Lightning Guides - Cults: In Too Deep From Jonestown to Scientology

IN TOO DEEP
FROM JONESTOWN
TO SCIENTOLOGY

Copyright 2015 by Lightning Guides, Berkeley, California

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ISBN Print 978-1-942411-68-0
eBook 978-1-942411-69-7

Front Cover Photo: Ingemar Edfalk/Matton Collection/Corbis
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FROM THE

EDITOR

The only difierence between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own.

FRANK ZAPPA

On April 24, 2009, the two heiresses to the Seagram liquor fortune, Clare and Sara Bronfman, received an extortion letter. Signed by their beautician, financial planner, and masseuse, the letter demanded a payment of $2.1 million by midnight, and threatened to blackmail the sisters if they did not promptly fulfill payment. Terrifying as this threat might have seemed, it would never have come to fruition.

The letter was fraudulent, and may have even been drawn up by, or with the knowledge of, the sisters themselves. The names on the extortion letter concealed the true recipients of the sisters fortunethe cult organization NXIVM (pronounced nexium), which advertises itself as a multi-level marketing company offering personal and professional development classes. Both sisters had for years taken classes through NXIVM and even trained others.

Clare and Sara have never admitted (even under sworn testimony) that the extorted funds went directly to NXIVM, formerly known as Executive Success Programs. But they dont have to. Documents show that, over the course of a decade, Clare and Sara used over $150 million from their inheritance to fund NXIVMs real estate acquisitions and lawsuits, the purchase of a 22-seat Canadair CL-600 jet, and NXIVM founder Keith Ranieres failed investments. Clare and Sara may have transferred funds knowingly, but whether they did so of their own free will is completely up for question.

Many attribute the Bronfman sisters attraction to NXIVM to their distant relationship with their father, Edgar Bronfman. Bronfman initially introduced the girls to the organization; he hoped NXIVMs self-improvement workshops would bring him closer to his daughters. Despite their wealth, Clare and Sara sought more, and believed they found it within NXIVMs group dynamic. Every day, people with admirable goalsto create familial bonds, to explore new identities, to contribute to society on a larger levelinnocently join potentially dangerous social or religious organizations, unaware of the fact that they may be making their last sovereign choice, unaware that there may, in fact, be no way out.

Understanding Cult Leaders

The Curious Claims of Convincing Leaders

Contemporary Cults Were Not the First to Worship Men

Finding and Losing the Self

The Means to Mass Malleability

Baptist Beliefs Led to Branch Davidians

Aleister Crowley, Godfather of Modern Cults

Holy Texts of Alternative Belief

Religious Interpretation in Cult Formation

You Know Manson, But What About Madame?

The Long Road to Infamy

Los Angeles Quintessential Hippie Cult

A Manifesting of Criminal Minds

Victor Barnard Loves Your Children

Scientology Sues Its Way to Acceptance

Did We All Come from Aliens?

David Koresh and the Voice of God

Federal Investigations and Raids

Contemporary Cults & New Belief

Society Turns to a New Kind of Leader

Simply put, a cult is a group of people following an alternative belief system. However, a cult is far more complicated and better understood when considered as a process that happens over time. Initially, a charismatic individual assumes the role of the savior and attracts followers with a derivative, pseudo religious, or political doctrine. The term cult is usually applied when group activities become marked by participation in deviant sexual practices or violent acts against internal dissent or outside threats, real or perceived.