Question 12 Tribes » Central USA https://question12tribes.com Working Together to PRevent Child Abuse Tue, 05 Aug 2025 10:01:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.36 Inside the CUI’s investigation of the Yellow Deli that uncovered its connection to cult-like behavior and child abuse https://question12tribes.com/inside-the-cuis-investigation-of-the-yellow-deli-that-uncovered-its-connection-to-cult-like-behavior-and-child-abuse/ https://question12tribes.com/inside-the-cuis-investigation-of-the-yellow-deli-that-uncovered-its-connection-to-cult-like-behavior-and-child-abuse/#comments Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:02:15 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=7123 Source: CU Independent

by Guest Writer

It was a short, off-hand story from a classmate that lead us to a cult just above the Boulder Valley.

My reporting partner Nicole Dorfman and I had set to find out what was going on in the Yellow Deli, a 24-hour deli and frequent study spot on Pearl Street that earned a reputation around campus as being a cult. What we found led to an investigative report on the restaurant’s links to child abuse and cult-like practices.

Nicole started the project and I joined to help research as she interviewed and dug up information she detailed in her story. My own digging was fueled by the type of obsession that pushed me to add tab after tab of research. Google Chrome eventually stopped counting the windows of information. At first, it was all a blur of declassified FBI documents, old congressional letters and religious tomes, but as we pieced it together, patterns began to emerge.

We were not the first to find this. Old television interviews and investigations around the world had been poking at the Twelve Tribes, the religious group that runs the Yellow Deli. But few articles had been written about the group’s behavior in Boulder.

The Yellow Deli is essentially the Twelve Tribes’ purse. The cult has branches and communities across the world, each running shops and cafes to earn money. The delis are only staffed by unpaid Twelve Tribes members and appear to be their primary source of income. A 400-page child training manual, a heavily redacted FBI document and hundreds of other pages of documents, all seemed to point to something deeply troubling at the local deli and the group that runs it.

The gist of what we were able to confirm is this: the Twelve Tribes are a fundamentalist group that not only believe in corporal punishment, they practically require it. Parents are instructed to strike their children to ensure obedience.

The Twelve Tribes believe that in order for Jesus’ second coming to occur, they must raise 144,000 perfect male virgins, who will be killed around the year 2070. This is founder Gene Spriggs’ interpretation of the Bible’s Book of Revelations, which depicts the battle of Armageddon.

In 1972, Spriggs established the Light Brigade, a Christian ministry for troubled teens that operated out of his coffee shop in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Word of Spriggs’ ministry had spread to Vermont, and in 1977, Spriggs had been invited to a dissatisfied community in Island Pond which was looking for a new interpretation of how to live a Christian life. With the successful growth of the Island Pond community, which at the time called themselves the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, the Twelve Tribes slowly began establishing dozens of communities throughout the U.S., Europe and South America, primarily near college campuses.

As the group spread and established themselves, allegations of child abuse and cult-like behavior came along with it. This concerned Nicole and I, and eventually prompted our investigation.

Over the summer, we took two trips to the deli. We amplified our college student-credentials, showing them our more vulnerable side to garner their interest in us. We did not tell them we were reporters. Journalists are not well-liked in the community.

Over home-style cinnamon rolls and a peachy cold drink, I learned about who they were and what they believe. The Yellow Deli employees and I connected over Christianity. After growing up in a deeply religious Lutheran family, presenting myself as a fellow fundamentalist was not hard. Summer mission trips and regular church attendance gave me a base to understand what they were talking about. I even bonded with one of the Yellow Deli employees over attending the same Christian summer camp, albeit 30 years apart.

Our first trip to the Deli led to invitations to the compound, a five-building campus perched on a garden overlooking the Flatirons. We arrived in character: young, impressionable students ready to jump into an organization that could give us meaning. Soon after we arrived we started to see darker things. The abuse detailed in the “Authority Teachings,” a manual written by Spriggs on the group’s beliefs and practices of child-rearing, became real to us.

The research Nicole and I pored over showed a clear pattern that was hurting children physically and manipulating people’s self-esteem to reduce them into something incapable of surviving without the community. It was gaslighting. Experts Nicole interviewed in her story confirmed that for us.

When we arrived we were greeted with a torrent of clapping and offerings of a mystery tea, which I refused. Our safety plan dictated neither of us would eat the same thing. We prepped safe-words and contacted friends to ask that they call the police if they didn’t hear from us by a certain time.

Our time there was dominated by prayer and dining. Men held most of the speaking time and the children sat quietly to the side. Nicole pointed out a strange practice: the kids were frequently going into the bathroom, always escorted by an adult. Inside, Nicole found wooden rods, similar to what the documents describe as tools to hit children.

The bathrooms were right off the main room — a cream white-walled hall filled with members praying, dancing and communing in their faith. Like the deli, the compound was simple and homey, with wood accents, soft light and acoustic music. Members kept an eye on us. Their hospitality was insurmountable with repeated offers of their dark milky brown tea.

The visit included an eerily perfect garden tour with an orange-hued sunset and an introduction to their history in Boulder. In other circumstances, it would be a pleasant evening at a rural outpost overlooking our college town. But there was something off. They seemed to speak a language with their bodies which we couldn’t understand. The leader passed us off between members to continue our tour through their garden and through their view on life.

Simple questions, like asking the only other girl near our age what she was going to do once she turned 18 and presumably graduate high school turned awkward. “I guess … I’ll stay here,” she said. While she paused in her answer she looked at the adults around the room, seemingly looking for approval. The second time we came back, we saw her in tears, alone in the kitchen.

The sense of the division between the community and outsiders was palpable. They talked about “backstabbings” and cautioned one another of those who would hurt them. They couldn’t trust anyone or anything. I saw an extreme amount of control, especially over their kids.

Ultimately, Nicole and I could (and did) drive away. We left while others, especially the children, could not. Maybe they wanted to stay, but even if they did it seemed like they have never known another life and had no means to leave. In the Twelve Tribes, everyone has someone above them.

Researching this story brought Nicole and I face to face with deep questions about this community and about our own. When does connection become abusive? How strong is too strong of a bond? How much belief is too much belief, especially when that belief involves hurting children?

Nicole found the answers to many of the news-related questions we had. But many of the philosophical answers ultimately are for you, the reader, to find.

A few months after our undercover trips to the compound, I took one last visit to the Yellow Deli. I was curious as to how they would treat me after not seeing me for months. Three things happened: they remembered my name, they invited to drive me to a wedding that weekend in Kansas and they sent me home with a free peanut butter energy bar that was better than any Clif Bar I’ve ever tasted. It was strange.

Click here to read the CUI’s investigative story on the Yellow Deli. 

Contact Lauren Sandal, who contributed research to the CUI’s investigative story into the Yellow Deli story, at Lauren.Sandal@colorado.edu

]]> https://question12tribes.com/inside-the-cuis-investigation-of-the-yellow-deli-that-uncovered-its-connection-to-cult-like-behavior-and-child-abuse/feed/ 0 Yellow Deli restaurant linked to organization accused of child abuse, CUI investigation finds https://question12tribes.com/yellow-deli-restaurant-linked-to-organization-accused-of-child-abuse-cui-investigation-finds/ https://question12tribes.com/yellow-deli-restaurant-linked-to-organization-accused-of-child-abuse-cui-investigation-finds/#comments Wed, 11 Dec 2019 07:56:02 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=7121 Source: CU Independent

by Colie Dorfman

You know your favorite late-night sandwich spot, the Yellow Deli? It’s tied to an organization with a deep history of physically abusing children and religious fundamentalism, a nine-month CU Independent investigation has found.

Yellow Deli, the all-day, all-night Boulder cafe frequented by students has been open about its evangelist roots, but behind the cheap sandwiches and free Wi-Fi is a darker history. The CUI investigation is based on interviews with 12 ex-members of Twelve Tribes, a religious organization linked to the restaurant, and reviews of over 400 pages of  Twelve Tribes documents obtained both publicly and through sources.

Twelve Tribes in Boulder opened the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street in 2010 and is a part of a global network of 74 communities worldwide. Other businesses owned by the organization, such as farms and factories, have been the subject of other media investigations that have uncovered abuse and potential child labor violations. The CUI did not find direct allegations of child abuse at the Yellow Deli, but in an undercover visit to Boulder’s Twelve Tribes’ compound where all Yellow Deli employees live, a young child appeared to be beaten.

Six ex-members of Twelve Tribes told the CUI they were witnesses or victims of child abuse in Twelve Tribes locations around the globe. Others described intense control exerted by the group on its members.

“Childhood was hell,” said Alex, an ex-member who agreed to talk with the CUI without the publication of his last name. At a Twelve Tribes compound in Cambridge, New York, he described being beaten bloody sometimes to the point of collapsing.

“That’s my only childhood milestone, to stay alive till the next day,” he said. Local and national representatives for the Twelve Tribes did not return multiple requests for comments, which included phone calls and a detailed list of questions sent by reporters. In the past, representatives for the group have defended their practices as a  part of their religion.

“That’s my only childhood milestone, to stay alive till the next day.”

Alex, a former Twelve Trives member

Samie Brosseau, the founder of a non-profit that helps people transition out of cult-like environments, did not mince words in an interview with the CUI, saying the Twelve Tribes is a cult. Brosseau grew up in a Twelve Tribes compound and fled when she was 18. She said her parents held her in custody, but she finally escaped out the front door of an isolated Massachusetts cabin to try and find her way to a modern world she had never lived in before.

“The Twelve Tribes’ narcissistic cult leader uses gaslighting as a way to control the religion,”  Brosseau said.

Her non-profit, Liberation Point, works with people from “high control groups” to readjust to life, as she had to after leaving the religious group.

Ex-members describe beatings with rods as punishment for even small infractions, like not singing loud enough during religious ceremonies. Much of the rationale the groups use for physical striking is rooted in religion, documents about the Twelve Tribes’ theology show. Much of this happens in compounds the group built to house members and host religious events. “We all live together, like a big extended family,” the group’s website reads. In Boulder, all of the employees of the Yellow Deli live in a compound on 5325 Eldorado Springs Drive.

Reporters from the CUI entered the compound twice in August at the invitation of Yellow Deli employees without disclosing they were gathering information for a news story. While there, a young child appeared to have a red mark underneath her right cheek after being escorted from the bathroom where wailing sounds were heard by the reporters. The screams and hitting noises appeared to be a beating with a large wooden rod, which the reporters later found under the bathroom sink. The apparent beating matched the descriptions of multiple ex-members’ experiences.

“The emotional damage they cause lasts long after people escape,” said Hannah, an ex-member who lived in the Island Pond community in Vermont. “My parents were being punished. The cult would say if you were sick it was because God was punishing you for being evil.”

Ali, another ex-member who spoke with the CUI on the condition her last name not be published, lived in the New England communities and had similar experiences.

“They say suffering or hardship to a disciple is like sunshine to a plant,” she said. “The Twelve Tribes prepares and encourages you to receive suffering.”

While at the compound in August, CUI reporters only entered two of the buildings — one where the community holds prayer gatherings and a building where they eat meals. The prayer building is where the apparent striking of the child was heard as well as where three two-foot wooden rods were found.

Alex, from the New York compound, detailed “vicious beatings” with rods similar to those found in the Boulder compound. Of the ex-members the CUI reached out to who spent time in the Colorado communities, few were willing to retell their stories publicly, insisting on anonymity to avoid reprisal from the community.

“You talk out of line or sometimes you never even knew what the hell you did but all of a sudden you’re getting your feet beaten bloody with the rods,” Alex said.

Religious Beginnings

Child-rearing is heavily regulated by a book at the center of the group called the “Authority Teachings.” The CUI obtained a copy of the teachings through an ex-member network that now works to expose the group. The teachings instruct parents to physically discipline their children to instill obedience and help achieve the tribes’ ultimate goal: 144,000 male virgins. The group says it needs to produce that number of male virgins to bring the second coming of Jesus Christ and the apocalypse, as cited in the book of revelations. At the Yellow Deli, the group distributes whimsically-designed pamphlets that introduce customers to its beliefs.

The Authority Teachings states that parents are supposed to strike their children or create “stripes that wound,” according to the text reviewed by the CUI.

“These stripes are the only way the heart can be reached,” the text reads. “Injury is to impair soundness of health; to wound. But stripes or marks from loving discipline shows love by the parent.”

The author of the teachings is the Twelve Tribes founder, Gene Spriggs. He founded the group as a small Christian community in Chattanooga, Tennessee, preaching in his home and baptizing people in the lake behind his house. Spriggs started a group in 1972 that would become the Twelve Tribes and opened the first Yellow Deli to support the group soon after. The group is commonly cited as having between 2,000-3,000 members. Since its founding, the tribes have faced accusations of being a cult and spouting fundamentalist ideology.

In the teachings, Spriggs states that “the goal of the rod is to break the willful resistance of a child’s rebellion, which would take him to the second death.”

Second death is described in the teachings as a spiritual death where people suffer in “The Lake of Fire” or Hell. Brosseau said the Twelve Tribes uses the concept of second death to cultivate obedience in the community, a key tribute of cult-like behavior.

Within the Authority Teachings, the cult also acknowledges that some people call their discipline “child abuse.” Spriggs worked quickly to discredit this logic in the teachings.

“There are people who have created theories that using the rod to discipline is called child abuse, this causes some parents to be afraid and to question the use of discipline … This is why the antichrist will be able to come in, because all of the restraint of lawlessness is being removed,” Spriggs writes in the Authority Teachings.

Spriggs and his followers have attracted other investigations by the news media. A documentary aired on a German TV network sent undercover reporters to compounds that uncovered “systematic beatings” of children. An Inside Edition investigation in 2018 found instances of child labor in the upstate New York community, the same which Alex grew up in. Along with the CUI reporters’ trip to the Boulder compound where a beating appeared to be heard, no one directly tied the same behavior from other compounds to the Boulder community but many said practices are similar across communities.

The Twelve Tribes in Boulder 

The tribes’ teachings came to Boulder with 63-year-old Andrew Wolfe, a long-time organization member and current leader in Boulder. Wolfe set up the Boulder Community in 2009 with the intention of spreading it beyond its eastern U.S. roots. During that year, Boulder leaders began holding meetings in their homes and finally got a building lease on Pearl Street in 2010 — the building that houses the Yellow Deli.

A community leader told the CUI reporters while at the compound that the Boulder Twelve Tribes community members cycle between working at the Yellow Deli and at the compound five days during the week. During Saturday and Sunday, all community members return to the compound for the Sabbath — a period where they do not work and gather for religious ceremonies. Profit from the Yellow Deli directly funds the expenses at the compound.

During the CUI’s undercover trip to the Boulder compound, reporters observed about 30 members, 15 of whom were children. Many of the children appeared to be extremely obedient and close with the adults who oversaw them. Much of the behavior the reporters noticed seemed to coincide with the group’s teachings.

During that trip, when Wolfe was asked if the Twelve Tribes was a cult, he said, “if the Twelve Tribes is a cult, the Catholic Church is a cult.”

However, Brosseau, the ex-member and Liberation Point founder, argued that “in a catholic church, that’s only one part of (a member’s) life.”

In a cult, she said, members’ lives completely revolve around religion. Brosseau also said that other characteristics classify the Twelve Tribes as a cult such as totalitarian leadership with a charismatic and narcissistic leader, black and white thinking, controlling knowledge and isolation. Other experts, like Catherine Mann who has a PhD in religious psychology, told the CUI the tribes meet the definition of a cult.

Brosseau said Yoneq, founder Gene Sprigg’s Hebrew name that his followers affectionately call him, employed all of these methods to “indoctrinate and maintain control over Twelve Tribes members.”

Luke Wiseman, the most powerful ex-member interviewed for this story, described Twelve Tribes inner workings as an authoritarian and “threat-based system.” At one time, Wiseman was a national leader, called a “tribal leader,” who worked very closely with Spriggs and his wife Marsha.

Wiseman said when members leave, they’re considered dead to the community. While he is likely seen as socially dead to Twelve Tribe members, he says he still loves his former community.

“All of us who left love our friends and family in the Twelve Tribes. And we have not cut them off,” Wiseman said. “But they’ve cut us off.”

Click here to read the CUI’s behind-the-scenes account of how it broke the investigative story. 

Contact CU Independent Staff News Reporter Nicole Dorfman at Nicole.Dorfman@colorado.edu

]]> https://question12tribes.com/yellow-deli-restaurant-linked-to-organization-accused-of-child-abuse-cui-investigation-finds/feed/ 0 FBI Documents Show Alleged Child Sex Abuse https://question12tribes.com/fbi-documents-show-alleged-child-sex-abuse-drug-trafficking-at-twelve-tribes/ https://question12tribes.com/fbi-documents-show-alleged-child-sex-abuse-drug-trafficking-at-twelve-tribes/#comments Sun, 30 Jun 2019 06:14:17 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=7021 WARNING: This article sensationalizes and exagerates even lies about what is actually in the FBI’s vault. But it also reflects the testimonies true, or not of those witnesses who spoke to the FBI. It will stay on this website until a better article summing up the FBI’s records is made public. So the reader is advised to look at source material and contrast it with the vast amount of information, ex-members’ accounts, legal documents, academic writings, professional investigations, Twelve Tribes own material such as teachings, etc.

Source of article: The Epoch Times.com

Source of FBI records: FBI.gov

FBI records on Twelve Tribes in PDF file you can view and download: FBI files Twelve Tribes Part 01 of 01

June 28, 2019 Updated: June 30, 2019

The FBI released redacted documents this week on the cult community known as the “Twelve Tribes,” revealing numerous allegations against the group, including child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, ritual abuse, and forced labor.

The 61-page document—released by the bureau’s Vault library on June 25—included separate complaints detailing the alleged crimes, mostly against children. The cult has communes all over the United States, including Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Florida, California, Tennessee, and more.

In 2013, a preliminary investigation was conducted by the FBI, based on a complaint the bureau received from the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina that children were being “sexually exploited” at a Twelve Tribes compound in the town of Hiddenite. The case was closed the same year.

Twelve Tribes has communes around the world, with the Hiddenite location being one of its training centers.

Documents showed that drugs were used at the commune and placed into “ritual” bread—usually LSD and hallucinogenic plants, as well as heroin and meth. There were also ritual ceremonies once a month that involved the bread being broken and gang rapes.

Punishment within the cult involved being beaten with a rod and having the wife or children of the accused being sexually assaulted by other cult members. The sheriff’s office had been aware of the Hiddenite location since 2006 and that much of the land in the area was owned by the cult, since families who joined had to turn over their property.

Members of the Hiddenite compound also allegedly were forced to go to a location and work all night and day for “three straight days,” in what was known as a “push” that involved three or six members. Those working were allowed to drink coffee that may have had something added to it to keep them awake.

In a prior complaint included in the released documents, a name that was redacted had contacted the public access line to report child sexual abuse in a Twelve Tribes commune located in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The person had said children were threatened not to tell the police or anyone else about the beatings or sexual abuse, and that the cult ran a restaurant in the area.

Yet another document, one from 2010, detailed how a former member was allegedly sexually and physically abused by cult members as a child but had repressed the memories. In 2009, the former member had seen a psychologist, who reported the abuse to local authorities, and had also contacted national leaders of the cult to inform them of her abuse. The former member also attended personal meetings with the cult leaders.

After a meeting on a date that was redacted, the former member was killed in a car crash that “was not accidental” and was allegedly “orchestrated” by cult members to prevent the woman from “propagating the claims of abuse.”

In the Twelve Tribe cult, members were also “allowed to punish any child belonging to the community.” The FBI document detailed how members would take their children to be “wooped,” meaning beaten, if they smiled at another child during a gathering, or if they were “horsing” around.

“Bigger children have missed ‘gathering’ for a couple of days at a time because they were beaten so badly and left in a condition where they could not attend,” the documents said, based on an interview with an FBI agent.

One former member said that they were once “locked in a cellar, beaten, and deprived of food.”

The release of the FBI documents came days after Keith Raniere, the former leader of purported self-help organization NXIVM was found guilty on all charges at a Brooklyn federal court on June 19.

NXIVM Collapse

A federal jury, made up of eight men and four women, deliberated for less than five hours before finding Raniere guilty of all 7 criminal counts including sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, and racketeering.

Raniere listened attentively but showed no visible reaction as he learned the verdict. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 25.

The accusations against Raniere center around a secret society within the group—which he allegedly created in 2015—named DOS, an acronym for the Latin “dominus obsequious sororium,” loosely translated as “master of the slave women.”

Prosecutors say Raniere was the “highest master” of DOS and forced other members—all women—to have sex with him. Many of the DOS members were branded with a cauterizing pen while naked and being filmed.

Days ago, during closing arguments in the high-profile trial, assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza alluded to the prosecution’s May 7 opening statements, telling the jury that Raniere was chiefly after “sex, money, power.”

Penza brought up the testimony of former NXIVM members, including one identified by prosecutors as “Daniela,” who had spoken about being locked up in a room for nearly two years after Raniere found out she had kissed another man. Another member, identified as Sylvie, testified about being forced into a sex act with the leader. Another, a senior board member, detailed Raniere’s manipulation and fraud.

The verdict comes after a 7-week long trial. Raniere could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Follow Bowen on Twitter: @BowenXiao3

]]> https://question12tribes.com/fbi-documents-show-alleged-child-sex-abuse-drug-trafficking-at-twelve-tribes/feed/ 5 How A Dangerous Cult Endangered Our Family: My Untold Story https://question12tribes.com/how-a-dangerous-cult-endangered-our-family-my-untold-story/ https://question12tribes.com/how-a-dangerous-cult-endangered-our-family-my-untold-story/#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2019 23:07:16 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=7039 Source: Pulpit and Pen

by · Published · Updated

Before I told this story, I wanted enough time to pass to de-escalate a highly volatile situation. But, it’s a story that needs to be told.

A little more than a year ago, I made contact with a family who attended a satellite Bible study in a town an hour away from our church facility, which is one Bible study of several I do in communities away from home. This is my way of helping to connect families that travel a good distance to church and may not be able to attend a mid-week study and it helps to build a teaching presence away from home, being faithful to the Great Commission.

The family seemed fine enough, sincere in their beliefs, solid in their convictions, and devout. Within a short time, they decided to move closer to us to partake in our weekly Lord’s Day gatherings, and we added them to the Body of the Church by a vote of the congregation. As a matter of due diligence, I spoke to one of their former pastors and asked for a recommendation. The pastor told me that the gentleman, who I will call Kepha – his cult name – would be commended for membership but that he once had a troubling episode and shared with me various ‘signs’ to be on the lookout for in regards to his mental health. Because of clergy-penitent privilege, he did not tell me more.

I should have asked for more specifics.

For several months, the family integrated themselves into the church and I gave him various service responsibilities, like turning on the lights and making the coffee on Sunday morning (we want all of our members to serve in some capacity). It seemed well enough.

However, mid-summer, Kepha began to show signs that something wasn’t right mentally, and certain of the indicators mentioned to me by his former pastor had manifested themselves.

While on summer vacation with my family, Kepha told me of a conspiracy involving a long-standing member of our church (he had been at my church longer than me), which sounded fanciful and not true to the man’s character or the nature of reality. It seemed to me he was spiraling into a world of fantasy.

It was during this time that Kepha became intensely interested in the ‘ministry’ work of Servus Christi, a pseudonymous online YouTube host (whose real identity I still don’t know, but I know it’s questioned by many) who I previously had encountered in my polemics work. Servus Christi is a Sectarian Minimalist and seems to hate the ‘organized church.’ He also did videos attacking me, Dr. John MacArthur, Paul Washer, and others. Kepha would call me frantically and ask, “Have you seen Servus Christi’s new video? Paul Washer is a Jesuit!”

I would settle his fears by calling HeartCry, getting the facts that Servus Christi had twisted, and reaffirm to Kepha the truths that had been perverted by the YouTube personality. Ultimately, Kepha became convinced that of all those criticized by Servus Christi, only Paul Washer seemed legitimately Christian. I, of course, vehemently and diligently deposed those fears as irrational.

However, upon the fanciful accusation regarding this mutual church member, I called and asked his former pastor for more information.

I was shocked to discover the extent of his (what I viewed to be) psychosis and its previous outbursts that led to fear of the pastor – at one point – for his life. I then relayed to Kepha that I was concerned for his mental health.

Then, I asked our church’s security team leader to communicate directly with his previous church’s security team leader for the details, wanting to avoid gossip or tattling and letting those who make security judgement calls make them. After they spoke, it was determined that he was a potential physical risk to the Body and we issued a security memo that he would not be allowed into the facility without first getting a mental health evaluation that the church would pay for.

As he was spiraling, I asked a ‘famous’ friend of mine – who Kepha still claimed to admire – to speak with him. I thought he might be able to get through. My friend agreed to speak with him, but Kepha would not speak to him.

I approached the local police department and asked if they had someone in the public area where two members of our security team and a fellow elder (and myself) would meet with Kepha to explain the security memo. We explained to Kepha that evening that this was not a matter of church discipline, that he was not removed from the Church Body (because this would violate our principles of Matthew 18 and due process) but was a temporary security measure independent of ecclesiastical discipline. I never saw the police that night in the area.

Kepha then made various accusations about me (including that I was a Jesuit and some other weird things), at which point we asked him to pick two witnesses and take them his concerns (in accordance to Matthew 18), while yet insisting that he also receive a mental health evaluation. His witnesses, by the way, investigated his accusations in spite of their seemingly fanatical nature, as a part of due diligence, and determined them invalid. These were witnesses, by the way, that he chose to determine his case.

Shortly after this meeting, he grew apparently worse. I again spoke to the police and explained how I believed him to be a threat to himself and others.

We explained to the church that Sunday in a special business meeting our security memo, and that it was not a matter of church discipline, but of mental health.

A few days after, I drove to Grand Forks for the Pirate Christian Radio Conference, where my acquaintances, Chris Rosebrough and Phil Johnson were speaking. While there, it became quite apparent that Kepha had ‘gone off the rails’ via text.

I was sitting at a table with the aforementioned speakers when I got a text from him introducing himself as “Kepha,” which is a transliteration of Cepha, or Peter, and a last name that in the original tongue means, “the glorious one.”

I looked at Phil, showed him the text messages, and said, “I’ve got to get home.” I thought I was speaking to a demon, which even as a Cessationist, I believe in.

Kepha then began to reference Eugene Spriggs, who at the time I did not know. It became apparent that Spriggs had some kind of religious affiliation with Kepha, and that Kepha was also texting members of another, unknown congregation of people, along with me and a few other members of the security team.

I then became a quick expert on the 12 Tribes, or the Cult of the Yellow Deli, as I drove home the six-plus hours from Rosebrough’s church. I wrote a synopsis about this cult on August 13, which you can find here.

Essentially, the 12 Tribes is a Judaizing cult that began to attract young hippies and those of the “Jesus People” movement in 1972. Spriggs, its founder, claimed to be the reincarnated prophet, Elijah, in 1982. Founded in Chattanooga, the cult spread from state to state, centering each location around a cafe called ‘The Yellow Deli.” The diner would attract patrons, who would then be inundated with cult propaganda and eventually join the Yellow Deli as a free laborer, money-maker, and follower of Spriggs.

Suddenly, things began to come together. The ultra-controling and hovering over children was present in their parenting (the 12 Tribes doesn’t allow children play with other children). They forbade themselves from eating pork. When I asked them about this, worried about possible Judaizing, Kepha claimed it was health-related and not religious-oriented. I rolled my eyes (because bacon is awesome), but considered it a matter of liberty. It should have been a red flag.

Driving home was the longest six hours of my life. Kepha began to send video after video from “Christian rappers” with violent lyrics. He made implicit threats. He was near the home of at least one security team member, who immediately left work to guard and be near his family. Kepha then began to refer to his wife by her cult name and seemed to indicate that he was operating some kind of nebulous plan orchestrated by the other people in this text conversation (who I did not at the time know). I called the police again to apprise them of this potential threat to our community.

I told my wife to leave the home and go to the country at a church member’s house. However, as we realized he was an hour away in a different town, my wife came back, feeling as things were fine. We thought, perhaps, we had overreacted to the threat. My wife and family went back home and I stopped in a community an hour away for Bible study. It was there that I got a text that he was heading to my home and was back in my town.

I immediately told my wife to flee and left back again for home, as quickly as I could go.

Then, I got a text from Kepha that my “son had a message for [me].” Seconds later my wife called to say that as she was preparing the vehicle to leave and gathering up belongings, Kepha drove by my house, made a threatening gesture to my son, and said what we – and ultimately, the police, a prosecutor, and a judge – considered to be a threat.

My wife had panicked, believing that she had left her keys in the house and with the house locked, had the children in the vehicle but no way to leave or go back in the house. I instructed her to go to a nearby location that had been pre-staged for emergencies, and to lock herself and the children inside and shoot whoever came to kick down the door. She was terrified.

I first called my neighbor, because I knew he would get to my home faster than law enforcement, who immediately went to do the job of a good neighbor and patrol the area as a Citizen. I then called 911 and asked them to dispatch officers to my home. Then, I called our security team leader.

My wife realized she did, in fact, have her keys after-all (her adrenaline was sky-rocketing), and was able to rendezvous with the security team who took her to one of several undisclosed locations where it would be hard for them to be found. The police arrived at roughly the same time as church security, two of whom waited at my home until I arrived in the event Kepha returned. The police instructed my wife to come into the station, but I believed my family was safer with the security team for the moment and explained I would come into town first and personally retrieve them.

When I went to the station upon arrival, I explained the concern. The police were polite but reluctant to arrest the suspect based only upon my testimony. Ultimately, they looked at the text messages I had received and ascertained the specific legal infractions he had committed.

When police arrived, they found him belligerent and, indeed, troubled. I’ve seen the footage from the police car in which he threatened both me and the police officer. After arriving at the jail, he vandalized his cell, a charge for which he later pled guilty. He eventually wound up medicated and taken to the hospital. Reports from jailers indicate he considered himself and was calling himself Yahweh, or a variant thereof.

We again notified the church body, and held a vote to remove the man under discipline per Titus 3:10. The church voted unanimously. We also notified his wife through another church that we would – through them – extend any type of financial help, food assistance, or the like to help them while he was in custody.

Upon his release from jail after several days, he was given the condition of GPS monitoring, I was assigned a victim’s advocate (who was fantastic at her job, by the way), and I filed a restraining order while a temporary order of protection was put immediately into service.

Twenty or so days later, we held the trial for the permanent restraining order while criminal charges were still pending. It was an incredibly long ordeal, while Kepha and his wife appeared to try to filibuster the proceedings (that’s my subjective take) and were rebuked on numerous occasions by the judge for acting out of order.

When asked how long a restraining order I wanted, I said that I wanted as long as I could get. The judge stated that “the Hall children” shouldn’t have to live in fear and gave me – what I’ve since been told – is the longest restraining order in Montana history…20 years so that all of my children will reach adulthood before it’s up. My wife and I, and also our oldest children, carry an official state-issued Order of Protection card with his name and face on it.

One of Kepha’s last questions to the judge is if he could, in spite of the restraining order, work with someone on YouTube (I presume Servus Christi) to “expose me.” Ultimately, the judge ordered that he not ever do anything that might harass or distress me and went so far as to take away Kepha’s rights to own a firearm (which is not uncommon in such cases with restraining orders).

In working with the prosecution and speaking to parole and my victims’ advocate, they seem to have a consensus that his involvement in the 12 Tribes played an important role in his behavior and outbursts.

My sincere belief is that the 12 Tribes sent Kepha to my church, and before that another one very similar to mine, to disrupt it. Eventually, Kepha was charged with Privacy in Communications, which is harassment via electronic communications, for which he received a pre-trial diversion after going through two court-appointed attorneys. Kepha was intent on having a trial (even though he pled guilty to other charges relating to the incident), but I was content with the convictions already obtained by the prosecution so that he would have something on his criminal record that might inform others of his potential threat.

Before they left town and moved away, they changed the wife’s name to her singular (first name only) cult name.

To this day, Kepha is still being monitored by GPS as a condition of his pre-trial diversion and is heavily watched by the monitoring serving. I’ve been told by his attorney that he might also hold the record for the amount of time (at least in his experience) that someone has spent on GPS monitoring.

WHAT SHOULD WE LEARN?

First, since this incident, we have changed our church’s by-laws to require a criminal background check of all new members (not just children’s workers). A criminal background does not preclude or prevent membership but serves the purpose of informing the security team.

Second, I have also committed to being much more in depth when speaking to the former pastors of potential members. It is necessary. And frankly, I should have caught it sooner.

Third, a criminal background check is not enough. There should be a religious background check to make sure you’re not accidentally admitting a dangerous cult member into your church. I and P&P are capable of this, but most people are not, and service should be provided to churches to look at social media or provide a questionnaire of some kind to rule out the possibility that someone has been or still is a part of a dangerous cult.

Fourth, our church and my family has only strengthened (and continue to strengthen) our personal security measures. I have also previously contacted the local FBI field office after receiving threats and I have since then had to contact the FBI in relation to other threats. Needless to say, we have done as much as we can to assure our facilities are as safe as possible and well-monitored through every possible avenue and resource.

Fifth, this has only strengthened my presupposition that I – and not law enforcement – am the first line of defense. I notified the police numerous times. I appreciate – and love – my local law enforcement, but had I relied on them for protection and not my church security (and my home security) it could have gone very badly.

The most terrifying aspect of all of this is that Kepha warned me he was coming to my home after sending me threats all day long, and he did so ominously. He did not know that I was away from home, but believed I was there. We believed he intended us physical harm. He knew that armed self-defense is way of life for me and he knew (from our personal relationship) that had I been home, this very likely would have ended very violently and very badly. I believe in my heart that’s what he wanted.

I timed this article both to provide distance from the original incident to allow Kepha time to seek help and calm down, and also so that it would be published before his time on GPS monitoring was up.

It is a very, very dangerous world out there. Pastors, watch yourselves and your flock closely.

In the meantime, the 12 Tribes and Cult of the Yellow Deli is still a thing, and they’re still dangerous.

If you have Hulu – the video streaming service available online and Roku – you can watch episode 6 of “Cults and Extreme Belief,” which deals exclusively with the 12 Tribes cult. It’s fascinating. Or, the episode should be available anywhere you can stream original programming from A&E.

]]> https://question12tribes.com/how-a-dangerous-cult-endangered-our-family-my-untold-story/feed/ 0 Year after eviction attempt, Boulder’s Yellow Deli faces steep utility hike https://question12tribes.com/year-after-eviction-attempt-boulders-yellow-deli-faces-steep-utility-hike/ https://question12tribes.com/year-after-eviction-attempt-boulders-yellow-deli-faces-steep-utility-hike/#comments Mon, 11 Jun 2018 10:10:26 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=6893 Source: Daily camera

Building’s HOA says restaurant not paying its share of fees

By Shay CastleStaff Writer
Posted:   06/11/2018 06:58:10 PM MDT
Updated:   06/12/2018 01:41:24 PM MDT
Chazaq Farnsworth makes a sandwich for a customer at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder on Monday.
Chazaq Farnsworth makes a sandwich for a customer at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder on Monday. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

One year after an attempt to oust Yellow Deli from its home at 908 Pearl Street, the building’s owners association is contemplating a move that would severely impact the restaurant’s ability to stay in business, operators say.

On Wednesday, owners of units at 900 Pearl Street — which includes offices, retail business and private residences — will vote to more than double the money Yellow Deli pays toward the building’s shared costs, including water, sewer, electricity and trash.

Currently, the eatery pays $7 per square foot for those services. The board at 900 Pearl is suggesting raising that to $17 per square foot, adding $16,000 to Yellow Deli’s tab every year.

Josh Morgenstern studies for the MCAT test while having a cup of tea at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder on Monday.

Josh Morgenstern studies for the MCAT test while having a cup of tea at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder on Monday. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

The restaurant, owned and operated by local members of The Twelve Tribes religious group, is utilizing more resources than it pays for, the board has contended. The governing body originally suggested raising the fees to $20 per square foot, based on a study it commissioned to “estimate” Yellow Deli’s usage.

The report, by For National Restaurant Consultants of Denver, utilized average expenditures for restaurants in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as estimated earnings for the Yellow Deli.

It recommended HOA fees of $25 per square foot, which would represent more than 60 percent of the costs for the entire building. Yellow Deli occupies about 6 percent of the total square footage.

Andrew Wolfe, a representative for the business, said the board’s commissioned study had several flaws, most notably that it compared Yellow Deli to freestanding restaurants like Applebee’s that do not share walls, and therefore have greater heating and cooling needs.

A Colorado Springs-based engineering firm retained by Wolfe backed up his concerns, writing in a letter to the HOA — a copy of which the Daily Camera obtained — that “based on the envelope, the space has no more expense to the association than other units.”

“The additional expense to the Association because the Deli space is a restaurant are unknown but likely far less than the 60.31 (percent) of overall utility costs of the building as proposed by NRC,” the report concluded.

Wolfe also made note of when the study was commissioned: one month after last year’s failed vote to amend 900 Pearl’s constitution, disallowing a restaurant to operate there. The measure fell just short of the legally mandated 67 percent majority.

An analysis of total building expenses since Yellow Deli opened in 2011, prepared by Wolfe, showed that, on average, the establishment added $5,000 to costs annually, or about $10 per square foot.

Board president Gordon Gould in an email wrote that the analysis was flawed, as it did not include data from when Yellow Deli’s predecessor, Heidi’s, was in business. Gould suggested that $17 per square foot was a compromise between the two studies, which Wolfe disputes.

When the starting point for a concession is the consultant’s “ridiculous estimate,” Wolfe said, it’s not a true compromise. “It makes (Gould) look good.”

Wolfe has suggested that Yellow Deli’s actual costs be determined by installing meters that would measure usage of things such as water and electricity — something he says the board has told him is not possible.

Gould, on behalf of the board, declined to answer questions as to whether or not metering is a viable option. Wolfe said Yellow Deli has offered to pay $17 per square foot until such time as metering can be completed.

A super-majority of nine votes (from a total of 12 owners) is needed to pass the measure. Though Yellow Deli gained four supporters last time, Wolfe said the restaurant cannot be sure of any allies on this measure.

All owners are currently paying double their normal assessment in order to replenish depleted reserves. Everyone else stands to save money by voting to increase Yellow Deli’s financial burden.

If that happens, the restaurant will no longer be able to support seven Tribe families, Wolfe said. To stay operational, the group will look elsewhere for funds. A sale of the space would not be possible, he contends, because the new owner would still be burdened with the “extravagant cost” imposed by the board.

“We’ll find some way to stay open,” he said. “I’m trying to demonstrate to the owners that we are just trying to pay our fair share, but it seems like they’re not trying to work with us.”

Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, castles@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/shayshinecastle

Chazaq Farnsworth makes a sandwich for a customer at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder on Monday. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)
]]> https://question12tribes.com/year-after-eviction-attempt-boulders-yellow-deli-faces-steep-utility-hike/feed/ 0 2018 US podcast on Twelve Tribes-Elbert E. Spriggs/part 1 and 2 https://question12tribes.com/2018-us-podcast-on-twelve-tribes-elbert-e-spriggs/ https://question12tribes.com/2018-us-podcast-on-twelve-tribes-elbert-e-spriggs/#comments Wed, 09 May 2018 03:38:13 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=6749 Source: Parcast, series of podcasts on cults, May 2018

To go to Part 1 and Part 2 of this very special podcast on the Twelve Tribes and their founder Elbert Eugene Spriggs click on the image above and it will take you straight to the audio and start listening. To go to the page of the producers, click link above titled Source. Podcast available on Apple podcast, Stitcher, Google Play and TuneIn. Please leave a review on their site. Thank you for watching.

“About Cults

Mystery. Manipulation. Murder. Cults are associated with all of these. But what really goes on inside a cult? More specifically, what goes on inside the minds of people who join cults and leaders who start them? Every Tuesday, Greg and Vanessa (co-hosts of the podcast Serial Killers) explore the history and psychology behind the most notorious cults. Cults is part of the Parcast Network and is a Cutler Media production.”

“Elbert Eugene Spriggs Jr. felt he could never live up to his strict Christian father’s expectations. After three failed marriages and numerous jobs, Spriggs had a revelation that his duty was to bring people to God – but to do that he wanted to establish a new church…one where he would make the rules.”

]]> https://question12tribes.com/2018-us-podcast-on-twelve-tribes-elbert-e-spriggs/feed/ 1 Ex-member interviewed about his new book https://question12tribes.com/new-book-on-the-twelve-tribes-by-ex-member/ https://question12tribes.com/new-book-on-the-twelve-tribes-by-ex-member/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2018 08:04:26 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=6649 April 2018: Interviewed by Sea to Sea (a youtube program of mystery and paranormal) Sinasta Colucci has a  candid but serious long look at his experiences as a “disciple of Yahshua”. He shares his insights with lightheartedness and invites us to read his newly published book: “Better than a Turkish prison, what I have learned from life in a religious cult”.

Sinasta J.Colucci

To listen to interview, click on picture of author S. Colucci ==>

 

 

 

better than a turkish prison <<== To go to Amazon and take a look at

Sinasta’s book click on cover picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> https://question12tribes.com/new-book-on-the-twelve-tribes-by-ex-member/feed/ 2 Boulder’s Yellow Deli facing eviction over condo association concerns https://question12tribes.com/boulders-yellow-deli-facing-eviction-over-condo-association-concerns/ https://question12tribes.com/boulders-yellow-deli-facing-eviction-over-condo-association-concerns/#comments Fri, 09 Jun 2017 05:59:37 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=6608 Source: Daily Camera Boulder County Business

By Shay CastleStaff Writer

Posted:   06/09/2017

 

Philip Corley makes a fruit salad at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street on Friday.

Philip Corley makes a fruit salad at the Yellow Deli on Pearl Street on Friday. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)

Boulder’s Yellow Deli might be forced out of business after its fellow property owners at 900 West Pearl voted for changes to the building’s constitution. The deli’s owners, who own a unit in the building, are awaiting a final judgement on the vote, one that hinges on one-third of a percentage point.

Twelve members of the 900 West Pearl Condominium Owners Association on May 25 voted 8-4 to amend the building’s constitution. Among the changes: the commercial space at 908, home to Yellow Deli since 2010, would no longer allow a restaurant, or any business to operate outside of normal business hours.

Yellow Deli is open 24 hours, five days a week, closing at 3 p.m. on Fridays and re-opening at noon on Sundays. Those hours often attract a crowd of homeless individuals, said Andrew Wolfe, who helps run the Yellow Deli along with other members of The Twelve Tribes religious group.

Wolfe said: “We were not aware that we could, by a 67 percent vote, be voted out of business at any time.”

Wolfe said the presence of the homeless was cited as a reason for the amendment by association members. The association itself, via a statement from the board, said “safety concerns” posed by a 24-hour operation, along with Yellow Deli’s overuse of resources like parking and communal areas and failure to pay bills on time were the motivations behind the amendment which will ultimately force Yellow Deli to close or relocate.

The members of the board — Ingrid Alongi, Paul Kirby and Gordon Gould — declined interviews. They sent a statement in response to emailed questions on behalf of the association that said concerns had been ongoing for years and that Yellow Deli failed to address the issues.

“For the past several years, concerns have been raised over the disproportionate cost, and wear and tear imposed upon the building by a restaurant operating 24 hours a day and likely encompassing most of the activity in the building, despite occupying only 5 percent of the space,” it read. “Neither the owner of the space” — a Twelve Tribes member — “nor the Yellow Deli have appeared at regular HOA meetings for years to hear or discuss these concerns.”

Wolfe admitted he had not regularly attended meetings but disputed that the restaurant had not been responsive to complaints.

“It was a complete surprise to us that there were any problems,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve heard about problems as they came up and addressed them. This is the first time that we’ve had problems come up that we haven’t been able to work through and resolve.”

Resident David Hose voted against adopting the amendment because the Yellow Deli “is an asset to the community.” He said the changing composition of the board sparked the amendment. Gould in 2015 bought two residential units (207 and 209) for $2.6 million, according to Boulder County Property Records, later becoming president of the board.

Some concern has been raised about the fairness of the vote, given that the property management firm, Boom Properties, is partially owned by Todd Walsh, who has done work for Gould on other downtown real estate deals. The property management division of Boom tallied the secret ballot. Walsh firmly rejected the notion that the property management division, which he does not directly oversee, would tamper with the process in any way, and offered to make the ballots available at the approval of the association.

“I do know and have done business in the past with members on this board; I know and have done business with lots of people in the community,” Walsh said. “Any assertions of there being a conflict of interest are false.”

Jeffrey Rich, who owns Farfel’s Farm adjacent to Yellow Deli, said the restaurant has been a good neighbor and that homeless loitering was no worse “than at any other place on the mall.”

“The Yellow Deli walks the talk. They are kind and supportive to some of the people who have the hardest time.I don’t necessarily agree with all their beliefs, but they are the kindest and most supportive neighbors we could have.”

Yellow Deli is not out yet. An attorney for the business is disputing that the association achieved the required 67 percent majority vote: the 8-4 split is 66.66 percent.

Even if the amendment stands, Yellow Deli has three years to cease operations. The association statement said the board “will take further input from membership on any next steps.”

Wolfe declined to answer questions about next steps, but said, “We are pursuing negotiations and have hope for everything to work out for all parties involved.”

“Being a community devoted to serving the creator, we feel like things are ultimately in his hands and we shouldn’t get too upset about it unless we know he’s upset.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the property management division of Boom Properties. Boom handles property management under its own name.Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, castles@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/shayshinecastle

]]> https://question12tribes.com/boulders-yellow-deli-facing-eviction-over-condo-association-concerns/feed/ 1 Twelve Tribes: The Church Preached Child Abuse & Slavery https://question12tribes.com/twelve-tribes-the-church-preached-child-abuse-slavery/ https://question12tribes.com/twelve-tribes-the-church-preached-child-abuse-slavery/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2016 22:47:19 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=4727
07.17.16 2:01 PM ET
According to ex-members of Twelve Tribes who spoke to The Daily Beast, children are regularly beaten and leaders preached “slavery is necessary.” Now, an escapee has taken over the Facebook page of the Plymouth bakery run by the commune so he can broadcast its ills.

Growing up, Kayam Mathias said he was beaten 20 to 30 times a day.

“I grew to be numb to it, to quell the rage within and just not feel anything.”

That didn’t bother him so much, he said. He could take it.

“What I cared about was when my infant sister was beaten and there was nothing I could do about it. To hear her screams and be powerless … and that even if you tried to stop you couldn’t, is a crushing thing to go through. It broke my spirit, man. I still remember her screams to this day.”

It’s been almost eight years since Mathias, now 22, left the Twelve Tribes, the controversial commune and religious sect he was born into, but the memories, and the anger at the way he and his family were allegedly treated is still fresh. He says he—and other members of the sect—were regularly beaten by adults in the commune as a form of discipline.

“The first time I used an ATM or a vending machine was when I left,” Mathias said. “I knew nothing about the world. It was all so strange and new and was like being born suddenly with an adult body, feeling like a child or an alien, but needing to act like an adult to survive.”

This year, he finally decided to say something about it. In June posts began showing up on the Facebook page of the Blue Blinds Bakery, a quaint and well-reviewed business located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the first time since 2012. “[W]e have decided to use our Facebook page as an active evangelism tool,” someone wrote on Thursday of last week. What followed was a couple of outrageously offensive screeds, including one that began, “As promised, let’s talk about the blacks!”

“One of the most frequent questions we get is, ‘Are you racist?’ The answer is no,” the author wrote. “But we do believe that slavery is necessary. There’s a difference.”

It was speculated that the post, which picked up steam this week among the Boston food community and has since been shared over 300 times, was the work of a hacker. It was actually Mathias. He’d set up the Facebook page years ago, he claimed, and still had access to it. The Daily Beast reached out to Mathias through the Blue Blinds Bakery Facebook page, and he was able to confirm his identity by forwarding us a photocopy of his passport. A member of Twelve Tribes confirmed that Mathias is an ex-member, who had access to the Facebook account.

“It’s time this ends,” Mathias said, referring to the church’s alleged secrecy.

“We completely disavow all the stuff on that Facebook page 100 percent, without any exception,” said a man, who identified himself as Zahar, who would not give his last name, when I called the bakery to ask if they indeed advocated for slavery. (Only  Twelve Tribes members work at the bakery.) “If you want to know what we believe, we actually have a website.”

Based on their website, prior reporting, and firsthand accounts, it appears that what they do actually believe isn’t too far off.

The website Zahar referenced is TwelveTribes.com, the home of a group founded in 1972 by a man named Elbert “Gene” Spriggs in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that promotes a sort of hybrid of Christian fundamentalism, Hebrew Roots, and Messianic Judaism. The group has some 3,000 to 4,000 members in isolated, self-sustaining communes around the world that operate businesses like Blue Blinds, a chain of restaurants called The Yellow Deli, and a large construction business. It has dodged accusations of cult-like behavior ever since its inception.

“The group went from being this hippie thing that was kind of cool to turning into this cultist, religious, fucked-up kind of thing,” a second former member told me. “It’s like the frog-stew analogy. You throw a frog in cold water, and he doesn’t realize he’s getting hot until he’s boiled to death.”

According to former members of the Twelve Tribes, Spriggs, the group’s leader, has allegedly preached that black people are destined for slavery and that homosexuals should be put to death—as transcripts of his past sermons appear to show. The half-dozen former members who spoke to The Daily Beast also allege a culture of systematic child abuse, subjugation of women, and psychological torment.

A couple of years ago, a German documentary uncovered video of children in a local branch being beaten so terribly that the government led a raid and took the children away. In the video, Wolfram Kuhnigk, an RTL journalist, filmed 50 instances of beatings on camera, as the Independent reported. One former member who appears in the film recounts being regularly beaten for such trivial offenses as pretending to be an airplane. According to the group’s teachings, children are not permitted to engage in any type of playing or fantasy.

It’s a pattern of controversial behavior that has persisted in stories about the group for decades. “There are so many teachings that keep you from being who you are. They keep you from being human,” a former member named Joellen Griffin told the Boston Herald in 2001. “You get so absorbed in the teachings that you lose your emotions and your ability to respond to situations. They seem like a tight-knit family, but you just don’t know all the misery behind those eyeballs.”

In 1984, authorities in Vermont undertook a similar raid, liberating over 100 children from a Twelve Tribes compound, according to The New York Times. A judge determined that the raid was unconstitutional and the children were returned. Interestingly, as the San Diego Reader reported, the public defender at the time, Jean Swantko, joined the group soon after.

An investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013 told similar stories of members who had escaped the group, as did an investigation last year by Pacific Standard, which reported that children were allegedly beaten multiple times per day. In 2001 the New York Post launched an investigation that resulted in some of the group’s New York businesses being cited for violating child labor laws.

 

***

Despite in-depth investigations into several locations by newspapers and magazines, both current and some former Twelve Tribes members have repeatedly insisted in the press that they do not “abuse” their children.

“Most are gross exaggerations of scandalous, isolated activity throwing all members of Twelve Tribes under the bus,” the third ex-member, who also asked not to use his name because he had family still in the group told me. “The fact is there have been untold scandals within the Twelve Tribes communities, but the actions or misdeeds of a few can by no means accurately or rationally surmise the beliefs, practices, or daily lives of the many individuals that make up the whole.”

“Every person has their story,” he went on. “Every family has their secrets, their dirty laundry, their bad habits or poor decisions. Everyone must find their way in this world and we don’t do it perfectly all the time. We learn from mistakes, things are most often not as they first seem to be.”

That’s no doubt the case when it comes to the Twelve Tribes, but according to many who’ve made their way out of the group, those mistakes have been adding up for a long time.

A man who answered the phone number listed on Twelve Tribes’ site refused to give his name and would not answer any questions. He directed me to the Blue Blinds Bakery for any questions about their Facebook page.

“We believe in corporal punishment, and we stand by that, but we do not believe in child abuse by any means,” Zahar, the bakery employee, told me. “And we believe that a lot of the problems that you see in the world today probably could have been avoided if children understood cause and effect and understood consequences.”

Internal documents from the group reviewed by The Daily Beast lay out the justifications for their treatment of children, including the use of wooden reeds for punishment and training.

“The rod must be used to correct wrong thoughts, wrong words, and wrong deeds; thoughts are powerful—there is no sin without thinking about it,” Our Child Training Manual explains. Materials on the group’s website lay out similar practices.

“Train your child to submit willingly to his discipline; make sure he bends over submissively; guilt will not be removed unless he submits willingly.

“Discipline is vital. If you don’t discipline your child according to the Scriptures, you are not going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” it continues. “When we see a child receive what we consider mistreatment from such parents, we must remember that God is in control and has chosen to place the soul life of that child under those parents, specifically.”

The documents compare provisions against corporal punishment to the laws of totalitarian states, and deny the right of the government to intervene: “The governments of such nations as Sparta, Hitler’s Germany, and communist Russia have usurped the parents’ role, but today parental authority is being undermined in the USA through compulsory public education, child advocacy agencies, and child-abuse laws. Parents must not allow government to usurp their authority in those areas in which God holds the parents alone accountable.”

Corporal punishment is rooted in the Twelve Tribes’ literal reading of the Acts of the Apostles, according to Zahar. “We’re fundamental Christians and we take the Bible literally,” he told me. “We follow the pattern of the early church, early Christians, and they shared everything in common. We believe that Christianity kind of went off that pattern of living together and sharing everything and actually taking care of each other. That’s what we’re trying to get back to, to the pattern in Acts II.”

While he said they do not condone homosexuality, they also allege they do not believe in violence and would welcome an LGBT person into their home. As for the slavery question, he countered that the group has black members. In fact, he said one was working with him at the bakery as we spoke.

 

***

The second former member who spoke to The Daily Beast (and also asked to not use his name because of concerns about his family) said that corporal punishment is rampant. He told me he was hit 30 to 40 times a day growing up in the church.

“I remember getting whipped so hard I didn’t know if I was going to survive. I couldn’t breath, I was gasping for air.

“They used to teach that anyone in the group could spank any children, so some random, creepy motherfucker could grab you and beat your ass.”

The former member, a construction worker who was born into the group, laughed when I asked him if the Facebook posts were consistent with the group’s beliefs.

“That’s pretty much spot on. Basically, if you want to show the world what they believe, get your hands on their teachings about black people, Jews, children, women—there’s about 50,000 of these ‘teachings,’” he said.

“Multiculturalism increases murder, crime, and prejudice,” reads one such teaching on the group’s website. “It goes against the way man is. It places impossible demands on people to love others who are culturally and racially different. This is unnatural it forces people to go against their instinctive knowledge, like trying to love sodomites. They are told, ‘You can’t discriminate.’ Although discrimination is viewed as an evil sin, it is still within a person’s prerogative (right) to segregate himself.”

“Their teachings on black people are that they’re supposed to be slaves, about how God cursed black people back in the day,” said the same former member. “It’s crazy. Unless a black person is in the community, they need to serve white people. It’s so racist it will blow your mind.”

Copies of sermons given by Spriggs in 1998 and 1991, and reviewed by The Daily Beast, lay out the group’s attitude on race. “Martin Luther King and others have been inspired by the evil one to have forced equality,” states one titled “Châm and the Civil Rights Movement Unraveling the Races of Man.” “Slavery is the only way for some people to be useful in society. They wouldn’t do anything productive without being forced to. They would be worthless fellows.” (Châm is a reference to Ham, the son of Noah whom Biblical tradition credits with populating Africa.)

It goes downhill from there.

“What a marvelous opportunity that blacks could be brought over here to be slaves so that they could be found worthy of the nations,” read a second sermon. “A good master would work by the sweat of his brow. If his slaves were lazy and disrespectful, he would beat them, which is what he was supposed to do.”

It should be noted that the group does have black members, although they were not able to be reached by press time. When The Daily Beast reached out to the Twelve Tribes about the contents of the sermons, a spokesperson declined comment. The ex-members I spoke with explained this contradiction by noting that minorities who give themselves over to the Twelve Tribes are viewed differently than those who do not.

 

***

Women are meant to subjugate themselves to men, are allegedly required to wear head coverings that “serve as an outward symbol of her subservience to her man,” and are infrequently allowed to talk, claimed one former female member I spoke with, who asked not to use her real name for fear of retaliation, and provided photos of herself today and during her time in the group. She said that when she was 14 years old, a boy her age kissed her innocently. From that point forth, they were separated on opposite sides of the country and not permitted to communicate, but nevertheless were sentenced to be married when they turned 18.

She told me that she first tried to escape when they were married. She was gone for three months, but she claims the group guilted her into coming back, saying her husband would burn in hell for eternity if she didn’t. The pair was relocated to Florida, where family members outside of the group who’d taken her in couldn’t find her. Three months into their marriage, they were reprimanded for not yet having any children, she said. Previous reports on the group outline persistent pressure for young women to give birth to many children.

“There are a lot of good people there, but they don’t understand, they’re so brainwashed,” the male former member told me. “They find themselves defending stuff that doesn’t make sense.”

One way for the group to ensure total loyalty, he said, is by divesting members of any ties to their former lives, requiring them to donate all of their possessions and money to the church. “My ex-girlfriend’s dad died of cancer after he left the group. They realized he’d had it for 14 years. If they’d caught it any time before that he might’ve lived, but they neglected his health for so long. They do not go to the doctor ever, unless there’s some sort of catastrophic injury.”

The Boston Herald story cited numerous instances of stillbirth, with women allegedly being refused medical treatment during labor. “In fact, stillbirths are so common that the cult’s private burial ground in Island Pond, Vermont, includes several unmarked graves of dead children,” the story reads.

Mathias said he took over the bakery’s Facebook page in part to expose Twelve Tribes, but also as a means of explaining what his bizarre life inside the group was like.

For those who leave the Twelve Tribes, the assimilation process isn’t just difficult practically speaking. As Mathias said, it comes with a lot of psychological stress.

“Having talked to people who have left, it’s a five-year cycle of depression, self-loathing, doubt, hopelessness, and then finally acceptance and recovery. In my weird way, this is the acceptance stage,” he said. “I’m putting everything that happened out there in the hopes that people will realize what’s going on, but also as a way just to talk about it. Think about trying to have this conversation with a friend: ‘Hey, so I was in a religious cult that abused me. I just left a few years ago.’ It puts people off.”

Attempts by The Daily Beast to reach Mathias’ family for comment were unsuccessful.

Chris Pike is another former Twelve Tribes member—he belonged to the group for 14 years. He came to the community, like many others, through the Grateful Dead scene, and after a period of bereavement and loss in his life. While Twelve Tribes recruiters do prey on people in his position, he said, he was clear that it was his choice to join.

“It doesn’t need to be sensationalized. It’s just screwed all on its own. But I also want a clearer picture portrayed of the community,” he said.

“It’s not all demonized. There’s some of the nicest salt of the earth people there, and it’s not all creepy. That’s the delicate thing people don’t realize. Why do people join in the first place? What do you think I was attracted to, beating children? Are you kidding me?”

While the teachings instruct parents to “encourage their children seven times before disciplining them,” that’s not always how it works, said Pike, who was a teacher himself for a time.

“I can tell you everyone you come across that’s a former member will tell you that just doesn’t happen, it’s actually the opposite,” said Pike. “They spank seven times more than they encourage. Some parents are very good and do try, and then there’s the ones that are not. It’s all on an individual basis.

“It has the potential to be that wonderful, but also has the potential to be that horrible. And it does.”

Chris said he’s exasperated by the coverage of the Tribes over the years, as it never leads to any real help. What he wants to see is someone step up and show a real path forward for ex-members. He particularly wants help for the children, he said, who are often lost, entering a world they don’t know, with nothing to their names.

“I’m so tired of watching the media selling papers off the Twelve Tribes and they’re not helping. I hope somebody extends a helping hand and says, ‘Hey, any philanthropic people out there want to help these people, because they need some help. They need some help,’” said Pike.

“There’s got to be a landing strip. There’s got to be a cushion—and there’s not for these kids. We don’t need Bible reeducation, we need a helping hand out of the mess so that we can build a solid support system to help the children and ex-members.”

 

***

The former female member I spoke with, said one of her first memories was of being beaten so badly with a 2×4 that she went home black and blue from her neck to her kneecaps. She was four years old.

“I couldn’t get myself to raise my kids the way they wanted me to. That’s why I left, because of them. The way they brainwash you and stuff—I probably would still be there if I didn’t have children,” she said.

Still, says the ex-member who is skeptical of media reports about the group, the despicable actions of a few do not fully represent the group as a whole. All six of the ex-members I spoke to, in fact, said there are many decent people involved.

“Is the Twelve Tribes a religious sect full of manipulation, nepotism, elitism, haves and have nots in spite of their ideals of equality for all? Yes!” he said. “Does the Twelve Tribes have a leadership system full of egomaniacal religious fundamentalists? Yes! Have there been cases of child abuse within families of the Twelve Tribes? Yes…Does the Twelve Tribes have a system of belief regarding race that is misleading? Yes! Does it promote or practice hate against different races of the earth within or without? No! Do the teachings of the Twelve Tribes come from one man? Yes! Do all members of the Twelve Tribes adhere to said teachings? No!”

Many of the members, he and others explained, want to live simple lives in the hopes of pleasing God in the way they’ve been taught. But, he added, that gets complicated when they’re not encouraged to think on their own, or draw their own conclusions about life outside of the group.

“Do members work without pay? Yes, it’s a commune with a common pot. Everyone that moves in knows that. There’s no secret there. Children born and raised know that it’s just life. Food, clothing and shelter are provided for. Some Twelve Tribes communities are rich while others are very poor. Some members have access to computers, the Internet, social media, news etc while others don’t.

“Does the Twelve Tribes believe they are the harbinger of the return of Jesus? Yes! Are there current members of the Twelve Tribes that live in turmoil every day doubting, struggling against believing that what they’re doing is right? Yes. Are there current members that wish they could leave but don’t know how? Yes! Should Twelve Tribes be exposed for what it really is? Yes!”

]]> https://question12tribes.com/twelve-tribes-the-church-preached-child-abuse-slavery/feed/ 1 Family Owned Bakery Kills Business by Promoting Slavery And Child Abuse on Facebook https://question12tribes.com/family-owned-bakery-kills-business-by-promoting-slavery-and-child-abuse-on-facebook/ https://question12tribes.com/family-owned-bakery-kills-business-by-promoting-slavery-and-child-abuse-on-facebook/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2016 08:44:20 +0000 http://question12tribes.com/?p=4605 Source: Liberals unite

Blue-Blinds-bakery

A nice little bakery in Massachusetts decides to ruin their business by posting their support for slavery and child abuse on Facebook.
What seemed to have once been a fairly nice, family-run bakery in Plymouth, Mass. decided, for some reason, that they were going to completely alienate customers and announce that they were going full-on whack job.
.

The Blue Blinds Bakery, apparently named for its blue shutters, posted the following on their Facebook page on Thursday: “we have decided to use our Facebook page as an active evangelism tool.”

And that would be great if it meant following the teachings of Jesus Christ of reaching out to the less fortunate, or handing out day out old muffins to the hungry, but it’s just a little bit weirder than that.

These folks have decided to publicly condone slavery and child abuse. You know, because the Bible says so.

On July 7th at around 7:30 am, the Bakery posted a long explanation about how the Bible says that “blacks” throughout history do better when they’re enslaved and that when they’re not, “they follow the ways of degradation.”

The caveat, added to the end of the post is what really makes it special. Ready for this? Here’s what they wrote:

Now, let’s discuss, but following the last post, we need to set some ground rules.

– Attacks on our character will not be allowed

– Attacks on others will not be allowed

And something about no tattoos.

A few days later there’s another post about “child discipline” or, as they like to call it, “child training” or,as the authorities would call it, “child abuse and child endangerment.” The post reads:

How are they disciplined? Usually a cane or a wooden stick. About 15-20 blows on the open palm or bare buttocks. Depending on the waywardness of the child, between 5-30 times a day. Some need it more than others. It can go on until they are 16 if they need it. If a child still needs discipline above that age, other measures are taken.

Great read, right? Especially when you scroll down to a post from June 30th at 7:57am that reads:

 

Blue Blinds Bakery

about 2 weeks ago

hello friends we have some great news

our children stayed up all night last night to paint the blinds on the bakery just a little bit bluer! they’re so wonderful elohim smiles radiantly on their little pink faces

to say thank you for their hard work anything that has carob in it at the bakery will be free from open to close today

… See More

Now it’s not clear how old these kids are, but children working all night painting a house can’t be a good idea at any age.

The comments are on the posts are much of what you’d expect. Plenty of people vowing never to go to the bakery and some, of course, thanks to the recent vitriol in the political arena these days, are all too eager to agree with the attitude expressed by the bake

 

Another commenter seems to be all too familiar with “this cult,” writing:

“Blue marks” are bruises, of course, which members of the Tribes consider evidence of exemplary parenting. “I remember constant welts on my hands, thighs, and butt,” a woman who was raised in the Tribes told

me. Children are expected to obey “on the first command,” without talking back or complaining. They are not allowed toys or bikes, and cannot engage in fantasy play. They read only the Bible and the group’s dogma. The former members I spoke to claimed most children were beaten multiple times a day, for transgressions as innocuous as forgetting to raise their hands at the dinner table and “dissipation”—the group’s term for horseplay. Responding to these descriptions, a current leader of their California communities, Wade Skinner, echoed the brochure I read in Blue Blinds. “That wouldn’t be how we portray our life,” he said, “but we do believe if you love your child, you will be diligent to discipline them, and if you hate them, you will withhold the rod.”

According to the bakery’s “About Page” they are members of “Twelve Tribes,” which according to the Wikipedia entry, “can be traced to a ministry for teenagers called the “Light Brigade” in 1972. The ministry operated out of a small coffee shop called “The Lighthouse” within the home of Gene Spriggs and his wife Marsha.

In addition, the “Tribe” has been involved in several controversies involving, child labor, race, and homeschooling.

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