CULT WATCH

DAVID KORESH

It isn’t normally the case for democracies to send tanks against its own people, but on 19 April 1993, America did just that. The target was the compound of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel, Waco, Texas. Breeching the walls and pumping gas inside, it – or some of the occupants – ignited the place, and 80 people died.
This apocalypse was the end game of a 51 day siege, begun following a shoot-out when the authorities attempted to search the place for weapons. The Branch Davidians were an off-shoot of the Seventh Day Adventists, who had lived peacefully for years. Until – that is – leadership went to one David Koresh.
Koresh had been born Vernon Howell. His mother was a teenage single parent. Abused by the man she later married, the future guru found comfort in the Bible. Hoping to be a great rock star, in 1977 he left school, eventually joining the sect, but being expelled. Moving to Waco, he worked as an odd-job man for them, but eventually became leader.
Becoming known as the Sinful Messiah, his extreme views became corrupted, with reports of him abusing the members. And when he began preparing for Armageddon, it was inevitable it would all come to a fiery end. Koresh himself died on that day.

(c) Anthony North, Jan 2007

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THE FAMILY

Based on a mixture of Christianity and 1960s hlppydom, The Family, previously known as the Children of God, was formed on the Californian beaches in 1967 by David Berg, a mystical hippy-type with a seemingly insatiable sexual appetite.
Attracting converts such as Fleetwood Mac’s Jeremy Spencer, by Berg’s death in 1994, the cult had thousands of members and communes in many countries. Given immediacy by its belief in armageddon, many commentators see the movement as a simple excuse for group sex. This was mainly due to the early practice of sending out God’s whores to go flirty fishing, or fuffing, around clubs to pick up new members.

(c) Anthony North, Feb 2007

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JOSHUA CREFFIELD

Sex often seems the impulse for cultish activity. Charismatic guru Joshua Creffield attracted many women to his mission in Corwallis, California, in 1903. His form of worship included them ripping off their clothes, which led to many husbands running him out of town. Setting up again in Newport, Oregon, more opposition followed, so he put a curse on San Francisco.
The coincidental earthquake which flattened the city increased his appeal, AND his sexual appetite. Creffield was eventually shot dead by a man who discovered he had ‘deflowered’ his two sisters. Such was the degree of veneration for this guru that one of the sisters then shot her brother in revenge.

(c) Anthony North, Feb 2007

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MARK PROPHET

In 1958, Mark Prophet was announced a Messenger of the Masters by Ascended Master, El Morya. Just whether this character actually existed is unknown, but soon Mark began lecturing around America that God exists In us all is the female presence, and we must all raise our feminine principle to wed the soul to the universal Christ consciousness.
Soon, Mark married Elizabeth and they formed the Summit Lighthouse. In 1973 Mark died but was said to continue to appear to Elizabeth to dictate his wishes. This led to the Church universal and Triumphant in 1974.
The Church was headquartered in a ranch near Livingstone, Montana, which housed a commune. Elisabeth married again, to Ed Francis, who was charged with holding illegal weapons at the ranch. The Church is convinced Armageddon will come through nuclear war. To this end, by 1990 they had sold thousands of places in their shelters for $6,000 a time.

(c) Anthony North, Mar 2007

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CHRIS BRAIN

Britain had its own sex scandal in the early 1990s when the Rev Chris Brain began his Nine O’clock Service, a mixture of Christianity and disco, at St Thomas’s Church, Sheffield.
Attracting hundreds of young women, he eventually moved to a conference centre. However, he had an inner circle of ladies who seemed to pander to his needs. In August 1995, some of them spoke out about Brain’s sexual molestations.
Although he never had intercourse with them, he was disgraced and the Nine O’clock Service, including his ‘Home Base’ team, was disbanded.

(c) Anthony North, Mar 2007

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SABBATAI ZEVI

Born in 1626, Turkish Jew, Sabbatai Zevi had a religious experience when he was sixteen before going on a six year fast.Emerging as a man who went from deep gloom to absolute euphoria, he declared himself the Messiah after hearing of a pogrom in Poland.
Preaching that the forbidden was allowed, including scourging and group sex, he attracted a large cult following, being banished from Salonika and then Smyrna. Meeting the Jewish scholar, Nathan Ashkenazi, in Jerusalem, the scholar encouraged his delusions and scenes of mass hysteria followed as Zevi declared the Day of Judgement was upon them.
Eventually, in Constantinople, the Sultan had had enough and arrested him, agreeing to spare his life if he converted to Islam. Zevi obliged, but six years later he was back to being Christ, finally dying in Albania.

(c) Anthony North, March 2007