The kernel of the panther

This is the fourth pamphlet by Gerald Barbee Bryan exposing Guy and Edna Ballard's cultic "I AM Activity", an interwar predecessor to Elizabeth Clare Prophet's "Church Universal and Triumphant" (a.k.a. the Montana doomsday cult). "The source of the Ballard writings", published in 1937, proves conclusively that Guy Ballard's supposedly unique teachings were plagiarized from earlier sources. Even Ballard's own miraculous experiences at Mount Shasta and elsewhere are stolen from other books, suggesting they are entirely fictional in character. Bryan proves his case so well, that I frankly only skimmed the latter half of his brochure.

Rather than being on a first name basis with "ascended master Saint Germain", Guy Ballard (a.k.a. Godfre Ray King, to use his spiritual pseudonym) had read the following books, and borrowed or stolen heavily from them: "A Dweller on Two Planets" by Phylos the Thibetan, "Brother of the Third Degree" by Will Garver, "Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East" by Baird Spalding (also spelled Spaulding), and "Myriam and the Mystic Brotherhood" by Maude Lesseuer Howard. This makes me wonder whether Mr Godfre ever truly had a genuine spiritual experience at all? While such experiences are often "archetypal" in character, the similarities between, say, Ballard and Phylos are so striking, that outright theft is the most likely explanation. Weirdly, Prophet's cult (a Ballardite off-shot) accepts both Ballard's writings and the book by Phylos as genuine! Well, that's one way to square the circle, I suppose.

On a comical note, Ballard also makes a biological mistake. At one point in his miracle story, he claims to have seen a "panther" and a "mountain lion" attack each other, oblivious to the fact that in the Western United States, these are two names for the same animal (a cougar). But then, Ballard lived in Chicago and regarded animals as the creations of black magicians, so perhaps he could be excused for not being familiar with terminology pertaining to big cats?

I give this exposé of Ballardism four stars. As usual, Bryan's pamphlets are also available free on-line.