Church Universal and Triumphant (Elizabeth Clare Prophet)
American Ascended-Master movement led by Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1973–2009). Notorious for the 1989–90 armed-bunker apocalyptic incident at Royal Teton Ranch (Montana).
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
+1 for the 1989–90 Royal Teton Ranch armed-bunker apocalyptic incident.
Profile facts
In context
Church Universal and Triumphant grew from Mark Prophet's 1958 Summit Lighthouse with channelled Ascended-Master teachings. Elizabeth Clare Prophet led after Mark's 1973 death. The 1990 ATF arms charges and members' bunker preparations for the predicted nuclear apocalypse drew international attention. Organisation continues at much-reduced scale.
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Reclamation Collective — Religious-trauma-aware therapist network; relevant for post-exit identity-rebuilding.
- Religious Trauma Institute — Religious-trauma clinical research and clinician directory (Marlene Winell tradition).
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Legal cases & controversies
- 1990 ATF arms charges
Evidence by BITE axis
- +1 for the 1989–90 Royal Teton Ranch armed-bunker apocalyptic incident
- 1989–90 apocalyptic bunker incident
- Total surrender of personal life
- Channelled-message authority structure
Timeline
- 1958Summit Lighthouse founded by Mark Prophet
- 1973Mark dies; Elizabeth assumes leadership
- 1990Royal Teton Ranch bunker incident
- 2009Elizabeth dies
Sources
- Catherine Wessinger academic work search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: NRM high-control.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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