Social Life within the Twelve Tribes

In The Commune

When joining the group, new members move into the Tribe’s housing, giving up all their money & belongings. From then on, they are to receive all their physical needs from the Tribes, and are not allowed to borrow anything from non-members.
Members typically live together in large, extended-family households where access to TV’s, radio, and the Internet is either limited or non-existent.
New members are given Hebrew names. Hebrew terms are also used for common words such as: mom, dad, Jesus, God, church, etc.
Some upper leadership enjoy additional privileges (despite statements to the contrary), including having their own houses, pool, TV, and even a separate island off the coast of Florida.

Internal Culture

The organization began in the 1970’s. They have intentionally catered to reaching Hippie culture, Grateful Dead fans, and those who feel disconnected from society.
The group is known for their folk-style music and dancing, simple and “natural” esthetic, and rejection of other organized religions.
The Tribes have a negative view of dogs and generally do not have pets.
The Tribe have their own insider terminology. They have also redefined some words in order to match up with their beliefs.¹
The Tribes are a fairly-closed social system, and so there are numerous common phrases and patterns of speaking.
- For example, they are instructed not to use “How are you?” when greeting people.
- Common phrases include “It’s better to be wrong together than right alone” and “They are coming against The Anointing.”

Dress Code

Members wear simple clothing without art/designs or messages on them.
Clothing must be made primarily from wool, cotton, or linen.
Women wear dresses (or “sus pants”) and religious head coverings. They are not supposed to shave their legs.
Men must have beards.¹ They must also have medium-long hair, tied back in a short ponytail roughly the size of a fist.
Shirts must hang down long enough that the person’s belly button doesn’t show when they lift their hands above their heads.

Race & Ethnicity

The Tribes believe that people of African decent are cursed and are intended for servitude.
Interracial marriage was previously prohibited, but is now permitted.
The Tribes view historic American slavery as “not wrong” and state that it provided the proper social order for blacks. They disagree with Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves and they condemn Martin Luther King Jr.

Childcare

The Tribes desire that married couples have many children, which is part of their end times theology. Artificial birth control is generally frowned upon, and couples are expected to start having children soon after getting married.
Adults are required to use corporal punishment when disciplining children. There have been many reports of child abuse committed under the banner of “discipline,” including severe beatings, locking children in rooms for days, and depriving children of food.
Children attend school (“training”) only up to grade 8, with all classes taught on Tribes’ property by group members.
Kids are not allowed to have toys and dolls, and are prohibited from playing organized sports and video games. They are supposed to stay busy enough that they they don’t have time for “playing pretend.” They are typically not allowed to use phones and computers. They are not allowed to read fiction or watch TV. They are often prohibited from interacting with other children their age, in order to prevent “foolishness.”

Food

Coffee is not approved because of its “addictive” caffeine. Instead, South American yerba maté tea (which also contains significant levels of caffeine²) is promoted by the Tribes, sold by the Tribes, and is frequently used by members in significant amounts.
Food is eaten with chopsticks in order to appeal to Asians and for cleanliness.
The biggest meal of the week is Friday supper, a “gathering” event often used to recruit new members.
They believe that foods made from pig (pork chops, bacon bits, hotdogs, etc) contain toxins, take twice as long to digest, and are “unclean.” They believe that chocolate has negative interactions with the human body. Therefore, neither type of food is permitted.
They prefer goat milk rather than cow milk.³ Member are restricted from eating lobster, crab, and other shellfish, as well as refined salt, sugar, and flour.
A variety of foods, such as pumpkin seeds, are promoted for their supposed⁴ health benefits.

Healthcare

The Tribes generally prefer natural remedies rather than going to doctors trained in Western medicine.
Wives are not allowed to sleep in the same bed as their husbands during their monthly cycle.
Most babies are delivered at home rather than in a hospital.
Most babies and children in the Tribes do not get vaccinated.
If sickness or injury occurs, the Tribes often consider this to be an indication that the person has sinned. The sickness or injury is seen as God’s punishment, and person is called to confess and repent (with additional punishing consequences sometimes provided by the Tribes). Mothers who have a stillbirth are sometimes told their child died because of the mother’s sin.

Motivation

Members are told that they are doing God’s work and preparing for the End Times. Therefore, a high level of commitment and work-ethic is expected.
Members wake up at 6:00am every day, except for 7:00am on Saturdays.
Members are assigned to work (without pay) a significant number of hours each week. Many former members report 80+ hours of work weekly (16-hour work days).
Members are moved around the country (or internationally) where the leadership deems they are needed.

Structure & Accountability

The Tribes have a hierarchy with firm authority (including responsibilities & privileges) at each level.
Until his death in 2021, founder Gene Spriggs was the lead apostle. As the primary mediator between the Tribes and God, this role was roughly equivalent to the Catholic Pope. Similar to the Apostles who wrote books of the New Testament, Spriggs provided new “revelations” to his people.
The “3-Cord” (3 apostles) reported to Gene Spriggs. Under them is the Tribal Council made up of Apostolic Workers (3 leaders from each tribe = 36 total). There are Community Coordinators for each town, and Household Heads for each home. “Elders” oversee spiritual matters in a community, and “Sextons” oversee physical matters.
Some of the upper-level leadership have included: Gene Spriggs (“Yoneq”) and wife Marsha Spriggs (“Ha-Emeq”), Eddie Wiseman (“Hakam”) and wife Jean Swantko Wiseman (“Havah”), David Burleigh (“David Zerubabbel”), Timothy Kroehler (“Mevaser”), Ricky Kendricks (“Aquila”), and William Nunnally (“Nun”).
Obeying authorities within the group is expected and required. Areas of submission include: where to live, what work to do, who to marry, and the daily schedule. All members have a “covering” — a person(s) who provides guidance and oversight.
Submission to authority must happen both physically and mentally. Independent thinking or dissent is viewed as a spiritual threat. “Rebellious” members who don’t accept correction are sent away from the community, with their eternal destiny considered to be at risk.

Public Restrictions

While members are intentionally very hospitable in public, outsiders are typically not allowed to be present for the “Breaking of Bread” ceremony on Saturday night.
Non-members (and most members) are also not permitted to attend “councils,” “apostolic workers meetings,” “kahals,”⁵ and “intertribal meetings” where leaders gather to discuss doctrine, legal issues, or community management.

Here are some examples of the Tribes seeking to redefine terms/reality: (1) Since they reject food that is “unclean” according to the Old Testament, they consider unclean food to not to be “food” at all (in order to avoid the New Testament permission to eat unclean food). (2) Since they promote the term “Yahshua” instead of “Jesus,” they have created a false etymology of “Jesus” to tie that name with the pagan “Zeus.” (3) They often use the word “Gospel” in relation to works-based behavior that the Bible doesn’t use the word “Gospel” for. (4) In order to avoid the idea that Jesus is Divine, they classify certain statements of His as being spoke by God the Father though Jesus, and other statements of His as being spoken only by Jesus the man. ↩ ↩²
Trimmed regularly to avoid bringing “unnecessary persecution upon ourselves” and because “when we are in the cafés or the public and the people see us preparing our food, the way we look affects their appetite.” ↩
Yerba mate was previously thought by some to have included a non-caffeine chemical (“mateine”) that provided an energy boost without the side-effects of caffeine. The Tribes bought into this idea and promoted it internally and publicly. However, scientific studies (such as this one by an Argentinian university) have shown that “mateine” does not exist. The most generous explanation would be that additional chemicals in yerba mate provide additional biological effects (beyond caffeine-related effects). However, the claim that yerba mate contains no caffeine is completely false. ↩
Occasionally spelled “qahal” or “chahal,” this is a judgment meeting that can be called as needed. ↩
Additional comments from the Tribe’s internal documents: “lots of dairy products will make a person fat like a little cow” and “Unfortunately, a person can drink pasteurized milk till they’re blue in the face and gain no calcium from it… And without calcium, folks can be pretty up-tight, restless or anxious.” ↩

Social Life within the Twelve Tribes

In The Commune

Internal Culture

Dress Code

Race & Ethnicity

Childcare

Food

Healthcare

Motivation

Structure & Accountability

Public Restrictions

Footnotes