Over the last couple of weeks I have heard more and more disturbing information about this strange Christian sect called Shofar . The straw that broke that proverbial camel's back was when a fellow blogger informed me that he had had his website taken down by this cult.
I decided to do a little more investigation and what I have found out scares the heck outta me. This cult activly goes around to pubs and clubs, harassing and recruiting vulnerable lonely youth for sect.
The more I learnt about this cult sect, the more I was reminded of Scientology. People in this cult are "not allowed" to date people outside of their cult. Reminds you of Scientologist's "disconnects" does it not? However Shofar take it to a new level. Not only are you not allowed to date someone outside of this cult, but you have to date someone on the same "level" as you (apparently you get levels 1-7). Simple things like holding hands is also considered taboo.
This cult actively talks about "harvesting souls" for the "Lord of the Harvest". When reading their site I had to keep reminding myself that I was not reading up on ancient Celtic pagan sect, but rather a 'supposed' "Christian Church" in South Africa.
A bit more research revealed the following comments from people in the area who have had the misfortune on been on the receiving end of their brainwashing techniques.
"I'm one of those unfortunate people who have been prayed for by Shopharites in a pub. I would probably have moered those okes if I wasn't so stunned by their blatant lack of respect!", Jakes Lombard
"There was an incident on campus this week where a guest lecturer (lecturing on evolution) was intimidated by a few members of the Shofar group. After the lecture, they asked him whether he was an atheïst? After replying yes to this question, they spat at his feet and left. I find this degrading and feel that it is extremist!" Student at Stellenbosch University.
That second quote scared me even more! Here was a evangelical group, actively promoting religious myth over real life science! I don't know about you, but I sure think that South Africa has had enough backwards ideologies, and this is not helping the future prospects of our students on any level.
The fact that these people actually go after recognised and accepted scientific theory (that actually has sweet nothing to do with religion) should identify to you the problems this cult faces to us.
Lets make a quick list of the negative impacts the Shofar cult has had so far:
1) Negative impact on the person's social abilities. I have had numerous emails from people telling me how they got 'disconnected' from their friend's, how almost ever aspect of their social lives is controlled by the Church, and other techniques which appear to follow normal sect brainwashing patterns.
2) Shofar are against freedom of speech. Yup they so are. Not only are their recruitment methods very similar to Scientology and other cults, but they also attack our constitutional right to free speech like the Scientologist's. As noted earlier on, a fellow blogger of mine had his site taken offline by this cult, with threats from their lawyers. I asked my blogger associate on what grounds they wish to sue him on, his reply was, "defamation of company".
Shofar cultists... are you a church or a company? Make up your minds please. PS, Please ask your lawyers to email legal@pickledbushman.com. My advocates are standing by.
3) Shofar will 'harass' you in public places where you should be enjoying yourself such as pubs and clubs. Perhaps we should all go to their "Church" and get pissed? Fairs fair right? Since the damaging days of the Dark Age, mankind in enlightened cultures has tried to seperate religion from as many aspects of public life as possible. We learnt in the Dark Ages what happens when religious cults take power. Let us hope we do not allow them back into our public spaces.
4) Shofar seems to have a negative effect on a real education, such as their hostility towards scientific theory such as the theory of evolution. Imagine a world where all your biologists, and all those doctors where creationists... Imagine how much worse of our health and education systems would be due to religious bigotry...
A cult sect as militarized as this one needs to be investigated as quickly and thoroughly as possible to find out what harm it might be doing to local Western Cape community. I am instantly suspicious of people who offer prayer in return for cash or pretend to know what God wants. For those of you who are not worried yet, I advise you go see the documentary "Jesus Camp" http://jesuscampthemovie.com
I would like to find out more about this cultist sect known as "Shofar Christian Church", and if you have been harassed or have any information about this sect please email me at pb@pickledbushman.com . I did try contact Shofar for comment, but a lot of the links on their site are broken (including the contact link). If you think any of the above information is incorrect, please contact me on the email address mentioned earlier.
I will be writing more about this sect and others as I get more information. For more information please see:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381216748
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=456264
EDIT
Shofar Christian Campus Cult Part 2: http://www.pickledbushman.com/index.php/2007/05/29/shofar_campus_christian_cult_part_2
Leetest form of linux there is. The primary OS I now use. Kubuntu, Dapper Drake, 6.06 LTS. I really think people should use this as their default OS
For those of you who dont know, I run Kubuntu OS as my desktop OS. With all the queerness of Microsofts Anti Piracy campaign, I have decided to completely leave the MicroSoft world. Sure, I loose windows media player and some gaming choices. However, you do get awsome games like warsow that are completely open source, and LOADS of fun to play. If you are in South Africa, there is a South African warsow server gracefully hosted by Web Africa. When in the game just type "connect warsow.webfafrica.co.za" And you will connect to the server to be able to jam with the rest of us.
This is a response to the writer of an opinion piece on Thoughtleader who goes by the name of Senteletse Diakanyo (a South African).
Read it here: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2011/01/response-to-xenophobic-writer-sentletse.html
I consider this a book that every South African should read to get perspective in their lives. Its honesty is most refreshing and Al Lovejoy`s ability to capture in words the essence of a culture and history of a generation of south Africans is amazing. Al Lovejoy has earned a lot of respect from a generation of youth who appretiate the truth. Thank you Al.
Other reviews:
‘Acid Alex is quite simply one of the most shocking autobiographies I have ever read. It is also well-written, addictive, excellent.’
– Sue Blaine, Business Day
‘Heartbreaking! Entertaining! Intelligent!’
– Erns Grundling, SL magazine
‘Nothing I have read has sketched the scorched social landscape of South Africa’s last half-century with such intensity and honesty. Read it.’
– Charles Thesen, Marie Claire
‘There are elements of Hunter S Thompson, Herman Charles Bosman, William Burroughs and William Wharton. But in the end it is an amazing story told in a unique voice. A voice moulded by pain, a voice honed by a government reformatory..., whetted by the SADF, and sharpened by Pretoria Central.
It is the story of a man who went to hell and came back, a morality tale, a Bildungsroman, the narrative of a f*ckup who found redemption, and the anthem of a lost generation.’– Caspar Greeff, Sunday Times
‘Truly, as Koos Kombuis says, this is “an astonishingly breathless story” … Besides being a great read, Acid Alex is an invaluable record of a type of mania that gripped a certain type of South African in the last quarter of the 20th century. It’s a book that’s going to appeal to many young South Africans who currently have to turn to the United States for their myths of pointless excess, and it’s going to inspire them. Not necessarily in a particularly savoury way.’
– Chris Roper, Mail & Guardian
This book is more than just a suggested read.
America has new super smart bullets and guns. Check it out!
http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/americas-new-radio-controlled-smart.html
This blog post details some of the amazing advances in CGI graphics. Click on the link below to see the video and read more!
http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/most-realistic-cgi-graphics-ever.html
http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-favorite-world-of-warcraft-music.html
Brad Pitt is a freethinker and is not religious
View the video at: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/brad-pitt-on-religion.html
In what has to be a remarkable show of insight into the power of social networking, a British Indie band is offering their album free to download off their website. This is one band, that seems to have googled it. It looks like the older corporate models are failing and hopefully the world will not have to tolerate the insanity that is RIAA much longer.
I love artists with scope.
South Africa needs science and South Africa needs prominent scientific voices. Unfortunately, like the media in much of the rest of the world, South Africa's media is not nearly welcoming enough to the skeptical and scientific views of the world. Luckily, we have great examples from the United States and elsewhere of how self-publication through blogs can affect public discourse, promoting science and acting as a counterweight to indifference, ignorance, and gullibility. However, unlike our comrades elsewhere, South African science bloggers are unconnected and not organized. I propose to change that...Read More
For the new 4G CellC network and gaming information you need to check out this link: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/cellc-and-gaming.html
Really funny flash video depicting the end of the world as the result of a nucleur fall out.
John Stewart pretty much shows us why the hysteria around wikileaks is bad and why wikileaks itself is good. Read more at Karmic Sangoma: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-does-john-stewart-have-to-say.html
Copy and pasted directly from the Karmic Sangoma blog:
"Yeah its official. South Africa now has an official Wikileaks mirror. This can be accessed by the address http://www.wikileaks.za.org .
The site is currently hosted on multiple servers with hosting in the United States, South Africa, Sweden as well as two off the grid solutions. It will basically be impossible to take down the South African copy of the site for any extended length of the time.
The server and site is currently hardened against anticipated attacks from American secret services. A special thanks to the guys and girls at http://www.mybroadband.co.za for help in motiviation and support for getting wikileaks.za.org up. Please note that MyBroadband in no way endorses wikileaks.za.org and this is a private project by individual MyBB members.
We also recommend a special form of protest for those fighting against wikileaks and free speech. For the big detractors we are offering them white feathers.
Wikileaks is most likely the most important tool for Free Speech since the inception of the Freedom of Information act."
Read more at the original link: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-now-has-south-african-mirror.html
For those of you who dont know, I am South African. Im a born and bred white native african, and damb proud of it. However, I will often use words that you may not understand, local slag u wont pick up on. Click on this link to learn a little more about South African slang, aka, Safrikan!
This is a website setup to track the dangerous scammer known as Louis Los Fourie. Chances are when you google his name, this page will be the top Google result. Chances are you also lost money to this asshole. No worries, we are tracking this white trash and he now has an entire website dedicated to bringing him down: http://www.catchacon.co.za
Loyiso Mpumlwana of the ANC in Eastern Cape in South Africa acts like the local village idiot in the latest attempt by the ANC to waste money on more name changes.
Read the full story here: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2011/01/loyiso-mpumlwana-from-eastern-cape-anc.html
The entire catalogue of information from 1,800 courses at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be available free online by the end of the year. Once uploaded, it will represent one of the internet’s most important resources.
MsDewey.com
I never have never used a search engine this cheeky before :) Its great fun for about 10 minutes.
Seaward.co.za for South Africa`s best coastal real estate.
In what has to be classed as bizare, a clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.
I came across this site by Anup Shah that has a detailed look into the causes of poverty. I found some of the statistics he shows to be very embarrassing and a shameful reflection on humanity today.
* Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
* The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
* Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
* Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
* 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
Anup Shah shows us the institutions, policies and people behind many of today's causes of poverty.
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp
Haha, these poor lil bunnies. A bunch of pictures of bunnies trying to come up with imaginitive ways to kill themselves.
The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. A most excellent link for those of you wanting access to some amazing science.
A really nice Travian signature generator
Just to let you know that Wikileaks has an official South African mirror. http:///www.wikileaks.za.org . Share and link this url as many times as you can to do your bit to make sure wikileaks never goes down.
Ever wondered how many babies are being pushed out every day, or how many people are dying every minute? Well this is the place for you then! This meter currently records those tpes of things, and with a population of 6.5 billion, there are lots of interesting stats for you to check out.
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