Cult News

A large entourage from the Nation of Islam accompanied leader Louis Farrakhan on his 1998 “World Friendship Tour,” which stopped in South Korea.

One traveler on that trip Tynnetta Muhammad is now recounting this momentous event in a series of articles published on Final Call.com News.

The latest piece about this journey is titled In Search of Messiah. And this heading seems ironic, if you consider who sponsored and led the trip for Farrakhan and his followers.

Their tour was conducted by members of Rev. Moon’s Unification Church.

The delegation visited a ballet school financed by Moon and met his daughter-in-law Julia .

She was actually wed to the Moon heir’s spirit after his death.

Rev. Moon is the “messiah” according to his church and numerous proclamations made from heaven, or so say the true believers once called the “Moonies.”

Does this mean the Nation of Islam can end its “search” for “messiah” and just accept Moon?

They might have only needed to ask their tour guide for simple directions.

It is said that Moon stimulates and lubricates his friendships with some religious leaders through donations, funding pet projects and/or expensive gifts. He also has frequently paid the travel expenses of politicians and scholars to attend his conferences.

It is unclear exactly what arrangements may have been made with Louis Farrakhan.

Interestingly, Rev. Moon has said, “The blacks in [the United States] have been oppressed for centuries by the whites, but it is nothing compared to what has happened to me in this nation.”

Hmmm.

Is this what Minister Farrakhan feels is the bond between him and Moon?

Rev. Moon founder of the Unification Church staged another one of his “conferences” in Washington DC this month. And of course the Washington Times and UPI, both which Moon essentially controls, covered the event.

This conference supposedly focused on “world peace.”

Newsman Sam Donaldson was on hand to offer his wit and wisdom. Moon pays celebrity speakers hefty honorariums to appear at such events.

Larry Moffitt the vice president of UPI operations and Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak, president of UPI and chairman of News World Communications, which publishes The Washington Times were also there.

Moffitt and Kwak are both followers of Rev. Moon.

John Bloom who is not a member of Moon’s church reported the event for UPI. He said, “Despite working at UPI, I had never been entirely clear on exactly what the Unification Church stands for or why it was so intent on acquiring media organizations.”

Is Bloom serious?

Moon obviously bought up media outlets like UPI and the Washington Times as a means of gaining political influence, promoting himself and publishing reports like Bloom’s “Commentary: War, Peace & Rev. Moon.”

What is Moon’s plan for world peace?

Bloom says, “God ruling over the Earth through the agency of Reverend Moon.”

Sounds like Sadaam’s plan for peace in the Middle East doesn’t it? Just let the Iraqi dictator run everything and there won’t be any war.

Right.

And who else but UPI and the Washington Times would give the following items any serious attention?

“On December 25, 2001, at high noon, a meeting was held in heaven between Jesus, Confucius, Buddha, Mohammad and Shankara (founder of the Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism). Sitting with them were 600 representatives of the five leading religions…they adopted a resolution that says…Reverend Moon is the ‘Savior, Messiah, Second Coming and True Parent of all humanity.'”

And subsequently “‘A letter from God himself, proclaiming the Reverend Moon to be his ‘beloved Son'”

Is Moon a megalomaniac? Judge for yourself.

No doubt UPI, like the Washington Times will be another monetary abyss for Moon to lose millions of dollars annually. But the billionaire “Messiah” doesn’t seem to care.

Not as long as reporters like Bloom get his name, plans and prophetic utterances into print.

It looks like a friendly relationship continues to develop between Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam and Rev. Moon’s Unification Church.

Unification Church members literally rolled out the “red carpet” for Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, a leader within the Nation of Islam. She was on a tour apparently sponsored by the Moon organization during December, reports the Nation of Islam’s “Final Call.”

The growing friendship and collaboration between Minister Farrakhan and Rev. Moon is interesting. Farrakhan is reportedly short of cash, and Moon is flush with it.

Moon has often given large amounts of money to ailing ministries, such as Jerry Falwell. Falwell has appeared at Moon functions and there seems to be a “quid pro quo” understanding in such situations. Specifically, Moon gives cash apparently in exchange for photo ops and seeming endorsements.

Moon has made some inroads within the African American community, but this has typically been through Christian clergy. Now it appears he hopes to include Black Muslims in his ongoing effort to gain greater influence.

Brigitte Boisselier the CEO of “Clonaid” and a bishop within the “cult” group called the “Raelians” announced this morning at a news conference in Hollywood, Florida that the first human clone has been born. And it was covered live by CNN.

Artist and pop icon Andy Warhol once said a day would come when everyone would have “15 minutes” of fame, but CNN decided to give Boisselier 30 uninterrupted minutes of exclusive coverage.

The Clonaid spokeswoman was often defensive regarding media reports that have frequently questioned her reliability and any claims made by the group about its cloning experiments.

The Roslin Institute who cloned the first mammal reported massive failure rates and unexplained abnormalities. They have said only 1% of their cloned embryos even developed into living offspring and many died late in pregnancy or soon after birth.

Never mind. Boisselier claims a stunning 50% success rate on Clonaid’s first ten implantations. And a successful first time birth for her Christmas clone.

Despite her position as CEO of Clonaid and the media description that she is a “scientist” Boisselier is not a medical doctor or a geneticist and is a “bishop” within the Raelian Church. The cleric did once teach chemistry at Hamilton College in upstate New York.

Boisselier stood at a podium alone. No baby, no parents and not even a single scientist from the supposed Clonaid “team” was there to corroborate any of her claims. She said that Clonaid scientists and the parents were not yet ready to face the public.

It must have been a slow news day for CNN.

The Cloning company CEO also said, “The Parents may have to go to some secret location depending upon how you treat them.”

The alleged clone is a baby girl named “Eve” and supposedly weighs 7 pounds. She is supposedly the clone of her 31-year-old American mother. The baby was born in an as of yet unidentified country, which Boisselier refused to identify.

The Clonaid spokeswoman stated, “There will be proof” and then introduced Michael Guillen. Guillen who is not a medical doctor came forward at the news conference. He identified himself as a “free lance journalist,” Ph.D. physicist and former employee of ABC News. Guillen then advised that it would be his unpaid task to coordinate an independent team of “world class” scientists to verify Clonaid’s claims.

Members of that scientific team were not identified at the news conference.

Guillen said it would take a week to conclude testing, but Boisselier added later that it might require 9 days.

The Raelian bishop and Clonaid CEO thanked her “spiritual leader” Claude Vorilhon known as “Rael.” She said though that he is not involved personally with Clonaid, which was established in 1997. But Boisselier said it was his “leadership” and apparent inspiration that launched the project.

“Rael” and his Raelians believe that the human race is the result of alien science. And Boisselier acknowledged that belief during her press conference.

Vorilhon also claims that he has met alien beings from outer space that transported the future “cult” leader to another planet, where he was formally introduced to both Jesus and Buddha.

Boisselier, who is French, said that a court in France revoked her child custody largely due to her commitment to Rael.

According to the Clonaid spokeswoman four more mothers are now carrying clones. One is in Northern Europe, two are of Asian origin and yet another is North American. None are Raelians, Boisselier said.

The Clonaid CEO says those currently involved in cloning experiments have not paid for their participation, but admitted that they had all invested in Clonaid, which is a private company.

20 more implantations are supposedly scheduled for January, but Boisselier offered no further details. She also said that Clonaid plans to open more “clinics” around the world and that there are thousands waiting to become its customers.

The next cloned baby is allegedly due in a week and the remaining 3 will be delivered by February. Again, an astonishing success rate if it can ever be verified independently.

Is all this real or another Raelian publicity stunt?

Claude Vorilhon or “Rael” seems to have an insatiable desire for ego gratification through media attention.

His first sensational claim was that he was raising money for an “embassy” to greet visitors from out space, which brought him a few interviews. Then it was cloning. More recently his group encouraged cross burning in Canada to protest the Catholic Church.

Given the “race car driver’s” seeming addiction to media coverage the whole cloning process looks like just another publicity ploy to gain attention.

However this story ends up one thing will remain real for Rael. The “cult” leader has succeeded once again in extending his own “15 minutes,” and probably confirming his worldwide importance to faithful Raelians.

It also seems likely that the Raelians will soon come up with any number of excuses, rationalizations and/or fantastic stories to explain the failure of any credible scientists to independently verify their cloning claims.

Perhaps then cloning, like Rael’s outer space travel, will become part of the group’s religious mythology.

Maybe then Boisselier will have another news conference to announce that a “conspiracy” to suppress “science” and discredit her “spiritual leader” has taken place.

However, the “bishop”/CEO might just have a harder time getting CNN live coverage for that pronouncement, unless of course it’s a slow news cycle or a crucial ratings period.

The Black Panthers of the 1960s were a grass-roots social movement that began in Oakland. They were dedicated to black empowerment, civil rights and gained a cult following. One of their founders was Bobby Seale who became both a folk hero and media star.

Now Seale is “furious,” but not about racism directed at blacks. His anger is instead directed against a black group generally regarded as both racist and anti-Semitic, which uses the Panther name. Seale feels the group has falsely used the Panther name and expropriated its history, reports the New York Times.

The so-called “New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense,” even doctored a famous photo of historic Panther icon Huey Newton, replacing his image with their own deceased leader and hero Khallid Abdul Muhammad, a former leader within the Nation of Islam.

Seale says the “new Panthers” have done nothing for the black community and it seems he plans to take them to court over the use of the historic name and logo, which are trademarked.

The “new Panthers” now led by Malik Shabazz has gained attention through sensational comments. Shortly after September 11th they named the United States and Israel respectively, the top two terrorist nations on earth.

Shabazz sees “Zionist plots” everywhere and favors vitriolic terms like “white devils” and “bloodsucking Jews.” Commenting about Seale’s effort to preserve the history and name of the historic Panther movement he said they are “working with the Zionists.” And he added, “I think their lawyer is one.”

Perhaps everyone who somehow objects to or opposes Mr. Shabazz is either part of a “Zionist” conspiracy or in league with “white devils”?

Maybe the next doctored photograph produced by Shabazz and his followers will be Bobby Seal’s head superimposed on Israeli leader Sharon’s body touring the West Bank.

A bizarre “cult” called the “Raelians” believes cloning may offer them eternal life. Their leader Claude Vorilhon, now named “Rael,” formed his own company called “Clonaid.” The Times reported that Rael now claims to have successfully cloned the first human. But it’s difficult to believe a man who has also said that he received his “mission” instructions from an extraterrestrial being on top of a volcano.

Not unlike many cult leaders Rael has quite a self-aggrandizing bio. This includes meeting with Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and Moses when he traveled to another planet. But today he seems to spend most of his time in Canada and Florida. There are thousands of Raelian believers who follow this man.

According to Rael, Jesus was resurrected through some “advanced cloning technique.”

An apparent publicity junkie Rael has frequent press conferences to announce supposed breakthroughs. He says that cloning is only the first step. After that is successfully accomplished he will move on to the transfer of memory and personality from an individual to their clone. All this will eventually enable people to live forever.

Rael’s motto is “rationalize yourself to revolutionize humanity.” I guess that means anything goes. And when it comes to Rael this seems to be true.