Shambhala International, Troubled Teen Industry, People of Praise, The Charismatic Movement, Exclusive Brethren
An investigation into decades of abuse at Shambhala International"ON APRIL 4, 1987, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche lay dying in the old Halifax Infirmary. He was forty-seven. To the medical staff, Trungpa likely resembled any other patient admitted for palliative care. But, to the inner circle gathered around his bed and for tens of thousands of followers, he was a brilliant philosopher-king fading into sainthood. They believed that, through his reconstruction of "Shambhala"—the mythical Tibetan kingdom on which he'd modelled his New Age community, creating one of the most influential Buddhist organizations in the West—he had innovated a spiritual cure for a postmodern age, a series of precepts to help Westerners meditate their way out of apathy and egotism.Standing by Trungpa's deathbed was Thomas Rich, his spiritual successor. Rich was joined by Diana Mukpo (formerly Diana Pybus), who had married Trungpa in 1970, a few months after she turned sixteen. Also present was Trungpa's twenty-four-year-old son, Mipham Rinpoche. While the cohort chanted and prayed, twenty-five-year-old Leslie Hays listened from outside the door. Trungpa had taken her as one of his seven spiritual wives two years earlier. After being called in to say a brief goodbye, Hays walked out into the evening, secretly relieved Trungpa was dying. She would no longer be serving his sexual demands; enduring his pinches, punches, and kicks; or listening to him drunkenly recount hallucinated conversations with the long-dead sages of medieval Tibet."
"A podcast on AnchorThe "Toughlove" based 'Troubled Teen Industry' was spawned by "America's Most Dangerous Cult", Synanon, and funded by the US Govt. WHICH has been simultaneously funding unethical and involuntary social psychology experiments on children while publicly decrying their tactics as "brainwashing" and 'torture'."
Christianity Today: The People of Praise, Charismatic Catholics, and Fringe Religious Groups
"People of Praise.You may never have heard of it before the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett––who is said to be a part of the group––to the Supreme Court.You will probably hear that they are a far-right fringe group, but they are actually part of the charismatic movement, and a bit of history may help us to understand them better.The Pentecostal and Charismatic MovementsCharles Parham founded the tiny Bethel Bible School in the heartland of Topeka, Kansas, in 1900. While he invited "all Christians and ministers who were willing to forsake all, sell what they had, give it away, and enter the school for study and prayer," he surely had no idea that 120 years later to the month of its founding, the Pentecostal / charismatic / spirit-filled movement would have 600 million adherents and be arguably the strongest global expression of Christianity across the twentieth century.Growing out of the larger eighteenth-century holiness tradition, that obscure beginning––including a watch night service December 31, 1900, where Agnes Ozman reportedly began speaking in Chinese–– was soon followed by manifestations in Houston, Texas, and the more publicized Azusa Street Revival in southern California. William Seymour and Azusa rightly are seen as the key gathering point and accelerator of the movement.Soon, the movement spread across the nation and overseas. Denominations were formed (or reformed) over the decades: Church of God, Assemblies of God, Apostolic Faith, Church of God of Prophecy, and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. (Interestingly, the Church of God Cleveland predates Azusa and would later become a more traditional Pentecostal denomination.)And, as will become important later, these Pentecostals were also evangelicals. In 1943, American Pentecostal churches were accepted as members of the National Association of Evangelicals.The Charismatic MovementIn the mid-twentieth century a new movement arose called the charismatic movement. In this movement, such Pentecostal practices as speaking in tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit spread into mainline and other established but not-previously Pentecostal traditions.I wrote a series explaining the rise of the charismatic movement, explaining:Dennis Bennett had been considering spiritual growth with a small group of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, CA. Some were unsure of the direction that Bennett was leading. Tensions grew volatile in his large church in Van Nuys, CA, when he declared to the congregation on Easter Sunday of 1960 that he had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.The news was not well received by all and Bennett later resigned. Both Time and Newsweek ran articles on Bennett and the church later that year, and the story appeared on local and national television. In a sense, Pentecostalism was entering the mainline (the Episcopal Church, no less) and this was news. This began the mainstreaming of continualist practices (like speaking in tounges, praying for healing, etc.) that were primarily found in Pentecostal churches that, up until now, were often on the fringe of Protestantism.It is in this movement—the charismatic movement of the Episcopal church—that I heard the gospel and became a Christ follower. In my prior article, I did not spend much time on the charismatic Catholic movement, but you cannot understand People of Praise without understanding the charismatic Catholic movement."
Lolly's True Crime World: Lost Lives of Dedicated Exclusive Brethren Family
"Roger Panes was a member of The Exclusive Brethren aka The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church before he brutally murdered his wife and their 3 children with an axe, then hung himself with a length of electrical cable.Why on earth would a loving Christian family man, who was happily married, absolutely dedicated to his faith and loved his church kill his entire family and then himself? Well, I am trying hard to understand that question and I will try to unravel it here.In November of 1973, Roger Panes was 'shut-up' by the church for a minor misdemeanour of shunning another member, which he admitted to being wrong in doing. For those of you not familiar with the practices of The Exclusive Brethren, being 'shut-up' means to be shunned by all other members of the church, isolated from them and personal family."
News, Education, Intervention, Recovery
Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.
CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.
Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.
Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.
Please forward articles that you think we should add to CultNEWS101.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment