House of Yahweh, weapons, murders?

I started a new thread, since the "other cult" thread was about the one in New Mexico.

House of Yahweh is (unfortunately) located in Abilene, Texas. This is where I live too. The man who runs it is a former patrol officer from APD. His name was Buffalo Bill Hawkins.(Would sane parents name their baby "Buffalo'?) He was fired in the eighties for having beer in his patrol car, so he decided to change his name to Yisrayl and become a cult leader instead. The man is a total nut-job.

The cult's compound is located just outside of Abilene, in the mostly rural community of Clyde. Some of the cultists live there, and some live in trailer-homes here in Abilene and around Lake Ft. Phantom (about 7-10 miles outside town). Normal people who own properties adjacent to Yahweh homes have observed that there are apparently tunnels connecting the lake-homes, since Buffalo Bill seems to pop up one place or another without anyone having seen him make the journey. The windows are completely covered too.

Not long ago, a 7yr old girl died after heer mom and another cult member tried to perform surgery on her at their home. They were convicted of some type of neglect but were never held responsible for the child's murder.

Here is a link to a search with stories from our local paper from as far back as September 2006.


http://www.reporternews.com/search/?q=House+of+Yahweh&sortby=date&sources=site&image.x=15&image.y=11


Susan

Hawkins arrested again yesterday, has 30 wives. Already out on bail. From the Reporter News article linked below:

By Daralyn Schoenewald
schoenewaldd@reporternews.com
... According to court documents, up to 40 children spent 40 hours a week working on the House of Yahweh property in Callahan County.....
...Jane Doe No. 37 gave a statement in which she swears she is one of Hawkins' 30 to 35 wives, a status confirmed by a man identified as John Doe No. 31. ... as part of her duties as his wife and employee of the House of Yahweh, was to write receipts for brides' prices. A bride's price is the amount paid to the sect in order to gain Hawkins' and the House of Yahweh's permission to marry, the affidavit said...documents that acknowledge the House of Yahweh's belief in multiple marriages, including one that is a vow to Yahweh, which forbids those who witness a marriage from discussing it, specifically with the government or any law enforcement official. Anyone who breaks the vow in any way is "eligible for and worthy of the Second Death in the Lake of Fire,"
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/may/15/new-charge-against-sect-leader/

Click to expand...

I am concerned about this situation. Hawkins is racking up a lot of charges and facing serious jail time. His people will do anything he tells him to. He's an ex-cop with as interest in weapons and total mind-control and they keep letting him out on bail.

I have reason to believe the Yahweh's are not all such simple, peaceful people. My H and I were driving to Sam's Club Warehouse one day last year. This was near an area of trailer homes occupied by Yahweh's. We needed to move to the right lane, but a man in a pick-up kept speeding up to block us, even though the road was practically empty. He only sped up so that he was exactly even with our truck. This happens twice, so we slow down to go behind, he slows down. He's not laughing, smiling, joking around, he just turns and glares at us then looks straight ahead. We speed up and change lanes for our exit, he floors it, cuts in front, and takes our exit just ahead of us.

Turns out he is going to Sam's as well. He had an 8-10 yr old boy with him and they were dressed like the Yahwehs do. Long sleeve flannel shirts buttoned up all the way, the man had skin-tight overalls and the boy's shirt tucked in tight. They made eye contact with no one. The man hurried the boy, not responding to his flurry of whispered questions. To watch them, you'd think the child had never been to the store before, his eyes were so big and he seemed amazed at everything he saw. The way they spoke, you could just tell that they were not father and son. This was during the school day too.

My H and I did nothing to provoke this man's agressive driving behavior. He seemed seriously theratened by our simple need to change lanes. Remember, my H is a cop, he is used to dealing with all sorts of folks, and this dude clearly had a screw loose.

Sorry for the long post. I am concerned about the fact that although these Yahweh's roam about our city at will, their compound is out of the jurisdiction of the APD. Our PD is very capable of handling the situation, but the compound is located just outside out city limits in Clyde, where I'm guessing they have maybe three or four cops total, whose main function is bringing in revenue from speeders on their tiny stretch of I-20. With Buffalo Bill Hawkins' grudge against the APD for firing him years ago, I don't doubt that he is capable of violence if he stands to loose his little empire.

Susan

Check out the comments on the article linked above:

Posted by Hotsauce on May 16, 2008 at 4:11 a.m
...he expects us to lie about everything: food storage, food stamps, who the father of our babies are, weapons storage, taxes, who's married to who. These elders use the F word, and other bad language, but worse than that are the *advertiser censored* rated, foul mouth sermons our children must listen to. Yaaqov has some of these tapes on his website.
http://www.skipstanley.com/sermon_tap...
What I am really concerned about is the people who have been murdered in our group. These deaths need investigated.

Click to expand...

Comments from others posted after this one seem to confirm these allegations.

Susan

Wow, scary stuff. Again we start with religion, the quest for God, search for truth, justice, perhaps the American way, almost invariably with a male preacher, priest, 'profit,' wise man or leader. A closed society develops, usually coupled with communal living. Power concentrates away from individuals into 'church' leadership. Power corrupts. Polygamy starts. Arranged marriages follows. Some men get all the women. Others have to go. The brides get younger and younger. Women are worth less and less, become more and more powerless. Independence for memebers shrinks and in some cases ceases to exists. There are claims of child abuse and exploitation, including sexual abuse, many times incest. There are strong indications of a plethora of law violations- child labor, welfare abuse, fraud, tax evasion, even murder. Lies and deceit permeate. In face, there appears to be little limit to the lies that can be told. There's almost certainly no limit to 'church' property amassed- land, housing, heavy equipment. Something happens, some truth is exposed and we realize that yet another cult has hatched in our midst. Makes you wonder why God lets this garbage go on in his name, doesn't it. It makes me wonder...for darn sure.

Nice post, yolorado!

Hawkins' problems with multiple wives, violence, corruption and alcohol came long before he decided to go with the prophet gig.

I believe he is posting at the Abilene Reporter-News article as "grizzelybill". I got "evil vibes" just reading his words. He implies he is enjoying the attention... looking forward for "what is to come". (I'm thinking he's got the wrong impression of where he's headed, :bang:ya' think?)
Here is a quote from his post:

I am very joyious that I am able to observe this whole situation as it unfolds. We will all see very shortly where this is going...and, how this issue will effect us all in the coming days and weeks to come! May Father Yahweh be glorified through His House! Shalom!

Click to expand...

Susan

Ah yes...cults, radical religious groups, true believers, no matter what they call themselves......nothing says 'the love of god' quite like demeaning women, abusing children and fully loaded semi-automatic weapons oh yes, and complete hatred and condemation for those who do not hold your beliefs. Praise God indeed. :bang:Geez. Why can't they just all go away.

Nancy Grace has the Yahweh guy on right now.

I watched part of NG, he was so full of it, just deny deny deny and where do these guys get their lawyers? This one did not impress me at all. He really seemed caught off guard when Nancy began asking him about his divorce.

VB

TGIrecovered, I'm sorry your town has to deal with this nut. I didn't know a cult was there. There's a compound of some sort not far from me in the little town of Lockney, Texas.

I caught part of NG's interview with him, finally I couldn't stand listening to him anymore and I had to turn the channel. It's very scary that people like him start these groups and gain control over people's lives in such a manner.