On Being Prepared to Resist the Allure of the Cult
Now one key, and perhaps the main one to defining the cult and its deceptive leader, is to know this person and his group never present themselves with a sign out front reading, “You are now entering a cult.” There will never be a sign around the leader’s neck or on his forehead that says “Wolf in Disguise” or “I’m a Cult Leader,” nor one around a cult member’s neck reading, “I’m the dupe of a cult!” So, since you may not know who he is, nor who that follower of his is, that’s why you, O gullible son or daughter of man, need to know who you are: someone oh-so-very deceivable. One must understand the cult utterly depends on disguise and deception, and it does so in order to entrap. No one thinks of this as “entrapment”; no, it’s helping someone new learn of the glory of the group and its teachings. It’s all understood not as entrapment at all, rather it’s seen as liberation. “With us you’ll be free at last!” And so one is charmed, one is enlisted, one surrenders–it all seems so good, so wonderful.
So unless a person cultivates a lot of wariness about the possible untruths behind the charms, the words, the appearances and the actions which one’s fellowman is capable of, and at the same time holds on to a wise understanding of one’s own susceptibilities—two sets of things often not easily gained—then a person like you, or like me, can be fooled, and rather easily, too. In fact, our very nature makes avoiding being deceived in a big way at some point in our lives an outstanding accomplishment.
What is our first response, then, to the threat of the cult we’ve presented here? Well, as the wise old saying puts it, “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.”[1] This proverb teaches that you must learn to keep your eyes open, to be on the lookout. A person must put notions of the innocence of one’s fellowman aside, and one’s own innocence, as well, and not be naïve about the existence of such deceivers. You don’t have to go around all the time saying, “All men are liars,” but it’s wise to be aware that they all can be. To keep from being fooled, you must not go about with your eyes off somewhere apart from where you really are. To maximize your security, you must be in the present and be like the little bird the wise saying speaks of. Remember, the cult can thrive only because it works behind a disguise—and disguises can be very well executed, very charming and very appealing.
[1] Proverbs 1:17
