Worry settles around missing religious group

Denver Post/October 7, 1998
By Jim Hughes

A local cult expert said Tuesday he's received numerous calls from parents as far away as Florida and California saying they haven't heard from their adult children, members of a Denver religious group, in a week.

The estimated 30 to 60 members of Concerned Christians, an apocalypse-centered religious group, left the metro area early last week without a trace, according to relatives, neighbors and cult-watcher Bill Honsberger.

The disappearance is in keeping with the prophecies of the group's leader, 44-yearold Monte Kim Miller of Denver, Honsberger said.

Honsberger said he realized the group had moved when he returned to his Aurora home from a conference in Chicago on Sunday and found "an avalanche of messages'' from worried relatives on his answering machine. Janja Lolich of the Cult Recovery and Information Center in Alameda, Calif., also received a call this week from a parent of a Concerned Christians member, she said. She's been aware of the group for two years, she said.

"I'm concerned,'' said a Florida mother of two group members, Annie Biondi and older brother Vince. "They've left their homes and left for Israel. They cut off the families totally.''

The departure did not surprise Honsberger.

"They've been talking this way for quite a while, and not hiding it,'' he said for a joint Denver Post/9News report. "According to them, (Miller) is the last prophet on Earth. (They think) he is one of the two witnesses from Revelations 11, which is a biblical account of the end times. The bigger picture, really, is the notion that, according to him, he and his co-prophet are going to die in the streets of Jerusalem.''

Honsberger said Miller teaches Concerned Christians members that he is God and prophesies he will die in the streets of Jerusalem in December 1999, only to rise again in three days. He also believes the apocalypse will strike Denver on Saturday, Honsberger said.

Honsberger, a Christian missionary with a Baptist church, said he believes the group traveled to Jerusalem last week. He said he's afraid of a group suicide.

"I don't think they're going (to Jerusalem) to cheerlead,'' Honsberger said of Concerned Christians members. "My fear is that, if (Miller's prophecy) doesn't happen, he's liable to do something bizarre just to ensure his place his history. And there's nobody in his group who could say, "I don't think the Bible says that.' He has that much control. You question him - you question God.''

Miller's neighbors said he, his wife, Marcia, and 9-year-old son moved out of their home in the 2200 block of South Clarkson Street last week. The home is for sale and all of the family's furniture and belongings are out of the house, they said. Marcia Miller lived in the house for about 20 years, next-door neighbor Joe Trujillo said, with her husband joining her five years later. The Millers home-schooled their son, Trujillo said.

One neighbor described the Millers as cordial, and they recently invited her to a barbecue. "They helped me with a few projects around the house,'' said another neighbor who asked not to be named. "They were nice to me, always friendly (and) never pushed their beliefs.''

Honsberger said Miller first emerged on the religious scene in the 1980s as an anti-cult activist. His starting a religious group seems to have been fed in part by anti-government rhetoric, Honsberger said.

Court records show Miller and his wife declared personal bankruptcy in October 1997, owing dozens of creditors more than $600,000, including $100,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. The debt was discharged in February.

A lawyer involved with the bankruptcy proceedings said he believes the group may have relocated to Mexico on their way to their final destination of Jerusalem.

John Weaver of Lakewood, who said his ex-wife, Jan Cook, is a longtime Concerned Christians member, said the group demands members surrender their lives to Miller's dictums. Cook last year severed ties with their 16-year-old daughter, Nicolette, he said.

"My ex-wife hasn't talked to my daughter for more than a year, he said. "She told her that she's not spiritually ready to understand these things.'' He said Cook may be Miller's "co-prophet.''

Mark Roggeman, a Denver police officer who tracks cults when off-duty, said group members and twin brothers Kurt and Keith Landaas returned a car their father in New Jersey had bought for them. Just before they disappeared last week, they abandoned the car at the dealership with a handwritten note on the front seat, Roggeman said: "We return your Ford. It cannot be paid for anymore.''

Denver Post staff writers Mike McPhee, Dave Curtin and Marilyn Robinson and intern Geoffrey Koss contributed to this report.

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