I am writing this letter in response to the article
on the House of Yahweh which appeared on the front page of the Sunday,
April 14, edition of the Abilene Reporter-News.
Being from out of town, when I first picked up your
paper, I noticed the quote you apply to yourselves, "We sketch
your world exactly as it goes." But as I read the article against
the House of Yahweh, my disappointment about this quote grew to
shock. This article paints nothing but one unproven allegation after
another.
How can I say this with such conviction? I have been
a member, along with my wife and family, of the House of Yahweh
for six years and have served as an elder for the past two years.
My wife and I are also kin to Kay Jordan, whom you quote in this
article, Kay being married to my wife's brother for the past 10
years. Having knowledge of both the teachings and the workings of
the House of Yahweh and the past dealings of Kay Jordan, I can tell
you that the pertinent facts about her story do not appear in this
article.
Speaking as an elder in the House of Yahweh, I tell
you the House of Yahweh has never accepted food stamps or any other
form of government assistance as tithes. My own family struggled
financially at times and we received food stamps, but we never gave
food stamps as tithes. Despite what Anah Jeffries (whose real name
is Carol; you should get your facts before publishing an article
like this) quoted to your staff writers, Yisrayl Hawkins, or any
other elder, never advised, never even suggested that we pay tithes
with food stamps, nor even that we go on food stamps.
Furthermore, there are no offering plates passed around in the House
of Yahweh. Tithing is purely voluntary and we only teach what the
Bible says about it, as all churches do.
The House of Yahweh teaches ALL, whether rich or
poor, to be honest in all their dealings. We teach complete Law-keeping,
not only the Laws of the Bible but the laws of man's governments
as well, just as the Savior and Apostles did. I personally help
out in the House of Yahweh prison ministry and many of the chaplains
at the prison we visit tell me that the prisoners who convert to
our teachings become model prisoners.
Having known Kay Jordan for 10 years, my wife and
I both know that her troubles with the welfare system began long
before she came to the House of Yahweh. The pending charges against
her in Mississippi are the result of her own negligence in filing
the proper information. In fact, she boasted to both my wife and
myself that she had gotten one over on the "beastly system,"
as she called it.
I guarantee that she did not learn this behavior at the House of
Yahweh, and in fact would have been ashamed to admit to the elders
what she was doing concerning her dealings with government assistance.
Furthermore, Kay Jordan was never a steady, stable
member of the House of Yahweh, and certainly cannot be considered
a representative of those who are. On more than one occasion she
left the House of Yahweh, only to return, and we always welcomed
her back after she supposedly repented. She was never a regular
tithe payer and, in fact, paid very little tithes to the House of
Yahweh. Her accusations about the House of Yahweh are completely
fictitious. For instance, wine, although permitted for the Savior's
Last Supper, as in most churches, is NOT sold by the House of Yahweh.
Kay Jordan insinuated that she was concerned about
her personal safety. It's not only against the laws of this country
but it's against the Laws of our Heavenly Father to commit murder.
No one loyal to the teachings of the House of Yahweh would ever
commit this heinous sin or even consider threatening bodily harm
to another human being.
The article stated that Yisrayl Hawkins has not responded
to repeated requests for interviews. If the Abilene Reporter-News
would truly "sketch our world exactly as it goes," you
would not even go so far as printing only one side of the story.
If you would quit twisting and distorting statements and agree to
print the truth, then Yisrayl Hawkins would grant you an interview.
We challenge the Abilene Reporter-News to rise above
the hatred being displayed by the former members of the House of
Yahweh, whose only stated desire is to ruin an innocent man, and
return to the principles of responsible journalism that you claim
to follow. All we have seen printed so far is merely allegation
and lies concerning the House of Yahweh and Yisrayl Hawkins. I am
only stating these things because I know my sister-in-law, Kay Jordan,
and I know Carol Jeffries; the facts are, they both lie to cover
their own sins. The only reason that they have to hate Yisrayl Hawkins
is because he scolded them continually for the many sins they practice.
(Jody Beard is a member of the House of Yahweh in
Tylertown, Miss. His remarks, signed and notarized, were delivered
by hand to the Reporter-News.)
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