Eddy, Mary Baker.
Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian Science
cult. Born 1821, died 1910. In 1875 she published Science and Health
with Key to the Scriptures which has become the textbook of Christian
Science.
Edge, (The).
2. A secular nationwide Top 40 music radio station, perhaps best known
for their blind arranged marriage stunts (2015 update – "The Edge has run the competition three times and all three couples are still together"), and their really
badly misconceived UglyKids ad campaign in Sep 2004. 3. A secular weekly show on the
BBC World Service (radio station on 1476 kHz AM) on Thursday mornings (NZ
time), possibly repeated on Friday afternoons. 4. Acronym for Emergency
Department Gossip Exchange, a newsletter of Auckland Hospital. 5. Performing
Arts and Conventions Auckland. (All FYI listings.)
Edge City Church.
A Christian church that meets in St Stephens Presbyterian Church, Ponsonby,
Auckland. Apparently has links to Christian Community Church.
Elijah List, The. The Elijah List is a website which publicises the false prophecies of the New Apostolic Reformation and False Revival
Movement. It has been called "The biggest distributor of false prophecies in cyberspace."
Elite Clamping. Also known as Elite Parking Services Ltd. The present face company of Gordan Ward, started up after his former company, NZ Wheel Clamping Co Limited, went into voluntary liquidation. As is typical for Gordon Ward's underhanded businesses, Elite Clamping cannot stay out of the news, clamping a car with two people in it (both capable drivers) and the keys in the ignition.
Elite Parking Services Ltd. Also known as Elite Clamping. Got in the news along with its owner Gordan Ward in September 2015, and again in January 2016 in an article showing even staying and shopping would not be enough to avoid being clamped: "I said if I'd stayed and shopped but my son had gone off to Holden would you have clamped us? And he said yes. I said you are kidding me?" In October 2016 they made the news again along with director Steven Devantier: Inspector Uraia Vakaruru, of Otahuhu Police, said they were investigating the incident and said they had received "multiple calls'' of complaints against the company, with reports in both the South Auckland and West Auckland areas in recent months. Also in this article, where one of the comments makes the interesting point that As soon as they swear however, they are in breach of the Fair Trading Act as using harassment to gain payment for services is illegal. Make sure to record them.
Emerging Church.
Also called Emergent Church. A church movement (and possible cult) that
places an emphasis on living like Jesus did, and ignores or even denies
essentials of Christian faith like the need for us to be saved, Jesus
being the only way to God the Father, and the virgin birth. Rob
Bell is one of its main proponents. The Emerging Church has published
its own version of the Bible called The
Voice. Dr Norman Geisler has a short summary of the main
problems with the Emerging Church.
Emotional Freedom Techniques.
An alternative health treatment that claims all sorts of medical conditions
are due to our emotional state, including asthma, back pain and dyslexia.
On their home page they quote an MD: "... unresolved emotional
issues are the main cause of 85% of all illnesses". So much for
bacteria, viruses and dust mite poo. It's only rated Caution,
not Danger, because it's unknown if it contains any strong
New Age teachings or encourages people to not see a doctor for something they should. If the latter, it might be genuinely dangerous.
Emotions Anonymous.
Similar to Alcoholics Anonymous but for people
who have serious emotional problems they can't control (eg, anger).
Enzacta. A multi-level marketing company founded by former Amway executive Russ Hall. New Zealand director is Max Cottle.
Equilibrium. A version of Circle that also allows men. Probably started because New Zealand is reaching saturation point for Circle.
EST.
Acronym for Erhard Seminars Training (for some reason normally written
in lowercase – est). Founded by Werner Erhard, est basically went under
but was relaunched in 1985 as the Forum (aka Landmark Forum), which is
now called Landmark Education Corporation,
which runs the Landmark Forum course.
Evangelical Friends.
Christian sect. One of the three main branches of Quakers (formally known
as the Religious Society of Friends), along
with Conservative Friends and
Liberal Friends. The Evangelical Quaker
denomination Friends United Meeting claims
most of the Quakers worldwide but in New Zealand the Evangelical and Conservative
branches are a distinct minority of Quakers behind Liberal Friends. From
an Evangelical Friends' web site: Evangelical Friends International
is affiliated with the [American] National Association of Evangelicals
but is not a part of the [American] National Council of Churches nor the
World Council of Churches. They thus probably qualify as a sect, as
they are separated somewhat from the wider Christian church.
Event, The. Weird italics in original. See The, The Event.
Every Nation (Christian) Church.
A Christian denomination with branches in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch,
formerly known as Morning Star Church.
It is linked to the New Apostolic Reformation,
although part of the reason for its name change was apparently to distance
itself from Rick Joyner's similarly named MorningStar Ministries. (Rick
Joyner is a prominant leader of the New Apostolic Reformation.) It runs
a campus ministry called Victory Campus Ministries
at Auckland University for evangelism (good idea) and apparently also
for the purpose of getting more people specifically into Every Nation
Church (not-so-good idea – for the hint of exclusivity,
not because there's necessarily anything wrong with Every Nation).
Evolution.
This gets a mention because of the inherently religious nature of evolution. Evolution absolutely depends on the philosophical positions of materialism and naturalism, and is thus dictated by a religious worldview. Evolutionist Richard Lewontin makes this dependence very clear (emphasis added):
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.
When evolutionists (or evolution adherents) say "evolution is a fact" they are not stating scientific truth. They are making a faith statement based on their desire for evolution to be true; evolution gives them an excuse to not believe in a creator to whom they would have to be accountable. For more information
about this topic see Answers in Genesis or Creation
on the Web, or even try out the genetic change modeling tool Mendel's Accountant which makes it quite clear that the very idea of evolution is pure fantasy. The articles Creating With Chance and Hawking Claims That Life Can Form By Chance nicely highlight how irrational it is to believe in a materialistic origin of life, while this article lists 15 fatal flaws for an evolutionary origin of life. This video simply explains why evolution does not make scientific sense, and Can mutations create new information? (a semi-technical article) explains why "The examples of mutations we have are not of the types required for evolution to advance."
Dr Colin Patterson, senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, said the following in a public lecture presented at New York City’s American Museum of Natural History on 5 November 1981:
One morning I woke up … and it struck me that I had been working on this stuff [evolution] for twenty years, and there was not one thing I knew about it.
...
I’ve tried putting a simple question to various people and groups of people: “Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing that you think is true?” I tried that question on the geology staff in the Field Museum of Natural History, and the only answer I got was silence. I tried it on the members of the Evolutionary Morphology Seminar in the University of Chicago … and all I got there was silence for a long time, and then eventually one person said: “Yes, I do know one thing. It ought not to be taught in high school.”.’
Exclusive Brethren.
Cult. Formal name Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. Severe relationship and information control. Strict authoritarian
standards, ruthless shunning of former members. Many families have been
broken up due to this group. Example, read this address to the New Zealand parliament by Nick Smith, MP. More
articles are available on the same site. Since members often work
in Exclusive Brethren companies, people leaving the group are likely to
lose their family, friends, and job all at once. The BBC provides a good Exclusive
Brethren overview (a group which it classes as a sect). Exclusive
Brethren are quite different from Open Brethren. In April 2021 the Exclusive Brethren hit the news with an RNZ report saying the group has been spying on former members.
Note from the Editor: The New Zealand Cult List does not in any way agree
with the relationship control practiced by the Exclusive Brethrens as
as organisation, but we point out that they have as much right as
any other New Zealanders to have their say regarding political issues,
even if they choose not to vote.