WHO WAS YAHWEH BEN YAHWEH? CULT OF YAHWEH FEATURED IN NEW OXYGEN SPECIAL ‘UNCOVERED: THE CULT OF YAHWEH BEN YAHWEH’

KELLY WYNNE
Newsweek
March 1, 2019

Uncovered: The Cult of Yahweh Ben Yahweh will premiere on Oxygen Sunday, March 10 at 7 ET.

What do you get in the late ‘70s when a group of religious people try to rehabilitate drug-heavy neighborhoods? A murderous cult. The Nation of Yahweh, led by Yahweh Ben Yahweh, is a lesser known, dangerous cult that reworked American history, and viewers can watch the past unfold in Oxygen’s new special Uncovered: The Cult of Yahweh Ben Yahweh.

The special’s trailer details the things Yahweh Ben Yahweh stood for, and the things that went horribly wrong. “A religious leader with a mission to bring peace,” the trailer begins. “He brought salvation to African American communities in Miami,” it explains of his leadership.

Yahweh Ben Yahweh was a charismatic force, as most cult leaders are. He gained hundreds of followers from his religious preaching and reform methods. He was known for a grandiose personality and referred to himself as God to his followers.

For many, in a time of a national drug takeover and a political and social upheaval, a spiritual leader was appealing with a promise to cure all and find salvation. But like many classic cults, see Charles Manson’s Family or the Alamo Christian Foundation, there was a price to pay for being a member of a religious community.

Members of Nation of Yahweh were forced to abandon their own families in order to accept their place in the Yahweh community. The Oxygen trailer features people speaking of losing their own familial ties. “I felt cheated out of my children’s lives,” one man shared.

Then, the crimes began. The trailer shows two questionable murders of two men who were shot “execution style” seemingly at the hand of the cult. “The leader accused of racketeering and murder,” the trailer reads. But the cult’s bonds are fierce. Even today, Yahweh Ben Yahweh’s daughter fully believes in her father’s innocence and claims the government had a hand in outlining his said crimes.

Uncovered: The Cult of Yahweh Ben Yahweh will expose the secrets of the cult’s inner workings, as well as show the viewpoint of investigators who fought to bring down the corrupt and violent cult. What happened to Yahweh Ben Yahweh after his orderer murders peaked will be revealed, and questions about what it means to give one's life up for a dangerous organization will be raised.

https://www.newsweek.com/who-was-yahweh-ben-yahweh-cult-yahweh-featured-new-oxygen-special-uncovered-1348098