has an "Ask Moses" forum where you can ask questions of Chabad Rabbis 24/6.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

When Jesus was preparing for his death, some of his disciples protested but Jesus told them that he had to die for the Spirit of Truth to come to them, the world etc.. What he meant exactly I'm not sure but I remember this quote.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I believe there is a God, but angels and demons don't exactly ring true to me. According to the Jewish tradition, before a person is born, his/her soul is stored in a place called "guf". I don't know if this means that all souls were created at the start of the universe at the same time or what. Now most religions believe in angeology and demonology, but when I was at
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I believe that some people are more in tune with the universe than others. I'll give an example. I weightlift and 10 years ago I entered a bench press competition. On six weeks of training I got to 355 lbs on my home set. I trained like mad, ate like crazy and went to my parent's house to babysit Princess while my parents were away on business. I came through the door with
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm working out or perhaps reworking out my beliefs in spirits and disembodies conciousnesses. When my beloved dog Princess was put to sleep, she was cremated and her remains were put in my parent's break front before the urn was buried. I was at my folk's and we were talking about her and all of a sudden, we could feel her presence. It wasn't like she could talk or co
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quoterrmoderator There is a section about the Master Path on my website. See Olsen has hurt quite a few people over the years. Good to hear you are moving on. Rick Ross I wonder how the rest of the group that Chabad (specifically Shea Hecht) "deprogrammed" are doing. I wouldn't be surprised if they're on their last legs.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

THE GATHERING FOR KABBALAS HA’MALCHUS IN 770 — BROADCAST LIVE AROUND THE WORLD Right after the seuda, Rabbi Chaim Baruch Halberstam of W.L.C.C. gave a report to the Rebbe of the list of cities and countries worldwide which participated via hook-up in the seudas Melaveh Malka. The report began with: “K’vod k’dushas Admur shlita Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed! A report from the broadcast of the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Rick, I got this off of in their message board it seems that Rabbi Schneerson did believe that he was the Messiah. THE PSAK DIN: THE REBBE IS MELECH HA’MOSHIACH After Shavuos 5751, rabbanei Chabad who had gathered at 770 from all over the world signed a detailed psak din which quoted the halacha in the Rambam regarding the signs indicating who is Moshiach, and established that “it is clear
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteOriginally posted by deehester I The Church has beliefs of alien possession, transcendental meditation, reincarnation, channeling, past lives, psychic healing, and something called the internal “Christ Force?” I am working on a detailed study that will ready in two weeks. However, any help anyone can provide or recommendation of who has more information on this organization that wou
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Most cults use music extensively to recruit people. Shea Hecht of Lubavitch told me this years ago, and not so coincidentally, his cult has a lot of its own music produced by its own music houses and sung by people like Avraham Fried. Shlomo Carlebach used his music as a spring board for his missionizing agenda and was told by the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe to "use 'power of nig
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

One of the worst things you can be called in orthodoxy is a "freethinker". Orthodoxy wants "we will hear and we will do."So the need to have one's thoughts and actions governed is a major, ingrained tenet of many religious systems. Remember, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for eating from the "Tree of Knowledge," according to the story. And
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Try contacting the French gov't ie. the embassy or consulate. I poked around on a few search engines including Dogpile, Yahoo, and Askgeeves.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteVTHokie VTHokie's statement: Yes but that's true of every group. It's not an indictment of the religion itself, but the people who claim it. richardmgreen's reply Actually, religious intolerance seems to be the standard from what I've seen. Most of the orthodox Jews I've met are very down on Jews who don't keep the Torah laws. And Christianity an
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteVTHokie Opposite. Religion is often a tool for groups to pursue their own agenda. I don't like the idea of persecuting people for their thoughts. Jesus had a few things to say about the Jewish religious leaders of the day calling the Pharisees hypocrites and saying that they "make to outside of the vessels clean but the insides are filthy" etc. And some people be
Forum: Destructive Churches

What Lubavitch is trying to do is pretty scary to me and I'm really wondering just what exactly they want. Is this a plot for wold domination. I hate to be "politically incorrect" but I think what they're up to may be "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" material. The Protocols was a document that started around 1890 claiming to be plan concocted by the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteOriginally posted by rrmoderator There are many articles about "cults" at colleges within my archive. All you need to do is go to the search page and enter "college cults" or "cults on campus" and a listing of articles will come up as search results. Some of the most common groups recruiting at colleges that have been called "cults" are: Chabad
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What do you think about the banning of the net by the orthodoxy because of the potential for abuse. Would they ban picture books and magazines because some magazines have pornographic content?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteVTHokie All of this has left me jaundiced towards religion I used to feel the same way about blacks for the same reason but you eventually get beyond it. While religion has some benefits, like binding people together within the group, giving them something to do etc., I see the current world picture as very disturbing. Religion is often a jump off point for hate groups and hatre
Forum: Destructive Churches

A friend of mine has cousins who are involved with the Chabad Lubavitch movement. My friend is Jewish but she's married to a non-Jew. Her relatives told her that they're only "putting up with him ." I'm wondering how long they're going to be so magnanimous. My friend also told me that someone else that she knows is married to a non-Jew. The person she knows
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Another story I heard from Shlomo was about Moshe Leib Sassover. When he passed away, he was tried by the Heavenly Court (the "Beis Din shel Lemayla") and was found that he merited to go to heaven. In order to go to heaven, they rush you through hell first. You got fast and then you get to heaven. But Moshe Leib Sassover saw all the broken and tortured people in Hell and h
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteHope Life is about risk. Getting out of a group with battle scars and helping others via web sites like this and word of mouth is probably the only we can hope for. I believe the types of risk people take when joining a cult all have common threads. Usually, it a very risk assuming attitude towards a new religion, uncharted territory. I comment on this website to help people
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

I heard these stories from Shlomo Carlebach so, most of them are on tapes of his. One story (and I'm going to be brief unlike Shlomo) revolved around some Chasid whose rebbe died. The Chasid complained that he wanted the Rebbe to come back to the physical world because he has to celebrate the Sabbath by himself now and it's not the same without the Rebbe. So the Rebbe explained
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteOriginally posted by shibbo I've been wanting to ask someone with a Jewish background this for a long time. Does Judaism teach any concept of hell? I mean the traditional idea of eternal torment, fire and brimstone. Hell is called Gehinna after the Valley of Gehnom (check ou the spelling). It is not a place of eternal torment. After people dies, some people go there as a t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A "yechidus" is a private meeting with the Grand Rabbi. The Lubavitcher did this until his health failed. I heard one Lubavitcher telling another who was about to have a yechidus that he should tell the Rebbe everything that's on his mind, don't hold back, "don't worry the Rebbe already knows everything..." I'm sure it's just mind control
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteOriginally posted by inspector 8 ..., I am much more concerned with their motives in the first place about it. Because some of them start thinking they are like deities, I'm afraid, or like they know how to run other people's lives better than those actually living those lives. And often they maybe have a good agenda, but it does not necessarily have my (or other people's)
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There are stories that I heard from Shlomo Carlebach (I have them on tape actually) that certain people managed to contact other people through dreams etc.. In fact on the "Haneshama Shel Shlomo" recording, Rabbi Carlebach's daughter Neshama relates the tale of how when Rabbi Vooker died he did not appear to anyone for about 4 weeks, notably not to his son and not to his best fri
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As the wise man said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a lb. of cure." It pays to research anything you get involved in thoroughly before you shell out money, or give away your allegience. Once you're in some group, it can be really difficult to get out, especially if you're earning a living based upon the groups membership or if you social life is mostly structured aro
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

I'm not sure if mentioned this before. If I did, it's worth repeating. Years ago, when I was involved with Hickman's church, my uncle leaned on me to go to a Lubavitcher Seder (Passover ritual dinner). One of the rabbis gave a talk about how if a person converted to another religion and then came back, they could never really trust the person again. Well, trust works
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotemijctj I just felt that I should share this with everyone. I work with a Multi Level Marketing Company called Usana. Usana is a publicly traded company (usna) on the Nasdaq. It is 10 years old and has expanded into many new markets recently. Best Selling Author Robert G. Allen and Dr. Dennis Waitley both stand behind this company 100%. Both men have a reputation on the line, and wo
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes