Evaluating UM as a cult.

The feedback from the Universal Medicine group, its followers, some members of the public and even affected families can give one the impression that there is a question mark remaining over whether Universal Medicine is a cult. There is a general misunderstanding of the nature of cults in the public at large,  however the implacable nature of UM as a cult is not in a shadow of doubt to the well-informed. The only question is, what trajectory is the group following as they tend to have an arc of development?

I’ve cut and pasted a commonly used cult evaluation chart (the FBI have used this for cult evaluation in the US). The higher the score the more potential danger the group poses. Of course, the rankings are subjective and dependent on your knowledge of the group’s machinations. I’ve put my score in bold next to each question. (Don’t let it influence you, which of course is now quite impossible- ah,  the irony)

The commonly held misapprehension is that members are held against their will in a compound or tricked into slavish adherence to the group and its leaders after a honeymoon period. While groups do exist like this, the vast majority of contemporary groups are ‘open cults’. That is, the members more or less function as they would have done before being recruited by the cult. Many cult members ‘feel good’ and this takes precedence over logic and inconsistencies. In the case of Serge ( and like many narcissistic cult leaders) this means ignoring glaring integrity issues and questionable ethics. The accountability website has done an sensational job of highlighting many of those.

Sorry ladies…not you’re average cult leader

A meme found on the web

Members of these groups- UM included- are not aware that theirs is a cult and that their leader suffers from a personality disorder. If they did, then the group could and would not exist. It is in a sense, easier to believe the grandiose claims of the cult leader, than the far simpler truth that their leader has a personality malfunction. The payoff is a sense of purpose, community, and superiority ( poorly masked by love-speak).

At the limits, the metaphoric walls that keep members contained are sets of behviours that are dictated (or offered as choices) by the group ( for UM that is food, music, sport, relationships, sexual behaviour, feminine identity, art, information) and the ‘penalty’ for leaving which is usually a spiritual punishment; the thought of which is ineffable and subsumes the logic of making a rational choice based on the information at hand. In the case of UM this is  bad karma, further bad incarnations, going down the imaginary initiation scale, not becoming an initiate or member of the ‘hierarchy’; and of course rejection by the group mind which is extremely powerful. There exist groups that hold a real gun to their heads of the members, but they are few. The metaphoric gun for modern groups is turning the mind of the follower against itself, by keeping them sufficiently simultaneously dumbly happy and confused therefore disabling their sense of mortal and spiritual danger.

The stakes have risen for Serge in the last year. Rather arrogantly (one of his favourite words) he predicted the ‘new era’ and imagined himself as it’s chief advocate. In his mind Universal Medicine was a growing force ready to take on the world. Instead, he has been met with a steady stream of right-minded criticism and the soured fruits of his efforts- a wall of distraught families and unhappy partners. His medicine has been exposed as a large scale scam and his business practices called into question. Whether he knows it or not, the relevant agencies are aware of his every move and the sins of his the past and present. Long forgotten ghosts no doubt will come back to haunt him. What we need to remain vigilant of now is Serge ratcheting up the rhetoric out of an understandable sense of paranoia and foreboding. He and the group are currently following the cult-under-pressure play book to a tee. And there’s more revelations to come.

For people with loved ones in the group, keep an eye on your family member and remember, arguments won’t get them out. Real love just might.

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The Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame

Factors:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Low High

1 Internal Control: Amount of internal political and social power exercised by leader(s) over members; lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members.        10

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2 External Control: Amount of external political and social influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members’ external political and social behavior.      8 – increasing steadily with RMRC, womens groups etc

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3 Wisdom/Knowledge Claimed by leader(s); amount of infallibility declared or implied about decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations; number and degree of unverified and/or unverifiable credentials claimed.                                                           12- Serge is off the scale here.

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4 Wisdom/Knowledge Credited to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations made by leader(s); amount of hostility by members towards internal or external critics and/or towards verification efforts.           12- Serge is off the scale here also
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5 Dogma: Rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility or “fundamentalism;” hostility towards relativism and situationalism.              12- Serge is also off the scale here ( surprised?)

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6 Recruiting: Emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing; requirement for all members to bring in new ones.                                     10- UM has a very clever model of focusing on women health issues and word of mouth, plus satellite agencies of ‘practitioners’ that have paid for the privilege to recruit for UM/Serge

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7 Front Groups: Number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of main group, especially when connections are hidden.                                        10- Oops like Serge hits the mark here too.                    

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8 Wealth: Amount of money and/or property desired or obtained by group; emphasis on members’ donations; economic lifestyle of leader(s) compared to ordinary members.    10- And again… surprising? Not really.

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9 Sexual Manipulation of members by leader(s) of non-tantric groups; amount of control exercised over sexuality of members in terms of sexual orientation, behavior, and/or choice of partners.                            12- Yes. He’s a royal flush. His mass scale manipulation of the sexuality of his members is monumental. What he does more privately is yet to be examined.

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10 Sexual Favoritism: Advancement or preferential treatment dependent upon sexual activity with the leader(s) of non-tantric groups.             10- Based purely on the pretty girls that stay with the Benhayons sent from overseas and interstate, and the known activity of match-making for his own children, ex-wife and favoured inner members.

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11 Censorship: Amount of control over members’ access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s).                                       10- Members are told which books to read, to avoid newspapers, dissenting sites, and to clear books they  have to read of bad energy.

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12 Isolation: Amount of effort to keep members from communicating with non-members, including family, friends and lovers.                        8- They havent perfected this yet. But they make an effort when they know someone is dissenting.

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13 Dropout Control: Intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts.   7- Not sure of this internal mechanism.

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14 Violence: Amount of approval when used by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s).   2- That is giving Serge the benefit of the doubt.

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15 Paranoia: Amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies; exaggeration of perceived power of opponents; prevalence of conspiracy theories.       10- Large scale paranoia of imaginary enemies and persecution from past life times.

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16 Grimness: Amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).                                           10- They don’t like a joke at all.

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17 Surrender of Will: Amount of emphasis on members not having to be responsible for personal decisions; degree of individual disempowerment created by the group, its doctrines or its leader(s).                        10- While its alleged it is a choice, that is false. The members are totally dis-empowered from differing opinions to Serge and other members.

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18 Hypocrisy: amount of approval for actions which the group officially considers immoral or unethical, when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate the group’s declared principles for political, psychological, social, economic, military, or other gain.                                  15- Serge’s assertions are completely at odds with his own behaviour past and present.

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The Lords of Form and Money for UniMed.

We have endless hours of recordings and notes from Serge’s meetings over the years. There are some common themes that play out over and over, and I’ve picked these to highlight a few. First, Serge is interested in unwavering commitment from his flock. He constantly warns them of the negative consequences of not doing ‘the work’. In fact, we tend to find more negatives than positives on analysis. While the members speak about love, much of it is about fear of prana, dampness, lords of form, bad karma, bad energetic choices and their ramifications and so on.

Secondly, he is very interested in the members money. A lot of time is spent creating negatives around money and extolling the virtues of handing money to Universal Medicine- better incarnations, cleared Karma and other hogwash.

When you read this stuff, it is hard to imagine how the members can say they are not in a cult with a straight face. Enjoy.

5)The Sphere of Grace also builds a Divine wall between you and your karma.

Karma

When a person rapes another and then feels sorry because they understand what harm they have done they draw towards them an energy of recognition and they do not have to suffer the same energy being imposed on them. If the person does not understand the extent of the harm they have imposed on another or are in denial that they hurt the other in any way, then more of that same energy (an example was used of “pack energy” say if you were involved in a pack rape ),comes in to fill the vacancy after the act…this energy pushes through you so that karma comes to you by attracting the same act to be done to you giving the physical experience of it in your body , and the memory of it is in your cells. The energy has come back to  give you the full experience and thus is registered in your body and then you know and feel that you could not do that to another .

The entity can come and go and you are left with the karma ,the imprint of your physical ill.

Even if you have a terrible karma and you are in service ,not looking for recognition and identification ,your karma is cleared. Even if you look for recognition much later – you are not Atmic and all the good is undone

If you do something outside your heart – you are harming. If you choose to stay outside your heart  – you embrace evil . Evil is a magnification of the separation from the heart .It is a magnification of an expression that keeps you out of your centre – anything that enhances your spirit  . You can improve your body in the pranic sense- evil is a constant emanation of prana Staying in evil accumulates karma .

Fire deals with what is true, not what is good. Healing is not giving or sending love , it is being love.

Healing is not about being good it is about being true.

When you go into grace you wipe out beds of prana to get back to your soul. When you are emanating from there, from grace ,your energetic space enables your own healing.

Simply put -a person goes into their heart -the activity leaves behind a Grace -you are healing your own Karma.

(EDG notes September 2007)

If you keep your receipts in a shoe box you are hiding everything away.

A manila folder -is open and easy to  add to every day.

Spiking your receipts/ invoices – can’t see the numbers clearly if a spike is through them.

A lot to learn about how we are – if there is harmony in relationship money flows, if communication is open money flows. If not,  aspects where a person is using money in a position of power over another- contraction.

Money shows how you live- is reflected in life. If the way you are earning your money is coming from contraction- no self worth but up for recognition, every time you are paid magnifying self worthlessness.

You are responsible for the energy you are giving money in – if in anger the anger gets circulated through the money.

Intention – why you do something , the truth of why you do something may be contraction.

Money is about life-force, about how you live with your life-force. Saving – all about the intention why and how. Intention – money saved in bank gets lent out 45x… if saved in the energy of fear and someone borrows it to buy a car- your karma as the car gets bought in your fear imprinted in the money.

Money spent on Unimed courses etc.- choosing to spend money on self love.

Money issues around it exposed as not being loving.

Serge worked the price out so that you are only paying for the healing sessions – value the energetic imprint -never charges for accessed information from the Masters.

With a loan from the bank once you get the letter put it on the symbol.

All the money Unimed is creating is going into the clinic- an ongoing thing. The clinic is for everyone.

Serge talked about Wills

If you leave a child $10,000 dollars and the kids spend that money to keep them in recognition and identification – excess – that holds you in contraction in your next life.

If you invest wisely in your will this gives you fire in your next life.

If not you leave behind a constant drain on kidney energy and an imprint of a pranic emanation stopping others from being in their centre.

If you give in sympathy no matter how much you give  esoterically you are drained.

Do you clear it from other past lives?

5points of fire everyday, left behind 10points prana, end of the day 5 points of prana.

If you leave a Will to Unimed and you put a lineal condition that it be used to fund those who can’t afford the courses then that is pranic- putting a lineal condition on a spherical nature, not trusting people will know how to best use it.

Cathars – create a livingness to reincarnate into – that momentum lasted 900years.

We are now starting a new movement and it will not finish like the Cathars as this time nothing will stop the work. As soon as someone really gets and lives the work they become focalisers and will re-incarnate in to other countries becoming a Shamballic point of light on earth spreading all over the world. The student unfolding  will keep coming back into the larger group until you become a developer and then focaliser.

EDG Message 7 – 2010

‘If one places their life-force towards the work of the Hierarchy on Earth, in every way, sensibly so, all of one’s personal needs get taken care of in the appropriate Soul-full manner. This is natural as it is magical under the Law of Magnetic Pull and the Law of Constellation’ – SIB.

A warning … ‘If one measures their commitment and applies that measure to ‘the work’ and thus to the Hierarchy — as in – 1: as my life gets better and ‘the work’ proves itself to me, so too will I commit more to it, and or – 2: when my life has reached that point my spirit set-out to achieve — as in — a better-life, relief, reprieve, improvement of any kind, higher initiation and or any other personal gain etc etc — I will sit back and cruise with it. TAKE CAREFUL AND ASTUTE NOTE THAT — such students, as those in points 1 and 2 above, will fall into one of the greatest hidden long-term traps where one’s re-development/initiation will be stunted for many, many lifetimes by the slow and stealth-like manner the astral forces will regress them back into the damp pranic abyss they once fought hard to arise from. Measuring your life and commitment to ‘the work’ against whatever personal needs one may have as the leading key or point of drive for and towards ‘the work’ attracts the highest forces that are assigned to undermine and attack the work of the Hierarchy … through you, much high astral energy is wielded, for when you wobble, you will, in one way or another, blame ‘the work’ for your woes … and through that blame you will get a large dose of the highest levels of the astral plane.

Measuring your life with ‘the work’ as in – doing enough to feel better, but not enough to upset your partner, your suitable life, or your family, friends, colleagues etc, will have you feeling ‘better’ by the numbness the astral will bring to you. And whilst you may think you are doing ok or progressing esoterically, you are in fact receding back into the damp body the fire once showed you to be in. It pays not to dance alongside the true fiery esoteric work. It is a very harming illusion to do so and one that will take many lifetimes to heal………………………end.

Dear students, Take special note of the above warning. My words will make themselves be known more and more as we head closer to 2012 and beyond. Embracing the fire is the only true healing way forward … all else will merely get you by whilst it builds the new dampness the lords of form have released to counter the greater light of fire/Christ that now so abounds. This new level of dampness is not one to get wrong about if you are in the illusion that you are not part of it. The new ‘damp’ pranic energy is in accordance to my prediction some years ago about the coming new lung ill conditions on Earth. Not only will ill lung conditions increase, they will develop more severely in addition to the coming new forms of them that the specialists are not trained for. The solution – Choose fire — whole-heartedly and never in part Choose fire all the way and do not measure how much it can be in you, but embrace it in full and let it serve as it must to help those who know little of the imprisonment they are in.

From the endless reservoir of Atma and thus with Atmic love, Serge Benhayon

Thought Reform 101

Thought Reform 101- Auto Indoctrination Recap.

 For new people researching the effects of Universal Medicine or any cult thought system on their family members or partners, here is a summary lifted from a response from a Unimed cult member on an earlier post, whereby they bravely and candidly spelled out what they were thinking. We thank them for that.

The response quite succinctly highlights how thought reform work and in the words of a member.I’ve thrown in some remarks to illustrate what is going on.

Because Serge Said

The questions: Has Universal Medicine expanded or diminished your life in the NOW? Are your relationships fuller ( really), your purse bursting, your mind and spirit free to soar? or are you burdened down with choices of prana/fiery, ideas of future and past incarnations, astral plans, spirits, entities, divine plans, new eras, food choices, livingness, energetic attacks…..?

Ok. Here it goes.
Yes, relationships are fuller.
No, the purse is not bursting (still work to do on this one).
As for the mind and spirit free to soar, I assume that you have more choices now (?). I will say yes.

Yes, sometimes it is a burden to think about prana and fire all the time, as you want to cheat. I’ll explain. In a sense, every choice narrows down to a single question. Is what you are doing/eating/seeing/thinking love for your body? This question is calibrated feeling still first, then you ask your question (e.g. is drinking coffee love for my body?). If you break your stillness, then you can say that it is not good for your body.
This is the reason for having the gluten/dairy/alcohol/caffeine free diet, as it allows you to calibrate easier into the stillness.

[ the member is describing the process of keeping their higher critical mind switched off. There is compelling research on the effects of mediation and self hypnosis and how cults employ these techniques and ideas to keep their members in a state of voluntary semi-hypnosis. In that state, the person feels ‘blissful’, ‘serene’, ‘peaceful’- they are also highly susceptible to suggestion. To achieve this, the group or leader implants the idea through sessions and lectures that that state is desirable; or the goal. That state is re described and then idealised in their doctrine- the member yearns to transform into a person with those ‘qualities’. Serge has cunningly broken this process down into a simple moment to moment choice of prana/fire and asks the student to ‘check they are still’ which means to say, that their actions do not break them out of this prized semi-hypnotic state, which they term ‘livingness’)

Cheating means that you convince yourself that what you are doing is right for your body, when it is really not. For example, if you drink alcohol, you are more prone to lying to yourself then when you don’t drink it. Think about it, it is almost impossible (if not impossible) to be still if you drink alcohol. Therefore, every choice after it can easily be a lie (to your body), as you are unable to achieve the stillness.

As for ideas of future and past incarnations, they are not really a burden if there is an acceptance. For past incarnations the acceptance is just to know that what you put out in the past is here in the present. For future incarnations the acceptance learn to live with love so that when you come around to it you will find love waiting for you.

[The cult member is made to feel a deep responsibility beyond the normal scope of their lives. This has the dual effect of removing them from the responsibility of this one and the real cause and effect of their behaviour (I murdered that person because he murdered me in a last life/I was raped because I was a rapist/I have cancer because in a last life I was an abusive man) , and introducing them to an unbounded and irrational time line of cause and effect that reinforces the students ‘choices’. It gives power to those that ‘know’ their past lives (Serge for example) and can predict their future ones (Serge for example- We are all aware of students and tales of past lives as ‘explained’ to them by Serge)

One trick that Serge has in his arsenal is to break logic down by introducing an “X” factor. He calls this ‘spherical’ and normal thinking ‘linear’. In real terms what is meant is linear = logical and spherical = non logical. For example, Serge insists when something can’t make sense, you need to view it in a ‘spherical sense and in the whole’ and if you apply your usual ‘linear’ way of thinking it would seem ridiculous. He knows full well is is quite ridiculous, he is simply using a word subversion to keep the student suppressing their logic, which is a function of the higher critical mind.

Logic  ( Serge Speak- Linear) – A+ B = C 
Non logic ( Serge Speak- Spherical ) A + B * X = whatever Serge says.

Serge demonstrates this technique over and over again in his audio’s and to some extent his books. He commences a section using logic the aspirant can easily agree with, then he introduces the “X” factor in the next line of ‘reasoning’ to confuse the student. Like a pesky algebra problem, he presents the conclusion first- “the world is arrogant and if it knew everything, disease would not exist…right?” and then tells them the formula which the student cannot grasp and asks them to solve it. It is insoluble, so eventually they must seek him out for the answers, therefore introducing dependency.

One lovely thing about being a supernatural cult leader is there are a whole bag of “X” factors that are improvable and by definition, not disprovable. Astral Planes, Angels, entities, God, reincarnation.  

Ergo- A + B + X + Y + AB + R = What Serge Says. 
Where X = spherical, Y = why bother thinking, AB = All BS and R= Reincarnation.

Another neat benefit is that whenever he is challenged, it just tells them they “do not understand it spherically”]

As for astral/entity/energetic attacks they are becoming less of a burden. The reason is that you learn to accept more and more that any changes outside societies norm are generally met with resistance. Here is an example:
You change your food style to what your body wants — you meet the resistance of those who associated you with eating a food of some sort (e.g. ice cream, coffee, etc). Suddenly most people will go into thinking “you are not my buddy anymore, we used to have drinks/coffee/ice cream all the time”. This also has certain implications as suddenly your limit of places to hang out becomes severely limited, your friends might also be offended.

[The social effect has the added benefit of keeping the student isolated within normal society. It is highly doubtful that any non-student would care whether their friends is drinking coffee or not. However, we know the students tend to avoid places where coffee and alcohol is consumed, along with other ‘pranic’ places such as sporting events, concerts, events, etc. So in a real sense, and in the minds of the student, there is a wall between them and the rest of their community. This has the powerful effect of keeping them within their cult community and relying on other members who are subjecting themselves to the same auto-indoctrination to help them remain in theirs]

But in the end, Is it worth it?Yes

[ We will let the reader decide]

The Story so far

2012-  The New Era that wasn’t.

That’s right sucker, I’m the Lord of Form. Get over it Mudda

For the last 4 or 5 years Serge has been prophesying the new-era commencing this year. It would be the year when the world changed significantly as the forces of Prana met the forces of Fire. The Lords of Form would work feverishly to thwart the “Fiery Plan” coming true, with Serge, the awakened Messiah,  leading the world into a Renaissance of Ancient Wisdom and Livingness shaming the arrogance of modern thought, science, intellectuals and all other religions into a collective stunned acquiescence as the world transformed before our very eyes. The world financial system would collapse, nations would fall, and a new world-religion would emerge in the form of Universal Medicine- “One Unified Truth”.

UniMed clinics and churches would mushroom in cities and towns across the globe as the Ancient truth exploded forth, vanquishing all that lay before it. Humans, arrogant in their enjoyment of the lives they had created for themselves- spellbound in the glamour of their wealth and comfort- would fall on bended knee and hang their heads in shame at the sheer arrogance of the illusion of their minds and emotions foisted on them by the hand of entities mischievously imprisoning their souls in wicked spirits and mortal coils.

An Army of Eso-Practitioners, newly deputized and bearing the certificate of Level 4 healing achievement, bestowed on them by the Hierarchy and SB via the world’s best practice EPA, would work feverishly but lovingly; careful not to take on the energy of their charge lest they drain their own kidneys and harden their livers-  to release people from their enslavement via careful anti-clockwise massage and a diet of dreary pea soups, handfuls of cashews, and bland lamb curry.

But alas, it seems the timetable may have been slightly ambitious. Instead the nasty world rolls on as before, oblivious to Serge and the 2000 or less faithful. It will roll on no doubt right through the end of the Mayan calendar, whence Serge undoubtedly  borrowed his millenarian notion, and into 2013, 14, 15 and 2020 …. The Astral Planes will remain firmly where they were before- in Serge’s imagination; and Shamballah will steadfastly refuse to descend despite Serge’s best invocations.

Yes, 2012 is nearing its end, and the world remains the same. Yet, Serge and his crew fight on valiantly despite an avalanche of revelations. Rather than lighting the world with the Truth of Unimed, meetings are now conducted in halls with blackened windows. Love blogs are carefully edited and exclusive to members. Media is eschewed because it is biased. Experts are flawed unless they agree with UM. Men are abusive. Critics are hateful. Bloggers are trolls.

      “In 2012 we are going to be standing in Shamballa as Shamballa IS GOING TO BE ON EARTH and love will pour  into us from all directions.

We must embody the work –living the work not preaching it – just being. If you present harmony stillness your family and friends will get it as they will feel the imprint.

There is going to be a great shift- are you going to be able to handle this? Must prepare.

In order to defeat the illusion must let go of anything of anything you feel in gratitude to- by holding on to it you are capped – do not credit it for getting you where you are today, this attaches a tendril to you.

Serge read from his new book “The Way of  Initiation “from page 703 -706.

 Must be totally honest about how we write and speak.

Our whole world is under illusion because education is training /teaching people to be empty puppets.

Arrest all of what you are not. Know that you have been set up in that way through your education.

Know who you are first – meet others presenting  who you are – being your great light”

Get ready for fullness.

It seems 2012 has proven to be a year of retreat for Serge and that the Lords of Form have come out on top. No doubt this is what he will be telling his flock, while blaming them in part for not committing to the work and threatening to speak to the Hierarchy about withdrawing it for a few hundred years or so…

Only a few questions remain. What does 2013 have in store for Serge and the world!? and how much more money can Serge extract from his shrinking flock before they too wake up to the horrible reality that the only illusion is the one Serge has created for them.

2013 update- Donations gratefully accepted.( Really….I don’t really care about its energy)

Lords of Form: 1

Serge:              0