Editor's note: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Kimberly Garrido was born and raised in a Message church called Golden Dawn Tabernacle in Tucson, Ariz. The church's formal and original name is Tabernaculo Emanuel. She left the church because she wanted the freedom to make her own choices with her life. Here, Garrido is pictured in Tucson, Ariz., on Oct. 17, 2023.
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Sarah Kiser is pictured in her home in Bristol, Va., Aug. 16, 2024. Kiser said she experienced abuse in her marriage. She believes her former prophet, the late Rev. William Branham, contributed to that trauma because Branham preached that men, not women, were to be the leaders in the home and the church.
Branham
A girl raises her hand during a worship song at a Message church in Michigan called Literal Life on Nov. 1, 2023. The church's spokesperson Jared Meade said most women in the church have jobs and are not discouraged from pursuing education.
JoAnn Malena former member of the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, poses for a portrait a Himmel Park in Tucson, Ariz. on February 27, 2024. She said her pastor and husband scolded her for trying to think for herself.
Honorary Judge Lisa Abrams listens as lawyers address the courtroom, Pima County Superior Court, 110 West Congress Street, Tucson, Ariz., Aug. 13, 2024. Abrams also presided over JoAnn Malena's divorce trial in November 2023.
Members of Literal Life, a Message church in Michigan, sing along to worship music during a service Nov. 1, 2023. Rebekah LaFontaine, left, the pastor’s wife, said she has "never felt squelched" in The Message. She is a business owner and has worked as a physician recruiter and account manager.
Sarah Kiser got married at 18 to a man more than six years older than her in 2017. They dated for about nine months but weren’t allowed to be alone together, so she barely knew him, she said. Her first kiss was at the altar.
Jeremy Evans, public relations spokesperson for Voice of God Recordings, explains that the nonprofit’s Creations department works with children in The Message to create T-shirts, mugs and other products seen in the gift shop in Jeffersonville, Ind. Jan. 15, 2024. Voice of God Recordings is a 501(c)(3) organization that distributes the recorded and written sermons of the late Rev. William Branham around the world.
Rev. William Branham and his wife Meda Branham. Branham married Meda after his first wife, Amelia, died in 1937.
Fumiko Tipping, who was raised in The Message, said that from a young age, she was taught that if she dressed immodestly she could cause a man to lust, and it would be her fault if that man went to hell over it.
A photo of LeAnn Gremillion from when she was growing up in The Message. Gremillion said Branham's sermons and her Message pastors taught her that everything bad that happened was a woman's fault because Eve caused the original sin in the Garden of Eden.
Booklets containing one of William Branham’s most controversial sermons, Marriage and Divorce, are seen at Voice of God Recordings’ production facility Jan. 15, 2024, in Jeffersonville, Ind. In the sermon, Branham preaches that a man can remarry many times as long as his new wife is a virgin, but women can never remarry.
Sarah Kiser is pictured in her home in Bristol, Va., Aug. 16, 2024. She wears a pair of bright pink pants and a tank top that shows her shoulders, clothes she would have been barred from wearing in her former fundamentalist church. Under the faith she used to follow, "The Message," she had to always wear long skirts to cover her figure so she did not temp men to lust.
Joyce Lefler is seen with her son Adam on the cover of her book, "From Miracle to Murder: Justice for Adam." In the memoir, she details her upbringing in the Message, her abusive marriage and the murder of her 6-year-old son Adam at the hands of a babysitter. She was forced to let a man she barely knew watch her son after she divorced and was ex-communicated from her church, leaving her with no support. That man murdered her son, she writes in the memoir.
Sarah Kiser is pictured in her home in Bristol, Va., Aug. 16, 2024. Kiser said that her attempts to get help with her abusive marriage were dismissed by her pastor in Arkansas.
Fumiko Tipping wears a long skirt during a youth hangout with members of her former church. Faces of other children have been blurred at Tipping's request.
Resources are available for those who wish to leave The Message or need help recovering from religious trauma.
JoAnn Malena, former member of the Golden Dawn Tabernacle, poses for a portrait a Himmel Park in Tucson, Ariz. on February 27, 2024. Malena said she suffered a mental breakdown due to the trauma from her Message church and toxic marriage.
Contact reporter Emily Hamer at emily.hamer@lee.net or 262-844-4151. On Twitter: @ehamer7
Contact columnist Tim Steller at tsteller@tucson.com or 520-807-7789. On Twitter: @timothysteller
