Cults & the Vulnerable

I was watching Wire in the Blood last night and this statement, from the clinical psychologist character, hit home;

"A leader of a cult lives to control his followers, their submission gratifies him, reinforces his ego. He is all-controlling...
What seem insane to us, is completely logical to the group...
They're just people. They're marginalized, alienated, vulnerable. Their looking for purpose, meaning. They crave certainty. The cult gives them friends, family - and all it asks from them is loyalty and obedience. They're happy to do that, so they remove their will..whew!..no more doubt, no more torment."

Sound familiar?

Ron tells them the world is facing destruction, Jesus is coming back in three years & he would have them believe they cannot survive without him; the end-time prophet of God. So they relinquish logic, rationality, individuality. They conform, holding fast to the irrational; ignoring or explaining away inconsistencies; refusing to listen to reason; begetting delusions of persecution when confronted with irrefutable evidence that threatens to shatter their cherished beliefs - "Waking up" presents the enormous consequences that comes with the realization that one has been 'duped.'


Check out Weinland Watch for more on the subject of cultism and thought reform; Robert J. Lifton’s Eight Criteria for Thought Reform, When Prophecy Failed — In 1954 and CoG-PKG: Party Like It’s 1984