11/18/2023: International Cult Awareness Day

Greetings, subscribers. Today, November 18th, is International Cult Awareness Day. In a previous post, I let you know about this, but today’s the day. I wanted to honor it today. One way: at the end of this post, I list helpful resources for cult survivors and their families.

The image here with a question mark signifies many people’s wonderment over why and how anyone gets caught in a cult. There’s a lot of talk about cults these days, so I want to try and get clear about what a cult is.

Here’s a thumbnail sketch: a cult is a group of people “under the spell” of a zealot wielding undue influence over them. Followers, to varying degrees, no longer think critically about what they say or do. The kind of cult they’re in can be religious, political, or business-related. Keep reading for a more in-depth description.

Why November 18th?

This day is announced on the website Home | International Cult A (cultawarenessday.com)

If you’re old enough (like me) you remember that 45 years ago, on November 18, 1978, more than 900 people died—most by suicide, others by murder—under the influence of one of the most dangerous and notorious cult leaders of our time, Jim Jones. That horrifying tragedy occurred at a commune he founded for his followers in Jonestown, Guyana.

At that time, I was a leader in a different sort of cult with my former husband: The Way International, what we believed was a biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry. It is still in business today. Back then, we oversaw home fellowships in the L.A. area and sought out people to recruit. We were trained to do this by the founder of The Way, Victor Paul Wierwille (1916-1985).

Wierwille was manipulative, authoritarian, narcissistic (and often charming), but I did not think he was as outwardly extreme as Jim Jones, i.e., I never heard Wierwille even hint that suicide would be a godly act. We were to stay alive to love God and his people and spread Wierwille’s Bible teachings over the world! So, I was terribly shocked by what happened to Jim Jones’ adoring followers.

An in-depth description of a cult

This is from the website about Nov. 18th above: A cult is “A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it…), designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders, to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community.”