Concerned Christians avoid relatives at Denver airport

[January 13, 1999]

Fourteen members of the Denver, Colorado-based doomsday cult, Concerned Christians, were deported from Jerusalem, Israel last week. On Saturday, they were returned to Denver International Airport (DIA) accompanied by security escorts.

Family members of the cultists anxiously gathered at the designated DIA gate on Saturday only to discover that the group requested police and airport personnel make arrangements for them to avoid contact with the waiting relatives. The Concerned Christian members expressed "concerns about their safety" regarding contact with their families. Cults often encourage or enforce members to cut off relations with loved ones. Police assisted the cultists to board a bus on the tarmac directly after deplaning, avoiding the terminal altogether. "They're not even looking up," said Beth Bayles, watching as her son, John, boarded the bus.

Hal Mansfield, a Fort Collins, Colorado cult expert, stated, "When they arrived, many families were waiting just to get a chance to see if they were OK and alive and give messages of love and concern. The group refused to see them, out of a sense of 'fear,' a common control technique... The group went to a Holiday Inn in downtown Denver." Mansfield reported that that family members were in the lobby trying to get word to their loved ones, but without response. At long last, a hotel employee delivered a scribbled note from a cult member to her mother in the lobby. It read, "I love you, Mom." This note was a ray of hope for all the families, some of whom traveled thousands of miles to Denver.

In October, 1998, scores of Concerned Christians members sold their belongings, left their jobs in the Denver metro area, and physically vanished. Israeli police were alerted by Denver authorities that members might resurface in Jerusalem, potentially to plot attacks there to hasten the return of Jesus, including plans for a mass suicide to herald the new millenium. Their leader, Denver resident Monte Kim Miller, predicted he would die a violent death in the streets of Jerusalem in December 1999 only to rise again in three days as part of the Second Coming of Jesus and the end of the world. Mansfield, familiar with Miller's "manifesto" expounding on the evils of the U.S., commented the contents were "not unlike other extremist groups."

Attorney Eran Avital represents three of the deported cultists, Eric Malesic of Westminster, John Bayles of Denver, and Terry Smith of Eagle. Avital defended the three in a recent investigation by Israeli police, who alleged the Colorado residents were plotting a gunfight with authorities to hasten the apocalypse. Despite this early expelling by Israeli authorities, Avital commented, "I don't believe that the rest of the group will drop their intention of coming to Israel. Their feelings to come to Israel are so strong."

The deported cult members returned to Denver consist of three married couples, two single men, and six children. Other members, ranging in age from infancy to 68, and in numbers of up to 80, are not yet accounted for. Unconfirmed reports place a number of members in Greece and leader Miller in London.

Sources

Chicago Tribune, January 10, 1999
Los Angeles Times, January 10, 1999
The Rocky Mountain News(Denver, Co.), January 7, 1999