The Alcoholic Prophet

Written and complied in 1992 by Edward Priebe, a former World Services (WS) editor.

Preface

The following are verbatim "Mo quotes" from the letters of David Berg, founder and prophet of the Children of God (aka the "Family"). In these paragraphs, Berg declared explicitly that he received his revelations from God when in a drunken state, so we will let him speak for himself with only the minimum of commentaries. We did, however, feel it fitting to include footnotes of Scripture to help the reader differentiate between Berg's teachings and what the Bible has to say on the subject.

"But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." (Isa.28:7)

1. It was early morning, about 7:00 a.m. MO turned over sleepily, drank a little wine from the glass beside his bed--then I heard him pray: "Jesus help them!"

8. Jesus, we are but men! We cannot stand the things of the Spirit! Thank You for the wine that helps us to be able to take it...Wine helps you to stand it, to bear it. Wine helps to deliver me from the bondage of the flesh, to liberate me to the realm of the Spirit. It is God's alchemy that turns the baser metal into gold, and turns my pewter into gold! I'm only pewter, but God turns me into gold! I'm only flesh, but God, with a little wine, turns me into Spirit!

16. (Tongues) Moses and David bless the wine that cheers the heart of David--that giveth his spirit freedom and openeth his mouth, that he may speak the words of God! (Tongues) Poor David! He's so weak--so much flesh. He cannot be freed except through wine, his spirit is so bound. He has so much pride.[1] He can only be freed with wine.

19. MO: O Jesus, free the voice of David that he may speak unto thy children. Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! Forgive me, O God that I have such weak flesh that I must have wine to liberate me from the flesh to the realm of the spirit. ("Questions And Answers!" Letter 111)

16. Behold, my mouth is dry and I thirst! (Here I give MO a little sip of wine, and he in turn, gives me some, and the Lord says:) If thou wouldst open thy mouth wide and receive it, I will not only give thee honey and sweetness from My mouth, but I will give thee wine of My Spirit and thou shalt tingle to the thrill of My ecstasies, if thou wilt receive it. (Mo sees a wine-drinking sex orgy with the Lord and others and laughs [2] , and the Lord says:) Doest thou wonder at the words of Moses?

27. Behold, I thirst! Behold, I thirst! (I give him another sip of wine!) Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus! Even as thou dost minister unto the things which his mouth needeth, thou dost pour from thy heart to his being and thou dost satisfy his mouth with good things that he desireth, so shall I satisfy thee, and thy heart shall be filled with good things. But only thou above all women shall receive that which is most precious--the words of My Spirit that I have given unto My Servant David, the water of Life which is poured forth unto this generation!" ("A Psalm of David!" Letter 152)

"Peter Piper, Pied Peter Piper!--But not so pied [drunk] as his old Grandpa! You know what they're going to call me?--Isaiah was a noble prophet, Jeremiah the weeping prophet, and David the crazy prophet! Ha! but the kids and the goats, they don't mind me to be crazy.[3] I prophesy better when I'm crazy than when I'm sober." ("Heidi", Letter 206)

17. Alex just Russian sailor! (He's pretty old!) No, he's not so old!--He's full of life! He likes Russian girls! He makes lots of love to girls in bottom of boat in Dnepr River. That's right now Alex have much fun with the girls in the bottom of boat on Dnepr River alongside the park! I told you about that before! Sweet Baby! You want me to pinch your titty?--Okay? [4]

19. Will you bring me bottle of Vodka?--'Cause I'm all out of Vodka, I don't find no Vodka no more, no Vodka, all out of Vodka! When are you going to bring me some Vodka, huh? I need Vodka!

20. (Are those stories about persecution of the Christians true?) Oh, I don't know--what persecution? (The ones you read about in the magazines?) What Christians?--Maybe so, maybe no. They make much money on funny stories!--I don't know. Why don't you get me no Vodka, honey?

34. (Do you have a Bible at your house?) I have a bottle and it's all empty and it needs to be filled! (But do you have a Bible at your house?) Don't allow no Bibles. (Don't allow any Bibles?) No, no. (So you don't have one?) No, no, no, no, no, no! I need to have a little bottle, not a Bible! ("Ivan Ivanovitch!" Letter 279:34)

One of the most obviously false prophecies Berg ever gave was the "40 days" prophecy in which he predicted the destruction of America at the end of an 80-day period, the end of January, 1974. It never happened. How did Berg receive this message?

21. I take fourth swallow (takes four swallows of wine): 10 days for each swallow! [5] God gives 40 days of spirit to His prophet, and 40 days of sight to the people! Those that believe spirit believe for 40 days before sight, by faith!

22. (Tongues:) "But beware unto them which behold the end of the 80 days which I have shown thy father David!" You believe your father?

26. I believe God means what He says in this shocking revelation above! You in the U.S. have only until January to get out of the States before some kind of disaster, destruction or judgment of God is to fall because of America's wickedness! ("Forty Days!" Nov.12, 1973, Letter 280)

1. Poor kids! I'm so sorry for them. They'll be so discouraged and disillusioned. Familiarity breeds contempt. (Maria: But she lived with us before and she loves you more than ever.) But he gets up early in the morning and he works hard, and I don't think he likes winos. ("The Halloween Wheel!" Oct.31, 1975, Letter 363.)

53. Honey, how did that phone call to Arthur come about this morning? (Maria: You told me to phone him--you kept telling me. But I said, "Are you sure?--Maybe you're drunk!") See, it was the Lord! (Maria: And you said, "I'm not drunk! See, I can see my one finger in front of my face, one finger!)

54. See, when I get drunk, I yield to God's Spirit, and then I am happy about it! Well, I guess that's the truth! That's something, if you have the Spirit of God, if you get intoxicated, why it just makes you even more free in the spirit--at least it does with me! ("Jesus & Sex!" Mar.11, 1974, Letter 525.)

53. The bottle is the breast that helps to satisfy your father. ("Mo' Li'l Jewels!" Sept. 1976, Letter 536.)

The following quotes are from "Alexander, the Evil Magician!--More Questions & Answers!--A Midnight Revelation!" [6], Letter 666. Berg was in a drunken stupor at midnight, Feb.7, 1978 and had been muttering about politics.

(Note that by this time Maria is beginning to realise the extent of Berg's alcoholism and is trying to rein in his drinking.)

6. Abrahim can travel very fast!--Don't you remember? (Maria: But he's not allowed to leve you.) Well, when I'm sleeping. If you give me enough wine, he can go out and investigate for me, and I don't have to go. (Sneezed time after time!) Atushka! Atushka! Please get me some more wine before I die! Please, quick!

7. Seven sneezes and I'm a goner! (Maria: You've done that before when nothing else got you any wine, so you started sneezing. I think it's a trick of Abrahim.) Hurry! I've got to have some wine! (Maria: I think that's a trick of Abrahim!) No, he's not even here. He's out visiting.

25. If you want more, you have to ply me with wine to grease my spirit--if you want more. (Maria: What spirit does Isaiah have?) (Then he wouldn't tell me anything more, he said:) If you want more, you must ply me with wine to give you the answers. If you don't give me any more wine, you don't get any more answers. If you ply me with wine, then I will give you answers. [7]

26. With a little more, I have one more shelf of goodies! Why would you deny me? Why don't we go to sleep, because you won't write any more, because you won't give me any more wine to ply my spirit.

27. Why don't you want to ply me? I could give you so much more. I could give you so much more information, and tell you so much of what is going on, if you'll jut ply me a little bit. (Maria: Dear Abrahim really likes his wine! So I finally gave him some more wine, then he started answering me:)

3. I was never on drugs for years or that sort of thing. I've drunk wine for quite a few years and had a few benders. ("I Was Sick!" May 24, 1978, Letter 698.)

29. The Lord puts up with me in all kinds of my craziness, idiosyncrasies, all kinds of mistakes, failures, wine, women and song. ("Shtick!" May 21,1978, Letter 703.)

15. Who knows but what the Lord puts the spirits in training in the other world? We know that they come back as ministering spirits to try to help the living. They come back & inhabit us & can speak through our mouths & even enjoy our sex & even be tempted to drink a little too much!

35. No, I'm me, honey. I have my own spirit, of course. But I also haveAbrahim. I mean, we can have different spirit helpers, & in a sense they incarnate & they do become like part of us in certain activities. I mean he just loves to fuck! You know how he expodes when I'm fucking! He thinks it's great!--And he apparently still enjoys his liquor, the old rascal! But I mean, after all, he's still learning. Maybe this is an experience to teach him to not go overboard, or he's going to kill his host! ("Where Do Babies Come From?" Mar.5, 1979, Letter 794.)

8. Don't you understand? Wine opens the gate of revelation! And if you give me a little more wine, I give you a lot more revelation! (M: You will?) Yes, of course, if you give me some more wine. [8 ]I have to have wine to open my mouth to give you some more revelation. Don't you like that? (M: Uh-huh.) Okay? I'll wait for you: You give me a little more wine, I give you a lot more revelation. Okay? I think that's a good deal for you, Honey Baby! Don't you understand, huh?--You don't want any more revelation, huh?

9. One more bottle & I'll give you a new revelation! Wouldn't you like a new revelation? What would you like, Honey Baby? (M: I want you to tell me some more about Otano.) Okay. You get me another bottle & I'll try to contact Otano, Okay? (M: Promise?) Yes, of course!

30. (M: Is Davidito going to judge the people in Tenerife?) I'm not going to tell you nothing more, not another word, unless you ply me with wine! (But then will you tell me more?) Yes!--Yes! (M: You promise?) Yes. (M: What are you going to tell me about?) I'll tell you all about Davidito & Taurug & Otano & Tenerife, & onall those things, if you ply me! (M: You promise?) Yes.

31. I'll tell you a very big important secret about my important parts!--Do you want to hear it? Do you want to hear about my secret parts? (M: What?)--That I have to go to the toilet! [9] There are lots of big secrets you don't hear about at all yet. ("The Mystery of Otano!" Letter 796:8,9,30,31)

4. (M: Tell me more!) If you give me one more swallow, I'll tell you. Abrahim knows everything you want to know. If you grease his throat with just a little bit of wine, he'll tell you everything you want to know. [10] ("Boca do Inferno!" 798:4)

54. Oh Sweet Baby, I love you! I could tell you more, but I need a little drink because I'm so dry. Thank you, Sweet Baby, you're so faithful to all the needs of your Prophet.

56. Oh honey, I'm so tired & this old flesh is so rotten & corrupt & tired! Will you please give me a little more drink to assuage my sorrow & drown my pain & take away my misery. Jesus!

58. Would you give me a little joy juice to assuage my pain?

67. Just like I need a little drink right now. Please, I don't care what kind of bottle it comes out of or what it is, I'm just dying of thirst, I'm so hungry & thirsty! Don't you understand? ("The Shepherdess!" Sept.25, 1979, Letter 837.)

36. Because you're God's witch. You're God's witch, & he can't resist you. OK, run quick & get me my swallow.

62. (Maria: We were talking about Timothy, then we were talking about Ivan, you were singing, & then we were talking about Abrahim. But that's all the wine & you have to go to sleep.) No, that's not all. I know where there's some more! (Laughs loudly!)

63. I'm a prophet, honey, don't try to kid me! Ha, ha! (Maria: No more, Sweetheart, no more.) I can, I can. I can because, you know why? Because you love me! (Maria: I love you so much I don't want you to drink too much.) And Jesus loves me. And I love.

64. And Abrahim loves me & Alex loves me & you want to have some fun, & you want to learn some more about Abrahim & Alex & Ivan Ivanovitch & Timothy & Rachel & Deborah, & if you give me a little more wine to lubricate my tongue, I'll give you some information, some very very very secret information you would like to have about Timothy. ("The Secret!" Apr.13, 1978, Letter 845.)

15. So, thank You Lord! Thank the Lord for wine which helps make us honest. Honey, I need a little more, a little more honesty juice. They say that alcohol brings out the real you. Some people want to fight, some people want to murder, some people laugh & act crazy & foolish & clown & put lampshades on their heads. Some people want to fuck & have a lot of sex. (--I prophesy!) [11]

16. It helps me have the courage to be honest. It releases me from my inhibitions & phobias & fears. ("The King's Love!" April 15, 1978, Letter 847.)

29. He [Rasputin] was kind of an old rascal like me who liked his wine, women & song, probably the last kind of a character you ever would have picked for a Prophet!--Which is one reason I probably understand him & sympathise with him. I can understand how the Lord can use such a drunk & a profligate. ("World History!--And Russia!" Feb.11, 1984, Letter 1767)

7. Well, I know the whole problem--from the beginning you know what it was. It wasn't just liquor. How could I blame anybody with a problem with liquor? I have a little problem with it myself once in a while if I get mad or sad or upset. ("Dad's Birthday Message!" Feb.18, 1980, Letter 877.)

7. I guess as some of you know, sometimes I drink too much, which I shouldn't, & it abuses my body so that the Lord's gotta help me...not drink so much. [12] ("Prayer For Dad & Future Farewell!" Jan.86, Letter 2086.)

41. I was hoping to die, I was just almost trying to end it all! I thought, "Either this is going to make me or break me, it's going to cure me or kill me, whatever!" So I've often thought, "Well, I'm still suffering from the self-abuse of that period when I burned out my insides by trying to drink myself to death!" ("God Knows When!" Feb.14, 1983, Letter 1407.)

2. I'm ashamed to admit that I damaged my stomach, obviously, through some of my past misdemeanours. They were really more than misdemeanours, they were more like felonies! The worst time I did it was after Rachel left us. That was quite a blow when Rachel & Emanuele departed.

3. I guess I got mad at the Lord & I said, "Well, Lord, if everybody else is going to quit, I might as well give up & quit too!"--& I drank too much.

6. He [Timothy] helped Maria save my life when I wouldn't do anything but drink! And that's what ruined my insides & I'm still suffering for it.

7. It's my own fault, I was trying to end it all! I was trying to do worse than ruin my stomach, I was trying to drink myself to death, believe it or not!

10. I didn't eat hardly a bite of food for three weeks! I'm ashamed to admit it--but you might as well know...I drank 69 bottles of sherry in 21 days! You figure it out. That's over three bottles a day!

11. Of course, I got an infection in my throat, that was one of the things that started it & got me discouraged, & I thought if I drank enough sherry maybe I'd kill it! And that came from some foolishness. Well, let me tell you, that's the last time I ever sucked a woman.

14. Well, right after sucking her, my throat got on fire...I don't know what she had, but I got something like strep throat & it swelled up & I was on fire! I thought, "Well, whatever it is, maybe 20% alcohol can kill it!"--& I guzzled down a few bottles of sherry.

136. Well, now I've got to make another confession. I vowed I was going to write a Letter to the Family & describe it & tell'm what happened & the results, & I was going to call it: "I was an Alcoholic!"

139. I had two uncles die of alcoholism--it runs in our family. Both of my Mother's two brothers, literally died of alcoholism, drank themselves to death! I never told you that before, did I?--Because I didn't want you to know I was an alcoholic.

141. I went through delirium tremens! I didn't realise what a horror of Hell people go through in that kind of withdrawal! You can have it from liquor, & let me tell you, after 21 days & 69 bottles of sherry, I had one hell of a withdrawal!--And I went through a Hell of delirium tremens! I saw things! Talk about seeing pink elephants on the walls, I saw worse things than that I could describe to you!

143. I had the most horrible experiences! I could hear the whole city talking! I could see all kinds of monsters, demons, African animals! It was just like I was watching a movie show, it kept flashing pictures, flashing pictures, like somebody was changing slides, the craziest things you ever heard of: The rump of a zebra, the head of a deer, all kinds of crazy things like I was over in Africa someplace! Horrors! Some were just utterly without meaning, nothing, I could see bricks or part of a building or this or that.

145. I could hear things, voices, I could see things, I guess like some of your drug trips or something, voices. I got so sensitive in the Spirit that I could hear everybody in town talking in their houses & their apartments! I could have screamed! Maybe I did, I don't know! Did I?

170. I've never told the whole story yet in detail, not even tonight. And that is some tale, let me tell you!

172. Maybe it would do'm good to read how disjointed I got! My mind got disjointed! ("My Confession!--I Was an Alcoholic!" Letter 1406, Summer 1982.)

(Note that by this time, Berg is in such an advanced stage of alcoholism that he is unable to stop drinking without bringing on severe delirium tremens and hallucinations.)

3. I've been having such battles all night long! I don't understand it. I'm fine during the say, & I don't have these battles then at all. But the devil just terrifies me sometimes at night!--And I'm getting worse, not better. I was having these dreams all night about being out of my body & looking down on all our activities.

10. Isn't that strange? It seems like my darkest hour is just before dawn! I have my biggest battles then. There must be something in that--like the vampires & witches.

16. You don't understand, but I really fight to stay alive in the night! The demons of Hell try to kill me, & they try to kill me with fear!

25. But sometimes I almost go crazy in the night, I get so terrified & so paranoid! My God, how the Devil attacks me! [13]

35. The demons must know that's my weakness. They really prey on me. My God, what horrors & nightmares I have! ("Terror by Night!" Jan.10, 1980, Letter 857.)

3. The devil sure fight me through...these dreams! My God! Why do I have to have such horrible dreams?

18. It makes me feel like what's the use of trying not to drink, when I have nightmares anyhow! (Maria: Honey, the Devil is trying to get you to drink, see, but you have to keep fighting.) It's enough to drive anybody to drink! (Maria: Honey, he tries to get you to. He does all kinds of things like that to get you to drink. Don't you understand? That's probably why he tries that.) Why does the Lord let him?

22. If I don't go back to sleep I'm going to drink too much again! Oh my God! Three o'clock in the morning!

23. I think I know what Hell is like, if they have to go through that kind of tormenting fantasies! But why sould I have to suffer Hell when I'm supposed to be saved? I thought I was supposed to be saved, & yet it almost makes me even doubt my Salvation & I wonder if the Lord has delivered my soul to Hell! ("The Crooked City!" May, 1984, Letter 1778.)

Bible footnotes

1. "Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man." (Hab.2:5)
2. "Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things." (Pro.23:29-33)
3. "If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie saying, 'I will prophesy to you of wine and drink', even he would be the prophet of this people." (Mic.2:11)
4. "They shall commit whoredom...because they have ceased obeying the Lord. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." (Hos.4:10,11)
5. "But they also have erred through wine...the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink...they err in vision." (Isa.28:7)
6. "Let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober." (1Thess.5:6-8)
7. "They are shepherds who cannot understand; "Come," one says, "I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink." (Isa.56:11,12)
   "Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them! Therefore My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge." (Isa.5:11,13)
8. "And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." (Eph.5:18) [Dissipation: to engage in excessive pleasures, not governed by moral restraint.]
9. "Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things." (Pro.23:33)
10. "Wine is a mocker...and whoever is led astray by it is not wise." (Pro.20:1)
11. "The mouth of fools proclaims foolishness." (Pro.12: 23)
12. "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!" (1Sam.1:14)
13. "Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine." (Joel 1:5)