ALLEGATIONS of widespread abuse at Mercy Ministries group homes appear
finally to have caught up with the fundamentalist Christian group,
which has announced it will close its Sydney home on October 31,
citing ''extreme financial challenges and a steady drop in our support
base''.

''We are no longer financially viable,'' reads a statement from
Margaret Stunt, a former Hillsong Church staff member from London
appointed as executive director of Mercy Ministries in April.

The announcement came less than a week after the group said it had
completed extensive renovations to its Sydney home, including a new
kitchen, carpets, light fittings, staircase and deck, painting and
landscaping - all funded with donations totalling more than $100,000.

Given that the organisation will close, it is unclear who will benefit
from the renovations. A staff member at Mercy Ministries said she was
unable to comment.its probably owned by the church leaders kids

Targeting girls and women aged 16 to 28, Mercy Ministries claimed - on
its website and in promotional material distributed in Gloria Jeans
cafes around the country - that its programs included support from
''psychologists, general practitioners, dietitians, social workers,
[and] career counsellors''.

Instead, the program prevented the residents gaining access to
psychiatric care, choosing to focus on prayer, Christian counselling
and exorcisms to ''expel demons'' from the young women, many of whom
had serious psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, anxiety
and anorexia.

A Herald investigation last year revealed the women who entered the
program were required to sign over their Centrelink benefits and were
virtually cut off from the outside world, except for a weekly trip to
the local Hillsong Church for worship.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/mercy-ministries-home-to-close-2009102...

At the time, Mercy Ministries' then chief executive, Peter Irvine, was
quick to dismiss their claims, implying that the victims of the
group's unorthodox and dangerous treatments were not telling the
truth.

Since then Mr Irvine has sent an apology to the women featured in the
Herald's articles. ''I would like to apologise for the statements that
I made to the press in March 2008. I did not accurately reflect the
situation and I regret my comments,'' he wrote.

News of the closure was greeted with relief by its former victims, who
cautioned that the group was still operating in New Zealand, the US
and Britain.

''It is amazing that our little voices speaking out could make a dent
against organisations as big as … Mercy Ministries,'' said Naomi
Johnson, one of the women who blew the whistle on the abuse.

''After all the lies they told about us, this is what we hoped - that
Mercy Ministries would be closed so that other girls would not get
hurt.''

In June last year, Mercy Ministries announced it had closed its
Sunshine Coast home ''due to strategic and resourcing issues''.

Hillsong Church was quick to distance itself from the organisation it
had supported - both financially and with key staff and executive
officers - since its inception in 2001. ''Hillsong Church has cut ties
with Mercy Ministries around the world following an [Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission] investigation into Mercy
Ministries,'' said a statement released by the church last night.

A spokeswoman for the ACCC, one of the many investigatory bodies to
which the women complained, would not comment or confirm an
investigation had taken place.

Pastor Michael Guglielmucci admits his cancer was a hoax; Videos ...
17 Jul 2009 ... A former Christian Pastor Michael Guglielmucci has
admitted that his cancer is a hoax. Wikinews has also learned that one
of the churches he ...

Pastor Michael Guglielmucci admits his cancer was a hoax; Videos being
removed from YouTube
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Pastor_Michael_Guglielmucci_admits_his_ca...

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Monday, August 25, 2008

A former Christian Pastor Michael Guglielmucci has admitted that his
cancer is a hoax. Wikinews has also learned that one of the churches
he preached at has had videos showing his claims of cancer removed
from YouTube, claiming copyright infringement.

He has also admitted to being addicted to pornography for over 16
years.

For at least two years, Gugliemucci claimed to have leukaemia. Reports
say that he received an unknown amount of money through donations for
his treatments and even released an compact disc album single titled
'Healer'.

YouTube began removing the videos after the Hillsong Church in Sydney,
one of the churches Gugliemucci preached at, began to claim they were
in violation of copyright laws.

Those videos reportedly had shown Gugliemucci speaking about his
cancer and also included a video from his hit single album Healer.