NEBRASKA CITY – Believers of the Heaven’s Gate teaching visited Nebraska City on Friday on a journey to spread the message of the cult’s founders Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles.

Followers of the cult held that the couple, known within the movement as as Ti and Do, are the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation chapter 11.

The cult teachings led all of its 39 members to end their their lives in 1997 with expectation of being drawn up by a spaceship hidden in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet.

Former cult member Sawyer and companion Cathy Weaver said there are a lot of misconceptions about Heaven’s Gate.

Sawyer, the 2017 author of Ti & Do the Father & “Jesus” Heaven’s Gate UFO Two Witnesses, said the members did not commit suicide, but merely exited the vehicle of their body so that their souls could reach the spaceship.

Sawyer: “To them, they were finishing their task. They knew they were going to leave, like everyone knows we’re going to leave, right?  Cathy: “Right. They had been preparing for 22 plus years.”

Sawyer was not a part of the 39 because he had felt sexually aroused while watching a video on MTV and told Applewhite. He understood that this was a major offense and he dropped out.

Weaver: “We want everybody to know that Ti and Do were on this planet as members incarnate from the next level, which created this entire universe.”

She said they believe that Do was the return of Jesus. They say they will present evidence on their trip, which is expected to conclude with a meeting in Los Angeles.

The cult bases its teachings on a mixture of Christian millenarianism, New Age and UFOology and has a strong interest in popular culture of science fiction.

Sawyer: “Ti said that science fiction is some of the best ways of actually helping people  recognize the truth.”

Sawyer said the idea behind the current trip is not to start another group. He said groups may form, but there is no one at the next level interested in becoming the leader of such a group.

The 1985 death of Bonnie Nettles confounded the group’s doctrine because she did not physically leave for outer space. The teachings contend who the Bible calls God is actually a highly-developed extraterrestrial.