In all honesty, there's not much I can do for the people who are already indoctrinated into the Generations cult via their brainwashing program (Encounter, Post Encounter, School of Leaders 1 & 2).

However, I can offer some resources for friends and family of cult members, and for those who have not yet been psychologically affected by the cult. Please visit The International Cultic Studies Association for helpful resources on cults and abusive churches. There are more helpful and informational resources on my blog site.

Posted below is an article that was published in the July 20, 2006, edition of the Desert Warrior base newspaper. The article was written by a U.S. Navy chaplain to educate Marines against falling victim to a religious cult (Generations Church was the reason she wrote this article).

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By Navy Lt. Jennifer Bixby

U.S. Navy Chaplain

July 20, 2006

From time to time folks ask me how to know if a group is a cult. If you have concerns about a group, compare what you know of that group with the list below. This list gives characteristics commonly found in groups which have proven to be harmful psychological, spiritual and even physical consequences.

Be mindful that many religious traditions bear some of these characteristics without being a cult. For example fasting or meditating, for limited periods of time prove useful for most people.

However, prolonged fasting or enforced solitude can be a means of wearing a person down physically, which also reduces one’s ability to think clearly. Additionally, one of the main points of religious traditions is to give people guidelines for living well, or in other words, telling you what to think. However, in a healthy group, an individual will not be abandoned or called worthless or evil simply because they disagree with others in the group.

Cults can be religious or secular. Some secular business schemes require a significant financial investment coupled with hours of training to indoctrinate someone into a company philosophy which will transform you as a person, therefore increasing your ability to sell the company’s products and reach incredible personal potential. Once again, these characteristics need to be assessed in the big picture.

The more a group exhibits the following characteristics, the bigger the red flag. A group must not exhibit all of these features to be a cult. If you are in doubt about a group, asks a trusted friend, mentor or professional to help you assess the group. Go with your gut and remove yourself from a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, even if you can’t exactly put your finger on it.

A group could be a cult if:

- The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and, whether alive or dead, he regards his belief system, ideology and practices as the truth.

- Questioning, doubt and dissent are discouraged or punished.

- Mind-altering practices such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines, are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).

- Leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel – for example, members must get permission to date, change jobs, marry—or leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth.

- The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).

- The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.

- The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).

- The group teaches or implies that its exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members' participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible before joining the group – for example lying to family or friends or collecting money for bogus charities.

- The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.

- Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.

- The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

- The group is preoccupied with making money.

- Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.

- Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

- The most loyal members, the “true believers,” feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave, or consider leaving the group.

These characteristics are compiled by Janja Lalich, Ph.D. and Michael D. Langone, Ph.D. For additional information on cult research, go to www.csj.org, the Web site for the International Cultic Studies Association.