CultNEWS101 Articles: 5/7/2021

Exclusive Brethren, New Zealand, Ole Anthony, Obituary, Edgar Cayce, Legal, Child Abuse, ARE, EU, Online Recruitment

Note: an article in yesterday's newsletter has been retracted by the publisher. "EU Reporter: Beware of false refugees, the cult nature of the Eastern Lightning (The Church of Almighty God)."

NZ Herald: Ex-Exclusive Brethren accuse church of tearing families apart

"Former members of the Exclusive Brethren allege the secretive sect is breaking up families, putting members in isolation and attacking their livelihoods in order to maintain control.

Last week RNZ revealed the church, which gets millions of dollars in tax breaks each year, is using private investigators and lawyers to fend off its critics.

A chance remark to her adult daughter three years ago triggered a chain of events that has left a Christchurch woman and her husband estranged from eight of their nine children, 25 grandchildren and wider family, and repeatedly hauled before the courts.

The couple, whom RNZ has agreed not to name, blame the organisation, which now calls itself the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church."

Front Burner: Ole Anthony, R.I.P.

" ... Ole Anthony was a complicated man. Several journalists over the years tried to understand him, usually looking for the "gotcha" factoid that would reveal him to be a charlatan or a con man — and they usually found it! Insecure about his lack of a formal education, he tended to inflate his credentials and pretend to have skills he didn't have. He basked in the attention of intellectuals and media figures. He never met a microphone he didn't love. Before his conversion experience in the '70s, he was a heartless corporate creep and politician. And not just any politician — he was the kind that always bent the rules and at one time was engaged almost exclusively in the business of selling access to the Dallas mayor's office.

All these tendencies were suppressed but not extinguished by his Damascus Road experience, and they served him well as he established the Trinity Foundation and became a one-man scourge against the "prosperity gospel" religious establishment and its shameful, organized, computerized and cynical fleecing of widows and orphans. He recognized greed because he was greedy. He spotted the cons because he knew how to deal from the bottom of the deck (literally! — he had dealt blackjack in a small-time western casino). He loved the "whited sepulcher" types, the holier-than-thou preachers, because he could easily spot their hidden sexual fetishes, the secret lives that often led to the collapse of empires built on fake healing and dummy corporations used to finance their lust."

The Daily Beast: Inside the 'Cult-Like' Summer Camp Where Women Say They Had to Hug Their Abusers

"At the Association for Research and Enlightenment's long-running summer camp in Virginia, established 90 years ago by a self-described spiritualist and clairvoyant, campers are told they'll experience "a different kind of vacation."

Sprinkled among hiking, swimming, and other traditional camp activities, A.R.E. encouraged campers to participate in unconventional pastimes, like massage trains that resembled a conga line of male counselors and young girls, hugging circles, and learning "body-mind-spirit" resources.

During the "Liberated Underwear Movement," underage campers would run through the rural grounds in their underwear. On "Goddess Night," girls would be expected to strip naked and run through a field while male staffers and fellow campers cheered them on.

Now, at least eight women have come forward to allege they were sexually harassed and abused by adult counselors and other staff members, whose ages ranged from late teens to early 40s, according to two lawsuits filed Wednesday in Virginia Beach.

"I was 12 years old the first time I was sexually assaulted by an A.R.E. counselor," one woman, identified in the lawsuit as Lynsey Doe, said during a Wednesday press conference. She alleged she was assaulted by two counselors between 2009 and 2014. "I reported the assault to camp authorities, who did nothing. When I was 16, I returned to camp and I was forced to participate in a so-called 'Forgiveness Circle,' which meant I had to hug my abuser and say I forgave him. It was a horrible, degrading experience."

The women are among dozens who say they were victims of a cult-like organization that brainwashed campers to believe in unconditional love and forgiveness—even against their abusers. The lawsuits state that victims told camp managers about assaults but were ignored and their abusers continued to work.

"A.R.E. created a cult-like atmosphere that encouraged sexually abusive behavior by these camp counselors," attorney Steve Estey, who is representing the women, said on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges A.R.E knew of sexual abuse dating back to the late 1980s.

The lawsuits, which name Executive Director Kevin Todeschi, seek $10 million per client, as well as punitive damages.

Reuters: Online Terrorist Content Law Wins EU Lawmakers' Backing Amid Rights Concerns

"A proposed EU law that forces Google (GOOGL.O), Facebook (FB.O) and Twitter (TWTR.N) to remove terrorist content within an hour of publication cleared its final hurdle after EU lawmakers gave their backing despite concerns from civil rights groups. The European Commission had proposed the law in 2018, worried about the role of such content after a series of attacks by radicalised lone-wolf attackers in several European cities. The EU executive defines online terrorist content as material inciting terrorism or aimed at recruiting or training terrorists as well as material that provides guidance on how to make and use explosives and firearms for terrorist purposes. The European Parliament approved the law late on Wednesday. Lawmaker Patryk Jaki said the legislation "balances security and freedom of speech and expression on the internet, protects legal content and access to information for every citizen in the EU, while fighting terrorism through cooperation and trust between states". The companies can face fines up to 4% of their global turnover for non-compliance. They have said they shared regulators' efforts to tackle the issue and keep the content off their platforms."

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Inside the ‘Cult-Like’ Summer Camp Where Women Say They Had to Hug Their Abusers

Pilar Melendez

National Reporter

The Daily Beast 

April 29, 2021

At the Association for Research and Enlightenment’s long-running summer camp in Virginia, established 90 years ago by a self-described spiritualist and clairvoyant, campers are told they’ll experience “a different kind of vacation.”

Sprinkled among hiking, swimming, and other traditional camp activities, A.R.E. encouraged campers to participate in unconventional pastimes, like massage trains that resembled a conga line of male counselors and young girls, hugging circles, and learning “body-mind-spirit” resources.

During the “Liberated Underwear Movement,” underage campers would run through the rural grounds in their underwear. On “Goddess Night,” girls would be expected to strip naked and run through a field while male staffers and fellow campers cheered them on.

Now, at least eight women have come forward to allege they were sexually harassed and abused by adult counselors and other staff members, whose ages ranged from late teens to early 40s, according to two lawsuits filed Wednesday in Virginia Beach.

“I was 12 years old the first time I was sexually assaulted by an A.R.E. counselor,” one woman, identified in the lawsuit as Lynsey Doe, said during a Wednesday press conference. She alleged she was assaulted by two counselors between 2009 and 2014. “I reported the assault to camp authorities, who did nothing. When I was 16, I returned to camp and I was forced to participate in a so-called ‘Forgiveness Circle,’ which meant I had to hug my abuser and say I forgave him. It was a horrible, degrading experience.”

The women are among dozens who say they were victims of a cult-like organization that brainwashed campers to believe in unconditional love and forgiveness—even against their abusers. The lawsuits state that victims told camp managers about assaults but were ignored and their abusers continued to work.

“A.R.E. created a cult-like atmosphere that encouraged sexually abusive behavior by these camp counselors,” attorney Steve Estey, who is representing the women, said on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges A.R.E knew of sexual abuse dating back to the late 1980s.

The lawsuits, which name Executive Director Kevin Todeschi, seek $10 million per client, as well as punitive damages.

In a statement, Todeschi said A.R.E. first became aware of the allegations last summer when some former campers posted their experiences on the group’s Facebook page. An independent investigation was launched and A.R.E. encouraged others to come forward, he said.

“We continue to be extraordinarily distressed by these allegations. The camp has been in operation for decades. Sexual assault or assault of any kind has never been even remotely acceptable,” Todeschi said, adding that the camp was closed last year due to COVID-19 and will remain closed while the investigation continues.

“Such conduct is contrary to everything we believe in. The Camp is a Family Camp that focuses on healthy living for body, mind, and spirit,” he added.

According to A.R.E.’s website, the non-profit organization was founded in 1931 by Edgar Cayce, a clairvoyant and self-proclaimed spiritualist known as the “sleeping prophet.” The organization offers a camp for children aged 10 to 16, a retreat for teenagers, a family camp, and year-round activities for all ages based on Cayce’s principles.

The lawsuits claim that, from a young age, participants of the Rural Retreat camp were taught that A.R.E. is the “safest place for them” and that everyone there was a “good person” who should be loved and forgiven without hesitation. Campers were told that the “world was depending on their unconditional love and forgiveness.”

“The culture created by the lack of boundaries and failure to hold anyone accountable for their actions led to a dangerous cycle of continued sexual abuse and cover-ups that has lasted generations,” one lawsuit states. “Those who have been abused are told they would be going against everything they had ever been taught if they spoke up.

“They were told they would lose the community they had grown up in often since birth, and quite frequently a community that stretched through generations of families. They were made to feel they would be left with no family and no home. They would have to carry the shame of not believing, not being able to reach enlightenment. And they were told it would be their fault, and their fault alone.”

That mindset was ingrained in Lynsey Doe, who began attending camp at age 9. She was forced to participate in daily hugging sessions and massage sessions with staffers.

In 2009, when she was 12, she was sexually assaulted by a camp counselor after being coerced to play “spin the bottle” with two other male staffers and two girls, the lawsuit alleges.

The counselor, who was then 18 or 19, “placed his hands under the clothing and her underwear and penetrated her vagina.” Later that night, he tried to get her “to a secluded place with him...to further sexually abuse her.”

The lawsuit says Lynsey told a camp manager about the abuse—but nothing happened. No report was made to local police. Years later, Lynsey was forced to participate in a “Forgiveness Ceremony,” where she had to tell her abuser she forgave him and embraced him.

The lawsuit states that, when she was 15, Lynsey began a relationship with a 22-year-old counselor, who raped and sexually abused her for years.

Another victim, only identified as Jane Doe, was also sexually abused when she was 16 under the guise of “spin the bottle,” the lawsuit states.

“I believed that in speaking, I would become a source of shame to my family and the community. This left me feeling deeply responsible for his secret. At the same time, what happened to me did not feel unusual... In the context of the camp, his behavior was normalized,” Jane Doe said on Wednesday.

“It was my job as the victim to meditate or go to healing prayer or journal my trauma away.”

Hannah Furbush, a third-generation camper, said on Wednesday that she started going to camp as an infant and her parents were both employees. The lawsuit states that she estimates she was sexually abused, molested, or harassed “at least one hundred times” over the years.

In one instance, a senior camp director allegedly massaged her against her will, touched her butt, and tried to kiss her. When Furbush, 27, lodged complaints, she was made to feel like an outcast and told to meditate and write about it in her journal.

“They did nothing other than to say this is the way things are,” she said Wednesday. “It was my job as the victim to meditate or go to healing prayer or journal my trauma away while these dangerous men were given promotions and allowed to stay.”

Furbush detailed the camp’s bizarre activities, like the “Liberated Underwear Movement” in which “minor campers ran through the camp in their underwear” and sometimes “male counselors would participate.”

She also participated in “Goddess Night,” in which “female campers would run through a field naked, and the male campers would stand at the top of a hill watching and yelling at the girls,” the lawsuit states. “These events were considered to be a right [sic] of passage for young campers, and it was made clear that participation in the events was expected of each camper,” it says.

Another camper, identified as Cheyenne Doe, alleges she was raped in 2010, at age 16, by a counselor she had a crush on. Afterward, she said, she felt like a “throwaway” and blamed herself and the camp.

“He took advantage of me and others when he should have been taking care of us,” she said Wednesday.

The apparent open secret of abuse came to light in mid-2020, when a former A.R.E camper wrote a lengthy Facebook post laying out “several claims of inappropriate behavior.” Almost immediately, other Facebook users began to share similar stories.

The lawsuits note that A.R.E purposefully didn’t keep records of any reported assaults, allowing the camp to retain employees accused of abuse.

“They chose to cover it up instead of reporting it,” Estey, the attorney, said. “Their coverup and negligence demonstrate a pattern of systemic abuse that has traumatized my clients—they’re all suffering emotional anguish and anxiety as a result of being abused.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/edgar-cayces-are-camp-in-virginia-accused-of-sexual-assault?ref=scroll

CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/12/2020

Jehovah's Witnesses, Twelve Tribes, Australia, Legal, Eliezer Berland, Israel, Child Abuse, Addiction, Edgar Cayce, Psychic, Scam, Jihad, Documentary, Shincheonji, Korea

Wales Online: Ex-Jehovah's Witness elder describes how he was abused by fellow worshipper as a boy

"For 15 years John and his family were committed Jehovah's Witnesses and highly thought of among the community who would meet at the Kingdom Hall in Barry. "I just put my head down and thoroughly enjoyed myself," said John. He was chair of the hospital liaison committee in Wales, trying to work with the medical profession to offer alternative treatments that didn't use donated blood for Jehovah's Witnesses.

"Jehovah's Witnesses don't have a death wish so I genuinely felt my work was helping people," he said. But then came the bombshell that Karen, who had just turned 16, had been abused by her uncle and Jehovah's Witnesses elder Mark Sewell.

Karen was just 12 when she first indicated that something was wrong, telling John she didn't like the way Sewell was kissing her when he visited. "It went over my head what she was trying to say," sighed John. "I don't remember ever thinking about my own abuse. I had no idea that there were other things going on." It wasn't until she wrote it all down on paper when she was 16 that Karen's parents discovered the full truth.

Like "good Jehovah's Witnesses" they dealt with the issue through the church's internal judicial system.

The Jehovah's Witnesses religion is one that polices itself and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities. One of the rules set by the main governing body requires that for child sexual abuse to be taken seriously there must be two witnesses to it. In addition any alleged child sex abuse victims must recount their allegations in front of their abuser.

The whole process was a harrowing ordeal for Karen and the family eventually involved the police too. Even so no prosecution was brought at that time and Karen had to live with the judgement and disbelief of the religious community for 20 years.

It wasn't until July 2014 that businessman and former Butlins holiday camp driver Sewell was jailed for 14 years after being convicted of eight historic sex charges against girls and women in a period spanning more than eight years."

9Now: What drove religious elder to leave controversial cult

"'I think you could use that word, I don't normally. Sect is probably better- a little bit less emotional. But definitely high controlling," he told A Current Affair.

Czarnecki has never spoken publicly before about the three decades he spent as a leader of the Australian arm of the Twelve Tribes.

He contacted A Current Affair after our investigation in October revealed the severe disciplinary measures enforced on children as young as six months of age.

"How did I feel about it? I thought it was great," he said of his views of the group's disciplinary methods.

However, the arrival of his own children saw a change of heart.

"Life takes on a different flavor and smacking your own little human being on the bed there … sounds different all of a sudden," Czarnecki said."

The Times of Israel: Sex offender rabbi Berland remanded in miracles-for-cash probe

"When attorney for elderly rabbi raises concerns over his health, judge suggests he take Mentos mints, which he allegedly gave out as a 'wonder drug'.

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended by eight days the detention of Rabbi Eliezer Berland, a convicted sex offender who has been arrested anew for allegedly fleecing millions of shekels from terminally ill patients by promising miraculous recoveries.

Judge Sharon Lary-Bavly wrote in her decision that Berland "cynically exploited" his alleged victims by, among other things, giving "Mentos to patients under the guise of medication."

During the deliberations Berland's attorney Amit Hadad raised the issue of his client's poor health as a reason to not keep him in custody.

Lary-Bavly shot back, "Give him a Mentos."

Dozens of Berland's supporters demonstrated outside the court during the proceedings, their vocal protests audible in the courtroom."

Montrose Press: 'Cult' leader Ceus acquitted of murder, convicted of fatal abuse in deaths of sisters in Norwood

"For nearly three weeks, a Gunnison jury weighed the evidence against purported religious leader Madani Ceus, who was accused of murdering young sisters Makayla Roberts, 10, and Hannah Marshall, 8, in 2017.

The children's badly decomposed bodies were found on a Norwood farm that September.

Late Thursday, the jury returned a verdict: Not guilty of first-degree murder, but guilty of both charged counts of child abuse resulting in death, a class-2 felony.

"The jury's spoken and found the defendant guilty of child abuse causing death, which is certainly true," San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters said Thursday."

Salon: We need to rethink "tough love" as a response to addiction

" ... On average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. An estimated 20 million people are struggling with a substance use disorder in this country. It's important to understand that addiction starts long before the first drug is ever taken. Drug addiction is not a moral failing; it's a public health issue. People with addiction disorders are human beings struggling with a human condition. Ostracizing people who likely already feel damaged, unlovable, stigmatized does nothing to solve what is, almost invariably, at the core of addiction—emotional pain and trauma.

These earlier models of tough love keep those struggling locked in a cycle of shame. And that shame becomes a gatekeeper that prevents people from reaching out for help. That shame kills people. It nearly killed me.

Personal boundaries are healthy and essential for everyone. What does that look like when you have someone in your life struggling with addiction? Drugs aren't allowed in my house. You can't drive my car. I am not participating in illegal activity with you. I'm not covering up for you. If you are violent, physically or verbally, I will remove myself."

India Times: India's Forgotten Legend Shankar Abaji Bhise Created More Inventions Than Anyone Else

" ... Once in the US, he shot to fame with an iodine solution that he created to enhance people's psychic abilities, which was also promoted by Edgar Cayce -- an American Psychic and Mystic. Followers of Cayce continue to use this solution. Post this, however, Bhise's trajectory shifted from science to occultism -- that eventually tarnished his reputation -- creating objects like a 'spirit typewriter' which was a different take on the mystical Ouija Board.  He passed away on 7 April 1935, in New York at the age of 68."

Patheos: Would you trust a psychic to tell you when Armageddon will start?

" ... Hospitals don't have paid faith healers on their staffs (although patients may invite them to the rooms of their loved ones), because what they claim to offer has no scientific backing, no evidence of efficacy. The equivalent of "quacks." And if psychics actually could foretell the future, such as what the Powerball numbers will be next week, they would be among the only — if not the only — winners ever. But they don't, so rationally speaking they're not."

Irish Times: CIARAN CASSIDY'S NEW FILM TELLS THE STRANGE TALE OF 'HOW SOMEBODY IN PHILADELPHIA AND SOMEBODY IN COLORADO AND SOMEBODY IN BALTIMORE AND SOMEBODY IN WATERFORD WERE ALL PLANNING TO KILL SOMEONE IN SWEDEN'

" ... 'So I was just exploring that world. How somebody in Philadelphia and somebody in Colorado and somebody in Baltimore and somebody in Waterford were all planning to kill someone in Sweden. It was all so strange. And it's a story that couldn't have happened in the 1960s or 70s it could have only happened at that moment.'

Cassidy's questions form the spine of his fascinating new feature documentary, Jihad Jane. Colleen LaRose's strange radicalisation began following an anonymous sexual encounter with a 'Middle Eastern guy' she met on holiday in Amsterdam. Returning to American life, while caring for her elderly mother and her partner's elderly father, she became fascinated by the Arab world and the Palestinian cause. It was a lonely and tough existence for someone her partner Kurt Gorman described as a 'social person'."

Stuff: Palmerston North warned about possible activity by Shincheonji cult

" ... Members of Crossroads Church were recently sent a letter warning about the Shincheonji cult, also know as New Heaven and New Earth.

Shincheonji was founded by Lee Man-Hee in South Korea in 1984, with Man-Hee professing to be the second-coming of Jesus Christ and claiming only he can properly interpret the Bible.

Shincheonji has been active in Wellington, with senior pastor Nick Field of The Street Church saying members of the group invited people from his church to Bible studies, which were then used as fronts to isolate people.

The letter to Crossroads members said Shincheonji recruiters were believed to be targeting highly populated student areas.

While having no confirmed sightings of the cult being active in Palmerston North, the church wanted to proactively let people know what was going on."

" ... There were overseas reports of Shincheonji recruiters infiltrating churches and stirring up concerns about the leadership by sowing lies about financial issues or inappropriate sexual relationships, she said.

Young people were targets for all cults, as they had likely never encountered a predator like cult recruiters before.

Students were especially appealing, as they were good at understanding abstract concepts, she said.

Despite the fears about Shincheonji, many people who entered cults did not regret the experience.

The deep relationships with members, often closer than family ones, the satisfaction of religious certainty and fast-paced action were all positives to those inside the cults, [Massey University senior lecturer Dr Heather Kavan]

said.

'The negative parts are the relentless pressure tactics and feelings of powerlessness against unassailable leaders.'"

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.

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Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.