60 years ago: The violent death of U.S. cult leader Krishna Venta

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:24 (also Mark 13:22)

Cults, and violent events involving cults, have been around for a while, long before the Jonestown mass suicide/murder in November 1978 and the Heaven's Gate mass suicide in 1997. This blogger had never heard of this one until a few days ago: on December 10, 1958, cult leader Krishna Venta and seven of his followers were killed, and two girls, aged 8 and 9, and a 59-year-old woman were seriously burned, in a suicide bombing in Chatsworth, California performed by Peter Duma Kamenoff and Ralph Muller, two disgruntled former members of the cult, who had accused Mr. Venta of mishandling cult funds and being intimate with their wives. Messrs. Kamenoff and Muller were also killed in the blast.

Mr. Venta, born Francis Penkovic, decided to start his own religion in the late 1940s. Proclaiming himself to be Christ, and to have reportedly claimed to have led a convoy of rocket ships to Earth from the extinct planet Neophrates, he founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World movement in Simi Valley, California in 1948, and legally changed his name to Krishna Venta in 1951. The cult required new members to donate all worldly assets to the organization; members were required to wear robes and go barefoot, with men being required to grow beards and wear their hair long. The cult performed various relief works, including fighting fires and helping the needy. A second WKFL Fountain of the World branch opened near Homer, Alaska shortly before Mr. Venta's death.

With the object of the cult's worship dead, membership in WKFL Fountain of the World rapidly declined, and the movement had faded away by the mid-1970s, although a couple of female followers later claimed to channel messages from Krishna Venta. Cults never seem to completely disappear, however; Earth's Order of Melchizedek claims to be carrying on the legacy of WKFL Fountain of the World. The WKFL Fountain of the World Official Website, maintained by bombing survivor Jon Layne Fisher, apparently no longer exists.

For further reading, see:

My Search for Krishna Venta by Shawn Sutherland

Califia's Children: Krishna Venta and the WKFL Fountain of the World (December 18, 2014) by Michael Marinacci