Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 118
Registered nurse Mabel Davies, a Deya follower, dismissed the DNA evidence. ―I‘m not
talking obstetrics I‘m talking about what happened. Even if you see the babies coming out
of their mother‘s wombs, I am confident that DNA will not match.‖ This was further proof,
she said, that the children were the result of God‘s intervention. (East African Standard,
Internet, 8/26/04 Jonathan Ester, The Independent [UK], Internet, 9/1/04)
Great Deliverance Spiritual Baptist Church
“Torture and Cruelty” in Church Faith Healing Rituals
Wheelchair-bound Carmine Babb, 34, who suffered a stroke in 1998, has testified before a
jury in Brooklyn, NY, that she was held captive and tortured during a nine-day healing ritual
at Great Deliverance Spiritual Baptist Church. She described how, with the
congregation singing and praying, the Rev. Junior Mitchell and his wife, as well as Babb‘s
husband, exhorted her to walk, and how when she kept falling they cut her feet with a
razor, bled them, covered them with hot wax and put a flame to them. Then, she added,
they beat her with a broom. After nine days, paramedics found Babb disoriented,
dehydrated, and sitting in her own waste. She had left a rehabilitation center in mid-2002 to
see if the Rev. Mitchell could heal her. (Nancy L. Katz, New York Daily News, Internet,
7/15/04)
Greater Grace World Outreach
Internet Website Focus of Criticism
Former and current members of Baltimore‘s Greater Grace World Outreach (GGWO)
employ an Internet bulletin board to criticize the leadership of the church, headed by Carl
H. Stevens, Jr., whose Bible Speaks organization was found guilty in 1987 of unduly
influencing Massachusetts heiress Elizabeth Dovydenas to donate millions to his ministry.
Some followers believed his teachings threatened divine retribution for criticizing him or
leaving the church. The judge in the Dovydenas case said it ―revealed an astonishing saga
of clerical deceit, avarice, and subjugation on the part of the church‘s founder.‖
The bulletin board — www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/3.html — is one of many used to
discredit or reform cults and new religious movements, according to Swiss researcher and
author Jean-Francois Mayer, who adds that this has made it more difficult for leaders to
silence critics or control their images. ―The Internet is creating increasing pressure for
transparency. Any group getting in trouble won‘t be able to escape by just moving
physically, and leaders of groups will realize it more and more.‖
Postings to the site critical of the GGWO say leaders paid off a husband to cover up adultery
by a prominent church minister, and that Stevens is addicted to prescription pain-killers.
One former member, who left a year-and-a-half ago after more than a quarter-century in
the church, said in a posting to the site: ―I have been paralyzed in the area of critical
thinking when it comes to the church. We had been taught not to question anything, not to
think, and to receive everything from the pulpit as from God.‖ The head of the GGWO
mission in Argentina said of the Internet forum: ―It‘s about people who got their feelings
hurt or their toes stepped on in one way or another, and now they are looking for someone
to blame it on.‖ (Frank Langfitt, Baltimore Sun, Internet, 5/15/04)
Hare Krishna [International Society for Krishna Consciousness/ISKCON]
Bhaktipada Released from Prison but Banned from Community
Former Hare Krishna splinter group leader Swami Bhaktipada (known also as
Kirtinananda Swami, born Keith Ham), has been released from the federal correction
facility in Butler, NC, after serving eight years of a 12-year sentence for racketeering. He
had also been charged with ordering the murders of two followers who threatened his
Registered nurse Mabel Davies, a Deya follower, dismissed the DNA evidence. ―I‘m not
talking obstetrics I‘m talking about what happened. Even if you see the babies coming out
of their mother‘s wombs, I am confident that DNA will not match.‖ This was further proof,
she said, that the children were the result of God‘s intervention. (East African Standard,
Internet, 8/26/04 Jonathan Ester, The Independent [UK], Internet, 9/1/04)
Great Deliverance Spiritual Baptist Church
“Torture and Cruelty” in Church Faith Healing Rituals
Wheelchair-bound Carmine Babb, 34, who suffered a stroke in 1998, has testified before a
jury in Brooklyn, NY, that she was held captive and tortured during a nine-day healing ritual
at Great Deliverance Spiritual Baptist Church. She described how, with the
congregation singing and praying, the Rev. Junior Mitchell and his wife, as well as Babb‘s
husband, exhorted her to walk, and how when she kept falling they cut her feet with a
razor, bled them, covered them with hot wax and put a flame to them. Then, she added,
they beat her with a broom. After nine days, paramedics found Babb disoriented,
dehydrated, and sitting in her own waste. She had left a rehabilitation center in mid-2002 to
see if the Rev. Mitchell could heal her. (Nancy L. Katz, New York Daily News, Internet,
7/15/04)
Greater Grace World Outreach
Internet Website Focus of Criticism
Former and current members of Baltimore‘s Greater Grace World Outreach (GGWO)
employ an Internet bulletin board to criticize the leadership of the church, headed by Carl
H. Stevens, Jr., whose Bible Speaks organization was found guilty in 1987 of unduly
influencing Massachusetts heiress Elizabeth Dovydenas to donate millions to his ministry.
Some followers believed his teachings threatened divine retribution for criticizing him or
leaving the church. The judge in the Dovydenas case said it ―revealed an astonishing saga
of clerical deceit, avarice, and subjugation on the part of the church‘s founder.‖
The bulletin board — www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/3.html — is one of many used to
discredit or reform cults and new religious movements, according to Swiss researcher and
author Jean-Francois Mayer, who adds that this has made it more difficult for leaders to
silence critics or control their images. ―The Internet is creating increasing pressure for
transparency. Any group getting in trouble won‘t be able to escape by just moving
physically, and leaders of groups will realize it more and more.‖
Postings to the site critical of the GGWO say leaders paid off a husband to cover up adultery
by a prominent church minister, and that Stevens is addicted to prescription pain-killers.
One former member, who left a year-and-a-half ago after more than a quarter-century in
the church, said in a posting to the site: ―I have been paralyzed in the area of critical
thinking when it comes to the church. We had been taught not to question anything, not to
think, and to receive everything from the pulpit as from God.‖ The head of the GGWO
mission in Argentina said of the Internet forum: ―It‘s about people who got their feelings
hurt or their toes stepped on in one way or another, and now they are looking for someone
to blame it on.‖ (Frank Langfitt, Baltimore Sun, Internet, 5/15/04)
Hare Krishna [International Society for Krishna Consciousness/ISKCON]
Bhaktipada Released from Prison but Banned from Community
Former Hare Krishna splinter group leader Swami Bhaktipada (known also as
Kirtinananda Swami, born Keith Ham), has been released from the federal correction
facility in Butler, NC, after serving eight years of a 12-year sentence for racketeering. He
had also been charged with ordering the murders of two followers who threatened his
