Twelve Tribes

[stonemaybe]

Does anyone know anything about this lot? (Twelve Tribes: The Commonwealth of Israel)

www.twelvetribes.com/whoweare/

[Avatar]

Never heard of them. My initial impression is "bit cult-like, hey?"

--A

[Auleliel]

Ditto what Av said.

[stonemaybe]

The reason I ask, they always had a log cabin at the Glastonbury festival selling great food. They weren't there this year . it's where I used to go to get my head together. I didn't know who they were until I did a bit of investigating and found out their proper name the other day. It intrigued me a bit (hence post).

[deer of the dawn]

I know it better than I'd like to. A number of years ago, a good friend of mine who lived in NZ dropped of the planet. (this was before most people had e-mail.) She didn't write for over a year. Finally I contacted her husband's family in Germany and asked what had become of them. As it turned out, she had left her husband to join this group and moved to Australia. In so doing she turned her back on everything she had previously stood for. I am still occasionally in touch with her. She seems happy- remarried and a brood of beautiful kids-- but she isn't the same person. She never writes a letter unless she sends one of their newspapers with it. Maybe she isn't allowed.

Anyway about 2 years after that happened, a very close friend of mine in Vermont did the same thing. Left her husband and kids and joined with this group. It was agony for all of us. I have to say that because of what it did to her family, there came a time when I realized that I hated her (and I don't hate anyone). I told God I wasn't going to pray for her or think about her anymore. He said, okay... for now.

A few months went by. Back then I used to hang wallpaper for a living. I was traversing a big room with a sheet of wet wallpaper in my hand when a guy on the radio said, "'He knows our frame, that we are dust' [from Psalms]. God expects us to fail, and he loves us anyway." For some reason, I thought of my friend and I actually got on my knees right there and told God I was sorry I had rejected her, and that I was going to love her and pray for her again.

A few days later, I came home and my friend was in my kitchen, waiting for me. She had been in the cult for one year and she wanted out. It was strange because as many times as I had hoped for this, and thought I would jump for joy, I felt cautious. I said, "Are you sure?" Because I would not be part of her hurting her family again.

Her husband, almost unbelievably, took her back the next day. This was over ten years ago, and they are still strong and still my best friends. It took years for my friend to get away from their teachings (which are Judeo-Christian sounding, but miss completely the availablility of grace and forgiveness of God to all) but I think she is really out of the woods now. Thank God.

I have read not only their literature but also rebuttal papers about them, and yes, they are a classic definition of cult. Very, very nice sincere people... but I heard my friend's children cry one too many times.

[stonemaybe]

Thanks, DotD, that's exactly the thing I was asking for!