Walk With Me [The Autobiography of Jesus]

Meriden, CT: TAMPCO [The Anointed Music & Pulbishing Company], 1975. Trade softcover. Second printing, January 1975.

What appears at first to be a Christian evangelical retelling of the Gospels takes on a bit more character when one knows the history of TAMPCO, the propaganda arm of a polygamist cult in Connecticut from the 1970s-1990s.

The nameless cult, sometimes called the "Juliusites," was founded by Brother Julius Schacknow, who can be seen on the cover of this book, reflected in a human eye.

Schacknow was a self-proclaimed prophet who later claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, and eventually God Himself. There are many anecdotes about the eccentric Brother Julius ranging from the amusing (his stationery letterhead read "FROM THE DESK OF THE LORD GOD") to the sinister (he was accused of sexual abuse involving minors, and his son Daniel Sweetman was convicted of 4 counts of child rape within the cult). Schacknow himself graduated his thinking to espousing that salvation could only be accomplished by sexual intercourse with him.

In the early 1970s, Brother Julius attempted to reach out to a younger audience by forming a New Age folk band called The Anointed and dabbled in publishing and music production as The Anointed Music and Publishing Company, or "TAMPCO."

Schacknow died in 1996, after which the cult's work operated under the direction of married couple Paul and Joanne Sweetman. In 2004 Paul Sweetman vanished, and remained missing until 2014, when his dismembered body was found buried in different locations, leading to the arrest of former followers of Schackman and Sweetman.

The volume on offer is a rare copy of one of the earliest TAMPCO books, written by Schacknow (though his name does not appear in this book) in the voice of Jesus, featuring many uncanny pen illustrations by an unattributed artist. A supremely strange and extremely scarce artifact from American cult history.

Small stain to the bottom page edges, else Fine and unread in perfect-bound wrappers (softcover).

[Book #166763]