The Telegraph has published an entertaining review of a new book called A Very British Cult: Rogue Priests and the Abode of Love by Stuart Flinders. Your correspondent has no connection or link to the book, publisher or author, but it struck him that Daily Sceptic readers would enjoy some of the article and immediately be struck by its unintended links to the daily warnings that climate change is about to end the world. The piece, by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, starts off with an anecdote about The Simpsons:
One of the funniest episodes of The Simpsons begins with Homer Simpson watching a film called The Rapture and persuading a busload of other Springfield residents that the end of the world is indeed nigh. Soon they are all standing on a rocky outcrop outside town holding balloons, while Homer checks his watch and confidently performs a countdown. Nothing happens. “My watch must be running fast,” he reassures everyone. “Wait for it… wait for it…” Several hours pass, rain starts to fall, and Homer’s voice becomes a plaintive croak. “Wait for it… wait for it…”
It’s tempting to view this scene as a contemporary satire. After all, there’s no shortage of modern doomsday cults, from the Children of God – which relocated from California to Thailand in preparation for an apocalypse that was predicted to take place in 1993 – to the notorious Heaven’s Gate commune, 39 members of which committed suicide in 1997 in the expectation that they would be picked up by an alien spacecraft and whisked off to eternal happiness in outer space.
That’s in addition to the more recent phenomenon of wealthy survivalists who are currently building sophisticated bunkers – Mark Zuckerberg’s compound is reported to cost up to $270 million – as part of their preparations for any future breakdown of social order.
Yet predictions that civilisation is coming to an end are nearly as old as civilisation itself, and religious leaders in particular have long enjoyed darkening the present with shadows cast by the future. The 19th century was certainly no exception. In Germany, one archdeacon announced that the world would end in 1823, and settled with his followers in Konigsberg, where they were accused of promoting sex as the only way to sanctify the body, while in New York State a group known as the Brotherhood of the New Life was hailed by its founder as “The New Eden of the West”.
Among other lunatics, Britain had its own “rogue Anglican priest named Henry James Prince, who was known to his followers as ‘Beloved’ and in the 1840s announced himself as the voice of God on earth or the ‘Holy Ghost personified'”.
Before meetings he liked to be compared to Christ’s second coming, so that his arrival could be announced with “Behold, He cometh! He cometh!”
He quickly gathered around himself a loyal band of followers through a mixture of preaching and personal contacts, most of them women, who believed his promise that the world was coming to an end and the saved would be carried off to heaven without first having to undergo the indignity of dying.
It soon emerged, that like so many apocalyptic doom cults one of the guiding principles was taking money off people’s hands and coercing them into living lives of self-denial. Sound familiar?
Prince managed to persuade his acolytes that the first step to preparing themselves for the afterlife was to rid themselves of all earthly attachments, particularly their money, which he was generously willing to take off their hands. Before long he had collected enough to build a luxurious new mansion and chapel in the sleepy Somerset village of Spaxton. Completed in 1848, it was hidden behind thick wooden gates topped with iron spikes and protected by ten-foot high brick walls.
A journalist visited and found a rather innocuous way of life while the residents waited for Armageddon:
Living there seems to have been like a cross between a religious cloister and a holiday camp. Its appeal was especially strong among Prince’s female followers, some of whom were given new names such as Sweet Mercy and The Cheerful One. Whereas in the outside world they would have been expected to marry and raise children, within the Abode of Love’s high walls they were free to live more or less how they pleased.
Prince died in 1899, pre-empting the imminent end of the world and a former priest called John Smyth-Pigott took over:
By this time, the Abode of Love was becoming less the centre of a cult than a retirement home for what one witness described as “a number of quite frowzy old ladies, wrapped in woollies and wearing caps, and some moth-eaten old gentleman”. In 1927 Smyth-Pigott also died (one newspaper carried the headline “‘MESSIAH’ DEAD”), and his grave was left open for a whole day, as if his followers really were expecting a resurrection.
A couple of decades later only a handful of survivors remained. Their world had indeed ended – not all of it, but certainly the Victorian world that had given birth to this socially conservative “No sects please, we’re British” cult.
To read that one in full, it’s here.
Eventually, the Abode of Love simply fizzled out. Like all apocalyptic movements, the underlying premise (the end of the world) having never happened. The review falls short of making the more obvious links to our own time. But it does illustrate very well the essential problem for all doom-mongers. This is pulling off the claim that while previous end-of-the-world predictions were all wrong, now it’s for real.
In the Rev. Prince’s case, at least he purported to offer his followers hope (in return for cash and sexual favours of course). The trouble with today’s climate doom-mongers is that their message is one of no hope. And that is troubling governments everywhere.
The other day Tom Harris wrote a piece in the Telegraph about Keir Starmer’s delusions of a climate utopia while trying to run a “two-pronged strategy”:
The first was to persuade us all that we must change the way we live, limit our appetites for carbon-emitting forms of transport, food production and domestic heating and be prepared to make the sacrifices in our standards of living that will be necessary in order to limit the amount by which the Earth’s temperature will rise in future years.
The second prong of the strategy was to remind us constantly that none of this is working and that despite our efforts we’re all going to die horribly in a fiery Armageddon. That part hasn’t changed. But the first one has.
Most people were able to recognise the fundamental flaw in the strategy and it’s a circle that governments all over the globe had to square if they were to succeed in avoiding turning us all into extras in a Roland Emmerich movie. To get people on their side, to win their support for their own climate ambitions, voters needed to be told that all their sacrifices had to be worth something.
Now Starmer is trying to reframe his message, says Harris, by speaking to COP29 delegates and “embracing the ‘opportunities for tomorrow'”:
This Reaganesque optimism was ably represented in his opening comments: “This is a huge opportunity, for investment, for U.K. businesses, for British workers, if we act now to lead the world in the economy of tomorrow.
And while the stick has been rebranded as a big, juicy, irresistible carrot, the regular warnings of climate apocalypse are no less frequently broadcast: projected temperatures are still rising, this or that line on the thermometer will be crossed soon, irreparable damage is about to be inflicted on our natural environment. It’s all aimed at motivating our leaders to do something, but so far its chief accomplishment has been to encourage them to use less harsh language or not turn up at all.
The fundamental problem is that this Government, and many others like it, have persuaded us that they, not we as individuals, have the responsibility for saving the planet. Which means that they, not we, have to take the blame when their measures don’t work.
All we have to do is wait for all those bright, shiny promises to come true and wait, even more patiently, for those thermometer readings to come down. Because that’s what we were promised, right? And surely our own leaders wouldn’t lie to us about something that important?
Also worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the “lesbian Nana” cop story is the fact that none of the other officers had the courage to take their college to one side and politely say “the kid didn’t mean it to be offensive, grow up and get over it”. No doubt if they did she would’ve made a complaint against them for being homophobic.
‘Maaate’..?
LOL!
Because we’re back to the whole conformity thing again, as demonstrated by Ashe, Milgrim, Nazi Germany and more. What I find mental is that police have been used to taking verbal abuse for decades and they haven’t arrested everyone that’s called them a “pig”, for instance. Call someone something that isn’t an insult and is yet to be established to be factually correct and they descend on you like you’re an armed and dangerous terrorist! The girl made an observation ffs!
I’m just glad the mam is taking legal action. The whole world’s seen the evidence of West Yorkshire police’s brutality and lack of professionalism now. I’d say this police thug and her bully cronies are all going to be in deep shit because of the high profile of the case and resulting public pressure and scrutiny.
Let’s hope so
It’s about time that police officers were made personally responsible for paying damages for false arrest, assault, illegal searches etc. That might focus the mind somewhat.
Seconded.
Agree, Mogs. What I find disturbing is that police are not being trained to approach domestic situations in a calm, non-confrontational, common sensical way. Police are meant to keep the peace, here we see no evidence of that. They are reacting and in this case, reacting like a bunch of entitled thugs because they were ‘offended’ FFS!
The police constable’s oath highlights this ““I do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly service the Queen in the office of constable, with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property…”
They do nothing of the sort in this case. I’d like to suggest that psychological assessment of all people seeking to join the police becomes mandatory!
“What I find mental is that police have been used to taking verbal abuse for decades and they haven’t arrested everyone that’s called them a “pig”, for instance”
My stepdaughter was arrested at a anti Bush Blair rally way back. Cops at her trial testified she had terrified them, for example (btw, she is the sweetest most gullible innocent young woman), by chanting such as
“Arse cheeks” at them.
“Our streets” was what she was chanting
FFS
I’m not sure the police actually serve us any more…
Whatever happened to Sticks and stones may brake my bones but calling will not hurt me! Ahrrrr the poor little police women, diddums do it?
Big blokes, in fact. Been policing London streets for years, but were “terrified” by my stepdaughter. Oddly, at appeal, when the judge threw out the magistrate’s ruling, noting “she clearly did not understand the law as applied”, the rozzers said nowt.
Good grief Jeremy, I sympathise whole heartedly! It really does make you say WTF!
Further to the subject of conformity; I’ve often wondered who this person was and the story behind the famous shot. There’s those that go along to get along and will always take the path of least resistance, then there’s those ( probably the minority ) who have the courage to stand up for their principles and what is morally right, no matter the unpleasant consequences of doing to. This is the story of August Landmesser;
”The photo was taken at the launch of a German army vessel in 1936, during a ceremony that was attended by Adolf Hitler himself.
Within the picture, a lone man stood with arms crossed as hundreds of men and women around him held up their arms in salute and allegiance to the Nazi Party and its leader, Adolf Hitler. Everyone in attendance is showing their undying support for Der Führer by throwing out their very best “Sieg Heil”.
August Landmesser, grimacing with arms crossed, stood strong and defiant as he showed his disapproval by not displaying support for the Nazi Party.
What made this photo and Landmesser’s defiance unique is that it represented the protest of one man, in its most sincere and pure form. The source of Landmesser’s protest, like many great tragedies, starts with a love story.”
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/august-landmesser-1936/
Wow, that is bravery.
How would I have dealt with this?
Did his bravery achieve anything beyond him being true to his beliefs?
He was true to himself. It takes bravery to do that, but in modern times, when lying is now the main MO of the political classes, it behoves us all to speak the truth, whatever the consequences. Else how do we live with ourselves?
Thanks for this Mogs. A heartbreaking story.
Not to mention that it could quite easily have been a compliment… “looks like my lovely lesbian nana”…
When did the police get the right to interpret the law, rather than just enforce it?
I’ve been saying all along that control of people through their banking isn’t a result of banks going rogue. Its something that the state has forced banks to put in place. It’s a longtime project of the state bureaucracy.
It’s just that most people haven’t been affected by it. But all the levers of control are in place and can be deployed against anyone at ant time. And they have been for some time. Farage is just the first very public case.
CBDCs are merely a refinement of a system that is already in place. It makes it more efficient, easier to execute.
But the laws and regulations to switch someone off are all in place already. And the state bureaucracy isn’t about to roll it back one single inch.
It’s the whole premise of where we’ve been heading these last 3,1/2 years ! The State SheepDog has now almost got us corralled into the CBDC pen
Wrote to my more-than-useless MP, Andrew Murrison, the other day about cash and CBDCs. No reply yet and not surprised at that either. They all know the game. Another letter and another will be sent. Our MPs are all part of this. We live in a dictatorship in all but name.
What a horrible typo, the state of the British press today is very sorry.
But don’t you see these sort of typo’s everywhere? I blame poor education standards. a spell checker is all very well, but they often suppy the wrong word, or won’t correct a word, and if the writer doesn’t know any better, they will go along with it. My particular bugbears are misunderstood common phrases written down wrongly, such as ‘taking up the reigns’ and ‘escape goat’ or even the popular ‘chester draws’. To me it just shows a lack of general reading.
At the time of writing, The Daily Sceptic had repeated the error. Is this an example of AI in action?
“The office has been much-maligned of late, but working life, and indeed the wider economy, would be much poorer if everyone stayed at home, writes Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.” Mr Marlow can speak for himself. In my firm, we have a lovely new office, plenty of desks for those who want to be in the office, and no-one is forced or encouraged to work from home. Staff have voted with their feet and largely stayed away. Would some of them, in my view, be better off coming in to work? Probably. Is it up to the firm to tell people how to run their lives? Not in my view. Has our productivity suffered? Absolutely not.
I guess that you are not concerned with the profitability of “my firm”?
I am very much concerned with it, as a major shareholder. What is it that I wrote that makes you think I would not be concerned with profitability? I did specifically write that our productivity has not suffered. Other firms may have different experiences – it is for them to determine what works best for them (though from what I have seen directly and read, a lot of the drive to get people back into the office seems misguided – sunk cost in long term office space leases, bosses who like to survey their domain, bosses who measure productivity by hours spent at the desk rather than work produced).
Reckoning on public servants working from home is that they are from 8% to 40% less productive. As the public sector’s productivity falls year by year as its higher salaries and huge pensions at the top are less and less deserved. Why on earth should someone who cannot afford tto save for their own pension be forced to subsidise public workers who complain about being taxed too much on their ONE MILLION POUND pension pots. Why the hell can’t they fund their own? (Even then it will be money generated in the private sector)
I’m not aware of such studies but they mat may well be the case. I would regard that as a sign of poor management and organisation rather than anything intrinsic to where people are working.
It’s the public sector. The sense of duty to the taxpayer that once informed civil servants is long gone. They no longer serve us. We on the other hand, serve them.
Indeed
Simple solution – don’t go to pride events. If you take your kids to a festival of Moloch, you must expect them to be passed through the fire.
My thoughts entirely..you beat me to it…one has to wonder what they thought they would be seeing at a ‘shame’ parade??
For everything there is a season. Pride has had its. Now Pride Parades seem in reality to be Perve & Gimp parades. Back in the day my wife went on Pride parades. She wouldn’t go near one now. Cult Transgender, as with everything it touches, had corrupted and perverted it
Can we just take 20secs to behold what a complete tit this person is? I’m wondering if you’re gullible enough to swallow one lot of propaganda it automatically follows that you’ll buy into all the other BS narratives, thereby losing *all* your self-respect. I mean, you surely must because is it possible to be a critical thinker only on select subjects? That’s why it’s my hypothesis ( and does data on this exist? ) that people who believe the climate change narrative are the very people who fell for the pandemic narrative, that they’re jab zealots and fully paid-up members of The Cult of Woke. It wouldn’t surprise me if they tick all the boxes! My god, we have to live among these pitiful saps.
https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1690455293786779648
Celebrity or non-celebrity, it’s always the mothers. Are we experiencing a ‘pandemic’ of women with some sort of personality disorder? And the ones that are encouraging and supporting their kids doing irreparable damage to their bodies through transitioning medically and surgically are they very worst. Why is child abuse being legitimized? But most of all, for the umpteenth time, where the heck are the dads??
https://twitter.com/DrLoupis/status/1690255606307762176
I predict that some time in the future these children, having broken the ties to their parents, will exact a terrible and savage revenge.
Very interesting discussion with Byron Bridle….about Health Canada’s push to enforce new laws onto natural health products…. (While they are de-criminalising class A drugs!)
also @30 mins in a discussion about the fact that Moderna is going to do a study about the bio-distribution of the nano-particles…..something Byram Bridle pointed out very early in the scam, and whose life was basically wrecked by it…
https://brightlightnews.com/health-canada-changes-to-nhps-dr-byram-bridle/
This is a welcome sensible ruling:
‘Unvaccinated driving instructor wins payout’
‘Man wins over £6,000 after tribunal rules that the DVSA discriminated against him over his beliefs for not taking medicine’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/12/driving-instructor/
‘The judge ruled that Mr Green’s anti-medication belief was legitimate and said: “The tribunal found that his belief was genuinely held. We find that it is a belief and not an opinion or viewpoint.
“We find that the belief is a facet of the claimant’s right to decide about his own bodily integrity. This is clearly a fundamental human right.”’
Coercion was used to try to make Mr. Green take the experimental jab.
This in in contravention of the Nuremberg Code and indeed, of our own Public Health Act.
“How many perfectly good cars will be wasted by Ulez scrappage scheme?”
Not mine! My duster is going to run until it rots into the ground, then, I’m going to buy a brand new one and keep that till I die!
Ironic, the first brand new car I have ever owned will be the last car I ever own!
Here are the “gamechangers” in the latest battery technologies (that,strangly, never seem to actually materialise)
Salt batteries, diamond batteries, solid state batteries, sand batteries, gold batteries and now…wait for it…..Concrete batteries! The world is saved!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/concrete-buildings-could-be-turned-into-rechargeable-batteries/
“Brighton rock bottom: How the Greens nearly destroyed the city I love”
Nearly??
Look again love, its a shyte hole! Sodom and gomorrah comes to mind!
“Rich men North of Richmond”
John Lennon himself would have been proud to have wrote a song like this! Genius
With regards to rental properties the EPCrating is a farce as it doesn’t take into account how warm the tenants want to be. For me I like about 24c others slightly. Less.
Also in2025 it will be compulsory to have cental heating installed.
My house is a two up two down terraced house with two super efficient gas fires. No central heating needed.
At that point I will sell my house with all of the super efficient insulation I have installed.
Yet another piece of useless legislation hammering the landlord.
….video about vaccine injuries….from America, but of course still salient to everyone…
Steve Kirsch is on it and is going to reveal the list of names…
https://rumble.com/v35iycg-retired-nba-all-star-john-stockton-says.html
Retired NBA All-Star John Stockton Says He Knows of 150 Pro Athletes Who’ve ‘Dropped Dead’ Since COVID Vaccine Rollout