Editing Elizabeth Clare Prophet (section)

==Early years==
{{Self-published|section|date=January 2021}}

Elizabeth Clare Prophet was born Elizabeth Clare Wulf at Monmouth Memorial Hospital in [[Long Branch, New Jersey]] on April 8, 1939, the only child of a German immigrant, Hans Wulf, and his Swiss wife, Fridy.<ref name="Harnett-Failed-June-2024-55">{{cite magazine | title=The Prophet Who Failed |first=Emily |last=Harnett |magazine=Harper's|date=June 2024 |page=55 |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2024/06/the-prophet-who-wasnt-after-the-apocalypse-that-failed-emily-harnett/ |access-date=30 July 2024 }}</ref>  She grew up with her family in [[Red Bank, New Jersey|Red Bank]], New Jersey during the [[Second World War]].{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=8}}  She describes her earliest childhood as idyllic, yet also chaotic and unpredictable.<ref name="Harnett-Failed-June-2024-55"/> In 1942, when she was two years old, her  [[Internment of Germans in the United States|father was detained on  suspicion of being a German spy]].<ref name="Harnett-Failed-June-2024-55"/>  In her autobiography she writes that upon his release he inspired her to help others who may also suffer because of their nationality, race, or religion,{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=33}} and that the [[Holocaust]] convinced her of the reality of absolute [[evil]] in the world. This played a main role in her deciding to major in [[political science]] in her studies.{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=37}}

She also writes of her father's [[addiction to alcohol]], his [[verbal abuse]] of her mother and violent temper which he directed towards them and the destruction of his beloved fish tanks.{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=67}}  Prophet came to believe that when the [[blood alcohol content]] creates a chemical imbalance in the body, [[Demonic possession|possessing demons]] take over the mind and the emotions.{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=74}}

In her early life, she periodically [[Syncope (medicine)|blacked out]]. This happened in the third grade, when she was about to say her lines in a Christmas play, and recurred throughout her life. This was first diagnosed as petit mal epilepsy, known more commonly today as [[absence seizures]], although she believed it was a way of escaping her father’s alcoholic rages.<ref name="Harnett-Failed-June-2024-55"/> She did not find medication helpful, and discontinued using it.{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=90}} Her mother later confessed that in 1937 she took some pills in an unsuccessful attempt to abort her pregnancy with Elizabeth. Prophet thought her mother was implying the medication may have contributed to her childhood blackouts. Prophet herself did some research, and believed the use of [[quinine]] sulphate could have damaged the developing nervous system and the brain.{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=101}}

Elizabeth Wulf claimed mystical experiences while growing up. She claimed that when she was about four, she had a vision of herself playing on the sands of the [[Nile]] river in Egypt.  (Her mother told her that it was a [[past life regression|past life]].){{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=48}}  She claimed that as a child she felt God's light around her naturally, and heard a sound in her inner ear like that of an ocean wave or the roar of [[Niagara Falls]].{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=106}} While water-skiing, she said she felt she was suspended in a place where other spiritual beings existed, who were joyous in the light, radiating love. This motivated her to find out more about who these "saints robed in white" (Rev. 7:9-17) were, for she had always believed in the "universality of all true religion".{{sfn|Prophet|2009|p=131}}