90 years ago: The death of Israelite House of David leader Benjamin Purnell

On December 16, 1927, Benjamin Purnell, "King of the Israelite House of David," died of diabetes at the age of 66. The Israelite House of David, founded in 1903 by Mr. Purnell and his wife Mary, was a sect based in Benton Harbor, Michigan that subscribed to replacement theology, believing that they were true Israel. The Purnells followed a man named James J. Jezreel, who was supposedly the "sixth messenger," and the Purnells believed themselves to be the seventh messenger according to their understanding of Revelation 10:7:

When the seventh angel begins to sound, the mystery shall be finished as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Typical of pseudo-Christian sects, the Israelite House of David accepted the Bible as scripture, but also accepted extrabiblical revelations and interpretations of the Bible that were received by the "messengers." The group patterned itself after the Nazarites mentioned in Numbers 6:1-21, with a few modern quirks, such as the presence of an amusement park and a model railroad on their Benton Harbor property. The most memorable aspect of the Israelite House of David was the men's barnstorming baseball teams, with the players sporting long hair and beards--unfashionable in the 1920s and '30s--and playing teams across the United States.

The Israelite House of David supposedly practiced celibacy, but Mr. Purnell 11 days after losing a civil suit in which he was accused of fraud and sexually molesting daughters of sect members; the verdict was later overturned on appeal. Such things are typical of cults, where the leaders indulge in licentious behaviour while prohibiting their followers from doing the same.

Mr. Purnell, an alleged prophet, predicted that he would rise from the dead three days after his death, but that still hasn't occurred., and we've been waiting 90 years. A splinter group formed after the death of the "messenger," and the group's membership, which peaked at about 1,000, gradually diminished. There were still a few survivors as of 2011, but if there are any at the time of this post, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

It did come as a surprise to this blogger to discover that the Israelite House of David still seems to officially exist, and has a website. Its doctrines/revelations are a hodgepodge of twisted understanding of the Bible; I quickly tired of trying to understand them, as I soon began to suffer from what a university professor I knew called the MEGO syndrome (My Eyes Glaze Over). The curious reader can see the Israelite House of David reading materials here.

While Banjamin Purnell proved himself a false prophet by failing to rise from the dead when promised--or at all--the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead (see Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 21) and right on schedule. He is risen indeed.