In Hindsight...
Only after leaving a Cult does, one realize they were in one. When one is in it, it is a "True Church". In politics, of course, one has the "True Views".
Pointing out that one might have been in a cult can make those who were also in it angry for making the observation as the process of admitting it is different for everyone concerned. Some can never admit it because we all feel we are "smarter than that" and never would or could have been taken in by any such thing.
But in my own hindsight, I was. It was the 60's after all! Civil rights riots, American cities on fire, Cuban Missile Crisis, Wars in the Middle East, Political assassinations, Viet Nam, Hippies and Woodstock. Jesus simply had to be on the way! Prophecy Comes Alive! I suppose today is not much different with only the topics shifting around that need to be "fixed", however one thinks the fixing needs to done.
It was embarrassing and humbling to admit to myself that not only was I in a cult but I was a pastor in a cult. I was a salesman for the leader. My education in "theology" only matched that of the leader and forsook all other realities about the Bible that did not fit the program or what I may have personally need to believe whether it was true or not. When I believed it, I thought it was true or I'd not have believed it. But I admit it to myself. I was in a cult. Others views of their own experience may differ.
Being in a cult is not the "fault" of the member. It is the fault of the authoritarian leader whose personality disorders, need to control and self absorbed behaviors manifest in the lives of others as they inflict their personal form of chaos on those they attract. It is also very profitable for the authoritarian.
There cults can form in any environment where people find commonality, community and need to belong. Cults can be as innocent as collectors who obsess over their Action Figure and Star Wars Collections and are harmless, except maybe to one's finances. Cults of concern usually develop in both religion and politics. It is most often in religion and politics that cultic personalities survive and thrive. History is strewn with them and the chaos they bring to society.
In my view and experience, I naively joined a cult when young. I became a salesman for the cult. And only after stepping out of it was I able to see that I was drawn to it for all the classic reasons and the leadership had all the classic symptoms of cultic leadership.
My only personal reconciliation with the issue as it presented itself in my own experience is that I could not now be here, if I had not then been there.
Reasons People Join Cults
(and don't know it)
Seductive Recruitment Processes
Post Breadk-up Blues
Striving for "Perfection"
Finding a Higher Purpose in Life
Low Self-Esteem and the Need to Feel Special or Chosen
The Need to Feel "Taken Care Of"
Trying to Save the World
Fed up with "The World"
Ignorance of the Fact One is in a Cult
Cults Explained-Netflix
A remarkably insightful presentation
I will be participating in a second interview with WCTV Public TV in Wadsworth, Ohio on the Restored Church of God and it's WCG roots as well as my own perceptions of my personal experience with it on Monday. I can post it or not depending on sensitivities here but I it will be easily found after posted by WCTV on YouTube when it is available.
8 comments:
Dennis: Thanks for this brief but meaningful reflection on your personal history. It has made me think.
People are frightened of reality. As we grow up, we gradually recognize that we are here living on this planet without explanation. We observe things and we listen to other people. More than anything else in this empricism, we want meaning - life has to mean something. And in this mode of thought we become vulnerable to various forms of interpreting reality and expose ourselves to the risk of misunderstanding. Seeking the meaning of reality is a non-Darwinian exercise and in that sense it is an engagement with the unpredictable and with danger - because there are many people who stand ready to exploit this vulnerability for various reasons of their own - maybe because of their own skewed intrepretation of reality.
That is the backdrop as I see it. It is in this context that I do my own analysis of personal history. I have to develop for myself a reason why I was an Armstrongist for 30 years in spite of systematic maltreatment, sometimes from a distance and sometimes up close and personal. I am no masochist. I was looking for a safe harbor at the age of seventeen. And, lo and behold, I found Armstrongism. After an initial stage of self-convincing, my hot zeal for cultism roared along on its own power until I smacked into a derailment that carried me into Christianity. The whole thing still does seem very bizarre.
******** Click on my icon for Disclaimer
The hippies themselves treated Woodstock as if it were a religious experience. One of the band frontmen even proclaimed "We're in Heaven!" But, most of us in the church during that era held them in disdain because they seemed to symbolize everything that was wrong in the endtimes. I will say one thing. They sure made good music, and I don't care what HWA said about roosters screeching. Someone must have played him the Beatles "Good Morning!"
Seriously, as a second generation type dude myself, and as I tried to piece together a survival plan, upon leaving I realized that I now had the rest of my life to catch up on several activities which had been arbitrarily forbidden to me. In fact the forbidden fruit aspect gave me a heightened appreciation for these things, and I delved deeply and passionaltely into them. You should see my music collection! Rock, blues, soul, country! No more of that classical crap we were forced to endure because "Mr. Armstrong says!" I didn't save the ticket stubs from the concerts I attended, or have notes carefully taken at each one, but the memories are really intense.
Hotrods and street racing were another forbidden fruit. I hate to brag, but I had some awesome cars, and knew how to use them. Did all my own work on them, too. What an adrenaline rush! Martial arts and firearms. Hours of practice each day at the studio, and thousands of rounds shot at the shooting range. Also, lots of parties. However, because of the asceticism taught at WCG, and the lessons from the realization that I had been raised in a cult, I carefully controlled all of these things so that unlike some others, I never lost balance or went off the deep end. I practiced the seven laws of success and applied myself to my career.
Would I have been better off if my parents had not fallen for the scam, and we'd never heard of HWA or GTA or the WCG? Absolutely! Might have gone to a good college and used the diploma to get a headstart on the ol' career. Might not have gotten married early, more or less to experience sex before the end. Might have had better parenting skills if there had been alternatives to the child-beating booklet. Might not have had to go through counselling and therapy to be able to learn to function as an adult in the presence of authority figures. That one was a difficult battle because paranoia and PTSD are hard to shake, and it's difficult to break the habit of considering everyone with authority to be the enemy and always undermining them or getting into their faces.
Life can be salvaged after a cultic experience, but for survivors of Armstrongism, it is best described as our own version of a "Beautiful Mind" experience. I will leave that as a parting shot for everyone to ponder, because how we overcame the negatives and obstacles is highly individualized. The only way to allow cult to totally wreck your life is to remain in it, as part of the borg, being controlled and exploited by the leaders.
The future is always uncertain and seems a bit scary. We know that Death is a guarantee and that bad things can happen in life.
Thus, the Shaman, or Cult Leader who can convince people that they have a "handle" or control of the future can find followers who wish to extinguish this intneral angst about the future.
Control is based on need, and thus the whole game is to create a dependence and obedience or "else you dont get the future that ONLY I can provide".
I was very young when I came into the WCG, and thus naive. I never wanted to sign up for a cult, just somewhere that kept the Sabbath and the like, which I still do to this day. The idea of some kind of intermediary between God and me , and "church government" from the top down, was never a part of the public personna of the WCG, but really gets hammered down on you once you join.
Even as a believer, you have to grow beyond the gurus, shamans and interlopers. Your Christianity must be your own, or you really have nothing at all.
I am a member of a large cult. I have a leader who is the greatest preacher and prophet of all times. I believe in him and would die for him. I want to be like him and follow and believe all that he has to say and teach. This man has changed my life and I owe him my life for it He is indeed the cornerstone of the church of God. His name is Jesus Christ
Some good points on why people join cults. Eric Hoffer also talks about "frustration" with the present which overlaps with some others.
Well said Tonto. I was born in the Church. Pretty much all I knew growing up. Even after leaving, I do my best to follow the bible. I have 40 reasons why I decided to leave. The church beening a cult is number 3 on my list. It amazes me how it's pretty much the same pattern since the beginning of the church that's beening used. 1936, 1943, 1972, 1975 the world was suppose to end. 2017 was a probable date cause they say it will be 6000 years of human existence. The bible says no one knows the day or hour but the Father along. If the angels don't know. how can man know? How many times must people hear, " In the next 5 to 10 years of your lifetime "? Why is Mr. Ames talking about a Doomdays Clock? Fear, shame, guilt, Control, Information control, character assassination, lies, no critical thinking, don't question the leader, us vs. the world, brain washing, etc. These are some of the Cult Tactics that they use against the members. If the foundation is built upon truth, the truth will set you free. If the foundation is NOT built upon Truth, the truth will cause division.
Today is Tuesday, so presumably the WCTV interview went down yesterday. Got a link yet? These videos are like turning Banned into MTV!
Post a Comment