CONCERNED CHRISTIANS TIMELINE
1954 (April 20): Monte Kim Miller was born in Burlington, Colorado.
1974: Miller married his first wife, Dana.
1983: Miller and Dana divorced.
1983-1984: Miller reported converting to Christianity.
1980’s (mid-decade): The group Concerned Christians was formed by Miller.
1996: Miller began a radio show called “Our Foundation.”
1996 (June): Miller proclaimed himself to be one of the two end time witnesses of Revelation 11, and a prophet of God.
1998 (September): Miller, and perhaps as many as seventy-two disciples, sold or left behind their possessions and families, and headed to Jerusalem, Israel.
1998 (October 10): Miller prophesied an earthquake would destroy Denver, CO, setting in motion the impending apocalypse. The date passed without incident.
1999 (January 3): Israeli police detained fourteen Concerned Christian members, alleging that the members were in Jerusalem to attempt to violently precipitate the second coming of Christ and the imminent apocalypse.
1999 (January 9): All fourteen detained members were returned to Denver. Most of the returnees and some other members of the Concerned Citizens left the U.S. and traveled to Greece.
1999 (December): Eighteen members of the Concerned Citizens were deported from Greece “after overstaying their residence permits.”
2002 (February 15): Miller announced that the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, marking this day as the 777th day of the 7th millennium. Predicted by the Book of Revelations, this day would set the end-of-the-world-events in motion, starting with a holocaust in the United States.
FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY
Monte Kim Miller [Image at right] was born on April 20, 1954 in the farming community of Burlington, Colorado to a family that was not religiously devout. Not much is known about the details of Miller’s early life. Miller took a marketing job with a pharmaceutical company just out of college and began to build a life with his wife, Dana, according to family members. The couple divorced after moving to Denver in 1983” (Shore 1999). Miller also worked for a time as a marketing executive at Proctor & Gamble.
Prior to his conversion to Christianity in 1983, Miller did not attend church. He claimed to have had a conversion experience after listening to Bill Bright, founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ (later known as Cru). Miller received no formal theological training or education, thus allowing him to claim that he learned only from God and that he avoided the pitfalls of organized religious teachings.
In the early 1980’s, while working at Proctor & Gamble, Miller was an who lectured at local churches about the dangers of “cults.” Miller then formed Concerned Christians to counter the New Age movement and what he regarded as the anti-Christian media bias. Report from Concerned Christians, one of Miller’s newsletters, entertained such topics as feminist spirituality, the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, New Age trends infiltrating churches, alternative medicines, the World-Faith Movement, and the Roman Catholic Church. This served as the precursor to his formal attacks on organized Christianity.
In the 1990s, Concerned Christians began to create a greater public presence. The group began publishing two newsletters every two months, Report from the Concerned Christians and the Take Heed Update. Miller’s radio program, Our Foundation, began airing in 1996 (Leppäkari 2014). That same year he claimed he was a prophet who was “the voice of God” (“Concerned Christians” 2008) and was one of the two witnesses presented in the story of Revelation 11. Also during his radio show, Miller predicted an earthquake would destroy Denver on October 10, 1998 and set in motion the apocalypse, that he would be violently murdered in the streets of Jerusalem in December 1999, and that he would be resurrected three days later. Miller’s radio show was taken off the air after he refused to pay for air time. He justified his actions with the claim that God instructed him not to pay. Miller and his second wife, Marcie, filed for bankruptcy in October 1997, showing $142,628 in assets but $748,852 in debts. He demanded $100,000 from all of his disciples to pay off the debt and warned them that they would go to hell if they did not cooperate. Some members reportedly donated their properties to Miller (Leppäkari 2014).
On September 30, 1998, Miller and seventy-eight of his members suddenly abandoned their homes and migrated to Jerusalem, most likely to avoid the supposed destruction of Denver. The members of the group quietly disappeared with little connection with friends or relatives in the United States. The group seemed to all but vanish until an Israeli police raid, which was was carried out in coordination with the Israeli Center for Victims of Cults, on two homes in the Mevasseret Zion suburb took place. Fourteen members of the Concerned Christians cult were detained and later deported back Colorado for “overstaying their visa limits.” Upon returning to the U.S. the members boarded a bus and later fled to several different locations. Some fled to Greece (and were returned to the U.S shortly thereafter), others to the Philadelphia area, and yet others to areas unknown. Miller’s whereabouts have remained a mystery.
DOCTRINE/BELIEFS
The only record of the group’s beliefs are Miller’s original forty-five recorded audio tapes from Our Foundation. The early beliefs of the Concerned Christian group mirrored most of the views of fundamental religious groups with an emphasis on the New Testament and the Gospel of Matthew. Miller preached on the importance of attaining the fruits of the Holy Spirit through a spiritual rebirth. He added that this is the age of humility, and humility is at the center of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Some fruits of the Holy Spirit include long-suffering, joy, peace, humbleness, love, goodness, and faith.
The means to achieving this spiritual rebirth can be summarized as “cross-carrying,” the death of the self, humbling oneself before believers and nonbelievers, resisting Satan (not evil), and distancing oneself from law-making and government positions.
Cross-carrying refers to being able to identify with the suffering Christ experienced on the road to his crucifixion. Humans must be humble and meek in their hearts and actions to diminish themselves and allow room for Christ to fill an individual. Only through a complete diminishing of the self, while simultaneously filling with Christ through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, will the Holy Spirit present itself in a person and in the world. Characteristics of the self-include selfishness, self-centeredness, and self-interest. The only positive form of the self is self-improvement, but the only action viewed as self-improvement is the death of the self and manifestation of the Holy Spirit in an individual. The death of the self is the key to walking in the light of Christ with the Holy Spirit.
Miller has asserted that this world is ruled by Satan and thus teaches that one should not resist evil, but Satan. A person is actually resisting Satan when they resist the evil perpetrated against them. Miller implores true believers to bless the people who curse them, to do good to the people who hate them, and to pray for those who evilly use them. Self-defense and non-violence are condemned forms of action. They are viewed as unbiblical by Miller. Individuals are to accept accusations posed against them and forgive their enemies. Miller preaches that believers should see Christ’s light shining through all individuals. To mirror the example of Christ, one must not condemn their oppressors or adversaries. Miller states that the New Testament’s emphasis on Christ’s world of grace trumps the Old Testament’s rule of law.
To aid his followers in the avoidance of the pitfalls of this “fallen world,” Miller has warned people of the dangers of laws, law making, and governmental systems, and tells his followers not to take part in any law-making processes or government work. Miller taught that America is Babylon the Great and is ruled over by the great emperor Satan. One must avoid the agents of Satan (politicians). Miller also states that no one has legitimate right to judge nonbelievers.
As Miller summed up his own thought (Leppäkari 2014:126-27):
We are of a heavenly kingdom church and we operate on completely different principles, preaching that the love of Jesus Christ can redeem the most evil people, no matter what they have done. See, that’s our message to the world. That’s what we are to give them … the Lord has chosen us out of the world. That’s his purpose for us as we walk with him.
ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP
Monte Kim Miller is the only publicly known church official. He has announced himself as a prophet. He has claimed that God was using him as a messenger to speak directly to his followers, and therefore Miller’s pronouncements are God speaking (Davies 2000). While Miller clearly was the public face of the movement, he apparently was not present when the group moved to Israel, and there is no evidence of his functioning as a leader after that point. [Image at right]
The Concerned Christians were functioning as a group internally until their deportation from Israel. Externally their presence was largely on the internet. Around 2001 Miller created a website (Kim Miller and the Called and Chosen and Faithful website n.d.). Its initial purpose appears to have been to sell the original forty-five audio tapes broadcast on his radio program, Our Foundation. The website subsequently listed hundreds of recordings by Miller. On February 20, 2002, Miller posted an email that condemned Christians who believed that they could live both as good Christians and as patriots to their countries. There were no further postings and the website was largely unattended.
ISSUES/CHALLENGES
It is not surprising that the Concerned Christians quickly encountered stiff and determined resistance. Miller’s innovations on Christian theology, his quasi-messianic claims for himself, and his condemnation of mainstream religions were certain to and did generate rejection and rebuke. His apocalyptic pronouncements also destabilized the stability favored by mainstream religious traditions. All of this was more than sufficient to generate the antagonistic media coverage that Concerned Christians and Miller received.
By the 1990s cult-monitoring groups were well established, and Concerned Christians became just another case of a “dangerous cult.” Proponents stepped forward to testify that Miller “is practicing behavioral modification and mind control” (Davies 2000). Potential violence was an important theme in this coverage. For example, the daughter of a Concerned Christian member reported a memory of her mother: “My mother told me that if Kim Miller told her to kill me, she would” (“Kim Miller” 1998).
Formal governmental action was particularly consequential for the movement. When the Concerned Christians attempted to migrate to Israel, apparently without Miller, the group immediately became a focus of attention for Israeli law enforcement. While it is unclear that law enforcement had any actual evidence, police officials alleged that the group was planning an armed confrontation near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where it is believed Jesus’ tomb is situated (Robinson 2002). Early in 1999, Concerned Christians were deported from Israel. The group fragmented at that point, and Miller simply disappeared. While a largely unattended website has remained online, Miller has never publicly resurfaced, and the already small group splintered. Recent media coverage indicates that the movement’s leader and its remaining membership continue to live in seclusion (Bohlen 2023).
IMAGES
Image #1: Monte Kim Williams.
Image #2: Concerned Christians logo.
REFERENCES
Bohlen, Teague. 2023. “Mother God One of (Too) Many Colorado Cults.” Westword.com, December 5. Accessed from https://www.westword.com/news/mother-gods-love-has-won-one-of-many-colorado-cults-18425373 on 10 March 2024.
“Concerned Christians and Kim Miller.” 2008. Concerned Christians and Kim Miller. The Apologetics Index. Accessed from http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c35.html on 10 March 2024.
Davies, Eryl. 2000. “Concerning Cults – Concerned Christians (2).” Evangelical Times. Accessed from http://www.evangelical-times.org/archive/item/1341/Cults-and-other-religions/Concerning-Cults—Concerned-Christians–2-/ on 12 May 2013.
“Israeli Police Detain Cult Group.” 1999. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Accessed from http://lubbockonline.com/stories/010499/LA0690.shtml on 12 May 2013.
Kim Miller and the Called and Chosen and Faithful website. n.d. Accessed from http://www.kimmillerconcernedchristians.com/ on 10 March 2024.
“Kim Miller Rocky Mountain News.” 1998. Cephas Library. Accessed from http://www.cephas-library.com/discernment/kimmiller.html on 12 May 2013.
Leppäkari, Maria. 2014. “Apocalyptic Management by Monte Kim Miller.” Journal of Religion and Violence 2:122-34.
Miller, Monte K. 2001. “Kim Miller Concerned Christians – Unsealing Bible Prophecy.” Accessed from http://kimmillerconcernedchristians.com/ on 12 May 2013.
Robinson, B. A. 2002. “The Concerned Christians Cult.” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Accessed from http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_conc.htm on 10 May 2013.
Shore, Sandy. 1999. “PROFILE: Cult ‘mastermind’ Monte Kim Miller.” The Rick A. Ross Institute. Accessed from http://www.rickross.com/reference/cc/cc16.html on 12 May 2013.
Publication Date:
17 March 2024
