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also begun to collect taxes on FLDS property in the U.S., although it is not clear whether
residents there are paying in defiance of fugitive leader Warren Jeffs‘ orders not to do so, or
because other church leaders have decided to cooperate in order to retain trust assets.
Gentle Wind
The Maine attorney general has sued the Kittery-based Gentle Wind Project for falsely
claiming that its products have healing qualities and for considering income from the sale of
the products as charitable donations. The state wants the Project to liquidate its assets, pay
the government‘s legal fees, and refund payments made for the items sold between 2000
and the present.
Gospel Outreach Christian Fellowship
A judge has dismissed a suit brought by the Pequannock, NJ, Gospel Outreach Christian
Fellowship, a 30-member evangelical group stemming from a 1970s California commune,
accusing critics of falsely claiming it is abusive, that it extracts a great deal of money from
members, and breaks up families. The judge — who dismissed the case on technical
grounds — suggested that the church‘s suit was retaliation for a former member‘s lawsuit
against it alleging it was cult-like. The defendants were the Hawthorne Gospel Church, three
ministers of the Route 208 megachurch, and 11 individuals, including former members of
Gospel Outreach and their relatives.
Grigory Grabovoi
Grigory Grabovoi, indicted for promising parents that he would revive child victims of the
Beslan massacre, has now been charged with ―grand fraud‖ and running a pyramid scheme
based on paid seminars he organized for the grief stricken of Beslan, and elsewhere. Some
of his seminar students — he typically drew 200–300 to Moscow‘s Kosmos Hotel — signed
contracts to spread his teachings to Russian provinces, where they organized additional
seminars and sent him ten percent of their profits.
International Churches of Christ
Nathalie Gettliff, 35, has been jailed in British Columbia for abducting her children and
taking them to France to keep them from the influence of their father and his church, the
International Churches of Christ. A French court ruled that Getliffe had breached the
Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She was arrested when
she returned to Vancouver to defend her doctoral dissertation at the University of British
Columbia.
British Columbian Scott Grant, a member of the International Churches of Christ, has
regained custody of his children in France, where his estranged wife had taken them, saying
the children were not safe with him because he belonged to a ―cult.‖ A French court ruled
that Nathalie Getliffe Grant had breached the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction. She was arrested when she returned to Vancouver to defend
her doctoral dissertation at the University of British Columbia.
Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Alberta Court of Queen‘s Bench has dismissed Lawrence Hughes‘s lawsuit accusing
Jehovah’s Witnesses members of contributing to the death of his daughter, a teenager
who refused blood transfusions. In reversing a previous ruling, the court said Hughes was
not properly named administrator of the estate of his daughter, Bethany, 17, who died of
leukemia in 2002. Hughes says he cannot afford a further appeal.

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Jim Bakker
Televangelist Jim Bakker, whose wealth and fame collapsed amid scandal and a prison
term in the 1980s, is now hosting, with his second wife, Lori Graham Bakker, the hour-long
―Jim Bakker Show‖ from the tourist town of Branson, MO, in the heart of the Bible Belt. The
daily production, which Bakker considers a church service — it involves prayer, music, and
religious messages — is carried on 50 TV stations nationwide and via DirecTV. The show will
soon move to a larger location in Branson.
Kaotians
A Northern Echo [UK] investigation has found evidence that more than 350 people in the
region, members of the Kaotians sect — who may number as many as 25,000 in Britain —
are involved in consensual slavery rituals based on a series of 1960s science fiction novels
by professor John Norman, who described a caste society in which women are kept as
slaves. Police, who raided a home owned by a member of the sect and freed a Canadian
woman allegedly trapped in the group, have discontinued their inquiry because they found
no criminal activity and all participants were consenting adults.
Lee Thompson, 31, of Darlington, who trains women as slaves, says they come to him
voluntarily and are free to leave whenever they like. They cook and clean for him. There is
also an element of sexual domination— the girls wear leather straps, chains, and leashes.
Thompson says he‘s been banned by his butcher for leading a girl into the shop on a leash.
―I have been called sick,‖ he said, ―but I don‘t think what I do is bad. I don‘t hurt anyone or
cause any damage. I‘m a very spiritual person. I think if you do good, you get good. Lots of
girls want to come and try and find out about it. They think it‘s exciting, but it‘s hard work
for everyone. Girls leave when they‘ve had enough.‖
The parents of new member Zachary Nicodemous, 18, who say he quit his job at a
computer company to live with Thompson, add that ―he had really good prospects until this
happened. He‘s been manipulated with all this deviance going on.‖ Young Nicodemous, who
met Thompson on the Internet, says the Kaotians are ―the thing I‘ve been looking for.‖
Kenja
Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers, 84, co-founder of the spiritual healing group Kenja, was
arrested last October in Sydney, allegedly for assaulting two twelve-year-old girls during
―energy conversion sessions.‖ The girls‘ family left the organization when the financial
contributions Dyers demanded became too great.
Landmark
Landmark seminar leader Gladys Palacio plans to open a charter school in Miami Beach —
Charter on the Beach — with a six-member board, three of whom are involved in the
Landmark self improvement program, as is the owner of the building that will house the
school. The idea for the school came to Palacio following a three-month Landmark course
called the Self-Expression and Leadership Program. ―One of the greatest things about
Landmark is creating possibilities,‖ she said, adding that the school will not involve
Landmark‘s intense self-improvement programs. But, ―if people come to me, I‘ll tell them.‖
Although Landmark has its roots in Erhard Seminars Training (est), Virginia Commonwealth
University‘s David Bromley says Landmark seminars have greatly moderated est‘s grueling
intensity. Landmark, he noted, is ―reliant largely on getting people who are impressed with
the results they have experienced to go out and recruit for them. That really is the only way
they can continue.‖