The Sydney Morning Herald
They sought help, but got exorcism and the Bible
Ruth Pollar
The Sydney Morning Herald
They sought help, but got exorcism and the Bible
Ruth Pollard
March 17, 2008
A SECRETIVE ministry with direct links to Gloria Jean's Coffees and the Hillsong Church has been deceiving troubled young women into signing over months of their lives to a program that offers scant medical or psychiatric care, instead using Bible studies and exorcisms to treat mental illness.
Government agencies such as Centrelink have also been drawn into the controversy, as residents are required to transfer their benefits to Mercy Ministries. There are also allegations that the group receives a carers payment to look after the young women.
Mercy Ministries says 96 young women have "graduated" from its program since its inception in 2001. But many have been expelled without warning and with no follow up or support.
Three former residents who have felt the full force of Mercy's questionable programs are blowing the whistle on its emotionally cruel and medically unproven techniques, detailing abuse including exorcisms, "separation contracts" between girls who became friends, and harsh discipline for those who broke the rules.
Naomi Johnson, Rhiannon Canham-Wright and Megan Smith (Megan asked to use an assumed name) went into Mercy Ministries independent young women, and came out broken and suicidal, believing, as Mercy staff had told them repeatedly, that they were possessed by demons and that Satan controlled them.
Only careful psychological and psychiatric care over several years brought them back from the edge.
Taking in girls and women aged 16 to 28, Mercy Ministries claims to offer residents support from "psychologists, general practitioners, dietitians, social workers, [and] career counsellers". These claims are made on its website, and the programs are promoted through Gloria Jean's cafes throughout Australia.
But these former residents say no medical or psychological services were provided - just an occasional, monitored trip to a GP, where the consultation takes place in the presence of a Mercy Ministries staff member or volunteer.
Instead, the program is focused on prayer, Christian counselling and expelling demons from in and around the young women, who say they begged Mercy Ministries to let them get medical help for the conditions they were suffering, which included bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and anorexia.
When the Herald asked Mercy Ministries representatives whether they told young women that the symptoms of their mental illness or eating disorders were due to demonic activity and that residents were forced into exorcisms, they offered no denial.
Throughout its website, decorated in hot pink tones with images of happy young women who have been "saved", Mercy claims to offer its residential programs free. Yet the services are not free - young women on unemployment benefits are "asked" to sign them over to Mercy, while others are asked to make a donation for expenses.
Mostly funded by Gloria Jean's Coffee - which said last night it did not plan to change its sponsorship arrangements - and supported by the Hillsong Foundation, Mercy Ministries says it has a 90 per cent success rate, but when asked to provide evidence of the program's outcomes, Ms Watson said that research was under way and not yet available.
Ms Johnson spent nine months in the Mercy Ministries house in Glenhaven before she was expelled. Close to committing suicide and her eating disorder worse than ever, she was admitted to a psychiatric unit and has spent three years trying to recover from her ordeal.
Ms Canham-Wright and Ms Smith tell similar stories from their time in the Sunshine Coast house, and all continue to suffer from the effects of Mercy Ministries' unconventional program.
They are concerned that as more houses are due to open, more women will be put at risk, partly because there is a desperate shortage of affordable services for people with mental illness.
"This could be really dangerous .. Mercy has the potential to be inundated with people ... [who will] fall for the advertising and out of desperation reach for Mercy," Ms Johnson said.
The federal Minister for Human Services, Joe Ludwig, said the Government would investigate. "I am very concerned about these serious allegations, and I have asked Centrelink to investigate its payment arrangement," he said.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission and the Queensland Office of Fair Trading have also indicated they will investigate if they receive complaints from the women.
"Both the federal Trade Practices Act and the relevant state fair trading acts would seem to apply to the situation since income is being received by Mercy Ministries. Both laws prohibit misleading and deceptive conduct."
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/03/16/1205602195048.html
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The truth is leaking out
Faces removed to protect the participants identity.
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(NOTE: Not my own videos. I got it from thegodmovie.com. I just want to share it ok? And n
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Before Jesus, there were other savior figures whose myths inspired religions. These early "savior cults" came into existence long before Jesus is said to have lived.
In this clip, Jesus Seminar fellow and author Robert M. Price (The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man) tells us the excuse early church fathers offered for this very inconvenient fact. Price is a former fundamentalist Christian who, upon investigating his religion in seminary, became convinced that Jesus Christ most likely did not exist at all.
www.thegodmovie.com
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http://www.thegodmovie.com
Dr. Price's site is:
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*******Lyrics here*******
This is freakin' brilliant—whoops! I started way, way, way
*******Lyrics here*******
This is freakin' brilliant—whoops! I started way, way, way too early. What? No. Just keep going? Yeah, it's fine. Cheers.
This is freakin' brilliant.
The embarrassment I endure
I thought I saw an angel
I was completely sure
She smiled at me on the subway
Turned out she was a man
I didn't know until I tried to sleep with her
After 8 black and tans
But she was beautiful, She was beautiful
She was beautiful, I swear
When I saw her face, it was in a crowded place
And I didn't see the bump right here
I shouldn't've drank so much beer.
Yeah, she had one lazy eye
But I couldn't tell in that light.
You should have seen the look on my face
When we got home that night.
And I said, "What the----oh my! Can we turn off the lights?"
But she just took off her clothes and my lust turned to fright.
But she was beautiful, She was beautiful
She was beautiful, I swear
When I saw her face, it was in a crowded place
And I didn't see the bulge right here.
Why did I drink so much beer?
No no no no no,
No no no no no no,
No no no no no no!
But she was beautiful, I promise she was beautiful
You gotta believe me she was beautiful, I swear.
I bet a flock of angels had smiles on their faces
As they watched me almost hook up with her—him—her—him—oh, gosh.
But it's time to face the truth
I got drunk and made out with a dude.
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This is is short overview of my life as a Christian and why I became an atheist. This is
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Yes - I know I was not "born a Christian" and highlight this fact later in the video. For brevity I made that statement instead of "I was born an atheist in a Christian family and raised with the values, rituals, and conventions inherit in such situations". The popular understanding of the phrase has the meaning I was looking for without having to go into a massive explanation as to why everyone is born an atheist. Besides, if I had gone down that route I would now be defending a "I was born an atheist" comment to all the idiot theists who visit. Furthermore, if anyone make a comment about this again I will give you the thumbs down - if you can't be bothered reading the descriptions of videos, it's your own fault.
There is a slight problem with the Youtube version - it cuts off one of two closing slides and the credit for the music, which called "High Drama" from the album "Pictures" by Timo Maas.
Download from here: http://gallery.mac.com/andrewskegg#100146
This video is released under this license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/
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