The book Church Mafia by Makhado Sinthumule Ramabulana is a personal story of involvement in African "churches" that are in fact run by secret occultic groups. The center of these occultic groups is said to be Nigeria. If you cannot find the book (it was published in 2019), there are also some YouTube videos where he tells his story. He eventually gets free of the occultists and joins a
Forum: Destructive Churches

newday4U Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > And I > have come to believe that one of the worst lies of > these cults is the lie that the physical world is > to be denied. Absolutely! Pretending that nothing really exists is a completely neurotic way to respond to life's challenges. It inevitably leads to indolence and ineffectiveness.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The first sentence says it all: "Nobody ever joins a cult." This site has been here educating people about cults since 20 years ago. I looked up Margaret Singer, and she was warning people about cults 60 years ago. Yet people are still getting sucked into cults, and people still don't realize they're getting sucked into cults.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Your link didn't take me to the right place, so I used archive dot ph: It's a long article about David Sullivan, a private investigator who specializes in cults. His mentor was Margaret Singer, author of Cults in Our Midst. David Sullivan's basic conclusions about cults are these: [*] People never realize they're joining cult [*] Cults make huge demands on people�
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for the update, Sahara71. I don't do Facebook, so I wouldn't have heard all this otherwise. Tony Moo is clearly a very damaged person. As you probably know, his mother moved to another country without him when he was one year old. Sadly, his guru gig puts him in a position to act out his traumas. He can use other people to meet his unhealed cravings. A wise therapist once s
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Led by Elizabeth Bast, "former tantric sex worker," a follower of Annie Sprinkle, who was in turn a follower of ... Osho. What a surprise /s
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A post on Brewster Kahle's X account says the Internet Archive expects to be back online in a matter of days rather than week. Earlier they reported a multi-pronged attack: distributed denial-of-service (DDoS); meddling with a JavaScript library; and theft of 31,000,000 user names, emails, and hashed passwords. The culprit is said to be a group named "BlackMeta" or "SN_Blackme
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Be Scofield has announced that in November 2019 she will release a book titled Toxic Spirituality: Abuse, Denial and Delusion in New Age Culture. The chapter list is at QuoteByron Katie & The Work Mooji Abraham Hicks & The Law of Attraction Teal Swan Marianne Williamson & A Course In Miracles Eckhart Tolle John of God Agama Yoga & Tantric Abuse Scandals Mindfulness
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hello, Cherry, I think there are no quick answers. Is your husband at all open to the possibility that he might be in a cult? Some of the following materials might help both you and him: Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out by Rick Alan Ross Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace by Margaret Tha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yeah, when the hypnotist instructs someone, "You just have to believe it yourself," he's teaching the student how to become a cult leader. What I most remember from Wier's first book is the phrase "impoverished reality." Wier repeatedly points out that people who are deeply entranced tend to end up with an "impoverished reality." The "impoverish
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I am about halfway through Dennis Wier’s second book, The Way of Trance. It adds some practical examples to the theoretical material in the first. Here are some relevant quotes from what I’ve read so far: “If you are a hypnotist, you will want to disable critical judg­ment as soon and as rapidly as possible so that your client or target will not be able to critically think about the nonsense y
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, and shocking, too, to realize that as far back as 1983, at least some people realized this whole guru business was a matter of hypnosis. In fact, it was well enough known for someone to make a documentary about it. The book I mentioned at the bottom of page 2, Dennis R. Wier's Trance: From Magic to Technology, is another take on the same thing. There is one unsatisfactory (for me) ch
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

“Captive Minds: Hypnosis and Beyond.” National Film Board of Canada, 1983. “Discusses hypnosis and similarly effective means of mind control used by such diverse groups as religious orders and the military. Points out the common denominators of isolated environment, stressful conditions, and a dominant authority figure that exist in these groups.”
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

corboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For the master system itself cannot be > questioned--without the questioner being accused > of having ego problems! Right. This institutionalizes the master's hold over the followers. Dennis R. Wier, who specializes in the study of trances, identifies an underlying psychological mechanism at work.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

“Keith Raniere, a self-help guru accused of leading a sex cult that enslaved women, has been found guilty of all charges against him.”
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteSteve I have always thought that the guru syndrome is poisonous, both for gurus and followers, particularly outside the traditional context of India. The guru syndrome leads to unthinking wholesale devotion. It's rooted in a psychological regression to the pre-egoic devotion of a young child to their parents, with a desire to abdicate responsibility and hand it all over to the guru.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Nxivm: 'Why I joined a cult - and how I left'
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

That is indeed intriguing. The official accounts make the house church that Tony Moo was involved in sound so wholesome. “Nigel” makes it sound more like a mini-cult. I have also read that John de Ruiter, as a young man, belonged to a mini-cult:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

zizlz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wow Swissalyst, that's a very insightful take on > U.G.! I hope you realize the insightfulness comes from the quoted source, not me! It could be relevant to our discussion of Tony Moo since, as I understand it, he too stops at the dissolution of the person. He does not go on to the required rebuilding and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteU.G. Krishnamurti went too far into the dissolution/negation/darknight and the general breakdown of the self-system during his awakening, and he didn't have the strength of character to do the rebuilding, creative, positive side of things to balance the dissolution. This is because he was probably not given self-building skills in childhood, was probably not "loved" and was of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Actress Allison Mack pleads guilty in Nxivm 'sex cult' case
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

See also the previous threads, e.g. “Eckhart Tolle -- Comments From Someone who Knows Him”:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Rick Archer presents the "few bad apples" theory. I'd like to offer an alternative point of view: that the entire endeavor of gurus and satsangs and neoadvaita and the like is flawed from the very outset. If you view your moral principles simply as temporary formations within awareness, then you end up ignoring them. All that's left is the acting out of the damaged id
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

corboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oakes tells us that his 20 leaders tended to have > been in five occupations prior to finding their > calling - all these require mastery of > communication and persuasion, that skill set one > can sum up as "working the room". > > > * Teaching > > * Clergy work > &g
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > thanks for your insightful comments, Swissalyst. Thank you, but I think the insightful thoughts on compensation for maternal abandonment were actually from 2cents. :)
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Good find, corboy. It's interesting that Dr. John Antonakis concludes charisma and hence cult leadership need not be innate. They can be learned. Two passages struck me as especially relevant to our study of cults: QuoteIn fact, beyond shutting down our ability to reason, some scientists have found that under the right circumstances, charismatics -- especially if that charisma stems from
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Valma, thank you for your testimony. You confirm what I had begun to suspect, that these gurus are exploiting the transference relationship, to their advantage, and to their students’ disadvantage. I wish you every success in healing from the incidents you report.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Haven’t read anything along those lines, but I guess it’s possible. Meanwhile, more and more horror stories emerge. “Last year, a group of India's Catholic nuns accused an influential bishop of raping a colleague multiple times. DW spoke with the group's leader about how the church has stonewalled their attempts at getting justice.”
Forum: Destructive Churches

Pope acknowledges the problem of sexual abuse of nuns by priests:
Forum: Destructive Churches

Harm report: “Abuse of Faith” 20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms. 220 people, since 1998, worked or volunteered in Southern Baptist churches and were convicted of or pleaded guilty to sex crimes.
Forum: Destructive Churches