Blood and gore in the Manila headlines today: violence broke out between “Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association” cultists and the policemen who came to arrest their leader. Here’s the PBMA website, those of you who are interested. Lots of suspicious overlaps between a twisted idea of Christianity and New Age guruism:

“The story of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, Incorporated, established and founded at San Jose, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte, Philippines, portrays an abstract picture, showing a multi-dimensional aspect that gives a dramatic and colorful episode of a unique civilization and culture of a distinct group of people struggling for spiritual emancipation and striving to achieve a purposive and progressive goal for mankind, in their sincere desire to bridge the chasm of ignorance between man and the Divine.”

Wow, that was one of the longest, most ambiguous run-on sentences I’ve ever read. I don’t think it any coincidence that they refer to a “Master” Jesus, and also to their “Master” Ruben Ecleo, now arrested for the murder of his young wife. And, what’s this: another “incorporated” religion?

UPDATE: Read my entry on false messiahs, and also see Rick Ross Institute’s Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association cult archive.