Prison
In 1969 Jensen was convicted of "a lewd and lascivious act" for sexually molesting a 15-year-old female patient, and served four years of a twenty year sentence in the Montana State Prison. He claimed to be wrongly convicted, and later taught his followers that his prison stay was instrumental towards fulfilling prophecy. It was in prison that Jensen claimed to have a revelation, and converted several dozen inmates to his idea of being the "Establisher" of the Bahá'í Faith, stemming from his belief that the Hands of the Cause were "covenant-breakers" and the administration they established beyond Shoghi Effendi's death was faulty and not in line with the covenant. According to Jensen, shortly after returning to his cell,
"I felt a presence only. I saw nobody. I saw no dove, no burning bush or anything of that nature. It talked to me- not in a physical voice, but very vividly expressing to me that I was the Promised Joshua."
He recruited many followers in prison, and after his parole in 1973 he founded the BUPC. By the time his 1980 predictions were receiving national press coverage he had attracted followers in Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
Read more about this topic: Leland Jensen, Background
Famous quotes containing the word prison:
“Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?
And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists?
And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?
Oh they’re taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square. They are now free and they don’t know where to go.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“Anyone who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison. It is the people brought up in the gay intimacy of the slums ... who find prison so soul-destroying.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)