The question is not for the present, but for looking into future. Could you be involved at some point in the future, in a controlling religious cult? Could you be considered as a “regular member”? I am not asking if you could be a cult leader. That question is for another post. Could you tell when the people around you that you love and trust are beginning to take your freedoms away? At what point would you know that what started out as benign and maybe even beneficial had morphed into a controlling environment? Are you so sure?
My experience is one that has taken me to, into and through years of a group that began as what I considered as beneficial and by no means harmful. Did I miss the changes and the signs of control? Apparently, I did. Was I susceptible before I even came into the church in Greenville, SC known first as Grace and Truth Fellowship and then Word of Life Church? That is not a question I am able to answer here, but possibly in another post. For this post, we will review several statements from those involved with cult groups on some level. After all, cult survivors should be able to give at least some insight into how they were taken into a cult group, right?