ICSA e-Newsletter, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2008
Krishna Venta
Shawn Sutherland
Abstract
This
short
article
provides
a
cursory
overview
of the
Cold War
era’s
self-styled
messiah,
Krishna
Venta
(born
Francis
Pencovic).
It also
examines
briefly
his
vision
of
Armageddon,
eerily
similar to
Charles
Manson’s
“Helter
Skelter,”
which he
anticipated
would
befall
America
in the
1970s.
Earlier this year,
Yisrayl Hawkins, who
claims to speak for
God, declared from
his House of Yahweh
headquarters in
Abilene, Texas, that
a nuclear holocaust
was to begin on June
12, 2008. Hawkins’
warning was
accompanied by a
caveat that anyone
joining his fold
would be spared from
the coming
devastation. America
responded to this
alarm by continuing
undaunted with its
daily routine.
That such a grim
proclamation was met
with a shrug should
not come as a
surprise. After
all, with its
rightfully revered
First Amendment,
this nation has
served as the modern
world’s premier
breeding ground for
new religious
movements (or cults,
as they are more
commonly known),
prophets, and
messiahs for most of
its existence. Such
entities and
individuals are as
much a part of our
collective American
experience as
baseball games and
apple pies.
Oftentimes, they are
equally forgettable;
six months after its
prophesied doom, the
world is still
whole, and Hawkins
has faded from
memory.
Conversely, would-be
prophets and
messiahs
occasionally become
a part of our
collective
consciousness
and—right or
wrong—seemingly come
to embody the
prevailing spiritual
and socio-economic
nuances of a given
decade or
generation, such as
Charles Manson
(1960s), Jim Jones
(1970s), and David
Koresh (1990s).
Likewise, although
not akin to the
previously mentioned
triumvirate of
malevolence,
post-World War II
America, and
particularly the
1950s, is not
without its own
poster boy—a
self-proclaimed
messiah with a
biography befitting
the golden age of
both Hollywood and
the LAPD.
His name was Krishna
Venta, and Monday,
December 10, 2008,
marked the 50th
anniversary of his
violent
assassination, which
all told ended ten
lives.
Born Francis
Pencovic in the San
Francisco of 1911,
Venta was an
interesting
candidate for
messiah, having
previously lived as
burglar, thief, con
artist, and shipyard
timekeeper. This
changed in 1946
when, following a
stretch on a chain
gang and a stint in
the Army, Pencovic’s
body (or so he
claimed) became the
host vessel for the
“Christ
Everlasting,” an
eternal spirit being
who had not only
died on the cross at
Calvary 2,000 years
earlier, but had
commandeered to
Earth from the
planet Neophrates a
convoy of rocket
ships whose
passengers included
Adam and Eve.
But in the wake of
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, insisted
Venta, such ancient
history was
irrelevant. This
time around, his
Earthly mission was
to gather the
144,000 Elect
foretold in
Revelation and
deliver them from an
apocalypse
heretofore unseen by
mankind.
To draw attention to
this cause, Venta
donned a monk’s
robe, permanently
discarded footwear,
and thereafter
forewent cutting
both hair and
beard. In the
Truman and
Eisenhower eras,
Venta, who
frequently made
headlines for both
his luck at the dog
track and his
repeated arrests for
failure to pay child
support, cut a
unique figure. His
message, however,
could not have been
more tailor-made for
Cold War America.
Armageddon,
prophesied Venta,
would begin as an
armed race war in
the streets of
America. (If
Venta's vision of
the future sounds
oddly reminiscent of
"Helter Skelter," it
must be noted that
strong debate exists
regarding whether
Charles Manson, who
periodically lodged
at the Fountain of
the World circa 1968
and 1969, was privy
to the teachings of
the dead cult leader
during his respites
there.) In this
conflict, Communist
Russia, with its
nuclear weaponry,
would render
military aid to
African-Americans.
But the Soviets
would eventually
reveal their true
stripes, insisted
Venta, by enslaving
their
African-American
allies and
terminating
religious freedom
worldwide. Still,
fear was
unnecessary, for
Venta was actively
gathering the
144,000, and knew of
a hidden North
American valley in
which his Elect
could hide during
the bloodshed until
the ordained day
came for them to
exit their secret
refuge en masse,
cast out the Soviet
empire, free the
enslaved, and
restore religious
freedom to mankind.
Until then, Venta
could be found on
the road spreading
his gospel or at
either the Homer,
Alaska, or
Chatsworth,
California, outposts
of his WKFL (Wisdom,
Knowledge, Faith,
Love) Fountain of
the World communal
colonies, where his
100-something
faithful (primarily
females) engaged in
such varied works of
goodwill as feeding
the homeless,
offering shelter to
battered women, and
fighting wildfires.
Tragically, in a
twist of irony,
Venta, who embodied
America’s post-war
fear of nuclear
weapons, was blown
to bits in a Los
Angeles suicide
bombing, instigated
on a December night
in 1958 by two
ex-followers with
twenty sticks of
dynamite and two
very personal
vendettas against
their former
leader. One
assassin was jealous
of Venta’s power and
position, while the
other insisted Venta
had alienated him
from his wife.
Today, 50 years
after his passing,
Venta’s story,
although obscured by
time, reminds us
that, even with
messiahs and
prophets, there is
really nothing new
under the sun, but
instead mere
reiterations of
choruses previously
heralded.
Nonetheless, it will
unquestionably be
interesting to see
what manner of
individuals take up
the messiah mantle
in the coming years. |
