Avoiding Cults
I recently witnessed a cultic personality speak at the Church that I happened to be going to at the time. He was a visiting minister who had travelled all the way from Africa to spend time with the diocese that were hosting his stay, and I came to the following conclusions after hearing him speak. Avoiding cults and cultic personalities simply takes a little understanding, that’s all.
Yelling at the Audience
Firstly, he spoke so loudly into the microphone that he didn’t even need a microphone. He had initially begun speaking at a reasonably normal level of volume, then increased the volume to a point where I wasn’t able to sit inside the room any longer. He was yelling so loudly that it was hurting my ears. I moved to sit outside, and still the volume was such that I couldn’t cope. I had to put my fingers in my ears.
Using Rapid Movements
Secondly, he said nothing of any real spiritual power. He merely repeated the same verse over and over, saying again and again that God loves you (us). He also said that God would protect those that loved him, and look after those who followed him. His delivery of what he had to say was full of enthusiasm, punctuated by rapid movements of his hands as he used them to accentuate what he had to say. I could see what he was doing through the window, and it was at this moment in time that I realised how some cultic personalities operate.
Forcing his Words into Our Minds
His voice was so loud that it took all of my concentration to maintain my own mind. I imagine that others, who aren’t as aware as what I am, would not have realised what was going on. He was in fact forcing the words into our minds. Those who remained inside of the church could do nothing other than hear what was being said. There was no room to wonder what it was all about, because the preacher’s volume was so loud that unless a member of the congregation forced themselves to think, they wouldn’t have been able to do so.
Nothing of Real Value to Say
At no time during his ‘sermon’ did he give any real practical instruction on how to better our lives. He simply repeated Bible verses without going into their meaning, and without explaining what God would want us to understand about those verses. He did, however, keep repeating how much God loves us, but we already know that. I for one don’t need a screaming minister telling me that!
Causing a Hypnotic Trance
At the end of the sermon, I looked through the window at those seated in the congregation, and noticed that many of them seemed to be in a hypnotic trance. THAT, my dear readers, is a VERY dangerous state to be in when someone in a leadership position is speaking to you. If the leader isn’t ethical, they can implant any number of suggestions into your mind at that point in time, which cause you to follow them and hand over your decision making, your money, your time and your goods if you let them. I didn’t like the sermon at all, and I didn’t like the methods that the preacher was using.
I wasn’t able to tell anyone at this particular church what I thought of the sermon because I hadn’t long been attending and I didn’t really fit in. My observations of what had gone on would have been seen as disrespectful, because the guy speaking had been given an endorsement by the regular minister of that church, and so the congregation trusted what their local minister had to say. All I could do was feel sorry for those who were blind to what had just gone on.
Willing Lambs to the Slaughter
To my huge surprise, people lined up after the service to be blessed by this minister, during which time he put his hand on the top of their head and prayed over them. What he said I wasn’t able to hear, but in the trance hypnotic state that these people were in, he could have said anything and got away with it. I was certainly not impressed.
Protect Yourself
So, if you want to keep a good hold of your own mind when something like this happens, remember what you have read here. Loud sermons by enthusiastic ministers and preachers are to be viewed with caution. Don’t allow someone to force words into your mind that you can’t object to, in a way that gives you no freedom to think and make choices. Keep your own mind by distancing yourself. There is not a single message in the world that is so important that you need to hear it delivered to you at more than 75 decibels in sound. This sermon was up around the 110 decibel range… way too loud for any normal functioning of the mind.
I hope that preachers and ministers who talk like this to their congregation read this article and realise what they are doing. I hope even more that those who sit in congregations where this happens read this article and realise what is happening to them, and escape the infringement on their mind that is being perpetrated upon them.
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