MK-Miller story starts to mimic Jim Jones.. Wish some members would come foward to clear up any possible fabrications in news reports. From: http://insidedenver.com:80/news/1213cult0.shtml - Vanished sect leaves only questions Whereabouts unknown of 78 Concerned Christians; some fear suicide is ahead By Charlie Brennan News Staff Writer More than two months after the vanishing act, the mystery has only deepened. Seventy-eight members of Concerned Christians, a Denver-based sect that disappeared this fall, continue to keep their whereabouts secret from family and friends. White and black, married and single, white-collar professionals and unemployed laborers, they range in age from infancy to 68. What they have in common is a shared belief in the teachings of Monte Kim Miller. Miller is the 44-year-old former Denver resident who has said he's one of the final two witnesses prophesied in the Bible in Chapter 11 of the Book of Revelation. He claims he is destined to die in the streets of Jerusalem in the final days of December1999. The silence from his followers is deafening and frightening to their abandoned friends and family. "Once they go into the area of isolation and break off communication, that increases his power," said John Weaver, the former husband of cult member Jan Cooper. "That becomes a scary time." His concern is echoed by Hal Mansfield, director of the Religious Movement Resource Center in Fort Collins. "Moving an entire group out of the country, that's some serious stuff," Mansfield said. "He is practicing behavior modification and mind control." There are occasional phone and e-mail messages from missing Concerned Christians to those left behind. They offer some comfort. But they're countered by the 1997 affidavit of 16-year-old Nicolette Weaver, filed in a Boulder District Court proceeding awarding her father, John Weaver, sole custody of her. She had grown fearful about what she heard from Miller and from her mother and stepfather, Jan and John Cooper. Nicolette Weaver's affidavit, written when she was 14, included these statements: "My mother told me in August '96 that we have only 40 months left on Earth." "My mother told me that if Kim Miller told her to kill me, she would." "Kim Miller said that America was the Great Satan." "Kim Miller told me that the Lord speaks through him." "Kim Miller intimidated me by saying if I told my father anything about Miller's ministry, I would go to hell." "My mother calls Kim Miller 'Lord' or 'God."' "My mother said I had to do only enough school work to satisfy Colorado state laws, but no more was needed because I would not be on Earth long enough to have a job." Another adolescent child was told by her father, a Concerned Christians member, that the end of the world is near, and that it will resemble the movie Independence Day -- but instead of aliens, fire will shoot down from the sky. "There's reason for concern in any kind of group in which someone is prophesying the end of the world," said James Van Beek, an Eagle County sheriff's detective whose brother-in-law and seven other relatives are in the group. "I'm trying not to judge them one way or the other," said Van Beek. "But it concerns me that they're involved with someone where there is the potential for this to happen." Mansfield is making no assumptions as to what could happen next. "It could go either way, anywhere from the group falling apart and going away quietly, to the other extreme -- a Jonestown scene, or anything and everything in between," Mansfield said. Jonestown stands as the worst-case example of a cult holocaust. On Nov. 18, 1978, more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple Commune, including leader Jim Jones, died in a mass murder-suicide. (*interruption: mass-murder.) That group originated in San Francisco and left the country, meeting its fate in the jungle near Georgetown, Guyana. Mansfield dismisses Miller's theology as the nonsensical rantings of a con artist -- and certainly, money is part of the story. Miller filed for bankruptcy in October 1997, showing $142,628 in assets but $748,852 in debts. Those debts ranged from the $102,044 he owed the Internal Revenue Service, to $15,000 he borrowed from Concerned Christian member Gary Schmidt, to $314 for treatment from the Telluride Medical Center. There will be about $70,000 to be doled out by a trustee, after subtracting certain exemptions Miller is permitted against his assets, in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. If the creditors aren't satisfied by that, and they want to talk to Miller about it, first they have to find him. Guesses as to the wherabouts of Miller and his followers range from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to Toronto to Libya. Van Beek said his wife's brother and the brother's wife, James and Melanie Dyck of Eagle, have disappeared along with their 7-month-old son, plus Melanie Dyck's mother and stepfather, Vonnett and Terry Smith of Eagle; Melanie Dyck's two brothers and a half-brother are with them. Eight people, in one extended family, vanished like smoke in a stiff wind. "We've heard from them twice since they disappeared," said Van Beek. "He (James Dyck) said to his mother, 'We're where we want to be. This is our choice. We're OK.' But when she asked where they were, he got real hesitant. She got the impression that someone was listening to the conversation." John and Jan Cooper, thought to be major financial contributors to Miller's ministry, left their Boulder home behind, and it's now up for sale. Dave Cooper, a Boulder realtor and John Cooper's younger brother, also thinks their limited communication hasn't been private. "The e-mails that we've gotten from my brother have not all been from him," said Dave Cooper. "I can tell by the way he writes. Some of them have been -- in terms of the English -- bordering on the illiterate. I know how my brother writes, and these are being written by someone else." Where did they go? The New York Times reported on Nov. 22 that the Israeli police had located 10 members of Concerned Christians in Jerusalem; the report said Miller was not among them but didn't say who was. Gershom Gorenberg, senior editor and columnist for the bi-weekly news magazine Jerusalem Report, said the names still have not been released by Israeli authorities. "My understanding is that the U.S. State Department has requested that the Israeli government not release them because of the fact that, constitutionally, they don't want to interfere with their freedom of religion," said Van Beek. "I understand that, but at least if they could release the names to the families, that would give us some peace of mind." Gorenberg has established that two units in one Jerusalem apartment building had been leased by three groups of people involved in Concerned Christians: brothers Kurt and Keith Landaas of New Jersey and their friend John Bayles, another New Jersey man who moved to Denver, plus Gary and Cheryl Schmidt, and their two children, of Yellow Jacket. But, after a series of news stories caused an international wave of publicity in early October -- Miller had predicted Denver would be destroyed Oct. 10 by an earthquake -- those apartments apparently were abandoned. "My strong impression is that, inside the Israeli police force, the publication of the people's presence was considered a gaffe," said Gorenberg. "When you're in the middle of an investigation, where you're trying to track somebody, you don't put up a billboard notice about it. "The police aren't giving out any information -- if they have it -- on the whereabouts of the group." Pagosa Springs, the tiny seat of Archuleta County in south-central Colorado, has seen about a dozen residents disappear, including Mark Malesic, one of six brothers in one family who are members of Concerned Christians. "He's one of the best artists I've ever known," said Ross Aragon, mayor of Pagosa Springs. "He does sculpture work. But, mostly his business was guiding big game. He's probably only of the best guides in the country. "It was mind-boggling to me, that he would end up in a group like this." Norm Malesic, the Malesic men's father, confirmed all six of his sons were in Miller's group -- and that he has no idea where they are. He didn't wish to discuss the situation further. Many relatives fear any comments they make could unintentionally send group members further underground. Dave Mitchell editor of the Pagosa Springs Sun, said he didn't even know there was such a group until Malesic and his relatives were gone. He doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. "It's really not that mysterious when someone packs up their stuff in a U-Haul and leaves," said Mitchell. "It happens all the time. Sometimes they pull out during the daylight, sometimes they do it at night. But it happens all the time. This is a part of the country that's very transitory." While many have sold their homes and cars, a number of Concerned Christians have left their phone services connected, where they continue to receive, and check, their messages. Callers to the Denver number of Greg and Jeanette Paris still hear the voice of Greg Paris -- who once loaned Kim Miller $10,000 -- say, "We're not in right now, so if you would, please leave a detailed message at the tone, and we'll be glad to call you back. Thank you." >From the recording, one would never guess that the Parises and their two children haven't been seen in Colorado since September. Steve Paris of Garland, Texas, who is Greg Paris' brother, has heard from Greg Paris a few times since then; ironically, it was Steve who introduced Greg to Miller's teachings several years ago, having been passed some Concerned Christians material by a brother-in-law. "Greg says they have the freedom to leave, to come and go as they wish, and that they are not -- according to their own testimony -- under any form of censorship," said Steve Paris, whose brother Tim Paris of Dallas is also in Concerned Christians. So, where are they? Steve Paris said his brothers won't tell him. And he can live without hearing an answer. "I'm willing to not see anybody again, as long as I live, if they tell me they are serving the Lord and living a life that would be pleasing to Him," said Steve Paris. "I'm thinking that what they're doing, and where they are, is honoring to the Lord -- that they have peaceful ends in mind." Israeli journalist Gorenberg, also a consultant to Boston University's Center for Millennial Studies, thinks the Israeli Ministry of International Security -- the national police -- are trying to avoid saying or doing anything that would push Miller and his group into something regrettable. "Since they see themselves as being at the center of the end of days, the idea that American authorities and Israeli authorities had ganged up against them would only confirm for them that their scenerio is taking place," said Gorenberg. "For millennialist groups, that is a bad thing for them to think." Paris said he knows his two brothers and other group members are following news accounts through the Internet. And he wants them to hear the following: "My message is clear," said Paris. "I'm not alarmist. I'm prepared to receive them back. And if they don't return, then I will work on our relationship as it is. "We're resting on the assurance that God knows what is going on, and He may have plans for them that we're not aware of. He knows the unknown. We just have to trust." December 13, 1998 -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************** MINDCONTROL-L Mind Control and Psyops Mailing List To unsubscribe or subscribe: send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text: "unsubscribe MINDCONTROL-L" or "subscribe MINDCONTROL-L". Post to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wes Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, list moderator
