CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/5/2025

Korea, JMS (Christian Gospel Mission, 3HO

Chosun Biz: Maple exposes JMS cult, shares personal story to warn others in South Korea

"Maple, who exposed JMS (Christian Gospel Mission) through Netflix's "I'm God" and "I'm a Survivor," left a lengthy message expressing her feelings.

On the 26th, Maple said, "I don't know how to describe myself when introducing myself, but my title might be 'the woman who revealed the truth about the cult JMS,' right? Most people who know me got to know my story through the Netflix documentary "I'm God" or "I'm a Survivor." I filed a lawsuit against JMS when I was 28 years old, which was three years ago, and I disclosed my face, real name, and details of my victimization. That's how I was able to bring down that large group with a 40-year history."

Maple, who escaped from JMS and exposed their sexual crimes, causing a stir in Korean society, recently published a book titled "Trace" containing her story.

She noted, "The story is already known, so why would I publish a book to tell that story again? After watching the documentary, you might still have many questions. You might think that cults or sexual victimization are far from you. I think it's because you don't know in detail what I went through." She continued, 'In the book, I detailed the process from when I was 16 or 17 years old, when I was evangelized, through the brainwashing process, departure, and the lawsuit. My personal meaning is to write about that pain to整理 my thoughts and heal. I hope that seeing my footprints helps you realize, 'Oh, if I go that way, I could end up on the wrong path' and serves as a warning so you can avoid such harm.'"

Baaz: 3HO's Boarding Schools Were A Living Hell

"The boarding schools were just one part of what several people born into 3HO describe as a nearly 50-year-long child-rearing experiment gone horribly wrong"

"During the monsoon season in the fall of 1981, a group of American children, some as young as five years old, traversed deep puddles full of leeches on a treacherous walk to their new school in the Himalayan foothills. They had travelled thousands of miles away from their parents; white Sikh converts and followers of Yogi Bhajan, a former customs inspector in New Delhi who arrived in the United States in 1968 and transformed himself into a yoga guru.  

Norman Kreisman, then known as Baba Nam Singh, helped escort the children to Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School in Mussoorie, India. He remembers the children crying a lot and needing help with everything.

"They were totally shell-shocked, like basket cases," he recalls. "One of them said their parents didn't even say goodbye."

That year marked the beginning of a practice where children raised in Yogi Bhajan's Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) were sent to residential boarding schools in India."

Alexandra Stein, PhD: Report on Themes and Impacts of 3HO Childhoods Prepared for the Independent Healing & Reparations Program

Generation Cult: 3HO Reparations with Philip and Stacie

"3HO Reparations with Philip and Stacie

Philip and Stacie wrote about a recent reparations program meant to address complaints made for decades against 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy Organization), led by the late Yogi Bhajan, who started Kundalini Yoga.

Join us for a discussion with these two writers about the second generation of 3HO. The children of those who joined the organization felt like they were screaming into a void about the abuses they had suffered, especially when they were sent off to boarding schools in India.

The complaints reached a crescendo in 2020, and 3HO offered a reparations program to its former second generation members who reported neglect and psychological, physical, and sexual abuse.

The program just concluded and Stacie and Philip wrote about it recently for Baaz News in an article titled 3HO's Boarding Schools Were A Living Hell"

IndoctriNation: The Chaos & Contradiction of 3HO w/ Satpavan Kaur Khalsa

"Sat Pavan Kaur was born into the 3HO community and Sikh Religion. She spent her childhood moving around to various 3HO communities. At the age of 8, she was sent to India with 120 other children to go to boarding school leaving her family back in the US. At 16, she would be taken out of school and join Yogi Bajan's personal staff. In the last couple of years, she has left the Cult but stayed within the greater Sikh community. She is one of the many women that was abused by Yogi Bhajan. She has had to unravel her life, the good, the bad, and the horror that she experienced growing up in the 3HO community; the abuse she was subjected to, the toll it took on her and her husband, and the clear choices she made to raise her children differently from how she was raised.

Sat Pavan now lives with her two children and husband of 27 years, raising her family and working hard to be a good person and do good in the world around her. She has been teaching and performing dance for the last 30 years to people of all ages and backgrounds, and is passionate about teaching and inspiring creativity, confidence, and individuality in her students, especially the younger generation which has been a hugely positive outlet for her. Satpavan is also a musician who plays Kirtan and has played Sikh religious music since she was a young girl and continues to do so. Her music, along with dance has kept her going by providing a sense of healing throughout her life. In this intimate conversation, Sat Pavan shares a full portrait of her life being born into the 3HO cult, from how her parents were pulled in to her childhood development as she was whisked away from one unsafe situation to another. Sat expertly points out the key moments of indoctrination, suffering, and red flags she experienced throughout her decades involved with 3HO and it's monstrous guru."

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/4/2025

The Kingdom of God Global Church, Legal, His Way Spirit Led Assemblies

The Roys Report: FBI Raids Ministry's Properties in Four States, Charges Leaders With Using Psychological and Physical Abuse to Coerce Victims into Soliciting Millions

"The FBI today arrested the leaders of Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI) in a series of raids across several states for allegedly using psychological and physical abuse to coerce victims into soliciting millions.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, JMMI leaders, David Taylor and Michelle Brannon, ran a forced labor organization and a multi-million-dollar money laundering conspiracy. The department called the arrests a "nationwide takedown" of a human trafficking scheme that operated in Michigan, Florida, Texas, and Missouri.

Taylor, 53, and Brannon, 56, were taken into custody this morning in North Carolina and Florida, after a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan returned a ten-count indictment.

Additionally, the FBI raided JMMI properties in Tampa, Houston, North Carolina, and Michigan this morning, according to reports from multiple news sites."

WTSP: DOJ: FBI search at Avila mansion linked to church's 'forced labor and money laundering conspiracy'

"The FBI's response Wednesday at a mansion in the Avila neighborhood of Tampa is linked to the arrest of church leaders on federal forced labor and money laundering charges.

A federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against 53-year-old David E. Taylor and 56-year-old Michelle Brannon —leaders of "The Kingdom of God Global Church" — for their alleged roles in a forced labor and money laundering conspiracy that spanned Florida, Michigan, Texas and Missouri.

In addition to the response in Tampa, the FBI confirmed it conducted an operation early Wednesday morning at a property in Houston owned by Joshua Media Ministries International, the former name of Kingdom of God Global Church.

Taylor, who calls himself the church's "apostle," and Brannon, the church's "executive director," were arrested Wednesday in "a nationwide takedown of their forced labor organization," according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Taylor and Brannon are accused of coercing victims to work at call centers soliciting donations for the church and to work as personal servants or "armor bearers" for Taylor.

The DOJ says Taylor and Brannon controlled "every aspect" of their victims' daily lives, including forcing them to sleep in call centers or "ministry" houses.

"Taylor demanded that his Armor Bearers transport women from ministry houses, airports, and other locations to Taylor's location and ensured the women transported to Taylor took Plan B emergency contraceptives," the document reads.

Taylor and Brannon are accused of requiring victims to work long hours in the call center without pay, forcing them to follow orders and setting unattainable monetary donation goals.

"If victims disobeyed an order or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims with public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation," the DOJ release says.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Kingdom of God Global Church received millions of dollars in donations through the call centers, which Taylor and Brannon used to purchase luxury properties, vehicles, boats, Jet Skis and ATVs.

Taylor has reportedly received approximately $50 million in donations since 2014.

Church donations used to fund lavish lifestyle, FBI says

Court documents emphasize that the millions in donations were collected "under the guise of a religious ministry."

According to the indictment, here are some of the items purchased by Taylor and Brannon:

• Mercedes-Benz — $63,195.94

• Bentley Continental (downpayment) — $70,000.00

• Crownline Boat — $105,595.00

• Bentley Continental (downpayment) — $15,000.00

• Bentley Mulsanne — $50,000.00

• Mercedes-Benz — $14,908.00

• Mercedes-Benz — $13,695.00

• Mercedes-Benz — $12,485.00

• 5 ATVs — $31,805.00

• 2 Jet Skis and 1 Jet Ski trailer — $24,332.00

• 2 Jet Skis and 1 Jet Ski trailer — $24,962.20

• 125 lbs. of super colossal red king crab legs, 6 seafood shears, and 30 crab cutters — $10,353.44

• Rolls Royce Cullinan (lease signing payment) — $123,028.09

• Bulletproof automotive — $33,930.00

• Bulletproof automotive — $32,630.00

• Bulletproof automotive — $37,500.00

• Bulletproof automotive — $18,302.76

Charges for church leaders arrested after FBI search in Tampa

The charges Taylor and Brannon are facing include:

• Conspiracy to commit forced labor, which carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine

• Forced labor, which carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine

• Conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine

Brannon will appear today on the indictment in Tampa, while Taylor will appear today on the indictment in Durham, North Carolina.

"Combating human trafficking is a top priority for the Department of Justice," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division wrote in the release. "We are committed to relentlessly pursuing and ending this scourge and obtaining justice for the victims."

According to a 2022 article from the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the Kingdom of God Global Church in Taylor, Michigan, purchased the estate from Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-owner Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and her husband for $8.3 million.

The sale reportedly included the 28,893-square-foot main house and a 2,620-square-foot guest house.

Avila is an affluent residential community in North Tampa.

10 Tampa Bay: DOJ: FBI search at Avila mansion linked to church's 'forced labor and money laundering conspiracy'

" ... [David E. Taylor and 56-year-old Michelle Brannon —leaders of "The Kingdom of God Global Church] are accused of coercing victims to work at call centers soliciting donations for the church and to work as personal servants or "armor bearers" for Taylor.

The DOJ says Taylor and Brannon controlled "every aspect" of their victims' daily lives, including forcing them to sleep in call centers or "ministry" houses.

"Taylor demanded that his Armor Bearers transport women from ministry houses, airports, and other locations to Taylor's location and ensured the women transported to Taylor took Plan B emergency contraceptives," the document reads.

Taylor and Brannon are accused of requiring victims to work long hours in the call center without pay, forcing them to follow orders and setting unattainable monetary donation goals.

"If victims disobeyed an order or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims with public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation," the DOJ release says.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Kingdom of God Global Church received millions of dollars in donations through the call centers, which Taylor and Brannon used to purchase luxury properties, vehicles, boats, Jet Skis and ATVs.

Taylor has reportedly received approximately $50 million in donations since 2014."

KTLA: Cult-like California religious group at center of missing persons investigation

"Detectives in San Bernardino may have caught a break in a more than two-year-old missing persons case that they are now investigating as a possible homicide.

Emilio Ghanem, 40, vanished in May 2023 while on a trip to the Inland Empire. He was last seen at a Starbucks in Redlands.

At the center of the investigation into Ghanem's disappearance and possible murder, according to the Redlands Police Department, is a Hemet-based religious group known as His Way Spirit Led Assemblies run by a woman named Kathryn Martin who goes by the title "prophetess," and her husband, Pastor Muzic.

A former member of the organization who did not want to be identified explained to KTLA that the group believes the prophetess is God on Earth.

"When the spirit of God comes over her, everything changes in her, like her voice changes, the way she talks changes, and everything has to be quiet," he said.

Martin and her husband reportedly have complete control over the group, which, according to the former member, is always preparing for the end of times, storing enough packaged food, water and other supplies to last for years.

Ghanem had been a member of the California group for more than 20 years and just prior to his disappearance, he'd left the organization and quit the pest control company the group runs to move back to Nashville where his family was."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/3/2025

Premanand Maharaj, India,  Guru Wars, Legal,  Zizians, Singularism, Religious Freedom

LatestLY: Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Makes Open Challenge to Premanand Maharaj, Says 'Speak Even One Word of Sanskrit or Explain the Meaning of Sanskrit Shlokas That I Have Said' 

Spiritual leader Jagadguru Rambhadracharya has challenged Premanand Maharaj over his knowledge of Sanskrit. In an interview that went viral on social media, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya also said he does not consider Premanand Maharaj a miraculous saint. A viral clip shows Rambhadracharya giving Premanand Maharaj an open challenge and saying that if he is really miraculous, then he should come in front of him and speak in Sanskrit. When asked about Premanand Maharaj, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya told journalist Shubhankar Mishra, "There is no miracle. If there is any miracle, then I challenge Premanand Maharaj to speak even one word of Sanskrit in front of me or explain the meaning of the Sanskrit shlokas that I have said. Today I am openly saying that he is like my child. It is a miracle that he knows the scriptures. He is living on dialysis." As the video moves further, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya says that he considers Premanand Maharaj like his child. "I am neither calling him a scholar nor a miracle worker. Such popularity lasts only for a few days. However, saying that this is a miracle is not acceptable to me. Sing bhajans and read and write," Jagadguru Rambhadracharya added.

AP: Prosecutors seek death penalty against cult member linked to Chatham County raid, border agent's death

"The Justice Department said Thursday it will seek the death penalty against a member of the cultlike Zizians group accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont in the latest Trump administration push for more federal executions.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Seattle, is among a group of radical computer scientists focused on veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence who have been linked to six killings in three states. She rented a house in rural Chatham County raided in February by FBI agents.

She's accused of fatally shooting agent David Maland on Jan. 20, the same day President Donald Trump was inaugurated and signed a sweeping executive order lifting the moratorium on federal executions.

Youngblut initially was charged with using a deadly weapon against law enforcement and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon. But the Trump administration signaled early on that more serious charges were coming, and a new indictment released Thursday charged her with murder of a federal law enforcement agent, assaulting other agents with a deadly weapon and related firearms offenses.

"We will not stand for such attacks on the men and women who protect our communities and borders," Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti said in a press release."

KJZZ: Singularism, a religion that uses psychedelic drugs, is testing Utah's religious freedom law

"Last year, Utah lawmakers passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which gives people more power to challenge the government if it interferes with their religious beliefs.

Religious freedom is, in many ways, the backbone of the major religion in Utah — the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and the Republican-sponsored measure passed easily.

But that law is being put to the test in the courts by an unexpected group — a very small religion that's been targeted by law enforcement for using psychedelic drugs as part of its practices. The religion is called Singularism.

In 2023, police carried out a warrant at its Provo headquarters, seizing its sacramental psilocybin and, later, hitting its founder with criminal charges. Singularism founder Bridger Jensen is suing, and citing this religious freedom law as his argument."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/2/2025

Malaysia, Falun Gong, China, Nazism, Anthroposophy, UK, The Kingdom of Kubala

Free Malaysia Today: Falun Gong exhibits allegedly seized by 'China police' near National Monument

"A Falun Gong practitioner claims that seven men, identifying themselves as policemen from China, removed her group's exhibits near the National Monument in Kuala Lumpur last Friday."

" ... The woman, who wanted to be known only as Yong, told FMT she had set up the booth there three months ago to educate the public about Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned in China.

"I chased after them and asked for the items to be returned. One of them said, 'We are policemen from China'. They ignored my pleas and drove off," she said.

Yong claimed the men left in a van accompanied by a local tour guide and driver.

In May, then Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Isa said the arrest of more than 70 Falun Gong followers ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit to Malaysia was lawful as "Falun Gong is an illegal organisation".

"As such, it is not permitted to carry out any activities," he was quoted as saying at a press conference."

Between Occultism and Fascism: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race and Nation in Germany and Italy, 1900-1945 by Peter Staudenmaier

"The relationship between Nazism and occultism has long been an object of popular speculation and scholarly controversy. This dissertation examines the interaction between occult groups and the Nazi regime as well as the Italian Fascist state, with central attention to the role of racial and ethnic theories in shaping these developments. The centerpiece of the dissertation is a case study of the anthroposophist movement founded by Rudolf Steiner, an esoteric tendency which gave rise to widely influential alternative cultural institutions including Waldorf schools, biodynamic agriculture, and holistic methods of health care and nutrition. A careful exploration of the tensions and affinities between anthroposophists and fascists reveals a complex and differentiated portrait of modern occult tendencies and their treatment by Nazi and Fascist officials.

Two initial chapters analyze the emergence of anthroposophy's racial doctrines, its self-conception as an 'unpolitical' spiritual movement, and its relations with the völkisch milieu and with Lebensreform movements. Four central chapters concern the fate of anthroposophy in Nazi Germany, with a detailed reconstruction of specific anthroposophical institutions and their interactions with various Nazi agencies. Two final chapters provide a comparative portrait of the Italian anthroposophical movement during the Fascist era, with particular concentration on the role of anthroposophists in influencing and administering Fascist racial policy.

Based on a wide range of archival sources, the dissertation offers an empirically founded account of the neglected history of modern occult movements while shedding new light on the operations of the Nazi and Fascist regimes. The analysis focuses on the interplay of ideology and practice, the concrete ways in which contending worldviews attempted to establish institutional footholds within the organizational disarray of the Third Reich and the Fascist state, and shows that disagreements over racial ideology were embedded in power struggles between competing factions within the Nazi hierarchy and the Fascist apparatus. It delineates the ways in which early twentieth century efforts toward spiritual renewal, holism, cultural regeneration and redemption converged with deeply regressive political realities. Engaging critically with previous accounts, the dissertation raises challenging questions about the political implications of alternative spiritual currents and counter-cultural tendencies." 

Independent: Exclusive: A missing Texas mom was found living with a lost 'African' tribe. Now, her family speaks out

"A missing Texas woman found living with the self-proclaimed leaders of a lost "African" tribe in a Scottish forest insists she is there by her own free will, despite her family's fears she is lost to the sect forever.

Kaura Taylor was recently found living in the woods with the group after vanishing from her home three months ago, leaving relatives distraught.

"It is very stressful, and difficult. It breaks our heart. We're overly concerned about Kaura, but she doesn't think anyone is concerned about her," Taylor's aunt Teri Allen told The Independent.

In a message posted to Facebook after 21-year-old Taylor, mother to a one-year-old child who she took with her to Scotland, said that she was not missing and lashed out at reports she "disappeared."

"I'm very happy with my King and Queen, I was never missing, I fled a very abusive, toxic family," Taylor wrote, following up with a video message telling U.K. authorities to leave her alone in the woods in Jedburgh, 40 miles south of Edinburgh. She added that she is "an adult, not a helpless child."

However, Allen on Thursday pushed back stridently against those assertions, describing her niece's younger years as "very sheltered and protected."

She said Taylor "was brought up in church, but not their religion. Not this thing that they got going. It's a bunch of hogwash."

Speaking to The Independent from her Dallas-area home, Allen said Taylor kept it "totally hidden from the family" when she began communicating in 2023 with so-called Kingdom of Kubala leader King Atehene, a former opera singer and PR agent from Ghana whose real name is Kofi Offeh, and his wife Jean Gasho, who now goes by Queen Nandi.

Queen Nandi did not respond to a request for comment. An email seeking comment from King Atehene bounced back as undeliverable.

The Kingdom of Kubala claims to be a lost Hebrew tribe that aims to retake the land they say was expropriated when Queen Elizabeth I expelled native black Jacobites from England in the 1590s.

The trio in Jedburgh hope to add to their numbers by bringing other supposedly lost tribes back to their purported ancestral homeland."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/29/2025

Australia, Geelong Revival Centre, Considerations When Leaving a Group, Childhood Trauma

The Age: Fears emerge on Liberal religious right that cult inquiry unfairly targets Pentecostal churches

"A parliamentary inquiry considering how to outlaw coercive cult practices in Victoria has alarmed a part of the Liberal Party's religious right that fears pastors could be criminalised and Pentecostal churches unfairly targeted.

Traditional churches have also been closely watching the work of the state parliament's legal and social issues committee, concerned that religious freedoms could be eroded.

A staff member of state Liberal MP Renee Heath encouraged constitutional conservatives at the Samuel Griffith Society think tank to provide submissions to the inquiry. In an email last month, the employee described the Geelong Revival Centre, where decades of historical abuse has been alleged, as "strict but not coercive".

"This inquiry seems positioned to facilitate a state-sanctioned practice of religion with all else being deemed coercive harmful behaviour," said the email, obtained by The Age.

Heath said she was not previously aware of the email and that the employee, whom The Age has chosen not to name, was expressing his own opinion.

The inquiry was launched in April after the podcast, Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder, and The Age revealed allegations of abuse and coercion at the Geelong Revival Centre. The centre was contacted for this story.

In a sign of just how fraught the task is, the committee took the rare step of circulating a guidance note: "Harmful or abusive practices can happen in any group – religious or not – and our concern is with those actions, not the beliefs behind them."

The inquiry is looking at harmful tactics used by organised fringe groups and will consider whether any amount of coercion should be criminalised.

The committee said recruitment tactics included using social events to build rapport (like potluck dinners or youth groups); isolating recruits from "negative" outsiders; promising secret or higher knowledge; asking recruits to commit in small ways, then escalating; using charismatic leaders; creating insider language and symbols; and targeting vulnerable people.

Heath's employee said some examples misrepresented church activities as "deceptive or sinister" while sports clubs and political parties were ignored.

He claimed, in a "church guidance note" attached to the email, that anonymous submissions "fuelled by media-driven stereotypes and Facebook groups … could be used to justify new laws that potentially criminalise and censor pastors, leaders and churches and expose them to vexatious legal actions.

"Despite high levels of coercion and control displayed in unions, activist groups, political parties and sport, the Victorian government is targeting religion."

Heath said her office had been contacted by constituents concerned about the inquiry and that she had asked her employee to get in touch with key stakeholders."

ICSA: Thinking about leaving a high-control group? This checklist can help you prepare

Leaving a high-control group or environment can be one of the most courageous and difficult decisions a person makes. Whether you're actively preparing or just starting to imagine a life beyond the group, this checklist can help you assess your situation and take the first steps toward independence and safety.

ICSA has a set of questions that are designed to help you reflect on what you might need practically, emotionally, and legally.

Psychology Today: 2 Lasting Ways That Childhood Trauma Rewires the Brain

"Most well-informed people are aware that traumatic childhood experiences are often associated with serious mental health conditions later in life. What few people know, however, is how exactly trauma gives rise to these disorders.

Some attribute it to emotional scarring or psychological wounds that live only in the mind. But according to 2022 research from Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health, these wounds are in no way metaphorical. To the brain, trauma can be as real and physical as a cut or a broken bone."

" ... According to the 2022 study, individuals with bipolar disorder who had experienced adverse childhood experiences showed clear signs of white matter disruption. Specifically, their brain scans revealed lower levels of fractional anisotropy, which is a measure used to assess how coherent and structured these white matter tracts are.

In essence, the aforementioned inflammation can result in lasting damage to an individual's white matter. In most cases, this means the brain's internal communication system will function less efficiently than that of a person without trauma.

When white matter is intact and well-organized, it acts much like well-planned and well-looked-after roads: Information moves quickly and efficiently across the brain. But once white matter connections are lost, tangled, or damaged, those signals slow down or get misrouted—much like cars do on a road with potholes or fading paint.

This is exactly what the brain looks like when it's frequently exposed to trauma in early life: a collection of unkempt, interconnected roads, on which cars struggle significantly to travel. And this kind of "unkemptness" in the brain's highway system has very real, functional consequences.

The study notes that damage to the white matter's structural integrity can lead to miscommunication between some of the brain's most essential regions. In turn, it's considerably more challenging for the emotional centers of the brain to communicate with the areas responsible for logic and regulation. This can lead to dysfunction in:

• Emotional regulation
• Sleep and wake cycles
• Threat detection
• Higher-order thinking (such as planning, impulse control, and decision-making)

As a result, an individual might feel perpetually on edge without ever really knowing why. Even in situations where they have every logical reason to feel safe, they might struggle to calm themselves down. And despite immense exhaustion or tiredness, they might find themselves lying wide awake at night.

Even the smallest, most inconsequential decisions can feel overwhelming, since the mental routes that once effortlessly facilitated those processes can feel as though they're punctuated with delays and detours. Unfortunately, these responses can persist well into adulthood, and well past their years of trauma.

That said, this doesn't mean that the brain is "broken" or that it has "failed." It just means that the brain has adapted to danger and inflammation in the only way it was designed to: by reinforcing defensive pathways to protect itself.

When faced with trauma, the brain makes an executive decision to prioritize survival over flexibility—even if that means day-to-day functioning might be a bit more difficult later on in life. This is a sign of resilience, not failure.

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultMediation.com   

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/28/2025

Good News International Church, Kenya, Legal, Jewish Agricultural Traditions, Colman Domingo

WFMZ: 5 bodies are exhumed from shallow graves in Kenya near a doomsday cult site

"Five bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in coastal Kenya, at a site near where more than 400 bodies of followers of a doomsday cult were recovered two years ago.

Government pathologist Dr. Richard Njoroge on Thursday said 10 human body parts were also recovered, scattered in nearby thickets at Kwa Binzaro area in Kilifi County, about 2 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the site of the Shakahola cult, and that the exhumation would continue on Friday.

The exhumation exercise, led by homicide detectives, forensic experts, and pathologists, also uncovered 27 suspected mass graves, raising fears that more bodies could be buried in the area as investigations into the cause of death begin."

Inform: Talia Chain, Sadeh Farm – Rooted in the Land: Jewish Agricultural Traditions for Sustainable Future

"As the UK's Jewish community farm, Sadeh integrates ecological practice with Jewish teaching drawing on texts and rituals to guide sustainable growing, seasonal eating, and ethical land use. Through farming, volunteering, and environmental education, Sadeh empowers people to reconnect with the land and their heritage while building a more just and sustainable future.

Talia Chain is the founder of Sadeh, the UK's Jewish community farm. Talia's role includes growing food, running education and volunteer sessions and fundraising for Sadeh's projects. Her passion is in exploring Judaism's deep agricultural roots both practically on the land and in Jewish text.

Presented at King's College London, 30th May 2025."

The Root: Colman Domingo Tells This Bone-Chilling Story About His Encounter With a Cult in Mexico

" ... Domingo sat down with Josh Scherer on an episode of "Mythical Kitchen" which came out Tuesday (August 19). While sharing a meal, the pair were discussing how some celebrities seem to live secluded lives, almost "cult-like," after finding success in Hollywood. Scherer asked Domingo in jest, "You haven't joined a cult yet now that you moved to Malibu?"

That's when the "Euphoria" star admitted: "I almost joined a cult in Mexico City, but that's another story."

He went on to explain exactly what almost went down. "It was just a group of nice people, and then I was like, 'Wait a minute. This is weird,'" he said. "I was like, 'What's up with you guys?' This is my first encounter, but as I did research and found out more about them, I'm like, 'Oh, that's a cult.'"

After Scherer joked that they still "should join" the cult, Domingo referenced the podcast itself, asking: "Is this a cult? It might be."

Historically, Black people have been both victims and leaders of cults. Groups like the multiracial organization Peoples Temple (led by Jim Jones, a white man, with a 80% – 90% Black membership by the 1970s) and the Black Hebrew Israelite group Nation of Yahweh (founded in the late 1970s by Hulon Mitchell Jr., who called himself Yahweh ben Yahweh, was classified as a Black supremacist cult by the Southern Poverty Law Center), offered an escape from poverty and racism.

Some cults, especially those with Black leaders, gave members a sense of power and control over their lives in a world that often made them feel powerless. We're glad Domingo didn't join one so we can enjoy his talent on the silver screen, especially his highly-anticipated portrayal of Joe Jackson in Michael Jackson's biopic in 2026."

Anti-Vaccination Collection

CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/27/2025

Nine O'Clock Service, Neuroscience of Religion, Peru, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, Legal, Sexual Abuse

BBC: Ex-priest found guilty of 17 indecent assaults

"A former priest accused of abusing members of a "cult-like" church group he led has been found guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women.

Chris Brain, 68, was head of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), an influential evangelical movement based in Sheffield in the 1980s and 90s.

Brain, of Wilmslow, in Cheshire, was convicted of the charges following a trial at Inner London Crown Court.

He was found not guilty of another 15 charges of indecent assault, while jurors are continuing to deliberate on a further four counts of indecent assault and one charge of rape."

" ... The NOS began in Sheffield in 1986 and was initially celebrated by Church of England leaders for its nightclub-style services, which attracted hundreds of young people.

The Church fast-tracked Brain's ordination as a priest in 1991 due to the success of the NOS, with jurors told the group spent "large sums of money" to obtain robes worn by the actor Robert De Niro in the film The Mission for Brain to wear in his ordination ceremony.

In the early 1990s the NOS moved to the city's Ponds Forge leisure centre in order to accommodate the growing congregation.

But prosecutors told the jury NOS "became a cult" in which Brain abused his position to sexually assault "a staggering number" of women from his congregation.

The group was dissolved in 1995 when concerns about Brain's behaviour were first raised.

The jury heard Brain later admitted in a BBC documentary, aired the same year, to having "improper sexual conduct with a number of women".

He resigned his holy orders two days before the programme was broadcast."

Patheos: The Real Neuroscience of Religion – Doing Drugs in Church

" ... In the 1980s, Nancy Reagan encouraged us to say no to drugs, but some chemicals are produced inside our bodies, not ingested. When we get excited at concerts or we feel love and acceptance from our relationships, our bodies release pleasurable chemicals. Other chemicals occur naturally to protect us, like stress hormones. We often even experience these types of chemicals in church.[1]

Our cortisol levels tend to be lower when we pray, meditate, or even just breathe. Cortisol is the stress hormone often linked to belly fat. Elevated cortisol levels also contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, depression, and a weakened immune system. Chronic stress levels decline during certain church activities, though they can also be elevated during other parts of the experience. Prolonged high cortisol levels from chronic stress can harm the brain, raise the risk of heart problems, and weaken the immune system.

My main concern with religious practices and this chemical is that church services now seem designed to trigger this stress hormone intentionally.

We might call it conviction, accountability, or rebuke. Still, sometimes these practices increase our cortisol levels and then quickly lead us to use things like prayer to bring us back down, reducing the cortisol again. My issue is that these chemicals are meant to protect us from real danger and shouldn't be used as tools to dysregulate us, so we feel regulated shortly afterward. The damage is still done, even if we feel better after leaving the church.

It's almost like someone punches us in the arm, then rubs it to make it feel better, and afterward looks to us for approval.

What about serotonin and dopamine? Practices like group singing, prayer, and worship trigger the release of this "feel-good" hormone that creates feelings of happiness and well-being. The same neurotransmitters are also activated during other pleasurable experiences. They are released whenever we feel good, even from harmful activities like overeating, using drugs, and taking risks.

Chemicals motivate us to keep coming back because we want to feel that high. Even if it is just the high of righteousness from attending religious services, we experience these pleasurable hormones and crave them again, so we return, keep eating, or use more of what produces that feeling.

Someone once said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." We rely on these chemicals to motivate us to get our next meal, seek safety, and enjoy life. However, in my opinion, religion often creates a high and a co-dependency where we feel like we are forever "chasing the dragon" of our learned co-dependence and our addiction to the chemical high."

RNS: Pope Leo abuse case in Peru muddled by language, cultural barriers

"A Peruvian woman who says she was sexually abused by two priests as a girl traveled to Pope Leo XIV's hometown of Chicago in late July to personally tell the media her claims of how the newly elected pope mishandled her case when he served as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru.

Organized by The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the July 31 press conference was the first time Ana María Quispe Díaz, whose story has been amplified by advocates and rehashed in the media, spoke for herself since Leo's election.

Quispe Díaz told reporters she first met with Leo, then-Bishop Robert Prevost, in 2022 to report two priests that she and other Chiclayo women claimed abused them as girls. Initially, she said, Prevost encouraged her to report the abuse to civil authorities, but, according to Quispe Díaz, he later failed to properly investigate, remove the accused priests from ministry or provide adequate support for survivors.

Despite Prevost's initial posture of support, Quispe Díaz claimed he told her there was no way to carry out a church investigation and that they must rely on the civil system. She said Prevost and other diocesan leaders did not approach the situation with transparency and did not take sufficient actions against the accused priests, the Revs. Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles and Ricardo Yesquén Paiva.

SNAP, a survivor-run advocacy group based in the U.S., said they organized the conference to give Quispe Díaz a platform to tell her story to English-speaking media. However, a Spanish-to-English translator hired by SNAP for the press conference made several translation errors that altered the meaning of Quispe Díaz's words.

"We were listened to and encouraged to report what happened to us," said Quispe Díaz in Spanish at the press conference. "We reported exactly what happened to us," the translator incorrectly said in English.

"We were mistreated by those representatives of Christ who, by faith, we call fathers," she said in Spanish at the press conference. "We have been denied representation of Jesus Christ who through faith we call father," the interpreter mistranslated.

Sarah Pearson, spokesperson for SNAP, told RNS she had hired CBS translation for the first time based on Google reviews, something she would not do again. Pearson is now working with another translator to dub a correct translation over the video of the event to send to reporters.

The press conference, with its serious translation errors, indicated the difficulties Quispe Díaz has faced as her story is scrutinized on an international stage — and the challenge for the international Catholic community in understanding a Peruvian abuse case that now has global implications.

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian investigative journalist who exposed sexual abuses by the powerful Peruvian Catholic group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, told RNS Prevost's handling of the case needs to be understood within a Latin American context.

Many Latin American bishops "persecute the messenger" with threats and wouldn't encourage women to go to civil authorities as Prevost did, according to Ugaz. Prevost also sent the case to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ugaz believes showed he took it seriously and wanted the women to be protected. Sending the case to the Vatican is "a measure that Latin American bishops don't do because either they don't know or they want to protect priests," said Ugaz in Spanish.

Leo is credited by Sodalitium survivors as having an instrumental role in moving Pope Francis and the Vatican to suppress the group, and he has praised Ugaz's "unwavering pursuit of justice and commitment to truth" as she and another journalist have faced lawsuits, death threats, false accusations and judicial harassment.

"Unfortunately, in my country, Peru, most people who report cases of abuse do not find justice at the end of their story. The system is designed to favor the perpetrator and neglect the victim. It's a mistake to apply North American standards," said Ugaz.

The church's actions against Sodalitium, suppressing the group, only came 15 years after she began to investigate, Ugaz said, and despite over a decade of investigation into Sodalitium abuses, no perpetrators have been convicted in Peru courts.

SNAP has not reached out to Sodalitium survivors and has not included those survivors' praise for Leo in its communications. For Pearson, different global norms shouldn't mean an abuse case is dealt with any less expediently, thoroughly or safely."

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/26/2025

Trafficking, Love Has Won, Baha'i

A Little Bit Culty: Protecting Kids from Cults and Traffickers with Robin Boyle-Laisure

"What happens when a street-corner "religious" pitch nearly ropes in a teenage girl—only for her to dodge the hook and spend the next three decades dismantling the playbook that tried to claim her? In Part 1 of our conversation with Professor Robin Boyle-Laisure—St. John's University School of Law faculty, board member of the International Cultic Studies Association, and author of the upcoming Taken No More: Protect Your Children Against Traffickers and Cults—we follow the twisted parallels between cult recruitment and human trafficking.

Robin breaks down how predators groom, coerce, and control—whether they're fishing for followers in a dorm lounge or luring teens through online games. We talk about NXIVM's "collateral" bombshell, the grooming-to-control pipeline, and why charisma is just the sugar coating on a rotten core. You'll never look at "just talking" to strangers online the same way again.

Catch Robin's new book, Taken No More, this fall, and keep an eye on robinboylelaisure.com for free downloadable articles and updates."

Ladbible: Why the cult leader's face turned blue before she was found mummified in a jaw-dropping documentary

Her body was found in a sleeping bag covered in fairy lights and glitter two weeks after her death.

"Documentaries can often leave us shocked and full of questions, but the recent coverage of cult leader Amy Carlson is likely one of the craziest things you might ever see.

The Kansas-born mum-of-three quit her job at McDonald's and left her third husband after a man called Amerith WhiteEagle convinced her she was 'ethereal', and in 2007, they moved to Colorado to become Mother and Father God for the cult that would come to be known as Love Has Won.

Her controversial journey was covered in the 2023 HBO documentary Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God, which showed how the cult convinced its followers that they were led by 'Galactics', which mostly included deceased celebrities such as Carrie Fisher, Robin Williams and the very-much-not-dead Donald Trump.

While viewers were no doubt left confused by the cult's beliefs, which included a wide range of conspiracy theories - one of which suggested that Carlson was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, or Joan of Arc - it was the 45-year-old's extraordinary death which posed the most questions.

While viewers were no doubt left confused by the cult's beliefs, which included a wide range of conspiracy theories - one of which suggested that Carlson was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, or Joan of Arc - it was the 45-year-old's extraordinary death which posed the most questions."

AP News: Qatar sentences the country's Baha'i leader to 5 years for social media posts

"The leader of the small Baha'i community in Qatar was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for social media posts that allegedly 'cast doubt on the foundations of the Islamic religion,' according to court documents obtained by an international Baha'i organization monitoring the case.

A three-judge panel of Qatar's Supreme Judiciary Council issued the verdict against Remy Rowhani, 71, who has been detained since April, according to documents provided to The Associated Press by the Baha'i International Community office in Geneva, Switzerland.

The judges rejected a defense request for leniency on the grounds that Rowhani suffered from a heart condition, according to the documentation.

Saba Haddad, the Geneva office's representative to the United Nations, depicted the verdict as 'a serious breach and grave violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief and an attack on Remy Rowhani and the Baha'i community in Qatar.'"

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