[Image: Is there a Cult in Columbia? / Facebook]
As far as cat people go, Reverend Sheryl Ruthven and her end-times cat cult are right up there with the weirdest of them.
Ruthven and a few dozen of her followers started with the noble idea of starting a cat farm called Eva’s Eden to rescue abandoned kitties, but it wasn’t long before the whole mission turned weird.
Surrounded by felines, Ruthven soon began to believe that the cats were divine creatures that would carry the 144,000 souls mentioned in the book of Revelation, and once the apocalypse enters the discourse, things get real nutty.
In public, Ruthven’s followers who ran the nonprofit Eva’s Eden described themselves as a peaceful group devoted to Mother Nature and living in harmony. But behind the scenes, Ruthven’s ministry was a cult of personality, devoted to its prophet, who they say was Divine Magdalene, a reincarnated messiah figure who will create a new Eden after the apocalypse.
Followers worshipped Ruthven, following her every command, and even left their families for her. But cults don’t last, and most of the acolytes soon began exposing what they called “an abusive cult”.
One of the followers, Michelle Lamphier, first met Ruthven in the late 1990s at Gates of Praise, a small Pentecostal church in Bellingham, Washington. Lamphier was a new mom at the time and had just started going back to church when Ruthven, then known as Sheryl Walker, came into her life.
“She was tall, blond, rich and had an almost irresistible magnetism”, says Lamphier. “Everybody idolized her. Every woman wanted to be her best friend.”
It wasn’t long before the church split, with most of the congregation following Ruthven to start a new church, known as Freedom Fire Ministries. Here, followers soon realised that Ruthven was not just a reverend, but a prophet.
Just being in Ruthven’s presence was like a spiritual high, her former followers say. A smile, a touch or a kind word made them feel like they were experiencing God’s love firsthand. They came to believe that their salvation depended on being under Ruthven’s spiritual oversight or “covering.”
But followers soon learned the downside of following a prophet. No one was allowed to disagree with her, say former followers. Anyone who disobeyed was banished.
“She knew how to put the fear of God in us,” says Lamphier.
Soon, beliefs from other faiths and spiritual traditions were added. Worship services now opened with tai chi and Buddhist meditation. After that came teachings about chakras and healing crystals, Tibetan singing bowls, ancient Egyptian gods like Osiris and Isis, the Greek goddess Athena and a host of New Age-like practices.
PowerPoint slides of Ruthven’s sermon notes from around the same period show the group’s eclectic mix of beliefs — there are notes about the effects of a “powerful Karmic moon,” references to Yom Kippur and warnings about Judgment Day.
Things got weirder still and Ruthven’s followers eventually had to bow down to her during worship. Once she had claimed to be the Messiah, the congregation began drinking communion juice tinged with her blood.
“It’s like once you take one sip of the Kool-Aid, you keep drinking.”
Then tragedy struck and Ruthven’s cat, Eva, died. She saw the cat’s death as a sign she should start her own cat rescue. Writing in her journal, Ruthven claimed: “As I had studied and taught my people that of Egyptian Alchemy, I grew in reverence for their beliefs of honouring the Felines as vessels that are able to guide us through our passageway of life.”
Soon, the ‘prophet’ had 40 cats living in her home.
Ruthven taught her followers that cats were supernatural beings in disguise, carrying the 144,000 souls mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation. Those beings would come to the rescue of Ruthven’s followers during the Apocalypse.
“As long as you take care of them, then in your time of need, they will transform and take care of you.”
At first, Eva’s Eden met with public approval, but behind the scenes, things took an ugly turn. Rutheven began accusing her followers of revealing the secrets of her prophecies to outsiders, and people were banished left right and centre.
With things turning sour in Washington, Ruthven decided it was time for an “Exodus” to Tennessee. She told followers that the end was drawing near and they needed to begin preparations for the Apocalypse, which meant buying farms where they could live off the land when society collapsed.
Not long after arriving, Ruthven and her followers set up another small shelter in Tennessee. But locals were skeptical and soon former followers and estranged family members began blogging about their experience with Ruthven. Their Facebook page, called “Is There a Cult in Columbia, TN?” struck a nerve.
Eva’s Eden and the church shut down their websites and socials and today, there is little information on their whereabouts. Many believe her daughter-in-law, Nicole Walker, now runs the shelter in Kentucky, but of the prophet, there is no news.
The story of Ruthven and her Doomsday Cat Cult is now the basis for a Discovery documentary. Interviews with her followers try to piece together the story and delve into the tactics she allegedly used to lead her followers toward financial ruin and break their familial bonds.
If you’re into cats and cults, this should be fascinating.
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[Source: Nashville Scene]
