bbc, tell your son I am a long time Mudcatter and a longer-time cult watcher. I have had to help people who were abused (and their children abused and neglected) in destructive cults. The word cult is a loaded term, because it does have many meanings. There are groups the fit my definition of 'destructive cult' that use deception to get people involved, manipulation to change their behavior, and a form of control that causes members to monitor their own thoughts to keep themselves aligned with their new beliefs, no matter what happens. Eventually people fear leaving the group more than they fear the bad things that happen to them in the group. I have had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with these types of people and groups, because a new-age apocalyptic cult, complete with a 'messenger from God', illegal fire arms, and fall out shelters they went into because their leader told them it was the end of the world. Here is my page on cults with linked pages of my comments and info. click here Here is the site that deals with exposing the cult that moved from California to Southwest Montana. (Loonies keep thinking they can 'hide' in Montana. duh, wrong)
click Click on Interesting Things and read 'Purely For Prophet'.