Escape from House of Yahweh religious sect

[Ralar]

A judge granted temporary custody of four children to their mother, who fled with them this summer from her husband and a restrictive religious enclave -- the House of Yahweh religious sect.

 

Amy Hawkins waited until her husband left for work one morning in July and broke church rules by downloading Facebook to her phone, which she used to contact her mother-in-law, Claudia Owen. Hawkins also said she was leaving her husband and the House of Yahweh enclave near Clyde, Texas, and Owen invited her to come 1,200 miles away to her home in South Carolina.

 

The cult-monitoring website Religioustolerance.org says the House of Yahweh meets 10 out of 10 criteria as a dangerous or high-risk organization.

 

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/woman-f ... ious-sect/

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

Wow- that article leaves me with a lot of questions.

So the wife is approx. 37 now. The article said she met her husband when she was 22 but only has a 6th grade education. That seems very unusual for someone her age in the US to only have a 6th grade education. Wondering if her parents were nutters too? Maybe they took her out of school.

Also, from the article it sounds like her 15 year old son has stayed behind with his father. It's a very sad situation for the kids. It will take years of educational help and counseling for those kids to be able to move on.

[shedemei]

Here's another brief article about them: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-of-ya ... than-flds/

They have a website: donotlink.com/gpkn

They also seem to really like the trendy letter "y" in names.

[Fascinated]

"Fornication, adultery, bestiality, sodomy, homosexuality and the rape of children by priests who eat swine’s flesh are all the works of the evil Gods and Satan."

This is what I've always thought, too. Nothing crazy there at all. :o

[Jasmar]

Apropos of nothing, the main ad that came up when I loaded religioustolerance.org's page on cults was for "I Am a Mormon" - Mormon.org. Oh the irony.

[DaffyDill]

There's a Go Fund Me page for the mother and kids: https://www.gofundme.com/nm3p2cyc

From the grandmother:

Amy was forced to live by the rigid rules and sick doctrine of this cult. She was young and in love and then brainwashed, which is a slow, progressive process that even the most intelligent person could not detect before too late.

The only food they were allowed to purchase was from the HOY's store which all their products were manufactured from members there. The childrfen have never had chocolate, been to an amusement park, drank from a water cooler, never mind know what a water cooler is, or know what freedom is. Members are told water in a water cooler comes from toilets. Women are forced to wear diapers, men urinate in bottles. Women forced to be submissive to their bigamist husbands, told drinking ten drops of chloride a day will heal all medical problems. Sick, malnutritioned, mentallly and physically abused are the children that remain in this horrific religious cult that is masked and protected under the 501(3)© umbrella.

My grandson, Shem, forced to work in a slaughterhouse since he was 13 years old receiving $125 for 70 to 80 hours a week of work. When he threw out a small amount of an animal carcass which he was in fear of being bad and harmful, he was charged his weekly wage. The cult masks the odor of decaying flesh with cinnemon and still sell their products for consumption to their congregation in their HOY owned and operated store. Young female children are chosen for certain older men for marriage at the age of ten.

and....

After only being in SC for three days, Amy, my daughter-in-law, was served with a citation for divorce, custody of the children, to return the children to Texas, and child support from her husband. She is to be in Texas this Thursday, August 13, 2015 for the custody hearing. We have been blessed by someone knowing how to write an extension for this court date, but it has not been granted as of this date, August 12.

My daughter-in law has no money whatsoever. She cannot afford a lawyer. These children have to be protected and we need your help. Any funds we receive will go towards locating my grandchildren and mother a place to live, clothing for their back, toys they have never had nor allowed to play with. Food to enjoy., a place to live and grow.

They are waiting for the children birth certificates so they can enrol them in school. Poor kids, and the mother. They're going to need some serious counselling.

Edited to fix quote tags

[Wingnut]

Wow! I am glad she got herself and the kids out of there. Here is another article about her escape.

bigcountryhomepage.com/news/breaking-news/local-woman-speaks-out-against-house-of-yahweh

[EmmieJ]

Sounds like the mom won custody of the four children, so I hope they will be safe living with/near her mother in law in South Carolina. She is lucky to have had the chance to escape. Very scary stuff.

[FundieFarmer]

Shit like this is infuriating. Sick are the people who come up with these cults, and stupid is the government that allows the abuse to continue under the veil of religion.

[morri]

The land of free? rather the land of letting people free to be nutters and exploit other people. I am glad cults are better monitored here.

[Burpies]

Wow- that article leaves me with a lot of questions.

So the wife is approx. 37 now. The article said she met her husband when she was 22 but only has a 6th grade education. That seems very unusual for someone her age in the US to only have a 6th grade education. Wondering if her parents were nutters too? Maybe they took her out of school.

Also, from the article it sounds like her 15 year old son has stayed behind with his father. It's a very sad situation for the kids. It will take years of educational help and counseling for those kids to be able to move on.

I thought it wss very telling that the first person she ran to was her mother-in-law, not her parents. So if her parents are living or in this country, my guess would be yes, they must be nutters.

Such a horrible situation. I hope they are all able to get the counseling they need.