Post by philiprosenthal on Feb 5, 2007 8:33:32 GMT
Three Stepping Stones: Loyalty to Bible to Movement to the Leader
An ex-EN pastor pointed out to me something very perceptive. I develop it here now in more detail: There are 3 stepping stones used by personality cult leaders in developing a following. If they were just to go around saying: 'I am the messianic hero - follow me', then they would mostly just be ignored as crazy. So instead they use a 3 step strategy.
First, they promote loyalty to the truth of the Bible. This massive absolute trustworthy authority gets them lots of sincere followers and provokes little challenge.
Second, they promote loyalty to their movement as a means to implement obedience to the scriptures. Fair enough to do so and necessary, but the break point becomes when loyalty movement becomes more important than loyalty to scripture. Then people are drawn into the next level and for them the movement becomes a cult. The successes of the movement are boasted about in an unrealistic manner. All sorts of benefits are promised. The value of defending eachother is emphasised. But most others are still loyal to scripture.
Then the third stage is the transfer of loyalty from the movement as a group to the messianic hero leader himself. Lots of subtle ways to do this: self-promotion, boasting, mentoring, special promotions etc. Telling people their destiny is linked to being around a great leader etc. Leaders introducing eachother in bloated unrealistic ways.
Anyway, at the same time different people in the movement can be at different stages in this loyalty slide: Bible to Movement to Leader.
Once the person is loyal to the next level, loyalty to the previous level can be dispensed with quite conveniently. e.g. Once people are blindly loyal to the movement, then the Bible can be dispensed with. Once people are blindly loyal to the leader, the interests of the rest of the movement can be dispensed with. This explains how certain cultish people can be so hypocritical. They no longer really care about the Bible or really care about the interests of other people in the movement. Their professed loyalty to these other things are just stepping stones for people to stop on in the manipulative plans of a personality cult.
In some cases, the driver of this movement is not actually the leader - it is the followers. They move themselves with no encouragement to the next level of cultish loyalty. In fact they push the decent honest leader to behave as if he was God-like, they hero-worship him and flatter him and try to attack anyone who disagrees with him. But it is evil and idolatry and good people must stand up to this degeneration and stop it.
The pattern also explains how someone can be teaching stuff that is almost 100% Biblically correct and yet still be leading people astray like a wolf in sheeps clothing.
Yes, its painful, but this is how good honest God-loving people get sucked into a personality cult. We must expose this manipulation and try help these people back to God and the Bible.
Anyone else seen this pattern?
An ex-EN pastor pointed out to me something very perceptive. I develop it here now in more detail: There are 3 stepping stones used by personality cult leaders in developing a following. If they were just to go around saying: 'I am the messianic hero - follow me', then they would mostly just be ignored as crazy. So instead they use a 3 step strategy.
First, they promote loyalty to the truth of the Bible. This massive absolute trustworthy authority gets them lots of sincere followers and provokes little challenge.
Second, they promote loyalty to their movement as a means to implement obedience to the scriptures. Fair enough to do so and necessary, but the break point becomes when loyalty movement becomes more important than loyalty to scripture. Then people are drawn into the next level and for them the movement becomes a cult. The successes of the movement are boasted about in an unrealistic manner. All sorts of benefits are promised. The value of defending eachother is emphasised. But most others are still loyal to scripture.
Then the third stage is the transfer of loyalty from the movement as a group to the messianic hero leader himself. Lots of subtle ways to do this: self-promotion, boasting, mentoring, special promotions etc. Telling people their destiny is linked to being around a great leader etc. Leaders introducing eachother in bloated unrealistic ways.
Anyway, at the same time different people in the movement can be at different stages in this loyalty slide: Bible to Movement to Leader.
Once the person is loyal to the next level, loyalty to the previous level can be dispensed with quite conveniently. e.g. Once people are blindly loyal to the movement, then the Bible can be dispensed with. Once people are blindly loyal to the leader, the interests of the rest of the movement can be dispensed with. This explains how certain cultish people can be so hypocritical. They no longer really care about the Bible or really care about the interests of other people in the movement. Their professed loyalty to these other things are just stepping stones for people to stop on in the manipulative plans of a personality cult.
In some cases, the driver of this movement is not actually the leader - it is the followers. They move themselves with no encouragement to the next level of cultish loyalty. In fact they push the decent honest leader to behave as if he was God-like, they hero-worship him and flatter him and try to attack anyone who disagrees with him. But it is evil and idolatry and good people must stand up to this degeneration and stop it.
The pattern also explains how someone can be teaching stuff that is almost 100% Biblically correct and yet still be leading people astray like a wolf in sheeps clothing.
Yes, its painful, but this is how good honest God-loving people get sucked into a personality cult. We must expose this manipulation and try help these people back to God and the Bible.
Anyone else seen this pattern?