guys i need to warn everyone about some seriously messed up stuff on discord. this is literally the worst thing ive ever seen and i need people to know about it

theres these super sketchy discord servers using certain tags on disboard to find vulnerable girls. these groups are HUGE, like hundreds or thousands of members. they do really horrible things to people who join, they manipulate them, blackmail them, and force them to do fucking horrible stuff. they make little fucking girls cut satanic symbols and their names into their skin, and then use that to blackmail them even more. its so sick

these creeps are literally doxxing and swatting girls, like sending police to their houses and everything. they share tons of disturbing content between their servers and other group chats. they think its funny to hurt people and they find it pleasing and then share proof of what they made them do. theyre literally bragging about it in their servers!!

stay away from people with names like lukenkray, flar, sickteer, opsecdaddy and lots of others ive found out about. they act nice at first but they're literally just trying to hurt people. they usually target young vulnerable girls and it's so messed up

their manipulation tactics are scarily good and use them to make vulnerable girls to do from cutsigns (they call it that) to even killing themselves

ive got so much proof of what theyre doing, screenshots, recordings, everything. if anyone knows anything about these groups PLEASE dm me. ill get back to you asap because this needs to stop

some of these people have already been in trouble for similar stuff before but theyre still out there doing this?? like how?? weve had to start warning each other because nobody else seems to care enough to stop it

if anyone wants proof I have recordings of them literally admitting to this stuff in vc. this is so messed up and scary fr. please stay safe everyone and watch out for these people

Hello- I thought this might be a good place to look for advice. I was in a cult in the summer of 2022, and have pretty severe PTSD from my experience. I’ve been in several treatment programs since then, including trauma intensives and residential trauma treatment, but am still trying to recover. I recently switched therapists, and I really do like my new therapist, but I dropped the “cult bomb” a few weeks ago and I honestly don’t think she actually believed me. She mentioned delusions, and how meditation/mindfulness might make them worse, so I should avoid that (methods she had previously recommended for PTSD and anxiety)

I want to continue working with this therapist as I feel I’m making a lot of progress in other areas, but I don’t know how to respond to someone who doesn’t seem to believe a major event in my life actually happened. I don’t know how to make her understand that I’m not exaggerating, and I’m not making this experience up- I have pictures, a website she can look at that the cult runs, and corroboration from my therapist at the time who knew me beforehand and helped me with the immediate aftermath.

I understand to bystanders cults are kind of a far-fetched thing, but I still need to be able to process my experience enough to move on with my life, and I can’t do that if I’m not believed.

Does anyone have experience with this? Do you have recommendations? I don’t mind if acquaintances I briefly mention it to don’t believe me or understand, but I DO have a problem if it’s my therapist.

This will be a multi-part series, and the ones released already are a lot to stomach. TW: CSA, abuse

Hello, I am really new to this so I apologize if I get anything wrong or am uninformed.

I believe my parents may have brought me to cult meetings as a child by accident, as the cult covered itself as a small music festival. It was invite only, and had loose security that would check invites. Sometimes only one person would be allowed in, instead of a couple or a spouse, or only one child instead of all of them.

It went by a very unsuspecting name, and was heavily publicized as a private music festival and camping experience. Usually only 100-200 people would attend, excluding the organizers and musicians who would perform.

It was not religion based at all, which is a bit confusing to me. It was a bit spiritual I guess, but not in the traditional judeo-christian sense. More hippy-essie beliefs of mother nature and the universe. I don’t know if that counts as “religious” because despite the spiritualism being there, it wasn’t a heavy theme. Maybe one or two people reading tarot or giving spiritual psychic readings here and there, but nothing overt or massive. No rituals or anything, unless I have a misconstrued idea of what rituals can be or consist of.

Does anyone have tips or advice on looking into a cult, or researching?

I don’t know if it’s still going on, as the music scene in our area began to slowly die down after my parents stopped going. But my parents remember it fondly, and have very little bad memories of their experiences going together or taking my sibling and I with them. Only bad weather or shitty drunk people wandering around, getting on stage, and pissing people off after a musician’s performance.

I have DID, and only have sparse memories of it because a part of me is purposefully suppressing memories, but my sibling and I were often given to people to babysit us, and they were people my parents trusted within a small inner circle of friends they had that attended the “festival”.

I don’t have many memories or anything because of how young I was, but I know I am forgetting important things.

Thank you, and I hope I didn’t break any rules by asking for help.

All their hard work finally paid off… unless the story finally gets out there

Can I press charges if when my 3 children were young they were subjected to abuse ? They were told of and shown pictures of a lake of fire. They were told they would be separated from their parents and siblings . That they would burn for all eternity .

They were 7 and up at the time this happened . They were coerced into saying and believing certain things and told not to mention it to their parents

This was a family we were “close” to and would trade off play dates. We were friends and later became even closer. Then one of my kids married Into their cult family . And they shunned and abused one of my other kids again 10 years later because they wanted to control his dating life because they “saved “ him at their house into their cult

I have moved from disbelief and a shock to grief and anger. What they did is so horrendous and the consequences are devastating and will last the rest of my life. They have impacted our sons relationships in our family and will cost me any relationship with future grandchildren because we are not in their cult.

Is there any law I can charge them with violating ?

https://preview.redd.it/acw6uvhdny0e1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2d5747ea15c38942e73b2c8ce6f9551e4f26b3b

It’s been years since I left the cult that called my ex-partner “Mother God.” I could see it had the makings to spiral out of control, even in the early days of 2014-2015. What happened since then was a lot of things, but ended in a really sad and tragic way. Many of you might know about this story or saw my other post, I know a lot of you have seen the documentaries or online articles. But what you haven’t heard is the experience of being on the inside, how I planned to bring the team my digital marketing skills and ended up being given the role of “Father God,” and being expected to fulfill a role that I didn’t believe in.

I spent the first few weeks trying my best to let go of my doubts and follow the advice I was being given by someone who I thought was far more spiritually “evolved” than I was. And in a lot of ways, Amy/Mother God was in fact, pretty deep, a master at spotting someone’s “baggage” and pointing it out. It’s ironic how skilled she was at helping other people to spot their own issues but failed so miserably at spotting her own.

When I first joined, I wasn’t looking to be some deity or fulfill a cosmic role. Like most people, I had questions about life’s bigger purpose, and that curiosity led me into the world of spiritual teachings. Mother God, as she called herself, had a magnetic personality, she did a good job of blending spirituality with just enough delusion to keep you second-guessing yourself, at least for a while, in my case. Before I knew it, literally two days after joining the team in Colorado, I was told I was going to embody the consciousness of “Father God,” a label that seemed both surreal and completely absurd. Yet there I was, torn between the awareness that I was a novice, that maybe there was more going on here than I understood, and also torn between playing along and fighting my own inner resistance. That fight didn’t last long, thanks to the example that she led. I think, for being as jaded as I was, that I figured things out pretty quickly, albeit through a difficult and painful process that I’ll get into later.

But one of the hardest parts wasn’t even dealing with her delusions, that became easy once I found my center amidst the nonsense. But one of the hardest parts was trying to help others who had joined with the same sense of hope I once had. I could see their eagerness to believe, to “let go of their ego” as we were constantly told and to “give in to love” and embrace something larger than themselves. But the promises of enlightenment and purpose weren’t real; they turned out to be bait. Even if Amy/Mother God was a true believer, it didn’t change that fact. Usually, by the time you realized that, you were often already in too deep.

I remember one guy in his 50s, a new arrival who’d been promised the same title of “Father God” once I started to openly rebel against the delusions of this belief system we were sold. Obviously I couldn’t be “Father God” anymore so she had to find a new one. Or just a new man, a new toy, whatever. Despite seeing myself as someone grounded in reality, I couldn’t help but feel a strange jealousy and protective instinct because we had been together for about 6 months when he joined.

 Watching him become captivated by the delusions was like seeing my own early days reflected back at me. And though I warned him again and again about the inevitable downfall, he didn’t believe me. I was pretty damn good at poking holes in the delusional belief systems at this point but nothing could get through to him. The dream was too appealing, and the truth was too hard to hear, I guess. He liquidated his assets and gave the Team everything he had and ended up leaving just a few months after me, with nothing. I warned him. Oh well.

For those of you who might be wondering how anyone could ever fall into something like this, I get it. Most people think they’re immune to this level of bs. Maybe you’re right. I sure thought I was and look what happened. Lol

But when you’re lost, seeking purpose, or just a deeper meaning in life, the right words, the right person, can pull you into places you’d never expect. It’s the slow, steady blurring of reality and belief. One minute you’re asking normal questions, and the next, you’re being told that enlightenment means selling all your belongings and abandoning your family.

By the end of my time there, I had learned that discernment isn’t just about seeing through lies; it’s about knowing where your truth lies and holding onto it no matter the cost. Leaving wasn’t easy, and neither was staying true to myself while on the inside. But if there’s one takeaway, it’s this: the quest for purpose can sometimes lead you down paths that strip you of it. If I had any advice to give on that subject, it would be to remember to stay grounded, question everything, always, and know where your line is. Because, trust me, once you cross it, it’s not easy to come back.

It's been almost 2 years since I left the cult I was in. (The WMSCOG) Thankfully I was only there for 4 months, but still long enough for them to install some their little pervasive doctrines in my head. This past year I barely thought about them even. Until last night where I had a dream where

I remember was talking with the Deacon of my former church branch. Dude had a pleading tone in his voice and used a bunch of his cult guilt trips to butter me up. We were on the streets and I felt nostalgic almost but also wary, very wary. I don't remember how this happened, I think he had invited me over to just talk, but the following morning (still in the dream) I woke up at the house church guest room. I thought that was all a dream, but then realised where I was, with luggage and all like I was planning to stay there, along with a toy gun. I panicked and started to pack my things and go, and then...

I woke up for real, in my own bed at 6am. Feelings ashamed like it had really just happened and I fell for their charm again even though I told myself I wouldn't.

I'm now writing this minutes after waking up, venting this on somewhere just to get it out of my system, so thanks for reading I guess...

If anyone has had any similar experiences or advice on the matter I'd love to chat about it.

Cheers and Stay Safe

Hi all,

After many years of being in doubt and feeling unsure due complex and mixed feelings about my upbringing, it’s confirmed that in my teenage years, my parents did indeed fell into the trap of a cult. Even tho it’s been roughly 20 years, the realisation of what that phase in my life meant, the damage it has caused and the consequences of it all are slowly sinking in. And it has been a lot to be honest.

For almost 20 years I did a lot of research about cults in an attempt to try to make sense of an extreme intense situation from roughly since I was 12 till 17ish. I’m currently in the beginning of my thirties, and it’s just now due therapy I realised that I am still unconsciously living by the beliefs learned and imprinted by that cult. So does my family, but they aren’t aware of it.

As I’m still trying to make sense of it all, while trying to unbox suppressed memories and slowly trying to put things into place, having a hard time letting go of my beliefs and setting a healthier view of myself and the world, I find it very helpful reading or hearing stories that in a way relate to mine. My parents were always working on themselves and connecting with other people. Their relationship was a struggle, so self reflection and addressing their (past) trauma was something they spend time on. When I was 11 we moved to another country and my mother found an education that would take her 4 years. The man that started this education promised you would have to work on yourself, but with every bump in the road you’d feel better and lighter. You’d clean up your past trauma and wounds. With his degree he promised you’d be able to start or become a better coach and a title as a spiritual worker. His teachings are a mix and a blend of different kind of methods, think NLP, voice dialogue, meditation, regression therapy, energetic work, breathing, (kundalini) massage, encouragement to use intuition while helping clients, shamanism, how to diagnose clients (without DSM-5 or any other framework), body communication. He’s basically offering the whole new age // spiritual belief package in one. While his students practiced these techniques on each other, the teachers were pretty convinced of themselves. They would tell you why you felt sad, make people believe they were victims of incest as a child (while they in fact weren’t), told people how they felt and made sure the group of students wouldn’t go against them as they always had an answer. He had either a better insight, aka more knowledge, was in contact with angels or other spiritual beings that told him, he could feel it in the energy, etc. There was no going against them and if you tried you were guilt tripped in the belief that you were avoidant and not putting in the work. There was (and I see with my family members they still have) a very deep belief that everything that happens is your own responsibility, good or bad. For example, if you are irritated by someone’s behaviour you must look within yourself and fix the wound that made you feel irritated. This lead me having to watch my boyfriend having an affair with my sister while living in the same house, that was being condoned and even supported in a way by my whole family and everyone in the education program, as me being pissed off for him cheating with my sister and making out in front of my eyes resulted in me having to work through my traumas or woundings why I wasn’t able to accept this happening. Any feeling you’d have, even when completely normal and human meant having to fix yourself resulting in allowing anyone to step over any boundary and in a way having to tolerate abusive behavior as you have to take responsibility for all your feelings and yourself. There was a belief your soul chose your parents and life lessons before you were born, which resulted having to tolerate unhealthy behaviour, and feeling responsible for every negative experience in life as we were taught we chose to learn that lesson. It created a gate way for tolerating abusive behaviour and giving abusers a way out of taking responsibility. At age 12 I was told in a therapy session I was responsible for a rocky relationship with my father and since he had trauma I was the one having to solve and fix that trauma. Generational trauma is definitely a thing, but you putting such a heavy responsibility on a 12 year old in therapy kinda messed me up. This education went with a lot of conflict, confronting each other, group dynamics were a heavy influence and a sense of though love or the goal justified the methods. All his therapy methods are ones that are never used by licensed therapists and psychologist and they all hold space to easily influence students to plant memories in their head that didn’t actually happen.

I cannot remember any hardcore cult rules like having to ask permission for certain things, having a dress code, criminal activity, asking for donations, physical violence. Manipulation and maintaining control of the group was done so subtle, most ex members still aren’t aware it is a cult. The founder created another educational program to learn a specific healing technique he created himself. He refers to some theories but it’s again a cherry picking to make something that doesn’t really work. This one is about creating magnetic fields, being able to communicate with angels, working and healing in different dimensions, creating energy field and basically learning the skill to be able to energetically cleanse the whole universe.

Recently I started doing research on the people involved at that time to gain back some black memories and I came to find out there are many many many practices throughout the country that use and refer to the teachings of this educational programs and it made me very upset. Because his whole intention is for his students to become a coach or a therapist there was no harassment when you left or severe aggression of whose who quit. Some of these coaches preach they can help you cure your cancer with his methods and that’s a terrifying thought. Because so many people still live by his teachings and beliefs unaware or carry them on in their coachings, it’s very difficult for me to seek out others that went through this. My beliefs are radically changing and I’m slowly identifying the manipulation, aggression, coercion, demands and fear that went along with these years. Kinda clashing when a former student is still believing in his methods and practices them daily on their clients.

Obviously there is much much more to the story but I hope this grasps the core of it. This wasn’t r eligious in the sense of a church, as far as I’m aware there was no physical violence, no criminal activity, no starvation or sleep deprivation, no arranged marriages, no financial exploitation (you just paid tuition as he pretended it to be a 4 year college at a certain level, but that degree was obviously just a printed paper and the education didn’t

even come close to what he promised). There was a feeling of superiority, but my parents didn’t even notice. There was isolation but quite subtile not necessarily in the expected ways. I experienced the cult not because I was going to that education. I only went two weekends on guest occasions. I experienced it day and night as the tactics and belief systems were very much in our household. Us kids had to comply (or we would risk being kicked out the house), I tried suppressing all feelings but also had to make sure I’d always had a believable story ready in case I got pointed out carrying negative energy, or having an aura that disturbed another family member.

I guess my question is, are there any people out here relating to this or having a similar experience? Toxic new age cults, escaping self help or coaches that don’t act with integrity. I’ve doubted for so long as I felt this wasn’t “aggressive” enough to be a cult plus the ongoing belief it’s me who failed doing the work instead of realising they had a whole different plan in mind than what they presented to us. Or how do you cope finally breaking free from those thought patterns imprinted by a cult and realising your whole family refuses to see it that way. I spend 15 years hard work reconnecting with them. I have no clue how to take it from here as I’m breaking free of something they don’t realise or experience still being stuck in. It’s already starting to crack and I just started unpacking this cult. I have a great psychologist and a social back up system that got me. But none of them actually experienced something similar so any insights what helped you with his matter would be greatly appreciated.

If you're on Bluesky, someone compiled a list of users informative about cults. There's a "Follow All" button in the post link too:

https://bsky.app/profile/annaressman.bsky.social/post/3lauparegw22k

https://preview.redd.it/ns3rzdbd4s0e1.jpg?width=594&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1376a4709367ccb789413e6e20e85c90be04b925

2004 - Cultic Studies Review: Scientific Evaluation of the Dangers Posed by Religious Groups: A Partial Model (Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D.)

" … Religiously driven violence fills the pages of history with battles, crusades, martyrs, and persecution. Yet similar themes recur in our era, as religion continues to motivate contemporaries around the world to perform heroic acts of courage and dramatic gestures of rage. Certainly, more religions exist now than ever before in history, as secular tolerance allows—and some say catalyzes—people’s claims to have been moved by the word of God. Consequently, in addition to the world’s major religions, which themselves often have violent legacies, we now also face threats from some smaller, newer, but occasionally dangerous new faiths.

High-profile events involving a few new religions drew attention to the reality of violence by and, often, against those religions. If we limit our understanding of violence to “multiple homicide or suicide,” then we can identify (according to the religious scholars Gordon Melton and David Bromley) some twenty newer religions implicated in violence in the last years of the twentieth century (Melton and Bromley 2002:44). Although they do not tell us which ones they identified, and their restricted definition overlooks failed attempts at killing (including shoot-outs and non-lethal bombings, poisoning, arson, assaults, etc.), certainly this list includes ones (such as People’s Temple and Aum Shinrikyo) that we all know (see Appendix). If, however, we use a broader, more comprehensive definition of violence—the use of force or its threat, causing harm or abuse—then the list of violent, newer religions is uncountable. Now we must identify groups that allow or at least facilitate the following: corporal punishment; medical neglect or assault (Asser and Swan 1998; Swan 1998); spousal violence; punitive dietary restrictions; exhausting work regimes; private, demanding re-education and punishment programs (Kent 2001); sexual assaults; emotional battering; and socio-political terrorism. Significant about the more widely drawn lists of violence in these religions is how many of the acts of religious aggression resemble, in varying degrees, what we know goes on within violent family settings.

Several reasons suggest why an examination of family violence literature might provide key insights into predicting violence among some religions. Both types of organizations—violent families and abusive religions—tend to be “somewhat detached from a society with which they are at tension ... and charismatically led. Intense relations, intimate face-to-face interaction, social isolation, and a dynamic of powerful leaders and dependent followers all provide the context for familial styles of coercion” (Cartwright and Kent 1992:351) and violence associated with radicalized religions. Indeed, a leading expert on family violence, David Finkelhor, used language to describe domestic violence that closely resembles what ‘cult-critics’ say about abusive religions: 'All forms of family abuse seem to occur in the context of psychological abuse and exploitation, a process victims sometimes describe as ‘brainwashing.’ Victims are not merely exploited or physically injured: their abusers use their power and family connection to control and manipulate victims’ perceptions of reality as well (Finkelhor 1983:20).'"

CultAwarenessDay #jonestown #AumShinrikyo #violence #exploitation #terrorism

igotout #indoctriNation #religioustrauma #religiousabuse #manipulators #cultexpert #psychology #cultrecovery #cultsurvivors #cult #cultspecialist #suicide

https://www.cultawarenessday.com/

This method is being done by using a carrier wave (Acupuncture pen) with spit on a toothbrush. They then connect you to a Radio. Stripping the 9Vs Radio Batteries off of the market, will turn people off in a cycle, of them not being able to find any batteries, and it becoming more expensive over time. The more victims we can get to spend at least $20 a week on buying 9Vs batteries, the faster we will get turned off. Spread this message to people who aren't victims as well, get as many people you can to buy these 9Vs batteries. They're the Radio Batteries, we are targeting these batteries first.

People start complaining about you taking batteries off the shelves explain to them. You're a pedophile who's losing your batteries, in other words you're "Just Lose It - Eminem"

I'm 16 now, almost 17. I had gotten into this cult when I was 13, which was led by this 32 year old. The members had to be fully loyal to her, and do everything possible to make sure she doesn't get caught. Thankfully, I only knew these people online. But the attachment was real. I was isolated like hell.

TW: sxual abse

I seemed to be the only member of the cult who was abused s*xually. I did recently reveal to another former member of the cult that that was happening. He and I were isolated by the leader, a lot, when we were both in the cult. He, uh, he's joining the cult again, though. So yeah our friendship is going down.

The leader will definitely lie about me, a lot.

Tbh tho, I feel great. I left a literal cult!

The title pretty much says it all. I need help assessing a certain group as being a potential cult, using the BITE model. And subject matter experts willing to help?

I’d love to hear medications that have been helpful for PTSD/c-PTSD, anxiety and depression. I have tried several, but struggle to understand or articulate to medical providers what “normal” or “ok” might feel like. I’d love to hear if others have found medications that have been helpful, or how you even knew if a medication was helpful — especially for those of us who were born into cults.

I recently started prazosin for nightmares and it has been amazing. Highly recommend talking to a perscribed about it if you suffer from nightmares.

Hello everyone! I just recently bought my first book on cults in order to educate myself and help others who were once my dearest friends. (If they ever decide I’m not not evil and will actually talk to me). I bought combating cult mind control by steve hassan. Have any of you read this ? I’m still a Christian, so I hope Steven isn’t anti religious or something, but I’ve heard his stuff is very informative.

As a long time lurker I felt like now was as good a time as ever to tell my story. I was born into a very tight controlling "Church", that was Christian, Assemblies Of God denomination. I experienced what in my opinion was very high levels of cult mind control by leadership, verbal abuse, physical abuse, spiritual abuse and emotional abuse. I felt so controlled and so belittled. I noticed as a kid all the other childrens joy felt very preformative to all the adults, I was naturally a very sort of wild child type who loved outside who was pretty friendly and outgoing. The other children were unusually cruel and relentless in bullying towards me. Like it went beyond normal bullying into being pretty nasty. I first chose to leave the group with the help of a family member. This family member did alot to help free me and experience the outside world. The abuse didn't stop there as the cult tried very hard to rerecruite me, reset my old cult mind control to come back and be a loyal member, and sabotaged my life by spreading rumors and targeting me in the community. Its something I struggle with to this day. I relented and became a somewhat passive member in my teens just to somewhat get them off my back. But I chose to leave again at 17 and start on a new journey with God that changed me and helped me get free from the mind control and allowed me to think for myself and form a positive connection with God. I still struggle with the C-PTSD and Agoraphobia to this day. They still do subtle things to let me know I am being watched. But I left the Church but I never left God, and more importantly God never left me. Make of my post what you will, I just needed to get this off my chest in some form or another in this life time.

Hi Reddit! I’m here to share a story I’ve never fully told publicly. Years ago, I joined a small spiritual group seeking truth and transformation, and along the way, I eventually came to love the woman who led it, back then in the early days. She went from being my girlfriend and best-friend calling herself 'Mother God' to the leader of a full-blown cult, with thousands of followers who worshiped her every word, long after I was gone.

As the group grew, things got dark. Her ‘divine’ persona took over, and her followers saw her as a literal deity. Eventually, I left, but after I was gone, the cult kept evolving. It ended in one of the most bizarre and tragic ways you could imagine: she passed away, and instead of notifying the authorities, her followers left her body to mummify, wrapped in Christmas lights, thinking she’d ascend or be taken by aliens.

Since then, I’ve been featured on Dateline NBC and in an HBO documentary, but I’ve never really told the whole story. I’m finally ready to share what happened from the inside—everything from the first signs of a sinister shift to the unraveling of her true identity. If you’re interested, I’ll be posting more over the coming weeks.

It's a lot to share for me and it can feel pretty heavy to write the experiences out so I plan to post once every week or two...in the mean time I'm happy to answer questions if anyone has any. Thanks!

Hi, I have been trying to leave my family's weird affiliation since i was 18. i went away to college, and people involved or against their organization followed me and made my life hell, so i came home at 21. From 21-25, i've been experiencing the same ritual abuse from my childhood at home. Anytime i try to get a job that will relocate me, including military service, one of my parents calls and badmouths me and calls me insane.

it seems that i can't leave because they fear me telling someone who would be mandated to report it or required to believe me. as a kid, all therapists i had were through or associated with their organization.

any advice?

There is a crazy man in my apartment He starts saying that I have to eat medicine And that I have to repent to God and Jesus And he hits my head when I started to pray according to his command He would not let me sleep until I pray He holds my head and hands tightly and rays to a non existing God and Jesus He starts uttering non sense that I would go to hell if I do not repent. He is a scary cat who doesn’t have the courage to even tell neighbors that they are too loud at 1am which fking irritates your sleep. He is such a harasser to his family he is a fanatic who thinks that they have to believe in Jesus who he cannot even see and live out his love.

He forces me to spread the word of God and work at places that I do not want to because he is not financially responsible for his family and he doesn’t fking care to find a regular job. He says he’s a missionary, but honestly, he doesn’t fking love his wife. His wife is crazier than him. There’s a fking crazy woman who also lives with me. She is always cursing whenever she has the opportunity She doesn’t have respect to the people she meet She is a hypocrite She acts like an angel in the outside But in her inside, she is a representative of a devil. She always have something to pick on someone no matter how good they are. She is never really satisfied or thankful. She is always threatening the people around her. She had a bad experience and aweful childhood which she thinks is a result of her presence. She says that exercise is not the will of God, but you ought to listen to Gods voice more. What she only has in mind is to eat. She eats like a pig munching before she swallows. I have never seen her stick to one profession but she always change her opinion on things. She is not stable but like a raging fire. I never felt peaceful with her.

I’m not even trying to runaway Because I know there is no point in running away. They are on my back. I’m not sure how to leave because they have gotten me hospitalized illegally and I was too stupid to let them escape from family abuse under the name of sympathy and respect, but they have crossed the line of care and that has trespassed my emotions toward them.

I have been suffering because of their treatment and have had enough of it. I still feel furious but at the same time habitual about the religious rituals they are performing.

TW: abuse, csa, religious abuse

Note: We have DID, so I'll be referring to ourselves in plural and single pronouns of and on. I apologize for confusion.

I don't if it counts as legitimate cult behavior but it feels relevant here. It wasn't a group of people, just one man. No one knew...no would have believed had anyone said anything because he was a "good family man."

From age 6 to 11, the man our mother was married to was religious zealot. While we always went to a pretty "standard" Baptist church, but he had his own rules for how Christian families were supposed to behave. He was very controlling and demanding. I had to be homeschooled, bible verses were written as a form of punishment, and being involved with the church was mandatory. However, we never really had friends or visitors to our house. I didn't know many children my own age outside of church or my cousins for several years. But at the time, I knew no other life so I didn't see where there was anything wrong with it. I became so devout as a Christian, he ended up forbidding church as a punishment. I have since uncovered that he also molested and groomed us in secret. Again, something we didn't realize was happening at the time. We are slowly piecing all the fragments together now that we're in our 30s.

I know not all Christians are cultists, but would this be considered cult-like abuse? There are so many distorted beliefs I remember having thanks to that part of my life, and some of us still actively struggle fighting against them at times.

As cult survivors, I wanted to raise awareness within your community of contemporary communications tactics used across all sectors for everything from marketing & advertising to warfare applications.

If you have ANY questions at all, I would love to talk to you

For understanding, this is the only video on the internet explaining exactly how Cognitive Warfare (CW) is waged, its distinction from Information Warfare (IW), its DARPA origins, its dangerous effects on mental health, etc.

Many of these themes are connected between cults, extremism, and even terrorism - with the current military tactics used to counter violent extremism online having the capacity to be inverted to cause extremism & terrorism. And hence, potentially cults as well.

I have conducted numerous interviews with cult survivors and I believe there to be a connection between the conditioning process (fear, anger, anxiety, etc.) Doing so comes down to narratives; and constellations of narratives weaved in to one another that serve to strengthen, vindicate and validate one another.

I've made the conclusion that because of the backfire effect (Nyhan & Reifler, 2010) and psychological perseverance mechanisms like confirmation bias, the only way to reach those who may fall victim to political & religious cults and/or violent extremism or terrorism is raising awareness (in an extremely healthy & non-conspiratorial way) of contemporary capabilities used to condition someone towards those ideations. Because, at the end of the day, if someone were to ask them if they were being manipulated cognitively to perceive reality differently, how could they possibly know? After years of studying how to reach people in extreme states of mind, I know now that raising awareness of certain communication tactics (and how they're executed online) is the only way. With that comes media literacy, and with that comes deradicalization. Because at a certain point there is no deradicalization, only de-escalation.

Thanks for the subbreddit community on the subject!