60 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012
enjoy the ‘Kingdom of God’ he had just
created.” (Doukhobor document, in
Holt, 1964, p. 71)
Apparently, in Petrovich’s vision of the
Kingdom of God, sexual boundaries normally in
place between adults and teens simply dissolved,
at least for him.
Benjamin Purnell and the House of David
Far better documented are the sexual assaults
against young women committed by the early
twentieth century leader of the House of David,
whose name was Benjamin Purnell (March 27,
1861 to December 16, 1927). Beginning in
1903, this Anglo-American millennialist group
was centred in Benton Harbor, Michigan (with
additional properties elsewhere). Purnell
positioned the group in a long tradition of
prophecy stretching back through the English
prophetess Joanna Southcott and into the 1780s
and 1790s (Fogarty, 1981, pp. 6–41). His
immediate prophetic predecessor, Michael
Keyfor Mills (1857–1923), received a 5-year
sentence in 1894 for adultery and statutory rape,
the latter conviction stemming from his
behaviours with a 14-year-old girl (Fogarty,
1981, p. 38 see Orrmont, 1961, p. 98). Purnell
would repeat similar sexual violations of girls
and women, with the first official complaint by a
woman appearing in 1906 and numerous others
continuing until his trial for fraud, gross
immoralities, instructing perjury, and
obstructing justice in 1927 (Fogarty, 1981, pp.
72–120 passim see also Orrmont, 1961, pp. 91–
110).
Purnell’s theology spoke about how the elect
rulers of the earth had to gather to fulfill the
unsealed scriptural mysteries that he would
explain to them. He claimed to be “the Ishi-
husband (the Christ or creator husband), the
seventh messenger who had come to open the
seventh seal [in Revelations] and prepare the
ingathering place for the Israelites” (Fogarty,
1981, p. 51). He also asserted that he was the
Shiloh—a name often assigned to the Messiah
(p. 51).
To cleanse the curse of Adam’s original sin from
the blood of believers, they had to practice what
Purnell called the “virgin law,” which was “total
abstinence from sexual activity” (Fogarty, 1981,
p. 53). Privately, however, Purnell exempted
himself from this law, believing himself to be
above it. One complainant against him in 1906
indicated that he exempted himself by making
claims that, from our vantage-point, represent
classic antinomian arguments:
...in his teachings and preachings, he
represents he is the Son of Man, by that
meaning he is the personal
representative of God here on earth that
his body is cleansed, by that meaning he
can do no wrong and that his body will
never die, but that at a given time he,
among the selected few amounting in all
to one hundred and forty four thousand
(144,000) shall live on forever. (Helen
Kraft Deposition, March 9, 1906, in
Fogarty, 1981, p. 74)
The promise of immortality, of living on forever,
was a powerful inducement to many of his
followers, which may help to explain why so
many of them facilitated his sexual indulgences
(in direct violation of his own “virgin law”) for
decades (see, for example, Fogarty, 1981, pp.
117, 118).
Statements made by both another complainant
and a member indicate that Purnell used
additional biblical imagery to further justify his
antinomianism, which always exempted him
from the sexual prohibitions of both his
followers and of society at large. In 1914, for
example, two women charged that Purnell had
forcibly violated them, and one of the women
(whose alleged violations took place when she
was about fifteen) stated in an affidavit,
Benjamin talked to us and told us he
was just like Jesus and had the right to
have intercourse with us girls. He took
me into another room and there were
two girls in another bed. I protested but
he told me he could come to my room
where other girls were and I have had
intercourse with him and have seen him
have intercourse with other girls many
times in the same room. The fact is well
known among the women of the colony.
(Lena McFarlane Affidavit, July 30,
1914 in Fogarty, 1981, p. 95)
enjoy the ‘Kingdom of God’ he had just
created.” (Doukhobor document, in
Holt, 1964, p. 71)
Apparently, in Petrovich’s vision of the
Kingdom of God, sexual boundaries normally in
place between adults and teens simply dissolved,
at least for him.
Benjamin Purnell and the House of David
Far better documented are the sexual assaults
against young women committed by the early
twentieth century leader of the House of David,
whose name was Benjamin Purnell (March 27,
1861 to December 16, 1927). Beginning in
1903, this Anglo-American millennialist group
was centred in Benton Harbor, Michigan (with
additional properties elsewhere). Purnell
positioned the group in a long tradition of
prophecy stretching back through the English
prophetess Joanna Southcott and into the 1780s
and 1790s (Fogarty, 1981, pp. 6–41). His
immediate prophetic predecessor, Michael
Keyfor Mills (1857–1923), received a 5-year
sentence in 1894 for adultery and statutory rape,
the latter conviction stemming from his
behaviours with a 14-year-old girl (Fogarty,
1981, p. 38 see Orrmont, 1961, p. 98). Purnell
would repeat similar sexual violations of girls
and women, with the first official complaint by a
woman appearing in 1906 and numerous others
continuing until his trial for fraud, gross
immoralities, instructing perjury, and
obstructing justice in 1927 (Fogarty, 1981, pp.
72–120 passim see also Orrmont, 1961, pp. 91–
110).
Purnell’s theology spoke about how the elect
rulers of the earth had to gather to fulfill the
unsealed scriptural mysteries that he would
explain to them. He claimed to be “the Ishi-
husband (the Christ or creator husband), the
seventh messenger who had come to open the
seventh seal [in Revelations] and prepare the
ingathering place for the Israelites” (Fogarty,
1981, p. 51). He also asserted that he was the
Shiloh—a name often assigned to the Messiah
(p. 51).
To cleanse the curse of Adam’s original sin from
the blood of believers, they had to practice what
Purnell called the “virgin law,” which was “total
abstinence from sexual activity” (Fogarty, 1981,
p. 53). Privately, however, Purnell exempted
himself from this law, believing himself to be
above it. One complainant against him in 1906
indicated that he exempted himself by making
claims that, from our vantage-point, represent
classic antinomian arguments:
...in his teachings and preachings, he
represents he is the Son of Man, by that
meaning he is the personal
representative of God here on earth that
his body is cleansed, by that meaning he
can do no wrong and that his body will
never die, but that at a given time he,
among the selected few amounting in all
to one hundred and forty four thousand
(144,000) shall live on forever. (Helen
Kraft Deposition, March 9, 1906, in
Fogarty, 1981, p. 74)
The promise of immortality, of living on forever,
was a powerful inducement to many of his
followers, which may help to explain why so
many of them facilitated his sexual indulgences
(in direct violation of his own “virgin law”) for
decades (see, for example, Fogarty, 1981, pp.
117, 118).
Statements made by both another complainant
and a member indicate that Purnell used
additional biblical imagery to further justify his
antinomianism, which always exempted him
from the sexual prohibitions of both his
followers and of society at large. In 1914, for
example, two women charged that Purnell had
forcibly violated them, and one of the women
(whose alleged violations took place when she
was about fifteen) stated in an affidavit,
Benjamin talked to us and told us he
was just like Jesus and had the right to
have intercourse with us girls. He took
me into another room and there were
two girls in another bed. I protested but
he told me he could come to my room
where other girls were and I have had
intercourse with him and have seen him
have intercourse with other girls many
times in the same room. The fact is well
known among the women of the colony.
(Lena McFarlane Affidavit, July 30,
1914 in Fogarty, 1981, p. 95)
