Rasa von Werder

Rasa Von Werder (also known as Kellie Everts; born Rasa Sofija Jakštaitė or Jakstas, July 16, 1945

She married Richard Allan Von Werder in 2000 after being engaged since 1986, and they remained married until his 2002 death. During her engagement and marriage, Rasa/Kellie maintained her celibacy, as their relationship was platonic, which Richard Von Werder understood was for the sake of God.

Career

Historic Miss Olympia 1980 images acquired in 2025 - never before published: Left to right, Auby Paulick 2nd place, Lynn Conkwright, 3rd place and next Kellie Everts - the Progenitor was there!

Female bodybuilding and strip dancing Everts helped popularise female bodybuilding. She began competing in beauty/fitness contests in New York City in 1972. She had called the lady who was put in charge by phone to ask admittance to the contest, but the latter apparently rambled about other women and did not invite her, no reason given (likely instructions from the IFBB). Later, she appeared in a three-page spread titled "Stripping for God". Previous to these, she had a six-page spread for the 'Miss Nude Universe Contest' as the winner, in February 1968. She also predated body builder Laura Combes, 1979, when she lifted weights on the Real People show. Maria Shriver produced the documentary on Kellie Everts in 1979 where she Stripped for God (preached and danced) at Harlow's Club in New York City and lifted weights at the Mid City Gym. Local TV shows where she presented female body building were AM New York, AM Washington, and the Stanley Seigel Show - prior to all other female body builders, the dates were 1975 to 1980.

Of Kellie's many books, there are three (all noted in the Bibliography section) that cover her bodybuilding days. They are:

1) The Man Whisperer (2024 page 110 with rare photos) – which gives a time table of her career. 2) I Strip for God part 9 – The Life in my Men (2022 page 124). It documents the relationships of Kellie Everts which were Mr. Universe, Mr. Americas: Mickey Hargitay, Vern Weaver, Harold Poole, Franco Columbu, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dennis Tinerino, Boyer Coe, Chris Dickerson and Reg Lewis. 3) The Origin and Decline of Female Body Building (2009)

The latter book explains how the genre of female bodybuilding, from that time when it did not exist, how it got started, flourished, and began to decline after the year 2000, when men got frightened by Kim Chizevsky and changed the rules. Then when Weider sold out to AMI in 2003 it was relegated down to a subculture.

Ministry

In September 1973, Everts gave her first religious talk after dancing at the Melody Theater in Times Square. This combination act of stripping and preaching led the press to dub her the "Stripper for God".

Everts traveled in the United States and Canada, giving over 1,000 sermons in burlesque theaters and nightclubs. "Stripping for God" created public debate about the coexistence of sexuality and spirituality, and conflicted with prevailing social norms and constructs at the time. The assertion of being an ordained minister while openly working in the adult entertainment industry was controversial.

In 1988 she appeared on The Morton Downey Jr. Show on an episode about strippers She filed a lawsuit against host Morton Downey Jr. and the television network WWOR-TV alleging libel.

Kellie Everts, 1978 publicity photo by James J. Kriegsmann (1909-1994) preaching for One World Light

Everts later changed the emphasis of her mission to the return of matriarchy and the feminine divine. On June 16, 1978, she preached a message about Our Lady of Fátima in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., intending to bring about the conversion of Russia and, by extension, preventing a potential nuclear World War III. The gist of the message was, "Pray the Rosary for the conversion of Russia, or nations will be annihilated." Everts' acquaintance at the time, Betty Jane Allsup (better known as Honeysuckle Divine) who had first seen her on television, played a crucial role, and had arranged for the press conference and who initially applied for the permit for the event before Kellie had even arrived in Washington. The event was documented by the Associated Press, and widely covered in the Washington Post, The Washington Star, Playboy Magazine, and elsewhere. She has since expanded her focus, founding "The University of Mother God Church", which became a distinct religion for women.

Rasa Von Werder has apparently been a minister to purgatory for many years as well. She says that Jesus Christ appeared to her in the form of a priest (i.e. his Spirit possessed the priest) in a church, where He called her behind the altar (there were no other people present), thereby ordaining her. This has enabled Rasa to say the Holy Mass, which she celebrates daily for the Poor Souls, and this is the main way she helps them. Her experiences are outlined in three books: Theater of Justice - Celebrity Souls Appear, God Waits for Them, and Royals Ascend into Heaven.

Everts has also done much unrelated activism, humanitarian, and community work, primarily in Brooklyn, New York.

Author On May 24, 2004, Everts, under her present name Rasa Von Werder or Guru Rasa of the Church of Mother God, started the Woman Thou Art God Website. She has since continued publishing online on her religious beliefs. She has thirty-eight (and counting) books published on female empowerment, her biography, matriarchy spirituality, and various other subjects. Since 2014, Rasa has also had another main website as well, Embodiment of God, that further builds upon the first one.

She has also collaborated with other authors as well in writing books and online articles, most notably including William Bond, who is also featured on that site.

Later years In her later years, after 30 years of celibacy for spiritual purposes, beginning at age 63 in 2008 (according to her, God told her to stop suffering, quit celibacy and have fun –thus it was "the Will of God"), Rasa became a "cougar" and photographer of males, mainly in the college town of Binghamton, New York, to further the cause of female empowerment. At Binghamton University, she was popular overall and featured several times on the front page of their student newspaper, Pipe Dream.

Filmography Film She Did It His Way (1968) The Girls on F Street (1967) Dude Ranch (1966–1968) The Swinger (1966)

Television England documentary on people starting their own YouTube videos, and her dancing (2008) The Morton Downey Jr. Show (1988) National: Entertainment Tonight regarding The Morton Downey Jr. Show (1988) People Are Talking (1988, multiple times) The Sally Jessy Rafael Show (1988) Various international documentaries, including 60 Minutes Australia (1988) – and also appeared on shows & documentaries in Italy Geraldo (1987) Phil Donahue (1987) Detroit TV (WXYZ Detroit) (1982) Tom Snyder (twice) – 1976 & 1981 – 1976 as ‘Stripper for God', and 1981 as Body Builder with Lisa Lyon, where Rasa spoke & posed in a white bikini To Tell the Truth (twice) – once as impersonating the "World's Yo-Yo Champion" and second, as herself, a minister and body builder doing some bench presses at the end (1978) Chicago: Warren Saunders' Common Ground (1978) Chicago – Ron Hunter Show (1978) AM Chicago (1978) Chicago – Friday Night Live with Jay Levene (1978) AM Washington (twice, 1974 and 1978) Inside Edition (Florida) (1978) The Bill Boggs Show (1976) Real People (5 times total) for all that she did – Stripper for God, Body Builder (1975–1981) Mike Douglas (1975) AM New York (many times, including once with Arnold Schwarzenegger) (1974) And various other TV news shows (many coast to coast in the US as well as in Canada) from 1972 to 2017 for her various activities, Stripping for God, Body Building, getting arrested in Ohio and Toronto, and her new church Army of Mother God, by Female Supremacy NOW, on YouTube (2015) The Examiner, The Sun (1998) and has frequently been portrayed on Playboy.