Identifying Cults

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Identifying Cults

• Apocalyptic Invasion

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Definition of Cult

• From the Latin cultis which denotes all that is
  involved in worship, ritual, emotion, liturgy and
  attitude. This definition actually denotes what
  we call denomination and sects and would make all
  religious movements a cult.

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Dictionary.com

• A religion or religious sect generally considered
  to be extremist or false, with its followers
  often living in an unconventional manner under
  the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic
  leader.
• The followers of such a religion or sect.
• Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or
  veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
• The object of such devotion.
• A system or community of religious worship and
  ritual.
• The formal means of expressing religious
  reverence religious ceremony and ritual.
• A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed
  by its originator to have exclusive or
  exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
  
• Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or
  veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
• The object of such devotion.
• An exclusive group of persons sharing an
  esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual
  interest.

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Christian Definition of Cult

• Any group which deviates from Biblical, orthodox,
  historical Christianity. For example They deny
  the Deity of Christ, his physical resurrection,
  his personal and physical return to earth and
  salvation by FAITH alone.
• Does not cover cults within other world
  religions. Nor does it cover Psychological,
  Commercial or Educational cults which do not
  recognize the Bible as a source of reality.

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Universal Definition

• Any group which has a pyramid type authoritarian
  leadership structure with all teaching and
  guidance coming from person/persons at the top.
  The group will claim to be the only way to God
  Nirvana Paradise Ultimate Reality Full
  Potential, Way to Happiness, etc. and will use
  thought reform or mind control techniques to gain
  control and keep their members
• Includes all world religions, as well as
  commercial, educational and psychological cults.

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Orthodox Bible-Based Cult

• Called a cult because of their behaviorsnot
  their doctrine. Most religious cults do teach
  what the Christian church would declare to be
  heresy but some do not. Some teach the basics of
  Christian faith but have behavioral patterns that
  are abusive, controlling and cultic.
• Occurs in noncharismatic and charismatic
  churches.
• Add extra authority of leadership or someones
  particular writings.
• Center around the interpretations of the
  leadership and submissive and unquestioning
  acceptance of these is essential to be a member
  of good standing
• Acceptance of non-essential doctrines to exert
  mind control

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Other Identification Marks

• Elitist view of itself in relation to others
• Unique causethey are the only ones right
• They are the only ones doing Gods will
• Actively promote their cause
• Abuse God-given personal rights and freedoms
• Abuse can be theological, spiritual, social and
  psychological

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Cultic Activity

• Leaders claim a special, exclusive ministry,
  revelation or position of authority given by God
• Believe they are the only true church
• Use intimidation or psychological manipulation to
  keep members loyal
• threats of dire calamity sent by God if they
  leave
• Certain death at Armageddon
• Shunned by family and friends
• Substantial financial support to group
• Compulsory tithing
• Signing over all property
• Coercive methods of instilling guilt on those who
  have not given
• Sell magazines, flowers or other goods as part of
  ministry
• Try to maintain that they are not interested in
  money

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Cultic activity

• Great emphasis on loyalty to the group and its
  teachings
• Lives of members will be totally absorbed into
  the groups activities
• Little or no time to think for themselves due to
  physical and emotional exhaustion
• Total control over all aspects of the private
  lives of members
• Communal living
• Constant and repetitious teaching on how to be a
  true Christian or being obedient to
  leadership
• Members will look to leaders for guidance in
  everything they do
• Bible-based cults may proclaim they have no
  clergy/laity distinction and no paid
  ministrythat they are all equal

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Cultic Activity

• Any dissent or questioning is discouraged
• Criticism in any form is seen as rebellion
• Emphasis on authority, unquestioning obedience
  and submission
• Members required to demonstrate their loyalty
• Encourages bullying under the guise of looking
  out for ones spiritual welfare
• Deliberately lie (heavenly deception)
• Give up lives by refusing medical treatment
• Attempts to leave or expose the group met with
  threats oaths of loyalty or covenants

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Abuses of Rights and Freedoms

• Abuse of Individuality
• Group mentalitygroup think
• Not permitted to think for themselves apart from
  group
• Abuse of intimacy relationships with friends,
  family, relative, spouses, children, parents are
  broken or seriously hampered
• Abuse of finances
• Give all you can to the group
• Non-communal group members usually live at the
  lower social-economic strata because they give
  all to the group

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Abuses of Rights and Freedoms

• Us versus Them Mentality
• Isolation from the community in general
• Everything outside is of the devil or
  unenlightened
• Enemies now include former friends, the Christian
  church, governments, education systems, the
  mediathe world in general
• Involvement is a means to an end

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Abuses of Rights and Freedoms

• Abuse of Time and Energy
• Group controls and uses almost all the members
  time and energy in group activities
• Constant state of mental and physical exhaustion
• Abuse of Free Will
• Must unquestioningly submit to the groups
  teaching and direction
• Own free will must be broken and become the same
  as the groups will
• Accomplished by coercive methods including low
  protein diets and lack of sleep, or over a period
  of time through intimidation
• Make heavy use of guilt

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Results of Abuse

• Personality changes
• Loss of identity cannot see themselves separate
  from the group, may change name
• Paranoidpersistent feelings of persecution
• Social Disorientation
• Lose ability to socialize outside the group.
• Cannot make simple decisions for themselves
• Become naïve about life in general
• Severe Guilt Complexes
• About prior lives
• Misdemeanors are made into mountainskeeping
  members in constant state of guilt
• Arent doing enough, entertaining doubts or
  questions, or thinking rationally for themselves
• Piled on with new rules constantly being laid
  down about what is sinful
• Illness is a lack of faithbringing on more guild
• Emotional illnessproof of sin

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Characteristics of a Cult

• Not all these points will be found in every cult
• All cults will have some if not most of them, in
  varying degrees
• MIND CONTROL MADE EASY! Become a Cult Leader
  Today! http//youtube.com/watch?vV4-Hms7bHqY
• CIA Mind Control Techniques http//youtube.com/w
  atch?vi46RI2twVaofeaturerelated

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FBIs Lethal Triad of Extremist Groups

• Isolation
• Projection
• Pathological Anger

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Domestic Terrorist Groups

• Function more on emotional issues than on deeply
  entrenched political ideologies
• Usually loners whose beliefs garner little
  support from mainstream American society
• Emotional variables such as fear, anger or hatred
  motivate group membership and methods of operation

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Isolation

• Key components in the restructuring or
  indoctrination phase of most groups, even those
  at the constructive end of the continuum, such as
  the militarys bootcamps and corporate Americas
  executive retreats
• Most powerful of the social dynamics operating in
  radical group processes

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Isolation Procedures

• Sequestered from previous identities or memories
• Sometimes receive new names
• Contact with family member forbidden or strictly
  monitored
• Protects members from contamination of outside
  world
• Bolsters group solidarity

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Psychological Isolation

• Control what members think
• Strict censorship by leaders Books, television,
  radio and any other form of information are
  strictly censored
• Bombarded by cause-related information in the
  form of literature or lectures by the groups
  hierarchy

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Communal livingIndoctrination

• Daily meetings or prayer sessions
• Extreme sleep deprivation
• Dietary restriction
• Physical fatigue

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Group Think

• Isolation decreases critical thinking
• No alternative information sourcesmembers encode
  new belief systems
• Group tenets never challengedonly recited
• Platitude conditioning replaces reasoning
  processes
• No individual thinking or decision making
• Chanting and rhythmic, repetitive body movements
• Creates an autistic cognitive encapsulationa
  closed belief system
• Now fertile for the seeds of other two components
  of the Lethal Triad, projection and pathological
  anger

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Projection2 pronged process

• Group projects responsibility for its decisions
  and direction onto the leader
• Each group requires a single authoritarian
  leader, who assumes absolute control of all group
  functions and decision-making processes
• As members surrender critical thinking, the
  elevate the group leader to the status of
  absolute authority
• Leader assumes a title such as Supreme Commander
  or may claim to be the groups deity incarnate
• Member pay homage to leader in a number of ways,
  including shouting, bowing, or chanting leaders
  name
• Group projects the cause for its perceived
  grievances onto some outside entity
• Can be specific people or groups or merely world
  in general

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Collective Orchestrated Behavior

• Group prayer, meditation, or training sessions
• Reality thinking does not occur
• If find themselves thinking, the group leader
  will revert them to some form of
  isolation-producing cognitive exercise, such as
  chanting, exercising, or reciting organizational
  platitudes, to reduce the anxiety created by the
  mere thought of challenging the group leader

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Leader Knows Best

• Members abdicate responsibility and
  accountability for their actions, which allows
  them to commit any act the leader requests
• He is my leader it would be a bigger wrong to
  violate his order than it would be to shoot my
  mother.

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Pathological Anger

• Grows from the combination of isolation and
  projection
• Collectively, group members see themselves as
  victims of an outside force
• As they project blame onto this entity, they grow
  emotionally volatile
• Their explosive anger can fuel actions that range
  from scapegoating ethnic minorities to bombing
  and gassing outsiders indiscriminately

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Righteous Indignation

• Only in contact with other like-minded members
• Dont test or challenge the group hypothesis and
  feel no sense of individual accountability
• Commit heinous acts worth experiences significant
  emotional turmoil or guilt
• The group process has created situational
  sociopaths who suffer no remorse no matter what
  they do

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Negotiating with Cults

• Typical Negotiation Rule of the ateslocate,
  isolate, evacuate, and negotiate
• the indoctrinated belief system and social
  reinforcement by other group members override the
  influences generated by traditional negotiation
  methods
• Negotiators should not attempt to address issues
  central to the groups belief systemmembers
  react as martyrs-for-the-cause
• Should focus on providing specific, concrete
  resolutions that permit group members belief
  systems to remain intact
• Allow group member to focus on finding a solution
  to the situation rather than defending the
  groups philosophy
• Consider the significant social influence the
  group leader possessesdecisions must appear to
  come from leader, not the negotiator
• Apocalyptic resolution can resultself-destruction
  becomes more acceptable than total capitulation
  of its beliefs and principles

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Connections with Revelation

• Rhetoric
• Decoding numbers and dates
• Imagery
• Binary Good vs. EvilUs vs. Them Mentality

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Some Interesting Sites

• Top ten cults http//www.christiananswers.net/q-
  aiia/aiia-top10cults.html
• http//www.americansc.org.uk/Online/cults.htm

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Credits

• Jan Groenveld http//www.ex-cult/General/identifyi
  ng-a-cult
• Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D., The Letahal Triad
  Understanding the Nature of Isolated Extremist
  Groups http//www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/1996/s
  ept961.txt