Is it a cult?
The Top Ten Signs the 'Group' You've Joined is Not What it Seems:
• The leader and group are always correct and anything the leader does can be justified.
• Questions, suggestions, or critical inquiry are forbidden.
• Members incessantly scramble with cramped schedules and activities full of largely meaningless work based on the leader's agenda
• Followers are meant to believe that they are never good enough.
• Required dependency upon the leader and group for even the most basic problem-solving.
• Reporting on members for disobedient actions or thoughts is mandated and rewarded.
• Monetary, sexual, or servile labor is expected to gain promotion.
• The 'outside' world -- often including family and friends -- is presented as rife with impending catastrophe, evil, and temptations.
• Recruitment of new members is designed to be purposefully upbeat and vague about the actual operations of the leader and group.
• Former members are shunned and perceived as hostile.
If curious about what the Watchtower Society tries and often successfully accomplishes, the above sums it up nicely for many of the 7 million members. Make no mistake about it, the Watchtower Bible Tract Society hits nearly every tick box with scary accuracy. Knowledge is power and key.
Credit and thanks to:
What Is A Cult? Recognizing And Avoiding Unhealthy Groups
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