International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010 33
parents were among the most abusive in using
the rod upon their children’s bodies and wills”
(Greven, 1991: 133). Jones’s religious
background included Pentecostal and Holiness
theologies along with ordination in the Disciples
of Christ (see Hall, 1987: 19–28), so this
historical context was useful. The two
contemporary (supposedly) Protestant sects,
however, to which Hall drew analogies, were
ones whose practices the anticult movement had
specifically been concerned about for a long
time and that many critics called ‘cults’ (see
Langone and Eisenberg, 1993: 332–334). One
sect turned out not even to have been Protestant,
and the other was by no means representative of
American Protestantism.
Child Corporal Punishment in the House
of Judah
The unnamed Michigan group that Hall
mentioned was the House of Judah (also known
as Black Hebrew Israelite Jews)—a group
whose violent activities had attracted the
attention of cult-monitoring organizations of the
period.13 Contrary, however, to Hall’s claim, it
was not a Protestant group, since its members
read only the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
(Helfer, 1983: 3). Moreover, the beating death of
a twelve-year old child (John Yarbough) took
place in July 1983 (not 1984, as Hall indicated),
with his mother (Ethel Yarborough) being
convicted of involuntary manslaughter in
February 1984 (Detroit Free Press, 1984). At
the cult’s religious camp, the adolescent
“repeatedly refused to do his chores,” which
included chopping and hauling wood, digging
dirt used to repair a road inside the camp and
hauling pails of water” (Ray, 1983: 1A). For this
refusal, adults put him in stocks and beat him
“30 times on the butt” with a broomstick-sized
13 Among the early accounts about the House of Judah was a news
summary about the group that appeared in the newsletter of the
anticult organization the Citizens Freedom Foundation (Citizens
Freedom Foundation, 1983: [3]). Later, an organization that
concerned itself with harm caused by cultic groups, the American
Family Foundation, published an article about the House of Judah
in its May/June 1988 newsletter, The Cult Observer, reproducing it
from the newsletter of an organization (Children’s Healthcare is a
Legal Duty, or CHILD) dedicated to children’s medical rights
(American Family Foundation, 1988). In July of that year, the
largest cult-monitoring organization in the United States at that
time, the Cult Awareness Network, published an article about the
group in its Cult Awareness Network News (1988).
wooden pole. One or more blows hit his spine,
which killed him (Ray, 1983: 1A). In what cult
apologists likely would call an atrocity tale,
John’s brother, Daniel, eventually would testify
under oath that his brother had been “beaten on
at least 40 occasions by sect members, one of
whom once tried to lift the youngster by the ears
with a pair of pliers” (Detroit News, 1986). In
response to the death, authorities removed sixty-
six children from the camp, and eventually
secured the conviction of the cult’s leader,
William Lewis, and five others to between two-
and three-year federal prison terms “for
conspiring to enslave sect children and causing a
boy’s death” (Mitzelfeld, 1986).
A pediatrics professor and medical doctor, Ray
E. Helfer, assessed the children, and he
observed:
...these nutritionally healthy bodies have
been moderately to severely injured by
repetitive beatings and other physical
insults. Of the first 50 to 55 children
examined by a physician after John
[Yarbough]’s death a full 20% had signs
of severe physical abuse. For the
children greater than five years of age
this percentage increases to
approximately 40% and for the boys in
this age range, the figure is 70% to 75%.
Thus, the likelihood of a male child
reaching adolescence without showing
physical signs of severe abuse to his
body is less than 25%, possibly even
less. (Helfer, 1983: 2 see Langone and
Eisenberg, 1993: 333)
The physician wrote in conclusion:
The children of the House of Judah have
been reared in a manner unacceptable to
any and all standards. Their bodies [are]
seriously and permanently injured, their
intellectual capacities underdeveloped,
minimal decision making and problem
solving abilities have been taught, the
basic concepts of delayed gratification
underdeveloped, feelings and their
expressions denied, trust misguided and
nongeneralizable with fear serving as
the foundation of the way of lives….
parents were among the most abusive in using
the rod upon their children’s bodies and wills”
(Greven, 1991: 133). Jones’s religious
background included Pentecostal and Holiness
theologies along with ordination in the Disciples
of Christ (see Hall, 1987: 19–28), so this
historical context was useful. The two
contemporary (supposedly) Protestant sects,
however, to which Hall drew analogies, were
ones whose practices the anticult movement had
specifically been concerned about for a long
time and that many critics called ‘cults’ (see
Langone and Eisenberg, 1993: 332–334). One
sect turned out not even to have been Protestant,
and the other was by no means representative of
American Protestantism.
Child Corporal Punishment in the House
of Judah
The unnamed Michigan group that Hall
mentioned was the House of Judah (also known
as Black Hebrew Israelite Jews)—a group
whose violent activities had attracted the
attention of cult-monitoring organizations of the
period.13 Contrary, however, to Hall’s claim, it
was not a Protestant group, since its members
read only the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
(Helfer, 1983: 3). Moreover, the beating death of
a twelve-year old child (John Yarbough) took
place in July 1983 (not 1984, as Hall indicated),
with his mother (Ethel Yarborough) being
convicted of involuntary manslaughter in
February 1984 (Detroit Free Press, 1984). At
the cult’s religious camp, the adolescent
“repeatedly refused to do his chores,” which
included chopping and hauling wood, digging
dirt used to repair a road inside the camp and
hauling pails of water” (Ray, 1983: 1A). For this
refusal, adults put him in stocks and beat him
“30 times on the butt” with a broomstick-sized
13 Among the early accounts about the House of Judah was a news
summary about the group that appeared in the newsletter of the
anticult organization the Citizens Freedom Foundation (Citizens
Freedom Foundation, 1983: [3]). Later, an organization that
concerned itself with harm caused by cultic groups, the American
Family Foundation, published an article about the House of Judah
in its May/June 1988 newsletter, The Cult Observer, reproducing it
from the newsletter of an organization (Children’s Healthcare is a
Legal Duty, or CHILD) dedicated to children’s medical rights
(American Family Foundation, 1988). In July of that year, the
largest cult-monitoring organization in the United States at that
time, the Cult Awareness Network, published an article about the
group in its Cult Awareness Network News (1988).
wooden pole. One or more blows hit his spine,
which killed him (Ray, 1983: 1A). In what cult
apologists likely would call an atrocity tale,
John’s brother, Daniel, eventually would testify
under oath that his brother had been “beaten on
at least 40 occasions by sect members, one of
whom once tried to lift the youngster by the ears
with a pair of pliers” (Detroit News, 1986). In
response to the death, authorities removed sixty-
six children from the camp, and eventually
secured the conviction of the cult’s leader,
William Lewis, and five others to between two-
and three-year federal prison terms “for
conspiring to enslave sect children and causing a
boy’s death” (Mitzelfeld, 1986).
A pediatrics professor and medical doctor, Ray
E. Helfer, assessed the children, and he
observed:
...these nutritionally healthy bodies have
been moderately to severely injured by
repetitive beatings and other physical
insults. Of the first 50 to 55 children
examined by a physician after John
[Yarbough]’s death a full 20% had signs
of severe physical abuse. For the
children greater than five years of age
this percentage increases to
approximately 40% and for the boys in
this age range, the figure is 70% to 75%.
Thus, the likelihood of a male child
reaching adolescence without showing
physical signs of severe abuse to his
body is less than 25%, possibly even
less. (Helfer, 1983: 2 see Langone and
Eisenberg, 1993: 333)
The physician wrote in conclusion:
The children of the House of Judah have
been reared in a manner unacceptable to
any and all standards. Their bodies [are]
seriously and permanently injured, their
intellectual capacities underdeveloped,
minimal decision making and problem
solving abilities have been taught, the
basic concepts of delayed gratification
underdeveloped, feelings and their
expressions denied, trust misguided and
nongeneralizable with fear serving as
the foundation of the way of lives….
