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The Cult Dossier · No. 111 · Apocalyptic / Doomsday

House of Yahweh

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1980 – present · Abilene, Texas

XII. THE WIDER FIELD — CONCISE ENTRIES

Fully religious — sacred name movement

Who led it

YISRAYL HAWKINS (died 8 October 2021, aged 87), who legally took the first name Yisrayl in 1980. His brother J. G. (YAAQOB) HAWKINS had founded the first House of Yahweh, in Odessa, Texas, in 1974.

What it worshipped and taught

A sacred-name Christianity in which Hawkins is one of the Two Witnesses. Repeatedly predicted nuclear war — for 12 September 2006, then 12 June 2007, then 12 June 2008 — and later predicted destruction before Christmas 2016. Members built bunkers and stockpiled food. Polygamy practised internally.

Who was in it

Yisrayl Hawkins; his brother Yaaqob Hawkins; the elder YEDIDIYAH HAWKINS, convicted in October 2008 of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 30 years.

How it ended, or where it stands

FOUNDER DIED 8 OCTOBER 2021, AGED 87. The group continues to operate from Eula, Texas, while his estate is fought over in probate.

The dead

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Of note

A standard example of the serial date-setter who retains a following through repeated public failure.

Its timeline

  1. 1980 Founded in Abilene.
  2. 2006–2008 Successive failed nuclear war predictions; members sell homes.
  3. FEBRUARY 2008 Hawkins is arrested on FOUR COUNTS OF BIGAMY; bail is set at 10 million dollars, then cut to 100,000.
  4. 29 OCTOBER 2009 The bigamy charges are dismissed after he pleads no contest to CHILD LABOUR charges. He receives a fine and probation.
  5. 8 OCTOBER 2021 YISRAYL HAWKINS DIED, AGED 87. The group is based at EULA, Texas, outside Abilene.
  6. 2021–2026 A DISPUTE OVER HIS HOLOGRAPHIC WILL runs in Callahan County, Texas. He left about 5 million dollars in assets and more than 200 properties. The handwritten will, said to date from 2008, leaves all his assets to the House of Yahweh with several members named as beneficiaries; ENFORCEMENT HAS BEEN DELAYED over questions about the document's legal validity, and some members are contesting it. The outcome will largely determine what the organisation becomes.
  7. 2021–present The House of Yahweh continues to operate after its founder's death.

Its people

Yisrayl Hawkins

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Founder, House of Yahweh · c.1934 – 8 October 2021 · active 1980–present

A former police officer who founded a sacred-name sect in Abilene, Texas, claiming to be one of the Two Witnesses. He predicted nuclear war for 12 September 2006, then 12 June 2007, then 12 June 2008. He was arrested in February 2008 on four counts of bigamy; those were dismissed in October 2009 when he pleaded no contest to child labour charges.

Before the law. Pleaded no contest to child labour charges, October 2009; fine and probation. Bigamy charges dismissed.

Where things stand. DECEASED 8 OCTOBER 2021, AGED 87. The organisation outlived him; his estate — about 5 million dollars and more than 200 properties — is contested in a Texas probate dispute over a handwritten will.

  1. 1980 Founds the House of Yahweh.
  2. 2006–08 Three successive failed nuclear war predictions.
  3. FEBRUARY 2008 Arrested on four counts of bigamy.
  4. 29 OCTOBER 2009 Bigamy charges dismissed after a no-contest plea to child labour charges; fine and probation.

Checked 2026-09-16

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