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:''This article is about a 20th-century religious community. For the ancient House of David, see Davidic line''. The Israelite House of David (often referred to as The House of David) is a religious society co-founded by Benjamin and Mary Purnell in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in March 1903. ==History== In 1888 the Purnells discovered a group of preachers extolling a man named James Jershom Jezreel as the Sixth Messenger. Jezreel had published three books known as ''Extracts from the Flying Roll''. While the preachers were in Richmond, Benjamin and Mary joined their group, known as "the Visitation Movement", which was started by a woman named Joanna Southcott, the First Messenger (Angel), in 1792. While studying the writings of Jezreel they noticed that the Seventh and last Messenger was soon to be on the scene, which is mentioned in Revelation 10:7. On March 12, 1895, the Purnells announced that the spirit of Shiloh had bonded with them to become the seventh and last messenger. The House of David was formed by Benjamin and Mary Purnell in 1903 after settling in Benton Harbor, Michigan.〔 Prior to that, the Purnells lived in Fostoria, Ohio and had two children, one of whom died in a firework factory explosion at the age of 16. The Purnells were looked down upon by residents of the city when they decided to forego the funeral due to their beliefs of not having anything to do with the dead.〔 The House of David colony soon had several hundred members. In 1906, the House owned about 1,000 acres, on which the colony harvested fruit from a dozen orchards and cultivated grain. The commune had its own cannery, carpenter shop, coach factory, tailor shop, and steam laundry. They also owned and operated their own electricity plant, providing lighting to the community. It had three brass bands and two orchestras, and a zoological garden.〔Coolidge, Orville W. (1906). (''A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County Michigan'' ), p. 241. The Lewis Publishing Company.〕 Character assassination arose in the 1920s towards Benjamin F. Purnell by 13 young women confessing, under oath to the court, that they had sexual relations with the patriarch while still minors. As soon as this became public knowledge, the ''Detroit Free Press'' and other newspapers ran critical articles about Purnell, and was proved innocent and then died in 1927. One group, headed by Mary Purnell, remained together and in 1930 purchased a small plot of land. There they rebuilt and reorganized the New Israelite House of David, better known as Mary's City of David; it remained in existence until her death at the age of 90. A second faction, the Old House of David led by Judge T. H. Dewhirst, had 350 members in 1935, 24 of whom were clergy, and in 1955 had 150 members with 10 clergy.〔(National Council of Churches' Historic Archive. )〕 (As of 2010, the group was reported to have three surviving members.) Dewhirst's faction believed that Mary Purnell had no right to usurp authority over the community, as it was led by his own self-appointed council of elders. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「House of David (commune)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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