Antidote: Never hand over your God-given personal power or relinquish your God-given free will to any person, place or thing at any time for any reason, ever.
Beware of modern-day cults, especially those that tell you they are not a cult.
I am writing this for the many people in these modern times, who, for some reason, were looking for that something more in life, and got caught up in a web of diversion and dark human inspiration, a cult, and who desperately wish to get out.
YES, YOU CAN GET OUT!
There is more than one cult present in the world today. All of them deny that they are a cult. But there are 14 tell-tale marks present in all cults. The following post points out these life-altering pitfalls to watch out for. Most cults are under the flag of religion, like the cult of the “Rosary” within the Catholic Church, while some entire religions are also steeped in cult practices. The late Bishop George Rueger taught me that the Rosary is a cult within the Catholic Church.
However, cult followers can also carry the cult flag by following political leaders. This political type of cult leader is transformed by his “followers” into a god-like leader, when in fact, he is merely just another human being. Any rebuttal is met by his faithful cult followers, no matter how much truth there is in the facts, with the cult-like wave of resistance. They support the cult leader, no matter what truth and facts point out.
People’s Magazine sponsored a television show in 2019 on the cult, Word of Faith Fellowship, (under the disguise of religion) which oddly enough is attracting modern day men, women and children into its criminally abusive practices. This cult is one of many popping up these days.
Hitting a man, woman or child with an 18-inch-long wooden paddle for four straight hours while getting screamed at as if one has the devil himself inside the victim is not sanctioned by God, no matter what reasons cult ministers give to support their aggressive, self-serving and deranged goals, like Word of Faith Fellowship, in my opinion.
In some cases, as mentioned in the above People’s Magazine article stated, other “parishioners” push, hit and scream at the offending party for hours on end. No one has a right to put their hands on you or scream at you for hours. This is torture and criminal.
Whether you have been involved with this or any other cult-like religious or political group, reclaim your mental, physical and spiritual self as soon as possible. Fear of being abused in any or all of these forms is not the path to freedom and free will. Fear of being abused is a faulty human-manipulation-tactic used as social-structural, social-psychological, inter-behavior patterns to get you to submit your will to the misguided will of the cult group.
Fear, lies, and control freak threats are the ultimate weapon cults use.
It was never the intention for you to become a slave to someone else’s idea of how to live your life. Cult ministers are not more worthy of being human than you, nor are political cult leaders more worthy of a dignified human life than you deserve to have. They are simply another human being.
They certainly do not know more than you know about dealing with humanity fairly, with equity, common sense, empathy and compassion, especially if they are showing to you their opposite values of self-serving greed, despite what their forceful words erroneously may imply.
One day in the presence of cult ministers, leaders or any other title they use to inflate their own self-worth, is enough to shine a light on the soon to erupt volcano of emotional, physical and spiritual harm they eventually unleash.
Physical abuses can be seen. But the seemingly invisible mental abuses they inflict on their unsuspecting subjects is not God-inspired, at least not by the Good God, Father of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Theirs is an un-holy god of deception, manipulation, fear, obligation and guilt.
Listen to that inner voice inside yourself, your conscience, and realize you are right to escape the cult. Cults are evil personified, no matter what they say to the opposite. Cults are heavy into fear mongering and guilt motivation, but that does not make them right. You already know this.
What cult ministers do know is how to exert concerted effort to influence, bully, control, manipulate, exploit, and in the worst cases to abuse your body, mind and spirit in their unholy aim. This is abuse. This is mental abuse. This is physical abuse. This is spiritual abuse.
Escape from these abusers as soon as humanly possible.
Abuse in all these forms is criminal and must not be tolerated by any human being on earth.
All cults have similar characteristics. Here is a list of 14 characteristics that help to define a cult:
“• The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader, and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
• Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
• Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, or debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
• The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (e.g., members must get permission to date, change jobs, or marry or leaders prescribe what to wear, where to live, whether to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).
• The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members (e.g., the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).
• The group has a polarized, us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
• The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders, or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
• The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (e.g., lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).
• The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and control members. Often this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
• Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.
• The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
• The group is preoccupied with making money.
• Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.
• Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.” Taken from the online article Characteristics of Cults,” by Janna Lalich and Michael Pantone.
“The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave — or even consider leaving — the group,” say Janja Lalich and Michael Langone in their online article Characteristics of Cults.
Excerpts are from the book, Take Back Your Life: Recovering From Cults and Abusive Relationships by Janja Lalich and Madeline Tobias at Bay Tree Publishing.
Stand up for your God-given gift of free will. Use your free will to get out. No one owns the rights to your life. Your life, body, mind and soul belong to you. God loves you. God forgives you. You are a child of God here on earth. Only you can live your life. If you have given over the rights to your mind, body or spirit to other religious or political groups, or any other group claiming rights over you, use your free will to walk away. Those are not your friends. Friends do not usurp your God-given rights.
You can do this.
God Bless Everyone Everywhere