Dan and Farris Wilks

The brothers are sons of Myrtle and Voy Wilks of Cisco in Eastland County, east of Abilene, Texas. When the brothers were born, their father worked as a bricklayer and the family was destitute; the brothers once slept in a goat shed.[1][2]

In 1947 Voy and Myrtle Wilks along with Myrtle's father Charles Fenter were disfellowshipped from the Churches of Christ and founded a church which was at first called simply “A Church of Christ.” The church is not Christian, believing that Yahweh is the only god and that Jesus (called Yahshuah) is a separate entity. In early 1952 Charles restricted communion to once a year rather than weekly and moved worship from Sunday to Saturday. The Fenters and Wilkses along with a few other families left the congregation and began to meet in private homes. When Charles died in May 1952 Voy took over the congregation and the couple and their five children continued to live at the home of Charles widow Annie.[3]

In 1962 they adopted the name Church of God (7th day), in 1982 the church became the Assembly of Yahweh (7th day).[3] Currently the Assembly of Yahweh (7th day) is a conservative Jews for Jesus-type congregation. It teaches that "the true religion is Jewish (not a Gentile religion)" and its members celebrate the Old Testament holidays rather than those related to the New Testament. The congregation considers the Old Testament historically and scientifically accurate. The congregation considers homosexuality and abortion to be crimes.[4][5]

Farris Wilks is married to Jo Ann and is the father of 11 children.[4][5] He is the current pastor and bishop of the Assembly of Yahweh (7th day) near Cisco.[3]

Dan Wilks is married to Staci and is the father of two children with her and four children from a previous marriage.

As early as 2016[9] the Wilks Brothers began purchasing large quantities of land in Central Idaho mainly in Ada, Boise, and Valley counties. The Wilks Brothers are known by the locals primarily for restricting access to the locals with gates, anti-vehicle ditches, and no-trespassing signs appearing soon after their acquisition of large parcels throughout Idaho. After acquiring their Valley County properties the Wilks Brothers informed the county that they were terminating their leases to roads and snowmobile trails, including a main road which was the only access to large quantities of public lands.[10] According to the forest service at least some of their restrictions to access are illegal.[11] Land that has been used recreationally and for sustenance purposes by Idahoans for generations is often cut off by these actions. The Wilks Brothers often do not allow locals to hunt, snowmobile, cut firewood, or even traverse their land. This has caused frustration and earned the brothers a negative reputation among the locals.[12] In 2017 a video emerged of an armed and uniformed DF Development security guard illegally expelled an outdoorsman from a public road, Forest Road 409 (Clear Creek Road), which runs through Wilks brothers land on grounds of trespass. According to the Valley County Roads Department Superintendent the DF Development guard was in the wrong as both the road and a 33-foot easement on either side belong to the county and as such are public land.[13]

As of 2019 the Wilks brothers shell company DF Development owned approximately 75,000 acres of land across 306 parcels in Valley County. Overall the Wilks brothers own about 200,000 acres in Idaho.[10]

As of 2018, many of the parcels of land owned by the Wilks Brothers have been listed for sale via Wilks Ranch Brokers, LLC. As of 2019, Wilks Ranch Brokers had listed 54,000 acres of Idaho land for sale.[10]

In Montana, the Wilks brothers asked the Bureau of Land Management if they could swap a piece of their Duffee Hills ranch for a parcel of public land. This request was denied after local hunters objected on the grounds that the brothers had closed down an access road to the Wild and Scenic Missouri River.[14]

• The Wilks brothers supported Texan U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the 2016 United States presidential election, contributing $15 million to a super political action committee backing Cruz.[15]
• They gave $50,000 in 2016 to the candidacy of Jeff Judson, who unsuccessfully challenged fellow Republican Joe Straus, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, in the District 121 Republican legislative primary in March 2016.[16]
• Farris Wilks gave $75,000 to Jeff Cason in the 2020 Republican primary in the contest to replace Jonathan Stickland in Texas State House District 92.[17]

The Wilks brothers -- along with political commentator Ben Shapiro -- helped launch and fund The Daily Wire, a conservative news and opinion website in 2015.[18] Additionally, the Wilks Brothers provided early stage funding to PragerU, a conservative YouTube channel and media company started by Dennis Prager to further conservative causes.[19] They are major donors to conservative advocacy group Empower Texans.[17]