UFO Cult: Heaven’s Gate

In the early days, Jesus’s disciples and many other Christ followers struggled and fought for the thriving and existence of Judeo-Christianity. However, some pessimistic and opportunistic heathens who do not believe in Christianity have taken advantage of the freedom of worship and have emerged with new religions base on scientific research, for instance, Heaven’s Gate. Heaven’s gate was a UFO religious group headquartered in San Diego, California United States of America (Chryssides, 2011). The religion was founded and led by one Marshall Applewhite between the years 1931- 1997 and later managed by Bonny Nettle from the year 1927-1985). The religious group has a ceremony or a ritual they call Extraterrestrial spacecraft where on March 26, 1997police discovered about 39 bodies of members of the group had committed mass suicide to fulfill their rituals. Therefore, this paper discusses the historical background, structure, belief system, as well as the ritual, involves in the UFO cult, heaven’s gate.

Belief system

According to their belief, the cultic group members believed that the earth was about to undergo rejuvenation, recycling, refurbishing, renewal and the only opportunity to life or survival to evacuate it as fast as possible (Zeller, 2014). The cult members though were against suicide; they were then compelled to redefine to fit their belief and mission. Subsequently, to execute their plan, the cultic group defined suicide in their version to mean, “Turning to the next level or step when the offer still last.” They also convinced themselves that their bodies in this circumstance were just vessels intended to assist them to accomplish their mission, which is their proposed journey. The members of heaven’s gate were so much into their belief to the extent that when they are conversing, they refer to a person’s body or a person as a vehicle.

In addition, the members of the cultic group to show their level of seriousness and to distinguish them from the rest added suffix –ody to their names, which they adopted in exchange for their original names. The names were to exclude them from the rest and give then an impression that they were the children of the next level.

Moreover, the cultic group based on their doctrine believed in the eligibility of membership in the next level and so they do not belong to the planet earth. Therefore, they were to abandon and shed every attachment to the planet earth and give the human-like characteristics such as friends, sexuality, family, jobs, individuality, possessions, and money (Zeller, 2014).

The members believed in the doctrine of TELAH, which in their context they defined as the evolutionary level above human beings. The above place refers physical, corporeal place meaning another world in our universe where they believed that residents nourish themselves with by absorbing pure sunlight. In that location there is no sexual intercourse, dying or eating meaning that human beings in that featured land will not indulge in the thing that classifies them as mammalians (Chryssides, 2011). Surprisingly, the heaven’s gates believed that the God of the Christian was a highly developed Extraterrestrial, meaning a life that does not originate from the earth and revolves around a complex individual.

Another version of their belief and doctrine posits that the evil space aliens who they called Luciferians represented themselves on the earth as “God” falsely. They went further to claim that the aliens have impeded human from developing and that the aliens themselves have space-time travel, increased longevity, and telepathy. In their viewpoint, they claim that the aliens and that have corrupted the entire earth by using holograms to perform fake miracles (Fersch, 2006).

One peculiar thing about the cultic group was that during their time of preparation for their envisioned journey or the suicide their basic beliefs remained consistent, nonetheless, the content of their ideology was subject to alteration and could undergo some changes if so demanded by anyone with a new idea. Some of the critical thought that was subject to change was, for instance, the ways one can use to enter the next level (Milhorn, 2005).

Some days before the suicide, the pioneers Applewhite and Nettles were forced to alter some element in their doctrine due to the introduction of the age of a new subculture and come up with as new concept of extraterrestrial walk-ins. In my viewpoint, the change in the doctrine was a strategy to win the loyalty and honor of their audience and followers as they could see them as supernatural beings because the concept of walk-ins is the same, as being filled by a spirit. Furthermore, the term extraterrestrial walk-ins can be defined as an entity that has its physical body has been evacuated by the original soul (Chryssides, 2011). The concept or the whole idea of walk-ins was to elevate the two pioneers to the clean slates. By so doing the heaven’s gate member will not consider them as the ordinary men thy initially known as they banked on this as a stepping-stone to erase their past personal human stories.

Apart from the introduction of the new concepts to their beliefs, the group also adopted the new age belief, which is known as the ancient astronaut hypothesis, meaning various kinds or types of the concept that explore the visitation of the extraterrestrial son the planet earth (Gallagher, 2004). Applewhite and his colleague Nettle adopted the content of the concept, taught and preached the that only a selected few members who have embraced humility will advance to the transhuman state since they are supposed to embrace the aliens seed of humility planted a million years ago. They also asserted in their teachings that the sowers of the ancient seed of humility would come back again to reap the long awaited harvest in the form of spiritually transformed individuals who will fight to join the flying crew rank. The two pioneers also informed their listeners that, only a handful of people who choose to join Heaven’s Gate religious group and harken to the doctrine of Applewhite and Nettle and their belief system.

Historical background of the cultic religion

The son of a Presbyterian minister who also happened to be a former soldier Marshall Applewhite founded the UFO cultic group in the early 1970s. The founder began the religious group after being fired from the University of St. Thomas where he was alleged to have a homosexual relationship with one of his students in the premise (Fersch, 2006). Later in the midst of his cultic mission, he ran into one by the name Bonnie Nettle, who by that time was aged 44 years, a nurse, married, and had interest biblical prophecy and theosophy. Applewhite in his writings posits that the two of them met in a hospital premise where Nettle was working in during her stay in the town.

Applewhite being a pioneer and a staunch believer of the heaven’s gate believes that his meeting with Nettle has been foretold by the Extraterrestrials, and claimed to have felt as if he had known her before. On the other hand, Nettle also argues that the meeting not only planned but also foretold by the extraterrestrials, she claimed she has always heard her she had a divine assignment (Milhorn, 2005).

In the early times during the begging of their mission, the two pioneers ponder about people lives such as St. Francis of assisting and in the process read as many books as possible by different authors such as Richard Bach, R.D, Laing (Zeller, 2014). Among the books, they also studied the Holy Bible kept a King James Version with them and in the process studied many passages mainly from the new testament as they needed quality information and knowledge on eschatology and Christology. In their quest to build, affirm foundation and doctrine the pioneers read wide even into the science fictions including the works by Arthur c. clerk and after a thorough research, the Applewhite and Nettle’s religion group solidified into an outline belief system (Gallagher, 2004).

In 1975, Applewhite and Nettle had accomplished the mission of establishing their religion and were busy selling their ideas through organizing events, organize experimental setups to prove their claims of extraterrestrials and seek like-minded believers to join them. Still, in the same year, they held a meeting at Joan Culpepper studios where they shared with over 80 audiences that they were the two witness quoted in the Bible in the Book of Revelation (Fersch, 2006).

Later, they converged in Waldport in a motel as the crew assembly the name that they adopted before changing to Heaven’s gate.  Moreover, that night, it was all over in the News; CBS Evening News reported the sudden disappearance of the group members since earlier in the day they had a farewell meeting with their loved ones. Stern and wonder befell the loved ones and relatives whether they have been taken to what they referred to as the eternal trip.  In reality, at this time the Applewhite has summoned all his followers to go underground, and from some days the group led by the Do and Ti as they called themselves hid sleeping bags and tents to evade detection from the authorities. By so doing, they claimed they had reached a higher evolutionary level that the human beings and they were making progress to their destination (Chryssides, 2011).

Following the death of Nettle in 1985, Applewhite performed a revision of the group’s doctrine and changed the crew reputation to cyberculture and subsequently calling themselves with a business name of the higher source since they went digital and wee recruiting recruits via the Internet.  

In 1996, the crew advanced their technical savviness and internet recruitment to the net level in a home they called “Monastery,” and in 2016, the website is still in place and responds to people questions about the cult.  

Techniques to enter the next level in heaven’s gate cult and their structure

The cultic group requires that an individual has to perfect his or herself through a four-method process to get to the next level or the graduate level. Firstly, one must pass through the rapture a physical pickup into TELAH what they refer to as transfer to the next level. The groups are made to believe that a spacecraft will come to collect them and their two leaders and that their bodies will be transformed (Milhorn, 2005). Secondly, that a follower leaves the human body to join the perfect next level bodies through natural death, random violence or accidental death. Thirdly, the persecution death that leads to the death of one of them by the American government inflicted fear in Applewhite and declared a hidden strike which becomes one of the processes in the religion to advance to a unique evolutionary body. Finally, following a dignified exit of one of them, Applewhite resolve that earth evacuation was the solution to all mess and hence to a mass suicide as believe to enter the next generation or graduation on March 22 and 23.

The cult’s religion had a well-established structure and could only allow in adults over the age of eighteen. Due to their belief, the crew abandoned their material possession and lived in a highly ascetic life separated from worldly pleasure (Zeller, 2014). The group’s activities were communal as they used to share their thing communally due to strong bond and cohesion that existed between them. Some male members approximately eight in number in the cultic group including Applewhite underwent a castration in Mexico as a sure sign to stick to the doctrines ascetic lifestyle (Fersch, 2006). After revision of the group, it was termed cyber-sect due to its heavy reliance on the computer-mediated communications and group earned revenue offering professional website development.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Applewhite and Nettle founded a religious group is surely a cultic group if one had to draw conclusion following the above discussion. The team in the first place believes in a concoction of human knowledge of research of both religious and science books. Furthermore, the doctrine and beliefs are subject to discussion meaning there are not self-sustaining or self-satisfactory. The provision that the doctrine of the group keeps changing with time and that only members must be eighteen years and above overrules its existence since the question is what will happen to the once outside the age bracket.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference list

Chryssides, G. D. (2011). Heaven's Gate: Postmodernity and Popular Culture in a Suicide group. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate.

Fersch, E. A. (2006). Thinking about psychopaths and psychopathy: Answers to frequently asked questions with case examples. New York: Universe.

Gallagher, E. V. (2004). The new religious movements experience in America. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press.

Milhorn, H. T. (2005). Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers. Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers.

Zeller, B. E. (2014). Heaven's Gate: America's UFO religion. New York: New York University Press, [2014]