Dear Mavin, everything you have written has been very helpful. You might appreciate some of the information on this link by Dick Sutphen--he was the first source I encountered who described how NLP is covertly used in a wide range of settings.
A\[
serendipity.magnet.ch]
And if you go to [
www.deikman.com,] go to 'cults' and select the article 'Evaluating Spiritual and Utopian Groups, you'll get common sense guidelines on how to assess your church. Deikman is a psychiatrist and a Sufi practitioner. He says that trance and fear and indoctrination are incompatible with spiritual development.