Cult News

By Brian Birmingham

Elbert Eugene Spriggs, founder and leader of the Twelve Tribes cult, passed away on January 11th, at the age of 83 (Death Certificate).

Twelve Tribes is a racist, sexist, homophobic “Messianic Bible-based” group, which supports itself through the exploitation of various forms of what amounts to slave labor.

Some years ago, I dropped in on the group to witness firsthand how they operate. The following is what it’s like inside the Twelve Tribes. You can see why the group is often described as “racist,” which is due directly to the teachings of Ebert Eugene Spriggs, who called himself the “Prophet Yoneq.“

At the gathering in the “big house” a few songs were sung, but there was no dancing, and two members, Mevesehr and Elkin-ah, did the teaching and exhortation. Members of Twelve Tribes often are given new Hebrew sounding names.

Mevesehr spoke about the “Nation of Ham,” and how Abraham Lincoln was an “evil emperor” who upset the law of God by taking Ham [African-American slaves] out of the boundaries that “God” had made [sic]. Mevesehr went on to say that this “liberal social engineering” was at the heart of so many of our social problems today.

Elbert Eugene Spriggs

Mevesehr stated, “Multiculturalism was a lie right out of the pit of hell” and that the only way that peace and harmony can be had on this earth is if “Shem [Europeans], Ham [Africans], and Japheth [Asians] all stay within their God-ordained boundaries.”

Ham, according to Twelve Tribes doctrine is supposedly protected by Japheth as a “little brother” and must be the “servant of Japheth and Shem,” Mevesehr said.

The Twelve Tribes teacher also explained that “all of slaves before the Civil War were happy and carefree and grateful to be under the tutelage of the white man.

Mevesehr taught that even if a slave was being whipped by his or her master on some plantation, all of the other slaves were happy that this errant slave received discipline and grateful that their master had provided it.

Mevesehr said that once the “evil Lincoln” set the slaves free, poor Ham did not know what to do, since he was no longer under the loving hand of Japheth.

And so society in the United States turned into a total mess according to Twelve Tribes because it deviated from this “divine doctrine,” Mevesehr concluded.

Mevesehr then called the only female African-American member of the community “our mammy” and praised her for being a humble “mammy” servant. He stated his conviction that the only way in the world that Shem, Ham, and Japheth could truly live together in peace and harmony is in the “Body of Messiah” (aka Twelve Tribes). Not mixed up together in the Satanic world where the “Godly boundaries” [sic] have been erased where the races will only fight amongst themselves.

Ultimately, according to this Twelve Tribes doctrine, Ham, left on his own, will only self-destruct unless he has Japheth to guide and protect him.

At the meeting one African-American “disciple” in the room (thirty or forty people were there) stood up and confessed hesitantly that he was feeling “offended in his flesh.” He said, “We’re always talking about welcoming Ham into the ‘Body of Messiah,’ but most folks who are of the Nation of Ham would be very offended by this teaching.” He continued, “Black folks were not happy about their situation, and they certainly did not enjoy being slaves. And I don’t want to leave this room with people thinking that this is true,” he said.

Mevesehr then gently reprimanded the man (whose name is pronounced something like Isha-Dosh) by reminding him that any opinion that is contrary to a teaching that is coming from “The Anointing of the Holy Spirit” [sic] must to be considered “strange fruit” and as such is part of the venomous learning of “the world.” And this, Mevesehr told Isha-Dosh, “is why you are offended in the flesh.” Isha-Dosh then sadly sat down.

These racist teachings are the legacy left behind by Elbert Eugene Spriggs, who also reportedly was homophobic and anti-Semitic.

CultNews Note: Brian Birmingham is a cult researcher who has studied Twelve Tribes. He was the first person to obtain the death certificate of Spriggs, which he shared with media outlets and other researchers in the field.