Since losing their positions in the organization and not being allowed to return, the ex-members and their faction who initiated the smear campaign against Belzebuub and The Gnostic Movement have attempted to portray the organization as an “oppressive cult,” using a controversial and questionable set of “cult criteria” that could equally be used to condemn almost all other religious and spiritual groups as a “cult” as well. As discussed above, they have then attempted to back up their use of the term with false references and set-ups.

These same ex-members alleged that The Gnostic Movement has been “classified” as a “cult” by the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), however, the ICSA disclaims on their websites that “a listing on ICSA’s web site does not mean that ICSA perceives any group to be a cult”. These members had sent their false allegations to ICSA to have The Gnostic Movement listed, but it did not result in any classification. Whilst using the ICSA claim to try and give weight to the smear campaign, they fail to mention that the convicted felon and founder of the scam and pyramid scheme they are now involved in (which you can read more about here), is also listed on the ICSA website – and his shady history is made available for public record on The Government’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website.

Likewise, other sources which they state have classified The Gnostic Movement as a cult, have made no such classification, and any comments they made on the matter were because these ex-members contacted them with their false allegations about the organization and were not exposed to the evidence which counters their claims. One of our attendees actually called and spoke to the so-called “cult expert” that has written an article about Belzebuub. When asked if he had actually read anything by Belzebuub he said no, that he had only received the material that the ex-members had sent him. When asked whether he had been paid by them to write the article, he stayed silent… The psychologist and theologists, which the ex-members refer to, were two women who took part in a TV show hosted by a close friend of one of the ex-members in Cyprus. The show was a set-up, which you can read about here. One of the women later said off camera to a representative of The Gnostic Movement, that she had been asked by people high up in the Orthodox Church to harm us on the show.

It appears to us that the very allegations arranged against The Gnostic Movement and Mark H Pritchard (Belzebuub) have actually been shaped by the smear campaigners to fit the arbitrary and invalidated criteria used by some anti-cult groups to define the construct of a “cult.” These false allegations were then sent by the smear campaign perpetrators to numerous anti-cult groups, some of which published their stories on their websites without contacting us at all as mentioned above. However, not only are we not a “cult” but we reject the very validity of the term, which is so broad it can be applied to Jesus and condemns practices taught by Buddha, whilst at the same time is a term used to describe groups that have committed heinous crimes like murder and group suicide. It is a completely loaded and bigoted word (the equivalent of using derogatory sexist and racist language to describe black people, homosexuals, and women) used to destroy and suppress anything outside of established religion, and has the effect of dehumanizing and estranging harmless groups of people from society. For more reading on this see Cult is the New Heresy, Jesus Would Be Called a Cult Leader

Since our organization was established in 1999 by former members of the Universal Christian Gnostic Movement, which was an organization founded by Samael Aun Weor in 1960, we have had more than 90,000 enrollments online and in study centers in over 100 different countries with an overwhelmingly positive response. Our organization has maintained an upstanding record in every country in which it operates both with government and professional agencies; our spiritual teacher Mark H Pritchard (Belzebuub) has taught Gnosticism for nearly 20 years, having been well received by the public and media with an impeccable personal and professional record. It is only since these two members were asked to leave our organization that we have seen the scale and likes of such falsity and harm perpetuated toward our faith.

However, this sort of situation is not new: it has blighted many religions both large and small throughout the world. Small numbers of ex-members (“apostates”) publicly turning hostile towards their former group is so common that it has been studied by academia and assigned its own terms. It is just the first time it has happened to us! The sensationalist rather than factual nature of both the internet and media has allowed the perpetuation of the false claims of apostates against many religious minorities, giving their claims credibility even if they are unsubstantiated. Read more about the unreliability of apostate testimony.

In some countries, apostates know that they can go straight to the media who will give their allegations social “credibility,” along with a biased public platform, to create a public case against their former religion. All it takes is a few sensational allegations given as if they were a tantalizing “expose” from ex-members who effectively “hand over” their religion to those who benefit from harming them—such as the media and anti-cult groups. For most religions, having someone attend their services who later decides they don’t like them is just a matter of time. This has led western society into a “spiritual crisis,” as ex-members with a grudge put in motion an unjust mechanism built into the structure of society, to damage the reputation of countless small religious groups. This broader issue is also addressed here on this site in the section on modern persecution.

UP NEXT – The public contradictions of a key accuser in the smear campaign