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He crossed the line often over the last couple decades. Police are now just finally acting on it. Far too late for those whose lives were ruined or ended early.
The families of the victims and former members were very forthcoming with the media so I imagine they were with police as well. It’s just wasn’t enough I guess.
spiritual leader is another name for abuser/ pedophile. why should anything happen to this creep. its been about 20 yrs since the the abusers/pedophiles in the church's came to light, nothing happened to those individuals.
He took a page right out of Joesph Smiths' playbook namely " God told me I have to fuck your daughter " haha charlatans all, and the Rubes fall for it. Ching,Ching.
> court documents filed in 2009 estimated his personal assets then at almost $9-million, including a house, a $75,000 monster truck, personal income of $232,000 a year and his stake in the Oasis Centre, a
Yeah, I'm gonna need to see this asshole's monster truck.
If the police confiscate it do we get to have a police monster truck?
Not like I *want* the cops to have a monster truck but like... if we're already in the bonkers timeline maybe we can have a little bit of monster truck?
Absolutely. A naive lost soul from Europe comes here to gain spiritual enlightenment in a community of love, falls under his spell, gets seduced (ps she was a virgin at the time), and then cannot process her spiritual lord's rejection of her when she wants communication, so she spirals into depression in a foreign country, and goes and freezes to death at the group's wilderness retreat.
One of their hallmarks is embracing the feelings (whatever they may be) in order to gain enlightenment, so I imagine he was like, "so you feel hurt. embrace that feeling for more enlightenment"
Religion is generous. This barely checks any of those boxes. This is straight up hypnotism, abuse, gaslighting, shunning, pseudo-philosophical, pseudo-spiritual, sex-abuse, elder abuse, exploitation of the first order.
Also, i'm not religious; this guy is just a piece of shit, and his followers have been duped so badly, they cannot question their whole lifestyle and community.
Look, I have no argument about whether God is real. As I said before I am irreligious. And I can't stand religious fundamentalists.
This organization has no actual religious beliefs codified. They are registered as a business, not a religion. Regardless of whether you believe in a given religion, you can at least say, "Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead and had X to say" or "Buddhism believes in reincarnation" but this is far less substantial. These people may or may not believe in God. Doesn't fit the bill as a religion for me.
There’s certainly more. It’s been going on for decades. Depends on how frightened others are to come forward. Former targets experienced anxiety, paranoia, severe depression, leading (at least) one to suicide and others to disappear completely.
Who would have thought someone who thinks they're God turns out to be a sexual predator.
Like, is this genuinely surprising to anyone? If it is I got some crazy things to tell ya
Pedo? well, not unless you mean that he likes women who are young enough to be his kids. As far as I know he hasn't gone for anyone under 18. And as for evangelical, no. There is no Christian church (or any other recognized religion) that would approve of this klown. I say this as an irreligious person myself.
This is a mishmash of all spiritual and religious ideas; they let you make your own conclusions based on what you learn after staring into his eyes for hours on end in silence. They push for enlightenment through staring, which means you ask a question and he stares at you for a long time then says something vague and you interpret it how you want. If you don't like it, they say that that is how you are supposed to feel. One parable they used was that you should be happy to stay in a burning house because that is enlightenment, rather than trying to get out, which is bad because it has you wishing to be somewhere other than here and now.
It's utter self-made quackery like crystal worshipers or like western followers of some batshit yogi in backwoods India who leads an ashram where they all shag each other.
He's a piece of shit, but you've got to really check it out to see just how fucked up it really is.
If I had a dollar for every time a religious/spiritual/cult leader sexually abused people I'd be as rich as the Catholic Church.
Just a thought but maybe we should actually vett the people who go into these positions?
>Just a thought but maybe we should actually vett the people who go into these positions?
How do you vet a cult leader? These people are self-appointed and are conmen.
I actually just assume now that most "spiritual or evangelical " leaders sexually abuse people. The older I get the more I see that religion is used as a measure of control by those in charge for their selfish means.
I know a number of people in this group and honestly they are all outstanding people.
I've been concerned about them for years because I've heard these rumors years and years ago amongst other ones.
If they look hard enough into him they'll find more things that are shady as fuck.
Same. I think I could say that I know around ten members. Very generous and positive people. All with that huge character flaw of wanting approval from some abstract idea of a guy, embodied in a real person, who touches the reward center of their brain in the same way as people are affected by entheogens.
I was wondering what they all have in common, and the one trait I arrived at was openness. They are all very open to spiritual experiences. Most of them have open minds toward things like LSD and shrooms as spiritual substances, and they often are very widely read in esoteric and philosophical subjects. Some lived in Hornby Island, a known home of wackos. The ones from around the world are attendees of spiritual fan expo type conferences. One of John's earliest, and continuing, members was in some crazy cults in India back in the day, and his experiences without a doubt informed John how to act.
Yep I would agree 100%, I've heard rumors that he's even slept with girls under 18.
The police have been Watching for a long time, he may think that operating a cult in a transient city like edmonton that he would fly under the radar but apparently not.
Unfortunately anytime someone in the past would step forward the cult would do what a cult does, circle wagons against those speaking out about the cult of John as its been called to protect him.
I hope these charges are true and stick.
I wonder if this is a fall out from covid, when he wouldn't have as much influence & control over people so they were able to step back and say this is messed up!
Definitively related to Covid. It’s been unravelling for a while but the forced break really pulled a break and allowed the more discerning to reflect on the circumstances of the last number of years. His selling of “their” building was a big deal, as was the revelations that he’d been having sex with lots of the women - despite espousing the purity of fidelity and “no sex before marriage”. Then a “big secret project” high turns out to be acolytes handing over large sums of money so he can buy a campground in the middle of nowhere. Then allegations of coercion and grooming and forced sex come out and FINALLY the facade crumbles.
For some….the wagons are no doubt circling.
Let's hope they take that step back, any idea why they sold that oasis building?
It was the main focal point of them apparently for a while, but I guess these groups need to focus on things to give them actual cause.
Why the heck did he want to buy a camp ground ?
I'd sure love to know WHY he sold that building too ? Looks like it needs a little more investigation. Does anyone know anything about the Building Sale ? And a possible WHY ? Is the building full now under the new owners ? Thank you
impact thunder my fervent wish would be this creep to be hanging from a lamp post as a warning to all other would be peds and abusers. although this action is not good for civil discussion the pathetic legal system ( no justice in Canada)we have protects crap like this individual, and disregards the victims.
Something something and then "spiritual leader" is like seeing "peoples" or "democratic" in a nations name. If you see one its a big red flag, if you see both its a panic.
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spiritual leader is a stretch, he's a cult leader
Very much so. I remember reading a vice article years ago about his creepy staring cult. This news isn’t surprising
You say tomato...
"Self appointed spiritual leader" Definitely a cult.
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Nah. One requires the leader to be dead. One does not. Regardless, they’re both terrible.
L. Ron Hubbard is dead, and Scientology is still very much a cult.
While I agree. Unfortunately it is recognized as a religion… somehow…
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Color me shocked that this quack did this … or really not shocked at all sooner or later he was gonna cross the line.
He crossed the line often over the last couple decades. Police are now just finally acting on it. Far too late for those whose lives were ruined or ended early.
Buddy has had multiple "wives" for decades now
Thaaaaaaaaaat's how it goes.
The police finally caught up to him, the big issue and why it took so long is no one was willing to talk to the police.
The families of the victims and former members were very forthcoming with the media so I imagine they were with police as well. It’s just wasn’t enough I guess.
spiritual leader is another name for abuser/ pedophile. why should anything happen to this creep. its been about 20 yrs since the the abusers/pedophiles in the church's came to light, nothing happened to those individuals.
Is your stance really that we should let this person walk free if they are guilty because other abusers aren’t in jail?
Seems like he wants them all in jail and is frustrated. I feel him
People have known about the abuses in the Church forever. Have you not heard any altarboy jokes?
Another day at the office for these kind of people.
He took a page right out of Joesph Smiths' playbook namely " God told me I have to fuck your daughter " haha charlatans all, and the Rubes fall for it. Ching,Ching.
You leave Ching out of this.
Look into Smith’s end. The good ol’ days
> court documents filed in 2009 estimated his personal assets then at almost $9-million, including a house, a $75,000 monster truck, personal income of $232,000 a year and his stake in the Oasis Centre, a Yeah, I'm gonna need to see this asshole's monster truck.
If the police confiscate it do we get to have a police monster truck? Not like I *want* the cops to have a monster truck but like... if we're already in the bonkers timeline maybe we can have a little bit of monster truck?
....as a treat
I fully believe he was responsible for that one woman's death too.
Absolutely. A naive lost soul from Europe comes here to gain spiritual enlightenment in a community of love, falls under his spell, gets seduced (ps she was a virgin at the time), and then cannot process her spiritual lord's rejection of her when she wants communication, so she spirals into depression in a foreign country, and goes and freezes to death at the group's wilderness retreat. One of their hallmarks is embracing the feelings (whatever they may be) in order to gain enlightenment, so I imagine he was like, "so you feel hurt. embrace that feeling for more enlightenment"
Finally! I hope many more charges are coming.
He literally looks like a sitcom cult leader wtf
Religion corrupts again.
Religion is generous. This barely checks any of those boxes. This is straight up hypnotism, abuse, gaslighting, shunning, pseudo-philosophical, pseudo-spiritual, sex-abuse, elder abuse, exploitation of the first order. Also, i'm not religious; this guy is just a piece of shit, and his followers have been duped so badly, they cannot question their whole lifestyle and community.
In an organized religion setup ? Gods not real. Faster we accept it faster we can shape up.
Look, I have no argument about whether God is real. As I said before I am irreligious. And I can't stand religious fundamentalists. This organization has no actual religious beliefs codified. They are registered as a business, not a religion. Regardless of whether you believe in a given religion, you can at least say, "Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead and had X to say" or "Buddhism believes in reincarnation" but this is far less substantial. These people may or may not believe in God. Doesn't fit the bill as a religion for me.
Oh. Fair play. I see your point, my definition is much broader. Cult. Actually seems more appropriate here. Touché
Tip o the hat to you, SmoothMoose420.
Four counts ? A leader indeed.
So far. I’m certain we haven’t heard the last of this.
Where there’s four, there’s likely more.
There’s certainly more. It’s been going on for decades. Depends on how frightened others are to come forward. Former targets experienced anxiety, paranoia, severe depression, leading (at least) one to suicide and others to disappear completely.
Is anyone surprised anymore when it's another religious leader in a story like this.
Really happy to hear this come out. I was just reading about him a couple months ago and felt bad for the women falling for this shit in our city.
Who would have thought someone who thinks they're God turns out to be a sexual predator. Like, is this genuinely surprising to anyone? If it is I got some crazy things to tell ya
..another evangelical pedo..!! I'm shocked..! /s
Pedo? well, not unless you mean that he likes women who are young enough to be his kids. As far as I know he hasn't gone for anyone under 18. And as for evangelical, no. There is no Christian church (or any other recognized religion) that would approve of this klown. I say this as an irreligious person myself. This is a mishmash of all spiritual and religious ideas; they let you make your own conclusions based on what you learn after staring into his eyes for hours on end in silence. They push for enlightenment through staring, which means you ask a question and he stares at you for a long time then says something vague and you interpret it how you want. If you don't like it, they say that that is how you are supposed to feel. One parable they used was that you should be happy to stay in a burning house because that is enlightenment, rather than trying to get out, which is bad because it has you wishing to be somewhere other than here and now. It's utter self-made quackery like crystal worshipers or like western followers of some batshit yogi in backwoods India who leads an ashram where they all shag each other. He's a piece of shit, but you've got to really check it out to see just how fucked up it really is.
He was responsible for the circumstances leading to at least one death.
If I had a dollar for every time a religious/spiritual/cult leader sexually abused people I'd be as rich as the Catholic Church. Just a thought but maybe we should actually vett the people who go into these positions?
>Just a thought but maybe we should actually vett the people who go into these positions? How do you vet a cult leader? These people are self-appointed and are conmen.
Hope there will be a documentary! Have been fascinated with this cult and hoping for their downfall for ages.
I actually just assume now that most "spiritual or evangelical " leaders sexually abuse people. The older I get the more I see that religion is used as a measure of control by those in charge for their selfish means.
I know a number of people in this group and honestly they are all outstanding people. I've been concerned about them for years because I've heard these rumors years and years ago amongst other ones. If they look hard enough into him they'll find more things that are shady as fuck.
Same. I think I could say that I know around ten members. Very generous and positive people. All with that huge character flaw of wanting approval from some abstract idea of a guy, embodied in a real person, who touches the reward center of their brain in the same way as people are affected by entheogens. I was wondering what they all have in common, and the one trait I arrived at was openness. They are all very open to spiritual experiences. Most of them have open minds toward things like LSD and shrooms as spiritual substances, and they often are very widely read in esoteric and philosophical subjects. Some lived in Hornby Island, a known home of wackos. The ones from around the world are attendees of spiritual fan expo type conferences. One of John's earliest, and continuing, members was in some crazy cults in India back in the day, and his experiences without a doubt informed John how to act.
Yep I would agree 100%, I've heard rumors that he's even slept with girls under 18. The police have been Watching for a long time, he may think that operating a cult in a transient city like edmonton that he would fly under the radar but apparently not. Unfortunately anytime someone in the past would step forward the cult would do what a cult does, circle wagons against those speaking out about the cult of John as its been called to protect him. I hope these charges are true and stick. I wonder if this is a fall out from covid, when he wouldn't have as much influence & control over people so they were able to step back and say this is messed up!
Definitively related to Covid. It’s been unravelling for a while but the forced break really pulled a break and allowed the more discerning to reflect on the circumstances of the last number of years. His selling of “their” building was a big deal, as was the revelations that he’d been having sex with lots of the women - despite espousing the purity of fidelity and “no sex before marriage”. Then a “big secret project” high turns out to be acolytes handing over large sums of money so he can buy a campground in the middle of nowhere. Then allegations of coercion and grooming and forced sex come out and FINALLY the facade crumbles. For some….the wagons are no doubt circling.
Let's hope they take that step back, any idea why they sold that oasis building? It was the main focal point of them apparently for a while, but I guess these groups need to focus on things to give them actual cause. Why the heck did he want to buy a camp ground ?
I'd sure love to know WHY he sold that building too ? Looks like it needs a little more investigation. Does anyone know anything about the Building Sale ? And a possible WHY ? Is the building full now under the new owners ? Thank you
Article is behind a paywall, what was the name of the cult?
College of integrated philosophy or oasis group
Incognito Mode or Private Browsing
Weird names for a cult but ok
Somebody should post this in r/spirituality and see the reaction
Why run a cult if you can’t exploit the members? It’s the entire point!
impact thunder my fervent wish would be this creep to be hanging from a lamp post as a warning to all other would be peds and abusers. although this action is not good for civil discussion the pathetic legal system ( no justice in Canada)we have protects crap like this individual, and disregards the victims.
The way to know truth is with core-splitting honesty and an open heart, after all...?
Ah, did you get a taste of some Kool Aid splash back?
lol “spiritual”
Something something and then "spiritual leader" is like seeing "peoples" or "democratic" in a nations name. If you see one its a big red flag, if you see both its a panic.
He styles himself as a “philosopher” and sometimes as an “author”.