
by Peter Arnone
Forbidden Romance, Printing Errors and Conspiracy Theories
Florence Scott (Miller) was the most beloved and respected staff member of all time. She was the executive secretary and eventually became a board member and director of the church’s publishing department. While Mark and Elizabeth valued her immensely, I’m sure they even loved and respected her too. But even Florence was not immune to the messengers’ wrath. While giving 110%, Florence made the big mistake of becoming romantically involved with a really fine man on staff, Charles. Mark (and Elizabeth) went through the roof. They couldn’t stand not being the absolute focus of Florence’s undivided attention. She was fired. I got the call from Mark in the middle of the night around the New Year’s Conference in Santa Barbara in December 1972 when most of the staff were there and I remained in Colorado. I had to wake up Margaret. Mark notified her she would be taking Florence’s place. As it turned out, Florence was irreplaceable. She was reinstated, given a little vacation to bring her to her senses, and her relationship with Charles terminated. I’m not saying Florence was worked to death when she died at the early age of 43 in 1979, but it might have helped if she had taken a little time off to get proper medical attention before it was too late.
Bill was the most likable minister in the Summit. Not only was he able, well-versed, and intelligent, but compassionate and a regular guy. He was the Summit’s treasurer and front-line pressman. He worked tirelessly.
Bill got into hot water when the first text signature of the messengers’ long-awaited book Climb The Highest Mountain was being printed on the Summit’s new high-speed press. There was recurrent fading of the purple ink. Mark was all over Bill for allowing the problem to happen and fined him $50 for the cost of the paper which had to be scrapped. Most staff salaries were less than $50 a month.
We had a staff meeting and Bill was castigated in his absence. Mark cited Bill’s rebellion and refusal to give 100% to God as responsible for the mishap. It was Bill’s vibration that precipitated the accident. Bill was a tool. Mark failed to mention the Summit didn’t have a densitometer to measure the ink coverage. Without one, it is impossible for even a journeyman pressman on a high-speed press to maintain uniform ink coverage, especially if the color is purple. The Summit purchased a densitometer and the fading problem didn’t happen again.
Mark could not stand rejection. Staff would be called to attention if they crossed their arms while Mark was speaking to them. He claimed it was body language that implied one was rejecting what he was saying. But Mark had already made his pact with the devil. In order to enjoy his power and control over others, the tradeoff was a life of isolation, looking over his shoulder, self-doubt, and absence of real friendship and intimacy, even with his own children. It seemed that Mark was always trying to be one of the guys. But the wall was always there. He was the messenger of God. And while at a certain point he was unapproachable, at the same time he could never really reach out. To do so, he would lose not the respect of his followers, but their fear that enabled him to maintain his tyrannical position and keep his little army of disciples in lock step.
There were times when you would let Mark make a fool of himself rather than reap his ire for making an innocent, loving, suggestion. If snot was hanging from his nose, or a crumb of food from his mustache, you’d hope Gilbert would notice and tell him. If he was ready to conduct a service and his suit-jacket collar was standing up, or his hair wind-blown, likewise. Mark would try to impress everyone with the interjection of foreign language and seldom-used English words in his lectures. Some of them over and again. He would mispronounce them, and to anyone familiar with that language, it was really embarrassing. But you dare not correct him. Mark thought it was chic to have discovered Raj Kumar, a Hong Kong tailor in Denver. He had custom suits made that looked like they were tailored in Russia. You said nothing. Nor did you comment on his pink suit, or golden (brown) suit with color-coordinated yellow socks.
Half the time Mark Prophet was condemning everybody and everything under the sun. 20% of the time he was trying to impress everybody what a great guy he was. 20% of the time he was whining to everybody how he was being persecuted. And I’ll be generous and say that 10% of the time he was normal.
The story goes that Mark Prophet alone, the messenger for God, carried the weight of the world (karma) upon his shoulders for years until Elizabeth, his twin flame, came along. In time, increments of that weight were transferred to her shoulders as she grew in spiritual strength and maturity. When Mark died the whole load was dumped on her. As staff members, we were never allowed to forget the great sacrificial burden our beloved messengers so magnanimously volunteered to bear.
I never actually saw Mark do anything more than telling people what to do and how to do it. He hardly lifted a finger. But he was an authority on everything, including physical fitness. Mark would let everyone know when he was fasting. He would go to the health spa regularly. But the only sweat I ever saw him break was from sitting in the sauna. He died at age 54 of a massive stroke. If he had moved his body a fraction of what he moved his tongue, he might have lived longer.
Politically, Rev. Mark Prophet was not a conservative as many would think. Similarly, Rev. Jim Jones was not a liberal. While Rev. Jim was a left-wing extremist, Rev. Mark was a right-wing extremist. But they had a lot in common. They were both dictators.
Mark could not tolerate oneupmanship. He would not take a back seat to anyone. He always had to be in the driver’s seat. He always had to be the authority. This included politics. A member was once expelled from the Summit’s Keepers of the Flame fraternity because of his John Birch Society membership. Mark gave him an ultimatum. It was either Saint Germain or John Birch. The man chose Birch. The real reason Mark got rid of him was because he was being upstaged. Mark was further to the right than this guy. He was a conspiracy nut. He wouldn’t buy Ford automobiles for the Summit because of Henry Ford II and the Ford Foundation. According to Mark, the real Henry II was stolen from his cradle and replaced with another baby by the forces of darkness in embodiment. It was a “plot” (another of Mark’s overused words). It explained why Henry II was so far to the left of his father.
Richard Nixon was too moderate for Mark. Mark despised him even more because Nixon, according to Mark, refused to shake his outstretched hand when Nixon was pressing the flesh on a visit to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. It was not only an affront to Mark, but to El Morya, the entire Darjeeling Council, the Great White Brotherhood, and God Himself. The current of blessing flowing through Mark’s handshake was spurned to the detriment of America and all mankind.
To Mark Prophet, the real leader of the United States was the Ascended Master Saint Germain. Hence, it was the physically embodied Mark L. Prophet himself, who envisioned a theocracy with the Summit Lighthouse as the state religion of America, the home of the I AM race, and he as its leader. If he could not achieve it in this lifetime, his son Sean would be the next-in-line heir. If Mark Prophet had his way, all of this would come to pass.
Curiously, Mark’s “chief” benefactor and sponsor, El Morya, dictated The Encyclical On World Good Will to Mark in the mid 60’s. According to Morya’s (God’s) rock-solid advice, the world would solve its problems “under the United Nations.” In consultation with his Darjeeling Council of geopolitical wizards, and with the assistance of the Ascended Master K-17 and the Cosmic Secret Service, El Morya laid the foundation for mankind’s entering the great Golden Age of Aquarius. But El Morya’s booklet of cosmic import was soon removed from the bookshelves of the Summit Lighthouse and no longer available for purchase.
With a little help from his mortal contacts, Mark Prophet discovered the United Nations was not the benign organization his immortal mentor had stated. El Morya, his cosmic cronies, and God Himself, had goofed! What other conclusion could be drawn?
Why did Mark Prophet become a megalomaniacal cult dictator? It was because of his acute inferiority complex. It was because of his lifelong perception of self-failure and disgust with a world that defined him as such. His abysmal self-esteem led to his lifelong re-creation of himself as the greatest among men, and a fantasy world that would support his self-delusion. Mark Prophet’s insecurity led to his sociopathic behavior. He could not bear the thought of coming down from the mountain and returning to his roots. This in turn led to his pathological lying to feed and support the Narcissus he became. In essence, Mark Prophet was playing God with people’s lives.
What is the legacy of Mark Prophet? In death did he become a revered religious leader, a saint for the ages, a giant among men? What has become of all his disciples who sang his praises on the day of his passing? What has become of the book his daughter was assembling to preserve his memory?
The greatest leaders lead by example. Was the example of Mark Prophet one which elevated his disciples, his religion, and their future generations? Or was the example of Mark Prophet corrupt? Has his legacy, out of necessity, evaporated?
Perhaps one more story will answer all of these questions.
Not too long after Mark passed away in 1973 I was on all-night phone duty for the Summit Lighthouse. One night around 11:00 that I received a call. There was a tearful plea for help from one of our members in Colorado Springs who had just been raped. She was calling from the police station. She was a former staff member, Barbara L. Barbara was a sweet girl who had some serious problems. Mark did not give her the boot, but excused her that she might deal with those problems in a different environment, away from the Summit. She had been severely sexually abused by her grandfather. I assured Barbara help was on the way.
I called in a Summit minister who was also a board member. I told him what had happened to Barbara and that I had assured her we would send someone down to the police station to comfort her. The minister refused to help.
This Summit Lighthouse leader looked to Mark Prophet as his father. He was the epitome of a true believer in our church of divine love. He said that Barbara had brought the rape upon herself. She was not the Summit’s responsibility. Her vibration and history precipitated the assault. It was her karma.
Mark L. Prophet, everything he set in motion, established, and was built upon by Elizabeth Clare Prophet is now in the twilight of its existence. With her alleged Alzheimer’s disease, Church Universal and Triumphant is without a spiritual head. As such, it is dying, running around in circles, and going nowhere. Though the present leadership believes it has a future, it refuses to address its burdensome past. It will linger, but never achieve its delusion of world recognition. Thankfully, the theocratic fantasy of Mark L. Prophet is history.
[END]
11 comments
Peter Arnone, from what I understand from reading his material posted, still believes in the goodness of a God. The key reason everyone to begin with followed Mark L. & Elizabeth C. Prophet. For me this is the center core reason for anyone to have ever handed over thier power to them and any other person in SLH/CUT/KotF Frat and therefor fail themselves to be independent free thinking individuals. Not critical thinkers. I don't care for that expression because, to say this is to say, one should go through life criticizing everything in life. I believe in animal insinct, intuition, not everything is about immediate thought or just thought at all levels in conciousness, even education it self is a human program equivalant to religious manipulation. That animal sense that keeps all living things safe IS PARAMOUNT.
Scientist's have been spending good time & money studing human smell & it's purpose. Though they say we still do it, not like animals do today or as our ancestors did aswell. We just do it unconsciously. I don't have the time to give material or links. I leave the reader to do that for themselves
Thank you Sean for Peter Arnone's writings, we are all so very grateful for them & your site. Except for present members of SLH/CUTKotF Fraternaty. Those of them who will eventually leave, will at that time have appreciation for Sean's hard work & effort in creating this site.
P.S. correction, not all SLH/CUT/KotF Fraternity members disapprove of Sean's site & Erin's bk.
Plenty of people believe in ‘the goodness of a God’ but they would never follow cult leaders such as Mark L. Prophet, never mind buy into the whole ‘Ascended Masters’ channeling con trick.
There must have been something very attractive and appealing about Mark L, but this is not touched upon in an otherwise revealing and really quite priceless series of articles. There is no real explanation for why anyone joined the Summit Lighthouse/CUT.
Being drawn to stories of ‘Ascended Masters’ and people who claim to be their messengers calls for a completely different kind of religious or spiritual orientation than plain belief in a standard religion or creator god. After all, many regular Christians would view such things as Satanic.
Mr.Teraph Hello,
yeah, I refer to that in my other comments that not everyone followed them. The whole world doesn’t follow the Catholic church etc. I believe alot of this is by design. These “Messengers” refered themselves as The Two Witnesses from Revealation. In Revealation it says something to the effect (can’t find the Bible I own) that they will be draged in the streets by people etc. And one can interpret that this is what’s happening with all the exposure of their misconduct. The goodness of a God let thousands of children be slaughtered when Jesus (no J in the Hebrew alphabet, forgot spelling of his real name) reached the age of two. Herod sent his soldiers to slaughter all boys 2 yrs old. That is not goodness to me. The psychology of Gods character is that of a bossy tyrant, messing with everyones head/mind & hearts
The different “sacred works or words” of God did not fall from the sky. It was human written. I see so many tyrants, parents, dictators, individuals through history (mostly parents) reflect the psychological make up of the ideology & characteristics of God.
Whether it be the “God” of Islam, Krishna, the Catholic Church, Latter Day Saint’s so on & so forth, It’s all mythology in the orignal definition of the word. God needs to come with a WARNING label.
And I am aware of the Bible’s teachings about wolves in sheep’s clothing. That has never helped through history, how can it, it’s statement indirectly is predicting the deception & the leading astray of people.
I will end how I began but with an added thought. It just would be great if people would realise God is a human psychological reflection of power.
I love how J.K.Rowling put it in her second bk “Power is both Good & Evil”. God & th Devil (the Fallen Angel Lucifer) are always in cahoots against humankind, the story of Job says it all.
Mistake using the word – against – more like in cahoots in – testing – humankind. Seeing what direction they’ll end up choosing? Or who they’ll end up choosing. Good & Badness – Divinity & Evilness, competing for attention yet working together to recieve it. And Yea! when Goodness triumphs! Happyness & Happy endings appear to only be possible if only bad things happen. So is the belief of their necessity, their perverse relationship inorder for there to be Love & Happiness. As if life says everything has to go thru an initiation or rite of passage to have these profound qualities in their lives.The law of Yin & Yang, Stregnth & Weakness, Love & Hate.
I have known Mark through his taped deliveries, and I respect him for that. His integral wisdom and support of the "soul " are of tremendous value. Of course, he had a personality with foibles and issues, but what is more important in the end? I could explain all the behaviors cited in this article in terms of a 'first ray', 'will to power' understanding of humanity. There are other "rays" fortunately….But they have not been the guiding principle of CUT. Once we understand this we also understand the personal inconsistencies of Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet – abuse of power.
I suppose one may say that "A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country"! to quote a well-known phrsae from the bible>
Hi guys this is a poor journalistic work. first we see clearly subjective judgments about the man called Mark Prophet; second we see emotional issues on a thing that must be rational.
Some people are so stupid that when they are against something they don't care if they loose the artistic nobility of a work by a too personal view. I think peace comes about when we can expose without judgement and ACCEPT others view without fighting them, If we fight so much we are just extremists. Be human.
Interesting viewpoint. If we're honest about it, take a look at any historical figure and we can be pretty close to 100% guaranteed that you can write a critique about them because they were imperfect. Human beings are imperfect, even messengers. The problem here is not the teachings that outflowed through both Mark and Elizabeth, the problem is that neither Mark or Elizabeth was fully successful at surrendering the human ego for the Divine Being within. This is not an easy task, especially in the previous age. Very very very few have managed to do so, and even fewer if we look at achieving an Enlightened Way of Being in the Western world. The problem is we judge the outer and dismiss the inner Truth that is about Personal responsibility. We put the responsibility on another to live up to the Teachings which resonate on the inner level rather than take the responsibility on ourselves to take up our own cross and walk in the footsteps of surrendering the old vessels for the new, of putting on the inner Man of the Heart ~ of Being reborn in Oneness Resonation. Free Will is the ultimate law. Judge others how you will be judged, by yourself nonetheless post embodiment ~ the eternal Law. ~ The message of the Masters through Mark, Elizabeth, the I AM Movement etc. is a message of Being the Living Christ. Not following an outer guru. We can point to the outer guru and because we see faults we push away the gold within ourselves. We fall into a downward spiral of negative projection. We give away our own divine inheritance should we choose to See the inner Truth rather than the outer illusion, and we end up with a black sun where our Heart Flame used to Be. Indeed, the prodigal son can Always return to the Divine Estate of Being within ~ Always ~ but when a Shift of Ages comes, and indeed it has begun my friends ~ the great Divide comes ~ The opportunity to BE your Self ~ or the opportunity to be the animal man ~ we will reap as we sew ~ fear or Love ~ this is the True Choice. I choose Love. And I Love my Brothers and Sisters of the Light ~ Those who walk the narrow Way within ~ as the Ascended Masters have demonstrated before ~ so it is our time to BE ~ not to be a perfect human, the ultimate illusion ~ but to once Again Be Divine ~ God having a human experience ~ May the cold turn to the Hot ~ Hot for Being ~ time is short indeed ~ but there is still time to choose to BE ~ back in the eternal NOW ~ Oneness Reality ~
The question is not whether the Messengers were perfect. The question is, were the teachings demonstrably true? Do they add anything useful to the body of human knowledge?
Bottom line, SchoolroomEarth, your arguments are based on the idea that our life is some sort of "school" for something that comes later. Something that my parents and many others have claimed to have direct knowledge of. There's just one little problem: No one has ever been able to confirm anything whatsoever about what happens in any potential 'afterlife.' And all the conjecture of fearful people like you has given those who claim such certainties nearly absolute power over believers. Power they have gladly taken advantage of.
There is just no reconciliation between the "schoolroom" idea and the much more likely reality that Earth is the "only room." The only room any of us will ever inhabit before our bodies break down, decompose and our identity is lost forever.
But your fears and projections about this eventuality will quickly turn any potential conversation into a dialog of the deaf. You will feel as if I'm robbing you of your eternal life as you accuse me of being corrupted by entities, demons and dark forces, and feign pity for my soul. Just know I've heard it all before, and I'm very content with my 'animal' existence and limited lifespan. You should make peace with your own.
I knew the Prophets quite well. I lived with them for a year: 65-66. In those days there were only 5 staff members. Mark and Elizabeth, Bill Harper, Tom Miller, Erwin Arent, Sunny Widell and myself. I was running the office dealing with the daily mail, recording the new members, sending out the latest data (not including washing dishes, scrubbing the floor, massaging Marks feet, changing Seans diapers, answering the phone, mowing the lawn, etc.)
I shall not endeavor to mention a few hundred other duties, but I did give the Messengers the benefit of the doubt that all of the Stuff that I had to deal with was really worth the effort. 24/7 during the 1 year + 1 day that lived with them was often quite difficult but they were the Real Thing! The Ascended Masters did speak through them. They never practiced any speeches nor did they live in the Clouds either. Every staff member had their specific duties and the whole system worked very well. Mark always drove the car. I usually was the staff member that went with him whether its going shopping or driving across the US. Mark was a member of the Air Force during WW2/Korea and was discharged honorably. I could go on about this Giant of a human being but very few folks would believe people like the Prophets could be real. Now I'm an old man of 79 and I am getting closer to meeting these fabulous beings soon. I am not going to rush it but I'm sure that I'll soon be setting with the Prophets and talking about those good old memories that we shared during the Best Years of our lives. God bless them