Chattanoogan/May 7, 2008 By Cliff Sarbel So the Yellow Deli is back in business. Somehow I am not surprised. Cults always seem to come back around for a second helping. However, Chattanoogans must remember that this group has a history of abuse of members, isolation of members from their families, taking advantage of lonely young…
Reposted from: Lookout Valley Informer Donnie Bryson The Yellow Deli folks, who call themselves the Twelve Tribes, returned to Chattanooga for a reunion event at Warner Park this Easter Sunday. Their handbill gave me the impression that they might set up another outpost in Chattanooga. All I knew of them from the 70s was only…
Cornell Daily Sun/May 3, 2006 By Ross Anderson “I’m really thankful,” said a man who identified himself as Lev. “I was lost and alone, and then God revealed himself to me.” Five years ago, Lev joined the Twelve Tribes, The Common Wealth of Israel, a religious group that began a community in Ithaca two years…
Chattanooga Times January 10, 1980 Bill Casteel Steve and Elizabeth Petty spent approximately one year as members of the Vine Christian Community Church. Disappointed and disillusioned, they finally walked away from the group. It took them a year to put their lives and their marriage back together. “It took us a year to repair the…
Chattanooga Times Randy Arnold 1980 Saying he was a “concerned grandfather who truly loves and wants his granddaughter back,” Joe Heflin has accused members of the Vine Christian Community Church of taking his 4 year old granddaughter and keeping her from him and the child’s mother. In an interview with the Times Tuesday, Heflin and…
Chattanooga Times Bill Casteel January 12, 1980 Kirsten and Johanna Neilsen, twin sisters from the Vine Christian Community Church here – best known for several years as operator of the Yellow Deli restaurants, which have since been sold. After they were “deprogrammed,” they held a news conference at which they denounced the organization, charging that…
Chattanooga Times Bill Casteel January 9, 1980 Pastor W.C. Hunter, of the Words of Life Ministry and author of “How to Save Your Loved Ones from the Cults” said Tuesday that leaders of groups such as the Vine Christian Community Church “use the Scriptures to scare their followers to death.” “They twist the Scriptures, exalt…
Chattanooga Times Bill Casteel December 29, 1979 The Oakland, Calif., twins who spent four years in the Vine Christian Community here before being “rescued” and “deprogrammed” last week have a history of running away from home, Joyce Henrikson, a neighbor of the twins and the sister of church leader Gene Springs, told the Times Friday. Mrs….
Carolyn Mitchell January 21, 1979 Stories about the People’s Temple in Guyana have sparked interest in religious cults and have increased the invitations Melinda Horton receives to address church groups and civic clubs. A member of the Vine Community Christian Church for 15 months, Melinda refers to the group, which operates the Yellow Deli restaurants,…
The Chattanooga Times/January 19, 1978 By Alan Murray Eddie Wiseman, James Howell and David Jones said they were appointed elders of the Vine Christian Community Church [now known as the "Twelve Tribes"] by the Lord. They have all been members of the church since 1974. Wiseman, 30, is a native of Chattanooga who said he…