CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/3/2025

Kingdom of Canada, India,  Amritanandamayi,  La Luz del Mundo

Global News: Richmound mayor describes aftermath of cult raid

"Sewage water continues to seep into a large puddle near the entrance of a purple school-turned-compound that housed members of a cult in the southwest Saskatchewan village of Richmound for the last two years.

Although the "Kingdom of Canada" was driven out earlier this month after a police raid, Mayor Brad Miller says the sewage water — overflow from toilets and sinks inside the building — remains.

"If there's wind, people probably 500 feet away can smell it," says Miller, 64, in an interview.

"If you get it on your hands or whatever, you can smell it for hours. It stinks like you wouldn't believe."

Miller thinks daily about how to keep members of the group out if they return.

'I'm fed up. My family's fed up. If you came out to the southwest, people are just fed up. It's enough. It's scary.'"

The Hindu: Madras High Court orders inspection of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham campus run by Mata Amritanandamayi Math

"The Madras High Court has directed the Forest Department officials to inspect the Mata Amritanandamayi Math-run Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a deemed university campus at Ettimadai, located at the foothills of Bouluvampatty ranges of the Western Ghats in Coimbatore district, and find out whether it fully complies with the 17 conditions imposed before granting building permission.

A special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the jurisdictional District Forest Officer (DFO) to conduct the inspection along with amici curiae T. Mohan, Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji, and M. Santhanaraman on a convenient date to all the parties concerned, and submit a detailed report before the court on or before September 12, 2025.

The orders were passed after senior counsel R. Sankaranarayanan, representing the Math, told the court that the institution was fully in compliance of the 17 conditions imposed by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) on January 18, 2024, for converting 12.622 hectares of agricultural dry lands for educational purposes, and that it was also open to any inspection.

"If there are any defects, we will cure it immediately," the senior counsel said after the High Court in July this year suo motu impleaded the Math as one of the respondents to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition related to the protection of forests and elephant corridors. The Math was impleaded following a complaint that it had erected a two-kilometre-long electric fence, disturbing free movement of elephants.

Filing an affidavit on behalf of the Math, its authorised signatory G. Gopakumar, 54, residing on the Ettimadai campus, said: "We have erected green solar smart fencing in the border areas of our patta (revenue document related to private land ownership) lands by complying with the technical specifications formulated by the Tamil Nadu Power Fences (Registration and Regulation) Rules, 2023."

He pointed out that one of the 17 conditions imposed by the PCCF permits fencing around the lands in conformity with the 2023 Rules. He also asserted that the institution had provided a 150-metre vacant buffer zone between the lands belonging to the institution and the border of the forest areas in order to ensure free movement of all kinds of wild animals, including elephants.

"We have provided three troughs and supply water through pipelines for drinking by forest animals. We ensure the availability of water at all times. We also allow the existing natural stream running through our patta lands without any obstruction or alteration of direction. We mainly grow forest trees which do not attract forest animals," the affidavit filed by Mr. Gopakumar read.

Stating that Mata Amritanandamayi, a spiritual leader fondly called Amma by her followers, firmly believes in showing compassion towards all living beings, the deponent of the affidavit said, she always promotes harmony in nature and insists on protecting plants and animals too. He also stated that the Math runs educational institutions because she believes that education would eradicate poverty."

El Pais: The secret guard of La Luz del Mundo: A training camp in Mexico reveals the church leader's iron grip

"A security operation arrived at dawn at a plot of land in the municipality of Vista Hermosa, Michoacán, believing they would be facing a cartel. Residents had reported a training camp for organized crime, a specter that remains vivid in the minds of Mexicans after the discovery of the sinister ranch in Teuchitlán in Jalisco. The scene fit all the characteristics. Security forces arrested 38 men and seized what appeared to be high-powered firearms and tactical gear. What puzzled them was that the detainees did not identify themselves as cartel hitmen, but as members of the evangelical church La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World).

The men were training to be part of a special corps created to protect the church's leader, Naasón Joaquín García, and his immediate family. This is the Jahzer Guard, which traces its origins back to another tactical group, the Jericho Guard, formed by Samuel Joaquín, Naasón's father. Until the raid at the training camp in Michoacán, very little had surfaced about the praetorian guards of La Luz del Mundo. It represents a new thread in the enigmatic web of corruption surrounding the sect, which has already begun to unravel. In the United States, Joaquín has been sentenced in California for child sexual abuse and now faces a new indictment for organized crime and human trafficking in New York.

One of the survivors of the apostle's abuse, Sharim Guzmán, told EL PAÍS that these guards serve to protect the church's leaders and their families wherever they are, and to watch over their homes; they are also tasked with guarding temples and congregant neighborhoods, chiefly Hermosa Provincia, a district in Guadalajara (the capital of the state of Jalisco) created in the apostle's own image — a sort of cultural and political power center of the church."

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 10/2/2025

Documentary,  Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi, Legal,  Community of Jesus,  La Luz del Mundo

OSV News: New Maciel documentary a 'cathartic' experience, Legionaries head says

" A new documentary on the life and crimes of Father Marcial Maciel Degollado was another chance for members of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi to confront the truth of their founder's dark past and the suffering inflicted on innocent victims, said Father John Connor, general director of the congregation.

In a letter to members of Legionaries of Christ published online Sept. 16, Father Connor said he and other Legionaries who watched the HBO docuseries "Marcial Maciel: The Wolf of God," saw it as "a cathartic experience" that "challenges us to face our history again."

'In this humiliation lies a grace'

"In this very humiliation lies a grace," he wrote. "The Lord frees us from institutional and personal pride by allowing us to inhabit a history marked by contradiction. The memory of our founder's sins and their impact on the institution he founded is not simply a call to justice and reparation — which are necessary — but also a divine pedagogy that preserves us from the temptation to boast about our works.

The documentary, which premiered on HBO Aug. 14, delved into the history of the founder's disturbing past, including his abuse of minor seminarians, his addiction to pain medication, as well as his double life with a young woman with whom he fathered children and whom he also sexually abused.

A significant portion of the four-part docuseries also centered on revelations made public in 2024 that Maciel's crimes were known by the Vatican as far back as the 1950s.

According to the archives of Pope Pius XII, opened in 2020, the Vatican was poised to take action against Maciel in 1956 and planned to remove him from the priesthood. However, upon Pius XII's death in 1958, Maciel's allies took advantage of the leadership vacuum to clear his name, The Associated Press reported."

Provincetown  Independent: 14 Ex-Residents Detail Coercion at Orleans Commune

"In his lawsuit filed in federal court on July 16, Oliver Ortolani, 18, described the Community of Jesus (COJ), a religious commune in Rock Harbor with about 200 members, as a group that demanded "absolute obedience," separated children from their parents, subjected children to forced labor, and broke down its members emotionally using "psychological coercion."

Jeffrey Robbins, the COJ's lawyer, has said that Ortolani's lawsuit is "not only frivolous" but "borderline fraudulent."

Fourteen other people who spent time at the COJ from its founding in 1970 to as recently as 2018 told the Independent that Ortolani's characterization of the community is consistent with their experiences there.

"There wasn't a single thing that I read that I thought was excessive," said Todd Lynch, 50, who left the COJ in 1997.

"Obedience is the highest virtue, not kindness, not anything — it's obedience," said Dianne Wentworth, 77, who left the COJ after 35 years in 2010.

Ortolani claimed in court documents that beginning when he was 11, the COJ's leaders forced him and other boys in the community to perform unpaid labor in grueling conditions "for almost two years" to help build a performing arts center in Brewster for Arts Empowering Life, a COJ-affiliated nonprofit. The boys often worked six days a week, 9 to 16 hours per day, and were deprived of a proper education, the lawsuit claims.

Ortolani also claimed that he was encouraged not to have contact with his biological parents and was subjected to group sessions designed to shame and humiliate those who broke the rules "to the point where they break down and beg for forgiveness."

Robbins has said that both Ortolani and his mother signed release forms that clearly affirmed that Ortolani was volunteering his labor, and that his father, Dave Ortolani, was supervising his work at the construction site.

The 14 ex-residents described experiences similar to Ortolani's, including ritual humiliation, family separation, and a community-wide program of constant labor. Ten of the 14 claimed they were forced to work as children."

BBC: Megachurch leader pleads not guilty to sex trafficking charges

"The leader of Mexico-based evangelical megachurch La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World) has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges in a court in New York.

Naasón Joaquín García, 56, is already serving a 16-year sentence after he admitted in court in California to sexually abusing girls from his congregation.

In a newly unsealed indictment, prosecutors allege that García, his mother, and four of their associates used the church for sex trafficking women and children to the US.

The accused have denied all the charges, which García's lawyer said was "a rehashing of old, recycled claims that have been made before, scrutinized before, and ultimately debunked and disproven before".

A fundamentalist Christian organisation, La Luz del Mundo, was founded in Mexico in 1926 by García's grandfather, Eusebio Joaquín González.

Church followers regard García as "the Apostle of Jesus Christ," and many have remained loyal to him even after he pleaded guilty to abusing underage girls in Los Angeles in 2022.

Although its headquarters are in Mexico, the church says it has millions of followers worldwide.

Independent membership figures are hard to come by. Still, its influence is strong in parts of California that have large Hispanic populations, which García often visited before his arrest there in 2019."

CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/25/2025

Unification Church, Neuroscience, La Luz del Mundo

Yonhap: Unification Church leader to voluntarily appear for special counsel questioning this week

"Han Hak-ja, leader of the Unification Church allegedly connected with the delivery of luxury gifts to ex-first lady Kim Keon Hee in exchange for favors, will voluntarily appear for questioning by a special counsel team this week after not heeding earlier summons, her attorneys said Sunday.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said earlier Sunday that Han, whom it had summoned for questioning on Monday, said through her legal representatives that she won't be able to appear that day due to health reasons. It was the third time Han, believed to be in her early 80s, had not heeded the team's summons."

Neuroscience News: Illusion-Making Neurons Show How the Brain Constructs Reality

"Scientists have discovered specialized IC-encoder neurons that make the brain 'see' illusions, such as squares or triangles that aren't truly there. These neurons receive top-down instructions from higher brain areas and then fill in missing contours in the visual cortex, actively constructing what we perceive.

Experiments showed that stimulating these neurons alone could reproduce the brain activity seen when viewing an illusion. The findings transform our understanding of vision as an active process, with implications for perception disorders and how reality is constructed in the brain."

NY Post: Heinous new charges against Mexico megachurch 'apostle' involve kiddie incest and masks: feds

"The pedophile "apostle of a Mexico-based megachurch would force kiddie victims to commit incest in front of him — and have them wear masks so they wouldn't realize it, a Manhattan federal indictment says.

Naasón Joaquín García, 56, and five of his top lieutenants at La Luz del Mundo were indicted by the feds earlier this month on charges of sex trafficking, child pornography, and racketeering in a horrific sweeping case involving victims from New York to the UK to South Africa.

The indictment recently unsealed in Manhattan federal court echoes some of the previous accusations against García, who is already in prison on sex charges."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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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.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families in making the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/17/2025

Jesus Army, UK, Legal, La Luz del Mundo, FLDS

BBC: Alleged abusers may get share of Jesus Army wealth

"People accused of child abuse could receive significantly larger payments than their alleged victims under plans to share the fortune of a disgraced evangelical sect.

The organisation, known as the Jesus Army, has already paid out compensation to hundreds of people as part of a damages scheme.

Legal submissions, seen by the BBC, reveal it has £25m left which it intends to divide among loyal members. Survivors described the proposals as sickening.

A spokesperson for the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust (JFCT), which is winding up the affairs of the group, insisted the trustees had acted "in accordance with the trust deed".

The Jesus Army, or Jesus Fellowship Church, was founded by Noel Stanton, the late pastor of Bugbrooke Chapel, in Northamptonshire in 1969.

In 2017, three years prior to the group disbanding, documents seen by the BBC showed the estimated total value of its assets was £58.6m.

These included businesses and 55 large houses throughout England, which have since been sold."

AP: Longtime head of Mexican megachurch is indicted in New York on federal sex trafficking charges

"The longtime head of a Mexican megachurch who is serving more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young followers has been charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking for allegedly victimizing members of the church for decades, federal authorities said Wednesday.

A New York grand jury returned the indictment alleging that Naasón Joaquín García, 56, and five others, including his 79-year-old mother, exploited the church for decades, enabling the systemic sexual abuse of children and women for the sexual gratification of García and his father, who died in 2014.

The newly unsealed indictment said the criminal activity included the creation of photos and videos of child sexual abuse and had begun after the church was founded a century ago by Garcia's grandfather, who died in 1964. Garcia's father, Samuel Joaquin Flores, led the church from then until his death."

" ... García is the head of La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World), which claims to have 5 million followers worldwide. Believers consider him to be the "apostle" of Jesus Christ.

Federal authorities said that he used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation — or damnation if they refused. His efforts were enabled by others, including his mother, who helped groom the girls to be sexually abused, they said.

Prosecutors said García also directed girls, boys and women to engage in group sex with each other, often in his presence, for his sexual gratification.

Sometimes, they added, he required the children to wear masks so they would not realize they were having incestual sex."

NewsNation: Investigator gets exclusive look at cult leader Warren Jeffs' secret caves

Ashleigh Banfield talks with Mike King, a criminal investigator and author, who got an inside look at the home of Warren Jeffs, the infamous leader of the polygamist FLDS Church.

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Longtime head of Mexican megachurch is indicted in New York on federal sex trafficking charges

LARRY NEUMEISTER

September 10, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — The longtime head of a Mexican megachurch who is serving more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young followers has been charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking for allegedly victimizing members of the church for decades, federal authorities said Wednesday.

A New York grand jury returned the indictment alleging that Naasón Joaquín García, 56, and five others, including his 79-year-old mother, exploited the church for decades, enabling the systemic sexual abuse of children and women for the sexual gratification of García and his father, who died in 2014.

The newly unsealed indictment said the criminal activity included the creation of photos and videos of child sexual abuse and had begun after the church was founded a century ago by Garcia’s grandfather, who died in 1964. Garcia’s father, Samuel Joaquin Flores, led the church from then until his death.

Sexual abuse alleged to have occurred for over 50 years

The indictment said the sexual abuse went on for so many decades that many of the grandfather’s victims were mothers of girls and women abused by García’s father and many of the father’s victims were the mothers of girls and women abused by García.

The indictment listed 13 female victims anonymously and specifically, describing when they were allegedly attacked while they were under the age of consent. Some victims, it said, were as young as 13.

The church is based in Guadalajara, Mexico, and there are church locations throughout the United States, including in California, New York, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., according to the indictment.

In a court document seeking detention of all indicted without bail, prosecutors said sex trafficking of women and children occurred as a result of the case in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere.

García was taken into federal custody early Wednesday in Chino, California, where he is serving a sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to two state counts.

His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The church’s followers considered García to be the ‘

apostle’ of Jesus Christ

García is the head of La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World), which claims to have 5 million followers worldwide. Believers consider him to be the “apostle” of Jesus Christ.

Federal authorities said that he used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation — or damnation if they refused. His efforts were enabled by others, including his mother, who helped groom the girls to be sexually abused, they said.

Prosecutors said García also directed girls, boys and women to engage in group sex with each other, often in his presence, for his sexual gratification.

Sometimes, they added, he required the children to wear masks so they would not realize they were having incestual sex.

García’s 79-year-old mother portrayed as key member of conspiracy

Besides García, his mother, Eva García De Joaquín, was taken into custody in Los Angeles. A third defendant, Joram Nunez Joaquín, was arrested in Chicago, authorities said. Three others were at large and were believed to be in Mexico, where authorities said extraditions would be sought.

The indictment said De Joaquín on at least one occasion held down a girl so that her husband — García’s father — could rape her.

Nunez Joaquín falsely held himself out as a lawyer working on behalf of the church as he tried to prevent sexual abuse victims from reporting the abuse to law enforcement, the indictment said.

A message seeking comment was sent to the law firm representing Nunez Joaquín. It was not immediately clear who would represent De Joaquín at a Los Angeles court appearance Wednesday.

According to the indictment, two of the defendants and others tried to destroy evidence and prevent victims of the sexual abuse from speaking to law enforcement after García was arrested.

It said they pressured victims to sign false declarations disclaiming that any abuse occurred, drafted and distributed sermons stating that all sexual abuse victims were lying and reinforced church doctrine that doubting the apostle was a sin punishable by eternal damnation.

García family alleged to have lived opulent lifestyle

The indictment said church followers were required to forward a portion of their income to the church, a portion of which would fund the García family’s extravagant lifestyle, which included luxury cars, watches, designer clothing and first-class travel worldwide.

In a release, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said García and the others “exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them.”

He added: “When they were confronted, they leveraged their religious influence and financial power to intimidate and coerce victims into remaining silent about the abuse they had suffered.”

Ricky J. Patel, the head of the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations, said the charges resulted from a “yearslong investigation that spanned the country and involved the support of dozens of courageous victims.”

https://apnews.com/article/la-luz-del-mundo-leader-racketeering-84696209bf37560ccc7da9dbd3bfaf8d

La Luz del Mundo" USA a Dios para ABUS4R de niñ0s.

La Luz del Mundo" USA a Dios para ABUS4R de niñ0s.

Naason Joaquin

Abraham Coronado.

https://youtu.be/4h-kO3CvXhQ?si=GuMTma4jkWOxgWzK 

Former La Luz del Mundo 'cult' members protest religious event in Houston

The Houston First Corporation, which manages the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown, said it has "no legal basis for denying" the megachurch to host an event.

Eric Killelea
Chron
February 12, 2024

The leader of La Luz del Mundo, a Mexico-based Christian megachurch with 18 Houston congregations, has been locked up in a California prison since being arrested on child sexual exploitation charges in 2019. Naasón Joaquín García, the 54-year-old self-described "Apostle of Jesus Christ," pleaded guilty in 2022 to sexually abusing three minors and has been serving a nearly 17-year sentence in prison. He is now facing another 40 years after being charged in October with two felony counts of producing and possessing child pornography.

Meanwhile, documentaries on HBO and Netflix have featured stories from former church members who claim they were brainwashed and sexually abused by leaders in the Christian church.

Regardless of the church's reputation, La Luz Del Mundo—"The Light of the World"—has managed to book an event meant to attract thousands of members from Houston and across the United States and Mexico to the George R. Brown Convention Center near Discovery Green downtown, taking place Monday through Wednesday. In the past two weeks, Houston church members have been distributing digital flyers displaying animated versions of García on Facebook to promote the "Holy Supper 2024" event. In one flyer, Garcia can be seen wearing a dark suit while offering the rite of the eucharist in which bread, called the host, and wine are consecrated, or holy. "Do this in remembrance of me," the flyer reads, the Spanish words referring to Jesus in the 1 Corinthians Bible verse—and also García's physical absence.

Judith Castillo is among the growing number of former members of the church's Houston congregations that have been asking state lawmakers, Mayor John Whitmire, city council members and Houston First, the government corporation that operates the George R. Brown Convention Center, to cancel the event. Castillo told them that both she and her daughter had been sexually abused by church members in Houston.   

"This convention is a way the church tries to prove that they're still powerful," Castillo, a PhD student at the University of Houston, said Sunday. "We need to protect the integrity of the city and protect our kids from the members of the church who will attend this event. So, knowing all the facts, why is the city allowing this message of corruption?"

In response to questions, Carolyn Campbell, spokesperson for Houston First Corporation, said last week in email that the sales team secured a contract with La Luz del Mundo to book the event in December at the 2 million square-foot George R. Brown Convention Center—which is billed as one of America's largest.  The corporation confirmed that it charged the client at "a regular market rate," though it refused to disclose specifics of pricing.

George R. Brown Convention Center opened in 1987 and expanded in 2001 to include an adjacent 1,200-room convention headquarters hotel known as the Hilton Americas-Houston. Houston First Corporation, formed in 2011 to manage the convention center, said that it generates revenue from hotel occupancy tax and downtown parking garages.

In a statement, Houston First Corporation said that it was "aware of concerns" regarding La Luz del Mundo which booked the George R. Brown Convention Center this week for "a series of religious services."

"Houston First has no legal basis for denying this group the ability to conduct their event inside one of the city-owned venues that we manage," Houston First Corporation said. "Allowing groups to meet within HFC-managed facilities does not imply any endorsement of the views or positions of these clients. As always, we will make every effort to ensure the safety of all attendees at events in our facilities.”

Houston Mayor John Whitmire did not respond to a request for comment.

Former Houston church members are not buying Houston First Corporation's rationale for allowing the event to take place here. Tania Campos, a fifth-generation member of the church in Mexico, who broke away from the church in Houston in 2014, said she believes La Luz del Mundo is hosting the event at the George R. Brown Convention "to show its members that are still in that they're still strong."

"It's all about money," Campos suggested. "They're in the eye of the hurricane because of the legal issues they are going through."

Elisa Flores, 49, who was sexually abused by a church member when she was 12-years-old and left the church in Houston in 2021, has been helping former church members speak out about their experiences. "This is the largest cult that nobody knows about," Flores said. "The apostle was above everything. Without him, we didn't have salvation. He basically was our God."

Flores described how the church will "manipulate" its members at the so-called Holy Supper. "You could only buy the food from the church, you stay where the church tells you to stay, you go to five prayers a day and you're spending all your money to come," Flores said. "It's a lot of money that's spent under a lot of force of control. If the church tells you to come to the event, you come. The blessing is in obedience."

Eric Killelea is the religion reporter for Chron. He focuses on culture and faith in Houston. He previously covered space and technology for the San Antonio Express-News and worked for over a decade in Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico and Minnesota. He is originally from New Jersey.

https://www.chron.com/culture/religion/article/la-luz-del-mundo-houston-convention-18662983.php