NZ Cults & Religious Groups List: H

Hot picks: Hallowe'en, Hermes Far Eastern Shining, Benny Hinn, His Way Church, Holy Laughter Movement, Homeopathy, L Ron Hubbard, Rodney Howard-Browne

H

Hagin, Kenneth E. Kenneth Hagin was a leading Word Faith Movement preacher, regarded by many as being the founder of the movement.

Haile Selassie. An Ethiopian king, actual name Ras Tafari Makonnen, who Rastafarians believe is/was the Second Coming of Christ and the Supreme Being. "Emperor Haile Selassie" is a title he claimed on his coronation as king on 2 November 1930, Haile Selassie meaning "Power of the Trinity." Other titles he claimed for himself included Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, and King of the Kings of Ethiopia. He died 27 August 1975. While (officially) murdered in prison after a coup, some Rastafarians believe the death was fabricated. Many believe Haile Selassie lives on in individual Rastafarians. For more info see Watchman Fellowship's Rastafari profile or Fact Monster's Haile Selassie entry.

Hallowe'en (Halloween). Held on 31 October, the name itself comes from All Hallows Eve (or Evening), or the day before All Saints Day (November 1), and came about when the Roman Catholic church tried to substitute All Saints Day for the older pagan (see occult) festival. Hallowe'en is a thoroughly pagan festival imported to New Zealand from the USA where it is widely practiced (and has been for the last 100 years). Interestingly, the original American settlers were sufficiently devout that it took Irish settlers to bring Hallowe'en across to the New World in around 1890. In the USA it is now second only to Christmas for retail spending. One possibiltiy for the original of the idea of "Trick or Treat" comes from Druids in Britain many years ago who on the Night of the Dead each year would make the rounds of the nearby villages, going from door to door and asking for certain items of food or a virgin for sacrifice. These were the "treats". If such was not forthcoming the "trick" was played, which was normally killing everyone in the house. We suspect not many kiwi kids (or their parents) know the ghastly origins of the practice. For more info read this article on Hallowe'en or Halloween - It Isn't What It Seems!! by New Zealander Selwyn Stevens.

Hare Krishna. Also called ISKCON, or International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Strongly unconventional religious cult known for singing and chanting in Queen St, Auckland, while banging tambourines, etc. Also characterised by their pink/orange robes and strange haircuts (eg, bald except for a single plait). The phrase "Hare Krishna" means "praise [to] Krishna" who is their false god (demon?).

Harry Potter. See Potter, Harry.

Hassan, Steven Alan. Steve Hassan is an American who is a former Moonie and the author of the excellent book Combatting Cult Mind Control (available in New Zealand). He now runs the Freedom of Mind Center (in the United States). (FYI listing.)

Hawkins, David R. David R Hawkins is said to have a following in New Zealand and Australia. He is described by Wikipedia as being "an American psychiatrist, mystic, author and spiritual teacher in Sedona, Arizona." Robert Todd Carroll, PhD points out "Hawkins, by the way, is not only an MD but a PhD. The latter was earned from Columbia Pacific University, an unaccredited diploma mill that was shut down by court order." To get an idea of what Mr Hawkins is on about, consider a quote promoting one of his books:

The scientific minded reader will be pleased in that for the first time a cogent and verifiable means of verification of spiritual reality is provided by means of an 'objective' reduplicable method of measurement based on physiologically derived clinical evidence.

Which is really nothing but babble (remember GWP healing instruments?), but some people just lap it up. The "'objective' reduplicable [sic] method" mentioned may relate to the God consciousness rating system referred to by this researcher:

Hawkins uses applied kinesiology, a New Age pseudoscience, to calibrate everyone and everything's level of consciousness in the universe. Jesus is at 1000 in his system, and Hawkins himself calibrates one of his books at 999.8. He believes he is God.

He also rates Buddha and Krishna at 1000, indicating they, along with Jesus, have total God consciousness. Anyone who thinks applied kinesiology doesn't work, or in double blind trials is only as good as random chance automatically rates below 200. To stay above 200 contact with unclean "under-200-ers" (my term), which supposedly make up about 80% of the population, must be avoided. Anyone who questions the scale also automatically rates below 200 (and probably only about 140) and is therefore not worth listening to - "I don't like to talk to dumb people" - whereas someone above 700 has reached enlightenment. How George W Bush rated a 460 only Mr Hawkins knows. In fits of self-contradiction "Hawkins repeatedly makes statements such as, 'All opinions are vanities,' and, 'The mind has no capacity to tell truth from falsehood.'" See self refuting statements for other examples of statements that contradict themselves.

Healing Breath. New Age practice. Lead practitioner in New Zealand Simin Williams.

Hellerwork Structural Integration. Branch of Rolfing.

Herbalife. A multi-level marketing scheme selling weight-loss, nutrition and skin-care products. Serious doubts have been raised about the lead levels in some of their products, including those aimed at children (link is to a PDF), hence the Danger rating. Arsenic and cadmium has also been found - for more information see the Fraud Discovery Institute web site - more reason for the Danger rating. But wait, there's more: Doctors in Switzerland and Israel have also found links between Herbalife products and hepatitis - yet more reason for the Danger rating. In this case, "herbal" does not mean "healthy".

Hermes Far Eastern Shining NZ Pty Limited. Scam, cult, led by a man (Gerald Hart Attrill, now called Jessa O' My Heart) who considers himself to be God. Followers believe him to be Jesus Christ incarnate. Ordinary water is sold for $80 or more for a 50mL bottle, an estimated markup of 400,000%. Other products are reported to sell for up to Aus$30,000. Formerly called Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember NZ Limited. Directors are listed as (get this!) Lightly Tossing Sunlight and Quantum Leaps. The group is described in Australia (where it started) as one of the fastest growing cults in that country. From Tasmania, Australia, the group has spread to Queensland, and also New Zealand and the United States. Separation of families has occurred in Australia due to the group, which uses strong mind control to get money out of followers. The Australian Fair Trading Minister, John Watkins has named the group as an unfair trader under Section 86A of the New South Wales Fair Trading Act. For more information see the Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember articles on the Rick Ross web site or the Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember info at Apologetics Index. Or read this testimony of someone who spent thousands of dollars on the water (scroll down to interview with Nicola). In this story of a family broken up by the cult, Hermes Far Eastern Shining is described by the New South Wales Fair Trading minister as "a mean con trick aimed at the most vulnerable people in our society".

People connected in some way:

Jessa O' My Heart (founder/leader), aka the Alchemist; formerly Gerald Hart Attrill
Clover Bright Heart (leader)
Elara Rainy Day Asteroid (follower)
Emerald Astroturf (follower)
Lightly Tossing Sunlight
Quantum Leaps
Rondo Blue Brain Me (follower)
Show Me Shower Seven Splits (recruiter)
Sirrah Delphi Lore
Wadan Kurare (general manager of Hermes Far Eastern Shining Pty Ltd, this name possibly pronounced the same as "wade in curare" which would fit with the rest of the names except for the obfuscated spelling)

Potions/elixirs:

Batman in Paris
Chemical Warfare
Dolphins Under Orion
Earth Rising Miracle Lotion (sold by "Earth Nucleus - Wild Fire" in the USA)
Elan Vital
Embalming Fluid
Full of Holes at the OK Corral
Hallucinogenic(s) Elixir
Hand of God
Harry Lime Theme
Heart Spider
Iron Heart
Junkie Atheist
Knock-out Drops
Pink Beloved
Puff The Magic Dragon
Radical Diagnosis

Other products:

The Blindness of the Clueless Rabbit (tape message, said to be periodically interrupted by giggling fits - with a title like that, go figure)
'It Looks Like Rain,' 4108 August Way (an 11cm square model house)
Luffley Cafe (cafe in Murwillumbah, NSW, Australia)
More Questions from Rin Tin Tin (tape message, said to be periodically interrupted by giggling fits)
Saturn Bubbler (an array of coloured plastic tubes)

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. See Whare Ra.

Hinduism. Major world religion, and one of the oldest religions in the world. Every Hindu believes in reincarnation and karma, but not all Hindus have the same view of God. Wikipedia explains it thus (emphasis added):

Contemporary Hinduism has four major divisions: Saivism, Shaktism, Smartism, and Vaishnavism. ... A Smartist would have no problem worshiping Shiva or Vishnu together as he views the different aspects of God as leading to the same One God. It is the Smarta view that dominates the view of Hinduism in the West. By contrast, a Vaishnavite considers Vishnu as the one true God, worthy of worship and other forms as subordinate. ... Accordingly, many Vaishnavites, for example, believe that only Vishnu can grant moksha. Similarly, many Shaivites also hold similar beliefs for Shiva.

...

There are some Hindus who consider the various deities not as forms of the one Ishvara, but as independently existing entities, and may thus be properly considered polytheists.

It is said that although there are millions of gods in Hinduism, not one is a god of love. (There are many gods of lust.) You are invited to read an open letter to Hindus on the Christian Answers site.

Hinn, Benny. Benny Hinn is false prophet and World Faith Movement preacher. He has visted NZ several times in the last few years, most recently in June 2007, and has a show on NZ television. At his most recent appearance in Auckland he is said to have healed a woman who had been deaf since birth. If this healing is medically verified it will be the first significant miraculous healing performed by Benny Hinn, despite his many claims to the contrary. At the Auckland meeting his evangelistic message was reported to be good, but this stands in contrast to his healing ministry, prophecies, and theology, which are all in serious doubt. His theology is profoundly unorthodox at times (eg, nine gods) and he repeatedly makes false prophecies - for example, that Fidel Castro of Cuba would die in the 1990s (ram audio file), that God would destroy America's homosexual community by fire in the mid 1990s (ram audio file), etc. Deception in the Church has other examples of false predictions. Benny Hinn has also talked to the deceased Kathryn Kuhlman (yes, after she died), and regularly visits her grave.

His Way Church. An Auckland church founded in May 2003, pastored by Word Faith preacher Rob DeLuca. This report from someone who attended a typical Sunday service:

When I turned up they were very welcoming. The music was fairly typical, Pentecostal church styles, no problems so far. It was when Rob got up to preach that I became concerned. I was the only one with a Bible there but there was little need as he didn't use the Bible, except once when he misquoted a parable in such a way that the whole point of the story was missed ... It was when he began prophesying that it got really interesting. He pulled people out of the crowd and would prophesy stuff over them (no problem) and then would pray for them. One man refused to fall over in prayer and so Rob proceeded to shoulder ram him so he hit the floor. Then Rob spent 30 mins prophesying about himself. He told the church that God had told him that he was a great Redwood Cedar and they were the birds in his branches and that if they just followed him they would be kept safe. He saw more birds coming and knew that one day the whole of New Zealand would hear the truth about God from him. The church then started to chant his name and get into ecstatic frenzies over the fact that God had sent them such a divinely appointed leader.

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Holy Laughter Movement. Aka Toronto Blessing or Toronto Movement, aka Pensacola Outpouring, aka Counterfeits Revival. Chief proponents include Rodney Howard-Browne and Todd Bentley. Also called False Revival Movement.

Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. Cult. Formal name for the Moonies.

Homeopathy. (Sometimes spelt homoeopathy - "oeo"? Ugh!) A New Age and occult "medication" made by successively watering down a substance (which itself is often toxic) way past the point where not a single molecule of the original substance remains, while shaking it with each dilution. No reliable studies to date have shown homeopathic treatments work any better than placebos (think "sugar pill"). Browse through the Quackwatch archives for more information or their offshoot Homeowatch. Keep an eye out for their article that mentions the $20 million duck - one duck is killed per year by a certain company and its liver is diluted into US$20 million worth of products. (That's pretty dilute, by the way.) Skeptic James Randi has offered a US$1,000,000 prize to "anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event." That includes homeopathy. No researchers have yet applied for the prize even though many claim to have proof that it works. So the BBC's documentary programme Horizon had a go at winning it. It made for another great Horizon documentary, and James Randi still has his money.

The New Zealand Cult List is of the firm opinion there is no published evidence to support the use of homeopathy as anything other than a placebo but homeopathy is assigned a Danger rating here because of the incredible amount of money wasted on it and because the blind faith that many homeopathy believers place in it causes spiritual blindness in other areas.

In August 2005 a significant study appeared in the British medical magazine The Lancet which shows homeopathic treatments are no more effective than a placebo. (As if we didn't already know that.)

Clinical effects of homoeopathy are placebo effects
The evidence for a specific effect of homoeopathic remedies is weak, according to a study. The investigators conclude that the clinical effects of homoeopathy are compatible with placebo effects. Aijing Shang and colleagues compared randomised placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy with matched RCTs of allopathy. When the analysis was restricted to large trials of high quality there was no convincing evidence that homoeopathy was superior to placebo, whereas for conventional medicine an important effect remained.

A review of the study appeared in the Guardian newspaper and an article appeared in Time magazine, which stated (emphasis added):

Chances are that The Lancet is somewhat premature in announcing the "death" of homeopathy, which involves a large and very profitable industry and the loyalty of many of the consumers it has duped. In fact, The Lancet notes, ""the debate continues, despite 150 years of unfavourable findings. The more dilute the evidence for homoeopathy becomes, the greater seems its popularity."

But there are encouraging signs. The Swiss Government, after a five-year trial, has withdrawn insurance coverage for homeopathy. Even the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which has been criticized for being too open to spurious alternative medicine claims, has little good to say abut homeopathy. Its website states, "Systematic reviews have not found homeopathy to be a definitively proven treatment of any medical condition."

Now, The Lancet concludes, it's up to the doctors, who "need to be bold and honest with their patients about homeopathy's lack of benefit." For scientifically-literate physicians, that shouldn't be so difficult to do.

Some embrace homeopathy as a treatment that won't cause any harm, since homeopathic remedies are widely proclaimed to not have any side effects. However, such is not the case. In July 2006 the New Zealand Herald published an article warning of the dangers of relying on homeopathic remedies for treating malaria, a potentially fatal disease. Last year some British travellers contracted malaria after doing just that.

Professor Nicholas White of the University of Oxford said: "This is very dangerous nonsense and needs to be stopped. The prescribing of homoeopathic remedies to prevent malaria is a reprehensible example of potentially lethal duplicity."

Ron Behrens, director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases Travel Clinic, said: "The misleading travel advice being given by homoeopaths is not a trivial problem. We have treated people at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases who thought they were protected by homoeopathic medicines and contracted malaria. The messages given by some homoeopaths are inaccurate, counter productive and place lives at risk."

...

Peter Fisher, clinical director of the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital said: "Malaria is a life threatening disease and there is no published evidence to support the use of homoeopathy in the prevention of malaria."

Also, the UK Skeptics has this to say on homeopathy:

Another danger lies in the fact that many homeopaths believe in what they call a "healing crisis". This is where a person who takes a remedy will actually get worse before getting better. This is put down to "toxins" being expelled from the body. Of course if someone is seriously ill and their condition is getting worse then they may not seek proper medical treatment as they put their declining physical state down to a healing crisis.

Hongzhi, Li. Li Hongzhi is the Chinese founder of New Age cult Falun Gong.

Horoscopes. Supposedly personal predictions based on astrological principals such as zodiacal signs. The actual descriptions seem relevant largely due to the Forer effect but are normally so general that they could apply to any zodiacal sign equally well. Something for Christians to completely avoid.

Hovind, Kent. A creationist (who goes by the name "Dr Dino") and Independent Baptist pastor and evangelist from Pensacola, Florida. His creationist teaching materials (eg, DVDs) are available in New Zealand, although some of his views fall outside of "mainstream" creationism. He holds a PhD from Patriot Bible University, an unaccredited school in Colorado, USA. The New Zealand Cult List does not recognise his doctorate or any degrees or diplomas from Patriot Bible University, which it regards as a degree mill. Wikipedia's Kent Hovind entry has more information about his and his wife's tax evasion convictions, which it summarises thus:

On November 2, 2006, Hovind was found guilty by a jury in a Pensacola, Florida federal court of fifty-eight federal tax and tax-related offenses; his wife, Jo, was also convicted on 44 counts. On January 19, 2007, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, three years of probation after his sentence is served, and $640,000 in restitution. He had been previously ordered to forfeit $430,400 and faced a maximum of 288 years.

Notwithstanding the tax-related convictions, we have been informed that he believes salvation is through the blood of Christ alone and that the Bible is the infallible Word of God - good stuff. It's a pity that his religious beliefs apparently also led him to avoid paying taxes and to "not recognize the government's right to try him on tax-fraud charges" (Wikipedia).

Howard-Browne, Rodney. Rodney Howard-Browne is a false prophet and Word Faith Movement preacher. Has visted NZ twice in the last few years. The first time he visited, at a public meeting to discuss him and the Holy Laughter Movement in general, nobody had anything good to say about him - comments ranged from "plagiarist" to "false prophet" and worse. Perhaps strangely, the second time he came he was praised by a particular announcer on Radio Rhema as being "a mighty man of God." Howard-Browne has claimed the title Dr but this has been questioned by Cultwatch Education Officer Trevor Mander BSc, MDiv, DipTchg. Mr Howard-Browne is assigned a Danger rating here because of his teachings. His teachings and beliefs have been examined in some detail on the Into Truth web site. Their article concludes: Howard-Browne through his teaching, brazenly denies the sovereignty of God, denigrates the Holy Spirit, disregards the centrality of the Person of Jesus Christ, despises the use of the mind, and identifies with false teachers. Rodney Howard-Browne's ministry Revival Ministries International is not a member of the (United States-based) Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability.

Hubbard, Dick. Dick Hubbard is the founder and MD of Hubbard Foods Ltd (breakfast cereals) and founder of Businesses for Social Responsibility NZ. Update: As of August 2004 in the running to be the Mayor of Auckland, later confirmed Mayor of Auckland. FYI listing; do not confuse with L Ron Hubbard.

Hubbard, L Ron. Lafayette Ron Hubbard is the founder of Scientology. A photo of him testing tomatoes is in the Scientology Closeup on the Practices page. L Ron Hubbard died in 1986 aged 74.

Do not confuse with Elrond Hubbard (satire)...

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Or crooked accountant Elron Hubbard (satire)...

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Humana. Also known as Humana People to People or Humana People-to-People (hyphenated). See Tvind.

Hutchinson, Doug. Doug Hutchinson is the contact person for The Church in Rotorua, a branch of the Local Church of Witness Lee. He is also involved with Bibles For New Zealand in an official capacity, distributing the Recovery New Testament (and mailing follow-up letters).