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April 9 - April 29, 2023
“Devils” vary from group to group.
Devils are certain to take on the bodies of parents, friends, ex-members, reporters, and anyone else who is critical of the group. The “huge conspiracies” working to thwart the group are, of course, proof of its tremendous importance.
Members are made to feel part of an elite corps of humankind. This feeling of being special, of participating in the most important acts in human history, with a vanguard of committed believers, is strong emotional glue that keeps people sacrificing and working hard.
In any group that qualifies as a destructive cult, thinking of oneself or for oneself is wrong. The group comes first. Absolute obedience to superiors is one of the most universal themes in cults. Individuality is bad. Conformity is good.
A cult member’s entire sense of reality becomes externally referenced. They learn to ignore their own inner self and trust the external authority figure. They learn to look to others for direction and meaning.
A new member is often indoctrinated and groomed to give up old thought and behaviors by being paired with an older cult member, who serves as a model for the new member to imitate. In Bible groups, this is sometimes referred to as shepherding or discipling.
One reason why a group of cultists may strike even a naive outsider as spooky or weird is that everyone has similar odd mannerisms, clothing styles and modes of speech. What the outsider is seeing is the personality of the leader passed down through several layers of modeling.
Cult members come to live within a narrow corridor of fear, guilt and shame. Problems are always their fault—the result of their weak faith, their lack of understanding,
In every destructive cult I have encountered, fear is a major motivator. Each group has its devil lurking around the corner, waiting for members so it can tempt and seduce them, to kill them or drive them insane. The more vivid and tangible the devil, the more intense the cohesiveness it fosters.
The cult member’s sense of the present is manipulated, too. They feel a great sense of urgency about the tasks at hand. I remember well the constant feeling that a time bomb was ticking beneath my feet, and that the world might become a heaven or a hell, depending on how well I performed in my current project. Many groups teach that the apocalypse is just around the corner.
If a group has a timetable for the apocalypse, it will likely be two to five years away—far enough not to be discredited any time soon, but near enough to carry emotional punch.
In other groups, the timetable is believed right until it actually fails to come true. Often the leader just issues a new timetable that moves the big event up a few years. After he does this a few times, a few long-term members may become cynical. Of course, by then there is a whole set of new members who are unaware that the leader has been shifting the timetable.
When 1981 produced nothing more dramatic for the Unification Church than President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration (which Sun Myung Moon himself attended), talk had already turned to dates farther ahead.
People who do actually leave cults are extremely courageous—and they can have a very important role. They can provide inspiration to those who are under mind control, especially if the former members are happy, accomplished and open about their cult involvement. These heroic people, by speaking out about their experience, are a potent and dangerous force to cult leaders and mind controllers everywhere.
Jon should have achieved supernatural powers by this time, but, as all Scientologists find, the technology just induces euphoric states and heightened suggestibility.
LaRouche exhibits the personal traits of a narcissistic psychopath—lack of empathy, delusions of grandeur, entitlement, paranoia, and a willingness to engage in criminal behavior. At least two deaths, first of Jeremiah Duggan, in 2003, and the suicide of Kenneth Kronberg, in 2007, have been linked to the group.
“What is essential is to preserve the LaRouche doctrine over reality,” Yves said. “The doctrine is the real, superior, and the only reality.”
For three months following his death, a place was set for him at the table, and members (including young children) had visions, dreams, and prophecies concerning his resurrection.
“It has taken me years to fully understand how deeply they controlled my emotions and thought processes,” Gretchen said. “If I hadn’t received good counseling, I probably would have kept trying to return to the group.”
At first, Gary thought the group was weird, but he agreed to try the chanting. It gave him an incredible high.
The voices of doubters were muffled and conformity was rewarded.
I met total resistance. I was told things like, “They’ve been around too long” and “They’re too large!” My reaction was, “Since when have those been criteria for evaluating a mind control cult? I thought mind control was the criterion!”
I have come to believe that human beings are all born with an authentic self as well as a desire for love, fairness, truth and meaning. It is something that no group can program out of a person and therefore there is always hope for real healing.
Gina loved the close-knit TM community and recalls the feeling she received as a kind of “social heroin.”
It is important to differentiate TM’s meditation method from other forms of legitimate meditation. In TM, the practitioner is given a single word, their secret mantra—often derived from the name of a Hindu diety—which is repeated until a trance state is achieved.
Tom was taught to believe that the Mormon Church represented everything in life that was good and true—and the only way to eternal happiness. He was also taught that anything contrary to the teachings of the church was false, evil and of the Devil—and, of course, would lead to unhappiness.
Nobody joins a cult. They just postpone the decision to leave. —Source unknown
Some organizations, I have found, may appear to be unorthodox or even downright bizarre, but do not practice mind control, and are not damaging to their members.
Many groups have certain potentially destructive aspects, but are not inherently destructive. These groups fall into a gray zone—the middle of the continuum presented in Chapter 3. For some individuals, membership may have a destructive effect, while the organization as a whole may not meet the significant criteria of a destructive cult.
there’s one cardinal rule to follow: Don’t give them your phone number, e-mail address or snail mail address until you know more. Hold back, even if it’s hard to do so, because you might be on the verge of having your privacy violated by a very organized group that will not give up easily.
Take their contact information instead! That way you are in control.
Most cult leaders believe in their own superiority, against all of the evidence, so they project certainty, which is a highly desirable commodity at times of personal uncertainty.
Joseph Smith was convicted of fraud before he founded the Mormons. Ron Hubbard had convictions for check fraud, leaving a baby unattended in a parked vehicle, and, later, trying to obtain addictive barbiturate drugs by pretending to be a medical doctor.
where there is smoke there is often fire. Many leaders of destructive cults have questionable backgrounds.
Many destructive Bible cults have leaders who are not conspicuous consumers, and who appear to hold God and the Bible above themselves as higher authorities; yet their interpretations of the Bible and God’s will are used to manipulate and control people.
But beware of groups with any belief system that is simplistic and makes all or nothing categorizations—good/bad; black/white; us versus them. Beliefs that claim things as facts, but actually have no evidence-based research to support these claims.
Most cult recruiters will deny that they are trying to recruit anyone at all. When asked what they are doing, they normally say that they just want to share something meaningful,
Recruiters for multi-level marketing groups and large group awareness trainings are typically told not to disclose exactly what will happen in the program. That if they do, they will “spoil” the person’s experience. Or that the person has to experience for themselves to know what it is all about.
An effective recruiter knows how to make the target comfortable, so more willing to disclose highly personal and confidential information. Meanwhile, the recruiter reveals as little as possible about themselves and (especially) the group, unless it is absolutely necessary. Most of the information comes from the person being recruited. This unbalanced flow of information is always a signal that something is wrong.
Once a potential convert is invited to a cult function, there is a great deal of pressure, both overt and subtle, to make a commitment as soon as possible.
The most telltale sign of the work of a destructive cult is this radical personality change.
Time after time, I have heard family members say, “She’s a different person now. We don’t know her anymore!”
But as soon as family members and friends express their concerns and declare that they will never join the group, cult leaders urge the new member to stop wasting time on them.
If a member is made to feel that they have to “die to themselves” and their human needs, they may agree to fast a good deal of the time and deny themselves any pleasure in eating.
Little time is available for reading anything other than cult material, or for learning anything other than cult practices. Of course, members go out of their way to convince outsiders that they are living a “normal” life. Yet, if you involve cult members in a long discussion of current events, art or history, it becomes evident that most are out of touch.
One of the most obvious signs of a person in a mind control group is a lack of independent decision-making abilities.
Some cults maintain membership by controlling all social relationships, telling members who they can or can’t date or marry.
Some take members’ children away from them in order to allow the parents more time to work and allow more thorough indoctrination of the kids.
Mant overseas missionarires must send their children to church boarding schools, where many children are abused.
you can ask some very specific questions which will help you avoid over 90% of cult recruiters. Simply asking these assertively will help you deflect recruiters, who will quickly realize that you are not a promising use of their time.
How long have you (the recruiter) been involved with this group? Are you trying to recruit me into any type of organization?
