Cult leader prophesies end of world

Gazette - Montreal/February 16, 2002

Denver -- A doomsday cult leader who disappeared from Denver along with 70 followers in 1998 apparently resurfaced Friday with an ominous e-mail message that predicted the world was about to end.

Monte Kim Miller, head of the Denver-based Concerned Christians cult, said the world would end sometime Friday, according to an e- mail sent to media outlets in Denver.

"I am the prophet of the last days, and on Feb. 15, 2002, the 777th day of God's 7th millennium with fallen man, I am the 'heaven on earth' manifestation of The Sounding of the Seventh Angel, warning you of the Lord's intentions that the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of the Lord Jesus Christ," Miller wrote.

Although the message could not be authenticated Friday, those familiar with Miller said it sounds like his work.

Miller has made similar predictions before. He said an earthquake would destroy Denver in October of 1998. The prediction was enough to get 70 cult members to leave the city.

Miller, who claimed he was divinely inspired, said he would die on the streets of Jerusalem at the turn of the millennium, then rise from the dead three days later.

Many feared the prophecy would trigger a mass suicide among Miller's followers.

Jennifer Cooper of Boulder has not seen her father, John Cooper, since he joined the cult in 1997.

She was unconcerned about Miller's dire predictions.

"If I thought he was right (about the end of the Earth), I'd have to go out and get some wine and enjoy myself," she joked.

Jennifer Cooper said she received an e-mail from her dad in August urging her to join the cult.

"I'd like to see my dad return," she said.

"We miss him and he will always be loved."

Miller gained notoriety as an opponent of religious cults in the mid-1980s. But he changed at some point and claimed to be one of the two divine witnesses cited in Chapter 11 of the book of Revelation. He also announced God spoke through him.