Reading books about how people successfully control other people really fascinates me for some reason and has for a while. I endured the effects from the inside and now i wanted to learn how they do it from the outside i guess. Because brainwashing and mind control is a real thing and the methods used on people most definitely works down to the subconcious and subliminal level. Throughout my childhood i knew that there was something strange about the whole environment that these old guys were containing people in very successfully. They were definitely using repetitive methods and tactics but i could not figure out how these methods worked so well. But there is definitely a playbook that they follow. And thats what i read about. How people control other people through religion. The design and playbook they follow. I don't know. I don't want to be a cult leader or anything but how they continue to control people effectively really fascinates my mind. Anyways trying to not focus on the banktrupcy and looking at the positives. Reading about how leaders control people has become a hobby i guess. Call me strange. But i knew they were following some kind of playbook. It was way too orchestrated.

Learning about cults and cult control is a very worthwhile thing to do.

When I did my initial learning (my sister had joined a cult, which I didn't realize for awhile), one of the things I learned in the beginning is that cults can be (and often are) composed of only two people: one a "cult leader," the other a follower--and that many real-life relationships (married couples, "going together" couples, families) function as [informal] cults--so this is a situation which can affect many more people than most people realize.

I am happy you are doing this, Warrior.

Grease to your elbows!! [*]


[*] This is, or so I was told in a book, a old African wish/blessing.

Nice hobby you got there, warrior!There is a heavy amount of resources on that topic.

I knew, even young, that Christian Science was a very exotic departure from conventional Christianity. It was hanging around the company Command Post in Vietnam, talking to an LDS lieutenant, that I first understood how cultic my religion was.

He was sharing his testimony with me, telling me about a prophetic leader, sacred writings that only his religion had, and how his church had the only real "restored" gospel. As he went on and on, I saw the similarities between LDS and CS. I didn't internalize that information until some years later.

As I explored more orthodox Christian articles of faith, I came across Walter Martin's "Kingdom of the Cults," which I have recommended many times on this board. Then I REALLY learned how these traits--and many others--show up commonly among cults that are either theologically deviant and/or ecclesiastically dangerous (authoritarian).

I really suggest you get hole of that book. Ask your local library to order it, if they don't have it. Not only will you get to read it --it covers lots of other cults--but it will be available for other members of your community for years to come.

Ok i wrote that book down. The one book i really want next is by Robert Jay Lifton called 'thought reform and the psychology of totalism' a study of brainwashing usedby the chinese. Steven hassan refers this book a lot and says a lot of cults copy it.

Back when I was in college, I took a course on revolutionary China and learned all sorts of things about re-education and systemic thought control. It was disturbing because it sounded so very Mormon.

Soon thereafter I told my father that the church functioned like a cult and he denied it strenuously. I remember thinking the parallels were too strong for a simple denial to suffice and that he should have gone with the other Mormon defense: that cults and thought-controlling ideological movements were Satan's perversions of God's true path--you know, like all the other Christian religions are Satan's attempts to lull people into sinful complaisance.

"If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without jeopardy." - Chinese Proverb

I find myself fascinated by cults and the abnormal psychology aspects of extreme controlling behavior in individuals...given that a faith leader exhibiting some signs of personality disorders are the Bat(crap) signal that the whole organization is a cult, there's a lot of overlap. What I find I most need to understand is how one dysfunctional person can change their followers into people they never thought they'd be, doing things they never thought they'd do. In Mo'ism the behavior has continued long after the OG has died.

I don't think it's weird at all when people like exmos have such a keen interest in cults and controllers. I think it's part of understanding the powerful social forces that can be at work in our lives. I've found recovery from mormonism has shaped my choices about how I deal with people long down the road since leaving.

I recommend the books by Scientology "Sea Org" defectors if you want harrowing first person narratives. They're honestly terrifying to me as another example of how tenaciously a deranged ideology has persisted after the founder's demise.

Demise? I thought his body had become an impediment so he dropped it in order to continue his work on another planet. That’s what his church said.

Oh, yeah. Spaceman Ron "dropped the body", as they say, and is continuing his important work elsewhere. Such a delightful spin on shuffling off the mortal coil.

Perhaps while he's cruising around out there finding all the answers he can help JS figure out whether there truly is help for the widow's son.

EL-ron and Joe S meet in outer space and argue over who's right. EL-ron recruits Xenu and the Federation rebels to combat while Joe summons 1/3 of his "valiant spirit children." Lucifer and his rebel (demonic) angels play both sides against each other.

Get Orson Scott Card on this!

Good stuff to study. I also like to study scams of all kinds and psychological warfare.

Don't be ashamed. I was obsessed with cults, for months. I wanted to make sure my kids and I would never be sucked into one, ever again. You want to find out how it happened to you, personally. Here's what helped me:

"Combatting Cult Mind Control" by Steven Hassan

"The Mask of Sanity" from The New England Journal of Medicine. (About Cluster B psychopaths and sociopaths)

"People of the Lie" by M. Scott Peck (about the members of religious cults)

Recently, a poster recommended Dr. Les Carter's lectures about Narcissism, on Youtube. (You will be amazed at how Dr. Carter describes many of the Mormons you have known, and who have influenced you. The Mormon cult is definitely Narcissistic, as was Joseph Smith.)

Know your enemies!

I have all of steven hassans books including 'combatting cult mind control'. I'm actually reading his 'freedom of mind' book right now and i just finished hitchen's ' god is not great: how religion poisins everything' mentions mormons in that book as well. I want to read the 'god delusion' by dawkins eventually.

"Kingdom of the Cults," which I mentioned in my above post, and
"Cold Case Christianity," whereby a detective who examines cases that happened decades ago utilizes his investigative tool kit to consider the evidence for Jesus Christ. An easy, enjoyable read.

If your library doesn't have them, ask them to order them. Most libraries figure that if there's one person who wants a title, there are at least a few others.