“The Cult Test” from “A. Orange” Shows Many Characteristics of Cults

     Rarely, would I depend on an outside link for the bulk of a post. However, the link below leads to a “The Cult Test” which has some very good information. I came across this link several months ago and had forgotten about it until recently. I do not endorse all the information on the site for this link. There is no way that I have been able to proof read every bit of information on the site. There is no benefit to me for you to click to the site from the link below. You may open a separate browser session and copy, paste the link in your new browser, if you would feel more comfortable.

     There are 100 statements which “A. Orange” believes help determine if a group is a cult. There is information about several groups including A.A. Several sources which I am familiar with are quoted.  Frankly, the information about the Eastern religious groups I am not very familiar with and have a hard time pronouncing the names. However, when I first read the list, MANY of the statements rang true in my experience with Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) and Jane Whaley. A few have been listed below. The purpose is to give you some idea what is included in the entire list. The complete list is on the first page of the site.

(The name for the website is listed to a Terrance Hodgins from Portland, OR. One of his main point seems to be exposing AA as a cult. Some information may be repetitive and/or lacking organization. That being said; this is one site that gathers a lot of information in one place and is still worth reading, in my opinion.) 

22. The cult is self-absorbed.
That is, the cult is the most important thing in the lives of the cult members. Sometimes, it is their entire life.

(cont.) Faithful members will tell you that the cult has given them a whole new life, but that new life is often nothing more than working for free all of the time to raise money for the cult, and recruit new members for the cult, and going to meetings, “Bible study classes”, “worship services”, conventions and other get-togethers. Sometimes, cult members live together in communal houses and have few social contacts besides other cult members. And all they talk about is the cult.

35. The Cult is Money-Grubbing.
The cult is preoccupied with fund-raising.
This is simple. The cult is just always scheming to make more money, one way or another, either from cult members or from outsiders, and often, from both.

• Often, cult members are required to buy books written by the cult leader. Most every sect has some kind of holy scriptures or documents. The Hari Krishnas (ISKCON) have the books written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and the Scientologists have many dozens of books by L. Ron Hubbard to buy…
• Often, the cult members spend a lot of their time selling something, or collecting donations, or working at a cult-owned business. Cults are also often dishonest and deceptive in how they get money.

 

69. The cult takes over the individual’s decision-making process.

The cult takes over the individual’s decision-making process and plans and runs his whole life for him. The cult reduces the individual to dependence upon the cult for all important decisions, and even for minor ones. It is common for members of cults to even have to ask permission to go visit their own family, or to go to a parent’s funeral.

Many cults reduce their members to such helplessness that they are incapable of making the simplest of decisions without asking their mentor or leader for guidance. In one of his anti-cult books, Steve Hassan advised parents to watch out for hesitation on the part of their children when they ask the children to come home for a visit. An answer like
      “I’m not sure, let me see, let me think about it for a while,”
really means
      “Give me time to ask my mentor for permission to visit my old family.”

86. The cult wants to own you.

The cult wants your life. Some cults want all of your money; some want all of your time; most all of them want all of your heart, mind, and soul.

One of the most obvious and visible problems here is “too many meetings”. They want to occupy too much of your spare time — like all of it. They have meetings, and then they have classes or “Bible study” or “training”, and perhaps also lots of prayer sessions or chanting or meditation sessions, and then they have assemblies and conventions, and then some more meetings, in an endless cycle. And somewhere in the midst of all of that you are also supposed to go out recruiting and/or fund-raising.

The cult also wants to control you. First, they want to control all of your time, and then they will try to control more and more parts of your life: your sex life, your diet, your choice of reading materials, your choice of jobs, your consumption of drugs and alcohol (both legal and illegal), and sometimes even what doctor-prescribed medications you may take.

99. Total immersion and total isolation.
Also known as milieu control.

This is one of Dr. Lifton’s 8 Criteria for Thought Reform (brainwashing). This is the purposeful limitation of all forms of communication with the outside world — the control of human communication through control of the environment.

Cult members are usually surrounded by other cult members, and isolated from non-members. Often, members cannot easily communicate with non-members, even if they wish to.

And the cult doesn’t just control communication between people; it also controls people’s communication with themselves, in their own minds, especially through control of the language.

Here is the link.   http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

     Please, comment after reading the “ The Cult Test”. Thank you..

     Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.

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      (Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, the information about WOFF is from my memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. ) Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 134.