a wolf in sheep’s clothing

LINK: a wolf in sheep’s clothing

My friends and I used to hit up the Yellow Deli whenever we were in North County, San Diego. The establishment came in clutch because they are open 24 hours (although, they’d have stochastic days or weeks where they would close). Whenever we had random cravings or it was late at night, we’d go to the Yellow Deli because it sure beats the other joints that are open 24/7.

Everything there is made in-house and from scratch. The menu changes slightly like the breads or their soups. This was superb. It’s so basic but oh so good—mixed greens, nuts, fresh fruit, Havarti cheese, peppers, and tomatoes.

NGL, everything on their menu slaps. Why is it so good?

There are no elevators. The people who work here are friendly but I felt like they had this blank stare most of the time when I would ask them questions.

Initially, I thought it was some sort of hippie co-op thingy. It was giving earthy people, communal vibes, and definitely had organic ingredients. I mean come on, the café literally looked like a treehouse and they have a fire pit outside.

It looks almost like it was from medieval times, especially with the door lock.

I saw this hanging on the wall, I didn’t have time to read it there so I took a snap of it to read later.

The Yellow Deli is owned and operated by the Twelve Tribes, a religious movement founded by Gene Spriggs in Tennessee during the 70’s. Spriggs, now called Yoneq by his followers, and his wife Marsha began leading Bible study groups during the Jesus Movement era.

The Twelve Tribes (from what I’ve read) began as a small group of young people wanting to live like the early Christians from the Book of Acts—sharing resources, working together, worshipping together, and living together. The workers at the Yellow Deli aren’t considered employees, instead they are labeled as volunteers. They don’t promote the Twelve Tribes on their website so at first glance or if you’re not paying attention, it seems like a warm and wholesome neighborhood café.

Their food is bomb-dot-com but they use the restaurant as a way to recruit new members. They’ll casually leave pamphlets and brochures around the café on their beliefs in end times, which plants the seed of interest for those who are curious.

Currently, they have about 40 active communities across 16 states and 10 international locations including Canada, Australia, the UK, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and Spain. There are, I believe 33 Yellow Deli sites worldwide. I didn’t know that they had so many communes…

The deeper I looked into it, the darker it seemed to get. Twelve Tribes was described by scholars and cult experts as an authoritarian high-control group. They use coercion to control and exploit members. The new members are required to sign over ownership of their belongings to the group’s limited liability companies.

According to FBI interviews with former members, it’s against the rules to associate with people outside the community. They’ve also shared that working 12-hour days across multiple jobs with no paycheck and being told that their “shared earnings” go toward communal expenses like food and housing.

The Southern Povery Law Center describes the Twelve Tribes as a “white supremacist cult” citing doctrine that characterizes slavery as a “marvelous opportunity” for African-Americans and calls for death of gay people. There’s also reports of corporal punishment using wooden rods for discipline and allegations of child labor. For the most part, they reject modern medicine and use prayer and faith healing instead.

It’s really unsettling that I used to frequent this café quite often without understanding what was going on in the background and that my money spent there was funding something this troubling.

Now, I can’t unsee what I’ve read and watched.