By Mark Owen - © 2010
Chapter
19 - Religious imaginations run riot
'Write that down,' the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates,
and then added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence. - Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland.
While, as we have seen, the Bible, so precious to Christians, is a document that is almost wholly unreliable this fact does not hinder those self-styled prophets of religion delving into the sacred texts and emerging with an amazing variety of doctrines and practices. The 19th century was one of great progress for the human race, at least in many countries, but religious superstition continued to inhabit the minds of the bulk of the people even in 'enlightened' Western nations, especially in that hotbed of godbotherers, the United States of America. In such an atmosphere more prophets flourished.
The night of September 21, 1823 was one of great significance for the world, even if most of that world was quite unaware of the fact. For that was the very night when a 17-year-old American boy, Joseph Smith, was visited by an angel. Now this may seem, to some of my readers, a rather strange event to have occurred but surely it must be so, for Joseph himself was absolutely certain he had seen the heavenly visitor, and the lad appeared to be honest and upright. And angels, after all, have engaged in such visitations many times through history so we should not think this encounter so strange. Gabriel, after all, visited Daniel back in Old Testament times, appeared later to Mary, then, centuries later again, met up with Muhammad in his cave. But this time it wasn't Gabriel who visited young Joseph but a new heavenly visitant, Moroni by name. I must whisper a secret, though. Just by chance a sixteenth century Italian artist bore that same name! I'm not suggesting that young Joseph picked it up somewhere, in a book perhaps or a magazine (for he wasn't much of a hand at reading), but I would not be fair to my readers if I did not note the point.
Well, the story goes that young Joseph, as he prayed, beheld Moroni standing by his bed. The angel announced to the startled lad that he would find upon a nearby hillside a set of golden plates - a book, indeed, containing the 'fulness of the everlasting Gospel' as delivered by the Christ-god to the ancient inhabitants of America. Well now, this was indeed a new turn of events in religious, indeed, world history. There are some people who claim Jesus had visited Britain after his alleged resurrection; now we find he even crossed the Atlantic!
There is a little more to the story than this, though. We don't know a great deal about Joseph's early life or his family but he was born on 23 December 1805 and it is recorded that his father found it difficult disciplining his son because the boy suffered from epileptic fits. (Some folk think this affliction was experienced by little Muhammad, too.) However an interesting study published in New York in 1844 (very close to the events) by Professor J. B. Turner, under the title The Rise, Progress and Causes of Mormonism claimed that young Joseph, prior to his taking upon himself the mantle of prophet, had followed his father's profession, that of money-digger. This was an activity engaged in by people in the maritime districts of the USA in the belief that vast amounts of hidden treasure and bullion had been buried, first by Indians, then by buccaneers and, more recently, by revolutionaries.
An air of mystery, with strange incantations and the like, surrounded the activities of the money-diggers - to fool the gullible. At one stage young Joseph was actually dragged into a court of law and warned because he could not substantiate his treasure claims. But it was not only physical treasure that Joseph claimed to discover. On some of his perambulations he had received, so he said, other heavenly visitations, on one occasion a bright light having appeared over his head, when he was caught up into its midst.
Now we do have a little, if sketchy, information about the Smith family; it was not highly regarded, to put it mildly. Its members were described later as poor, thriftless, ignorant and none too honest. In fact, soon after the Book of Mormon was published it was thought prudent by the new prophet and his little band to move away from the home turf. A bit too much was known of the leader's background there! So Smith and some thirty or so converts moved to Kirtland, Ohio, which was to be the seat of the New Jerusalem. It was here that a 'new revelation' reached the prophet, a very convenient one, too. He was to start a bank, which heavenly order he duly obeyed, thereafter flooding the countryside with worthless banknotes in the process. Joseph and another Mormon, Sidney Rigdon (an unscrupulous character we will have cause to meet with again) got themselves tarred and feathered for their efforts. But somehow I don't think you'll find all this recorded in the official Mormon histories.
But back to our story. Remember those magical plates? Sure enough, the day after Joseph's encounter with Moroni the plates were found buried in a stone box. Mind you, Moroni's actions thereafter were a bit strange. For some inscrutable reason he wouldn't let the youth have them for another four years. But finally patience was rewarded and the heavenly missives were delivered into Joseph Smith's hands. They were, so we are reliably informed by Joseph, in the form of a golden volume, about 15 cm thick, each plate being about 20 cm x 17 cm, the whole held with three rings. The young man immediately set to work to translate the message from the 'Reformed Egyptian' hieroglyphics in which they were said to have been written.
Now Joseph, an unlearned man, didn't read Reformed Egyptian. In fact, he was so ignorant that he hardly read his own English language! Nor write it. I doubt anybody did read Reformed Egyptian but never mind, in this task he was aided by two mystical stones or implements, known as Urim and Thummim, in some accounts described as miracle spectacles, made up up crystals set in a silver bow. Now this part of the story showed great originality, I must say, for these names have been lifted straight out of the Jewish religion. Well, that's not so strange really for all religion builds on what has gone before as we have already seen; there is nothing really new under the believers' sun.
With the magic spectacles Joseph found it quite easy to translate the writings. He got himself an amanuensis or secretary, Oliver Cowdery (and we will have reason to return to this good man later) and then hid behind a curtain with his plates. But the Urim and Thummim was so powerful a device that all Joseph needed to do was to place it at the bottom of his old stovepipe hat and stare down into it. The plates remained on the table beside him, covered by a cloth. And, lo and behold, Joseph would speak forth the words to be recorded for posterity. (Incidentally, other accounts say that a farmer, Martin Harris, actually assisted Smith in the translation process. Harris was to finance the publication of the book, as we shall see.)
This, then, was the 'interpretation' whereby Joseph Smith, upright American citizen, gave to the world a whole new religion and a guidebook to accompany it, The Book of Mormon. (The name Mormon was that of a prophet, father of Moroni, who in an earthly incarnation had compiled the book and concealed it on the hill.) The book was published in 1830 with the backing of a farmer, Martin Harris, who apparently had more money than good sense. It was described by Mark Twain as 'chloroform in print.' Curiously the plates seemed - conveniently - to disappear after this, like Moses' tablets of stone and other religious artefacts. All you'll find today in the Mormon literature are specious photographs of gold tablets with ancient writings, but these are not THE gold plates, just 'illustrations' of what they might have been like! There are also drawings of what Reformed Egyptian looks like! There is, naturally as always, a good story told to explain this disappearance; at least the Mormons have an explanation, which is more than can be said for the Jews. I'm not accusing Joseph of duplicity, mind you, for some of the first Mormons actually swore they saw them; it's right there in writing, at the beginning of the Book of Mormon. Well, it's still there today in every edition but - Cowdery, Harris and another, David Whitmer, whose names are listed among those who testified to its authenticity, some years later renounced Mormonism and denounced the statement as false!
It wasn't long before the revelations began to stir up many naïve people (of which there seem to be unlimited numbers in the USA) and a church was formed - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Joseph was aided by his father and others in this task. But this displeased some of the believers in the former revelations and, ten years later, on 4 December 1833, fifty-one people signed the following statement, issued in Palmyra, New York:
We, the undersigned, having been acquainted with the Smith family for a number of years, while they resided near this place, have no hesitation in saying, that we consider them to be destitute of that moral character which ought to entitle them to the confidence of any community. They were particularly infamous for visionary projects, spent much of their time digging for money, which they pretended was laid in the earth; and to this day large excavations may be seen in the earth not far from their residence, where they used to spend their time in digging for hidden treasures.
Joseph Smith senior, and his son Joseph, were in particular considered entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits. Martin Harris [one of the signatories to the statement concerning the plates] had acquired a considerable property, and in matters of business his word was considered good; but on moral and religious subjects he was perfectly visionary; sometimes advocating one sentiment, sometimes another . . . It was not supposed that any of them were possessed of sufficient character or influence to make any one believe their book or their sentiments; and we know not a single individual in this vicinity who puts the least confidence in their pretended revelations.
Doubtless the unwashed masses who followed Joseph would not even read these words and if they did, would reject them. Prophets fail but, sadly, belief never fails.
In time Joseph Smith claimed to have received still more heavenly messages resulting in the publication of Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. These became the foundation writings upon which was built the Mormon church and its dissident offshoots, including the Reorganized [sic!] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
It has been suggested, with good reason I think, that the real source of Joseph Smith inspiration was actually a work called The Manuscript Found, an unpublished text written by a former clergyman a little before Smith's time. Strenuous efforts have been made to deny this assertion but all the evidence points the other way. It appears that one Solomon Spaulding, a Congregationalist cleric, left his ministry to go into business in Cherry Vale, New York. Evidently the Lord was mightily displeased, for in 1809 his business failed. While living in Conneaut (Ohio) he became interested in some Indian sepulchral mounds which were at that time creating something of a stir. Spaulding turned to that hope of many a person in financial straights - he would write a novel to raise some funds, centred around these mounds. Some say it was a work of fiction, others that it was intended as history, for Spaulding asserted that he had unearthed his knowledge from one of these mounds. Some point is lent to this latter idea by the manner in which Spaulding wrote his book, in the style of the ancient Hebrew prophets, which fact has a bearing, to say the least, on Joseph Smith's book.
Quite taken up with his idea, he would read the manuscript to neighbours; in fact, he created a certain notoriety for himself by his constant harping on the story. Thus this tale was already well-known to some people by 1812, when the clergyman hived himself off to Pittsburgh to seek a publisher. We have no certain knowledge as to what happened next; indeed none of this story would have come to anything had it not been for Joseph Smith. Mr Spaulding would have remained just another hopeful but unpublished writer. Anyway, the manuscript was left with a printer, Lamdin by name, and the man's son (or a compositor working for the printer) passed it on to one Sidney Rigdon, a preacher of the Campbellite (later known as Disciples or the Churches of Christ) persuasion residing at Mentor, Ohio.
We have already met with Mr Rigdon, remember. He got together with Smith and lo and behold, the new revelation was announced. Or so this story goes. Good as any other, at least as good as the official line from Mormondom, which has it that Mr Rigdon was shown the Book of Mormon in 1830 by some LDS missionaries en route to the West and embraced the faith. Fortunately for Prophet Smith, in 1816 the original author of the romance had gone to his grave. In 1826 the printer, too, passed away, and thereafter Smith was able to claim this curious story all for himself. Now, isn't it interesting that there was that otherwise inexplicable four year delay imposed by the angel. Joseph Smith met up with Moroni in 1823 but didn't take possession of the plates until 1827, that is when both the author and the printer of the original book were safely removed from the scene. Which all seems to imply that Joseph Smith was one of the most blatant plagiarists the world has ever seen.
But there is more. It has also been reported from people living in those distant times that Joseph Smith originally produced his work as a piece of fiction, in other words, if such is true he was blatantly using the work of the earlier writer and passing it off as his own. When the Book of Mormon first appeared in 1830 neighbours of the family told reporters that Joseph had told them he had written the story to help his struggling family's finances and had been surprised when some people treated it as true! Eventually, as this story goes, he woke up to the possibilities inherent in the religion espoused in his book and began treating it as fact! The book, whatever its original nature, received a great boost when launched into print. What was then a large number of copies - 5,000 - were produced, published in Palmyra, and printed by a local printer, Egbert B. Grandin. It first appeared on 26 March 1830.
And from where did the money come to pay for the printing? Young Joseph had managed to latch onto a naïve farmer, Martin Harris, who had been convinced of the prophet's divine message. Harris mortgaged his 240-acre farm to the tune of $3,000. Foolish believer; few copies sold and the Harris farm was sold up to pay the debt; Harris became yet another victim of religion. The important point in all this is that upon the revelations supposedly received by Joseph Smith was built a virile church that flourishes in many parts of the world even today. Its members, like many others in their churches, believe implicitly in the divine origin of their faith. They may, of course, be quite mistaken but belief flourishes, as always.
What, then, do Mormons believe? What is the great revelation in the Book of Mormon? It is difficult in limited space to do justice to this church's doctrines. The basic idea is that the American Indians are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, who left their homeland around 600 BCE. They divided into opposing groups, the bad Lamanites, and the good Nephites. Eventually the bad ones (who became the present-day American Indians) slaughtered all the good people, except just one - Moroni, he of the golden plates. Aware that he was about to snuff it too, he buried the plates in a hillside, Cumorah, until, many centuries later he appeared, now as an angel, to Joseph. Like all religion, there is nothing unique in the Mormon 'revelation'; all the doctrines of the Church of LDS are to be found elsewhere in one form or another. Each new religion synthesizes from that which precedes it. Sir Richard Burton, who visited the Mormons in Salt Lake City in 1861, pointed out to their leaders that their faith was essentially an agglomeration of Jewish mysticism, millennialism, transcendentalism, freemasonry and Islamic practices. The leaders were quite unabashed in their reply; their religion embraced all truth, they said! (Muhammad said the same.)
Baptism has a very peculiar variation to the traditional rite. It is, as in many churches, by immersion but Mormons believe all baptisms performed before Joseph Smith's arrival on the world scene are invalid. They thus carry out the frenzied activity of having themselves baptized over and over again on behalf of dead ancestors! Mormons fervently believe that all who have gone before, if they died unbaptized, are doomed to spend eternity in hell. The entire family is intended to be a unit in Paradise. This obsession drives them to frantic activity, researching far and wide their family trees. Vast storehouses of information have been built up on computers to enable a member to track down his or her ancestors and undertake those vicarious baptisms on their behalf. In Salt Lake City is to be found the world's largest repository of genealogical information. One figure given was the 'equivalent of over 4 million 300-page books.' Over twenty branch libraries around the USA also provide data and every day Mormon members are to be seen busily scanning records from the past so as to ferret out the names of all those unbaptized sinners. A curious activity, indeed, and one quite unique, so far as I can tell, to the Mormons. Baptism is by full immersion in warm water in an elaborate font supported by brass cows. In former times the saints were immersed quite naked but in recent times they have taken to wearing a light garment. One young reporter who wormed her way in among the faithful in America caused a stir when she presented herself naked to the attendant; she'd been reading an old book. The garment donned for baptism is regulation underwear for the prudish modern Mormons. They are taught it must be worn at all times, even when bathing; reminiscent of the activities in Catholic girls' schools in less enlightened days.
Mormons are taught that sexual intercourse is not for enjoyment (a view they share with many orthodox Christians and some others) but merely for multiplying the number of the faithful. They eschew birth control and this results in more Mormons being born than other folk. Someone once estimated their birth-rate at about sixty percent above the US average! A woman is thus restricted in her sexual activities to those occasions on which she is required to serve her purpose of baby-making. The men, however, from early times answered the insistent demands of sex by taking more than one wife. And, handily, polygamy solves the problem of surplus females, a common phenomenon of many religions. The first Mormons took to the heavy task of consoling so many ladies with zest and polygamy was soon the order of the day. Joseph Smith prevailed upon several women to cohabit with him. But his first wife was none too happy at this, and some of the saints also objected. Lo and behold, Joseph conveniently received another revelation from the heavens, on 12 July 1843, expressly establishing and approving polygamy! It seems not to bother the saints that the Book of Mormon itself denounces polygamy! In fact, Joseph kept this new revelation secret for a time and there are suggestions that Brigham Young, his successor, conveniently discovered it after the Prophet's death. Brigham liked his ladies, too, as we shall see. From then on the question of plural wives was to inflame passions and cause a great rift between the Mormons and the more 'orthodox' American Christians.
Like many of the faiths born in the USA in the nineteenth century the Mormons believe in the 'near return' of Christ. Those who are Mormons will be saved; the rest will be destroyed. But, unlike the others, they believe the Christ-god will set up his kingdom on the American continent. Will the capital be New York? Or Washington? Or perhaps that hothouse of cults, Los Angeles? Or maybe they expect Salt Lake City to house the Christ-god!
The uniqueness of the Book of Mormon is clearly evident - to Mormons! Nephi, supposedly a pre-Christian prophet, sounds forth on the faith but his words are those of the Westminster Confession of Faith from the 17th century! Nephi, again, speaks in terms of the Wesleyan Book of Discipline (18th century). And he finds cows and oxen in America in 500 BCE. Wrong! They were introduced by Europeans around 1490. Meanwhile Lehi quotes Shakespeare! And other words come directly from the King James Bible.
In 1836 a large temple was consecrated in Kirtland, an impressive addition to their holdings, along with the bank still then functioning. Missionaries were despatched to heathen England and expansion was the order of the day. Prophet Smith even tried out a little faith healing. Some cases came good but he struck trouble when the cures ran out. Then, in 1838, the bank ran out, too, of money, forcing Smith and Rigdon to flee to avoid their creditors. Well, that is what happened; as Mormon history tells it, the Prophet received another convenient revelation, informing him to depart to Missouri. This instruction was obeyed with unaccustomed speed!
About this time a secret Inner Circle was formed, known as the Danites, around Smith, with the object of supporting him and enabling him, so it was said, to possess first one state, then the whole United States, then the whole world. He was, after all, supposed to be the bearer of GOD's last word to man. In fact the Danites were accused of plotting - if not actually doing such deeds - to kill the enemies of Joseph Smith. There is no doubt that much bloodshed occurred both among the brethren and their enemies as they moved westward. Smith was authoritarian in his rule and provoked other strong-willed men to oppose him.
Eventually a new holy city was established, known as Nauvoo, in Illinois, and in 1841 the foundations were laid for a new temple. There was peace, of sorts, for a time and a great white temple was built but passions were inflamed on all sides over the question of multiple wives. A newspaper,The Expositor, attacked the Mormons, publishing the affidavits of sixteen women claiming Smith or other Mormons had attempted to seduce them. The Mormons countered by burning down the newspaper office. An arrest warrant was issued to detain Smith, his brother Hyram and sixteen other Mormons. They resisted the authorities with arms and the militia had to be called out but eventually the Governor persuaded Smith to surrender and stand trial.
Undoubtedly what followed was the turning point for the Church. Under Smith it might have remained a small and unimportant sect, eventually withering away. But a mob of GOD-fearing Americans broke into the prison and shot Smith and his brother dead. The Church now had its martyrs and what is more, waiting in the wings was a man of powerful personality, Brigham Young, who had the abilities of leadership lacking in Smith. With Smith sent on the way to his heavenly reward there followed more trouble, the charter for Nauvoo being withdrawn by the legislature of Illinois. Soon there was to follow a great trek of the faithful, headed by Brigham Young, a former painter and glazier, to their latest promised land, this time in Utah, where they founded the Kingdom of Zion in Salt Lake City.
By the year 1848 the great bulk of the faithful had moved into Utah. Before long the Mormons virtually ruled an area stretching from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada and large numbers of converts arrived there from Britain and Scandinavia. Brigham Young and his holy city fascinated many people who visited from far and wide, Mark Twain and Emerson among them. Sir Richard Burton spent three weeks among the Mormons in Utah towards the end of 1860 and wrote a book as a result, The City of the Saints.
Young was himself very taken up with the idea of multiple wives and upon his death had no less than 17 of them, and a tribe of 56 offspring! But over the years the question of polygamy continued to stir up the passions of fellow-Americans and Brigham Young was himself arrested for engaging in polygamy when in 1871 it was declared a criminal offence.
As we have already seen the Mormons at times proved to be a violent body of believers and were prepared to take up arms to defend themselves. Between 1849 and 1877, when Young died, conflict occurred on several occasions. Armed Mormons attacked government forces, destroyed supply trains and on one occasion slaughtered a party of 150 innocent migrants. Such violent activities surely denied the very faith they preached! A war had almost broken out between the federal government and a Mormon citizen army in 1857 and during one period the Mormons had 400 'Wolf Hunters' chasing up those disillusioned disciples who wanted to leave Salt Lake City. It is reported that a number of men, women and children 'troublemakers' were murdered during this period. As recently as 1979 violence broke out among the faithful. One of the renegade polygamists, John Singer, got himself a bit worked up when authorities tried to put his children into the state school; Singer died from police bullets. On the 9th anniversary of his death another male member of the clan dynamited a nearby Mormon church, leaving a trail of damage.
The battle over polygamy raged but eventually, in 1890, President Wilford Woodruff, a Mormon, promised the Mormons would give up the practice, which must have created not a few problems among the menfolk. Well, not too many, for in recent times it has been stated that even today many thousands of Utah Mormons have more than one wife, as do members of numerous breakaway cults.
The only effective role Mormon women seem to have is to lend their wombs for baby-bearing. All the church's offices are taken up by men. They don't like black people, either. Coloured people can join, and the church happily collects their offerings (minimum ten percent) but never let them set foot in the great holy Temple in Salt Lake City; definitely a no-no. There was one woman, though, brave enough to stand up and be counted. Shirley Pedler was born into a Mormon family but at the age of thirteen became an unbeliever. She didn't like the Mormon idea that women were the servile underlings of men, nor their ideas about black people. She skipped a church meeting and officials demanded action. The rebellious girl became in time a student at the University of Utah, and then in 1975 was appointed executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (UCLA) in Utah. Right in the heart of Mormondom.
When Brigham Young was governor of Salt Lake City, federal judges who tried to defend civil liberties were run out of town and thereafter what was good for the Mormons was good for the state of Utah. Shirley Pedler set out to change all that. She took up the cause of homosexuals and the ACLU brought litigation to block state regulation of so-called 'indecent' cable-TV programming. She lobbied for women's right to abortion. The ACLU, under her direction, sued the Mormon Church over job discrimination. Employees of a Mormon clothing factory had lost their jobs because they failed to meet 'worthiness standards'. In this the ACLU challenged biassed American law that exempted religious organizations from provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion. All this was carried on in the face of rabid hate-mail and occasional death threats.
Before I've done with the Mormons I must return to Joseph Smith amazing revelations. Early in 1990 newspapers around the world carried reports of an American expedition claiming to have found three large stone tablets with early Semitic hieroglyphs in a lost city in the jungles of Peru. A curious story this; the leader of the group was one Gene Savoy, a respected figure in archeology, credited with locating many other lost Inca cities. The claim was made that the tablets included ancient Hebrew letters and symbols, referring to Ophir or Beth-Horon, the source of gold for ancient Palestine in Solomon's day. There may, of course, have been very early links between the civilizations of the Americas and the East; no disputing that. But orthodox archeologists have expressed unbridled scepticism as to any Hebrew connection. Interestingly the results of the find were to be presented first at a gathering at Brigham Young University, Utah. No further word has reached me on this subject but the connection with the Mormon University is suspect, to say the least! In any event all the evidence points to Joseph Smith being nothing more nor less than an outright fraud. His bloody death served to elevate him to martyrdom and the sect itself probably owes far more to the strong-willed personality of Brigham Young than to any other single factor for its success.
But let us return to the Book of Mormon. In 1828 Martin Harris, the farmer who became disillusioned with his prophet, took a sheet of paper bearing some of the strange characters, copied there by Smith, to New York and showed them to Charles Anthon, a classics scholar at Columbia College, and Dr Samuel Mitchell, vice-president of Rutgers University. To these scholars the writings appeared as a mixture of Egyptian hieroglyphics and Arabian symbols. They were unable to translate them. Not surprisingly! Finally, there is a little-known work by an English author, a Mr Caswell, written after this man visited Nauvoo in the year 1842. Mr Caswell actually met up with Joseph Smith and an interesting encounter it proved to be. After the preliminaries, during which Caswell noted Smith to be 'a coarse plebeian person in aspect . . . a curious mixture of the knave and the clown,' he handed a book to the Prophet, begging him to provide an explanation of its contents.
Smith asked Caswell if he had any idea as to its contents, to which Caswell replied that he believed it to be a Greek Psalter. 'No,' said Smith, 'it ain't Greek at all, except perhaps a few words. What ain't Greek is Egyptian, and what ain't Egyptian is Greek.' Then he added, 'This book is very valuable, it is a dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics!' This fact was proved by the capital letters at the start of each verse. These were of the ornamented variety and Joseph Smith though them to be Egyptian glyphs, the translation following! They were 'Reformed Egyptian' - just like the letters on his golden plates. At this amazing piece of news the Mormons gathered around their great leader congratulated Caswell on receiving such important information from their inspired Prophet!
But the supply of prophets is never-ending. Another to leave his mark was Charles Taze Russell. Born in 1852 in Pittsburgh, Russell was originally a Congregationalist pastor. In time he separated from that church to form his own independent body, eventually known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. They've been a pestiferous presence on people's doorsteps ever since. Russell, too, was caught up in the fever over the Second Coming of the Christ-god and he, too, did a bit of calculating. The date he arrived at was 1874. (All these dates, and earlier and subsequent dates, announced by innumerable prognosticators supply telling testimony as to how uncertain is the certain message of the Christian scriptures!) Now I know it will not surprise you to discover - as all, sinners and saints alike, are still here today - that the Christ-god did not return in 1874. Well, not quite, or perhaps he did after all! You see, Russell had a streak of rat-cunning. He wasn't about to shed the mantle of Prophet. He came up with a brilliant idea, a new one - the Return of the Christ-god had been invisible! Thereafter Jesus had ushered in his reign but the actual end of the present world order would occur in 1914.
Try another date (or pull the other leg). Russell was still putting his credibility on the line by setting another date, albeit well into the future! Just 40 years into the future in fact. It is with some satisfaction that I report that Pastor Russell lived long enough to see - yes, the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. Surely this was the prophesied End? I guess Russell was still a trifle puzzled when he died in 1916. Certainly it was a huge war; it must have seemed like the End to many people. Tragically it was indeed the End for several million humans. But this excitement passed and the End was still nigh - somewhere nigh. Now Russell's successor, Judge Rutherford, took over and, believe it or not, in 1925 he was confidently telling people that 'millions now living will never die.' Eighty or more years later millions of those people are well and truly dead. But does all this stop the Witnesses in their tracks? I think not. They are kept busy, among other reasons, by the business of seeking out old copies of the sect's literature, to be destroyed. (Well, there were some changes, you know; don't want people to find out.)
The Jehovah's Witnesses are aggressive and persistent sellers of their faith, arriving unannounced on the doorsteps of citizens and debating religious issues. I struck a new twist recently when an older man and a sweet little girl, aged about 9 or 10, came knocking. The child spoke first: 'My name is Sandra, and this is my Daddy; we'd like to talk to you . . .' Much and all as I like sweet little girls I quickly cut her off. If you give them the slightest encouragement they are hard to get rid of. Their door-knocking arouses antagonism but more serious are other aspects. The Jehovah's Witnesses, like many cults, have a reputation for dividing households and much bitterness has resulted from such divisions. Further, the sect teaches, among other doctrines, the notion that as 'the life of the flesh is in the blood' members should not accept blood transfusions. This prohibition extends to their children and because of this it has also been the source of considerable friction within many communities. Jehovah's Witness doctrine also forbids members participating in war activities of any kind, thus members of the sect refuse military service and will not answer calls for conscripts. As some countries have compulsory conscription of young men this doctrine results in conflict and even imprisonment of members of the cult in countries such as Singapore and Malawi.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic Britain had its own collection of crazies. In 1859 the Reverend Henry James Prince, onetime English Anglican clergyman, opened a quasi-religious establishment known as the Agapemone (Greek for Abode of Love), near Bridgewater in Somerset. Prince raised subscriptions for his project publicly through the south-coast region of England and set up his harem (for that was what it was) in a country house at Spaxton. It was open to the public and was more-or-less financially successful.
Prince was born in Wales 1811 and died in 1899. Early in life Henry showed a religious bent and even expressed a desire to be a clergyman but his mother had other ideas and saw to it that he was trained as a doctor. He practised for three years but eventually sickness caused him to give up this work. For a time he had to live on what his mother could spare from her income running a boarding-house. Eventually he recovered and was soon about to experience a major turning-point in his life. He happened to have a fine speaking voice and was, as well, handsome, with soft grey eyes and a slender figure. Women were naturally attracted to him as a result.
An elderly lady lodger, who had inherited some funds, paid the young man to read passages of the Bible to her. Her favourite was that piece of gentle erotica, The Song of Solomon, and one day, while he read from this stimulating and uplifting text, the hearer burst into tears, flung herself passionately upon the startled man and expressed her love and her willingness to do anything for him. This event, not surprisingly, came as a revelation to young Henry. Now any reasonable young man would, under the circumstances, ask for something really useful. Well, Henry Prince's idea of the really useful was to attend a theological college so as to become a clergyman. The lady, being religious, and caught up with the inspired words of Solomon, was delighted with such a fine suggestion and gave Prince the money to pay his fees. In gratitude Prince married her. Honourable fellow! Sadly, the marriage did not last long as the woman, being, as I said, elderly, soon died.
Thus began the next phase of the life of Prince, studies at the Theological College at Lampeter, an Anglican institution. Now at this time the Established Church was, taken as a whole, a pretty liberal institution, accepting into its ranks just about anybody. But the new man was a dreadful boat-rocker. He wanted changes made, especially in the attitude to Christian doctrine. What is more, the bounder even demanded of the college Principal that he, too, should mend his ways! Prince called upon Higher Forces to aid his cause. Apparently he felt he had a better case before God than did the college Principal. He soon gathered together some of the more zealous students in private prayer meetings, outside the stream of regular college activities, meetings that went on for long periods. Some dissension arose over this but the authorities could do little as prayer meetings were, after all, a suitable spiritual activity for Christians.
More trouble followed. The Principal, the Reverend Alfred Ollivant, had recently been promoted in the Church hierarchy and gave a dinner-party for the students to celebrate this event. Drinks were imbibed, as the manner is in some (but not all) Christian circles. But when the toast was about to be drunk, Prince, who was present, rose and objected. He said that rather than propose a toast they should all fall on their knees and pray for the Principal's soul! He then marched from the room, leaving the party somewhat dismayed. From then on Prince was very unpopular with everyone but a select group of zealots among the student body. This group now called itself, to the intense annoyance of the Principal, the Lampeter Brethren.
In time the Church authorities awarded Prince, albeit reluctantly, the degree of Doctor of Divinity, with an appointment as a curate to follow. This latter, too, was granted reluctantly and the powers-that-be made sure he was located in a fairly insignificant backwater, the village of Charlynch, in Somerset. The year was 1840. Prince was undaunted. He set to work to convert his immediate superior (for he was merely the assistant) the Rector, and won this prize! Now it may seem odd that a rector (or vicar, in some parts) should be in such a position and 'unconverted' but this was the way things were in the national Church at that time. This was a specially noteworthy triumph as the Rector, the Reverend Samuel Starkey, was the son of Lady Mary Alicia Coventry and was, through her, connected with a large slice of the aristocracy of England.
The Reverend Henry Prince was now something of a celebrity. His preaching was popular and drew good crowds and Prince was elated. He told Starkey, now a great admirer of the younger man, that he had absorbed the spirit of God. Indeed, when the rector experienced a sudden recovery from a mysterious illness, he attributed the cure to Prince. Some of the women of the church now approached Prince, asking him to hold special prayer meetings for ladies only. What a very nice idea! Soon there followed regular meetings, with readings from one particular book above all others - the Song of Solomon. By now a band of adoring women, the wives and daughters of the local farmers and also womenfolk from nearby great houses, followed the preacher. He was carried away with his audience and enthusiastically kissed the ladies. Somewhat understandably, uproar arose from among the husbands, fathers and brothers. But surely a cleric could kiss his lady parishioners? After all, the Word itself commanded Christians to 'greet one another with a holy kiss'. But, dear me, Prince was accused of going farther than mere kissing, an accusation denied by the women, although they did so with some degree of tantalising ambiguity.
The readings from the most erotic book in the Bible continued, and so did the strife. Men forbade their womenfolk to go to the meetings, debate raged. The whole area was in a state of uproar until the Bishop of Bath and Wells descended upon the village and calmed everybody down. Everybody, that is, except Prince. The Bishop suggested politely (in the manner of English bishops) that Mr Prince should move on to other pastures - in another diocese. Prince refused and the bishop became less polite, forthwith relieving the upstart of his curacy.
Enter another bishop, the Right Reverend Dr Allen, Bishop of Ely, who unwisely, as it soon turned out, took the errant curate into his fold. He was given work at Stoke but in some 40 months there the Reverend Henry Prince had caused an even greater uproar than he had at Charlynch. The Bishop of Ely had to admit that his brother bishop at Bath and Wells knew what he was about. Prince was now out of a job for the second time. Inspiration struck: he would hire a hall and turn it into his own church. Meanwhile Julia, sister of the Reverend Samuel Starkey, had fallen in love with Prince and made up her mind to marry him. Julia was considered a beauty in her time. Later events were to show that Julia loved Prince deeply and remained loyally devoted to him through thick and thin.
So they married and, with a small sum of money Julia brought, Prince hired a meeting-hall in Brighton. To this hall came some of the members of the original Lampeter Brethren, many now holding livings in the Church. They were soon joined by the inevitable band of devoted females and Prince launched a series of addresses somehow linking the biblical theme of Judgment with the Song of Solomon. Meanwhile, his former rector, now principal ally, Samuel Starkey, had separated from the official Church and was preaching at Weymouth, Dorsetshire. Here he had been experiencing a great measure of success in attracting people from all walks of life to the cause. And not shrinking from their prophetic role, the men gave themselves out to be the Two Witnesses foretold in the book of Revelation (not the first nor the last to claim this honour for themselves).
For a time the movement languished but eventually it sprang to life again. Money flowed in. Mrs Starkey came from a wealthy family and promised an annuity of £80. One family donated £10,000, a very large sum for those times. By 1849 money was piling up and Henry Prince announced he was building his Agapemone or Abode of Love (spiritual love, that is, he assured everyone). Near the town of Bridgewater the group bought 20 acres and behind high walls spent two years building a luxurious retreat. It is claimed that the disciples who entered the Abode handed over all their worldly possessions but this may have been a distortion of the truth. In any event some 60 recruits joined and Henry Prince's dream had been realized. What happened in the years that followed depends on who tells the story! Within months rumours were circulating as to strange goings-on within the walls of the Agapemone. There was talk of drunken orgies, sexual licence and of wife-swapping. That there may be at least some substance in the claims is indicated by the nature of a document issued by Prince the very year of the foundation of his Abode of Love.
Prince was a zealous pamphleteer all his life and in these writings poured forth his interesting, and to the orthodox, alarming, concepts of religion mixed with the pleasures of the flesh. In this movement, as in so many others through history, we see the struggle of the religious believer attempting to reconcile the natural impulses of the mortal flesh with the strict dogmas of the faith. Among his pamphlets, which were sold profitably, was How You May Know Whether You Do or Do Not Believe in Jesus Christ. It was claimed that Prince came later to believe that sexual relations within his society would be completely innocent. Reportedly he engaged in sex with a Miss Paterson after prayers on one of the sofas and in full view of the congregation. When Miss Paterson became pregnant, Prince told the faithful there would be no birth, but when a child was born Prince proclaimed that this was Satan's last act of defiance against God! Some lady disciples left, others remained faithful. Outsiders described inmates as 'silly captive women.' But at the height of its popularity the Abode housed about 1,000 people.
In 1859 Prince issued Brother Prince's Journal, and Account of the Destruction of the Works of the Devil in the Human Soul by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Gospel. This document calmly sets forth a doctrine of sinless perfection (which, too, has raised its head many times before; it was the central tenet of yet another denomination, the Church of the Nazarene), the concept that through the grace of God the believer is kept from sinning. Thus such a person, in effect, attempts to hedge about his dalliances with a cloak of spiritual respectability. But scandal of one kind or another was never far way. In 1860 the Agapemone hit the headlines when Ralph Nottidge sued Prince for the return of £5,725 which his sister Louisa had given the reverend gentleman. In court Nottidge related how his three sister had been 'almost insanely infatuated' with Prince and how Louisa had set up house near the Abode. Eventually the brother had persuaded her to return home and, fearing for her sanity (for she believed Prince was divine and that he was able to make her immortal) had her examined. She was sent away to a mental home but eventually released and immediately after moved into the Agapemone and signed over the money. The court ordered Prince to return the funds to Louisa's estate.
The later years passed more-or-less quietly, Prince living in his Abode until his death in 1899. Commented the Globe Encyclopedia, in 1876: 'The sect vegetates rather than lives in the sleepy luxury of Spaxton, and must perish with its founders'. It was helped considerably, however, in 1874 when a wealthy London merchant moved in with the founder, signing over a large fortune in the process. The man offered himself as Prince's butler! Thus the eccentricities continued. The new money gave a big fillip to the cult, which somehow got itself linked up with another bizarre character, also a onetime Anglican cleric, the Reverend T. H. Smyth-Piggott, who had an even more incredible public life than Prince. He had been operating a curious establishment in London, known as the Ark of the Covenant, and also attracted about his person an entourage of female disciples. He was a character of notoriety and public derision. He bore children with names such as Glory and Life. In 1909 Smyth-Piggott was found guilty of 'immorality, uncleanness and wickedness of life'. When he heard that Prince had died he announced that he was his true successor and eventually moved into the Agapemone; not at all surprising. The stories of doubtful activities continued until, at length, the Bishop of Bath and Wells was moved to stop Smyth-Piggott preaching, at least outside the walls of the Abode of Love. At one time a police guard was even mounted to enforce the ruling.
While undercurrents of sexuality provided a strong stimulus for many cults, across the Atlantic one of the major forces at work was belief in the End Time. The American Christians and their admirers elsewhere are quite obsessed with the Second Coming (which surely tells us much about their insecurities). In a much later era, for example, when the Iron Curtain was rent asunder in Eastern Europe groups of ravers, one going by the amazing title of the End-Time Handmaidens (Inc, of Arkansas), moved in to convert the ungodly! This activity has been repeated many times, even following the massive Haitian earthquake in 2010.
But to return to our story - in the latter half of the 20th century various new cult movements were launched in the USA with Utah, home of the Mormons, nurturing many movements, some but not all, encouraging polygamy. But other cults were breakaways from 'mainstream' churches. Such was the cult formed around the person of the Reverend James Warren Jones, better known as Jim Jones. Born in 1931, Jim Jones started his ministry as a student pastor in the Methodist Church in Indianapolis but later was ordained in the Disciples of Christ denomination. By the 1950s Jones had built up a huge following at a mission in Indianapolis known as The People's Temple. The preacher's powerful messages coupled with good works - helping his mainly poor congregation grow their own food and cattle - cemented his hold over hundreds of believers.
The People's Temple eventually moved from Indianapolis and located in California but investigations by authorities, who were concerned over illicit activities, drove Jones to set up an outpost in the more accommodating country of Guyana in Latin America, at a place called Jonestown. For a time the two centres ran in tandem. Jones, a drug addict, had become increasingly dictatorial in his dealings with the membership. The People's Temple was eventually joined to another group and formed what became known as The People's Temple Christian Church Full Gospel, in other words it adopted a Pentecostalist stance with the supposed 'signs following' - including healings engineered by staff members who collected necessary information from the patients before Jones 'healed' them.
But alas for the disciples, the paradise they had been led to expect in Jonestown was conspicuous by its absence; in its place was a living hell on earth. They were compelled to work for up to 16 hours a day, even in intense heat, and were liable to be ordered out of their beds in the middle of the night for 'suicide drill'. Corporal punishment was administered to recalcitrants, inflicted on both adults and children alike. For this Jones often employed a large wooden paddle, not unfamiliar to at least some of the disciples, for the beatings had already begun back in California. As an added measure of humiliation (and a warning to others) these physical assaults was carried out before the congregation. Up to as many as 100 strokes were administered, sometimes by a belt instead of the paddle.
Typical was the case of a 16-year-old girl, Linda Myrtle, who was accused of having 'lesbian tendencies'. She was called in front of the congregation of several hundred people and given 75 strokes on her buttocks, leaving them red raw. The girl later told investigators she had not been able to sit down for at least a week and a half after this beating. But in spite of this her parents remained members of the Temple for another year before leaving. The family had a big problem to face that made leaving difficult: Elmer Myrtle had abandoned his job as a chemical technician and they had sold up their home and given all the proceeds to the church. They had to find somewhere to live and had to care for five children and had no money.
Theirs is an all-too-familiar story. A cult like this demands members' money and then leaves them stranded if they ever get the urge to leave. When my wife and I joined a 'faith mission' we had no money to give but we gave up our good jobs (we both worked) and thereafter received no salary, only a division of whatever funds happened to turn up in the form of donations, often very slim pickings. We also had a roof over our heads but that was shared with others. When the time came to leave the mission and return to the world we had to provide not only for ourselves but by then we had our first child.
Ultimately, as is now tragically well known, Jim Jones and his cult members suicided en masse in Guyana. More than 900 members of The People's Temple died on 18 November 1978, poisoned by cyanide. Although many died willingly it is safe to say others were coerced at the last minute.
Meanwhile, in Texas the Branch Davidians, a group that broke away from the Seventh-Day Adventists in the 1930s, flourished. Originally known as the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists, the cult was founded by a Hungarian migrant, Victor Houteff, who was believed by many of his followers to be immortal [sic!]. They were somewhat taken aback in 1955 when he died!
Eventually the cult passed into the hands of an unstable character by name of George Roden. Among other things, he had once been jailed for writing letters in which he threatened to get GOD to infect Texas Supreme Court judges with VD. By the 1980s the sect, which had until then been led by Roden's wife Lois, had been taken over by a young man named Vernon Howell, who gave himself a new name, David Koresh. The name Koresh was said to be the equivalent of Cyrus, the destroyer, of Babylon, a Persian king who was said to have helped free the Jews from oppression. Koresh had convinced Lois that he was one of the Seven Angels of the Book of Revelation and after her death in 1987 there was a fight between Howell/Koresh, supported by seven gun-toting Christians, and Mr Roden for the possession of 'Mount Carmel'. This culminated in an actual gun battle. The attackers were put on trial but all the followers were acquitted of attempted murder. In Howell's case the trial ended with a hung jury and the charges were dropped. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital for a period. Meanwhile Roden went off to jail to work out the earlier charges and Howell, seeing his opportunity, seized control of the Davidians.
In the early 1990s concern was being expressed by many, especially parents, that young people were being drawn into the cult, centred in a complex of buildings at Waco, Texas. Parents believed even then that some form of mass suicide might occur. Ex-members told reporters that disciples had quit jobs, said goodbye to family and friends and had been induced to change their wills. A typical convert was Marc Breault who, with his wife Elizabeth, had gone to join Koresh at Waco in 1986. They remained there for nearly four years. Breault had been raised a Catholic and suffered a sight defect from birth and only had about 5 percent vision in his left eye. Brough had an unhappy experience with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. At the age of 17 he had attended a special SDA camp designed for blind people. As he was searching for something in his life at the time he had been 'converted' and had undertaken a study course to become a minister in the SDA Church. The course, which he paid for himself, lasted four years, but upon its completion he was effectively told that as a blind person he could not become a minister.
Breault plays keyboards and piano so was attracted to Koresh who often played his guitar and sang. The group had a band and many of the children were trained to play musical instruments. Eventually Marc and Elizabeth returned to Australia, having decided the Branch Davidians was not for them. Breault claimed that Koresh was having sexual relations with young girls in the compound, some aged only 12. This and other activities had upset the Breaults. They reported also that Koresh and his followers had a large cache of arms and were prepared to keep out unwanted visitors. With his apocalyptic vision of a dramatic End in which he figured prominently, Koresh taught both the adults and the children of the cult how to commit suicide with a gun if necessary, or by taking cyanide. Cult members believed that if they died they would return to the earth as immortals - they would be resurrected.
Koresh preyed on young girls. One girl, Kiri Jewel, was aged about 5 or 6 when her mother, following a separation, joined the cult at Waco. In 1986 her father was in contact with his daughter at Waco and noticed that she had a surprisingly vast knowledge of Bible texts for someone so young. From time to time Kiri visited her father and his family, especially an aunt, Lois, who was very concerned about her. She noted that when Kiri came off the plane to meet them her whole persona changed and she 'became one of us' but that when she was returning to Waco her persona reverted to its former self. At the age of about 9 or 10 the family noticed that Kiri was wearing a star. This indicated, they later learnt, that she had been chosen to a be a bride for Koresh. Questioned about this the girl said that at the time she thought this was 'a great honour.' Koresh used very young girls to breed future followers. His first wife, Rachel Jones, was aged 14. But in time the wives were chosen at ever earlier ages. Michelle Jones was aged 12, and there were others. There were also suggestions that Koresh had intended to sacrifice a child. He had approached two female members seeking a suitable victim to be delivered up as an offering to GOD but mercifully the sacrifice did not take place.
Kiri's father eventually instituted legal proceedings to gain custody of his daughter and had a long fight but finally was able to do so in mid-1991, when Kiri came out of the sect and joined him. In the meantime, however, at the age of 13 she had become one of Koresh's many wives, when she was 'married' to him and had sex with him. Her mother was already a 'senior wife' and deeply loyal to Koresh and remained in the compound after Kiri left. A former sex partner of Koresh's said there was no marriage ceremony. It was simply a matter of Howell choosing to have sex with a woman or girl and she was considered from then on to be his wife. She could not continue to have sex with her own legal husband or lover after that. She was not even allowed to look at the other men. Koresh taught that the male followers were spiritual eunuchs and as such were not to have sexual relations with the females, even their own wives. However, naturally, Koresh was free to enjoy himself!
Life at Waco was regimented in many ways. Members spent long periods of time studying the Bible. On one occasion a meeting continued for 16 hours. If any of the children fell asleep they were humiliated in front of the group and sent away. Many ex-members reported that cruel physical punishments were often meted out to the children in the compound by Koresh himself. Children of sect members had been beaten and some had been whipped until they bled. A special room, known as the 'whipping room', was set aside for this purpose in one of the Waco buildings and the paddle was known as 'the helper'. The children came to fear this room and the big strong men who wielded the paddles.
Kiri Jewel said she had received one paddling for not learning some Bible verses. When asked about the spankings she said that they were 'not such as parents give' but were 'cruel spankings' and very painful. There were other forms of punishment employed from time to time such as putting people into a pit of raw sewerage. Koresh also deprived people of their liberty and of food and water from time to time and some were bound while they were beaten. According to the testimony of one Australian mother, Michelle Tom, on a particular occasion Koresh reportedly gathered the group together and showed them Michelle's 8-months-old baby Tara, who, he claimed, required discipline. He then proceeded to spank the baby for a solid 40 minutes. They had been away from the compound having dinner and Howell tried to get Tara to sit on his lap. She reacted against him and cried, whereupon he said she should be disciplined. The beating continued solidly, Howell only pausing, so he said, to allow the baby to 'catch her breath'. He wanted to use the occasion as an example of how people had to be obedient to him. Michelle said the roomful of people were laughing at the baby but the infant's buttocks were bleeding and bruised when he handed her back.
The cult financed itself partly from some of the members going to outside jobs. They handed over their earnings to Koresh. One couple who joined sold a property for $800,000 and made the bulk of the proceeds available to Koresh. Such cults, in order to flourish, require an absolute leader who demands complete submission to his will. Members are not allowed to think for themselves and all those outside the cult are treated as evil. Members are made to feel bad about themselves and thus to become more and more dependant on the leader and his goodwill and approval. Once a potential convert begins submitting his or her personality to the will of the master the way is open for complete control. Koresh maintained close surveillance over his minions and bugged all rooms. There was also reportedly a secret cemetery to dispose of people who 'disappeared' while at the cult headquarters.
An Australian private investigator, Geoffrey Hossack, formerly a member of both Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police, spent three years on the trail of Koresh and his cult. Hired by Melbourne parents to try to help them get their children out of the compound, Hossack uncovered a large amount of evidence of wrongdoing, including the fact that Koresh was storing quantities of unlicensed arms and ammunition and might be planning violence. He took these concerns to several US agencies but could get no action taken. Religion is a protected species in the USA. Long after Hossack had warned them, the US Federal authorities moved in, charging the group over their illegal weapons. The government raid took place on Monday, 29 February 1993. It is interesting to note that the local newspaper, The Waco Herald-Tribune, began a series of articles on the Branch Davidians on the preceding Saturday, 27 February. Titled The Sinful Messiah, the paper continued the series on the Sunday and the raid was launched on the Monday. In the initial assault four Federal agents were shot dead and 15 wounded.
The SDA Church throughout tried to distance itself from the cult. Pastor Larry Glyn, of the Waco SDA Church, said that Koresh 'takes the Adventist belief in the rapture to the extreme.' In June 1994 judgments were delivered in a court at San Antonio in the cases involving some of the Waco cultists who has shot at and killed Government officials. Renos Avraam, 30, and Livingstone Fagan, 34, both from England, were each sentenced to 40 years in prison. During the hearing Avraam berated the judge and accused 'international banks' and the justice system of being responsible for the troubles the sect had experienced. Six other Branch Davidians were also given jail terms, ranging from 5 to 40 years. Americans Brad Branch, 34, Kevin Whitecliff, 32, and Jamie Castillo, 25 were each sentenced to 30 years' jail.
The cults we have examined are but a sample of the many aberrant and at times bizarre offshoots of the main body of the Christian Church. Colourful characters like Father Divine come to mind, and the Reverend Ike, who died only recently, and Jim Bakker, Robert Schuler, Benny Hinn, and a long list of other godbotherers, many of them made rich from the contributions of the faithful (and deluded) followers. As I've pointed out before, most of these preachers promote belief in the coming of Armageddon, the End Time, when the faithful who follow them will be saved and others perish. It proves a powerful argument to maintain a grip on the imaginations of the disciples. And while some of the soothsayers avoid precise claims as to the date of the big event others are not so reticent.
In 1988, an American seer, Edgar Whisenant, published 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will be in 1988. (The word rapture, so beloved of many of the fundamentalists, does not even occur in the Bible! It is part of the jargon of these doomsayers; it refers to believers supposedly being caught up in the air to meet the Christ-god.) Over four million copies of this revealing work were sold or given away before the author woke up one morning with lots of filthy lucre - and a big headache. He had made another amazing discovery - it was 1 January 1989 and the rapture had not occurred! But did Mr Whisenant slink off, never to be heard from again as he arranged refunds of book-buyers' money? Oh, no, like those who had gone before (and those still to come), he did a bit more calculating to correct a 'mistake' he had made (misunderstood the calendar, we are told). This resulted in a new and exciting work (co-authored by Greg Brewer) published in mid-1989, The Final Shout - Rapture '89. Sorry, Mr Whisenant, we're still here. Will this Prophet keep making new calculations and producing new editions of these gripping texts? Probably not; he must be so rich by now he doubtless never needs to work again and can laze about in the sun awaiting the Coming.
Then there was that lady down Montana way, known as Mrs Prophet; well, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, to be precise. She convinced some 2,000 or so followers, members of her Church Universal and Triumphant, that the End was nigh. It would be particularly tense, she said, around 23 April 1990. The disciples were to take up residence in underground shelters in the appropriately named Paradise Valley, equipped with supplies to last them over a long period, while the Battle of Armageddon raged overhead. (I'll return to this battle in a moment.) Well, strangely, 23 April passed without any dramatic turn of events in the world. Perhaps it was all invisible? I guess it doesn't really matter much that she is wrong, though. The believers still follow, including some in my own country. 'As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be . . .'
Now about that Battle of Armageddon. Jehovah's Witnesses get themselves into quite a lather of excitement over this battle, and they are not alone. It has been the subject of many books, not to mention hundreds and thousands of sermons. It would be fair then to expect to find an extensive description in the Bible of this great final clash between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil. (Depending, of course, on your viewpoint as to who is on the righteous side and who is on the evil!) Not so! Just one reference in one verse, I repeat, one reference in one verse - Revelation 16: 16, where the writer refers to a battle to take place at (more correctly, as in the RV) Har Magedon, said to mean the hill or mountain of Megiddo.
There is no mountain in Megiddo, as it happens, which, I guess, should come as no surprise to us, but some think the place referred to is Mount Carmel. This could be the correct location as it is there that the evil spirits meet together, according to the Mandeans. Or perhaps John is once again trading in Old Testament currency, for it was at Megiddo that the Jews had a victory over the Canaanites (Judges 5: 19). As good a name as any to attach to the Last Battle of all. And about as fictitious as the rest of the drama of the End of the World. Oh yes, the world will surely end one day, but you and I will not be around to see it eaten up by an all-embracing sun. Hopefully that's a long way off.
