The Endtimers
A doomsday cult that has been accused of maintaining extreme control over their members
1984-present
The Endtimers is a conservative Christian sect in Florida that Charles Meade started in 1984 as a college ministry. It soon became a significant movement, and 2,000 members moved to Florida to await the apocalypse. However, rumors began spreading about the church, resulting in negative press coverage and a five-year investigation by the FBI, but no charges were ever filed. After Meade died in 2010, his grandson took over as the leader and chose to make the focal point of the church "more about the message and not as much about the man." However, they still generally have the same practices, defend Meade's reputation, and claim that most rumors are false.
Today, this church continues, but with only a fraction of the members from previous years.
Religion: Christianity
Denomination: Fundamentalism
Founder: Charles Meade
Location: Lake City, FL, USA
Founded: 1984
Size: 1,700
Also called: Mountaintop Ministries Worldwide; Meade Ministries
Formal education is not encouraged, causing members to homeschool their children and drop out of college (source)
In 2005, a member died during a home birth after church members failed to call paramedics when she had complications, due to their belief in faith healing (source, source)
A former member claims that the norm "is to shun medical care" (source)
When a one-year-old child had to be taken to a hospital, his medical records claimed that the family refused medical care because of the church, although the leaders have disputed this claim (source)
Church officials assert that they "never once told people they couldn't go get medical help." However, they also spoke positively about choosing not to get medical help (source)
Meade claimed that only members of the church would be saved from damnation during the coming apocalypse (source)
According to an FBI source, "End Timers give 100 percent of their paychecks to Meade, who then gives back an allowance for the follower to live on" (source)
Members were aggressively encouraged to donate large amounts of money, resulting in personal financial hardship, including house foreclosures for one out of every seven members. Leaders live an extravagant lifestyle and are accused of admitting to having used church funds for personal gain (source)
Members isolate themselves from civic life and forbid children from playing with kids outside the church (source)
Tends to only shop at stores owned by church members, and only work with other church members (source)
Members are said to have a strong opposition to people entering their property (source)
Members live together in fenced-off communities (source)
Members cut ties with families (source)
One former member claimed the strangest thing he witnessed was "probably the leader's infatuation with young girls," and that "advantage was taken of some of the young girls [by the leaders]" (source)
According to a former member, Meade was revealed in 2015 to have been "a pedophile and had been molesting a particular member of his family for years" (source)
At least four members have committed suicide, including one who was planning on leaving and another who was in severe financial trouble as the result of an aggressive fundraising campaign by the church (source)
Other info:
Members of the community have been reluctant to speak out against the church out of fear of retaliation (source)
Allegedly fire automatic weapons on their property regularly (source)
Parents of a member were threatened with not being allowed to see their children again if they did not join the church (source)
Meade announced that the town they are living in is the Promised Land (source)
Ordered a semi-truck to deliver weapons and asked the driver if they could be detected by satellite if members buried them (source)
Meade was investigated by the FBI from 2004-2009, primarily due to "gunfire at the compound, talk of a contract hit and a midnight run with a semi full of weapons" (source)
Meade's grandson allegedly "suggested putting a contract hit on the family member (who just left the church) to keep him from talking about the group's activities" (source)
In 1948 (36 years before this church was founded), Meade pleaded guilty to "assault and battery with intent to murder" after stabbing a man with a knife (source)