In its April–June 1998 issue, the Christian Research Journal published an extensive evaluation of Growing Families International (GFI), the Christian parenting ministry headed by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo.1 While acknowledging GFI’s popularity (over a million reported followers around the world) and noting that “a number of the parenting ideas in GFI materials are sound [...]

This article first appeared in Christian Research Journal, volume 20, number 04 (1998). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org Summary Parenting programs authored by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo and promoted by Growing Families International (GFI), including Preparation for Parenting and Growing Kids God’s Way, are both [...]

This article first appeared in the News Watch column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 23, number 3 (2001). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org Two and one-half years ago the Christian Research Journal published an article outlining the cultlike characteristics of Gary Ezzo’s Growing Families International [...]

This article first appeared in the Volume 24 / Number 3 / 2002 issue of the Christian Research Journal. For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: www.equip.org The Raelian Movement- SYNOPSIS UFO fascination has been around for centuries, and events that many have said portend the end of civilization [...]

On February 28, 1993 at approximately 9:30 a.m., 100 lawmen from the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms division of the United States Treasury Department descended on a religious compound owned and operated by the Branch Davidian cult 10 miles east of Waco, Texas. Their objective was to serve a search warrant for illegal firearms and explosives, [...]

Most Christians have no trouble believing that non-Christians who completely and straightforwardly reject Jesus Christ are lost. However, they do often find it difficult to believe that someone might sincerely believe themselves to be following Jesus Christ and yet — as in the case of members of heretical pseudo-Christian cults — be lost. Jesus Himself [...]

“And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from [...]

Christian Science was my whole life. I was a third-generation mem­ber of both a local church and the Mother Church in Boston. As well, I was “class taught” — that is, I received special advanced instruction. I whole­heartedly practiced Christian Science by reading my lesson every day, by not going to doctors or taking medicine [...]

Authorities in four states are prosecuting Chris­tian Science parents on manslaughter, murder, or child abuse charges for refusing medical care to their dying chil­dren. The cases — six of them in all, including three in California — represent the largest assault in history against Christian Science reliance on prayer instead of medical treatment to cure [...]

Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) are entering a “second life cycle” of recruiting, training, and teaching. Under the direction of CUT’s president Gilbert A. Cleirbaut, a 51-year-old management consultant who took the helm of the organiza­tion in 1996, the New Age cult faces major changes marked by the sale of [...]