Karen Zerby joined the Children of God when there were only about 125 followers. At this time, the group still held conservative views on sex, forbidding even handholding before marriage. David Berg was married to a woman named Jane, and they had four children, according to Rolling Stone. Zerby became Berg's personal secretary, and he controlled every aspect of her life, including her diet and appearance. According to Rolling Stone, within a few months Berg began an affair with Zerby, and soon began promoting polygamy, using the Bible as justification for taking her as his second wife. Soon after, the cult was endorsing "sharing."
Zerby gained power and influence in the Children of God, and Berg took more wives and brought more women into his inner circle, including his own granddaughter, Merry Berg. Later, she would describe her treatment by Berg as "barbaric and cruel."
Zerby became known as Mother Maria, and she took over writing the Mo Letters as Berg got older. After his death, she became the leader of the cult, and even introduced her own doctrine. One new practice under Zerby was "Loving Jesus," or imagining intimacy with Christ himself. As is spelled out in a doctrinal paper from the Family International, this "revelation" recommended that men engage in "spiritual lovemaking with Jesus," and said that they should mentally "play the role of being a weak, meek woman, His bride" to avoid deviating from heterosexuality.
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