On Sept. 5, 2013, a Twelve Tribes community in Germany was raided: http://twelvetribes.org/articles/police-raid-klosterzimmern-all-children-seized. This occurred due to suspicion of child abuse. Forty kids, aged 1 1/2 to 17, and five infants between 7 months and 2 years of age, were taken by authorities and placed into foster homes.
Shortly after this incident, Abigail shared that the kids placed into homes refused to watch television even though the foster parents allowed for that option. I wasn’t able to find articles to support this, but I don’t doubt it. There were several times I took out my phone during my stay there, and none of the younger members even asked to play with it. The most they did was look at it.
It’s amazing how the training of the kids so effective, that they won’t use technology even if they have the opportunity right in front of them. Abigail said the foster parents said they were honored to have had these children.
I skimmed through some articles about the incident (some links below):
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23977577
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/germany-twelve-tribes-sect-raided_n_3880122.html
One aspect that stood out to me is that these news organizations refer to the Twelve Tribes as “Christian” sects.
They’re not. They worship “Yahshua” – not Jesus Christ – and they celebrate Yom Kippur. The community’s website also makes this fundamental fact clear, so I wonder why reputable news outlets all refer to them as such.
Reports on this incident have made me question, even more, the accuracy of news about the world we live in. I would not have known about these details had I not lived with the Winnipeg community for just over a week. In that time, I did not once see any sign of child abuse. Maybe that’s not enough time to determine this for certain, but all the younger members looked happy and healthy and acted happy and healthy. All of them were also obedient to their parents, so I’m more convinced by my experience in their home that the news reports are inaccurate.
Agnes, I read your blog about the twelve tribes in Winnipeg. It was nice to see a lot of them back on your pictures. I have a question. Where you also there in september 2013. There was a girl called Agnes when i arrived she left one or two days later to LA.
Greetings from the dutch baker (baked a lot with Asher) at the shop.
Hi Kees! Thanks for dropping by! I was there in September and remember you coming right before I left for Toronto. How long did you stay there? Hope you’ve been doing well 🙂
Yes I thought so. Saw you on one of the pictures. I stayed there from 6-09-2013 till 20-12-2013. Worked on the land and later in the building for about 1,5 month with Asher in the bakery. did you go back there a second time? When i look at the dates of your blog it seems so because when i was there baby Daniel was brought back to his mum in the USA. The tribe in Winnipeq also encounter a lot of problems. One of their recent members has a lot of trouble with her husband he is trying to expose them in the same way as in Germany.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhenrymakow.com%2F2014%2F09%2FMy-Wife-Left-Me-to-Join-a-Cult.html&h=CAQFumX6o
After my stay there is travelled to Peace River and eventually ended up in Chicago. Now i am back in Holland.
I still want to visit them sometime. I liked it lot overthere and miss my walks with Amatz and my talks with Asher and Lev.
Greetings from Holland and be safe on your trips.
Kees
Oh wow, you stayed for awhile! No, I did not return a second time. I just posted these entries much later. I was already back in California when I wrote them.
It’s sad to hear about the problems they’re encountering since they’re very nice people. Thank you for sharing that link.
I would also like to visit them again sometime. It would be great. I hope you had a wonderful time at Peace River and Chicago. I would also like to see Holland some day 🙂
Happy New Year from Los Angeles!
Take care.