Ambers Dad, It is truly hard to discern what is true and what is not when it comes to gathering info for groups such as the Twelve Tribes when a lot of thruths have been twisted and sensationalized by the media and disgruntled ex-members. I am an ex-member myself but have long lost my bitterness, which I brought on myself, and now try and convey the truth about this group.



As far as Mr Spriggs being a jet setting Guru is straight up ignorance and fabrication. Eugene does at times fly to different communities overseas, because he can't drive there, to attend meetings and "put out fires" and smooth out problems in all the communities. There are over 30 and he carries more burdens on his shoulders then any 12 men should be asked to. Yes he does have access to funds so he is able to travel but most moneys are managed by each community and tribe. There is a "10% tithe" put on all money made and put in a pot for evangelizing, buying properties etc. But Yoneq does not live "high on the hog" (terrible expression for such a kosher goup lol) but it is the people of the Tribes that roll out the red carpet for him and lavish him with their best because they love him and yes he is a lovable man. and BTW FYI "Bucky" is not his nick name. That was an old nick name of a long time member who has headed up several Twelve tribes industries and probably still does. His name is Ayal. Oddly enough he was involved in an accident and a law suit for damages also some 30 years ago... It's kinda odd that you brought up his name... hmmm interesting...


Now about getting some answers, I suggest you call the Chattanooga community and ask to have a sit down with the coordinator there. I would hope they would oblige. Now about getting all your questions answered, that might be a different story. They might require that they have legal council with them or maybe not. But if your coming at them legally and after money, they will meet you legally but if you go man to man, you just might get some answers but first they will discern if your in the right spirit to receive the truth but if you come there all bowed up or shifty, they will know and you will get nothing.

Bill may have had drinking problems in the past and yes they may have known that but if he had been baptized, then he was a new man and they would not dredge up his past for you to see. Now there is also another possibility that he was not baptized at the time and could have been "cut off" at the time of the accident and so he may have not been "covered" or "connected" to "the Body" at the time. If that's the situation then they will handle it in a worldly business like manner and act like any company would do and defend themselves legally, cover their legal responsibilities and clam up like a wise businessmen would.

If you appeal to their sense of fairness and moral obligation, you might receive a offer on the side, other then what the vehicle insurance company offered you but then that might leave them open for another law suit by admitting culpability. So that might be exactly why you won't get any info and that would be on the burden of your attorney which I am sure you have retained by now. Heck he is probably the one that wrote this letter above!

And I am pretty sure that Bill was not legally employed by the Common Wealth of Savannah or on paper and that your right and it's most likely just their vehicle carrier who offered the money and not their company's carrier. But I would assume that they should have work coverage or are bonded but maybe not.

But alas, I'm not a lawyer and I may be completely wrong or off on most of my assumptions and thats all they are...assumptions and they have the potential to make a a-- (you know how it goes).

And you might be a lawyer who's phishing... But I would advise you to leave a private email for those who wish to contact you about legal matters because it may prove unwise to have it posted all over the internet. [...]

It may seem that I am a bit apologetic for the Tribes and maybe I am (Ive been going trough a change of heart) but I can tell you everything I have said about them is the Gods honest truth...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2009 04:53AM by rrmoderator.

nabashalam:

Posting contact information is against the rules you agreed to before posting here.

The information has been removed.

Don't break the rules again.

You may use the private messaging system after 10 completed posts.

Man I am really sorry! I had no idea we couldn't do that. I spose I didn't read the fine print...Once again, I sincerely apologize... It won't happen again...

Why do people call the twelve tribes a cult?

See [www.culteducation.com]

Read the articles within the "Twelve Tribes" subsection about the nature of the group, its history and abuses.

Also see [www.twelvetribesteachings.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2010 11:03PM by rrmoderator.

Twelve Tribes is considered a cult by their misinterpretations of the Scripture with such things as Replacement Theology thinking that God has replaced Israel with them. This is far from the truth, God still has a plan for Israel and that are, and always be His people. They believe that they are the only ones that will enter heaven.

I am doing some research on them and want to find out more about them other then their propaganda papers that they put out. I need more information on them like the time when people were kidnapped by Ted Patrick, and other "deprogrammers". Even when I search the news for them I can't find any information on them after the listing of articles on this site (nothing after 2010)

Squ1rrels:

In my opinion Twelve Tribes is a "cult" based upon their structure and behavior.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Nothing has changed at Twelve Tribes. Spriggs remains in charge and still runs the group.

Groups like Twelve Tribes come and go through the news cycles. The media usually isn't interested in reporting about them unless there is some controversy, such as child labor violations, child abuse, etc.

The Tribes' teachings are wildly racist and homophobic. first off.

The Twelve Tribes are a very high-control, totalistic and destructive group, or a "cult" if you prefer.

I have personally spent a good deal of time among this group (as a sort of participant/observer for research purposes) and know them pretty well.

Further, I have visited and spent time in three different Tribes communities in two different states and once went to one of their weddings.

So I could tell you all about this group if any of you have specific questions. Basically, I'd characterize the group as being a cross between the Hutterites and a hippieish, Rainbow Family type group. Hippie Hutterites.

In a nutshell, they believe:

Black folks are descended from the son of Noah named Ham (or "Cham" in Tribespeak). They believe that darkened skin and a life of servitute were the results of a curse that Ham's father Noah placed a curse upon Ham's son Canaan, after Ham "saw his father's nakedness" because of drunkenness in Noah's tent. The story is to be found in Genesis 9:20-27. The Tribes believe that those of African ancestry are under the "curse of Cham."

Spriggs identifies, from Genesis 9:25-27, the three races of humanity: Shem (white skinned Caucasians), Cham (black skinned people), and Japheth (whom the communities identifies as Asians). In the Genesis account these are the three sons of Noah. Cham appears to be identified exclusively with black skinned people, and according to Spriggs’ understanding of Genesis 9:25-27, Cham is to be a perpetual slave/servant to Shem outside the Twelve Tribes. If he denies this identification of his person and function then he will not inherit the “Nations,” but have only the Lake of Fire as his future estate.

As stated earlier, Cham (a black person) can only be kept from the Lake of Fire by fulfilling his destiny as a slave/servant to Shem (white people).

When a black person enters into the Twelve Tribes and comes under the “anointing” he is on a more equal footing with the other members of the communities. However, Spriggs reveals that Cham must still lead in servitude and is by nature a servant.

Curiously, I have personally witnessed interracial marriages within the Twelve Tribes, and an interracial baby (black mother, white father) on one occasion.

To be a part of the Twelve Tribes, one must reject Jesus (who is considered to be a demon) and Christianity (which is considered an apostate, false religious system) and be prepared to lay down one's life in the "Edah" as a disciple of "Master Yahshua." They believe that they are the fulfillment of Isaiah 49:6 and that "our Abba" (the term they use instead of "God") is raising them up in order to bring about The Restoration of All Things. They believe that Israel and then Christianity, due to their disobedience, were cut off from the work that God had prepared for them and in these latter days God has raised up Yoneq in order to gather together His new Holy Twelve-Tribe Nation. In other words, they believe that they ARE the Isreal of our times, that they ARE the literal Twelve Tribes and that the Jews and Christians have been "cut off." They believe that the Scriptures from Revelation 12 and 14 pertain specifically to them, as God's True Chosen People.

They do eat well, though are overworked, sustaining themselves on 4-5 hours of sleep per night, and I have personally seen interracial couples, as well as the use of the infamous "balloon sticks." They are a charming and very hospitable people.

And in the Tribes culture, they drink yerba mate instead of coffee.

The Tribes, in a manner similar to the teachings of the Watchtower, reject the doctrine of the Trinity and do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, holding to a form of the Arian heresy.

They believe in an LDS-type doctrine in which they expect to be ruling and reigning over the Earth with Yahshua someday, as well as travelling the universe to other planets, and ruling them as well. Don't believe me? Then see for yourself:

[www.twelvetribesteachings.com]

[yattt.blogspot.com]

The Tribes, like the JCs, do actively seek out new membership, and run a series of restaurants and bakeries as outreaches. Anybody can go and visit one of their locations at any time. Friday nights they have a kind of "open house" and the public is always welcome. They are hardly secluded. I am by no means their apologist or anything, I just find them to be an interesting group to study from the point of view of social psychology. If they were not such a totalistic and destructive cult, I'd probably join myself. And unlike the JCs, they are doing something. Yoneq was far more successful in creating and mainaining his "movement" than McKay was with his, even though they are very controlling narcissistic types.

The Mormons grew and became quite powerful, and the Oneida Community disbanded after less than fifty years. The Millerites fell by the wayside, but the Jehovah's Witnesses are well established. The JCs never took off, the Tribes are doing pretty good, thriving in fact. The factors that account for this (one group thrives, another withers) fascinate me.

That Twelve Tribes wedding that I went to that time was a beautiful event and a nice experience.

Altogether it was like a cross between a Rainbow Gathering (of which I have been to five), but if you took out the marijuana and replaced it with yerba mate, and a Renaissance festival, all taking place on a Hutterite colony. They're like Hippie Hutterites. The TT are very similar in lifestyle and organizational structure to the Hutterites, but are non-Trinitarian in belief (again: specifically, the Tribes hold to a form of the Arian heresy) and are long on hospitality, also they are not as seqestered, as separatist as the Hutterites.

Some Tribes communities (like Morning Star Ranch, where I was last year for ten days) are agrarian in basis, and urban communities depend on other industries, such as construction, landscaping, the yerba mate business, shoe repair, clothing manufacture and tailoring, woodworking, and others.

Their weddings are a big production, and they stage a four-part "pre-enactment" of what they believe will happen at the end of time when Christ returns to Earth. The groom represents the Messiah, Yahshua (they call the Him Yahshua instead of Jesus) and the bride represents the Church, the Bride of Christ.

The entire wedding is in the form of an afternoon-long interactive play, in which the assembled guests are both observers and participants in the proceedings, and the reception in incorporated into the wedding itself.

The entire event is said to be a foretaste of the life to come, a forshadowing of our eternal reward in the heavens. That's why they call it a "preenactment."

First there is the Great Emerald throne scene (Rev 4:2-11), then there is the Mid-Heaven/Gathering in the Clouds scene, in which the Bride leaps up to meet Yahshua in the air; next is the Armageddon scene, in which the Holy defeat Death and all of the enemies of God, and then finally we move onto the New Jerusalem scene in which everyone enters the Holy City and sits for the wedding feast; all of the guests move into a large and ornately decorated tent that represents the New Jerusalem and all sit down together for a meal that represents the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The reception is integrated into the wedding itself.

Then the bride and groom are married with formal, legal vows and there's singing, dancing, and much making of merry.

The mate flows all day long and it's a lot of work and really a lot of fun.

Among the noteworthy things I saw were:

1) An interracial couple between two long-term members of around twenty years in each. The wife was black, the husband white. They had a baby, to boot. The Tribes no longer forbids interracial union as a part of their Teachings.

2) One family had a little disabled girl of about eight years of age. She was physically and mentally handicapped and was brought around by her mother in a large stroller/wheelchair. She was out there with everybody else and was not hidden away or anything.

The Tribes' Teachings used to say that handicapped children were born to punish parents with "hidden sin" in their lives, and were kept separated from the rest of the community. But this girl was there with everybody else.

3) I saw relatives of the bride, second-generation members who had left the group, in attendance. They were there embracing their parents and congratuating their sister. They were not shunned or disfellowshipped or anything. It looked like any other family at a wedding.

4) They expect the Tribes' numbers to be in the millions within the next sixty or so years and are next planning on converting and assimiliating into the Tribes the Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, Bruderhof, and other communal Christian groups, as well as the Assemblies of God and various Pentacostal denominations.

What else can I tell any of you? What did I leave out? What might some of you want to know?

I was with them all night and all the next day, spent the night with them, worked with them, and spoke with them at length. It was a lot of fun, actually, and I learn a lot hanging out with the Tribes. They have this beguiling charm about them, a seductive spirit that makes them seem attractive to those unlearned in their ways, and the ways of the cults in general.