Shortly after the Jonestown tragedy in 1978, the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) would refer an interested party to exit counselors or those knowlegable about thought reform for help with the psychological problems that one experiences after leaving a cult or for counsel for concerned loved ones who had family involved in cults. The Church of Scientology found this organization to be quite a threat, and through a complicated series of events, the Scientologists managed to buy CAN in a hostile takeover in 1996. Naturally, if anyone called requesting information or help with a related concern after the takeover, they were then referred to the Church of Scientology for “help.” If you could find someone with an old directory for CAN soon after the hostile takeover, you could potentially find local help for someone seeking counsel. Now a dozen years later, if you can find anyone who still has a copy of the old CAN directory, you may find that the contacts are no longer current. My last several attempts to find help for a variety of people via this route produced disappointing results.
I found a newly available series of videos taken from the old Geraldo Rivera show from the '80s. All the segments are very valuable, but I wanted to draw attention to some specific information first. The first video posted here opens up with a great description of what happens when you experience a high degree of cognitive dissonance.
There are many other elements of spiritual abuse (thought reform and mind control) that the guests on the show the discuss.
In the first clip, some of the guests that emerged from fundamentalist Christian groups talk about their experiences in abusive fundamentalist Evangelical groups. It's very interesting to see the Teen Challenge alumni become offended. Since this original broadcast, Teen Challenge has changed leadership and experienced quite a few cultic problems which can be researched on line at sites like FactNet.
Rick Ross made it clear that not all Evangelical groups practice thought reform or mind control, and even Geraldo was kind enough to point this out.
The Teen Challenge alumni become quite offended and question the salvation of the young woman who was raped in a cultic Christian church. They accused her of not reading her Bible or of studying the Word of God. This is a common misunderstanding about cults -- knowledge of the Bible provides NO insulation against cultic manipulation. The Teen Challenge folks also challenge the young woman by pointing out her sin of turning to drugs, even though she was born again. (It is the shame mongering that takes place in so many pious churches that I believe turns Christian kids into the world. It was certainly true of my peers and myself in my youth. Discovering that the pastor of the church that ran the Christian School I attended did not help.) Is this not similar to the experiences of so many in the Patriarchy movement? "It must be your fault." When I eventually post all the videos of the entire program, you will note that she was blamed for her own rape by church staff because they said that her heart was unpure. She brought the rape on herself because she admitted to the desire to have a boyfriend. Wanting a boyfriend at age 16 makes a person at fault if they get raped?
In the second segment shown here, Rick Ross (of the Rick Ross Institute listed in the resources on the sidebar of this page) and a counselor from "Fundamentalists Anonymous" compare and contrast "Exit Counseling" versus the antiquated practice of "Deprogramming", even though the Geraldo show identifies exit counseling as deprogramming on their graphics and the guests refer to it in this terminology.
The gentleman from Fundamentalists Anonymous describes contemporary exit counseling, though Rick Ross essentially agrees with him.
In the next post on this topic, I will include the segment that contains the testimony of the young woman featured here who was raped by a staff member at her church. (She was at fault primarily "because she was the woman.") I will then post all the segments together in one post for future and easy reference.
Generally, if you break down why leavers have left or should leave churches, it can come down to one of these areas:
(1.) God is not honored (2.) People aren’t in community with each other (3.) They aren’t reaching anyone Leavers rarely recognize their reasons in these terms… But more reasons originate in a church’s deficiency in one of these areas…
Of the 210 verses that refer to false prophets, priests, elders and Pharisees, here is a summary of their content:
99 verses (47%) concern Behavior
66 verses (31%) concern Fruit
24 verses (12%) concern Motives
21 verses (10%) concern Doctrine
It is interesting that most Christians who deal with apologetics, false teachers and Bible-based cults are most concerned with doctrine only. When discussing the patriarchy movement on SharperIron.com and ibelieve.com earlier last year, I was told by many that it was not appropriate to discuss much of anything save these folks' misuse of Scripture. But doctrine represents only a small portion of what Bible speaks about concerning false teachers. According to the Scriptures, we should be very concerned with both the behaviors and the fruit of spiritual leadership in the church and in parachurch organizations. This is not gossip or mean-spirited criticism but what Scripture actually teaches us to observe.
Dr. Paul Martin (an evangelical Christian) is CEO and Founder of the
(A residential treatment center in Albany, OH for those who have been abused in relationships, cults, or by professionals or clergy. They offer hope and help through a program of counseling, education and retreat.)
About the Photo: A December 29, 2007 message received from Flickr username robertstaddon www.flickr.com/people/15266406@N00/ states that he is the copyright owner and grants permission for the use of the unedited version of the photo with proper credit.
Huckabee announces White House bid” was the title of the article by Aaron Sadler at the Arkansas New Bureau on January 29, 2007. Outside of Arkansas not too many took notice. I had suggested to several in the media shortly afterward that they may want to keep an eye on this not very well known Arkansas politician, mostly due to his ties to Bill Gothard.
This was pretty much met with a collective yawn...... According to several former employees from the late 1970s era Bill had a landing strip built at his 3,000 acre Big Bear lodge retreat in the Northwoods and he had it built to accommodate Air Force 1.
I am told that he indicated God had told him that one day presidents to come to him and he wanted to be prepared. Will this happen in the near future? Well, if Bill has his way it may. It is not difficult to believe. as we pointed out in our book A
Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and the Christian Life that Gothard often claims special revelation and mystical understandings of Scripture from God....
Why wouldn’t a U.S. President turn to a fellow American leader which the Chinese government has turned to for guidance in fixing their nation’s woes? After all it wouldn’t be the first time Huckabee turned to Gothard. He did so when he was Governor of Arkansas and Gothard his plan to rehabilitate prisoners...
In addition to the above past relationship between Gothard and Huckabee, they were together at a private fundraising even in Texas on December 23, 2007. One of the Gothard followers that was there, the Robert Staddon family, provided a photo
of Bill Gothard, Mike Huckabee and Texas billionaires Mr. and Mrs. Dr. James Leininger on their blog. This particular page of their blog was recently taken down.
It is also my understanding from several that James Leininger is a partner in Doug Phillip’s Vision Forum.
Again, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with putting your money where your belief system guides you. All of us do that. And without specifically commenting more on the views represented In James Leininger’s choices, we have done that in article and blog form, I would suggest that we probably have a better idea of why Huckabee did so well with so little money in Iowa. There was a virtual homeschooling army at his disposal through Gothard and his connections. (There is a compendium of Huckabee’s ties
to Bill Gothard.)
Well, Don Veinot (author of the above excerpt), there is a quite a compendium of Leininger ties to Doug Phillips documented on the Vision Forum website. Google Leininger with Doug Phillips or Vision Forum see what you find. Vision Forum also sells books authored by Traci Leininger, homeschool graduate. It seems to be common knowledge in homeschooling circles in San Antonio (where this blog host lived for seven years and attended the same Presbyterian church as Phillips before he officially founded his own, local church) that James Leininger was the benefactor of Vision Forum, providing the initial capital for the launch of Phillips' ministry.
Hmmm. I'm not at all comfortable voting for a graduate from the spiritually abusive and mind-numbing IBLP (Gothard's training program), and I am certainly not comfortable with the Leininger connection to Doug Phillips, evangelist for another spiritually abusive system, to say the least. The fact that Phillips love Dabney so intensely (referencing Dabney without qualifying statements about race or slavery) doesn't help matters either.
The billionaire, James Leininger, MD , sits on the IBLP board, yet approves of the outright silly medical and health instruction propagated by Bill Gothard (see the MCO blog article for references). As a Registered Nurse and a Doctor of Naturopathy, I believe that I am qualified to make an evaluation and offer an opinion. Gothard's health recommendations differ little from the spiritualist Louise Hay. As a trained hypnotherapist, I've spent a great deal of time evaluating the concept of disease owing to emotions and lifestyle after the tradition of Hay and other hypnotherapists. Both systems differ little from the Word of Faith movement, save that Gothard's and Hay's ideas are based in concepts of spiritism. Considering that I grew up in the teachings of Pentecost and participated as an adult in the Word of Faith movement for more than ten years, I know that tune well also. I'd rather be a Tulsa groopie than follow Gothard any day, but I believe that both are spiritually abusive and extreme in their teachings. And yes, I am an IBLP graduate as well.
At the time of this writing, I display an "Anyone But Hillary" icon and link to a site where they sell bumper stickers, buttons and attire displaying the motto. I posted it here as a half-hearted joke. With the knowledge of Huckabee's connection to Bill Gothard, and in consideration of Doug Phillips and his connections to both Bill Gothard and Jim Leininger, I am inclined to display an "Anyone But Huckabee" button as well. Thought reform (under Gothard's program) does not for a good president make in my book!
Most people who find themselves in spiritually abusive situations rarely get there by accident. Though most opportunists find ways of making themselves indispensable during someone’s hour of need, most people get involved in groups or relationships because of unresolved issues of the past. I believe that God created the mind with an amazing desire and ability to heal itself, directing a person to a situation wherein the person can heal by recreating a familiar, unresolved scene with new characters later in life. People do this naturally, however without much work and knowledge of the dynamics of manipulation, people will be helpless to their natural inclinations and will likely behave just as they did within the original circumstances.
I’ve added [my own notations] to Robert Lifton’s thoughts on how and why this occurs:
Ideological totalism itself may offer man an intense peak experience, a sense of transcending the ordinary prosaic, of freeing himself from the encumbrances of
human ambivalence, of entering a sphere of truth, reality, trust and sincerity beyond any he has known or imagined….
[Manipulative systems offer] false promise of eliminating those imperfections and ambivalences which help define the human condition…
[Behind all ideological manipulation is an] ever present human quest for the omnipotent guide – the supernatural force, political party, philosophical idea, great leader or precise science that will bring ultimate solidarity to all men and eliminate terror and death and nothingness…
Early sense of confusion or dislocation, or an early experience of unusually intense family milieu control can produce later a complete intolerance for confusion or dislocation, and a longing for installment of milieu control…
Fundamentally [a desire for totalistic ideology is] a product of childhood itself… of a prolonged period of helplessness and dependency…. [producing a] new adult embeddedness [carryover of security seeking from our youth], adult ideals and aspirations.
Likewise, in their book “Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships,” the authors Tobias and Lalich identify the one-on-one cultic relationship. They state that “cults can be large or small,” and small cults generally have a “guru” that controls individuals or small groups of individuals in what can be called a “family cult.” Identified as the authors as “probably the least acknowledged” type of cult, this type of one-on-one manipulative relationship between two individuals manifests all the same dynamics of a large group. Sadly, this can also occur when one leaves a spiritually abusive setting.
When attempting to find support after leaving an abusive setting or circumstance, a person is very likely to encounter others who bear the negative effects of abuse themselves. One must be knowledgeable about the dynamics of manipulation to avoid getting caught in a new cultic relationship with other survivors, counselors or other well-meaning people who do not have expertise in recovery from manipulation and abuse.
They expound upon this concept in Chapter One of their book:
The one-on-one cult is a deliberately manipulative and exploitative intimate relationship between two persons, often involving physical abuse of the subordinate partner. In the one-on-one cult, which we call a cultic relationship, there is a significant power imbalance between the two participants. The stronger uses his (or her) influence to control, manipulate, abuse, and exploit the other. In essence the cultic relationship is a one-on-one version of the larger group. It may even be more intense than participation in a group cult since all the attention and abuse is focused on one person, often with more damaging consequences.
Many marriages or domestic partnerships where there is spousal abuse may be characterized and explained in this way. Other one-on-one cults may be found in boss/employee situations, in pastor/worshipper milieus, in therapist/client relationships, in jailor/prisoner or interrogator/suspect situations, and in teacher/student environments (including academic, artistic, and spiritual situations - for example, a school professor, a yoga master, a martial arts instructor, or an art mentor). It is our hope that those who have suffered such individualized abuse will find much in this book to identify with and use in healing their pain.
Since the upsurge of both public and professional interest in the issue of domestic
violence, there has been some recognition to the link between mind control and battering. Men or women who batter their partners sometimes use manipulative
techniques similar to those found in cults. The most common include "isolation and the provocation of fear; alternating kindness and threat to produce disequilibrium; the induction of guilt, self-blame, dependency, and learned helplessness." The degree to which these features are present in a relationship affects the intensity of control and allows the relationship to be labeled cultic.
The similarities between cultic devotion and the traumatic bonding that occurs between battered individuals and their abusers are striking. An abused partner is generally made to submit to the following types of behaviors:
early verbal and/or physical dominance
isolation/imprisonment
fear arousal and maintenance
guilt induction
contingent expressions of "love"
enforced loyalty to the aggressor and self-denunciation
promotion of powerlessness and helplessness
pathological expressions of jealousy
hope-instilling behaviors
required secrecy
When psychological coercion and manipulative exploitation have been used in a one-on-one cultic relationship, the person leaving such a relationship faces issues similar to those encountered by someone leaving a cultic group.
I received an odd Christmas blessing this morning. I drifted off to sleep with the prayer that God would bind me to Him and help me correctly discern everything that it is He would have me do. I prayed that I would not be like the Church at Ephesus of whom He Who was alive, dead and alive forevermore said had lost their First Love.
I spent the wee hours of the night posting what I had copied of the all the critical Amazon online reviews of the Passionate Housewives book onto my other website, after receiving many emails about their disappearance. All this on the eve of the celebration and remembrance of our Savior’s Birth. It certainly was not what I picked as an ideal Christmas Eve activity.
I’ve never seen the film version of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” so I recently watched a copy of the older, animated version of the book. I appreciated the ability to be able refresh my memories of this great work through the film, while able to accomplish some other busy work at the same time.
To refresh the memories of the reader here, Animal Farm tells the story of an alcoholic farmer who neglects the care of his animals, so the animals unite and organize themselves, running the drunken farmer off the premises. The animals then take over the operation of the farm, doing the work without the direction of the farmer and having much success, exceeding that of the farm under the direction of the farmer. They rename their farm “Animal Farm” in defiance. The pigs begin teaching the animals how to read, so that they will be less vulnerable to domination in the future.
As with the book that I last revisited about five years ago, I am most impressed with the list of rules that the animals paint on the side of Animal Farm’s barn for all to see. The pigs make their bold statements and new code for living on the barn as a reminder. The film proved to be the same for me, and perhaps it made even more of an impact by virtue of some of their depictions. I loved the dripping, wet paint. “Four legs good. Two legs bad.”
The ruling class, the pigs, paint soon discover the need to amend the list to “cover their backsides” and find justification for their new, human-like behaviors. The rule stating that “No animal shall sleep in a bed” must be modified, for the bourgeois pigs have developed a fond appreciation for the comfort of the farmer’s abandoned bed. T hey amend the rule with a clause that clarifies their “original” intended meaning so that the rule “rightly” reads “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.” In the film, I appreciate the small detail of an obviously different color and appearance of the paint used to paint the amendment clause. The rule of “No animal shall harm another animal” must be revised as well after Napoleon, the pig in charge, orders the second episode of execution of his dissenters. How this smacks of Robespierre’s ironic end during the French Revolution! The rule is amended to read “No animal shall harm another animal without cause.”
Near the end of the film and the story, when the bourgeois pigs no longer resemble pigs but look more like the humans they have overrun, they paint the most poignant amendment of all.
" This is a new and ugly phase in the history of Christian America. Whenever one group begins to assert a legitimate, God-given, government-approved right to dominate and deny rights to others, it's also another ominous sign of creeping proto-fascism.
We are now sharing this country with a substantial class of people who not only harbor the fierce belief that they are superior to the rest of us -- yes, a master race, and their rhetoric is starting to work that meme as well -- they also believe that the future of the country is at immediate risk unless the non-believers are restrained and subdued, placed under total control of their betters. Further: they believe that they are justified by God to do this by any means necessary -- within or without the Constitution."
Thought reform is accomplished through the use of psychological and environmental control processes that do not depend on physical coercion.
Today's thought reform programs aresophisticated, subtle, and insidious, creating a psychological bond that in many ways is far more powerful than gun-at-the-head methods of influence.
The effects generally lose their potency
when the control processes
are lifted or neutralized in some way.
That is why most Korean War POWs gave up the content of their prison camp indoctrination programs when they came home, and why many cultists leave their groups
if they spend a substantial amount of time away from the group
or if they have an opportunity to discuss their doubts with an intimate.
The article appeared originally in the January 2004 issue of Christian Culture. Visit the Center for Cultural Leadership web site: http://www.christianculture.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~
Today’s secular culture is at war with the family. Lax divorce laws, radical feminism, rampant pornography, legalized abortion, “children’s rights,” mainstream homosexuality, and inheritance taxes — all these and other factors collude to assault the family, particularly the Christian family.
"Cultic" certainly connotates something of lesser degree and threat than does the term “cult,” but as our experience with the terminology concerning the modern concept has grown, the terms have become interchagable. Much also depends on the orientation of the person or organization making the declaration. We now have (validated, statistically solid) tools and inventories for evaluating former cult members that were not available even ten years ago in addition to the information from the field of neurophysiology and brain imaging to aid in the determination of these things.
It is a more exact science, validated by empirical data, and not just soley determined by someone’s very subjective evaluation. It is also no longer governed by avoidance of negative and emotional connotation but has become more understandable. Our understanding of and successes in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), battered wife syndrome and the Stanford Prison Experiment has greatly contributed to our understanding of cults. Since the TM craze and the days of the People Temple/Jones, we have all the subsequent groups and their histories, some of which have spanned decades. Take for instance the Applewhite group/Heavens Gate cult. The surviviors have provided a twenty-year historical account of the development and decline of the group. The extensive study of the Boston Movement of the International Church of Christ is enlightenting as well.
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Theorists struggle with the definition of deconstructionism, as it is not easily or well-defined. Supposedly, it does not represent a method or school of philosophy for the purpose of textual criticism. However, the term deconstruction represents a type of textual criticism that attempts to identify the unwritten assumptions, presuppositions of a literary work or ideology, hopefully arriving at understanding of the thought or belief conveyed.
The process complicates the meaning of a work or idea by a sort-of critiquing it through a nihilistic viewpoint or cynicism. In some ways, it may be seen as an attempt to re-infuse metaphysical principles and consideration back into thought and culture that modernism and the age of reason tended to neglect. It could be, perhaps a means of seeking truth within a system that does not recognize or only accepts truth with much distrust and cynicism. Or stated differently, it is an attempt to reason by means of the logical fallacy of circular reasoning. Deconstructionism can never escape it’s own presuppositions of cynical distrust and denial of objective truth, while it dubiously attempts to arrive at truth.
Each era of human history presented its unique challenges and benefits, shaping and influencing culture as the culture answered those unique challenges. We ask ourselves and decide as a culture of subcultures just how we will live. Each phase or era has commonalities concerning proper conduct, correct reason and process, the nature of reality and valid knowledge.
Most people recognize the Ancient Greeks and the Hellenistic Period. I’m going to skip forward to more modern day eras, and eras within eras. Modernism, the common thought governing the industrial revolution, science and ethics at the turn of the last century was rather hopeful. The outlook was positive and objectivity became all important. Science and technology as well as acquired knowledge provided man with power to transcend his circumstances. People are seen as basically good and subjective aspects of man became secondary considerations. Science and knowledge would save us, and secular humanism thrived under these conditions.
