Cults
Cults

Author: Max Cutler

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2022-07-12

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1982133562

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Mystery. Manipulation. Murder. Cults are associated with all of these. But what really goes on inside them? More specifically, what goes on inside the minds of cult leaders and the people who join them? Based on the hit podcast Cults, this is essential reading for any true crime fan. Cults prey on the very attributes that make us human: our desire to belong, to find a deeper meaning in life, to live everyday with divine purpose. Their existence creates a sense that any one of us, at any time, could step off the cliff’s edge and fall into that daunting abyss of manipulation and unhinged dedication to a misplaced cause. Perhaps it’s this mindset that keeps us so utterly obsessed and desperate to learn more, or it’s that the stories are so bizarre and unsettling that we are simply in awe of the mechanics that make these infamous groups tick. The premier storytelling podcast studio Parcast has been focusing on unearthing these mechanics—the cult leaders and followers, and the world and culture that gave birth to both. Parcast’s work in analyzing dozens of case studies has revealed patterns: distinct ways that cult leaders from different generations resemble one another. What links the ten notorious figures profiled in Cults are as disturbing as they are stunning—from Manson to Applewhite, Koresh to Raël, the stories woven here are both spellbinding and disturbing. Cults is more than just a compilation of grisly biographies, however. In these pages, Parcast’s founder Max Cutler and national bestselling author Kevin Conley look closely at the lives of some of the most disreputable cult figures and tell the stories of their rise to power and fall from grace, sanity, and decency. Beyond that, it is a study of humanity, an unflinching look at what happens when the most vulnerable recesses of the mind are manipulated and how the things we hold most sacred can be twisted into the lowest form of malevolence.

Larson's New Book of Cults
Larson's New Book of Cults

Author: Bob Larson

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13:

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Encyclopedic in form, popular in style, Larson's New Book of Cults analyzes dozens of cults and movements from historical, sociological, and biblical perspectives. It will tell you what you want to know about the cults' origins, their appeal, and their strategies. Most important, it details how each cult deviates from Christian truth.

World Religions and Cults Volume 1
World Religions and Cults Volume 1

Author: Bodie Hodge

Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group

Published: 2015-08-13

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1614584605

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Religions in today’s culture seem to be multiplying. Have you ever wondered why certain religions believe and practice what they do? Or how they view the Bible? This volume delves into these and other engaging questions, such as: How can a Christian witness to people in these religions? Do these other religions believe in creation and a Creator? How do we deal with these religions from a biblical authority perspective? Many religions and cults discussed in this first volume openly affirm that the Bible is true, but then something gets in their way. And there is a common factor every time—man’s fallible opinions. In one way or another the Bible gets demoted, reinterpreted, or completely ignored. Man’s ideas are used to throw the Bible’s clear teaching out the window while false teachings are promoted. This book is a must for laymen, church leaders, teachers, and students to understand the trends in our culture and around the world where certain religions dominate, helping you discern truth and guard your faith. When you understand a religion’s origins and teachings, you are in a better position to know how to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as you take the good news to those in false religions.

Unmasking the Cults
Unmasking the Cults

Author: Alan W. Gomes

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 98

ISBN-13: 0310704413

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This series provides concise, biblical answers about perplexing religious groups.

Cults
Cults

Author: Marc Galanter

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0195123697

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Fifteen years of research inform this study of cults and cult behavior, an analysis that explores the psychology of cult member's minds, how cults operate, and the development of several specific cults.

Cults in Our Midst
Cults in Our Midst

Author: Margaret Thaler Singer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2003-04-11

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 0787967416

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Cults today are bigger than ever, with broad ramifications for national and international terrorism. In this newly revised edition of her definitive work on cults, Singer reveals what cults really are and how they work, focusing specifically on the coercive persuasion techniques of charismatic leaders seeking money and power. The book contains fascinating updates on Heaven's Gate, Falun Gong, Aum Shinrikyo, Hare Krishna, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and the connection between cults and terrorism in Al Queda and the PLO.

What The Cults Believe
What The Cults Believe

Author: Irvine Robertson

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 1991-01-09

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1575679116

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An extensively researched guide to understanding the teachings of major cults and how they deviate from Christianity. Especially helpful in grasping the challenge of the unorganized but pervasive New Age movement.

Cultish
Cultish

Author: Amanda Montell

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0062993178

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The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power. What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . . Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day. Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.

The Kingdom of the Cults
The Kingdom of the Cults

Author: Walter Martin

Publisher:

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13:

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A comprehensive reference work containing a thorough analysis of all the major cults and the significant minor cults.

Losing Reality
Losing Reality

Author: Robert Jay Lifton

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1620975122

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A definitive account of the psychology of zealotry, from a National Book Award winner and a leading authority on the nature of cults, political absolutism, and mind control In this unique and timely volume Robert Jay Lifton, the National Book Award–winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fanatical religious cults may be much closer than anyone thought. Exploring the most extreme manifestations of human zealotry, Lifton highlights an array of leaders—from Mao to Hitler to the Japanese apocalyptic cult leader Shōkō Asahara to Donald Trump—who have sought the control of human minds and the ownership of reality. Lifton has spent decades exploring psychological extremism. His pioneering concept of the "Eight Deadly Sins" of ideological totalism—originally devised to identify "brainwashing" (or "thought reform") in political movements—has been widely quoted in writings about cults, and embraced by members and former members of religious cults seeking to understand their experiences. In Losing Reality Lifton makes clear that the apocalyptic impulse—that of destroying the world in order to remake it in purified form—is not limited to religious groups but is prominent in extremist political movements such as Nazism and Chinese Communism, and also in groups surrounding Donald Trump. Lifton applies his concept of "malignant normality" to Trump's efforts to render his destructive falsehoods a routine part of American life. But Lifton sees the human species as capable of "regaining reality" by means of our "protean" psychological capacities and our ethical and political commitments as "witnessing professionals." Lifton weaves together some of his finest work with extensive new commentary to provide vital understanding of our struggle with mental predators. Losing Reality is a book not only of stunning scholarship, but also of huge relevance for these troubled times.