July 1977
The Church Universal and
Triumphant
With the coming of July, the campus was very suddenly full of people — strange people!
Uppermost in our hearts and minds, however, was the fact that in a few weeks the first part of our down payment was due. Barely three weeks before, we had begun, at last, to appeal to the evangelical public for financial backing. Fortunately, with summer had come an influx of volunteers, a few sent by some of the evangelical leaders who had consented to be our consultants. At last we had the staff necessary to begin to do all that we had to do. We began to send out letters, write news releases, contact churches, set up promotional luncheons, and process gifts. With so little time, we were extremely busy!
Since the visit in March of Stan Petrowski, we were careful to warn all newcomers to staff that we were involved in a strange, spiritual warfare. And we taught them how to claim victory in the name of Jesus by virtue of His blood that had been shed for us on Calvary.
Out of curiosity, from time to time, some of our new staff, who were still unrecognizable to cult leadership, crossed the street to Summit's bookstore and bought various
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pieces of their literature. Several of us studied these things carefully to try to understand a bit more of their teaching. Their literature was a confusing mixture of Hindu philosophy and terminology mixed up with quotations and names from the Bible. Jesus was often mentioned, but in a manner extremely foreign to historical and Biblical Christianity. The booklets spoke of Elizabeth Claire Prophet as "the Divine Mother" and "the Mother of the Flame," reminding us of the ever-present bumper stickers: "Souls of great light are waiting to be born. Have one. (Signed) Mother" and "Abortion is first degree murder of God."
Quite often the literature spoke of communications from a certain St. Germain, whose picture was always prominently displayed. This person, who evidently lived in the Middle Ages, seemed to be their guiding light.
In the articles she wrote, Mrs. Prophet spoke of receiving "dictated" messages from the Archangel Michael, from Buddha, from Jesus, and other so-called "ascended masters," including her dead husband, Mark Prophet or "Lanello" (as he was called) who had started the Church Universal and Triumphant. Also, it seemed that the decisions of Summit leaders were sometimes submitted to what they spoke of as "the Darjeeling Council," and their members were encouraged to write to "chelas" around the world, a term we later found in Hindu literature.
The more we read, the more we understood how inquirers could be confused. Bible quotations were common, but often they were incorrect and always grossly misinterpreted. We wondered how Americans, who have so many opportunities to come to know the truth, get involved in such philosophical nonsense.
One afternoon two well-dressed strangers walked into our main office. "We're having a conference starting next week, and we're inviting the neighborhood to attend on Friday night. Can you come?"
Their warm invitation was startling. On all previous
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contact, cult members had been very cool to us. We wondered if they had not been warned to avoid conversation with any of us. Many of our younger staff had felt very frustrated at their inability to witness to these people, and thus counted this invitation as an opportunity which was too good to miss.
That morning Don Hamilton of the Association of Church Mission Committees had called Ralph with a strange request. Someone had broken into their offices a couple of miles away and stolen their typewriter. "May we send someone over to use a typewriter for a few hours?" he had asked.
Unknown to us, the one who came had previously done a research paper on the cult on our campus, and for months had been praying for an opportunity to witness to one of its members. He was there when our visitors arrived, and immediately jumped to his feet and engaged one of the two in conversation. Dave Cashin on our staff, later a missionary to Bangladesh, started talking with the other on the opposite side of the room. Prudence's desk was in the middle, and she heard most of each discussion.
"It was incredible," she told the two fellows after the Summit members had left. "You were saying exactly the same things, quoting the same Bible verses, making the same points almost in the same words. Obviously the Holy Spirit was speaking through both of you."
But Satan had his innings too. After the two cult members had left, Dave sat down to his typewriter, then rose to join hands in prayer for the two who had just left. As he stood up, his knee slightly brushed the bottom of his typing table. Immediately the table flipped over, almost as if lifted by an unseen hand. The typewriter, an IBM Selectric and one of only two that we had at that point, landed upside down, so damaged that it wouldn't work. But God knew how much we needed that typewriter in those critical days and took care of us. In a manner still new to us, we laid hands on it and prayed, then sent it out for repairs. It was back in just two days with a bill of only $30.
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The question we now faced, however, was what to do about that unexpected invitation. Should we go? Which of us? Together, or separately? Now that we were aware that we were the focus of an unusual spiritual battle, we didn't want to expose ourselves unnecessarily to unholy spiritual forces. On the other hand, if ever we were to witness to them, we needed to know more about them.
We spent several days discussing and praying about what we should do, and finally decided that several of our staff should accept the invitation. The rest of us felt strongly impressed to stay behind and pray.
