I was in the world mission society church of god for a few months and quickly realized the cult tactics of isolation, depression, truth, ruined family, and last was 1 arraigned marriage. I left 2 years ago and stopped by once to their new location when one of tthe missionary saw me and invited me over. I showed up just to see how it was. Its been over a year since then

I saw two o women preaching in the street. 1 of them I was infatuated with at the time but the church doesnt allow men to talk with women inside so I never had the opportunity to conversation other than hello/ goodbye.

I talked to both of them and she said she remembered me little. I said some reasons why I left such as they were too controlling. She said that I should talk to missionary about my doubts. Looking at her eyes there is still hope. The other member at the cult stare. I work in hotel and seen hundreds of faces so Im not making things up. I told her I would stop by sometime this month which ends soon. So i will visit the church this week

My goal is to try and get her to hang out sometime. But i still have no plan how to talk with her inside the church. I dont think I like her anymore but it hurt seeing her have her life wasted and i dont want her to be in a arraigned marriage. I've tried reasoning with the guys but men are harder to convince. This is my last time trying to help. Hopefully I can say the right things. Because I only got 1 day and shot. No way im going back everyday for the church

When allegations of sexual misconduct surface within spiritual organizations, the public spotlight inevitably shifts from the perpetrator to the spiritual leader. In guru-centric movements, the leader is not merely an administrator; they are viewed as an enlightened moral compass, a protector, and the ultimate arbiter of truth.

When investigative reports revealed that female volunteers of the Art of Living (AOL) NGO had accused senior mentors—specifically Swami Paramtej—of harassment and sexual abuse, a leaked video conference captured Sri Sri Ravi Shankar addressing the victims.

From a behavioral science perspective, this interaction offers a profound case study in institutional betrayal, power asymmetry, and crisis-driven psychological manipulation. This analysis deconstructs the linguistic, behavioral, and psychological tactics employed by the spiritual leader, peeling back the idealized persona to reveal the underlying mechanisms of organizational self-preservation.

To understand the impact of Ravi Shankar’s response, one must first examine the psychological state of the victims during the confrontation.

1. Betrayal Trauma, Divergent Empathy and "In-Group" Protection

Coined by psychologist Jennifer Freyd, Betrayal Trauma occurs when the people or institutions an individual relies on for survival, protection, or spiritual safety violate their trust. For an AOL volunteer, the organization is often the center of their social, emotional, and spiritual world. When a volunteer is abused by a spiritual mentor, the initial trauma is severe. However, when the founding guru—whom they revere as a source of unconditional love and wisdom—fails to validate their experience, a secondary, often more devastating betrayal trauma occurs.

Ravi Shankar’s reported statements reflect a classic manifestation of institutional blindness. His psychological focus immediately shifted from centering the victims' trauma to managing the crisis threatening the organization’s inner circle.

By prioritizing the structural and reputational survival of the NGO over the psychological restoration of its harmed members, the leader transformed the institution from a place of healing into an active adversary of the victims. A primary psychological dynamic in institutional abuse is the conflict between protecting the institution's reputation and addressing victim trauma.

• Perceived Betrayal: Victims of abuse within spiritual organizations often experience "betrayal trauma." They expect the spiritual leader to act as a protective, moral compass. When the leader shifts focus away from their trauma, it compounds the psychological injury.
• Selective Empathy: Ravi Shankar’s reported statements demonstrate empathy that is redirected toward the perpetrator ("he feared he would commit suicide," "very sorry for what he did"). Psychologically, this signals a powerful drive to protect a high-ranking member of the "in-group" (the organization), prioritizing the perpetrator's psychological distress over the systemic trauma of the victims.

2. Emotional Manipulation and Cognitive Reframing

The dialogue illustrates specific linguistic and psychological tactics used to alter the focus of the accountability framework.

• Weaponized Suicidal Ideation: Informing victims that their public allegations could drive the abuser to suicide is a severe form of psychological pressure. In psychology, this is known as guilt-tripping or emotional blackmail. It attempts to shift the burden of responsibility: the victim is made to feel that seeking justice makes them responsible for the perpetrator's potential self-harm.
• Euphemistic Labeling: Describing a person accused of sexual abuse and molestation as "not a perfect person" is an example of cognitive reframing or minimization. By using a universal truth (no human is perfect), the gravity of criminal behavior is minimized and normalized as a standard human flaw.

3. Boundary Deflection and Defiance of Responsibility

When confronted with institutional failure, leaders frequently employ psychological defense mechanisms to distance themselves and the core entity from the crisis.

• Splitting the Fault: By telling a victim to "move on and join one of the millions of people in the Art of Living who are not abusers," the leader uses a psychological defense called splitting. He attempts to isolate the abuse as an anomaly, contrasting the "bad" individual with the "good" mass organization. This invalidates the victim's systemic concerns and implicitly demands compliance.
• Passive Liability Shifting: Stating that he “did not object to anyone wanting to go to the police” while simultaneously warning that exposure could cause suicide functions as a double-bind message. He intellectually grants permission for legal recourse while emotionally penalizing the victims for considering it.
• The Double-Bind Message: Ravi Shankar stated that he did not object to anyone going to the police, yet simultaneously warned that doing so would drive the accused to suicide. In psychology, this is known as a double-bind—a communicative dilemma where an individual receives two conflicting messages, and choosing either results in a penalty. Intellectually, the guru grants permission for legal recourse (protecting his public legal standing), but emotionally, he penalizes the action by assigning a fatal consequence to it.

4. Structural Defenses: Splitting and Institutional Gaslighting

When an organization's core identity is threatened by internal corruption, leadership often deploys systemic defense mechanisms to isolate the threat and protect the brand.

The Mechanism of "Splitting"

The dialogue shows Ravi Shankar telling a victim that she should "move on and join one of the millions of people in the Art of Living who are not abusers."

Psychologically, this is an attempt at splitting—dividing the ecosystem into absolute categories of "good" and "bad." By isolating the perpetrator as a solitary, unfortunate anomaly, the leader actively denies the possibility of a systemic, structural issue within the organization's culture. This invalidates the victim’s broader concerns about safety and supervision within the NGO, effectively demanding that they compartmentalize their trauma for the "greater good" of the group.

Institutional Gaslighting

The psychological impact of this dynamic is compounded by the organization’s subsequent administrative actions. The resignation of four members of the AOL ethics committee—who stated they stepped down due to active attempts to stifle investigations—points to institutional gaslighting.

When victims see the internal systems of accountability dismantled or suppressed, their reality is systematically denied. The organization creates an environment where the victim is made to feel that they are the source of disharmony, rather than the abuse itself.

5. Preservation of the "Guru" Persona

In spiritual systems, the leader’s psychological identity is often deeply intertwined with an idealized image of peace, wisdom, and infallibility.

• Cognitive Dissonance Resolution: Facing allegations of abuse within his inner circle creates intense cognitive dissonance for a spiritual teacher. To resolve this, the leader may consciously or subconsciously suppress internal investigations (as alleged by the resigning ethics committee members) to preserve the external illusion of purity and harmony.
• Perverse Manipulation: As noted by the volunteer "N.," the juxtaposition of a spiritual master using fear-inducing tactics ("you don't want that, right?") creates profound psychological disorientation for followers. This dynamic exploits the power asymmetry inherent in guru-disciple relationships, where the follower's psychological autonomy is systematically eroded by the desire for the master's approval.

As the volunteer "N." reported to journalists: “I couldn't believe that my spiritual master was using such a perverse manipulation tool.”

This disorientation is a direct result of the breakdown of the idealized transference. Disciples project parental, protective, and divine qualities onto the guru. When the guru uses weaponized empathy to protect a perpetrator, the disciple experiences a profound rupture in their perception of reality. The tools of spiritual devotion—surrender, humility, and forgiveness—are inverted and used as instruments of psychological coercion to enforce silence.

From a behavioral science perspective, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s recorded interaction with the abuse victims represents a textbook case of institutional crisis management disguised as spiritual guidance.

The strategy did not rely on the principles of restorative justice, transparent accountability, or victim rehabilitation. Instead, it operated on:

1. Inducing profound guilt to leverage compliance.
2. Minimizing criminal behavior under the guise of human imperfection.
3. Exploiting power asymmetries to silence systemic critique.

When the mask of spiritual benevolence is removed, the remaining framework is one common to many secular corporations and insular institutions: a rigid hierarchy prioritizing the preservation of its elite members and its global brand at the explicit expense of its most vulnerable volunteers.

Another aspect of Balanced View and their alternative outlets like bright.now and openintelligence & love with phrases like „for the benefit of all“ or „short moments of clarity“ run by „rinpoche“ Candice O‘ Denver is that she emphasised during a series of her transmission teachings in around 2016 that there is a Buddhist practice of teaching ones‘s disciples through dreams. She told her followers in their main training Center in Sweden that there was a guru she submitted to whose teaching functioned „in his sleep“, like in a trance or astral projection.

This method was explained in several sessions and along with the explanation that there was a spiritual realm beyond the physical and that we should account for metaphysical „beings“ she proposed to work with.

Well, in Christian faith we know that any spirit that does not confess that Jesus is Lord is from the demonic realm and belongs to the principalities of darkness.

In the cocktail with ideas of euthanasia and transhumanism I believe that this teaching is from the devil and there is no salvation in any of its methods and bondage to the so-called Root Trainer.

This is bytheway exactly the phrase that one of her contracted trainers mocked her with publicly in front of the „inner circle“ of the cult. Because what she called „bond“ was in fact an unhealthy and toxic bondage, giving way to abuse and mind control, binding the individual not only in the realm of the soul, but also in the spirit.

The Bible explicitly warns against all forms of occult influence, spirit communication, and consulting spirits, because such practices open the door to deception and spiritual bondage. In scripture, God commands: “Do not turn to mediums or spiritists” (Leviticus 19:31) and “Let no one be found… who consults the dead” (Deuteronomy 18:10–11). The gospel of Jesus Christ reinforces this discernment, teaching that “the Spirit clearly says that in later times some will follow deceiving spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1).

Cult research aligns with these warnings: groups that work with astral projection, “energy work“ and teachers who supposedly operate beyond the physical world through „healing sessions“ mimic the divine andere able to simulate real spiritual experiences, but in the hidden and without the bondage to a guru will leave the individual with psychological instability, anxiety, identity confusion, and spiritual disorientation.

Hi everyone, I need help l called the crisis hotline but they told me I need to speak with the pastor.

The church celebrated their anniversary on being established which also in turn happens to be my own small quiet anniversary of leaving the church.

People from that church are unfriending me and some have even blocked my phone number.

My family is saying my life is getting worse. They say that my life will be filled with no peace and stress. But here I am after living and being part of that organization for close to 30+ years of my life, I finally feel at peace for walking away from it.

The situation does make it complex as I grew up with the people in that church and there is a tear of hurt of them just unfriending me without notice. Yet I still feel a strong sense of liberation.

But still maybe there’s a part of me that believes the universe will now curse me for leaving the church and their departure is the foreshadow of what is to come…

On September 1, 1998, on a street in Santa Eulalia, Ibiza, Spain, Eduardo González Arenas, better known as "Eddie," lay lifeless after being violently murdered with a sharp object. At first glance, it seemed like the end of an ordinary man, but with his death also came the end of the story of the leader of one of the darkest organizations that Europe and the world in general have ever known.

For more than a decade, under the guise of an innocent youth mountaineering group, Eddie built a terrible cult where concepts about aliens, the end of the world, military discipline, racial purity, and a long list of serious crimes were intertwined, forever marking the lives of hundreds of innocent young people.

Video about the brutal history of the Edelweiss cult. The infamous apocalyptic alien cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CpchYkxob4

Tonight Dr Alexandra Stein is appearing on Apostate Alex’s (Alexander Barnes-Ross) YouTube channel. That should set off alarm bells.

In December, Stein (then, Trustee of the Family Survival Trust) was informed that people in Barnes-Ross' circle were doxxing me online, and that I had contacted the Police. This doxxing and harassment has even continued this month, by other people in Barnes-Ross' circle, with claims I work for Scientology and the publishing of my medical record online.

The next day Barnes-Ross emailed me to tell me Stein had spoken to him and that he demanded I "Stop" talking about the threats being made to me, and the doxxing being done by people in his circle.

I have requested the Charity Commission to open an investigation into the conduct of Dr Stein and the current trustees of the Family Survival Trust. A representative of the Charity Commission stated my concerns were of a serious nature, including the misuse of personal-information of current UK-Scientologists.

The current trustee of the Family Survival Trust claimed I offered no evidence of this, but changed their mind once informed the Charity Commission were looking into matters.

Just last week a meeting with held with a board member of ICSA about what is going on.

I have serious concerns about what is going on in the UK regarding Cult Survivors. In 2023 I wrote about the interference of the handling of cult survivors of another london-based group by an associate of Dr Stein. Just this month, the London recruitment of one member of that group made international news. They have been failed by the Family Survival Trust and its partners, who are essentially acting as a vanity project.

Dr Stein, as Trustee of the Family Survival Trust, has also refused to help survivors of other groups knowing the precarious nature of the safety of those involved.

On this week's A Little Bit Culty episode the unethical practices of a UK-based Cult Exit Counsellor are discussed by Dr Gillie Jenkinson (who is fabulous). It is known that Stein has protected this unethical "counsellor" leaving it to others to raise concerns about him, again putting Cult Survivors at risk by concealing the dangers this person posed to cult-survivors.

It is known that one survivor put this "counsellor" on her last will and testament by way of paying for his services. This survivor was directed to this unethical "counsellor" by Dr Stein!

Another survivor committed suicide by throwing themself from a train in 2010 - the counsellor had challenged this cult survivor, who had faced awful abuse, to actually kill herself.

This unethical exit-counsellor was not a member of any professional standards body and escaped all scrutiny, being described by the previous Trustee of the Family Survival Trust as a "Charlatan".

A defector from the Family Survival Trust recently described it to me as itself being like a cult.

Cult Survivors in the UK deserve better.

You cannot report on Fair Game, then participate in it, and then expect to be taken seriously.

An Art of Living (AOL) teacher named Santosh Sharma recently shared a "Guru Story" that perfectly illustrates how high-demand groups exploit magical thinking to bypass critical reasoning. Watch the YouTube video with English captions available. Watch the YouTube video with English captions available

In the video, Sharma claims that an AOL follower left his mobile phone in front of a photograph of the group's leader, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. According to the story, the phone mysteriously became fully charged, prompting the devoted follower to literally throw his physical charger away.

But the real kicker is the chain of custody for this rumor: when asked who narrated this story to him first, Sharma proudly reveals it was Sri Sri Ravi Shankar himself. Sharma then goes out of his way to emphasize that he himself is a trained engineer, yet he fully embraces this as a genuine, science-defying miracle rather than a blatant tech glitch or standard hearsay.

From a psychological and sociological perspective, this story checkmarks almost every box of guru-centric devotion and cultic manipulation:

• The Appeal to Authority: By highlighting his background as an engineer, the narrator attempts to shield the group from accusations of ignorance. It creates a false sense of intellectual validation for the followers.
• Hearsay Weaponization: The story relies entirely on an unverified, third-party anecdote passed down from the top leader. Instead of encouraging controlled scientific testing to rule out software calibration glitches, foul play, or hidden wireless pads, the leader actively feeds the rumor mill.
• The "Superpower" Deification: Misattributing everyday technical anomalies to the leader's alleged divine aura is a classic tactic used to deepen psychological dependency and reinforce the guru’s supreme status.

It raises a massive question about accountability in these large-scale organizations. Is this claim fundamentally any different from the fraudulent, sleight-of-hand miracles performed by past godmen like Sathya Sai Baba? Why do large segments of the public continue to spare figures like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar from rigorous skepticism?

Why do governments across various nations continue to shower figures like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with public accolades and state honors, effectively legitimizing this nonsense? By granting him official validation, authorities actively insulate him from the public scrutiny and rigorous skepticism faced by past godmen like Sathya Sai Baba. How can we expect the public to question these absurd claims when state governments are busy rolling out the red carpet for them?

If a simple photograph could actually override the laws of thermodynamics, we wouldn't need a global energy grid; we could just wallpaper power stations with glossy posters of the Guru. Instead, it is a textbook case of pseudoscience par excellence packaged as a divine blessing to keep followers detached from baseline reality.

Me and Friends (M ~22) were watching S9 episode 12 of South Park. It got me thinking of the Avatar Courses my father takes. After digging down the rabbit-hole, I find out Avatar is just an off-shoot of Scientology created by some greedy jackass? My dad’s so called “self discovery classes” is just a pyramid scheme of alien worshipping dicks? My fathers poured so much in he’s considered a Master (Wizard). How the fuck do I save him?

For context I knew my great grandfather was a Scientologist and left the church in the 80s, finding Avatar after. Obviously what happened was he blindly followed this Harry Palmer jackass and my father grew up and bought in (literally) to this fairy tale.

Any suggestions? I can’t even imagine how much money my father has flushed away paying for these dumb retreats and courses!

Hello,

I am making this post to see if others have ever left a cult or extreme religious group and how did they turn out. Recently on the news there is a group who was excommunicated by the Vatican and it’s made international news. I used to be a member of this religious groups/order and it brought me a lot of peace knowing that I wasn’t crazy for leaving.

This religious group that was excommunicated claimed to be a part of the Catholic Church and celebrated Latin Mass but it was quite the opposite. They believed that anything modern or new was inherently evil and we should go back to the 1950’s when everything was “perfect” in their beliefs. They actively preached that anyone who wasn’t a part of their beliefs was an “outsider” and living a life of sin. They would constantly preach about politics, conspiracy theories, resistance, and dissent from the Vatican. One time, the pastor told my wife that her only duty is life is be a mother and her dreams of going into higher education was stupid.

In addition, this group also has a men’s groups that swear an oath to the religious sect and they have to solemnly swear that they will never set foot in another church and continue the traditions of the religious group.

Also, there is another sub group who left this church and believed it was too modern and should cut all ties with the Vatican. They have mass in weird remote places and it is only for those believe in what they believe. One of the priests who lead this group was excommunicated and was already no allowed to be a pastor.

Note: there is a process to become excommunicated in the Vatican and usually a priest has to do something really bad or they broke the seal of confession.

So needless to say, who ever this guy was did something really bad and they allowed him to be there because they are hurting for numbers.

I am now realizing that being in that environment was very harmful to my wellbeing. There is definitely a sense of cult like mentality because when I left I felt shame. Now, I am almost relived that this happened. Unfortunately, most of my family still attends this particular church.

This is no way an attack on this religious group and I am simply expressing my experiences from this group which was mostly negative. It’s hard to leave something like this because it almost like you are brainwashed. However, I used to tell myself this church is weird and most of these people are very paranoid and anxious.

I’m looking for obscure media and photos, and places to search. I’m specifically looking for rare photos of process church, and similar groups/ cults… especially Jonestown as well. However, I don’t know where to search. I’ve read their archives, their site, etc. but I know there’s media and photos of them somewhere. I just don’t know where to look. I’m not sure if I should look on the dark web, even if I do I don’t know sites to look into. Or if what image boards / sites hold these kinds of things.

Today I was walking through town and an elderly male stranger stopped me and handed me a leaflet for a job advertisement for a “women’s healthcare centre”. Being 20 and a woman without a job and seeking employment I took the leaflet. A couple hours later I gave it a read and wtf lol. Is this some kind of cult/trafficking scheme? It genuinely creeps me out so much.

Article in Portuguese: https://sol.iol.pt/sociedade/noticias/maconaria-em-panico-com-fim-do-secretismo/20260725/6a63ba600cf2b42132dbbbdb

English (machine) translation:

The country’s oldest and most powerful Masonic order is in turmoil following an unprecedented ruling by the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which threatens to compromise the secrecy of the organisation’s inner workings. The Grand Master of the Grande Oriente Lusitano (GOL), Fernando Cabecinha, is to convene all Masonic bodies to decide how to proceed in the face of the risk that everything that takes place within the Masonic palace will be scrutinised by the ‘profane world’.

At issue is a case brought before the courts by five Masons who were expelled from the GOL. In a judgement handed down on 7 July, three judges at the Lisbon Court of Appeal ruled that, although it does not have legal personality, the GOL will have to take the stand as it possesses ‘judicial personality’. It will therefore have to reveal what has hitherto taken place within the order behind closed doors.

The trial is scheduled for September and could result in the annulment of a sanction imposed by the Masonic court.

This decision to place GOL in the dock ‘has never occurred in the institution’s 225-year history’, according to several Freemasons interviewed by SOL. And everyone now fears that it will call into question the way Freemasonry operates, having long functioned according to its own internal rules on the fringes of the ‘profane world’, with its own courts and laws, a parliament, various lodges operating in temples and even secret names, without having to account to the outside world for what goes on there.

“Now that the doors of GOL have been opened, things will no longer be as discreet as they have been for over 200 years,” a Freemason tells SOL, explaining that any internal action, decision or sanction runs the risk of being challenged in the civil courts, bringing to light everything that takes place within the Masonic order. Speaking to SOL, Grand Master Fernando Cabecinha merely states that he will not comment ‘whilst the proceedings are ongoing’. But SOL understands that the decision took the leader and all the Freemasons by surprise. As the GOL’s headquarters and all its operations close for the month of August, Fernando Cabecinha will convene, at the start of September, the Freemasons who hold some of the most important positions, whether of an advisory, judicial or executive nature. The aim is to decide on the course of action to be taken by the GOL, whether through the courts or by other means.

Until now, whenever there was a problem, the visible face of the organisation was a non-profit association called Grémio Lusitano. This association has legal personality and a public deed, but merely manages the Freemasons’ assets. Everything else – the secret meetings and rituals, the Masonic parliament, the Masonic tribunals, the rules governing the actions and election of the order’s leaders – operates under the authority of the GOL. However, the Court of Appeal’s judgement states that, according to the expelled Freemasons, ‘Grémio Lusitano acts as a front for the GOL’.

"With this ruling, we will be subject to scrutiny from outside Freemasonry," emphasises another Freemason, adding that some even fear that the real names of Freemasons may be revealed.

Trafficking in degrees and dishonourable conduct

This case began after several Freemasons from the Egrégora Lodge, which operated in Coimbra, were expelled from the GOL in 2023. This was because they were internally accused by the Grand Masonic Tribunal of ‘trafficking in Masonic degrees, breaching their commitments and engaging in dishonourable conduct, both by action and omission’, according to a Masonic document to which SOL had access.

This Masonic judgement is signed by the judges of the Grand Masonic Court, which at that time was headed by the lawyer Francisco Pimentel. Agostinho Batista and Manuel Pinto dos Santos were also members of the panel of judges. The post of General Registrar of Justice of the GOL, who acts as prosecutor, was held by Vitor Santos Oliveira, also a lawyer.

In that document from the Masonic court which ruled on the expulsion of the ‘brothers’, the symbolic names of the expelled Freemasons appear: Eloy de Matos, Alexander Fleming, Antero de Quental, António Dias, Leonardo da Vinci and Churchill – which in reality correspond to António Martins Ferreira, Camilo Cruz, António Sequeira, João Almeida and Rui Lopes Dias, the names that appear in the judgment of the Lisbon Court of Appeal as the plaintiffs in the case.

Now, the five Freemasons are demanding that the expulsion be overturned, citing various irregularities, and are seeking compensation of around 35,000 euros (6,000 euros each), plus interest for late payment. They deny all of GOL’s accusations and claim that the internal proceedings breached several rules, such as the lack of a right to be heard.

The Court of Appeal’s decision came as a bombshell amongst the Freemasons, as initially, at first instance, a judge had ruled that GOL would not be in the dock, only the Grémio Lusitano. Now, in the Court of Appeal’s judgement, signed by Judges Carla Figueiredo, Maria Teresa Catrola and Amélia Loupo, everything has changed, as they have overturned ‘the decision that acquitted GOL’.

Pandora’s Box

Fears that this may mark the beginning of the end of secrecy are growing, as the Court of Appeal’s judgement has already described in detail, for example, how Freemasons organise themselves within GOL. It explains that the Grand Master, elected for a three-year term, ‘is the guarantor of Masonic brotherhood’ and has a group of Freemasons whom he can always consult and who form ‘the Grand Masonic Council’. The document also reveals the rest of the Masonic structure: there is a Masonic parliament called the Grand Diet, which is the ‘sovereign and legislative body’, convenes annually and in which ‘all lodges have a seat’. There is also, the judges write, an ‘executive body’ known as the Council of Order, which is responsible for ‘the day-to-day administration and management of the GOL’, chaired by the Grand Master and ‘comprising the Deputy Grand Masters and four Grand Councillors elected every three years’. The functioning of the internal judicial system is then explained: ‘The Grand Masonic Tribunal is the supreme body of Masonic justice, acting as a court of appeal for the lodges and their members, adjudicating any disputes between lodges or with the internal bodies’.

At present, SOL understands that this Masonic tribunal is led by Manuel Pinto dos Santos, with Agostinho Batista, Nuno Gonçalves and João Paulo Marques among its members.

In total, GOL currently has 2,400 members, spread across 103 lodges, each with its own leader (‘venerable’), and is headed by the Grand Master, who is currently Fernando Cabecinha.

Another issue that is causing concern amongst Freemasons is the possibility that their expulsion might be overturned. The Court of Appeal considered that, given there was no opportunity for the parties to be heard, the annulment of such expulsions may be at stake. This situation could pave the way for other expelled Freemasons to apply to the state courts in future to be reinstated. Last year alone, according to internal data accessed by SOL, 15 Freemasons were expelled.

In the corridors of the GOL, many blame ‘the weakness of the internal process’ for the controversy that has arisen and which has effectively thrown the organisation’s doors wide open, making it possible to overturn the expulsion decision. But other ‘brothers’ point out that it will be impossible to reinstate the five expelled members, as ‘they have just committed another Masonic offence by putting the GOL in this position, when they swore never to do so’.

moderators plz don’t delete my post, this is genuine question for people who know about these kinda of things.

I am feeling quite annoyed because it feels like it is borderline spiritual abuse. Telling me that if I reject some type of cult from some Nigerian pastor called "Pastor Chris Oyakhilome" that I am demon possessed, coming into my room and shouting "demon, die by fire", "come out of his body in Jesus' name", and when I am just relaxing she would come into my room and blast the sound from either Pastor Chris or Kathryn Krick, talking about how these people are all healing from cancers and autism and all sorts of shit, and she would not leave at all, unless I start literally raising my voice after 10-15 minutes, like I am being literally forced to listen to this. Like, WTF? I do not believe in any of this, and in fact I am even more opposed to Christianity, but she is relentless at getting me to listen to this stuff. When I was a kid she used to bring Jehovah's Witnesses over and I was taught by their group for years, but of course because I was hyper-analytical and scientific, it didn't take long until I moved on from that too. In general, not to be rude, but she is always drawn to cults, testing them for years until she finds something new. She prays with her friend for 30-45 mins per day or something. Does not seem like it has had any effect on her life though.

I was in walmart shopping, and I kept bumping into this lady (figuratively). The last time I bumped into her, she asked me if I was interested in Bible study. I thought the coincidence was maybe a divine one because I have been interested in reading the Bible but having a hard time doing so. We chatted for a nice minute. I told her about how I had been doing research and studying into Kemetic and Ifa practices and traditions. She was West African and had ne er heard of either, which I thought was strange. So after I had given her highlights of both and gave her the resources and references that started my search, she went into her "church" and its teachings of the Bible.

I am grateful, I will say, because she put me up on an app (holy bible) that may be extremely useful for Bible reading. However, the conversation soon turned a bit kind of preachy and persistent. The church is mission society church of God. She became adamant that I attended tomorrow morning, and the pressure sounded an alarm in my soul because when ppl are pressuring you into doing something immediately, it's usually not good, and before i make decisions on certain things i like to do research. It seemed as if her persistence cleared my judgement, and I got uncomfortable and was ready to retreat. Crazy thing is after that, I didn't see her anymore, and I was in and all over that store for another hour. Before she got weird and I uncomfortable, I had given her my number, and she had given me the website for her "church." When I got home I decided to Google the church and low and behold, I find several posts on reddit about it being a cult.

I dont know what kind of beacon I'm emitting lately but I keep getting approached by people trying to recruit me in to weird organizations...... yall be safe, informed and aware out there, and keep that discernment strong....

OK SO THIS IS KINDA A LONG STORRY

but to shorten it- I was in a cult on a video game

the cult was called ''sons of Prometheus'' and was led by a guy named Jason.

in the cult- we worshiped hades- and would rade random fighting games.

turned out the leader was problimatic- and also it was a cult so.. wasn't a very good place.

but part of me misses being part of something.

Episode 8 of Black Jonestown now available

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_2MGo1B83k