Beloved, at least it was action

"Lords of the Seven Rays" is one of innumerable books published by The Summit Lighthouse, also known as Summit University, Keepers of the Flame or Church Universal and Triumphant. (American media used to call them The Montana Doomsday Cult, for short!) This particular book is better edited and more readable than the 4-volume series "The lost teachings of Jesus". It's attributed to both Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, the long time leaders of this particular religious group. (Both are now deceased).

The Summit Lighthouse is a very eclectic new religious group, mixing traits from at least a dozen religious traditions in a somewhat bewildering way. The main source of inspiration seems to be Guy Ballard's controversial "I AM Activity". I haven't read the Ballard material, so it's not clear to me whether the eclectic hodgepodge was his invention, or whether it's a later innovation by The Summit Lighthouse themselves. Theosophy is another strong influence, perhaps through said Ballard? The group is also heavily pro-American and anti-Communist, and sounds more conservative than the New Age milieu from which it presumably recruits. For instance, The Summit Lighthouse opposes abortion and population control.

The group believes that the destiny of man is guided by Ascended Masters, heavenly beings who used to live on Earth as humans, but who rose to a more lofty status through a succession of re-incarnations. There is a bewildering number of these Masters, but the most important ones seem to be Saint Germain and Jesus Christ. In this book, we also meet Paul the Venetian, El Morya, Lord Lanto, Serapis Bay, Hilarion, Nada and the Maha Chohan. The first part of "Lords of the Seven Rays" contains the (fictitious) biographies of these Ascended Masters. The Prophets use these biographies to claim a long list of important historical characters. Thus, El Morya is said to have incarnated as Mogul emperor Akbar the Great, Thomas Beckett and Thomas More. Paul the Venetian is actually Renaissance painter Paolo Veronese. Saint Germain was Roger Bacon, Christopher Columbus and Francis Bacon. He also inspired the American Revolution and anointed (sic) George Washington president of the United States. In this way, The Summit Lighthouse (a small sectarian group founded in 1958) can claim a venerable tradition going back thousands of years. The whole thing is put forward with a completely straight face, and almost give an impression of naïve, childlike faith.

Occasionally, the claims of the Prophets are almost comic, as when they suggest that the Statue of Liberty in New York City is ensouled by an actual spiritual being, known as Mother or The Goddess of Liberty. The goddess has an invisible temple suspended in mid air right above Manhattan, which can be reached by spiritual means. Pilgrimages to the Statue of Liberty are recommended. Another invisible temple, El Morya's retreat in Sikkim, can be reached by concentrating on the tune of "Land of hope and glory"! A piece of information that might rub evangelical heresy-hunters the wrong way is that Jesus Christ himself re-incarnated. He was the Patriarch Joseph, Joshua and Elisha (that's why he recognized John the Baptist as the re-incarnated Elijah).

Unfortunately, this seemingly harmless little group has often been accused of being weird, nasty and cultic. Their habit of stashing fire arms and building air raid shelters in Montana, militia style, didn't exactly improve their reputation.

The second part of the book is made up of channelled messages from the Ascended Masters. My personal favourite is Paul the Venetian, actually Paolo Veronese, who attacks modern art! The idea of a Renaissance painter attacking contemporary art through a spiritualist medium is, admittedly, appealing. I mean, it almost makes sense, doesn't it? Occasionally, the book also contains some unexpected humour, as when Thomas Beckett (a.k.a. El Morya) says in a channelled message concerning his murder in 1170: "Beloved, at least it was action. After all, I had wasted away in France for a number of years". Call me prejudiced, but every time I see humour in a religious text, I suspect fraud...

I don't know about you, but I think Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet made it all up!

:P

Read "Lords of the Seven Rays" and find out the truth for yourself...