Cult News

Scientology stars like Tom Cruise and Jenna Elfman don’t seem to be doing that well lately. Is it possible that Scientology, rather than being a bridge to success, ultimately is a path to some sort of personal meltdown?

Yesterday Forbes Magazine proclaimed Tom Cruise “No. 1” on its list of “the world’s 100 most powerful stars” reported Reuters.

However, Roger Freidman of Fox News sees Cruise’s status far differently. He says that the star has “fallen and his career has taken a beating.” Friedman further reported that George Clooney got the role in an upcoming action/thriller, which Cruise sought desperately.

Interestingly, age certainly wasn’t a factor, since Cruise is younger than Clooney.

Instead Fox News cited Scientology as perhaps a deciding “factor.”

A source told Friedman “There isn’t a major studio that will offer Tom Cruise a $200 million movie now.”

How can this be though, when the actor has attained such a lofty level within the church that claims it can resolve virtually any personal problem or impediment?

Cruise is reportedly an “Operating Thetan 7” (OT-7) and has only one level left to reach Scientology’s version of “total enlightenment.”

So how is it that Scientology’s “Top Gun” is in a career slump after reaching the heights of awareness and supposed human development?

As CultNews previously reported Jenna Elfman also has reached OT-7.

The former “Dharma” of Dharma and Greg who briefly became “Alex” for the short-lived sitcom Courting Alex seems to be getting stranger as she cruises through Scientology’s higher levels.

Last year Elfman began ranting about “suppressive people” (SP).

“The more successful I became, the more suppression I bumped into¦especially in the entertainment industry, which really is home to rabid suppression”¦know you are going to be under attack¦you have to be able and willing to confront evil if you want to survive,” the sitcom star said.

However, despite this threat Elfman nevertheless claimed that she could handle it.

“An SP? Why would that be scary? They’re the biggest cowards that exist,” Scientology’s Celebrity magazine quoted her saying in an interview. “Bring it on. Please. Please just try and attack me. I welcome it. Now that I’m willing to confront them, they scurry away¦They scurry, because I’m willing to confront them,” she taunted.

But when Elfaman and her husband bumped into someone that would arguably be perceived by Scientologists as a “SP” attacking them it was another story.

The Elfmans spotted a guy wearing a T-shirt with pictures of Scientologists Tom Cruise and John Travolta along with the slogan “Scientology is gay.”

But this “SP” apparently didn’t “scurry” and instead stood his ground, while the Elfmans seemingly lost control and went ballistic reports Your TV.com.

Jenna Elfman repeatedly asked the man “What crimes have you committed?” and “have you raped a baby?”

This was Scientology-speak, as taught by the church’s founder L. Ron Hubbard, Scientologists are taught to personally attack those critical of the church.

CBS still has a development deal with Elfman for another show despite the failure of Courting Alex.

Should the network consider the “Scientology factor”?

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler says that Elfman “has made a huge commitment.”

But what about her “huge commitment” to Scientology?

“I intend to make Scientology as accessible to as many people as I can. And that is my goal…absolutely relentless and unreasonable,” Elfman told Celebrity. “That way, I can have complete KSW (Keeping Scientology Working)¦[and] forge ahead with a very high speed of particle flow.”

Maybe CBS should see if there is a “reality clause” included in Elfman’s development deal in case she gets too far out.

This all begs the question that if Scientology is the panacea its proselytizing celebrities say it is why doesn’t it keep working for them consistently?

Shouldn’t their careers and personal behavior be consistently and continually improving as they ascend Scientology’s spiritual levels?

Why have stars like Tom Cruise and Jenna Elfman repeatedly been behaving so strangely?

It appears that perhaps the higher up Scientologists go, the more likely they are to have some sort of personal meltdown.

Could it be that strange behavior, such as couch jumping and/or becoming ballistic, is somehow a byproduct of studying Scientology?

In a recent interview with DVD Man’s Room Elfman again defended Scientology.

“Anything good that helps people has been attacked. Scientology is going nowhere. I will tell you that right now, because it works and so many people are helped by it,” she said.

“People who have been helped aren’t going anywhere because they know it’s true for them,” said the former sitcom star turned Scientology sage

Maybe there is some truth in Elfman’s words.

Scientology does seem to lead “nowhere” and diehard devotees like Cruise and Elfman apparently haven’t gotten “anywhere” through its teachings.

Kristin Kreuk the WB star that plays “Lana Lang” on Smallville was spotted in Albany, New York attending a five-day intensive of the controversial large group awareness training program called NXIVM (pronounced NEX-ee-um, like the “purple pill” for acid reflux).

NXIVM has been called a “cult” and described as “extremely dangerous” by critics.

Its leader Keith Raniere known as “Vanguard” to his followers made the cover of Forbes magazine in 2003 as the “world’s strangest executive coach.”

The Forbes article titled “Cult of Personality” reports that “people see a darker and more manipulative side to Keith Raniere. Detractors say he runs a cult-like program aimed at breaking down his subjects psychologically, separating them from their families and inducting them into a bizarre world of messianic pretensions, idiosyncratic language and ritualistic practices.”

A source has told CultNews that Kristin Kreuk has been attending the “cult-like program” since Saturday and that the program will continue through today. The actress was accompanied by her boyfriend and is one of about 40 people attending the “intensive” at the NXIVM headquarters in upstate New York.

Some NXIVM program participants have sought psychiatric treatment subsequent to attending the group’s intensives, one participant was hospitalized and another committed suicide.

According to a reliable source Kristin Kreuk is one of about ten new participants at NXIVM currently going through its initial training at an Albany building located at 455 New Karner Rd.

A source told CultNews that the Smallville star and others spent hours the first day watching videotape of Raniere’s disciple, NXIVM President and registered nurse Nancy Salzman, droning on about her mentor’s philosophy. The training took place in a windowless, monitored, tightly controlled room, which included frequent adjustments in room temperature.

Salzman’s daughter is leading the program now being attended by Kreuk.

The fee for this five-day “intensive” is around $2,000.00, depending upon when participants sign up, a 16-day program offered by the group costs even more.

NXIVM says, “The 5-day intensive training provides participants with a clear understanding of the first principles of success. It constitutes the first five days of the 16-day intensive, and encompasses the foundational practices of both the Ethos and the Origins programs. Participants in the 5-day intensive trainings have access to a certified personal coach for 30 days after their training has concluded.”

A “certified professional coach”?

Will Kristin Kreuk end up being controlled by the “world’s strangest executive coach”?

Maybe someone should fly in to rescue the 24-year-old actress from this purported “cult”?

But Superman can’t fulfill that task, like he does on Smallville, rescuing Lana Lang from various evils and catastrophes.

Instead, for this situation Kristin Kreuk must rely upon her personal power of critical thinking, with perhaps a little help from family, a boyfriend and/or her management team.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church and self-proclaimed “messiah” controls a financial empire worth billions of dollars and wields substantial political influence through the Washington Times  and other media interests that he controls including United Press International UPI.

Moon has long been friendly with the Bush family and has given millions in honorariums to the first President Bush, who has jetted around the world to speak at venues connected to his interests.

Now it seems that the man many have called a “cult leader” hopes to get something more than just a few speeches,  political appointments, and VIP seating from the Bush family.

Moon was convicted for tax fraud in 1982 and subsequently served 13 months in Danbury federal prison.

But the dual roles as both convicted felon and “messiah” seem to bother the 86-year-old South Korean, who probably wants to clean up his legacy through a presidential pardon.

It’s getting down to crunch time.

And unless Moon dies before the second President Bush leaves the White House, relieving him of what could be an awkward obligation, expect a pardon at the President Bush’s second term.

Moon has labored long and hard to lubricate the Oval Office, greasing the “Presidential Pen,” so to speak.

One example of “messianic” largesse recently discovered was a $1 million gift to the first President Bush’s library at Texas A&M reports the Houston Chronicle.

Moon funneled the million from the Washington Times Foundation through the Greater Houston Community Foundation to the Bush library foundation.  

This octogenarian “messiah” may not walk on water, but he knows how to float money.

Larry Zilliox of Maryland a long-time Moon critic and cult researcher uncovered this interesting cash flow.

President Bill Clinton was criticized for handing out some pretty controversial pardons on his way out of the White House.

Will the end of President Bush’s second term produce an equally if not more controversial pardon as pay back to Rev. Moon?

Madonna was once so fond of Britney Spears she literally staged a kiss with her, but it seems that the young pop star’s middle aged mentor has now decided to give her the “kiss off.”

A source told Hot Stars magazine, “Madonna spent months teaching Britney the Kabbalah system, and splashed out thousands on the ancient scripture for her. She feels she has wasted time, money and precious gifts on Brit” reports Virgin.net. 

Sounds like the 48-year-old diva has a “one track mind” when it comes to mentoring and it’s not about music.

Much like Tom Cruise dividing his time between movies and missionary work, Madonna has become a surrogate preacher for her teachers at the “Kabbalah Centre.”

The 1980s pop queen seems to have an unquenchable thirst to be the center of attention and object of adoration, whether it’s surrounded by paparazzi, on a concert tour or as the high priestess of a purported “cult.”

But Spears has spurned Madonna’s preaching.

“I no longer study Kabbalah, my baby is my religion,” she said. And the singer is now consulting a “Christian Life Coach” to help her, and ditched the former “Material Girl’s” spiritual advisors reports The National Ledger.

Given the repeated rumors that Madonna’s own marriage is on the rocks, it looks like Ms. Spears made the right move by returning to more traditional values.

Last week a Jewish anti-missionary organization in Los Angeles blasted Madonna’s mystical mentors reported The Jewish Journal.

Quipped Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, “If Madonna can wear a T-shirt saying she’s a cult member, who am I to argue with her”?

“To me, they’re no different than…Jews for Jesus or Scientology. They’re using the terminology to make themselves look Jewish, but they’re not…” Kravitz said. 

Should Madonna stop preaching and look for a more credible coach like Spears?

She might try someone like Rachel Elior, a professor of Jewish philosophy and mystical thought, and chair of Hebrew University’s department of Jewish studies.

At a recent lecture in LA Elior said, “The Kabbalah Centres today have nothing to do with the Divine Plan for hidden meaning of the text or with any of that. They are basically about selling books for people who don’t read them…or for people who believe that by having a red string or drinking holy water they are connecting to the mysteries of the world.”

Well, Britney Spears isn’t buying it any more. And maybe her old mentor Madonna should consider dumping the “cult” too.

Scientology’s “Top Gun” continues to zealously proselytize for his church and the latest Hollywood star he seemingly targeted was Angelina Jolie reports National Ledger.

Cruise phoned up Brad Pitt and Jolie while the couple was in Africa to congratulate them both on the birth of their baby, but it wasn’t long before Cruise the persistent missionary man began using his long distance minutes for Scientology.

The man once touted as the “world’s greatest movie star,” but now not selling so good, reportedly urged Jolie to stop by Scientology HQ to pick up an award for her charity work.

But the former Tomb Raider made it clear that wasn’t an artifact she was interested in.

“There’s always a method to Tom’s madness,” said one source. And that “method” always seems to lead back to Scientology.

Apparently Cruise didn’t bother to consider Brad Pitt’s past personal history regarding the controversial church many consider a “cult.”

Hollywood buzz has it that the star of Troy dumped an old girlfriend Juliette Lewis over her involvement with Scientology, so Pitt probably isn’t interested in towing that “Trojan Horse” back into his life again.

Tom Cruise has reportedly agreed to pay Katie Holmes three or four million dollars annually to be his wife. Not a bad gig, if Holmes and her family can put up with the star’s antics and continuing religious crusade. 

Meanwhile the last Mrs. Cruise, Nicole Kidman, is going through her own religious epiphany. But it’s not about Scientology and its belief in spaceships that brought aliens from outer space to ultimately haunt the earth. Instead, the Oscar-winning actress has returned to her spiritual roots within the Roman Catholic Church reported Catholic Online.

This is the second time it seems that an ex-wife of Cruise’s has dropped out of Scientology. Wife number one, Mimi Rogers, has apparently lost interest in Scientology too.

Not only have Cruise’s “days of thunder” at the box office perhaps passed, he isn’t really that good in his role of missionary man either.

Scinetology is sponsoring its own NASCAR team through the book “Dianetics,” a tome written by its religious prophet L. Ron Hubbard. Scientology’s team will have its first race Saturday at a NASCAR Weekly Series at California’s Irwindale Speedway reports the New York Post. 

Could this be the build up for a remake of “Days of Thunder,” the not so successful movie starring Scientology’s “Top Gun” Tom Cruise in the role of a fictional NASCAR stud?

It was through Thunder that the actor now known more for strange behavior than his movies met his future bride Nicole Kidman.

But that was more than a decade ago and since then both Cruise’s marriage to Kidman and his public image have fizzled.

“Couch potatoes meet couch jumper as Scientology goes NASCAR,” quips one fan on Inside Line.

And what will Scientology use to speed to the finish line?

A Ford Taurus that says “Dianetics” on it and “has a volcano on the front of it like the book” says a spokesperson.

The Volcano is an allusion to L. Ron Hubbard’s religious doctrine about space aliens that were destroyed in volcanoes 75 million years ago and somehow are still haunting us and causing problems. 

The driver of this Taurus is apparently a Scientologist. He told the press that Hubbard’s teachings have “improved [his] focus and…consistency.”

Sportswriter Matt Crossman says “that nobody has ever heard of the driver.”

Crossman also opines at Sporting News.com that he is “confident” that Dianetics will “fail miserably as a sponsor because it has no audience to speak to. Bud is in the sport because race fans drink beer.”

Basically what Crossman is saying is that Scientology would be better off offering coupons for free beer than its “free personality test” to NASCAR fans.

The sprotswriter also observes that NASCAR “fans are overwhelmingly Christian” and unlikely targets for any Scientology recruitment effort. And he thinks that only “The North Korean Army” could top Scientology as the “worst possible sponsor.”

So where does that leave “Dianetics” and this seemingly ill conceived public relations effort?

Probably somewhere behind the PR disaster spun by Tom Cruise to use Steven Spielberg’s film “War of World’s” to launch his own war of words promoting the controversial church and its ideas.

Is Air America radio host Janeane Garofalo and her “Majority Report” show in meltdown mode? An on-air spat last week between Garofalo and her co-host Sam Seder ended in a walkout when Seder and the show’s producer stormed off the set reports Jeanette Walls for MSNBC.

The source of this friction is a Scientology-linked program called “Downtown Medical.”

That program, which is supported by Scientology celebs like Tom Cruise and Leah Remini, is supposedly a cure for whatever is toxic within your body. And it is offered free to New York firemen and rescue workers, but otherwise costs anyone else $5,000.00.

For five thousand bucks customers get to sweat it out in saunas and ingest cooking oil with doses of niacin. Doctors have dismissed all this as essentially unproven nonsense, but Garofalo has apparently swallowed it whole.

This cure, which seems more like “faith healing” than medicine, was concocted by Sci-fi writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, author of the tale behind John Travolta’s film flop “Battlefield Earth.” 

CultNews reported a month ago about how Garofalo seemed to be repeatedly using her show to shill for Scientology in long rambling infomercial like segments without any critical balance to question the efficacy of Hubbard’s alleged cure.

Seder was not present for those segments, which first included Scientologist and TV sitcom star Leah Remini. It appears that Remini and Garofalo may have become pals since the radio show host/actress did a guest spot on Remini’s series “King of Queens.”

Enter Sam Seder, who last week returned rather angry and made it clear publicly that he didn’t want any more infomercials for the Scientology-linked program.

When Garofalo’s co-host found out that Janeane has another pitch planned with her “Downtown Medical” cronies for yet another “Majority Report” Seder objected openly and on-air and said that if the Hubbardites returned he was going to grill them with some tough questions.

Seder cited CultNews as one of his sources for critical information about the Scientology-linked program.

Garofalo’s pals at “Downtown Medical” eventually decided to drop out rather than face Seder. 

Everything came to a boil last week on Friday night week reports Daily Kos.

The spam hit the fan when Garofalo said that her co-host Seder wouldn’t have a problem if the program were linked to some Jews instead of Scientologists.

That was the last slam for Sam. 

Seder then walked off the set with the show’s producer in tow.

So where does this leave Air America and “Majority Report”?

Perhaps Janeane Garofalo doesn’t care?

The actress has been busy with other projects and is often absent from the show. Sam Seder sits in, but would Air America be willing to ditch its celebrity star for a relative unknown?

Maybe.

CultNews has witnessed first-hand in the studio how the Garofalo/Seder team works.

Sam sits with his laptop researching and scraping facts from the Internet, while Garofalo talks off the top of her head.

This may have served her well in stand-up gigs. However, it seems to fall short when dealing with something as serious as dispensing medical advice.

Increasingly, Ms. Garofalo seems to have become something of a Scientology stooge, letting Hubbardites use her show to pitch their programs without paying Air America for commercial time.

Is it possible that Air America would be better off with Sam Seder getting the facts straight, rather than by Janeane Garofalo making a joke out of “Majority Report”?

It’s the day of the devil some say, it’s “666,” June 6th of 2006 and some Dutch churches have decided to have a “prayer marathon” fearing that this combination of numbers will somehow enable the “powers of evil” reports Associated Press.

Meanwhile the so-called “Church of Satan,” the former “cash cow” of its founder Anton LaVey is throwing a “Satanic Party of the Century” reports Los Angeles Alternative.

The root of this entire hubbub is about Beelzebub and the New Testament’s book of Revelation, which identifies 666 as the “number of the beast,” which is supposed to usher in the anti-Christ and beginning of Armageddon.

However, it seems that this June 6th is being worked not by any “dark force,” but rather by Christians, Satanists, Hollywood and almost anyone else interested in publicity.

“I don’t think the devil has much more to do today than on any other day of the year,” a Dutch prayer leader admitted.

Bryan Moore, a priest for the Church of Satan, ended up serving coffee and donuts.

“What is more than just a number, though, is the fact that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Church’s founding” the Satanist said.

So “666” was after all just a hook for him too.

Hollywood loves hooks for publicity ploys, so 20th Century Fox decided to release its remake of “The Omen” today reports BBC News.

The music world likewise is apparently trying to cash in on these numbers like it’s some lucky lotto pick.

Finnish metal band Lordi, known for its horror costumes and ghoulish make-up, Swedish death metal group Allegiance and punk band AFI (A Fire Inside) have all made today their target date to launch new material and albums.

Rock veterans Slayer planned to launch their “Unholy Alliance” tour today, but postponed it because their bass player had unexpected gall-bladder surgery.

Did the devil have something to do with that?

Hard right writer Ann Coulter also launched her book today “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.”

Amen. 

And for those that want to cocoon by the tube tonight television will be running some demonic favorites such as Sci-fi Channel featuring the 1997 film “The Devil’s Advocate” starring Al Pacino in the role of His Demonic Majesty.

So there may be nothing supernatural or cultish happening on this date, but it seems almost anyone and everyone is using “666” to plug or promote something.

“Oh Satan!”

A man with long-standing ties to self-proclaimed “messiah” Rev. Sun Myung Moon will soon become the new  Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Liberty University, an “independent Baptist” school founded by Jerry Falwell in 1971.

Dr. Ron Godwin, formerly a Senior Vice President at the Moon-controlled newspaper the Washington Times, will begin his new role of managing the “everyday responsibilities of running the university” in Lynchburg, Virginia at the beginning of next month reported The Liberty Champion.

Rev. Moon has given millions to Falwell’s school.

The North Korean businessman and purported “cult leader” funneled $3.5 million dollars to the university through his “Women’s Federation for World Peace” and the Christian Heritage Foundation run by Falwell friends to help relieve the school’s debts in 1995 reported Robert Parry.

Soon Moon may become more than a donor, when his old crony Godwin takes over this summer. 

In 1992 Godwin was exalted by Moon’s followers “as very precious” for “uniting with Reverend Moon’s ideology.”

But the Unification Church leader seems like a strange friend for Jerry Falwell.

In a bizarre ceremony during 2004 Moon had himself crowned in Washington D.C. And the year before that he claimed that 36 dead U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Richard Nixon, endorsed him through “spirit world” conferences.

No less than Thomas Jefferson supposedly proclaimed Moon “the Messiah to all people, who has appeared in Korea.”

But isn’t Jesus the only messiah for a Baptist minister such as Rev. Jerry Falwell? 

It appears Falwell may want a “messiah” with money.

Godwin has served both Moon and Falwell, furthering his career through both their interests and apparently allowing both men to become his mentors. 

A professor at Liberty University during the 1980s Godwin took a job at the Washington Times in 1986. He also once served as Executive Director and Executive Vice President of Falwell’s “Moral Majority” and was contributing editor of its newspaper according to his bio.

However, despite all the practical benefits a rich “messiah” can provide the mission statement of Liberty University seems far less concerned with pragmatism than faith. According to its statement Falwell’s school serves a higher purpose as “a Christian academic community in the tradition of evangelical institutions of higher education.”

Liberty says it wants “to produce Christ-centered men and women…[through] the synthesis of academic knowledge and Christian values” and that it “points people to Jesus Christ as…personal Savior.”

How does Rev. Moon’s brand of religion fit into this?

Well, Moon was the “savior” of another university in Connecticut.

In 1992, through the “Professors World Peace Academy,” Moon’s Unification Church supplied the money to keep the University of Bridgeport open. But in exchange the school’s savior wanted control. He now names 60% of its Board of Trustees and the university president is one of his loyal followers, often called “Moonies.”

Maybe Godwin has some special plans for a new sort of “synthesis” at Falwell’s school?

Perhaps this will be the beginning of a new era for Liberty University?

Has Jerry Falwell’s school been “saved” by a new “personal savior,” that has enough cash to insure the aging minister’s legacy?

Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as “Shoko Asahara” led his followers to a day of reckoning, but it wasn’t the one he predicted, instead it was the beginning of the end for him and the cult he created called “Aum Supreme Truth.”

Asahara was sentenced to death in February 2004 for the poison gas attack he ordered in Tokyo, which claimed of lives of twelve people and injured 5,500. Including the murder of a lawyer and his family and other related crimes, 27 lives were lost in the wake of Matsumoto’s madness.

Japanese justice moves slowly and after 11 years and with all his appeals exhausted the cult leader may soon be executed by hanging on the gallows.

In the past decade Aum has disintegrated and splintered into factions as its founder, who was once regarded as divine, lapsed into silence. Today the man that once ruled the sect like a king languishes in a jail cell alone wearing diapers, apparently unwilling or unable to communicate or even use a toilet. 

One of the guru’s lieutenants also convicted of cult crimes and sentenced to death says that Matsumoto might remain a symbol to some of his remaining followers after his death.

“If Matsumoto is to be executed without testifying, he will become a martyr,” Kenichi Hirose, 41 wrote in a letter, reports Yomiuri Shimbun.   

“If Matsumoto is going to have his death sentence finalized without testifying, fails to atone for his actions and maintains a barrier of self-containment, I’ve nothing to say to him,” Hirose also said.

Throughout the years since his arrest the once talkative guru has been mute. He did not speak coherently during his court trial, though at times he has demonstrated the ability to masturbate in front of his jailers.

Regardless of whether Matsumoto is faking, or has unraveled without the power he once held, the murderous cult leader will not be protected by an insanity defense.

Tokyo High Court on Monday rejected an objection filed his lawyers and nothing remains between the heinous cult leader and the hangman.