Yet True! ML 1248 par. 8 *
* The above quote is one of the main defenses that Family spokespersons use when confronted about their blatant dishonesty.

The Family believes in lying to "accomplish God’s purpose" and finding the "proper balance" in lying: "So the Lord & His Prophets frequently used deceit & sometimes outright lies, believe it or not, to accomplish God’s purpose. The law is the standard, but there are always exceptions to the rules, particularly if God’s the One Who makes the exceptions! The Lord Himself says that if they reject the Truth—this is in 1Thessalonians—'I will send them strong delusion that they might believe a lie, that they might all be damned who received not the love of the Truth.' (2Th.2:10–12)—He’ll send a lie!

"God Himself is going to lie to them & deceive them because they refused the truth & they were wicked & deserved to believe a lie because they didn’t want to believe the Truth! So God lied to them & deceived them & deluded them & damned them! What better proof can you have than that?—God sometimes uses lies!

"(Maria: Deceivers yet true!) (2Cor.6:8) Yes ... we are deceivers yet true. (Maria: So you have to find a proper balance. Some people get off too much on the other side lying about every little thing.) Yes, some people get in a habit of lying about every little thing!

"I hate to lie & very rarely in my life have done it! It hurts me, it bothers me, but if I have to do it to save my life, I might do it! And a few instances, although I have not outright lied, I have deceived or I have said something that I knew they would believe I meant one thing when I really meant another, deliberately, in order to save some situation or spare someone or in order to escape some situation or whatever. It’s very serious. (Maria: But normally you don’t make it a habit.)—Amen! I hate it!" (Deceivers, Yet True! ML 1278 par. 4-7)
The Family compiled a publication of all Berg's writings on how and when to lie:
"Every one of these people we witness to is a little judge examining your testimony, & if they catch you in one lie, they will debunk & throw out everything you’ve told them! So except in some rare extreme & unusual Spirit-led cases,

"It’s a terrible thing to tell lies! The Lord is against lying, He hates it! It is awful! God hates it! Liars shall have their part in the Lake of Fire, he says. (Rev.21;8) A lot of it has to do with your motives & the intents of your heart. God does not like lying!--But that doesn’t means that as a Christian in the Lord’s army you’ve got to tell people everything. Sometimes you only need to tell them part of the truth, not the whole truth.

"Paul says, “As deceivers & yet true”. (2Co.6:8) Sometimes you are almost compelled to deceive people, to make them think a certain thing when really that’s not the thing. We’re in a dangerous war & when it’s necessary to protect the security of the Lord’s work & His children you may have to lead people to believe that something is a certain way when it’s really not that way.—Being misleading & evasive."

"So you’ve got to be prepared by the Spirit to sometimes ... handle questions in some way that you don’t actually lie, but you just give the impression that something is or isn’t so." (To Lie?--Or Not to Lie!--That is the Question! ML 1400 par. 3-5, 12—published Jan. 1983)
The Family has compiled a list of scriptural references to justify lying and deceit. The Mo letter "To Lie?--Or Not to Lie!--That is the Question!" (ML 1400, published Jan. 1983) contains these sections:
  • Scriptures on Not Telling All
  • Scriptures on Deceivers Yet True
The Family believes God’s Holy Spirit can inspire them to lie: "So except in some rare extreme & unusual Spirit-led cases, it’s a terrible thing to tell lies!"

The Family lies to avoid rejection

Reconciling lying vs. the scriptures:
“Let’s not call it deceit”



The Family advises its members to hide their identity from the public to avoid rejection due to being connected to their controversial practices and policies. They currently operate as series of charitable fronts, and as a rule never reveal they are The Family, nor exactly how they will spend donations received:
>> The FCF and The Family / Children of God >>

"All the false cults & religions try their best ... to deceive first with genuine truths in their original sales pitches.

"So you say, 'Isn’t that what we’re doing when we come in under seemingly false pretenses & pretending not to be who we really are? Aren’t we deceiving & lying & trying to do the same thing they’re doing?'—No! We are not wrapping up lies in some truth. We’re wrapping up a whole lot of Truth & all Truth with a little bit of camouflage, a tiny bit of deceit or decoy work ... so they won’t necessarily recognize that it’s the same people with the same Message.

"We are simply coming in & doing our best not to reveal our exact identity, the identity we’re best known by, our unpopular identity, our bad-publicity identity image ..."

"Let me tell you, all through the Bible there was a lot of concealment & cover-up used for the sake of security! (Maria: It wasn’t exactly deceit, though, was it?—Because we usually think of deceit as being something evil.) Let’s not call it deceit, let’s call it secrecy."

"Therefore it is certainly wise for us to conceal our identity as far as being linked or associated with certain names of certain groups which have received a lot of very bad, adverse publicity ..."

"So if sometimes you have to be, as the guy said, “Red like a radish”—look red on the outside, look a bit dragonish on the outside or even a little bit wolfish—in order to make them think you are one of them ... appear to be somewhat like them, this is not contrary to Scripture. Josh always used to use the Scripture, “As deceivers yet true”—& that’s true! (2Cor.6:8) We can’t go around broadcasting to everybody exactly who we are."

"So call it what you will. If you want to call it deceit or false pretenses or whatever, we are the true sheep. We’re not trying to lead them into a false cult, a false religion or a false doctrine.

"I mean, a sheep by another name is just as sweet! Right? And a rose by another name smells just as sweet. If the Devil has made what was once a good appearance into a bad appearance, then just change it!—Change the name, change the appearance, change the looks, change the operation!"

"So oddly enough, as Satan often operates as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, we may sometimes have to operate as sheep in wolf’s clothing!" (A Rose By Another Name! ML 1858 par. 1-3, 5, 6, 16, 19, 20, 23)

The Family

A history of denying sexual abuse

  • Up until 1984, The Family mostly taught their children to be suspicious and tight-lipped around outsiders.
  • By 1985, The Family realized they needed to warn their children and teens not to talk about child-adult sex.
  • In 1988, The Family issued a four-page pamphlet to the public, flatly denying that child-adult sex had ever been promoted or taken place in their communities.
  • In later years later The Family was forced to admit that some sexual abuse happened, but blamed it on errant individuals.
  • In 1990 The Family released a special comic publication teaching their children how to lie.
  • In 1994 The Family was cornered in a British court by Lord Justice Ward and forced to acknowlege in the face of irrefutable evidence, that their writings had unleashed years of sexual abuse on members of The Family. Despite The Family's denials, the judge found: "a significant number of children, more within The Family than outside it, had masturbation and even sexual intercourse forced upon them by adults."
  • The Family's spokespersons now insist that all sexual contact between adults and minors was halted by 1986.
>> The Family found lying in a court of law >>


The Family

Special publications teaching children to be tight-lipped:

The Family instructs its children to be tight-lipped and to lie: Several 2nd generation members have now testified that they had lied to help protect their parents from prosecution, having been well-trained on how to answer to authorities.

The enemy is always listening, Don't tell him what he wants to know.
The Kidz MOP—Volumes I & II, section 84:"Security", quotes 4, 5, 6, 13 & 43 — published 1985


The “Deceivers, Yet True” comic

The Family's response to child abuse investigations: By 1990, the threat of authorities taking children born and raised in The Family's into protective custody on reports of child-sexual abuse was growing. The Family's current leader Maria (Karen Zerby) commissioned a top Family editor, **Ed Priebe (Hart), to write the text to a DO (disciples only—secret publication) 32-page comic book entitled, “Deceivers, Yet True!—2Cor.6:8”, for The Family's children.

**Ed Priebe—now an ex-member—has written an apology on his account of writing this propaganda.

The “Deceivers, Yet True!” comic contains nine different Bible stories about concealment and subterfuge.

The Family
Manufactured Bible Stories
to convince children to lie

The most convincing so-called Bible story,"Protecting Baby Moses" about Miriam and Aaron’s parents instructing them to lie, was actually never in the Bible—it was a piece of fiction which The Family called a "dramatization of Exo. 2:1,2; Heb.11:23."

In this fictional account, Moses' parents have just had their third child, baby Moses, and the father explains to 7 yr. old Miriam and 2 yr. old Aaron that they should lie to the Egyptian soldiers if asked, “Is there a baby boy in this house?” Two Egyptian soldiers walk by when baby Moses cries. His mother hides him in a back room. The soldiers enter and say, “We heard a baby, where is it?” and 7 yr.old Miriam lies, “There’s no baby here. That was just me! I was making crying sounds, pretending my dolly was crying.” One of the soldiers asks 2 yr. old Aaron if he has a baby brother. Remembering his father’s advice, Aaron too lies, and the soldiers leave. When their father returns later, he praises both children lavishly. The moral to the story is reinforced:
"Do you think it was good for Aaron and Miriam to lie to the Egyptian soldiers? What would you have told the soldiers if you had been there? Why do you think the soldier asked little Aaron if he had a baby brother, when Miriam had already told them that there was no baby there?

"There are still cold-hearted 'Egyptians' today who would even try to take away children from God’s people. So take a tip form this story about baby Moses & do your best to protect your Family! Amen?"

The Family used deception on its own children, by implying the fictional story was recorded in the Bible. The comic concludes with A Word of Caution! so that children raised in The Family know they should only lie to authorities:

"If one of God’s people is forced to tell a lie to save their life or to keep from being persecuted by the wicked, the Lord may allow it. But watch out if you start telling lies just for your own selfish reasons, because you want something that somebody else has, or you lie when you’ve been bad because you don’t want a spanking or punishment.

"Remember, just because in an emergency or desperate situation, God’s people may sometimes have to use deception to save God’s Work, this does not mean that we should lie to members of our own Family! Col.3:9 says, 'Lie not one to another!'

"The Bible stories mentioned in this Comic show that when the anti-God, anti-Christ System of this World forced God’s children into a corner, God allowed them to use deception in such absolute emergencies! God bless you & protect you & give you wisdom to know when to be a “deceiver yet true.”—In Jesus’ Name, Amen!"

SUMMARY

What can we expect from The Family today?


As we have shown through court documents and The Family's own writings, The Family has a policy in place calling for the use of deception and outright lying, even under oath, in order to avoid trouble and legal liability, to avoid being identified, and to protect their leaders.

While belonging to one of the tightest high-control groups, they do not like to reveal their membership in The Family, but prefer to be known as a loose-knit, gathering of independant missionaries. They depend heavily on this deception to raise funds for themselves, and to support their leaders who have already been found responsible for promoting among other things, child sexual abuse, and cruel and unusual punishment of children.

We hope this documented information has helped you in regards understanding more about The Family, their past record on truth and lying, their motivations for lying, the extent The Family will go in lying, and why they lie so easily while professing to live as honest Christians.

We encourage you to scrutinize The Family's charity fronts, by asking them about their true (often illegal) affiliations with The Family. Note their answers. Ask about how they use their donations, what their true beliefs are. You can expect them to distance themselves from their recent record of collective criminal activity, and tout you a "new improved Family" "just trying to serve the Lord."

The exFamily.org Staff
 

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