Steven Douglas Kelly
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Steven Douglas Kelly
Steven Kelly is currently second in command to and common-law spouse of Karen Zerby. He was born April 22nd, 1951 in New York, USA, and raised in the San Francisco area. In recent years he legally changed his name to Christopher Smith, and pseudonyms used include King Peter and Peter Amsterdam.
Kelly joined the Children of God in the early 70s in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (thus the "Amsterdam" appellation). From the beginning he was involved in low-level administration of the group, and quickly became involved with publications (see World Services). In the late 70s he ran the WS finance home in Geneva and Winterthur, Switzerland, collecting all tithe money from Family members.
After Timothy Concerned (father of Techi) left David Berg and Karen Zerby, they were looking for a replacement. Kelly was on the short list along with Justus Ashtree, and eventually won out, being the "most loyal". He joined Berg's home around 1978.
Upon Berg's death in 1994, it was explained to group members that Berg had instructed through prophecy that Kelly should care for Zerby and become "King Peter".
Kelly was formerly married to Gayle Kelly and they had three children together (Bethany, Sharon, and Christian).
Alleged abuse of Merry Berg
In "The Last State" (ML 2306), an internal publication by The Family, Kelly is recorded as boasting that he beat Merry Berg "real hard."
According to eyewitnesses, Kelly told the then 14-year-old teenager to lift her garment, after which he spanked her almost bare buttocks with his belt in front of about 25 Family leaders and World Services staff members. She received even more severe abuse by other members of the Berg and Zerby entourage, who tied her to her bed at night and dealt beatings which caused her to vomit and faint. This was ordered by David Berg, and carried out under the direct supervision of Zerby and Kelly. Additional excerpts from "The Last State" follow:
114. The Lord took hold of her head and yanked it around and back and forth and side ways to side ways by my hands until I was afraid I was going to yank her head off or break her neck! God was so angry... And then I hauled off and slapped her I don't know how many times tonight, hard, right? (MB: Yes sir!) And hit you....
145. If you go back into that foolishness again, these folks have got my permission to slap you around and knock you around, if they have to knock you out to get rid of that! Because you have got to want to get rid of it, and if it takes a good beating up to make you want to get rid of it, then we're going to beat you up!...
189. I suggest you tie her to the bed.
190. Make sure she goes to the toilet the very last thing. I don't care if you wet the bed, dear, your hands are going to be tied to the sides of that bed at night when the others are trying to sleep. [...]
215. If you don't get rid of those demons ...... you may have to get whipped in bed caned in bed.
Reference to abuse by Steven Kelly in court documents
The following is excerpted from the Judgment of Lord Justice Ward, delivered in 1995 in the UK.
Photos
Multimedia
- Steven Kelly talks about how he became "King Peter" (1.4MB) — From "The Love Prophet" documentary
- Steven Kelly talks about the exorcism of Merry Berg (2.9MB) — From "The Love Prophet" documentary
- Steven Kelly describes use of video in The Family. Adult female dances nude while Children watch (2.6MB) — From "The Love Prophet" documentary
