by Heather Pope, NSW, Australia

On Friday 12^th October 2012 I chose to attend a presentation where I could hear someone in our society speak about how I can be responsible for my own wellbeing, and how I can live with integrity and honesty in what can often be a world with none of that.

When the presenter came on stage we were told that before the presentation would begin there was a man who would like to ask those in the audience some questions. His name was David Millikan and he introduced himself as a Minister of the Uniting Church and an expert in “cults”. He then proceeded to tell us he had been studying Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine (the organisation who had arranged the evening), and that he wanted to tell us whether or not we were in a cult. Many of us laughed, given the ridiculousness of this statement. I am an intelligent, affluent, healthy and happy woman – and I know full well what a cult is, and Universal Medicine is definitely NOT a cult. 

The laughter however soon faded and the shock and horror of what was unfolding became apparent. David Millikan started making statements that seemed ridiculous, he stood on the stage saying we had all been pulled into “a family” (not in a good way, but that we had somehow fallen into some sort of mind control trap that showed we had no thoughts of our own), that we had made great sacrifices (I have not made any – on the contrary, I have an extraordinary life), and that we were indeed in a cult. David Millikan has a right to his opinion, as I have a right to mine, but within moments it all became clear what he was actually doing and the utter deceit with which he was doing it.

This person who calls himself a Minister had brought a well-known Television Station camera crew into the Lennox Head Community hall. He had purposefully planted young women with hidden hand-held cameras in various locations within the hall. The women brought their cameras out and started filming him and it became very clear – nothing that he was saying was true, not a single word of it – it was a performance to make money for himself and get ratings for the TV station.

When the women were asked to stop filming they acted like they were robots who had not heard anything: they continued to abuse our rights as human beings and treat us like animals in a zoo. When he was asked if he was making money from this demeaning, aggressive attack on all of us, he admitted he was. He carried on despite the fact that there were children present who were clearly distressed by his behaviour and that of those robot-like women who strode around the hall sticking cameras in people’s faces.

But the ugliness of what was happening then got even worse when a TV camera man tried to enter the room with a huge portable camera and studio lights. All of a sudden the depth of the deceit and dishonesty was clear: David Millikan had no intention of listening to anything Serge Benhayon or any of us had to say. He was not interested in truth. He was not interested in human decency. All he wanted was to make a TV show, regardless of the pain he caused or the lies he had to tell. In fact, it appeared that he wanted to cause emotional disturbance so that he had a story to tell.

What sort of a person thinks this is acceptable behaviour? Shame on you David Millikan, and all those who pay you to create sensational TV at any cost, including the omission of the truth.

This is not over by a long shot. What has happened to our society in Australia when a person who wants to attend a conference about how to live a healthy life is attacked by the media? Don’t the media have better stories to tell – perhaps about the teenage suicides caused by bullying, or that every 10 hours a woman in Australia dies from ovarian cancer?

What happened in that hall that night is worthy of a story – but not the lie that was so carefully planned and crafted… instead the story we need is the true one; the one about the media’s continued abuse of power and the bullying tactics used on children and adults alike in their search for a so-called “story”. Enough is enough.

There is a story to be told here – one of everyday people, who go to work, pay their mortgages, love their friends and families and at the same time are making personal choices to change their lives after being inspired by what Universal Medicine presents. But it is certain that this story has no connection to the beat-up concocted by David Millikan.