103. Björkstrand, Gustav. "Formative Factors of the Maria Åkerblom Movement." In New Religions edited by Haralds Biezais. Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell, 1974.

Maria Åkerblom appears to have been an extraordinarily interesting person, though difficult to live with. She has been described as "egocentric, impatient, vulnerable, emotionally self-indulgent…hard, irreconcilable, morally indifferent and endowed with a vivid and colorful imagination." As a prophet she was flawless and absolutely self-assured; theft, perjury and murder were permissible in pursuing God's work. She began her work in 1917, when Finland was threatened by the Russian revolution. Millenarism was not a prominent element in her teaching, apparently. She was early accused of sexual lapses, madness and generally inappropriate behavior for her sex. This and other forms of opposition led Åkerblom to consolidate her movement in economic interdependency. Among other mistakes, she shot at an opponent and her followers tried to perjure her way out of the consequences. At the perjury trial, they were convicted and forced to leave the province where they had been working. They decided on a pilgrimage, supposedly to Palestine but got no further than Helsinki, where they were arrested for attempted assassination and more perjury; most were given long sentences. The group held together until just before Åkerblom's release, when another prophet discredited her. In a conclusion worthy of Woody Allen, Björkstrand tells us that Åkerblom later did quite well in business.

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