Truth has always been important to me. Growing up Episcopalian I felt my religion brought me closer to God. Yet I as I reached adulthood, I longed to find a church where others believed more of what I felt was true within me. I tried going to a few other Christian churches but they did not inspire me. Years went by when a church and group finally caught my eye and ear. They believed in reincarnation and had these "masters" they believed in who transcended time and space and the karmic cycle. Although I couldn't find this group, remarkably, a few months later a couple moved in across the street who were in this group I had been looking for. They started holding services in their home and I began attending. Their services were short and sweet and different from any other church service I had attended.
The group was called the Summit Lighthouse, founded by Mark Prophet (1918-1973) in 1959. I started receiving tapes from them with lectures and services from conferences they held regularly. Services included hours of high-speed chanting using decrees, short verses that were repeated a certain number of repetitions, and usually were followed by a lecture and/or dictations from these ascended masters. I did not find the decreeing odd, but took to them right away, nor were their teachings unbelievable. Lectures and books were abundant with detailed facts to support many tradition Christian beliefs, as well as many New Age concepts.
The ascended masters were seen as cosmic beings who had transcended the cycle of reincarnation, and were like Catholic saints who could intercede in our lives and answer our prayers. They supposedly were beings who had incarnated in many lives and eventually balanced their karmic debts, balanced their "threefold flame", and merged with their "I AM Presence" and Christ self. Jesus was included as just one of these ascended masters, along with many other beings connected with other faiths such as Buddha, Kuan Yin, Mother Mary, Confucious, and Padma Sambhava. There were also many other strange names and identities of these masters such as K-17, mighty Cosmos, Cuzco, and Serapis Bey. It is not a religion of many gods but one God. There was a Universal Christ as part of the Triune God, with Jesus not the Christ, he became the Christ through many lifetimes and became one with this Universal Christ. This universal Christ was the Word and everyone had a Christ self that connected them to this universal Christ.
Messengers
This "ascended master" teaching had messengers who represented the ascended masters. They channeled (delivered dictations) from these ascended masters, giving messages from them regularly. I never believed in psychic channeling, and still don't, but I felt this delivery was different and not psychic. The messenger - during my membership in the Summit - was Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1939-2009) who considered herself a guru as well as a messenger. The method she used to deliver dictations was to close her eyes and quiet her mind and then suddenly the "master" would begin speaking through her voice box. She was always consciously aware of what was said through her and did not go into a trance.
You can find many hundreds of other channelers today who do something similar or go into a trance. Most claim to be channeling "ascended masters" or some being from another dimension. Their messages can be as different as night and day, although still claiming - for the most part - that the other masters are the "real" master as well. Then there were those who claimed exclusivity. The Summit Lighthouse claimed no one else represented the ascended masters but their messengers, although they recognized some previous organizations as viable. Likewise, previous ascended master organizations did the same, claiming exclusivity to defend their territory and organization and to keep it viable while recognizing a few past messengers as real. Some channelers have no need to make such claims. Several channelers were once affiliated in some way with Prophet's group, or were released from it, and then gathered to themselves their own groups. Some defectors did not take up channeling but became voices exposing what they believed was the "ascended master" unreality.
I was in the Summit Lighthouse, also called Church Universal & Triumphant (CUT), for twenty years until the Prophet's retirement. "Prophet" was her real name. She married Mark Prophet in 1963 (he passed away in 1973 and supposedly became an ascended master shortly thereafter). Much like another "messenger" predecessor before him, the I AM Movement's widow, Edna Ballard, also claimed Guy Ballard had ascended and become an ascended master after he passed.
The Breakup of CUT
Elizabeth took over the organization and ran it for the next twenty-five years, along with her two husbands she married during those years, until she was eventually forced to retire after having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She died from the disease ten years later. The Summit Lighthouse was severely divided upon her retirement, and the individuals who claimed authority to run the group were not of the caliber of receiving much respect, especially after witnessing the way they went around the world, breaking up each study group and replacing each group's leadership with their own choices. Seeing this despicable behavior in action by supposedly "good" ascended master students, I wanted nothing more to do with the Summit Lighthouse. No matter what anyone suggested to these self-appointed leaders or attempted trying to have dialog with them about the division they were causing in the ranks, these new leaders were impervious to open communication with the surviving community (supposedly around 25,000 people around the world and not anywhere near the two million the I AM Movement had in their prime).
During my membership with the Summit Lighthouse, I believed most of what I heard and was taught. I have not been the gullible type, but coupled with the supposedly high attainment and wisdom of these "masters" believed to be our spiritual guides for the earth and my many spiritual experiences I had during my time with the group, I had full faith that this was a true, religious and pure teaching. I could feel the light of God, as the Holy Spirit, during some blessings, while giving decrees, and sometimes while listening to dictations, which experiences only helped confirm in my heart that God was present in my life and in these teachings.
From the beginning of my association with this organization, I witnessed that the people belonging to the inner group who helped run the organization were of a different caliber. Many of them appeared haughty, and often unkind, and definitely prideful, so I did not mix with them very often. It surprised me that the leaders were this way, but I felt it was part of the separation of the tares from the wheat, who might be "fallen angels" who were being given an opportunity to balance their karma (sins from past lives) by serving the masters, messengers, and community.
I gave thousands of hours of these decrees and prayers, which included New Age rosaries to Mother Mary, which were slightly different from the Catholic rosaries. I gave frequent novenas, fasted often, and prayed often, all practices that I believed contributed to my relationship with God and His intercession in my life that I had known prior to joining this organization. It was through these rituals that I began to hear these same "ascended masters" that Elizabeth supposedly did and others before and after her. I received many personal messages and refinings of my being, and I also took healing courses to augment my inner work, again with appearance of good fruit. I had many more spiritual experiences that defy logic, and I placed some of them in the realm of miracles. All those experiences, such as miracles happening in my life, the movement of the Holy Spirit I felt physically whatI believed was the light of God moving within my temple, kept me on my chosen path.
The Truth was Uncovered
Yet, all was not as it seemed on the cover of Church Universal & Triumphant. Elizabeth committed transgressions she herself condemned at the pulpit. She pretended to be greater than she was. I had heard rumors of some of these transgressions around her retirement time (1999) and later through two of her adult children's books and websites. I was horrified that this "messenger" I had trusted was not the "unascended ascended master" she claimed herself to be. Later, I read other books from disenchanted former members, and one astounding book from a member of the I AM Movement, which movement was one of the main predecessors to the Summit Lighthouse founded by Mark Prophet. Mark carried over into the Summit Lighthouse many of the I AM Movement's teachings and decrees.
Within these pages I share my experiences of those twenty years during my involvement with the Summit Lighthouse and now coming up to an additional twenty years following my separation from it. My former husband (Kim Michaels) claims he is also one of those "messengers" giving dictations, just as Elizabeth did. While I believed Mark and Elizabeth were the real deal, I could not feel the same confidence from my husband's channeling (nor did he of mine, ironically). What eventually led me to not trust his channeling was the appearance of his dictations that were very mental, verbose and very repetitive in context. I also do not ever remember feeling light or the Holy Spirit during my interactions during his dictations. I reasoned for years that this was the result of the audience he was teaching, which people seemed not of the high spiritual caliber of what the Summit audience usually presented. He eventually broke ties with me and joined with another woman who took dictations from these same "masters" as well.
The story of some of the highlights of my experiences during my Summit years are within these pages. Also, some of what I experienced as a messenger myself, as well as being married to a co-messenger that was on a different trajectory from the previous ascended master organizations are shared as well.
If you are a former or present member of an ascended master group, or want to understand what all this "new age" hubbub is that one can abundantly find on the internet, I share within these pages some condensed facts (with their sources) so you can read for further enlightenment on your own. I also share some Christian and Biblical concepts and traditions from scholars and Christian leaders for those who want to deepen their faith and understanding of the New and Old Testament.
One thing that is astounding, yet really quite common in many religions and Christian denominations, is how those in ascended master groups have closed themselves off to hearing any controversy about these ascended masters. It is easily brushed off as an evil attempt by the fallen ones to discredit rivals (their group's spiritual leaders who are believed to be the real deal) and lead mankind away from the truth. I brushed off any such rumors or stories about what was happening incognito with the messenger and the Summit Lighthouse for many years, not wanting to infect my consciousness with so-called evil rumors. After I was free from any group, including my own group I had formed, one day I was finally prompted from within to read Erin Prophet's book (one of the Prophet's children) about her experience with her mother and especially during the shelter cycle (1989-90). The book was published after her mother's passing. What was revealed within that book opened my eyes to what I knew was true and verified from other sources. I then began to research all the available information to confirm.
For years I had deliberately ignored rumors about these messengers and their ascended master groups built up around them, truly knowing that to do so would open the door that might collapse the whole house of cards and unreality built around the ascended master teachings, with the I AM Presence, violet flame, ascensions, etc. Thus, resulting in not only the possibility of ending my marriage, but also my faith.
It takes time and healing to separate ourselves from the devil and his many disguises. God as a triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the foundation of Christianity and needs to be the basis of who we pray to. Although some Christian faiths believe in praying to saints and Mary as well, it is most important to bypass the impostors that come to us or through others. Discernment and wisdom is necessary to recognize the false Holy Spirit and where the true Spirit is moving. It is difficult, but it can be done with a willing heart and the deep desire to be free from any of the devil's tricks. I was ready to hear the truth, but still in shock that I had been a part of this mockery of God-Reality for so long. I pray that what I learned and experienced over these last forty years will be able to assist others caught in the web of these false beings called "ascended masters".
In the love of truth,
Lorraine Michaels
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