Golden Dawn Tabernacle

Pastor Isaac Noriega

Noriega has been described by one former Golden Dawn member as "the meanest guy ever... he will yell at you straight up for whatever you did that angered him. He doesn't care who you are."

Women are not allowed to wear flip flops or open toed shoes (displaying toes is apparently something WMB was against although I never found a quote for it).

1. Men could not grow out their hair too long or cut it too short (had to be MB approved cut)
2. Men had to shave (no mustaches, beards, sideburns or goatees).
3. Men were not allowed to wear wedding bands.
4. You were not allowed to visit ANY other MB church without approval from the pastor.
5. If you did not go to the altar to pray before service, everyone assumed you weren't right with The Lord.
6. You had to be at church have an hour prior to service (I know most follow this one).
7. Listening to ANY kind of music other than our own church music was highly discouraged (the pastor constantly railed against even classical music).
8. The church band was not allowed to have drums or a bass guitar as those were too worldly.
9. Men had to wear a suit and tie on Sundays, and at least a tie on Wednesdays. If you showed up in jeans, you would get blasted from the pulpit.
10. You were not allowed to talk to your non MB family and fellowship with them. If you did so, you would never hear the end of it, from the pulpit.
11. Not allowed to go to high school (if you did, you were considered a rebel.) Homeschooling was highly encouraged. This rule is fairly new and about 10 years old.
12. The piano and organ player were not allowed to play anything to jazzy or wild as that would hinder the spirit with worldliness.
13. You were not allowed to go to the hospital without first notifying the pastor or one of the Gestapo (err...deacons). If you went to the hospital, it was normally frowned upon and you were considered to be weak in your faith.
14. If you got treatment for a disease, you were considered weak in faith, and also it was postulated that you probably had sin and demons in your life. (The ironic part is that when the pastor's wife got sick, she was whisked away to the Mayo clinic to get some of the most expensive treatment in the world).
15. Absolutely NO body contact between unmarried men and woman. Even conversation was very limited. If you wanted to court someone, you had to get the pastor's approval first, and then proceed in a highly chaperoned environment.
16. Aside from women not being allowed to cut their hair, not wear makeup, etc, the pastor went an extra mile and forbade the women from plucking their eyebrows.
17. Skirts and dresses have to be below your ankles.
18. No heels, only flats.
19. Women are not allowed to work, especially married women.
20. Your first job has to be where other members work, preferably doing manual labor.

The rules can change depending on who you are. For example, the children of church leaders are the only ones permitted to go to college (paid for by the church). This is presumably because they have a career in the church ahead of them.

But, if you're a minion, your name gets blasted from pulpit for going to school, or if you don't have a job where other members work (so they can keep an eye on you).

It is not believed that attendance at this church is not growing.