Status Updates From American Messiahs: False Pr...

“And you can call me an egomaniac, megalomaniac, or whatever you wish, with a messianic complex. I don’t have any complex, honey. I happen to know I’m the Messiah. It’s only a complex when you’re confused. It’s only a complex when you have some kind of neurotic compulsions and some kind of subliminal pressures. Honey, I don’t have any conflict about it whatsoever….I am God the Messiah. -Jim Jones

“Overthrowing capitalism with a communist mop factory proved to be impossible”
Best line ever.

“During a visit by Bishop Bugnion D’Erlach, an eccentric Swiss mystic who had been evangelizing Harris’s teachings in Mauritius and Madagascar, the bishop announced to locals that he had achieved sufficiently divine respiration to see the fairies that frolicked at Brocton”

That sentence is carrying a lot of weight!

“Benedict and her cohort believed that American Christians would heed the millennial tidings with joy and rally to support the divine mission the apostles outlined in their pamphlets. Instead, they earned the wrath typically reserved for blasphemers…According to Emma Hardinge, the group’s publications lacked credibility in part because “the wisdom of Solomon appeared clothed in very bad grammar.”

“Whereas the town’s other spirit circles generally conferred with departed loved ones, unknown shades, and the occasional ghost of an American statesman, Benedict and her associates announced that their circle was chosen by God to transmit messages regarding the imminent return of the Messiah.”
Have to respect the grift. Why stop at channeling regular folks when you can level jump and be like, I talk to God

Some of these cults, especially the late 18th century ones are wild. The Public Universal Friend was a 22 year old woman who was on her death bed, recovered, only to believe she was both male and female and the instrument of God for the next 40 years. Oh and she travelled around the countryside on a horse with a monogrammed saddle and a retinue of 20 attendants. Why do I not know more about this person?

This book seems to market itself as connecting six different cults across US history to explain how the country is primed for cult creation. I feel that’s giving this book a lot of credit. Having reached 4 of the 6 cases, there’s very little discussion of underlying trends that created followings and more discussion of the personalities involved. A good resource for certain groups but hardly comprehensive.