by Licia Kuenning
In February 2005, Licia Kuenning posted a document to soc.religion.quaker that she described as a prophetic "opening" — something Christ had recently been telling her. Kuenning was not a fringe figure: she was a Conservative Friend who operated Quaker Heritage Press, which reprinted classic Quaker texts, and she was known on the group as a serious and learned participant. The document announces a coming divine transformation of Farmington, Maine, beginning June 6, 2006, in which death, illness, and crime would be abolished within the town's municipal limits.
The opening belongs to a tradition that is as old as Quakerism itself. George Fox's early Journal is full of "openings" — direct divine communications received in gathered silence. James Nayler, John Audland, and the first generation of Friends wrote in exactly this idiom: "the word of the Lord came to me." What Kuenning did was unusual not in form but in the specificity and verifiability of its content — she named a town, a date, and a set of physical conditions, and she invited the community to attend the first public meeting. The date (June 6, 2006) was 6/6/6, a detail neither noted nor apparently intended.
The community's response, in the thread that followed, ranged from respectful concern to outright dismissal. Kuenning did not recant. Whether one takes the document as sincere mystical witness, prophetic failure, or something in between, it is a primary source in the long and unbroken tradition of Quaker prophetic writing — and a document that tells us something true about what it meant to be a convinced Conservative Friend in twenty-first-century America.
Originally, Friends emphasized the fact that Christ still speaks to people: he is not limited to saying the things that are recorded in the Bible (though of course those sayings are still true). Here is something he has recently been telling me:
About the Coming New Order in Farmington
In the town of Farmington, Maine, a new state of affairs will soon exist which the world has never seen before. This change will occur on June 6, 2006.
Thereafter, there will be no death and no illness (except the remnants of earlier illnesses which will go away in three days or less) within the municipal limits of Farmington. Nor will there be any crime or bad behavior. You will be safe in Farmington; nothing will harm you here. The rest of the world is still the way it has been for millennia, so if you go outside the borders of Farmington you will not be protected in this particular way, though you will be no worse off than before.
Farmington will, of course, remain as free as any other American town. You may stay or leave as you choose. Nobody will try to make you stay or make you leave. Nor will anyone in Farmington try to keep anyone out. Do whatever God leads you to do.
There will be public meetings every week or so to discuss new questions that may come up because of this drastic change in the nature of Farmington. Anyone may attend them. The first such meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Meetinghouse Park, weather permitting.
There will be an information center for visitors and newcomers, probably at Thoughtbridge, 1 Bridge St. New information will also be posted as it becomes available.
Queries and Answers
How long will the new state of affairs in Farmington last?
The abolition of death and other evils will last forever.
Will this happen in other parts of the world?
Some day the new order will be worldwide. It is not known when that day will be. Until that day, Farmington will be the only place changed.
Won't Farmington become overcrowded and lose its small-town character that residents love so much?
Farmington will never be overcrowded in the way that many cities are now crowded. The population will increase, but there is plenty of open space in Farmington to accommodate many more citizens. If more space is needed this will be accomplished by annexing another town to Farmington, though this will not be necessary for the next several years. Also, since people will live in harmony with one another, the problems that attend overcrowded places — crime, filth, etc. — will never be problems in Farmington.
What will happen if I leave Farmington? Will old diseases that I have been healed of here come back?
Nothing that has been healed in Farmington will come back. I.e., if you had cancer, and it goes away, that cancer will not return when you leave the town. But new diseases can start outside Farmington as has always been the case.
What will cause this amazing change?
God will cause it by his own will.
Why has Farmington been chosen?
I do not know.
Colophon
Written by Licia Kuenning, operator of Quaker Heritage Press, Farmington, Maine. Posted to soc.religion.quaker on February 28, 2005. Kuenning described this document as a prophetic opening — a communication received from Christ in the Quaker tradition of continuing revelation. The text was signed with her name and address, inviting direct contact. The date announced for the transformation, June 6, 2006, passed without the events described occurring.
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: [email protected]
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