Cult News

His followers call Ariel Ben Sherman a “spiritual father,” but the leader of “New Life Ministries” is now charged with “aggravated child abuse and neglect” concerning the death of 15-year-old Jessica Lynn Crank. The girl’s mother Jacqueline Crank is also charged for medical neglect, reports Knox News.

The group does not believe in modern medicine and despite the child’s increasingly serious complications from cancer and a grossly enlarged tumor, she received no medical treatment.

Many children have died in religious cults and sects due directly to medical neglect. This has included such groups as General Assembly Church of the New Born, Church of God Restoration, Faith Assembly and End Times Ministries. Hobart Freeman the leader of Faith Assembly was sentenced to prison for his role in the death of a 15-year-old in 1984. It is estimated that more than 100 people died from medical neglect within that group alone.

A study conducted by the University of California Department of Pediatrics in San Diego concluded that 90% of the children studied who died as a result of withheld medical treatment for religious reasons, would have survived with proper care.

Two groups widely known to the general public, Christian Science and Jehovah’s Witnesses likewise have been linked to children’s deaths. Christian Science parents often withhold medical treatment from their children in favor of prayer and Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions.

As Americans we are entitled to believe whatever we wish, but we may not do anything we want in the name of religion. Parents of children who have died due to medical neglect have been criminally charged and convicted.

Jesus said, “Suffer not the little children.” And overwhelmingly Christians who believe in the power of prayer do not preclude medical assistance. But unfortunate children like Jessica Lynn Crank who live within extreme groups and are dependent upon their family for help may receive no medical care.

Jessica Lynn Crank hoped for “new life” in the Sherman group, but instead she suffered a painful death.

17 year old Bethany Hughes died this week from Leukemia. Her life was prolonged by blood transfusions ordered by a Canadian court. But the child’s situation bitterly divided her family. Bethany’s father fought for his daughter’s life, despite his religion’s teaching that no Jehovah’s Witness should receive a blood transfusion. The girl’s mother chose to obey the elders of her faith, left her husband and is now seeking a divorce.

Mr. Hughes has announced that he plans to sue Jehovah’s Witnesses for “destroying families” reports CTV.

CTV also offered an informative background history about Jehovah’s Witnesses teachings.

Some in the Canadian press seemed to be taken in by the Witness spin machine, which apparently sought to cloud the real issues. Dawn Walton, a reporter for the Globe & Mail, described Bethany Hughes as a “crusader for children’s rights.” But this was certainly not the case and essentially a public relations pose likely advised by the girl’s Witness handlers. Bethany Hughes first stated that she objected to the transfusions purely on religious grounds, the supposed claim of “children’s rights” came months later.

The girl’s father, once a loyal Witness, concluded that the organization told “lies” regarding the matter.

Though Bethany Hughes had an illness with a probable terminal prognosis, many Witness children have died when a blood transfusion during an acute medical crisis could have offered them a normal life. But they perished instead, simply because of the idiosyncratic and arbitrary requirements of their religion.

Once Jehovah’s Witnesses also forbid organ transplants and many members died due to that edict. Later the rule was changed. Today some say the Witnesses are in the process of changing their teaching about blood transfusions. Whether or not this is true one thing is certain, more Witnesses will die before this is accomplished and others will suffer like the Hughes family.

The mishandling of childhood sexual abuse is certainly not confined to the Roman Catholic Church and its priests.

The Toronto Sun reports that a woman has sued Jehovah’s Witnesses for $700,00.00, for their failure to report sexual abuse.

Now 31, the Canadian housewife says she was molested by her father from 11 to 14 and the elders of her church conspired to conceal it and advised that she not to seek outside counseling. The net result according to the suit is “permanent emotional injury.”

In recent years in an apparent effort to shield assets from liability in court cases Jehovah’s Witnesses have set up a multitude of corporations. This seems strange for a group that warns door to door “the end is near.” If the Apocalypse is so imminent why does the organization strive so hard to protect its worldly kingdom?

The plaintiff in the Canadian lawsuit said, “I have so much anger … that I’m ready to fight them until the end.” Perhaps that is an end the Witnesses did not foresee.

Groups called “sects” or “cults” are an increasing problem in Eastern Europe reports the Slovak Spectator. One official in Slovokia explained, “They control people through psychological terror.” He stated that 20 to 50 religious groups in the country are considered “dangerous” and compared involvement with them to “drug dependency.”

Describing the mindset of some sects the official said, “A person identifies the organization with God, and to disobey the organization is to disobey God,”

One group that has caused serious concern in Slovokia is”Jehovah’s Witnesses.” There are 20,000 members within the small country.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that their organization alone is the exclusive channel used by God to communicate with the world and that all other faiths are false. Members reject blood transfusion due to the group’s interpretation of the bible and many have died rather than accept blood in a medical emergency. Witnesses also focus intensely upon the end of the world and believe that God in Armageddon will murder all those who don’t share their beliefs. They also reject the Christian belief of the trinity and see Jesus as an angel rather than the Son of God, according to orthodox Christian tradition.

A Slovak official described those vulnerable to sect recruitment frequently “feared the future.” And it seems within Eastern Europe as countries struggle to emerge from the Cold War and Communism, such a fear may be quite common. Many destructive groups and movements have historically fed on such fear by promising supposed certainty. Ironically, this was part of the promise made by both Fascists and Communism.

According to the Lancanshire press, despite a serious complaint against an elder of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” regarding the sexual abuse of a child, he was later reinstated by that organization anyway.

However, the courts were not as lenient with the pedophile as his religious leaders. He plead guilty and was sentenced to a prison term. The former Witness elder and pioneer will be registered as a sex offender upon his release.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have an apparent habit of covering up sexual abuse within their congregations. And when members speak up, it seems they may more likely be shown the door than a sexual predator.