Yisrayl "Buffalo Bill" Hawkins founded the House of Yahweh in Abilene in 1974. Hawkins claimed that unless Biblical law were universally obeyed, a nuclear war would kill 80% of humanity sometime between this month of October 2000 and midway through the year after. Later the date was advanced to September 12, 2006, June 12, 2007, October 13, 2007, and June 12, 2008.
In the latter 2000s, several allegations of child mistreatment were made against the House of Yahweh's leadership. Yisrayl pled guilty to child labor violations in exchange for dismissal of bigamy charges. The church's second in command, Yedidiyah Hawkins, is now serving a 30-year sentence for sexual abuse of his stepdaughter beginning when she was 8. And one HOY member pled guilty to criminal negligence for killing her 7-year-old daughter in an attempt to perform a home surgery.
The church was formed as a spliter group from Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God (see Jan. 7).
