Theos-Talk Archives (March 1998 Message tt00173)

This message might be of interest to theosophists. What can we
do so that people become better educated about spiritual life?
What might attract others into the study of theosophy? Sure are
lots of peace-loving people out there who maybe need a country
and a discipline (like theosophy) to do justice to their lives.

Brenda

> God bless those who bless themselves! Post-No.:
>
> conflight-l/1998-03-19/2732 (digest-marker)
> From: "John F Winston" <johnfwin@mlode.com>
> Subject: Latest On God Landing In Texas.
>
> Mar. 18, 1998.
>
> It seems that this story is getting bigger about a person saying
> that God will appear in Garland, Texas. I find it of interest to
> me how that as we get into larger papers such as the The Sunday
> Times, London, that they are painting the story with a darker
> brush. No longer is it just something that one person is saying
> but they are painting him out to be crazy because he is saying
> something different than the rest of the sheep are saying. I
> don't know if any of this will happen. I hope the very best for
> these people and I hope there will be no wars started as has been
> predicted, but as you know we are having wars and rumors of wars.
>
> From: H O N S Subject: Chinese Cowboys in Outer Space (cont.)
>
> The Sunday Times, London, by Tony Allen-Mills, 15 March 1998
>
> DALLAS - A quiet suburban Dallas street lined with neatly tended
> lawns, a small crowd gathered last week to read a sign outside
> the front door of a modest brick bungalow. "God is going to
> change into man to meet the people of the world at this house on
> March 31, 1998," the sign read. "Everyone is welcome to witness
> God's descending at 10am that day."
>
> Inside the house, America's latest doomsday guru slipped on the
> diamond-encrusted ring that he claims will one day turn into a
> flying saucer to rescue survivors of the Great Tribulation -- a
> forthcoming nuclear holocaust that will erupt in Asia early next
> year and will eventually lead to the annihilation of the planet
> in 2043.
>
> Then Heng-ming Chen, leader of God's Salvation Church, walked out
> into the Texas sunshine to explain why God has chosen Ridgedale
> Drive in the Dallas suburb of Garland for the unprecedented
> celestial rendezvous that will save mankind from extinction. "No
> matter how people laugh and scoff at us, please let this also be
> told," his sign warned. "Anyone having questions regarding
> religion, theology, scriptures or life itself may come here to
> consult with God himself."
>
> Chen's down-to-earth Texan neighbors do not quite know what to
> make of the silver-haired prophet of the apocalypse who descended
> on Garland last year with about 150 wealthy supporters, all of
> them from Taiwan. "They seem the nicest people, always smiling
> and bowing," said a resident. However, the arrival of an Asian
> flying saucer cult with a doom-laden headline has inevitably
> stirred painful memories of last year's Heaven's Gate tragedy,
> when the passing of the Hale-Bopp comet inspired 39 members of a
> California sect to commit suicide in the belief that their souls

> would be picked up by a UFO.
>
> The Heaven's Gate followers of Marshall Herff Applewhite's
> elaborate flying saucer fantasies lived quietly in the hills above
> San Diego and were regarded by their neighbors as strange but
> seemingly harmless. To the dismay of the Taiwanese authorities,
> Chen, 42, a former social science professor, has amassed a
> similarly devoted following of well-to-do doctors, teachers and
> other professionals who have sold their homes in Taipei,
> transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to Dallas, and are
> now to be found wandering the streets of Garland dressed in white
> cowboy hats and jogging suits.
>
> Chen claims that God told him Garland was the place where He
> first put life on Earth. The group firmly denies that it has any
> suicidal instincts, but bemused Garland authorities are waiting
> nervously to see what happens at the end of this month. "I have
> the full faith to say that God will appear at the referred time,"
> said Chen. "I guarantee this on my life."
>
> For those who may have been worried last week by erroneous
> reports that a giant asteroid was on a collision course with
> Earth, Chen offered reassuring news: long before the asteroid was
> due to have struck in 2028, all living things on the planet would
> have been lifted to safety by God's flying saucer squadrons.
>
> According to Chen's variation on a now-familiar theme, Armageddon
> will commence with a Chinese attack on Taiwan in February next
> year. North Korea will then leap in by seeking to annex South
> Korea. Japan's economy will crumble, provoking a return to
> militarism. "The insane warfare shall continue to June 1999,
> when those souls of the dead on both sides aren't enough to serve
> as the heavenly devil king's slave or food," announces Chen's
> manifesto, entitled God's Descending in Clouds (Flying Saucers)
> on Earth to Save People. The explosion of three nuclear plants
> in Taiwan will then spread collapse around the globe.
> Fortunately, relief will be at hand.
>
> Chen announced last week that on March 25, God would be making a
> preliminary appearance on Channel 18 of every television set in
> the world in order to "soothe and comfort his children's minds".
> (British viewers who do not receive a channel 18 are advised to
> subscribe to cable.) Six days later, God will appear in person at
> number 3513 Ridgedale Drive, and will demonstrate his omnipotence
> by walking through walls, duplicating himself into thousands of
> supreme beings to shake everyone's hand and by his ability to
> answer questions in any native tongue. (Chen speaks only
> Chinese.)
>
> Having reassured people that "their bodies can achieve eternal
> life as well as their souls", God will depart to organize the
> flying saucer rescue, which will apparently be launched from the
> shores of Lake Michigan in Gary, Indiana.
>
> Improbable as it all sounds, Chen has somehow succeeded in
> convincing a significant number of his outwardly intelligent
> countrymen. "I do believe that God is coming," said Richard Liu,
> a soft-spoken former teacher of English literature who has bought

> a house across the road from Chen's. "I'm definitely convinced
> by the messages that Teacher Chen has received from God." Like
> most of the Taiwanese families who have come to Texas on tourist
> visas, Liu sold his Taipei home -- for $500,000 (#301,000) -- and
> paid about $70,000 cash for his small Garland bungalow.
>
> He treated himself to the solid gold Rolex watch he wears on his
> left wrist and another diamond-encrusted watch that he wears on
> his right. The rest of his money he put in the bank. "Houses
> are much cheaper in Texas," he said.
>
> The group has inspired a small property boom, buying at least 30
> houses in the area. Few seem to know what they will do if God
> fails to turn up, but their visas will run out soon and they may
> suffer heavy losses if they have to sell up and return to Taiwan.
>
> Asked last week if he would kill himself if he turned out to have
> misled so many people, Chen replied: "Definitely not." But he
> admitted he would be regarded as a "nonsense". He said it would
> be up to his followers to decide his fate, notably whether he
> should be stoned to death or crucified as a false prophet.