Neal Chase

Neal Chase (born January 30, 1966) is the disputed leader of a small Bahá'í sect known as the Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant (BUPC). This sect, mostly concentrated in Montana, never had more than about 200 devotees and membership declined rapidly in the 1990s. Chase claims to be the current Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, as well as the current successor to the Throne of David. Chase and the BUPC fall into the category of Covenant-breakers to members of the mainstream Bahá'í Faith, and are thus shunned.

Background

Neal Chase was born a Jew in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After becoming a born-again Christian in his teens, Chase became a follower of Leland Jensen, and a member of the BUPC at the age of 19 while attending Michigan State University. He later moved to Deer Lodge, Montana, and in 1990 he privately published Ezekiel's Temple in Montana, a book on his research into the Morrisites, the Mormon splinter group that pioneered the Deerlodge Valley. He claims that the Morrisites specified August 9, 1969, as the date for the Second Coming of Jesus, which he claimed was fulfilled by Jensen's arrival in prison. Leroy Anderson, the leading expert on the Morrisites, disputes Chase's conclusion and claims the date simply happened to be the last annual Morrisite gathering.