So there’s this woman in Los Angeles named Prophet Olga Soto, who is infamous for predicting the appearance of Jesus at the lake in Echo Park. If you aren’t from LA, you know Echo Park and its lake from the beginning of Chinatown. If you are from LA, you know Echo Park as the neighborhood loaded down with two-piece bands, guys who continue to dress like Elliot Smith, and a handful unfortunate bars.

The appearances of Jesus (7/7/05 and 7/7/07) were heralded in hastily scrawled fliers that Olga taped all over the city. The general craziness of content, combined with Olga’s poor English (and not so hot Spanish), have been the occassion for hilarity amongst the dissolute class of hipsters and slackers that find amusement in any expression of religious belief.

Being a collector of ephemera (read: trash picker) and always interested in offbeat religious expression, I tend to take Olga a little more serious than, well, anyone else, really. I don’t find her funny– just fascinating. It’s interesting to think about the leveling out effect that easy duplication has had amongst religious dissenters. If this were 17th century England, Olga’d have to find a lunatic to pay for her typesetting and printing, and then convince a bookseller by St. Paul’s to sell her stuff. The wide availability of copy machines allowed Olga to nearly blanket certain neighborhoods (mine included) with her fliers, for months and months and months.

I had meant to go to the appearance of Jesus on Saturday, but in the bad craziness of the preceding week, I forgot entirely that it was happening. But I have hung out with Olga a handful of times over the last few months. She’s quite nice but obviously troubled, and, as always, it’s nearly impossible to hold a conversation with someone that speaks in tongues.

Here’s my collection of her fliers, picked up over the last few months:

As reported earlier, Prophet Olga’s second due-date for the appearance of Jesus Christ in Echo Park came and went. I had wondered if this would be the end of Olga’s street ministry & publicly posted Xeroxed broadsides– but huzzah! Olga’s returned, and while she’s not nearly as prolific in the run-up to July 7, 2007, a handful of fliers have begun once more to appear on lampposts and building-sides.

This flyer contains many interesting aspects: visually it’s a fantastic piece of street art, kind of a palimpsest, and in terms of content, it provides us with a new host of predictions. The new due-date for Jesus Christ is November 30, 2008, but Christ will be appear in the homes of all angels (Olga’s term for those who believe), rather than simply in Echo Park.

Also Olga predicts a nuclear bomb attack on New York in 2009.

I’ve never understood the dense calendric symbolism of Olga’s broadsides. My Spanish is not nearly good enough to know if this flier makes much sense in the sister language, but given the inexplicability of previous English fliers that functioned as prophetic meditations on the calendar, I suspect not.

One of the things that Olga demonstrates– both with the failed appearance of Christ in ‘05 and now, ‘07– is the adaptability of religious apocalypticals in the face of unfulfilled prophecy. The most likely explanation for the failure of a predicted event is that certain preconditions of that event– established by a God, UFO, Entity, or Whatever– were not met by the devoted and/or the world at large. The apocalyptic group or individual then enters a period of recovery; in the end, a new prophecy and date emerges. There’s often a hope amongst those Enlightened Folks who could never believe Nonsense that the failure of prophecy will open the eyes of adherents to the basic Unreality of their beliefs; perhaps this occurs with some but, as Prophet Olga demonstrates, hardly with all.

Those who’ve perused the kobek.com mainsite know that I have a long and abiding interest in early 20th century esoteric African-American and Afro-Caribbean religion; this was, at one point, intended to be the subject of an anthology of original writings and primary documents, but landing a publisher proved problematic. In the next few months, hopefully, I’ll be migrating the lion’s share of research materials online, where they’ll be available for everyone with an interest.

Digging through old materials, I came across a really odd thing– an apparent letter from W.D. Fard, the founder of the religious culture that would develop into both the Nation of Islam and the Nation of Gods and Earths (the 5%), to his primary disciple, Elijah Mohammed.

The best book on the history of Fard and Mohammed in the early Detroit/Chicago days is The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad by Karl Evanzz. Despite the author’s paranoid willingness to believe every imaginable thing about Fard (going so far as to suggest a family tie with the Theosophist Florence Farr), it does give a fairly accurate warts-and-all picture of Elijah Muhammad and W.D. Fard.

Following legal battles with both the Detroit (being the D in the 1930s, this inevitably involved human sacrifice) and Chicago police, Fard disappeared, never to be heard from again. Much, much later, after the advent of Malcolm X and the rise of the NOI to national prominence, the Hearst press, in conjunction with the FBI, outed Fard as Wallace Ford, a one-time California drug dealer and San Quentin convict. Apparently much of this serves as the basis for Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex. (I haven’t read the book, I wouldn’t know.)

During the course of my 2002/3 era research, I was saving and archiving about every scrap of information that I could find on both the Moorish Science Temple of America and the early NOI, which operated under several names, but was perhaps best known as the Allah Temple of Islam. Somewhere I found the following text of an apparent letter from Fard to Mohammed (the spellings of NOI names in the early years were different) and scans of two of its four pages. As far as I know, this is the only letter or writing of any kind (other than the Lessons, of which the actual authorship is difficult to ascertain) that is directly attributable to Fard. Based on the look of the scans and the language, I presume that it’s authentic, but there’s so much misinformation and disinformation on the topic that a forgery isn’t implausible. Take it for what it is.

The text:

South West Part of N. America
Dec. 18 - 1933
4 A.M.

Mr. E. Mohammed

The Minister of Islam

Detroit, Michigan

North America

Dear Brother:

Here is a few line to let you Know that I have received both of your letters one return mail and the other regular, also one from Kallatt; I have been just getting over the terrible mistake and unofficial movements that you been taken not only one that you went to Birmingham but different time you have done minus things with out saying any thing before. I have numbers of records of charges against you; but I not brought them to enforce knowing you have taken these steps with good attentions. NOW MY DEAR BELOVED BROTHER, I will tell you again and again you have heard me from time to time that must not under take the labor of Islam unless you do know it 100%; This is why I am here to guide you to the right road, you must always tell me other you will not be successful. It is true that you can use the wisdom but remember you are the wise and is in the mouth of the lion in his cave or civilization without any right in regards to the rules and regulations for practicing your profession in this cave civilization in first place you have no business being here but since you are here long way from home and your kind and are in the cave of savage you must use your wisdom with care, other this savage will peice you in two; The law of nature will not allow a man to run the home of another man, so be clear on this and use your wisdom with care; I will tell you to get out on the street and on the top of all the high building, yell out you wisdom when the time come, the time is not ripe yet, how many time have I told you this? Are you wasting my valuable moments on the same things over and over; My movements time and hours are limited and are for the dead nation, so you be aware not to rob the dead and your ???

You keep this letter and present to me when I see you and I will read for you and explain to you, I know you going to ask 1000 un-valuable question but write them down and present to me when I see you get on the labor now and study your assignment. See that you master your history all of the form all of the problems. All every thing I left you is to be dug out and study; Problem 31 should clear you of the mystery that you all long for but your wisdom and keep all to your self. Now right along with your study you can go over to Chicago unexpected do not tell no one where you going or when you going excepting Kallatt Mohammed, give them a lecture and run over to MILWAUKEE at 8th and Center St. inquire about Mr. Joe Bey, many semellers around there and ask to have a special metting for you, give them a lecture or two and go back to Evanston and ask for Mr. Brown. Try to get aquaited there and start a station there; you may promise some Ice Maker a big bone and get in with him and start arising the dead, With your wisdom you easily do this, but have patient; just look at me. I have all the hard luck and confronting more hard luck cause by my own people; Don’t you see they are poison by the devil and so badly poison that they can’t see me walking among them every day and eating with them give them Knowledge to compare with any body in the world and they are still in doubt. How many you want me to pick out each time when you have meeting; be wise and take lots of graveness for you are dealing with babies There will be time when they all will know you then your happiness will be give, Now I go back to my subject; Then from Evanston you can round Chicago again unexpected then home, stop in these little towns on your way home and leave little wisdom everywhere get around and get aquainted caravan the territory between your home and Milwaukee start stations every where you can St. Louis and Kansas City will be your territory too but at present you can master the above said and later I will tell you when to there; about your labor working the problems, you are doing fine; you may consult one of the Teachers on beginning and forming your figures, the distance of Platoon is given in one of the problems Light travel 186,000 miles per second and the sun is 93,000,000 miles from the Earth Then if you divide the traveling speed in to the distance it shall give you the time to strike the Earth. Ha! Ha! this is good one for you, I shall have big time with you when I see you; but now do not be bashfull to study, for the wise always go to the bottom to secure real cure: Write to me every day and tell me all about your study, My best wishes to you and family all the labors and 17,000,000 I am going with you, from W.D. Fard

The images: