Editing Church Universal and Triumphant (section)

===Elizabeth Prophet's leadership===

[[File:Elizabeth clare prophet 1984.jpg|thumb|right|Elizabeth Clare Prophet, photographed in 1984]]

On February 26, 1973, Mark Prophet died of a sudden seizure, leaving his wife, then aged 33, as the group's sole leader,{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=15|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=37}} as well as their sole Messenger of the Ascended Masters.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=1}} She announced that Mark had become an Ascended Master known as Lanello; this was similar to a claim made by Edna Ballard after Guy Ballard's death.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=15|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=37|3a1=Palmer|3a2=Abravanel|3y=2009|3p=171}} Elizabeth then stated that she felt called by Jesus to reconstitute the Summit Lighthouse in new form as the Church Universal and Triumphant. As part of this, the old institutional structure was broken up, new by-laws introduced, and a new board of elders introduced.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=16|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=38}} The Summit Lighthouse became the publishing arm of the new CUT.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=16|2a1=Barrett|2y=2001|2p=374|3a1=Whitsel|3y=2003|3p=38|4a1=Palmer|4a2=Abravanel|4y=2009|4p=175}} Elizabeth stated that the name "Church Universal and Triumphant" had been suggested to her by [[Pope John XXIII]], an Ascended Master.{{sfn|Palmer|Abravanel|2009|p=175}}

Elizabeth began calling herself the "Vicar of Christ."{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=38}} Elizabeth emphasised the importance of the feminine Mother as a counterpart to the male Father.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=37-38}} She presented an image of herself as the "Divine Mother," manifesting the [[Virgin Mary]], the "Maker of the Flame."{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=38}} Church members called Elizabeth "Mother,{{sfnm|1a1=Barrett|1y=2001|1p=374|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=5}} or "Guru Ma."{{sfn|Barrett|2001|p=374}}

In 1973, Elizabeth moved to Santa Barbara as her permanent home.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=39}} That year she extended the training programme operating there from two to twelve weeks and renamed it as the Summit University.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=39}} Under Elizabeth's leadership, new teaching centres were established in US cities like Minneapolis, Washington DC, and New York City,{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=38}} while she continued making extended lecture tours across the country.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=41}} 1973 also saw the CUT form the Lanello Reserves Inc, a private, property-making corporation that focused on trading in gold and silver coins; Prophet headed its board of directors.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=56}} The CUT's members were encouraged to transfer their savings into gold and bullion, reflecting the Church's mistrust of the Federal Reserve and banking system.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=57}} The Church also formed a survival food processing business in Colorado Springs,{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=43}} with Prophet's rhetoric becoming increasingly survivalist during the 1970s and the Church selling survival equipment to its members.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=42}}

She also announced the launch of Operation Christ Command in 1973, to alert its members to the likelihood of nuclear war with the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=42}} Fearing the collapse of American society, some high-ranking members spent $100,000 on large numbers of firearms; these were officially obtained through a joint-stock company, the Rocky Mountain Sportsmen Club, to provide Prophet and the Church with plausible deniability.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=43}} These weapons were initially stored on Church property before being moved elsewhere.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=43}}

====Creating Camelot and Glastonbury====

In 1977, the CUT spent $5.6 million purchasing a 218-acre property near [[Malibu, California|Malibu]] on [[Mulholland Highway]], naming it "Camelot" after the legendary Arthurian city.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=16|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2pp=40, 51}} The Church's growing presence in California generated problems with local communities and the media, with areas of contention arising over the CUT's observance of [[zoning laws]] and negative reports provided by former Church members.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=40}} Negative attitudes towards the Church were exacerbated by the growth of the [[anti-cult movement]] during the 1970s;{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=41, 48}} sentiments that peaked following the [[Jonestown]] [[mass suicide]] of [[Peoples Temple]] members in November 1978.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=54}} The CUT's detractors alleged that the CUT [[brainwashing|brainwashed]] members using mind-control techniques so as to separate them from their families and ensure their loyalty to the group.{{sfnm|1a1=Barrett|1y=2001|1p=379|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=48}} The media also accused Prophet of accumulating much wealth, which was used to finance a lifestyle of servants and luxury vacations, while her followers lived in an austere fashion.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=48}}

[[File:Ecp-croagh-patrick-1980.jpg|thumb|left|Prophet on a visit to [[Croagh Patrick]] in Ireland in 1980]]

Shortly after Mark Prophet's death, Elizabeth married another senior Church member, Randall King, although they divorced in 1980.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=52}} In 1983, King filed a legal action against the Church, claiming involuntary servitude, fraud, and emotional distress; he settled out of court.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=54}} Further legal issues arose with other ex-members in the 1980s; in 1986, the Church brought a suit against Gregory Mull to recover a $37,000 loan. He counter-sued for fraud, involuntary servitude, and extortion, and won his case, being awarded $1.5 million in damages.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=54-55}}
From 1981, the CUT began acquiring large tracts of land in southwest Montana, near the [[Teton Mountains]].{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=47}} These mountains had been important for I AM and subsequent groups based upon its teachings, which regarded the Tetons as the hollow dwelling place of Saint Germaine.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=47}} The Church initially acquired a 12,000 acre ranch formerly owned by [[Malcolm Forbes]] before gaining neighboring land throughout the 1980s, to the extent that their Royal Teton Ranch amounted to over 24,000 acres.{{sfnm|1a1=Whitsel|1y=2003|1p=47|2a1=Starrs|2a2=Wright|2y=2005|2p=106}}

In Park County, Montana, there were growing concerns among locals that the CUT would use its growing presence for a political takeover; this was particularly a concern given that these were the tactics employed by [[Rajneesh]]’s religious community in [[Ashland, Oregon]].{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=49}} Some locals as well as environmentalists were also concerned about the CUT’s construction projects at the Royal Teton Ranch; they had hoped that the land would have been incorporated into the nearby [[Gallatin National Forest]].{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=49-50}} Officials at [[Yellowstone]] were particularly frustrated that the Church’s building was interfering with wildlife migration.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=50}} In early 1981, the US Representative [[Wayne Owens]] tried to introduce measures that would have allowed the government to compulsorily purchase the Royal Teton Ranch, but these proved unsuccessful.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=50}}

In 1986, the Church officially moved its headquarters to the Royal Teton Ranch in Montana, selling Camelot to Japanese investors representing the [[Nichiren Shoshu]] Buddhist group.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=16|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=47}} Prophet related that the Montana ranch offered her followers "protection from economic collapse, bank failure, civil disorder, war, and cataclysm".{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=78}} The ranch became home to around 600 Church members, all of whom had to be members of the Keepers of the Flame.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=47-48}} Many established homes on an area around 15 miles north of the ranch, near the hamlet of Emigrant; they called it Glastonbury after the town in England with Arthurian associations.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1994|1p=19|2a1=Whitsel|2y=2003|2p=105}} Life in Montana provided greater levels of autonomy and social isolation for the group;{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=91-92}} according to Whitsel, moving there "facilitated the further entrenchment of a countercultural outlook" among the Church.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=92}}

Following the move to Montana, the belief in a forthcoming major disaster became increasingly prominent within the group.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=314}} In 1980, it published ''Prophecy for the 1980s'', making apocalyptic predictions.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=47}}

====Entering a survivalist strategy====

[[File:Taylor Meadows fuel spill 1.jpg|thumb|right|A leaking fuel tank being removed at a bomb shelter on the Royal Teton Ranch in 1990]]

In the late 1980s, the CUT entered a survivalist strategy.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=2}} Prophet stated that the world had entered a "danger period of accelerated negative karma" and that this would precipitate a Soviet nuclear strike against the United States.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=1}} She insisted that the liberalising ''[[glasnost]]'' project of Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] was a propaganda front and that his government was planning a nuclear attack.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=105}} In a 1986 [[Thanksgiving]] message that she claimed came through her from Saint Germain, Prophet stated that the Church must start preparing underground shelters to survive a nuclear war.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=86-87}} It subsequently began construction of a multi-acre underground nuclear shelter near Mol Herron Creek on the Royal Teton Ranch;{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=102}} costing over $3 million to build, it would provide shelter for around 750 people and was called "Mark's Ark" after the Church's founder.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=105}}

Emily Harnett describes the compound:
{{blockquote|Made of steel and concrete, the structure consisted of multiple underground passages arranged in the shape of an H and divided with submarine-style doors. The largest of its shelters was big enough to fit a semitruck. Each was equipped with decontamination chambers at its entrance—shower stalls, landlines within reach—to wash off radioactive fallout. The church built bunk beds with purple seat belts on them. There were infirmaries and laundry facilities. Radiation suits and Geiger counters and body bags. Huge armored trucks designed for transporting military combat crews. They had enough food to last them seven years—floor-to-ceiling grain supplies, nonperishables. According to Erin, they had a tractor trailer’s worth of Isuzu pickup trucks. Beneath the bunker, in a chamber, they had more than five million dollars’ worth of gold and silver bullion, as well as twenty-five thousand dollars in pennies. (Paper currency, they suspected, would have little use in the postapocalyptic world.) And they had guns: fifty AR-15s and thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition, for defense against roving bands of marauders.
All told, the church spent around $12 million on the project.<ref name="Harnett-Failed-June-2024-56-7">{{cite magazine | title=The Prophet Who Failed |first=Emily |last=Harnett |magazine=Harper's|date=June 2024 |pages=56–7 |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2024/06/the-prophet-who-wasnt-after-the-apocalypse-that-failed-emily-harnett/ |access-date=30 July 2024 }}</ref>}}
The residents of Glastonbury also created around 45 smaller fallout shelters for their own use.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=105}}

The group began stockpiling food, survival equipment and other material, believing that after a nuclear war began they would be forced to hide underground for a period lasting between several months and seven years.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=1-2}} In July 1989, senior Church member Vernon Hamilton was arrested after trying to buy weapons in Spokane, Washington. Although the purchase of these weapons was legal, he had tried to do so under a false name, which was against the law.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=106}} Federal agents seized over $100,000 of weaponry and 120,000 rounds of ammunition from Hamilton.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=106}} The CUT's acting vice president, Edward Francis – who was also Prophet's fourth husband – also admitted involvement in Hamilton's scheme and received a short prison sentence.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=106}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Eng|first=James L.|title=Montana Church Member Spared Jail Time for Illegal Weapons Purchase|url=https://apnews.com/81fcca81a2400cde0d904cc881dcff3f|work=AP News Archive|publisher=Associated Press|access-date=15 April 2013}}</ref> Prophet met locals in Montana to calm fears that her community planned to attack others; she denied any knowledge of Hamilton's plans, although many observers did not believe these denials.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=106}} Environmentalist concerns were also raised about their activities and the impact they had on the adjacent Yellowstone National Park.{{sfn|Palmer|Abravanel|2009|p=176}} In April 1990, CUT storage tanks leaked, spilling 21,000 gallons of diesel and 11,500 gallons of gasoline.{{sfn|Palmer|Abravanel|2009|p=176}}

====Prophesying a nuclear strike====
The Mol Herron shelter was completed in early March, 1990.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=106}} Prophet began predicting that March 15, 1990 would be the day of the Soviet nuclear strike, claiming that the "karmic increase" would peak on that day.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=108-109}} Throughout the first half of March, CUT members began flocking to the Church's Montana properties in large numbers, attracting attention.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=111}} Growing media attention followed.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|pp=2, 111, 114}}  On March 15, around 7000 CUT members entered the shelters,{{sfn|Palmer|Abravanel|2009|p=176}} to begin what the church now calls the "shelter cycle".<ref name=Harnett-Failed-June-2024-56-7>{{cite magazine | title=The Prophet Who Failed |first=Emily |last=Harnett |magazine=Harper's|date=June 2024 |pages=56–7 |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2024/06/the-prophet-who-wasnt-after-the-apocalypse-that-failed-emily-harnett/ |access-date=30 July 2024 }}</ref> Many Church members, banking on their faith in Prophet, had quit their jobs, drained their bank accounts, sold their houses, furniture, cars, to buy survival supplies and flee to the compound.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=2}}

In her memoir, Prophet's daughter Erin writes that at first the mood of the followers underground was "jubilant",<ref name=Harnett-Failed-June-2024-58>{{cite magazine | title=The Prophet Who Failed |first=Emily |last=Harnett |magazine=Harper's|date=June 2024 |page=58 |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2024/06/the-prophet-who-wasnt-after-the-apocalypse-that-failed-emily-harnett/ |access-date=30 July 2024 }}</ref> but on the morning of March 16, many members left the shelters to find that the nuclear attack had not occurred. Many immediately reassessed their beliefs.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=2}}   About a third of the Church's members immediately broke from the group.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=2}}  By the second night underground, the mood among the followers was "tense, muted desperation". Gathering her closest followers, Elizabeth proclaimed it time to call down judgment upon America. Elizabeth herself, wielding a ceremonial sword, called on the archangel Michael to "let the bombs descend."<ref name=Harnett-Failed-June-2024-58/>

In the prophecy's aftermath, Prophet maintained that the nuclear attack had failed to materialise not because her original predictions were incorrect, but because the Church's prayers had led to divine intervention to avert the disaster.{{sfn|Whitsel|2003|p=2}} Another explanation offered by the church (by minister Neroli Duffy) was that Prophet had never predicted the end of the world and the event had simply been a "drill".<ref name="legacy">{{cite news|last1=Flandro|first1=Carly|title=The legacy of Elizabeth Clare Prophet|url=http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/100/newsmakers/the-legacy-of-elizabeth-clare-prophet/article_03a800bc-d139-11e0-ab6a-001cc4c03286.html|access-date=May 31, 2017|work=Bozeman Daily Chronicle|date=August 28, 2011}}</ref>