Former followers of traveling preachers who visited Penn State last week are warning against the effects of the preachers' message.

Michael Woroniecki visited the university with his family and told students to drop out of school and follow the word of God.

David De La Isla, a former "disciple" who met the preacher while attending Texas A&M University, said he tried to commit suicide twice after he began following Woroniecki.

"I reached a point of total desperation where I had nothing to lose," he said.

Another former follower of Woroniecki was Andrea Yates, said Yates' defense attorney George Parnham.

Woroniecki told Yates her children were going to hell, which might have caused her to drown her five young children in her family's bathtub in June 2001, said Jeanne Slattery, a Clarion University psychology professor.

"She believed that her children were ruined already, and would only be ruined more by staying with her," Slattery said. "The way they could be saved and go to heaven was to die before [the age of] 12."

Woroniecki demonstrated some of those beliefs with his family outside of the Willard Building last Wednesday under the alias "Warnecki."

Some family members used other aliases, including the last name "War."

"He provided the basis for the psychotic delusions that Andrea Yates experienced that led to the murders of her children," Parnham said.

Parnham said he is in the process of appealing Yates' life sentence.

Slattery said Yates was already suffering from depression and Woroniecki's influence may have led to her actions.

"The combination of a vulnerable person and a charismatic leader is a really dangerous one," Slattery said.

Prosecuting attorney Joe Owmby said Woroniecki was only one part of Yates' environment and was not responsible for the children's deaths. "I don't think Michael Woroniecki was the reason she killed her children," Owmby said.

Woroniecki told students who passed by his demonstration last week that they were going to hell unless they dedicated their lives to Jesus.

De La Isla appeared on Good Morning America during the Yates trial. He said the Woronieckis deny the allegations they had a part in Yates' murders. "The Woronieckis were the ones who gave her the idea that her kids were going to hell because they weren't being raised by a proper mother," De La Isla said.

Lance Corlew met Woroniecki at University of Akron and in 1983 introduced the preacher to his wife, Isoan Corlew.

Isoan Corlew said the Woronieckis told her she needed to try harder to be a good mother so her children could be saved.

"I went into depression for years," she said. "Of course I don't want my children to go to hell. I think she was going through the same thing. There was no hope there."

Yates was also introduced to Woroniecki through her husband, who met him at Auburn University in 1988, De La Isla said.

Barbara Meeker, director of campus and community affairs, said although the Woronieckis did not ask to demonstrate outside of Willard Building, it is not a requirement because it is a free speech zone and they are allowed to practice free speech under the First Amendment.

However, Lance Corlew warns against listening to the Woroneckis' message. "Run far away," he said. "Just get away."

Contact information for the Woronieckis could not be found.