Friday, December 31, 2021

Alice Cooper and Herbert Armstrong on Jesus

 

Herbert Armstrong was too embarrassed to talk about Jesus when he met with world leaders so he talked about a "strong hand from someplace".

Compare Herb to Alice Cooper and what he believes.

Then compare him to the crap of Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry say. All of these guys are embarrassed by the dude they claim to follow and rarely talk about him.

Alice Copper knows otherwise.

Happy New Year!!!!!

 


As Bob Thiel and various Churches of God get their holy knickers in a knot over New Years Eve it so refreshing to live a life not tied down the legalistic baloney these buffoons dish out on a regular basis.

My favorite complainers are the same COG groups who come to Pasadena every New Years for the Rose Parade and work the grandstands as ushers, sell programs and raise money for their church funds.

Money always trumps COG teachings. 

Money rocks!

Don't let the grumpies make your lives miserable for another year! 

So…



LCG Wants Members To Make An Effort To Be Overcomers

 


Inquiring minds want to know: If the members are required to do this, why isn't the ministry? Come on boys and girls, make an effort!


Plan to Grow: The Scriptures reveal we are to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), and to receive rewards in the Kingdom, we must all be overcomers (Revelation 2 and 3). But growing and overcoming requires a plan and persistence. In Matthew 5, 6, and 7, Jesus lists qualities He desires in His disciples: humility, compassion, mercy, a desire to learn God’s way, and the ability to be a peacemaker. Paul lists the spiritual fruits that God wants to see in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22–25). Peter lists courage, knowledge, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love—unselfish outgoing concern (2 Peter 1:5–7). Write out this list and then begin to focus on a single item each week so you can develop these important qualities. Plan to grow and make the effort to be a real overcomer!
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

LCG: 15 Years Of Tomorrow's World And What Does LCG Have To Show For It?

 


What an amazing feat! 15 years of doing a television program that has gained LCG hardly any new members.  Even with 30,701 guests attending their presentations over 16 years, of which probably 1/2 - 3/4 are LCG members attending these meetings to make them look full to impress the newbies, LCG has nothing to show for this great expense. The only members LCG gets any more are children of current members getting baptized or gaining new members by professional church hoppers from other COG's.


Fifteen Years of Tomorrow’s World Presentations 
 
The Living Church of God has put a considerable investment in Tomorrow’s World Presentations over the last 15 years. Since 2006, 1,179,050 invitations have been mailed, inviting subscribers to 1,248 TWPs in 425 cities around the world. These messages have involved 121 ordained LCG ministers speaking to 30,701 guests. Hundreds of these guests have begun to attend Sabbath Services during that time. 

Of those "hundreds",  how many actually returned week after week, six months down the line?  

As we start another year of Tomorrow’s World Presentations, please continue to pray for God’s blessing on this important aspect of the Work, in bringing live, in-person messages to prospective members who desperately need the hope that the Truth provides!

Thursday, December 30, 2021

United Church of God: Is it possible UCG members can give a well-reasoned and graceful defense of their beliefs?

 

Those fun boys in Cincinnati are wanting their members to talk about their faith with others and not be ashamed of its ties to Armstrongism. They want their members to be able to practice Christian apologetics.

Christian beliefs, lifestyles and values contradict many prominent voices of the modern world. That being so, it’s easy to become defensive or insecure when we hear comments we don’t agree with or that simply mock God or our beliefs. 
 
However, having respectful conversations about our faith with others is an important way we can live out our faith, and it is a discipline we should all try to master. So, if you are new to the apologetics world—or have never even heard of the word—let me introduce you to what it is and how it can look in everyday life!

Apologetics 
 
The word apologetics doesn’t mean to make an apology for your faith when someone doesn’t agree with what you have to say or what you believe. Apologetics means to give a well-reasoned and graceful defense—an answer to something controversial in your conversations with someone else—in a way that makes sense to them and is relevant to their experiences. As Solomon said in the book of Proverbs, “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!” (Proverbs 15:23, English Standard Version).

Their first step is to have members discern how "Christian" or how deep are the beliefs of the person they are talking to.

In order to practice Christian apologetics in conversations with friends, acquaintances or strangers, it’s important that we first understand the depth of another person’s beliefs before we make any kind of defense of our own. We can all do this by asking a question as simple as, “What do you mean when you say . . . ?” Of course, it might be a good time to ask a quick, silent prayer in your head for guidance as well!

In Armstrongite speak, it makes no difference really on how deep of a belief that a non-UCG person has because no matter how deep it is it is all wrong and rooted in paganism. Only enlightened UC G members carry the truth and no matter who well they guard their words, they still think themselves superior to the nonUCG person.

How many UCG members or even COG members ever seek to understand the beliefs of the Christians living around them? Those beliefs are barriers that limit them from seeing the true church that is UCG. They are part of the false church and need to move  in to the light of UCG.

This question, or any question that seeks to understand someone else before we expect them to understand us, is the key to finding out what kind of barriers someone truly has towards God and Christianity. It’s the backbone of effective and meaningful conversations because for some, there are intellectual barriers to God, while others have personal barriers based on their experiences with Christianity, and that’s just not something we can assume on the surface.

 

The article ends with this:

The example before us 

When we look at examples of apologetics in the Bible, we see writers who each understood their audiences’ cultural roots and addressed the barriers in their ideologies. For example, when writing his gospel account, Matthew used genealogy to defend the bloodline of Jesus Christ to the Jews. By contrast, Mark did not include a genealogical introduction to his gospel account in his appeal to a gentile audience. 
 
Likewise, Luke’s writings gave an historical and orderly account of Jesus, which he backed with other eyewitness accounts, just as the Greeks did. But John wrote his gospel account and letters from a theological perspective to address Jesus’ testimonies and ideas that were circulating through his Palestinian-Jewish audience at that time. 
 
Paul preached to citizens of Athens at the Areopagus of their “Unknown God” as the foundation of his witness testimony of Jesus Christ (Acts 17). And Jesus showed Thomas the marks on His hands from the crucifixion when Thomas could not believe based on the reports of others alone (John 20:24-29). 
 
No matter what perspective the audience came from, we see that the ones who preached the gospel before us reached their audience where they were and made a defense for Jesus from there.
Though much of the Western worldview shares its roots in Christianity, our schools, workplaces and institutions are now predominantly secular—or non-believing by nature. So, in our spiritual conversations with others, remember to ask questions and search out the answers to people’s barriers—what it is that holds them back from believing what the Bible says is true. Turn those controversial conversations into meaningful ones. 
 
By doing so, we can demonstrate respect towards their doubts and show love by reaching the hearts and minds of each individual, and effectively use apologetics to make a defense for our faith.

Armstrongism has never used its beliefs as a defense of its faith. It has always used its beliefs as a weapon to destroy and mock those who are outside the bounds of the church or who are atheists.

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

LCG Member Is NOT Happy With Us

 


Every once in a while we get incredible love letters from readers:


You Haters.. 😔!! Shame.. ALL of the Leadership of LCG is totally of God. Especially Gerald Weston. You liars of Satan are Cruel and Jealous of NOT being in God's TRUE Followers. May Almighty God have Mercy on your Mortal Souls.☹️🙏 A Grateful Member of LCG.

Would You Trust A Crackpot COG Prophet Helping You To Stop Smoking?

 


Our favorite self-appointed savior to Africa and 305 Caucasians has always imagined himself as an authority on all kinds of subjects, and as the dumb sheep he expects us all to be, we are supposed to believe that he has the way to stop smoking, drinking, and other indulgences that cause the body harm.

The Great Bwana writes:

Should Christians smoke? 
 
Does smoking show love to self or neighbor? 
 
No.


Smoking is bad. 
 
Moses said, “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). 
 
You do not “get away with” smoking.


Smoking is dangerous and hurts the smoker and those around the smoker. 
 
Notice some of what the New Testament teaches:

19. WHAT! Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have within you from God, and you are not your own? 20. For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, AFV)
37…”‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40, NKJV)  
 
Consider that smoking does not glorify God in your body–it harms your body. Consider that smoking also does not show love towards one’s neighbor–it harms your neighbor. Smoking is a sin against the body, and sometimes more than that. 
 
Don’t deceive yourself that smoking is not a sin...


Can or should smokers quit? 
 
Yes. 
 
As hard as it seems to be, smokers can change. Notice that the Apostle Paul taught:

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13) 
 
Jesus can help the smoker.

While that statement may well be true for many Christians who actually follow Christ, the problem arises when an Armstrongite minister utters this phrase, it comes with a lot of baggage. 

Because Armstrongism and the Church of God is NOT centered upon Christ but upon the law, members have no real relationship with the one who could help them. They have been raised and weaned on the law. Under the backbreaking weight of the law, members can NEVER measure up to the high standards it demands and will NEVER meet those expectations in this lifetime.

Church members have had it beaten into their minds that every time they sin they are automatically abandoned by God and left at the side of the road till they repent, COG style. Church members have been taught over and over that they are rooted in sin and are continuously attracted to sin and thus will always be just outside the boundaries of God's love. Add to that the constant threat of the lake of fire for every imaginable indiscretion and members are in a constant state of helplessness, ripe for addiction.


Christians can ask God for assistance in stopping smoking. Christians need to have faith in God (see also the free pdf booklet Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen). 
 
But what if you make mistakes and stumble? 
 
If you stumble get up!


James was including himself in that. The New Testament says we ALL stumble in one thing or the other. 
 
If you stumble, you need to get up. 
 
Endure. 
 
Be careful that you are not trying to get along with the smoking crowd. 
 
Physical ways to “bear it” would include changing what you are doing when you are tempted to smoke. Do something else! Like go to another room. Start reading the Bible. For some, perhaps taking a walk or doing more vigorous exercise. Et cetera.

Buying some of the fake prophets holistic pills will also help solve the problem:

Nicotine seems to have some temporary effects on the body, like the necessary thyroid hormone triiodothyronine. Nicotine is highly addictive and comes along with a range of negative chemicals in tobacco products that are harmful to human health. Nutritional support for the thyroid can help some break their addiction to nicotine. 
 
Consider the analogy of getting air out of a glass. On our own, without equipment, we can’t make it a vacuum. But if we change the glass by pouring water in, the air leaves.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit:

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18)

If you do not want to stumble and wish to be better filled with the Holy Spirit


Not that it is easy, but the Bible says that if you endure, humble yourself, resist Satan, and draw near to God you can get to the point you would not stumble in your efforts to stop smoking. 
 
You may have tried to stop smoking many times. You may have prayed about it. 
 
You should not give up. In the Old Testament we read of God telling the children of Israel to punish the Benjamites in Judges 20:12-20, and those who tried to do so failed and suffered loss (Judges 20:21). Then, God told them to do it again (Judges 20:23), and they suffered loss again (Judges 20:25). The children of Israel wanted to give up (Judges 20:26-28), but God said to try again (Judges 20:28), and that time they succeeded Judges 20:29-46). What happened to the children of Israel was more difficult than not lighting up a cigarette.

Endure and overcome! The promised benefits are better than the “passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25)–which in the case of smoking also has serious health consequences. 
 
Smoking is wrong and it kills people. God wants people to change/repent (Acts 17:30)–which means that, despite its difficulties it can be done (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13). 
 
The sooner one starts the better off one will be. Christians should strive to not smoke and should strive to be healthy. 
 
With God’s help, yes, you can quit smoking or overcome other sins in your life.

No one and I repeat NO ONE should ever go to a COG minister to deal with an addiction, whether it is smoking, alcohol, or any other addiction. None of them have any real training in therapeutic counseling with people in the first place and especially on these topics. The only ministers who can deal with alcoholism as those that have actually joined AA and practiced its priciples. Those I would trust, not some self-appointed know-it-all prophet who has spent a lifetime being deceptive and lying about their placement as a COG leader. When they lie about this they are deceptive in other areas of their lives and can not be trusted.



Monday, December 27, 2021

Samuel Martin: The Nativity and the Weather

 



The Nativity and the Weather

by
Samuel Martin

Before my late father began a career as a pastor and then a religious scholar, he was trained as a weather forecaster.

He learned this discipline at first in university, but later in the United States Air Force.

As a scientist training in the observation of the weather, he always took this matter into consideration when it came to his research studies dealing with the Bible.

A number of books that he wrote which he has been recognized for from an academic point of view dealing with the birth of Jesus Christ come to my mind at this time of year.

What is interesting though as far as I can remember, the only point that he mentioned concerning the matter of the weather and its relevance concerning the time Jesus was born is the following quotation from his book "The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World."

"Luke said that Jesus was born at a time when his parents went to Bethlehem in response to Caesar's command for a census. Ramsay showed that considerable confidence can be placed in the belief that the general time of the year for the start of a census was from August to October. The September period for Jesus' birth we are suggesting fits this well.

A late Summer or early Autumn date for Jesus' birth has also been suggested because Luke said the shepherds were tending their flocks at night at his nativity (Luke 2:8). Many have believed this precludes a wintertime birth (either early Winter on December 25th or a late Winter in early March) because it would have been too cold for the flocks to be out in the open at that time.

But this evidence is very problematic. In exceptionally cold Winters this may have been the case, but in mild Winters sheep are often out of doors in Palestine all night. Since no one knows what kind of weather there was in Palestine the year of Jesus birth (either severe or mild), this factor can be of no chronological value." (Martin, pg. 183-4)

The thing is though, in one way we do know what kind of weather there would have been in the land of Israel during this time especially if we say that Jesus was born in late December. Baly shows us the basic seasonal pattern that has existed in the Holy Land for 1,000s of years. It is important because it shows the environment that people who lived in the land would have known about very well. Because of this, the idea that Joseph and Mary would have set out on a trip to Bethlehem in December makes no sense at all in a practical sense.

“The Palestinian year is divided into two major seasons, the dry summer from mid-June to mid-September and the rainy season in the cooler half of the year. The summer drought, during which no rain falls at all, is actually somewhat longer than the true ‘summer’ and extends into the transitional seasons which dive the summer from the winter at either end. Thus, even on the coast of Cis-Jordan (Israel), the drought is usually complete for five continuous months from the middle of May to the second fortnight in October. It is better to avoid using the word “winter” for the rainy season, for winter inevitably suggests to an English-speaking person a cold season, but in Palestine, the cold weather is normally confined to the three months after Christmas, that is to the second half of the rainy season. In modern Arabic, the word “summer” is so emphatically suggestive of the long dry period (cf. Ps. 32:4, ‘My strength was dried up as the heat of summer”) that winter means more than anything else that blessed period when the rain comes. The Arabic word shittah is in fact used impartially for both “winter” and “rain” and there seems to be something of the same thought in Song of Solomon 2:11, “ For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” (Baly, The Geography of the Bible, pg. 43)

This description by Baly is 100% correct as anyone who lives here in the land knows. Anytime after October 15, the rainy season starts and in the beginning of that season, the rains start in a sporadic way, but get into December and there is a regular occurrence of rainstorms that come systematically and after January those storms will get more intense.

As Professor Ramsay mentions, the idea the Romans would undertake a census during the rainy season moving to the middle of winter makes zero sense at all.

September though would have been a very suitable time for such a journey to take place and be completed before the beginning of the olive harvest, which was a very important annual agricultural event in ancient times as it still is today.

During September, the days are long and warm and the nights are mild and not cold at all.

Knowing the weather and the seasons of the Bible lands in a practical sense helps us better understand the stories of the Bible especially those ones we hold so dear to our hearts and minds.

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Update: Restored Cult of Dave -"In fact, the Picture Appears Even More Solid Than We Previously Thought"

Context: The Wadsworth Christ was scheduled to return, and the math was correct, Christmas Eve. 

 Alas...


"Correct math, clear paths, solid pictures, more time that can't be and right tracks are wearing me out!  I swear, I'm gotta ask "Where is the promise of His coming?" and I know you're gonna call me a scoffer and stupid me never understood that God doesn't do time like we do time. You should have mentioned that at Sermon 001!"

 "Greetings brethren!

We trust all of you had a profitable Sabbath.  A brief update is in order, coming off of the close of Part 340.

There was always the possibility that we would wait and watch day-to-day, as Mr. Pack concluded in the last sermon. This has not changed! There is no reason to believe our wait is very long at all.

Mr. Pack met with the Headquarters ministry, and everyone is in agreement there is still a clear path forward. In fact, the picture appears even more solid than we previously thought. Much has been learned since the last message. If there were time for a 341—and there is not!—you would understand why things got significantly better and that we are still on the right track.

If we do have more time, we will continue to keep you updated. God speed the arrival of His Kingdom!"
=======================================================

Your Delusional Friend
Mr. Pack for Mr Pack
(Ok...I added this part:)



Are you too smart to join a cult?



Reprinted with permission from 



Highlights in yellow by Banned that have a correlation with Armstrongism


Cults, wonderful on the outside, but are on the inside very manipulating. Cult leaders are desperate to trick you into joining. They are after your obedience, your time and your money. 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 to this day still have not realized 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. Teaching you these things is what this article is all about. This article exposes the secret techniques cults will use to try and trick and control you. Cult leaders will not want you to read this, but read it anyway. Once you understand How Cults Work you will be better able to spot and avoid cult recruiters, and protect your family and friends. First let’s eliminate some misconceptions about cults.  

Cults are easy to spot, they wear strange clothes and live in communes.
Well 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 and 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”.

Cults are full of the weak, weird and 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 — more about that later.

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. In the section “Types of Cults” we will examine the various types of cults you may come across.

Christians call all other groups cults.
Basically Christians have said that if a group claims to be Christian and yet teaches something fundamentally different from what the Bible teaches then they are a cult. ie. a Buddhist group that claims to be Buddhist is not a cult, but a Buddhist group that pretends to be Christian is. This definition is not used in this article.So what is a cult anyway?


The modern definition of a mind control cult is any group which employs mind control and deceptive recruiting techniques. In other words cults trick people into joining and coerce them into staying. This is the definition that most people would agree with. Except the cults themselves of course!


Religious
Cults that use a belief system as their base are very common. Their belief system could be standard Christianity, Hinduism, Islam or any other of the world religions, or they may have invented their own belief system. What makes them a cult is the fact that they use mind control, not what they believe.

Commercial
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 programme 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 for free, and to make you pay for an endless stream of motivational tapes, videos, books and seminars all of which are supposedly designed to help you succeed, but in reality 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 more information see below under the section, “Pressure Selling”.

Self Help & Counselling
Cults that use “self help” or counselling 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 course, 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 work mates. 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 don’t 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.

Political
Cults that use political ideals as their base are well known throughout history. Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Communist USSR were classic examples of mind control on a very large scale. On smaller scales white and black supremacists, terrorists, and rebel groups commonly use forms of mind control to recruit and dominate their members.

Mind Control is a suite of psychological techniques that cult leaders attempt to control their members with.

Cultwatch does not consider Mind Control to be some magical device which can take away peoples’ free will. In other words it does not turn people into some sort of remote control robot. Rather we see 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 like the aliens in the movies that take over peoples minds, rather it is more like a 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”.

We have broken Mind Control up into a series of techniques that the cults use. Together these techniques make up Mind Control.



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.


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.



A normal religious organization would not have any trouble with you moving to another similar organization as long as you stayed in that same religion. Because it is the belief system that matters, not membership in an organization. For example if you were a Christian then you could move from one church to another and still be a Christian.

However cult leaders will tell 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 the belief system AND your membership with that particular group.


The cult leaders need to make you believe that there is no where else you can go and still be saved, and 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 threat, it controls your behavior through fear.


Be very suspicious of any group that claims to be better than all the others. A religious group may say that other groups following the same religion are OK, but they are the ones who have a better grasp of the truth and they are superior to the rest. This is often just a subtle version of exclusivism.


This is one of the practices that cults are often very deceptive about. For example, first off they may give you the impression that they think you are a true Christian, Buddhist or Muslim and it’s not until later that their true position is revealed.

Fear_&_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.

Guilt, Character Assassination and Breaking Sessions. Guilt will be used to control you. Maybe the reason you’re not making money is because you’re not “with the programme”. Maybe the reason you’re not able to convert new recruits is because “your heart is prideful and full of sin”. It could never be that the programme isn’t working, or those new recruits have valid reasons for not joining. It’s 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”. 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.

Ok, 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 didn’t 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.


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.

 

Love_Bombing_&_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 “love bombing”, where they arrange instant friends for you. It will seem wonderful, how could such a loving group be wrong! But 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 don’t want to be ostracized. Like in an unhealthy relationship love is turned on and off to control.

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 manoeuvre 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.

 

 



Those who control the information control the person. In a 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.


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 on the basis of how true it is, but rather on the basis of how it supports the party line, is a common control method used throughout history.

 



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.

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.

 



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.

Time control also helps the cult keep their members immersed in the manufactured cult environment.

And time control helps keep cult members away from friends and family.

 


Together they make Mind Control.

Remember, people are not perfect, but if they employ them constantly you are most likely dealing with a cult.


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, but 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, refer to the earlier “Mind Control” section.

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.

 


Here are some 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 programme 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.

They tell you that they are not a cult.
This is a preemptive strike against the warnings from friends and family members which they know will come. In fact some cults go as far to tell you that Satan 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 Satan” do come and tell them that it is a cult. So since the group predicted that would happen, the group therefore must true! Basically if any group tells you that they are not a cult, or that some people call them a cult, then for goodness sake find out why!

  • Times you are vulnerable.
  • Experiential rather than logical.
  • Fake friendship.
  • End of world pressure.
  • Pressure to do crazy things.
  • Secret knowledge.

  • Single charismatic leader.
  • People always seeming constantly happy and enthusiastic. Especially if you discover that 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, or the best so why go anywhere else.
  • Hyped meetings, get you to meetings rather than share with you.
  • Experiential rather than logical.
  • Asking for money for the next level.
  • Some cults travel door to door during times when women are home alone. They, and this is rather sexist, 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 it 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.

 


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. A good place to start is www.CULTWATCH.com, there we have cult information and links to other counter-cult groups. Also go to the search engines and type in keywords associated with the group, like the name of the group, the leaders or founders name, the titles of books they use and any peculiar words that the group uses. If the group is new or too small to have been exposed on the net then read stories of other people who were in mind control cults. The patterns may seem familiar to you. If you are still unsure then email us your story at cultwatch@cultwatch.com, we will let you know of any thoughts we have.

Other ways…
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.



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