How Gabriel of Urantia Brainwashed his Followers

Laird Scott was Gabriel's sound man.

He spent seven years inside the GCCA from 2008 to 2015.

He lived in the community's compound, worked in its recording studio, and got all of Gabriel's sermons and channeling sessions down on tape.

When I visited him in his home in 2018, he described a typical channeling ceremony to me.

The whole community gathered.

Candles were lit.

A CD of Tibetan monks chanting played in the background, setting a mood.

The community of roughly 120 people prayed together, out loud.

This went on for 20 minutes or more.

Then everybody went quiet and waited for Gabriel to fuse with a celestial being.

Then Paladin arrived.

He was loud, obnoxious.

He stomped, pointed at members, recited their past lives.

He told people things about themselves.

Things the community had, in many cases, already told Gabriel through confession and counseling and years of daily proximity.

But in the context of the ceremony, these revelations seemed miraculous.

Next, Gabriel would fuse with the bright and morning star, the highest being under Jesus, who spoke in a high squeaky voice that was almost impossible to hear.

The congregation leaned in.

Laird, at the mixing board, fought feedback just to get a clean signal.

Here is a recording of the bright and morning star from an old episode of NBC's Dateline program.

Our undercover video is hard to see here, just burning candles in a dark room.

But that high-pitched voice you hear coming out of Gabriel's mouth is, according to Gabriel, the voice of the bright and morning star, a perfect alien being, one of the rulers of the universe.

And the first thing that the perfect being does is praise Gabriel's music.

Gabriel's cosmic power.

Then the alien sings one of Gabriel's songs.

Laird Scott was Gabriel's sound man.

He spent seven years inside the GCCA from 2008 to 2015.

He lived in the community's compound, worked in its recording studio, and got all of Gabriel's sermons and channeling sessions down on tape.

When I visited him in his home in 2018, he described a typical channeling ceremony to me.

The whole community gathered.

Candles were lit.

A CD of Tibetan monks chanting played in the background, setting a mood.

The community of roughly 120 people prayed together, out loud.

This went on for 20 minutes or more.

Then everybody went quiet and waited for Gabriel to fuse with a celestial being.

Then Paladin arrived.

He was loud, obnoxious.

He stomped, pointed at members, recited their past lives.

He told people things about themselves.

Things the community had, in many cases, already told Gabriel through confession and counseling and years of daily proximity.

But in the context of the ceremony, these revelations seemed miraculous.

Next, Gabriel would fuse with the bright and morning star, the highest being under Jesus, who spoke in a high squeaky voice that was almost impossible to hear.

The congregation leaned in.

Laird, at the mixing board, fought feedback just to get a clean signal.

Here is a recording of the bright and morning star from an old episode of NBC's Dateline program.

Our undercover video is hard to see here, just burning candles in a dark room.

But that high-pitched voice you hear coming out of Gabriel's mouth is, according to Gabriel, the voice of the bright and morning star, a perfect alien being, one of the rulers of the universe.

And the first thing that the perfect being does is praise Gabriel's music.

Gabriel's cosmic power.

Then the alien sings one of Gabriel's songs.