All for the Love of God:
Life with Mark Prophet, a Modern Day Mystic
Mark Prophet, founder of Summit Lighthouse
by Alex Reichardt with Margaret Reichardt and Other Disciples of Mark Prophet
Excelsior Publications, LLC, P.O. Box 64625, Virginia Beach, VA 23467-4625
Copyright 2008
ISBN 978-1-60530-954-5
313 pages, paperback, $14.95
Review by Joseph P. Szimhart, 2008 November
Plane Astral
The Reichardts wrote this book for devotees of Mark Prophet (1918-1973) specifically and possibly for students of the Great White Brotherhood who do not follow opposing groups or cults. Followers of opposing groups tend to view Mark Prophet as a false Messenger. Besides the author and his wife, there are fifteen other contributors who each add a short chapter based on personal experiences with Mark Prophet. For people unfamiliar with Mark Prophet, he founded a New Age religion called Lighthouse of Freedom, later Summit Lighthouse, around 1958 in eastern America. It eventually grew to a large sect at its peak by 1990 as Church Universal and Triumphant with over 20,000 followers worldwide. Prophet based his movement primarily on the earlier "I AM" Activity. He embellished his teaching with occultism, neo-paganism, Theosophy, Agni Yoga, Christian Science and fundamentalist Christianity.
The book is more testimonial by fawning devotees than biography or assessment. There is almost innocence in Alex Reichardt's approach to Mark and his religion. No matter what Mark did or said, Alex and the other authors justify and rationalize even abusive behavior and fantastic claims. Mark said he was a pharaoh and an apostle of Jesus in past lives, for example. As indicated in the book, Mark kept staff as busy as possible while they lived under austere “monk-like” circumstances. Reichardt reports that it was not unusual for Mark’s personal staff to “disappear into the night” never to be seen again. No clear explanation appears but the implication by Reichardt is that the chela “failed” the tests of the Ascended Masters. The non-devoted reader will easily recognize Alex's high degree of narcissism and suggestibility in Mark's presence. On page 19 Alex relates that he just began his journey with Mark around 1966 but, "[he] was beginning to feel supercharged by the light I felt in this place" as he entered the main center for the first time. Another devotee, Timothy, gives a similar example: "I had various experiences that proved to me that the teachings were real. As I reflect back, some were frankly astonishing." (280)
The sense of the miraculous pervades the text as every "chela" recounts magical events that convinced them they must be on the right path with the right guru. A glossary will help those unfamiliar with Summit Lighthouse (SL) teachings to grasp the group jargon about 'Fohat, decree, four lower bodies, the Presence, Ruby Ray, Violet Flame, and Watchers,' for example. Other terms peculiar to group interpretation not in the glossary may be troublesome: 'sex cones (206), inner levels, mystery school (207).'
Neo-pagan Wiccans I know easily recognize the Summit Lighthouse decrees as casting spells for wisdom, healing, income, and good weather as well as for stopping the evil energies of specified persons, objects and spirits. "Decreeing" is the core ritual of Mark Prophet’s movement along with giving or speaking “dictation” from discarnate entities. Mark Prophet assumed the role of Messenger or a channel for a host of "I AM" and other Ascended Masters. Reichardt gives ample evidence of the use of decrees and dictation throughout the narratives.
Mark Prophet and his co-messenger Elizabeth have warned repeatedly about "astral plane" forces that can deceive and infect a seeker. By SL's definition on line, Astral Plane is: "A frequency of time and space beyond the physical, yet below the mental, corresponding to the emotional body of man and the collective unconscious of the race; the repository of mankind's thoughts and feelings, conscious and unconscious. Because the astral plane has been muddied by impure human thought and feeling, the term "astral" is often used in a negative context to refer to that which is impure or psychic."
Ironically, Astral Plane activity is a good metaphor for events described in this book that is riddled with examples of sympathetic magic, coincidence wrongly interpreted as divine direction, and psychic events. To Mark Prophet and his followers, magical events in Harry Potter novels are not only possible but happening in their lives every day.
At the end, the book offers a list of videos, books, and other paraphernalia just in case you wish to follow the authors down this path.