Cult News

A preposterous claim by an unknown woman now purports that a “Satanic cult” or “crazies” killed Laci Peterson and her unborn child, reports KITV 4.

However, the “crazy” is probably the source for this story.

The Satanism scare of the late 80s and early 90s produced nothing but fantastic tales without any physical evidence.

Talk shows featured women that said they were “survivors” of supposed “ritual abuse” and /or their babies were “sacrificed.” Some said they were “breeders” designated for this purpose.

No evidence has ever proved a single one of these anecdotal stories and law enforcement ultimately dismissed them as myths.

The idea that a “cult” or “crazies” murdered Laci Peterson and her child appears ridiculous.

It is likely that when this source is pressed for proof there will be none.

However, no doubt that Scott Peterson’s defense team is happy to hear of any speculation that might potentially divert attention away from their client.

Hate group leader Matt Hale may be locked up, but his progeny still find ways to make trouble.

Hale headed a group once called “World Church of the Creator,” but is now in jail pending trial charged in an alleged murder plot to kill a federal judge.

However, Hale’s legal status hasn’t stopped his cronies from stirring up more trouble.

Repeatedly the courts have ruled that Hale’s “church” had no right to its name, which was originated by someone else. In what seemed like an effort of compliance he changed its title to “The Creativity Movement.”

However, in what looks like a brazen attempt to reject the rulings of US courts, the group has now launched a new website using the old name again, but this time based in Australia, reports the Chicago Sun Times.

Apparently Hale’s remaining faithful feel having an Internet server overseas somehow precludes previous domestic legal decisions.

This hate group has certainly given new meaning to the old adage “sore losers.”

It seems that even a murder plot to kill an unfriendly judge who ruled against them, just wasn’t enough to vent their anger and/or let off steam.

These losers seem still in the midst of the “mother of all temper tantrums.”

“Word of Faith Fellowship” (WOFF) is the name of a church in the small town of Spindale, North Carolina run by authoritarian leader Jane Whaley, which has been called a “cult.”

Whaley seems to do pretty much what she likes in Spindale and town officials appear afraid to stop her.

Her latest apparent victim is Shana Muse, a mother of four children and former member of WOFF.

Not only did Muse commit the seemingly “unpardonable sin” of leaving the despot’s domain; she had the effrontery to expect to take her children out too.

Whaley has repeatedly refused to send the children out and they remain essentially under her control despite the fact they are all minors.

Muse has so far not succeeded in gaining them back, even though she is clearly their legal guardian.

The courts have dawdled endlessly in this matter and failed to remove the children from the church for months, apparently afraid of Whaley’s wrath.

But this week a unique confrontation took place. Whaley and her “cult” faced a picket line of protestors, reports the Digital Courier.

Muse and her supporters carried signs and protested quietly just outside church property.

“Jane Whaley Set My Family Free” read the estranged mother’s placard.

No doubt Muse will eventually regain her children since Whaley had no real legal claim.

The amazing thing is how long this has dragged on and what pain officials have allowed this mother to go through.

At times Spindale seems to be a town without pity.

New Yorker Fred Newman leads a movement named “Social Therapy,” which some critics have said is little more than a personality “cult.”

The organization, which supports Newman comfortably in a Manhattan townhouse, is based upon a network of volunteers and interlocking enterprises, such as the charity “All Stars.”

But entry into Newman’s world appears to begin for many rather innocently as patients to therapists under his influence.

One professional participant who studied Newman’s therapy approach is now speaking out critically about its seeming ethical lapses.

Erica Van Meir concluded, “In my opinion, it is a cult. And I don’t mean by that a bunch of a crazy, long-haired lunatics living in a commune. I think they’re very, very sophisticated — a modern-day cult.”

Complaints filed against Social Therapy practitioners in Atlanta are now under investigation by state officials, reports Creative Loafing.

Typical of many Scientologist celebrities Lisa Marie Presley often uses exposure to promote her religion.

In recent interviews she has touted the supposed salvation Scientology provided from her drug problems.

She says her bout with “cocaine, sedatives, pot and drinking” climaxed at 18, but was resolved when she sought help from the controversial church.

Presley said, “I woke up one day… drove myself to the Church of Scientology and said, ‘Somebody help me right now’,” reports Teen Hollywood.

But here is the rub.

Lisa Marie was raised within Scientology by her mother Priscilla who is an ardent adherent.

So what went wrong in this Scientology household that produced such addictive behavior and drug lust in the teenager?

Lisa Marie doesn’t discuss this.

Polygamist groups are most often run like destructive “cults.”

That is, an authoritarian leadership with little if any meaningful accountability. And often they have one dynastic family ruling like royalty by “divine right.”

This is apparent amongst such groups within the United States in Arizona, Utah and Montana.

But the ramifications of living under an absolute monarchy can be daunting, as proven by a court case currently making its way in through the courts of Arizona, reports The Kingman Daily Minor.

When the polygamist parents within a so-called “fundamentalist Mormon” sect in Colorado City, Arizona refused to surrender their teenage daughter to become one more plural wife for a much older man, they were served with an eviction notice.

The leaders of the group known as the “Fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” (FLDS), own everything in the community and decided if the family wouldn’t hand over their 16-year-old daughter, they must go.

Their plight illustrates the total power and control exercised by the Jeffs family, which rules over the FLDS with impunity.

Not unlike “destructive cults,” the polygamist sect tolerates no dissent. Members live by the leader’s law, which seems to be “My way or the highway.”

In Colorado City one family with nine children may soon find themselves out on the street.

There is no doubt now, after something like a “palace coup” that deposed him from his throne, Thomas “Kip” McKean is staging a comeback.

McKean is the founder and once undisputed ruler over a “cult” that includes more than 100,000 followers called the “International Church of Christ ” (ICC).

He said, ”We’re praying that God will lead us to a new ministry.”

But what the deposed despot seems to really mean is a “new ministry,” with him on the throne again, or at least playing an important if not pivotal role.

McKean is launching a newsletter to all ICC congregations worldwide and has been “attending whirlwind meetings with church officials and old friends,” reports the Boston Globe.

It’s not clear who those “officials and old friends” are.

But like Napoleon returning from Elba King Kip apparently covets a return to power and the spotlight.

The same old crew of sycophants he once appointed and moved up within the power structure now controls the ICC. And it is unclear who amongst them will support their old hero and who will try to keep him locked out.

McKean, historically known for his reluctance to grant any interview, suddenly gave the Boston Globe unprecedented access.

This can easily be seen as a cynical move to use the newspaper as a means to communicate with the faithful, tell his side of the story and rally his former “disciples.”

The official story given to the Globe is that McKean left the ministry due to family problems. Specifically, that his daughter opted to leave the controversial church while attending Harvard.

However, rumors persist that more than this may have caused the monarch’s eventual departure. And that his daughter’s defection was only a conveinent and superficial excuse.

Apologies for abuse published on the Internet by the current group in power at the ICC appeared hollow and rather unconvincing.

Probably the only solution for real change the ICC would be a complete house cleaning, which would include in an an entirely new leadership elected at large by the general membership.

Also, an independent accounting firm, to disclose where all the money went and/or has been deposited over the years should probably do a complete audit of the books.

It seems doubtful that any process like this will ever occur.

But given the millions of dollars in annual contributions and whatever assets the ICC may have accumulated since its founding in 1978, it isn’t difficult to see why the powerful within the organization are struggling to keep their seats at the table. And why Kip wants his back at the head.

Some prominent people within the organization have done well feasting at that table over the past decades.

As in any business or corporate empire, money and power are often the motivation for taking control and/or fighting for it.

Will King Kip be able to once again sit on his old throne and rule the kingdom he created?

Will some of his former courtiers be able to effectively keep their deposed monarch out of the palace?

Or, will the ICC’s touted “Kingdom of God” simply be split up into petty fiefdoms and/or eventually disintergrate without the charismatic personality at the helm that once made it tick?

Stay tuned as the saga of this “cult” empire continues.

In what may be perhaps the most ridiculous defense scheme ever concocted in a murder case, Scott Peterson’s lawyers are now suggesting that his wife Laci may have been slain by Satanists, reports WISTV News.

For Football fans this appears to be the equivalent of what is called the “Hail Mary pass,” which is a wild play based upon desperation.

Maybe this ploy by the Peterson defense team should be named the “Hail Satan pass”?

Myths about “Satanism,” “Satanic cults” and alleged rituals including “human sacrifice” were disproved and dismissed long ago.

Perhaps Peterson’s lawyers should have done more research before offering up this theory.

The FBI has studied such claims and issued a definitive report discounting these tales.

Other reports done in Great Britain and the United States have also dismissed fantastic claims about satanic cult activity.

The possibility that any cult was involved in the brutal murder of Laci Peterson is so remote, that only the most dedicated and predisposed conspiracy theorist would even begin to buy into such a story.

It’s hard to imagine what profile for jury selection the defense might contemplate to put this one over.

What’s next?

Laci Peterson was the victim of a UFO abduction/experiment?

Or was she somehow killed as part of a covert CIA operation gone wrong with a subsequent government cover-up?

It seems demeaning to the young woman’s memory and an insult to her grieving family to float such theories.

Scott Peterson’s lawyers must be running on empty if they have scraped the barrel for this one.

Reportedly the defense claims they have a “credible suspect” supposedly involved in “one of the known Modesto cults.”

This sounds more like a witch-hunt than a “credible” investigation.

If this is all the defense has in its arsenal, it is probably time to sit down with the prosecution and talk about a plea bargain, in an attempt to keep their client off death row.

Though maybe any hope that the prosecution will cut a deal with Scott Peterson, is as remote as a spaceship coming to spring him from jail.

TVIND, the charity that is often called a “cult,” is still actively recruiting young people, even though its leader is facing criminal charges in Denmark, reports Britain’s Evening News.

Amdi Peterson was arrested in the US and extradited to Denmark to face charges of tax evasion. He is now free pending trial.

But TVIND recruiters are working the streets of England and running newspapers ads to lure in new volunteers there.

Those recruits will work for the organization overseas, often in substandard living conditions. It is alleged that the group employs “brainwashing” to control its people.

Peterson lived the luxurious life of wealthy tycoon in an exclusive condo hideaway in Florida, while his volunteers toiled in Third World countries.

It appears there was little if any meaningful accountability for the “cult leader” within his charity kingdom.

Perhaps Peterson’s day of reckoning will come soon.

Yesterday was supposedly slated as the “end of the world.” That is, according to Yuko Chino and her Pana Wave followers in Japan.

But the planet’s destruction has been postponed, reports Mainichi Daily News.

Likewise, Chino’s claim that she is “dying of cancer” seems to be a bit exaggerated. The “cult leader” has reportedly been on the brink of death for at least a decade.

Chino likes to indulge in drama regarding her health as well as the fate of humanity.

Expect the “coming end” to be an ongoing saga in installments. And it looks like media coverage may turn Pana Wave into a mini-series.

All this keeps Chino’s followers preoccupied and attentive.

Preeminent cult expert Margaret Singer has said, “Cult leaders are like con men, only the con never ends.”

Pana Wave seems to be a never-ending story.

What alarms the Japanese is that Chino’s hype about Armageddon reminds them of Aum cult leader Shoko Asahara. He decided to personally fulfill his doomsday predictions.

A former member says Chino is an unstable and delusion ridden woman, which certainly isn’t reassuring. And she loves some type of type of green tea pudding.

Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the suicide cult “Heaven’s Gate,” had a penchant for pudding too. The San Diego UFO group ingested a lethal concoction of vodka and barbiturates mixed into pudding.

But police apparently found nothing to worry about in a recent search of Pana Wave facilities, reports The Strait Times.

It seems that Chino’s delusions revolve around lost seals, dressing everyone in white and television spots.

Hopefully it will stay that way.