UPDATE on HAWKINS CULT!

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/oct/14/no-headline---hawkinschangevenue/

Prophet or Con Man?

(Taken From the Dr. Phil Show)

It’s hard to believe, but in America alone, there may be as many as 5,000 religious groups preying upon the weak and vulnerable, and all in the name of [Yahweh.] Dr. Phil’s guests have warnings for you and your children.

“My family and I were a part of what I consider to be a cult,” Norman says. “I was always a truth seeker, and I’ve always wanted to be a member of a group. When the House of Yahweh came along, it seemed like a pretty nice fit. I felt like I belonged, because everybody treated me like I was special. I really didn’t want to miss out on the prize. The prize that was given, that was told to us, was we would be part of the ruling family. I think I was extremely gullible. I fell for this hook, line and sinker. I feel as though I’ve been raped, and it’s my own fault. I feel really bad. I believe the House of Yahweh is a cult. It is very dangerous.”

Norman's wife, Alicia, says she was doing what any good wife would do — standing by her man. “When Norman and I first got together, I was 16 years old. There was a young man closer to my age who I had a short, very brief affair with,” Alicia says. “After my affair, Norman and I came to an agreement that my body belonged to him, and if he wanted it, I would never tell him no. I wasn’t allowed. It was a part of the control, part of the beginnings of the control that eventually led us to House of Yahweh.”

“My wife enjoyed being a member. I knew for a fact that she enjoyed it,” Norman says.

“Being in the House of Yahweh was part heaven and part hell for me,” Alicia recounts. “The control that this religion had over the women in their congregation was very mind-boggling. Anything that you did outside the home, you had to have permission from your husband, your head, your ruler. If he disagreed or didn’t want you to, you couldn’t do it. I had to ask permission to go to the restroom. I felt very resentful about the whole situation and would do things just to spite him. I believe people who are borderline abusive enjoy this place because it justifies the abuse that they themselves deal out. I gave up self-esteem, self-respect, self rights. I gave up a lot because I wanted to be with Norman, wherever he chose to be.”

Norman, Alicia and their eight children were living near the House of Yahweh’s compound. The members were preparing for the end of the world because that’s what the leader, Yisrayl Hawkins, preached.

“He used fear as his main controlling force, and he used scripture to prove that things were going to take place,” Norman remembers. “We were told to stock up our food because there was a nuclear war that was going to take place on September 12, 2006. We actually started storing food long before that. Yisrayl Hawkins knew in 1997 that it was the end. He also knew in 2001 that it was the end. He knew in 2002 that it was the end. We were told to stockpile food, to get safe rooms, to get gas masks and [chemical protection] suits.”

Alicia shows the No Rad pills they have on hand. “This is so the radiation does not go into your thyroid, so that you can survive the fallout. The purpose of this was fear and intimidation,” she says.

“If you didn’t have a safe room, you’re guilty of sin,” Norman says. Norman’s safe room was ready to go, but after 10 years of following the rules, there came a demand he says he could not obey. “When Hawkins started teaching multiple marriages, that’s when everything started to change,” he says. “You could see it in the men, especially the elders. They all started acting like dogs in heat. I would say Yisrayl Hawkins had 25 to 30 wives.”

“I needed to accept my husband if he decided he could have another wife. When they said this, I told them it was a really hard thing to swallow, but I’d work on it. In the back of my head, there was no way. I knew better,” Alicia says.

“He said that you had to have your children ready to start marriage training at the age of 12. When my girls turned around 6, and 7 and 8 years old, the men started telling me how righteous my girls are, and ‘Boy, they’re going to make nice wives,’” Norman says.

"I knew I was not going to allow an old man to take my daughter,” Alicia says.

“It was shortly after that that Yisrayl made himself king. He’s messiah, he’s ruler, he’s priest. He actually elevated himself above Yahshua,” Norman remembers. “He said, ‘You’re all my children.’ He said, ‘Your children are all my children.’ He took ownership of our children from the podium. Oh, I was against that. As soon as Hawkins made himself king, I knew there was a problem. That’s when we decided to go.”


“I was deathly afraid to get out of there,” Alicia says. “I was afraid for my children. I was afraid for myself. I’m still, to this day, fearful of what he can and would do.”

“Members of House of Yahweh are still contacting my wife, asking her to return because my daughters are holy vessels, vestal virgins, waiting for the holy seed,” Norman says.

“This is the question to both of you that everybody wants to know. How did this happen?” Dr. Phil asks. “How did you go from living your life with a wife and children, and going about your life, to picking yourself up, and moving and turning yourself over to these people?”

“Well, it’s pretty simple,” Norman says. “It’s an opportunity to do something good, something righteous. You’re promised that you can do something good for folks, something good for all of mankind.”

“You said you were kind of seduced into this by being put into a position of prominence and given great respect. Did it feed your ego?” Dr. Phil asks Norman.

“Oh, my word, yes. My name was The Priest of Yahweh Who Rules as Yahweh Rules. That’s the name that Hawkins gave to me to massage my ego,” Norman says. “These men treated me like I was golden, Dr. Phil. They were just phenomenal to me. Little did I know that they had already planned in advance — we’re talking five or 10 years in advance — these men are checking out my daughters, knowing that as soon as they turn a certain age, vestal virgins, they’re available to these men to come in as grievous wolves.”


“Y’all didn’t, like, get back behind the barn or the house and say among yourselves, ‘This guy’s a little crazy’?” Dr. Phil asks. “Because, I mean, the guy says he’s above Messiah, and he wears glasses.”

“Toward the end, we sure did,” Norman says. “It’s a wonderful thing, Dr. Phil. It’s what we’re all looking for. We’re all looking for a witness, we’re all looking for redemption, for a savior, for something positive and good to come that’s going to help everybody. We did a lot of research and a lot of study. My children are extremely healthy for the research and study that we’ve done, the foods that we eat — ”

“You’ve got the most beautiful family. That’s the blessing,” Dr. Phil says as a photo of Norman and Alicia’s children is shown.

Norman and Alicia left the House of Yahweh five years ago and say it’s been hard adjusting to life outside the group.

“My family and I are trying to get our lives back together after getting out of the House of Yahweh. Survival has been rather tough, rather slim,” Alicia says.

“The children have what they have, and they’re thankful because they don’t really know what they’re missing,” Norman says. “They don’t understand that their bed is supposed to be a bed, not a mattress on top of buckets.” Norman shows the buckets that rest under their beds, filled with stockpiled food. “At the present time, we feel very blessed with what we do receive. I work, and I bring in enough money to pay the bills. It breaks down to $3 a day per person is what we’re living on now.”

Norman and Alicia’s three older children remember life inside the House of Yahweh, or HOY, as they call it.

“What I disliked the most about HOY were the people. The people were very self-centered, very mean,” says Sarah, 16. “They would spank me, and they would wash my mouth out with soap. They made me sit in this chair the whole day, and they didn’t let me move. They didn’t let me up to go to the bathroom or anything. I was treated rather cruelly by the men. I remember them dragging me around and telling me I was bad.”



“At HOY, the kids were kind, but women didn’t like us,” remembers Danielle, 14. “The old guys always liked us, which was very annoying. There were a few guys who wanted to marry me, a few guys who wanted to marry Sarah. And they were all really old and ugly.”

The girls’ brother, Norman, 17, remembers it differently. “I enjoyed it a lot. I felt welcome,” he says. “I had a large family of girls and the men there looked up to me because they wanted my sisters, and they treated me with kindness and a respect for what I had to say.” 

Kay Hawkins was married to Yisrayl for over 20 years. She says what started out as a beautiful place of worship turned into a sex cult, and she had to get out.



“What was it that pushed you over the line that you got out?” Dr. Phil asks Kay. “His secretary called me and told me that she was his wife,” Kay says.

“And you had no idea about that?”  Kay explains that she heard rumors that Yisrael was involved with this secretary, but when she confronted him about it, he always denied it, saying, “I will never sin.” She also says that in the early years of the House of Yahweh, women were looked at in a positive light, and they could become leaders in the community, but eventually women were considered property of men with no rights.

Newsletter: Sect unfairly targeted

House of Yahweh mailing a 'propaganda effort,' district attorney says

The Abilene Reporter/January 9, 2009

By Doug Myers

Dateline: December 11, 2008

Warning over influence of 'above the law' sect

• Paul Millar
• November 14, 2008

A RELIGIOUS sect that is ignoring Victoria's gun and traffic laws is likely to attract fragile people and push them over the edge, a cult expert has warned.

Raphael Aron, the director of Cult Counselling Australia, said news the Kingdom of Yahweh was operating in Melbourne was a concern, especially if it was linked to the House of Yahweh in Abilene, Texas.

Yisrayl Hawkins, the pastoral head of the House of Yahweh, has more than 20 children and four wives and is awaiting sentence after being found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Mr Aron was trying to establish whether there was a link but warned that such organisations attracted and damaged people from the fringe of society.

"It's difficult to know what these people believe in, but they do believe they are above the law," Mr Aron said.

He said such groups could attract fragile people, and mental illness and religion was a volatile mix that could "push people over the edge".

The Kingdom group came to light after it was discovered that members, from Melbourne's northern suburbs, were refusing to recognise road and firearms laws.

"They have a well developed and peculiar view as to the validity of law," Inspector Eoghan McDonald of Victoria Police said. "They usually come to the attention of police through unlicensed driving and unregistered vehicles."

He did not believe they were a danger to the public and said if they broke the law they would be charged.

The group seemed to be following the views of similar groups that had been around for years, he said.

The cult appears to follow the teachings of the Commonwealth of Caledonia Australis, a secessionist movement that refused to recognise the authority of Australia's governments.

In September 2006 a group of residents from the Gold Coast hinterland declared the Commonwealth of Caledonia Australis had its own driver licences, number plates, postal system and currency.

Cult expert Reverend David Millikan, of the Uniting Church, said it was more than likely they were a small Christian group who believed that God's laws were above the laws of the Government.

"They are out there being provocative because they are frustrated … they want to create the kingdom of God on earth," he said.

"These groups are like fleas on the body of society over the years; they have always been there.

"They will not be dangerous; they are out there. The ones you have to watch are the secretive ones."