QuoterrmoderatorJust seems foolish nothing sinister. Perhaps on the surface. But not when one looks deeper... "While many of the central elements of Twyman's story may have come from and/or been strongly influenced by ENDEAVOR, the name of the Emissaries themselves may have been lifted from another group. Twyman mentions this other group, "Emissaries of Divine Light,"
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Bonnie: As a staff member of Jewish Family Service in the 1980s and coordinator of its Jewish Prisoner Program for Arizona, I dealt extensively with AA. Many of the Jewish prisoners had drinking or drug problems and went to either AA or NA as a support group. I attended some meetings to find out what they were like anonymously and saw nothing wrong or supect. And there were no complai
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

REBIRTHING "DISILLUSIONED WITH REBIRTH TEACHERS DOUBLE STANDARDS" 1. Free thinking and independent thought was encouraged until students challenged and questioned the teacher. In frustration she turned on a student angrily, "You are slappable!" That put an end to further challenges. 2. Many students who couldn't afford the training fee were still pressure
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sedona is indeed a beautiful place to visit, but its spiritual underbelly is not a pretty thing. The place is full of bizarre new age communes, cults, and conmen. Hawkins is one more screwball crackpot to add to the mix. He uses his phony "testing" techniques to convey his support to any group, church or teaching which in return supports him and his own "work". His connect
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I've heard of him, and he seems pretty flaky. He's very popular in many Unity churches, particularly ones that preach from A Course in Miracles and related material. Why people fall for this crap is beyond me.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteAcid ReindeerQuoteVicarionThe book has been described as part pulp sci-fi adventure. more anti-adventure. or anti-literature. most accurate summary there, though, Vicarion. Thanks. Actually the "pulp sci-fi" description came from some skeptical source. Can't recall where exactly, but it seemed to fit, what with the book's detailed descriptions of alien races, planets
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Urantia movement by itself is pretty loose-knit, with no organization over all, it's just that a few individual, independent Urantia-related groups (such as the commune run by "Gabriel of Sedona" in Northern Arizona) are little more than personality cults, and have little to do with the book. Urantia book readers and their home-based, leaderless, non-money-taking reader cir
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotemidonov123I want to add that this is another blantant example where landmark's philosophy breaks up relationships. I'm not as "invested" as others here because the friends I lost to Landmark were not terribly close to begin with, however virtually without exception, they all left their spouses or significant others within weeks or months of their Forum involvement. Often
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I knew someone whose husband had been an AA member for years, and she seemed very invested not so much in AA but in their methodology, and the insistence on confession/admission/surrender. (She ran a small metaphysical cult I joined briefly, and she insisted everyone read the AA "Big Book" whether they were an addict or not.) I told her that I felt AA members simply swapped one addictio
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

QuoteQuestionEverythingVicarion, Thanks for your posts. You have a lot of insight into the Unity Church. As do you, QE!!! Mine comes from many years of participation and observation. Whatever one may think of the "original" Unity teachings, they have been gradually supplanted over the past 30 or 40 years with new age, self-help, pop psych speak. At least the "old" U
Forum: Destructive Churches

Thanks, I know it wasn't anyone's fault. :) The point of my lengthy post was that from my many years of experience and observation, I see that Unity and even Religious Science churches have now fully embraced channeled books like A Course in Miracles, Conversations with God, and the Abraham-Hicks books, and given free time and space to book study groups, precisely because these books
Forum: Destructive Churches

I can see how you might feel as if A Course In Miracles, or ACIM, was being unclear, or perhaps unrealistic in its apparent expectation that anger must ultimately be quashed. For me it's like ACIM's teaching about the role of modern medicines. ACIM advises students to continue taking whatever medicines they feel that they need for health, and only to stop taking these, should they eve
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This discussion between Ellen and Question-E. about the teachings on anger and error in A Course in Miracles, or ACIM, leaves out four crucial teachings of ACIM, 1. ACIM teaches that anger, after much work, can always ultimately be replaced with love. 2. ACIM teaches that love does include the correction of error. 3. ACIM teaches that love does not at all include the denial that correctable
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Polly - here is what I believe may be the source book for the course: From the wesite: "New Jersey author, metaphysician, psychologist, and empowerment guru Bruce Schneider, Ph.D. "It , asks deep philosophical questions concerning the nature of your work versus the nature of you, because only when our life's work truly reflects our purpose and our passion can we relax, ref
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sedona, Arizona is considered by many to be The Place for new-age thinking in the US. For a small town, (10,192 people in 2000), it also seems to me to have an extremely high density of sketchy religious organizations. Just to name a few: Osho Eckankar Course in Miracles Blue Rose Ministry (extraterrestrials, channelling) SIF and other Krishna groups Gabriel of Sedona Moonies (possib
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Mrs. Schucman, a Columbia University professor and psychologist, was an acquaintance of Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. (seen on EWTN). Fr. Groeschel gave a eulogy at her funeral. Fr. Groeschel wrote (2), "This woman who had written so eloquently that suffering really did not exist spent the last two years of her life in the blackest psychotic depression I have ever witnessed."
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Try this for a start There are similarities in philosophy to Landmark I recall but its model of delivery is different. I also recall threads on this board from back in 2003 on a Course In Miracles.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

aka "A Course in Miracles". Does anyone know anything about this? I couldn't find anything on the database on the main site but it seems familiar somehow. The closest thing I could find is a church that appears to be using its premises destructively, but nothing about the course itself. I came across it (I seem to come across a lot of such things lately. I suppose I'm
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

landmark UNITY the moonies what do they have in common? They are anti science and anti skeptical thinking. I am a former jehovahs witness turned cult Buster and i know what i believe as I have seen the results of mind control at work and the harm and horrible damage unity is not about medicine or proven FACTS it is a fairy tale wishful thinking and blind fantasy... fillmore was a croo
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuotebozmanIn theory, that is the case. However, ACIM people often do everything they can to stack the deck in their favor -- including working to get rid of ministers who don't want ACIM taught in the church. They have also gone to great lengths to keep church members ignorant of the many controversies surrounding ACIM, such as the Endeavor Academy cult (and attendant suicides), the copyr
Forum: Destructive Churches

Quoterrmoderator"Channeling" is frequently little more than a business scheme used to con people out of their money. Often, but not always. For example, I don't think the woman who "wrote" A Course in Miracles made any money off it. Others, maybe, but not her. She was a professor carrying out an experiment. The story is that she heard a voice telling her to write do
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

QuoteTimmerQuotebozmanIn UNITY, unfortunately, those who would advocate the use of some sort of firewall are silenced or marginalized, at every level. I know of no one who has had such an experience. Well, that does not mean they don't exist, does it? QuoteIt is taboo to openly criticize ACIM, even in some cases the extreme forms such as Endeavor Academy, or the bogus teachers who
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuotebozmanIn UNITY, unfortunately, those who would advocate the use of some sort of firewall are silenced or marginalized, at every level. I know of no one who has had such an experience. QuoteIt is taboo to openly criticize ACIM, even in some cases the extreme forms such as Endeavor Academy, or the bogus teachers who glom on to the movement such as James Twyman. Even the fake "gold-f
Forum: Destructive Churches

Tolle listed as in the lineage (or something) of a Shri H.W.L. Poonja. ---------------- From an interview titled "The Power of Eckhart Tolle A teacher of Tolle's work describes his unique brand of 'secular spirituality.' An interview with Dr. Gunther Weil", about Tolle: "He spent the next two years reading Krishna Murti, Ramana Maharshi, going t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hmm- my comments are missing - probably a cut-and-paste malfunction. I was surprised to see this article and I'm waiting for a response as to whether it was an example of the ignorance regarding methods of mind control or if PhD Benjamin is going to be on the panel of the upcoming conference. I can't find anything on Benjamin, either. This just in.... Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

AFF E-Newsletter Vol. 3, No. 2 September 2004 On Conversations with God Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D. Is Neale Donald Walsch, the founder of the Conversations with God organization, a guru? Is the Conversations with God organization a cult? These are the questions that led me to the Living Enrichment Center in Oregon in June, 2003 to attend the first ever Humanity’s Team conference. Huma
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, there are a number of groups that believe that to be the case. And if He did come back... would it make a difference to the rest of us at all anyway? I'm not up on my Bible studies, but don't most Judeo-Christian teachings talk about a coming Messiah? or the second coming? The Mormons teach that Jesus came and taught on the North American continent. Sai Baba is supposedly
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"Miracle of Love" as in www.miracle.org is a cult w/ an LGAT called the "Intensive" designed by a 'spiritual master' named Kalindi. Kalindi is the mouthpiece for God on earth. God is her late husband, the avatar Gourasana, the Intensive is run by Kalindi, and The Lady Gayle (another 'master') I don't know if they are the same as A Little Course in
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

At the risk of throwing you off on a wrong tangent, is the "Miracle of Love" a rebranding of "A Little Course in Miracles" Oz
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

read 'Prophetic Charisma' by Len Oakes These charismatic types have wildly different belief systems but remarkably similar life trajectories Oakes interviewed 20 charismatic leaders and found that they were all narcissistic, and compensated for personality flaws by working hard to develop their social skills--learning to play people like violins. Many had been teachers and enterta
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"