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Understanding Mind Control
and Exploitive Groups

Education + Investigation = Emancipation

 

• Identifying Marks of an Exploitive, Abusive Group

• Without My Informed Consent!
  Did you give your informed consent at the time you went into the group?

• How Mind Manipulation is Used for Influence and Control
  Includes: "The Techniques of Coercive Persuasion"

• Profile of a Sociopath
  A number of religious cult leaders may exhibit many of these behavioral characteristics.

• All or Nothing Statements (from those that have "the truth")

• Leaders of Totalistic Groups Have These Traits in Common

• Warning Signs of Extremism

• Lifton's Eight Criteria of Thought Reform
  Includes how it has been used by leaders of any high demand, authoritarian group.

• An Open Letter to Our Acquaintances in Worldwide Church of God
  Covers the fear that was placed in members.

• If You Have a Loved One in a Deceptive, Exploitive Group
  What has happened and how to try and reach them.

• Recovery Info for Exiters (Understanding our Involvement)
  Covers why we were vulnerable, how propaganda and mind control works, indoctrination, effects, educating yourself, healing, and more. By founder of ESN.

• How Did I End Up in a Spiritually Abusive Group?
  Also shows the results of being these groups

• Where Do I Find the "One True Church"?
  Covers how to avoid a spiritually abusive, Bible-based cult or cultic group.

• Clues to Application of Mind Control
  Very good and detailed letter showing how religious cults are able to remove God from our minds and replace it with the authority in the organization; i. e, "the government."

• How Do I Know if It's a Sick Religious Cult or Healthy Spirituality?

• Are You Being Recruited into a Totalistic Group?
  (Twenty-two Differences in Content, Emphasis, Methods, Church life and Lifestyle)

• How Did Herbert W. Armstrong Recruit People?
  The step by step process.

• Identifying a Cultic Church

• Principles of Influence Used in Society
  Often used by those leading totalistic groups.

• How to Resist Mind Control
  Resisting persuasion, resisting systems, challenging the system.

• Symptoms of Religious Addiction

• Questions to Ask Any Church or Religious Group You Are Planning on Becoming Involved With

• Comparing the One True Churches
  Help exiters see the similarities between HWA's "one true church" and other groups which claim the same thing. [offsite link]

• Twenty-Five Ways To Suppress Truth: The Rules of Disinformation (Includes The 8 Traits of A Disinformationalist)

• Cults [offsite link]
  Good three part article on "Cults: Questions & Answers" and "Cult Influence Tactics." 

• The Cult Test [offsite link]
  Shows many characteristics of these groups.

• Wolves in Sheep's Clothing [offsite link]

• The Battle For Your Mind (Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today) [offsite link]
  Very interesting article on techniques used. [Note: ESN does not endorse all material on this site.] 

• Bobby Fischer Speaks Out! [offsite link]
  Exclusive Interview with world chess champion where he explains how he was able to have his mind manipulated by Herbert Armstrong. This is a very enlightening interview in regard to what is done to one's mind. [Note: Be aware that this is posted on an atheist/agnostic website].