jefff@cadovax.UUCP (Jeff Fields) (12/07/84)
<> Recently there has been some activity on the net about the Ba'hais. I would like to mention that what one says about Ba'hai does not necessarily apply to all sects of the Ba'hai. I know of a sect that is headquartered in Missoula, Montana (home of my Alma Mater, the University of Montana) which is led by a radical leader named Lelend Jensen. Jensen claims prophetic superiority over all religous leaders. He has even made the tacit claim that he is the reincarnation of the Bab, who is the major prophet of Ba'hai. Back in 1978 he predicted that the "End of the World", aka. the Apocalypse, aka. Armageddon was to occur on April 29, 1979 at 5:00 pm MST. He based these predictions on measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giseh and other more arcane sources. Needless to say we are all still here (I think :-)). The local newspaper "The Missoulian" of April 30 had a front page picture of Lelend standing in his living room at 5:00 PM of the fateful day. The floor of the room was covered with stones and earth that was to have acted as a protective roof for his basement bomb shelter. Everyone got a big laugh and held "End of the World" parties to celebrate the "final hours". Unfortunately this guy should be taken seriously as perhaps being more dangerous than the crack-pot image he projects. He has a large following in western Montana. Some of my friends were caught up with it. They seemed brain-washed after getting involved. Jensen lost some credibility amongst his followers after his prediction did not come true, but there is a hard-core group that surrounds the guy and thinks that he is indeed the Bab. The official national leaders of the Ba'hai have censured Jensen for his radically insane ideas. Most of his philosophy and teachings center around survival in a post-Apocalypse world. If this isn't ludicrous enough, another more sordid aspect of Jensen's personality is the fact that he served seven years in the Montana State Prison for child molestation. I am not disputing the legitimacy of the world-wide Ba'hai faith. I know little enough about it to begin to criticize the Ba'hai. I just want to point out that there is always the danger of false prophets rising up in any faith or creed. We must stay alert to the more dangerous cults so as to prevent another tragedy like Jonestown from happening again. -- Jeff Fields {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!jefff Your navel is a bowl well rounded with no lack of wine, your belly a heap of wheat surrounded with lilies. Your two breasts are two fawns twins of a gazelle. -"The Song of Songs" 7:3-4