Posts by fulltimestudent

4

Aussie Pentecostal Group busted as 'Abusive Cult.'

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

the australian abc ( a government owned media group) has published the results of a four year investigation into a nsw-based registered charity and religious group christian assemblies international (cai).. the four corners program revealed that self-styled religious guru pastor scott williams was using his warped brand of evangelical pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.. courageous former members broke their silence and told of their torment living inside the group, which they said is not a christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.. they detailed shocking acts of abuse ranging from spiritual abuse, financial abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the sexual abuse of adult men.. they said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by williams, who described himself as "the anointed one" with the lord's authorisation to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and sexually train his male members into submission and obedience.. .

reference: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/former-members-break-silence-over-christian-cult-of-horrors/5627794.

(a short video extract from the abc program can be found on the rh side/top of the above page.

fulltimestudent

Note, the similarity with our former ever-loving brothers and sisters, this cult also used its membership to do improvements to properties that had been purchased.

Williams, now 70, is living with his wife Ree in a luxury apartment in the beachfront Pacific Towers complex in Coffs Harbour. It is one of many properties Williams purchased using money donated by church members who believed much of it was being used for charitable purposes.

Today, the CAI boasts an impressive multi-million-dollar property portfolio including Pitversie House and Douglas House, a hotel in Abernethy, Scotland.

All were renovated to luxurious standards by church members, who have told Four Corners they worked hundreds of hours updating the properties while Williams monitored their work and punished them for any mistakes or minor misdemeanours.
Katja Forkin was recruited into the Assembly as a teenager living in Germany. She says women and men were expected to work on the properties night and day, and if they did not they would be severely punished or excommunicated.
She says life in the Assembly got worse once Williams began to purchase more and more properties.

"It started to change once the Assembly owned properties in Scotland, because basically all we did from then is just work on the properties, renovating, looking after Scott and Ree more or less, and everything evolved around their lives," she said.

"So the little spare time that we had sort of dwindled away more and more to the point that we started to have less and less connections to the outside."

As members disconnected from the outside world, following Williams around the world and moving away from family and friends, they say their leader's language and demeanour began to change.

Former members told Four Corners they were regularly denigrated and humiliated, losing their self-identity, confidence and sense of self.

Klaus Tishcer says it happened gradually.

"As the years went on and he was sort of more sure that things were going his way or going the Lord's way, then he was more confident to express that we were a waste of space, useless heathen and would burn in hell and "the devil would rip our balls off" in a man's case, or in females other words were used," he said.

4

Aussie Pentecostal Group busted as 'Abusive Cult.'

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

the australian abc ( a government owned media group) has published the results of a four year investigation into a nsw-based registered charity and religious group christian assemblies international (cai).. the four corners program revealed that self-styled religious guru pastor scott williams was using his warped brand of evangelical pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.. courageous former members broke their silence and told of their torment living inside the group, which they said is not a christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.. they detailed shocking acts of abuse ranging from spiritual abuse, financial abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the sexual abuse of adult men.. they said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by williams, who described himself as "the anointed one" with the lord's authorisation to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and sexually train his male members into submission and obedience.. .

reference: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/former-members-break-silence-over-christian-cult-of-horrors/5627794.

(a short video extract from the abc program can be found on the rh side/top of the above page.

fulltimestudent

The message of this cult was so similar to other self-styled 'prophets' that we are familiar with:

his message was that the world was going to come to an end very soon and that we didn't have much time and we needed to convert as many people as possible before the return of Jesus," he said.

His beautiful saying was always, 'I'm gonna convert the German nation, this time to do a better deed instead of what Hitler did, a bad deed'.
Former member Gunther Frantz

" his message was very much predominating around that Russia would invade Germany, a third world war would break out, and he brought up all sorts of scriptures from the Old Testament to prove his prophetic statements."

Gunther Frantz, Williams's first convert in Germany, says he was 12 when he began to be indoctrinated. He says Williams brainwashed him into doing almost anything.

"He had such power over people," Mr Frantz said.

"His beautiful saying was always, 'I'm gonna convert the German nation, this time to do a better deed instead of what Hitler did - a bad deed'."

Williams's core beliefs included a strict literal adherence to the Bible and a highly conservative lifestyle.

Upon baptism, members would often speak in tongues. As part of their membership, they were expected to donate 10 per cent of their gross income to the CAI in addition to many different offerings every year. "

From the ABC web-page cited in the first post.

4

Aussie Pentecostal Group busted as 'Abusive Cult.'

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

the australian abc ( a government owned media group) has published the results of a four year investigation into a nsw-based registered charity and religious group christian assemblies international (cai).. the four corners program revealed that self-styled religious guru pastor scott williams was using his warped brand of evangelical pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.. courageous former members broke their silence and told of their torment living inside the group, which they said is not a christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.. they detailed shocking acts of abuse ranging from spiritual abuse, financial abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the sexual abuse of adult men.. they said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by williams, who described himself as "the anointed one" with the lord's authorisation to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and sexually train his male members into submission and obedience.. .

reference: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/former-members-break-silence-over-christian-cult-of-horrors/5627794.

(a short video extract from the abc program can be found on the rh side/top of the above page.

fulltimestudent

I ask again, as I have many time before:

"Where was the Yahweh/Jesus combo God, when all these wicked things were being done IN THEIR NAME?"

4

Aussie Pentecostal Group busted as 'Abusive Cult.'

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

the australian abc ( a government owned media group) has published the results of a four year investigation into a nsw-based registered charity and religious group christian assemblies international (cai).. the four corners program revealed that self-styled religious guru pastor scott williams was using his warped brand of evangelical pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.. courageous former members broke their silence and told of their torment living inside the group, which they said is not a christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.. they detailed shocking acts of abuse ranging from spiritual abuse, financial abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the sexual abuse of adult men.. they said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by williams, who described himself as "the anointed one" with the lord's authorisation to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and sexually train his male members into submission and obedience.. .

reference: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/former-members-break-silence-over-christian-cult-of-horrors/5627794.

(a short video extract from the abc program can be found on the rh side/top of the above page.

fulltimestudent

The Australian ABC ( a government owned Media group) has published the results of a four year investigation into a NSW-based registered charity and religious group Christian Assemblies International (CAI).

The Four Corners program revealed that self-styled religious guru Pastor Scott Williams was using his warped brand of evangelical Pentecostalism to run a clandestine homosexual sex ring while allegedly misusing vast amounts of member donations for personal use.

Courageous former members broke their silence and told of their torment living inside the group, which they said is not a Christian church but a horrendous cult run by one man.

They detailed shocking acts of abuse ranging from spiritual abuse, financial abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and the sexual abuse of adult men.

They said bizarre sexual rituals were carried out in secret by Williams, who described himself as "The Anointed One" with the Lord's authorisation to sidestep biblical commands against homosexuality and sexually train his male members into submission and obedience.

Reference: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/former-members-break-silence-over-christian-cult-of-horrors/5627794

(A short video extract from the ABC program can be found on the RH side/top of the above page. A former member explains how difficult it is to leave a cult once you're hooked - something we are all too familiar with)

Christian Assemblies International

The claimed HQ of the group in Cofffs Harbour, northern NSW.

19

Why are 'most' of the people fighting in the Middle East MEN???

by NAVYTOWN in

jw
friends

it seems that in every war or revolution, 'most' of the participants are men and young boys.

aside from the occasional female suicide bomber.

does this have something to do with their religion and/ or cultural traditions?

fulltimestudent

NotNew:

Another feature of the Bedouin ethos is the law of blood revenge. A much quoted Arab proverb is, “Blood demands blood.” Relatives must avenge the blood of the slain by killing either the actual murderer or one of his relatives.

It comes from the Bible, or, should I say that the ancient Israelites also had this crazy law. Kill someone, even if accidently, and one of his relatives had the right to kill YOU. The person with the right to kill was called the blood avenger. You can read about it in Numbers 35:19

The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death. (NIV)

We had this wonderfully crazy series of WT study articles once (I think you could see Freddies mind behind it) on this topic. In Numbers, six cities were set up as "cities of refuge," to which the accidental man-slayer could flee and be safe from the blood avenger.

So Yup! you guessed it, there's a modern day city of refuge, and I can safely say that if you are HERE (grin) you are NOT in the city of refuge.

3

$30 million for a Shang Dynasty bronze casting

by fulltimestudent in

in 1922 some farmers in taoyuan county, hunan province, china, dug up a beautiful cast bronze vessel with a lid.

the farmer's son took the lid to school to ask his teacher what it was.

the teacher saw that it was something wonderful and raked up 800 silver dollars to buy it.

fulltimestudent

In 1922 some farmers in Taoyuan County, Hunan Province, China, dug up a beautiful cast bronze vessel with a lid. The farmer's son took the lid to school to ask his teacher what it was. The teacher saw that it was something wonderful and raked up 800 silver dollars to buy it. Someone else heard about it and bought the vessel itself for 400 silver dollars. So the two parts went their separate ways. The lid finished up in the hands of an army officer, who gave it to the Hunan Provincial government in 1952

The body finished up in the hands of the Shanghai City government, but during the chaos of the times, was sold to foreigners, eventually being bought by a French collector in 2001 for the huge sum of $9,246,000. His recent death saw it back on the market.

Hunan Museum thought there was little chance of buying the vessel's body and displaying it complete, but a group of Chinese businessmen from both China and Taiwan negotiated a deal that brought it back to China and the complete vessel will soon be on display in the Hunan Museum.

The vessel was made as a wine serving vessel and stands around 600 mm (two feet) high.

The history blog of Livius describes it:

The vessel’s massive size distinguishes this extraordinary work as one of the foremost examples of its kind. The surface is intricately cast with stylized animals and mysterious monster masks that provide a fascinating insight into early Chinese culture and beliefs. The crisp, precise casting of this complex design vividly illustrates why bronze vessels created during the Shang and Zhou dynasties rank among the finest examples of bronze casting the world has ever seen.

Reference: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/category/ancient

FYI: The Shang dynasty existed between the mid 18th C BCE and the mid 11th C BCE and was followed by the Zhou Dynasty which at its end in the third C BCE was only a nominal ruler of China.

17

Reunion: Dog Passes Out From Overwhelming Excitement!!!!!!

by rip van winkle in

even grumpy cat would smile :).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/weird-news/dog-faints-from-overwhelming-joy-upon-reuniting-with-owner-after-two-years-9630441.html.

a pet dog appeared to faint from overwhelming joy after being reunited with a family member after two years.. rebecca ehalt had been living and working in slovenia.

fulltimestudent

talesin:

Humans! What a bunch of arseholes!

In my studies I've just come across an interesting reference, for which I'm trying to find the complete piece.

Wang Ling was a bright young man in the Song dynasty, who composed ballds about social evils. In one of these ballads called Meng huang (Dreaming of Locusts), nightmarish insects lecture him - arguing that humans are the real pests in the world.

2

If you're Near Canberra - Partisan Eagles and Fascist donkeys, at the AWM

by fulltimestudent in

i guess that few here would remember any detail of ww2.

not sure whether i should be sad or happy to be old enough to remember those days and the absence of my father who was blown up by a german bomb during the seige of tobruk, but who happily survived.. even more likely to be forgotten in the fog of anti-russian and contemporary cold war propaganda, was the heavy price paid by russians, with between 8 and 14 million military deaths and millions of civilian deaths.. the sustained russian resistance against the german war machine was a major factor in the allied victory.

i doubt that there would have been a successfull landing in normandy if the russians on the eastern front had not tied up so many german armies.

fulltimestudent

I wish I was closer to Canberra. I'd like to hear this presentation. Perhaps it would answer some questions in my mind. When I was about 10, the house behind us belonged to an elderly Russia couple. In pride of place was a picture of Stalin. The old couple revered him. I asked my father who he was, and my father made a derogatory remark, which I (with a child's lack of guile) repeated to the old Russian couple - the result - an explosive loss of neighbourly camaraderie.

Some years later, not too long before I was persuaded that the Yahweh/Jesus combo was the only hope for a better world, I was hanging around the left wing fringe in Sydney, including the Russian Club, which was completely supportive of the USSR. I used to go to see free films, some of them magnificent works of art. Others were propaganda in which Stalin was presented as a superhero who saved Russia from Hitler. I've always found the cognitive gap between western and Russia propaganda difficult to bridge

So maybe this may help to bridge that gap.

Lunchtime art talk: Stalin and the warrior archetype

12:30pm Tue 5 Aug

Join Anita Pisch, PhD candidate from the Australian National University, who will speak about a selection of posters from the Second World War.

The creation of a symbolic persona for Joseph Stalin as leader was a deliberate process that drew on mythic archetypes, including the Father, the Warrior, the Architect, the Helmsman, the Teacher, the Saviour and the Magician. A key archetype, particularly during the years of the Second World War, was that of the Warrior. This presentation will examine the ways in which Stalin was presented in political posters as a successful warrior leading the Soviet Union to victory.

2

If you're Near Canberra - Partisan Eagles and Fascist donkeys, at the AWM

by fulltimestudent in

i guess that few here would remember any detail of ww2.

not sure whether i should be sad or happy to be old enough to remember those days and the absence of my father who was blown up by a german bomb during the seige of tobruk, but who happily survived.. even more likely to be forgotten in the fog of anti-russian and contemporary cold war propaganda, was the heavy price paid by russians, with between 8 and 14 million military deaths and millions of civilian deaths.. the sustained russian resistance against the german war machine was a major factor in the allied victory.

i doubt that there would have been a successfull landing in normandy if the russians on the eastern front had not tied up so many german armies.

fulltimestudent

From the Australian War Memorial Site:

http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/partisan-eagles-and-fascist-donkeys-soviet-stencilled-propaganda-posters/

Partisan Eagles and Fascist donkeys: Soviet stencilled propaganda posters

Partisan eagles and fascist donkeys: Soviet stencilled propaganda posters on display in the Link Gallery

Until February 2015
Second World War Galleries

Established in 1925, the Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) was the country’s official state news agency. In June 1941, following the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany, a group of artists and writers in Moscow set up a studio under the TASS for the production of propaganda posters.

For the next four years the TASS studio operated as a “poster factory”, with teams of writers, poets, artists, stencil cutters, and painters working in shifts around the clock to create large, hand-stencilled propaganda posters known as Okno TASS (“the windows of TASS”). At its peak, the TASS studio employed 300 workers, and by 1946 had issued a staggering 700,000 hand-stencilled posters.

During the 1418 days the Soviet Union was involved in the Second World War approximately 1240 TASS posters were designed and distributed in editions of 60 to 1000. Displayed in shop windows and distributed via subscription across the Soviet Union, TASS posters were also sent to Allied countries, including Australia.

TASS posters were as much an expression of state ideologies as mechanically printed wartime propaganda. An editorial office developed officially sanctioned themes for interpretation by selected artists and writers. The nine posters on display at the Memorial exemplify the main styles used by TASS artists – heroic realism and graphic satire.

A comic-strip format (OKNO Panno) was also used by TASS studio artists and writers to create narrative propaganda which effectively replayed and commented on events on the battlefields. These stories often used a cast of stereotypical players: bearded Soviet partisans, heroic Red Army soldiers, and reptilian Nazis. Popular themes presented in the posters included the guerrilla actions of Russian partisans and the lampooning of the German army.

Soviet posters, including those by TASS artists, were admired internationally for their visual punch. Reproduced in Allied propaganda, including in Australia, they became symbolic of the strength of Soviet resistance against the German Army during the Second World War. This exhibition also includes British posters that used images from TASS posters to show the strong relationship between the Allies.

The posters are on display for the first time in Australia.

The production, content and care of the posters will be explored in a series of talks:

TASS propaganda posters – Professor Sasha Grishin, 12.30pm Tuesday 29 July

Stalin and the warrior archetype – Anita Pisch, 12.30pm Tuesday 5 August

The TASS posters at the AWM, 12.30pm Tuesday 12 August

2

If you're Near Canberra - Partisan Eagles and Fascist donkeys, at the AWM

by fulltimestudent in

i guess that few here would remember any detail of ww2.

not sure whether i should be sad or happy to be old enough to remember those days and the absence of my father who was blown up by a german bomb during the seige of tobruk, but who happily survived.. even more likely to be forgotten in the fog of anti-russian and contemporary cold war propaganda, was the heavy price paid by russians, with between 8 and 14 million military deaths and millions of civilian deaths.. the sustained russian resistance against the german war machine was a major factor in the allied victory.

i doubt that there would have been a successfull landing in normandy if the russians on the eastern front had not tied up so many german armies.

fulltimestudent

I guess that few here would remember any detail of WW2. Not sure whether I should be sad or happy to be old enough to remember those days and the absence of my father who was blown up by a German bomb during the seige of Tobruk, but who happily survived.

Even more likely to be forgotten in the fog of anti-Russian and contemporary Cold War propaganda, was the heavy price paid by Russians, with between 8 and 14 million military deaths and millions of civilian deaths.

The sustained Russian resistance against the German war machine was a major factor in the Allied victory. I doubt that there would have been a successfull landing in Normandy if the Russians on the eastern front had not tied up so many German Armies. And, in the closing days of the war, after Germany's surrender, the Russian troops were able to sweep the Japanese from China and were within a few kilometres of invading the main Japanese Islands.

So its rather fascinating to see this collection of patriotic Russian posters from WW2 exhibited at the Australian War memorial in Canberra