The Cult | International investigation into Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine | Sunday Night

Serg Matt Doran from Sunday night could have a quick chat with you you and you're a cult leader and Universal medicine is a money-making cult let me ask you a few questions nothing at all to say so try to appreciate if you just gave me a few minutes of your time holed up in his car outside one of his so-called healing workshops in northern New South Wales is Serge Ben Haiyan Australia's most powerful cult leader there's a very strange spectacle Serge isn't it would you just not stand out and answer a few questions we've got three people sitting in the car filming us filming you it's a very strange spectacle you'll see ours on national television so you'll have a copy of that too he's the Guru from gyoon Al Abbar who claims to be the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci he says he's the closest thing to God on earth well there is a science to it it's just not a conventional science let's see how long that smile lasts when the world knows what's going on here now he's had to smirk wiped off his face Serge by one very brave woman virtually on camera I know you desert this group is so dangerous but I always knew I was doing the right thing that this group had to be exposed found by a Supreme Court jury to be a charlatan who preys on cancer patients he said you need deep self nurturing I think my mother was scared for what might happen to her in the afterlife if she didn't give him the money his bizarre religion universal medicine is destroying families around the world there's a big part of you that I would say misses the woman you fell in love with yes it's a long it's a big chunk of my life no brainwashing it's about empowering people today can be discerning in just a few short years Serge Ben Haiyan has gone from bankrupt tennis coach this is how it works to living God with a sprawling property on the New South Wales North Coast paid for by some of his 2000 devoted followers many of them professionals doctors lawyers and academics someone goes like what is God you know who is God it's Church you know it's the closest thing for me to God he'd pretty much portrays himself as a messiah he doesn't say it in those words but he pretty much put it to his followers a few years ago that he is the second coming Ben Haiyan created Universal medicine in 1999 after receiving what he calls an awakening a light bulb moment that occurred while sitting on the toilet I just gave myself a time to sit and you know and and feel that moment and I could feel something really really beautiful he was sitting on the toilet and he heard voices and the voices were basically it was like a spiritual epiphany a reasonably inglorious location for such an epiphany well I think it is symbolic of the quality of his teachings yeah Esther Rocket is the courageous woman who took on Serge Ben Haiyan in the New South Wales Supreme Court this was life for you really wasn't it it it was before the whole Universal Medicine chapter at least before it got impossible you know before they made it impossible to be able to stay for more than a decade Esther rocket has waged a one-woman battle to expose Universal medicine but she's paid a high price for her crusade she's been sued for defamation followed abused and harassed first they tried to have me do registered I used to work as a registered acupuncturist saying that I was unfit to practice because I was a hate blogger and I and a troll therefore I must be some sort of psychopath so I'm not fit to practice Esther lost her home and was forced into bankruptcy so this is where I am living now not the biggest space in the world is it so you can come in there's just not a lot of room while Esther now relies on friends for a place to stay I used to live in a nice place in Byron Bay and this is what it is now Serge Ben Haiyan has only grown richer and more powerful because to the true believers most of them women been high end is the one aliyev to ponder on that he knows how to push the buttons and say the right things oh you neglected oh you know you could you could use some more nurturing all your beautiful you know he tells them to find it in a beauty he calls himself an ascended master one of the hierarchy and teaches that all of us are reincarnated multiple times we've had at least two thousand three hundred lives each and his congregation believes every word and therefore I've done everything that it takes for me to be a part of the hierarchy I can't be brainwashing intellectual people and educated people third surge been Haiyan has refused repeated requests for an interview with this program mr. Benn haein but he's always denied running a cult we don't keep people in a compound we don't lock the doors and those are open they can leave is the most desired his disciples pay big money to hear the ageless wisdom and to learn the quasi medical treatments he's invented some like chakra puncture he's been happy to have filmed so I'm gonna put this needle in here because I just feel that you've been under a little good attention others like esoteric breast massage are strictly off-limits to cameras and he says men aren't allowed to perform it whether the practitioners are women or not it's inappropriate touching and the claims that are made about esoteric breast massage are completely bogus try it avoid as much as possible the nipple area the esoteric breast massage website had a lot of healing claims that it could assist serious gynecological disorders there's just no basis to make a claim like that it's completely ridiculous is there any scientific basis to those claims whatsoever zero more disturbing still is been haiyan's bizarre treatment for victims of sexual assault detailed in one of his training manuals though photographs show surge with his hands unmistakably on her pubic area and then the text with the photograph says that it's great for cases of rape recovery if he was a registered health professional and he touched somebody's pubic area and called it a healing for rape recovery he would be de registro sister what memories does it conjure up well it's not a great memory it was a pretty creepy experience I have to say Foresta it all began here way back in 2005 feeling stressed and rundown she booked a healing session with Serge Ben haein and he's then home in GU Nala bar just outside Lismore in northern New South Wales the first thing he says to me is I think we should do an ovarian reading you know your ovaries will will sort of tell me things like he's reading your ovaries in some way yeah and because he was pushy and I said oh you know all right he did put his hands on my lower abdomen you know just only a matter of centimeters above the pubic area and the first thing he said was when you were 5 years old a man in your life let you down and he kept going with these sort of statements up into my teenage years where he sort of said he said a man in your life tortured you and all the while as this is going on his hands are placed him what could only be described as a sin their personal area is totally inappropriate and walked out thinking this guy's a predator and so began Esther's mission to expose search Ben haein and Universal medicine it didn't take long to realize that her session wasn't unique other women had experienced similar healing methods women like pina his hands were down on my abdomen area and he asked can I manipulate your pubic bone that was the yeah he said to you can I manipulate your pubic bone yes that's when I just blatantly outright said no very very strongly very strongly why would someone who's there too he'll want to touch my genitalia or pubic area and when I did say no yeah it wasn't received very well by him but as we discovered huge been Haiyan doesn't like to be challenged on his philosophy Universal medicine has made him a very rich man and he's not about to let anything or anyone jeopardize that I just like to have a quick word if that's possible surge if you'd be kind enough to step out of the car how much money do you make mr. Byrne hey and where does all the money go the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci has done very well for himself in this life at least when he's not traveling the world spreading his so-called Ageless Wisdom Serge Ben Haiyan lives on a luxurious private estate in northern New South Wales just up the road from hundreds of his followers this new-age business there's a lot of money in it isn't there the house where Esther rocket first encountered Serge Ben hey and is now owned by another Universal medicine follower Jesus some wealth being displayed and today there's a steady stream of Audis the only carb in hey and himself will drive there's some sort of blessed color the energetically correct car in this neck of the woods Esther is a most unwelcome visitor what a spectacle Leah they're sort of the conference from from the Audi to the Porsche yeah her crusade to expose Serge Ben Haiyan has turned her into the cults public enemy number one Mayday Mayday Esther rocket is in town yeah they have an us-versus-them mentality they think that anyone who's not on the esoteric path the way of the living 'no sprit e much is the enemy you know they see us as being controlled by spirits universal medicine has 2,000 followers in Australia and incredibly it's bizarre doctrine has even established a foothold overseas cult leader Serge Ben Haiyan preaches a wild mishmash of religion occult and science fiction true believers are taught that they are being constantly watched by alien-like creatures good shape their lives spirits have a mid gray colored thin body long fingers they are all equally nine feet tall and have no feet this seminar is warning of the dangers these giant footless extraterrestrials pose it is said that a spirit can smell the Son of God or reclaimed and evolved human being from a mile away fact and that happens everywhere you can be in a train and a bus you have been smelled all the time it's very specific yeah and they have a snout for a nose and pointy eyes yeah he said they're a lot like the pictures we have of aliens remarkably you Serge Van haein professes an intimate knowledge of alien physiology we're one of the only few beings that carry what we what I would call extra limbs in other planets they don't have arms and legs they don't need to eat these malevolent alien beings are poised to strike at any time but Earthlings are at even greater risk when they drink alcohol surge will say that if you drink alcohol are supernatural and four entities can invade you if you drink alcohol and then hold a baby the baby can be raped by the entity that's in you for example if I had an entity that was definitely equal while I sleep it now and it leaves me at night and he goes and rapes my daughters while I sleep it's just six I know wait till we get rape wait till we get to rape then you can applaud what kind of a mind comes up with something like that well the kind of mind that also preachers disabled children other incarnations of evil authoritarian figures from the past all of the people like incarnate of former authority abuse however as down syndrome as a faculty or any other disabled child as a parent of a person with autism I find that initially really offensive what kind of a person says that about a child with a disability that your disability mate is because in a past life you were evil now it's not just search been hayyan preaching this New Age nonsense Universal medicine is a family affair and a very strange family it is back when he was a run-of-the-mill tennis coach Ben Haiyan left his first wife Deborah for one of his young pupils he's heard girls stay in his home a series of young girls since the 90s one of those girls was 13 when he first met her and now she's his wife remarkably both his first wife and his current wife play major roles in the cult daughter Simone is also involved then haein claims she is the reincarnation of Winston Churchill but it's his other daughter Natalie who's the star of the show we wouldn't be Ben hands if that little number earlier was the only thing that we concocted like dad Natalie is eager to share her views on sex and sexuality she's inspirational she's made me a sex bomb and I was too scared to be that before Oh God absolutely sex bombs like just ridiculously good-looking sex bombs universal medicine wields extraordinary power over its flock it demands that followers go to bed by 9:00 p.m. and get up at 3:00 a.m. and oddly for a former tennis coach Serge Ben haein even insists that women shouldn't play sport he teaches that women shouldn't play sport that at least two thick Ihnen of the vaginal walls which he seems to associate with infertility you've been involved in sport which women should never be because they're competitive that means that their right ovary gets more powerful than the left ovary and then they come to here they're ready to have a child but their ovaries are totally out of whack vagina walls they're thick as and they're not a woman energetically even though they have breast vagina uterus and so forth it also shows that he doesn't know what he's talking about in terms of physiology and interesting and interesting philosophy for someone who has spent many many years as a tennis coach yes it's a complete turnaround Serge bin Haiyan also controls what his followers ate forbidding dairy coffee gluten even vegetables like carrots and potatoes it might not look that bad but as the rocket says it's making people ill if you followed that diet eating one meal a day you're gonna get sick and really really seriously sick the impact on children is just unfathomable like you can't restrict children's diets like that they will have it will cause developmental problems that you just irreversible last year a 10 month old baby placed on the universal medicine diet was admitted to lismore Base Hospital dangerously ill the baby was weaned on to a diet that was just completely deficient in carbohydrates which you know it's catastrophic despite surge been haiyan's weird and harmful ideas his disciples blindly trust his every word those few who challenge his teachings are shunned and discredited how would you describe search Ben Han as a human wrecking ball he is really incredibly manipulative Matt Sutherland is a skeptic he was in a happy long-term relationship but then his partner Sarah began dabbling with Universal medicine her family were getting more and more involved with the growth and I started doing all the courses and I went to the first level one healing workshop but even then I did have a few doubts he would say things like if a man orgasms inside a woman that woman is taking on his bad energy it's very toxic to the relationship Matt enjoyed several more workshops in the hope of saving his relationship the last straw was a hands-on healing session I'd been partnered up with this guy in the group and I was laying face down on the massage table I could film like likely touching my bottom and I was thinking what what's going on you know and at the end of us like what we're doing and he said I just pulled an energetic snake out of your ass and then he proceeded to ask me he said have you been looking at pornography you know you're dealing with that kind of stuff always - Matt simply could not compete with the draw of universal medicine eventually the relationship broke down Sara left taking their two children with her she's now an enthusiastic proponent of surge bin haiyan's agenda I don't drink alcohol anymore I don't smoke cigarettes and I don't do drugs and I don't even drink coffee I'm just smiling all the time or as grey and not just that she's married to one of Serge Ben haiyan's top lieutenants I think he's a master of separating people from their family and their friends he creates doubt he says you know I like to change gonna leave behind these people and he splits up relationships and then once he does that he then proceeds to get them on the air I just like to have a quick word if that's possible Serge if you'd be kind enough to step out of the car we're trying to get some answers from self style guru serge ben hi ben haein is the mastermind behind at universal medicine an insidious cult that fuses religion New Age thought and science fiction to devastating effect universe for medicine is not liked in this community because we have stand as they cannot meet right now he's supposed to be giving a workshop in northern New South Wales but he can't pluck up the courage to get out of his car when his true so we got a strange situation now a surge bin Haiyan is here in his vehicle he's paralyzed in the car it seems we've got a couple of questions for him but he's become overwhelmed by silence he's been in a car now for about ten minutes or so refusing to answer any of our questions see what happens how much are people paying for the conference today search hundred fifteen hundred Oh how much of the money from the vulnerable people the fragile people who come to this conference how much of that goes on maintenance of the Audi of the thousands of people who've given money to search been Haiyan few have been as fragile or as vulnerable as wealthy widow Judith McIntyre Judith was already desperately ill when she met Ben haein at a Byron Bay festival eight years ago [Music] well she went up to him and talked to him and she actually just says straight out I have cancer I had breast cancer and he he then you know really focused his attention on her and he said you need deep self nurturing I didn't know what that meant but I knew I wanted to know Judith daughter Sara a neuroscientist was immediately concerned how quickly did your mum get involved in universal medicine how quickly did it sweep her up oh very quickly yeah she was totally true believer almost straightaway and when I went to see him for the very first session my fear levels just went like that Sarah now lives in Sweden this is not a bad part of the world to end up yes sir it's bloody cold in this cold climate have you taken up the local activities yeah I love ice skating I'm actually mom I escaped Sara cherishes happy memories of her childhood but she's angry at the way she says the cult manipulated her mother during her last days on earth your mum was totally surrounded by Universal medicine people I mean the nurse the financial planner the executor the witness the solicitor yep I mean it was also her her best friend time and a housemate she was living with and they were all part of Universal medicine because of the understanding I had that I had created the disease by all my self neglect my choices this is Judith in a video produced by Universal medicine blaming herself for her cancer is spread to organs I've got very little time I feel excited Judith died at 4 weeks after making that video despite two years of regular healing treatments from Universal medicine how much money in total did your mum give to Serge been home it was 1.4 million dollars when Sara opened her mother's computer she discovered emails from Serge Ben haein coaching the dying woman on how to restrict her children's share of her fortune your children trying to disable you trying to vote it is all an attack on all the fans that will help the hierarchies work on earth what was your reaction when you read those things I felt really hurt actually because it was really clear that Serge was trying to drive a wedge between mom and her children conveniently one of been hyeon's strictest teachings is that bequests by parents to their children will actually harm both them and their kids in their next life better to give it to search so if you cut through the spin on that isn't that essentially saying all money that comes to me is good yeah and all money that doesn't is bad yes it seems very convenient yes and I think my mother was scared for what might happen to her in the afterlife if she didn't give him the money but in the real world the ascended master was about to come crashing down Esther Rockets campaign to expose search-btn' Haiyan and Universal Medicine had started to gain traction Ben Haiyan hit back by suing her for defamation but when the jury returned late last year it delivered the organization a crushing blow the jury found that Universal medicine was a socially harmful cult that ben Haiyan was a charlatan who made it for Joel and healing claims that he'd indecently touched clients and that he had an indecent interest in girls as young as ten who stayed in his house for someone who has spent so many years being called a fraud a liar a cyber troll a nutcase to have a Supreme Court jury sit there and say hang on Esther rocket is telling the truth what did that feel like it was vindicating they got it right though that that's all that matter how do you think that verdict was received by Serge so it wasn't there for the verdict he didn't have the guts to face it we have the the media being able to capitalize on the word called from the safety of his own YouTube channel and an adoring interviewer from his own ranks how does the media capitalize on that kind of blind spot for people been Haiyan assures the gullible that he's the victim of a media witch-hunt it's been smeared by a small group of detractors and the complicit journalists that have been playing ball with that in the media barons that allow that to me that's you know communism off the leash you've got a conference to run a fifteen hundred dollar a day conference but this is a man who doesn't like to be challenged we've been trying to get answers from search been Haiyan for more than six years his response has always been to hide behind his supporters behind his lawyers behind the police hello mate hey guys how are ya that's bad Serge mr. Benn haein Sergi ring us yes I did and this was we already tell the places about this and they told us as it's in this corner that which we were told we would get a squadron down well you know I am what's the complaint together yes you are absolutely our search I'm more than allowed to get out of the napkin you escorted her come over to [Music] Serge he exits is that you on camera I know you did sir you're as cold leader and your lie you're a coroner and you run a money-making cold don't you you filming it like that one ain't sore anything die needs me no mr. Burhan you just you you dominate people's lives until they have no lives of their own broken marriages broken families where does all the money go nice scarves where's all the money go search 3 million 4 million a year how many million should I call you search or the one which ants what's the answer to that search you have so much to say you build a career same things you have nothing at all to say sir nothing at all to say enjoy the expensive conference outside see you later search [Music] pod leader whatever whatever they said none of that is true Serge ben-haim has been exposed by an Australian Court as a cult leader my lived way he's going to be much stronger than any of those lies it's clearly a lucrative line of work when Haiyan has amassed an extensive property portfolio in northern New South Wales but his reach extends far beyond these shores [Music] Universal medicine now also operates in England its headquarters known as the lighthouse is set on a stunning 35 acre estate in Somerset this is the hub of search-btn' hands global Empire here in Frome in rural England it's really business as usual for the ascended master he lives in a beautiful house just here laid on by a wealthy benefactor and then just across the road here in the universal medicine headquarters he's right now in ducting dozens of new recruits into the Ageless Wisdom inside serge been haein is delivering one of his weird rambling sermons talking to me I see search but what you're talking to what you're asking a question it was only when I actually saw the the process of conducting people into this this is nonsense I mean and you sit if you're a reasonable person you sit in your seat and you look around you and you think what is going on here you know this is madness it's like an asylum Englishman Robin Clifford and his daughter Kasia know this scene all too well you're one of we have a hundred one hundred and twenty people sitting here and they they tend to sit with their hands in their laps with smiles on their faces yes dear you know you think my feeling was that this guy was a con man I just knew it immediately Robin's wife Anita became a convert to Serge Ben haiyan's teachings several years ago at first it seemed harmless she was walking around the house burping go-gurt like a like a bullfrog and I said to cousin maybe you do you she was getting rid of spirits the temptation is to laugh but you're in a relationship with this person this is someone who fiercely and adamantly believes what's going on yes for instance you couldn't go in the kitchen and give her a hug no it had to be a certain way you had to do it okay oh and I had to ask permission what do you mean you'd actually have to ask permission to give her a hug yes yes yes we had to stand opposite each other with their hands like that oh I was so stupid so naive actually used to drive her to these meetings like a lamb to the slaughter you know Robin Clifford is an accomplished actor a few Christians daughter Kasia a graphic design student both struggled to come to terms with what happened to the woman who was such an important part of their lives how did Universal medicine change your mum's life oh goodness well she she just completely went up in the clouds like it you can't really describe how she changed her she's not there as a person it's like her whole brain's been switched off and she's got it replaced in the esoteric workshops she's not who she was ten years ago [Music] don't lose sight of the fact that she does have good side too and if only if only you could get in touch with that side and draw it forward you know it's very sad there's a big part of you that still misses the woman you fell in love with yes that's true copy back it's a long it's a big chunk of my life Universal medicine is booming in Britain Serg been hyeon's cult already boasts at least 200 members in the UK and perhaps more after today's workshop you'd think with all this success he wouldn't mind answering a few questions mr. Benn haein Matt from Sunday night how are you sir Serge you don't need to run from us mate you know all the answers to all the questions in the universe mr. Benn haein guys something you'd leave guys I think should guys sorry ma'am you should leave but you know welcome here you should sorry so what's the problem why you here what do you think oh we're just wondering whether the people here know that this has been found in the Supreme Court of New South Wales to be a socially dangerous cult that he's been found to be praying in defense of patients yeah I'm just wondering whether everybody here knows that fact you know what's a fair piece if this is this is public property out here sir knows no can you please kind of be postured sure no no problems at all well you can see there there's a bit of outrage in alarm among the followers here but it's interesting you know there's a lot of questions to be answered after what's happened to the Supreme Court you can see the moment I saw the cameras it was a lightning bolt straight out the back and he's weaving his way out now through a series of doors we think to a car that's waiting out the back so we're certainly not getting any answers today that would have been the end of it except as we film around the village were approached by a man filming us on his phone can I help you with something yes does it look like a it looks like a UN procedure which is the fascination for filming the media is so hello anyone here be okay great he trespassed on our property yesterday now we I think you'll find sir we level you don't need to be aggressive with the camera so we're just on private we're on public space here yeah I'm just just got my hand out in front of me I'm walking in a direct line here okay we're just wondering why you were filming us sir that was all and find some evidence for the police I don't know why you need to call the police well why is everyone running what's this whole running business it's some current questions Serge loves running you love running you love calling the police we're just asking some questions you'll be able to see here this is the universal medicine modus operandi I feel like they they all sort of emerge out of the woodwork out of the trees out of the houses with their phones it's almost as like there's a group messaging system or something but they've been activated they're up and about they've called the police needlessly I can say because we're just here asking some very innocent questions about what is going on with Universal medicine in this part of the world [Music] but that's not the end of it reinforcements have arrived this is extraordinary you can see the UM people literally blocking a car yeah what is wrong with you guys we're trying to move the vehicle through here what is it yeah you're part of this cult - what is wrong we're trying to make your way through here so please step out of the way still talking - please you can speak to the police for the rest of your life sir as long as you move out of the way we're trying to get out of this the public space thanks very much if people's lives weren't being ruined it would almost be funny when you truly love yourself you can truly love others back in Australia Matt Sutherland whose partner left him for the cult has decided laughter is the best medicine okay quick show hands how many people you're attracted to me okay a lot of self-hatred here poking fun at spiritual gurus through his alter ego I am an ascended master an ascended master called Sergey Ben [ __ ] I can watch someone get run over by a car and know that it is their karma to die that's why I kept on driving [Music] as Foresta rocket the woman who has dedicated so much of her life to exposing a destructive cult she's vowed to keep up the fight and expose Serge Ben Haiyan for the fraud and conman he is could we all be fooled Esther could we be looking at the new Messiah in Gunilla bar you know he came back as a tennis coach I don't think so you you

Channel: 7NEWS Spotlight

Views: 1,637,134

Rating: 4.6671548 out of 5

Keywords: Sunday Night, News, Channel 7, world news, story, stories, Melissa Doyle, Matt Doran, cult, cults, religion, religious, leader, messiah, god, Serge Benhayon, healer, Universal Medicine, UM, international, investigation, spiritual, healing, fake, fraud, wisdom, afterlife, reincarnation, UK, United Kingdom, alien, aliens, truth, cult leader, God-like, money, therapy, therapies, Leonardo da Vinci, interview, alternative medicine, pseudoscience, skeptic, posession, disability, evil, Australia, 7news, seven news

Id: DkSQTMHJK4c

Length: 40min 39sec (2439 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 17 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Campbell090217]

This was wild and so sad.

[u/blinksling]

How is this guy not in jail?