Aki Ray, a former child-soldier in Cambodia, is now one of the world’s foremost mine-clearing experts. He walks through the jungle looking for landmines and then defuses them one by one. He’s alive because he knows what to look for in the weeds.
Can you identify
the subtle signs of mind control?
I couldn’t. That’s why I remained in a legalistic Bible-cult for over 25 years.
But now that I’m out of the jungle, I can better read the signs. The purpose of this series is to give you the same eight identifiers so that you never find yourself in the midst of a religious mine-field.
————–
Can a group affirm the Bible and still be a cult?
Yes.
What makes some groups destructive is not their doctrine but rather their practice. Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them,” (cf. Matthew 7:15–20), and destructive groups have a way of twisting scriptures and practicing coercion which results in damaged followers. Ironically, groups like this are often intensely concerned about the fruits of salvation in their followers, yet their own fruit is rotten.
While these groups do not usually intend to coercively control the minds of their followers, that is exactly what they do. And whether intentional or not, the Bible repudiates such mental manipulation, instead calling all Christians to exercise healthy critical thinking (Acts 17:11), a renewed mind which refuses to conform to the destructive standards of this world (Romans 12:2), and to examine everything carefully (I Thess 5:21).
This is the first in an eight-part series on how to identify brainwashing in a destructive group or cult. It is based off of Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s “Eight-Point Model of Thought Reform” and borrows from several other authorities on the topic of religious mind-control.*
1.) Part One: Milieu Control
2.) Part Two: Mystical Manipulation
3.) Part Three: The Demand for Purity
4.) Part Four: The Cult of Confession
5.) Part Five: The “Sacred Science”
6.) Part Six: Loading the Language
7.) Part Seven: Doctrine Over Person
8.) Part Eight: The Dispensing of Existence
*Stephen Martin’s book, The Heresy of Mind Control, and Margaret Singer’s Cults in Our Midst.
Part One: Milieu Control
The first step in controlling the mind of a person is to control his or her environment. “Milieu” is just a fancy name for environment. Cults and other destructive groups try to control members’ access to the outside world. They do this by limiting contact with two things: people and information.
1.) First, limiting contact with people. Destructive religious groups have an “us vs. them” mentality and therefore limit communication with people outside of their group. This includes friends, family members, and anyone else not wholeheartedly approving of the group or its leader(s). People outside the group are considered bad, evil, or unenlightened. The leaders discourage free-thinking dialogue. They also promote an unhealthy fear of contamination by outsiders.
Many cults encourage or require members to live communally so that leaders can control their members. Members may have to ask permission to visit family members, make a phone call to a relative, or send a letter to a friend. Leaders may ask to monitor any such conversations or demand to censor correspondence. Members are told that they are not yet wise enough or mature enough to discern between harmful and benign outside influences. Leaders discourage genuine dialogue and instead encourage one-sided proselytizing and scripted, stilted encounters with family members.
For example, in my former church we were told to distinguish between our “spiritual” family and our “natural” family, and to cut off any family member who expressed concerns about the pastor or the church. The pastor also encouraged group members to move closer to the church. Church events — scheduled to the point of exhaustion — were mandatory. In one instance, my pastor forbade me to reply to an email from my twin brother, since my brother had left our church.
Biblical passages cited to support this mentality of cutting off family members or “worldy” influences include James 4:4 — “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?”; 2 Corinthians 6:14 — “Do not be bound together with unbelievers”; and Luke 14:26 — “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple.”
Biblical refutation of this point: While the Bible does call Christians to live pure lives and avoid contamination from sinful influences, the New Testament also encourages openness to outsiders (John 4:7–10, 39, 40; Acts 10; Acts 17). When the Apostle Peter closed himself off from Gentile believers (“outsiders” in Jewish terms) he was rebuked openly by Paul for his hypocrisy (cf. Gal 2:11–14). Peter accepted the rebuke and later acknowledged Paul’s wisdom as a man who even wrote scripture (2 Peter 3:15–16). Jesus was so connected with the local community and engaged with “sinners” that he scandalized the Pharisees (Matthew 9:11; Luke 5:30). He understood that God loves the world (John 3:16) and that he wants mercy rather than self-righteous sacrifice (Matthew 9:13).
In regard to family members, Matthew 10:37 shows that the “hate” in Luke 14:26 does not mean to truly hate family members — instead, it is a matter of preference and degree. We should love our parents and relatives, but we must love God to a greater degree. Indeed, the Pharisees tried to use biblical justification to dishonor their parents, but Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites (cf. Matthew 15:15ff).
The problem is that cultists define “unbelievers” as everyone outside of their group. This is because, as Stephen Martin says, they too narrowly define “their own group as the only true believers in Jesus. The fact is, cult members will find that there are many true believers in Jesus ‘out there’ if they will just openly and honestly listen to what they say and see what they do.”
This is precisely why cult leaders try to control their members by having them cut off contact with other people. This is a symptom of milieu-control.
2.) Second, limiting information. Cults and destructive religious groups have an obsessive need to restrict “worldly” influences which they define as other religious teachings, negative news reports about the group, or any information passed on to group members by concerned family members. Leaders may prohibit group members from watching the news, getting on the Internet, reading non-religious books, or accepting any resources from people outside of the group. When news reports or family members express concern about the group, group leaders may feel a need to exhaustively discuss the reports to prove to group members why the reports are false or unbiblical. Critical thinking is discouraged, and the interpretation of the leader(s) is exalted as God’s truth on every matter.
As an example, when my former church garnered media attention due to our aberrant practices such as accusations against former members and harmful shunning, our pastor spoke from the pulpit refuting each item in detail. When relatives outside the church expressed concern through books or pamphlets, our pastor confiscated the items and used them as examples of heresy. On one occasion, my pastor made me print for him all of my email correspondence with a college friend. My pastor then read through the stack in detail, discussing with me every word or phrase which proved that my relationship with this friend was “worldly.” Needless to say, my relationship with that friend quickly ended.
Biblical passages cited to support information-control are 1 John 2:15 — “Do not love the world or anything in the world”; James 1:27 — “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this… to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”; and Matthew 16:6 — “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees.”
Biblical refutation for this point: While the Bible does call Christians to avoid corrupting influences and to respect the judgment of true, trustworthy leaders,
I Thessalonians 5:21 says that believers should “examine everything carefully.” Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans who listened to Paul and then searched the scriptures diligently to see if what he said was true. And in Galatians, Paul chastises the Galatian believers for putting up with unsound doctrine and allowing false teachers to take them captive with a gospel which was really no gospel at all. In his concern for their lack of critical thinking, Paul exclaims, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” (Gal 3:1).
Bewitch. A fitting term to describe how cult leaders brainwash their followers through milieu-control.
I'm sure some will read this and think, "I never experienced this in ATI." I think these things happened in ATI but they were much more subtle than the tone of the article would suggest.
For example, I remember Bill Gothard speaking about how he never had to read through all of the filth in the newspaper because he had a "Godly widow" who went through the newspaper for him and clipped out the stories he needed to read. The implication was that truly godly people shouldn't really be reading through the newspaper. When I worked at IBLP HQ, there definitely were some eyebrows raised if you bought a newspaper and certainly no one read them in public.
And ATI never outright forbade association with outsiders, but if you worked on staff, you had to get permission to leave if you visiting extended family and the like (which having a grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin the Chicago area, resulted in me having to make frequent requests for such permission).
Similarly, at HQ there were many anecdotes about how "rebels" would always congregate together. You'd avoid ATI students who were thought of as rebels because you didn't want to be guilty by association.
How interesting. So Gothard was too Godly to read newspapers, but this Godly widow wasn't Godly enough, so she'd read them for him? I'm so confused... Such extreme practices really jump out to me. They aren't practices that would shatter someone's life, perhaps, but now anytime I see anyone living such outward piety, I automatically suspect that they are hiding something, or compensating for some secret sin. Why else would they make such a deliberate show of Godliness? Just like the Pharisees, imo. A little thing, when it comes down to it, but 'the little foxes spoil the vine'.
Your description of how he talked about not reading the news for himself and the impact that it had on others at headquarters is exactly how I remember it as well. It was very clearly an unwritten rule that you don't purchase and read newspapers at Headquarters.
*Cults and other destructive groups try to control members’ access to the outside world. They do this by limiting contact with two things: people and information.*
Yes, ATI was very subtle in this...like a frog in a pot of water.
It was all the subconscious thoughts that held me hostage. The 'higher standards" slowly distanced me from my peers. In fact, hanging out with peers was greatly looked down upon. Children should be with adults, not their own age group, so youth groups were bad. When I worked on staff at HQ we were strongly encouraged to NOT attend Sunday night services at our churches - but instead the Sunday night services held with BG. (Limiting people)
The television was evil. It would only distract us from "godly" things and would dumb us down and make us worldly. . The internet was fine but we must have an IPS (Internet protection service). Characterlink anyone? Problem solved. Now you can browse the www with no fear because it's all been rated. I worked for character link as a site evaluator. We had to rate sites for things such as, women wearing pants!!! (Limiting information)
These are just a few examples that come to mind immediately.
Yeah, my dad always said, "what do you get when you let a 10 year old hang out with a bunch of other 10 year olds? They all act like 10 year olds!" I remember the expression on his face always spelled disgust and incredulity that a mere mite of a child would actually act their age, and be shamed and disgraced for forever... sigh. I'm so sad that I never actually stopped to think about the implications of that statement. Children weren't allowed to have a proper childhood of lots of playtime, buddies and friends, they were expected to act like adults. What? Why? Adults can't even control themselves all the time to act like adults, why put children under that pressure? There's a HUGE difference between expecting good behavior, and adult behavior from a child.
The same is true for ATI parents, in my experience ;)
"What happens when a bunch of ATI parents hang out together? They all act like they have the parenting wisdom and maturity of a 10 yr old!"
This piece resonates. I think this series is going to be very helpful to people. Thank you very much for doing this.
Thinking of information control and staying away from all outside influences - I did not realize it, but partly as a consequence of the information limiting that is named here, I had learned bad habits for reading books and had not learned some important good habits. "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler is a very helpful book. I would recommend it highly to anyone who is leaving such a system as practical step along the way.
It still amazes me how cultic environments are so similar to each other. I actually looked for information on the author of this post, because it sounded so strangely in tune with the cultic environment that my husband has come out of. Not the same cult, but definitely the same tactics.
That's really interesting. It is intriguing to see how many groups use similar and predictable tactics. I was surprised in reviewing "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" (concluding post here: https://www.recoveringgrace.org/2012/12/the-subtle-power-of-spiritual-abuse-concluding-thoughts/) when they said that power, and specifically strong leaders who posture their power, are a core component in all spiritually abusive systems. I wondered if they were overstating it at first but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense.
That relates to the issues named here. It would be quite difficult to control who a person has contact with and what information they are able to consume without a strong leadership being in place to dictate and enforce the rules. Which, in a sad irony, is exactly how Jesus said that leaders in this world do it, they lord their power over those who are underneath. But if you want to be great in Jesus' kingdom, you need to learn to be a servant who serves (as opposed to a master who controls).
Very true about strong leaders who posture their power. If those leaders are the exact opposite of how Jesus says it works in His kingdom, it seems like it would be easy to find the imposters in Christian ministry. However, many of these leaders who posture their power have learned how to hide it well beneath a charming smile, an surface attitude of humility, and "I only say/do this because I care for you!" answer to any questions. Sometimes I just wish Christian imposters/false teachers would just act a little more like Donald Trump in their leadership style so we could see the power posturing more blatantly, instead of being fooled for years and then burned in the end! LOL
That would be helpful indeed! But instead it's more like Lance Armstrong. What about people who were inspired by him to go on and kick cancer? They are mindful of the good that he did, and yet it's now becoming clear that he was also a vengeful bully who would manipulate people and then toss them aside. So one person looks and sees all the good, the next person is dealing with stark consequences (I've been reading Mike Anderson's story on outsideonline.com).
Even so, some guys do become pretty flamboyant and almost flaunt their position but they have become very good at talking about being holy and devoted, and use those things to keep their followers on the defensive. The followers basically have a learned helplessness at that point. You would think the tricks would wear out but they keep being re-used successfully.
Steve Smith, I think maybe you knew my brother, Phillip Schrum. He went to Taylor and passed away in 2005. Hopefully you check the comments.
Anyone else remember the illustration of how bank tellers are trained? They are only given real money to look at, feel, etc. That way they are so familiar with the real thing that the minute a counterfeit crosses their path, they recognize it immediately.
We were told that this was a good policy for us to follow as well. We were to surround ourselves with only truth. And parents were to keep their children from seeing anything but truth. So that whenever falsehood or false beliefs came across our path, we would immediately recognize and reject them.
Information control? Absolutely. No alternate ideas (supposed falsehood) allowed.
And of course, that is absurd. From bank tellers up to CIA and the rest of them, they learn about both the counterfeit and the real.
Really? I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. That wasn't even true?
I had a better source for this that I can't put my finger on. I know that I have spoken personally with two people who both were trained using counterfeits against originals but I have forgotten who.
Here are some links that will have to do.
First, it's reasonable that the the standard against which the counterfeit is measured is the real thing, so there is certainly a kernel of truth to the idea that you want to know the real thing inside and out. This accords with Tim Challies' experience here: http://www.challies.com/articles/counterfeit-detection-part-1. On one hand, Challies "confirms" the story that the way to know the counterfeit is to study the real. But what's the first thing he did to test his new knowledge? He was tested using counterfeits. He was in fact handling counterfeits to make sure he recognized them.
But they do in fact study counterfeits. They study the processes used, where the money goes, who does it, etc. Knowledge is power. Here are some descriptions of counterfeit technology: http://www.secretservice.gov/money_technologies.shtml and some discussion from the Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/counterfeit/default.htm#toc6.2
Here (http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/fake-money-masquerades-as-real/article_de7f23d8-2df3-11e2-bab3-0019bb2963f4.html) agents are using counterfeits to compare against the real.
Here is a specialist: "Now, granted, I am a counterfeit specialist, so I examine counterfeit currency and I look at currency on a daily basis..." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2314secr.html
A fun Wired piece here: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2009/11/features/the-inkjet-counterfeiter Note that they have a vault of counterfeits ("Of all the phony currency that was confiscated, four examples will be filed in the steel drawers of the specimen vault."). And they will hang a couple on of these particular counterfeits on their wall as a souvenir, "'So we will have our own,' Jenkins says. 'It will be stamped 'counterfeit' on the back, but it will be up on our walls.'"
In sum, the kernel of truth is that you begin with the real and you use the real as the standard to know the fake. But that has morphed into the folk wisdom that agents never touch, see, or smell the fake: "Their training consists of one thing and one thing only: endless hours of touching, ogling, and sniffing real money." http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2010/02/illustration-detecting-counterfeits/ and when stated like that, it is false; ironically, the illustration itself becomes counterfeit.
Another example of a special agent who has felt and studied counterfeits: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/secret-service-counterfeit-money_n_2157231.html
Also, in the comment above, I meant to include a quote from Napa Valley Register story, "During the presentation, the agents first passed out a collection of legal bills in a variety of denominations..." and later, "Next they passed out a collection of phony bills. Many appeared to be legitimate, but Roberts pointed out the inconsistencies such as mismatched watermarks and serial numbers, missing security threads, and inferior printing or paper quality. Even so, many were hard to tell from the real thing."
Yes Eliza I do remember that. I am new to this site and have been blown away by everybody's comments. It has been bringing back so many memories that I apparently suppressed. Something that pops into my mind off the bat is how singers that sung to close to the microphone were sinners because they were being "sexual" by this act. I don't really remember the specifics but I do remember no ever listening to music, Christian or otherwise.
This is only a very small piece of what I missed as a child growing up. Such as, life. When I finely left home at 17 I didn't even know what I was in for. In fact, I fell into drugs and alcohol and everything I was so strictly raised not to talk about or see. By the grace of God I made my way into the military where I was saved from that life.
Thank you for your statement, it really helped me realize I'm not alone.
Isaac, check out the support groups for former students, if you haven't already. We talk about this kind of stuff all the time and how to get free from it so we can enjoy life the way God intended us to.
And you are welcome. You are most definitely not alone.
When my dad got fired from his job, my mom had to go to work outside the home. Then, she wore pants to the ATI picnic. The women wouldn't talk to her. That was the last thing my family did with ATI. Also, when I went to college I thought that music with a rock beat was evil like all of the rest of us. Then I went to college and saw really cool people listening to music that had a rock beat! Maybe it wasn't so "evil" after all!