Elizabeth Clare Prophet

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, retired spiritual leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, which was based for several years in a Calabasas headquarters called Camelot and gained notoriety in the late 1980s for its followers' elaborate preparations for nuclear Armageddon, has died. She was 70. Prophet, who had Alzheimer's disease, died Thursday in Bozeman, Mont., her legal guardian, Murray Steinman, told the Associated Press. The church's beliefs combined aspects of the world's major religions, mixing Western philosophy with mysticism.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, retired spiritual leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, which was based for several years in a Calabasas headquarters called Camelot and gained notoriety in the late 1980s for its followers' elaborate preparations for nuclear Armageddon, has died. She was 70. Prophet, who had Alzheimer's disease, died Thursday in Bozeman, Mont., her legal guardian, Murray Steinman, told the Associated Press. The church's beliefs combined aspects of the world's major religions, mixing Western philosophy with mysticism.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, former leader of the controversial apocalyptic Church Universal and Triumphant, has Alzheimer's disease. Prophet, 59, who last year stepped down as church president after it was disclosed she had a neurological disease--said at the time to be undiagnosed--told followers that her illness "now has a name." Prophet's former husband, Mark Prophet, founded the church in Los Angeles in 1958, combining elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and New Age thought.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, former leader of the controversial apocalyptic Church Universal and Triumphant, has Alzheimer's disease. Prophet, 59, who last year stepped down as church president after it was disclosed she had a neurological disease--said at the time to be undiagnosed--told followers that her illness "now has a name." Prophet's former husband, Mark Prophet, founded the church in Los Angeles in 1958, combining elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and New Age thought.

A Westlake Village man's rejection by the spiritual leader of a Calabasas-based church was "almost like a death" for him, a rabbi who counsels former cult members testified Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Rabbi Stephen M. Robbins, 41, said that Gregory Mull, once resident architect for the Church Universal and Triumphant, was permanently scarred by his involvement with the sect and its 46-year-old leader, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, known to her thousands of followers as Guru Ma.

A judge ordered a controversial survivalist sect to halt work on a bomb shelter complex north of Yellowstone National Park Monday, the day church members predicted 12 years of global cataclysms would begin. District Judge Byron Robb's temporary injunction may prevent the church from completing a 756-person shelter complex for up to a year.

A former member of the Church Universal and Triumphant testified Thursday that he had an affair with the sect's then-married leader, who he believed to be "God incarnate," before they wed and he was promoted from cook to president of the church. Randall Charles King, 38, of Canoga Park said in Los Angeles Superior Court that he and church head Elizabeth Clare Prophet were lovers before the death in 1973 of her husband, Mark L. Prophet, who founded the sect.

A Westlake Village man was awarded $1.5 million Wednesday for harm done to him while he was an architect for the Calabasas-based Church Universal and Triumphant. "I was a victim of this cult for six years," Gregory Mull, 64, said after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury announced its verdict against the sect and its leader, 46-year-old Elizabeth Clare Prophet, known to her followers as Guru Ma.

The ornate gate that once guarded the secrets of the mysterious Church Universal and Triumphant religious sect was open Sunday. For the first time since 1978, when the sect moved into the Calabasas mansion, neighbors and public officials got a look inside the rambling Mediterranean-style estate. "We have no secrets," said Hiroshi Okayasu, an official of Tokyo's Soka University, which bought the 218-acre estate on Mulholland Highway near Las Virgenes Road from the sect last July for $15.

A Westlake Village architect who won a $1.5-million judgment in April against a religious sect he accused of ruining his health and personal life has died of heart and lung failure. The architect, Gregory Mull, 64, died Friday at a Simi Valley hospital. He had been hospitalized for a month, suffering from the effects of multiple sclerosis.

With eyes closed, Elizabeth Clare Prophet stood stylishly dressed in a white silky jacket and dress and white boots, intoning with drawn-out syllables, "Let the walls of doctrine come tumbling down. . . . I have come to make you whole, resist not your wholeness. . . . Truly, the Divine Mother does weep over the Middle East. . . ."

A judge ordered a controversial survivalist sect to halt work on a bomb shelter complex north of Yellowstone National Park Monday, the day church members predicted 12 years of global cataclysms would begin. District Judge Byron Robb's temporary injunction may prevent the church from completing a 756-person shelter complex for up to a year.

Some aspects of his parents' religion have been more difficult to adjust to than others for Chris Gilbert, 16. He has managed, for instance, to tune out the keening chants his mother listens to constantly on a continuous-play cassette. But he has had a harder time ignoring the looming prospect that he soon may be forced to live under the ground.

Thousands of members of the controversial Church Universal and Triumphant, who have been gathering in a Montana valley just north of Yellowstone National Park in preparation for what they believe to be an impending nuclear attack, stunned neighbors and kept law enforcement officials busy Thursday night and Friday morning when they disappeared into about 45 newly constructed underground bomb shelters.

Tom Schumacher knew something was afoot when U-Haul trucks from all over the country began to be dropped off at his dealership daily by members of the Church Universal and Triumphant. Other members of the controversial church, which three years ago moved its headquarters from California to this valley just outside Yellowstone National Park, have kept Schumacher busy renting his trucks for local hauling. Business has been brisk all over town. Stores report runs on clothing and blankets.

Almost from the moment the Church Universal and Triumphant loaded its belongings onto 100 tractor-trailers and moved its headquarters here from its enclave in Malibu, the valley has been rife with rumors about the unorthodox organization.

With eyes closed, Elizabeth Clare Prophet stood stylishly dressed in a white silky jacket and dress and white boots, intoning with drawn-out syllables, "Let the walls of doctrine come tumbling down. . . . I have come to make you whole, resist not your wholeness. . . . Truly, the Divine Mother does weep over the Middle East. . . ."

This is in response to Bob Pool's Nov. 29 article "Dismantling the Inner Sanctum of Guru Ma." Usually The Times' coverage of our church is so much in error that we do not even bother to comment, since all of our protests have gone unheeded. You have never taken an unbiased look at us and our religion. However, enough is enough. My name is Erin Prophet, and I am Mark and Elizabeth Prophet's daughter. I know from personal experience that a large percentage of the facts Pool used to give the story the mysterious cult spin are inaccurate.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, self-proclaimed Messenger of the Ascended Masters, looked every bit a Montana cattle baroness as she rolled up to the roadside restaurant in a muddy pickup truck equipped with four-wheel drive, tool chest and rifle rack--stock accessories in this highland cow country.

The ornate gate that once guarded the secrets of the mysterious Church Universal and Triumphant religious sect was open Sunday. For the first time since 1978, when the sect moved into the Calabasas mansion, neighbors and public officials got a look inside the rambling Mediterranean-style estate. "We have no secrets," said Hiroshi Okayasu, an official of Tokyo's Soka University, which bought the 218-acre estate on Mulholland Highway near Las Virgenes Road from the sect last July for $15.