FOR CARL WOODHAM (AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA), NOT ALL MATERIAL POSSESSIONS ARE BAD WHEN IT SERVES HIM

The Hare Krishna / ISKCON organization teaches all devotees that the love of money is the root of all evil and strongly encourages devotees to give up this “material possession” so that ISKCON can make use of it to spread the word of Krishna to the lost souls of the world. Or at least that is what they claim; what they actually do with these funds it seems is a different matter entirely (according to the evidence uncovered from our investigation).

Case in point, the Chaplain of the University of Florida Krishna House / ISKCON of Gainesville, Carl Woodham, ordered last October a brand new extravagant swim spa for his private residence, according to a Notice of Commencement filed with the Building Division of Alachua County. The estimated cost of this spa we believe is around $20,000.

Kids everywhere are being recruited / indoctrinated into the ISKCON Hare Krishna group and, according to many ex-devotees, are being manipulated into believing that the material world is evil and to give away their possessions / savings to ISKCON. This of course forces them to be poor and live in the Krishna temples / boarding houses, further trapping them inside the organization by making them completely dependent. At the same time however, it seems that their gurus are free to live in private residences and buy swim spas (contrary to their preaching, they are pampering themselves).

Moreover, Woodham claimed once to Tibor Stern, the President of F.A.C.T., during a phone conversation that he earns a mere $1500 a month, just over the minimum wage rate in Florida. If so, how could he possibly afford to purchase a $20,000 swim spa?

Judge for yourself. We uncovered a lease agreement between the Alachua ISKCON temple (the property owner of a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house) and renters that states, “Elias Johannson [on behalf of ISKCON] will collect rent the first of every month in cash (preferably larger bills), to bring it to the Alachua ISKCON temple the next Sunday to the landlord.”

Needless to say this organization prefers to deal will cash, which of course is untraceable. On the campus of UF alone they sell around 1,000 meals a day at $5 each, none of which has to be reported to the IRS because they are classified as a “church”. According to Guidestar.org, one of the largest non-profit information reporting services in the world, ISKCON declares $0 to the IRS (see image). Even though legally allowed to do this, contrary to their example there are many religious organizations with the same IRS tax-exempt filing status that still account for and report their income every year, which we believe is the earmark of any trustworthy organization who is making sure to be honest and transparent.

We will put all our effort and forces together with different organizations to change this terrible law. All religious organizations that receive funds from the public should be completely transparent in our opinion, and certainly not requiring payments in cash, “preferably in large bills”.

CONTINUATION OF OUR EXPOSE OF THE HARE KRISHNA ACTIVITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN GAINESVILLE

A Conversation Between Tibor Stern, President of F.A.C.T. and Carl Woodham, the leader of the ISKCON chapter that operates on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.

At the beginning of 2015, a complaint came in to F.A.C.T. from the parents of James, a student attending UF at the time. His parents said that they experienced the outcome of the brainwashing of their son, who was recruited on campus by the Krishna House (ISKCON) organization led by Carl Woodham.

Their son’s behavior during this time grew more and more unusual and erratic which was not at all typical for James, especially regarding the growing disconnection from his family. James became very absent-minded when it came to connecting with his family and the huge love and compassion that was once an integral part of this hard working, honest, great all American Christian family unit had all but vanished from the side of their son.

Like his parents’ lives, James’s life was completely turned upside-down since he joined Woodham’s Krishna House. He stopped eating his normal diet (becoming vegan virtually overnight), was chanting and meditating many hours every day, was out selling books and preaching the word of Krishna constantly and his educational experience sadly ended with him not even attending his own graduation (which his parents drove all the way up to UF to attend). His family had been waiting for this day for a long time, a day that should have been one of the most happiest and important experiences between parents and their child, which was ruined because of this cult’s influence.

Upon meeting the parents at the F.A.C.T. offices and hearing their story, TIbor Stern made a phone call to Carl Woodham, a common practice for him to always try and resolve things peacefully / get to the bottom of the situation. In the beginning it was a pleasant conversation between Tibor and Woodham, up until the issue of why James’ prior loving affectionate family relationship all of a sudden changed for the worst, to which all Woodham could answer was that James was “afraid of his father”.

This is something Tibor had heard over and over, which is so typical for the predatory cult leaders to always blame the parents for the drastic changes occurring in the victim. It is a method turning the cult members against their families as a way to exert high-control over the victims. Mr. Stern knows James’ parents and wishes every child in the world to have parents like his.

His question to Woodham is if he considers himself to be an educator, why didn’t he pick up the phone himself to try and make peace between James and his family? Tibor Stern’s answer to that is that it is not Woodham’s agenda, which his email enclosed here-by will prove. Recruiting westerner “wholesale” (please see the evidence attached).

Mr. Woodham, what is wrong with every other religion that preaches peace and love for families? James claims that he is extremely happy with his new life, which Tibor experienced with his daughter when he confronted her evil deceiving guru that was her “teacher”, only to find out two weeks later that she was dead.

Mr. Woodham, we believe that your manipulation and exploitation is nothing but a destruction that the only one who benefits is you and your Hare Krishna organization. In the process, the life of James’s beautiful parents has been destroyed. We feel their pain and misery to lose a child and not to know his whereabouts. Of course Mr. Woodham you don’t feel that pain, you are enjoying your wife, your family, your new spa, while James is running around selling books and meals for Krishna telling everyone that he is “volunteering” so it cannot be called slave labor.

Mr. Woodham you were so proud to tell Tibor that James is celibate, but don’t you believe that he deserves to fall in love, have a family, have a career he loves and is proud of, etc. Mr. Woodham, you are no saint in our eyes. You are not building relationships of love, prosperity, and all things positive; we believe you are destroying them.

To be continued…

FACT has been awarded the highest level transparency rating from Guidestar

We are very happy to announce that we have been awarded the highest level transparency rating from Guidestar, the first company ever to provide a central source of information on U.S. nonprofits. GuideStar also serves to verify that a recipient organization is established and that donated funds go where the donor intended. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuideStar)

From Guidestar to FACT: “Congratulations on achieving a Gold level with GuideStar. This is a testament to your organization’s commitment to data transparency.” Thank you Guidestar for keeping things transparent and honest within the non-profit sector.

Tibor Stern, the President of FACT, would like to take this opportunity to thank our Board of Directors, committed staff members and supporters. It is because of all of you that we are able to fulfill our important mission of saving lives.

Followup from Yesterday

This is a follow-up to yesterday's posting where Tibor Stern, the President of F.A.C.T., spoke to Carl Woodham as a father. He tried to make sense to Woodham about family values, family strength, the importance of family coming before any religion. in a way a family is its own "religion" that is sacred and more important than any other beliefs or practices that one choses for their life. In other words, any belief and/or practice of a religion should never come between family and compromise the family unit. It should never tear a family apart (as in the case with James), only make it stronger.

We will continue our quest for change under Families Against Cult Teachings, Inc. (F.A.C.T.)

EXPOSE ON HARE KRISHNA - ISKCON - AND CHAPLAIN CARL WOODHAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN GAINESVILLE

Dear Families and Supporters of F.A.C.T.,

I am writing to you today not as the president of F.A.C.T but as a father who knows the endless suffering of losing a child. There is a never ending trail of where I see my daughter missing; a painful void that can never be filled, which is something I wish no family to ever experience. Unfortunately however, our organization gets contacted over and over by parents who are losing their kids to high-control cult groups acting on college campuses everywhere just like on the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Before James [name has been changed to protect his identity] attended UF, he was part of a very happy, loving and close-knit family. While there, he was recruited by the Hare Krishna (ISKCON) organization headed by chaplain Carl Woodham, we believe whose corrupt influence and agenda has completely destroyed James’s past loving relationship with his family. They don’t speak anymore and they don’t even know their child’s whereabouts. Woodham claims that the reason James disconnected from his family was because he was scared of his father, which is so typical for all these deceiving and manipulating cult leaders.

Before my daughter met her evil teacher Katsura Kan (at the University of Naropa in Boulder, CO), we had the best relationship imaginable between parent and child: completely loving, caring and based on mutual trust and respect. But once she became exposed to Katsura’s influence and manipulation, suddenly I became the worst father imaginable. Such is the story with James’s family. Once James was exposed to Carl Woodham’s influence and manipulation, suddenly James’s father became the worst imaginable human being.

All these gurus have one thing in common: they turn their victims against their families and friends in order to isolate them for control and exploitation purposes, whether it be sexual, financial, slave labor, etc. Victims will start questioning and second-guessing all that they knew to be true to the point where they lose their critical thinking skills and identities. This makes them totally confused while the cult leader / group encourages them that it is all normal and part of the process towards enlightenment. This is what happened to my daughter in the past and it’s happening now with James. It must be stopped.

These sociopathic, narcissistic, self-serving high-control group leaders have no concern for the damage they cause and no boundaries when it comes to achieving their goals. Certainly they should be nowhere near our campuses going after vulnerable, impressionable youths. I sent my daughter away to a school where she should have been completely safe and instead she came back home in a casket. In the case of James, it seems he has become a part of the ISKCON slave labor force (which earns them millions in revenue every year), even though the Krishna gurus call them “volunteers”. What about James’s future? Apparently, that is not Carl Woodham’s concern as long as he can have a state of the art spa built into his home while James and like followers are encouraged not to live a materialistic existence.

When Carl Woodham makes statements in his emails like “…the young Westerners we are shedding blood to attract to Krishna” or “…we are finally having some success reaching young Westerners wholesale” and then we see parents’ losing their kids “wholesale” to cults all over college campuses, well it is not hard to put 2 + 2 together and know what is going on.

To all parents living in Florida, this is my University and your University as taxpayers and we should not sit idly by as our kids are being recruited on this campus and taken from us. Enough is enough. Please help stop this destruction by sharing this information to educate and protect other innocent students and families from being harmed.

Thank you,

Tibor Stern