Disclaimer: While this fanfic is loosely based off of the real Heaven's Gate cult and contains real interviews, news reports, transcripts, and information, this is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The author is not associated with Heaven's Gate, nor Supernatural and its characters. The author is only associated with their original characters (OC) and idea for this story.
Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
"...if we can't live in peace, then let's die in peace"~ Pastor Jim Jones; The Peoples' Temple
Chapter One
San Diego, California
1997
HEAVEN'S GATE CULT MEMBERS FOUND DEAD
Following an anonymous tip, police enter a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California, and discover 39 victims of a mass suicide. The deceased–21 women and 18 men of varying ages–were all found lying peaceably in matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers and had no noticeable signs of blood or trauma. It was later revealed that the men and women were members of the "Heaven's Gate" religious cult, whose leaders preached that suicide would allow them to leave their bodily "containers" and enter an alien spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
The cult was led by Marshall Applewhite, a music professor who, after surviving a near-death experience in 1972, was recruited into the cult by one of his nurses, Bonnie Lu Nettles. In 1975, Applewhite and Nettles persuaded a group of 20 people from Oregon to abandon their families and possessions and move to eastern Colorado, where they promised that an extraterrestrial spacecraft would take them to the "kingdom of heaven." Nettles, who called herself "Ti," and Applewhite, who took the name of "Do," explained that human bodies were merely containers that could be abandoned in favor of a higher physical existence. As the spacecraft never arrived, membership in Heaven's Gate diminished, and in 1985 Bonnie Lu Nettles, Applewhite's "sexless partner," died.
During the early 1990s, the cult resurfaced as Applewhite began recruiting new members. Soon after the 1995 discovery of the comet Hale-Bopp, the Heaven's Gate members became convinced that an alien spacecraft was on its way to earth, hidden from human detection behind the comet. In October 1996, Applewhite rented a large home in Rancho Santa Fe, explaining to the owner that his group was made up of Christian-based angels. Applewhite advocated sexual abstinence, and several male cult members followed his example by undergoing castration operations. In 1997, as part of its 4,000-year orbit of the sun, the comet Hale-Bopp passed near Earth in one of the most impressive astronomical events of the 20th century. In late March 1997, as Hale-Bopp reached its closest distance to Earth, Applewhite and 38 of his followers drank a lethal mixture of phenobarbital and vodka and then lay down to die, hoping to leave their bodily containers, enter the alien spacecraft, and pass through Heaven's Gate into a higher existence…
San Diego, California
NOW
The sound of the shower being turned off, and just seconds later, the sink faucet, draws Sam's attention away from his laptop. The doorknob turns, and Dean steps across the threshold; a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Good morning," he greets nonchalantly, ambling to the fridge and opening the door.
Sam raises his eyebrows. "Well, you're awful cheerful this morning," he remarks dryly, reverting his eyes back to his laptop.
"What, a guy can't be happy?" Dean's voice is muffled, presumably by the fridge. Sam hears the sound of a beer bottle being unscrewed.
"Dean, it's not even noon yet," Sam points out, gesturing to the time indicated on the laptop screen- approximately 8:30 A.M. "Day drinking? Really?"
Dean shrugs. "It's five o'clock somewhere," he quips, tipping his head back and sucking down his beer from the bottle.
Sam rolls his eyes, all too aware that there would be no purpose to argue, and sighs. "So, I think we've got a new case for us."
Dean sits down adjacent to Sam, immediately captivated. "Really."
"Yeah." Sam types something into the Google search bar, pulling up a website. "So, get this: in 1997, a cult called Heaven's Gate was found dead inside a mansion in San Diego." Sam pauses for effect. "They'd committed mass suicide by taking phenobarbital mixed with apple sauce and washed it down with vodka, then tied plastic bags around their head for extra measure. The police found 39 members lying dead in their own bunkbeds; covered in purple cloth."
"Do you think this is really our kinda gig, Sammy?" Dean remains skeptical. "It all just sounds like a typical mass suicide. Remember Jonestown? 'Don't drink the Koolaid'?"
"Yeah, but this is different, Dean," Sam insists, flicking his thumb at the computer screen. "I can tell you exactly why this is our kinda gig."
"Okay." Dean leans back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest. "Hit me with your best shot."
"The cult was obsessed with UFOs," Sam continues, reading off of Wikipedia. "Apparently, they were a UFO-based religion."
Dean arches his eyebrows. "That's a new one," he says, with a slight chuckle.
"Their belief system," Sam elaborates, scrolling down, "was based entirely off of aliens and UFOs. Members believed that Earth was about to be 'recycled', and the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately. While the group was against suicide, they defined suicide in their own context as 'to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered' and believed their 'human' bodies were only vessels meant to help them on their journey. In conversation, when referring to a person or person's body, they routinely used the word 'vehicle.' They believed evil space aliens- whom they called 'Luciferians'- falsely represented themselves to Earthlings as 'God', and conspired to keep humans from developing. Technically advanced humanoids, these aliens have spacecrafts, space-time travel, telepathy, and increased longevity. The founders believed that aliens planted the seeds of current humanity millions of years ago, and have come to reap the harvest of their work in the form of spiritually evolved individuals who will join the ranks of flying saucer crews. Only a select few members of humanity will be chosen to advance to this transhuman state. The rest will be left to wallow in the spiritually poisoned atmosphere of a corrupt world."
"Sucks," Dean mutters, tossing his water bottle in the air and allowing it to fall head first on the tabletop.
"That's not all," Sam goes on slowly. "There were actually 'techniques' and four methods for one to enter- or 'graduate'- to the next level. Pickup onto a spacecraft and transfer to a next level body aboard that craft. Then, a UFO 'version' of the Rapture would descent to earth and collect Applewhite, Nettles, and their followers, and their human bodies would be transformed through biological and chemical processes to perfected beings. The next is natural death or accidental death- here, the 'graduating soul' leaves the human container for a perfected next-level body. Outside persecution that leads to death: after Branch Davidians died in Texas and the events involving Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Applewhite was afraid that the American government would murder the members of Heaven's Gate. And the fourth method: willful exit from the body in a dignified manner. Near the end, Applewhite had a revelation that they may have to abandon their human bodies and achieve the next level as Jesus had done."
"The mass suicide?" Dean interjects, cracking the water bottle in his hands.
"Bingo," Sam confirms, not averting his eyes from the computer screen. "Hey- their website's still running."
"You're kidding." Dean frowns, dubious.
Sam shakes his head. "See for yourself."
Dean pulls his chair closer to Sam and leans over Sam's shoulder. "I'll be damned," he mutters, more to himself than to Sam. On the screen, a cryptic, 90's-esque website flashes at them, providing information about their beliefs, transcripts of video tapes, and scriptures. An email address is listed at the very bottom of the screen.
"Apparently, if you email them, they'll send you a VHS about their belief system," Sam adds.
Dean narrows his eyes. "Who the hell uses VHS anymore?"
Sam shrugs. "So, what do you think?"
"I think," Dean replies, chucking the water bottle into the nearby trash can, "it's worth checking out. There's something not human about that group. Hell, would normal people do something like that?"
"You don't know how far people will go, Dean," Sam states darkly. "Jim Jones? David Koresh?"
"Yeah, but there's something different about this one," Dean insists, his jaw tightening. "This is more than just sexual abuse and Koolaid. Koresh and Jones were screwed up in the head, for sure, but there's something…"
"Supernatural?" Sam cuts in, raising his eyebrows.
"Supernatural...about this one," Dean finishes grimly, his face unreadable.
"So, we're gonna check it out?" Sam ventures as Dean heads to the bathroom again.
"Yeah," Dean replies, his voice muffled again, this time by the bathroom door. "I think there's more to it than just typical cult stuff. They know more than they're telling."
"As in, they're still active?" Sam walks to the fridge and retrieves an ice-cold water bottle.
"Cults know how to lie." Dean emerges from the bathroom clad in ripped jeans, a brown leather jacket, and boots. "That's what they're best at. They brainwash. They prey on the most vulnerable, lonely ones. And once they suck you in, there's no backing out."
Sam nods. "Yeah," he agrees, swallowing. "Let's go."
How and When Heaven's Gate May Be Entered
What Our Purpose Is:
The Simple "Bottom" Line
Two thousand years ago, a crew of members of the Kingdom of Heaven who are responsible for nurturing "gardens," determined that a percentage of the human "plants" of the present civilization of this Garden (Earth) had developed enough that some of those bodies might be ready to be used as "containers" for soul deposits. Upon instruction, a member of the Kingdom of Heaven then left behind His body in that Next Level (similar to putting it in a closet, like a suit of clothes that doesn't need to be worn for awhile), came to Earth, and moved into (or incarnated into), an adult human body (or "vehicle") that had been "prepped" for this particular task. The body that was chosen was called Jesus. The member of the Kingdom of Heaven who was instructed to incarnate into that body did so at His "Father's" (or Older Member's) instruction. He "moved into" (or took over) that body when it was 29 or 30 years old, at the time referred to as its baptism by John the Baptist (the incarnating event was depicted as "...the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove" - Luke 3:22). [That body (named Jesus) was tagged in its formative period to be the receptacle of a Next Level Representative, and even just that "tagging" gave that "vehicle" some unique awareness of its coming purpose.]
The sole task that was given to this member from the Kingdom of Heaven was to offer the way leading to membership into the Kingdom of Heaven to those who recognized Him for who He was and chose to follow Him. "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" meant - 'since I am here, and I am from that Kingdom, if you leave everything of this world and follow me, I can take you into my Father's Kingdom.' Only those individuals who had received a "deposit" containing a soul's beginning had the capacity to believe or recognize the Kingdom of Heaven's Representative. They could get to His Father only through total reliance upon Him. He later sent His students out with the "Good news of the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," and His followers could then help gather the "flock" so that the "Shepherd" might teach others what was required of them to enter His Father's House - His Father's Kingdom - the Kingdom of Heaven - in the literal and physical Heavens - certainly not among humans on Earth. Leaving behind this world included: family, sensuality, selfish desires, your human mind, and even your human body if it be required of you - all mammalian ways, thinking, and behavior. Since He had been through this metamorphic transition Himself from human to Level Above Human - under the guidance of His Father - He was qualified to take others through that same discipline and transition. Remember, the One who incarnated in Jesus was sent for one purpose only, to say, 'If you want to go to Heaven, I can take you through that gate - it requires everything of you.'
Our mission is exactly the same. I am in the same position to today's society as was the One that was in Jesus then. My being here now is actually a continuation of that last task as was promised, to those who were students 2000 years ago. They are here again, continuing in their own overcoming, while offering the same transition to others. Our only purpose is to offer the discipline and "grafting" required of this transition into membership in My Father's House. My Father, my Older Member, came with me this time for the first half of this task to assist in the task because of its present difficulty.
Looking to us, and desiring to be a part of my Father's Kingdom, can offer to those with deposits that chance to connect with the Level Above Human, and begin that transition. Your separation from the world and reliance upon the Kingdom of Heaven through its Representatives can open to you the opportunity to become a new creature, one of the Next Evolutionary Level, rightfully belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Why It Is Difficult to Believe or Accept Us
We don't know if you believe in the real existence of negative or "lower" forces. If you do, then you may be able to understand or relate to some of what we are about to say. It seems that how your "programming" permits you to see or identify those forces, determines the limit of your acceptance or understanding. Many believe that there are "evil" acts or even "evil" individuals, but would draw the line before they would believe in evil spirits, evil discarnates, negative influences, malevolent space aliens, "Luciferians," or Satan and his fallen angels.
The generally accepted "norms" of today's societies - world over - are designed, established, and maintained by the individuals who were at one time "students" of the Kingdom of Heaven - "angels" in the making - who "flunked out" of the classroom. Legends and scriptures refer to them as fallen angels. The current civilization's records use the name Satan or Lucifer to describe a single fallen angel and also to "nickname" any "evil presence." If you have experienced some of what our "classroom" requires of us, you would know that these "presences" are real and that the Kingdom of God even permits them to "attack" us in order for us to learn their tricks and how to stay above them or conquer them. The space aliens, or Luciferians, use the discarnate spirits (the minds that are disembodied at the death of a body) as their primary servants - against potential members of the Kingdom of God. These "influences," or discarnates, are constantly "programming" every human "plant" (vehicle or body), to accept a set of beliefs and norms for behavior during a lifetime. From our point of view, this "programming" finds that body, and the vast majority of all human bodies, barely usable by students of the Kingdom of Heaven.
As the above example can serve to testify, the "lower forces" would - through their "norm" concept - what is "socially acceptable," what is politically correct - have you not believe in spirits, spirit possession, negative space aliens, Satan, etc. They would have you believe that to even dabble in these ideas is of the "occult," satanic, or at the least, giving credence to "fringe" topics. That's where they would also categorize any mental search of Eastern religions, astrology, metaphysics, paranormal, UFOs, etc., etc. In other words, they (these space aliens) don't want themselves "found out," so they condemn any exploration. They want you to be a perfect servant to society (THEIR society - of THEIR world) - to the "acceptable establishment," to humanity, and to false religious concepts. Part of that "stay blinded" formula goes like this: "Above all, be married, a good parent, a reasonable church goer, buy a house, pay your mortgage, pay your insurance, have a good line of credit, be socially committed, and graciously accept death with the hope that 'through His shed blood,' or some other equally worthless religious precept, you will go to Heaven after your death."
Many segments of society, especially segments of the religious, think that they are not "of the world," but rather that their "conversion" experience finds them "outside of worldliness." The next statement that we will make will be the "Big Tester," the one that the "lower forces" would use to clearly have you discredit or disregard us. That statement is: Unless you are currently an active student or are attempting to become a student of the present Representative from the Kingdom of Heaven - you ARE STILL "of the world," having done no significant separation from worldliness, and you are still serving the opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven. This statement sounds - to humans who have been so carefully programmed by the "lower forces" - arrogant, pompous, or egotistical at the least - as if by taking this stand we had something to gain - as if we were seeking recognition as "Deity" or as self-appointed prophets.
That Luciferian programming has truly been effective, for we don't even want to voice to you the statement in question. However, believe it or not, it is only for your sake - the sake of prospective recipients of the Kingdom of Heaven - that we must "tell the truth," openly identify to you as Representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven, well aware of the "fallout" of that position.
The hard facts or bold statements in a nutshell, that are so difficult to accept or "digest" - come down to: If you want or ever expect to go to Heaven - here is your window. That window opportunity requires: 1) an incarnate (as human) Representative of the Kingdom of Heaven; 2) that all who hope to enter Heaven become active students of that Representative while the Representative is present; 3) those who endure the "transition classroom" until it ends (adequately bonding or "grafting" to that Representative) will go with that Representative - literally LEAVE the human kingdom and Earth as He is about to do. Staying behind, for any significant period, could jeopardize that "graft." That window to Heaven will not open again until another civilization is planted and has reached sufficient maturity (according to the judgment of the Next Level).
We can't blame you for "buying into" the "Luciferian" program. What else has been available during those periods when no Representative was present? Almost nothing - save some warnings in the Scriptures, i.e., Luke 20:34-36, Luke 21:23, Mark 12:25, and Mark 13:17-19. Check these out.
Here's hoping our efforts have not been in vain. We feel that it is our instruction from our Father's Kingdom to get this material out at this time. Maybe, just maybe, there are some who can benefit from it - if not now, then possibly in some future time.