Customer Reviews

Prophet's Daughter: My Life with Elizabeth Clare Prophet Inside the Church Universal and Triumphant

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This book deals with matters of belief and as such it tends to evoke strong emotions. Read the rest of the book reviews if you want to know what I mean. By and large they are 1 star or 5 stars depending upon whether or not the reviewer believes in the ascended masters. Since the opinions of the book are so subjective, I think it's only fair to offer some information about myself.

I was born and raised in the Church Universal and Triumphant. I was named by Elizabeth Prophet. I attended Montessori International. My family was on permanent staff during the shelter cycle and I was a child at that time. I was in the the large shelter complex in the Heart during the 'drills' in the spring of 1990.

This book is goldmine of first-hand information about the Church Universal and Triumphant and the shelter cycle. For anyone looking to answer the questions 'what actually happened?' and 'how did it come about?' this book is a great place to start.

For those of us that were present during the shelter cycle, it confirms many things that we suspected but were unable to prove. For instance, it was rumored around the cafeteria that we had acquired an armored personnel carrier. Erin confirms the presence of not one, but two APC's on church property. We believed that the church members responsible for security had acquired a stockpile of assault rifles. Erin confirms the existence of a hidden cache of AR-15's. As far as the scandal of Vernon Hamilton, Edward Francis and the weapons purchase: everyone on staff knew that permanent staff members were essentially paupers and that there was no way Vernon Hamilton was walking around with $150,000 of his own money. We believed (without proof) that the upper echelons of the church hierarchy knew of the weapons purchase, approved it and backed it monetarily. Erin confirms all of this. (I might add that no-one on staff that I talked to at that time disapproved of stockpiling weapons; we thought it was a prudent precaution for the post-apocalyptic fantasies that we indulged. Vernon and Edward had our full moral support.)

(** Amended at the request of the author based on additional information and clarification that she supplied about the purchase of the APC's.)

As a member of permanent staff and a participant in many of the events in this book, I though I knew the whole story of the shelter cycle. I was mistaken. Secrets were kept and information was withheld even from the 'inner circle' of the permanent staff. For instance, none of us had any idea that Elizabeth had been diagnosed with epilepsy, or that she had suffered a tonic-clonic seizure during the shelter cycle. None of us understood the role that Erin played as seer to Elizabeth during that critical time. And, as I mentioned earlier, none of us were privy to knowledge that the leadership had of the weapons purchases. In expectation of the apocalypse, and in the grip of paranoia, the church had become very compartmentalized. At each level of the hierarchy, knowledge was jealously sealed away from the level below. It is a testament to the effectiveness of this compartmentalized structure that the leadership was able to keep such secrets in a communal environment where we all lived, worked, ate, sang and decreed together.

But there is a lot more to this book than a simple list of dates and events. Erin offers analysis and insight into the dynamics of the organization of the church and the forces that impelled us to those actions that seemed ludicrous and dangerous from an outside perspective. One of the most important aspects of the Church that Erin examines up is the dichotomy between the outer Teachings versus the inner Teachings. Briefly, the outer teachings focused on self reliance through a personal connection to God via the Holy Christ Self. In contrast, the inner teachings focused on personal surrender as implied by the guru / chela relationship. The self-dissolving love of the guru grew to such a degree that we revered her as a living deity who had balanced 100% of her karma and who was infallible. The abuses of the shelter cycle that horrified the members of the outer circle of the church become more understandable when viewed in the light of the inner teachings through which we had fallen into the idolatry of worshiping a living human being.

There is a lot more. Erin spends a lot of time discussing the group mechanics of the staff, and the symbiotic relationship between the Prophet and the chelas who hungered for her prophecy. I find that I do not have space to rehash these subjects here; for those who want more, I must simply recommend that they acquire the book and begin to read.

I do have a few nits to pick with the book. In some places, I think that Erin does not fully own up to the consequences of her actions and the impact that they had on other people's lives. For instance, Erin's divine revelation of the need to stockpile supplies for seven years dramatically effected the lives of every staff member down to the smallest. Children were pulled out of school at Montessori International and forced to work (without pay) in a food processing plant to meet the expanded supply needs by the divine deadline. But I digress; no book can tell the story from everyone's point of view. This is a memoir, after all, and it's perfectly legitimate for Erin to tell her story rather than attempt to tell the story of every staff member.

I would have read this book one way or another simply for the informational content within it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the text; Erin is a much better writer than I had expected. I read not only with interest, but with pleasure. She strikes a fine balance between presenting the facts and evoking a setting. The places times and attitudes are recalled with such vivid clarity that one can begin to understand the psychology of the major players in the story. I'm sure that some of the sections were quite painful to write. I was shocked at Erin's candor in discussing the details of the Prophet's private family lives. Her recollections of psychological coercion and sexual manipulation shed light on the inner workings of the mind of a leader already in the grips of illness, prophecy and paranoia.

I'd like to express my gratitude to Erin for writing this book. It is an illuminating read, even for those of us who had a front seat ticket to the drama of the times. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in new age religions. I think that anyone who was a member of the Church Universal and Triumphant during the shelter cycle will find it to be enlightening. I would especially recommend it to anyone who is currently in or considering joining an organization based on the teachings of the ascended masters.

This outstanding document accomplished two extremely difficult tasks: Providing a history and human context for our mother's life, and demonstrating Erin's difficulty coming of age while faced with the expectations of following in her mother's footsteps. The story is told against a backdrop of constant crisis, "divine revelation," fame and the idolatry of followers.

It is to Erin's credit that she did a decade of research, and consulted a wide range of sources both within our family and outside of it. Her book is factually unimpeachable when it comes to its representation of the lives of our parents and the church they founded. Erin went way beyond due-diligence as an author in having her manuscript vetted and triple-checked by every member of our family.

As someone who was right by Erin's side through most of the events that make up her narrative, I can say that she made every attempt at laser-accuracy. In my view, she has also been gracious and erred on the side of protecting her parents and the feelings of church members at almost every level. As I read through the book, I was often astounded by her dispassionate and unbiased tone even when describing very painful situations. There were many less charitable ways she could have presented the information, and some earlier drafts reflected that.

I speak here specifically to those in CUT who may be disturbed by her revelations, which some have called "salacious." I ask: What better way is there to evaluate a person's ethics than how they lived? I would argue that like running for public office, the very act of raising oneself up as a "guru" invites and even demands just such scrutiny. For it is in the nuance of personal life decisions that character is revealed.

I applaud Erin's discussion of mom's meddling in her marriage. For Erin's marriage was by no means the only one to suffer. I saw countless people humiliated and broken up. Whenever mom used to chastise married staff members, she insisted that their spouse be present--often demanding the spouse take her side and reinforce her position. People were told on a whim that their husband or wife was a "fallen one" or "betrayer"--if that person became inconvenient to mom's agenda. Friendships, relationships and marriages were all expendable. This kind of spiritual hubris only survived as long as it did through the shame of followers to acknowledge it--a code of silence to protect the "sanctity" of the messengership on which they based their lives. I agree with Erin that it must be exposed if it is not to be repeated.

This is reinforced by the example of my own experience. I made the decision in 1985 at the age of 21 to marry Kathleen Mattson, who was then pregnant with my eldest son. Mom was violently opposed to it. She summoned me to her house in Malibu and arranged to have my best friend (a staff member) present at an all-night session where she spiritually threatened and browbeat me and convinced me to send Kathleen away to a CUT center in Vancouver. This separation lasted about 2 months until I realized that my wife-and-son-to-be were far more important to me than mom's blessing or spiritual pronouncements. I sent Kathleen a plane ticket, and brought her back. When I told my mom of my decision, she first threatened to excommunicate us from the church and to cut off all contact. Rather than admit she might have overreached, she preferred to compound the error by instructing followers that I and her future daughter-in-law be outcast and shunned like pariahs. Eventually she saw that I wasn't backing down, and she agreed to marry us in a group ceremony with 9 other couples, and accepted us back into the fold. Contrary to the disaster she had predicted, our marriage lasted 10 years and produced 3 (now adult) sons whom she loved dearly. As this episode demonstrates, more people should have stood up to her over the years.

But many people did not, and allowed their lives to be knocked off track. Of course the biggest example of the folly of her spiritual authority was the decision to squander the lifetime endowment of her church in a massively paranoid exercise in survival preparation.

As Erin documents, both she and I played no small part in the shelter drama, Erin on the spiritual side, and I on the engineering side. I felt that if the prophecies were real, we should spare no expense, and we didn't. Erin gave the confirmations the engineers were looking for, and it became a runaway train of excess.

Twenty years later, now that we have the opportunity to reflect, this memoir should be seen as a cautionary tale. Rather than CUT members circling the wagons because they are uncomfortable, they should be willing to look in the mirror. They need to realize that it was their beliefs and their elevation of the "messenger" to a place of unquestioned authority that led to every abuse. It is the authority-based tradition of "gurus" and "masters" that was the essence of the problem.

Though Erin doesn't quite reach the same conclusion, it is to me the undeniable implication of her courageous book. Once we remove anything, including spiritual authority, from the check and balance of reasoned analysis, all bets are off. Once a person claims (and people accept) prophecy and "divine revelation," all manner of abuses and wrong turns can and will result.

Erin's book succeeds on all counts. It's a gripping story of our mother's downfall into paranoia, a cautionary tale about power and group dynamics, and a very personal memoir of Erin's struggles and triumph over adversity. As her brother, as a philosopher, and as a humanist, I'm proud beyond words.

In early 1990 in response to the apocalyptic prophecies of her mother Elizabeth Clare Prophet, daughter Erin Prophet went to live underground in Montana along with members of her mother's New Age sect, anticipating the end of the world. When she emerged to find it whole, Erin was forced to reassess everything she had been taught about church and family. PROPHET'S DAUGHTER provides an insider's view of the cult, its beliefs, and its values, and is an essential acquisition for any spirituality or new age library as well as many a general-interest lending library.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I finished this book in pretty much one sitting. It is very well written, Erin Prophet is a great writer. Even when she wrote letters and other things for the organization, her style was sober and to the point. It's an easy (juicy) read, especially for someone familiar with the story from the outside. I'm an ex member, fairly active in local study groups and teaching centers of the organization (as board member and volunteer).

It's clear the book was written without malice, and with complete honesty. It was confusing to me, a few times, when it doesn't follow the time line from the first to the last page, but rather by segment. I did get used to that though, and it does help understand the different segments of the author's experience.

A great book, highly recommended.

This is the ultimate insider's account of the rise and decline of the Church Universal and Triumphant from the viewpoint of one of the daughters of the cult's founder, Erin Prophet (and yes, that is her real last name). Prophet describes how her mother, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, became so caught up in the unquestioned power she wielded as the alleged spokesman for the "Ascended Masters" that she began ruling on even trivial matters with the authority, within the group, of a Pope speaking "ex cathedra". The book opens with Erin Prophet and her family sequestering themselves into a bunker in the hills of Montana awaiting a nuclear war predicted by Elizabeth Clare Prophet but which never occurs. The story of how this group came to the point of investing vast sums of money and effort to build these hidden bunkers is fascinating, but so, too, is the story of how Prophet's mother gradually changed from someone who seemed to be merely giving sensible guidance into someone commanding enormous authority over those who believed in her. The story is a familiar one to anyone who studies the lives of gurus who usually start out doing some good, only to let their power corrupt them. The cult, fortunately, ends not with a bang but a whimper, as Elizabeth Clare Prophet herself gradually succumbs to Alzheimer's disease. This is a thoughtful account, not a mere hatchet job or expose. Rather, this book honestly examines the story of CUT and Erin Prophet's own part in promoting it and helping build it up, as well as her ultimate disaffection from it.

I have been a Keeper-of-the-Flame since the mid-70's, always on the periphery of the teachings, living in Indiana when I first discovered the "teachings." I have never been on staff, nor have I been ever been to the Montana HQs. But I have listened to perhaps every tape (back to the days when I purchased the cassette albums of conferences and seminars.) I've purchase and read most of the books from the church. In the late 80's, I was distracted by the beginning years of my nursing career, and never really knew about the shelter construction until after the fact. When I discovered this whole episode, it seemed almost inconsequential in the scheme of things. As I became aware of the changes occuring in the structure of the church--the relaxing of the Code of Conduct, the deep downsizing, the leaving of the church of long-time staff (Edward, Murray, etc.), I realized that something had occurred to bring on this reworking of the structure. At the time, I thought it was a good thing, as many corporations were thightening up, getting rid of bloat from top to bottom. Gilbert was at the helm, Mother was free to lead spiritually, it seemed right. I attended the New Year's conference in San Antonio, during which Mother's illness was made public, at that time described as an "undiagnosed neurological" problem. Of course, within months it was revealed as Alzheimer's. Shortly thereafter, I began reading online accounts of the abuse, the paranoia, which had characterized many people's associations with Mother. I found these rumors disturbing, but having never been in close physical proximity to the church or to Mother, I considered there may be some truth to these rumors. Afterall, I only witnessed the public personna of the messenger and the church.
I can only say that I purchased and read Erin's book with a slight reluctance, but finding myself in a period of self soul-seaching and openess, I am very glad I did! The book is breathtakingly riviting, written with an obviously painful honesty. But for me, it has answered so many questions and put to bed many of the rumors about Mother. I feel that I now have a very well-rounded sense of the church and the people staffing it, and an understanding of the profound effect of the "shelter cycle" both on the church and on the lives of the dear people closely involved. I am gratified to read of Mother's tireless work on publishing and lecturing and bringing the "teachings" to so many. I am heart-broken to read of her misuse of her own charisma. I am so sad to read of the pain she caused many who loved her and served her. And I am relieved and grateful to read of the great care she in receiving in her final years. I can only pray that Erin and her siblings can continue to work through the issues of their upbringing and early adulthoods, as it seems they are from the book. Thank you, Erin, thank you. For sharing your life with all of us so intimately. Indeed, I do feel a sense of closure. I trust that others will as well.

Prophet's Daughter is a great read and I found it very insightful in terms of how people wrestle with religion especially in a family context. There are times in the book where the belief system should be elaborated even deeper than it already has been especially for readers like myself who don't know much about this church. I think the author did a great job of deconstructing the situations especially given her proximity to them. Very easily an autobiographer can let their biases cloud all the described events and force the reader really to put a skeptical view on the description. I have no such issue with this book. That quality is essential since a grounded perspective helps process these fairly extraordinary circumstances.

Just a quick note about myself. I was in Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) for a few years as a child. My father had joined. I went to school there from 85-87 (my 7th and 8th grade). I bought this book for a number of reasons. I wanted to find out what really went on at CUT. I wanted to find out what the author felt about her mothers "gift". I wanted to see the dirt that was covered up. Let me just say, that anyone who gives this book a bad review is only doing so because it will invalidate a portion of their life. Like finding out Santa Clause doesn't exist. It hurts, and you don't want to believe it. From my personal experience, the author did not fabricate any of this and is truthful and complete. The story told is unforgivingly personal. I found myself shocked at her candor. Events detailed in this book are going to draw a lot of emotions out of the people involved. Shock, anger, sympathy and sadness to name a few. The story is very well told and covers a lot of topics and time. I strongly recommend this book. Anyone who is curious about CUT, current and ex members of CUT and anyone curious about new age religions "cults" would be cheating themselves by not buying this book. I especially think that current members of CUT should read it. They aren't going to like what they read, but it is necessary. They should be prepared for some soul searching. I want to personally thank the author for writing this book. I can finally close a chapter in my life now.

A well written snap shot of one person's experience during a difficult time. The lessons learned can serve to help all of us who "suffer" from the challenge of idolatry and to encourage us to look at the root causes of this condition. Individuals and leaders of spiritual organizations can benefit from Erin's experience. For me personally, it will help me on my journey.

Thanks to Erin Prophet for giving us this book.

Erin Prophet is a wonderful writer. Her book, Prophet's Daughter, is beautifully written.

Erin lays bare for her readers the many human aspects of her mother, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, herself, and her now-adult siblings. In one sense, her book could have been alternatively subtitled, "The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Clare Prophet."

As a young staff member (pretty low on the totem-pole scheme of things) who lived and worked as an engineer at the church headquarters in Montana from August 1989 through August 1993, I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Erin's very personal account of the so-called "shelter-cycle" and the rest of the church story before and after my tenure there. Even knowing what I know now and having personally gone through the many "trials and tribulations," I wouldn't hesitate for one nanosecond to live through this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity again if I were given another chance! The life lessons that I learned from those four years on staff are priceless.

Erin is not shy about revealing what some might consider as "tabloid materials" about her mother (adultery) and about herself (oral sex). One could erroneously conclude from such unabashed admissions that she is trying to be sensational, maybe to sell more books. But those tidbits of private information comprise a very miniscule portion of her book, almost nugatory for non-members if they were to contrast them against today's popular culture and social mores. But I do understand the significance and maybe even raw sensitivity for church members that these topics evoke, as sex and almost everything related to sex were used by Mrs. Prophet and others in the church hierarchy to control and sometimes manipulate their members.

I believe Erin has tried to be brutally honest to herself and to her recollections of her mother in writing this book.

For that she should be congratulated, because honesty to oneself is a sign of maturity as a human being.

I would encourage everyone who has touch "the helm of the Mother," whether they are still believers, ex-believers, or agnostics like myself, to pick up this book, if they haven't yet, and dive right in. Whatever reaction(s) is effected by reading this book is a good sign of where one is on the spiritual path and in life in general.

And talking about paths, Erin, if our paths ever cross, you owe me at least a free lunch because I almost died fumigating the 7-years of storage food in DCS. Because now we know where that "7-years" idea came from!