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Holy Rollers: Murder and
Madness in Oregon's Love Cult
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by
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T. McCracken and Robert B.
Blodgett
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CHAPTER
FIVE
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My burdened
heart was sad and sore;
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The things
that charmed me charmed me no
more;
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The pleasures
that I once enjoyed Have left a sting,--my peace
destroyed.
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I wandered
very far away; In Egypt I'll no longer
stay,
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My Father's
house has and to spare; He offers still to me my
share.
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Coming home,
yes, coming home, To Father's house I'm coming
home;
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Jesus calls,
I'm coming home, To Father's house, no more to
roam.
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From the
Reverend Knapp's Bible Songs of Salvation and
Victory
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 Step
three in starting a new church: Have one's followers obey
one implicitly. That's what Creffield did.
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- This isn't as hard as it
sounds. At this point in starting a new church, even
someone who began with the intention of duping people is
probably beginning to believe his own message. All
these other people believe I am a special messenger from
God--if not His exclusive messenger--so maybe I am. And
if I am really God's exclusive messenger, that surely
must mean I am in possession of special insights that
ordinary mortals lack. So why shouldn't I be telling
people how to live their lives? I know better than they
do.
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- Joshua [as the flock
now called Creffield] knew better than God's Anointed
[as the flock now called themselves]--or so he
and God's Anointed thought.
- They believed he had
been given "the authority to regulate the details of
their daily life"--even small details. For example, he
said that to lead a holy life, they must never use
candles or other forms of artificial light--"everything
except the light of day was eschewed."
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- As on Smith Island,
Joshua said that it was necessary for them to frequently
roll about the floor until their sins had been atoned
for--and he alone would know when that was. And so God's
Anointed obeyed, rolling and praying so loudly that
neighbors said the noise could be heard a quarter of a
mile away from the Hurts' house.
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 "When
they got together for the religious services, all would
lie on the floor," O. V. Hurt said. "Creffield would walk
among them and sometimes he would roll about, too. While
lying this way they were supposed to receive messages
from God. Creffield would keep telling them to pray and
shout with all their might or God would smite them. . . . -
- "He would keep telling
them that God would smite them unless they did as he
said. He claimed to be the Savior. I have known Creffield
to keep them rolling about on the floor in this manner
for from twelve to twenty four hours at one
time."
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- Joshua established rules
about how God's Anointed were to eat, how they were to
sleep, practically how they were to think. In order to
eat, Joshua had to "sanctify" all that was consumed by
God's Anointed by touching it with his hands. This
sanctification made what had been unfit, fit for
consumption. For almost a week all he would sanctify was
bread and water--so, according to Joshua, they would know
hunger.
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- Then he sanctified
nothing, not even bread and water: "And he caused it to
be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the
decree of the king and his nobles, saying Let neither man
nor beast, herd nor flock taste any thing; let them not
feed, nor drink water."--Jonah 3:7. Joshua said he had
been directed to tell them that they that were to fast,
or he would be taken away from them
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