10 signs that you are in a cult. Acts 20:29-30 it says, "For I know this, that after my departure
savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves,
man will rise up speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves." A cult
is a social group that is defined by its unusual and non-traditional religious,
spiritual, philosophical beliefs. A cult usually has a charismatic leader
who thinks that the whole world revolves around him and his theories and his line of thinking.
He usually requires exclusive devotion to himself and to his unorthodox beliefs or goals,
and requires absolute obedience from his followers. Cults can range from small local groups
to international organizations with millions of followers. Christian cults are groups that
have a Christian background but are considered to be theologically weird or different such as
the Mormons, or Christian Science, or Jehovah's Witnesses, or the Unity church. Their beliefs deny
some of the most fundamental Christian teachings. Currently there's about two thousand five hundred
to three thousand active cults in the USA today and thousands more around the world. There's
more women in the cults than men, and they're being recruited because honestly they're most
vulnerable. Sometimes especially when they're passing through distressing emotional conflicts
and they are promised companionship, peace of mind and security. Every cult usually has
four main descriptions. One is they reject orthodox biblical teaching.
They you know, believe that salvation is not by grace or the cross of Jesus Christ is sufficient
for the salvation of our sins. It's good works. Usually it's based on good works something along
the line that it rejects Jesus's atoning work on the cross. The second category is that leaders are
usually lords. They isolate their followers and they penalize them for wanting to leave the group,
and pretty much leaders act like lords instead of servants. The third category is that the cult
usually is ran like a cartel, meaning it requires absolute loyalty to its leaders and punishing
those who decide to leave. And the fourth category is that the moral and legal issues are usually
crossed. They consider themselves above the law. There's no financial transparency, nor
oversight or accountability to anyone. So you may listen to that, and your like, "Man I want to go
to a Christian church and you know we believe in the Gospel, we believe in Jesus but there's some
weird practices. Like how would I know if I am in a cult or not?" In Galatians 1:6-7 Paul says:
Now I'm going to share with you 10 signs that could indicate that you are probably in a cult,
not in the church. Now it's easy to take any of them out of context and simply stick it to your
pastor or to your church. You know maybe they're going through some stuff or made some mistakes
and that's not my desire. My desire is not to make everybody feel like they are in the cult.
But if you are in a cult, I want to help you to realize that and also give you at the end some
practical things you can do to get out and get out today. Number one is a leader is the ultimate
authority. You're not allowed to question, criticize your leader, even if he is wrong.
The leader has the charisma and he claims supreme knowledge and considers himself to be always
right. The members have to forfeit their critical thinking in order to belong.
Leader convinces his followers he is divinely directed and all other religions are false and
he is the only one that's right. His objective is to choke out your individual identity through
gradual and incremental sessions of indoctrination for total mind control of all his followers. If
you're sensing that with your leader, that's a sign number one. Sign number two is the group
suppresses skepticism and forbids criticism. Members are forbidden to read any outside
material. Cult leaders utilize manipulative mind control over their members. They maintain
"spiritual purity" of all the members to avoid contact and conversation with "outside"
persons in order to achieve spiritual harmony within the group, and that's a cult. The third
sign is the group bashes former members. The group members must shun defectors in order to prevent
from being infected with so-called "truth." To leave a cult would result in eternal damnation
and spiritual suicide. The members are encouraged to tell on anyone who has negative thoughts and
doubts concerning the group. That's a sign that it's a cult. The fourth sign is the
group is paranoid about the outside world. They promote theories about the end of the world and
deliverance from this evil world which is intent on their destruction. Their charismatic leader,
he fosters his theories and his ideological system to transcend the imperfections of life on the
outside. Pretty much it's a very inside focus: the world is evil, everybody's bad except our little
group. The fifth sign is the group relies on shame tactics to maintain conformity. Leader imposes
strict codes of contact. Guilty members, for their shortcomings they are made to feel unworthy
of love and acceptance, unless they conform to the rules and confess any shortcomings. The sixth sign
is the leader considers himself above moral standards. This idea allows the leader to
exploit the members economically and sexually without any consequences. Sexual grooming
is very common and members usually ignore or justify their leader's immoral behavior because,
well he's above the moral standards. The seventh sign is the leader uses constant
lecturing, obsessive praying and lack of sleep to maintain people's minds in constant
weird state. They keep devotees or these followers constantly fatigued and deprived of sensory input.
The group uses thought reform methods to correct each other. Brainwashing is often used to break
down persons sense of individual identity. Short cliches such as "follow your leader", "doubt your
doubts" are constantly used so that followers don't criticize and analyze complex issues.
Eighth sign is the group is elitist, meaning they see themselves as selected, enlightened ones given
the task of transforming the world. This creates a sense of greater unity and purpose. Members are
required to cut all relationships with family, friends and other contexts who do not agree
with the teachings of the occult leader. Sign number nine is there is no financial transparency.
Members are required to make great financial sacrifices
but they are not allowed to know where their money goes. Number 10 sign that you're in the cult,
the group performs secret rights and usually you discover these after you become a member,
and these are to solidify members loyalty to the group. Now maybe you find yourself in a cult,
what do you do? How do you get out? You must understand walking away from a cult is difficult.
By the time folks will realize that the organization is a cult,
they have developed strong social circle and strong emotional ties to the group. To make things
worse, abusive cults will dominate your life. Not only your spiritual life but your personal,
your private, your professional and your financial, because typically you dive in full
person. All of your life is in that cult, in that group. It's not just a compartment of your life,
all of it, and they control that life. So what do you do? Number one: Run. Don't just walk away,
run and don't look back. To minimize physical, emotional and sometimes physical threats,
it is essential for people who want to break free from the cult to leave immediately as soon
as they realize they've been abused, mistreated and deceived. Don't attempt to slowly transition
out of the organization or try to help others leave before you leave. Get out as soon as
possible and do not look back. Do not discuss your decision with other members of the group.
Stop all contact with the group and its members. Plan your departure carefully and leave without
regret or second guessing your decision. Try to find supportive people ready to receive you
when you leave. Be clear with your former friends and family as why you made the wrong decision to
join the cult in the first place. Do not associate with anyone who makes threats, or is angry with
you or is unsupportive. Number two: Write a letter to the group leadership. This written statement
helps you to break ties with an organization that you are no longer wanting to be identified with.
The letter you write should clearly state why you have left. Also demand that your name and
your contact information to be removed from their records and they should not contact you
in future. A follow-up letter and legal help might be needed to motivate the organization
to honor these requests. Look for opportunity to use this letter to rebuke them for false teaching,
any personal harm you feel that they have done to you. Be direct and specific. If you have received
Christ during this process and deeper freedom that only Jesus can provide, use this letter as an
opportunity to preach the Gospel to the lost and break any spiritual chains the devil has attempted
to bind you with this group. Number three: Document the process. To begin the extensive
departure process and your journey to full recovery, keep a personal journal every day
to document your feelings and stress points. You need to recover your rightful independence,
personal identity and intellect. Document the people who support you and avoid those who do not.
Document the conversations of those who are threatening and unsupportive. In addition to
being a source of inner healing, this can also be a resource if you need to seek legal advice
or contact law enforcement. Number four: Seek the counsel of a Christian mentor and pray that God
will provide you with new support network to help you. Former members may feel guilty for abandoning
the only friends and family they have known while being confined to the cult. They are lonely and
feel misunderstood. They suffer low self-esteem and depression, fear, paranoia and memory
impairment and therefore they need, you need that Christian mentor and that Christian group.
Number five: Social integration or finding a way to fit in again is a very long process
after being socially isolated for a while in the cult. Because you're trained in a cult to
judge harshly outsiders and not to have a conversation with other people who are outside.
Try to reconnect with understanding family members, look for a church that offers recovery
program which provides a group therapy for Christian orientation. Find a loving church
fellowship that is structured on Bible and God's love and get involved there. Number six:
The recovery will be slow. So often the person feels foolish and angry for having been
manipulated so badly. Deceitful recruitment tools were often used to persuade people to join their
cult in the time of persons greatest weakness or vulnerability. It would be hard to find a church
that you can trust because you mentally disassociate yourself with the false cult
leader who constantly claimed to be divinely appointed by God. But you still have to try.
For some people you have to not only get inner healing, but you have to also get deliverance
because of the soul ties that were developed there. And because if you were a part of a
cult where abuse and other things were done to you and you might have opened the door to the demonic
powers, to the demons and to the harassment of the enemy. And you might need to seek deliverance
on the top of the things that I just mentioned, but there is hope for you. Jesus Christ came
to give life and give it to the fullest, but satan came to steal, kill and destroy.
And sometimes when you notice you are in that bondage you have to not only cry out to God
but you have to run for your life, run to the light, run to the truth. This video is meant to
describe the evil deception of cults. Whether they are in small groups or in large organizations,
most cult members don't realize that they are desperately trapped in some psychological or
spiritual mindset. And I encourage you to look for lonely people in hopeless situations and
befriend them. Lead them to the Lord who is the only solution in life. You will find them at work,
you will find them in your school, you will find them on your campus and you will find them in the
park. Why is that? Because recruiters for cults are out there as well looking for those people.
They promise them new life, new family, new hope but in reality it's a demonic deception,
because only Jesus can give new life. Only Jesus can restore the life that was lost
and give us abundant life. Jesus is the only answer to life because He's indeed the way,
the truth and the life. If you're watching this video and you realize that you are in a cult,
you realize you are trapped. I want to pray with you today and I ask you that you reach
out to somebody and that you run for freedom. You run to the truth. Lord in the name of Jesus,
I pray for that one that is watching this video, who's maybe deceived but your removing the scales
of their eyes. They're seeing the truth for the first time, that you will give them the strength
to do what is necessary, to abandon that which they knew. To leave the safety that that cult
provided and to embark into the unknown, into the truth, into the Word of God, into the Holy Spirit,
into salvation by Jesus. Jesus may you bring them new life. Jesus may you bring them abundant life,
may you deliver them and set them free. May you liberate them from the bonds of that deception
and those lies. May you rescue them from the claws of those wolves and those demons and those cults
in Jesus name we pray, amen. Thank you for watching this video. I hope this was enlightened
and encouraging to you and brought some freedom into your life. Let me know in the comments below
what you learned, as well as share this video with other people. If you don't know,
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