Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 38
on the track team. He worked long hours at a drug store and studied hard. Jim tried to set
himself apart from his family, which was poor and accepted help from the Salvation Army.
His mother frequently nagged his father, a part-time Pentecostal preacher, about what a
poor provider he was (Sneed, 1979).
Roberts enlisted in the Marines, but little is known of his experiences there. His family says
that when he returned form the Marines, his fundamentalism had become twisted into
extreme beliefs. After the Marines he was invited to pastor a church in Paducah, where in
his first sermon he equated taking prescription drugs to worldly materialism. This resulted,
according to a church member with whom we spoke, in the church‘s rejecting him. Many of
his beliefs appear to have been formed before he arrived in Missoula. He believed it was
wrong to drink milk and a sin to watch TV and read newspapers. He rejected insurance,
doctors, and mortgage payments
From a small beginning, the JRG grew throughout the seventies. They traveled and camped
out as one large group. They recruited new members on college campuses, in libraries, in
parks and commercial areas adjoining college campuses, and lived by scavenging outdated
food picked from dumpsters behind grocery stores and fast food restaurants, in a practice
called ―dumpster diving.‖ This is the basis of their being nicknamed ―Garbage Eaters.‖ They
did not believe in medical care or work and spent many hours a day reading the King James
Version of Scripture. They claimed to be living as the apostles lived in the first century and
traveled by walking and primarily hitchhiking. Women were subservient, did the camp
chores, made the clothes, and took care of the children. They addressed each other as
―brother‖ and ―sister.‖ The brothers and sisters seemed devoid of the joy that most other
Christians experience (Martin, 1979, p. 49).
Their dress was intended to cover the shape of their bodies so that the opposite sex would
not be tempted. Sisters wore long, full skirts with long-sleeved blouses and long smocks,
which were plain and drab in color. Sisters were not permitted to cut their hair or adorn it in
any way and could use no makeup or jewelry and could not show any flesh except their
faces. Brothers usually wore jeans, boots, long-sleeved shirts and, in the beginning, long
robes to cover the shape of their bodies. The brothers could not cut or trim their beards but
kept their hair short.
They lived a very ―pure‖ life. No smoking or drugs of any kind were allowed and a pure
sexual life was demanded by Roberts, who became known as ―Brother Evangelist.‖ or the
―Elder‖ or ―Sir.‖ They believed in healing by prayer only, and those who could not be healed
were abandoned. Three deaths were recorded in their first decade of existence, including
two infants (Galvan, 1980).
In the mid- to late-seventies, because of the cult‘s success in recruiting, law enforcement
and parents periodically raided JRG camps looking for their children. Many of these raids
were successful and some members were removed from the group. Because of this, Roberts
started splitting the group into small cells and had them travel in twos and threes. He
maintained complete control of who moved, where they moved to, whom they moved with,
and when they moved. He still exercises this control today, usually by telephone. Over
time, an intermediate level of ―older brothers‖ developed and became the lesser authorities
that managed the individual camps around the country and coordinated the movement of
brothers and sisters from camp to camp.
As time went on, it became apparent that having married couples and families within the
group created problems. Families developed a closeness that undermined Roberts‘ ability to
control the individual members. In the eighties, Roberts began prohibiting marriages, which
continues today. For permission to marry, a brother had to go to Roberts and express
interest in marrying a certain sister. Roberts would then talk to the sister to determine her
interest in the brother. Roberts began finding reasons in Scripture for couples not to marry,
on the track team. He worked long hours at a drug store and studied hard. Jim tried to set
himself apart from his family, which was poor and accepted help from the Salvation Army.
His mother frequently nagged his father, a part-time Pentecostal preacher, about what a
poor provider he was (Sneed, 1979).
Roberts enlisted in the Marines, but little is known of his experiences there. His family says
that when he returned form the Marines, his fundamentalism had become twisted into
extreme beliefs. After the Marines he was invited to pastor a church in Paducah, where in
his first sermon he equated taking prescription drugs to worldly materialism. This resulted,
according to a church member with whom we spoke, in the church‘s rejecting him. Many of
his beliefs appear to have been formed before he arrived in Missoula. He believed it was
wrong to drink milk and a sin to watch TV and read newspapers. He rejected insurance,
doctors, and mortgage payments
From a small beginning, the JRG grew throughout the seventies. They traveled and camped
out as one large group. They recruited new members on college campuses, in libraries, in
parks and commercial areas adjoining college campuses, and lived by scavenging outdated
food picked from dumpsters behind grocery stores and fast food restaurants, in a practice
called ―dumpster diving.‖ This is the basis of their being nicknamed ―Garbage Eaters.‖ They
did not believe in medical care or work and spent many hours a day reading the King James
Version of Scripture. They claimed to be living as the apostles lived in the first century and
traveled by walking and primarily hitchhiking. Women were subservient, did the camp
chores, made the clothes, and took care of the children. They addressed each other as
―brother‖ and ―sister.‖ The brothers and sisters seemed devoid of the joy that most other
Christians experience (Martin, 1979, p. 49).
Their dress was intended to cover the shape of their bodies so that the opposite sex would
not be tempted. Sisters wore long, full skirts with long-sleeved blouses and long smocks,
which were plain and drab in color. Sisters were not permitted to cut their hair or adorn it in
any way and could use no makeup or jewelry and could not show any flesh except their
faces. Brothers usually wore jeans, boots, long-sleeved shirts and, in the beginning, long
robes to cover the shape of their bodies. The brothers could not cut or trim their beards but
kept their hair short.
They lived a very ―pure‖ life. No smoking or drugs of any kind were allowed and a pure
sexual life was demanded by Roberts, who became known as ―Brother Evangelist.‖ or the
―Elder‖ or ―Sir.‖ They believed in healing by prayer only, and those who could not be healed
were abandoned. Three deaths were recorded in their first decade of existence, including
two infants (Galvan, 1980).
In the mid- to late-seventies, because of the cult‘s success in recruiting, law enforcement
and parents periodically raided JRG camps looking for their children. Many of these raids
were successful and some members were removed from the group. Because of this, Roberts
started splitting the group into small cells and had them travel in twos and threes. He
maintained complete control of who moved, where they moved to, whom they moved with,
and when they moved. He still exercises this control today, usually by telephone. Over
time, an intermediate level of ―older brothers‖ developed and became the lesser authorities
that managed the individual camps around the country and coordinated the movement of
brothers and sisters from camp to camp.
As time went on, it became apparent that having married couples and families within the
group created problems. Families developed a closeness that undermined Roberts‘ ability to
control the individual members. In the eighties, Roberts began prohibiting marriages, which
continues today. For permission to marry, a brother had to go to Roberts and express
interest in marrying a certain sister. Roberts would then talk to the sister to determine her
interest in the brother. Roberts began finding reasons in Scripture for couples not to marry,
