Wayback Wednesday: The Family

A View from the Bunker

Derek Gilbert

Lucifer, Christianity, Seraphim, Elohim, History, Cherubim, Angels, Politics, Watchers, Ancient Near East, Religion & Spirituality, Satan, Iraq, Syria, Demons, Giants, Israel, Theology, Babel, Conspiracy, Babylon, Prophecy, Dominionism, Nephilim

4.8 • 528 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s Wayback Wednesday, with another interview drawn from our archive of programs dating back to June, 2009. This week, it’s a discussion from 2009 about an ostensibly Christian group that wields an inordinate amount of power behind the scenes in Washington, D. C., The Family.

Originally released September 20, 2009

A SECRETIVE religious group that wields power in Washington, D.C. and other world capitals — sounds like the basis for Dan Brown’s next novel, but it’s real.

Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, has been following this group for years, even living at The Family’s headquarters for a time. What he found is a group that justifies its pursuit of political power by claiming that it’s for the kingdom of God.

Read Jeff’s original expose of The Family, “Jesus Plus Nothing,” at Harper’s Magazine online.

Christians are taking heat for The Family from the likes of The Huffington Post and MSNBC. The irony is that The Family isn’t promoting a Christian agenda, but a New Age agenda. See Constance Cumbey’s five-part series The Family and its Hijacking of Evangelicalism.

As Jeff Sharlet asked, where is the outrage from influential evangelicals?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The family now on a view from the bunker.
0:07.0	A secretive religious organization that walks the halls of power and exercises influence not only in Washington, D.C.,
0:15.0	but in capitals around the globe, sounds like the plot to the next novel from Dan Brown, but it's not. It's real,
0:23.5	and we're honored tonight to talk with the only man who's written from inside the walls
0:27.9	of the headquarters of this organization. He's a contributing editor for Harper's and Rolling
0:32.5	Stones magazines. He's the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Family,
0:37.1	The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, published by Harper, and now available in paperback.
0:42.3	We welcome to the bunker, Jeff Charlotte.
0:43.8	Jeff, it's an honor.
0:45.8	Hey, Derek. Thanks. Good to be here.
0:47.9	Who or what is the family?
0:51.3	The family is the oldest and most influential political religious organization in the United States.
0:58.8	It goes back to the 1930s.
1:01.0	Ostensibly Christian, they sometimes call themselves the Christian mafia.
1:06.0	On the other hand, the inner core of the group actually rejects the label Christian.
1:10.0	So it's pretty unorthodox.
1:12.3	What makes them different than maybe that's sort of the standard kind of Christian conservative movement you've heard of,
1:18.3	the James Dobsons and Jerry Falwells, is one, the family's only elites.
1:24.2	They're not interested in your soul or mine.
1:27.4	They're only interested. They your soul or mine uh...
1:27.5	they're only interested they believe that god uh... gave them a new revelation
1:31.1	telling him that i'm going to work through a few uh... new chosen as you call them
	...

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