I was in Peter Bowes group OCS back in 2010-2012. After he left that group, other members and I began to see it for what it was..a high control, high demand group in which Peter claimed to be the most conscious human, most connected to God of anyone on the planet. We were told that without him, our spiritual work would disappear and that in order to follow him, we had to denounce our families. He encouraged relationships only within the community where he is exalted, never questioned, and has ultimate power and authority. I am saddened but not surprised to see that many of the people I cared about in the OCS remain in his group. I just hope everyone is safe and isn’t being controlled by this narcissist’s lies and threats.
I was very personally damaged by this group, which has gone by different names in many different cities. Everyone I have personally known in the group has felt damaged and abused except for the few people still dedicated to it's leader, whom I have heard indicate that he believes he is the reincarnation of St. Peter and his group is here to assist Jesus at the second coming of Christ.
For me, the group's service or mission to assist people in finding God within mostly failed me. I saw that the focus and direction of the group was to follow the leader, not follow God. However, I will say that once I began to truly find God within (instead of find the leader as God), God clearly told me to leave the group. In part through the painful aftermath of what I can only describe as spiritual abuse and extreme manipulation within the group, I did later find God within; however, I might have saved much time and pain by praying at home rather than following the leader and his priests.
In 2011, the Founder and Director of the Ruach Center, shown and described on its website (http://www.ruachcenter.org), asked for donations earmarked to build a rooftop garden for the similar non-profit he co-directed at the time, The Order of Christ/Sophia (widely seen as a cult). THOUSANDS of dollars were given to him for this.
After it was built, he got caught by the city for doing so without a permit.
It took additional money to tear down the rooftop structure and legally buy permits.
He never re-built the rooftop structure, although he resided in the structure daily, and instead he said he would sell building materials to recoup costs.
He kept all monies, NEVER returning funds to donors who had earmarked donations specifically for that structure to be built. It was blatantly dishonest, fraudulent and careless, utterly disregarding and disrespecting donor trust and hard-earned dollars.