This is one of my favorite books! It changed my life!!!

From the dustjacket:

"The Encyclopedia of Prophecy offers a comprehensive examination of the great soothsayers and prophets of the past and present. It analyzes prophetic trends through the ages, covering long-range predictions which have come to pass, as well as those still awaiting fulfillment. It points out that while prophets are often wrong in their predictions, legions of prophets, both scientific and religious, have "seen" the future with an accuracy that is frequently chilling."

"The Hidden Story of Scientology" is a fully documented account of a spiritual movement that began in 1950 as a radical new approach to mental therapy and later developed into one of the fastest growing religious denominations in the world.

The first part of the book examines the history and origins of Scientology, as well as the personality of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Then the author traces the organized and often underhanded methods used in efforts to annihilate the new faith.

Critical books of Scientology refer to this book often, yet they omit the history of persecution presented in this volume.

Howard Hughes is an odd figure in our history. Omar V. Garrison was an investigative journalist that sorted out confusing mysteries in an easy to understand manner. Although this book is out of print, it is still sought after because it explains many aspects of the mystery of Howard Hughes.

The author writes about Hughes' secret career as a portrait photographer and playboy in disguise; the tragic accident in which he killed a stranger in a sudden and fateful encounter beyond his control; his absentee marriage to former film star Jean Peters; and his running battle with the Atomic Energy Commission in an all-out effort to halt the underground testing of nuclear bombs in Nevada.

The dust jacket explains it all:

On the morning of July 8, 1977 a small army of FBI agents -- the largest number ever mustered for a single operation -- descended upon three religious centers, two of them in Los Angeles and one in Washington, D.C. Using battering rams, sledgehammers and buzz saws, they smashed and cut their way into rooms and offices of the church buildings, where they conducted the most massive search and seizure in American legal history. During the long day, and far into the night (21 continuous hours), they ransacked church files, seizing and carting away almost 100,000 items. A 517-page report inventory was required just to list the things seized.

Did a search for the 161 allegedly stolen documents named on the warrant justify such a violent, large-scale incursion? Or were the raids and act of revenge by a powerful, centralized Government, whose corruption and malfeasance had repeatedly been challenged and exposed by the Church of Scientology during the past two decades? Was such a razzia -- in the police-state mould -- meant to be an objective lesson to any other group or individual who might dare to defy the growing tyranny of federal agencies?

In this informative and at times impassioned book, the author seeks the answer to this and to other urgent problems confronting everyone today. He reveals for the first time the full inside story of the raids, as told by eyewitnesses who were present when they were carried out -- both church staff and the FBI agents who testified later in court. Also related in this documented detail are the dramatic events which lead up to and follow the FBI forays.

One section of the book is devoted to "the incredible caper" in which, the Government claims, undercover operatives from the Church of Scientology infiltrated federal offices to steal documents pertaining to their church. U.S. officials remarked in awe that the operation would have done credit to the intelligence agency of a major country.

With the penetrating insight of a seasoned journalist, the author also examines the legal proceedings which led to the conviction of nine church leaders, now on appeal. Noting that two federal judges from the same U.S. district issued rulings diametrically opposite -- one declaring the FBI raids illegal and "Constitutionally intolerable," and the other in supporting them, Mr. Garrison writes:

"The issue joined in these two judgments, and the events leading up to them, extend by implication into every church, every newspaper office, every home in America."

Among other startling facts, this thoroughly researched work reveals that:

* Interpol is an autonomous organization that is not accountable to any national government or sovereign power.

* Interpol's Paris headquarters provides a relay point for police of member countries to exchange information from their secret files. This means that the massive data banks of the FBI, IRS, etc., already under fire for their misuse at home, have become global lending libraries.

* No matter what laws the U.S. Congress or the British Parliament may pass to control the confidentiality of official files, such statutes are not binding on Interpol's international bureau.

* Some of Interpol's South America bureau chiefs are either currently or were formerly involved in an important drug trafficking network which employs courier routs to Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and the United States.

* As late as 1968, the Interpol General Assembly elected a former Nazi SS officer as the organization's president, who served until 1972.

The author warns that the growing number of computerized dossiers on individuals around the world will eventually make possible the total surveillance and therefore total control of whole populations. He writes:

"Interpol's Orwellian dream is to possess a third or forth generation computer, plugged into the far-flung, interfacing system of the U.S. and other industrialized nations, as well as the European Informatics Network (Reseau Information Europeen) currently in the development stage."