Let's First Understand
the LEADER
The key to understanding these leaders lies in a fundamentalist
attitude gone-bad.
These leaders will go one step BEYOND the Bible, or
will read THEMSELVES into the Bible in such a way that it all seems to apply to
them....exclusively.
There ego and sense of self-importance swells, and
they lose all accountability to anyone else. They see themselves as the only
ones truly doing God's work. They indoctrinate their followers with a
persecution complex and a FEAR towards the "outside" world. And to finally only
trust and obey the leaders. They have a righteous cause, which tends to
alleviate their own consciousness or guilt and failure, and this becomes an
addiction that insures their continued obedience with a fanaticism that no logic
seems able to dismantle.
Like a drug addict who needs his fix, the cause
or leader is their drug.
They are able to use language to easily beguile,
confuse, and convince. They are good storytellers, they exude self-confidence
and are able to spin webs of intrigue. They are very persuasive. Usually their
capacity to destroy critics verbally and disarm them emotionally leaves us
awestruck!
They are manipulative and conning which "based on charm" they
appear to be helpful, but are actually hostile. These leaders divide the world
into suckers, sinner and himself. They have strong feelings of terror and rage
by dominating and humiliating their victims.
They have an insatiable need
for adulation and attention. They present themselves as the "Ultimate one",
enlightened, a vehicle of God, a genius, the leader of mankind, and sometimes
the MOST HUMBLE of the HUMBLE!
Always creates an Us-versus-Them
mentality.
They are pathological liars. They are extremely convincing,
forceful in the expression of their views, can even pass lie detector tests. For
them, objective truth does not exist. The only "Truth" is whatever will best
achieve the outcome that meets their needs.
A total lack of remorse,
shame or guilt. While they may DISPLAY outbursts of emotion, more often they are
just putting on a calculated response to obtain a certain result. They are
unmoved by things that would upset a normal person, while outraged by
insignificant matters! Completely unaffected by the emotional life of others,
living in a dark world of their own.
Tragically flawed with the inability
to either give or receive love. Love substitutes are given instead. They do not
believe in any love offered by their followers, so that is often the result of
unspeakable cruel and harsh testing of their devotees.
They have a cool
indifference to things around them, yet their icy coldness can quickly turn into
rage.
They take advantage of others, expressing utter contempt for anyone
else's feelings. Although they are intelligent, perceptive, and quite good at
sizing people up, they make no real connections with them. They use these
"skills" to exploit, abuse, and wield power.
Total lack of
Empathy!
They act much like small children. Difficulty regulating their
emotions, temper tantrums are frequent. Rage and abuse, alternating with token
expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for both the leader
and his followers.
They act out- often privately, sometimes publicly-
usually to the embarrassment and dismay of his followers. Many act out sexually,
aggressively, or criminally, frequently with rage.
They are not concerned
about the consequences of their behavior and may be totally oblivious or
indifferent to the devastation they inflict on others. They may feel it's not
their problem or responsibility.
They rarely accept blame for their
failures or mistakes. Scapegoating, blaming followers, those outside the group,
a member's family, the Government, Satan-- Anyone and everyone but the
them.
Promiscuity, child sexual abuse, polygamy, rape, and sexual acting
out of all sorts are frequently practiced by these leaders. There is often
stringent sexual control of the followers through enforced celibacy, arranged
marriages, forced breakups and divorces, removal of children from their parents,
etc. For the leader sex is just a control and power issue.
Most leaders
are supported by gifts and donations from their followers, who are pressured to
turn over much of their income and "worldly possessions" to the
group.
They may complain about being weak or burdened by caring for their
followers, sometimes stating they do not have long to live, installing fear and
guilt and encouraging further servitude.
These leaders have the ability
to attract followers (recruiting skills)
Charisma:
An exceptional
quality in an individual who, though appearing to possess supernatural,
providential, or extraordinary powers, succeeds in gathering disciples around
him. Has a special magnetic charm.
Charismatic cult leaders have a
special type of power, dictatorship that results in a whole-hearted devotion, a
blind and fanatical trust and an unrestrained and un-critical faith.
This
type of devotion does not happen over night, but is the result of the leaders
skillful use of thought-reform techniques.
It takes a strong willed and
persuasive leader to convince people of a new belief, then gathering newly
converted around him as devoted followers.
We do not just knowingly join these destructive groups, but the end
results can turn out to be devastating!
***********************
"The
deadliest counterfeit is the one that most closely resembles the
truth."
***********************
Anonymous
Noble and
good things we may have been seeking.
1. A purpose
2. A family
3. A
systematized Belief System
4. Promises
5. The Promise of spirituality or a
relationship with God
6. The promise of personal growth, wisdom, etc.
****************************
Carefully examining the
beliefs and practices of the group, the positives as well as the negatives, and
compare them with God's message of freedom, faith, grace, etc., is the KEY to
unlocking Bible-based exploitive mind manipulation.
Cult leaders use the
Bible fraudulently and in illogical way to dominate, confuse, abuse, and keeping
the member from thinking.
In order for these leaders to twist the
Biblical message of freedom and basic mental health, these groups MUST depart
form historical faith in order to control and abuse their members. They must use
dishonest means of biblical interpretation in formulating doctrine, often
saying, "I didn't say it, it's the Word of God!"
They have to use EXTRA
volume because their logic is weak. The most common form of weak logic used by
cult leaders is the to ignore the complex literary structure of the Bible. (No
regard to context). Also ignoring context of the original author. Taking one
passage of Scripture and apply it at random to another, often making it say the
opposite of the writers intent. Unconditional submission or unquestioning
obedience to the pastor or husband can be made to seem our biblical lot in life
when the principle of obedience is applied to texts that are about other
topics.
If you believe the Bible is about authority, you will find it on
every page. The same is about health, sex, or money.
Given the right
frame of mind, ANYONE exposed to these and other errors in interpretation,
hidden well enough, will believe them. The "witnessing", contacts not made, sin
(as defined by the group leader) not confessed, money not given, work not done
on time, add up to "being a sorry Christian". You then feel as though you are
nothing, worthless, selfish, "out of the spirit". Since I am worthless and the
way to heaven is through suffering, it makes "perfect sense" to be silent when I
am abused by the spiritual leader.
**When the message of Jesus is preached, some will reject His message and are in fact rejecting
Jesus. BUT, we can't stretch that to mean that if you reject the advise of so called "leaders" you are rejecting Jesus.
Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm! These leaders use that passage to control and abuse their followers. They are actually taking
that passage Out of Context!!
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