I AM and the Law
Although Guy and Edna Ballard’s Theosophy-inspired I AM movement of the 1930s is frequently cited as the first UFO quasi-religion, Guy Ballard’s teachings never emphasized extraterrestrials; instead, he claimed to have learned high wisdom from the inhabitants of Earth’s etheric plane, an elemental level of existence not usually accessible to ordinary people. That said, Ballard once reported that, during a circa 1930 audience beneath Mount Shasta with the 17th- century master of ancient wisdom, the Comte de Saint Germain, Ballard observed a television set that received broadcasts from the planet Venus.
In 1937, Saint Germain appointed Ballard a messenger to bring the wisdom of the “Mighty I AM Presence” to the world. I AM quickly grew into a religious group partially grounded in alien thought (as interpreted by Ballard). I AM acolytes placed Saint Germain and Christ on equal footing as masters of purified existence.
Ballard identified himself as anointed messenger, charged with utilizing tenets of karma and the apprehensible reality of the divine to reveal the way to re- embodiment. He called the culmination of such a journey “the mighty AM presence.” It was, frankly, wondrous: for instance, in his 1934 book Unveiled Mysteries, Ballard (writing as “Godfre Ray King”) described his meeting with a dozen Venusians who played harp and violin.
I AM put together a million members by 1939, but membership began a steep decline following Ballard’s death on December 29 of that year.
In 1940, the U.S. government indicted Edna Ballard and her son, Donald Ballard, for fraud, bringing eighteen charges of false representation of an ability to heal illnesses, and the Ballards’ solicitation of money and property from followers. A jury convicted Edna and Donald in 1942, but an important April 1944 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court absolved the Ballards, writing that followers of religions “may not be put to the proof of their religious doctrines or beliefs.” In other words, the issue of whether the Ballards believed in the tenets of I AM must not be left to a court to decide. Freedom of religion is paramount.