The Cult of Religion: Origins and Consequences of Belief

Religion breeds cult leaders by instilling dangerous beliefs in emotionally vulnerable individuals.

### The Cult of Religion: Examining the Roots of Cult Leaders and Their Beliefs
* 📜 Over the past few days, a tragic incident involving a cult's mass suicide has prompted a discussion on the **origins and influences of contemporary cult leaders**.
* 📰 The speaker has written letters to media outlets questioning where these leaders, like Jim Jones and David Koresh, derive their beliefs, noting that they often emerge from **mainstream Christian movements** rather than new age or Eastern philosophies.
* 🔍 It is highlighted that the literal interpretation of religious texts can pose dangers, especially to **emotionally vulnerable individuals** who may become **future cult leaders**.
* 💭 The speaker critiques the absurdity of some religious beliefs, comparing them to the **bizarre ideas of cults**, while emphasizing that mainstream religions often go **unchallenged** despite their own **extreme narratives**.
* ⚔ The discussion points out that while some cults emphasize **suicide**, mainstream religious groups have historically engaged in **violence against each other**, raising questions about the **morality of these belief systems**.
* 📊 The speaker warns against joining any spiritual organizations, asserting that the core issues of **violence and hatred** stem from **literal interpretations of religious teachings**.
* 📖 Lastly, the speaker reflects on the need for **awareness and caution** regarding spiritual groups, advocating for a **critical examination of the beliefs** that can lead to **harmful ideologies and actions**.

into what we're going to talk about today. I wanted to make a comment about what has happened over the last couple of days and share some things with you. I've written some letters to newspapers and so forth, and radio stations about this cult in which 39 people committed suicide. Over the last few years, we've experienced several contemporary cult leaders, and I think it's important to put it into perspective as to where these people come from. I wrote a letter out, sent it out to newspapers and radio stations and so forth, and basically the idea of it was, where do the cult leaders, these cult leaders, get their basic training from? Where do they get these ideas from? You know, and this is something that you, it's very, it's interesting how the media will point fingers right away at anybody who might have an opinion that's different than the mainstream, but they never pause to reflect on the people that led all of these people to their deaths. Jim Jones

was an evangelist out of the born-again Christian Movement. David Kesh was a born-again Christian schooled in the Seven Seals. Marshall Apple White, this fellow who was involved in this last one, was the son of a Presbyterian Minister and came out of the choir and the whole B. Not one of them had any experience with the new age, not one of them had any experience with Eastern philosophies. All three of them were out of the Born Again movement. And so, if there's a danger to the children of this world, this is where it comes from. It comes from Christian and religious institutions that teach the Bible and ancient documents literally, lit Al. And when they teach these things literally, they never know who it is that's sitting in the audience who is emotionally disturbed. And when you teach this kind of stuff to emotionally disturbed people, you are training the cult leaders of the future. I mean, come on. We have people that are aghast with the fact that these people in this cult thought they were going to fly up in rendezvous with a

spaceship that was following the hail po Comet, and then they were going to go up to heaven somewhere like God. These people are nuts. I mean, that's ridiculous. I was raised in a group, and I was taught not of a cult philosophy like that. That's silly. My teaching was that there were two nudists in a garden talking with a snake, and the snake told them where they could find some fruit on a tree, and they ate the fruit on the tree. An invisible man in the sky got so ticked off about all this that he killed his kid, and now his kid is coming back riding on a white horse through the clouds. But before his kid gets back here, his father is going to start a nuclear war called Armageddon and wipe out a third of everybody that lives here. But no fear, because before he starts this nuclear war, everybody that believes is going to fly up through the sky and meet Jesus in the air. Now that sounds okay. This other cult stuff is ridiculous. Our stuff, do you know what it

is it depend do you know why we don't criticize the fundamentalist religious cults of Christianity and because that's our cult that's our cult what what what you have to look at is you know anybody who has a that's different than our cult that's evil our cult is fine but I'll tell you something there is a basic tenant in Christianity called The Rapture in which they believe and they teach that people who believe will be caught up fly through the air they won't even use a u UFO they fly without a UFO this is even better and they'll meet Jesus who's coming down they'll meet him going up and you've got to be be careful not to use too much propellant cuz you could just pass them right by I mean you could just shoot up and go into orbit this is funny okay but that's our cult That's the basis of our cult and that is completely acceptable why my God we have Bibles and we go in how do you do sister oh how do you do brother I'm

going to sit down and learn about the two nudists who talk to the snake. This is great. I'm going to send my son into Sunday school and learned about the man who took two of every animal on a boat with no windows in it for 40 days. Take that one if you will. I believe that glory to God. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something about the Cults of the world, all right, and the violence and the evil of the world. It is religion that teaches about blood sacrifice, only religion. It is religion that teaches of animal sacrifice. In some places in this country, they still sacrifice animals. In some places, they throw goats off the top of a roof to celebrate Jesus. Throw them all. How Praise You holy Jesus. They do. That's okay. Going in a UFO is bad, but throwing a goat off a roof. Glory to God. We read last week that this Minister, the Methodist Minister down somewhere down south, had a special hunt for Christ. They went out and they hunted Coons. He says it's a wonderful way to

share the love of Jesus to blow a coon's head off. It is religion which teaches of devils, demons, and Satan, things that don't exist other in the mind of people. It is taught by religion. Where do you think these people get this stuff from? It is religion which teaches of the god-originated nuclear war called Armageddon. It is religion which teaches that believers will be people who fly up through the air to be with Jesus. It is religion that requires its members to give 10% of their income to the church. It is religion that has figured in wars throughout the world and killings such as gone on in Ireland and in Israel for ages. It is religion that gave the Middle Ages the name the Dark Ages. It is religion that teaches exorcisms, and it is religion that taught David Koresh about the Seven Seals and fire. It's religion. The enemy is us. I've never met a new age person who was anxious to die. In fact, they're just radical the other way. They're taking all

this stuff so they can live forever. Easier. I never heard him. That what is that. I'm going to take e. I'm GNA. Cult leaders start out as faithful members of the congregation, but nobody knows their emotional condition as they learn of these things. And when these cult leaders, who are just members of the congregation, sit there and hear the preacher talk about flying up through the air or hear the preacher talking about blood sacrifice or God needs teaching these things, literally is like lighting a fuse under these people. So is it fair to be warning about cults and neglect to warn people of the central cult where these leaders get their weird ideas? They didn't get their ideas from New Age. They didn't get their ideas from Eastern philosophies. They got their ideas from the born again and the fundamental movements in this country. But isn't it true that this main cult is off-limits from criticism because it's ours? This cult is called religion, see? So maybe we should just warn people about joining any spiritual

organizations, and that's why in this church there are no members, 'cause I knew exactly what would be said when day 'cause we don't agree with them. There are no members in here. This is the only place in the state of New Jersey that can't possibly be a cult because there are no members. So I wrote a letter, and I was watching. I've got that. I wrote this letter to the news departments, and you can have a copy of it if you want it before you leave today. And I wrote a letter to Geraldo Rivera because it was a fell on Geraldo Rivera. And I said, on Geraldo Rivera's program, there was a man who was discussing cults in light of the mass suicide that occurred in San Diego. This man betrayed himself as not really knowing what he was talking about when he named the Jim Jones group, the David Koresh group, and this group, and included it in with Krishna. Krishna movement is one of the largest fundamental organized religious groups in the world. It is as large in

the Eastern world as Christianity and is actually the source of many Christian beliefs, such as the Virgin birth of Jesus that was taken from the birth of Krishna. This person on Haraldo is programmed by calling Krishna a cult, was clearly demonstrating ignorance as well as a total intolerance for anyone whose religious views were different than his. I mean, what is the difference if somebody follows Krishna or somebody follows Jesus? Why does it make one a cult and another not? Because it's your cult. Notice also that he never once alluded to the cults of Christianity or Judaism. It is true that the Jones cult and the Kesh cult and this Apple White cult seem to emphasize suicides. The mainline Christian and Jewish cults do not do that. They do not emphasize killing themselves. They emphasize killing one another. Islam and Jewish cults in Israel are doing this now and have done this for years. Catholic and Protestant cults in Ireland have been blowing each other up for years. The Christian cult was responsible for torturing and burning people at the

stake in the Crusades and Inquisition, which was matched only in horror by Adolf Hitler. But this is acceptable to us since we are part of these cults. Would survive by demanding 10% of their income from their members. And while we look at a gas at the beliefs of these people who committed suicide and are sarcastic about their beliefs in the UFO Theory, let us remember the fundamental beliefs of our dear Christian cult. Two naked people in a garden were convinced by a snake to eat an apple. An invisible man in the sky got so ticked off that he killed his son. Now his son is coming back to the Earth riding a white horse through the sky. But before he does, his father who loves us so is going to start a nuclear war called Armageddon and wipe out a third of the population on the earth. Praise the Lord. And this is the basis of the most violent cult that exists on the planet Earth today, Christianity. And if you're not willing to take them on, then it is really unfair.

to lump everyone who has a different spiritual opinion together with those who cross the line between spirituality into insanity, as did these people in San Diego. But remember again about the people in San Diego; their cult killed themselves. The cult we love kills each other, so I've got a copy of that too, and you can have that, and uh, so be it. There are no members in this place. We document everything that we have said scientifically, and until uh, you know, I, I, as I've said over and over again, these people who are these cult leaders, and you can identify their background: David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Marshall Applewhite are all graduates of the mother cult that most of you have come out of. I recently lived uh, one of the other U cults, a bit of a hidden cult, is the not only obviously white supremacist but even the militia. Yeah, I understand, I understand. Well, the point is, let me tell you this way, for your children's sake and for your

sake. Whenever you walk into a group that is spiritual or religious, don't join it. You can go to a meeting, nothing wrong with that. Go to a seminar, go to a workshop, that's wonderful. Don't join it, don't join it, because that indeed is where all of the violence and all of the hate and all of the horror of this world has come from, and it has come out from literal interpretation. The problem with this, look, look, look, just take these people, just think for a second. I mean, you know, the I, these people were very close to knowing, but something went wrong, and they made a terrible mistake. And I'll say this to all the Born Again Christians watching, if God chooses to come back or send people down here in a UFO, what is it your business? Any incident in the Bible that has ever been shown in which a person was either taken off of the Earth or in which people came from another place is in the book of First Kings and in the Book of Ezekiel, and it has to do with

unidentified flying object. That's what's in the Bible, all right. The problem with these people in San Diego, they made a terrible mistake. A UFO is a physical machine. That physical machine has physical people driving it. If you ever want to get on a UFO, you're going to have to have legs and arms and be able to walk and be alive. If God sends a UFO tomorrow to land on this Earth, the unfortunate thing is there will be 39 people who will miss it. You've got to be alive. God has given you life abundantly, and you're to take care of your body, and you're to be alive. And this thing of them flying up into the air dead, or like religious people take all of

771 Religion Is A Cult

William Donahue

The Influence of Religious Institutions on Cult Leaders

Recent cult suicides have raised questions about the background of their leaders, all of whom came from the Born Again Christian movement.

The literal teaching of the Bible and ancient documents in religious institutions may contribute to the emotional disturbance of some individuals, potentially training future cult leaders.

The speaker critiques the mainstream perception of cults, arguing that their own religious teachings are equally absurd and potentially harmful.

The speaker highlights the double standards in criticizing religious cults, pointing out that fundamentalist Christianity has its own questionable beliefs, such as The Rapture.

They argue that religion is responsible for teaching violence, blood sacrifice, and promoting harmful practices.

The speaker emphasizes that religion has played a significant role in wars, killings, and societal harm throughout history.

The Influence of Religion on Cult Leaders

Cult leaders often start as faithful members of the congregation, influenced by the preacher's teachings.

The main source of their ideas is often the fundamental movements of religion, raising questions about the criticism of spiritual organizations.

The speaker argues that all spiritual organizations should be approached with caution, and highlights the hypocrisy of labeling some groups as cults while ignoring the harmful actions of mainstream religions.

Critique of Religious Cults and Their Impact

Religious cults, including Christianity, are criticized for their violent and manipulative practices, with a focus on demanding income from members.

The speaker draws parallels between these cults and infamous leaders like Adolf Hitler, highlighting the destructive beliefs and actions associated with them.

The narrative challenges the notion of spirituality, suggesting that many cult leaders have similar backgrounds and that the impact of these cults is harmful to society.

The Dangers of Joining Spiritual or Religious Groups

Joining spiritual or religious groups can lead to violence, hate, and horror, stemming from literal interpretations.

The speaker highlights the biblical references to UFOs and the physical nature of their occupants, emphasizing the importance of being alive to experience such events.

The message encourages individuals to take care of their bodies and embrace life abundantly.