All aboard the Brethren Airbus: Secretive church charters Qantas A380 to London

Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman (CBD)
The Age
November 4, 2024

Two Qantas A380s at Sydney Airport about 3.30pm on Sunday. Both heading for London.

One was the regular Qantas QF1 service. But the other? That turned out to be a second Qantas A380 chartered by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

The church, once known as the Exclusive Brethren, is a secretive religious sect that has assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Enough, it appears, to book the occasional return-to-London A380, at a cost that an aviation type told us could be as high as $5 million.

Qantas does regular business with the Brethren, a costly undertaking given the airline has to take a massive A380 out of service. Oh, to be so religious and so wealthy.

CBD is not sure how the church’s strict traditional values – it denies being anti-gay – line up with Qantas’ flashy desire for equality, as evidenced by its sponsorship of a Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras float. Mardi Gras on the one hand; charter for extremely conservative religion on the other. Pride in diversity, indeed.

Sources tell us that the church was planning a universal occasion in Sydney but then its global leader, Sydney accountant Bruce D. Hales, apparently needs knee surgery.

The alternative plan is for 26 different fellowship meetings scheduled for next weekend, including in Paris, Edinburgh, Norwich, Indianapolis, Paparoa, Trinidad and (sound of a short straw being drawn) Warrnambool.

That is a lot of meetings and a lot of air travel. A Qantas spokeswoman said the airline did not discuss commercial charters.

“I’m surprised to hear our flight plans are of interest given the abundance of plane-related news in Australia at the moment,” a church spokesman said.

“Yes, I can confirm that many members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church are travelling from around the world to attend a series of church conferences.

“As part of this, a company has been engaged to organise several trips to and from Sydney, as well as transfers, a bit of sightseeing and the like.

“For trips like this we generally use a combination of commercial and charter flights, determined by what is most cost-effective and convenient.”

CBD wonders if any of the congregation made it into the Chairman’s Lounge? That remains an unknown unknown.

Cat out of the bag

So prolific are the media interviews, speeches, public appearances and book signings of ABC chairman Kim Williams it’s as if the national broadcaster needs multiple universes to maintain his schedule. They’ve made a movie about him – we think it’s called Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Williams gave the Menzies Oration at the Federation University in Ballarat last week, and is lined up to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra on November 27. Don’t miss it. Well, you won’t be able to miss it. Not allowed.

But one fascinating detail from midway through his Menzies Oration caught CBD’s attention. Williams let the cat out of the bag regarding the new job for one of Aunty’s most popular presenters: Lisa Millar. The former ABC News Breakfast presenter would take over from retiring ABC stalwart Heather Ewart as the lead presenter of Back Roads next year, Williams said.

CBD hears that the ABC was holding off on formally announcing this until next year after Ewart’s run of programs (she has quite a few in the can) had been broadcast.

It is no secret that Millar is dividing her time between Muster Dogs and Back Roads, since jumping off the ABC News Breakfast couch a few months ago, but even she wasn’t ready for Williams’ announcement.

It could have been an amusing question to ask outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson at federal parliament’s Senate estimates on Tuesday. But the ABC boss is unwell and subbing in his place is acting managing director and chief financial officer Melanie Kleyn. Microwave the popcorn for 11.45am.

Cup runneth over

To Melbourne’s beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens and a stylish marquee on the shores of the Ornamental Lake for the grandness of the Australian Hotels Association National board luncheon. CBD would have settled for a surf’n’turf and a slab in the backyard, but readers now fully understand that is not how lobby groups and politicians interface in the Australian polity.

Stephen Ferguson, chief executive of the AHA, was vexed and gave Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and federal parliament grief for having the unmitigated temerity to have scheduled a parliamentary sitting on Melbourne Cup Day. It is the “most culturally important day outside Anzac Day”, he told guests. Truly.

Lunch made for strange seating combinations, such as Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan – who is tipping No.15, Bendigo Cup winner Sea King, in tomorrow’s main event – seated a stone’s throw from Sky News commentator Peta Credlin and her husband, former Liberal Party director Brian Loughnane. Endeavour group chairman Ari Mervis sat next to Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan.

Herald and Weekly Times chair and Tourism Australia board member Penny Fowler and former Albanese and Daniel Andrews staffer-turned TikTok lobbyist Sabina Husic were also there.

Guests enjoyed canapes of smoked duck tostada and coconut nigiri, before Rangers Valley beef sirloin and barbecued snapper courtesy of Curtis Stone, washed down with lashings of Coldstream Hills Reserve pinot noir and Penfolds Bin 389 cabernet shiraz. Afters consisted of a “roving dessert” of espresso martini Magnum with wattle seed crumb and lamb – not jam – doughnuts. Most of which were quickly abandoned on the lakeside tables after a single bite.

The AHA mailed out the guest list with dietary requirements to every attendee a few days before the event. Thus, we know that dietary requirement of Sam Groth, the Victorian opposition spokesman for sport and major events, are “no mushrooms”.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/all-aboard-the-brethren-airbus-secretive-church-charters-qantas-a380-to-london-20241104-p5knpr.html

Sam and Melissa React to the Shocking Truths of the "Exclusive Brethren" Docuseries

Growing Up in Polygamy

May 11, 2024

Sam and Melissa React to the Shocking Truths of the "Exclusive Brethren" Docuseries

"In this captivating video, join Sam and Melissa as they delve into the intriguing world of the Exclusive Brethren through a thought-provoking docuseries. Watch their genuine reactions, insights, and emotions unfold as they explore the beliefs, practices, and controversies surrounding this secretive religious group. Gain a fresh perspective as Sam and Melissa navigate the complexities of faith, community, and identity in the face of extremism."


https://youtu.be/VihnQelFgIc?si=j5efl04QrKDWihoO

Veracity: Breaking Brethren

CityNews
March 28, 2022

Five former members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church come forward to tell the story of how the sects' extreme fundamentalist practices divides families and leaves countless live shattered.


https://youtu.be/10eNfQJvsrg

Exclusive Brethren, migrants and farmers the unusual social mix that has this little WA town thriving, say locals

Samille Mitchell
ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt
March 12, 2022

Follow a road train roaring out of Perth en route to the resource-laden north and after a few hours you'll come across the township of Dalwallinu.

At first glance it looks like a typical Wheatbelt township – surrounded by brown paddocks and wildflowers in spring, with a wide main street and a historic country pub.

But look a little closer and you'll start to realise "Dally", as the local call it, is different.

For, alongside the humble country homes sit swanky residences that would not be out of place in Perth's posher suburbs.

The main street is livelier, residential subdivisions are being snapped up, and the industrial area is home to flourishing industrial businesses employing hundreds of staff.

While the latest census figures are yet to be released, the most recent figures show Dally's population increased by almost 13 per cent from 2011 to 2016.

And the shire president believes the population has grown further.

So what's the town's secret? Why is it flourishing while towns around it face shrinking and ageing populations?

The answers vary, but they pretty much involve a combination of a wealthy religious group — "the Brethren" — migrant workers and a farming community that mostly welcomes both.

The Exclusive Brethren is a Christian sect that split from the Church of England in the early 1800s and has established itself in rural communities across Australia and the world.

The Brethren are no strangers to controversy, condemned for a tendency to harshly excommunicate and isolate those who fall foul of its practices and beliefs, as Four Corners has reported.

But their communities can also benefit from the economic activity generated by the Brethren, who are mostly tolerated and even welcomed in Dally for the jobs and skilled tradespeople they bring.
Housing struggling to keep up

Dalwallinu Shire President Keith Carter, who says he is not a Brethren follower, reckons he's lucky compared to other shire leaders.

"I've been on council for 11 years now and it wasn't until I came on council that I realised how lucky Dalwallinu is and how our problems are almost the inverse of other towns," Cr Carter said.

Rather than lamenting dwindling populations like other rural townships, Cr Carter's headaches come from trying to create enough housing for a growing population.

"We developed 13 blocks and I think five of them sold in about the first week," he said.

The rest, he said, were snapped up in a year.

Cr Carter put the town's success largely down to jobs offered by enterprises run by members of the Brethren.

Between them, a handful of mostly Brethren-run engineering, concrete, mining and plastic production companies employ hundreds of staff in Dally.

"The beauty of that is that we can have tradespeople move to town and even when farms have drought or financial constraints the tradespeople can still be assured that they'll get flow-on work from all the industries," Mr Carter said.

"And then you've got the general multiplier effect that also flows through into the local stores."
Brethren welcome migrants

Kim Ray is part of the Brethren community. He was born and bred in Dalwallinu and raised his six sons on the family farm. But when a future in farming looked bleak, his family opened a mine-site engineering company.

Today that business employs 50 people.

"We shifted into engineering and therefore we've built infrastructure in town," Mr Ray said.

"The boys have all built houses in town and there are other families that have done the same."

Mr Ray puts Dalwallinu's success down the number of long-term families who have invested in the town, its location between the agricultural region and the mining region, and the migrant workers that fill employment vacancies.

"The skilled visa has made business here possible," Mr Ray said.

"That meant that some migrants came and quite a lot of them are now permanent residents and we are now employing a large percentage of their children.

"I say it's a win-win — it's a win for us, it's a win for them and it's a win for the shire and the town."
Lucky country

Many of those migrants are from the Philippines and arrived under a Regional Repopulation Plan which offered English language classes, cultural events, and other incentives to migrants.

Marketing expert Manu Ofianza is one of the non-Brethren migrants who has taken up work with a Brethren-owned business. He moved to Dally on a 457 visa, his wife has joined him and soon they plan to welcome their kids to the community.

Mr Ofianza works as a DJ in his spare time and also runs a side hustle as a sound engineer.

"Dalwallinu is a good place and the first thing I notice is people are very courteous — here every vehicle that you encounter the driver will definitely wave his hands to say hi," Mr Ofianza said.

"We really improved our life when we started living here in terms of financials – we really have good savings now compared to when we were living in the Philippines.

"And I think it is a great place to raise a family."

Philippines-born Geraldine Vergara, who is also not part of the Brethren community, agrees. While she initially found the quiet lifestyle a shock after following her husband to Dalwallinu in 2014, she says her two boys love it.

Both of her sons play Aussie rules footy and relish the laid-back lifestyle.

"In the Philippines, for one day's work we can buy food for that day but here for one day's work you can buy food for the whole week," Ms Vergara said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-13/exclusive-brethren-regional-jobs-housing-migration-dalwallinu-wa/100891690

Billions in Covid deals given to firms linked to Plymouth Brethren sect

Ben Ellery
The Times
February 05 2022

Dozens of companies with connections to a tiny fundamentalist Christian sect were awarded as much as £2.2 billion in government coronavirus contracts, The Times can reveal.

Firms with links to the insular Plymouth Brethren have been handed contracts for PPE, masks, visors, aprons, tests and ventilators without other companies being given the chance to bid for the contracts.

It can be revealed that PPE worth millions of pounds supplied by firms linked to the group were cleared for use by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) despite being declared substandard by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

The evangelical group, likened to a “cult” by some former members, has connections with the Conservative Party, and MPs have previously lobbied for it to be given charitable status.

The first Brethren assembly in England was established in Plymouth in 1831 by a group who had become disillusioned with the Anglican church and felt it had become too involved with the secular state. The majority of members are born into the church, though on rare occasions those without a family connection have joined by meeting a local group. Members are encouraged to set up their own businesses.

This week it emerged that the DHSC had written off PPE worth £8.7 billion last year, admitting to a “significant loss of value to the taxpayer”.

Unispace Global, an office interior design company that suddenly became a PPE provider at the start of the pandemic, was awarded seven PPE contracts worth almost £680 million by the DHSC in 2020.

The group that owns the company belongs to two Australian brothers, Charles and Gareth Hales, whose father is Bruce Hales, the worldwide leader of the Plymouth Brethren sect.

Unispace Global recorded an £86 million profit in 2020, with the largest beneficiary, likely to be Gareth Hales, entitled to £32 million.

Research by The Times and the Open and Candid website, an investigative platform, found that former directors of Unispace are connected to at least 45 companies linked to the Brethren that have won coronavirus contracts. There is no suggestion that the sect co-ordinated the applications for contracts.

The sect reportedly has 50,000 members worldwide, with 16,000 in this country. It operates a series of primary schools and business courses in the UK.

Followers adhere to a set of strict rules based upon their interpretation of the Bible. In avoiding anything they perceive to be sinful, members cannot watch television, listen to the radio or go to the cinema.

Unispace Global has transferred the money from the Covid contracts to Sante Global LLP.

Ross Robertson, 39, from Oxford, is a shareholder and former employee of a sister company, Sante Global Trading Co. Three days after lockdown, Ross and his brother Luke set up Medco Solutions, which was then handed £772 million in contracts to provide visors, facemasks and aprons.

In December it was reported that visors procured by Medco as part of a £33.4 million contract were being processed by a recycling firm.

A third Robertson brother, Murray, is a director of Rapid Relief Team, a Plymouth Brethren charity that provides catering for emergency services crews.

A charity was set up by the sect in 2013 after a battle with the Charity Commission for it to be officially recognised. The application was made by the trust of the church that runs its gospel halls. Ultimately, the watchdog decided there was enough public benefit from the gospel halls for them to be given charitable status.

The campaign to secure charity status was heavily supported by a large number of Conservative MPs, including Owen Paterson, Peter Bone, Robert Halfron and Michael Ellis.

Jolyon Maugham QC, founder of The Good Law Project, said: “It’s very, very odd that companies connected to a tiny sect have won £2.2 billion worth of contracts. At best, it’s a head-scratcher.”

A spokesman for the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church said: “The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is [a] place of love and worship, not of business and politics.

“Like in any other religious group or church, many of our members run their own businesses, and these businesses are completely separate from the church. Any contractual agreements between the government and these independent businesses are completely unrelated to our church.”

Neihttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/billions-in-covid-deals-given-to-firms-linked-to-plymouth-brethren-sect-8tlszvrh5ther the companies concerned nor the DHSC responded to requests for comment.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/billions-in-covid-deals-given-to-firms-linked-to-plymouth-brethren-sect-8tlszvrh5

Ex-Exclusive Brethren accuse church of tearing families apart

Ruth Hill

New Zealand Herald

April 29, 2021

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 taxbreaks 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.

This faithful Brethren of more than 60 years said her family has been torn apart.

"At the moment, we just feel they have destroyed our family, and I don't see how the damage can ever be repaired."

Their ordeal started when the church's world leader, Sydney furniture salesman Bruce Hales, visited Christchurch and chastised a couple of local Brethren in front of a congregation of hundreds of people.

The woman told one of her older married daughters she felt sorry for them. That was reported back to the leadership and she and her husband were disciplined.

A few months later, they flew to Australia with their 14-year-old daughter to visit relatives, but were turned away on the orders of the Brethren leadership.

They had been "shut up", forbidden to communicate with anyone.

They came straight home without even seeing the woman's parents.

Her mother has since died.

Soon after that, their youngest daughter went to visit one of her older sisters and never came back.

When the father turned up at the house to bring her home, there was a confrontation.

He said he put his arms around her to lead her to the car, and his elder daughters and a son-in-law tried to prevent him. He was knocked over, still holding the girl.

"I was left on the ground with my glasses flung off and bruises on my arms. They had rung the police, and I got arrested for common assault."

After doing a non-violence course he was granted diversion, but was then served with a protection order.

He challenged that in court, it was thrown out, and the couple again tried to visit their daughter.

No-one would answer the door, but they were later both served with another protection order, claiming they had been violent towards their elder daughter, her husband and children.

They were both ordered to do a non-violence course but the facilitator referred them back to the court, which appointed a counsellor.

The counsellor tried to contact the family on their behalf, but was threatened with legal action.

After leaving a phone message for his elder daughter (apologising for any harm he may have unknowingly caused her), he was arrested three days later - at 1am - for breaching the protection order, and spent the night in the cells.

The mother was allowed to visit their youngest daughter on her 15th birthday.

"I said 'Can I bring her a present?' And I just saw her for about a minute. She gave me a hug and she was really pleased to see me and that. But she still said to me as I let her go 'You just get right, Mum'. I didn't say anything to her because I thought, the kid doesn't even know what she's talking about. It just gets drummed into her that that's the thing to say."

When they tried to contact her on her next birthday, they got a lawyer's letter warning them they were breaching the protection order.

Last August, they got a phone message to say they were finally "withdrawn from" (excommunicated) by the Brethren.

No-one from the church had contacted them in the 18 months prior to that, he said.

"And we don't know what we've got to get right about, I mean you've just got to grovel to get back, I don't know what you've got to do, I've never been in this situation before."

His wife said they had asked many times why were they "shut up" in the first place and why had they been withdrawn from. "And they can't tell us."

Of their nine children, they have contact with just one: Their 26-year-old daughter, who left the church when she was 18.
Apart from 'sinful' world

The Doctrine of Separation means godly Brethren must hold themselves apart from the sinful world.

This includes members of their own families who leave the church - or are thrown out.

Hales' word is law. His sermons are regularly published in "white papers" and distributed to 50,000 Brethren worldwide.

In 2015, Hales told a congregation it would be better for a man to drink rat poison than to have contact with an "opposer" - someone who had left the church.

That man was not named in the white paper, but it was widely understood he was referring to one man: Aucklander Braden Simmons, who had contacted his sister who had been excommunicated.

Simmons said that was the moment when he realised he could no longer believe in Hales, who is venerated by church members as "The Elect Vessel".

When Simmons started sharing his honest opinion with his fellow Brethren, he was "shut up then shut out".

He described it as "like landing on Mars" - but he counts himself fortunate compared with some ex-Brethren who have been cast adrift with no safety net.

"I did have a job and I did have a house, those are important things. There are some pretty nasty stories - it can leave people in a pretty vulnerable spot."

He was pressured to resign from the family business but refused.

They tried to break the company by making the other Brethren staff resign and banning members from doing business with them, but that did not work.

Then his father was ordered to fire him.

"I simply said: 'I'll go to the employment court, get damages and get my job back'. He couldn't fire me, and as a result he's been in solitary isolation for over a year now."

His father has not been excommunicated - but he is "shut up", cut off from both the Brethren and the world.

"They've increasingly taken quite literally to just putting people in confinement as a permanent holding bay, just getting rid of their problems that way. There's a number of people shut up in Auckland."

These people, like his father, still retain a hope of getting back into the Brethren, so they are quiet and careful to keep the rules.

Simmons has not gone quietly and is paying the price.

Last July, lawyers and private investigators arrived at his Māngere Bridge home before dawn to carry out a private search warrant of the house and all devices.

His former boss (a senior Brethren leader) has ongoing legal action against Simmons, alleging he has confidential information belonging to him.

Another ex-Brethren from Wellington, Rob McLean was staying there and also had his laptop examined.

It is more than 10 years since he was cast out of his home by his wife and trespassed from his business by their children after he asked questions of the leadership.

"They threaten you and then they'll take you to the high court and they'll try and bankrupt you. If they're using more expensive lawyers than you can afford, it's pretty nasty stuff."

Simmons is now reconciled with his sister, Lindy Jacomb, who was 20 when her parents told her there was no longer a place for her under their roof.

She was "the opposer" identified by Hales as more deadly than rat poison.

"It's extreme language to choose but I refer to it as being like a suicide while you're still living, because it was like that for me. I realised, 'I'm going to have to say goodbye to everybody that I know'."

The Plymouth Brethren maintains it does not stop families from having contact with members who have left the church.

They declined an interview - but in a written response to questions, Brethren spokesperson Doug Watt said: "Just like any church, we are sad if someone leaves us, but wish them all of the best in their lives, and of course, hope that one day they will change their mind."

While they cannot comment on the actions of individual members, the church leadership had no knowledge or involvement in any of these matters involving private investigators, he said.

RNZ also asked whether Simmons was pressured to resign and the other Brethren staff told to resign, if other Brethren were banned from doing business with his firm and whether his father was told to fire him and "shut up" when he refused.

Watt said the church rejected the allegations and denied such actions were requested by the church or its leadership.

"Suggestions the church would try to put someone out of business are completely untrue and entirely inconsistent with our values and faith."

However, in Jacomb's opinion, the idea that families were exercising "personal choice" in cutting off ex-members was merely "a public relations line".

"The Doctrine of Separation is undoubtedly a theology and a principle that is taught and maintained by the church and their leaders, whom they believe are the infallible manifestation of God.

"It's a complete myth to say it's the individual's choice.

"Yes, the individuals have chosen to practice that separation and enforce it. But they do so because their entire environment has conditioned them that outsiders are a threat, and family members who leave are a threat, and must be cut off - or their own eternal salvation is in question."

She never met her grandfather, who was shut out before she was born, along with a great uncle, and two aunts, one of whom was excluded after being raped.

The sudden death of Jacomb's close friend when she was 16 caused her to start asking questions about the basis for all the rules and prohibitions.

"I was constantly going to the leaders' ministry books, they call them, their writings from over the years and just wanting to understand 'If we can't wear necklaces or go to the movies, there must be good reasons, I'll just look it up and then I can understand'. I just had a desire to understand why we lived like we did. It never once entered my mind that we could be wrong."

Unable to find satisfying answers to her questions, she started reading the Bible - something Brethren are not encouraged to do.

While they go to church meetings every night and several times on Sunday, the focus is on the teachings of Hales.

However, scripture only made her more confused because it seemed to contradict how the Brethren lived.

"It's very clear that Jesus hung out with 'sinners', with people who were broken and didn't have it all together. Yet the Brethren are very focused on having it all together and if you show the least sign of brokeness or sin, you get booted out."

Jacomb was so terrified of having her doubts exposed that she kept her research in a locked briefcase.

Forbidden to use the internet, she started writing to a young man whom she knew was thinking of leaving the church.

Their covert correspondence was revealed accidentally when he wrote the wrong PO Box number on a letter and it ended up in the hands of a senior Brethren leader.

Cradling her newborn daughter in her arms, Lindy said she struggled to understand how her parents were able to disown her completely 13 years ago.

"The only thing that helps me to understand it is, there are circumstances in this world - and the Exclusive Brethren is one of them - where the crushing circumstances of the environment make parents decide to walk away from their children."
Starting all over again

Wellington man Peter Hart is starting life again at the age of 52.

He was "withdrawn from" four weeks ago and has separated from his wife, five children and one grandchild.

In some ways, however, it was a relief to be able to speak his mind after years of trying to swallow his doubts, he said.

"My wife and I had a good relationship but we both knew there were certain things we couldn't talk about because things would go off the rails pretty quickly.

"You can't speak out, you can't speak your mind and it's a real strain because that's your whole life: the Brethren are your only friends, your only social life - it's very intense.

"People say to me, 'You lost so much, why did you do it?'. Maybe I made the wrong decision to speak out, but I did hold onto those thoughts for 17 years."

Hart said everyone was "terrified" of Hales, and he doubted anyone would do anything significant - like take legal action against an ex-member - without his blessing.

"It's not true to say they 'wish those who leave all the best': They tell you 'you will fall apart, suffer financially, won't keep faith, your health will fail, you won't have relationships'.

"You're not allowed to think for yourself. One saying in there is from the leadership: 'You do the doing, we'll do the thinking'."

Investigative journalist Nicky Hager has uncovered widespread use of private investigators by senior Brethren against ex-members in New Zealand.

"If we as a society can't protect people in that very vulnerable state, escape from something like a cult where their lives were being controlled and then they find themselves still being harassed, if we can't protect them, then something is really wrong."



https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ex-exclusive-brethren-accuse-church-of-tearing-families-apart/P2I6TRRZIPKEJT3UMZNQ4XO66A/

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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CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/7/2020

Shambhala International, Troubled Teen Industry, People of Praise, The Charismatic Movement, Exclusive Brethren

The Walrus: Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories

An investigation into decades of abuse at Shambhala International

"ON APRIL 4, 1987, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche lay dying in the old Halifax Infirmary. He was forty-seven. To the medical staff, Trungpa likely resembled any other patient admitted for palliative care. But, to the inner circle gathered around his bed and for tens of thousands of followers, he was a brilliant philosopher-king fading into sainthood. They believed that, through his reconstruction of "Shambhala"—the mythical Tibetan kingdom on which he'd modelled his New Age community, creating one of the most influential Buddhist organizations in the West—he had innovated a spiritual cure for a postmodern age, a series of precepts to help Westerners meditate their way out of apathy and egotism.

Standing by Trungpa's deathbed was Thomas Rich, his spiritual successor. Rich was joined by Diana Mukpo (formerly Diana Pybus), who had married Trungpa in 1970, a few months after she turned sixteen. Also present was Trungpa's twenty-four-year-old son, Mipham Rinpoche. While the cohort chanted and prayed, twenty-five-year-old Leslie Hays listened from outside the door. Trungpa had taken her as one of his seven spiritual wives two years earlier. After being called in to say a brief goodbye, Hays walked out into the evening, secretly relieved Trungpa was dying. She would no longer be serving his sexual demands; enduring his pinches, punches, and kicks; or listening to him drunkenly recount hallucinated conversations with the long-dead sages of medieval Tibet."

The Salt Lake Tribune: Transforming Transparency in Utah's Troubled Teen Industry

"A podcast on AnchorThe "Toughlove" based 'Troubled Teen Industry' was spawned by "America's Most Dangerous Cult", Synanon, and funded by the US Govt. WHICH has been simultaneously funding unethical and involuntary social psychology experiments on children while publicly decrying their tactics as "brainwashing" and 'torture'."

Christianity Today: The People of Praise, Charismatic Catholics, and Fringe Religious Groups

"People of Praise.

You may never have heard of it before the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett––who is said to be a part of the group––to the Supreme Court.

You will probably hear that they are a far-right fringe group, but they are actually part of the charismatic movement, and a bit of history may help us to understand them better.

The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements

Charles Parham founded the tiny Bethel Bible School in the heartland of Topeka, Kansas, in 1900. While he invited "all Christians and ministers who were willing to forsake all, sell what they had, give it away, and enter the school for study and prayer," he surely had no idea that 120 years later to the month of its founding, the Pentecostal / charismatic / spirit-filled movement would have 600 million adherents and be arguably the strongest global expression of Christianity across the twentieth century.

Growing out of the larger eighteenth-century holiness tradition, that obscure beginning––including a watch night service December 31, 1900, where Agnes Ozman reportedly began speaking in Chinese–– was soon followed by manifestations in Houston, Texas, and the more publicized Azusa Street Revival in southern California. William Seymour and Azusa rightly are seen as the key gathering point and accelerator of the movement.

Soon, the movement spread across the nation and overseas. Denominations were formed (or reformed) over the decades: Church of God, Assemblies of God, Apostolic Faith, Church of God of Prophecy, and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. (Interestingly, the Church of God Cleveland predates Azusa and would later become a more traditional Pentecostal denomination.)

And, as will become important later, these Pentecostals were also evangelicals. In 1943, American Pentecostal churches were accepted as members of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The Charismatic Movement

In the mid-twentieth century a new movement arose called the charismatic movement. In this movement, such Pentecostal practices as speaking in tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit spread into mainline and other established but not-previously Pentecostal traditions.

I wrote a series explaining the rise of the charismatic movement, explaining:

Dennis Bennett had been considering spiritual growth with a small group of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, CA. Some were unsure of the direction that Bennett was leading. Tensions grew volatile in his large church in Van Nuys, CA, when he declared to the congregation on Easter Sunday of 1960 that he had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The news was not well received by all and Bennett later resigned. Both Time and Newsweek ran articles on Bennett and the church later that year, and the story appeared on local and national television. In a sense, Pentecostalism was entering the mainline (the Episcopal Church, no less) and this was news. This began the mainstreaming of continualist practices (like speaking in tounges, praying for healing, etc.) that were primarily found in Pentecostal churches that, up until now, were often on the fringe of Protestantism.

It is in this movement—the charismatic movement of the Episcopal church—that I heard the gospel and became a Christ follower. In my prior article, I did not spend much time on the charismatic Catholic movement, but you cannot understand People of Praise without understanding the charismatic Catholic movement."

Lolly's True Crime World: Lost Lives of Dedicated Exclusive Brethren Family

"Roger Panes was a member of The Exclusive Brethren aka The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church before he brutally murdered his wife and their 3 children with an axe, then hung himself with a length of electrical cable.

Why on earth would a loving Christian family man, who was happily married, absolutely dedicated to his faith and loved his church kill his entire family and then himself? Well, I am trying hard to understand that question and I will try to unravel it here.

In November of 1973, Roger Panes was 'shut-up' by the church for a minor misdemeanour of shunning another member, which he admitted to being wrong in doing. For those of you not familiar with the practices of The Exclusive Brethren, being 'shut-up' means to be shunned by all other members of the church, isolated from them and personal family."

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Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/13/2020

Twin Flame, Unification Church, Awe, Online Event, Exclusive Brethren 

Medium: Following My Heart out of a Twin Flame Cult

" ... As I heal from the horrific mind-manipulating, fear-based experience, know that in your heart, you hold the answers and know who you are meant to be, no mirror exercise will create that for you. Your potential is endless. Follow your heart, that will lead you to where you're meant to be. The Twin Flame cult leaders do teach this, it is ultimately a ploy to manipulate people like you and me to work for free for them. As the truth continues to be written and spoken out about. They continue to make changes to cover themselves. They are requiring members to sign a new NDA. To whoever reads this, know your worth and know when something doesn't feel right it's because it isn't right."

To The Moon and Back: I'll never leave you anymore - Lisa Kohn

"I'll never leave you anymore. It's a Church holy song, about how we'll change the world and never let God down. I used to sing it to myself, pledging my heart and soul and life to God as I walked down the street to school. I was in sixth grade, living with my brother and grandfather after my mother had left.

I used to sing the song quietly to myself and cry, as I walked down the block each morning. Knowing that I had to work hard to not let God down. Knowing I could never work hard enough. The song was my Pledge. My devotion. My promise.

Then I let that God down. Or so it seemed at the time. I left the Church and abandoned the gift I had been given. Or so it seemed at the time."

Online Event: The Neurobiology of 'Awe' in Cult Recruitment - Yuval Laor, PhD

Abstract: Awe is an unusual emotion. When a strong awe experience is combined with the right expectations, assumptions and context, the consequences can be a sudden religious conversion. This is why understanding this emotion is critical to understanding the process of cult recruitment.

This lecture will focus on insights about awe that can be drawn from examining temporal lobe epilepsy, a neurological condition that causes frequent awe experiences. Looking at the functions of the brain's temporal lobes may explain why awe feels the way it does, as well as the connection between awe and perceptual vastness, the auditory and vestibular senses, and the feelings of relevance and importance. We will then see how this can shed light on the triggers of awe which are anything that is judged as being sufficiently anomalous — these include: celebrities, trauma, hypomanic symptoms caused by love bombing, hallucinations, vast things, and perceived "miracles."

Biography: Yuval Laor received his PhD in culture studies from Tel Aviv University, where he was supervised by leading evolutionary biologist Eva Jablonka. His dissertation explored the evolution of religious psychology, with an emphasis on evolutionary accounts of the human capacity for fervor and sudden conversion, and his subsequent, highly original work has focused on the nature of fervor. Yuval has published articles in the Journals of Religion Brain and Behavior and History and Theory. He is currently working on a book entitled Fervor: What cults can teach us about the evolution of religion.

More Information:

* Pacific Rim/UK: September 12/13, 2020, Saturday/Sunday

* North America: September 11/12, 2020, Friday/Saturday

https://events.culteducationevents.com/home

Stuff: Former Exclusive Brethren members hit with dawn raids, legal suits after speaking out against the secretive Christian sect

"A former Exclusive Brethren who was once told to drink rat poison by the church's Supreme Leader is one of several former members fighting legal action after speaking out against the church. Bevan Hurley reports.
On June 30 this year, Braden Simmons attended an informal session with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
He would later tell friends he was there to share his story about his mental struggles during his time as an Exclusive Brethren, and in particular an incident involving the church's Supreme Leader Bruce Hales, a man who is looked on by members as the embodiment of the Holy Spirit on earth.
Eleven days later, two lawyers, a private investigator and a forensic expert showed up at Simmons' Mangere Bridge home just before dawn. They had a court order to search every electronic device in his home. The order was made 'without notice' – meaning Simmons had no clue what was coming."

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.

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

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

That's not me”: An Exploration of Multi-Generation Adult leavers - Jill Aebi-Mytton, BSc, MSc, CPsychol, AFBPsS DPsych

That's not me”: An Exploration of Multi-Generation Adult leavers - Jill Aebi-Mytton, BSc, MSc, CPsychol, AFBPsS DPsych

'UNITING THE CONTINENTS: SUPPORT FOR THE PACIFIC RIM' -- FOR FAMILIES AND FORMER MEMBERS AFFECTED BY CULTIC GROUPS

Abstract

In the language in the cultic studies arena we hear the categories ‘First Generation Adult’ (SGA) and ‘Second Generation Adult’ (SGA). These categories do not always fit our experiences. Where do I belong if actually I am third or fourth generation. This can be a confusing situation and can leave a former member feeling left out, as I experienced when I first began to explore this area. 

This talk will focus on the development of the concept of ‘Multi Generation Adults’ (MGA) and why it is important to consider this group as different from yet similar to SGAs. The talk will explore this idea and will be illustrated by case studies.

Biography

Jill Mytton, M.Sc., C.Psychol., DPsych is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist.  In 2017 she completed a Professional Doctorate in Psychotherapy through Middlesex University. Her research interest is the mental health of Multi-Generational (a new category coined by Jill) and Second Generation Adults, i.e., those born or raised in cultic groups. She is listed on the British Psychological Society media list for Cults and Thought Reform and has been involved in several TV and Radio broadcasts. She has presented at several conferences, including: INFORM London, April 2008; Division of Counselling Psychology Annual conferences; ICSA Annual Conferences in Geneva 2009, Montreal 2012, Stockholm 2015, Bordeaux 2017 and Manchester 2019. She was born and raised in the Exclusive Brethren, leaving at the age of 16. Apart from a small private practice, she also runs an email support group for former Exclusive Brethren and has become a point of contact for leavers of several groups.

More Information:
* Pacific Rim/UK: September 12/13, 2020, Saturday/Sunday
* North America: September 11/12, 2020, Friday/Saturday


https://events.culteducationevents.com/home