Strange Cults

A Strange And Esoteric Cult

Esoteric Magazine may sound like cheap porno, but it is the publication of the people who believe that they are to become the order of the priests of Melchizedek mentioned in the Bible. They believe that when their membership grows to 144,000, the kingdom of God will be established on earth.

This cult has been growing for 93 years now, and they live on 320 acres on a mountaintop near Applegate, a Sierra Nevada hamlet 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, California. They live in a four-story, 18-bedroom headquarters made out of bricks they fired and timber they cut. They made their own furniture, raised their own crops, and tended herds of livestock to make themselves self-sufficient. But the community gradually died off.

Reason: One of the major beliefs is that heaven on earth will never be achieved until people quit having sex. All their doctrines is based upon belief in no sex. Obviously, groups that don't reproduce must recruit.

But the Esoterics have been unsuccessful at recruiting, partly because they don't leave home and they no longer publish. They have stacks of old literature they can send out to inquirers. Actually, the cult is down to three members. They need 143,997 more to bring in the Kingdom.

"The only thing that sustains the three of us is faith," says President Fred Peterson, who is a healthy 48. His fellow members are 65 and 79.