"He had lived and almost died for his country, and all he could see was how badly the black man was treated in America, " the lawyer said.

Two indicted followers abandoned professional careers for the Yahwehs. Brian Lewis, 27, was one. An alto saxophonist in high school band and student-government leader in college, he had a goal to improve race relations in Miami. But in his senior year at St. Augustine College in Raleigh, N.C., he had an identity crisis.

"He wasn't quite sure where he was going or what he wanted to do with his life, " said Allan Cooper, his political science adviser. "He began asking, 'Who am I?' And he started getting a lot less active with student government. He kind of dropped out in a way. . . . I guess he gave everything to this group as part of his acceptance." In 1982, Lewis became Hezion Israel.

Two "Death Angel" suspects never really made an educated choice to join the Yahwehs. Maurice Woodside, 31, and brother Ricardo, 29, followed their mom, Johnnie Simmons, into the group. Hebrew teachings made the mother feel better, she once said. "Some people might say I even look better." But Yahweh's special herbs couldn't cure her cancer. She died.

Ricardo grew disenchanted, friends said. He left the group with a younger brother. Maurice, known as Mikael, stayed with a younger sister.

CUT TIES TO RELATIVES

"We are white people's property as long as we keep their name, " the messiah taught them, so the indicted disciples took uplifting names: James Mack became Jesse Obed, a wealthy servant. Ardmore Canton IIIbecame Absalom, father of peace.

They wore white, color of the saints of God. "He that overcometh the white man, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, " Yahweh told them. "You shall not shave the hair of your face, " he said, so they grew beards and kept their hair in tiny braids.

As their loyalty to Yahweh grew, many "Death Angel" suspects effectively cut ties to outside relatives. Brian Lewis lost contact with high school friends. When Isaiah Solomon, the former James Littlejohn, telephoned home to South Carolina, he called collect.

Rufus Pace, once a heavy-equipment hauler who told police his name was Danny Thomas, didn't mention his wife before Yahweh. He didn't talk about his disenchanted Yahweh son. Pace's widowed mother, Ruth, told police she had no idea where her son was, what he did or where he lived.

"I really haven't heard from Carl for five years, " said Lonnie Perry, the suspect's father. "He'd drop by every so often, but he didn't discuss where he was living or what he was doing."

They became their own "human family on Earth, " as Yahweh called it, building the "nation" together. Lewis waxed cars. Littlejohn went from pharmacy expert on the herpes virus to Western Electric plant worker to "general cleanup" man at temple-owned properties. Sometimes he slept on a temple-owned bus.

Dexter Grant learned construction skills, giving rundown hotels a new coat of white paint. "He was totally consumed by his religion, " his aunt said. "He just followed orders."

Yahweh had them believing in a new world order without possessions, savings and personal bank deposits.

Maurice Woodside drew cartoons in a book titled The Mighty Black Man. The sketches depicted black warriors poised to thrust swords into "Uncle Tom and black preacher enemies."

For the outside world, they smiled broadly and spoke softly: They said they read the Bible, learned Hebrew, sang happy songs and studied marketing and computers. They said Yahweh preached the "moral law": no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking.