The Family International (2010-Present)

THE FAMILY INTERNATIONAL TIMELINE (2010-PRESENT)

2010:  The Reboot was introduced via eighteen comprehensive documents disassembling the previous organizational model and officially removing all TFI writings from circulation pending review.

2012:  A Veteran Members Care program was created to provide resources and a one-time retirement gift for senior members for their transition from the communal support system.

2013:  Peter produced a sixteen-part video series addressing post-Reboot issues and announced that the movement would not reorganize, resulting in its reinvention as online religion.

2013:  TFI Online and various other websites were created to build online community and to preserve TFI’s writings, cultural legacy, and early history.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

The Family International’s five-decade history has been characterized by a culture of continuous change, adaptation, and innovation. From its early days on the countercultural fringe of the Jesus People Movement in the late 1960s, to its evolution from the late 1970s to 2010 as a communalist new religious movement spanning three generations, the movement developed a transnational structure guided by prophetic revelation (Shepherd and Shepherd 2006:50-51). In 2010, a profound redirection and reorganization was implemented, known as the “Reboot,” which systematically deconstructed historic pillars of the Family International’s culture and lifestyle practices, including its communal household model, local and regional leadership, and boards and oversight committees. The Reboot introduced significant revisionism to the movement’s theology and religious practice, repositioning these in closer alliance to Christian orthodoxy, while tempering or discontinuing most of its unconventional doctrines and countercultural practices (Borowik 2013, 2022; Shepherd and Shepherd 2013).

The Reboot resulted in a period of unprecedented upheaval to the membership, due to the precipitous dismantling of the communal household model in the first two years after the Reboot, eventuating in a global migration of thousands of members returning to their home countries. Members experienced a protracted process of identity renegotiation as they sought to reintegrate into mainstream society, which they had abandoned decades earlier, or in the case of the second-generation, had marginally experienced (Borowik 2018:69-75). At the time of the Reboot, it was stated that a new organizational framework would be implemented by 2012. However, the new structure was not implemented as foreseen, and in 2013, in a series of videos titled TFI Today, Peter Amsterdam announced that no new organizational framework to build community or coordinate members’ missionary work would be introduced. Members were encouraged to develop their own local mechanisms for community, whether with other members or with other churches or Christian groups (Amsterdam 2013).

The lack of implementation of the envisioned organizational framework after the Reboot, in conjunction with the dismantling of the communal society model, led to the metamorphosis of the movement from a countercultural movement in tension with the surrounding sociocultural environment to an amorphous networked community. Although many members continued with their missionary work, most pursued employment or mainstream Christian ministry, or undertook higher education to develop new careers (Barker 2022:26). Within two years of the Reboot, the adult membership had declined by thirty- two percent, and frameworks for community and mission collaboration had become limited to periodic grassroots initiatives.

As a compensatory mechanism for the lack of in-person community and TFI’s unforeseen evolution to online religion, TFI Online (TFI Online website 2022) was created as a community website in 2013. The website serves as a portal to other TFI websites and features a public interface in line with the Reboot’s determination to broaden its membership and a “members only” space to foster community. Numerous websites, many of which are multilingual, were developed to publish Christian inspirational and missional writings and to preserve TFI’s legacy. Peter Amsterdam and Maria Fontaine [Image at right] publish new messages for the membership and the public on Directors Corner (TFI Online website. Directors Corner 2022). The Anchor website was developed for adapting and republishing previous publications removed from circulation at the Reboot, as well as for pointing to contemporary non-TFI Christian publications and posting articles on Christian doctrine and apologetics (TFI Online website.Anchor 2022). The Family’s Endtime beliefs were preserved on Countdown to Armageddon, a website devoted to apocalyptic themes (TFI Online website.Countdown 2022). The Activated website hosts the movement’s signature outreach magazine, Activated (published since 2002), while the Children of God website archives over 5,000 photos and numerous documents from the movement’s early history (Children of God website 2022).

Barker has described the Reboot’ deconstruction of TFI’s countercultural worldview and doctrine and its subsequent transformation to online religion, as a “radical deradicalization” of the movement (2016:419). The post-Reboot community has faced significant challenges in membership retention and recapturing a sense of collective identity and purpose. Membership has decreased from 5,400 adult members in 2010 at the Reboot to 1,410 in December 2021, representing an average annual decline of nearly eleven percent (Borowik 2022:217). Tithes and offerings have decreased at a rate of seven percent per year on average since the Reboot (Amsterdam 2019a). Throughout its history, the Family International proved adept at weathering challenges in the form of opposition and government intervention, its dispersal in up to ninety countries around the world, and the everyday struggles of life in a communal setting with financial precarity. The Reboot, however, introduced the most radical change to date, and a decade after its implementation, the sustainability of the Family in its current virtualized configuration is uncertain, given the decline in membership and finances, the aging of the first-generation, and the lack of a framework for new member recruitment to revitalize the movement (Shepherd and Shepherd 2013:94; Borowik 2018:80-81). Despite the challenges the post-Reboot Family has faced, it continues to evangelize and publish its message through its websites, which received more than 2,000,000 unique visitors from 212 nations and twenty-two languages in 2021, who viewed nearly 3,000,000 pages of content (TFI Services 2022).

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

The Reboot introduced significant revisionism to Family doctrine and religious practice, which represented, as per Barker’s definition: “a reinterpretation of the movement’s orthodoxy and orthopraxy to something recognizably different from the movement’s original raison d’être” (2013:2–3). The doctrinal revisionism introduced at the Reboot was grounded in the affirmation of the authority of the Bible over extrabiblical revelation and prophecy. Writings and teachings that ventured outside the realm of biblical orthodoxy were deemed “additional teachings” that members could choose to embrace or not. Family writings prior to the Reboot contained numerous extrabiblical teachings, in particular during Maria’s leadership, which emphasized prophecy and new revelation, resulting in what Shepherd and Shepherd referred to as a “unique culture of prophecy” (Shepherd and Shepherd 2010:211). Most of the writings published by Maria from 1996 to 2009 were largely comprised of corporate direction in the form of prophecy, based on a highly committed model of discipleship (Borowik 2022:209-13). Since the official removal of all previously published writings from circulation pending review in 2010, extrabiblical teachings have rarely been republished, nor have they been reinstated.

The majority of writings published by Peter Amsterdam since 2011 are studies in mainstream evangelical theology, such as The Heart of It All: Foundations of Christian Theology, indicative of the shift introduced at the Reboot to realign Family doctrine with Christian orthodoxy (Amsterdam 2019b). Another series authored by Amsterdam, Living Christianity, affirms the moral law in the Ten Commandments, a monumental departure from David Berg’s teachings that the Ten Commandments did not apply to Christians, which served as the rationale for his Law of Love doctrine (Amsterdam 2018). Berg contended that through adherence to the Law of Love, members could step outside traditional biblical boundaries for sexual intimacy without being subject to the biblical proscriptions of adultery and sexual immorality, insofar as they were motivated by unselfish love for others and harmed no one (Borowik 2013:23-25). While the principles behind the Law of Love doctrine were upheld at the Reboot, sexual practices were no longer considered part of the doctrine and were relegated to lifestyle choices. In practice, themes of sexuality have not been revisited in post-Reboot publications, nor have previous publications on the topic been preserved (Borowik 2022:214-15).

A significant shift in doctrine introduced at the Reboot was the repositioning of the movement’s understanding of the timeframe for the Second Coming of Christ (referred to in Family writings as “the Endtime”). As a milenarian movement that advocated an imminent fulfilment of the biblical apocalypse, the movement’s context was predicated from its earliest days on the belief that the Second Coming would occur within the lifetime of first-generation members. As such, the salvation of souls in preparation for the Second Coming historically holding a high priority, and long-term organizational strategies were not contemplated throughout much of its history. At the Reboot, Peter Amsterdam proposed that in order to adopt long-term strategies for church growth, it would be important to make allowance for an extended timeframe for the Endtime of up to thirty years or more (Amsterdam 2010; Borowik 2013:17-18). Notwithstanding this proposed change in position, the belief in an imminent fulfillment of the biblical apocalypse continues to be prevalent amongst a segment of members and former members (Borowik 2018:71).

Although Maria and Peter have rarely written on the Endtime since assuming leadership after the death of Berg, in 2020 and 2021, they published two posts in response to members’ questions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, and whether this represented the beginning of the final seven years described in the Bible as preceding Christ’s Second Coming. In these posts, Peter and Maria stated that they were not inclined to delve into speculations or interpretations of biblical prophecy on these matters and did not believe that there was evidence that the last seven years of the biblical apocalypse had been initiated (Fontaine 2020; Amsterdam 2021).

RITUALS/PRACTICES

The Family International was organized from its early days as a radical Christian communalist movement with a world-rejecting philosophy and a mission to reach the world with the Gospel message. Members established communal homes in ninety countries with members from seventy-four nationalities, resulting in a multi-ethnic movement with a transnational organizational structure, and a unified culture based on its beliefs, the published writings, and the lived experiences of the grassroots membership within the homes. The communal homes met nearly daily for united devotions and worship and collaborated in the education of children, evangelistic activities, procurement of donated goods and funds, and maintenance of the households.

The disassembling of the communal homes after the Reboot dismantled previous shared rituals and practices that were rooted in communalism. In the absence of a framework for assembling for worship and devotions, religious practice became largely self-styled and relegated to the individual to determine to what extent to assemble with other members or other Christians or to participate in evangelism. While the TFI Online Community website provides a shared space for the membership, this forum does not include interactive platforms, nor does it stream religious services or offer chat rooms, or prayer or study groups. As such, no mechanism exists for replacing previous rituals for worship, prayer, or communion or for fostering a shared culture or identity, which is currently largely based on remnants of the previous culture and belief system (Borowik 2022:217-22).

The Family International continues to maintain evangelism as its core purpose in its Mission Statement, along with charitable and humanitarian works, and providing Christian resources for spiritual development. (See the Family International’s Mission Statement at (The Family International Mission Statement 2022) ). Resources continue to be created and published to promote evangelism and the Gospel message as a central practice of the movement.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

Prior to the Reboot, the Family International was organized with a leadership framework that encompassed local, regional, national and international leadership. World Services provided services to the worldwide movement, including publications, translations, mission subsidies, the development of resources for children, the management of tithes and financial disbursements, and oversight of the leadership and board structures. At the Reboot, World Services was disassembled and in its place a minimalist administrative structure was implemented, known as TFI Services, consisting of individuals contracted to provide various services. Peter and Maria serve as the directors of the movement in a minimally directional role, given that TFI officially functions as an online network since 2013 (Borowik 2022:217).

TFI’s previous organizational structure, requirements and lifestyle regulations were documented in its Charter of Rights and Responsibilities (The Family International 2020). The Family’s Charter represented a novel legal–rational document that introduced democratization processes to the home and local leadership, while limiting the authority of leadership (Shepherd and Shepherd 2006:36). The transition to the post-Reboot emphasis on self-determination and personal autonomy necessitated the annulment of scores of requirements and norms articulated in TFI’s Charter. In 2010, the Charter was reduced from a document of 310 pages to a thirty-page document with minimal membership requirements, including the submission of a monthly report and monetary offering, acceptance of TFI’s statement of faith, and participation in evangelism (TFI Online.Charter 2022).

While the aging of first-generation members was not addressed at the Reboot, in 2012, a new TFI Services desk was introduced, the Veteran Members Care desk, tasked with providing resources to retirement-age members for procuring pensions, employment, and preparing for their old age. A poll was conducted amongst the membership to determine how to best assist this demographic. As a result, it was determined to disburse a one-time stipend to all members (and recent former members) aged fifty-five and older from existing reserves to assist them in their transition from communal households to self-sufficiency in the aftermath of the Reboot (Amsterdam 2011).

At the Reboot, it was anticipated that a lightweight organizational framework would be introduced by 2011, which would be overseen by “facilitators” who would be charged with the oversight of various services (The Family International 2010). When the new organizational structure was not implemented as anticipated, members continued to express their concerns regarding the loss of structure and requested that new agencies for community be developed. In 2013, Peter Amsterdam produced a series of sixteen videos, in which he addressed members’ concerns about the rebooted TFI with titles such as: Is TFI a Dying Movement? Why Be a Member of TFI Today? What is TFI Today? In the course of this series, Peter presented various challenges to the prospect of restructuring organizationally, which included the diversity in members’ perspectives and personal situations, the aversion to previous models of leadership, and cultural differences that had arisen post-Reboot, and concluded by stating that a new organizational structure would not be implemented (Amsterdam 2013).

The current administrative structure of the Family International is detailed in two brief points in TFI’s Charter, outlining 1) the duties of TFI Services and 2) the duties of TFI’s directors (Peter and Maria). TFI Services is tasked with providing member services and supporting mission projects and maintaining TFI websites and online platforms, while TFI’s directors are charged with providing publications that promote the movement’s beliefs, mission and values, and determining services to be provided (The Family International 2020). Unlike the pre-Reboot version of the Charter, no provision was made for the succession of Maria and Peter as the leadership of the Family International.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

Prior to the Reboot, the Family International was organized with a leadership framework that encompassed local, regional, national and international leadership. World Services provided services to the worldwide movement, including publications, translations, mission subsidies, the development of resources for children, the management of tithes and financial disbursements, and oversight of the leadership and board structures. At the Reboot, World Services was disassembled and in its place a minimalist administrative structure was implemented, known as TFI Services, consisting of individuals contracted to provide various services. Peter and Maria serve as the directors of the movement in a minimally directional role, given that TFI officially functions as an online network since 2013 (Borowik 2022:217).

TFI’s previous organizational structure, requirements and lifestyle regulations were documented in its Charter of Rights and Responsibilities (The Family International 2020). The Family’s Charter represented a novel legal–rational document that introduced democratization processes to the home and local leadership, while limiting the authority of leadership (Shepherd and Shepherd 2006:36). The transition to the post-Reboot emphasis on self-determination and personal autonomy necessitated the annulment of scores of requirements and norms articulated in TFI’s Charter. In 2010, the Charter was reduced from a document of 310 pages to a 30-page document with minimal membership requirements, including the submission of a monthly report and monetary offering, acceptance of TFI’s statement of faith, and participation in evangelism. (TFI Online.Charter 2022).

While the aging of first-generation members was not addressed at the Reboot, in 2012, a new TFI Services desk was introduced, the Veteran Members Care desk, tasked with providing resources to retirement-age members for procuring pensions, employment, and preparing for their old age. A poll was conducted amongst the membership to determine how to best assist this demographic. As a result, it was determined to disburse a one-time stipend to all members (and recent former members) aged fifty-five and older from existing reserves to assist them in their transition from communal households to self-sufficiency in the aftermath of the Reboot (Amsterdam 2011).

At the Reboot, it was anticipated that a lightweight organizational framework would be introduced by 2011, which would be overseen by “facilitators” who would be charged with the oversight of various services (The Family International 2010). When the new organizational structure was not implemented as anticipated, members continued to express their concerns regarding the loss of structure and requested that new agencies for community be developed. In 2013, Peter Amsterdam produced a series of sixteen videos, in which he addressed members’ concerns about the rebooted TFI with titles such as: Is TFI a Dying Movement? Why Be a Member of TFI Today? What is TFI Today? In the course of this series, Peter presented various challenges to the prospect of restructuring organizationally, which included the diversity in members’ perspectives and personal situations, the aversion to previous models of leadership, and cultural differences that had arisen post-Reboot, and concluded by stating that a new organizational structure would not be implemented (Amsterdam 2013).

The current administrative structure of the Family International is detailed in two brief points in TFI’s Charter, outlining 1) the duties of TFI Services and 2) the duties of TFI’s directors (Peter and Maria). TFI Services is tasked with providing member services and supporting mission projects and maintaining TFI websites and online platforms, while TFI’s directors are charged with providing publications that promote the movement’s beliefs, mission and values, and determining services to be provided (The Family International 2020). Unlike the pre-Reboot version of the Charter, no provision was made for the succession of Maria and Peter as the leadership of the Family International.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

The evolution of the Family International from the social construction of a radical transnational new religious movement to its current iteration as a deradicalized online network exemplifies the versatility of new religious movements. The history of the Family International has been one of radical change, referred to as revolutions, and innovation, which enabled it to adapt cultural pluralism and organizational change as it evolved into a multiethnic decentralized missionary organization. TFI’s transition to online religion represented its most radical change to date, as it distanced the movement from previous heterodox teachings and practices and deconstructed core elements of its culture and worldview. The Family International’s transformation to online community offers insights into novel ways in which new religious movements may be maintained, and potentially profoundly altered, in online spaces, and the unique challenges new religions may face for their survival and legitimacy in virtual environments (Borowik 2018:80). These challenges include the challenges of reconstructing TFI online, navigating the online cult wars, and creating future movement viability.

A decade after the implementation of the Reboot, the Family International has remained largely unstructured, and TFI Online has faced significant challenges in fostering an authentic sense of community, membership retention, and reconstructing shared identity and purpose in purely virtual environments (Borowik 2022:207-08). The combination of the Reboot’s disassembling of the communal homes and the revisionism introduced to the belief system, coupled with the shift in emphasis to self-determination and the development of a self-stylized form of discipleship and worship, have not been conducive to reconstructing TFI’s religious world.

In addition to experiencing a decline in membership since the Reboot, as of December 2021, two-thirds of the remaining membership are first-generation members, forty-two percent of whom were in their sixties and twenty-two percent in their seventies (TFI Services 2022). Many members in this aging demographic have necessarily pivoted their focus from missionary activities to building financial stability, family matters and caring for elderly relatives (Barker 2011:18–19). While the Family International has effectively incorporated numerous online platforms to publish its writings and network its membership, the movement has struggled to recapture its previous sense of community and purpose built on exclusive truth claims that sustained it through the array of challenges and opposition it faced in its fifty-five-year history.

The Family International was an early new religious homesteader on the Internet, which provided a means for promulgating its Gospel message, creating a public identity, as well as communicating with its widely dispersed membership. However, the Web equally provided space for counternarratives that could be easily replicated and proved damaging due to the permanence of information online and the lack of editorial censorship in this forum (Borowik 2018:76-79). In its bid to reinvent itself as a mature religious movement that has addressed past controversies, TFI faced numerous online obstacles, including counternarratives published in online media, blogs, books, social media, and podcasts, hostile former member websites, and a negative Wikipedia profile created by a countercult administrator with editorship authority.

The Family International had effectively navigated and survived controversy and opposition throughout its history in the form of negative media, government raids and court cases (Borowik 2014). However, by the early 2000s, the “cult wars” had repositioned on the new cyber-battleground of the Internet, which would prove to be a formidable challenge to the movement’s struggle for legitimacy and its reinvention as a contemporary religious movement. The online opposition toward the movement has not abated despite the deradicalization of the movement at the Reboot aimed at lessening tension with society and mainstream Christianity. In light of the ongoing controversy surrounding the movement, members were not required to identify themselves or their mission works with the Family International after the Reboot. Many have chosen not to disclose their membership or former membership with the Family due to concerns of discrimination, loss, or association with the negative portrayals of the movement, focused on the controversial period of its history from the early to mid-1980s, that proliferate on the Internet (Borowik 2018:78-79). The dynamics of the online cult wars have indubitably impeded TFI’s efforts to contemporize the movement and to attain legitimacy and a voice in the online religious marketplace of ideas.

The future viability of the Family International as an amorphous online network is uncertain, given that the majority of the pre-Reboot membership have reintegrated into society and pursued new directions for their lives (Barker 2020:112–13). Core objectives that gave rise the Reboot remain unrealized, in particular the reinvention of TFI as a contemporary Christian movement that would foster congregation-building and membership expansion, and enhance evangelistic endeavors. The stigmatization of the movement, perpetuated (if not magnified) by the dynamics of online information dissemination and contemporary “cancel culture,” has inhibited TFI’s ability to reinvent itself as a legitimate Christian movement despite the deradicalizing measures implemented at the Reboot. Notwithstanding the challenges the movement has faced since the Reboot, the Family International has effectively leveraged virtual spaces to develop a dynamic online presence with a variety of websites in several languages that attracts a sizeable following for a Christian network with less than 1,400 members.

IMAGES

Image #1: Peter Amsterdam and Maria Fontaine.

REFERENCES

Amsterdam, Peter. 2010. Backtracking through TFI History. Internal document. The Family International.

Amsterdam, Peter. 2011. Update on Care of the Elderly Program, June. Internal document. The Family International.

Amsterdam, Peter. 2013. Community and Structure. [Video file]. The Family International. Accessed from www.youtube.com/watch?v=haDuXp37nTY on 25 December 2022.

Amsterdam, Peter. 2018. Living Christianity, Parts 1–31. The Family International. Accessed from https://portal.tfionline.com/en/pages/living-christianity/ on 25 December 2022..

Amsterdam, Peter. 2019a. Renewing our Commitments, January. Internal document. The Family International.

Amsterdam, Peter. 2019b. The Heart of it All: Foundations of Christian Theology. The Family International. Accessed from https://portal.tfionline.com/en/pages/the-heart-ofit-all/ on 25 December 2022.

Amsterdam, Peter. 2021. Signs of the Times and Current Events, May. Internal document. The Family International.

Barker, Eileen. 2022. “What Did They Do about It? A Sociological Perspective on Reactions to Child Sexual Abuse in Three New Religions.” Pp. 13-38 in Radical Transformations in Minority Religions, edited by Beth Singler and Eileen Barker. London: Routledge.

Barker, Eileen. 2020. “Denominationalization or Death? Comparing Processes of Change within the Jesus Fellowship Church and the Children of God aka The Family International.” Pp. 99–118 in The Demise of Religion: How Religions End, Die, or Dissipate, edited by Michael Stausberg, Stuart Wright and Carole Cusack. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Barker, Eileen. 2016. “From the Children of God to the Family International: A Story of Radical Christianity and De-radicalising Transformation.” Pp. 402–21 in Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity: Movements, Institutions, and Allegiance, edited by Stephen Hunt. Leiden: Brill.

Barker, Eileen. 2013. “Revision and Diversification in New Religions: An Introduction.” Pp. 15-30 in Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements, edited by Eileen Barker. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

Barker, Eileen. 2011. “Ageing in New Religions: The Varieties of Later Experiences.” Diskus 12:1–23.

 

Borowik, Claire. 2013. “The Family International: Rebooting for the Future.” In E. Barker, ed., Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements,15–30. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

Borowik, Claire. 2014. “Courts, Crusaders and the Media: The Family International.” In J. T. Richardson and F. Bellanger, eds., Legal Cases, New Religious Movements, and Minority Faiths, 19–40. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.

Borowik, Claire. 2018. “From Radical Communalism to Virtual Community: The Digital Transformation of the Family International.” Nova Religio 22, no. 1: 59–86.

Borowik, Claire. 2022. “Digital Revisionism: The Aftermath of The Family International’s Reboot.” In B. Singler and E. Barker, eds., Radical Transformations in Minority Religions, 207–24. New York: Routledge.

Children of God website. 2022. Accessed from https://childrenofgod.com/ on 25 December 2022).

Fontaine, Marie. 2020. Current Events: Speculations and Opinions (October). Internal document. The Family International.

Shepherd, Gary and Gordon Shepherd. 2006. “The Social Construction of Prophecy in The Family International.” Nova Religio 10, no. 2: 29–56.

Shepherd, Gary and Gordon. Shepherd. 2010. Talking with the Children of God. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Shepherd, Gary and Gordon Shepherd. 2013. “Reboot of The Family International.” Nova Religio 17, no. 2: 74–98.

TFI Online website. 2022. tfionline. Accessed from https://portal.tfionline.com/ on 25 December 2022.

TFI Online website. 2022. Anchor. Accessed from https://anchor.tfionline.com/ on 25 December 2022.

TFI Online website. 2022. Charter. Accessed from https://portal.tfionline.com/en/pages/charter/ on 25 December 2022.

TFI Online website. 2022. Countdown. Accessed from https://countdown.org/ on 25 December 2022.

TFI Online website. 2022. Director’s Corner. Accessed from https://directors.tfionline.com/ on 25 December 2022.

TFI Services. 2022. 2021 Year-End Report. Internal document. The Family International.

The Family International’s Mission Statement. 2022. Accessed from  www.thefamilyinternational.org/en/mission-statement/ on 25 December 2022.

The Family International. 2010. Structure and Services. Internal document. World Services.

The Family International. 2020. Charter of the Family International. https://portal.tfionline.com/en/pages/charter/.

Publication Date:
30 December 2022

 

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