Church Universal and Triumphant - 21st Century

21st Century

Elizabeth Prophet developed Alzheimer's disease in the late 1990s, and by December 2008, she was living in Bozeman, Montana under house care. This led to the church coming under the direction of a two-person presidency with a board of directors and a council of elders. She died October 16, 2009 at the age of 70. Prophet's legal guardian, Murray Steinman, says she suffered from advanced Alzheimer's disease and died at her apartment Thursday night.

In recent years several individuals have come forward claiming to deliver dictations from the Ascended Masters, Archangels, and Elohim. Former CUT minister Monroe Shearer and his wife, former member Carolyn, founded a new activity in 1995, The Temple of The Presence, now based in Tucson, Arizona. Another former church official, David C. Lewis, claimed to be delivering dictations by some of the same Ascended Masters named in Church Universal and Triumphant as well as other Ascended Masters unmentioned before. Now based in Livingston, Montana, Lewis claimed that the process for how one applies to be a Messenger has never been made public and that the elder to whom he submitted his application told him "there won't be any more messengers." Therefore, in 2005 he set up his own new Ascended Master Teachings group called The Hearts Center which is headquartered in Livingston, Montana, very close to the headquarters of the Church Universal and Triumphant in Corwin Springs, Montana. Kim Michaels and his ex-wife Lorraine, two former CUT members, have also claimed to be messengers of the Ascended Masters and publish dictations on their websites. Although when married, they used to collaborate, they have since split up and each accused the other of delivering false messages.

Organizations that recognize the Summit Lighthouse include The Temple of The Presence.

The Shearers have dismissed Lewis's claim to being a Messenger, as Elizabeth Clare Prophet dismissed the Shearers' claim, and as the leader of The Bridge to Freedom, Geraldine Innocente, dismissed the claim of the Summit Lighthouse founder Mark L. Prophet. CUT continues to hold quarterly retreats at the Royal Teton Ranch and to hold Summit University sessions around the world. Retreats for teens and young adults are held internationally twice a year.