Cultists convinced only God will provide
Boston Herald / September 3, 2000
By Dave Wedge
Two years ago, a fringe religious sect took an ill-fated road trip to Maine,
leaving their Seekonk compound with no money and no food, thinking God would
deliver them safely.
But when their cars ran out of gas on Route 1 in Maine, the members didn't
rally together and walk to the nearest service station.
They prayed - for gas.
"They surrounded the cars, put their hands on them and prayed," said Bristol
County prosecutor Walter Shea. "They thought God would fill their gas tank."
For three days, they stayed near their cars, eating only berries from trees
off the side of the road. Finally, a concerned relative traveled to Maine
and called state police, who found the group and gave them $20 for gas to
get home.
The cult, at the center of a controversial ruling this week that resulted in
the forced hospitalization of a pregnant member, bases much of its religion
on the writings of the Home in Zion Ministries in Florida and the Old
Testament.
Suspected in the deaths of two young boys, members of the Attleboro-based
group denounce modern society, instead putting their faith in God to heal,
guide and provide for them.
"For whatever reason, they believe God speaks to them. They really believe
that," Shea said.
The fringe Christian fundamentalist group is the subject of a grand jury
probe into the deaths of 10-month-old Samuel Robidoux, who allegedly starved
to death, and Jeremiah Corneau, who is believed to have died during birth.
Prosecutors say both deaths were preventable and are seeking charges ranging
from improper disposal of a body to murder.
Neither boy's body has been found, despite searches in Attleboro and
Seekonk, and in Maine's vast Baxter State Park, where the group allegedly
buried two tiny coffins last summer.
Since the probe into the group began, eight members - including Jacques
Robidoux - have been jailed for refusing to talk to the grand jury. Eight
children have been taken from the cult and put into Department of Social
Services custody.
And this week, a judge - fearing for the life of pregnant cultist Rebecca
Corneau's unborn child - ordered the woman held in a secure hospital until
she agrees to a medical exam or gives birth.
According to former member Dennis Mingo, the sect's beliefs are rooted in
denouncing "seven systems" of mainstream society, including education,
government, banking, religion, medicine, science and entertainment.
They were heavily influenced by the book "Born in Zion," by Carol Balizet,
who heads a Florida ministry. Balizet, a former emergency room nurse,
advocates natural home births, claiming only prayer is needed to bring life
into the world.
"The book had a profound effect on the group," Mingo says. "Every week, they
made little changes and became more and more radical. They were basically
pulling themselves out of society and I just couldn't live that way."
While they run their own masonry business, they do so on a cash basis and
keep their own records on a computer, which has been seized by prosecutors.
They home-school their children, have unassisted home births and use herbal
remedies, not medicine. While many have vision problems, they refuse to wear
glasses because they are not "God's will," Mingo says.
"Most of them are blind as bats without their glasses, but they refuse to
wear them" he said.
They think evolution is "a crock," Mingo says.
And recently, they burned up all their old photo albums, saying photos are a
symbol of vanity.
The women wear cotton dresses and the men sport long beards. Completely
withdrawn from society, they don't watch TV or movies, celebrate holidays or
birthdays, or wear wedding bands.
"They see these seven systems as counterfeit systems," Mingo said. "They
think God will provide them all of these things and that these systems were
set up to take your attention away from God."
The family-oriented sect was formed by Jacques Robidoux' father, Roland,
several years ago when he split from the World Church of Christ and started
his own Bible study group.
The group feared the millennium and had "visions" that the world would erupt
in violence and turmoil, but they would be saved.
"God" has led the group repeatedly to upstate Maine and Mingo says they
were - and may still be - planning to set up a commune there.
"It's like they're on a different planet," he said. "They're not a part of
our world anymore. They've gone blank. They're not the people that I know
them as."
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