New2this, I am looking at the site now. I will give you my critique in steps because I just fell out of my chair laughing at the first page. The stuff that looks like Latin when you scroll down in the first page? Is that there to fool people? It is a basic pure nonsense paragraph that lay-out and graphic design artists have used for years to show a publisher what a page will look like with one
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sparky, my uncle in Nigeria died and left a million dollars tied up in my estate. When it is clear I'll send it to you. But first send me your credit card numbers, ok?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I will go there and come back later with a critique, but for now I want to ay that I am very concerned that the media has been sensationalizing 2012 apocaplyptic scenarios to an extremely irresponsible extent and I am afraid almost every cult that has serious self-destructive tendencies is going to create or experience a crisis because of that. Vulnerable personalities need to be especially c
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Are they getting comments that show an interest?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

One must be careful to avoid thinking that if it is blond and blue-eyed it is fascist. What could be more fascist than the Sicilian mafia, for example? Or the Nation of Islam? The identification of "traditionalism" among the other elements as a proof of fascism is also a little farfetched, I think. These terms are too general and they are not respecting the concept that a "cu
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Cult of Egos, Oerlikon? *lol*
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I am concerned about some of the internet cults we see which appear to be no more than a bunch of videos but which may be acting as "filters" that allow leaders to recruit suicidally-inclined people. It might not even be the leaders of such internet groups, but others who are able to contact and recruit the visible participants. Does anyone else think this is going on? Is this relate
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, it is what we Catholics call the "abundance heresy". If you preach that God shows His grace with material blessings, then all the rest of the church built on that foundation will come to resemble that kind of cult. Joel Olsteen, for example, with all those people in a church far too huge to provide "community" and they are maxing out their credit cards all the time so t
Forum: Destructive Churches

The cult I was in was NatLFed, which ran alongside Larouche in many ways but was much larger and more deeply rooted in the college student population. Larouche's own lack of education limited his following, but NatLFed grew out of a coalescence of disaffected 60's-70's radicals out of the old SDS and Weather Underground and Black Panthers and it parasitically rode along with the Ce
Forum: Destructive Churches

Is this the same group? They are using my favorite coffeehouse as a meeting place. I went to one of their meetings and it was typical Bible-cult/machismo stuff. Lots of scripture preaching that no one could argue with, no big deal there, but a casual atmosphere and no cult there, just boring and to me a little too self-consciously fake-blue-collar (but you see a lot of that in Austin). I went
Forum: Destructive Churches

Yeppers..... *roll-eyes* So where are they located?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Marian apparition cults can be problems. How many people know that Catholics are not supposed to participate in a Marian devotion that has not been approved by the Vatican? Medugorje is still very controversial and has a lot of New Age nuances that set it apart from the accepted apparitions like Fatima. The accepted devotions are limited to certain kinds of prayer acitivity and do not involve med
Forum: Destructive Churches

Yes, my sisters are like that. Nothing you can do but put distance between you and that kind of person. If you stick too close, you will never be allowed to enjoy the fruits of your own talents and labors or bask in the sunshine of anyone's love.
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

Long story about the cultish personalities who never seem to stop showing up in life. Posting for your entertainment as much as to vent. I recently ran into someone who appears to be cult-affected. All the personality traits of someone who has been through a certain kind of training were there, and she works at a place that is known to host that kind of training and spawn activists like funga
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Are all those websites in Anticult's list owned by Desteni?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I remember DeSisto. I once lived in Great Barrington, a nest of filthy cults. The DeSisto School was operating there because that town was probably one of the most abuse-friendly and cult-friendly places in America. Our children as well as some teachers were attacked by the feminist cult that operates in that area (as well as others). You can read about that in the book "Who Stole Femini
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

The entire MK-Ultra thing raises another question: are we all subjected to a kind of cult-softening by the media's reliance on sensationalism at the expense of intelligent, factual material? What I see happening with that kind of material is that whether it is true or not, it never gets denied or put into perspective by the government or any other authority. This may be because some of
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

I have switched phones because of bothersome people who just don't let go. I finally settled into a system in which only identified numbers get answered and my friends all know that. Life has become PEACEFUL as a result! I have regular phone visits with a handful of trusted people and my time is my own and any guilt I have is my own, none gets thrust at me from someone else. Just tell
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

Here is a link to the "International Center For Humane Psychiatry". Is there anyone out there who knows anything about this man? What is your impression of his practice?
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

In what way?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

savedatlast, salary is not the point. The other things you mention, such as relocation and the diversion of more than a token amount of personal resources, those are what prove that it is a cult. They have nothing to do with salary. In fact, in any cult the leader often claims no salary at all, but of course he has almost sole access to a huge expense account.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, savedatlast, we generally take up separate collections for the poor and the parish finances are in an annual report like everything else. I do agree that accountability and reasonable work are important, but sometimes I see people "piling on" with complaints that veer away from actual questions of cult abuse and seem almost abusive themselves. It is not uncommon for members of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Filtering is a key word, I think. I think there are cults that specialize in filtering people into different layers and then they go off in what appear to be different directions. Desteny already has a separation between media production and the rest, doesn't it?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

While I sympathize with the idea that Gnosticweb is a cult, what exactly is wrong with anyone receiving a salary for leading an orgnaization of any kind? You don't indicate that it is an exorbitant or unrealistic salary, you all seem angry at the idea anyone should be paid anything at all. What is wrong with a salary?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I am going to describe a common technique that I think is also covered in a lot of the classic cult-mind-control literature. Steve Hassan covered some of this in his work on the NatLFed political cult but it is also common in religious and other types of cult. Basically, the mind has several layers of attention to the outside world. Some people are strongly inclined to pay attention closely to
Forum: Hate Groups

**sigh** poolman: his name is legion. There are so many disaffected and alienated youth.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There are a lot of regulations on licensed counselors that are supposed to prevent the kind of relationship you describe. Type in the full title of that counselor into Google and the name of your state (where she has an office) and either "license board" or "professional association" and see what comes up. You should be able to find instructions on how to file a complaint o
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

One thing to recognize is that a group can devolve into a cult structure almost accidentaly. It can happen when someone gets into leadership without a good balance of team members and if they have more power than is legitimate they may use cult-leader tactics t.o try to get their job done. If they discover they are good at it or happen to have the kind of personality that thrives on manipulating
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hatred is usually anger that has festered and expanded. The Bible says "be angry but do not sin" and I think that is a good indicator that anger is ok in appropriate situations, and if you examine what anger feels like and what hatred feels like, then you can see the close relationship. I think if people feel hatred, you should examine it to find the roots that might be in appropriat
Forum: Hate Groups

Now here is a more extensive look at dale Griffis, and I want to tell you something: I hate the occult stuff. I hate those people and what they have done in my community, but I do know that this article is telling the truth about several things: one, is that there are many unrelated and benign forms of ritual that are neither Satanic nor Christian and two, Griffis was both incompetent and a liar.
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence