House of David Cult

The House of David was a religious cult in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  Founded by Benjamin and Mary Purnell in Fostoria, Ohio in 1902, the group moved to Benton Harbor in 1903.[1]  The Purnells were heavily influenced by British "prophet" Joanna Southcott, who they believed to be the "Sixth Messenger" from the book of Revelation.  Benjamin Purnell proclaimed himself to be the "Seventh Messenger",[2] and with the help of Mary, became the central figure of the House of David.  William Branham frequently mentioned the sect and visited on multiple occasions.[3]

Purnell was an avid sports enthusiast and encouraged members of his cult to engage in sports.  The House of David introduced casual baseball games around 1913, and by 1920, became nationally recognized.  The team drew substantial crowds wherever they played as curious people filled stands to watch cult members play in long hair and long beards.  Baseball provided major funding for the cult, though many members of the sect were becoming disenchanted.  Eventually, the cult began hiring non-cult members to play baseball, requiring that they grow a beard.[4]

In 1926 Purnell was accused of improper sexual conduct by several women in the group, some of which were underaged.  After a series of lawsuits and before he could be convicted, however, Purnell died.[5]  This resulted in divisions within the group as factions were created with new leaders.  The primary splinter group chose Mary Purnell as the central figure, and that sect became known as "Mary's House of David".[6]

Branham claimed to have healed the eyes of a member of the sect named John Ryan,[7] in the presence of a rabbi in the sect.[8]  Ryan began visiting William Branham's "Billie Branham Pentecostal Tabernacle" and appears to have strongly influenced William Branham's ministry.  Ryan introduced Branham to William Sowders' "School of the Prophets" in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.  Sowders was the central figure of the Gospel Assembly cult, and many fictional elements of William Branham's various stage personas share similarities to Sowders.

Later from that, I met an old man that’s here in the Church maybe now, or he was here over to the church, by the name of John Ryan. And I met him at a place…The old fellow with long beard and hair, and he may be here. I thought he was from Benton Harbor up here, at the House of David.  And they had a place in Louisville. I was trying to find them people, and they called it the School of the Prophets. So I thought I’d go over and see what that was. Well, I didn’t see nobody rolling on the floor, but they had some strange doctrines. And there’s where I met this old man, he invited me to come up to his place."[9]