CultNEWS101 Articles: 1/15/2026
Patrick Ryan
"The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Elazar Rumpler, a senior figure within extremist haredi (ultra-Orthodox) cult Lev Tahor, to two years in prison and fines, following a conviction for a serious act of violence against a 10-year-old child in front of other Lev Tahor cult members, the State Attorney's Office confirmed on Thursday.
Rumpler consented to a plea agreement with the court, the State Attorney's Office clarified. As part of the agreement, he was sentenced to two years in prison, minus time served as part of his detention, a conditional prison sentence, a fine of NIS 10,000, and ordered to pay the victim compensation worth NIS 12,000.
Rumpler, according to the court's findings, was involved in an incident where the child was stripped, placed on a table, and beaten on his back and buttocks, in front of peers."
The Collector: Heaven’s Gate, the Cult That Shocked the World
"Heaven’s Gate, a cult founded by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, taught its members to escape from Earth via death to enter an alien spacecraft.
Heaven’s Gate, a notorious American cult, was founded in 1975 by Marshall “Do” Applewhite and Bonnie “Ti” Nettles. Centered on gnostic, alien-centric beliefs, they saw the body as a flawed vessel to be abandoned for ascension aboard a spaceship. After the Hale-Bopp comet’s discovery in 1995, the cult peaked, tragically ending in the 1997 mass suicide of 39 members, who believed the comet signaled their deliverance. Members were found wearing bowl haircuts, gender-neutral outfits, and Nikes, reflecting their extreme uniformity and devotion."
" ... Heaven’s Gate, started by Applewhite and Nettles, began around 1972. Nettle’s new-found interest in astrology, spirit guides, and communication with angelic beings made for an odd companion to Applewhite’s own hyper fixation on the New Testament text of Revelation—a book of the Bible written about the eschatological conclusion of reality according to the Christian expectations of Christ, his second coming, judgment on the earth, and the like. What happens when you combine an end-times-focused view of God, belief in the rapture of the faithful, angels, and astrology? Why Heaven’s Gate, of course!
The cult began with a simple belief: wherever the Bible talks about God, Jesus, or angelic/demonic beings, it is really talking about an advanced race of supreme aliens (notice the effect of Nettle’s astrological and angelic focus), who will return to destroy the Earth and save the believers for the next step in their spiritual evolution (Applewhite’s fixation on Revelation here is a clear influence).
This idea can be found in How and When “Heaven’s Gate” May Be Entered, written by Marshall Applewhite, and explains the significance of alien-centric thought for this very strange cult."
1 News: NZ still failing to protect people from high-control groups – cult survivor
"Caroline Ansley, who lived at Centrepoint as a child, is joining forces with other cult survivors and their supporters in the hope their voices will spark change.
"Being in a cult as a child, I have a unique understanding of what it’s like to be an unprotected, invisible, hidden member of a community that people outside don’t understand," said Ansley.
Centrepoint became notorious for psychological manipulation, drugs, and sexual abuse. But Ansley says little has changed since its closure.
'Doctors and nurses don’t know any more, teachers don’t know any more. There’s no legal consequences for people who harm others in high-control groups. There’s no language to explain what happens in a cultic setting that helps survivors interact with people on the outside.'"
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