Rascal: Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs, Leader, 'The Twelve Tribes of Israel'
Rascally Act: Claiming direct communication line with God; Enslaving weak brains to farm work in return for food and a bed (and nothing more); Cavorting around town and the world enjoying debauchery and pay-to-see nekkid ladies.
Rascally Details: Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs, former high school teacher, decided at some point in the late 60's or 70's to quit teaching and start talking to God. The result of these talks with God led Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs to create and lead the Twelve Tribes, an international religious cult with origins in Chattanooga, TN in the early 70's. Twelve Tribes dogma is based on Old Testament Jewish Law and Christian Gospel (with a few of Spriggs direct quotes from God thrown in for a good controlling measure).
This Rascal and his underlings prey on the weak- and narrow-minded by requiring members to give up all their possessions and then confining them to various communes aka slave labor farms where they toil the land for a pittance of food and ramshackle housing. Meanwhile, Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs jetsets around the world, or can be found in town at the local titty club.
Rascally Act: Claiming direct communication line with God; Enslaving weak brains to farm work in return for food and a bed (and nothing more); Cavorting around town and the world enjoying debauchery and pay-to-see nekkid ladies.
Rascally Details: Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs, former high school teacher, decided at some point in the late 60's or 70's to quit teaching and start talking to God. The result of these talks with God led Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs to create and lead the Twelve Tribes, an international religious cult with origins in Chattanooga, TN in the early 70's. Twelve Tribes dogma is based on Old Testament Jewish Law and Christian Gospel (with a few of Spriggs direct quotes from God thrown in for a good controlling measure).
This Rascal and his underlings prey on the weak- and narrow-minded by requiring members to give up all their possessions and then confining them to various communes aka slave labor farms where they toil the land for a pittance of food and ramshackle housing. Meanwhile, Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs jetsets around the world, or can be found in town at the local titty club.
Like most Rascal-based organizations, the Twelve Tribes has burned through afew different names, only to be changed when additional child abuse or wife beating charges were filed, to keep up "image" (see Altria aka Phillip Morris). Some of those names include: Northeast Kingdom Community Church, Church of God, The New Apostolic Order in Messiah, The Church in Island Pond and generally, The Communities. Speaking about people that either leave or oppose the cult, Spriggs says, "both those who lie and those who listen to lies are worthy of the lake of fire."
Members of the Twelve Tribes must give up all physical possessions to begin a life of volunteer slave-based farmwork. Families are expected to love God above each other, the women are subservient and often "kept in-line with a strong hand from God" (delivered, of course, by God's loving servant, the husband). Children are disciplined by the long tail of a whip, and it is the responsibility of all adults to "discipline" the children, regardless of who are the parents.
Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs is a special kind of Rascal, and the type that is so endearing to us here at Rascal of the Day: the Rascal with a direct communication line to the Big Man Upstairs (because God obviously has a penis).
At left: Circle up for a Maypole-inspired peasant dance!
This band of peasant attire-wearing hippies represents the Twelve Tribes. These missionaries travel around the country seeking those psychologically-weakened individuals to "climb aboard" and "come slave away with us on one of our farms." The bus can be found at hippie rock festivals posing as "First Aid" or "Organic Kitchen", fertile grounds for the saving of lost souls, especially the young and drugged-out kind that are easily convinced to live a communal lifestyle. Once people join Twelve Tribes, they must give up all Earthly possessions, so that Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Griggs will have the funding to visit as many international titty bars as possible.
This band of peasant attire-wearing hippies represents the Twelve Tribes. These missionaries travel around the country seeking those psychologically-weakened individuals to "climb aboard" and "come slave away with us on one of our farms." The bus can be found at hippie rock festivals posing as "First Aid" or "Organic Kitchen", fertile grounds for the saving of lost souls, especially the young and drugged-out kind that are easily convinced to live a communal lifestyle. Once people join Twelve Tribes, they must give up all Earthly possessions, so that Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Griggs will have the funding to visit as many international titty bars as possible.
"I knew something was awry when I climbed aboard that bus full of hippies and didn't smell any smoke."
All cult leaders need financial resources to successfully pull off their ruse, and Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs is no different. In addition to the capital raised by selling off members' possessions, Spriggs has relied for nearly thirty years on proceeds from the Yellow Deli. First operated in Chattanooga, the Yellow Deli has spread to other areas where Twelve Tribes groups are organized and locked onto some remote piece of farmland.
It seems that the vegan sandwich and confiscating possessions businesses are going quite well for Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs. So well, in fact, that he bought a sailing vessel aka 'Peacemaker' to sail through the world's loveliest ports, in hopes of snaring a few wayward souls to come "help out" on one of the slave farms.
At left: Just another flashy method to lure in those wayward souls willing to give up their labor for a piece of bread and dirt floor. Coming soon to a harbor near you.
At left: Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs poses, smiling with his dear wife, or "his whipping post" as he affectionately calls her.
Yoneq aka Elbert "Gene" Spriggs: communicator with God, beneficiary of weak-brained slave labor, international titty club king, Rascal Extraordinaire, we give ya a twenty-one whip salute, ya Rascal!!!