Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 88
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.‖

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2006, Page 89
Legionaries of Christ
The founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Delgado, 86 and ill,
has been prohibited by Pope Benedict XVI from saying mass in public or speaking to the
media. Maciel, who has for thirty years avoided answering complaints that he abused young
boys in seminaries, was repeatedly praised for his work by Pope John Paul II. It is alleged
that Maciel absolved in confession some of the boys he is accused of abusing. Maciel claims
he is innocent, but says that like Christ he has decided not to defend himself.
A former Legionary testified that the organization is very secretive and abusive. Followers
must take private vows not to criticize the actions of superiors and to report those who do.
He also said the confidentiality of spiritual counseling is often violated. ...The Hartford
Courant says, ―Justice was far too gentle‖ with Maciel, although his punishment ―is an
undeniable sign that, even at the highest levels, the Roman Catholic Church is no longer
treating accusations of sexual abuse by priests with its traditional tolerance, secrecy, and
denial.‖ ...The Legionaries of Christ, founded in 1941, has 650 priests and 2,500
seminarians in 20 countries. The Regnum Christi Movement is its lay auxiliary.
The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that the operation of a seminary in Mount Pleasant
by the Legion of Christ on a 97-acre former IBM training center does not violate the
town‘s zoning code. The court also said the property is now tax-exempt and that the Legion
can train priests there. The ruling means the town will lose $1.8 million annually in revenue
and will have to refund past taxes paid by the Legion, whose [Mexico-based] founder was
recently banned from saying mass publicly by the Vatican following an investigation of
charges he molested seminarians decades ago.
Lord’s Resistance Army
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), in northern Uganda, is similar to the now-dissolved
Ugandan Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments in that they both
used similar techniques to indoctrinate and retain members. Although the LRA kidnapped
children and made them absolutely subservient killers, and the Movement for the
Restoration of the Ten Commandments did not use physical force, both organizations
employed psychological control founded on separation of members from family and friends,
the promise of salvation exclusively through the leader, group pressure, induction of guilt,
information management, singing and chanting, and other methods common to cults.
Neurotheology
Having recently demonstrated that mystical experiences can be produced in the laboratory,
and claiming that such experiences are ―descriptively identical‖ to religious experiences
commonly reported since time immemorial, Johns Hopkins University researchers argue that
the potential for the use of psychedelic/hallucinogenic drugs to treat depression, drug
addiction, and intolerable pain must be explored.
The blind test volunteers — all of whom said they had pre-existing spiritual interests — took
either psilocybin or the non-hallucinogenic stimulant Ritalin. A majority who took the
psilocybin felt that the ensuing hallucinogenic episode qualified as a ―full mystical
experience.‖ The effects remained for at least two months, and eighty percent reported
moderately or greatly increased well-being or satisfaction with life, changes confirmed by
friends and colleagues.
The results of this and other studies stemming from the new discipline of neurotheology
— the neurology of religious experience — and reported in the online journal
Psychopharmacology, have overcome the initial skepticism of Professor Roland Griffiths, of
the Johns Hopkins department of neuroscience and psychiatry, who says, ‖Under defined
conditions, with careful preparation, you can safely and fairly reliably occasion what‘s called