In the name of God? The secretive Christian sect under FBI investigation

A shadowy Christian sect known as the Two by Twos (2x2s) — also called The Truth, The Way, or the No-Name Church — is at the center of a shocking global child sexual abuse scandal. A Daily Maverick investigation reveals that South African members have also come forward with disturbing allegations. The FBI and SAPS have confirmed an active investigation into historic sexual abuse within the church. Marianne Thamm explains. 

Reporting by: Marianne Thamm & Jeannette Wang

Edited by: Malibongwe Tyilo

Filmed by: Bernard Kotze & Joel Seboa

Produced by: Emilie Gambade

Sub-edited by: Ian Wolstenholme

Marianne Thamm is a South African journalist, author and stand-up comedian. She is the assistant editor of the Daily Maverick and has written several books. In 2016, she released the memoir, Hitler, Verwoerd, Mandela and me.

Read the full story on Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-06-22-saps-and-fbi-investigate-child-sexual-abuse-by-secretive-two-by-twos-christian-cult/

Six Former Cult Members Sentenced for Years-Long Forced Labor Conspiracy to Compel the Labor of Multiple Minor Victims

Department of Justice 

August 7, 2025

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

A federal judge in the District of Kansas sentenced defendant Kaaba Majeed, 51, to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release for forced labor and forced labor conspiracy. The court sentenced co-defendants Yunus Rassoul, 39, to five years of probation; James Staton, 63, to five years in prison and one year of supervised release; Randolph Rodney Hadley, 50, to five years in prison and one year of supervised release; Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, 44, to four years in prison and one year of supervised release; and Dana Peach, 60, to four years in prison and one year of supervised release for forced labor conspiracy.

In September 2024, after a 26-day trial, a jury convicted all six defendants of forced labor conspiracy and convicted Majeed of five additional counts of forced labor. Two other co-defendants, Etenia Kinard, 49, and Jacelyn Greenwell, 46 who previously pleaded guilty to the forced labor conspiracy, are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22.

“Labor trafficking of children is an egregious crime,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “These sentences reflect our relentless pursuit of perpetrators and our determination to seek justice for survivors of human trafficking.”

“The defendants were entrusted to care for and nurture vulnerable children but instead chose to exploit and abuse them,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas. “Although these crimes were committed many years ago and the children are now adults, the sentences handed down today reflect how the passage of time did not diminish the Department of Justice’s resolve to hold these human traffickers accountable and seek justice for their victims.”

“The FBI works closely with numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, as well as non-governmental agencies and other nonprofits on the front lines to combat human trafficking,” said Special Agent in Charge Stephen Cyrus of the FBI Kansas City Field Office. “This case highlights the value of those partnerships. The Kansas City FBI will continue to prioritize the safety of our community and thanks the Department of Labor and the New York State Department of Labor for their invaluable assistance.”

As established at trial, all six defendants were former high-ranking members of the United Nation of Islam (UNOI) who assisted UNOI’s late founder Royall Jenkins in managing UNOI operations. Defendant Peach was also one of Jenkins’s wives. Jenkins represented himself as Allah, contrary to principles of the Islamic faith, and demanded compliance with strict UNOI rules. UNOI operated multiple businesses including restaurants, bakeries, gas stations, a laboratory, and a clothing factory.

For over 12 years from October 2000 through November 2012, the defendants conspired to enforce rules that required UNOI members to perform unpaid labor, using beatings, threats, punishments, isolation, and coercion to compel the unpaid labor of over a dozen victims, including multiple minors, some as young as eight years old. The defendants required the victims to work up to 16 hours a day performing unpaid labor in UNOI-owned and operated businesses in Kansas City, Kansas; New York, New York; Newark, New Jersey; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia, and elsewhere. The defendants also required the victims to perform unpaid childcare and domestic service in the defendants’ homes. The evidence showed that the defendants lived comfortably while housing the victims in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions along with restricting their food and water.

As proven at trial, the defendants used false promises of education, life skills training, and job training to induce parents to send their children to Kansas. After isolating the victims from their families and making them wholly dependent on UNOI, the defendants required the victims to attend UNOI’s unlicensed, unaccredited school and used strict rules, isolation, punishments, humiliation, threats, and coercion to compel the victims’ unpaid labor. This included restricting and monitoring the victims’ communications with others along with their whereabouts.   

The FBI Kansas City Field Office investigated the case with the assistance of the Department of Labor and the New York State Department of Labor.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Huschka for the District of Kansas and Trial Attorneys Kate Alexander, Maryam Zhuravitsky, and Francisco Zornosa of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll free at 1-888-373-7888, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Further information is available at www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/six-former-cult-members-sentenced-years-long-forced-labor-conspiracy-compel-labor-multiple

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/5/2025 (Jehovah's Witnesses, Book, LGBT, Geelong Revival Centre, Australia, Gloriavale, Child Abuse, New Zealand, Legal)

Jehovah's Witnesses, Book,  LGBT, Geelong Revival Centre, Australia,  Gloriavale, Child Abuse, New Zealand, Legal

Eric Schaeffer: A Lie Told Often Enough Becomes the Truth, Exposing How the Watchtower Deceives Jehovah's Witnesses

"In the late 1800s, a religious organization known as the Watchtower was born. This group places much emphasis on Christ's return and Armageddon, aggressively seeking to spread their doctrine to all who will listen. These efforts were successful, for their influence can be seen in countries and languages throughout the world. Many of the Watchtower's deceptions were easy to spot in the early days, but with almost 150 years of practice, they have found ways to fine-tune their inconsistencies. Millions have been misled by the Watchtower and have become personal carriers of their fraudulent message. These carriers are known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. After having hundreds of conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses, I began to understand that most are sincere people who generally want to please God, but fail to recognize that they have been duped by doctrinal deception. This book examines the variety of ways these deceptions take place by comparing the Bible, the original languages, church history, and the Watchtower's own material. After exploring this information, the reader will be able to see how the Watchtower has been deceiving Jehovah's Witnesses with false prophecies, misquoted scholars, historical untruths, and even purposeful changes to the Bible. This writing is respectful but does not pull any punches. It is straightforward truth that exposes the Watchtower's manipulation of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

AvoidJW: Jehovah's Witnesses Create Three New Businesses in Ireland to handle financial assets

Independent: The Jehovah's Witnesses who left the faith and never looked back: 'I was 37 and had only ever held a boy's hand

" ... McAllen, 39, who lives in Greenwich, south-east London, is today active in support groups that help people who leave high-control religious groups. She has also created a safe space online through her TikTok channel, Apostate Barbie, where she educates others about the realities of life as a Witness. A series of videos on "Random Things You Can't Do as a Jehovah's Witness" has amassed hundreds of thousands of views. "I try to keep things very factual and light," she says of her content. "I don't want it to be heavy or [involve] calling people names. I try to show that there is life after religion. That it's not all doom and gloom, that we're all happy and fine, and in fact life is better."

Like a lot of ex-Witnesses, McAllen describes leaving the religion as "waking up". She had devoted her entire life to the faith, attending regular meetings at kingdom hall and spending dozens of hours a week knocking on doors and handing out pamphlets.

Jehovah's Witnesses are prohibited from socialising with nonbelievers, higher education is often discouraged to prioritise witnessing, and dating is strictly reserved for those seeking marriage. Former members say they were warned that questioning or leaving the faith could lead to "removal from the congregation", a formal practice of excommunication that was, until recently, known as disfellowship.

A person who is disfellowshipped stands to lose everything. They are effectively shunned by the community and end up "grieving the living" after losing contact with family and friends. Nicolas Spooner, a counsellor who specialises in working with Jehovah's Witnesses who leave the organisation, says exclusion from the faith can have a lasting negative impact on mental health, career prospects and quality of life, but it can also present an opportunity for self-discovery and new experiences that would change their lives completely.

"Looking at the sorts of things they're finding out about themselves, I think mostly they're starting to realise how many life skills they lack," Spooner says. "This is what I hear more than anything else. It's quite common for [former members] to find that they shy away from social situations, because they lack certain life skills that everybody else takes for granted – like how to make friends, how to treat friends, how to be a friend. These are things that we learn as we're growing up. If you're growing up as a Witness, it's not the same."

But it's never too late to learn, he adds, as he points to his wife, Heather, who left the Jehovah's Witnesses at the age of 48. Since then, she has completed a PhD in psychology researching the effects of religious ostracism, authored a number of academic articles on the subject and is a lecturer in psychology at Manchester University."

Canberra Times: 'You could hit kids': ex-members in 'cult' abuse claims

"Former members of a fundamentalist church have lifted the lid on abuse of kids and slammed working with children checks as a sham.

Ryan Carey was born into the Geelong Revival Centre, a Pentecostal doomsday church run by pastor Noel Hollins for more than six decades until his death in April 2024.

Mr Carey, whose father was second-in-command to Hollins, said the damage from his and others' time in the church lingers.

"I might have lived in the state of Victoria but I answered to the cult and the cult leader," he told a state parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday.

The inquiry into recruitment and retention methods of cults and organised fringe groups was green lit in April following claims of coercive practices within the church.

Mr Carey and his wife Catherine, who joined the church at age 19, were the first witnesses to give evidence at the public hearing."

AP: Leader of secretive New Zealand commune admits abusing young female church members

"The leader of an isolated and conservative Christian commune in New Zealand pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a dozen indecency and assault charges against women and girls who were members of the religious group.

The admission of guilt from Howard Temple came three days into a trial at which he was accused of abusing members of the Gloriavale commune, aged between 9 and 20 over a period of two decades.

Complainants who appeared in the opening days of Temple's trial at the Greymouth District Court said he had touched or groped them while they were performing domestic duties, including in front of other Gloriavale members during mealtimes, Radio New Zealand reported.

They told the court they were too scared to challenge the leader and feared being told the abuse was their fault.

Temple, who is 85 and known as the Overseeing Shepherd of Gloriavale, earlier denied the two dozen charges, and was scheduled to face a three-week trial. But on [July 30th], his lawyer said the leader would admit to an amended list of 12 crimes."

RNS: Gloriavale leader assault trial enters third day

"Three former Gloriavale members have told a court they were touched, grabbed and groped by the Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple, on the second day of his trial in Greymouth. Mr Temple has pleaded not guilty to 24 charges of sexual assault and doing an indecent act."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/4/2025 (Jesus Fellowship Church (JFC), Child Abuse, Legal, Documentary, Cult Characteristics)

Jesus Fellowship Church (JFC), Child Abuse, Legal, Documentary, Cult Characteristics

John Everett: War and Defeat: The Jesus Army and Fellowship

"For nearly fifty years the Jesus Fellowship Church (JFC) - known to many as the Jesus Army - offered its members salvation, sanctity and security within the caring brotherhood of a communal lifestyle believed to be God's kingdom here on Earth. Many, in good faith, knew it as their true home, their 'Zion'. Sadly, however, utopian experiments rarely stand the test of time, and the JFC proved no exception: its demise in 2017 followed hot on the heels of a police investigation - codenamed Operation Lifeboat - into allegations of abuse. Operation Lifeboat led to several successful prosecutions.

The official closure statement issued by the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust reported that nearly three hundred allegations of harm and abuse had been received, including twenty-two against the late founder and leader, Noel Stanton (1926 - 2009). These involved serious incidents of sexual, physical, financial and emotional abuse.

Between 1977 and 1982 John Everett belonged to the 'white-hot' hub of the JFC, the New Creation Christian Community (NCCC), whose members sold all their possessions - including former homes - and donated the proceeds to a central community trust fund. They also pooled all their income in household 'common purses'. By 2010 the JFC owned some forty or more properties spread across the whole country - including former cinemas and large, stately houses - and their business ventures had become multi-million-pound enterprises.

In 1979 John was commissioned by Noel Stanton to study the sociological character of the JFC at Warwick University for a doctoral thesis. His research, together with his first-hand experience, eventually led him to conclude that the JFC had become a cult. After challenging Noel Stanton about his autocratic leadership, John found the courage to leave NCCC; but he was then branded a traitor and formally excluded through excommunication. His treatment ultimately led to a devastating mental breakdown.

John has spent over four decades since he left endeavouring to expose the JFC in its true colours. This has included involvement with numerous media investigations and features; providing help to ex-members; writing reports for church authorities; creating and running a popular website for over twelve years; and contributing to five TV documentaries and shows. His experience is undoubtedly unique and has culminated in 'War and Defeat' - an account of his fascinating odyssey, which includes the many wonderful - and not-so-wonderful - people who have been an essential part of it."

The Telegraph: 'We give our genitals to Jesus': The cult that promoted celibacy while covering up its own abuse

A powerful BBC documentary reveals the dark secrets of Britain's Jesus Army movement.

" ... 'In 2013, we as the senior [Jesus Army] leadership initiated a wide-ranging process that invited disclosures of any kind of abuse, both historic and recent, and referred all such reports to the authorities."

The crimes are not just documented by victims."

"  ... [A] Shepherd in Leicester, admits he was informed of "rapes" and "sexual activity with minors" in confession. When he raised it within the organisation, he was told 'the power of that sin was under the blood of Jesus and therefore cancelled out'."

" ... 'The biggest takeaway for me is that any government body should not be complacent in thinking that this was a strange anomaly that happened in Northampton many years ago," she tells me. "We have high-control groups operating throughout the country and there's been a proliferation since Covid [one expert has estimated there are 2,000]. So, this is absolutely a scenario that could happen again. None of these leaders have been criminalised because our coercive control laws only apply to domestic and intimate partner relationships.'"

BBC: 'We could hear the screams': Inside the Jesus Army

" ... The Jesus Army's headquarters was at New Creation Hall, the Grade II-listed farmhouse in Bugbrooke where Noel Stanton lived.

Philippa began visiting it with her family as a child before they moved to the village permanently in 1986, "a couple of doors down" from Stanton.

"You could feel his influence, actually," she says. "He didn't need to be there."

Many teenagers, including her older brother, were separated from their families and housed elsewhere.

This was all part of Stanton's belief that the family of God was more important than one's biological family.

Philippa says when she was 12 and 13, she became aware that a friend of about the same age was being sexually abused.

She says: "You're constantly being told that you are sinful as a woman. That you're distracting men from God.

"You're called a Jezebel. You're belittled at every opportunity by Noel. So who's gonna believe that, you know, a man, an elder, has done those things to somebody?"

But eventually, while still a teenager, she testified in court against an elder who became the first member of the group to be convicted of sexually assaulting a young person.

She said she was shunned by the leadership and fled the group before eventually founding the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association.

When the Jesus Army disbanded following Stanton's death in 2009, allegations against him of numerous sexual assaults on boys emerged.

The Jesus Fellowship Church ultimately disbanded in 2019 following a series of historical cases of sexual abuse.

A report by the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust (JFCT), a group tasked with winding up the church's affairs, found one in six children involved with it was estimated to have been sexually abused by the cult.

It is still thought that some of those accused, including 162 former leaders, may have taken up roles in different churches and Northamptonshire Police is liaising with relevant local authorities to see if any safeguarding action is required.

The JFCT said it was sorry for "the severely detrimental impact" on people's lives, and hoped the conclusion of the redress scheme would "provide an opportunity to look to the future" for all those affected during a 50-year period.

To date, about 12 former members of the Jesus Fellowship Church have been convicted for indecent assaults and other offences."

BBC: Jesus Army cult would 'pack out' 900-seat theatre

" ... The man who ran the theatre owned by an orthodox evangelical church said the group would "pack out" the 900-seater auditorium when it held worships there.

The Jesus Army church recruited thousands of people to live in close-knit, puritanical communities in Northamptonshire, London and the Midlands, but was later exposed as a cult in which sexual and physical abuse was perpetuated.

In 2000 it purchased what was the Savoy theatre in Northampton, which at the time was derelict, reopening it as the Jesus Centre and the Deco Theatre."

" ... When the Jesus Army disbanded following the death of preacher Noel Stanton in 2009, allegations against him of numerous sexual assaults on boys emerged.

The Jesus Fellowship Church ultimately disbanded in 2019 following a series of historical cases of sexual abuse."

BBC: 'You're sold a lie': How do you spot a cult

"For seven years of her twenties, Gillie Jenkinson was in a religious cult. She recalls being told what to eat, when to sleep and what clothes to wear.

"It was completely coercive, controlling," she says, going on to add that the group operated from an "ordinary" looking terraced house.

She remembers giving all of her money to the group, believing it would go towards their mission of "saving the world".

"None of that happened, we didn't save anybody or do anything with it, but you're sold a lie," she explains.

After leaving the cult, she sought mental health support to help process her experiences but she was unable to find any trained therapist with experience in helping cult survivors.

In the end, she decided to train as a therapist herself and has now been practising for around 30 years, specialising in helping people who have left cults.

This led her to appear in the two-part BBC documentary Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army, which sees her work with people brought up in the now-defunct religious cult to recognise cult dynamics and identify the group's impact on them.

The BBC revealed allegations of widespread child abuse in the group, which disbanded in 2019.

The Jesus Fellowship Community Trust, which has been winding up the group's affairs, said it was sorry for "the severely detrimental impact" on people's lives.

Speaking to the BBC, Jenkinson explains how to recognise a cult and why more support is needed for those who leave."

" ... While cults can be hard to spot, Jenkinson and Montell note some "red flags" people can look for:

• One possible indicator Jenkinson highlights is "love bombing" - a manipulation tactic that sees abusers use affection and declarations of love as a way of gaining power and control.
• Another common theme is promising "answers to life's very complex problems", like climate change or the meaning of existence, the psychotherapist adds.
• Montell says the combination of mantras, buzzwords and nicknames for insiders and outsiders of the group, as well as language that elicits a strong reaction while encouraging us not to ask further questions, can be indicators.
• The linguist adds that certain texts being "off-limits" in the group can also be a warning sign.
• The most "extreme" trait of a cult for Montell is a "high barrier to exit", meaning group members being made to feel they might lose their identity or friendships, or fear retaliation, if they leave the group."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

Leader of secretive New Zealand commune admits abusing young female church members

Several former members of the commune described in evidence how the sect's rules gave rise to what they said was a culture of sexual and physical abuse.

AP

July 30, 2025

WELLINGTON: The leader of an isolated and conservative Christian commune in New Zealand pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a dozen indecency and assault charges against women and girls who were members of the religious group.

The admission of guilt from Howard Temple came three days into a trial at which he was accused of abusing members of the Gloriavale commune, aged between 9 and 20 over a period of two decades.

Complainants who appeared in the opening days of Temple's trial at the Greymouth District Court said he had touched or groped them while they were performing domestic duties, including in front of other Gloriavale members during mealtimes, Radio New Zealand reported.

They told the court they were too scared to challenge the leader and feared being told the abuse was their fault.

Temple, who is 85 and known as the Overseeing Shepherd of Gloriavale, earlier denied the two dozen charges, and was scheduled to face a three-week trial. But on Wednesday, his lawyer said the leader would admit to an amended list of 12 crimes.

They included five counts of indecent assault, five of committing an indecent act and two of common assault, Radio New Zealand reported. Some were representative, which means the charges reflect multiple similar acts.

Temple's lawyer didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Howard Temple was charged with decades of abuse as leader of a remote, conservative sect

The charges against the leader spanned from 1998 to 2022 and involved nine complainants.

Gloriavale, a community of about 600 people who live at a settlement on the South Island's remote West Coast, was founded in the 1970s and is mostly estranged from the outside world. Members share all property and money, don't speak to relatives who leave the group, and work and study within the commune.

The sect is known in New Zealand for its conservative beliefs and doctrines. Women and girls wear navy-colored ankle-length dresses with white headdresses, adherents are required to have large families and only men can serve in leadership roles while their wives and children are subservient.

Temple, who was born in the United States and served in the US Navy before migrating to New Zealand, has been the leader at Gloriavale since his predecessor, Hopeful Christian, died in 2018. Christian was sentenced to four years in prison in 1995 on charges of indecent assault against a 19-year-old woman and successfully appealed against convictions on other sexual offending.

Members said the group's rules enabled abuse

The sect attracted attention during a broader official inquiry into decades of abuse at New Zealand's state and religious institutions.

Its final report, published in 2024, found that Gloriavale had for decades prohibited members from reporting crimes to outside authorities. Several former members of the commune described in evidence how the rules gave rise to what they said was a culture of sexual and physical abuse.

Less than a year before he first appeared in court, Temple gave evidence to the inquiry. In his testimony, he said his leadership and a 2020 police investigation into abuse at the commune had prompted "a totally different attitude and way of thinking" in how leaders responded to sexual abuse complaints.

Reporting processes had been inadequate before, he told the inquiry. But now all complainants were believed, Temple said, adding that he had reported alleged abusers to law enforcement himself.

"I will push and I will teach and I will expect it of these people in Gloriavale," he said during the 2022 hearing. "There will be no more abuse in Gloriavale."

He made a public apology in January for abuse by others in the commune, which was rejected by former members of the faith as insincere.

Sentencing likely to come later this year

Temple will next appear in court in August, when a sentencing date for his crimes will be set. Indecent assault carries a penalty of up to seven years in New Zealand.

The country's police welcomed his guilty pleas Wednesday.

"While it would not be appropriate for me to comment further ahead of sentencing, I'd like to acknowledge the victims," Inspector Jaqueline Corner told the AP. "This is a direct result of their willingness and courage to speak up."

https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2025/Jul/30/leader-of-secretive-new-zealand-commune-admits-abusing-young-female-church-members

'We could hear the screams': Inside the Jesus Army

Kris Holland

BBC News

July 28, 2025

Noel Stanton, the Jesus Fellowship's tyrannical leader, died in 2009 before he could be prosecuted for any crimes.

A small Christian commune that aspired to create heaven on Earth grew to become a cult in which sexual and physical abuse was perpetuated in plain sight.

The Jesus Army church recruited thousands of people to live in close-knit, puritanical communities in Northamptonshire, London and the Midlands.

One of the UK's most abusive cults, it is now the subject of a new BBC documentary and podcast.

They trace the story from its hippy origins as the Jesus Fellowship, through the high-profile launch of the Jesus Army in the late 1980s, to its shocking collapse in the 2000s when the truth about life inside the church started to emerge.

Two survivors have been sharing their experiences.

'It was just horrible'

"I always had these yearnings for a lifestyle that was different to the materialistic lifestyle," he explains.

"This feeling that striving for wealth didn't equate to happiness, and I didn't feel attached to material property in the way that a lot of my friends seemed to be."

In 1976, aged 18, John was told that in the village of Bugbrooke, near Northampton, a Christian preacher called Noel Stanton had created a "communal lifestyle" that had attracted hundreds of young people.

After saving some money, John travelled from his home in Kent to experience it for himself and soon saw the attraction.

"I remember a guy called Andy out in the garden. He was doing some weeding and I remember him singing away to himself while he was doing it.

"And so that was the first thing that really struck me, just how happy everybody looked. I could feel myself melting."

For that life, though, sacrifices needed to be made because "any kind of entertainment was wrong," John says.

"So no more cinema, no more television. And from now on, I would have to stop listening to any music."

But after some time he began to have doubts, including how children were treated.

He says children were disciplined with birch sticks, which "was meant to be a loving form of correction".

John says: "A young child was taken away from the dining room table to be disciplined, and we could all hear.

"His screams as he was hit, and on that occasion, he was hit at least six times and it was just horrible. It was... humiliating for the child. It was humiliating for everybody. Horrible."

John began documenting what he had seen and heard during his time in the Jesus Fellowship.

He eventually left but was branded a "traitor" and no-one from the group was allowed to contact him.

The Jesus Army's headquarters was at New Creation Hall, the Grade II-listed farmhouse in Bugbrooke where Noel Stanton lived.

Philippa began visiting it with her family as a child before they moved to the village permanently in 1986, "a couple of doors down" from Stanton.

"You could feel his influence, actually," she says. "He didn't need to be there."

Many teenagers, including her older brother, were separated from their families and housed elsewhere.

This was all part of Stanton's belief that the family of God was more important than one's biological family.

Philippa says when she was 12 and 13, she became aware that a friend of about the same age was being sexually abused.

She says: "You're constantly being told that you are sinful as a woman. That you're distracting men from God.

"You're called a Jezebel. You're belittled at every opportunity by Noel. So who's gonna believe that, you know, a man, an elder, has done those things to somebody?"

But eventually, while still a teenager, she testified in court against an elder who became the first member of the group to be convicted of sexually assaulting a young person.

She said she was shunned by the leadership and fled the group before eventually founding the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association.

When the Jesus Army disbanded following Stanton's death in 2009, allegations against him of numerous sexual assaults on boys emerged.

The Jesus Fellowship Church ultimately disbanded in 2019 following a series of historical cases of sexual abuse.

A report by the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust (JFCT), a group tasked with winding up the church's affairs, found one in six children involved with it was estimated to have been sexually abused by the cult.

It is still thought that some of those accused, including 162 former leaders, may have taken up roles in different churches and Northamptonshire Police is liaising with relevant local authorities to see if any safeguarding action is required.

The JFCT said it was sorry for “the severely detrimental impact” on people’s lives, and hoped the conclusion of the redress scheme would “provide an opportunity to look to the future” for all those affected during a 50-year period.

To date, about 12 former members of the Jesus Fellowship Church have been convicted for indecent assaults and other offences.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2je7l06mgo

Sunday school teacher jailed for sexually abusing nine children was protected by church leader, Victorian cult inquiry hears

Former Geelong Revival Centre members tell inquiry abuse went unreported because group believed its authority was ‘higher than the law of the land’

Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent

The Guardian 

July 23, 2025

A Sunday school teacher who was jailed for sexually abusing nine children was protected by the leader of his fundamentalist church, after parents reported the abuse to him instead of police, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Catherine and Ryan Carey, former members of the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC), gave evidence at the first hearing of the parliamentary inquiry into the practices of cults and organised fringe groups on Wednesday.

The inquiry was established in April, after allegations of coercive practices at the GRC, as detailed in LiSTNR’s investigative podcast series Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder. The church has not publicly commented on the allegations contained in the podcast.

Led by the legislative assembly’s legal and social issues committee, the inquiry is not examining specific religious groups or their beliefs but rather the methods they use to attract and retain members – and whether those practices amount to coercion that should be criminalised.

Ryan told the inquiry the man had a valid working with children check at the time of the offending and described the government’s screening process as a “Band-Aid on an amputee”.

“He was convicted last year of molesting nine kids in the Geelong community and the parents that found out reported it to the cult leader – and this was in the judgment – instead of going [to] police,” he said.

“There was a two-and-a-half day lag where this guy was able to destroy evidence – I think [there] was 12 terabytes of child pornography – because the parents didn’t do the right thing and go report this [to] police.”

Catherine said that during this time a child was also left in the care of the man. She said GRC’s leader only contacted police after learning the man had already turned himself in.

Ryan said the abuse went unreported because the GRC acted like a “state within a state” and believed its authority was “higher than the law of the land”.

He said when sexual abuse occurred within families, it was also “covered up” by the GRC and victims “blamed” by their offenders.

“The girls were always seen as the flirts and the ones that were leading the men astray, like it was never the male’s fault, which is, it’s just horrible,” Ryan said.

The podcast’s creator, journalist Richard Baker, also told the inquiry he was aware of another GRC member in Newcastle who is facing “serious child sexual abuse charges” but the centre allowed “to attend a summer camp with hundreds of families”.

“We have ... presumption of innocence and all of that. But also … wouldn’t you have an abundance of caution to say, maybe this isn’t the right environment while someone is facing such serious charges, to be in a campsite with dozens, if not hundreds of children?” Baker said.

“I find that troubling.”

Ryan also told the inquiry the environment within the GRC was “unsafe for kids”, saying it was common for young people to be left alone with elders.

Elders, meanwhile, were regularly instructed to physically punish children – especially those with single mothers.

“If you were in Sunday school or child minding, you could hit kids,” Ryan said. “It was absolutely disastrous. I speak to adults now that are still traumatised.”

Families were also instructed to discipline their children harshly. Ryan told the inquiry he was told to “crush my kids’ will by the time they are three to make them compliant” while Catherine said comparisons were made to “breaking in a horse”.

The couple have since left the GRC and founded the group Stop Religious Coercion Australia. They maintain the centre is a cult, as it uses “friends, family and fear” to control its members and isolate those who leave.

Ryan said his father was “second in charge of the cult” in Geelong and, from the moment he was born, he “answered to the cult and the cult leader”, living in a “constant state of fear” that the “world was going to end”.

Catherine, meanwhile, joined at age 19, during a period when she had experienced trauma and felt isolated and vulnerable, or “ripe to be sucked into a cult”, as she put it.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/23/sunday-school-teacher-jailed-for-sexually-abusing-nine-children-protected-by-church-leader-victorian-cult-inquiry-hears-ntwnfb

El Salvador extradites members of Jewish cult Lev Tahor accused of child sex abuse

Eliezer Rumpler extradited to Israel for allegedly disrobing, beating students, while Jonathan Cardona sent to Guatemala to stand trial for rape, child abuse and human trafficking

AFP and Luke Tress Follow

June 21, 2025

El Salvador has extradited to Guatemala and Israel two members of the extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor, who were under investigation for alleged child sex abuse, authorities announced Thursday.

The cult has been the subject of a months-long probe in Guatemala for the mistreatment of minors. In December 2024, authorities there rescued 160 minors from a farm used by Lev Tahor in Oratorio, southwest of Guatemala City. Lev Tahor, which has accused the government of religious persecution, tried at the time to burst into the compound where the children were taken and recapture them.

Prosecutors in El Salvador announced Thursday that they had extradited Eluzur Rumpler to Israel, though the Israeli government has identified him as Eliezer Rumpler.

Rumpler, a US and Israeli citizen, is accused of mistreating students in education centers under his direction, prosecutors said, without detailing when the alleged offenses occurred. Students were forced to disrobe before being beaten, they said.

Rumpler had been detained in January after entering El Salvador from Guatemala.

Meanwhile, Guatemalan prosecutors announced that Salvadoran authorities had extradited 23-year-old Jonathan Cardona, another sect member, to face allegations of rape, child abuse and human trafficking.

Authorities estimate the Lev Tahor sect comprises roughly 50 families from Guatemala, the United States, Canada and other countries.

Lev Tahor’s name translates to “pure heart,” but its moves, machinations, and plans are all murky and in 2017, an Israeli court described the group as a “dangerous cult.”

The group adheres to an extreme, idiosyncratic interpretation of Judaism and kosher dietary laws that largely shield members from the outside world.

Men spend most of their days in prayer and studying specific portions of the Torah, and women and girls are required to wear black robes that completely cover their bodies.

Founded in Jerusalem in the 1980s, Lev Tahor has been dogged by allegations of child abuse for years. The group jumped borders for years, under scrutiny from authorities, with members seeking refuge at various times in Canada, Iran, Bosnia, and Morocco, among other locations.

They landed in Guatemala in the mid-2010s, setting up a closed compound near the town of Oratorio, close to the border with El Salvador.

The group’s opponents say it has been collapsing since its leadership was imprisoned for a kidnapping case in New York.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/el-salvador-extradites-members-of-jewish-cult-lev-tahor-accused-of-child-sex-abuse/

Legion of Christ priest arrested in Mexico City airport on rape charge for alleged abuse of a minor

FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ

Associated Press

June 12, 2025

MEXICO CITY -- Authorities arrested a Roman Catholic priest at the capital’s international airport on charges of raping of a minor over a period of years, officials said Thursday.

The Mexico state prosecutor’s office said that Rev. Antonio Cabrera, a member of the Legion of Christ religious order, was arrested Wednesday night on a court order for rape.

Authorities cited incidents in 2004, 2007 and 2011, but the investigation only began in December 2024, after the alleged attacks were reported. The abuse allegedly occurred in Naucalpan, a Mexico City suburb. The prosecutor’s office did not say why Cabrera was at the airport.

The Legion of Christ religious order has been involved in sexual abuse scandals before, including those of its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, who was later determined to be a serial pedophile.

The Vatican in 2010 took over the Mexico-based Legion and imposed a process of reform after an investigation showed that Maciel had sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women.

The Legion of Christ confirmed the arrest of one of its priests without naming him in statement Thursday. The order said it had not received information from authorities about the case, but were willing to cooperate with the investigation.

Cabrera was jailed pending an initial hearing.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/legion-christ-priest-arrested-mexico-city-airport-rape-122800170

Jury Seated in Lori Daybell's Cult Mom Conspiracy Trial

Court TV

June 5, 2025

PHOENIX (Court TV) — Lori Daybell is representing herself at trial in Arizona on charges she conspired in an attempt to kill her ex-nephew-in-law.

Prosecutors allege Lori and her brother, Alex Cox, planned to kill Brandon Boudreaux in October 2019. Court documents allege Cox drove a Jeep that belonged to Lori’s deceased husband, Charles Vallow, from Rexburg, Idaho, to Gilbert, Arizona, then shot at Boudreaux outside his home on Oct. 2. Boudreaux was not injured in the incident.

At the time of the shooting, Boudreaux was recently separated from Lori’s niece, Melani Pawlowski. According to police reports, Lori and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, along with Cox, told Pawlowski that Boudreaux had a “dark” soul when they allegedly began plotting his murder. Boudreaux previously testified about the shooting during Chad’s Idaho trial.

If convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Boudreaux’s case, Lori is facing a potential sentence of life in prison. She is already awaiting another possible sentence of life in prison after an Arizona jury convicted her of conspiring to kill Charles Vallow in April.

The Arizona charges are in addition to her life sentences in Idaho. In 2023, she was convicted of murdering her two youngest children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to kill her fifth husband’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. Her husband, Chad Daybell, was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to death.

https://www.courttv.com/title/jury-seated-in-lori-daybells-cult-mom-conspiracy-trial/ 

CultNEWS101 Articles: 6/3/2025 (Transcendental Meditation, Andrew Tate, Grooming of Children, Children of God, Branch Davidians, Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, Devadasi)

Transcendental Meditation, Andrew Tate, Grooming of Children, Children of God, Branch Davidians, Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, Devadasi

Watauga Democrat: This week in the archives: Crops wiped out, Smoking costs locals, traffic solutions (May 20, 1994)

"Construction on the first phases of a resort east of Blowing Rock dedicated to Transcendental Meditation (TM) could begin this October," read an article from this week in the Watauga Democrat. The lead developer was David Kaplan.

"Since September 1993, Kaplan and other followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian-born mystic who developed TM, had bought almost 1,500 acres of land for the retreat and have worked on its development plans," the article said.

According to the article, the group of followers was led by Kaplan and they spent more than $2 million on land in the Blue Ridge and Elk townships in Watauga County. At the time, Kaplan said the development would take up to 10 years to complete. The development was expected to include four or five villages, homesites, hotels and a health spa. There were also two non-profit sites to be developed.

The non-profit site was to consist of 100 villas, which was to become the home of 100 full-time meditators, which the TM organization called "world peace professionals."

Kaplan named that site "The Spiritual Center of America."

The first for-profit phase was to include a village of villas, condominiums, a hotel, and a health spa.

"That part, which has been named Heavenly Mountain Resort, will be developed by Kaplan, who is the sole owner of Heavenly Mountain Inc., the site's development company," the article said.

Telegraph: Andrew Tate charged with rape in UK

The Tate brothers have been charged with more than 20 offences against four women in the UK, including rape and prostitution, The Telegraph can reveal.

Andrew Tate, 38, is accused of 10 charges including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain against three women.

His brother, Tristan, 36, has been charged with 11 offences including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking; charges connected to one alleged victim.

A CPS spokesman said: "We can confirm that we have authorised charges against Andrew and Tristan Tate for offences including rape, human trafficking, controlling prostitution and actual bodily harm against three women.

 "These charging decisions followed receipt of a file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police.

"A European Arrest Warrant was issued in England in 2024, and as a result the Romanian courts ordered the extradition to the UK of Andrew and Tristan Tate.

"However, the domestic criminal matters in Romania must be settled first.

"The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendants have the right to a fair trial.

"It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."

International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation (IJCAM):  The Grooming of Children for Sexual Abuse in Religious Settings: Unique Characteristics and Select Case Studies ( Susan Raine and Stephen A. Kent)

Abstract

"This article examines the sexual grooming of children and their caregivers in a wide variety of religious settings. We argue that unique aspects of religion facilitate institutional and interpersonal grooming in ways that often differ from forms of manipulation in secular settings. Drawing from Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, and Seventh Day Adventism) and various sects (the Children of God, the Branch Davidians, the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, a Hindu ashram, and the Devadasis), we show how some religious institutions and leadership figures in them can slowly cultivate children and their caregivers into harmful and illegal sexual activity. A number of uniquely religious characteristics facilitate this cultivation: theodicies of legitimation; power, patriarchy, obedience, protection, and reverence toward authority figures; victims' fears about spiritual punishments; and scriptural uses to justify adult-child sex."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

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 about: cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations, and related topics.

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The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.

FBI has opened 250 investigations tied to violent online network '764' that preys on teens, top official says

"This is one of the most disturbing things we're seeing," an FBI official said.

Mike Levine, Pierre Thomas, and Lucien Bruggeman

ABC News

May 6, 2025

FBI officials say they are growing increasingly concerned about a loose network of violent predators who befriend teenagers through popular online platforms and then coerce them into escalating sexual and violent behavior -- pushing victims to create graphic pornography, harm family pets, cut themselves with sharp objects, or even die by suicide.

The online predators, part of the network known as "764," demand victims send them photos and videos of it all, so the shocking content can be shared with fellow 764 followers or used to extort victims for more. Some of the predators even host "watch parties" for others to watch them torment victims live online, according to authorities.

"We see a lot of bad things, but this is one of the most disturbing things we're seeing," said FBI Assistant Director David Scott, the head of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, which is now leading many of the U.S. government's investigations tied to 764.

The FBI has more than 250 such investigations currently underway, with every single one of its 55 field offices across the country handling a 764-related case, Scott told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

He said the FBI has seen some victims as young as nine, and federal authorities have indicated there could be thousands of victims around the world.

'Nihilistic violent extremists'

"[It's] very scary and frightening," the Connecticut mother of a teen girl caught up in 764 told ABC News.

"It was very difficult to process, because we didn't raise her to engage in that kind of activity," said the mother, speaking on the condition that ABC News not name her or her daughter.

Last year, in classic New England town of Vernon, Connecticut, local police arrested the girl -- a former honor roll student -- for conspiring with a 764 devotee overseas to direct bomb threats at her own community. When police searched her devices, they found pornographic photos of her, photos depicting self-mutilation, and photos of her paying homage to 764.

As Scott described it, one of the main goals of 764 and similar networks is to "sow chaos" and "bring down society."

That's why the FBI's Counterterrorism Division and the Justice Department's National Security Division are now looking at 764 and its offshoots as a potential form of domestic terrorism, even coining a new term to characterize the most heinous actors: "nihilistic violent extremists."

"The more gore, the more violence ... that raises their stature within the groups," Scott said. "So it's sort of a badge of honor within some of these groups to actually do the most harm to victims."

According to an ABC News review of cases across the country, over the past few years, state and federal authorities have arrested at least 15 people on child pornography or weapons-related charges, and accused them in court of being associated with 764.

In one of those federal cases, a 24-year-old Arkansas man, Jairo Tinajero, plotted to murder a 14-year-old girl who started resisting his demands. When he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and child pornography charges three months ago, Tinajero said he believed the murder would raise his stature within the 764 network. His sentencing is set for August.

In another federal case, 19-year-old Jack Rocker of Tampa amassed a collection of more than 8,300 videos and images that the Justice Department called "some of the most horrific, evil content available on the Internet." He pleaded guilty in January to possessing child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

While amassing his collection, Rocker organized his digital content into folders with titles such as "764" and "kkk-racist." Another folder, called "trophies," contained photos of victims who carved his online monikers into their bodies -- a form of self-mutilation known as "fan signing." He also had a folder titled "ISIS," referring to the international terrorist organization that produced barbaric beheading videos.

Followers of the 764 network share all sorts of violent content with their victims, while some also glorify past mass-casualty attacks such as the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, or introduce victims to other extreme ideologies like neo-Nazism or Satanism, according to authorities.

"They want to desensitize these young people so that nothing really disturbs them anymore," Scott said.

Just two weeks ago, the Justice Department announced the arrest of a 20-year-old North Carolina man, Prasan Nepal, for allegedly operating an elite online club dedicated to promoting 764, extorting young victims, and producing horrific content. He has yet to be arraigned.

An undated photo shows Bradley Cadenhead, the founder of the initial "764" group, who is serving an 80-year prison sentence in Texas after pleading guilty

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

In charging documents, the Justice Department said Nepal helped launch 764 with its Texas-based founder more than four years ago.

Though charging documents don't identify the founder by name, federal law enforcement sources identified him to ABC News as Bradley Cadenhead, who is serving an 80-year-prison sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to several child pornography-related charges in 2023.

According to court documents, Cadenhead launched his new online community on the social platform Discord and called it "764" because at the time -- when he was 15 -- he lived in Stephenville, Texas, where the ZIP code begins with the numbers 764.

'It's everywhere'

Since the launch of the initial 764 group, which garnered a couple of hundred Discord followers, 764 has become a global movement, with an array of offshoots and subgroups that often rebrand and change their names to help keep social media companies and law enforcement from tracking them.

The original 764 was itself an offshoot of previous extremist and gore-focused groups online.

"Think of this less as a group, and think of it more as an ideology," Vernon police detective Tommy Van Tasel said of 764 and similar networks. "It doesn't matter what they're called. There are a lot of actors out there ... encouraging this type of behavior. So it's everywhere. It's in every community."

Indeed, the young Connecticut girl that Van Tasel would eventually investigate was sucked into 764 by a man overseas.

Reflecting what her family described as a typical 764-related encounter, the girl met him on the popular online gaming platform Roblox, and then they began communicating more regularly online, including on Discord, which caters to gamers.

The man convinced her he was her boyfriend, and she sent him sexual photos of herself -- the types of images that 764 adherents threaten to share widely if victims don't comply with their escalating demands.

An undated photo found by Vernon, Connecticut, police on the devices of a 17-year-old girl associated with the online network 764 shows a Barbie Doll

Vernon Police Department

According to police, she had produced an assortment of 764-related content, including a photo of a nude Barbie doll marked with "764" on its forehead; photos depicting her cutting herself; and a note, written in her blood, calling her supposed boyfriend "a god."

"They felt like they owned her," the girl's mother said.

And, fearing even further extortion, the girl began participating in some of the same threatening behavior that she had endured herself, according to Van Tasel.

Scott said it's common to "have victims who then become subjects" by perpetrating acts "on behalf of the individual who victimized them."

According to her family, the Connecticut girl was trained to hack into Roblox accounts and lock them -- which allowed her to make demands of account owners if they wanted their accounts back. And she allegedly helped direct a series of threats that rattled Vernon-area schools for three months in late 2023 and early last year.

"I have placed two explosives in front of Rockville High School, and if they fail to detonate, I'm going to walk into there and I'm just going to shoot every kid I see," a male with a British accent claimed during a call to Vernon police in late January 2024.

Those threats led Van Tasel to the girl whose mother spoke with ABC News. The girl was arrested on conspiracy-related charges and referred to juvenile court.

But even before her arrest, she had started to resist some of the demands that were being directed at her. As a result, her family's home was bombarded by incidents of so-called "swatting," when false reports of crimes or violence try to induce SWAT teams to respond to a location in an effort to intimidate targets there.

"One time ... they had surrounded our whole house," the girl's mother said. "And then that kept going on and on."

Scott said swatting is a common tactic used by adherents of 764 and similar networks when they don't get compliance.

The man at the heart of the Connecticut girl's ordeal is still under investigation by authorities, according to Van Tasel.

'Be on the lookout'

Van Tasel and Scott offered several tips to parents worried about whether their children could fall victim to 764. In particular, they said parents should watch what their children are doing on applications and online games.

A spokesperson for Roblox agreed, saying in a statement to ABC News that parents should "engage in open conversations about online safety," especially because 764 is "known for using a variety of online platforms" to evade online safeguards.

A Discord spokesperson, meanwhile, said that 764 is "an industry-wide issue," and that the "horrific actions of 764 have no place on Discord or in society."

Both spokespeople said each of their companies is "committed" to providing a safe and secure online environment for users, with both noting that each company uses technology to remove harmful content and, by policy, prohibits behavior endangering children.

Discord added that "behind the scenes" it made "proactive disclosures of information to law enforcement" and, "where possible," assisted authorities in building the case against Nepal, who allegedly helped launch 764.

Van Tasel and Scott said parents should also look out for changes in their children's activities or personality, and watch for questionable injuries to family pets or evidence of self-harm.

Scott said that if a child is wearing long-sleeved clothing or trying to cover up their body on hot days, that could be a sign of self-harm.

"Just be on the lookout for any of those things that are alarming, and just have in the back of your mind that this may all be a result of what is happening online," Van Tasel said, urging parents to call law enforcement if they have concerns.

As for the Connecticut girl caught up in 764, her mother told ABC News that she cooperated with authorities, the case against her is "almost resolved," and she's now "back on track" after getting help.

"Back to having friends, back to attending activities," her mother said. "Not quite back to where she was when it all began, but she's getting there."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-opened-250-investigations-tied-violent-online-network/story?id=121480884