I would like to share with you the experiences our family has had through our daughter’s involvement with The Gnostic Movement.

It started with a poster advertisement in a local shopping centre, with her looking to become a better person and trying to find a higher meaning to her life. Only she was not told the full story and about how her life would change if she continued listening to this group.

In the beginning our daughter was a 60kg, beautiful, vibrant, young woman full of fun with a sound mind and body. When I last saw our daughter she was 48kgs and so desperately thin and gaunt that I thought she was dying, however medical tests showed her condition was due to her ‘lifestyle’. I have since found out that malnutrition, chronic fatigue, depression and other health issues are common amongst the group’s members.

Initially we thought her spiritual investigation was a phase, a need to explore. She insisted that by studying with this group she would learn to become a ‘better person’. How could anyone argue with that? The ‘free’ lessons that followed started so gently and seemingly innocently, but at some point that changes, like a vortex the organisation draws people in.

As part of her studies she was required to ‘rid herself of her egos’ and this effectively changed her personality and resulted in her becoming emotionally detached and distant. As we now realise, this was her preparation for brainwashing. Plus the more advanced the students become, the more enslaved and beguiled they become, with heavy workloads, sleep deprivation and spiritual practices; and the harder it becomes for them to leave.

Once she became a teacher, at some point in her development, she fell under the spell of Mark Pritchard, the leader of this group. This man went by the spiritual name of Beelzebub, which is also the name for the Devil (although he has since changed the spelling, as understandably, it was putting people off). He exhibits absolute control over the minds of the group as its self professed spiritual master.

Leading up to and once our daughter became a teacher in The Gnostic Movement:

• She was required to cut all ties with her former friends and acquaintances and only spend time with other Gnostic group members.
• When she was living with us we did see her, but mostly she was closeted in her bedroom working for the group.
• All work was unpaid and done in absolute secrecy and often into the early hours of the morning. Doors were closed and phone calls were taken in private.
• Where ever she went she carried a heavy bag full of documents, so as not to leave them accessible to family members, or anyone else.
• She became disinterested in all outside information, lost interest in all other pursuits, and only read the spiritual texts prescribed by the leader, Mark Pritchard, many of which were written by him.
• She no longer went to the movies for fear of ‘astral larvae’, supposedly due to negative entities that inhabit the astral?
• She burnt sulphur in her room to destroy ‘astral larvae’ and became germ phobic in her approach to cleanliness.
• She would not to go to any places that served alcohol or to drink it. Resultantly, she would not join the family celebration for her sister’s 21st.
• She would not go to any meetings outside of this group’s meetings.
• She would not eat pork or any foods with pork derivatives in them for fear that they would make her lustful. Cooking utensils had to be kept separated from those that came in contact with pork meat.
• She would slavishly work long hours into the early hours of the morning, 7 days a week without breaks and without payment.
• The practices she would do, sometimes daily, involved sleep interruption and deprivation.
• She also invested months of her time helping to renovate a retreat-property, built on donations from Gnostic Movement members. That was over 5 years ago and the property, on completion, was never used as a retreat, but instead was taken over by the Pritchards (as we later found out) for their private ownership. The Gnostic Movement is still asking for donations for retreats and yet still does not own one,…..

  “but imagine if we had a place of our own we could visit whenever we wanted – a place to call our spiritual home. Well there’s a mission underway to find, build and run our own Gnostic retreat venues set aside for the pursuit of spirituality, with all the facilities and infrastructure needed to provide an inspiring and enjoyable getaway in the soothing scenery of nature.”

  ….. but what has happened to all the past monies donated for the various retreats the world over?
• And as if that wasn’t enough; she was also taught how to have sex/ or not have sex, under very strict and unnatural guidelines. ‘Alchemy’ is the name given to this practice by this group. Children conceived by group members, show a failure of the couple to disintegrate their egos of lust.

You must be able to imagine how devastating this is for our family. It breaks our hearts to see our once beautiful, university educated daughter throwing her life away like this. However, she is completely under the mind control of this cult leader and continues to work slavishly for him, being only provided with the bare necessities of her daily life.

Out of shear desperation I want to warn you of the suffering this group has brought to our family and could bring to you and your families if you follow its path. Our daughter’s dream of enlightenment in reality has changed our lives into a living nightmare.

Regardless of whatever path you follow and as you search for whatever it is you are looking for, I so desperately hope that you will never allow Mark Pritchard and the doctrine of The Gnostic Movement to control your minds in this way. And remember, with this group….it all starts so very subtly by trying to become a ‘better person’. It is like a vortex, the closer you get to its centre the more it sucks you in!

Recently some ex members of The Gnostic Movement have created a site www.movementsofgnostics.com in order to reveal the many harmful experiences people have had with this group and to warn others of it.