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provided an additional source of income. In 1986, she forbade sexual contact between adults and minors; later, it became an offense that could lead to excommunication. Throughout the 1980s, she dictated and enforced elements of discipline, ending, for instance, a training program for children she deemed too harsh. With David Berg's health declining in the late 1980s, Zerby essentially took over the leadership position in 1988. After Berg's death in 1994, she married Steven Kelly, another group leader, and assumed the spiritual leadership of the group.
216:. According to the book, Zerby participated in the alleged sexual abuse of her son, alongside David Berg, from the time he was 18 months old, and allowed her seven-year-old daughter Christina to be raised in a similar manner. During this period, the group's leadership, including Zerby, were highly secretive, living in remote locations and being barely seen by anyone. Zerby was known to the group's followers mostly from cartoons in the group's internal publications until 2005 when recent photos of her were released online.
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By the mid-1980s, Zerby began to issue religious edicts of her own: following allegations of sexual abuse within the organization, she forbade sexual activity in 1984 for new members until they had been in the group for six months and in that same year began the taping of cassettes with music, which
219:
In
January 2005, Rodriguez murdered former group member Angela Smith, a former nanny; hours later, Rodriguez committed suicide. In a video recorded the night before, "he said he saw himself as a vigilante avenging children like him and his sisters who had been subject to rapes and beatings".
186:, the group's founder, and was instrumental in transcribing his classes. He later separated from his first wife, Jane, and Zerby became his wife. Berg openly explained this to his followers via a missive called "The Old Church and the New Church".
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minister, and she is credited with bringing the "fundamental
Pentecostal principle of being 'Spirit-led'" into the movement she eventually came to lead.
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Apparently, he had been looking for his mother and sister: "He wanted to see his mother prosecuted for child abuse, and to free Techi from the group".
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206:, who was to "guide them all when the End Times came". Rodriguez's childhood (Berg was his stepfather) was recorded in a book called
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159:, originally known as the Children of God. She is also called Maria, Mama Maria, Maria David, Maria Fontaine, and Queen Maria.
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Talking with the
Children of God: Prophecy and Transformation in a Radical Religious Group
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415:"Karen Zerby Leak: Unmasking a Cult Leader Who'd Remained Faceless for Nearly 30 Years"
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Chancellor, James (2014). "A Family for the Twenty-first
Century". In
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Encyclopedia of
Religious Controversies in the United States
387:"Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult"
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Maria, Mama Maria, Maria David, Maria
Fontaine, Queen Maria
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18:Leader of "The Family International"
684:Members of The Family International
413:Levithan, Steven (April 11, 2021).
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178:She joined the group, then called
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445:xFamily.org Publications Database
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332:. U of Illinois P. pp. 7–.
167:Zerby was raised in evangelical
620:Jeremy Spencer and the Children
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699:People from Camden, New Jersey
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256:. ABC-CLIO. pp. 202–203.
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641:Sex, Slander, and Salvation
295:Controversial New Religions
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298:(2nd ed.). New York:
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240:Leonard, Bill J. (2012).
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694:Female religious leaders
485:The Family International
353:House, H. Wayne (2000).
157:The Family International
77:The Family International
563:William Sims Bainbridge
300:Oxford University Press
634:Not Without My Sister
209:The Story of Davidito
118:Steven Douglas Kelly
171:. Her father was a
73:The Children of God
558:Jean-Marie Abgrall
441:— official website
392:The New York Times
302:. pp. 13–38.
250:Crainshaw, Jill Y.
214:child sexual abuse
52:Camden, New Jersey
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309:978-0-19-931531-4
242:"Children of God"
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551:Researchers
526:Karen Zerby
439:Karen Zerby
25:Karen Zerby
668:Categories
520:David Berg
513:Leadership
449:David Berg
224:References
184:David Berg
94:David Berg
71:Leader of
68:Occupation
41:1946-07-31
577:Criticism
522:(founder)
163:Biography
654:Category
398:July 27,
252:(eds.).
200:Tenerife
173:Nazarene
140:Children
584:FREECOG
492:History
420:July 7,
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244:. In
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422:2021
400:2014
363:ISBN
334:ISBN
304:ISBN
258:ISBN
31:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.