Lenz wrote Surfing the Himalayas, which climbed to number 11 on the bestsellers list, followed by last year's Snowboarding in Nirvana.

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. - Known as Zen Master Rama, self-styled guru Frederick P. Lenz III was found dead April 14. His body was recovered from the bay near his $2 million Long Island home. He was 48.  Authorities say it appears he fell into the water from a floating pier, and believe a drug overdose may have played a role. Lacey Brinn, a 33-year-old friend of Lenz, was found on the property in an incoherent state before Lenz's body was recovered. According to the Three Village Herald, Brinn claimed that Lenz had taken 150 Phenobarbital tablets and she had taken 50 of the sedatives. Lenz's dogs were also said to have been fed the drug.  Deputy Medical Examiner, Dr. James Wilson, said that Lenz died wearing a dog collar containing a rabies vaccination tag around his neck.  Critics and former members claimed Lenz was an exploitative cult leader. He began recruiting disciples in the early 1980s with a blend of Eastern religion, New Age philosophy, and Buddhism. He told followers he had led several lives and was one of only 12 enlightened beings on Earth. He had also founded Advanced Systems, Inc. which featured high-priced computer seminars.  Some former followers claimed he was a con man who isolated them from their families and used them to gratify his sexual and financial desires.

 JARDIM, Brazil (EP) - The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church is building a Latin American headquarters in Jardim, Brazil. The 74,000-acre New Hope Ranch will include a school, a university, and a research center. A spokesman for the cult said the center will not be used for proselytism.... The 77-year-old Moon discovered the remote city of Jardim during a fishing trip in 1994.

 CHICAGO, Ill. (EP) - Parents who decline traditional medical care in favor of faith healing risk having their children die needlessly, according to a study reported in the April 1998 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The study found that most children who died after their parents sought faith healing could have survived if they had been taken for modern medical treatment. The report is ammunition for lawmakers seeking to end religious exemptions in child neglect and homicide laws.

The study was conducted by Dr. Seth M. Asser of the department of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, and by Rita Swan of Sioux City, Iowa, a former Christian Scientist. Swan is the founder of the group Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty, begun in 1983 after her 16-month-old son died of meningitis after being treated by Christian Science practitioners.

The study examined 172 child deaths nationwide over two decades. All were cases where the cause of death was known and where medical care was withheld because of the religious beliefs of parents. The study found that 140 youngsters could have been saved by doctors, and all but three of the remaining 32 could have lived longer or been spared pain.

More than 40 states have exemptions in their civil child neglect laws which permit parents to treat their children with prayer rather than modern medicine.

 SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (EP) - Three former members of a polygamist sect are suing, saying the cult group's leader promised them a face-to-face meeting with Jesus Christ. The three say they gave all of their worldly goods - $264,390 - to Jim Harmston, prophet of The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days.

The April 7 lawsuit said Harmston took advantage of their "deepest spiritual needs." The three - Ivan Douglas Jordan, Kaziah May Hancock, and Cindy Stewart, were excommunicated from the church last year.

The apocalyptic cult has about 300 members, and grew out of Mormonism.

 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (EP) - A $1.09 million damage award against an anti-cult group was upheld April 8 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to support a jury's finding that a volunteer was acting on behalf of the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) when she referred Kathy Tonkin of Kirkland, Washington, to deprogrammer Rick Ross, who then attempted to "deprogram" Tonkin's son.  Tonkin and her six children joined the Life Tabernacle Church, a branch of the United Pentecostal Church, in 1991. She left less than two years later, but her three oldest boys wanted to remain.  Two of the boys, ages 16 and 13, were involuntarily deprogrammed by Ross. Tonkin's oldest son, 18-year-old Scott, resisted, despite being abducted and held captive for five days, according to court records.  Ross was acquitted of criminal charges of unlawful imprisonment, while two associates pleaded guilty to lesser charges. In 1995, a federal jury awarded Scott Tonkin $4.875 million in damages against Ross, his associates and the Cult Awareness Network.  That verdict included $87,500 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages against the Illinois-based Cult Awareness Network, which filed for bankruptcy less than a year later.  Ironically, a member of the Church of Scientology purchased rights to the Cult Awareness Network name.  In a dissent, U.S. District Judge William Schwarzer said there was no evidence that Landa had acted on the ministry's instructions, or that Cult Awareness Network knew or approved of her actions.   Elizabeth Prophet's CUT Downsizes Amid Failure of Predictions and Health  CORWIN SPRINGS, Mont. (EP) - The Church Universal and Triumphant [CUT] was ready for the worst. The bomb shelters were constructed, the food and water stored, and the weapons stockpiled. But then something unexpected happened - Armageddon didn't come. Elizabeth Clare Prophet, leader of the cult, warned in the 1980s that a nuclear holocaust was on the horizon. But good news is bad news for the apocalyptic cult, which is now selling two-thirds of its 12,000 acres on the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park. Prophet [also known as Guru Ma] is now 58, suffering from memory problems and epilepsy, and her fourth marriage ended in divorce last year when her husband left her for their nanny. The cult may have had 2,000 members at its peak, but that number has dropped sharply. The church now teaches that the prophesied nuclear holocaust was averted through prayer. [Ed. Note: Gilbert Cleirbaut, a Canadian, has recently been reinstated as the top executive of the CUT. He had served as church president for one year but was forced to resign last July when the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service refused to renew his visa. According to a CUT press release, his visa was reissued last fall.]   Atheist Still Missing But Some Gold Recovered  SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (EP) - Missing atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair hasn't been found, but an estimated $100,000 in gold coins she left behind has, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The IRS seized Canadian Maple Leaf coins being held for O'Hair's son by a San Antonio coin dealer. An attorney for the coin dealer said Murray bought $600,000 in gold coins days before disappearing with his mother and another family member, but did not take delivery of all of them. The United Secularists of America, a non-profit organization founded by O'Hair, alleges that Murray took more than $600,000 from the organization before disappearing in 1995.

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