Shed fire on land of ‘cult’ eyed as cause of devastating Colorado blazes that destroyed 1,000 homes
The fundamentalist cult that owns the Colorado food chain The Yellow Deli usually keeps a low profile, but is back in the limelight after causing a supposed shed fire or trash burning that ended up spreading to the entire town due to strong winds, destroying over 6,200 acres of land. Despite working with police for now, they deny any wrongdoing or responsibility, even though illegal burnings on their land have been recorded in the past. Currently, they've all been kicked from their compound so police can investigate any leads and are barred from returning until further notice.
The Twelve Tribes Community was started by Gene Spriggs and has been around since the 70s' after the Jesus Movement in 1972 Chattanooga, Tennessee, claiming to want to recreate the 1st-century Christian church due to the fact that all other church denominations have "fallen." People have butted heads with the cult in the past, as they call for the return of slavery, restricted religious homeschooling and child abuse, along with child labor. Their own hippie restaurant, The Yellow Deli, is one of their go-to coin purses as they make their families (mostly teens and children) work there without pay; the money goes to benefit the entire compound. They get around the laws against forced labor saying that all workers are "volunteers," even though people who join must give up all possessions to the compound. Besides the restaurant, they also own bakeries, a construction business, and soap-making factories among other places. In 1984, a Twelve Tribes compound was once raided due to reports of severe child abuse and 112 children were taken into custody, only to be returned hours later due to the raid being considered "unconstitutional." Any ex-members of the cult will speak genuinely about the terrible childhoods they suffered from being raised in the community, but anything is rarely done to actively rescue any children from the communities that span from Warsaw, MO all the way to Kyoto, JP. "Twelve Tribes currently has 3,000 members across the US and in Europe, South America and Australia; their goal is to 'produce an army of 144,000 male virgins, who would prepare the way for Christ's second coming."
Businesses that're known to be owned, run by, and benefit the Twelve Tribes:
Some pictures of the damages:
I believe there should be more laws and precautions to be taken to stop the development of cults like these. Twelve Tribes has pretty much been around for 50 years and has been able to run without much to stop them, despite raids in Germany and continued evidence of the abuse they roll out on their own families. There are way more active cults than people like to believe, and cult abuse is pretty much allowed to run rampant in a lot of spaces.
The fundamentalist cult that owns the Colorado food chain The Yellow Deli usually keeps a low profile, but is back in the limelight after causing a supposed shed fire or trash burning that ended up spreading to the entire town due to strong winds, destroying over 6,200 acres of land. Despite working with police for now, they deny any wrongdoing or responsibility, even though illegal burnings on their land have been recorded in the past. Currently, they've all been kicked from their compound so police can investigate any leads and are barred from returning until further notice.
The Twelve Tribes Community was started by Gene Spriggs and has been around since the 70s' after the Jesus Movement in 1972 Chattanooga, Tennessee, claiming to want to recreate the 1st-century Christian church due to the fact that all other church denominations have "fallen." People have butted heads with the cult in the past, as they call for the return of slavery, restricted religious homeschooling and child abuse, along with child labor. Their own hippie restaurant, The Yellow Deli, is one of their go-to coin purses as they make their families (mostly teens and children) work there without pay; the money goes to benefit the entire compound. They get around the laws against forced labor saying that all workers are "volunteers," even though people who join must give up all possessions to the compound. Besides the restaurant, they also own bakeries, a construction business, and soap-making factories among other places. In 1984, a Twelve Tribes compound was once raided due to reports of severe child abuse and 112 children were taken into custody, only to be returned hours later due to the raid being considered "unconstitutional." Any ex-members of the cult will speak genuinely about the terrible childhoods they suffered from being raised in the community, but anything is rarely done to actively rescue any children from the communities that span from Warsaw, MO all the way to Kyoto, JP. "Twelve Tribes currently has 3,000 members across the US and in Europe, South America and Australia; their goal is to 'produce an army of 144,000 male virgins, who would prepare the way for Christ's second coming."
Businesses that're known to be owned, run by, and benefit the Twelve Tribes:
- The Yellow Deli
- Parchment Press, a printing company that also distribute their literature
- BOJ Construction, based in Plymouth, MA and operating nationally
- Commonwealth Construction, a contractor primarily in the Southeastern US
- Greener Formulas, soap and body care research
- Common Sense Farm, a soap and body care manufacturer located in Cambridge, NY
- Simon the Tanner, a chain of shoe/outfitter stores in New Hampshire and Vermont
- Maté Factor, an import company that also runs two cafes in Manitou Springs, Colorado and Savannah, Georgia
- Tribal Trading, an organic foods distributor in Irún, Spain
Some pictures of the damages:
I believe there should be more laws and precautions to be taken to stop the development of cults like these. Twelve Tribes has pretty much been around for 50 years and has been able to run without much to stop them, despite raids in Germany and continued evidence of the abuse they roll out on their own families. There are way more active cults than people like to believe, and cult abuse is pretty much allowed to run rampant in a lot of spaces.
