Laishkochav, Alistah. Alistah
Laishkochav is a New Zealand-born leader of a cult in Melbourne Australia.
At his commune he had a total of nine wives and 63 children. Also known
as Ian Francis Lowe and Ariel Abraham Enki. In 1999 he was charged with
40 various sexual offences. Convicted of 22 of them, he was jailed for
seven and a half years.
Lake City Church. Former name of Destiny
Church Rotorua.
Landmark Education Corporation.
Started
in 1985 with the old est "technology".
Headed up by Harry Rosenberg, who is the brother of est founder Werner
Erhard. This particular group was originally known as Landmark Forum,
which is now just the name of the initial (and most popular) training
course they offer. In other
countries (USA, Australia, Netherlands) Landmark Education has made a
name for itself for suing those who publish information about it. Landmark
Education competes with Neuro-linguistic Programming. Landmark
enthusiasts claim that the courses are non-religions but The Watchman
Expositor comments: "For
those unaware of EST (Erhard Seminar Training), known to the business
world as "The Forum," it is one of many New
Age organizations based on hard-core pantheism." Landmark
Education's strongly New Age beliefs can be
recognised in some of its teachings – for example:
You are God in your universe. You caused it. You pretended
not to cause it so that you could play in it, and you can remember you
caused it any time you want to.
This report from a Landmark researcher:
Landmark borrows very heavily on a large number of other
very successful and well-proven [albeit often erroneous] ideas and beliefs
putting then all into one package. The ideas they borrow come from diverse
fields such as Zen Buddhism, Dale Carnegie, the New
Age, Scientology and L
Ron Hubbard, etc.
Their courses are hideously overpriced. Basically you
are placed in a classroom setting for up to 14 hours per day over three
and a half days being subjected to intense peer pressure from "volunteer
landmark workers" – they call them coaches. During this 14 hour
day (yes 14 hours) you WILL NOT be provided with any written material
at all (take your own notes), neither will Landmark supply you with any
refreshments (except water) at all. Not bad considering you paid them
NZ$500, is it?
Landmark Corporation is a dubious organisation that preys
on the vulnerable people in society (people with personal issues mainly
– eg, I don’t love myself, or my parents, or my partner).
Landmark does absolutely no discernable marketing in
New Zealand via any of the main stream media (radio, television, print).
Their primary way of marketing is via pyramid selling of attendees signing
people up for for what is called the communication course.
Do not be fooled at all, the communication course curriculum
from Landmark states quite clearly that the object of your communication
is to phone as many people as possible and get them to sign up for a
Landmark course. This is all cleverly disguised as getting you to communicate
better and is backed up by occasional short classroom sessions.
Due to a slightly secretive nature (they certainly would
not respond to any of my queries), it is very hard to gauge how large
they are, but they are certainly very active in Christchurch, Wellington,
Hamilton and Auckland.
It's possible that Landmark's various courses are run slightly differently.
For example, the matter of written notes appears to be up for debate
– in contrast to the above report, a correspondent claims no note taking
at all is allowed in the beginner courses: "Participants
are provided with a written Syllabus, and it is a strict ground rule
of the Forum is that they do not take any notes. However, in all subsequent
courses they run, including the Advanced Course, note taking is permitted." Prices
also vary; one correspondent reported he paid $575 for a course in Melbourne
(presumably Australian dollars). He also mentioned the course was "12
hours per day for three days and one needs to be present for that whole
time to benefit from it." Similarly, Laura McClure says her
course (US$500) was allowed "just one meal break per 13-hour
session," and it and the shorter
toilet breaks each had its own assignment to complete. Seminar attendees
are allowed very little time to think for themselves and attendees are
mocked and ridiculed if they stop out of line. The objective of the introductory
course is to replace an attendee's individuality with Landmark's thought
patterns. Jargon abounds. Time control, personality replacement, loaded
language, deception, and fear, guilt and intimidation as used in the
introductory courses (as indicated in Laura McClure's report or Milla
Goldenberg's report)
are classic mind
control techniques.
For examples of some of Landmark Education's nonsensical, religious
and self
refuting teachings see this
article. For more information and some great examples of how badly
Landmark Education takes criticism, see the Landmark
Education article at Apologetics
Index, or the Skeptic's
Dictionary Landmark article which points out "Those in need
of psychotherapy should not participate in LGAT [Large Group Awareness
Training] programs. They may be too intense for the emotionally fragile." A
correspondent who did a course in about 2004 says "By the way
you are discouraged from participating even if you’ve been to the
doctor once claiming to be depressed." That's good to know,
and they may have been getting even stricter; another correspondent who
did her first course in 2009 writes "people sign a legal waiver
regarding their mental health and their participation in the Forum in
the registration forms." This is confirmed in an
article by Laura McClure, which explains in more detail just what
is agreed to:
I signed a six-page disclaimer in which I declared that
I understood that after attending the Forum, people with no history of
mental or emotional problems had experienced "brief, temporary episodes
of emotional upset ranging from heightened activity...to mild psychotic-like
behavior."
Remember, that's Landmark Education themselves saying that. Landmark
Education well deserves its Danger rating.
Larson, Bob. Bob
Larson is a controversial self-styled exorcist who toured New Zealand
at the end of October 2005. Bob Larson was born in Nebraska, USA, in
1944. Among his various doubtful claims is that he is the world's
foremost expert on cults, the occult, and alternative spirituality. The
source code of his web site claims Bob Larson is the foremost authority
of occult, cults and the supernatura. [sic] Apologetics Index's Bob
Larson page says those familiar with the field of countercult
ministry know that his claim is patently false. We agree. Another
doubtful claim is that he has exorcised more demons than any other human
on the planet – over 6,000 in October 2005, although a television programme
screened here in December 2007 the figure of 10,000 was claimed, along
with a rate of 500 to 1,000 exorcisms per year. It doesn't quite add
up, especially as a reference was made to Bob Larson's age that would
have put the production of the programme in 2005. A claim of 15,000 is from September 2013. (FWIW the New Zealand
Listener magazine says the Vatican's chief exorcist, Gabriele Amorth,
has performed over 30,000 exorcisms, while Wikipedia says he lays claim to 50,000, this article pronounces it's actually 160,000, and this article says 70,000.)
Jon Trott wrote an article for Cornerstone Magazine where he put Bob
Larson's ministry under scrutiny. The article casts doubt on many
of Bob Larson's claims, past and present. Bob Larson charges for his exorcisms and this article says "he insists that one session almost never does the trick"; compare with Jesus Christ's instructions when he sent out his disciples:
"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give."
– Matthew 10:8 (NIV).
Laser acupuncture, laserpuncture.New
Age practice. A form of acupuncture which
(not surprisingly) uses lasers rather than needles.
Law of Attraction. An alleged "natural law" that says thinking about a goal and acting as though it has happened will make it happen. See Word Faith Movement and Manifesting.
Latter Rain Movement. Submissions
for this listing are now being accepted. Please see the Contact page.
Lee Chongwi Press Ltd. Publishing
company apparently founded by Lonnian
Lee. The two books it lists are both written by Lonnian
Lee.
Lee, Joanna. Joanna Lee (actual name Kim Ouk
Lee, aka Keum Ok Lee) was a member of Lord of All cult,
killed by Lord of All pastor Luke Lee (no relation)
after a six hour exorcism session on 10 December 2000. Luke Lee thought
she had at least 20 demons in her who had told him they would not leave
without killing her. Before joining the cult she was involved with a
religious group in Korea, but lived basically as an orphan. She came
to New Zealand after being accepted into the Lord of All cult. When her
family could not be found the Christian Korean community in Auckland
performed a Christian funeral/memorial service for her in the middle
of 2001 and her body was cremated. After the trial and conviction of
Luke Lee in December 2001 her family has still not been found and her
ashes have not been claimed.
Lee, Lonnian. Lonnian Lee is the founder
of Synergetic Medicine and Yang
Tsin Su. He received a PhD in Asian Studies from Auckland University
in
2002 for his thesis A Feasibility Study of
the Combination of Western Medicine & Traditional Chinese Medicine which
is part of the basis of the two groups he has founded. He has apparently
also founded Lee Chongwi Press Ltd.
Lee, Luke. Luke
Lee (aka Yong Bum Lee) is the former pastor of Lord
of All cult and a graduate of the Assemblies of God Bible School
in west Auckland. Infamous for killing Lord of All member Joanna
Lee (no relation) after a six hour exorcism session during which
he also broke her sternum and cracked two of her ribs. Accompanied by
10 members of the cult, Luke Lee attempted (noisily) to raise Joanna
Lee from the dead, during which time Joanna Lee's body lay on a mattress
in the same room, black and decaying. Neighbours complained to the police
about the noise levels of this activity. Luke Lee was convicted on 5
December 2001 for the 10 December 2000 manslaughter of Joanna Lee. In
court Luke Lee defended himself and did not cross-examine any witnesses,
including members of the Lord of All cult, although he had previously
tried to get some of them to lie. While in court he also admitted that
he had a criminal past in Korea, before accepting Jesus. Luke Lee has
claimed several times she will be resurrected. On his conviction for
manslaughter he again claimed she would rise from the dead, at midnight
on the evening of Sunday 9 December 2001. The date passed without incident.
Update: Yong Bum Lee was convicted for 6 years but was removed from
New Zealand in January 2005. In April 2006 he successfully appealed,
and the Court of Appeal overturned Mr Lee's conviction based largely
on Joanna Lee's consent to the exorcism, an activity in which there was
apparently a known risk of harm. The decision stated Ms Lee's consent
was "a possible defence which the jury should have been allowed
to consider."
Crown prosecutors wondered if they should bother with a retrial, considering
most of the witnesses (other Koreans in the cult) had by then left the
country.
Lee Man-hee. Lee Man-hee is the founder and leader of the Shincheonji cult. Born 15 Sep 1931, still alive at time of writing (Sep 2022). Shincheoji members view him as the second coming of Christ, and that only he has the ability to correctly understand the Bible. They also believe that he will take 144,000 of them to Heaven on the Day of Judgement – a little awkward since (as of March 2020) the cult boasts of over 200,000 members in South Korea. In 2020 a branch of the cult in Daegu, South Korean, hosted a major outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) – almost 60% of all the cases in that country. For his part in not preventing the outbreak, Lee Man-hee faced charges "for murder, injury, and violation of prevention and management of infectious diseases." He was found not guilty, but was found guilty of embezzlement of $6.7 million. A three year prison sentence has been deferred for four years if he keeps out of further trouble.
Lee, Witness. Witness
Lee founded the Local Church of Witness Lee,
a Christian sect. Born 1905 in northern China. Trained under Watchman
Nee who sent him to Taiwan in 1949. Lee moved to the USA in 1962.
Died 1997 age 91.
Lewis, Richard. Richard
Lewis was the Manager of Destiny Church for the 13 years until December 2013, when he left to start his own Grace Global Church. In the
six months to October 2009 he drafted and prepared the oath of loyalty
document for Destiny Church. He is also leader of the (inactive) Family
Party, and former leader of Destiny NZ.
Richard Lewis has stated:
"It is completely in line with Christian teaching
and philosophy, that wealth is an outcome of living according to the
path that God puts in the Bible."
This contrasts to the teaching and philosophy of Jesus Christ:
"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me."
"I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven... it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already
received your comfort."
As of October 2009 Richard Lewis is rated Danger for his activity
with and defence of Destiny Church's cultic activities.
Lewis, Sally. Sally Lewis is an Ishaya monk of the Bright Path (monk name Aditi), and teaches Ascension meditation in six New Zealand prisons. Ishaya monks wear ordinary clothes, but favour white, red, and black, each colour having a particular meaning. Sally Lewis and partner (and fellow monk) Greg Hopkinson produced the 2016 movie A Mindful Choice.
Liberal Friends. One
of the three main branches of Quakers (formally known as the Religious
Society of Friends), along with Conservative
Friends and Evangelical Friends.
Liberal Friends are a distinct minority of Quakers worldwide but form
the majority of Quakers in New Zealand and are by far the most likely
to be encountered in this country. They are regarded by many Quakers
worldwide as having left the faith, as they (as a group) deny all the
fundamentals of the Christian faith. According to a clerk from the Conservative
Friends (overseas) "Liberals are an abhorrent group who should NOT use
the label Quaker as they deny our historical Christian Faith." (His
emphasis.) For example, the doctrines of Jesus' deity and the virgin
birth are nonessential and not accepted as fact. The idea of sin and
therefore the need for salvation is also not accepted, and it is possible
for even atheists to be Liberal Friends. As a result of this there is
wide variance in what individual Liberal Friends believe, and it is quite
possible that many are genuine Christians – hence it should be emphasised
the Danger rating here refers to the group, not the individuals
in it. (There are many fine individuals who are Liberal Friends.) Since
the Liberal Friends itself gives the appearance of being compatible with
or a denomination of Christianity it qualifies as a Christian
cult. It should be noted it does not use mind control, so is not
a mind control cult, and is not understood to be sociologically harmful.
Licona, Mike. Representative example of several contemporary [conservative philosophical] Christian apologists who seem to deny the inerrancy of the Bible by denying the historical accuracy of various passages such as Matthew 27:51-54. Mike Licona's teaching has been promoted in NZ.
Liebscher, Banning. Banning Liebscher is a speaker at the Manifest Presence conference, appearing for the first time in 2015. Married to Sea-Jay, together they are directors of Jesus Culture, a youth ministry at Bethel Church, Redding California. He credits Kathryn Kuhlman as being a mother of the faith. Rated Danger for associations with the Manifest Presence conference, Bill Johnson (the senior pastor of Bethel Church), and Cindy Jacobs.
LifeStream. One
of many New Age based Large Group Awareness
Training (LGAT) programs. Founded by Jim Quinn (from Mind Dynamics) and
Janet Quinn in 1973. Competes with Landmark
Education although less well known and less often run than that LGAT.
Particular Lifestream courses include Breakthrough and LeaderShape (an
advanced course). See the Skeptic's
Dictionary LGAT article for more information about LGATs.
Life Training Program, Life Training Mastery
Course. Courses
run by Kairos Foundation, yet another Large
Group Awareness Training (LGAT) program. Said to be "similar [to] Landmark",
and is in competition with that LGAT.
Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. A Whanganui cult led by Mita Edwardson. Based on false teachings of William Branham, it is a branch of a cult founded in the USA by Donald Kinnard Parnell. Also called Third Testament Assembly, a name more often used for Don Parnell's group in the USA.
Lighthouse Digital. A digital advertising company which has been enabling the anti-vaccine conspiracy theory group Voices for Freedom by posting the group's misinformation propaganda on digital billboards.
Living Church of God. A
splinter group of the Worldwide Church of God,
they publish Tomorrow's World magazine
and produce a television programme of
the same name. Their false doctrine includes the belief that the Holy Spirit is the essence of God, not a person of the Trinity, and so incorrectly refer to the Holy Spirit as "it" not "He". They incorrectly teach that baptism by immersion is essential for salvation. For thorough refutations see the PDFs Water Works and Water Baptism and Salvation. They exercise legalism by insisting the Sabbath must be kept and tithes paid.
Living Stream Ministry. Publishes
the Recovery Version of the New Testament
and the Recovery Bible. The publishing branch of the Local
Church of Witness Lee, a Christian sect.
Local Church (of Witness Lee).
Christian sect,
verging on a cult. In New Zealand they are probably most accurately regarded
as a sect, although many cult researchers worldwide call them a cult.
For example, Dr Norman L Geisler, Dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary
and one of the world's foremost Christian apologists, has
stated that the word cult is doctrinally appropriate to use of the
group (and gives reasons). In a submission to the Supreme Court of Texas,
Dr Norman L Geisler has written:
In over fifty years of research on doctrinal matters,
it is my professional opinion that: 1) It is doctrinally appropriate
to label some groups by the terms unorthodox, heretical, or a cult. 2)
It is appropriate to use these labels of The Local Church.
...
My reasons in support of the second point are two-fold.
First, in every list of essential orthodox Christian Doctrine of which
I am aware, including the doctrines used by CRI, the doctrine of the
Trinity is an essential Christian Doctrine, and deviations from it are
considered unorthodox, heretical, or cultic. Second, after carefully
reviewing the unretracted material published by The Local Church, I find
numerous statements that are not in accord with the orthodox doctrine
of the Trinity.
American anti-cult web sites claim that after Scientology they
are the most litigious cult in the USA, using legal threats and action
to dissuade authors from speaking out against them. (This is not the
reason they are rated here as a sect rather than a cult.) Also known
as "The Lord's Recovery", the Local Church uses the Recovery
Version of the Bible (which they believe is the only true
version), and publishes under the name Living
Stream Ministry. Note that most members of the Local Church are just
misled/confused Christians and should be kept distinct from the group
itself, which has serious problems with theology and practice. For example,
according to Watchman
Fellowship"Some evangelicals have also charged that the
church compromises the Trinity doctrine by confusing the Persons of the
Holy Spirit and the Son in a way similar to modalism." (The
issue is complex, and the Local Church publicly denounces modalism as
heresy. Many problems arise with trying to determine their actual beliefs
due to the fact that orthodox terminology is used by them but in probing
their meaning, their definitions can differ greatly from that which is
orthodox. A similar problem is found in cults such as the Latter-day
Saints.) They have also been criticised for their beliefs that they
are they only true church and other problems. Individual branches are
called The Church in [city name]. For example, The
Church in Rotorua. They have a missionary training centre in Hamilton
and have a presence on University campuses around New Zealand as Christians
on Campus. For more info see Apologetics' Index Local
Church page or The Bereans' Local
Church modalism article. Alternatively An
Open Letter To the Leadership of Living Stream Ministry and
the "Local Churches", from several dozen evangelical Christian
scholars.
Lodge. Normally refers to the Freemasons (Masonic
Lodge) – the Blue Lodge is the first few levels of Freemasonry. The Buffalo
Lodge (another secret society) is also reported to be in New Zealand,
apparently set up as a recruiting scheme for Freemasonry. There's also
a supposedly very good (and expensive) restaurant called the Hunting
Lodge.
Long, Bishop Eddie L. Eddie
L Long is a Word Faith preacher, false
prophet, self-proclaimed bishop, and is the "spiritual father"
of Brian Tamaki. (Consider Matthew 23:9 – And
call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in
heaven.) In September 2010 Eddie Long had allegations made against
him of sexual improprieties (NZ
Herald article). At this time it is too early to know if there
is any substance to the allegations.
Lord Of All. Cult,
now discontinued after its leader Luke Lee killed
a member while trying to exorcise a demon from her. Used to meet in suburban
Auckland, but now most of its members have returned to Korea.
Lord's New Church, The. A Swedenborg group.
Not known to be in New Zealand under this name, but Swedenborgianism
is represented here by the New Church in New
Zealand.
Alistah
Laishkochav is a New Zealand-born leader of a cult in Melbourne Australia.
At his commune he had a total of nine wives and 63 children. Also known
as Ian Francis Lowe and Ariel Abraham Enki. In 1999 he was charged with
40 various sexual offences. Convicted of 22 of them, he was jailed for
seven and a half years.
Started
in 1985 with the old 
Bob
Larson is a controversial self-styled exorcist who toured New Zealand
at the end of October 2005. Bob Larson was born in Nebraska, USA, in
1944. Among his various doubtful claims is that he is the world's
foremost expert on cults, the occult, and alternative spirituality. The
source code of his web site claims Bob Larson is the foremost authority
of occult, cults and the supernatura. [sic] Apologetics Index's 
Submissions
for this listing are now being accepted. Please see the 
A
national Christian radio network owned by 