Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 46
Recently, different teens were brought in from many different field Homes to
the Heavenly City School [in Japan] to be part of the ―Teen Ministry Training
Program‖ where they were to receive special training in different ministries.
At the same time the Shepherds wanted to help a number of teens who had
serious problems &were greatly in need of very close oversight, discipline &
intense retraining &rewiring in the Word. To give this small group of
problem teens the care &attention needed, the ―Teen Victor Program‖ was
begun. These problem teens, now called the Teen Victors, were moved to a
retraining center where their Shepherds were able to zero in on their needs
(Family Services, 1990: 11).
While these comments referred specifically to arrangements for teens in the Japanese
facility, they basically described (from The Family‘s perspective) the development of all the
Victor programs worldwide. Disagreement exists, however, over how long they operated,
with a British judge indicating that they ran from about 1989 to their closure approximately
eighteen months later in 1990 (Ward, 1995: 163) and an academic indicating that the last
one shut down in 1992 (Millikan, 1994: 229). The most recent book on The Family locates
the establishment of the Mexican Teen Training Camp in June and July, 1986, which
stimulated the creation of others in South America and Asia (Chancellor, 2000: 20). Van
Zandt‘s earlier study dates the Teen Training Camps from around 1985 and 1986 (Van
Zandt, 1991: 171). One of our informants spoke about entering (what she called) a Teen
Combo in Mexico in 1991 or 1992 that strongly resembled the Teen Training Program (Kent
Interview with Betty, 1996: 42-50).
Certainly the crisis of faith experienced by David Berg‘s granddaughter, Merry Berg, had
shown Family leadership that teens might need ―retraining &rewiring‖ because they
cultivated ideas that challenged the organization‘s ideological claims. Sara, who was the
nanny in the David Berg household, wrote about ―how unbelievably good Mene [Merry‘s
Family name] was in her overall behaviour, attitudes, and even spirit. There is no more
extreme example we could use as an almost, nearly ‗perfect‘ child‖ (Sara in [Berg], 1987:
460). Nevertheless, David Berg and his immediate leaders put the fourteen-year-old
through at least five exorcisms and frequent beatings because (so they charged) she was
filled with pride, making ―cruel criticisms of Grandpa &Mama‖ (i.e., David Berg and his
long-time mistress, Maria [Karen Zerby]), having violent dreams about her grandfather (see
Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a: 67), and having serious doubts about his behavior
and teachings (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a: 71 [Berg], 1987: 444-446 Ward,
1995: 131).
During an interview, Merry described a growing disillusionment with her grandfather
because of the behavior she witnessed while living in various households with him for
several years. As she reflected back on this period, she noted, ―it was disappointing for me
to come to his house and see what he was really like‖ (Kent Interview with Merry Berg,
1992a: 59). Little doubt exists, for example, that David Berg sexually assaulted her
countless times (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a: 31-34 Ward, 1995: 116 see
Kent, 1994a: 157-159 Kent Interview with Stephanie, 1997: 11, 12-13), and Merry
witnessed the debilitating effects on his mind and body from her grandfather‘s self-admitted
alcoholism (Berg, 1989: 3 see Hill, 1981: 44-48, 90 Kent Interview with Stephanie, 1997:
12-13 Van Zandt, 1991: 169 n.13). As Merry exclaimed, ―[h]ere Mo was, you know,
guzzling down God knows how much sherry every night....‖ (Kent Interview with Merry
Berg, 1992a: 61, see 60 see Ward, 1995: 131). In addition, Merry also saw ―him
contradicting himself and his letters all the time‖ (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a:
61 see Kent, 1994b: 40-41).

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 47
The Detention Teen Program in Macao
Disregarding the factual basis for Merry‘s doubts, Berg and his inner cadre subjected her to
severe physical maltreatment – Lord Justice Ward called her ordeal ―a form of torture‖
(Ward, 1995: 152, see 126-133) – that ultimately failed to ―adjust‖ her thinking about her
grandfather. In frustration and anger, they finally sent her to COG property in Macao
during April 1987, which her uncle, Hosea (David Berg‘s son) ran (Kent Interview with Merry
Berg, 1992a: 78 cf. Ward, 1995: 125, who gives her departure to Macao as August 1987).
Within weeks of her arrival, Family leaders sent Hosea instructions that would become
central restrictions against supposedly rebellious teens. Merry recalled these instructions:
―‗Merry needs to be on silence restriction.... [W]henever she walks from place to place, she
needs to have an adult with her‘‖ because (as she remembered her uncle telling her) ―‗you
are untrustworthy right now‘‖ (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a: 78). In the Victor
programs that soon developed, silence restriction (which prohibited a person from
conversing with others) and close adult monitoring became standard practices.
For the next three-and-a-half years, Merry remained at this facility, which became know as
a Detention Teen Camp by the beginning of 1988 (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a:
83) but which The Family also called ―a camp for Determined Teens‖ (Ward, 1995: 152).
Soon other teens began arriving, most of whose parents were members of The Family‘s elite
World Service (Ed Priebe, 1993: 23 Kent Interview with Lorna, 1996: 18 see Kent
Interview with Frost, 1995: 12). (At some point Hosea transferred out of his oversight
position of the Detention Teen program and led a Victor program on the same Macao
property.) Merry estimated that about fifteen teens spent time in the detention camp during
her stay there, with their periods of servitude varying from ―a couple of months‖ to ―two
years‖ (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992b: 5).
Merry endured many ordeals in the camp, which were the likely causes of her mental
breakdown (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a: 84 1992b: 17-19 see Ward, 1995:
115, 130-133). These ordeals must have been what David Millikan had in mind when he
acknowledged that the ―regime of discipline‖ that she underwent ―went beyond the bounds
of what could be regarded as acceptable‖ (Millikan, 1994: 229). Merry stated that she was
locked in a room for six months, and during some of that time had to relieve herself in a
bucket filled with disinfectant (Kent Interview with Merry Berg, 1992a: 80). Somewhat
later, she and other teens were placed on hard labor (beginning at 5:00 or 6:00 in the
morning), seven days a week, while they were on silence restriction (Kent Interview with
Merry Berg, 1992a: 81 Kent Interview with Lorna, 1996: 19). She recalled one lunch break
by which time she and the others already had worked nine hours (Kent Interview with Berg,
1992a: 82). Chores included ―busting up cement and old sidewalks,‖ ―laying [sic: pouring]
cement cutting grass (mainly with sickles) or gathering it up...with a grass cutter for the
horses doing the farm chores ‖ manual labor on construction projects transporting scrap
metal, bricks and dirt building septic tanks and ―a lot of painting‖ (Kent Interview with
Merry Berg, 1992b: 8 see Kent Interview with Frost, 1995: 11, 34-36 Kent Interview with
Lorna, 1996: 19 Kent Interview with Stephanie, 1997: 7 [for similar work regimes in
Brazil] Kent Interview with Betty, 1996: 46 [for digging up rocks in Mexico]). Adults
constantly watched them ―every second‖ (Kent Interview with Lorna, 1996: 18 Kent
Interview with Merry Berg, 1992b: 11).
Punishments were harsh, and they certainly meet the social scientific definition of ―physical
maltreatment‖ that some say must exist in a brainwashing setting. Adult-inflicted physical
maltreatment included beatings with a wooden paddle ―quite, quite hard‖ (Kent Interview
with Merry Berg, 1992b: 6). Indeed, beatings with paddles or boards are ubiquitous in the
accounts from the two Macao programs, the Philippines (Kent Interview with Donovan,
1995: 13-15 ),and Japan (Kent Interview with Stephanie, 1997: 2). Immediately prior to
her breakdown, Merry ―started trying to be honest‖ by telling her adult female leader about