Recognizing Con Artists, Tyrants, and Spiritual Abusers in Leadership

FROM THE INTRODUCTION:    Suppose you move to a different area, and are keeping your eyes open for a good group to belong to (a social club, a church, a synagogue, or service organization). You visit one such group where the people are very friendly, loving, and give you individual attention. The group has a variety of programs: a rehabilitation program for drug addicts, services and nursing homes for the elderly, help for the poor, and free clinics. The leader inspires the disillusioned, the disenchanted, and those who have been rejected elsewhere. He is well-known and respected in the area, and the mayor gave him a position as Director of the City Housing Authority. Would you join this group?
    Suppose you spend four years in college and nearly two years in graduate school to prepare for a career in Christian music. Then the ministers of your home church tell you that you are not needed in their music program. Shortly afterward, you find a new group that welcomes you with open arms. They really care for people. The leader of this group has fascinating Bible studies. You and everyone else are able to sit and listen to him for several hours at a time. Would you stay in this group?
    If you answered "yes" to the first situation, you joined the church led by Jim Jones who led over 900 of his followers into a mass suicide murder. If you liked the second group, you became a follower of David Koresh who led over 80 of his followers to die in a blaze of fire.
    A wolf in sheep's clothing is a short and simple description of a cult leader – as these men were.
    Are there any warning signs that a group and its leader are dangerous? That’s largely what this book is about. 
 
To read more about this subject, click here to download Stephen Martin's e-book.

Christian and Secular books on Recovery from Mind Control

Christian Books Addressing the Dynamics of Spiritual Abuse

· **The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse (Johnson & VanVonderan)

· **The Heresy of Mind Control: Recognizing Con Artists in Leadership (Martin)

· Healing Spiritual Abuse (Blue)

· The Discipling Dilemna (Yeakey)

· Exposing Spiritual Abuse (Fehlauer)

· 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (Fischer)

· The Rest of the Gospel (Stone)

· Twisted Scriptures (Chrnalogar)

· Toxic Faith (Arterburn)

· More Jesus, Less Religion (Arterburn & Felton)

· **Tired of Trying to Measure Up (Van Vonderan)

· **Families Where Grace is in Place (VanVonderan)

· **Safe People (Townsend and Cloud)

· Bring ‘Em Back Alive (Burchett)

Secular Books Addressing Cults and Cultic Churches

[Remember: The dynamics in Biblical churches and in cults are identical.]

· **Take Back Your Life (Lalich)

An earlier version was **Captive Hearts, Captive Minds (Landau-Tobias and Lalich)

· **Combating Cult Mind Control (Hassan)

· **Cults in our Midst (Singer)

· **The Lucifer Effect (Zimbardo)

· Releasing the Bonds (Hassan)

· Recovery from Cults (Langone)

· Snapping (Conway)

· Bounded Choice (Lalich)

· Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (Lifton)

· Brainwash (Streatfeild)

· Battle for the Mind (Sargant)

· The Manipulated Mind (Winn)

UCG Scrambling To Maintain Control?

For decades we have been bombarded in the Churches of  God about a coming WWIII with Germany at it's head who will bring the United States and British Commonwealth nations to it's knees.  We have also had alternative bogeymen that became the chief scapegoat once the Berlin Wall fell. There's China, there's the rampaging Muslims, and some are even hoping that the Soviet Union regains it's power in order for HWA and Meredith's prophecies to come true.

In reality these are impotent nations compared to a far greater power that has emerged with the ability to bring down governments, presidencies, religious leaders and churches.

It's the Internet!  This one little tool has empowered people with the ability to check things out without having to go to their minister, elder or prophet/apostle.

A blog on cults today had a small paragraph about how the Internet helped decimate UCG late last year.  UCG has not recovered and will NEVER recover from this.

Recently, a friend of mine who came out of the Worldwide Church of God mentioned that the main splinter group from that cult has split again as an anonymous person had posted on a forum the happenings within that church and caused many to question the leadership. Again, the freedom to search and find answers has helped cult members to get free.

Steve Hassan: Interviewing Robert Jay Lifton

UCG is now lashing out at the evilness of the Internet and it's ability to change peoples mindset.  Scott Ashley has an article in UCG News August 2011 .  Ashley has written this article to contact the rumors that are swirling around UCG and on the Internet about changes in UCG's doctrines.  Apostle Malm, on the Shining Light blog is taking direct credit for cause of this article.  He claims he has been in several discussions with Ashely recently.

Apostle Malm writes:

Scott Ashley graduated from AC in 76 and then moved to Denver, he became a deacon about 1990 and was ordained in 93, see his CoE bio. He was not in Pasadena during the Tkach years and has absolutely no knowledge or understanding of what was going on then; therefore he cannot see through what is taking place now. He has commented on this Blog under an assumed name recently and he and I have exchanged messages both in the past and in the last few days. I have just sent him some information together with source proofs, but Scott has a dedicated “my group is God’s and corrrect in all things” attitude. He has seen fit to attack me on other occasions even more directly; without knowing what he was talking about. He is a man of great zeal for UCG and I expect that like Paul; when his light of understanding goes on, he will become a very special person. Right now he is blinded by misplaced loyalty and a lack of information and understanding. Do you think that he and certain others would waste their time on reacting to any other Blog? These things are a good indication of the impact that this Blog is having and on the need they feel to respond. I have never advertised this Blog and yet it is having a profound impact on the various COG groups. Many brethren and some elders are experiencing a renewed zeal for the Great God! Why? And How can that be, if the Eternal is not involved? James

Malm is a serious threat to many of these splinter cults.  He is going after die hard Armstrongites who are hell bent on keeping the law perfectly. Malm and his little legion of acolytes think they have all the capabilities to keep the law in it's entirety:

Recently I have repeatedly said that UCG is not changing its written doctrine; it is changing its practical application of its written doctrine.  They are also watering down the “Law and Grace” issue into a license to sin.  Yes, they know what sin is, but they have bought into the Evangelical lie [based on the Evangelically produced NKJV and the NIV etc] that we cannot keep the commandments properly before God;  therefore Christ will overlook our human frailty and sin out of “love”.

Many of these cults are afraid that Apostle Malm is going to start another group.  He is already telling people to stay home from their church Feast site, or attend this year knowing that it will be their last one with their present COG group.  He is soliciting money and has enough backers that can set up a new non-profit Church for him to step into without him ever lifting a finger.

What is going to happen to this group of people once Apostle Malm's prophecies and blovaiting all fail to come to pass?  More destroyed lives.  More disillusioned people.

LCG Writes: God Is Not Pleased With Us Becasue We Squabble And Feed Our Selves

In a short blurb on LCG's "Tomorrows World News and Prophecy" they were discussing the sad state of affairs in Somalia and the famine that is killing men, women and children.  More than 29,000 children have died in the last three months alone.  Is LCG and it's members really concerned about them enough to do something? Is there a new LCG on the horizon?

Is LCG going to help alleviate the pain and suffering that parents have when their children die in front of their eyes?  What about the kids who lose their parents? Don't count on it!  LCG has no intention  of doing anything to help those people!  Instead they dish out their worthless religions rhetoric that they (LCG) think is comforting.

LCG, it the grand tradition of thinking of itself as the ONLY ONE TRUE CHURCH has this to say to the starving, the homeless, the poor, the hurting, the strange along side the road:  "Don't worry!  There is something better coming along sometime in the future.  God's going to fix it all for you.  Don't be foolish and morn your children.  They will have another chance sometime in the future.  If we give our money to you then we cannot preach a gospel that the world sorely needs.  It's more important to be on WGN at 3:00 in the morning than it is to ship a few bags of rice to feed you."  "You are not of British Israel stock, (which is apparent because of  your dark skin) and we need to focus our awesome message on white Israelite nations.  You will have your turn in the future after you have died."

What a loving Christian message LCG preaches to it's people and to the world!

But the ironic thing is that LCG continued that article with Bible quotations that they thought were aimed at the world around them.    They said:

However, there is a God who cares, and He instructed the prophet Ezekiel to write concerning the people of Jerusalem, “put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it” (Ezekiel 9:4)–God notices those who are saddened by atrocities they see around the globe! He is not pleased with people who squabble and “feed themselves,” while other human beings suffer. Jesus Christ also prophesied that one of the signs of the end of the age would be famines in various places that would kill many people (Matthew 24:7, Revelation 6:5-8).

LCG assumes this is an indictment against the those around the world who see the famines, the after effects of the earthquakes, floods, tsunami's, tornadoes, and hurricanes.  LCG assumes this scripture is about squabbling nations, and rich nations who have an abundance of food while others suffer.

What LCG fails to recognize is that this scripture is an indictment against the Living Church of God!  LCG and all the COG's are constantly squabbling and bickering with each other. They condemn and disfellowship each other with ease.  They continue to demand that members send in tithes to keep the Church and it's leaders in their fancy offices, their nice homes that are stocked with every pleasureful thing they can buy, their refrigerators and pantries overflowing with food.  Their riches increase as they turn a blind eye to the suffering around them.  They will not even help the homeless in Charlotte let alone half way around the world!

God  is not pleased with the people of LCG because they squabble and “feed themselves,” while other human beings suffer!