Is your church a cult?
Are you part of a cult?
The way to spot a cult is by knowing how cults operate.
Courtesy of Cultwatch.com
Discover the secret manipulative techniques Cult Leaders use to control their members. Find out about the deceptive ways they will try to recruit you, your friends, and family.
Print out a copy of "How Cults Work" send it to your friends, especially if you suspect they are in a cult.
Since cults heavily target students, parents should educate their children about how cults work, especially if their child is moving away from home to study. If they have already moved, then print out a copy and send it to them now. Cults, advertise themselves wonderfully on the outside but on the inside are very manipulating. Cult leaders are desperate to trick people into joining. They are after your obedience, your time, your money, and in worse case scenarios, certain pleasures. Cults use sophisticated mind control and recruitment techniques that have been refined over time. Beware of thinking that you are immune from cult involvement. The cults have millions of members around the world who once thought they were immune, and still don't believe they are in a cult! To spot a cult you need to know how they work and you need to understand the techniques they use. Once you understand how Cults work you will be better able to spot and avoid cult recruiters, and protect your family and friends. Be sober, Be vigilant; Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5:8).
Common Misconceptions
Cults are easy to spot, they wear strange clothes and live in communes.
Some do. But most are everyday people like you and me. They live in houses. They wear the same clothes. They eat the same food. Cult leaders don't want you to know that you are being recruited into a cult so they order their recruiters to dress, talk, and act in a way that will put you at ease. One cult has even invented a phrase to describe this, they call it "being relatable." Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Mt 7:15).
Cults are full of the weak, the weird, and the emotionally unstable.
Not true. Many cult members are very intelligent, attractive, and skilled. The reality is that all sorts of people are involved in cults. One of the few common denominators is that they were often recruited at a low point in their life. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (II Cor. 11:13-15).
Cults are just a bunch of religious nut cases.
This is a common mistake people make thinking that cults are purely religious groups. The modern definition of a mind control cult refers to all groups that use mind control and the devious recruiting techniques that this article exposes. The belief system of a religion is often warped to become a container for these techniques, but it is the techniques themselves that make it a cult. In a free society people can believe what they want, but most people would agree that it is wrong for any one to try to trick and control people. The types of cults we will examine are various types of cults across a wide variety of social and cultural groups.
What is a cult?
The true essence of any cult is a group, with its leader and leaders, which employs mind control and deceptive recruiting techniques to maintain their group. In other words, cults trick people into joining and coerce them into staying through sophisticated manipulative means. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Cor 2:11).
Types of Cults
Religious Cults
Cults that use a belief system as their base are very common. Their belief system is standard Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam or any other of the world religions or a false version of the Bible. They may have also invented their own belief system. What makes them a cult is the fact that they use mind control with deception to keep their group together regardless of what belief system they employ. It is not what they believe which holds them together. You will be excommunicated and therefore damned to hell if you do not marry into this church, etc., etc.
Commercial Cults
Cults that use commercial gain as their base are called "cults of greed." They will promise you that if you join them and follow their special program for success then you will become very rich. Often they will hold up their leader as an example and explain that if you do what he or she says then you will be successful too. Commercial cults use mind control to get you working for them free. They charge you for an endless stream of motivational tapes, videos, books, and seminars all of which are supposedly designed to help you succeed. In reality they are designed to enhance the cult's mind control environment and keep you believing in their almost impossible dream of success. Of course they never mention that the primary way the leaders make money are by selling these motivation materials to their group. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim 6:10).
Self Help & Counseling Cults
Cults that use "self-help," counseling, or self-improvement as their base often target business people and corporations. By doing their courses and seminars they claim you and your staff will become more successful. Business people locked away in hotel rooms are subjected to quasi-religious indoctrination as they play strange games, join in group activities, and share their innermost thoughts with the group. Once you have completed one course you are told you need to do the more advanced coursework, which naturally costs more than the last. These cults will sometimes request that you do volunteer-work and that you help recruit your friends, family, and workmates. These groups specialize in creating powerful emotional experiences, which are then used to validate your involvement in the cult. The religious overtones are couched in terms, which do not sound religious. They usually come to the surface as you near the end of a seminar. Many people have been bankrupted by involvement with these cults. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Philippians 4:11-13).
Political Cults
Cults that use political ideals as their base are well known throughout history. Hitler's Nazi Germany (Hitler used Bible scripture [especially in Mein Kampf, and SS troops wore "God with us" on their belt buckles encircling a swastika] early-on in his political career to convince German Christians [and some American Christians] that he was on the up-and-up until it was too late) and Stalin's Communist USSR were classic examples of mind control on a very large scale. On smaller scales white and black supremacists (both use scripture), terrorists, and rebel groups commonly use forms of mind control to recruit and dominate their members. One poor lost soul actually believes that Hitler was a "bible Christian" and therefore Christians should be watched out for. The poor soul has come to the wrong conclusion. Hitler was most certainly not a Christian. He was only using the Bible, scripture, and Christian phrases for mind control purposes to use as tools for his political cult. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Mind Control
Mind Control is a suite of psychological techniques that cult leaders attempt to control their members with. Mind control does not turn people into some sort of remote control robot. Rather Mind Control as a dishonest influence placed covertly on cult members by the cult. So instead of Mind Control being some sort of irresistible force the aliens in the movies use to take over peoples minds it is more like a psychological gun. The cult leader points the Mind Control "gun" at a member and says, "If you leave us then you will lose all of your friends and family," "If you don't conform then you will go to hell," "If you don't give us money then you will fail in business." Mind Control is broken up into a series of techniques that the cults use. Together these techniques make up Mind Control.
Deception
A cult needs to recruit and operate using deception. Why? Because if people knew their true practices and beliefs beforehand then they would not join. A cult needs to hide the truth from you until they think you are ready to accept it. For example, imagine if the leader of Heavens Gate cult was open and honest about the group and had said to new recruits, "Join us, wear strange clothes, get castrated, and then drink poison." He would not have had many takers. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries (Acts 8:11).
A cult will have a slick, well-rehearsed Public Relations front which hides what the group is really like. You will hear how they help the poor, or support research, or peace, or the environment. They will tell you how happy you will be in their group (and everyone in the cult will always seem very happy and enthusiastic, mainly because they have been told to act happy and will get in trouble if they don't). But you will not be told what life is really like in the group, nor what they really believe. These things will be introduced to you slowly, one at a time, so you will not notice the gradual change, until eventually you are practicing and believing things which at the start would have caused you to run a mile. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you (Gal 3:1)?
Key Point: No legitimate group needs to lie or mislead you about what they practice or believe.
Exclusivism
A normal religious organization would not have any trouble with you moving to another similar organization as long as you stayed within the same beliefs. They would be happy for you because you are doing the LORD’s will and not what the group wants you to do. Why? Because it is the belief system that matters, not membership in an organization. For example if you were a “believer” in some cult you would be forbidden to move to another “church.” You would be losing your “faith” and the cult could no longer guarantee your salvation.
Cult leaders will teach you can only be "saved" (or can only be successful) in their organization alone. No other organization has the truth, all others miss the mark. So it is not the belief system that decides your future, but it is the belief system AND your membership with that particular group AND your devotion to the system or leader. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
The cult leaders need to make you believe there is nowhere else you can go and still be saved. If you ever leave the "one true church" then you are going to hell. This is a fear based control mechanism designed to keep you in the cult. It also gives the cult leaders tremendous power over you. If you really believe that leaving the group equals leaving God (or means you are leaving your only chance to succeed in life), then you will obey the cult leaders even when you disagree with them instead of risking being kicked out of the group. Exclusivism is used as a psychological threat, it controls your behavior through fear.
Key Point: Any group which says you must belong to their organization to be saved or successful is certainly a cult.
Fear and Intimidation
Cult leadership is feared. To disagree with leadership is the same as disagreeing with God. The cult leaders will claim to have direct authority from God to control almost all aspects of your life. If the cult is not a religious group then questioning the leaders or program will still be seen as a sign of rebellion and stupidity. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation (hypocrisy). But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? ...God forbid (Galatians 2:11-17). The bottom line is God wants a Christian to take his pastor aside and get the facts straight. The "pastor" who does not allow this or gets irate: beware.
Guilt, Character Assassination, and Breaking Sessions
Guilt will be used to control you. Maybe the reason you are not making money is that you are not "with the program.” Maybe the reason you are not able to convert new recruits is that "your heart is prideful and full of sin.” It could never be that the program is not working, or those new recruits have valid reasons for not joining. It is always your fault, you are always wrong, and so you must try harder! You will also be made to feel very guilty for disobeying any of the cult's written or unwritten rules.
Character Assassination is used to help create the guilt in you. Character Assassination is a type of false reasoning used by people and groups who have no real arguments. The technical name for Character Assassination is the "Ad hominem Fallacy." ...And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law (Acts 6:13).
This is how it works.
Imagine if you will a conversation between two men, Ford and Arthur…
"One plus one equals three,” says Ford.
"No I don't think so. You see when I have one thing, and I have another thing, then I have two things not three,” replies Arthur.
"I see your point, but what you must realize is that one plus one when calculated in relation to this complex number domain, which I just invented, and then squared by the sum of the ninth tangent in the sequence of the Fibonacci series results in three!” stated Ford triumphantly.
Ford is wrong, but that is not the point. The point is that Ford tried to answer Arthur's reasoning with more reasoning of his own. This is the healthy way people and groups debate subjects. Now lets see what would have happened if Ford had used Character Assassination…
"Arthur I have been a mathematician longer than you. How dare you disagree with me! You are obviously a very smug and prideful person. I think you are disagreeing with me because you are jealous of me, and to be honest with you Arthur your rebellion has really hurt me and a lot of other people too,” stated Ford his face intimidatingly close to Arthur's.
You see Ford did not answer Arthur's argument, instead he attacked his character. If you are not aware of how Character Assassination works then it is a powerful way to exert control over you.
In a church cult, if you question the “preacher” about a certain teaching you are assassinated as follows: I have a direct link with God and this is my church. You are rebelling towards the man of God and God will not bless such rebellion on your part. You are in danger of hell fire and need to do repentance. You have an uncooperative and decisive spirit. If you do not humble yourself and accept what God is saying from my mouth you must certainly be demon possessed.
Another tactic used by cult leaders in character assisination is spreading false rumours about a questioning thinker. If the cult leadership believes you are on to something, they will begin a smear campaign using black operations in order to isolate you from the group. Who wants to be around a member who has been whoremongering? You will be avoided like the plague. If you hear excessive amounts of false rumours being spread about you then you know you have not been “in submission” to the teachings of the cult. They are assassinating your character so others stay away from you. They do not want others getting close to you in order to confide in you. You might start other cult members thinking on their own. That would be bad for the cult leader.
Breaking sessions are when one, two, or more cult members and leaders attack the character of another person, sometimes for hours on end. Some cults will not stop these sessions until their victim is crying uncontrollably.
Key Point: Character Assassination is a sure sign of a cult. Cult members are usually very fearful of disobeying or disagreeing in anyway with their leadership. Healthy organizations however are not threatened by openly debating issues.
Relationship Control
Cults know that if they can control your relationships then they can control you. Whether we like it or not we are all profoundly affected by those around us. When you first go to a cult they will practice a tactic called "love bombing," where they arrange instant friends for you. It will seem wonderful, how could such a loving group be wrong! However, you soon learn that if you ever disagree with them, or ever leave the cult then you will lose all your new "friends.” This unspoken threat influences your actions in the cult. Things that normally would have made you complain will pass by silently because you do not want to be ostracized. As in an unhealthy relationship love is turned on and off to control the victim. By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left... (II Cor. 6:6-7) that is how God operates.
Cults also try to cut you off from your friends and family because they hate others being able to influence you. A mind control cult will seek to maneuver your life so as to maximize your contact with cult members and minimize your contact with people outside the group, especially those who oppose your involvement.
Key Point: Beware of “instant friends, remember true friendships develop over time. Beware of groups that tell you who you can and cannot see.
Information Control
Those who control the information in a persons life control the person. In the Mind Control cult any information from outside the cult is considered evil, especially if it is opposing the cult. Members are told not to read it or believe it. Only information supplied by the cult is true. One cult labels any information against it as "persecution" or "spiritual pornography.” Another cult calls it "apostate literature" and will expel you from the group if you are caught with it. Cults train their members to instantly destroy any critical information given to them, and to not even entertain the thought that the information could be true. Besides, a true Christian will study what other apostates believe in order to be able to better answer them when they come across a false doctrine. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).
Common sense tells us that a person who does not consider all information may make an unbalanced decision. Filtering the information available or trying to discredit it not based on how true it is, but rather because of how it supports the party line. That is a common control method used throughout history. An example is a Jehovah Witness cult assembly. The women are told they should read no literature critical of the JW’s because they are daughters of Eve. Just as Eve was deceived in the garden of Eden, they too are liable to be deceived into believing another way other than the JW elder’s false doctrine. They do not want you thinking for yourselves.
Key point: If you are instructed by a group not to read information critical of the group, then that is a sign of a cult. Legitimate groups have nothing to fear from their members reading critical information about them. It is a learning experience for them.
Reporting Structure
In a mind control cult like in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia you must be careful of what you say and do, "The walls have ears.” Everyone is encouraged to watch out for "struggling" brothers and sisters and report what they see to leadership. Often information given in deepest confidence is automatically reported to leadership. Cult leaders will then use this information to convince their members that they have a supernatural link. The trusting member does not suspect the very natural mechanism behind the supernatural revelations they are given. Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter (Eccles 10:20).
People in a mind control cult will also hide their true thoughts and feelings, and instead wear a mask which presents them as a perfect cult member. This mask is a defense against being reported to leadership and being punished for not measuring up (cult members never feel like they measure up to the cult's ideals, and yet often believe the other members around them do, when in reality the others feel the same as them). Hence, cult members are trained not only to deceive outsiders, but also to deceive their fellow cult members. Rarely can close friendships form in cults, and if they do the cult's leaders may see them as a threat and move those people away from each other. Nothing is allowed that can be more powerful than the cult members' allegiance to the group and it's leaders.
Key Point: Is information you expected to be kept confidential being reported to leadership. If so, then it is a cult.
Time Control
Mind Control cults keep their members so busy with meetings and activities that they become too busy and too tired to think about their involvement and question inconsistencies. Time control also helps the cult keep their members immersed in the manufactured cult environment. Time control helps keep cult members away from friends and family. Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).
Key Point: Never-ending compulsory meetings and tasks is a sign of a cult.
Pressure Selling
One of the most common forms of commercial cults is the pressure selling organization. These groups ostensibly make money by selling goods via their sales organization. However, in reality they make their money by selling goods and motivational materials to their sales organization. Using mind control they seek to enlarge and maintain their sales force, and hence their profits.
Some names along with the bad reputations of these groups are well known to the general public, so their recruiters need to be very deceptive. They will call and ask to come and meet you to discuss a "business opportunity" or new "eCommerce venture,” not once mentioning the organization behind it. In fact, if asked they might mention a completely different name. Meeting with them will involve a long intense presentation carefully designed to convince you that you could make a lot of money by following their plan. Only near the end will they briefly mention the real organization behind it.
Here are some key warning signs to watch out for…
• Deception. No valid business needs to use deception.
• Super-hyped meetings, books, tapes, videos, leaflets, products.
• Use of Mind control tactics.
Here are some key questions to ask the recruiter…
• Is it XZY group? Ask them if they are, or are involved with any of the well known commercial cults. Often the recruiter will admit to some connection, and in fact the clever recruiter will plainly state their involvement rather than having their deception uncovered later on.
• Could I see some properly certified audited accounts which demonstrate this business model working? Like any business they should be able to provide the hard numbers. Not stories of other people making it big, or generalizations about six figure incomes, or more enthusiastic claims that you can make it if you work hard enough. If this is a new business then you want a business plan, profit and loss projections for the next year, two years and five years. If they claim it is a successful established business then demand to see the books. These are not unreasonable demands, no successful business person would ever touch a venture without this basic information. Tell the recruiter that you want to run them past your own accountant, and perhaps your lawyer too. If it's for real then they will be more than happy to comply, otherwise watch them squirm and dodge with all manner of well rehearsed excuses. Of course if they do produce the information then go to your accountant, you're a fool if you don't.
Cult Recruiting Techniques
Key warning signs that may indicate a cult is trying to recruit you.
Hyped Meetings: Rather than explain to you what the group believes or what their program is up front, they will instead insist that you can only understand it if you come to a group meeting. There everyone around you will seem so enthusiastic that you will start to think there is something wrong with you. They create an environment where you will feel uncomfortable and the only way to become comfortable is to join them. This is an application of controlled peer pressure.
Intense Unrelenting Pressure: They call repeatedly. Meet you on campus or outside your work. Trick you into coming for only an hour and then lead you into a long study, meeting, or talk. They have to keep the pressure on, otherwise you might snap out of the mind control environment they are trying to immerse you in.
The Elders Stand By to Control the Situation: When cult leaders know a follower is going to be persuaded against their teachings they will stand by the followers and speak up for them. This is especially true with the JW's. They will send an elder to a hospital to make sure the relatives do not convince the parents to let their dying child receive a blood transfusion. If you set up a time to witness with a cult member the "elders" will be there to speak up for the member. They have no mind of their own and are intimidated by the elders. But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue (John 9:21-25).
They tell you that they are not a cult: This is a preemptive strike against the warnings from friends and family members whom they know will come to you. In fact, some cults go as far to tell you that the devil will try and dissuade you by sending family members and friends to tell you it is a cult. When this tactic is used then often a warped form of logic occurs in the recruits' mind, the "agents of the devil" do come and tell them that it is a cult. So since the group predicted that would happen, the group therefore must true! If any group tells you that they are not a cult, or that some people call them a cult, then find out why!
Key Point: Research the group independently of the group.
Warning Signs
• Single charismatic leader.
• People always seeming constantly happy and enthusiastic. Especially if you discover they have been told to act that way for the potential new recruits.
• Instant friends.
• If you are told who you can or cannot talk to or associate with.
• They hide what they teach.
• Say they are the only true group.
• Hyped meetings, get you to meetings rather than share with you.
• Experiential rather than logical. ie, a “rockin’ Sunday Service”
• Asking for money for the next level. “Launch out into the deep”
• Some cults travel door to door during times when women are home alone. They think that women are easier to recruit and once they have the woman then it will be easier to snare the husband or partner.
• Saying that they have to make people pay for “the product” because otherwise they will not appreciate it. This is of course a very silly reason, plenty of people are able to appreciate things which they did not pay for.
Investigate
The Internet should be your first stop if the group you are interested in or involved with has an international scope. Most of the larger cults will be mentioned by counter-cult organizations like Cultwatch, and commonly many ex-members will have posted their cult involvement stories on the net. Many of the larger cults hate the net since it allows their members access to information they deem subversive or evil.
Old publications by the group. Often the older cults have predicted the end of the world or changed their beliefs significantly, hence their older publications become a danger to them. For some of the older cults people have produced books of photo copies of these changes.
Key Point: Be especially eager to surf the net if your leaders have told you not to. God wants you to think on your own!