CultNEWS101 Articles: 5/7/2026

[Patrick Ryan]

Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, Book Review,  Conversion Therapy, Michael Jackson, Yogi Bhajan

NPR: What draws people into cults? A new book tracks the journeys of two followers

"In 2017, a gaunt, bespectacled, 71-year-old woman wearing a crisp white uniform with two stars on the shoulder was arrested in New Mexico. This was Deborah Green, nee Lila Carter, the leader and self-described general of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps (ACMTC) – a cult that had been operating with impunity for three decades, despite various attempts by former members to get law enforcement to shut it down.

"But Deborah looked so small, so frail – so old" when she was arrested, writes Harrison Hill in his new book, The Oracle's Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult. And yet this was the woman who with her rantings and ravings about God and hell had struck fear into the hearts of her followers.

Hill's book closely follows two characters – Maura Aluzas and Sarah Green – and their journeys into and out of ACMTC. It also explores the broader landscape of cults in the U.S. and how their logic and approach to religion have become less and less fringe over the years, to the point where ACMTC's messy doctrine seems, in a twisted way, to have been ahead of its time.

Maura Aluzas met Lila in the late 1960s, when Maura worked at a hospital and helped care for Lila's dying brother. The young women became close friends for a time; both women were seekers, each wishing to lead a meaningful, intentional life. During the near-decade they were out of touch, both embraced Christianity, and they certainly weren't alone in their newfound fervor when, in 1980, Lila Carter – now married to Jim Green – reached out to Maura to share that she and her husband had found God; the 1970s had seen a resurgence of religious zeal. When the Greens returned to California, the families spent time together and Maura's husband, Steve, was impressed with the Greens' vision of a spiritual army that would "take up arms against the forces of secularism and mainstream Christianity." Maura wasn't entirely convinced, but she loved her husband and still held an old loyalty to the Lila she'd once known, even if this new, born-again version was harsher and stranger. And, so, when Steve wanted to move closer to Lila and Jim Green, Maura Aluzas agreed.

This began a series of incremental choices that wouldn't, at the time, have felt as extreme as they seem in hindsight. Maura and Steve became the first members of the Greens' church. They raised children in the harsh environment that Lila – who'd renamed herself Deborah – cultivated. And because of her lingering doubts, or simply because she refused to beat her children as firmly as Deborah thought she should, Maura was punished. She was first ostracized then exiled. Although being banished was painful, for Maura, it eventually became a relief, a way to escape."

RNS: In ‘Conversion Therapy Dropout,’ a survivor exposes the discredited practice

"...Conversion therapy is a mix of pseudo-psychology and spirituality. In the 1950s and 1960s, therapists were trying to help people overcome homosexual tendencies. The premise is that sexual disorientation is the result of early childhood trauma, and through behavior modification and psychotherapy, it’s possible to change sexual orientation. In the extreme cases, there was electroshock therapy and lobotomies. The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973, essentially disavowing the whole idea of conversion therapy. But the church picked up the ideas of conversion therapy and applied a spiritual layer to suggest that it would be possible for someone to become straight through an intimate relationship with God. In 1973, a group of people had the first gathering of Exodus International."

"...In 2013 Exodus International publicly admitted that in their nearly four-decade history, they don’t believe that they had seen anyone successfully change their sexual orientation. Since the 1970s, the psychological and medical community has said that conversion practices are harmful. Recent research found that folks who have gone through conversion practices are more than twice as likely to commit suicide. They have higher rates of alcohol and substance abuse, and because of those traumatic encounters, are less likely to be engaged with organized religion and are untrusting of therapeutic settings. It’s been proven time and again to be more harmful than it was ever helpful."

Forbes: Michael Jackson’s Private Chef On The Biopic And Life With A Legend

Mani Niall cooked for Michael Jackson as a Yogi Bhajan devotee—while serving the likes of Diana Ross, Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and Sophia Loren.

"Many viewers will likely miss it, but a tray of food presented to a convalescing Michael Jackson in the biopic Michael holds a key to the superstar’s foodie past.

The Antoine Fuqua-directed movie, which opened April 24 and stars Jaafar Jackson, grossed $97 million in North American theaters over its opening weekend with a global total of about $217 million, shattering records for a music biopic. The success has reignited curiosity about the star’s private world and his inner circle of confidants.

Michael Jackson’s Go-To Hollywood Restaurant

In the movie, Jackson’s security guard Bill Bray (played by KeiLyn Durrel Jones), presents the tray of food, noting it has “all your favorites,” and adds that it’s from the “Golden Temple.” That name harks back to the early 1980s when Jackson frequented Hollywood’s Golden Temple vegetarian restaurant. The location was one of a dozen nationwide staffed by members of the 3HO sect, which practiced kundalini yoga and meditation—founded by Yogi Bhajan in 1969."

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