Part 10

Take heed that no man lead you astray. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.

– Matthew 24:4-5

Recent estimates place more than 2 million Americans, mostly between the ages of 18 and 25 (the cream of the crop of our youth) to be in some way affiliated with cults, which number over 2500 in the United States today. Some are more successful than others. The Church of Scientology boasts of having 5.5 million members worldwide. The Unification Church of "Reverend" Sun Myung Moon claims to have over 30,000 members in the United States alone. The "Reverend" Jim Jones' People's Temple had a following of about 3,000.

To infiltrate educational institutions the cults often misrepresent themselves. For instance, the Unification Church has established numerous campus centers under the name of CARP, the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles. The Science of Creative Intelligence / Transcendental Meditation (SCI/TM), with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as its founder, used to be called Spiritual Regeneration Movement Foundation. By changing its name and deleting from its vocabulary the words "religion" and "God" and substituting the words "science" and "creative intelligence," it has been able to circumvent the separation of church and state, obtained governmental support, infiltrate and establish a foothold in high schools and colleges. The infiltration is so thorough that SCUTM is presently being taught as a fully accredited course in some schools.

Why do we have so many cult groups? Because it is a very profitable business. When the victims, our captive youths, are placed in a condition of involuntary servitude and forced to work 16 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week for nothing; when a business can masquerade as a church behind the First Amendment; when no accountability has to be made of the earned money; when no taxes have to be paid; when our legal system sanctions and protects this form of criminal activity; when concerned parents are sued by the cults for interfering with the religious choice of their children; when parents and "deprogrammers" are fined and jailed by our courts for rescuing the helpless children from the clutches of the cults; when no law exists that prohibits the use of destructive, hypnotic, coercive persuasion techniques; when laws governing involuntary servitude, such as the Thirteenth Amendment, are not enforced; then cults will, and do, flourish without limit.

It appears that our laws are born out of a belief that there is no evil inherent in human nature. The truth is that human nature is decadent, evil beyond description. It doesn't take much intelligence to see the magnitude of human exploitation, destruction, the mockery of "justice," the genocide that is happening daily around us.

We have no defense against the abyss of human decadence that is inflicting violence against our young people in the guise of religious freedom. Our laws encourage the perpetration of certain crimes and violence against our trusting, naively innocent young people. If we complain to the authorities we are told that this is a free country, that our young people have "the right and the freedom not to get involved with the cults." Therefore, again, the real villains remain free to continue to plunder, to destroy, to perpetuate the kingdom of hell on earth.

Unfortunately for all of us, we have become a nation without a divine center. We have become a nation with no other authority than its own amoral laws. We have become a nation where a concept of religion is what anyone chooses to claim it to be.

The climate in the United States is ripe for the growth of cults. Our culture is responsible for the existence and perpetuation of cult groups. Our materialistic society has preconditioned youths to be come unwilling victims to the lures of the sirens; they are lured to their enslavement and destruction on the reefs of the pseudo-religious cults. Our culture does not prepare the young for life, but for commerce and industry, for capitalism. Our young people are seeking for a meaning to life; in their seeking they often fall prey to the lurking cults. They hunger for truth only to find "truth," the big lie, consuming them.

Yes, there are many dangers and pitfalls for the seekers; the quest for truth is a perilous journey. Only sincere, aware seekers will sense the dangers along the way and escape the snares. Unfortunately, today, the young are blindly groping for answers to life, answers that society has failed to give them. They see utter chaos, plunder, carnage; the destruction of good, the triumph of evil; a world in flames. Dear God, what is this life all about?

Despair sets in. Escape from despair then leads to drugs, alcohol, sex, crime, suicide, TM and the cults. Artificial bliss, stupor, slavery and eternal damnation become the answers to the purpose and meaning of life.

Cults capitalize upon human weaknesses and miseries. Herbert Hendin, a Columbia University psychoanalyst who studies youth movements for the Center for Policy Research, says: "I've never seen one of those young people who didn't have some kind of serious failure in family life. They are turning desperately from the pain of the outside world to the childlike support and structures of a make-believe family."

Cults are represented on almost every college and even in some high schools. College campuses and high schools are lucrative recruitment areas because:

  • – Students are disillusioned with life and are seeking for meaningful answers.

  • – Students, generally, have difficulties adjusting to school.

  • – Students don't enjoy school, and have difficulty establishing meaningful peer relationships.

  • – Students away from home are extremely vulnerable. They are going through a period of change, isolation and insecurity.

The student is disarmed when he is approached by a cult recruiter, usually a person of the opposite sex, who strikes up a friendly conversation, is all smiles, sincere, tranquil and affectionately holds his/her hand. The display of affection and attention raises a sense of question and curiosity.

The student perceives the recruiter to be a contrast to the chaos he feels within himself and he senses a need to find out what the other person has that he doesn't have. When he is invited to visit the "family" and to have dinner, he gladly accepts, thinking that his life will be enriched by the experience and that he will find new friends.

The "family," he learns, is a group of people, approximately his age, who appear to have a camaraderie that is fulfilling. There is a feeling of joy, happiness, and tranquility that he has never seen before. Everyone is so friendly. They look at him with approval, affection, and admiration; they shake his hand and hug him. The contrast created between the joyous "family" and his own feelings creates doubt about his state of mind. What have they got that he doesn't have? Subconsciously he desires to be a part of this very happy family.

The initial experience with the family was pleasant and the dinner enjoyable. There were some philosophical discussions and lively games. When he is invited to spend a weekend retreat at a nearby farm he accepts eagerly. He doesn't know it yet, but he has taken the enticing bait. Phase one of the indoctrination process is a success. Phase two, the closing of the trap, must now be implemented.

A van waits for our friend at the campus parking lot. He and many others are driven to the farm. When the van arrives some hours later, the occupants are greeted by a jubilant crowd of cheering youngsters. The warmth and friendship overwhelm him. He dismisses the thought about the farm being isolated, being further away than he had imagined. He didn't have time to wonder about the armed guard at the entrance.

Each newcomer is assigned a constant companion, a "spiritual" partner, usually of the opposite sex, who will never leave his side. The job of this companion is to keep his mind busy, to persuade, to pressure the newcomer not to leave. Even when going to the bathroom there is someone there, eager to engage in a discussion, to keep the thoughts flowing. As long as the newcomer is submerged in his thoughts, submerged in the "computer" of his mind, he cannot be aware, he cannot reason, he remains oblivious to what is really going on.

At the farm every minute of the day, and much of the night, is consumed in an endless round of singing, games, lectures, calisthenics, group discussions, more games, more lectures, more group discussions. The lectures are vague and repetitious. The speaker is tireless, he cites scripture and harangues for hours. His long deliveries are given in a well-rehearsed rhythm that is carefully structured to create emotional excitement and release. Sometimes there are several speakers and the listener has no choice but to sit and take it all in. At this time going to the bathroom is forbidden. Discomfort mounts which keeps his conscious mind preoccupied while the subconscious mind accepts uncritically what is being preached.

The newcomer is caught up in a whirlpool of force-fed, "logical," believable, and convincing pronouncements. His tired, agitated, preoccupied mind accepts the strange doctrine without question. He cannot check his information. He sees himself agreeing with concepts that he does not understand. When he finds that the other members are accepting the same doctrine all his doubts vanish.

There is no time for introspection, to question or to doubt. If he argues, they will descend on him. If he agrees, they will smile and love-bomb him. Self reflection has no value in the collective body. Blind obedience, blind faith is justified and glorified. To displease the group is to displease God. Learn to trust the elders, the sages; leave negativity at the entrance; internal conflicts should be ignored, (they are the work of Satan); open your heart, participate with the group, share your thoughts and experiences, you are among friends. And so on it goes. Pressure, pressure, pressure.

Systematically, the newcomer is worn down both mentally and physically. He is constantly badgered, pressured – pressured to join the group. The planned regimen which requires the newcomer to submit his individuality to the demands of the group pressure – the activities, the games, the calisthenics, the singing, the lectures and discussions – is having its effect.

Peer pressure is overwhelming; resistance is diminishing rapidly. Where else will he find such friendship? To resist their demands creates pangs of guilt.

His guilts are played upon by the manipulation of the fear of God and Satan. He misidentifies with his guilts and becomes afraid. Then, suddenly, surrender occurs. The struggle is over. He submits to group pressure, submits to something that is greater than himself. He is hypnotized. The trap is sprung. Now for phase three, the conditioning process.

Once the new recruit has been snared into the cult, the induced hypnosis must be sustained because there is a strong likelihood that the victim will regain his reason and flee. There are a great many ways to sustain hypnosis once it has been induced:

  • – Maintain relentless peer pressure.

  • – Isolation and manipulation of the environment and information.

  • – Inadequate diet, fatigue, and deprivation.

  • – Stimulation of fear and confusion – fear of God, fear of Satan, fear of authority, fear of retaliation if he quits.

  • – Perform prescribed doctrines, rituals, chants, slogans, litanies, repetitive reciting, ceremonies, mass betrothal.

  • – Wear prescribed garments, robes, uniforms, hairstyle.

  • – Stimulate increased emotional responses – hate, fear, awe, anxiety, guilt, apprehension, stress of any kind.

  • – Force the committance of illegal, immoral, or debasing acts.

  • – Blackmail – force the writing of confessions exaggerating the use of drugs, criminal involvement, and other self-incriminating acts.

  • – Provide constant activity-work, games, calisthenics, proselytizing, soliciting.

  • – Maintain a constant barrage of rules, regulations, lectures, discussions, memorizing, studying of the scripture.

  • – Impose the severance of ties with friends, families, school, job, former religious affiliation, material possessions.

  • – Assign new names to the converts. This enforces the severance of all ties, familial and societal.

  • – Require dependency on the group for everything.

Blackmail, illegal, immoral, and debasing acts appear to be common, although not exclusive, to the cults. Reverend Jim Jones insisted that his followers sign statements incriminating themselves for misbehavior, child molestation, rape, drug trafficking, and other offenses.

David (Moses) Berg, founder and leader of the Children of God (COG) sect, instructed his followers to participate in bizarre sexual activities, to urinate in public, to perform sexual acts before an audience. One former Hare Krishna member testified at a Queens County, New York, grand jury hearing that she drank cow's urine during one of the group rituals.

Charles Manson held his family together with drugs, sex and murder. The Symbionese Liberation Army forced Patricia Hearst to help rob a bank.

These illegal, immoral, debasing deeds are extremely effective hypnotic devices because the victims sin against society, sin against God. They become ashamed, guilty and afraid – afraid of the law and afraid of God. The pain, the shame, the agony is too excruciating. They cannot wake up from their hypnotic trance; they cannot return to reality; they are effectively trapped.

What has been described is based on information obtained from those who have managed to escape the cults. They also believe that their involvement with the cults seemed to be by their own choice. How this came to be a rational decision they cannot explain. That is what makes hypnosis so insidiously dangerous; the decisions they made, the "ideas" they had were not their own – they only seemed like their own.

It is difficult for the ex-cult members to put themselves back together once they have left the group. They are debilitated both in mind and in body. They have had a harrowing experience and it will take them a long time to recover. Parents can help by not blaming them, by not making them feel guilty, and by not rejecting them for what has been done to them.

Life is full of hazards. We are preyed upon and exploited by both the "law" and the lawless, by the overworld and by the underworld. It is up to the parents to remain aware, alert, informed to what is going on. They are the ones who must protect their children from the snares intended for them.

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