Brainwashing. What is it? (part 2)

brain·wash

ˈbrānˌwôSH,ˈbrānˌwäSH/

verb

gerund or present participle: brainwashing

1. make (someone) adopt radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible pressure

Brainwashing is a very dangerous tool by which groups of people such as those in cults that want to take over their minds and gain control of them.

Other types of organizations that use brainwashing are totalitarian states, prisons and,in governments, and in the media. What? The media? Yes, it happens there to. To mislead the truth and make the truth a lie. 

Brainwashing can also be found in abusive relationships. One partner dominating and taking control of another person's free will is brainwashing.

 And yes, it can be found in religion.

The concept of brainwashing was originally developed in the 1950s to explain how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them. Advocates of the concept also looked at Nazi Germany, at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers. The concept of mind control was later applied to explain conversions to some new religious movements and other groups. This resulted in scientific and legal debate;^[7] with Margaret Singer, Philip Zimbardo, and some others in the anti-cult movementpromoting the concept while Eileen Barker, James Richardson, and other scholars, as well as legal experts, rejected at least the popular understanding of brainwashing.^[8]

source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing

And while these different organizations can and do use brainwashing, this particular study is about cults and so that is what I want to focus on today.

I found the below image while preparing this and I wanted to share it because this is what brainwashing ultimately does. It makes a person like a puppet on a string that someone pulls to manipulate us into doing what they want us to do.

How does mind control work? Basically, but not limited to the following:

1. Those in leadership roles are in it for themselves. 
2. Their energies are focused on the inside and not the outside. In other words, they are not caring for the members but on what they can get from them. Be it possessions, money, and power over them.
3. They use deception in the recruitment of members.They pull people in by loving them and making them feel like this is something different. Those that come from backgrounds that did not show real love are especially vulnerable to this kind of manipulations because the person does not know what they are really getting into.
4. People are not allowed to think for themselves. If they do, they can be harshly punished.
5. They alienate members from family and friends. If those people try to get in contact with their loved one, they are lied to.
6. The leader is the only one that hears from God and is given all authority to make decisions for you.
7. 7.If you do not comply you can be humiliated and as stated, disciplined for your sin.
8. You are not allowed to watch tv or read anything outside the cults material. 
9. In some groups that are not communal, which I belonged to, when a member in that group was murdered we were not allowed to know the details that only the leaders knew, we were encouraged not to look at the news reports and we were not to discuss the case with anyone.Not even to the brothers and sisters, as we called each other in this group.To this day, though it happened many years ago I do not really know what happened in that case and have not been able to find anything out about it. 
10. Some cults will acknowledge Jesus Christ but on a limited basis, thus making the leaders above him.And this is truly dangerous.

While these are not the only marks of cults, these are very important ones.There are two other cult-like churches that I will discuss tomorrow. This is an important topic for me because years ago, I was a member of each of these churches. And while they could not be called a full-blown cult, I think if God had allowed them to continue, they might have been eventually. As it were, both churches left in their wake a confused people that truly loved God. And one of them made me wonder for a time if I was even going to heaven. Come back tomorrow for part 3.

                             God bless each and every one of you! Have a wonderful day!