THE “BLUE LIGHTNING” FLASHES AT CLEVELAND
By Gerald B. Bryan
We shall now recount stirring
events which led up to the inauguration of a new system of attendance at the
Ballard classes.
For five years the “Accredited
Messengers of Saint Germain” had openly
preached their political and religious doctrines to the American people.
Suddenly, however, following a
hectic 10-day class at Cleveland in October, 1939, all this was changed.
Then began their new system of
holding all meetings “closed,” open
only to those who would sign pledges of allegiance to the “Ascended Masters”
and their three-and-only Accredited Messengers.
One of the reasons for this
change from open to closed meetings was due, no doubt, to the fact that their
meetings were getting a bit too fanatical and funny for the general public to
tolerate. The furious decreeing and condemnation of “spies” and other “enemies”
from the platform, the lack of tolerance and true devotion, did not make the
average unhexed newcomer feel that these people were altogether sane or
inspired by a preponderance of Christian love and charity. They would perhaps
notice the ungrammatical language used by “Perfect Beings from the Seventh
Octave of Light,” or they might even notice Guy Ballard taking his watch out to
see how much time an all-knowing “Master” or “Goddess” had for the dictation — all
of which would give rise to the unkind thought that it was only Guy Ballard
himself dictating his own messages.
Such “vicious” individuals from
the unregenerate public had to be dealt with in some way. They usually had
watchful Minute Men eject them from the auditorium, but, as we shall see, some
of these “storm troopers” of the Ballards took their jobs a little bit too
seriously.
Occasionally, too, some woman
would object to the removing of her hat — a little observance absolutely
necessary to enable the great Saint Germain to send “Light Rays” into her
brain. Whether she gave the great “Master” permission to do this or not, it was
to be done unto her. She, and everyone else, was drafted for complete “Light
Ray” service during the entire meeting. Baldheaded men, it would appear, would
have no protection at all from Saint Germain’s Light Ray.
Conscientious objectors to this
rigid, hat-removing requirement of the Ascended Masters would be
unceremoniously and, if necessary, forcefully ejected — the most conscientious
of them, all the while, voicing down the aisle an audible protest.
A woman who had this experience
happen to her in Detroit, wrote to the writer as follows:
“I went to hear them yesterday and simply refused to remove my hat or
applaud them because I did not know anything about their doctrines. I was
ushered out because of it . . . stopped the show for a while. If that ‘Tube of
Light’ of Saint Germain’s could not penetrate a little bit of cloth on my head,
the ‘God’ they worship must be a weak God.”
Such happenings, of course,
worked against the peace and harmony of each miracle-working class; and, as we
shall see, sometimes brought about legal actions which the bolt-throwing Thors
of this cult could not handle with their death-dealing “Blue Lightning.”
Occasional disturbances of this
kind were bad enough, but when the Accredited Messengers reached Cleveland in
October, 1939, for the usual 10-day open meeting, it seemed as if all the
“sinister forces” of the universe had arrayed themselves against their “Powers
of Light.”
Part of the trouble that ensued
was brought about by the Minute Men at the door being caught a little off
guard, in that they permitted a bad-acting newspaper man by name of Westbrook
Pegler, who possesses a particularly trenchant pen, to get into their meeting.
It further appears that neither
G-man “Saint Germain” nor the great “Inner Secret Service” Chief himself,
“K-17,” knew that this nationally-known columnist was in the audience, or they
would surely have sent their annihilating “Blue Lightning” at him, and that
would have been the end of the matter!
Perhaps, too intent on directing
their “Blue Lightning” at the enemy abroad, they neglected the nearer menace at
their own door. At any rate, there he was — a sort of literary bull in an “Ascended-Master”
china shop!
Now, as the trenchant-pen Pegler
sat in meeting, pretty soon he was rubbing his eyes and doubting his ears. So
many things were happening... foreign submarines being destroyed by Swords of
Blue Flame . . . Japanese bombers being routed by Ascended Masters . . .
William Shakespeare shaking his spear. . . . etc. . . . etc. . . . that upon
leaving, he said, he had to buy a “sheaf of books to confirm in print what he
had heard in bewilderment from the platform.”
So armed with the booklets, which
doubtlessly assured him of his own sanity, and that what he had heard he had really
heard and not imagined, he sat down and wrote the first of two articles on the
strange cult, beginning in this wise:
“It seems impossible that in all
history the human race has produced any more humiliating rebuke to its claims
of reason and dignity that a certain congregation of about 1,000 Americans who
have been gathering afternoons and evenings lately in Cleveland to take part in
a religious cult known as the Great I AM.”
He went on to say among other
scathing denunciations in this first article, that it was “the most revolting
travesty in the entire record of religious eccentricity in the United States.” (United
Feature Syndicate, Oct. 24, 1939.)
This and his other article on the
cult, appearing as they did in so many newspapers of a syndicated chain,
brought much unfavorable publicity to the “Accredited Messengers” and their
strange cult.
The “Blue Lightning” began to
flash at this Cleveland class as never before, but too late now to stop the
“sinister forces,” other adverse things began to happen.
A Cleveland candid camera fan,
while at the meeting attempted to photograph the camera-shy Accredited
Messengers through a hole in his hat; but, as cameras are not permitted, he
didn’t quite get away with it.
One of the white-uniformed
storm-troopers spied him in the act, and, according to the account in the
Cleveland Press of October 25, “not only ripped the film from his camera but
also knelt on his Adam’s apple, bloodied his nose and removed small portions of
epidermis from various parts of his face.”
The result was a suit against the
Accredited Messengers for $5,000, court attachments on 4 canary-yellow
Chryslers, 1 “Ascended Master” Harp, 1 earth-plane Novachord, and various and
sundry stage props.
Following closely upon this was
another suit for $5,000 made by a woman who refused to obey Saint Germain’s
mandate concerning the removal of hats. We quote an article in the Cleveland Press of October 25, 1939:
-
“Mrs. _____ asserts
that she was forcibly ejected from the auditorium, suffering injuries to her
spine, on Friday last, when she refused to remove her hat out of respect to the
Great I AM. White clad ushers, or Minute Men, as they are known, flung her to
the sidewalk, she asserts.”
From these harrowing experiences
at Cleveland and with their “Blue Lightning” in full retreat, the Ballards
moved on to the Eastern coast, temporarily minus their four canary-yellow cars,
the “Ascended-Master” harp, and other necessities of their trade, which had
been pasted all over with legal attachments at Cleveland — mere pieces of paper
which Saint Germain’s “Blue Lightning” could not dissolve quite so easily as it
dissolved three considerably more weighty submarines just in time to save the
Panama Canal.
Under such un-Ascended Master circumstances, the scheduled open meetings at
Philadelphia and Washington were forthwith canceled on order of “Saint
Germain,” and in those cities the new system of “closed” classes started.
Only the faithful and obedient
students were gathered together at those classes; and the guards at the door,
not depending so much on the stopping power of the “Blue Lightning,” became
physically more vigilant in their efforts to keep out process servers and
bad-acting newspaper people.
On the afternoon of November 12,
1939, at Washington —city of Guy Ballard’s former victories as
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army!— the lovely “Goddess of Light” came
forth to make a few pertinent remarks concerning recent happenings.
“These beloved Messengers,” she
said, “who have never harmed a fly have been set upon by such depraved
creatures as put forth these articles. Those individuals will yet understand,
they are dealing with a Power of Light with which they cannot cope.” (p. 10,
Feb., 1940, V.)
“Do not talk about these classes
outside,” continued the Goddess. “Spies are everywhere and in the future there
will be no outer notice of when or where the classes are to be held . . . If
spies and people come to you for information . . . tell them it is none of
their business.” (pp. 17-18.)
That same evening, “Saint
Germain,” more threatening in his remarks than the Goddess, told the
class-leaders:
-
“You must take a more
positive stand, release a force in those places and throw out people who get
nosey. There is no law in this land that allows anybody to come into your place
and snoop around.” (p. 21, Feb., 1940, V.)
-
“You just wait,
beloved ones, until these classes have been closed for six months or a year. If
you do not see a scrambling in the outer world, then I will miss My guess.” (p.
22.)
-
“We have a means
recently established by which We can reach people, certain people at any
time... This will help tremendously in the regulation of things and in the
raising up of Ascended Master Friends . . .” (p. 25.)
-
“. . . The government
has watched this Activity from the beginning and knows that there is not one
harmful thing in it.” (p. 25.)
-
“It is Our Intent and
has been from the beginning that when We do begin to appear tangibly to you . .
. to become a Law for the student body—and when We do that, I assure you there
will be no Peglers or Millers. (applause)” [Miller is a newspaper man who
exposed the cult in Cleveland.] (p. 31.)
Then dispatching a 400-word
telegram to a Los Angeles class leader, firing him on the spot for
disobedience, this now thoroughly-aroused “Ascended Master” said:
-
“In the
future all classes and groups will be closed to the outside world... Then the
howling pack of wolves on the outside can howl to their hearts’ content.”
(Cid's observation: anyone with a
little discernment immediately realizes that the supposed messages of the
ascended masters transmitted through Guy and Edna Ballard were in reality
invented by those two liars.)
Having with proper threats
inaugurated their “closed” classes in Washington and Philadelphia, the Ballards
returned in the fall of 1939 to their great Mecca in Los Angeles.
At all former “Shrine” classes
the “blessed people of Los Angeles” had always been lovingly invited — even
through on their printed “invitation,” they stated:
-
“We always reserve
the right to refuse admittance or have anyone removed from the audience at our
discretion.”
At this new “closed” class,
however, only those of the “blessed Public” who would sign a pledge of
allegiance to the Ballards and their “Ascended Masters” could get in.
In addition, evidently afraid of
further legal suits and acutely conscious of the failure of their “Blue
Lightning” to handle such matters, they at this first “closed” Shrine class
made the “blessed public” agree not to hold the Ballards responsible for
anything that might happen at the classes.
So on both Eastern and Western
Coasts there was started, at these closed classes, a new dispensation over the
lives and liberties of their followers. No notes of any kind were permitted to
be taken, and no information was to be given on the outside concerning this
secret cult which today uses some of the methods of the German Gestapo. The
statement was made that if anything leaks out, God help the one through whom it
comes!
And as might be expected, these
secret classes made the credulous members of the same blessed public even more
anxious to be partakers in the “blessings” that were to be distributed in
greater abundance than before, now that the “spies” and heretics were to be
kept out.
There was a rush just before the
start of the Shrine class on December 22, to fulfill “Ascended-Master”
requirements of admission and to be the proud possessor of an “admission card”
which would entitle the fortunate student to unobstructed entrance into these
secret meetings.
And at this Shrine class, Edna
Ballard, who already many times before had demonstrated her ability to surmount
crisis in the movement, was destined to rise to new heights and powers of her feminine
dictatorship over her followers.
Six months before, in this city,
when a minor crisis had arisen and certain staff members had been dismissed for
disobedience, she had appeared as a Dictator before a “Daughters of Light” group,
and, according to a stenographic report, said:
-
“Don’t any of you
ever dare try to separate any of the staff from us again . . . I will drive
every bit of viciousness right back into your bodies, and I have the power to
do it. If you doubt my ability, just look at those who have just been
dismissed. They are living in want, in dire need, and the same thing will
happen to any others who cross us and this Work.”
But soon a real crisis was to
confront this feminine Dictator, who by such threats holds her people in abject
fear of her alleged powers.
For during this Shrine class
there was to occur an event which would test all the resourcefulness of this
woman who had in a few years risen from mediocre harpist and bookstore
saleswoman in Chicago to a position of psychic Dictator over the lives of thousands
of her followers throughout the United States of America.
What this event was, and the
effect of it, will be described in a later chapter.
(Psychic Dictatorship in America,
chapter 32)
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