Cult News

Many news analysts have recently observed that North Korea is not so much a “Communist state” as it is a personality-driven “cult.”

A dictatorial dynasty rules the country, which was first established by the current leader’s father

Noted psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, once studied the methodology of “education” used by North Korea within prisoner of war camps in the fifties. His conclusions were published within his seminal book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism.

What can easily be seen from Lifton’s writings is that North Korea has a long-standing and well-established expertise in what is commonly called “brainwashing.”

Its absolute authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Il, known now as “Great Leader,” controls all the media, military and environment. Lifton calls this “milieu control,” which is the foundation for a thought reform program.

Something called “Juche,” is the detailed dogma or ideology used to control the North Korean population, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

Lifton calls such an ideology the “Sacred Science” of Totalism.

Like many cult leaders Kim has exploited his followers, it is estimated that he holds $2 to $4 billion dollars in European banks. He also lives lavishly, while most of his people go hungry. During the 1990s mass starvation took the lives of 2 million in North Korea.

But North Koreans are still officially called “Kim Il Sung’s people.”

Sounds a bit like “Sci-fi cult” leader “Rael” calling his followers the “Raelians” or David Koresh and his “Davidians” doesn’t it?

This is what Lifton calls “Doctrine over Person.” That is, when the group uses its dogma to supercede and blur individual identity.

Kim’s regime is certainly a closed system not easily permeated by outside ideas; the country can be seen as little more than a giant cult compound.

One expert says that North Korea has “carefully constructed illusions.” And such cultic “illusions” often whither when subjected to an outside frame of reference and the free exchange of ideas.

According to recent reports there is now some critical “whispering” about the “Great Leader” within his nation compound. Perhaps “Kim Il Sung’s people” are beginning to consider the possibility of a future without a cult leader.

Lifton has written extensively about cults and “cult formation.” He lists three primary hallmarks that define a destructive cult.

1. A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power;

2. a process I call coercive persuasion or thought reform;

3. economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

Sounds just like North Korea.

Six more members of “God’s Creation Outreach Church” have been charged related to a child abuse investigation undertaken after the death of a nine-year-old boy, reports the Kansas City Star.

The boy’s parents and leaders of the church Neil and Christy Edgar, who gagged their son, which allegedly led to his death were previously charged.

Five other members of the Edgar church have now also been charged regarding the gross abuse of other children in the group, which is located in Kansas City, Kansas.

Horrific child abuse has often taken place within relatively obscure groups and churches. In such independently run and somtimes isolated organizations there is little if any meaningful accountability for the leaders and the minor children of members have no control over their lives.

Just last year alone groups such as the Nuwaubians, “The Body,” Four Winds Commune, House of Prayer, Order of Saint Charbel, Church of God Restoration, the Wright Family and New Life Tabernacle faced charges regarding the sexual and/or physical abuse of minor children.

In some groups children died due to medical neglect.

The treatment of children, within groups often called “cults,” is a scandal. Child protection services often respond too late or do too little to protect these innocents.

It should be understood that minor children are only in such groups because their parents have joined.

Children are often brought into “cults” like so much baggage and frequently endure a living hell. This may include brutal corporal punishment, substandard living conditions, malnutrition and/or medical neglect.

More official intervention is necessary if minor children, who are often little more than hostages in such groups, are to be protected. Religious and/or parental rights certainly do not include the doing anything without restriction in the “name of God.”

John Edward makes money from supposedly contacting the dead. And his cable show “Crossing Over” has helped the spirit medium considerably to cash in on that claim.

Now he is marketing his supposed spiritualist skills in Australia through a promotional tour. Edward recently sold 4,000 tickets for a Sydney show at $75 each, that’s $300,000 Australian dollars for just one performance, reports The Sun-Herald.

Edward claims that an “Indian chief” became his “spirit guide” when he was a teenager. But the chief didn’t seem to get the “brave” full-time spiritualist status until years later, when Edward quit his day job at a hospital. It is unclear if he conversed with recently departed there.

Some say Edward is merely a “huckster” and the cable star hasn’t objectively proven otherwise. Instead, he stokes his popularity by doing what is called “cold readings.” That is, a process that combines him questioning, guessing and generalizing, which is hardly supernatural.

An example of cold reading was reported through the following spoof. Edward says, “Anyone? Someone who ate food, and slept in a bed … possibly a man or a woman. Someone who had hair. Long or maybe short.” At this point someone jumps up and replies; “My dad had short hair and ate food.”

It’s sad to see a “huckster” like Edward making money through the exploitation of the bereaved, but this type of business has been going on for a long time and no doubt will continue for the foreseeable future.

A professor on the faculty of Alabama A & M in Huntsville is a Raelian spokesperson, reports Associated Press.

Professor Hortense Dodo thinks of herself as not only a microbiologist, but also “something like a priest” and says she is interested in “reaching out,” which apparently means recruiting for the Raelians. The teacher insists though, that she keeps her proselytizing out of the classroom.

Dodo is researching the possibility of producing an allergen-free peanut through cloning. No definitive breakthrough yet for the professor.

Interestingly, the Dodo is also an extinct bird known for its stupidity.

However, the Alabama microbiologist has probably had better luck cloning peanuts than another Raelian “scientist” Brigitte Boisselier has had with humans. Boisselier continues to claim success, but offers no proof.

The Raelians also claim they have 55,000 members worldwide, though there are only five in Huntsville.

Not unlike cloning claims, Raelians appear to grossly exaggerate their membership. Objective reports place the number of active Raelians at about 5,000.

Matt Hale the self-proclaimed “Pontifus Maximus” of the hate group called the “World Church of the Creator” was arrested recently for allegedly plotting to kill a federal judge.

However, according to a Hale groupie in Wyoming it’s all just bogus, reports the Casper Star-Tribune.

Thomas Kroenke says, ”The very idea that an intelligent man, such as P.M. (Pontifus Maximus) Hale, would be so foolish to conspire to murder a judge over any issue, much less an issue we are winning, is absurd.” Kroenke is the man Hale appointed to lead the group in Wyoming.

Hale may have a law degree, but apparently his intelligence can’t find a way to cash in on that diploma. And he still lives with his father. Needless to say his racist views and conspiracy theories are hardly original and are instead the reiterated rant of other like-minded hate mongers. Hale even failed to pick an original name for his group.

What’s so “intelligent” about all that?

Clearly, regardless of the outcome of Hale’s current criminal case, his followers will continue to believe whatever their “P.M.” says. They likely will consign the evidence, prosecution and/or “PM’s” possible conviction, to yet another conspiracy theory.

Many people lose money on schemes that involve multi-level participation. Such programs have often been described as “pyramid schemes,” due to the disproportionate amount of people who lose at the bottom as opposed to the elite few who reap benefits at the top.

Laws in the United States are often ambiguous, riddled with loopholes or weak regarding multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes. The Federal Trade Commission has on occasion shut down such businesses like Equinox and Trek Alliance, an Equinox spin-off that was recently shut down by court order.

Sadly, most often by the time such companies are closed by the authorities; many people have already lost money.

Some of those caught up in MLMs say there is a kind of “cult like” process of coercive persuasion, which takes place through the recruitment, seminar and conference formats used by such businesses. Spouses and friends have at times described distributors as “brainwashed,” when explaining their seemingly irrational commitment and conduct.

A recent article appeared in the Portsmouth Herald, which spelled out how and why these schemes are simply “mathematically improbable” and therefore fail.

Assistant Attorney General Connie Stratton, of the New Hampshire Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau explained this succinctly. She said, “The reason they don’t work is because they have so many levels of distributors. If you work out the math, what happens is that a very few people make money and the majority do not. All the money goes to the top, so you’d have to recruit your way to the top. The problem is that so many people are needed to get there that the market gets saturated and the scheme falls apart.”

One expert stated that the loser rate typically exceeds 93% and in some schemes 99%. And that product-based programs are the most damaging.

Here are a few comments from people who were damaged by MLMs.

“I lost all I had, great job, my financial future, my wife, children, and soul.”

‘I lost $5,000.00 and some of my dignity.”

“I became a Director with the firm several years ago–eventually my sales force did over $100,000 per month in product sales. Despite this I lost over $75,000 as a result of the lies and deceptions of this company. I could tell so many stories of people going broke and the reality of the cult like brainwashing.”

“When we started this business we were only $7,000 in debt, now we are $32,000 in debt, due to this crap. Since the day we left the organization, we have been working nonstop to pay off credit card bills, and loans totaling $25,000.00. We fell for their lies, deception and faulty ad and practices. I hope the Feds make them feel, pay and suffer like we now are.”

What can be done?

It seems that federal regulations regarding the MLM industry are needed to protect people. Essentially, there is no such effective regulation now.

Anyone considering participation within an MLM should do his or her homework and research in-depth before becoming involved or paying a penny.

Sadly, most participants don’t do this and instead are taken in by the pitch. However, today through the Internet investigating such companies is actually becoming an increasingly easy process.

Scientologist Lisa McPhearson died tragically in 1995 while under the care and treatment of her Scientology brethren. But it has taken more than seven years for the lawsuit filed by her family to reach a trial date.

Scientology is adept at delaying and/or derailing lawsuits and it seems they have used every strategy and courtroom tactic to keep this case from going to trial.

Scientology frequently employs what can be seen as the “ad hominem attack.” Rather than directly respond to issues raised, they often go after whoever raises them. This may mean pursuing a plaintiff personally, harassing their lawyer or even their family. It doesn’t appear that Scientologists are adverse to almost anything, when attempting to protect church interests.

The recent loss of a libel case in Denmark and another not long ago in England appears to verify this observation. The largest libel judgement ever awarded in Canadian history, was to a lawyer slandered by Scientology. Each case involved a perceived enemy pursued relentlessly by the controversial church.

But despite all its apparent delaying tactics the McPhearson case will finally proceed to trial and a jury will hear the case. And the judge has refused to remove the plaintiff’s lawyer, despite Scientology’s insistence that he is somehow unfit, reports Associated Press.

This means the sad story of Lisa McPhearson, who died allegedly of severe dehydration after 18 days of care within a Scientology facility, will now be heard in court.

That is, unless Scientology makes a last minute settlement with a “gag order,” which the church that has been called a “cult” has done often in the past.

Claude Vorilhon now known as “Rael” has finally fulfilled his childhood fantasies and became famous, or some might observe infamous.

But whatever anyone says the “clone cult” leader now has the attention he apparently always craved.

However, a biography based upon facts rather than self-promotion and science fiction is finally emerging about Vorilhon, reports the London Mail.

Vorilhon was apparently a failure before he became “Rael.” The would-be pop star, racecar driver and magazine publisher, had what appears to be a history of unfulfilled fantasies.

The self-proclaimed prophet who says he once visited another planet is a “monster,” according to his mother. Who says, “What he is doing now is vile. I have not seen him for ten years and I’ll be happy if I never see him again.”

And isn’t it your own family that knows you best?

The facts about the Raelian leader are quite different from the myth he has spun for his fawning followers and the media. Vorilhon failed abysmally as both a father and husband. His two children reportedly even want to change their names.

Like other cult leaders such as David Koresh, Charles Manson and Jim Jones, Vorilhon seems to be driven by his own needs, appetites and personal history.

According to the aunt who raised him Vorilhon was “rejected” by his mother. And like many cult leaders with a similarly troubled childhood little Claude grew up with a “self-belief bordering on arrogance,” she said.

Charles Manson never knew his father and his single mother often abandoned him. Jim Jones was estranged from his father who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, his parents divorced when he was 14. David Koresh was also the child of single mother who frequently left him to be raised largely by his grandparents.

Vorilhon insists his father is an alien being from outer space that artificially inseminated his mother.

Personal failures followed. Rael’s aunt says her nephew’s repeated efforts as an adult to become famous “fizzled out.”

Manson and Koresh both had histories of failure. Manson spent much of his life in reformatories as a juvenile and later served prison sentences. Koresh was a ninth grade drop out, who drifted in life and wanted to be a rock musician before joining the Branch Davidians and eventually seizing power in the group.

Vorilhon would fulfill his childhood fantasies by supposedly encountering space aliens in 1973. The aliens would tell him what he had always wanted to hear. That message would be essentially that he was special, chosen and above other men.

David Koresh received the revelation that he was “The Lamb” and saw himself as a messiah. Charles Manson and Jim Jones both believed they were chosen to play pivotal roles in history. And Koresh, Manson and Jones all used their unique position of power to exploit members sexually.

Vorilhon now has a “mission” and his belief system likewise fulfills his personal needs.

Rael’s former wife says he has “some sort of psychological grip” on people. She explains, “The whole Raelian movement was a trick to have more sex and to satisfy the enormous ego and need to be worshipped that he had always had.”

In the end it all sounds like the same old story reported so many times before. The history of the man, who would be “clone” king, is really rather typical when compared to known destructive cult leaders of the past.

Associated Press (AP) appears to be soft-peddling Falun Gong and its leader Li Hongzhi.

In an AP report about the sentencing of Falun Gong devotees regarding a series of criminal break-ins the movement was described as “a mix of slow-motion exercise and doctrines drawn from Buddhism and Taoism and the ideas of its founder, Li Hongzhi.”

But why doesn’t the AP report in-depth about Hongzhi’s “ideas”?

Hongzhi’s “ideas” include a racist philosophy and homophobia. And supernatural claims that he can levitate, become invisible and knows the secrets of the universe.

Hongzhi also believes that space aliens are “embedding technology in human minds…[to] control thoughts.”

And this forms the basis for an alleged conspiracy which relegates ”mixing the races of humans” to a plot by “aliens make humans cast off gods.”

Hongzhi’s homophobia has reached venal proportions. He once stated publicly that gay people will be ”eliminated” by ”the gods.”

The Falun Gong founder also says that physical illnesses are the result of an individual’s misdeeds. And he has written, “The only way to find yourself comfortably free of illnesses, is through cultivation practice!”

The Chinese government says Hongzhi’s approach to health has taken its toll through the deaths of many of his followers.

So why doesn’t the AP simply discuss in detail what Hongzhi’s “ideas” are all about? For the AP to do otherwise seems somewhat misleading.

It looks like the Raelians are trying to cash in on all the free publicity they received regarding their now seemingly bogus cloning claims.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is watching Clonaid, the company run by Raelian Bishop Brigitte Boisselier, reports Knight Ridder.

Clonaid is trying to sell venture capitalists on pumping in some cash. Investors can get in for a minimum $25,000.

One family says Clonaid bilked them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Clonaid Vice President and Raelian Thomas Kaenzig spoke at the MoneyWorld 2003 Investment and Trading Conference recently held in Florida. He admitted that the SEC has contacted him.

A financial expert said investors should be wary of Clonaid. The analyst concluded, “Until they supply financial disclosure forms and DNA proof of the cloning, this is nothing more than a biotechnology Enron.”

This sounds like an understatement.

Enron and its CEO Ken Lay seem like Standard Oil and Rockefeller when compared to Boisselier and Clonaid.