From: Stig_Agermose@online.pol.dk (Stig Agermose)
To: updates@globalserve.net
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 01:58:37 +0100
Subject: Calling Off "God" Watch In Texas
>From MSNBC's site. For a full view go to
http://www.msnbc.com/news/153219.asp
******
Calling off God watch in Texas
Sect leader says prediction is =91nonsense,=92 promises compensation
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
March 25 -=BFEven though God didn=92t appear on Channel 18, something
unusual did happen Wednesday in Garland, Texas. The church leader
who predicted the divine arrival quickly conceded that his
prophecy should be considered "nonsense" and promised to take
responsibility for financial losses caused by the no-show.
HON-MING CHEN, a 42-year-old former professor from Taiwan, leads
God=92s Salvation Church, a group which blends Buddhism, millennial
Christianity and UFO science. For months, Chen had been
predicting that a divine broadcast would prepare the way for an
appearance by God, who would take on Chen=92s physical form.
About 140 Taiwanese followers settled in Garland because Chen
thought the name of the Dallas suburb sounded like "God=92s Land."
The divine message was to begin worldwide just after midnight
Wednesday on Channel 18 - on cable systems as well as the UHF
band - and God was predicted to arrive at 11 a.m. ET March 31.
The divine manifestations, Chen said, would herald a time of
"Great Tribulation" and an interdimensional rescue of the
faithful in 1999.
All this raised troubling parallels to the "Heaven=92s Gate" mass
suicide in California, which came about a year ago because of
expectations that a interdimensional craft would gather up the 39
souls who "shed their containers."
Those worries drew scores of journalists to Chen=92s home in
Garland. Police cordoned off the neighborhood to control the
crowds and to stand by in case something untoward developed.
But at the appointed time, UHF Channel 18 showed only static.
Garland=92s cable system aired regularly scheduled religious
programming. And Chen soon came out to admit to reporters that he
was wrong.
"Because we did not see God=92s message on television tonight, my
predictions of March 31 can be considered nonsense," Chen said
through a translator at a press conference held on his front
lawn. "I would rather you don=92t believe what I say any more."
But he also told journalists to "keep watching." And he said he
still believed that a time of tribulation was coming.
He said his followers were free - as they always have been - to
find their own routes to happiness. He also pledged to "take
responsibility" for the financial losses they sustained by giving
up their jobs, though he did not elaborate.
Chen said he would remain in Garland and continue to study the
teachings of God and his religion.
"God=92s revelation to me is that if I want to take the
responsibility of preaching the kingdom of God, I have to take
the scorn and insults along with it," he said, surrounded by
followers. "Otherwise the media will pay no attention."
"Even though the image doesn=92t show on television, I don=92t have
any reason to doubt the existence of the Supreme Being, God, in
this universe," he said.
Some journalists indeed treated Chen with scorn. "Are you a false
prophet?" one local reporter demanded. But at least some of
Chen=92s followers said their faith was as firm as ever.
"I know God will show his great power very soon. I have been
following Teacher Chen for four years, and I know many things he
has said will be proved, and we will have the answer," said one
follower, Ching-Huang Chiang.
Chiang said he would stay in Garland a while longer. He still
expected God to appear, either March 31 or soon thereafter.
"In a few days, or one or two weeks, we will have the answer from
God," Chiang said.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
During the coming days and weeks, members of God=92s Salvation
Church will likely adjust their beliefs to fit a changing
reality, religious experts say.
"Their teachings and their predictions are very fluid," said
Jason Barker, a spokesman for Watchman Fellowship, a Texas-based
cult awareness group. "They change on a regular basis."
Although Barker voiced concern over reports that some people paid
tens of thousands of dollars to join the religious group, he said
Watchman has seen no evidence that church members would come to
any harm. He and other observers were confident that another
Heaven=92s Gate was not in the cards.
"Teacher Chen makes it very clear that suicide, far from
advancing your spiritual development, retards it. ... He also
explicitly mentions that any priest of a sect who entices his
followers to take their own lives as a way of entering paradise
or accelerating spiritual advancement is really an agent of the
devil," said Lonnie Kliever, chairman of the religious studies
department at Southern Methodist University.
>>> Continued to next message
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