Cult members remain in seclusion

Family members wait in downtown hotel lobby for glimpse of loved ones

Rocky Mountain News/January 11, 1999
By Tustin Amole and Mike Patty

Fourteen members of the Concerned Christians cult deported from Israel apparently remained in self-imposed isolation Sunday in a downtown Denverhotel.

A handful of family members and friends kept vigil in the lobby during theday hoping to catch a glimpse of their loved ones.

They waited for hours, surrounded by newspapers, coffee cups and Bibles.

At one point, family members sat in a circle, bowed their heads and prayed.

They did not get to touch the daughters, brothers and sons they had not seen for years.

But they took solace in small breakthroughs, such as notes and baby clothes, passed up to loved ones via hotel employees.

"They're just hanging out here," said Denver police officer Mark Roggeman, acult expert. "There's been a couple of little contacts made, but they're big contacts."

The deported members of the apocalyptic sect arrived in Denver Saturday. They shunned family members who went to Denver International Airport to meet them and were taken by city buses to the Holiday Inn downtown.

The 14 are among 79 known members of the group Israeli police said planned to carry out violent, extreme acts in the streets of Jerusalem at the end of 1999 to start the process of Jesus' Second Coming. They were arrested Jan. 3 at two upscale rental homes in Jerusalem's western suburbs.

Brenda Brasher, religion professor at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and Lonnie Kleiver of the religious studies department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas said they are concerned about how the 14 Concerned Christians may react to their return to Denver and self-imposed isolation. Not enough is known about their exact beliefs to predict their next step, they said.

"I would be amazed if this tactic hasn't absolutely increased the control of this leader over the group and pushed them toward the millennial goal," Brasher said.

Because their beliefs are so deeply held, Kleiver said, group members probably regard anyone who does not share them as a threat. "If they feel pressured and cornered and put on the spot by outsiders, by forces of evil... that's what happened in Waco," he said.

Authorities and relatives of the Concerned Christians should "let them lick their wounds," Kleiver said. "Let them figure what they're going to do next, how to be faithful to their beliefs."

Sherry Clark of Carbondale, whose daughter is in the cult but not among the eight adults and six children deported, acted as spokeswoman Sunday for the other family members at the hotel.

"I'm just here to support the family members," said Clark, who hasn't heard from her daughter, Robin, in two years and has no idea where she is. "Nobody has heard anything yet. Everyone is waiting patiently." Clark said family members are doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

"They are talking to each other and comforting each other," she said. "Nobody is giving up hope."

Clark said she believes the cult members in Denver have been in touch with leader Monte Kim Miller. "I believe they have been talking to Miller on what to do next," Clark said. "I think one or more of the people in the group are enforcing his will."

Police officer Roggeman also tried to comfort family members.

"I think the fact that no one met them at the airport means there are no more cult members left in the Denver area," Roggeman said. "Miller may still own some property elsewhere in the state. If he does, they (might) try to get a bus or something and try to get there."

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