Brainwashed? Cults? How Can I Know? (part one)

Today I want to discuss how to spot a cult and why it is important to avoid them.The problem is a cult usually has just enough of the truth interspersed with a lot of a lie. In fact, cults are the devil's big lie to get people away from following Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. And unfortunately, he has had great success in doing that. And so how can we know what is and isn't a cult?

Some cults are easy to recognize. Take Jim Jones and what happened in his "religious" community in 1978. He led  909 people that day (November 18) to mass murder/suicide. A third of those people were innocent children that had no choice in whether they wanted to be there or not.

But how was he able to get so many people to follow him?

He was a very charismatic leader.and s phony self-proclaimed healer. He was for causes for the elderly,  and poor people. And he brought races together in unity.  So while there were some good things about Jim Jones,  people were attracted to those things and blindly allowed themselves to become a part of his teachings albeit unsuspecting about how their devotion would end up in death.

People down on their luck, so to speak or away from their families due to their need to get away from them and do "their own thing", and /or perhaps needed someone to care and love them was vulnerable to the love they found at Jone's church. They were drawn in, and brainwashed, never knowing how their lives were going to end because frankly, unbeknownst to them, they gave their souls over to the devil. They had given themselves over to a lie. A lie that the devil had orchestrated from the beginning of time.

So how do I know if I or others I know are in a cult?

Cults teach something along the lines of the truth. They identify with some aspects of it. They may or may not include Jesus Christ in their beliefs. He can be who he claims to be, he might be just a great teacher, or he may not be anything at all, in some cults.

Cults do not teach that Jesus is the Way, Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father, but by me. John 14:6

Cults will induce fear in people. They must follow the teachings to enable them to "get into heaven,"  If they leave the cult, they are going to hell,

Leaders of cults whether man or woman, want total control over the people. They must do whatever they are told to do and not question why. They can be disciplined, sometimes very severely by not conforming to what the leader is telling them to do. The people are not permitted to make their own decisions apart from the cult.

Cult leaders manipulate people into giving them their money and other "worldly goods" because they are a distraction from "their gospel" when in fact, those goods go to the leaders to use for themselves.

And cults will isolate its followers from their own circle of families and friends so that they can maintain control over them at all times. Trying to escape from some cults can be very dangerous to people.

There are other ways that can be identified as being a cult, but these are a few of the main ones. And I want to stress that all cults start off with brainwashing people into doing what they say is right But what exactly is that?

Come back tomorrow for the answer to that question.




Thought or the day:

Thanks for coming to visit today Friends! I pray for you and wish many blessings on you and those around you. Youf life is worth everything to Christ Jesus and I hope you know him!