Hey everyone, hope you
had a good Halloween.
Recently I’ve been binge watching videos about cults and cult
survivors and the like and thought I’d make a post on five
documentaries that you can watch right now.
I’ve
always been a little interested in this topic (you may remember some of my
previous cult posts) but what lead me to writing this post was actually…well…Amway
(previously Quixar)
If
you don’t know Amway here’s an excerpt from good old Wikipedia
“Amway is an American company that uses a
multi-level marketing model to sell a variety of products, primarily in the
health, beauty, and home care markets. Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van
Andel and Richard DeVos.”
It
all started when a friend of mine began chatting to an old friend that he
hadn’t seen in years over social media.
They made plans to meet at a mutual
friend’s house and when he showed up, the guy had brought along an older couple
who he (my friend) had never met before.
The
old couple proceeded to pull out a lap top and began doing a full on power
point presentation trying to convert him to becoming an Amway seller.
They showed him some corny video of how he
could have the best life ever if he just paid to sign up and pedaled their
crappy products to family members, friends and strangers. He could be a
MILLIONAIRE they said.
They showed
pictures of their bank statements with these insane balances and pictures of sports cars and these huge houses they claimed to live in.
He
didn’t join of course.
It
got me thinking, though, what the hell was it all about. I Googled the company
and was shocked to see these massively attended meetings with dollars falling
from the sky and speakers preaching like pastors about wealth and the company. Attendees were hemorrhaging cash just to show up to these strange spectacles.
Here’s
the video I watched (old I know, but it is wild)
Dateline –
Quixar [X]
From there I just
started clicking around in the side bar at the suggested videos and started
watching these cult documentaries, news reports and clips.
I was always intrigued to know how one could
be recruited into a cult. I was aware that recruiters usually targeted people
who were down and out and promised to be the answer to all of their problems. I
know they welcome new members with open arms (often using technique referred to
as “love bombing) feed them, shelter
them, give them something to follow and believe in before using subtle tricks
to brainwash, control and exploit them. I also became very interested in what makes
a cult leader and really went down a rabbit hole on this one.
I’ve been following
this channel called “Real life stories” for a few months now (you may have seen
it on your YouTube dash if you watch similar content to me) and I’ve been
enjoying their videos (They cover a broad range of topics). [X] << click
to view their channel
I do feel I have to
put a warning here.
Please scroll past
this post if you do not want to read about mentions of child abuse, addiction
and depression. If you need help, please do not hesitate to contact one of the
following charities / helplines.
Befrienders Worldwide [X]
Child helpline international [X]
1.“Cult
Witness”
[X]
This
documentary includes interviews with a young ex-cult member detailing the
techniques used and the process he went through. It also briefly interviews
members of other cults such as the “UFO” cult “Gentle wind project” whose
leader scammed this particular member out of thousands of dollars in return for
alien prophecies, and the story of a member of “Children of God” which brings
me to number 2 on my list…
2.
“Children
of God” / The family of Love/ The family / now The family international
(Pic sources:x family)
The
first documentary I watched on the children of God was “20/20 Children of God”
which you can view here [X]
It
gives a fast paced overview of the terms for techniques, one such example being
“Flirty fishing” [X] wherein female members would lure new recruits by flirting with or forming
relationships with male outsiders. The episode itself concentrates on a mother
who goes on a mission to retrieve her children from Bangkok, Thailand where
they reside with their father- an abusive man who has brainwashed his
offspring.
(Pic soure: Xfamily)
The
leader of the cult, David Berg, A man referred to as “Moses” or “Moses David”
has his own teachings, published as a series of volumes known as “mo teachings”
which contain within disturbing chapters that involve suggested child abuse
within the cult.
“The
Love Prophet and the Children of God” Documentary [X]
“Children
of God - Lost & Found”
Moses passed away in
the mid ninties.
If you’re interested
to read more you can visit the X family website here [X]
You can read an article about a Child of God survivor here [X]
3.The
Strong City cult /Lord Our Righteousness Church
[X]
(Pic source: Flickr)
Another
one from the Real life stories channel. This Cult is based in New Mexico and
lead by a man referred to simply as “Michael” who claims to be the son of God.
The
members of this cult live an isolated life in a compound and believe that there
is a coming apocalypse and they must follow the teaching and rules of their
leader in order to guarantee their spot in heaven.
Because
they are convinced that there is nothing for them on the outside world and that
the end is nigh, the children are not provided with an education and are required to work from a young age.
Wayne
“Michael” Bent, a lanky bearded manipulator, has many wives at the compound,
including underage girls, and has even had sexual relations with his own son’s
wife- something he insists was a direct order from God himself. His son, a
depressed, broken shell of a man, looks forward to the apocalypse, a prophecy
that never comes to pass, and is constantly postponed, as all 56 members of the
group continue to be controlled, abused and manipulated.
I did
a quick search to see what became of Bent, and it turns out that after the
documentary was aired there was a police investigation (I should think so!)
He
was convicted and according to Wikipedia “Wayne Bent was paroled from prison
in February 2016 after being diagnosed with a cancer that threatened the
hearing in his left ear.”
His website [X]
4. Heaven’s
gate
[X]
(pic source: heavensgate.com)
I’m
pretty sure you’ve all heard about this one.
A 70's UFO
cult that became the topic of major headlines in the 90’s lead by Marshall
Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles out in San Diego.
This
is the group that committed mass suicide in order to exit the earth on a spaceship
called Comet Hale-Bopp. They were all covered in purple clothes and wearing Nike shoes when they were found,
for some reason.
This
is part of the initiation tape, wherein Applewhite stares at the camera
(without blinking strangely) and gives a summary of what the cult is all about.
[X]
Balakrishnan had invoked Jackie, who was an unseen force, to keep the women in line and in fear when he wasn’t around to do so himself. If they had disobedient actions or thoughts, Jackie would know. Jackie could torture and kill, he assured them.
By having his victims cut off contact with their families, he managed to keep three of them for over 3 decades. Without family, without identity, without choice, they lost their dignity and freedom to Aravindan Balakrishnan. Any followers who had jobs outside of the cult would donate their entire salaries per week.
They could not go out alone and would constantly have to be with another member when outside of the commune.
Balakrishnan was arrested in 2016 when one of the members reached out to a charity for help.
You can read my previous post on the case by clicking here <<
The roots of the cult [X]
Guilty verdict [X]
Balakrishnan claims to be framed, a member supports him [X]
Well that's all for this post.
Check out the CULTS tag on the blog for more posts.
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