Cult News

Some say Amway should be called “ScAmway” and that the organization has a “cult-like” following.

But Steve Van Andel, a dynastic heir of the multi level marketing (MLM) empire claims that he is “not in the business of making a fast buck by just recruiting people,” reports India’s Economic Times.

However, a legacy of lawsuits seems to present a very different picture.

Amway appears to have largely run out of gas and leveled off within the United States. Its name, rather than representing trademark cache, seemingly is a PR liability—so it was essentially changed.

Amway is now controlled by its parent company called “Alticor” and it sells products through the Internet under the name “Qwixtar.”

But this effort has not been that successful. So what’s an MLM’s ambitious heirs to do?

Apparently Amway’s answer is expansion into international markets overseas, where details about its troubled history remain largely unknown.

The MLM giant has moved into China, Africa, Malaysia and India.

The Economic Times asked Alticor’s chairman, son of Amway co-founder Jay Van Andel, “What percentage of people who join [MLMs]…become really successful? Is it too miniscule a percentage?”

Steve Van Andel never really answered the question.

His closest response was, “Success is relative to the goals people set for themselves.”

Right.

India is a developing country and many of its people are struggling to get by. The Times seemed obliged to point out, “Direct marketing is often looked at with skepticism by the world at large…get-rich-quick schemes are what first springs to mind.”

Some seem to feel that this description is analogous to Amway.

Rather than primarily focusing on the “great products” touted by Van Andel, the real emphasis at Amway many claim is actually recruiting others into the “plan” or “dream”—as ardent participants often call it.

Specifically, for many Amway distributors the organization becomes a way of life and joining the MLM represents the equivalent of an almost religious conversion experience.

Amway’s faithful fellowship at constant meetings and conferences. They also listen to sales sermons through teaching tapes, which are often called “tools.”

Conferences, “tools” and the commissions paid from “starter kits,” frequently represent a large portion of the profits made by some MLM “uplines.”

There is no question that Amway has made a “miniscule percentage” “really successful.”

Jay Van Andel is worth $1.5 billion dollars and owns a luxury resort island, reports Forbes.

Amway co-founder Richard DeVos weighs in with $200 million more at $1.7 billion.

These two men are like whales within the MLM ocean.

But it looks like the “little fish” “downline” in Amway have little hope of joining the elite and “miniscule…percentage” that make it really big.

Interestingly, right now there is proposed legislation that could weaken existing laws in the US, which protect the public from MLM “get rich quick schemes.”

One former Amway distributor recently said, “I lost all I had, great job, my financial future, my wife, children, and soul.”

But with seeming ambivalence he still claims, “With all that, there were moments where the future was mine for the taking and will never forget some of the special people and moments I had while in Amway.”

Indeed, who could ever forget the people met in an experience that ended like that?

The mother of an American Muslim soldier held for murder insists her son is being “framed,” reports the Sacramento Observer.

Sergeant Asan K. Akbar, 32, is charged with two counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, for a grenade attack within a military camp in Kuwait during March.

Akbar grew up within the Nation of Islam in Los Angeles, and is a member of the American Society of Muslims, led by Imam Warithudeen Mohammed.

The sergeant is also a college graduate with two engineering degrees from the University of California.

What might have led this man to commit murder?

The sergeant’s mother says, “He was saying that nobody really liked him…because he was a Muslim.”

The mother also implied that racism is often behind such violence.

She said, “You know, America flies two flags.” This was an apparent reference to states that still fly some symbolic representation of the Confederacy.

Akbar’s mother added, “That Confederate flag is the same flag I heard that the KKK flies… what (does) that flag stand for? Does it stand for the same things that it stands for all those years back? Or does it mean something different?”

Whatever may have driven Sergeant Akbar is unknown.

Did his formative years within the controversial Nation of Islam somehow shape Akbar’s worldview so negatively, that it fueled an explosion of violence in Kuwait?

Or, did the alleged murderer ultimately lose an internal struggle with his personal demons and distress?

Who has the longest pencil in the world?

Sri Chinmoy.

It is “20 feet, 6 inches long and weighs over 560 pounds,” reports The Arizona Daily Wildcat.

This guru, that some call a “cult leader,” has a penchant for publicity.

In 1998 the gurus “Marathon Team” built the wold’s longest pencil. And his disciples have set other records such as pogo hopping underwater and doing the most successive summersaults.

Chinmoy has also indulged in feigned weight lifts of livestock in New Zealand and almost anything else imaginable to see his name in print.

Some contrived efforts orchestrated by the guru have made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

It all sounds pretty ridiculous doesn’t it? And it hardly reflects the supposed spiritual focus of a self-proclaimed “God man.”

However, one stunt wasn’t so funny and ended in tragedy.

A devoted disciple of Chinmoy so wanted to please his guru he apparently attempted to set a record through his duration underwater on one breath. He drowned in a bathtub.

But that sad incident didn’t stop the attention hungry Chinmoy, who still pushes his people to do whatever it takes to feed his apparently insatiable ego.

Some say the mark of a true “guru” is the loss of ego, but in Chinmoy’s case it seems to be an artificially inflated one.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s condo project in Chicago is stalled, while a proposal for a California “peace palace” hit an apparent impasse.

The founder of so-called “Transcendental Meditation” seems to be chanting a mantra for development, but this one is not for spiritual enlightenment. It’s more about real estate development in downtown Chicago.

However, Maharishi’s plan to convert a historic hotel into 39 luxury condominiums beginning at $3.4 million is stalled. And now it may take another mantra focused on financing to jumpstart the project, reports the Columbia Chronicle.

Another of the guru’s schemes also recently hit a snag.

In the posh area of Marin on the San Francisco Bay, Maharishi wants to build a $1.2 million dollar “peace palace,” reports The Marin Independent Journal.

“Peace palaces” are where Maharishi’s followers do what they call “yogic flying” to produce “positive energy.”

Objective observers have said it looks more like hopping around cross-legged in an apparent trance.

Despite his flyers, it looks like the guru’s palace may be grounded, due to zoning and construction costs.

Whatever scheme Maharishi puts together, he always seems to have some spin to get it aloft.

The “peace” the guru seemingly covets, is a piece of the profits.

At 92 Maharishi is still good at making his schemes fly, but the clever guru often takes the precaution of fueling them with other people’s money.

A news report posted yesterday about the so-called “Twelve Tribes” contained misinformation.

According to Vermont’s WVNY TV report the group was cleared of child abuse charges after a raid in 1984.

However, this conclusion is incorrect.

Contrary to the report “evidence of abuse” was found within the “cult” compound. Police collected piles of wooden balloon sticks or switches, which had been dipped in resin for hardening and routinely used by “cult” members to beat their children.

But a Vermont judge ruled that that the raid and search of the compound was done illegally. And therefore any evidence gathered through that police action became inadmissible.

However, children taken from the compound by authorities in 1984 never underwent any professional evaluation and/or physical examination regarding abuse. And without such a process there was no way for authorities to say that they “found no evidence of abuse,” as stated within the WVNY report.

In fact, former childhood members of Twelve Tribes have repeatedly stated that the group is abusive.

One prominent leader, Eddie Weisman, was once arrested for the brutal beating of a minor child. Those charges were later dropped, because the girl refused to testify as a witness.

WVNY correctly notes that Twelve Tribes has been fined for violating child labor laws in New York.

A group member in the report cryptically said, “We believe that this is the truth. We believe that this is the only way that people can really be fulfilled.”

Former carnival barker Elbert Spriggs, a self-proclaimed “apostle,” who now calls himself “Yoneq,” leads the group.

He has stated more succinctly, “We are the light and hope of the world. We are the only ones who can reclaim this earth for its Maker…All other attempts to do so are not merely futile, they are evil.”

Spriggs is both a racist and anti-Semite.

While his followers live humbly, Spriggs has residences in France, South America and a luxurious home in New England.

WVNY reports, “The group is bigger than ever, with 3,000 members around the world.”

This statement appears correct, but the reports of abuse and exploitation have never abated.

It looks like Falun Gong networks its members for managed media events. The group, which has often been called a “cult,” staged such demonstrations recently in New York City.

One march took place in Flushing, NY and included group members that flew in from around the US and internationally, from as far away as Taiwan and Australia. They all pay their own expenses.

The same Falun Gong faithful often travel from protest to protest, which hardly seems spontaneous.

Instead, this appears to be orchestrated and carefully coordinated by a well-organized network of Falun Gong devotees, that have become very media savvy. And some must work closely with their leader Li Hongzhi, who lives in exile within the United States.

One demonstrator claimed, “We feel as though Chinese people in America have been subjected to propaganda of the Chinese government, saying Falun Gong is evil and practitioners of Falun Gong are crazy,” reports Fresh Meadows Times.

Hongzhi’s disciples handed out tracts while marching through Flushing and also while demonstrating at Times Square in Manhattan.

“We’re clarifying truth by just walking around,” one Falun Gong follower said.

That “truth” includes the claim made by Li Hongzhi, that there is a conspiracy concocted by alien beings from outer space for “embedding technology in human minds…[to] control thoughts.”

Don’t worry though, Hongzhi will supposedly save humanity. That is, those who listen to him and follow instructions.

One Falun Gong follower in Times Square said, “We build tolerance for our fellow man,” reported Newsday.

However, such “tolerance” should not include everyone, according to Hongzhi.

The Falun Gong leader preaches that “mixed-race people [are]…instruments of an alien plot to destroy humanity’s link to heaven.”

His view of homosexuals is even harsher. Hongzhi once stated publicly that gay people will be ”eliminated” by ”the gods.”

The Falun Gong founder, like most “cult” leaders, appears to cynically manipulate his followers.

He uses them to promote his own agenda, which ultimately includes recruitment and personal aggrandizement. And while his disciples may suffer and/or struggle, Hongzhi lives in relative comfort.

Devout Falun Gong’s believers have refused medical care due to their leader’s controversial teachings. This has resulted in suffering and death.

Some Falun Gong fanatics have chosen suicide by self-immolation, as a form of protest. A mother even set fire to her child. Falun Gong later claimed it had no responsibility in the tragedy.

These facts might prompt many Chinese and non-Chinese alike to say, “Falun Gong is evil and practitioners of Falun Gong are crazy.”

Recent defectors from a controversial Chilean group, which has been called a “cult,” offered shocking accounts of their existence within the tightly controlled community, reports Knight Ridder Tribune.

Life within the collective commune known as Colonia Dignidad is harsh. Leaders expect hard labor and exercise total control, confided “cult” escapees. They fled to freedom with nothing, but the clothes on their backs.

However, Colonia Dignidad itself is rich.

The commune consists of 70 square miles, which includes forest and 37,000 acres under cultivation. Its assets have been valued at $5 billion.

A Nazi and former Baptist preacher created this veritable “cult” empire. Founder Paul Schaefer, fled Germany for Chile in 1961 amidst charges of sexually abusing orphan boys.

Schaefer apparently continued his predatory ways inside the Chilean “cult” kingdom he established. The leader supposedly disappeared in 1996, while under investigation for 27 child abuse charges. Schaeffer would now be in his eighties.

More than 70 criminal investigations remain pending against Colonia Dignidad.

However, it seems authorities are afraid to seriously pursue and/or confront the “cult.”

The community has its own laws and security forces. It was rumored to have sinister connections to the regime of former Chilean dictator Pinochet.

A recent refugee from the group said, “There are more people who still want to get out.” But it is doubtful anything will be done to rescue them.

An American tourist disappeared, while hiking near Colonia Dignidad in 1985. He is believed dead, reportedly “executed” as a “Jewish spy,” by members of the group.

Colonia Dignidad appears to be a stark example of what can happen when a “cult” becomes so powerful it can seemingly make its own law, with little if any meaningful accountability to the government.

Long-time “cult apologist” James Lewis has produced another book defending destructive cults.

But a review dismissed his work as “inflammatory” with “generalizations, and simplistic explanations,” reports YellowBrix.com.

For example, Lewis claims that those who criticize cults are “applying the cult stereotype to every religious group that strikes one as strange or different.”

Cult apologists he says are actually “defenders of the rights of minority religions.”

Following what seems to have become a Lewis standard regarding research, much of the material within the book “has been vetted by the groups themselves,” reports the reviewer.

An interesting example of Lewis acting as one of the “defenders of the rights of minority religions” took place in 1995.

The apologist flew to Japan as one of the “defenders” of the now infamous cult Aum. He claimed that the group was a victim of “persecution.”

Lewis was accompanied by two other well known “defenders of…minority religions,” Gordon Melton and James Fisher. And the trio’s travel expenses were paid for completely by the cult.

After spending only days in Japan Lewis quickly concluded that Aum could not have produced the poison gas used in the Tokyo subway attack, which sent thousands to hospitals and killed 12.

He came to this startling conclusion by examining material provided to him by Aum leaders. No doubt that material “had been vetted” first by Aum.

This essentially typifies the quality of “scholarship” and/or “research,” which has become a Lewis standard.

Needless to say the apologist’s conclusions regarding Aum have been proven totally false.

Overwhelming evidence has substantiated without question, that not only did Aum produce the poison gas used for the subway attack, the cult was also working on an array of other weapons of mass destruction.

Numerous criminal convictions of Aum members have since taken place.

Lewis, rather than representing objective scholarship, seems to be more of an academic cult collaborator, who produces opinions largely subject to a sponsor’s approval.

He has also worked closely with the Church of Scientology, which has recommended him as a “religious resource.”

Long-time “cult apologist” James Lewis has produced another book defending destructive cults.

But a review dismissed his work as “inflammatory” with “generalizations, and simplistic explanations,” reports YellowBrix.com.

For example, Lewis claims that those who criticize cults are “applying the cult stereotype to every religious group that strikes one as strange or different.”

Cult apologists he says are actually “defenders of the rights of minority religions.”

Following what seems to have become a Lewis standard regarding research, much of the material within the book “has been vetted by the groups themselves,” reports the reviewer.

An interesting example of Lewis acting as one of the “defenders of the rights of minority religions” took place in 1995.

The apologist flew to Japan as one of the “defenders” of the now infamous cult Aum. He claimed that the group was a victims of “persecution.”

Lewis was accompanied by two other well known “defenders of…minority religions,” Gordon Melton and James Fisher. And the trio’s travel expenses were paid for completely by the cult.

After spending only days in Japan Lewis quickly concluded that Aum could not have produced the poison gas used in the Tokyo subway attack, which sent thousands to hospitals and killed 12.

He came to this startling conclusion by examining material provided to him by Aum leaders. No doubt that material “had been vetted” first by Aum.

This essentially typifies the quality of “scholarship” and/or “research,” which has become a Lewis standard.

Needless to say the apologist’s conclusions regarding Aum have been proven totally false.

Overwhelming evidence has substantiated without question, that not only did Aum produce the poison gas used for the subway attack, the cult was also working on an array of other weapons of mass destruction.

Numerous criminal convictions of Aum members have since taken place.

Lewis, rather than representing objective scholarship, seems to be more of an academic cult collaborator, who produces opinions largely subject to a sponsor’s approval.

He has also worked closely with the Church of Scientology, which has recommended him as a “religious resource.”

The legacy of Iraqi Information Minister Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf keeps growing and has drawn considerable attention within the Arab world.

“The man himself remains mysteriously absent, memories of his gung-ho statements live on, providing material for an endless stream of jokes and cartoons in both Arabic and English, reports Al-Ahram Weekly.

The man with the mouth that drew a “cult-following” not only has his own website created by his devoted fans, but has developed quite a following within the Arab world too.

Arabs had a somewhat different view of the minister though, at least at the beginning of the war.

One Arab journalist explained, “I believed him because, like all Arabs, I wanted to believe what he said.”

However, in the end the columnist admits Al-Sahhaf became synonymous with the “brainwashing tactics of the Iraqi regime.”

Mocked as the “minister of misinformation,” Al-Sahhaf’s invective became infectious.

As Baghdad fell he claimed Americans were “committing suicide by the hundreds at the gates of Baghdad.” And added the now famous quip that then “their stomachs grilled in hell.”

He later stated at one of his last press conferences, “We made them drink poison last night, and Saddam Hussein’s soldiers and great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Honestly.”

The next day the regime was gone, including the good minister often called “comical Ali.”

But a cult following soon sprang up around Al-Sahhaf, which now fatuously attributes him with an array of statements on almost every subject.

“Comical Ali” is credited with saying, “Surgery? Child abuse? Never! Michael Jackson is the most normal person on this planet. It’s you who are twisted. What you remember Michael looked like was a conspiracy of the media.”

And this observation, “Global warming…[is a] myth invented by eco-criminal infidels.”

Talk show host David Letterman recently offered one-liners from the “minister of misinformation” to titillate his late night audience.

As he showed photos of Saddam’s statues being pulled down Al-Sahhaf supposedly says this is a “cleaning project” and elaborates that only the dictator’s “doubles” are being removed.

Though the legend of “comical Ali” lives on, no one knows for sure where the man actually is.

But Al-Sahhaf’s son who lives in Ireland insists that his father is amongst the living.

Some say he may have fled to Iran.

Perhaps the former Iraqi minister can become an Iranian spokesman promoting “the land of religious freedom.”

It appears doubtful that Al-Sahhaf will be charged with war crimes. After all, it’s not a crime to make jokes, whether they are intentional or not.

However, if prosecuted and convicted, “comical Ali” certainly has the potential as a great stand-up act to entertain almost any prison population.