The Bizarre World
of
The
Megiddo Connections
1.10.2000
Available online at:
http://www.networkusa.org/fingerprint/page1b/fp-megaddo-bizarre.html
Author: Anonymous
Permission to re-post in full has been
granted
INTRODUCTION
This study exposes the bizarre connections
between sources credited in the FBI Project
Megiddo report. Analysis clearly shows that proven techniques of
psychological persuasion, designed to discredit specific sets of
individuals, groups, and philosophies, are reflected in the government
report.
You'll need the Adobe Acrobat
Reader to open and view the report, however, viewing the report
itself is not a prerequisite for this study.
MAKING THE CONNECTION
One single URL is HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE in the entire Project Megiddo (PM) report. This
particular link takes readers to the web site of the Ontario Consultants
on Religious Tolerance (OCRT). It is necessary to research
that site, and the links provided there, and the sources mentioned
there, to understand the psychological persuasion techniques used
throughout the Project Megiddo report.
The blue URL is: www.religioustolerance.org/cultsign.htm
The OCRT web site is owned and hosted by B.A.
Robinson. There you'll find a group of hyperlinks to five different
"cult check lists" posted on five different web sites around the
Internet. These lists are intended to be used to "identify" religious
groups considered, in the opinions of the various respective authors, to
be "bad" or "dangerous" cults. The five links included under the heading
"Factors Commonly Found in Destructive Groups" are the main focus
of the page. These five links are explored below.
"Are we already living on the precipice of the Apocalypse - the
chaotic final period of warfare between the forces of good and evil
signaling the second coming of Christ, as forecast in the New
Testament's Book of Revelation?" -Project Megiddo
ENTER THE WORLD OF THE
BIZARRE
We start with the second link on the
OCRT web page which takes readers to the web site of the American Family Foundation (AFF). One of
the AFF board
members, Margaret
Thaler Singer, is also credited three times in the Project Megiddo
report. Margaret Singer's life work has been in the field of psychology,
particularly with regard to the use of "psychological persuasion,"
which includes everything from advertising techniques, to public
relations, to deceptive business practices, to political propaganda, to
the torture of prisoners of war.
Psychological persuasion techniques include
any action designed to influence a person or group to respond in a
predictable, desired fashion. The term "mind control" is more often used
when describing the less-ethical forms of psychological
persuasion.
Another former member of the AFF board, the
late Dr. Louis Joylon "Joly" West, was a long-time
professional associate and acquaintance of Singer. Early in his
career as a psychologist during the 1950s, Joly West engaged in mind
control experiments funded
by the Central
Intelligence Agency. One of the goals of the early government-sponsored "mind
control" studies was to see whether an individual could be
controlled to the point where he would do things against his
own will, even when the act conflicted with fundamental laws of
human nature such as self-preservation.
Under the CIA-backed studies, unwitting
non-volunteer human subjects were given LSD to see
what "potentially useful" mind-altering effects the drug might have, and
whether the drug would be of benefit to the
government. West is perhaps best (or worst) known for giving a
lethal dose of LSD to a popular zoo elephant in California while working
under a research grant. During investigations
by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by
Senator Frank Church, in the mid-1970s, it was revealed that West had
been involved in programs which included the drugging of unsuspecting
targets, electric shock to destroy memory, and “programming” individuals
to kill -- effectively creating human robots under psychiatric, drug-induced
control.
West's involvement in the CIA-backed
programs, and his connection to Singer, and both of their
connections to the AFF and another organization called the Cult
Awareness Network (CAN), are important in this discussion.
It is also relevant to mention here that the
CAN organization engaged in numerous legal battles with the Church of
Scientology (CoS) spanning more than two decades. AFF and CAN both
alleged that CoS used coercive psychological persuasion techniques
(i.e., brainwashing or mind control) to retain members. The Church of
Scientology countered that the psychology professionals on board in the
CAN and AFF organizations themselves used "psychological persuasion"
techniques to malign certain religious groups in they minds of the
public. The CoS also charged that those same individuals additionally
promoted the use of psychotropic (mind-altering) prescription drugs to which CoS was adamantly
opposed.
Because of ensuing mutual enmity and public
animosity between the Church of Scientology and Margaret Singer and Joly
West and the organizations with which they were affiliated [CAN and
AFF], the CoS expended considerable effort digging into the two
psychologists' pasts. In so doing, they uncovered some of the "secret"
research engaged in by West including his involvement in government
research programs such as Artichoke
and Bluebird. The CoS made this information public as it
became known.
The AFF currently includes material on their
web site which defends
the use of psychotropic drugs such as Prozac,
Ritalin, and Luvox. Development of these drugs has roots back to West's
early experiments. Within the past ten years, these drugs have been
aggressively promoted throughout elementary and junior high schools to
the extent that presently millions of children now take these
prescription drugs. Many of the youthful perpetrators of horrible acts
of school violence were
users of prescribed psychiatric drugs.
It was reported that one of the student
perpetrators in the Columbine High School shootings in April, 1998, Eric
Harris, was taking the prescription
drug Luvox which can cause mania.
Many professionals believe
that horrible acts of violence by drugged youth will be the long-term
consequence of widespread use of prescribed psychiatric
drugs.
On November 11, 1999, the Colorado State School Board passed a
resolution warning of the possible negative
effects of psychotropic prescription drugs on schoolchildren. The
vote was 6-1. Board member Patti Johnson drafted the resolution after a
number of parents contacted her complaining that they had been
"pressured" by educators to put their children on Ritalin.
It was also reported that students at
Columbine High had participated in "guided imagery" classes which
incorporate hypnosis and "psychological persuasion" techniques similar
to brainwashing.
THE ANTI-CULT MOVEMENT
Coincidental to the revelations about West's
(and the government's) mind control experiments, another interesting
development took place -- numerous "anti-cult" groups sprang up suddenly
and began aggressive campaigns to publicly malign, villainize and defame
certain alternative and charismatic religious groups. Not surprisingly,
the very same organization which had been at the forefront of exposing
the government's mind control research, i.e., the Church of Scientology,
quickly became the primary target of the most well known new "anti-cult"
group, the Cult Awareness Network (CAN).
Anti-cult organizations and their agents
(apparently) received funding by charging fees to get people out of
"cults;" and such was the function of the original CAN. (Notice we say
"the original CAN" -- more on this later.) The process was called
"rescue and deprogramming." The process was typically carried out at the
request of family members who would contact CAN, who would "refer" the
family to a "volunteer," who would then refer them to an independent
deprogrammer who actually arranged and/or performed the rescue and
deprogramming operations. This "referral" scheme -- which sometimes
transpired through the help of "unpaid" third-party "volunteers"
-- helped isolate the CAN organization itself from the highly
controversial rescuing and deprogramming activity. Nevertheless, in a
case concluded in 1997 involving CAN in which their "referral" scheme
was relied upon as a defense, the court held that "under Washington law
and 42 U.S .C. § 1985(3), referral of a parent to a 'deprogrammer' by an
anti-cult group's volunteer 'contact' person is sufficient to establish
vicarious
liability."
In the early 90s a message was posted in the
"alt.religion.scientology" newsgroup entitled: "Memorandum from Jeffrey K. Hadden on
neutralizing AFF." (It is now also posted other
places on the Net.) This document purports to be a memorandum by and
between representatives, sympathizers (and presumed adherents) of
various "New Religious Movements" (NRMs). The message contains
discussion of plans to "neutralize" both the AFF and CAN. Jeffrey Hadden
is a sociology professor who is sympathetic to the various new and
alternative religions including the Church of Scientology.
It was not just Scientology and the NRMs,
however, who discounted Singer's work.
During the 80s and early 90s, Singer testified
as an expert witness on "mind control" in numerous civil and criminal
court cases in which alleged cult groups were implicated. Early on, her
testimony proved useful in bringing about victories for the parties
buying her expertise. However, Singer suffered numerous defeats in court
as well. In a number of cases her testimony was rejected by the courts.
Most notably among these was the case of Steven
Fishman.
In 1990, U.S. District Court Judge D. Lowell
Jensen reviewed in detail the history of Singer’s controversial
“expert witness” status and barred her from testifying because "The
evidence before the court... shows that neither the APA nor the ASA
[American Sociological Association] has endorsed the views of Dr.
Singer".
Also during the early- to mid- 80s, Singer
organized a group of colleagues under the auspices of the American
Psychological Association (APA), of which she was a member, for the
study of mind control and "deceptive thought persuasion" techniques.
Singer's Task Force spent several years preparing a report for
presentation to an APA board for review and approval.
In 1986 the APA Board of Social And Ethical
Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) finally reviewed Singer's 69-page
"Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control" (DIMPAC)
report. The report effectively attempted to make CAN's definitions of
"cults" and "brainwashing" the official APA definition and usage.
However, the review board rejected Singer's report,
dated May 1987, and in its final analysis the Board stated, in
part:
"BSERP ... is unable to accept the
report of the [DIMPAC] Task Force. In general, the report lacks the
scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA
imprimatur. The report was carefully reviewed by two external experts
and two members of the Board. They independently agreed on the
significant deficiencies in the report ... The Board cautions the Task
Force members against using their past appointment to imply BSERP or
APA support or approval of the positions advocated in the report.
BSERP requests that Task Force members not distribute or publicize the
report without indicating that the report was unacceptable to the
Board."
Singer
eventually filed suit against the APA alleging that the Board engaged in
a conspiracy to defame her and to destroy her professional career. After
years of court wranglings Singer's case was thrown out in 1992. (Singer
v. American Psychological Association, 92 Civ. 6082
(S.D.N.Y.))
But the story becomes even more bizarre.
Remember our mentioning the CAN (Cult Awareness Network) organization
and the memorandum to "neutralize" it? One of CAN's top choices among
independent deprogrammers was Rick
Ross who would coordinate the rescue and deprogramming
operations. At the time, Ross had been involved in more than 200
deprogrammings.
According to statements made under oath in a
sworn affidavit by another [former] deprogrammer, Mark Blocksom, some
deprogrammers use[d] techniques of "sleep and food deprivation,
humiliation, ridicule, deprivation of privacy, and in some cases,
physical abuse and restraint to accomplish their goal of altering a
person's religious views." Later, during a 60 Minutes program,
Blocksom [a then-recovering drug addict] recanted on his sworn statement
made during investigations into the Jason Scott abduction
case.
Also, during testimony in a civil suit filed
by Jason
Scott against Rick Ross and CAN (brought on after an unlawful rescue
operation), a sociology professor from Indiana University-Purdue
University, Anson Shupe -- who claimed to have spent 20 years studying
CAN -- told the jury that the "anti-cult movement" had a long history of
attacking unconventional religious groups. He stated that CAN leaders
themselves had a long record of supporting coercive deprogrammings. The
irony, he testified, was that in conducting deprogrammings, anti-cult
activists use[d] the very same alleged recruitment techniques as the
groups they criticized -- "such as depriving
individuals of freedom of movement and information."
According to the New CAN web site, on Sept.
29, 1995, the Washington state jury found that, in the Scott abduction
incident, Ross "intentionally
and recklessly acted in a way that is so outrageous in character and
so extreme in degree as to be beyond all possible bounds of decency and
to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized
community."
Very few groups fell outside CAN's scope of
interest when it came to "dangerous cult-like groups" (religious or
otherwise). Obviously, having a broad definition for "dangerous group"
equated with more potential work for CAN's organizers and agents. Former
CAN executive director Cynthia Kisser is attributed with a January 1994
statement that if Jesus were alive today, CAN would "take an
interest in him because of the great controversy surrounding his fringe
activities. ... And I'd send whatever we could find to
reporters."
The rescue and deprogramming work proved
lucrative. Included among their "targets" were many Christian and
bible-based groups and churches. Unfortunately for CAN, it was the
"rescue" of Jason Scott from a Pentecostal
Christian church that ultimately resulted in the organization's
(pseudo) demise.
Jason was already 18 at the time his mother,
Katherine Tonkin [remarried after Jason's birth], hired Ross to arrange
for her son's rescue. Jason later testified that on the morning the
three men assisting Ross grabbed him, handcuffed him, and forced him
into a van, he yelled that they had no legal right to abduct him. When
he continued to scream, his captors placed duct tape over his mouth.
They held him down on the floor of the van, and drove him four hours
away to a beach house on a deserted stretch of the Washington coast. Ross contends that while
he was present at the abduction, he did not personally participate
in the actual restraining.
For five days, Ross forced
Jason to watch videos on religious cults and tried to get him to
renounce the Life Tabernacle Church. Eventually, Jason responded to Ross
and his other captors in the manner they wanted to hear. However, on an
occasion when the group went out to dinner, Scott bolted from the
restaurant and contacted police.
RECOVERED MEMORY AND RITUAL
ABUSE
On a different but related front, during the
late 70's and early 80's, other psychologists and psychotherapists began
exploring therapies to "recover" suppressed memory. The condition was
labeled Repressed
Memory Syndrome (RMS). Proponents of RMS therapy claimed that
"repressed memories" were the source of mental disorders which could
cause functional disabilities for adult victims. The implication was
that childhood memories had been
suppressed through the use of mind control (type) techniques (either
knowingly or unknowingly) and that "unlocking" these suppressed memories
would help relieve victims of the symptoms. The often unanticipated
consequence, however, was that sometimes criminal charges were filed
against parents whose children "recovered" memories of childhood abuse
during RMS sessions.
The stories recounted by RMS victims were
often horrid. Some of the cases of abuse were colloquially termed "sadistic" or
"ritualistic." Another clinical term for this type of abuse is
sexual
sadism. The term "Satanic" was also used by news outlets and by
other parties including some in law enforcement. The most common term
now used is simply "ritual
abuse."
One highly
publicized ritual abuse case was that of the McMartin
Preschool in 1983 where hundreds of children stated during RMS-type
therapy that they
had been abused by the school's owners. The McMartin Preschool
case is important to the bigger study of "mind control," and the
associated study of "third party apologists" who cover and defend
unethical and even criminal activity (associated with repressed memory)
by making victims into the objects of public scorn and ridicule. As you
will see, this all has connection to the Project Megiddo
report.
Early on in the development of RMS therapies,
some important and influential people were accused of abuse by their
now-adult children. Some of the accusers, as well as some of the accused
parents, worked in the field of psychology and other public and
professional occupations.
As the various RMS therapies gained in
popularity, others in the field of psychotherapy countered that during
the therapy secessions the therapists themselves were implanting the
claimed "recovered memories." Objectors argued that there was no such
thing as "repressed memory" that could be "recovered." The McMartin
Preschool case resulted in acquittals based in large part upon this
defense, even though there was other evidence which strongly suggested
foul play.
Ultimately, as a consequence of the RMS
debate, organizations were established whose function was specifically
to defend accused parents and to defuse the recovered memory advocates.
This was accomplished largely through the discrediting the RMS
therapists themselves. But more importantly, the accusers were often
publicly villainized and maligned. Detractors also have attempted to
rename "repressed memory" as "false memory" in an effort to further
discredit the condition.
Margaret Singer was instrumental in forming
one such "false
memory defense" organization, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
(FMSF) of which she remains an
Advisory Board
member. As with the others, the FMSF organization was founded by
accused parents and other psychology professionals.
Advocates of "recovered memory therapy" viewed
the new "false memory" defense groups as merely
providing cover for the hidden
abuse. One report describes the "false memory movement" this way:
"With links to CIA, mind control experts, and accused child abusers, the
false memory movement turns 'blaming the victim'
into a science."
The two sides of the false memory/ritual abuse
debate can basically be broken down as follows: Among the "believers"
are people who have been abused and have solid evidence to back up their
accusations, plus others who believe they were abused but have no
evidence to support their claims beyond their own memory. On the other
side of the debate, among the "non-believers," are people who have been
accused of perpetrating acts of ritual abuse, plus practitioners of
occult religions and apologists for occult religions. Both sides also
find among their supporters psychologists and other
professionals.
To some, it might seem incongruent
for any psychologist to contend, on the one hand, that groups and
individuals use mind control and brainwashing techniques for
various purposes ranging from "implanting false memories" to cult
indoctrination, but on the other hand also argue that "repressed memory"
patients could not possibly have been "programmed" to forget horrible
experiences. Could it be that the "false memory" argument really is a
"cover" just as some victims have contended?
"Almost uniformly, the belief among right-wing religious extremists
is that the federal government is an arm of Satan." -Project
Megiddo
THE OCCULT CONNECTION
Any study
into the background of Margaret Singer, the AFF, or recovered memory and
ritual abuse will unavoidably lead to discussion of occult religions;
they are integral to this debate. However, the vast majority of
Americans are not at all familiar with occult religious practices.
The word "occult" simply means "hidden" or "covered."
Practitioners of occult religions openly admit that they utilize
"psychological persuasion" techniques to hide and cover some beliefs,
actions and practices. This particular kind of psychological persuasion
is broadly referred to as "magic" by practitioners. The intended product
of "magic" is of course "deception." Magic only works, however,
when trust is present. Trust is magic's energizing catalyst. Review of
the complete bag of magic tricks is far beyond the scope of this
discussion. However, at a minimum, a basic knowledge and understanding
of occult "magic" is absolutely essential when studying these groups
because they all know and use these very same techniques.
Among the most common "tricks" are the use of distorted truth,
serpentine logic, ambiguity, and concealing of key bits of information.
Sometimes, these tricks are couched in humor, but not so in the more
serious instances. Although "lying" is an acceptable magic trick,
accomplished practitioners rarely tell lies which can be disproved
through investigation of physical evidence. Masters of occult magic
prefer, instead, to take elements of "truth" and rearrange them so as to
deceive the observer into drawing false conclusions premised upon
twisted fragments of reality.
In the realm of the occult it is totally unacceptable to "reveal"
the operational mechanics of any trick. Even if the trick is "figured
out," or "uncovered," or the "secrets" revealed, the "truth" must never
be acknowledged. Once a magician's trick has been exposed, he has but a
few choices: He can lie and say that the observer's conclusions are
incorrect; or he can try to misdirect the observer still further. Of
these, these almost never work once the innate bond of trust is
broken.
Magic deception is not intended to entertain any audience. When
practiced by "dabblers," magic deception may provide some amount of
sadistic entertainment for the practitioner. But in its purest form,
magic deception is used to cover or hide immoral, socially unacceptable,
or criminal activity. Use of this kind of "occult magic" to accomplish
this objective is really psychological (or spiritual) warfare and is
referred to as "black" magic.
The U.S. Army recognizes some occult religions. The Army includes
this following description among the practices of one of
the recognized occult groups:
"In addition to conventional means of influencing the
environment about them, Setians also employ "magic," by which they
mean universal forces and psychological influences generally unknown
to or unrecognized by society." -
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/chap/relpractice/other/set.htm
When considering the arguments put forward by
practitioners of occult religions, and by their defenders, the practice
of "magic deception" (or deceptive psychological persuasion) must be
considered at all times.
Another trait observed in cases where this
kind of "occult magic" has been used to hide abuse or to mask criminal
activity is that typically one of two possible patterns is almost always
followed: Perpetrators and their accomplices will either (a) first
victimize, then villainize; or (b) first villainize, then victimize. In
either case, the "victimization" process ranges anywhere from verbal
attacks, to mental abuse, to physical or sexual abuse, all the way to
total annihilation in the most sadistic instances. This "villainization"
process is often accomplished through use of "magic" (deception) as
described above.
In the sexual abuse cases, pattern "a" is most
often observed. As you read on you may recognize places where pattern
"b" has been followed.
Related to the advent of the repressed memory
and ritual abuse cases, in October of 1989, the head of the FBI's
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Kenneth V. Lanning,
issued a report entitled "Satanic Occult, Ritualistic Crime: A Law
Enforcement Perspective." In it, Lanning stated:
"The fact is that far more crime
and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God,
Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan.
Many people do not like that statement, but few can argue it."
http://www.xeper.org/pub/tos/whunt/fbi/lanning1.html
This FBI report effectively dismissed charges of "Satanic
child abuse" as being fabricated fantasies that do not take place in the
real world. This FBI report angered many victims of ritual abuse, some
of whom charged that Lanning himself was an apologist for the occult
world who had infiltrated the ranks of the FBI and found himself in
charge of the very agency that should be investigating the national and
international aspects of these ritual abuse crimes. But instead, he
appeared to be "covering" for them.
Then again in 1992, Lanning issued yet another
FBI report on the same subject, this one entitled: "Investigator's
Guide to Allegations of "Ritual" Child Abuse." And again this second
report repeated many of the same sentiments as the first, and again
further dismissed the notion that any "satanic" or other sadistic cults
have been linked to ritual abuse (with maybe one exception). This second
FBI report further marginalized surviving victims of ritual abuse for
which many documented cases
exist.
These two FBI reports are now routinely cited
by members of occult religions in defense of their practices. A search
of the Web reveals that presently, these reports are found (it appears
exclusively) only on web sites belonging to practitioners of, and
apologists for, the occult religions, such as the following: Official Temple of Set (a web
site operated by a former Army Special Forces officer, both reports, 1 and 2);
the Ordo Templi
Orientis (a web site which claims to be hosted by an L.A. law
officer, report 2); another Temple of Set site
(report 1);
and, the Occult Institute
of Technology (report 1). The only
other two places where these reports were located was the web site
belonging to former CAN deprogrammer, Rick Ross (report 2); and finally
on the web pages of the OCRT (report 2) [Warning:
These above sites contain extensive amounts of information on OCCULT
religions!]
At least one ex-FBI official, Ted Gunderson,
former Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Los Angeles, has expressed grave
concerns over the FBI's apparent official dismissal of these ritual
abuse claims; even to the extent of charging "possible
cover up."
Heated
debate continues between the RMS proponents and
its detractors.
In many recent court
cases it has been ruled that recovered repressed memory may be
introduced as evidence.
"The 1993 clash in Waco, Texas at the Branch Davidian complex
is an illustration of such defensive violence. History has shown that
groups that seek to withdraw from the dominant culture seldom act on
their beliefs that the endtime has come unless provoked." -Project Megiddo
THE WACO CONNECTION
In February 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms mounted a raid on the Branch Davidian religious
commune in Waco, Texas. Many contend that the raid itself was brought
about as a result of the FBI's listening to "cult experts" who promoted
the "mind control" theories about religious groups, and who villainized
the Branch Davidians.
On February 27, 1993, the day before the
initial ATF assault on Mt. Carmel, the Waco Tribune-Herald began a
seven-part series on the Branch Davidians entitled "The Sinful
Messiah" by authors Mark England and Darlene McCormick. Rick Ross
and CAN are mentioned frequently in the series. England and
McCormick report in the sidebar in part four:
"Ross said he believes Howell
[Koresh] is prone to violence... 'Speaking out and exposing Howell
might bring in the authorities or in some way help those being held in
that compound through a kind of psychological, emotional slavery and
servitude,' he said. Ross said authorities need to understand that
Howell is fully capable of violence. 'You could say that it is a very
dangerous group,' Ross said."
You may also recall that at the time of the Branch
Davidian raid Janet Reno claimed to have "reports" from "authorities"
which provided sufficient evidence in her mind that sexual child abuse
was taking place within the Davidian church. It turned out that none of
the charges were ever substantiated. Subsequently, suspicions arose that
the allegations of child abuse (if they existed at all) were actually
fabricated by "deprogrammers" who had been working with ex-Davidians.
The false
accusations of child abuse have also been attributed to the original
Cult Awareness Network (CAN) and deprogramming consultant Rick Ross, along with another
ex-Davidian, Marc Breault, with whom Ross had also worked.
There were charges that the CAN organization
was advising the FBI on how to deal with David Koresh. The FBI has denied
assertions that it received advice from Rick Ross. The FBI's effort to
distance itself from Ross, however, could be attributed to the fact that
Ross was under criminal indictment for "unlawful imprisonment" in the
Jason Scott matter. [Ross was ultimately found "not guilty" on the
criminal charges, however in the subsequent civil suit the jury found
both him and CAN guilty of conspiring to violate Scott's civil rights.]
Ross has personally stated that he was in contact with
(ex-)Davidians and their family members at the time of, and prior to,
the raid. Ross also states that he was in fact
in contact with the FBI during the time frame of the raid and
standoff.
David Block, one of the key government
informants instrumental in making charges against the Branch Davidian
leader, David Koresh, was himself the subject of a deprogramming which
took place in the home of the CAN LA representative, Priscilla Coates,
just a year before the Waco tragedy.
A Washington based lobbying firm, Ross &
Green, (no relation to Rick Ross) also issued an independent
report about CAN's involvement in the Waco incident.
Another independent report by Dr. Nancy T.
Ammerman of Princeton University includes this comment about CAN's
involvement: "Rick Ross and CAN seem to have been major sources for the
series of stories run by the Waco newspaper, starting [in] February. It
seems clear that people within the ‘anti-cult’ community had targeted
the Branch Davidians for attention." This sentiment is also corroborated by a
number of other individuals as well. An article on the
New CAN web site states that Ross "appeared on numerous television
shows claiming that the Davidians would probably not come out willingly
and that measures would have to be taken to force them out." Ross denies
this accusation, however he does state on his own web site that during
the standoff he told the BATF that David Koresh was "heavily armed and
might prove to be dangerous."
Rick Ross had also been in
contact with the mother of at least one of the Davidian followers
during the early phases of the encounter. An
article posted on the New CAN web site states that in "The Nation,"
Alexander Cockburn reports these following words attributed to Balenda
Ganem, the mother of Davidian survivor David Thibodeau:
"I'd been in touch with Rick Ross,
who was acting as an independent cult 'deprogrammer' and informant to
the ATF and FBI. When I got to know him in Waco, I understood he was
instigating the most negative aspect of the situation because he
wished violence toward David Koresh. He never said he wanted him to be
helped out. He wanted him to be wiped out. That is what he told me. He
looked forward to David Koresh being in jail, where he would be
tortured and raped ... That's when I understood that this man was not
working for the greater good. He had a personal vendetta. He wanted a
cult leader; God, it was his passion."
The FBI reportedly consulted its own
behavioral scientists (whose specialty was applying psychology to
law enforcement situations) early on in the standoff. The agency
apparently disregarded the recommendations of their inside experts, Pete
Smerick and Mark Young. The FBI was, however, getting "psychological"
advice from somewhere, and it only seems reasonable that they called on
outside cult consultants, "experts" and "gurus" for guidance.
During and after the Branch Davidian standoff,
the American Family Foundation (AFF), and the New York-based
International Cult Education Program (ICEP), an adjunct of AFF, played
a major role in shaping the public's opinion about the Davidians and
Koresh by providing national and international media with their
perspective on the group's practices and beliefs. No doubt, this helped
influence the outcome of the siege as well as to shape the public's
perceptions afterwards.
In response to the recent revelation that the
FBI hid evidence during investigations of the Waco massacre, Singer was
interviewed by CBS News correspondent John Blackstone for a September 2,
1999 broadcast. According to numerous Internet sources, Margaret Singer
said in that CBS
story: "This is just fodder for the conspiracy theorists. [T]his is
just what the militia movement needs to say 'we told you
so.'"
Ross, like the other groups mentioned, has
posted on his personal web site, a list of "bible-based" and "political" groups
whose activities he monitors. Not surprisingly, Ross also has groups
who follow his work as well.
And guess where the Ross name pops up again in
association with the Project Megiddo report? You'll find it on the web
page where readers of the PM report are directed for further
information on "cults." That's right, on the OCRT "Dangerous
Cults" web page there is a link to another web site operated by the
Institute for First Amendment Studies (IFAS), where Rick Ross's
cult-awareness check list is
posted.
And here's what the OCRT host says about the
Rick Ross cult check list:
"These early warning signs were
prepared by former deprogrammer and current exit counselor, Rick Ross.
Ross was recently found guilty of conspiracy to limit the civil rights
to freedom of religion of a member of a Pentecostal church. However,
the above guidelines appear to have merit in spite of the background
of the author."
The OCRT
web site also says this about the IFAS organization: "They oppose
various political activities of conservative Christian groups." And, the
"About" page on the
IFAS web site itself openly admits that the organization's purpose is to
"expose and counter the political activities of the Religious Right."
And don't forget, it is the "religious right" that is also the primary
target of the FBI Project Megiddo report!
As a result of the devastating civil suit
during the early 90s, the (original) Cult Awareness Network (and Ross
personally) came under court order to pay millions of dollars in damages
to the plaintiff in that case, Jason Scott.
But don't think that was to be the end of CAN.
Under a court ordered sale, who do you suppose purchased the "Old" CAN
assets -- including computer files and membership lists? The Church
of Scientology! For somewhere around $20,000 the CoS bought the assets
of its worst enemy and set up shop under their old name -- CAN. That's
right, the CAN organization did not go away, it
just changed
owners. The New CAN is now operated by the Foundation for Religious
Freedom (FRF), a California corporation doing business as Cult
Awareness. The agreement between the Church of Scientology and the
IRS, at section VIII
4c, reveals that FRF is a "Scientology-related" entity.
According to a Washington Post article, Jason
Scott ultimately settled for $5,000 (in lieu of Ross's $3.4 million
obligation under the total $5 million
judgment) conditioned upon Ross providing Jason (the plaintiff) with
200 hours of "consultation time." Jason ultimately left the United
Pentecostal Church subsequent to the civil trial, reconciled with his
family, fired his Scientology lawyers [Kendrick Moxon; et al] and made
public statements that he felt he was used by Scientology in the case.
Scott then hired a new attorney who had a history of
opposing the Church of Scientology and who previously represented the
original CAN -- the very organization against whom Jason had just
won his judgment! According to the Post article, Scott's former
attorney, Moxon, filed formal objections to the settlement claiming
Scott had become the subject of "foul play" and that it appeared Scott
was "again the victim of a deprogramming."
And figure this out: Not only does the owner
of the OCRT web site, B.A. Robinson, direct his readers to the works of
deprogrammer Rick Ross, he also directs readers to the New
(Scientology-backed) CAN organization as well -- the one which took over
the CAN operations. Not only that, the New CAN organization now
routinely directs
visitors to the web pages of -- you guessed it -- the OCRT for
additional information on the "New Religion Movement" (NRM) and
religion!.
Robinson also speaks
favorably of Scientology on his "Scientology" page, there he
states:
"Scientology is an applied
religious philosophy that contains methodologies intended to improve
life and achieve spiritual freedom for oneself and
society."
He goes on to
make the following astute observation:
"So much controversy has been
generated by pro and anti Scientology individuals and groups that the
truth is impossible to separate from the propaganda. Like many other
new emerging faith groups, Scientology has been accused of ethics
violations, brainwashing techniques, swindling people, etc. Their
opponents have been accused of violating copyright laws, violating the
civil rights of Church members by kidnapping, confining and
brainwashing them, etc. "
Robinson additionally points out
that the Scientology-backed Foundation for
Religious Tolerance's name, URL (www.religioustolerance.net), and
logo are similar to those of his OCRT site
(www.religioustolerance.org), but he claims the two groups are
"unrelated" except for shared interests.
THE COS CONNECTION
L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church of
Scientology. Scientology is premised upon his theory that "mental
illness" is caused by a combination of mental and spiritual repression
brought about in association with, and as a result of pain. This theory
is expressed in Hubbard's book, "Dianetics, the Modern Science of
Mental Health." As you might imagine, the "professional" and
"accepted" fields of psychiatry and psychology were not impressed with
Hubbard's "new revelations" about the causes of mental illness which
conflicted in nearly every aspect with traditional academic teaching. In
fact, one of Scientology's goals has always been to do away with the
traditional teachings on the subject of mental health and replace them
with Scientology theory. One of the CoS organizations set up to further
this goal was its Citizens Commission on Human Rights. The fact is,
Scientology has made great headway towards this goal -- even within
government agencies.
During the entire time while L. Ron Hubbard
was in charge, the Church of Scientology stayed in a continual state of
battle with the IRS. Newspapers and magazines reported that
Scientologists had "infiltrated" the IRS and had passed inside documents
and files along to the organization. At the heart of the battle was the
issue of whether CoS was a "religion" and whether or not it would be
awarded tax-exempt status. The CoS filed literally hundreds of lawsuits
against the government during this period.
Meade Emory served as Legislative Counsel for
the Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress from 1970 to 1972,
and was an Assistant to the Commissioner of IRS during the years
1975-1977. Those years are significant because those are the very same
years during which IRS documents were (allegedly) stolen from IRS
offices by an IRS employee named Gerald Wolfe, and passed secretly to
Scientology's Guardian's Office (Hubbard's inner staff). As a result,
the FBI raided Scientology headquarters in 1977, leading finally to the
dissolution of the Guardian's Office, and to the arrest of Mary Sue
Hubbard, L.R.'s wife.
Subsequent to L. Ron Hubbard's "departure,"
and after his surviving wife was removed from her position in the
organization, the Church of Scientology was eventually granted its IRS
tax exempt status. But only after it's assets were acquired by new
owners operating under the corporate name, Church of Spiritual
Technology (CST).
In the early 90s, a very odd thing transpired;
a "secret" agreement was signed between the IRS and the CoS, at which
time several million dollars changed hands. Some contend that from that
point forward, the CoS became itself a front organization for as yet undefined
managers with odd connections to the IRS. Ex-members of the CoS
contend that since the disappearance of L.R. Hubbard, some "outsiders"
have, altered
Hubbard's original works (Ron Hubbard hated the IRS) so as to make
the CoS much more "tax friendly." In fact, the CoS has even instituted a
new office within the church called the "Tax Compliance Office" whose
purpose it is to make certain that church members comply with tax laws
in accordance with the IRS agreement.
It has been revealed through public documents
that Meade Emory left the IRS and became a co-founder
of "Church of Spiritual Technology" (CST) which now owns all of the CoS
assets and rights to Hubbard's works. This effectively means that, for
all practical purposes, Meade Emory -- the former IRS officer -- is now
co-owner of what is collectively and colloquially referred to as "The
Church of Scientology" and its many branch organizations. Meade Emory is
not a Scientologist.
There are also others -- outside the inner
circle of mind control enthusiasts -- who have provided independent critiques and reviews of
Scientology.
BACK TO THE ORIGINAL OCRT "DANGEROUS CULTS"
PAGE
We started this discussion with the link to
the OCRT web page to which readers of the Project Megiddo report are
directed. So far, we've only scratched the surface into the sordid pasts
of Singer, the AFF, and the IFAS. Before we go on to the other OCRT
links, it should be noted that the AFF site has an index page for
"cult-like" groups.
As you navigate through the links, notice that AFF has NO
information at all on any Satanic
cults, nothing about Witchcraft,
and Paganism is not even listed. The AFF site does name over TWO
HUNDRED "bible-based"
groups with "cult-like" traits. Notice too that the Occult
page actually links to an occult web site, which is atypical of other
groups listed there.
Also, the AFF web site states that New Age
Movements "are not cults," and it has a rather enticing exhortation
on the history of astrology. In fact, the AFF Astrology
page looks more like an advertisement than a review. According to the
AFF essay, astrology's popularity is due to its "uniquely personal
aspect."
The AFF site also has a "Links Page" which (in
most cases) links readers to the web sites operated by the groups which
are identified as being "cult-like." Unlike the others however, the "Patriot
Movement" link directs readers, not to any patriot web site, but
instead to the web pages of the organization that has made millions of
dollars through sales of materials which villainize and demonize the
Patriot Movement; the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
THE OTHER OCRT LINKS
The third link on the OCRT page is to a report
by James R. Lewis entitled "Safe sects? Early warning signs of 'Bad
Religions.'" The name "James R. Lewis" also pops up on the New,
Scientology-owned CAN web site where his report on "controversial" or
"dangerous" groups is posted. Lewis also is listed on a couple of the
New CAN web pages as a source for additional information on the "New
Religions Movement" (NRM).
In addition, Lewis is closely associated with
the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), a New Age and
alternative religion apologetics organization of which Dr. J. Gordon
Melton is a board member. The OCRT web site likewise links to material
on the CESNUR web site, including that organization's posting of the
Project Megiddo report. CESNUR has offices around the world and works
with NGOs and international organizations on behalf of new, alternative
religions.
The fourth "cult check list" link is to
material by "P.E.I. (Isaac)
Bonewits," a professing Neo-Pagan and Witch apologist. The Bonewits
site is so flagrantly anti-Christian we do not even care to cover it
here. Bonewits contends that the title of his "cult check list," the ABCDEF survey, (The
Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame), was intended to be
"humorous," but yet the FBI directs members of law enforcement there for
another list of "indicators" of cult-like activity. Readers of the
ABCDEF survey may find that it appears to be more the work of backwards
engineering than any kind of scientific evaluation. It appears that the
ABCDEF author merely took Christian church dogma and drafted a list
around his perception of those practices.
And the last of the five links to which the
FBI has directed readers of the Project Megiddo report is that of the
"Global Ideas Bank" which posts New Age "ideas," such as one proposing
the establishment of a "cashless society"
and one discussing "abortion as a
sacrament."
"The last book in the New Testament of the
Bible designates Armageddon as the assembly point in the apocalyptic
setting of God's final and conclusive battle against evil." -Project
Megiddo
CONCLUSIONS
In this report, we covered the five
"connections" for source information on "dangerous cults" to which
readers of the FBI Project Megiddo report are directed through the OCRT
web link.
What we found was that the first "cult check
list" is posted on the web site of the admittedly counter-Christian IFAS
group where readers find the article by 'deprogrammer' Rick Ross who was
convicted of unlawfully detaining a Pentecostal church member. Secondly,
we reviewed the AFF organization which defends use of mind-altering
drugs, posts friendly articles on astrology and New Age, and has among
its most prominent board members mind control authority Margaret Singer
who has a history with connections to CIA-backed drug-facilitated mind
control experiments. The third link we reviewed was the report on "bad
religions" by James R. Lewis whom, we saw, has connections to the new
Scientology-backed CAN organization and to international New Age
apologetics organizations such as CESNUR. The fourth link was to the
Pagan/Witchcraft material by Isaac Bonewits. And, the fifth and final
link was to the New Age "Global Ideas Bank" with articles that promote a
cashless money
system, mock
Christianity, and one that even mocks the
sanctity of human life itself.
Amazingly, all of the above sites -- each of
which evidences its own particular brand of intolerance -- are linked
from the web site purporting to stand for religious
tolerance!
A separate
article looks into the intolerant material posted on the OCRT site
itself.
http://www.networkusa.org/fingerprint/page1b/fp-project-megiddo.html
Of course, this document does not begin to go
into the motivations behind the other known contributors to the Project
Megiddo report, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL). However, information is available on their
involvement from a number of sources including; WorldNetDaily,
The
New American, and The Freedom
Corner.
So, judge for yourself the value of the
"authorities" credited in the Project Megiddo report. But if you take
anything at face value -- just as it is stated -- you may be playing
into the hands of some well known mind control operatives -- those who
are considered among the best in the field at getting people to respond
to input in a predictable, desired fashion.
ADDENDUM
After much research into the subject of "recovered memories," it
is clear that many of these cases represent occurrences of abuse that
were not brought to light until much later in life -- for any number of
reasons. It also appears that there are many false
accusations of abuse, sometimes attributed to "recovered
memories." Some of these false cases incorporate far fetched accusations
which appear to have been introduced purely as a cover for actual
crimes. The bottom line is this: If you believe that "memories" can be
"falsely implanted," then you must also believe that memories can be
altered or even erased. You can't logically have one without the other.
If the latter is true, then it is reasonable to believe that those
individuals who are familiar with the process, and who use it, would try
to cover up the this reality.
None of the links provided in this article
should be considered endorsements. Readers are urged to check into every
single source or "authority" cited either in the Project Megiddo report,
this report, or referenced on any of the pages linked from this report.
These groups can be very, very deceiving. Look
at what each one says on the subjects of "recovered memory," "ritual
abuse" and "Satanism" (for example) and then weigh their comments
against your own beliefs. Or, pick some other issue that is important to
you personally and see what they have to say on that subject. Look for
contradictions, such as: Do they publish a list of "groups" in a way
that leads readers to believe these are "cults;" and at the same time
preach "religious tolerance"? For further research, do a search on the
Internet for each individual or group, and search http://www.dejanews.com/ to see what
others are saying about them. Find out what organizations the individual
(or group) is associated with. Evaluate each item of information with a
healthy degree of skepticism until you are able to satisfactorily form
your own final conclusions.
OTHER REPORTS ON PROJECT MEGIDDO
The
Making of Project Megiddo
This is a two-part study entitled The
Making of Project Megiddo & The Secret Agenda to Destroy
Christianity in America. It delves into the FBI's Project Megiddo (PM)
report and into the writings of the three primary outside authorities
who, it is believed, were relied upon for the report's support
material.
PROJECT
MEGIDDO & RELIGIOUS inTOLERANCE
There is good evidence showing that
sources relied upon in the Project Megiddo assessment had preconceived
political, social and religious notions of their own which are
unfavorable towards the groups now implicated in the final report. Many
of the very same kinds of negative statements expressed about certain
religious groups in the writings of the cited authorities are now
reflected in the FBI study. This revelation alone brings the credibility
of the entire report into question.
SHOULD
WE KNOW MORE ABOUT PROJECT MEGIDDO
This report takes the
reader through a series of excerpts from the various "religious
tolerance" sites linked from the FBI's report to reveal the underlying
hatred towards Christians and the innate disdain for Christian beliefs
exhibited by these individuals.
RELIGIOUS
TOLERANCE - A FRONT FOR HATE
Part 1 - INTOLERANCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED covers
the pages belonging to the web site whose URL address is provided in the
FBI report. It explores many of the relevant OCRT essays to reveal how
"religious tolerance" is really just a front used to disguise hatred
towards Christians. As you will see, in the view of some of these
espoused "religious tolerance" advocates, there is only one religious
group that should be called a "cult" and that group is comprised of all
prophecy-believing Christians, which they mockingly call the
"Apocalyptic cult."
Part II - THE LINKS THAT BIND cover the other four
web pages a person is directed to by following the URL link provided in
the FBI Project Megiddo report. The web page found there, the OCRT "cult
behavior check lists" page, includes links to still other religious
hatred front groups.
Here are some external links to additional articles on Project
Megiddo and "religious tolerance":
Criminalizing
Dissent; The New American
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1999/12-06-99/vo15no24_dissent.htm
Project
Megiddo FBI Report - Reactive; by: Dr. A. H. Krieg
http://www.freedomcorner.com/megiddo_reactive.html
Change
Agents Address Hate; The WINDS
http://www.thewinds.org/archive/government/hate_groups06-98.html