Rise of the doomsday prophets as cults sweep Australia

These are the question you should ask if you think that you or someone you know is being controlled or recruited by a cult.

The coronavirus pandemic has spawned an alarming rise in “extremely powerful” cults with a cult rescuer revealing he is being inundated with calls for help.

Cult Consulting Australia director Raphael Aron said Australia and the world was grappling with a post-Covid rise in religious extremism and fundamentalist Christian cults with apocalyptic prophecies.

Just last week FBI agents arrested a man in the United States in connection to the Wieambilla police shooting alleging he incited violence and sent “Christian end of days ideology” to extremists before the tragedy.

Conspiracy theorists Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train shot dead Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and Constable Rachel McCrow, 29 and neighbour Alan Dare in a religiously motivated attack on their property in the Western Downs on December 12 last year.

There is no connection between the Train family and any other Australian group.

Mr Aron, said the coronavirus pandemic had allowed some extremist groups to draw on people’s insecurities and that “cults provide security”.

“And that’s something which is really significant in terms of the uptick in people’s involvement.”

“Cults provide the opportunity to be able to have simple solutions to complex problems.

“And they provide some sort of opportunity to belong in a world which has become very fractured, and Covid didn’t do anything to assist us there.

Cults have risen in prominence since the Covid pandemic. Matthew Klein and Raphael Aron, help rescue people from cults.

“Covid sort of galvanised that belief that we’re sort of on the steps of Armageddon.

“We’re also in a post-Covid era and that’s really made a huge difference … in relation to cults.”

Mr Aron, whose organisation helps extract people from cults as well as educate, was receiving half a dozen calls a week from families desperate for him to help them rescue their loved ones, adding “some of which we can help and some of which we can’t”.

“Australia’s a relatively small country, (so) that’s a real concern when you’re getting those sorts of numbers.

“And they are the ones that call us – it often takes months, if not years, for someone to make that phone call.

“So you can imagine that somewhere in the queue, there are others who don’t want to make that call, they’re afraid to make the call.

Cult consulting Australia founder Raphael Aron talking about cults. Picture: Tony Gough

Mr Aron said the rise in Christian fundamentalist cults from Asia and particularly South Korea was also a “real concern” and accounted for a third of his work.

“People are getting ensnared into groups which preach a very different form of Christianity, a very different interpretation of the Bible.

“They’re extremely powerful and extremely successful.”

Mr Aron said a cult is an organisation that asks for subservience to a leader on a level that denies them individuality and personal choices.

“Where the guru or the leader or the master is very much in control in terms of anything these people would do – whether it be leaving a home, whether it be leaving a business, whether it be breaking off a relationship,” he said.

“People are often thinking about cults as being run by people in long robes and sitting in the foothills of the Himalayas, having everybody in front of them.

Village Kahawa cafe in Atherton is owned by the ACMC. Picture: Brian Cassey

But he said the Christian cults were much more mainstream in appearance and its members looked for “very fertile grooming areas” at university campuses, shopping centres, and train stations.

“There’s no shortage of opportunities to be able to pull people off the street, talk to them about the fact that life has lost its meaning and … it’s so messed up and we’re looking towards a better society and a better world”.

“It’s very alluring and it’s coming from somebody who knows how to say it and what to say.”

Mr Aron said the targeting of vulnerable people by cults was not a “niche” issue, but one that affects many Australian families.

Mr Aron said his work has involved extracting a member of the Anglican Catholic Mission Community, a group The Courier-Mail has been investigating.

There is no connection between the Train family and the ACMC.

The ACMC, formerly the Jesus People of North Queensland, is a fundamentalist Christian cult that requires members to hand over all of their property and agree to a strict set of rules or face punishment.

While it is not an apocalyptic cult, past members say it targets vulnerable young people by approaching them at train stations and beaches.

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The group started in the Cairns area in the 1970s but today has properties in Queensland, New South Wales, Germany, Portugal and Kenya.

Members must follow the rules and doctrines set out in a series of documents written by its late founder, Daniel Landy-Ariel, including those called The Golden Thread, The Customary and the Proposed Rule of Life.

Matthew Klein is a former member of the Twelve Tribes cult who has worked with Cult Consulting Australia to extract people from high control groups, including the ACMC.

He said anyone who believes a loved one has fallen prey to a controlling group, or who believes they are being recruited, should simply ask questions.

“No legitimate group will have problems with you asking questions,” he said.

“No legitimate group will have problems with you talking to ex-members or bringing up negatives about them.

“Whereas a high control group will get very defensive and not really want to go down that path. If you see a loved one joining these groups or being attracted to one, the first thing to do is educate yourself. Get on the internet. There’s so many good resources out there – and get help.

Do you have a cult story or know anything about the ACMC? Contact [e-mail]