Ben Fairhall's The Daily Behemoth posting, "Contactee responsible for Obama murder threat?" alerted me to this info.
Fairhall writes:
A man arrested for issuing threats against the life of President Elect Barack Obama did so on a UFO forum, sources claim. John Christopher, 42, has posted several video clips to You Tube describing the multi-dimensional nature of reality and the inner earth.
Several wire service stories, such as the following one, confirmed the arrest at the end of last week:
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Wisconsin man has been arrested in Mississippi for threats he allegedly made against President-elect Barack Obama on the Internet.
Steven Joseph Christopher, 42, was arrested Friday [January 16, 2009] by the Secret Service in Brookhaven, Miss., and was charged with threatening to assassinate Obama for what he claimed was "the country's own good," according to federal prosecutors. The criminal complaint was sealed until Christopher's appearance in federal court.
Judge James C. Sumner ordered Christopher held until a bail hearing next Thursday. Sumner suggested Christopher be held in isolation for his own safety.
A news release says Christopher made the threats Jan. 11 and 15 on the Web site www.alien-earth.org.
A more in-depth overview of the arrest is carried at the Huliqsite, including this:
Steven Joseph Christopher, age 42, has reportedly made the threats on January 11, 15, and 16 in a chat forum on the site www.alien-earth.org, a website about UFOs and aliens, the US Department of Justice said. He has created a new forum topic entitled, "ok we have 9 days until my Presidential Assasination[sic]." He referred to Obama as a 'sacrificial lamb.' "Yes, I have decided I will assassinate Barack Obama. It's really nothing personal about the man. He speaks well, has a loving although controlling wife and two cute daughters. But I know it's for the country's own good that I can do this. Barack Obama, I view more as a sacrificial lamb, but the sacrifice must take place," Christopher wrote on January 11.
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As it turns out this man calls himself "Stevie the Playboy", "SHR," "Trinity" and in some cases "god". Christopher also spent time on the internet, using at least three different usernames to post about 70 different YouTube videos. The Alien-Earth Web site administrator notified a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service of the posted web messages.
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"I'm trying to get people's attention, they were only bluffs. I'm trying to get everyone to listen to me because I have an important message from God," said Christopher. "Everyone needs to move to Florida by December 31st, this is the end of the world as we know it," he further warned in a video posting.
Some of Christopher's thoughts about planetary relationships sound more like the Heaven's Gate and Solar Temple cults (see pages 75-93, The Copycat Effect), than ufological, in nature, however.
Indeed, reading his rambling threats, Steven Joseph Christopher, a man with three first names, who sometimes called himself "Trinity," it turns out, seems to be deeply anti-semitic and mentally ill.
3 comments:
Speaking of The Solar temple, Loren, you can find a comprehensive dossier written after their Canadian group's mass suicide. Written by J. Gordon Melton & Massimo Introvigne, it appears in the defunct GNOSIS magazine, issue 34, Winter '95, their special issue on "Healing", ironically enough. Its cover features the visionary art of Alex Grey, a figure with the caduceus of Hermes. You're sure to find back issues somewhere if you do a search.
Sheesh...
Yes, the UFO phenomenon has more than its fair share of cooks; but what I'm fearing is that the media will use this lunatic as the stereotype for everyone who has even the mildest interest in fringe phenomena.
Anyway, He's sworn in. Thank God that nothing happened, and that it's finally over—the Bush era I mean.
Maybe God should stop trying to speak to us through broken conduits like Christopher and just book his own reality TV show. Preferably one with singing and dancing and an interactive feature where the viewer can vote. This way he's guaranteed to get His message across. Although, considering the obtuse nature of most of God's pronouncements through the ages, maybe Christopher isn't as mentally ill as folk would like to think.
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