Good day my Mingle 2 family, shots outs to Ms. Harmony, YellowRose10, TomCire, 37KO, & MightyMore, they been posting with me for a minute now they are my favorites & you can too be a " Vocal Avenger as well, meet me in my cyber Mansion. Okay lets get right into it. When you hear the word Religion Cults what comes to your mind? Branch Dividians, The Peoples Temple, Scientology , even The Heavens Gate ? What makes where you worship to be eligible to be a cult? When you hear names like David Koresh, Jim Joes, Marshall Applewhite & Warren Jeffs what was going thru there minds to have so much influence over vulnerable people to make them trust them to the point some even give up there families, loved ones, love mates and world processions? Do you notice there places of operations is always somewhere in the middle of nowhere....? so let me know how you feel about Cults and please feel free to let me know what do you know about them. Oh before I let you guys answer remember Charles Manson the serial killer well he was a cult leader too.

EyeAmYourHost39,

well what I know about the American religion cults well charismatic people who have a gift to answer all questions, make you feel you need them , pretend to be healers, & get into your mind. If a religion as you to join them I would advise you to research it, do backgrounds of the leaders and use your righteous judgment. Know this true spirituality is not with a cult following or man but with the heavenly father. God gave the earth to the hands of the wicked, who the wicked the devil & his many many many employees.

Wow EyeAM,,

this is a topic I was just discussing with my mother the other day when we were watching a show called The Path

I think in the modern climate, people use the term 'cult' for anything they do not understand or which seems to have some type of 'conformity' to rules that are not centered around self fulfillment

my mom perceives it as a 'need' to let someone control them, but I think it is a thin line between such a 'need' and a mere desire to surround oneself with a congregation of others with similar values and standards to help you stay focused and on course,, but you have to know when the intent is to help you stay on course, or to intimidate and control your course

that being said,, for me, a cult becomes a cult when it places any man in Gods place, as infallible and all knowing, and when it encourages people to be unforgiving in nature and isolated in geography from those who love them but are not a part of their group


The Path is very interesting, if you ever watch it, about 'Meyerists' who are following the tenants of its creator who basically wrote down very logical and loving guidelines for living except that he was a potential molestor in his own actions and he is almost WORSHIPPED in Gods place as a savior



they do alot of good work ,reaching out to communities in need, and living organic lives and such

but there is alot of hypocrisy due to them trying to portray being perfect ''meyerists' while still making very human mistakes and committing human sins,, not to mention they disown family members who show any doubt

if you get a chance, I recommend it for binge watching,, it is a hulu original series so it is only on hulu

Ms Harmony,

you was right by talking with mom about how cults operates. Remember when you hear the story of Jim Jones & The Peoples Temple, it started good then when they relocated to san Francisco. then Jim was changing so he wanted more control his followers so he moved to Guyana in South America. When he got to Guyana he was off the hook. One Jonestown survivor said once they approached the south American jungle he felt like he didn't want to be there. he said it felt like a interment camp or a prison.

isolation is the one of the abusers first tactics

in personal relationship or organizational,,

One thing all religions and cults have in common is that they use illusion and delusion to change your thinking to their standards.

Religion and cult is not the same thing.

I personally have my own religion but I do not have a cult following.

Fanaticism can be a cult if the fans band together. It can be referred to as a brotherhood, a gang or a society.

The common methods are illusion and delusion.
The common reason is manipulation.
The common victims are people with low self-esteem or high indecision.

If you know yourself and trust your own judgement you will probably not fall victim to cults or religions.

Religion is not the belief in God it is the uniformity and rules pertaining to how, why and when you believe. They manipulate you by threats and rewards and often contradict their own mandates.

I view religion as informing you of actions and consequences

not manipulating at all, as we have free will to choose our actions and to be informed of potential consequences,,,

religious BOOKS on the other hand, cover many people and many circumstances that provide lessons about action and consequence,, as well

the details can be very similar so that mandates seem to contradict, but different details, sometimes small ones, lead to different outcomes,,,

Actions and consequences defined by the given religion not by the reality you witness.



Religious doctrine does not manipulate! Hahaha! Really?



But not all actions have the consequences. Do not kill, if you do kill, you will burn in Hell forever. Kill the infidels! But if I convince you that you will burn in Hell forever if you kill it assures that you will not kill me and those I deem saved. All others are okay.



So depending on which one you believe is who is right? You believe that way because you have fallen for the manipulation and stop thinking rationally.

I am not attacking any religion. You believe whatever you want. Too bad I am not afforded that same respect in return.

for me

my religion does define actions and consequences JUST as I have witnessed,,


choice and manipulation are different things

IF I tell you going 10 miles down the bridge will end in death because I know there is a cliff five miles down due to having BUILT that bridge,, you have a choice to believe and take caution or not believe and proceed

If I tell you that if you go 10 miles I will personally throw you off the cliff,, that is manipulation


My religion tells me things as they will happen, no threat, just reality

bottom line is,, belief does not make it true, TRUTH makes it true, and sometimes what people believe IS the truth,,,

Yes, but truth is subjective and does not always coincide with the reality we must face everyday.

A group of people might decide that another group of people are worthless. To them, it is truth. Reality conficts with their truth. In reality all people are worthy and worthless because reality does not acknowldege worth.

Edit to include, after some thought;

The powerful dictate the truth and religions are powerful. Cults can be powerful in the reference of the follower. There are not multiple versions of reality there is only one and it just doesn't care if you believe in it or not, it just is.

worthless is a judgment call, an opinion,, there is no reality or fact for it to be based in,, so that was not quite what I meant by 'truth'


I speak of the truth that is in line with FACTS,,and reality

the ONE reality, that is not subjective, though it may be experienced in many ways

Facts are established by the current understanding. Facts change all the time. Reality never changes, it cares not of facts.

At one time it was fact that the smallest object was a grain of dust. Now the facts say atoms are composed of even smaller objects. The fact changed. It was a fact but it was not reality. Chances are the boson is not the smallest particle but right now, it is a fact.

The same can be said about any fact. Facts that are based on delusions are still a delusion no matter who believes it.

The only way to say a fact is a reality is to know everything about everything everywhere for all time and I believe that is beyond our realm.

I wonder where EyeAm went ,,,,,,,

always such interesting topics,, imo

Tom4UHere,

Hey, welcome back well do you remember the FDLS leader Warren Jeffs? He founded the Utah Mormon chapter, he had 13 wives which as proven to be under age and his blood nephew told it all during a reality TV show " I Escaped A Cult". I never get over hearing the story of JIM Jones & The Peoples Temple. 900 people died following who they thought was a messiah. Cults following it takes the person to heights to a level which us on the outside wouldn't think is logic.

EyeAmYourHost39,

In American history with religion let me ask this " what makes people vulnerable to join a cult? is it loneliness? Is a sense of belonging? is it someone or something to believe in ? We live in a country where you have the freedom to worship anybody or any force you like, I think that's great but even when you choose , I guess you need to research before joining. I'm a loyal Seventh-Day Adventist. I been an Adventist for 15 years and I like to say that was my calling. We do not condone cult behaviors we following our heavenly father.

I agree EyeAm, I am also drawn to our Father and others who are drawn by the same.

I think people join a 'cult' for the same reason they join a sports team, or a political party, or fraternity or sorority

for a sense of comradery with others that share their values or interests or goals.

I feel the difference with a 'cult' is that often beyond that common desire there is a feeling of being isolated and not having ANYONE else,, starting with family.

most of us have some sense of a 'family' base, or support, I think people that do not have that basic foundation, are more prone to allow others to isolate and/or control them. That goes for anything from a cult to an abusive partner.

My dad used to tell the boys,,'you see my daughter, how she looks right now, that she is smiling?' ,,,,"You better bring her back EXACTLY the same" and he told my husband "a woman leaves the home to cleave to her husband but remember , she DOES have a home, so if you cannot give her just as much as the home she already has,, feel free to bring her back'

I think abusers, in whatever role, prey more on people they feel are isolated and less on people who demonstrate they have a strong support system

Ms. Harmony,

yeah I believe what happens to people who join these cults are what other may say the forgotten ones. Ms. Harmony, remember Charles mansion? He was the leader of the family, he gathered young people back then in the 60's now you got to remember all this was going on while the Vietnam war was in effect. Manson found out what you desire, he channeled in on your with outs and he used it to influence those youth to join. Now once you was aboard, they would go into Hollywood and pick random houses to kill there victims. Remember Abigail Folgers, he sent his family to kill her. The Grand daughter of the Folgers Ares. Then they killed Sharon Tate the pregnant actress. Some say it was the LSD, Others say MK Ultra, I Say under the spell of oh Charlie.