=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. Police preparing for release of Aum No. 2 leader Joyu
2. Joyu might disband Aum in order duck new law: expert
3. Aum offers sarin apology
4. Aum still active despite self-imposed ban
5. Law shrouds AUM in doom
6. National crackdown begins on Aum cult
7. Residents voice relief at anticult laws' effect
8. Locals give AUM law mixed review
9. Japanese police want Aum sect placed under surveillance
10. Agency seeks permission to keep watch on Aum
11. Agency requests Aum be put under its watch
12. Japan seeks further restrictions on doomsday cult

=== Japan - Cults
13. Japan Fears Cults Thriving Despite Crackdowns

=== Falun Gong
14. 20 Falun Gong Members Detained
15. China sentences key Falun Gong members to prison
16. White House disappointed over Beijing's harsh sentencing of
Falungong members
17. Beijing imposes tight security after Falungong verdicts
18. Chinese police stop defiant Falungong protesting leaders' jailing
19. Falungong movement won't be threatened by jail terms: rights groups
20. Quieter anti-Falungong campaign seen after leaders sentenced

=== China - "health" sects
21. Health Sects in China Thrive, if Authorities See No Threat

=== Waco / Branch Davidians
22. Branch Davidians rebuild

=== Unification Church
23. Moon-lit matchmakers nibble at apple

=== Y2K / Doomsday
24. As Jan. 1 Draws Near, Doomsayers Reconsider
25. A short list of dire predictions
26. Millennium security a touchy issue in Israel
27. The Amish are well-insulated from Y2K

=== Other News
28. Cult treatment center braces itself for new millennium (Wellspring)
29. Anand Sheela tends patients in Switzerland (ex-Rajneesh spokeswoman)
30. Fulton police unit to get charity role (Creflo Dollar-related)
31. Raelian Religion: Extraterrestrial Millennium Revelations
32. The believers (Cargo cults)
33. Pentecostal minister's takeover of prominent church roils congregation
34. Church, Swedish State Cutting Ties
=== Aum Shinrikyo

1. Police preparing for release of Aum No. 2 leader Joyu
Japan Times, Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/news12-99/news12-28.html
Hiroshima Prison officials announced Tuesday that a prisoner -- assumed to be
Fumihiro Joyu, the second-in-command of Aum Shinrikyo -- was to be released
at 6 a.m. this morning.

Hiroshima Prefectural Police will deploy about 150 officers in the area
around the prison and Hiroshima Airport to prevent trouble, police sources
said. Joyu, 37, is expected to fly to Tokyo from Hiroshima this morning.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


2. Joyu might disband Aum in order duck new law: expert
Japan Times, Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/news12-99/news12-28.html
After he is freed today from a Hiroshima prison, senior Aum Shinrikyo member
Fumihiro Joyu will probably announce the voluntary dissolution of the cult,
according to a freelance journalist who has extensively covered the sect.

It would be a move to avoid a new law designed to curb the cult's activities,
Yoshifu Arita said in an interview with The Japan Times.

"The last thing that Joyu would want is the law to be applied to the cult,
which is equivalent to the death penalty (for the cult)," he said. "Once the
organization ceases to exist, there will be no target to invoke the law on."

Famous for his adept speeches, Joyu, 37, the charismatic former Aum
mouthpiece, was acting leader of the cult from May 1995, when guru Shoko
Asahara was arrested, until his own arrest in October the same year. Many
observers believe he will be the key figure if Aum is to emerge again.

Arita, who recently published the book "A Man of Darkness -- Fumihiro Joyu,"
predicts Joyu may instruct the cult to break up, urging followers to live in
small groups and keep up their religious training at home.

Such an announcement will probably come before the end of January, the
journalist said.
(...)

Joyu will return to the cult as a "seitaishi," the highest rank an Aum
follower can reach, and will strongly affect the cult's decision-making
process, Arita said.

"As it is now, it is believed that Aum is unlikely to commit heinous crimes
in the immediate future," Arita said. "But with the return of Joyu, the
threat of Aum might begin to resurface."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


3. Aum offers sarin apology
Asahi News (Japan), Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.asahi.com/english/enews/enews.html#enews_26771
Aum Shinrikyo has offered an apology to a victim of the cult's 1994 sarin gas
attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.

Yoshiyuki Kono, who was the first to alert police to the attack, said Monday
that members of Aum, headed by acting representative Tatsuko Muraoka, visited
his home in Matsumoto on Sunday and apologized for the suffering inflicted by
followers of the cult.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


4. Aum still active despite self-imposed ban
Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/1227cr07.htm
Aum Supreme Truth members are still actively engaging in cult activities,
despite September's announcement by the cult that it was suspending external
activities, it was learned Saturday.

The Public Security Investigation Agency said in a report that Aum leaders
have told members who live at their own homes that the declaration of
dormancy in September was only for show.

Moreover, the cult still recognizes founder Chizuo Matsumoto, 44, better
known as Shoko Asahara, as its chief representative.
(...)

The agency regards the statement by the cult's upper echelon in its
explanation to cult members that the suspension of activities was just for
show as an indicator that the group is generally deceptive in nature, an
agency official said.
(...)

The cult declared Sept. 29 that it was suspending all external
activities--recruiting members, organizing concerts and advertising.
However, agency investigations have found that the cult is continuing to
engage in activities in which, according to the declaration, it should not.

For instance, leading members of the cult summoned "zaike" members to closed
Aum branches and explained the declaration was just for appearances' sake and
told them they would be informed what to do if an "emergency" occurred. Aum
has two types of members: zaike, who live at home, and shukke, who live at
Aum branches or facilities.

Aum members have held study meetings at conference rooms in public facilities
booked under names other than Aum, to explain the full meaning and spirit of
the cult's doctrine to members, according to the agency.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


5. Law shrouds AUM in doom
Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news01.html
(...) Photos deifying guru Shoko Asahara and idolized by members of AUM
Shinrikyo will be used Monday as proof of the need to monitor the doomsday
cult, government sources said.
(...)

Public-security officials are expected to use a plethora of materials to
prove that cultists continue to regard the accused mass murderer Asahara as a
godlike figure. The incriminating items range from shrines, photographs and
statements given by cultists charged with carrying out the 1995 deadly gas
attack on the Tokyo subway system - one of the nation's most heinous crimes.

The commission is expected to hear some time in January AUM's views on
whether it should be targeted under the new law. The commission will then
decide in early February whether the law can be applied to the cult.
(...)

The organization-restricting law, enacted earlier this month, allows the
Public Security Investigation Agency to monitor any organization that has
committed "indiscriminate mass murder during the past 10 years" - in effect
meaning AUM.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


6. National crackdown begins on Aum cult
Asahi News (Japan), Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.asahi.com/english/enews/enews.html#enews_26743
A law to monitor and control Aum Shinrikyo was enacted today, prompting the
director-general of the Public Security Investigation Agency to submit
documents necessary to monitor the cult.
(...)

The document stated the reason why it is necessary to monitor the cult was
that the cult planned to establish a "despotic autonomy,'' with Matsumoto
becoming its "dictator.'' Sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway system and in
Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture,in 1994 were both politically motivated, the
document said.

The document also said the cult still believes the concept that permits
followers to commit murder.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


7. Residents voice relief at anticult laws' effect
Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/1228cr13.htm
(...) Local residents who have been monitoring activities at Aum facilities
around the clock said that the burden on them would be reduced and that the
laws were a step forward.

A number of academics nevertheless said that the government should not
actively oppress the cult as it may serve to strengthen cult followers'
faith. Others said the government should help former followers return to
ordinary lives.
(...)

With regard to the enactment of the new laws, Sanwamachi Mayor Kijuro Tateno
said, "It will be a big blow to followers and a step forward for us."

However, he added that he would not change his decision to refuse to allow
followers to register to live in the town.

"Whether we accept or refuse registrations is another matter. To be accepted,
followers will have to change their thinking, leave the cult and apologize
for their past actions. In effect, that means breaking up the cult," he said.
(...)

Taro Takimoto, a member of a group of lawyers representing the victims of Aum
crimes, said, "Aum's principle that any means are acceptable for achieving
its ends has not changed."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


8. Locals give AUM law mixed review
Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news01.html
(...) While the measures, once approved by the commission, will enable the
agency as well as police to conduct on-the-spot inspections of the cult's
facilities, many other residents were still skeptic about the effectiveness
of the latest government procedures.

"It is questionable whether the new law targeting AUM would be effective here
in Otawara," said an unnamed resident in the Tochigi prefectural city. Locals
here have been maintaining a watch of cult members. "We have no choice but to
stay vigilant until the new law goes into full swing," said another resident.

In Otawara on Monday, local residents maintained a watch outside a former inn
where more than a dozen cult followers, including an 18-year-old daughter and
a 5-year-old son of AUM guru Shoko Asahara, reside.
(...)

Meanwhile, the latest government measures are expected to accelerate the
departure of some of the 1,500 or so followers from the cult once the
official monitoring of the religious cult is authorized and their activities
are restricted as a result, experts said.

But in that event, it is likely that many former followers would have a hard
time returning to society due to remaining public prejudice, they said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


9. Japanese police want Aum sect placed under surveillance
Yahoo! Asia/AFP, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/afp/article.html
?s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/afp/Japanese_police
_want_Aum_sect_placed_under_surveillance.html
Japanese police Monday sought permission to put the Aum Supreme Truth cult
under surveillance, as part of a new law cracking down on the doomsday sect
responsible for a lethal 1995 subway gas attack here.
(...)

The commission is expected to approve the request in February, reports said.
Once it is approved, police will have the power to raid sect properties
without a warrant and demand disclosure of its activities, including its
finances.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


10. Agency seeks permission to keep watch on Aum
Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/1228so03.htm
(...) In the application, Kifuji said that the agency should continue to
monitor the cult as it contained dangerous elements and that it was prone to
using lies and deceit.

The commission is expected to announce Jan. 5 in its official gazette that it
will hear the cult's views on Jan. 20, agency officials said. In early
February, the commission is expected to decide on whether the law can be
applied to the cult, the officials said.
(...)

The application also stated that Matsumoto was still the leader of the cult
and that the executives at the time of the sarin attacks still make decisions
on behalf of the cult.

The cult still adheres to its belief that killing is justifiable and it
should be put under surveillance in accordance with the five requirements
stipulated by the law for such monitoring, the application said
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


11. Agency requests Aum be put under its watch
Japan Times, Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/news12-99/news.html#story1
(...) "Aum has been active in many parts of the country, causing trouble
between local citizens (living near cult facilities) and causing public
anxiety," said Justice Minister Hideo Usui, pointing out that the ministry
had been ready to submit the surveillance request as soon as the law went
into effect. "I believe that we have taken the first step to answer the
expectations of the public."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


12. Japan seeks further restrictions on doomsday cult
Yahoo! Asia/Channel NewsAsia, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/cna/article.html?
s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/cna/Japan_seeks_
further_restrictions_on_doomsday_cult.html
Japan's Justice Ministry has sought further restrictions on the doomsday cult
accused of attacking Tokyo's subways with deadly nerve gas.

The call for more pressure on the Aum Shinri Kyo or Supreme Truth Cult comes
on the day a new law aimed at countering violent cults goes into effect and
just days before a key cult member is scheduled to be released from prison.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Japan - Cults

13. Japan Fears Cults Thriving Despite Crackdowns
Fox, Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.foxnews.com/world/122799/japan_cults.sml
(...) Police have also launched investigations into religious groups accused
of fraud and other anti-social activities in line with rising public
sentiment in favor of crackdowns on such cults.

But experts say that they see few signs that fringe religious groups — some
with an anti-social tinge — are on the decline.
(...)

Precise figures on cult membership are impossible to come by given the legal
difficulties of labeling any particular group as problematic. But experts say
the numbers appear to be growing.

Kenji Kawashima, a professor of religious studies at Keisen University in
Tokyo, said he launched an Internet home page on cult activities in 1997
after he saw an increasing number of students being recruited into what he
saw as questionable groups.

Readership of his home page has grown drastically in recent months following
the official crackdowns on fringe groups.

Police have been unable to launch extensive investigations into such groups
despite complaints from former followers out of fear of violating the
constitutional right to religious freedom.

But the Aum case has boosted public approval of police action against such
groups, said Kimiaki Nishida, a professor of social psychology at Shizuoka
Prefectural University. Nishida warned that there are many potential groups
which may develop into destructive cults. "You'll see them emerging one
after another, and they could transform (into destructive cults) any time,"
he said.

Cult experts say the prevalence of such cults in Japan reflects a modern
society robbed of the robust economic growth of the 1970s and 1980s and
instead facing uncertainty about the future due to a prolonged slump and
drastic social restructuring.
(...)

Some analysts, however, pointed to the lengthy history of anti-mainstream
religious groups in Japan and said worries about a new wave of antisocial
cults were overdone. "Such groups are really nothing new," said one Japanese
economist.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Falun Gong

14. 20 Falun Gong Members Detained
Excite/AP, Dec. 28, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/991228/06/china-banned-sect
Chinese police detained at least 20 people in Tiananmen Square today,
dragging one resister away after members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual
movement resumed peaceful demonstrations.

Falun Gong members have been staging low-key protests for months in the
square, the symbolic heart of political power in China. But acts of civil
disobedience had dropped off for more than a month until the sentencing of
four group leaders on Sunday.
(...)

Police re-arrested a university student in Dalian city and last week sent her
to a labor camp for three years for posting on the Internet a picture of her
ankles, bloody and infected from police leg irons, the Hong Kong-based
Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China reported
today. Police had put Zhang Chunqing in 22-pound shackles and forced her to
walk after she continued to practice Falun Gong in detention, the center
said.
(...)

Meanwhile, authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen on Monday released
three followers who have residency rights in the United States after holding
them for 13 days.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


15. China sentences key Falun Gong members to prison
CBC News (Canada), Dec. 26, 1999
http://cbc.ca/cp/world/991226/w122647.html
In the most significant prosecution since the government outlawed the Falun
Gong spiritual movement, China sentenced four principal organizers of the
group to up to 18 years in prison at a one-day trial Sunday.
(...)

Chinese leaders have ordered the party-dominated legislature to revise a law
against cults to allow for harsher penalties against organizers.

As part of the crackdown against religious groups, police in the central city
of Nanyang last week sent six leaders of underground Protestant sects to
labour camps for terms between one and three years, the Hong Kong-based
Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement China reported.

In the Beijing trial, judges ruled that the defendants "organized and used
the Falun Gong's evil cult organization to spread superstition and heresies
and to deceive people, causing deaths," the Xinhua News Agency said.

Exposing fears about Falun Gong's ability to mobilize large numbers of
followers, Xinhua said Li, Wang, Ji and Yao "set up 39 command posts, more
than 1,900 training posts and more than 280,000 contact posts."

They "plotted and directed" 78 protests, each involving more than 300 people.
Among those was an April 25 demonstration attended by 10,000 followers, the
agency reported.

Judges also found the four guilty of stealing 37 state secrets and illegally
netting more than $54 million in profits from proselytizing sessions and
sales of Falun Gong literature.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


16. White House disappointed over Beijing's harsh sentencing of Falungong
members
Yahoo! Asia/Channel NewsAsia, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/cna/article.html?
s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/cna/White_House_disappointed_over_
Beijing_s_harsh_sentencing_of_Falungong_members.html
The White House has expressed disappointment, over Beijing's harsh sentencing
of four key members of China's banned Falungong sect.
(...)

Washington called on China to respect international standards and the
international covenant on civil and political rights.
(...)

In another crackdown on a religious group, Beijing has sentenced without
trial, six leaders of underground Protestant churches, to up to three years
hard labour, in an effort to re-educate them.

The men belong to a movement called "Churches at home", which has 40 million
followers. The official Protestant church recognised by Beijing, only has
about 10 million believers.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


17. Beijing imposes tight security after Falungong verdicts
Yahoo! Asia/AFP, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/afp/article.html
?s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/afp/Beijing_imposes_
tight_security_after_Falungong_verdicts.html
China on Monday justified the harsh jail terms imposed on four leaders of the
Falungong religious sect as it threw up a tight ring of security to stop any
demonstrations.

A heavy police presence was out in Tiananmen Square from early Monday with
uniformed and plainclothed officers backed by unmarked cars parked at the
foot of a monument in the centre of the vast esplanade.

Minibuses were also stationed alongside the square ready to whisk away any
Falungong followers who might try to defy the ban on the movement and protest
against Sunday's speedy sentencing of four of their leaders.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


18. Chinese police stop defiant Falungong protesting leaders' jailing
Yahoo! Asia/AFP, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/afp/article.html
?s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/afp/Chinese_police_stop_
defiant_Falungong_protesting_leaders__jailing.html
Falungong members Monday tried to defy tight security stamped on Tiananmen
Square to protest stiff jail terms of up to 18 years imposed on four of their
leaders, but were swiftly stopped by police.

About six followers of the mystical sect tried to skirt around the heavy
police presence to unfurl a banner in the centre of the square. But they
were immediately intercepted by police and forced into one of the many
surrounding security vehicles.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


19. Falungong movement won't be threatened by jail terms: rights groups
Yahoo! Asia/AFP, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/afp/article.html
?s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/afp/Falungong_movement_won_t_be_
threatened_by_jail_terms__rights_groups.html
The outlawed Falungong movement will not be intimidated by heavy sentences
handed down to its key leaders and will continue to fight China's draconian
crackdown on the group, rights groups said here Monday.

The Falungong -- which has been vilified as an "evil cult" by Beijing --
would continue protests in China to have its status changed, two human rights
watchdogs said.
(...)

The sentences are among the heaviest handed out in China for religious or
political dissent in recent years, and have been viewed as a clear indicator
of Beijing's intention to crush the movement.

Sophia Woodman, spokeswoman for the Hong Kong-based Human Rights in China
group, said the stiff jail terms were intended as "a message."
(...)

"It's interesting to note that this case focused on the organisational aspect
of the Falungong. That's the key element, the issue of freedom of association
and the development of an organisation not controlled by the Communist
Party," she added.
(...)

Her comments were echoed by Frank Lu, head of the Information Centre of Human
Rights and Democratic Movement in China.
(....)

But Lu said he doubted whether the heavy sentences handed out to the
Falungong four would act as a deterrent to other members across China.
(...)

Lu said he feared the Hong Kong government's policy of tolerance towards
Falungong could soon change, after complaints from the territory's
representatives in China's parliament, but Woodman said she was unaware of
any shift.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


20. Quieter anti-Falungong campaign seen after leaders sentenced
Yahoo! Asia/AFP, Dec. 27, 1999
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/asia/afp/article.html?
s=asia/headlines/991227/asia/afp/Quieter_anti-Falungong_campaign
_seen_after_leaders_sentenced.html
The harsh sentencing of four key members of the outlawed Falungong sect may
usher in a shift in Beijing's tactics against the group, analysts said
Monday, predicting the crackdown could soon move out of the public spotlight.
(...)

"Historically, China has made examples of leader figures," a Shanghai-based
political analyst said. "These heavy sentences accomplish a certain symbolic
mission, and we may see a different tack now ... They may want to tone down
the propaganda facet of the anti-Falungong campaign, with remaining trials to
be held out of public view."

He said officials were anxious to project an image that the Communist Party
was successfully wiping out the sect, whereas long-term propaganda attacks
create an impression that the enemy persists in strength.
(...)

Another 150 senior figures with the sect are expected to be tried, while some
35,000 others have been detained, with many sent to labour re-education
camps, human rights groups say.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== China - "health" sects

21. Health Sects in China Thrive, if Authorities See No Threat
New York Times, Dec. 28, 1999
http://www10.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/122899china-gigong.html
Most mornings in a large park in western Beijing, near the stone marker
labeled Oasis of Life, hundreds of cancer patients practice ritual exercises
as they try to harness the invisible forces of qigong to fight their disease.
(...)

A dozen newcomers circle around Yu Dayuan, a disciple of the Guo Lin school
of anti-cancer qigong, named for the late master who developed it in the
1970's.
(...)

This thriving anti-cancer movement, replete with the testimonials of cured
patients, is one of hundreds of variants of qigong (pronounced chee-goong)
that continue operating in China, even as the authorities pursue their harsh
crackdown on one prominent offshoot, Falun Gong, and step up their scrutiny
of the others.

The official acceptance of some qigong sects while others are crushed is part
of a two-decade, often tortuous effort by the government to distinguish
supposedly scientific, beneficial qigong from practices that are labeled
superstitious and then curbed.
(...)

While the concept of qi forces, or vital energy, is ancient and pervasive in
China, the term for the exercises, qigong, was first widely used in the
1950's, and the movement blossomed only as political controls relaxed in the
1980's and 90's. From the beginning it presented the Communist authorities
with a conundrum.
(...)

Whether the situation is parallel or not, tense officials are well aware that
mystical cults in the past have erupted into huge, disruptive political
forces, like the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-19th century and the Boxers at
the turn of the 20th century.
(...)

The distinctions between supposedly valid and bogus forms of qigong are
blurry, because every sect has masters claiming what by Western standards are
supernatural powers. But ongoing groups like the anti-cancer club in the park
are especially careful now to limit their claims.
(...)

While many doctors here who are trained in Western medicine scoff at the
medical claims, qigong has had influential supporters, and some senior
political leaders over the years have consulted qigong masters.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Waco / Branch Davidians

22. Branch Davidians rebuild
Detroit News, Dec. 26, 1999
http://detnews.com/1999/nation/9912/26/12260068.htm
(...) The scheduled opening -- which is contingent on more donations coming
in -- will mark the seventh anniversary of the fire that ended the 51-day
standoff between the religious sect and federal agents. In the end, about 80
Branch Davidians were killed, along with their leader, David Koresh, and four
agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"It's not going to ever, ever be like it was when David was there," said
Bonnie Haldeman, Koresh's mother. "I just wish the world would look at the
tragedy at Mount Carmel as they do in Oklahoma City. They make a big deal out
of Oklahoma City, ... but you hear very little about what happened at Waco,
as far as the families that lost people and everything. So many people
forget."
(...)

Meanwhile, about a dozen Branch Davidians remain in the Waco area. Since
their compound burned, they have gathered to worship in each other's homes
and in the tiny survivors' museum, a ramshackle building that sits a few
hundred yards from the original compound.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Unification Church

23. Moon-lit matchmakers nibble at apple
NY Post, Dec. 26, 1999
http://www.nypost.com/news/20442.htm
Looking for love and companionship? Forget the bar scene -- join the
Moonies. A small army of Moonies has taken to the streets to woo recruits
for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's next mass wedding in Seoul, South Korea -- on
Feb. 13.

Japanese women are staked out on Midtown sidewalks, holding signs reading
"Looking for Love?" and "Find Your Ideal Mate" and directing likely prospects
to the church's New York City headquarters on West 43rd Street. The women --
who recruit in pairs -- are volunteers from Moon's Unification Church in
Tokyo, said New York church spokesman Richard Lewis.
(...)

It's not the first such recruitment drive, says Steve Hassan, a former
high-ranking Moonie who's been tracking the church since he left it 23 years
ago.

"Right now, Moon is hurting, and he needs money, and so they're doing this
major fund-raising drive," Hassan said. "They do this often right before
mass weddings. They want Americans, and they want their money, so they go
after the lonely and lovesick."
(...)

Moon critic Hassan contends Beltran and others are being scammed by a
money-mad egomaniac who calls himself the Messiah and breaks his own
rules.

"It's mind-control," he said. "It starts with a lecture and it goes to a
three-day workshop, then a seven-day workshop, then a 21-day workshop,
and, at least from my experience, that's the point at which you take your
money out of the bank, quit your job and move in."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* In the alt.religion.unification newsgroup, followers of the Unification
Church have in recent weeks convincingly demonstrated the abusive and
unethical nature of the cult. Practices witnessed and documented include
lying, deception, libeling, and online harassment.


=== Y2K / Doomsday

24. As Jan. 1 Draws Near, Doomsayers Reconsider
Washington Post, Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/27/067l-122799-idx.html
A year ago, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, who have sold more than 10 million
copies of their "Left Behind" thrillers about the Apocalypse, prophesied
global upheaval on Jan. 1, 2000.
(...)

But now that the hour is upon us, the prophets of doom are retreating. "We
don't think it relates to Y2K at all," Jenkins said. "And we're bemused by
people who do."

Reminded of the Web site prediction, he said, "We regret having talked about
it." Over the last year, Jenkins said, he has been reassuring nervous fans
they have nothing to fear.

Even those who fully embraced the date as late as last month are now backing
down. Some prophets are hedging their bets, reminding everyone they only said
"maybe," or they never specified the Western world, or Jan. 1 exactly. Others
such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell say they have read the Y2K compliance reports
and found them soothing. All are expecting a humdrum New Year's Eve.

Grant R. Jeffrey, author of titles such as "The Millennium Meltdown" and
"Armageddon: Earth's Last Days," is also blase.
(...)

Jeffrey does not disavow his disaster predictions, but expects them to unfold
only distantly, "in the Third World" and not quite so suddenly.
(...)

"The end times people are backing down," said Damian Thompson, author of "The
End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium," a study of
modern doomsday cults. "People who last year became excited about the
millennium bug are suddenly saying, 'I never said that. It was him, not me.'
They're extremely nervous of having December 31st, 1999, pinned on them
forever."
(...)

"I'm aware of hardly anyone who's still saying 1-1-2000 is the big day," said
Ted Daniel, who runs the Millennial Center in Pennsylvania and keeps a close
eye on doomsday cults. "It's the usual pattern: If you're a millenarian
prophet, you have to keep people excited. But once the date gets closer, you
back off."
(...)

The willingness to set a date and stick with it has defined the line between
fringe and mainstream views of the Apocalypse ever since the Great
Disappointment of 1844, said Stephen O'Leary, a fellow at the Center for
Millennial Studies in Boston. On the evening of Oct. 22, farmer-prophet
William Miller gathered thousands of followers on an upstate New York hilltop
to await transport to Heaven. By dawn they were the townsfolk's favorite
punch line.
(...)

M. J. Agee is one of the evangelical world's last undaunted date-setters,
despite past disappointment. In the early '90s, Agee's inscrutable numerology
took her to 1998, which she later revised to 1999. This December she
published a 20-page apologia: "Why I thought the Rapture might be Pentecost
1999."

Her new date is this coming Spring. "I am not saying end-time events have to
happen when I think they will," she said humbly. "I am not a prophet. This is
just the way it looks to me."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


25. A short list of dire predictions
Seatlle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.seattlep-i.com/lifestyle/ends28.shtml
This new millennium thing isn't the first time some people thought the world
was going to end. History is littered with failed prophecies and false
alarms. Here's a short list from the past 1,000 years:
(...)

1844: Again the Millerites wait for Armageddon. Miller sets the date as Oct.
22. The apocalpytic no-show is dubbed "The Great Disappointment."

1891: In 1835, Mormon leader Joseph Smith predicted the Coming of the Lord 56
years later.

1914: Jehovah's Witnesses (an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventists, who are
an offshoot of the Millerites) await the Second Coming. They believe Christ
returned in 1884 but chose to remain invisible.
(...)

1984: The Jehovah's Witnesses suffer another unfulfilled prophecy of doom.
(...)

April 19, 1993: The Branch Davidians, now led by David Koresh, think the
world will end this year. The cult's standoff with government agents ends in
a fiery tragedy, resulting in 80 deaths.
(...)

March 31, 1998: A Taiwanese UFO cult, Chen Tao, anticipates God's return --
in human form -- in Garland, Texas. The leader, Hon-Ming Chen, claims the
Lord's return will set off a series of events leading to the world's end in
August 1999.

September 1999: Nostradamus' prophecies include a meteor hitting the Earth
sometime this month, -- according to those who translated his predictions to
our current calendar -- setting off a chain of disasters (earthquakes,
hurricanes, famine, etc.) leading to the end of the world.

September 1999: Shoko Asahara, leader of the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo cult,
predicts the world's end this month.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


26. Millennium security a touchy issue in Israel
Nando Times, Dec. 26, 1999
http://www2.nando.net/noframes/story/0,2107,500146718-500176799-500678386-0,00.html
(...) Flanked by Israeli police, Ramon Rodgers, a 36-year-old businessman
from the Bahamas, was being escorted to the nearest police outpost for what
would turn out to be four hours of intensive questioning.

Police picked him up because they thought that his outfit of white trousers,
tunic and sandals looked suspicious, and that he might pose some threat.
(...)

"In other countries, you don't have to prove that you're a good person," said
the Rev. Emilio Barcena, a Franciscan priest who works in the Old City's
Christian Information Center. "Here, you're suspected until you do."
(...)

Apocalyptic-minded Christians have been a prime focus of concern. In recent
months, Israel has rounded up and deported dozens of Christians, including
members of a Denver-based doomsday cult, fearing they would stage mass
suicide or commit violence as a way to hasten the Second Coming of Christ.

Police are also afraid right-wing Jews could provoke Muslim rage with an
attack on the Al Aqsa compound, Islam's third-holiest site. The plateau in
the heart of the Old City is also sacred to Jews as the site of their Second
Temple, destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.

Muslim militants are a source of worry, too. The radical Islamic group Hamas
made veiled threats after two of its activists died this month in a shootout
with Israeli soldiers. In neighboring Jordan, authorities arrested more than
a dozen members of a group linked to exiled Saudi militant Osama bin Laden on
suspicion of planning terror attacks against Americans, Israelis and others.
(...)

Visiting here does unhinge some. A city psychiatric hospital treats dozens of
cases each year of "Jerusalem Syndrome" - bizarre behavior by pilgrims. Some
believe they are biblical figures like John the Baptist or Mary Magdalene;
others insist they are on a mission from God.

But predictions of a pre-millennium surge in such cases have failed to pan
out, and police emphasize that only a tiny number of visitors cause problems.
(...)

A police spokesman, Shmuel Ben-Ruby, said later that under questioning,
Rodgers made statements odd enough to warrant closer attention. He talked
about biblical prophecies and told officers he had spoken with God, Ben-Ruby
said.

Rodgers, who has a calm, articulate manner and a lightly clipped British
accent, said in an interview the next morning that he had described himself
to police as a devout Christian who prayed regularly. He also told them Old
Testament prophecies influenced events in Israel - but reminded them that
many religious Jews believe that as well.

"They said anyone who says they speak to God is crazy," he said. "I told
them, 'Well then, you would have kicked out King David, too."'
(...)

Despite Rodgers' experience, some other visitors, even eye-catching ones,
said they did not think Old City security was heavy-handed.

On a recent day, Michael Williams - a bushy-bearded Seventh-Day Adventist
from McEwan, Tenn., with a three-foot shofar, or ram's horn, strapped to his
back - drew nothing more than a passing glance from police as he distributed
red-lettered pamphlets headlined "Earth's Final Warning."

"The cops have been super-cool," he said. "I feel like I'm in a free
country."
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


27. The Amish are well-insulated from Y2K
Star-Telegram, Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:RELIGION25/1:RELIGION25122899.html
(...) Stoltzfus is not being overly cautious about Y2K-related problems. He
is Amish, and his isolation from the world is a religious preference. If that
also insulates him from any computer problems that could happen Jan. 1 --
well, that's fine with him.
(...)

The nation's 175,000 Amish are among the most protected from Y2K, the glitch
that could lead computers to fail because they think it is the year 1900
instead of 2000.
(...)

But most of that doesn't apply to the Amish. Situated in 22 states, Canada
and South America, the Amish don't drive cars, own telephones or use public
utilities. About half of Amish families are farmers, so they grow or raise
much of what they eat and often have large storage cellars.
(...)

Though Amish are forbidden to own telephones or computers, many businessmen
have cell phones owned by someone else and can contract with an outside
company to build them a Web site.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

=== Other News

28. Cult treatment center braces itself for new millennium
ABC News, Dec. 28, 1999
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap19991228_376.html
(...) The Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, which bills itself as the
nation's only live onsite counseling center for recovering cult victims,
expects cultists disillusioned by unfulfilled millennial prophecies to soon
dot its client list.

"It could be an interesting year," said founder Paul Martin, a psychologist
and former cult member. "There won't be some quantum shift in the need for
our services, but there could be a lot of failed prophecy after this event."
And that, he said, "could lead to cult members questioning their leaders and
possibly leaving."

Already, the staff _ composed mostly of former cult followers _ has lined up
more than 75 clients to treat in 2000, compared with about 50 seen in 1999,
said Liz Shaw, an outreach coordinator.
(...)

"I will be dumbfounded if there isn't some sort of millennial cult-related
tragedy," said Larry Pile, a Wellspring counselor and cult researcher.

Wellspring counselors recall that the center's admissions went up slightly
after 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult committed suicide in conjunction
with the passing of the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997.
(...)

Wellspring is the only counseling facility recommended by the Christian
Research Institute, a cult education group based in Rancho Santa Margarita,
Calif., said Sam Wall, a researcher there.

"They're the only organization that has met what we believe to be the right
approaches in therapy," he said. "And we'll still send people there, even if
they do have more clients."
(...)

Wellspring claims success with most of its more than 500 former clients, and
says only five have returned to cults.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


29. Anand Sheela tends patients in Switzerland
The Oregonian, Dec. 26, 1999
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/99/12/st122607.html
Former Rajneeshee leader Anand Sheela -- once notorious in Oregon as the
spokeswoman for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh -- now takes care of frail and elderly
patients in two private nursing homes in Switzerland.

Sheela, who turn 50 on Tuesday, has been in Switzerland since late 1988, when
she was released from federal prison after serving 29 months for assault,
attempted murder, arson, wiretapping and causing a food poisoning epidemic in
The Dalles that made about 750 people ill.

She is known as Sheela Birnstiel these days, and according to her, she is
greatly respected in her field.
(...)

From 1981 to 1985, she was the highly visible and very vocal spokeswoman for
the guru from India and his followers. The sect had its world commune on the
64,000-acre Rancho Rajneesh, which sprawls across Wasco and Jefferson
counties.

The commune collapsed in 1985, after Sheela and several other leaders
decamped and revelations of a web of crimes involving sect members began to
emerge. The guru, who later renamed himself Osho and died in 1990 in his
native India, was convicted of immigration fraud in 1985 and deported.
Sheela, who was wanted by state and federal authorities, was extradited from
Germany in 1986.
(...)

The news of Sheela's new occupation surprised two Wasco County officials who
don't remember her fondly.
(...)

Sheela risks arrest and extradition if she ventures across the Swiss border,
because she still is wanted by federal law enforcement for her alleged role
in a 1985 conspiracy to assassinate Charles Turner, then the U.S. Attorney
for Oregon.

A native of India whose first marriage was to a U.S. citizen, Sheela now has
a Swiss passport because of her marriage to Swiss Rajneeshee Urs Birnstiel,
who died of AIDS in 1992. The Birnstiels, according to court accounts, spent
very little time together, but her status as the widow of a Swiss citizen
protects her from arrest because there is no extradition treaty between
Switzerland and the United States.
(...)

Sheela said she has cut her ties to the guru's followers, who now call
themselves "Oshoites" and worship at centers around the world and at a Pune,
India, ashram that offers meditation in a sumptuous resort setting.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


30. Fulton police unit to get charity role
AccessAtlanta, Dec. 23, 1999
http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/1999/12/23/donations.html
A Fulton County police group will be converted into a foundation that can
accept charitable monetary gifts from individuals and businesses for
officers.
(...)

The proposal to form a Fulton police foundation gained steam after the
county's ethics board ruled last week that the 100 south Fulton cops who
received $1,000 apiece from World Changers Ministries had to return the money
because it was inappropriate.

The donation by the Rev. Creflo Dollar is under investigation by the ethics
board, which is looking into whether Dollar was trying to curry favor with
the south Fulton cops by giving them gifts.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


31. Raelian Religion: Extraterrestrial Millennium Revelations
Yahoo!/PRNewswire, Dec. 27, 1999 (Press Release)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/991227/nv_raelian_1.html
On December 27th, Rael, the most famous Extraterrestrial contactee, author of
the book "The True Face of God'' and founder of the world's first human
cloning company, will be in Las Vegas until January 3rd.

Minutes before the turn of an unbelievable Millennium, Rael will give us the
ultimate revelations concerning the possible future of Humanity. Those
revelations come directly from the Elohim, the extraterrestrial Human
Civilization who created all life on earth in laboratories thousands of years
ago thanks to DNA.
[...entire item...]


32. The believers
Toronto Star (Canada), Dec. 28, 1999
http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/news/991228NEW37_CI-TIMOR.html
(...) Jon Frum is his name. Or John Frumme. Possibly, if he ever existed at
all, a man who described himself as John-From-America, an introduction that
has now been abbreviated to a proper name.

This is the American god who is worshipped and ritualized in the primitive
Jon Frum villages on the island of Tanna, in the Vanuatu archipelago, in the
South Pacific.
(...)

There are 26 tiny Jon Frum settlements on Tanna, all worshipping the red
cross that is the symbol of their faith - and the symbol, of course, of the
International Red Cross, which provided so many services and amenities to
servicemen and Tannese during the war.
(...)

One stretch of the strand is marked by stakes and closed off to trespassers,
to the villagers themselves. This is sacred ground. It is here, the faithful
believe, that Jon Frum will reappear. Because he said he would.
(...)

But this is still a most peculiar messianic sect, one that has held firm and
obstinate through the second half of the 20th century. Indeed, the movement
has befuddled anthropologists and defied Christian proselytizers, gaining
more active adherents over the decades, rather than trickling away into
mythology.
(...)

At one time, the Jon Frum movement was considered merely one more of the
bizarre, if rather fascinating and seductive, cargo cults that thrived all
through the South Pacific islands in World War II.

Cargo cults developed among native people who had never before been exposed
to the overpowering material wealth of the outside world - and who suddenly
witnessed with their own eyes the plentiful supplies of the Allied forces as
they dug in to repel the Japanese, creating airfields and naval bases out of
rock and undergrowth.

The Americans, most particularly, arrived with their ships and planes and
generators and radios and refrigerators: a cornucopia of wonders never seen
before. Not knowing where or how this horn of plenty originated, the
islanders believed these materials must have sprung from a spirit world.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


33. Pentecostal minister's takeover of prominent church roils congregation
Star-Telegram, Dec. 27, 1999
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:RELIGION22/1:RELIGION22122799.html
(...) In a lightning stroke, Bishop Matthew Ferguson, who was trying to come
up with millions to build a new worship center in St. Louis, shocked members
of a landmark Cleveland church that was expecting a $2 million insurance
settlement by announcing he would be their new spiritual leader.

He was God's apostle to Middle America, he told the Pentecostal congregation
of lawyers and janitors, of teachers and women on welfare. Ferguson talked of
making Full Gospel Evangelistic Center in Cleveland the mother church of a
religious empire that would grow to 2.5 million within five years. He told
church leaders he would make them millionaires within a year, and free
members from their personal debts.

But instead of adulation, the service that Sunday in May broke down to a mass
of tears, shock and confusion. Seven months later, more than half of its 300
members have stopped attending the once-thriving church and Ferguson's church
fund-raising efforts are under investigation by Missouri authorities.
(...)

Ferguson is a case study in prosperity theology writ large, someone who
claims with all the fervor of a new convert to be God's excellent example of
one whose faith has been rewarded in this world.
(...)

Today, the bishop who had foreseen the beginnings of an evangelistic empire
when he took over a second pastorate in Cleveland finds life filled with
problems.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


34. Church, Swedish State Cutting Ties
Excite/AP, Dec. 27, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/991227/04/swedens-church
After nearly five centuries as the state church, Lutheranism will end its
ties with the Swedish government on New Year's Day and will be treated like
any other religion.

"It's a happy separation - or a happy divorce - that has evolved over many
years, and that is very good," said Carl-Einar Nordling of the Ministry of
Culture.

Although 90 percent of Swedes nominally are Lutherans, the change reflects
demographic and immigration trends as well as Swedes' general indifference to
organized religion.

"Swedish society has outgrown the state church system," Nordling said. "The
state church system is founded on the ideology of 'one country, one people,
one ruler.' You only have to say that to feel how foreign it is in today's
society."
(...)

Many of the changes have been implemented over the past few years, but on
Friday, the church will be officially on its own as a legal entity, separate
from the state. That means bishops will no longer be appointed by the
government and the church can no longer receive tax money.
[...more...]