The church building highlighted in yellow is the current school building. This used to be the former church sanctuary and fellowship hall.
2005-2006 Yearbook Dedication Page

Anti-Education Framework

The Golden Dawn Tabernacle church has reportedly instilled an anti-education culture by twisting and cherry picking William Branham's teachings to be against education and Pastor Isaac Noriega's extreme ideology to discourage congregation members from sending their children to public schools. As a result, the majority of children in the church are officially registered as homeschooled students.

In practice, this means that children are expected to attend the church "school" where they are taught by church teachers. However, the focus of the education is on basic literacy and arithmetic, with little to no emphasis on subjects such as science, biology, history, or the arts. This has led many children to either not complete their education, receive a homeschooled high school diploma from a now-defunct institution, or, if they are lucky, earn a GED.

There is also no known special educational support or curriculum at this time for the special needs children in the church that have disabilities.

Church School Principal: Reymundo (Rey) Aguirre is the church school principal and is responsible for overseeing the instruction and curriculum for the children of the Golden Dawn Tabernacle.

Church School Employees: The young, unmarried sisters in the church are hired to teach and assist at the church school. Some are volunteers and some are paid. It is estimated that the paid teachers receive approximately $250 to $800 per month in wages, which is significantly below a living wage. Additionally, they are required to pay a 10% tithe on this income. These sisters do not have any teaching certifications or qualifications, and many of them are previous graduates of the church school.

Reason for anti-education stance: Golden Dawn Tabernacle's emphasis on limiting education is an attempt to increase the ease of indoctrination and control over its members. By providing only a basic education, the church is able to limit the career options available to its children, making it more likely that they will remain in the church and follow its rules.

There have been reports of youth being kicked out of the church and their family homes for violating church rules, and many of these youth lack even a GED, social skills and have only ever been employed by the church's businesses. As a result, they may not have the necessary skills or resources to be self-sufficient.

For your consideration: The above policy has been more forcibly instilled into the church culture, where if a child is sent to a public school or college, they are judged as being rebels, and unfit spiritually. However, it is worth noting that the pastor's own children attended the public education system and went to college, suggesting that the church's rules do not apply to the pastor and his family. This could be seen as a classic example of the "rules for thee, not for me" mentality.

Some examples of the elite class in the church that attended public high school and/or college:

Lucinda Noriega (pastor's daughter) - (University of Arizona, Class of 1992, Bachelors in English)


Matthew Jonah Noriega (pastor's son)
Joseph Torres (married to pastor's daughter, deacon and organist)
Phillip Torres (church trustee)
Jared Samaniego
Joseph Samaniego (son of church treasurer Samuel Mike Samaniego) - (link1, link2)
Rene Aguirre Jr. (church deacon)
Joshua Bonillas (former Sunday school teacher and Pima County Accountant before getting into legal trouble; (link1, link2)
Antonio Torrez Jr. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-torrez-7730852a/)
Christian Malena (http://pueblowarriors.org/blog/2012/09/scholar-profile-christian-malena/)

Do you have any feedback, questions or additional information about the church school? You can contact us below, anonymously, or if you would like us to respond to you, please provide an email address or phone number.

[wpforms id=“678” title=“false”]