Many False Prophets Shall Rise

What exactly is a religious cult anyway? How do you recognize a self-destructive religious cult from a bone fide healthy religion? According to Marcia, and James Rudin in their very succinct book "Prison Or Paradise", many cults can be defined by some of the following characteristics:

1. Members swear total allegiance to an all-powerful deified leader whom they believe to be the messiah.
2. Rational thought is discouraged or forbidden.
3. The cult's recruitment techniques are often deceptive.
4. The cult weakens the follower psychologically by making him, or her to depend upon the group to solve his, or her problems.
5. The cult manipulates guilt to their advantage.
6. The cult leader makes all of the career, and life decisions of the members.
7. The cult exists only for their own material survival, and makes false promises to work to improve society.
8. Cult members often work full time for the group for little, or no pay.
9. Cult members are isolated from the outside world, and any reality testing it could provide.
10. Cults are anti-woman, anti-child, and anti-family.
11. Cults are apocalyptic, and believe themselves to be the remnant that will survive the soon approaching end of the world.
12. Many cults follow an "Ends justify the means" philosophy.
13. Cults, particularly in regard to their finances, are shrouded in secrecy.
14. There is frequently an aura of, or potential for violence around cults.

Not all cults have all of the above characteristics, and some of them may have only a few. The organization I was with, however, had them all at one time or another.

This book has many levels. It is primarily a blow-by-blow description of a very negative experience in my life, and describes many of the things that I was feeling, and thinking as I was experiencing it. But it's also an interesting glimpse into the type of twisted logic that almost all cults have. I wrote sections of the book very shortly after leaving the organization, so most of the warped reality, and the inhibited thought processes are still there, for you to examine.

Due to the almost constant programming, and mind control techniques that we were subjected to, many of "Sir's" speeches are preserved here almost word for word. Some of them were edited heavily to make them easier to read, since many of "Sir's" talks were rambling affairs that were difficult to understand unless you were familiar with his own personal form of reality. They do provide, however, a very good look into the thought processes of a deified religious cult leader. They also look into some of the techniques he used to draw us all into his sway as disciples.

It is my sincere hope that someday, somewhere, someone might read this book, and thereby avoid going through an experience like what happened to me. That, I think might just make what I went through as a disciple in The Movement worthwhile.