Fresh-Hope

Ex-NXIVM student: �I think it�s a cult�

Cindy — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:17:48 GMT

Ex-NXIVM student: �I think it�s a cult�

During most of her 25 months as a student of self-improvement programs run by the Colonie-based NXIVM organization, Becca Friedman felt like she was in a dream, but, she said, it became a dreadful nightmare.

�It felt like a very safe, very safe environment,� she said. �It did not end well.�

Her story, she said, may be useful to people proposing to join or already studying at NXIVM, something she would not recommend. She is one of an estimated 12,000 people who have gone through programs offered by the business during its 13 years, about 500 of whom have become coaches, as Friedman was to become at the time she abruptly left.

�Yeah, I think it�s a cult,� Friedman said at the dinner table of the modest home she shares with her family and a few pets not far from the funky downtown of Woodstock. �I definitely acknowledge there are good parts to it. � You have to have a good hook. They had me hooked but not enough.�

Her traumatic break happened more than three years ago. It happened after Friedman, 41, packed her car and left her two daughters and husband in the spring of 2007 to move to Clifton Park to be closer to NXIVM, something many people from many parts of the United States and other countries have done. The organization is also known as Executive Success Programs. Friedman had been promoted after two years of wearing a white sash as a student to the next level, yellow sash, and was being trained to become an unpaid coach while continuing to pay the $182 monthly fees plus other assorted other costs for extra training, parenting classes and �intensives.�

With her yellow sash came more expectations for recruiting and new curriculum, she said, and more demands on her time. Sitting beside Adam Bush, 43, her husband of 14 years, and Katya, their 13-year-old daughter, Friedman, in a clear, serious narrative, described a tale about a group that became her family away from home. Many were awe-struck by the top leaders, who they believed possessed answers to issues in their lives. Most of the students, she said, were like her � dealing with problems of self-esteem.

Friedman was not about to leave, she explained, after two years of self-awareness training. She had bared her innermost fears with many others like herself. And she had endured scores of one-on-one counseling sessions that led her to believe that the most important thing in life was to find joy. She had come to believe that she was happiest in the midst of the like-minded people enrolled in NXIVM.

The program, she said, had improved her self-confidence and health. She wanted to immerse herself in the NXIVM community by moving to the Albany area, like so many others had done. So move she did, using a vague plan that involved moving into a bedroom in another NXIVM devotee�s home, a place set up like a hostel for NXIVM students from around the world, one of a several homes offering lodging owned and operated by NXIVM officials in Capital Region neighborhoods.

�It was like an addiction,� Friedman said of NXIVM. She quit after an emotional and psychologically draining 48 hours that climaxed when her husband drove to Colonie and confronted her with a file of news stories and Internet material about NXIVM and brainwashing techniques used by cults.
[...more...]

- Source / Full Story: Ex-NXIVM student: �I think it�s a cult�, James M. Odato, Times Union, Sep. 7, 2010 � Summarized by Religion News Blog

posted with permission
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/2506...ink-its-a-cult

NXIVM

NXIVM, pronounced "nexium", is a legal corporate entity that manages a number of for-profit programs aimed at developing the human spirit, building the ability and potential of the people who take the classes. One such program is known as Executive Success Programs. Executive Success Programs, or ESP, is a program based on Rational Inquiry, a patented inductive awareness process Keith Raniere developed for "analyzing and optimizing how the mind handles data".[1] NXIVM is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Albany, New York.

Raniere chose the description "Vanguard", Salzman chose the position of "Prefect". Some students choose to be called "Espians" as an extension of the acronym ESP.[2]

Some people think of NXIVM as a manipulative and exploitative group. [3][4]

more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NXIVM

more articles about Nxivm (also called "Espians")

Tyke, 3, raised as shady guru�s �son�

Huckabee has cult following

Charges against ex-Nxivm adviser dropped

Star power of Pol �cult�

NXIVM�s vexing effect on believers

Hillary�s $30,000 fans are her �cult� following

Political connections take to the air

Fear and tears after Nxivm class

The Bronfmans And the Cult

Ex-aide calls Nxivm �extremely dangerous�

An Espian�s brief life

What if the End Isn't Near?

Cindy — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:04:05 GMT

I wanted to post portions of this article here so we could all get a good look at just how subtle Satan is with his schemes. See how he makes all of us out to be uncaring, unloving, and totally obsessed with the "mechanics" of the end times; how he makes us out to be people who cheer when evil happens or when the earth is being messed up. How he lumps all of us in wit the very few who would say basically "who cares, it's all going to end soon anyway". How he even misquotes Todd from Rapture Ready...well not misquotes him exactly but presents his quotes out of context in such a way to make it seem that Todd is saying something he wasn't. This is what we're up against.

What if the End Isn't Near?

By Tom Krattenmaker

Quote:

The Second Coming

When some Christians look into the near future, they see a wondrous fate for themselves and fellow evangelical believers: a rapture in which God sweeps the true Christians up to heaven. According to this reading of the bible�s Book of Revelation, what awaits those on the wrong side of the ecclesiastical line is not so wondrous: seven years of unimaginable suffering, war and destruction that ends with the Second Coming of Jesus.

Opinion surveys over the past decade show that more than half the American public believes that the end times are coming.

A new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press finds that roughly four in 10 Americans believe the Second Coming will happen by 2050. Those enraptured by the rapture tend to view current events through the lens of biblical prophesy, reading everything from the Obama election to the oil disaster in the Gulf Coast as fulfillment of one or another cryptic passage from Revelation.

You can imagine the implications this might have for someone�s approach to the here, the now and the times ahead. Work for a better future? What future?

In this view, staving off wholesale destruction is viewed as a distraction from evangelism or, worse, as faithlessness, as getting in God�s way. :shock:

At the extreme end of this thought train come figures such as Todd Strandberg, founder of the Rapture Ready website, who opposes environmental protection on fatalistic grounds.

�The Bible predicts that during the tribulation hour, the world will come to near complete ruin,� Strandberg writes. �I am strongly against Christians embracing the environmental movement.�

For liberal religionists or non-believers, this kind of stance is one of the least appealing aspect of evangelicals� popular image. It�s as if one group is rowing the boat in the direction of species betterment (or, at least, survival), while another group sits idly as the vessel drifts closer to the precipice of the waterfall, convinced that the divine hand will pluck them and their religiously correct fellows from disaster.

Quote:

Wigg-Stevenson takes pains not to criticize those who read Revelation as a blueprint for rapture and apocalypse in our time. �There are people with integrity who think this way,� he says. �But it leads to an unbiblical focus on the mechanics of the end times.�

Jesus himself warned against precise predictions about when and how the end will come, Wigg-Stevenson points out. His own faith and activism are powerfully motivated by his conviction in the coming kingdom of God, yet he stresses, �The prophesies shouldn�t lead us to be obsessed with the mechanics of end times, but to be obsessed with Jesus.�

Twentysomething activist and writer Jonathan Merritt describes a kind of religious complacency that once dissuaded him from caring much about the condition of the planet.

Quote:

Committed young Christian action-takers such as Wigg-Stevenson and Merritt represent a hopeful new current in evangelical America. What a refreshing counterpoint to those who eye an imminent cosmic endgame, one replete with mass death and destruction, and seem to say, �Bring it on!�

If end-times acceptance is losing credibility among the new generation of Jesus followers - and many signs say it is - this is good news for us all.

Taking Wigg-Stevenson�s two-futures paradigm a step further, Christians might see a choice concerning their approach to the future as well. They can bet on a supernatural rescue for themselves and their kind and wait for the cataclysm. Or they can dedicate themselves to compassionate action to alleviate suffering and injustice, to creating a better world.

more
http://www.christianpost.com/article...ear/index.html

Shock decision against Council worker sacked for mentioning God

Cindy — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:51:46 GMT

Shock decision against Council worker sacked for mentioning God

Christian Concern For Our Nation

There is widespread shock following the news that Duke Amachree has lost his case, having been sacked for mentioning God in the workplace. An employment tribunal has ruled that it was reasonable for Wandsworth Council to dismiss Duke. Duke was initially suspended for telling a client with an incurable illness not to give up hope and suggesting that she try putting her faith in God. He was later sacked for gross misconduct for his comments to her and for taking the story to the press. The decision has come as a huge surprise to Duke and to his legal team.

Duke, a father of two and committed Christian, had worked for Wandsworth Council for 18 years and had an unblemished record. Yet, as a result of the comments he made in one 45 minute housing interview, he was subject to 6 months of investigations and three interviews with the Council. His solicitor was even told by the Council that saying �God bless� to a client would require an investigation if the client complained.

Gross misconduct usually covers such behaviour as violence in the workplace, theft or other such serious conduct. Yet the client herself expressly stated that she did not want Duke to be dismissed for what he had said and Duke had never been told that such small talk in a housing interview was prohibited. The Council have always accepted that Duke�s motivation in speaking to the client was purely one of compassion.

Duke, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, took his case to the tribunal where it was argued that the Council�s decision to dismiss him was grossly disproportionate and unfair, and that they had discriminated against him on the basis of his religion.

Despite the evidence that was presented to the tribunal, they decided that the Council�s response was reasonable. Duke and his legal team intend to appeal the decision.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder and director of the Christian Legal Centre said �We are stunned that the tribunal failed to recognise the draconian way in which Mr Amachree was treated and we are dismayed that they found that Mr Amachree had not been discriminated against on the grounds of his faith. This decision will send yet more shock waves through the Christian community when they realise that a couple of comments encouraging faith in God can lead to a person being dismissed for gross misconduct.�

Mr Amachree said �I am devastated by the outcome. This is a sad day for Christians who simply want to live out their faith in the workplace without fear. But my heartfelt thanks goes to the Christian Legal Centre and those who have stood by me from the beginning and I know they will continue to support me.�

posted with permission
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/inde...mentioning-god

Just "P.U.S.H."

Brad — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:10:53 GMT

A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might!

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: (He will do it every time)!

You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved." Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."

That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in Your Service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done.

Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed.

But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back shiny and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard.

Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.

By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God Who moves the mountains.

When everything seems to go wrong....... ......... ......... .Just P.U.S.H.

When the job gets you down........ ......... ......... ...........Just P.U.S.H.

When people don't do as you think they should............. Just P.U.S.H.

When your money is "gone" and the bills are due...........Just P.U.S.H.

When people just don't understand you.........................Just P.U.S.H.

P = Pray
U = Until
S = Something
H = Happens

Pass this on to all your loved ones and friends who may need it; they may get it just in time. "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
May God Bless You.

Meet the couple who don't bother keeping wolves from their door... they invite them in (and now have

jtheb — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:55:36 GMT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...vite--TEN.html

If you're considering getting a domestic pet, your first thought might not be a pack of wolves. But this California couple have no fear about living with the powerful predators.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0yrMVJdam

God vs Daylight Saving Time

_Michael_ — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:34:37 GMT

When God said "let there be light", little did he realize the fight it would start one day in the Holy Land - the fight over Daylight Saving Time.

Sunday Israel will switch back to Standard Time, two months before the U.S. does and well over a month before Europe; it has nothing to do with the weather or daylight and everything to do with religion and politics.
By law Israel switches back to Standard Time on the Sunday before Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) in which Jews are required to fast from sunset till sunset the next day. Switching to Standard Time makes the fasting easier since those who fast get to sleep an hour more and the fasting ends "earlier".

This has always upset the secular Jews in Israel, but this year with Yom Kippur falling particularly early on the calendar the resentment runs deeper. This year some secular Jews began a petition collecting over 100,000 signatures in just a few days. They want to keep Daylight Saving Time for a while longer---and their arguments go way beyond letting "there be light":
- The early switch will cost millions of dollars to the Israeli economy as people consume more energy for light, some working hours shorten, and production goes down after sundown,
- It will increase the chances of car accidents for more driving is done in dark hours.
- Studies show it will shorten quality time parents spend with their children as less time is left for outdoor activities after school hours
Knesset Member, Nitzan Horowitz, also joined the call and he is now submitting a bill to end Daylight Saving Time on the last Sunday of October as Europe does.

Reacting to the public lightning storm interior Minister, Eli Yishai, from the religious party Shas, said that he would consider moving back to daylight saving after the Yom Kippur fast, but officials in his ministry quickly clarified that there will be NO double time switch, at least not this year.

Read more: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2...#ixzz0yr2Ii0JS

Families mourn as death toll climbs in Guatemala landslides

_Michael_ — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:30:29 GMT

Nahuala, Guatemala (CNN) -- Officials say about 40 people were buried in two landslides here. Four of them were Carlos Coti's family members.

"They left behind 20 orphans, because each one had four, five or six children they left behind," he said.

The first landslide knocked a number of vehicles and a bus off the road. When nearby residents rushed to the scene to help, a second mudslide crashed down on the same spot, the nation's disaster agency said.

Constant rains have forced rescue crews to stop and restart their searches for the missing, as anxious family members look on.

Disaster officials report that torrential rains and landslides have left at least 44 dead, 56 injured and 16 missing. On Monday, President Alvaro Colom declared three days of national mourning.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americ...ex.html?hpt=T2

Jordan and Syria call for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab lands

James — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:36:22 GMT

Leaders of both states say that Israel must return to pre-1967 borders in order to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomac...lands-1.312585

Daily game Sep 07 : Crush The Castle 2

Cindy — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:28:18 GMT

Crush The Castle 2

Crush the castles and conquer the world!
Instructions:
Use the mouse to aim and shoot.

Earthquake in Christchurch - A Rapture Sign?

dlcamp — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:35:38 GMT

Hey Cindi, I put these pics through my Photobucket med. :thumbright:
(ALL: I am not saying the Rapture is this RH BUT keep watching! :yes: )

Earthquake in Christchurch - A Rapture Sign?
Earthquake in Christchurch
One day soon there will be an
Earthquake in Christ's Church!

Did ya notice the play on words there?

The earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand happened seven days before Rosh Hashannah, 2010.

The Haiti earthquake on January 12, 2010, a 7.0 too, killed c.50,000 people, according to the Red Cross:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualt...iti_earthquake

The Christchurch earthquake on September 3, 2010 was also a 7.0 and no deaths have been reported. A true miracle! Extensive damage to the city and surrounding area has happened there too, just like Haiti.

Jesus coming for His church has been likened to birth pangs in Scripture. In the 24 hours after the Christchurch earthquake 21 babies were born, a record!

The powerful earthquake that smashed buildings, cracked roads and twisted rail lines around the New Zealand city of Christchurch also ripped a new fault line in the Earth's surface, a geologist said Sunday.
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article...quake/19621106

The rips have caused a separation of the earth. At the Rapture, a separation will occur then too. The Lukewarm Laodicean Church will be separated from the "hot" raptured saints and will be spewed out into the Tribulation.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
(1 Peter 4:17)

Rosh Hashannah, 2010 = This Thursday and Friday, provided the new moon is sighted on time.

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:36)

David

Poor dog tore his paw pad

Leigh — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:20:02 GMT

We got home tonight from a weekend trip and discovered that our collie has torn his paw pad. It is hanging by a little strip and he is licking it continually.

I'm not much of an animal doctor and googled what to do about it. There is differing advice about how to handle it.... treat it ourselves vs going to a vet, etc..

Has anybody had this happen with your dog, and if so, what did you do?

back again

Miss Vic — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:54:41 GMT

Hi everyone...it's been a long long time but I have come back to see you all...many blessings to you all.:wave::hug:

New Here

srchn4Godlyppl — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:46:44 GMT

:hiding:

Hello Everyone- I am new here and would like to post about things but am not sure how to do all of this. I am glad I found this site, so hopefully, I can meet new people who love the Lord, and talk about many things. I am looking for support with a few issuses-one is- I am struggling with depression, and I need an up-lift of encouragement, because the people I know in the town I live in, are lukewarm about the Lord, and I have lost my inner peace that I had in 2001, when I cried out to the Lord to help me be born again, and start over, and leave the past behind me, as I had a religion, but not a personal relationship with the Lord. I feel alone, gone to visit many churches, but still feel unconnected. I will not go on about more as of yet. I hope to hear from someone in this group.
Peace to All~
srchn4Godlyppl

Answering Believer112

Tim Jay — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:50:52 GMT

This is a continuation of a conversation between me and believer 112 from another thread.

Quote:

Jesus did not wait until 1844 to enter the Holy of Holies in heaven (Heb. 1:3; 6:19–20; 8:1; 9:6–12, 24; 12:2).

If that were true, then the prophecy in Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
I would have to ask:

WHY did God make a prophecy that makes no sense of ever happening ?

Not ONLY that.....BUT, the prophecy which proves that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, is tied into that prophecy of 1844.

When a person denies or rejects the 2300 Year prophecy which leads to 1844, they also destroy the prophecy which proves that Jesus Christ, was the Messiah.

God arranged it that way, because HE knew that people in the end times of earth's history would try to tamper with God's prophecy of the Investigative Judgment, so HE tied them together .....so to reject one, can only result in rejecting the other one.

Quote:

He is not still making an atonement in heaven (Heb. 9:25–26; 10:11–14).

I studied the Day of Atonement as found in Leviticus, chapter 16, I have also realized that the Day of Atonement is also refered to by God, as Judgment Day.

Quote:

The investigative judgement proposes to “vindicate the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus,” This is striking at the very heart of the Gospel message…

1 Peter 4:17 For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The answer is right there....God's Judgment Day is to show who has 'obeyed' the Gospel message, and who has not.....as there are many so-called Christians who are not really Christians.......

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Quote:

(Romans 3:24-26 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness,

There is the key right there.....'demonstrate at the present time His righteousness'.

Since God has defined HIS Righteousness as the Commandments of God (Psalms 119:172), there needs to be a demontration that Christians, can keep the Commandments....just like Jesus Christ did, and told Christian to do also.

Quote:

SDA insists that, like Christ, no sin must be found in those “who will stand in the time of trouble”. So according to Ellen White no one will be forgiven until all sins are eradicated from one’s life.

So...when Jesus said: 'go and sin no more'...HE didn't know what HE was talking about ?

NO !

Jesus made this promise to us....
1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Do you accept what God says here...or, reject it ?

Quote:

Salvation is by grace alone through faith according to the Bible.

SDA's have taught that fact for more than a hundred years.

Quote:

Additionally they teach that the 1844 event must be believed in to exercise the proper faith necessary to be saved.

Since SDA's believe what God's prophecy says, yes.

Daniel :14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

And since there is no Sanctuary on earth anymore, then it can only be the Sanctuary in heaven, of which Hebrews and Revelation describes.

Quote:

Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” (completed, paid in full).

Had the prophecy in Daniel, chapter 9:24-27 about the Messiah had been read and understood, then the meaning of 'It is finished' would have been understood clearly.

Quote:

Which makes it impossible that there was another salvation event more than 1800 years later,

There is no such thing as another salvation event.....and, God's prophecy never said, or implied any such thing.

The Plan of Salvation stretches from Adam & Eve's time, all the way down to Christ's Coming again, to gather HIS church...it has never changed.

Need Advice on extra income search

word — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:50:05 GMT

I am searching for something I love to do, and will be a blessing to others to help with my income. I am uncertain what to do or even if this is the Father's will for my life. Just need guidance, I know there is others out there who dont have a way of going and unable to handle an everyday job, I just need to find some divine connection and doors of opportunity!!!