PROFILE: Cult 'mastermind' Monte Kim Miller

Associated Press/January 9, 1999
By Sandy Shore

DENVER -- Monte Kim Miller has been labeled a prophet of God, a pretender, a cult mastermind. A former Colorado businessman who once preached against the evils of cults, Miller has told followers God speaks through him. He has predicted he will die in Jerusalem in December, to be resurrected three days later.

Last fall, dozens of people gave up professional careers and comfortable homes in Colorado, Kansas and Texas to follow Miller on his apocalyptic journey. Fourteen of Miller's disciples were detained this week in Jerusalem, where police allege they were planning violent acts in the walled Old City.

The whereabouts of Miller, 44, and his other 60 or so followers remain largely a mystery.

Some religious scholars say Miller's teachings may be radical but are similar to beliefs of millions of fundamentalist Christians. Some cult trackers fear he could lead his flock to harm.

"As he became more isolated he got more bizarre," said Hal Mansfield of the Religious Movement Resource Center, a group in Fort Collins that studies cults.

What will happen next, he said, "just depends on how far Miller wants to carry this."

"I'm certainly worried about the outcome," said Janja Lalich of the Cult Recovery and Information Center in Alameda, Calif., especially "if there is any credence to what the Israeli police are saying."

Raised in Burlington on Colorado's prairie, Miller took a marketing job with a pharmaceutical company just out of college and began to build a life with his wife, Dana, according to family members. The couple divorced after moving to Denver in 1983.

In the early 1980s, Miller founded Concerned Christians, a ministry that preached against cults and New Age movements, according to former members and cult trackers. He spoke at churches, wrote newsletters and broadcast messages on small Christian radio stations across the country.

Miller believes in a strict separation between Christians and the broader social and cultural world, said Lonnie Kliever, a religious studies professor at Southern Methodist University who has examined Miller's writings and radio messages.

"He sees the whole political, cultural arena as the realm and kingdom of Satan," Kliever said.

Miller preaches that Christians must prepare for the Second Coming so they will be able to assume new leadership roles, Kliever said.

Miller's followers range from a lawyer and business owners to construction workers. His flock includes several families with young children.

His actions have been compared by some cult authorities with those of David Koresh of the Branch Davidian community near Waco, Texas, and other cult leaders.

"What a person like Koresh or Kim Miller is able to do is say, `Here is how the Bible has to be understood,"' said Kliever. "There are lots of people that are deeply attracted to that.

"What you find in every religion, it seems to me, is a promise of a miracle and a promise of mystery and a promise of meaning. Those are the things that lots of people hunger for," Kliever said.

Kliever, who has taught for 35 years, believes Miller's followers are willing disciples. "They want a leader who will tell them what to do. They want to belong to a group that believes it is absolutely right," he said.

But many relatives believe Miller has assumed control over family members involved in Concerned Christians.

"What I really, really want is to see my mother away from Kim Miller's influence," said Nicolette Weaver, 16, who spent several years as a member of Concerned Christians before moving in with her father.

Darlene Knotts, 68, was drawn to the cult after she suffered through two deaths in her family, according to her sister, Shirley Brownlee.

"I'm hoping she's getting to the point where she will see Miller for what he is," Brownlee said. "I'm definitely worried about her."

Lalich of the Cult Recovery and Information Center noted, "The charismatic leader has to continually renew and reaffirm himself to his followers. If he makes his predictions and that time comes, then he has to do something. The problem you run into is when they run out of steam and then they don't know how to get themselves out of this pickle that they've created for themselves."

To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.