Very concerned Coxsackie resident denounces 12 Tribes cult

Thoughts on Twelve Tribes

Greene County News

November 5, 1998

To the Editor:

The Messianic Communities, called the Twelve Tribes, has moved into our County and seems to be anxious to “teach” us who and what their Communities are all about.  They have held Open Forums now in several areas.  “We need people to say what’s on their minds,” as David Burleigh stated in the “Daily Mail.”  I suspect that they don’t really want to know what’s on our minds, but they want us to know what’s on their agenda.  They know all about where we are coming from with our traditional Christian point of view.  I think that they really are holding these “Not So Open Forums” for their own benefit and promotion.

On Nov. 4, at the Coxsackie Athens High School Auditorium, some concerned citizens have arranged for a meeting to present another view from the more traditional, basic, historical, interdenominational, Biblical and theological point of view.  The Twelve Tribes teach that the Christian Church has not correctly understood the “Bible” for 1900 years.  They believe that Elbert Spriggs, their self-appointed Apostle, is the first new Apostle to appear after the death of the original New Testament Apostles.  He states, “The ‘Bible’ is written to confound the wise.  It is meant to be misunderstood unless you are under the anointing.”  Only they alone are of course “under the anointing.”  The Messianic Communities want to restore what has been “lost” since the early Church.  They actually teach that, “Nobody since the Apostolic Church has truly understood what is required to enter a saving relationship with God.”

Nationally known, Robert Pardon and Judith Barba, Director of the New England Institute of Religious Research, will be present at the Nov. 4 meeting at the High School at 7 p.m.  They will be presenting the standard Christian position as well as a psychological-social perspective.  Former Twelve Tribes members will also be speaking.  I strongly urge members of all the Churches in Greene County, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, to attend the meeting.  From what I have learned so far, this new religious group referred to as the Twelve Tribes fits all the definitions of what constitutes a Cult.  We owe it to ourselves and our families, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren to get informed.

Rev. Richard Pruiksma

Coxsackie