A Statement on Predictions

By Richard Kieninger

Last year at this time I alerted The Stelle Group and the readers of the Stelle Letter to a prediction given me in 1964 by two of my Teachers that the United States will not observe its 201st anniversary. Inasmuch as the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, has been popularly regarded as the birthday of our country, I assumed that the U.S.A. would not survive as a political entity beyond July 4, 1977. This seemed to fit another prediction referred to repeatedly by my Teachers since 1953 that the U.S. economy would collapse in the mid 1970s. The Stelle Group has attuned its preparations with this expectation occurring as early as 1973.

It is now obvious that the Brotherhoods do not regard our declaration of independence from Britain as the beginning date of the U.S.A. but which date actually marks our establishment as a nation I am hesitant to venture. Certainly the last date possible would be Washington's inauguration as the first president under the Constitution in 1789, but that seems too late, considering the imminence of economic crisis recently being forecasted by international economists. I was also told that the United States would never be involved in an exchange of nuclear bombs, and that our part of the world will not be embroiled in the final war, Armageddon, because the people who are now citizens of the U.S.A. would live in a number of smaller political entities to arise later out of the ruins of economic and political turmoil during the late seventies and early eighties. Small, disunited countries would therefore constitute no threat to world powers at the turn of the century.

I was frequently asked during the last twelve months how I would personally react should my interpretation of the July 4th date turn out to be incorrect. I guessed I would feel embarrassed, unsure, and let down by Those who could have been more explicit in Their predictions. I also guessed that I would probably maintain a very low profile thereafter and push less publicly to alert others to prepare against coming disaster. It would have been safer, obviously, to have said nothing, but I would have felt worse to remain silent if others were taken unaware. After it turned out that I was incorrect, my first reaction was one of embarrassment and a diffuse anger which I could not logically direct toward anyone other than myself. But I now enjoy a great sense of relief at this reprieve of unknown duration before us. I am personally convinced that disastrous changes in our economy and national structure are still to come, but now I find I have no more sure clue to the timetable than anyone else, and that has lifted a sense of weighty responsibility from my shoulders. I have already prepared for these contingencies as best I can, so that whenever they do come, I and The Stelle Group are ready. Moreover, I now find my enthusiasm for the Work before me has increased and an underlying gloominess has fled with the prospect of more time to build and to reach more people. A side benefit of my daily expecting to see the U.S.A. become defunct has been my poignant awareness of how much I love my country and admire the democratic principles and freedoms upon which its strength was founded.

Stelle Letter July 1977