People Who Join Cults

[Bonny]

I swear I'm not  only inspired.

Do you know any? Been part of one?

What are the warning signs? How did they/you get out?

I think my family had some cult-like issues with respect to their real estate firms. I would remember them coming home after some week long seminar and wondering what kind of "techniques" they had learned. Looking back I can see how much it really hurt them both financially and with our family dynamics.

It's kind of strange because both my parents were highly anti-religion but it seems to me that they just shifted that fervor to something else.

Thoughts?

[ArchietheDragon]

My sister did one of those door to door magazine sales jobs during one of the summers in her college years.   She went out to Ohio from CT to do it.  My parents were sure it was some sort of cult.    Finally my parents drove out to Ohio and brought her back home.

[zibazinski]

I lost a friend at 15 to a cult. Next time I saw her she was a HS dropout and pregnant. I wish I'd have not been in such a hurry when the cult confronted us and started talking to us. She stayed behind and listened while I went on my way.

[msventoux]

I have.  Animals.

They have such cute furry faces and sad eyes.  They promise a lifetime of unwavering devotion and cuddles.

Then you adopt them and bring them home.  They destroy your stuff, look at you disdainfully for daring to remove them from your seat, puke on your seat (and sometimes you!) and run off with anyone who offers a ham hock or bag of catnip. 

Seriously though,  my family had a dalliance with Southern Pentecostals when my dad briefly stopped drinking and found Jesus.  As a reserved northerner, they seemed very cult-like. 

[Bonny]

I should add that when my mom died she was a minister from a divinity (aka paper mill) school. After meeting some of her new friends I thought it was another version of Terry Cole Wittiker (sp?) and Your Divine Right to Prosper.

And Dad is a huge Rush Limbaugh fan. 'Nuff said.

[TheOtherMe]

I had a very good friend and his wife join Scientology and move to LA.  They kept trying to get me to read Ron Hubbard's books.  I am so glad I never did.

A former co-worker was involved in a cult after we retired.  He also tried to recruit me.  It was one of those where you spent an entire day in a room and were not allowed to leave the room.  After he told me that, I didn't have anything else to do with him.

[chiver78]

I've found the same golden retriever cult, msventoux.

[Bonny]

May 3, 2015 18:40:40 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I had a very good friend and his wife join Scientology and move to LA.  They kept trying to get me to read Ron Hubbard's books.  I am so glad I never did.

A former co-worker was involved in a cult after we retired.  He also tried to recruit me.  It was one of those where you spent an entire day in a room and were not allowed to leave the room.  After he told me that, I didn't have anything else to do with him.

Was it EST?

I remember a couple of kids in high school (1978) who did that. But those kids were really weird BEFORE that experience.

[MarleyKeezy78]

The only time I ever got super weirded out was in middle school, was friends with this girl and we had a sleep over at her house and the next morning we had to go to church (fine) Then when I wanted to call my mom to go home the mother told me no I had to go to church with them that evening too(I needed Jesus). Freaked me out because I was only supposed to stay over one night and had to stay two. To this day I'm not sure if she called my mom to stay another night or what. They were Baptist I belive and even answered the phone "heaveno" because hello has the word hell in it   Last time I hung out with that girl. 

[TheOtherMe]

May 3, 2015 18:44:25 GMT -5 Bonny said:

May 3, 2015 18:40:40 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I had a very good friend and his wife join Scientology and move to LA.  They kept trying to get me to read Ron Hubbard's books.  I am so glad I never did.

A former co-worker was involved in a cult after we retired.  He also tried to recruit me.  It was one of those where you spent an entire day in a room and were not allowed to leave the room.  After he told me that, I didn't have anything else to do with him.

Was it EST?

I remember a couple of kids in high school (1978) who did that. But those kids were really weird BEFORE that experience.

Yes, it was EST.  I didn't think anybody would know what that was and it wasn't in the 70's.  It was in the 90's.  All he talked about was Werner this and Werner that.  

[Deleted]

"heaveno"

[chiver78]

May 3, 2015 18:46:10 GMT -5 MarleyKeezy78 said:

The only time I ever got super weirded out was in middle school, was friends with this girl and we had a sleep over at her house and the next morning we had to go to church (fine) Then when I wanted to call my mom to go home the mother told me no I had to go to church with them that evening too(I needed Jesus). Freaked me out because I was only supposed to stay over one night and had to stay two. To this day I'm not sure if she called my mom to stay another night or what. They were Baptist I belive and even answered the phone "heaveno" because hello has the word hell in it   Last time I hung out with that girl. 

[whoami]

I was dragged to an Amway meeting that resembled a revival.  Strangest experience. 

I thought they were nuts. 

[MarleyKeezy78]

May 3, 2015 18:56:36 GMT -5 whoami said:

I was dragged to an Amway meeting that resembled a revival.  Strangest experience. 

I thought they were nuts. 

-rofl-Good old Amway! Had a boss who did something similar on the side, you can always tell the types too, super high energy and overly friendly in a sort of fakish way. Although he was a super nice guy. There is just "that type".

[Bonny]

May 3, 2015 18:56:36 GMT -5 whoami said:

I was dragged to an Amway meeting that resembled a revival.  Strangest experience. 

I thought they were nuts. 

Yeah, a lot of the real estate "trainers" were former preachers. I thought that was pretty weird. Of course I kept myself easily amused thinking of all the reasons they might be former preachers.

[whoami]

It was a very long time ago, but it was all very rah rah-- over the top--pep rally-- hootin and hollaring kind of weird. 

I think there was a video too, of yachts and Rolls Royces and that sort of thing....

People oohing and ahhing over the upper level folks who were all to excited to explain how you too could be a "***". (Whatever they are called). 

Not for me. 

[debthaven]

Was it EST?

I remember a couple of kids in high school (1978) who did that. But those kids were really weird BEFORE that experience.

OMG Bonny! I once got a HORRIFICALLY mean letter from a girl who was a close friend in MS. She was not one of the 3 bridesmaids at my first wedding (GASP!) so she wrote me a horrible letter saying I needed EST, but it wasn't available in France. She had apparently actually researched this, snail mail! So she told me I needed to go to London ASAP for "treatment", and provided the address. 

ETA: This was in late 1981 or early 1982. And yes, she was weird back then too. Horrible family story. 

[Tennesseer]

Thirty plus years ago, a co-worker call me one evening after work. He was getting into religion pretty heavy at the time. He told me he wanted to start a new Christian religion and that he, as his religion's pope, would appoint me as his ambassador to France.

He asked me over the phone to pray with him and that the prayer would take away all the suffering and ills of the world and place them on his and my shoulders because we were strong and blessed by God.

So I prayed with him (a short prayer). When we were done, he asked me if I felt all the pain and suffering of the world on my shoulders. I told him, "nope"-work on that prayer of yours."

I don't believe we ever discussed it again. He did get involved with some religious cult soon after.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Cults in general prey on the people who aren't strong-willed enough to say "NO!".

Depending what their cult is about or how aggressive they are, it often involves brain-washing, sleep deprivation, isolation, etc.

Other less harmful ones, often recruit members to sell products or peddle propaganda, or recruit other members through friends & family - they make joining sound like some grand money-making enterprise, when many are little more than pyramid schemes.

As for Scientology - I consider them a religious cult and they use the same intense indoctrination.

Just look at what a job they did on Tom Cruise - he's totally bizarre now.

One of my cousins married a Jehovah's Witness years ago - her life was under strict control (through the church and her husband, who was JW) - with very limited outside family contact.

Thank goodness she got out in one piece.

[JustLurkin]

My last job.  The devotion to the company was freakish.  Somone else here posted about how they were forced to refer to coworkers as "family"...it was very similar.  I had been there many years, and I don't know if it wasn't like that in the beginning or if I just didn't see it.  I was routinely asked to do unethical things.  It reached a point where I would end disagreements with my supervisor by saying "you realize you can't make me join this cult".  They were desperate for me to stay, and routinely asked people not to hire me--it took years for a prospective employer to finally tell me.  I don't get why the desperation to retain an employee who openly loathed the company and all it stood for.  The employer is in a nearby state, since leaving I have stayed in contact with a few employees on a personal level--I have never called, emailed, or asked about the company, my last day of employment was the last day I've been in the state.

[twystedsystermi1]

I've been planning starting one just so I can take everyones worldly possessions and have total control of everything!!!!

[Apple]

Rajneesh 

[Regie]

Friend of a friend thing in that DH and his sister knew Mary Brunner, close friend of Charles Manson, in high school.

[Plain Old Petunia]

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household.  While I wouldn't go so far as to say fundie churches are cults, they certainly do discourage independent thought.  And members certainly do get upset when another member questions ANYTHING.

[imanangel]

May 3, 2015 23:36:56 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household.  While I wouldn't go so far as to say fundie churches are cults, they certainly do discourage independent thought.  And members certainly do get upset when another member questions ANYTHING.

I was raised in a fundie church and let's just say, they prayed for me.... A LOT!  I think they thought I was possessed by demons because I questioned everything. I wouldn't just sit down and believe everything they said. I got kicked out of Sunday School because I was "upsetting other kids."

My oldest brother joined a religion with his new wife.  They haven't talked to my family in 3 years because we do not belong to their religion.  It is so weird to me.

[weltschmerz]

May 3, 2015 18:46:10 GMT -5 MarleyKeezy78 said:

The only time I ever got super weirded out was in middle school, was friends with this girl and we had a sleep over at her house and the next morning we had to go to church (fine) Then when I wanted to call my mom to go home the mother told me no I had to go to church with them that evening too(I needed Jesus). Freaked me out because I was only supposed to stay over one night and had to stay two. To this day I'm not sure if she called my mom to stay another night or what. They were Baptist I belive and even answered the phone "heaveno" because hello has the word hell in it   Last time I hung out with that girl. 

Heaveno? Oh, that's hysterical!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

You mean other than this one? 



I've never heard the "heaveno" thing; is that for real?

What if you live in Helsinki? 

[Deleted]

I'm not sure I know what the definition is of a cult anymore. Controlled and directed actions, independent thought not allowed, exclusionary (secret ceremonies are a give away).

When I was in college the Sorority indoctrination seemed like a cult experience. I walked out half way through telling them they were crazy bitches, or maybe I said witches; because their ceremony seemed rather Satanic and I just wasn't into that.

One of my kids got sucked into a religious organization that I consider a cult. It took quite a while to bust her out. Actually her daughter busted her out to be honest. She didn't "get" how derogatory to women that particular belief system was until she heard it coming out of her own child's mouth.  She was actively trying to recruit her sister and I while she was in. She probably heard "you are fu**ing nuts" from me way to often during that time. She relates to this period of time as being like a bad dream. She can't remember most of it and has a hard time believing that she behaved the way she did. I think that speaks to some active brainwashing. 

[weltschmerz]

What do they call a hellion? A heavenion?

Then there are heavenholes and heavenhounds.

[Bonny]

May 4, 2015 0:01:57 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

You mean other than this one? 

LOL!