Oakland native David "Moses" Berg, the founding seer
of the Children of God, put forth a prophecy about his new wife and new
son on May 2, 1978.
"Davidito and Maria are going to be the end-time
witnesses. They are going to have such power they can call down fire
from Heaven and devour their enemies," the sect leader proclaimed.
"They are going to be killed. Then, after only 3 1/2
days, Jesus is going to raise them from the dead.''
Not only did Berg fail as a prophet, but some now say
his miscalculations will have a devastating effect on the group and its
followers.
Ricky "Davidito" Rodriguez, whom Berg anointed the
future prophet of the secretive cult, is dead. So is Angela Smith,
personal secretary and "the eyes and ears" of his mother, Karen "Mama"
Zerby, also known as Maria.
Twelve days after Rodriguez slit Smith's throat, then
shot himself in the head, a haunting videotape he left behind sheds new
light on the battles still raging within the remnants of the Children of
God, now known as the Family International.
On the profanity-laced video shot in his Tucson
apartment, Rodriguez, 29, makes it clear that his original intention was
to torture Smith to get information as to the whereabouts of his mother
and her current husband, whom he blames for allowing widespread sexual
abuse against him and other children who grew up in the cult.
"It happened to thousands of us -- some worse than
others,'' he says on the tape. "My mother is going to pay for that. If I
don't get her, and life goes on (after death), I will keep hunting her
in the next life.''
Founded in 1960s
Founded by Berg in the late 1960s, the Children of
God attracted a small army of hippies, leftists and Jesus freaks drawn
to a strange brew of Bible prophecy and sexual license. Berg died in
1994 and left Zerby as chief prophetess of the self-styled sect. The
Family keeps secret the whereabouts of Rodriguez's mother.
Rodriguez left the Children of God in 2000 and soon
began working with a growing number of other second-generation members
trying to hold sect leaders responsible for the alleged abuse.
"We're in a war here,'' he says on the videotape.
"I'll get one person, that's for sure -- the source of my information
(Smith) ... . The goal is to bring down those sick f -- ers, Mama and
Peter (her husband) ... . If I don't make it, hopefully someone else
will pick up the torch.''
Former members of the sect say the war between
Rodriguez and his mother - - and the obvious failure of Berg's end-time
prophecy -- could have a devastating impact on the sect.
"This is such a monumental event -- the death of one
of the prophets,'' said John LaMattery, a leading second-generation
defector.
"They are waiting for Jesus to come out and say
something about it, and Jesus hasn't spoken,'' he said. "The Family is
going to spin it and somehow make it look like prophecies were fulfilled
in the spiritual realm, but right now, they are in damage control."
Family spokesman Claire Borowik downplayed the
importance of the 1978 prophecy about Zerby and her 3-year-old son.
"The Family has known for many years that Davidito
wasn't fulfilling that prophecy,'' Borowik said. "We believe that
prophecy is conditional on people's choices. It is dependent on man's
choices.''
In a memo sent last Friday to the Family
International's 12,000 devotees around the world, Zerby's husband, Peter
Amsterdam, urged members to avoid media reports and Internet postings
about the murder-suicide.
"There is a lot of confusing information floating
around about this situation,'' he said. "There are some people who are
exploiting this tragedy and trying to use it to their own ends to hurt
Mama (Zerby) and me and the Family, and tear down our work for the
Lord."
Amsterdam told sect members that Rodriguez was
"overcome by the enemy and forces of darkness," while Zerby is "the
sweetest, most loving person I know."
Loading bullets
Throughout much of the tape, Rodriguez loads dozens
of bullets into magazines for his Glock 23 semiautomatic pistol and
indicates that he expects a big shootout when he proceeds to his next
target.
"As I go on my merry way, I am going to try to not
hurt enforcement,'' he says. "It's going to be hard to do this without
doing that, (but) I respect law enforcement.''
Rodriguez also displays a large Kabar knife along
with duct tape, a drill and a soldering iron he intended to use as
implements of torture.
Tucson police Detective Ben Jiminez said Smith was
stabbed several times in the arm, indicating that she put up a struggle
before Rodriguez slit her throat, but said there was no evidence that
she was tortured.
"We saw the drill,'' he said, "but it didn't have
blood on it.''
There have been conflicting reports about Smith's
status with the Family.
Borowik said last week that Smith -- a member for 30
years and the longtime personal secretary to Zerby -- had been on an
"extended furlough" from the sect.
Earlier this week, it was learned that Smith had
recently moved to Palo Alto and had gotten a job at the Restoration
Hardware store there.
But former members point to documents showing that
Smith was still very much involved in Family business and remained on
the board of directors of the Family Care Foundation, a charity in the
San Diego area with close ties to leaders in the sect.
Smith was just 18 years old when she joined the
Children of God in the early 1970s.
In the book "Story of Davidito,'' she is photographed
with the toddler prophet, and in another photo lies naked and seductive
in a bathtub with another of the child's teenage nannies.
E-mail Don Lattin at
dlattin@sfchronicle.com.
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