Oppressive Rules of the Twelve Tribes

copied from http://www.twelvetribes-ex.com

The red checkmarks are my own (Arjennas) addition to indicate that I too saw
evidence of this in my two days spent there. If there is no checkmark it only means
that I did not see that myself, not that it doesnt happen.
1. The community member is not allowed to think for him/herself. In the cult you are
expected to just blindly follow what the leaders (shepherds) say and all of the members do.
I asked a leader once if they ever agree to disagree but love each other anyway, and he said
no. Also, they dont believe they can live in peace with other religions, even Christian ones.
Two shepherds stated this and that everyone in the world would have to follow them and their
theology. This is crazy since most of their communities are in countries that allow freedom of
religion where people from different religions and beliefs live in peace with each other.
I asked them, If I have different beliefs from you, could I stay here and we can just love each
other anyway? They responded No. They teach You must be saved from your false beliefs.
This means that Im not allowed to hold any personal beliefs.
I was also informed many times, You must relinquish all of your opinions.
Its Elberts way or the highway on everything.
2. Twelve Tribes members must give up their free will in order to live in the Elbert Spriggs
controlled community. Elbert enforces the abdication of free will through the dissemination of
his teachings. Elbert justifies this by saying the community member is actually giving their free
will back to God. They hold are very elitist spiritual mentality as they teach they are the only
way to God and salvation.
3. You are not allowed to visit the library. They dont want you reading anything other than
their literature. Twelve Tribes members are not permitted to read the newspaper, books on
other religions, philosophies, history, physics, etc. (One of my friends had borrowed a book
from a brother about stretches and exercises for some health issues she was having. While I
was there she was working her way through and taking notes so she could give it back to him.
Other than that one book, the only reading material I saw in any of the houses or caf was
Twelve Tribes journals and papers.)
4. Community members are not given carte blanche to use the computer. Shortly before I
left they held a teaching in which they were restricting the use of the computers and mobile
phones.

5. Twelve Tribes members are not empowered to build muscle. I dont know why they taught
this especially since most members perform hard physical labor all day. They never gave me a
real answer to this crazy oppression. Building muscle helps fight against obesity, diabetes,
aging, muscular-skeletal problems, etc.; but they were against it.
6. Community members cannot tolerate slang language. They are very superficial and
pompous about a lot of things, and they are obsessed with words themselves and not the real
meaning behind them.
7. Twelve Tribes members are not granted permission to go for a walk by themselves. I
was confronted many times for simply enjoying a walk. They said its not allowed. They want to
watch every move the community member makes even if they show no signs of doing anything
wrong and outside of their rules (like drugs, alcohol, etc.)
8. Community members do not endure the right to socialize with people outside of the cult.
I befriended many people in the caf when I worked in the cult. I was confronted many times
on my sociable personality. They would interrogate me concerning my conversation with
people outside the community (cult).
9. Twelve Tribes members are not allowed to have pets. They obtained a kitten in the
community I was living in, but I was told not to show affection towards it because it was just
there to catch mice. They didnt want me to be a bad example to the children. They try to
brainwash you into believing its a place of love but they always rebuked affection.
10. Female community members must wear sus pants or a long dress or skirt.
11. Adult male community members must grow a beard and wear their hair in a ponytail.
They want to pass off many superficial things as real substance and spiritual fruit but its just a
bunch of dung.
12. Twelve Tribes members are not permitted to swear. You cant even say damn or darn it. Its
more pompous, superficial bullshit. If you confront an adult with no children around and say
There is a lot of bullshit here then they will correct you for using the word bullshit instead of
addressing the real issue which is all the bullshit.
13. Community members are not authorized to choose their own medicine. I support
alternative medicine, and it has helped me greatly. I would never force it upon anyone. I was
interrogated because I brought a member to the hospital because he was experiencing a
gallstone attack. Also, a toddler became ill with pneumonia, and the treatments that the cult
tried werent working. The father gave the child antibiotics and the child recovered. However,

many cult members were upset by this instead of experiencing joy at the childs recovery
they said the antibiotics hurt the bodys immune system (as if pneumonia was better). The
woman who told me this couldnt tell me how it hurt the immune system, but she preached this
anyway. Community members ignorantly preach about subjects they do not know or
understand. They just blindly follow like lemmings! Probiotics anyone? They give alternative
medicine a bad rap because they think they know what they are talking about. Actually they
know very little on the subject of alternative medicine.
14. Twelve Tribes members cannot demonstrate physical affection to a member of the
opposite sex unless they are married. And if you are married you are expected to show it in
private. Community members are not allowed to have a boyfriend or girlfriend while living in
the community. Then they wonder why their minds race so much with negative thoughts and
feelings. They kill love and human nature so much.
15. Community members must follow their diet. Unless one has an allergy to a food or
diabetes, then that member is expected to follow explicitly. I was rebuked for avoiding certain
parts of the meal that I knew would bother my stomach. I never complained about it. I just
improvised without saying a word, but it wasnt good enough for them. (Breakfast when I was
there was a smorgasbord of fruit, dairy, and sweets. When I asked if there was anything else,
because I couldnt eat gluten or sugar, my friend took me to the kitchen where we consulted
with an older member who also ate gluten free and was big on smoothies and greens. He gave
us all kinds of food from the fridge that seemed to be under his jurisdiction, and my friend
made scrambled eggs and stir fried greens for both of us she commented that she too
preferred to eat this way. We took our food out to the communal tables a couple people
looked at our plates and asked what we were eating. No one seemed to get angry, but it was
clear that it wasnt really done. My food allergy had enabled us to make something different.)
16. Twelve Tribes members must drink mate. Mate is an herbal alternative to coffee
(caffeine) they sell. If you wake up when youre supposed to and work hard all day without
complaining and show no signs that you need mate, they still try to shove it down your throat.
17. Community members must change their names. At baptism they give the member a
Hebrew name.
18. Community members are not allowed to listen to the radio or watch television. Twelve
Tribes members can only listen to community created and sanctioned music.
19. Community members cannot place their hands in their pockets. At the spiritual gathering I
felt comfortable putting my hands in my pockets. I was swiftly reprimanded