[www.cwnews.com]
[www.cwnews.com]



" Latin American Cults Watched Following California Suicides "


Apr. 07, 1997

QUITO, Ecuador (CWN) - Latin American nations have taken initiatives to control and even ban some cults under Gnostic or New Age influence in order to prevent a massive suicide similar to the "Heaven's Gate" suicide cult that occurred recently in California.

In Quito, Ecuador, authorities have banned any proselytizing by the "Gnostic Christian Universal Movement of Samael Aun Weor," due to the similar beliefs regarding the "messianic signals" of the Hale-Bopp comet. According to local police, the decision to forbid the sect's actions in Ecuador has been taken in order to "prevent any dangerous reaction such as the one that occurred in the United States."

Even though the Heaven's Gate sect has no official representation in Ecuador, some of its members have organized an international summit that was going to be held in the country. Since Ecuador is on the Equator, the country is seen as an "energy pole" by many New Age cults. The Ecuadorian government has forbidden the Heaven's Gate summit.

At the same time, in Peru, the government asked the National Police to investigate the "Alpha and Omega" cult, a Gnostic movement which promotes a messianic expectation on the arrival of a UFO that will bring universal peace and love. The sect says that Jesus was a forerunner of the interplanetary aliens they are expecting.

Similar investigation of other New Age sects are underway in Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. "



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2008 05:08AM by Keir.

This groups must be investigated with discernment. If a sect has bad principles that doesn't mean that the others have them too.( it's like hating an unknown person because it resembles with a bad person).

Quote
dragoshman
This groups must be investigated with discernment. If a sect has bad principles that doesn't mean that the others have them too.( it's like hating an unknown person because it resembles with a bad person).

Unfortunately the root of the tree is rotten to begin with.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2008 04:01PM by Keir.

Aun Weor is another one of those self profess "messiahs" who pretends that he is here to "save the world".
He claims to be an Arch Angel, Avatar of the New Age, Regent of Mars etc. among other things.


He writings are filled with tons of polemics against anyone who disagrees him. Refering to any other spiritual teachers as being inadequate or being black magicians, members of the black lodge etc. The various sects has become nothing but cults of fear.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2008 04:06PM by Keir.

The groups even have their own cult jargon and lingo.

[www.orange-papers.org]
Quote from the link:
5. Cult-speak.
The cult has its own language. The cult invents new terminology or euphemisms for many things. The cult may also redefine many common words to mean something quite different. Cult-speak is also called "bombastic redefinition of the familiar", or "loading the language".

"Loaded Language" is one of Robert J. Lifton's Eight Conditions of Thought Reform -- an essential part of any effective brainwashing program. The cult-speak may include a bunch of well-worn slogans, which Lifton called "thought-terminating clichés. The special words constrict rather than expand human understanding, and the slogans stop thought.

Beginners have to learn all of the new terminology in order to fit in, and understand what is being said. Then, the new language has the effect of separating the newcomer from his old world, and from his old circle of friends. His new cult friends will tell him that "Only another cult member understands", and it will be true. When he babbles nothing but cult-speak, nobody but another cult member will be able to understand.
...................

Back in the "real world", because leaving the cult is one of the worst crimes that a member can commit (according to the cult), most cults have a special term for leaving, like "going tai-tan", "backsliding", "leaving the fold", being "lost in maya", being "trapped in samsara", "straying from the path", "falling from grace" or simply "going out". When that dreaded phrase is uttered, everyone knows what it means.

Sometimes euphemisms or redefined phrases can take on truly evil dimensions. Adolf Hitler's "special handling" of the Jews, and sending them to the "final solution", are classic examples. And this one is really gruesome: the poison gas Zyklon B, with which millions of Jews were killed, was called "material for the resettlement of Jews".

Likewise, Mao Tse Tung sent his enemies and critics to slave labor on remote farms for "re-education" so that they would learn to "blossom properly".

When Rev. Jim Jones gave the order to murder the 276 children at the Jonestown People's Temple commune, he didn't say, "Kill those kids" or "Give them the cyanide." He asked, "Would someone help those children in crossing over?"

Throughout the entire second half of the twentieth century, various United States Presidents used the term "police action", rather than "war", to get around limitations on Presidential powers, and to avoid having to tell the public that we actually were in yet another war. President Nixon would not say that the U.S. and South Vietnamese armies had actually "invaded" Cambodia; it was only an "incursion".

"An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public." -- Talleyrand.

Carl Sagan called such terminology "weasel words".

There are plenty of contemporary examples of loading the language, or bombastically redefining words:


In many cults, "You must have faith" really means, "You must believe what I'm saying."

"The Lord will reward you" really means, "I'm not going to pay you."

In one cult, "Sharing the love of God" means practicing prostitution to get money for the cult, and "Allowing God to bless others" means cheating people out of money which then goes to the cult.

In David Berg's "Children of God" cult, "FF" means "Flirty Fishing", which means women members practice prostitution to get more money and new male members for the cult.2

Likewise, in The Children of God, "forsaking all and following the Lord" means giving all of your worldly wealth, including your house, to the church, and then obeying the orders of David Berg,3 which often includes the women practicing prostitution, and their husbands pimping them on the streets, to get the cult more money.

And David Berg redefined "true spiritual freedom" and "perfect love" to mean that all of the women in the Children of God cult, even his own daughter, should freely have sex with him.4

To the Moonies, "heavenly deception" means misleading, deceiving, and lying to nonmembers to promote the church's goals.

Scientologists are actually supposed to read Scientology literature with the Scientology dictionary in hand. Any time they read something that they do not understand, or disagree with, they are supposed to look up the words in the Scientology dictionary to get their new official meanings. Thus, the members allow Scientology to redefine the whole language, and actually, to redefine reality.

In Scientology, "EOC" -- "End Of Cycle" -- is church jargon for suicide. Scientologists have actually been sent out as assassins, with orders to kill critics of Scientology and then EOC after the target was terminated.6
Another aspect of loading the language is constant redefinition or reinterpretation of anything and everything, whenever it is convenient. For instance, you may be reading the teachings of a phony guru, and find errors and logical inconsistencies in his teachings, and point it out to members. The true-believer cult members will answer, "Oh, you don't understand. What it really means is..." And then they will explain and reinterpret the guru's words until he sounds like a genius who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Eventually, it seems like everything means something else, and nothing is as it appears...

Another twist on that constant redefinition game is that some groups let words have two very different definitions, simultaneously. Which definition will be used at any given time depends on the circumstances. Thus, the very same sentence can have different meanings at different times. This is especially true of cults that hide the truth from newcomers. An innocent-sounding saying may have an entirely different meaning after you learn the real meanings of the words.

When it comes to sheer density of incomprehensible psycho-babble or techno-babble, Scientology is hard to beat. This quote comes from someone who quit Scientology, and is now criticizing it, but he still hasn't quite "cleared" his language yet:
..................................

Hi Keir,

I think long about "You must have faith" really means, "You must believe what I'm saying." is quite important generally these days. For me it ties in how cults are a a prodigy of authoritarian religions. Can we really say that Fundamentalist Muslims or Christians are really that different from cults? We can see this in how Weor came from a militant form of Catholicism.

A confusing matter in cult speak is the person who says it also believes it most of the time.

Good point that redefining language is redefining reality, as similar process happens when you learn a new language but that is based in truth.