International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 8 2025 118
Little Fishy,” Berg published “Beauty and the Beasts,”
written one month after arriving in Tenerife. The letter
did not disclose that location, but it did reveal that
they were FFing in dance clubs and bars with other
women in their inner circle who had joined them there.
It dispelled any doubt that FFing involved sex.40
1
Berg
and Zerby eventually wrote dozens of letters about all
aspects of FFing, pushing it as a primary proselytizing
method and source of support and income.
The Law of Love
A month before “Beauty and the Beasts,” Berg wrote
“The Law of Love,” which finally opened the door for
members to engage in sexual promiscuity. Berg twisted
New Testament scriptures that described the first
Christians’ communal lifestyle and spoke of sacrificial
love. He applied sexuality to verses about giving up
one’s life for others and sharing everything in common
with fellow believers.41 After that, the word “sharing”
became a euphemism for sexual intercourse, whether
it was between singles, couples spouse-swapping or
having sex with singles, or sex with outsiders in the
Flirty Fishing ministry. Berg wrote:
For where the spirit of the Lord is there is
liberty—total and complete freedom from the
bondage of the law…‘Greater love hath no
man than this: that a man lay down his life
for his friends.’ ‘Therefore we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.’ Are you willing to
lay down your life, or even your wife, for a
[sexually] starving brother or a sister…Are you
willing to plant your seed into the furrow of
the body of God’s Earth, His Wife, His Church,
that it may be warmed by the sun of His Love,
refreshed by the water of His Word, and bring
forth much fruit? As it is with the spiritual, so
it is with the physical, and that’s the final test…
‘For whosoever saveth his life (or wife?) shall lose
it, but whosoever loseth his life (or wife?)
for My sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall
save it!’ Have you really forsaken all for
Jesus and others…That is the ultimate ideal
in total sharing, total giving, total forsaking all,
40 David Berg, “Beauty and the Beasts -Tips to the Lord’s Lovers! For
Our Dancing Girls and Flirty Fishes!” ExFamily.org, accessed January 14,
2024. http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0309.shtml
41 Jn 15:13 Acts 2:44, 4:32 I Jn 3:16 (KJV).
total freedom, total living, total loving
and total liberty in the total love of God…
Are you revolutionary enough?42
1
This supposedly total sexual freedom, however, came
at the high personal cost of having to relinquish the
freedom to set safe, personal boundaries, choose sexual
partners or sexual circumstances, or develop and
cultivate special feelings for a partner of one’s choice.
In 1977, three years after “The Law of Love,” Berg
explained the antinomian doctrine in more detail in the
letter, “God’s Only Law Is Love—What the Bible says
about true free love!” He cited a few dozen scriptures
and wrote: “Jesus therefore brought a new law of love,
God’s only law for the lovers of Jesus…According to the
Scriptures there is therefore no longer any law against
sex that is done in Love, God’s love, and hurts no one:
It is no sin, neither adultery nor fornication…God’s
only law is Love! We are totally, utterly free of the old
Mosaic law.”43
2
Then in 1980, Berg made it clear that the new sexual
freedoms he encouraged applied to everyone without
restriction (except for anal sex). In “The Devil Hates
Sex,” Berg wrote:
As far as God’s concerned, there are no more
sexual prohibitions hardly of any kind, except
he sure seemed to hate sodomy and I don’t see
where He withdrew that…There’s nothing
in the world at all wrong with sex as long
as it’s practised in love, whatever it is,
whoever it’s with, no matter who or what age or
what relative or what manner…There are no
relationship restrictions or age limitations in
His law of love. 44
This letter clearly implied that both incest and sex
between adults and minors were allowed under “The
Law of Love.” In the original 1974 letter, Berg indicated:
Any variation from the norm of personal
relationships, any substantial change in marital
42 David Berg, “The Law of Love,” ExFamily.org, accessed January 14,
2025. http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0302C.shtml
43 David Berg, “God’s Only Law Is Love -What the Bible says about
true free love!” ExFamily.org, accessed January 14, 2025. http://www.
exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0592.shtml
44 David Berg, “The Devil Hates Sex,” ExFamily.org, accessed January
14, 2025. http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/ml999_main.shtml
Little Fishy,” Berg published “Beauty and the Beasts,”
written one month after arriving in Tenerife. The letter
did not disclose that location, but it did reveal that
they were FFing in dance clubs and bars with other
women in their inner circle who had joined them there.
It dispelled any doubt that FFing involved sex.40
1
Berg
and Zerby eventually wrote dozens of letters about all
aspects of FFing, pushing it as a primary proselytizing
method and source of support and income.
The Law of Love
A month before “Beauty and the Beasts,” Berg wrote
“The Law of Love,” which finally opened the door for
members to engage in sexual promiscuity. Berg twisted
New Testament scriptures that described the first
Christians’ communal lifestyle and spoke of sacrificial
love. He applied sexuality to verses about giving up
one’s life for others and sharing everything in common
with fellow believers.41 After that, the word “sharing”
became a euphemism for sexual intercourse, whether
it was between singles, couples spouse-swapping or
having sex with singles, or sex with outsiders in the
Flirty Fishing ministry. Berg wrote:
For where the spirit of the Lord is there is
liberty—total and complete freedom from the
bondage of the law…‘Greater love hath no
man than this: that a man lay down his life
for his friends.’ ‘Therefore we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.’ Are you willing to
lay down your life, or even your wife, for a
[sexually] starving brother or a sister…Are you
willing to plant your seed into the furrow of
the body of God’s Earth, His Wife, His Church,
that it may be warmed by the sun of His Love,
refreshed by the water of His Word, and bring
forth much fruit? As it is with the spiritual, so
it is with the physical, and that’s the final test…
‘For whosoever saveth his life (or wife?) shall lose
it, but whosoever loseth his life (or wife?)
for My sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall
save it!’ Have you really forsaken all for
Jesus and others…That is the ultimate ideal
in total sharing, total giving, total forsaking all,
40 David Berg, “Beauty and the Beasts -Tips to the Lord’s Lovers! For
Our Dancing Girls and Flirty Fishes!” ExFamily.org, accessed January 14,
2024. http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0309.shtml
41 Jn 15:13 Acts 2:44, 4:32 I Jn 3:16 (KJV).
total freedom, total living, total loving
and total liberty in the total love of God…
Are you revolutionary enough?42
1
This supposedly total sexual freedom, however, came
at the high personal cost of having to relinquish the
freedom to set safe, personal boundaries, choose sexual
partners or sexual circumstances, or develop and
cultivate special feelings for a partner of one’s choice.
In 1977, three years after “The Law of Love,” Berg
explained the antinomian doctrine in more detail in the
letter, “God’s Only Law Is Love—What the Bible says
about true free love!” He cited a few dozen scriptures
and wrote: “Jesus therefore brought a new law of love,
God’s only law for the lovers of Jesus…According to the
Scriptures there is therefore no longer any law against
sex that is done in Love, God’s love, and hurts no one:
It is no sin, neither adultery nor fornication…God’s
only law is Love! We are totally, utterly free of the old
Mosaic law.”43
2
Then in 1980, Berg made it clear that the new sexual
freedoms he encouraged applied to everyone without
restriction (except for anal sex). In “The Devil Hates
Sex,” Berg wrote:
As far as God’s concerned, there are no more
sexual prohibitions hardly of any kind, except
he sure seemed to hate sodomy and I don’t see
where He withdrew that…There’s nothing
in the world at all wrong with sex as long
as it’s practised in love, whatever it is,
whoever it’s with, no matter who or what age or
what relative or what manner…There are no
relationship restrictions or age limitations in
His law of love. 44
This letter clearly implied that both incest and sex
between adults and minors were allowed under “The
Law of Love.” In the original 1974 letter, Berg indicated:
Any variation from the norm of personal
relationships, any substantial change in marital
42 David Berg, “The Law of Love,” ExFamily.org, accessed January 14,
2025. http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0302C.shtml
43 David Berg, “God’s Only Law Is Love -What the Bible says about
true free love!” ExFamily.org, accessed January 14, 2025. http://www.
exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0592.shtml
44 David Berg, “The Devil Hates Sex,” ExFamily.org, accessed January
14, 2025. http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/ml999_main.shtml
