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Endeavor Academy, also known as "The New Christian Church of Full Endeavor", is located in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and is a spiritual residential community/ school that incorporates many aspects of the spiritual teachings known as A Course In Miracles (ACIM). EDIT BY BODHI>This community is led by the American, Charles Buell Anderson who is referred to by himself and by his followers as "The Master Teacher" or "Dear One." < The group currently (2005) advertises having established intentional communities in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin: USA, Wusterwitz: Germany (http://www.endeavoracademy.de/), Laag Soeren: Netherlands (http://www.eencursusinwonderen.com/), and Bagota: Columbia (http://www.uncursodemilagros.com/). Apparently a former community in Byron Bay, Australia has closed, as it is no longer advertised as a 'campus' on the Endeavor Academy website. Wisconsin Dells is a city located in south-central Wisconsin, in the United States. ...
A Course In Miracles (ACIM) is a book on spiritual principles, alleged to have been written by none other than the person of Jesus Christ, via a certain type of channeling process known as inner dictation in which Helen Schucman describes herself as having been the scribe. The official copyright...
Apparently there are several hundred members in this organization. This is compared to possibly as many as 1.5 million students of A Course in Miracles worldwide, if basing the estimate on the number of volumes sold.
Some Cult Like Behaviors Reported
The communities affiliated with Endeavor Academy have come under criticism for cult-like behavior, including brainwashing, psychological abuse, and physical abuse of members. Sexual abuse of the children of some members by officials of this organization has also been reported to police organizations. Ex-members of the Australian community for a time published a newsletter entitled "Holy Smoke," detailing their claims of abuses occurring at that location. EDIT BY BODHI>"Click (http://www.originalwebsites.com/mexico/endeavor_academy_pedophilia.htm) to read about pedophilia as practiced and condoned by Endeavor Academy." <
The Inherent Inequality of the Master/ Disciple Relationship at Endeavor Academy Questioned Many regular members of the larger ACIM community have questioned whether or not some of the more "messianic" doctrines of this group are in fact consonant with the teachings of ACIM. Particularly in question is the leader of Endeavor Academy, Chuck Anderson and his self proclaimed status as "The Master Teacher". In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ Anointed one, Standard Hebrew Mašíaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew Māšîªḥ) is a human descendant of King David who will rebuild the nation of Israel and bring world peace by restoring the Davidic Kingdom. ...
Many regular members of the larger ACIM community point to the teaching found in ACIM that, "Freedom cannot be learned by tyranny of any kind, and the perfect equality of all God's Sons cannot be recognized through the dominion of one mind over another." The words dominion and mastery would seem to be interchangeable in their meanings here. Apparently the vast majority of ACIM students would view this ACIM teaching as being contradictory to Mr. Anderson's stated belief that he is the new Messiah, the Second Coming, or specifically The new Master Teacher. EDIT BY BODHI> "In fact Anderson quite clearly states in many of his compulsory session, (Anyone living at Endeavor Academy MUST attend daily sessions where he teaches via video whilst sitting in the room) that he is the author of ACIM and he is the returning Jesus." <
While ACIM does teach that each person possesses the ability to 'save the World', nowhere does it claim that any one living person on earth has any more ability to 'save the world' than any other person. EDIT BY BODHI> "Put another way, each one of us has the ability through the “Mind Training of A Course in Miracles” to save the world of our own thinking, this is why the Course says we are "Teachers of God" we can choose to listen to the Inner Teacher (The Holy Spirit) or the ego. We are gravely mistaken though when we assume that we can do this for another person, the idea that we can somehow effect healing to what has no reality (the objective, projected illusion of the world) is a fundamental error of the curriculum at Endeavor Academy and in particular Anderson." The best we can do beyond the singular Self is to be the shining example through compassionate Love and the attributes described in the volume of the Course entitled “The Manual for Teachers”. < ACIM makes it clear that no new messiah's are needed to save the world, only Jesus was needed to 'bear the Christ message' of God's love.
ACIM specifically teaches, "So he (Jesus) became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God.... Jesus is for you The Bearer of Christ's single message of the Love of God. You need no other." This teaching appears to indicate to most students of ACIM that its teachings were not intended to set up any new hierarchies of authority on earth, but instead to establish Truth, and fidelity to the principals taught in ACIM as the guiding inner principal for its students. Christ, from the Greek in english known as Χριστός, or Khristós, means anointed, and is equivalent to the Hebrew term Messiah. ...
Endeavor Academy’s Recent Involvement in Copyright Litigation Re: ACIM Texts Beginning in the 1990's, apparently Chuck Anderson directed the attorneys of Endeavor Academy to take on the lead role in certain ACIM copyright litigation which concluded in 2003. In these proceedings, the copyright for the Criswell edition of A Course In Miracles, was found invalid. The Criswell edition predates the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) edition. The FIP edition is the most popular, widely circulated and published edition.
The FIP edition copyright remains in force, however it no longer covers the entirety of ACIM, but only certain portions of it that evolved after the Criswell edition. Since the invalidation of the Criswell copyright, copies of the Criswell edition have begun to appear online (http://acim.miraclevision.com/).
Further copyright litigation may lie ahead as Endeavor Academy continues to press its legal boundaries, publishing and distributing portions of the Urtext, for which the validity of the copyrights remains a disputed issue.
Related Wikipedia Articles A Course In Miracles (ACIM) is a book on spiritual principles, alleged to have been written by none other than the person of Jesus Christ, via a certain type of channeling process known as inner dictation in which Helen Schucman describes herself as having been the scribe. The official copyright...
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