Gabriel of Tumacacori?by Nate Hansen and Christopher Fox Graham
Sedona Red Rock News
April 6, 2007
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The Global Community Communications Alliance, formerly known as Aquarian Concepts Community, recently changed its name, bought a ranch near the Arizona-Mexico border and put much of its most valuable Sedona area real estate up for sale.
According to the Arizona Corporation Commission, Aquarian Concepts Community legally changed its name to the Global Community Communications Alliance on Dec. 18, 2006. Tumacacori
• Established on the site of a Franciscan mission built in 1795.
• Located between Tubac and Nogales, about 20 minutes from the United States-Mexico border in Santa Cruz County.
In January, the alternative living and church community, based off Upper Red Rock Loop Road southwest of Sedona, listed its Cathedral Rock Lodge, Avalon Gardens and Master's House, real property valued at more than $13 million, for sale, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
The alliance appears ready to move or to expand its operations.
GCCA leader Tony Delevin, known locally as "Gabriel of Sedona" or "Gabriel of Urantia," declined to comment.
POTREROS RANCH is the name of the 165-acre ranch Global Community Communications Alliance, formerly known as Aquarian Concepts Community, recently purchased near Tubac. Six acres are zoned "multi-family" while 159 acres are zoned "general rural," according to the Santa Cruz County Assessor’s Office.
Nate Hansen/Larson NewspapersAn aerial view of Potreros Ranch
Aerial courtesy of Santa Cruz County Community Development OfficeGABRIEL: Alternative living community packs its bags for trip to Tumacacori
(from Page 1A)
Friday, Jan. 26, the Nogales International reported five members of GCCA met with neighbors of Potreros Ranch, in Tumacacori, Santa Cruz County -- a property the community asked about buying.
Santa Cruz County Community Development Director Mary Dahl said she also met with GCCA representatives who expressed interest in three parcels of ranch land totaling 165 acres.
Potreros Ranch lies between Pendleton Road and Tumacacori National Historical Park with the main entrance located on Santa Gertrudis Lane.
Two of the parcels, one 36 acres and another 123 acres, are zoned "general rural."
A third parcel, totaling about 6 acres, is zoned for "multi-family dwellings," Dahl said.
Though Dahl wasn't sure how far January's meeting went beyond negotiations, two GCCA members working at the property in Tumacacori on Monday, April 2, verified the purchase.
A man who identified himself as "Arlin," whose legal name is Steve Monroe, an ACC/GCCA member for 12 years, told reporters that he and other GCCA "farmers" arrived in Tumacacori a short while ago.
"We just bought the place," Monroe said.
According to Headquarters West Realtor Sam Hubbel, Potreros Ranch was purchased March 23.
According to a former co-owner of the ranch, Louisa Fuggiti, however, GCCA bought the property March 15.
The RE/MAX agent representing Fuggiti said GCCA paid $580,000 for the land.
In addition to the ranch, GCCA purchased three business lots and on-site living quarters in a neighboring shopping district, Tubac Plaza, county records state.
Though Director of Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce Olivia Ainza-Kramer couldn't be reached for comment on what the GCCA businesses would entail, GCCA board member Catherine Lilly reportedly told Santa Cruz County officials and neighbors the ranch community will focus on "organic gardening" and "sustainable methods."
The move was prompted due to Sedona's growth and a number of real estate developments underway on land near the community, Lilly told county officials.
In the meantime, GCCA appears ready to move some or all of its operations south.
"We're here [in Tumacacori] ... right now we're just getting things set up and ready to go," Monroe said.
*****
Tony Delevinby Tyler Midkiff
(For related stories, please see Pages 1A and 8A)
On the sixth anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Tony Delevin, aka "Gabriel of Sedona," stood at a lectern backed by members of the Aquarian Concepts Community -- now called the Global Community Communication Alliance -- and spoke to a room of his followers. With a sort of subdued vitriol, he told them that America has lost its way.
"Our country has lost it," he said. "Lost it to greed, corporations and materialism."
It's a message many can identify with.
Delevin also claims that he commands a fleet of spaceships that will swoop down to save his followers when much of the human race is destroyed. Delevin claims his teachings are based on elements of The Urantia Book.
The Urantia Book, Delevin said, describes the effects of the Lucifer Rebellion on Earth, aka "Urantia."
Delevin's book and its sequels describe the effects the rebellion had on planets in other universes -- effects he said were communicated to him through celestial beings.
Delevin tells his followers at the GCCA that they are "starseed," or old souls, sent to Earth from faraway planets. Earth he tells them, is ruled mainly by "new souls" who are spiritually immature. Starseed find it difficult to live and work on Earth because they are unable to adapt to the fraudulence of life here.
When new members join the community, they are given new names and new histories which illustrate the many past lives they've led in this universe and in others, according to former member Mark Sprague.Delevin claims he has led many past lives, he said. In interviews and in his autobiography,
The Divine New Order, he claims he was once the Apostle Peter, St. Francis of Assisi, King Arthur, Martin Luther, Alexander the Great, George Washington and others.
But "the issue is who I am now," Delevin explained, "because I am greater today than who I was in any past life."He states his current life's role on his Web site
http://gabrielofsedona.info.
He is an "Audio Fusion Material Complement," he writes, meaning that celestial beings use his voice to communicate spiritual truths to the people of Earth.
"Nebadon," the "head administrator of the local universe," first "fused" with Delevin in 1989 and since then, "Skyhawk," or "the Finaliter Paladin," has also established communication with him and regularly reveals universal truths to him from "Celestial Overcontrol," he said.With the help of these "celestial beings," Delevin has made numerous predictions about his life, the life of others and the life of this planet.
He once predicted that much of the human race would be wiped out near the start of the 21st century. It didn't happen, but he admitted that he held the same belief during his life at the end of the first century.“I went to my death thinking it,” he said.
At the end of each century since, he has continued to believe that Christ would return, he said. But he does not live his lives depending on it, he explained. He instead focuses on changing the world through the spirit of truth Christ has given him, he said.
The devil, whom he calls “Caligastia,” is alive and well on this planet, in the fifth dimension, he said.Through his band, Gabriel & the Bright and Morning Star Band, Delevin claims to teach messages of higher consciousness.
He also promotes other bands with similar messages through the “Musicians-That-Need-To-Be-Heard-Network.”
He and his “spiritual complement” Nancy Chase call themselves “the most significant spiritual leaders of our time.”
Through them, the GCCA has founded dozens of companies, organizations, publications and teaching outlets, including Spirit Steps Tours, Global Change Multimedia, Future Studios, Global Family Legal Services, The Alternative Voice, Cathedral Rock Lodge & Retreat Center, the Starseed and Urantian Schools of Melchizedek and others.
During a speech titled “I Have a Vision,” Delevin predicted that his company, Global Change Multimedia, will one day become “the parent planetary leading consolidate group for all media endeavors, including motion pictures, television, radio, Internet and music recordings.”To assist in his goal, he asks for money, support and representation on the Internet because there are forces at work to prevent “change agents,” or people striving toward global change and spiritual unity, from being heard by the public, he said.
“As for me,” he said, “I will serve the Lord, Christ Michael, and I will bring interuniversal truth to the planet.”
To reach Tyler Midkiff call 282-7795, ext. 122, or email to tmidkiff@larsonnewspapers.com*****
A reporter's trip to community's new worldby Nate Hansen
After nearly five hours of driving south and connecting 1-17 to 1-10 to 1-19, I arrived in Nogales facing a cold and uninviting steel wall topped with concertina wire.
It was the end of the road, the United States-Mexico border.
Twenty-five minutes north of Nogales was a small town and tourist shopping district called Tubac.
In between was a rural community of ranches surrounding the historic site of a Franciscan mission built in 1795 called Tumacacori [Too-mah-KAHcore-ee], the likely future home of Global Community Communications Alliance, formerly known as Aquarian Concepts Community.
The GCCA is an alternative living and church community located off Upper Red Rock Loop Road, southwest of Sedona, led by Tony Delevin, aka "Gabriel of Sedona."
In late January, GCCA representatives traveled to Tumacacori to visit with Santa Cruz County officials and area residents.
According to fellow reporters for the Nogales International, GCCA was inquiring about nearly 200 acres of land east of the Tumacacori National Historical Park.
Three months later, in March, former owners and real estate agents say three parcels of land making up Potreros Ranch, in addition to three business lots in Tubac were purchased.
Some Tumacacori residents expressed concerns.
Sarah Bailey, a neighboring rancher, says there are several reasons she doesn't want GCCA moving onto the Potreros Ranch.
Bailey, a former attorney for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, says she believes GCCA will be detrimental to the quiet community near Tubac.
GEORGE HEMMINGER, retired pilot and rancher, looks beyond his property and over Santa Gertrudis Lane which separates him from the 165 acres Global Community Communications Alliance recently purchased. The Sedona organization, formerly known as Aquarian Concepts Community, isn't welcome in his Tumacacori ranch community, Hemminger says.
Nate Hansen/Larson NewspapersIn Bailey's opinion, the arrival of a community estimated at 80 adults and 20 children is going to cause unnecessary stress and traffic to the private Santa Gertrudis Lane the ranch's main entrance is on.
Additionally, six of the 165 acres of land GCCA purchased is designated for multi-family housing.
Although the acreage is currently covered in mesquite trees and on a "flood way," Bailey worries they'll build hastily and end up diverting future flood waters onto her property.
"If 200 people live out there, just the septic situation is going to be horrendous," she says.
George Hemminger, owner of the neighboring Rancho San Cayetano, is concerned about residents in the area who struggle financially.
Hemminger, a retired pilot, says he pays approximately $7,000 in taxes on his 150 acres of land. He's upset GCCA's tax exempt status as a church frees them from paying their dues.
The burden is going to fall on everyone else, he says.
Bailey admits she hasn't seen any of the GCCA members on the property yet, but from what she and other residents of Tumacacori ranches read on the Internet, she is fearful.
"This community is going to turn Tubac into what Sedona's become, the land of the Waco whackos," she adds.
Roy Simpson, Tumacacori National Historical Park ranger, says he's met with GCCA members.
He says he's heard the controversy behind the former ACC and the recent move of GCCA. He was curious about its intention of moving next to the park's newly acquired 300 acres of historic land.
Simpson says he was pleased when he discovered they were "devoted to organic farming" and "conscious building."
''They are conservation-minded," he says. "I just hope they remain good stewards to the land."
Steven Monroe, a 12-year resident of ACC/GCCA who goes by the name "Arlin," says he's fed up with bad press.
He says people who don't understand their lifestyle would rather criticize.
"We're a community of people trying to live in a better way. There's a lot of tough things going on in the world," Monroe says.
Monroe says allegations that GCCA is a cult are untrue.
"We invite people in to see what that is, see what's going on," he said.*****
Spiritual Path Took a Sedona Man to ACCby Nate Hansen
At age 26, Trevor Roberson described himself as a “charismatic Christian.” More than anything, he wanted to know God.
Today, over a decade since entering a faith-based fundamentalist organization, Roberson would rather know more about himself. In addition, he wants people to be aware of the truth behind such organizations.
While growing up in Daytona, Fla., during both work and play, Roberson wore a wooden cross necklace symbolizing Jesus Christ’s sacrifice to mankind. He carried God’s word in the Holy Bible.
Trevor RobersonBecause he felt a profound draw to serve God, Roberson eventually found himself working alongside someone he now merely deems “a really good salesman."
Roberson was in his mid-20s, athletic and ambitious about preaching Christianity when a man, whose name Roberson requests be kept in confidence, approached and challenged him.
"He was a 'in-your-face' kind of guy," Roberson recalls. "He asked me, 'Are you man enough for God'?'''
The man claimed to know God, which played on Roberson's curiosity. He remembers wanting to step up to the man's challenge.
It wasn't long before he joined a group called "Wholeness in Christ."Roberson justifies his actions at the time.
''Those who truly want to know God don't want to know the system, they want to know God," he stresses.
Eventually, after prompting by the group's leader, Roberson quit his job as an illustrator for the U.S. Department of Defense. He dedicated his life to the group.The next four years took Roberson from Florida to Arizona, where he resided for a period of time in Flagstaff.
According to Roberson, the group's missions appeared "fairly legitimate" early on.
One mission Roberson describes hoped to reveal certain televangelists as frauds, such as the popular Pentecostal preacher Tofik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn.
Roberson's group conducted protests based on ethical questions surrounding Hinn's income and healing abilities. Roberson's group described the tactic as "the emperor has no clothes" and "lie of the tithe."Although Roberson feels the Flagstaff branch of Wholeness in Christ was "conservative," he recalls a definite turning point.
Purpose fell more toward power, he admits."He [the leader] didn't want anything, but God did," Roberson says.
Roberson and a friend discussed leaving the group and moving out on their own. The thought manifested into action when the group's leader subsequently called them from Florida in an effort to change their minds.
"He left a message on the answering machine. He said, 'Hold the fort. God's got us set up here,'" Roberson recalls.
Roberson spoke to the group's leader and told him of his intention to leave.
"I want to know I can find God for myself if I leave," Roberson says, recounting the meeting.
As quickly as he picked up to follow the group, he turned and left.
Even though he has absolutely no regrets, Roberson can pinpoint "tiny details" which show a progression from purpose to power.
He has answers for those who question how somebody could be "tricked" into following any charismatic, faith-based organization.
Leadership will accentuate an individual's frailties to break them down, then build them back up under the guise of being a "member," Roberson says.
"Over the years, he established Pavlovian effects. First year, things won't make sense, not even the second, but as time goes by," he says.
"Protestants use hell after death to scare one other. Charismatics use hell too, but also the abandonment of knowing God," he adds. "It would take six months in my scenario, then again, I'm not a salesman."
When Roberson belonged to Wholeness in Christ, he didn't work for anyone other than the group. He lived on a minimal diet, eating cereal morning, noon and night.
When it came to disagreements, he remembers arguing against what the leader called "the authority of God."
Roberson denies his organization was a "cult," but he feels he's been close enough to identify one.
"I think what defines a cult is when free will is taken, stolen or not knowingly given up," Roberson says. I don't care if it's a biker bar in Daytona, if there's a sole intent on extracting one's will, it's a cult."
When Roberson first arrived in Sedona, he attended Easter services at Aquarian Concepts Community. He was in search of a suitable church, he recalls.
As to not raise suspicion, he says he asked ACC members about their ideology and belief system.
It didn't take long until Roberson was convinced he was entering something much more dangerous than what he left.
A definite chain of command existed. Members were not permitted to leave a certain mile radius, or perimeter, without permission, which kept the group's members close by, Roberson remembers ACC members telling him.
In Roberson's opinion, purpose was gone. There was only power, he says. It all led to Tony Delevin, otherwise known as "Gabriel."
"Cult. It's a cult, I'm telling you. It's a cult," he says, emphatically.Ask Roberson what his views are of religion these days and he just smiles.
“I feel better that I don't know the answers. I'm waiting," Roberson says. "In the meantime, I'm going mountain biking."