Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Modern Doomsday Cult

Long, long ago, we mentioned Shoresh Yishai, a creepy faux-Jewish cult begun by a pair of Lutheran pastors on Long Island, years ago. They were (and their successors apparently remain) an awful bunch. Start with the child molestation and go from there. Anyone who has served a parish in Nassau County knows some of the heart-wrenching story.

We recently received a note from an anonymous correspondent, who claims to have been a member of this group for most of his or her life, and who has just recently started a blog devoted to going public on the subject. There isn't much there yet, apart from this nice bit of snark:
In the 1980’s, the cult was known as Shoresh Yishai, but the name has changed over the years. Currently they refer to themselves as the Abensaur Family or simply as the Family. As you probably know, the Family is not the most original name. The charismatic founder of the cult, Jack Hickman, also known as Abba to his followers, was not the most original cult leader. Most of the ideas and dogmas that are alive in the cult today he stole from others. This is rather fitting with his character as he did after all live a parasitic lifestyle.
The least a cult leader can do, we imagine, is show a little creativity. Give us flying saucers and mind-reading machines or stay home.

Anyway, if you are interested in Jack Hickman and his followers, stay tuned to Modern Doomsday Cult, and encourage the author to keep working.

6 comments:

moderndoomsdaycult said...

Thank you for the write up, Father A. I will be posting part one of a brief history of the group today.

Anonymous said...

Hard to decide if this is simply sad or truly disturbing. web

Anonymous said...

so weird. web

A. said...

bs'd
writing from Israel to ask if there was a family named bragg from maine involved in the group

Unknown said...

Well that's crazy & true I left that family after I read the article I. The 1980 s that exposed those unruly people

Anonymous said...

I attended this cult for many years. What went on with this cult would make your draw drop.