Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 138
400 Years of Imaginary Friends: A Journey into the World of Adepts,
Masters, Ascended Masters, and Their Messengers. Kenneth Paolini and
Talita Paolini. Livingston, MT: Paolini International LLC (52 Cascade Lane
Livingston, Montana 59047 -406-333-4475 http://www.factsource.com
paolini@factsource.com). 2000, 411 pages, paperback, $26.95 plus shipping ($3.55
for one book, $1.50 for each additional book) ISBN: 0-9666213-0-1.
This reviewer could easily relate to this book, and he applauds its publication.* As anyone
can see from the publisher‘s address, this is an author-published book. 400 Years of
Imaginary Friends is a mix of autobiography, spiritual history, and applied skepticism about
a sect and related groups that profoundly affected the Paolinis‘ lives. Primarily, it is about
their ten year journey in, as individuals, and out, as a couple, of one of America‘s
controversial new sects, Church Universal and Triumphant. ―CUT‖ grew out of the Summit
Lighthouse founded by Mark Prophet in 1958. Prophet (his real name) was an avid student
of Theosophy and one of its sects, the ―I AM‖ Activity.
Following the ―I AM‖ model, Prophet claimed to be ―Messenger‖ or medium to an array of
ascended masters and a Great White Brotherhood of spiritual beings who guide the destiny
and evolution of planet Earth. Prophet married the much younger, and former, Elizabeth
Clare Wulf in 1961 when his new movement had a mere few dozen followers. He ―trained‖
Elizabeth to be his co-Messenger. Mark died in 1973, but Elizabeth guided the newly named
CUT successfully, drawing many recruits from the burgeoning New Age Movement. Her
organization may have had 10,000 devotees worldwide at its peak. Lately, CUT is in a
serious decline, especially since Elizabeth Prophet developed a debilitating brain disease.
CUT was most in the news in 1993 during and after the Waco, Texas debacle that left the
Branch Davidian sect‘s headquarters in ashes after a gunfight and standoff with the
government. Many news reporters asked: Could CUT become the next Waco?
Kenneth and Talita Paolini were part of CUT staff when it was stockpiling weapons after
moving to Montana from the Los Angeles area in the early 1980s. Kenneth was trained for
an elite, CUT security guard force. He was privy to CUT‘s secretive, massive underground
shelter construction and internal operations.
Elizabeth Prophet had predicted a ten-year, ―dark cycle‖ based on astrological indications
that would begin around 1989. This doom prophecy included the strong possibility of war
with Russia and of natural and economic catastrophes. Over 2000 CUT members worldwide
flocked to Montana to be in the area most protected by their Ascended Masters, and to help
build the huge shelters. The Paolinis, becoming weary of CUT‘s bizarre teachings and
internal conflicts, write about their struggle to break free in 1987. They discuss their efforts
later to cooperate with government officers [INS, FBI] who were investigating the sect. CUT
owned an armored vehicle, and the leader‘s husband was arrested for illegal weapons
violations.
They also write about what attracted them to this New Age group that preached
conservative values within a fantastic cosmology. Kenneth had experimented with drugs and
dabbled with spirituality before seriously considering this new path.
Talita‘s parents exposed her to Theosophical and New Age teachings throughout her young
life. At age sixteen, when she first encountered CUT in 1977, it was already familiar to her.
The two young recruits were immediately attracted to one another after they met. The
authors present their courtship and fascinating personal experiences in the group all
through Part I, or the first third of 400 Years.
Part II is a short history of the ascended master cults that the authors say began with the
Rosicrucians of the early 17th century --thus their title, 400 Years. They cover the Gnostic

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 139
roots of such sects, Freemasonry, Swedenborg, Mesmer, Spiritualism, New Thought, the
Baird T. Spalding books, the Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky and many of her later
imitators, from all of whom CUT draws heavily.
Also in Part II, the Paolinis describe the Agni Yoga Society founded in 1921 and the ―I AM‖
Activity founded in the mid-1930s by Guy and Edna Ballard. CUT specifically claims to fulfill
the missions of both of these groups as well as the ―I AM‖ splinter group, the Bridge to
Freedom. The thread that links all of these messenger cults to CUT is their alleged
connection to a spiritual hierarchy of ―masters‖ through their leaders. But to remain in CUT
all those years the Paolinis had to believe that their guru, Elizabeth Prophet, was the sole,
living Messenger of this hierarchy for all religions. Part II is a valuable resource for anyone
interested in this odd occult tradition and its ongoing story. The authors do mention one
new sect founded by former CUT ministers, the Temple of the Presence, which challenges
the exclusivity of Elizabeth Prophet as sole Messenger. Prophet can no longer perform her
function as she has developed advanced stages of Alzheimer‘s disease, but CUT managers
deny that the new messengers are authentic.
In Parts III and IV, 400 Years takes us on an insightful, skeptical journey through this
stream of teachings. The roots and internal behaviors of the CUT movement are analyzed
and exposed in many ways. The Paolinis use a combination of primary sources, their own
witness, and past critical literature to argue their case. They indicate that there is no
evidence to show that these ascended masters are anything more than ―imaginary beings,‖
albeit powerful in their effect over devotees who worship them as independent entities. 400
Years accomplishes its purpose to offer good source material backed by personal experience
to give readers a well-informed, though critical, ex-member‘s view of Church Universal and
Triumphant and related groups. It has a useful reading list and an extensive bibliography of
references.
*The reviewer, Joe Szimhart, was also involved with CUT for over a year until 1980.
Szimhart wrote the Forward for this book.
Joseph Szimhart
Cult Information Specialist and Consultant
Pottstown, PA
The Giver. Lois Lowry. New York: Laurel-Leaf Books, a Bantam Doubleday Dell
Books for Young Readers, 1994, 180 pages.
The Giver is an award-winning story for young adults and teens with a mature theme --a
―perfect,‖ utopian society runs the risk of eliminating the richness and creativity in its
human subjects. Lois Lowry wraps her narrative around Jonas, who comes of age at twelve
to become a citizen-in-training in the ―Community.‖ The Community is an obscurely defined
habitat and culture where weather, landscape, lifestyle, conduct, food, and daily medication
have been prescribed since an ancient era --―back, back, back‖ is how the citizens phrase
that primordial time. Children, ranked as Ones through Twelves, receive bicycles only as
Nines. Infants selected for the Community do not live with birthmothers, but with assigned
parents who can raise only one male and one female.
The Community has no hills, no sunshine, no wild animals, no snow, no potentially painful
feelings like love --no extreme that might cause suffering. Injuries and illness of any kind
are treated at the Nurturing Center, but anyone deemed unfit for the community is
―released‖ or lives Elsewhere. Release, Jonas learns after his awesome ―Assignment‖ to be
―the Receiver,‖ means euthanasia by injection at the ―Center.‖ All such ceremonies are
recorded for the Hall of Closed Records. Elsewhere is a place far, far away where non-
Community humans and animals live, but Citizens remember nothing about that culture.