That attendee would be me--and yes--you are right! :lol:
Forum: Destructive Churches

I am only persisting in this argument so that you can lighten up and not worry about your friend so much. Presbyterians, people who belong to kite flying clubs, Amway salesmen, people who are fanatical about Star Trek, etc. ad nauseum-- ALL invite non members to social functions (ie. picnics) in order to maybe attract new members--this is not necessarily a menacing thing. Go to the picnic,
Forum: Destructive Churches

Uh, I also was using "masterbation not making you blind" as a metaphor as well. Meaning--if it isn't dangerous (that is, definitely not even coming close to meeting the cult criteria), then believing in the unproven (ie. mental masterbation) won't necessarily harm you (ie. make you blind). And using your example of the abused child being disappointed when God doesn't
Forum: Destructive Churches

Weeeellll, I'm surprised at myself--but I have to disagree with you. People believe a lot of things that don't stand up to empirical evidence because it makes them feel good. And, because RS absolutely does not meet the criteria for being a cult--(believe me, Landmark is more screwed up than RS and even RR himself doesn't call Landmark a cult--I know this because I actually had th
Forum: Destructive Churches

Okay--first of all--go look at the except of Lifton's book: Then read this link outlining the warning signs of a cult situation: I used to go to a religious science church in the Seattle area for 2.5 years--a well known one in the RS world--the Center for Spiritual Living-- and I can tell you that they don't even come close to qualifying as a cult. The RS church is not har
Forum: Destructive Churches

And hey! isn't RR Jewish anyway??? not that it matters...but Greg seems to think religious persuasion has relevance in RR's line of work...
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I have been doing massage for 9.5 years in Seattle, WA--the crunchiest, new- agey-est, massage saturated place in the country--aside from Big Sur, CA( and all those nekkid Esalen types ). I have mainly massage therapist friends and have been steeped in the massage therapy world for a long time. I did a huge "wahhhhh...???" when I read this thread because I have no--NONE--ZIP experie
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

come on, rr moderator--dija have to edit out every last descriptive word I used? I've seen other discussion boards on this site have more pointed words for each other than the way my post was edited and ended up... Just trying to have fun with baiter.... :twisted:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hey "Ironical"--I can only assume that you have something to do with the link you just posted. The link is obviously created by a TIP sympathizer who wishes to make fun of people like us who actually find cults-- such as Training in Power-- and the leaders who run them to be a real problem in our society. Just as the Cult Awareness Network is a sympathizing front for Scientology,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Now, didn't Rick Ross himself act as a consultant for Holy Smoke? If so, did he try to steer them away from the whole kidnapping tactics used in the movie? Who can forget the movie about Jim Jones ('course, I forgot the actual name of the movie) starring Powers Booth in the role of Jim Jones himself. That movie freaked me out as a kid. "9 1/2 weeks" with Kim Basinger
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Taking back my self will cme from suddenly being jarred into seeing just how far I had given it away--it was one of my leader's raging rants which suddenly jolted me into seeing just how ridiculous the whole situation was. I agree with who ever posted that coming to one's own realization that one must leave is better than being arm-wrestled away by people who want to intervene--but the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, as reported in the other posts--your experience is sooooooo familiar to me--Only my old cult is located in Seattle and is called "Training in Power: a Spiritual journey of Service". the leader Faye Fitzgerald terrorized (I assume she still does, but as I quit several years ago--I can't use present tense with absolute certainty) her followers with her tantrums--and reeled us
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

wow, bizarre--yeah it definitely applied when I first started experiencing it--driving only. Now it seems the depersonalization has morphed into a full-blown phobia (because who wants to experience that while at the helm of a hunk of metal going at 65mph?). I am considering hypnosis or EMDR (already tried EMDR once to treat this, but the woman I went to was a hack job) to treat this.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Long time user of this website (before it got fancy!)--first time signing up. Am always checking here to see if my old cult has managed to get picked up by Rick's radar--but I understand that article's need to be published about it before he will list it in his database. Has anyone else been a member of this group--or has anyone even heard of it? The leader's name is FAYE FITZGE
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"