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(12/31/1995) e @ - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Precedence: ROUTINE Date: 08/1/1997 To: Los Angeles Attn: | From: Los Angeles NSD-6 Contacts [0 Drafted By: [madd Case ID #: 100A-LA-C170392 SUB A tPerding) Title: Millennialist and Apocalyptic Cults of Concern to the Domestic Terrorism (DT) Program, Unaddressed Work Control File; Ds/T 00: Los Angeles Synopsis: This report will serve as Los Angeles’ program review for captioned title. It is the result of a survey of both FBI- generated and open source material relating to so-called ‘millennialist” (millenarian) and apocalyptic cults. Additional information on this topic comes from a seminar presented at UCLA on 10/28/96, which dealt with the rhetoric of apocalyptic groups. Visiting Professor Steven O'Leary, author of the book Arquing the Apocalypse, was the featured_speaker at the event which was hosted by UCLA professor| Information on the Christian Identity (CI) movement comes From a lecture presented by a the California Specialized Training Institute (CSTI). Details: As seen in high profile cases such as Heaven's Gate, People’s Temple, the Branch Davidians, and Aum Shinrikyo, the potential for loss of life on a large scale is just one of the dangers posed by cults which adhere to millennial or apocalyptic beliefs. One of the major differences between an apocalyptic cult and a non-millennial inspired religious group or commune is the cult’s belief that its members’ physical deaths will somehow serve to hasten God’s appearance on earth or ensure their own ascension to a “higher level of existence”. Millennialist belief is seeded in the cataclysmic message found in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation. Many Christian-based millennial groups plan for the second coming of Christ to take place around the end of the second millennium, the year 2000. Some believe that the event will be a followed by a thousand-year period of holiness during which Christ is to rule on earth. The movements which are of concern to the FBI’s DT program are those which believe that the Apocalypse will be Copy OF STRTAL th ee ee b6 BTC b6 b7C