So, one may ask what is God’s will?
If you are a member of the Twelve Tribes you ask this question every morning to your governing guru-in-residence or household head, and you get your marching orders for the day.
Obviously, if you are not of this strict religious cult you will get many different answers depending on who you ask.. What might you expect though, if you were to ask, “What is God’s will concerning slavery…?”
Well, let me ask you this first. What do you think God would have to say about one Human Being kept in forced obligation (even enforced by violence or death) to remain enslaved to another?
According to the Twelve Tribes Church, Slavery, that is, in the old testament or modern times was a good thing. The old testament Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians, because of God’s desire to punish them for their obstinacy. Likewise, in the frontier days of America the blacks were slaves to the whites [according to the Twelve Tribes] because of Gods desire to punish them for something that happened thousands of years previous for something that occurred just after the great flood with Noah and his arc involving Ham, Shem and Yapheth.
The Twelve Tribes use their teachings to justify all the hatred and human atrocities which occurred during the slavery period in America and attribute it to God’s will to keep the black people in subordination to their white counterparts.
Eugene Spriggs (founder of the Twelve Tribes Messianic Church aka Common Ground, Yellow Deli cafes) was no special prophet. In fact, he got much of his material from Jewish manuscripts and extra-biblical commentary. His views on slavery are no exception. Although they may be embellished with his own perverted twist on history essentially they originated from the internet or unsubstantiated historical commentary.
Any past member of the Twelve Tribes (myself included) will attest to the fact that during baptism you are required to “take off your head” (your own authority) and put on messiah’s head. This is a metaphor for relinquishing all self-direction, self-concern, self-governing or anything that may come between you and the Twelve Tribe Community Government Manifesto. In effect, this is the first step in the psychological “cleansing” that enslaves you mentally and (eventually) physically to the Twelve Tribe Hierarchy.
In essence, Eugene Spriggs thinks his devotees in the Twelve Tribes are given to him as slaves to his “god-given” organization as the blacks were to their white captors during the slavery period in America and as a result they can be treated as such. Of course, physical abuse is not condoned anymore, but just as damaging is the psychological and verbal abuse which cuts just as deep.
Members are made to feel like they are the “dregs” of society, good for nothing having made a mess of their lives in the world and worthy for nothing more than the lake of fire.
Just, pause for a moment. How would you feel – if you really BELIEVED that you were nothing but a filthy rag, fit only for the lake of fire…?
Well, having been in that place in the Twelve Tribes, I’ll tell you. It causes you to respond to authority like an un-questioning zombie. After all, being on par with dog shit gives you no rights whatsoever and further more if you did happen to have an issue with authority within the Twelve Tribes get ready – since it is considered heresy and paramount with having a problem with God Himself: be prepared for the inquisition and a fiery ordeal !!!
I won’t go into all the issues of people being overworked through forced religious obligation in Common Ground Cafes around the United States and indeed around the globe because they believe God requires this of them. They have no recourse but to pull their head in and shut up. I won’t go into all the young girls aged 13 to 21 who are required to pull 16 hour cafe days on their aching legs, getting varicose veins before their time (along with other associated issues) just because there aren’t enough people in the community to do all the work. Next time you go to a Common Ground in the morning just make a note of who is working the food bars and then if you get a chance to come back in the evening just see if those same people aren’t working still, long after your day is finished.
So in closing, the Twelve Tribes view on slavery is quite consistent with how they view their own members; Slaves, like their own members are – nothing more than poor, thankful workers who need to spend the rest of their life paying off their debt to God by working 16 hours a day in a Common Ground Cafes in response to their undeserved salvation from the loving God of Eugene Spriggs.
-S
Life in the Twelve Tribes Messianic Community 
Oh I know. There used to be a Common Ground in my city, until they finally closed up and went elsewhere after ten years of trying to recruit the local lost and depressed. I didn’t know what they were about, when my friends dragged me to lunch there. The first thing I noticed was that it was almost all women and young girls working in the back, and serving the tables. But the men were either playing their instruments happily, or working over in the attached shop full of their wares. The women and children are the cogs in those wheels, and they are the ones who work sun up to sun down. The women are used for sex, breeding, cooking, cleaning, etc. The women are not allowed to birth at hospitals, and they are expected to birth at home, regardless of their health. I have heard of a story where a woman died in childbirth at their home. They follow the old adage, children are to be seen and not heard. I have been to their home and seen this. Joining the twelve tribes as a man, is a good deal. If you are a woman, expect to be a slave.
Megan, thank you for your comments. Women certainly have the harder part of the deal when it comes to raising a family in the Twelve Tribes. But, if you believe the founder Ugene Spriggs, it is their pre-destined lot as prescribed by God Himself in the bible. Pretty crappy eh?
The doors of ALL Twelve Tribes Communities are open. A person may leave anytime they want! That is not slavery.
All of this is totally overboard. I have been friends with a community for a long time and they all work together to make their lives a community. If more people lived like this, there wouldn’t be so many purposeless people just roaming the streets. Their houses are lovely, the children are very respectful and all and all I see a community of people who are quite self sufficient and industrious. All this child labor stuff is silly. I would rather raise my kids there, than have them watching tv, becoming anorexic and or pregnant at age 13. There are disgruntlements in any religious group..Amish, Jewish, Catholic…….There are those who are happy and those that a certain way of life just doesn’t work for. What can you do? I Do not think that the women there do anything really different than anywhere else. The men do tons of construction and woodworking and other things and the ladies take care of the home. Such is the Mexican proverb…The walls of a house rest not on the ground, but upon the woman.” That is beautiful! At least they raise their own children and do not have to send them away all day to day cares and or nannies and baby sitters all the time.
as for the slave stuff…that’s old news really. You can read in the Torah about the descendants of Noach in Hebrew or English. The commentaries explain the ramifications of the family’s actions.
Melissa,
The lifestyle has its plusses. If you believe Eugene Spriggs/Yoneq is equal to Moses or Jesus or Joshua and greater than the apostles then you should join them. I don’t and I don’t see God’s approval on that falsehood. I like some of the people there. Many of them are institutionalized by the community which is an addiction to something other than the holy spirit. They get a relief from making decisions and mistake that relief for the holy spirit. That’s deception. It’s slavery to sin.
Bless The Twelve Tribes all over the Earth Selassie I
Nice article. As low or high as I sometimes feel about myself I don’t bow to anyone or let them bow to me.