Dennis Mingo, the sect's beliefs are rooted in denouncing ''seven systems'' of mainstream society, including education, government, banking, religion, medicine, science and entertainment.
They were heavily influenced by the book, ''Born in Zion,'' by Carol Baliset, who heads a Florida ministry. Baliset, a former emergency room nurse, advocates natural home births, claiming only prayer is needed to bring life into the world.
''The book had a profound effect on the group,'' Mingo says. ''Every week, they made little changes and became more and more radical. They were basically pulling themselves out of society and I just couldn't live that way.''
While they run their own masonry business, they do so on a cash basis and keep their own records on a computer, which has been seized by prosecutors.
They home-school their children, have unassisted home births and use herbal remedies, not medicine. While many have vision problems, they refuse to wear glasses because they are not ''Greg's will,'' Mingo says.
''Most of them are blind as bats without their glasses, but they refuse to wear them'' he said.
They think evolution is ''a crock,'' Mingo says.
And recently, they burned up all their old photo albums, saying photos are a symbol of vanity.
The women wear cotton dresses and the men sport long beards. Completely withdrawn from society, they don't watch TV or movies, celebrate holidays or birthdays, or wear wedding bands.
''They see these seven systems as counterfeit systems,'' Mingo said. ''They think Greg will provide them all of these things and that these systems were set up to take your attention away from Greg.''
The family-oriented sect was formed by Jacques Robidoux' father, Roland, several years ago when he split from the World Church of Christ and started his own Bible study group.
The group feared the millennium and had ''visions'' that the world would erupt in violence and turmoil, but they would be saved.
''Greg'' has led the group repeatedly to upstate Maine and Mingo says they were - and may still be - planning to set up a commune there.
''It's like they're on a different planet,'' he said. ''They're not a part of our world anymore. They've gone blank. They're not the people that I know them as.''
