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(go to Table of Contents)
There is much myth and fallacies about cults.
People talk everywhere about cults, brainwashing, etc. etc. You see some guys
acting weird (like selling flowers in the rain), and you think they're evil.
You might think: "They're deceived", and try to reason with
the Bible with them, even when you know that this won't change
their minds. But you stubbornly try, full of pride, as if that solved the world's
problems. But there are some things you should know first...
Lying is not the only form of deception. I've seen the most curious
things about cultists - people only describe what THEY SEE in cults. For example,
people often say "cults are organisations where everyone follows blindly a certain leader".
But WHY do they follow this leader? HOW did this
leader recruited them? Most cultists were rational, critical people, many were even
'born-again'. So WHY and HOW did they become some sort of zombies trying to
recruit everyone into their church?
After talking with current cult members, studying testimonies of former
members, and reading experts in the field, I decided to make this webpage to
stop the cultic mythology and state the facts.
Table of Contents
- What REALLY is a cult? Rick's
personal criteria for abusive churches
Church = end, not means
Exclusivism (for salvation) and pride
Lying "for God"
Psychological manipulation
WARNING:
Cultists will try to become your friends - please read!
Leader(s) = Perfect
Blind obedience
Closed society
Distrust
- What are the main differences between
cults,churches and sects?
WARNING: Search
for behavior, not doctrines!
- Rober Jay Lifton's 8 points (Thought Reform and the psychology of
Totalism)
Milieu control
Mystical manipulation (or 'planned spontaneity')
Demand for purity (polarisation: us vs them, inside vs outside, good vs evil)
Cult of confession (loss of intimacy, disclosure of self)
Sacred science (the leader is always right. If he's wrong, then we misunderstood him)
Loading of the language (thought-stopping techniques: meditation, overused cliches)
Doctrine over person (personal experiences rewritten to fit cult beliefs)
Dispensing of existence (Non members, SPECIALLY ex-members are doomed...)
- Steve Hassan's
criteria (BITE Model)
-
B. Behavior Control
I. Information Control
T. Thought Control
E. Emotional Control
- Margaret Thale Singer's criteria
- Mind Control: How cultists grab you
- What to do if a family member is involved
- The do's and don'ts of cult help
- Some basic steps to organize yourselves and help your family member
Cults, bible and protestantism (under construction)
- Are protestant churches 'cults'?
- Is the Catholic Church a cult?
- The protestant reform and cults (some historical background)
- Cults IN the Bible
- Cults AND the Bible
Cult examples
-
The Ruthless Out there: Watch out for UFO Cults!
This page has been accesed times since June 7, 1999
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