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Church Deception Religion
Imagine yourself sitting in a church. While you wait for the service to begin, calming music is played. As you watch the people seated around, you notice some move their bodies with the music, while others lift hands towards the heavens. Once the service begins, the audience is greeted by the preacher whose words flow in a smooth pattern. The tone and rhythm of his voice captures the audience, so he can pull their emotions in any direction he wants. Without taking a break, the audience is asked to join in and sing a song. During the song, an audience member or members may become moved by the spirit. Some may move to the front of the church, while others are so filled with God they fall into a seizure type state. Now that your and the audience’s attention are focused only on the service, a call for tithes or collection of money. The final portion of this show is the message of warning. You hear about the devil, God’s anger, going to hell, and eternal suffering. However, he always closes by reminding you and the audience that salvation and love are always available through God.
This basic description could describe almost any church service of any denomination. So, if you have attended a service, you can count yourself as one of the many who have been subjected to brainwashing. For most people this word brings to mind the image of forcibly being held against your will, while beliefs and identity are reformed and replaced. Michael D. Langone refers to this a DDD (debility, dependency, and dread) Syndrome, originally used to describe Korean thought reform with prisoners of war (Langone). Mainstream religions use a similar process of control; however, the methods are not as scary. This is very similar to the four components of mind control identified by Steve Hassan. Using the three components known as “cognitive dissonance theory” created by psychologist, Leon Festinger, Hassan added a forth. These components are control of behavior, control of thoughts, control of emotions and control of information. “Each component has a powerful effect on the other: change one and the others will tend to follow. Succeed in changing all four, and the individual will be swept away. I call these factors the four components of mind control, and they serve as the basic reference points for how mind control works” (Hassan).
You can get expert help with your essays right now. Find out more...According to Dick Sutphen, the progression through each phase causes the conversion to become more effective. There are different ways to achieve conversion, but the usual first step in religious brainwashing is to work on the emotions of an individual or group until they reach an abnormal level of anger, fear, excitement, or nervous tension. The progressive result of this mental condition is to impair judgment and increase suggestibility. The more this condition can be maintained or intensified, the more it compounds. The complete mental takeover becomes easier and existing thought processes can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and behavior. (Sutphen)
Deception is the starting point, that quick sell which cannot be denied. Like a door-to-door salesman offering you the newest sensation in soul salvation; it all comes down to how well the product can be sold. The religion is painted as just what a person needs. Any illegal, immoral, or controlling practices are hidden away to hide the true activities of the group. For example, Fundamentalist groups will not immediately reveal their plans to new members. Instead they will wait until this person has become completely ingrained and reliant on the group. Other often-used physiological weapons to modify normal brain functions are fasting, radical or high sugar diets, physical discomforts, regulation of breathing, mantra chanting in meditation, the disclosure of awesome mysteries, special lighting and sound effects, programmed response to incense, or intoxicating drugs.(Sutphen)
Enthralling the audience in an activity with the group can create not only a new sense of belonging and welcome, but gives them a goal within the group they now wish to attain. The phenomenon of speaking in tongues is such an experience. The Holy Spirit fills a believer, causing them to speak the word of God in the Heavenly perfect language. This creates a strong emotional bond with not only God but the congregation. J. Lee Grady explains this best when he states “the gift of tongues has provided me with a mystical sense of inner strength that comes from the indwelling Christ (Grady).” Testimonies like this from members add positive reinforcement to the audience’s trust of the group. Not only does it create an internal feeling of acceptance, but an overall acceptance from the group as well. Testifying or witnessing, people from the group who relate their stories, is another act that draws the person into the religion. After listening to numerous case histories of miraculous healings, the average guy in the audience with a minor problem is sure he can be healed (Sutphen). Some churches will even practice “laying of hands”, where a preacher will touch a person on the head firmly and shout a prayer or announce a healing. Psychologically the person is now healed. While this not a permanent solution it will last four days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a hypnotic suggestion given to a somnambulistic subject will usually last (Sutphen). As long as the person continues to return to the church to experience the power of God, they will stay healed. This aids in keeping the person coming back each week until returning is no longer a thought but an automatic action.
It is usually during the deception stage that the charismatic leader is also revealed. This person is a charming smooth talker, who knows all the right things to say. When hearing the term many will think about cultic leaders, such as Jim Jones, David Keresh or Charles Manson. Men who charmed people to not only believe every word they spoke but to follow and carry out specific orders, such as murder and commit suicide. Charismatic leaders are not limited to cults though. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi are two men who changed nations with their ability to speak and commanding presence. These men are known for their nonviolent push for peace, equal rights, freedom and understanding but in the end it was still manipulation. People listened to the words they spoke, observed their actions, and in the end, they not only believed, they followed. And based on these standards, it can be suggested that Jesus was the ultimate charismatic leader.
Jesus commanded “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).The moment a person does this; they will undoubtedly begin to feel guilt, because when a person’s behavior is different from what is taught to be right, guilt forms. The view of a Christian is that all humans are imperfect, and we will never escape guilt or sin.
“ 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
(1 John 1:8)
“ 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
(Romans 3:23).
But through God's grace, confession and forgiveness are able to be achieved. This can only be done by asking God for help and letting the Holy Spirit transform people according to the standard that God has provided.
“ 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,”
(Galatians 5:22)
“8 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
(2 Corinthians 3:18)
While Guilt in the life of a Christian is not proof of mind control, it is proof of that person having taken on a new standard for his life, and with this new standard, new ideals and ways of living. (Hassan) This guilt will stay with the person always, connecting them with not only Jesus, but the congregation. Even if not completely ingrained in the religions beliefs, their eyes have now been opened to not only their own faults, but the freedom that salvation brings.
Emotional control, attempts to manipulate and narrow the range of a person's feelings. As already mentioned guilt and fear are necessary to keep people under control. Guilt is probably the single most important emotional lever for producing conformity and compliance. However, most people can't see that guilt and fear are being used to control them. Instead they are conditioned to blame themselves. Fear is also used to bring group members together. If the group has an outside enemy to not only fear, but fight against, the bond originally formed during the deception stage, will grow stronger with the ultimate goal of the bond to become permanent. (Hassen)
Once intrigued and swayed by the leader and offerings of the religion, isolation beings. In order to make sure the ideals of the group are not hindered, behavior control is enforced. The regulation of an individual's physical reality includes the control of his environment (Hassen). By replacing daily activities, including jobs with group sanctioned activities the recruits and members are restricted to the life the group has set forth, making it that much easier for teachings to be ingrained. This need for behavior control is the reason most cults prescribe a very rigid schedule for their members. Rituals and indoctrination activities take up a significant amount of time during the day, along with specific goals and tasks, thus restricting their free time and their behavior (Hassen p.60). One of the most infamous group compounds was that of the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas. Not only were daily activities monitored and or limited, but everyday aspects of life were manipulated by the leader. And while inner thoughts of people cannot be controlled by the leader, they know that if a persuasive enough behavior command is given, the followers minds will soon think the way the leader wants (Hassan p. 60-61).
Reading materials and other outside influences may be confiscated or forbidden by use of the members as well. Information control is what Hassan considers part of isolating the person from harmful information. If you deny a person the information they require to make judgments, then they will be incapable of doing so. Information is usually regulated using a “need to know” basis, to keep members from knowing everything that is going on. (Hassen p. 65) Jesus is always described as knowing all things but he did not share this knowledge freely. He only shared his teachings as he saw fit. Sometimes he chose to disclose teachings to the crowds, while some teachings were only given privately to the small group of his closest followers.
“28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples
asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?”
(Mark 9:28)
“3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against
the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked
him privately, 4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and
what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest
any man deceive you:” (Mark 13:3-5)
Similarly, the churches now teach the concepts of religion to the new members, starting with the most basic concepts and then moving to detailed concepts, once a foundation has been established. This returns us back to the original deception of a new member and only sharing what is necessary to grab their attention. Spiritual maturity operates on different levels of revelation as well, since it too effects our perceptions and judgments.
“31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
(John 8:31-32)
“ 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)
In order to continue in the way of the Lord, members would need to continually return to the church, not only their personal grow in knowledge through God, but to also gain authority in the church and gain access to more detailed information about its focus and work.
The four controls Hassen discusses in his book are used on a daily basis by many individuals and groups. All you need to do is turn on the TV or step into a classroom. Everyone from advertising companies to teachers and even parents use some type of mind control on a daily basis. Christians and followers of Jesus are only a small percentage, but they do participate. While the majority of these religions will not use the controls for harmful measures, there are fundamentalist and extremist groups who do. The point of this paper was not to point out the wrong doing of the church, but to show that if even on a small level, manipulation, mind control or conversion is used.
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