Krishna Venta

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by asoapymessromances

by asoapymessromances

Krishna Venta (born FrancisHerman Pencovic; March 29, 1911 – December 10, 1958) was anAmerican cult leader. He was the leader of a Californian religiousgroup in the 1940s and 1950s. Venta founded his WKFL (Wisdom,Knowledge, Faith, and Love) - Fountain of the World cult in SimiValley, California.

Pencovic was born in San Francisco in1911 to Albert Pencovic, a Jewish immigrant from Romania, and hiswife Maude Busenbach, born in Utah. Pencovic graduated from highschool in Elko, Nevada. He married twice and served in the UnitedStates Army during World War II.

After World War II, Pencovic startedhis "religion". In April 1948, he stated: "Imay as well say it, I am Christ." Krishna claimed to havebeen born on another planet Neophrates 240,000 years ago. This planetpurportedly occupied the same orbit as Earth does currently. Pencovicalso alleged it was humanity's first home. As Pencovic's canongoes, Neophrates moved inexorably closer to the sun and becameuninhabitable. According to him, a fleet of great rocket ships, eachmore than a mile long and capable of carrying 35,000 people, then setoff to colonize the dark planet that would become Earth. Naturally,their leader was the soul that would one day manifest as KrishnaVenta. Along the way, Venta would bestow revelations upon suchnotables as Melchizedek of Salem, Kukulcan, Quelzalcoatl, Masaw,Abraham, Moses, Mohammed, the Buddha, the angels Moroni and Gabriel,and Jesus Christ. All of this was detailed in Krishna Venta'shistory of humanity which detailed a series of periodicnear-extinction-level events with distinctly theosophical and Mormonovertones. In 1951, he legally changed his name to "KrishnaVenta" in California.

The Fountain of the World first gainednational exposure in 1949 when the news reported that Fountainmembers were among the first to offer aid to the victims of StandardAir Lines Flight 897R, which crashed into the Simi Hills, killing 35of the 48 people on board. They volunteered for other humanitarianefforts including fighting wildfires, offering shelter to those inneed and feeding the homeless. They also drew attention in the pressfor uniformly dressing in robes, going barefoot, and requiring itsmale members to grow beards and wear their hair long. In 1956, asecond branch of the WKFL Fountain of the World cult was establishedin Homer, Alaska. The Fountain was marginally controversial becauseone of the requirements for membership was that one donate allworldly assets to the group before joining. For most who joined theFountain, this was irrelevant since most had few possessions anyway.

Venta prophesied an imminent cataclysm,with the Master's projected flock of 144,000 guaranteed to besaved, and to build a new world once the dust and blood had settled,a version well adapted to the Cold-War climate of the times. Thecoming cataclysm would be a racially motivated civil war in the West,particularly in America, where the blacks would rise up and bloodilyvanquish the whites (with aid from Russia). Then the traitorousRussians would turn around and conquer the blacks, and try to takeover the world. However, Krishna's followers after spending the wartucked snugly away in a safe place would re-emerge from a secretvalley, conquer the Russians and build a shining new world ofequality, justice, and peace, with Krishna Venta in his rightfulplace as world messiah.

Venta was killed in Chatsworth,California, along with seven bystanders, on December 10, 1958 in asuicide bombing instigated by Peter Duma Kamenoff and Ralph Muller. The two disgruntled former followers had accused Venta of being afraud who mishandled cult funds and had been intimate with theirwives. The two ex-cultists were linked to the blast by bizarre taperecordings in which they vowed: "to bring Krishna tojustice". The explosion blew off the roof of an adjoiningdormitory for children and touched off a brush fire that swept over150 acres. Two children, both girls, ages 8 and 9, and a 59-year-oldwoman were seriously burned.

After his death two of his followers,Sister Thedra (Dorothy Leon) and Sister Wali, moved to Mount Shasta,California, where they channeled messages supposedly from him.Fountain membership at both sites declined rapidly following hisdeath, and the cult had ceased to exist by the mid-1970s.

It is also purported that in 1968, tenyears after Krishna Venta was assassinated, another Jesus-claimant bythe name of Charles Manson and his coterie (including Susan Atkins)resided for several months at the Fountain of the World. Manson hadeven made an unsuccessful takeover bid. He was eventually booted fromthe commune, and moved his group to nearby Spahn Movie Ranch. Thereis debate over how far Krishna Venta's teachings influenced CharlesManson, but there are strong parallels between Venta's apocalypseand Manson's Helter Skelter. A bloody race war in which the whiteswill lose to the blacks, after which Manson's family would re-emergefrom a secret cave in the desert or "hole in the earth"and take over.

Sun Myung Moon and his followers alsotook up residence with the Fountain of the World community forseveral months in 1968.