Theos-Talk Archives (April 1998 Message tt00089)

Bjorn wrote:

>I have seen postings on this list basing the opinion of the Ballards and
the
>Prophets on what the press has provided about them. This approach is not
likely
>to even approach the "truth". It is like judging HPB from what the press
had to
>say about her in her own time!

Very good point. To make it stick a little better I'd like to present the
following from a flyer titled

'Challenging the Media Myth: The Facts about Elizabeth Clare Prophet'

MYTH

"The charismatic Guru Ma (Elizabeth Clare Prophet) drew thousands of
believers to a Montana valley to prepare shelters for apocalyptic nuclear
dangers, particularly on April 23. If you've read this far, she was wrong."

Time, April 30, 1990

FACT

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, leader of church Universal and Triumphant, has
never predicted nuclear war, much less the end of the world, for any date
and certainly not for April 23, 1990. Furthermore, she never said that
April 23 was any more dangerous than any other date.

She has been promoting civil defense for nearly two decades. In May of
1989, staff at the Royal Teton Ranch, the 12,000 acre church headquarters in
Montana, broke ground on a 13-acre fallout shelter project for the 756 men,
women and children who a part of the church's staff. Other church
members had already begun building shelters on their own private land in
Montana or across the country.

In 1989, she said that over the next twelve years there would be dangerous
periods in which the potential of nuclear war would be greater than usual.

In February 1990, Mrs. prophet told her members that March and April would
be dangerous months during which the possibility for nuclear war was
present. She asked them to be sure they had a fallout shelter in or near
their home and to have a supply of food and water. some church members who
already had shelters in Montana came to the area to join in a prayer vigil
for world peace that was held during those two months.

The end of the world "predictions" were the product of inaccurate and
sensationalistic reporting. The University of Washington newspaper, The
Daily, was on of the few papers to accurately report Mrs. Prophet's
predictions.

Its reporter observed, "The major factual error that ... most ... national
publications ran is that the Church said the world was going to end on
Monday, April 23. Church members never made this proclamation. (If anyone
can find a statement from Church leaders or any documentation, other than
the newspapers, proclaiming the "END OF THE WORLD" I would be very
surprised.) This statement was originally printed in one publication and
was repeated many times over."

Govert