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This is a special piece for victims of cults. Victims refer to both those who have already left the cult and those who are still members but wish to leave. This piece will help you. Here, we will focus on leaving a cult, coping with detachment, deprogramming, and how to get involved with preventing cultic abuse from happening to others.
As we hope you all realize by now, a cult is no organization to be involved in. The longer you stay, the more harm you will be subjected to and the more difficult it will be to leave. If you are a 4th Watcher or in any other cult, it is our advice that you get out as soon as you can.
If you are currently a 4th Watcher or any cult member, perhaps you are confused or are unsure about your organization. Perhaps you feel something is wrong, even though at the same time you are comfortable with your current situation. If this is the case, there are a few things to think about.
One, look at your situation. Think about what they do to you. Do they tell you that you are a bad person? That you're unworthy of God's love? Do they force you to give them money and promise miracles that never happen? Do they put down your friends? Keep you from seeing them? Do they punish you? Do they abuse you in any way? Ask yourself a very important question. Is this what you want in life? Ask yourself if your life is better inside the cult, or if you could have a potentially better one outside it. Do you really need the cult? Is this really the only way to happiness? Think. Are you happy now? If you are happy, think about those who your cult might be targeting. While you're happy, are the homosexuals who your cult might despise happy? Does your cult hate black persons? While you might be happy, how would these persons feel? These are the kinds of things you need to think about and ask yourself.
And look at your cult leader. Think long and hard about this. Is this guy really a prophet? Was he really sent by God? Do you honestly believe he is the one true leader of all Christians? Have you ever asked him what makes him qualified for this role? Have you ever questioned his judgment? Have you ever tested him? Think, does he really need your money? When he tells you that giving money to him can bring you miracles, do you honestly believe that is the case, or do you think that maybe he is just another one of the thousands of other scam artists out there. Do you really need him?
Consider another denomination. Look into going to a different church. You may even ask yourself if you need Jesus at all. Consider another religion altogether. There are many other religions out there. If you believe so strongly in your religion, why have you neglected others? While you might not be ready to give up religion entirely, and you still wish to believe in God, ask yourself if living in or being part of a cult is the best way to follow him.
As we have said before, while we might wish for you to leave the Christian religion altogether, we would rather you go to a legitimate church, and not a cult. There are plenty of other Christian denominations out there, and there are other religions and ideologies that you can ascribe to. If you do go to another church, make sure you are not making the same mistakes you made when entering your previous cult, and make sure you do not join another cult! Ask questions, look for cultic features, and if you find yourself within another cultic environment, run!
One of the most important tools cult members and potential cult members have in protecting themselves is education. Please educate yourselves. The more educated you are, the more mentally empowered you are, and through this empowerment, you will be able to make better and informed decisions when you are face to face with a cultic situation. In order to educate yourself, put down the Bible, and read books about real science. Learn about cults and what effects they can have on you. Real knowledge, and not the superstitious garbage that you were being fed in the cult, will help you get your life back to normal.
And while you're educating yourself, you might want to seriously consider agnosticism, the ideology that states God might actually not exist at all. If you can make this leap and endure, you will have freed yourself from all of the immoralities and anti-reasoning that are currently binding you down. The most reasonable ideology would be atheism, the stance that there actually is no God. When you are able to reject the notion of a god, you will no longer be a slave to the most influential superstition of all. And if you can do this, and have survived being a good person without feeling the need to believe in a higher power, consider Humanism, the ideology that rejects God but calls upon all persons to be loving and moral towards each other. While these are all good suggestions, the best decision for you to make now is to leave the cult you are currently in.
However, we realize that leaving a cult such as the 4th Watch might not be easy. This is understandable as cults often attempt to make their members as dependent upon them as possible so that you will never leave, while brainwashing them to give the impression that their cult is the only way to happiness. You might have grown up in the cult and lived your whole life within their grasp, and you might know no other way. But you can do this. If you stay, your life is only going to get worse.
If you are considering leaving the cult, there might be additional things to think about, and your situation will dictate how your transition should be accomplished. First, if they are abusive to you, then leave right away! Also, if the cult does not yet have a hold on you, get away before they do. Don't give them any more chances. The sooner you leave, the less of a chance they have to trap you. But in certain serious situations when the cult is abusive and threatening, and if leaving might bring about serious consequences, or if you are finding it difficult to adjust to life without them, then you must take the time and effort to properly prepare yourself for your departure. You have to be able to assess what kind of danger you might be in. If you have children in the cult, you must keep them in mind too. Never leave your children behind in a cult.
First, have a plan. If you live in the cult's church or place of establishment, see if you can stay at a family member's house or arrange something with a friend. Make sure you have enough money so that you can make the transition as smoothly as possible. If you feel you must, go to the police if you feel threatened, but make sure that doing so will not bring more abuse upon you by the cult. Do nothing unless you feel you are protected or that it is worth the risk of any possible danger.
If you find that you are forced to stay within the cult, and you find that for whatever reason you must continue going to its meetings, while you might not be able to do anything about it physically, the most important thing you can do is fight them mentally. You must do your best to resist their programming. Be strong in mind, but try to avoid participating in anything the cult tries to do in order to program you. You have learned various programming techniques in this report on the 4th Watch cult, so you should have several ideas as to what to look out for. Be sure not to fast, sing, or go to conventions, and do your best to control your emotions. Of course, please revisit the pieces on programming to learn more. But among the most important thing to do is to educate yourself about the real world and be around friends who are not in the cult.
In less extreme scenarios, leaving a cult might not be so difficult. As far as the 4th Watch is concerned, while they do their best to program you and make it difficult to leave, as far as we know, they are not abusive with their members and leaving the cult can be done with ease. The usual difficulties with leaving the 4th Watch lies in how dependent you are on them and how many lies you have believed.
This doesn't necessarily apply to the 4th Watch cult, but if the cult you belong to is not abusive, and you are able to leave, you might consider sitting down with your pastor or cult leader and tell them why you are choosing to leave. This might make the transition easier for both parties, and might help to educate the cult on what they are doing wrong.
In addition to that, no doubt that some of the cult members you might still want to remain friends with, so having a departure talk might help keep everyone on friendly terms. The 4th Watch believes that if you're not a part of their religion, then you're going to Hell, so it might be somewhat difficult to remain friends with those who believe that. However, many persons who are in the cult secretly do not believe that, and like many, only go there because they find themselves dependent. If you can keep friendships, then do so. Remember, it can be helpful to have friendships within the cult so that you might one day help them to leave too. It also helps to know what's going on in your former cult.
But then again, if you feel threatened, it might be a good idea not to tell the pastors or other cult members anything at all. In some cults, when a leader hears a rumor about you wanting to leave, you may be punished, and in more extreme cases, even imprisoned by the cult. In some cases, it might be difficult to trust anybody. Remember that everyone is subject to programming, and persons who you believe are your friends and trustworthy might have a strong loyalty to the leader and might betray you, and could relay any information you give them to the cult leader. In fact, remember what we reported about the leader appointing a particular member to be your "friend". This person could actually be nothing more than a spy working for the leader. This has all happened before.
Of course, it can be nice to have a friend you can trust, as they can help you get through the hard times while in the cult, as if you were in prison and needed a buddy to help get you through. But, in certain situations like that, you have to think hard about whether or not you can actually trust anyone.
Whatever you do, try your best to NOT GIVE THEM ANY MORE MONEY. When you give them money, not only are you handing them more power, but you are giving away your own, in which they now have even more power over you. In some cases, you might need all the money you can get in order to make a safe transition out of the cult. The 4th Watch is relentless when it comes to trying to take money from you. It can be very challenging to resist their advances. If you must, start decreasing the amount you give them. Lie if you have to, and tell them that you're working less hours. Fake an illness if you feel you have to. We don't normally condone lying, but remember that they're already lying to you with their scam. You need to break away and protect yourself.
Unfortunately, depending on how long you stayed with the cult, and how vulnerable your mind was when you were with them, you might need to be deprogrammed. If they got you when you were vulnerable, perhaps due to a traumatic experience, your senses might come back to you shortly after the psychological drama wears off. Also, if you leave the cult at an early stage and reintroduce yourself to the normal world again, deprogramming might come natural. But for some, the programming might be too instilled within the brain and formal deprogramming measures might need to be taken. Please click here to learn more about deprogramming.
Depending on the cult and the type of person you are, leaving a cult might not be easy, but just keep in mind everything we discussed here, and know that there is a better future for you waiting. All you have to do is take action!
If you are someone seriously considering leaving a cult, or if you have just done so, leaving and dealing with your detachment from the cult can be difficult and challenging. There is a good chance that you've lived for much of your life as a cult member, depending on the cult for not only daily life activities, but also, for your happiness. So after being victimized for so long, how would you handle your withdrawal? What would you do, where would you go? How do you deal with the pain and the suffering that has been brought upon you as a victim of a cult?
First, if you feel the continual need to rely on religion for your satisfaction, consider another denomination. Look into going to a different church. You may even ask yourself if you need Jesus at all. Consider another religion altogether. There are many other religions out there. If you believe so strongly in your religion, why have you neglected others? While you might not be ready to give up religion entirely, and you still wish to believe in God, ask yourself if living in or being part of a cult is the best way to follow him.
As we have said before, while we might wish for you to leave the Christian religion altogether, we would rather you go to a legitimate church, and not a cult. There are plenty of other Christian denominations out there, and there are other religions and ideologies that you can ascribe to. If you do go to another church, make sure you are not making the same mistakes you made when entering your previous cult, and make sure you do not join another cult! Ask questions, look for cultic features, and if you find yourself within another cultic environment, run!
One of the most important tools cult members and potential cult members have in protecting themselves is education. Please educate yourselves. The more educated you are, the more mentally empowered you are, and through this empowerment, you will be able to make better and informed decisions when you are face to face with a cultic situation. In order to educate yourself, put down the Bible, and read books about real science. Learn about cults and what effects they can have on you. Real knowledge, and not the superstitious garbage that you were being fed in the cult, will help you get your life back to normal.
And while you're educating yourself, you might want to seriously consider agnosticism, the ideology that states God might actually not exist at all. If you can make this leap and endure, you will have freed yourself from all of the immoralities and anti-reasoning that are currently binding you down. The most reasonable ideology would be atheism, the stance that there actually is no God. When you are able to reject the notion of a god, you will no longer be a slave to the most influential superstition of all. And if you can do this, and have survived being a good person without feeling the need to believe in a higher power, consider Humanism, the ideology that rejects God but calls upon all persons to be loving and moral towards each other. While these are all good suggestions, the best decision for you to make now is to leave the cult you are currently in. For help with leaving the cult, please visit here.
In either case, whether you're leaving or have already left, you should have a plan. If you live in the cult's church or place of establishment, see if you can stay at a family member's house or arrange something with a friend. Make sure you have enough money so that you can make the transition as smoothly as possible.
Now, the first step in successfully dealing with the pain of being a cult victim, is to actually admit that you've been victimized. All too often, ex-cult members try to ignore their past and pretend like it never happen, or they try to find justification for it, such as by telling themselves that it was their fault. Or, they simply don't want to admit it. It can be embarrassing, after all. But, the path to recovery and helping others is to admit to yourself that you were in fact a victim.
But while it is true that you need to admit that you were a victim, it is also important to not completely dwell on the past either. It was after all, in the past, and you must focus on your new life. Be happy! You are free. It is now time to live your life normally, and to leave your past behind, but, to acknowledge at the same time of what had happened to you, and to use that experience to help you make better decisions in this new life you are now going to live. If you are finding it difficult to deal with the thought of once being in the cult, try to de-associate yourself from them in any way possible. Throw away literature that advertises the cult and hide anything that might remind you of them.
And it is also important to realize that it is not completely your fault. Yes, sometimes, members allow their superstitions to take control of them, and before they know it, they are being used by cult leaders for their own advantage. But, we all have weaknesses, and it isn't right for anyone to scam us or harm us by taking advantage of those weaknesses, and when that does happen, we become victims. If you continue to blame only yourself, then you are in a sense, continuing to program yourself, and in a way, only continuing the cult's influence on you. They continue to harm you, and you shouldn't let them keep harming you. This was, after all, the reason why you left.
Remember, time will heal. And while time is healing you, there are several things you can do to help yourself deal with the withdrawal. We are not ones to put much trust in the psychology field, but it might be helpful to some persons, so you might want to look into psychological therapy. Sit with a psychologist and talk about your experiences. We wouldn't recommend you seeking medicine for this, but you need to do what is necessary.
Something related that can help is to find some sort of support group for victims of cults, or just get involved in community programs that will help you make yourself feel good again. A great way to do something like this is to join social network websites such as Facebook or Twitter. You will meet several persons who might be able to help you. In any case, you have an entire world that can see your thoughts. Several victims of the 4th Watch do that very thing.
A good way to help keep you out of the cult and for you to stay within reason, is to try associating yourself with persons who do not engage in cultic behavior. Stay close to friends, persons who are of a sound nature and who are not superstitious. Persons like these will be able to remind you about normalcy, and how superstitions can ruin your life. They can remind you as to why you left your cult in the first place and why you shouldn't go back. If you start to stray, these persons can help talk some sense back into you. And if you're smart, you will listen.
But there are also other forms of therapy. A useful therapeutic tool can be writing down your thoughts. This helps to put everything in perspective for you and gives you a chance to express yourself that perhaps you didn't feel that you had the chance to before. Get a journal, and write them down. Create a file in your computer. We don't want you to be dwelling on the past, as we have already mentioned, but sometimes the past just won't go away, and facing it is an appropriate solution. Also, writing down your thoughts helps you to remember what lessons you might have learned.
Along with writing your thoughts, write a poem. What better way to express one's self than through poetry? In fact, the head producer of this project found poetry very useful, and it became a great therapeutic tool. The official Anti-4th Watch poem is the outcome of that poetry.
Or, make a website, such as a blog, and leave your feelings there. In fact, this is a good way to express your thoughts to other persons, including 4th Watchers or whoever belongs to the cult that you were a part of. Or, something that might really help is for you to actually go out there and make your negative experience a positive one by educating others about it. Take action in your community to not only educate others about cults, but to help prevent them from victimizing others.
In fact, you can accomplish all of these things by making a master website, such as this one, created by victims of the 4th Watch, that started with a poem, and turned into a master portal for education on the highly unusual and potentially dangerous beliefs, practices, and members of the PMCC 4th Watch cult. If you can't make a website on your own, join us! In fact, this website is a great place to leave your thoughts and comments as a victim of a cult.
If you wish to deal with the cult directly, you can communicate with the cult members, perhaps even emailing the pastor or cult leader about what they did to you and what you think of them. But, just make sure that whatever you do, it is done in a non-violent way. Also, you need to be careful, as cults have been known to harm, and even kill persons for their betrayal and defiance. If you feel you are not qualified to handle the cult, consider police action, or consider fighting the cult in more non-direct ways, such as what we previously mentioned, like joining the community to help stop cults in general.
Another thing to consider, is to sue the cult if you can. Do this if they really did harm to you, and only if you believe you can win, or that taking them to court is worth it, regardless of the outcome. But please note, if you are going to do this, be serious about it, and don't make yourself look like a fool or make yourself go through all the trouble and not be passionate about it in the end. And again, you need to consider what consequences such action might bring about. Again, you need to assess the situation and take whatever action you find necessary.
Unfortunately, depending on how long you stayed with the cult, and how vulnerable your mind was when you were with them, you might need to be deprogrammed. If they got you when you were vulnerable, perhaps due to a traumatic experience, your senses might come back to you shortly after the psychological drama wears off. Also, if you leave the cult at an early stage and reintroduce yourself to the normal world again, deprogramming might come natural. But for some, the programming might be too instilled within the brain and formal deprogramming measures might need to be taken. Please click here to learn more about deprogramming.
Now, as hard as you try to deal with being out of the cult, your programming and dependency to the cult, as well as superstition, might be too powerful to keep you away, and you might find yourself once again being drawn to it. This is not a good thing and you have to be very careful to not let this happen. This is called having a setback, and while you might have been successful for a while, if you have a setback, the cult will prove itself to still have a hold on you. If you find yourself almost like a magnet, being moved back to the cult, you must fight back! Such a situation is a temptation that you must learn to resist. Resist the temptation and do not go back. But how? Superstition and religion, especially within cults, can be very difficult lifestyles to escape from. This we know. But to cope with detachment and to avoid a setback, the first thing that you must understand is that temptation of a cult is like an addiction of drugs or alcohol. Going back to the cult is like getting your drug back. As with any drug abuse, you have to detox your body, and in this case, your mind. Cultic temptation is like an unhealthy addiction, one that might make you feel good at first, but will ultimately end up harming you and others later on; but it is an additction which can be over come through will power, treatment, and education. When you learn to look at it this way, you will find it easier to understand your problem and to take control of it, and ultimately beat it.
The two greatest obstacles you might face when preventing setbacks is your dependency on the cult, and your level of superstition. You must absolutely control these two characteristics in order to be successful in not returning to the cult. All it takes is for a little superstition to enter the ex-cult member's mind and back they go. Often what happens is that they get into some sort of trouble, or experience a traumatic event, in which case they don't know what else to do except resort to their roots, and they might pray to the god that they used to worship while participating in the cult. When this happens, and the person finds relief, superstition takes control again, and the person will in many cases once again believe that their god got them out of troulbe. Or, while in this trouble, superstition might cause this person to see the event as possible punishment from God for leaving the cult in the first place. And, to become "right with God", they often return, in which case they start all over again. This is why it is so important be deprogrammed after you leave. Otherwise, you might find yourself going back to the darkness from which you came.
You might believe that if you were to go back, that everything will be okay. We understand why this is. More than likely, you've been trained your whole life to depend on religion and superstition. So when something wrong happens in your life, it already seems natural to you to fall back on these things which got you through the problems before. But this is only because you have not yet learned how to live without the cult or without religion or superstition, but you will as long as you don't give up and keep at it. You might even ask yourself if it is harmless to say a prayer to God when in times of need. After all, it seemed to work before, so perhaps it's okay. Look, there is no doubt that superstition can help to carry you through life's difficulties. It often doesn't matter that it isn't real; it works. So you might be left with a quandary. The answers to such questions depend on the situation and just how superstitious you are, but we maintain that superstition is almost always the wrong path to take. True, it can help you, but look at what the cost might be for that help. When facing such a quandary, you have to remember the past. Whenever you start to feel tempted, ask yourself what had happened before and look at what superstition put you through. Being in a cult, you have seen first hand on how out of control it can get. It just isn't worth it. If you're not careful, it will control you.
So the next time you think about allowing superstition into your life, and to avoid a setback, consider the following:
Think about what possible negative consequences there are in abandoning reason in order to believe in fairytales. Think about what they did to you. How do you feel about being lied to? How do you feel about constantly being told you were a bad person and that you were not worthy of God's love or to live, and that God would put you in Hell if you did not believe in what you were taught to believe? What problems do you believe there could be in putting more hope into prayer than in constructive action? How would you feel about risking your health by believing God will heal you, rather than seek medical help? How do you feel about being tricked into giving up your money, time, and effort for promises that never come true? What do you think about wasting so many days of your life praying and spending your time in church for a god who isn't there, when instead you could be out living your life and doing the world some good? How do you feel about the religious constantly putting your friends down and telling you to stay away from them? What do you think about being exposed to psychological attacks, being subjected to various forms of brainwashing and manipulation? What are your thoughts about being pushed to cry and forced to sing, only to make you more vulnerable to psychological programming? How do you feel about you and your children being taught incorrect Bronze Age ideologies and facts, while rejecting science and thus limiting social progress? Do you want to believe that immoral things like murder, torture, and rape are in fact moral? Would you want to live your life constantly trying to alter your reality in order to defend immorality? How do you suppose you would feel having your heart broken by a fabricated friendship? Would you like to enter a lifestyle in which you might not ever be able to get out of? How do you feel being gossiped about by those who you believed were your friends? Do feelings of depression, sickness, and rape appeal to you? What would you say if you were told that you must believe what someone else believes in or else you'll be thrown in eternal fire? And then, how would you feel if you later found out that all of this which you accepted and embraced in your life was all done for the benefit of one man?; a cult leader...
Ask yourself a very important question. Is this what you want in life? Ask yourself if your life is better inside the cult, or if you could have a potentially better one outside it. Do you really need the cult? Is this really the only way to happiness? Think. Are you happy now? If you are happy, think about those who your cult might be targeting. While you're happy, are the homosexuals who your cult might despise happy? Does your cult hate black persons? While you might be happy, how would these persons feel? These are the kinds of things you need to think about and ask yourself.
And look again at your cult leader. Think long and hard about this. Is this guy really a prophet? Was he really sent by God? Do you honestly believe he is the one true leader of all Christians? Have you ever asked him what makes him qualified for this role? Have you ever questioned his judgment? Have you ever tested him? Think, does he really need your money? When he tells you that giving money to him can bring you miracles, do you honestly believe that is the case, or do you think that maybe he is just another one of the thousands of scam artists out there? Do you really need him?
If you have just left the cult and are in pain, or if you have left the cult some time ago, and are wondering whether or not you made the right choice, we recommend that you immediately start writing down your experiences in and your thoughts about the cult. This is very important so that you never forget what happened to you. Then, when the temptation comes to you, trying to reel you back into the cult, reflect on what you wrote, and this will help you to make the right choice.
The fact of the matter is, falling back on such things will most likely make you feel better, but don't believe that they are the only ways or the best ways to handle the situation. When in a difficult situation, it can be very tempting to pray to God, but the first time you take a pass on doing so, you will have made a huge step in the right direction, and doing so from then on will become easier. Coping with detachment might not be easy, but as long as you have a plan, surround yourself with friends, and look to the future, while remembering your past, you can get through it. You've had faith in your cultic god for all these years, now it's time to have faith in yourself.
Unfortunately, depending on how long you stayed with the cult, and how vulnerable your mind was when you were with them, you might need to be deprogrammed. Deprogramming refers to the undoing of affects due to psychological programming. Deproramming must be voluntary and is often called exit counseling. If they got you when you were vulnerable, perhaps due to a traumatic experience, your senses might come back to you shortly after the psychological drama wears off. Also, if you leave the cult at an early stage and reintroduce yourself to the normal world again, deprogramming might come natural. But for some, the programming might be too instilled within the brain and formal deprogramming measures might need to be taken.
One of the most important tools cult members and potential cult members have in deprogramming themselves is real education. Please educate yourselves. Remember, you've been brainwashed with lies and falsehoods. The more educated you are, the more mentally empowered you are, and through this empowerment, you will be able to make better and informed decisions when you are face to face with a cultic situation. In order to educate yourself, put down the Bible, and read books about real science. Learn about cults and what effects they can have on you. Real knowledge, and not the superstitious garbage that you were being fed in the cult, will help you get your life back to normal.
The first thing you have to do in order to be deprogrammed is to actually admit that you've been programmed. This is not an easy thing to admit. It can be embarrassing, after all. Sometimes, ex-cult members also try to ignore their past and pretend like it didn't happen. But, the path to recovery and helping others is to admit to yourself that you were in fact a victim.
Time can help to naturally deprogram you, but while time is healing you, there are several things you can do to help yourself deal with it. We are not ones to put much trust in the psychology field, but it might be helpful to some persons, so you might want to look into psychological therapy. Sit with a psychologist and talk about your experiences. We wouldn't recommend you seeking medicine for this, but you need to do what is necessary.
Something related that can help is to find some sort of support group for victims of cults, or just get involved in community programs that will help you make yourself feel good again. A great way to do something like this is to join social network websites such as Facebook or Twitter. You will meet several persons who might be able to help you. In any case, you have an entire world that can see your thoughts. Several victims of the 4th Watch do that very thing.
But there are also other forms of therapy. A useful therapeutic tool can be writing down your thoughts. This helps to put everything in perspective for you and gives you a chance to express yourself in ways that will positively change your way of thinking. Get a journal, and write down your thoughts. Create a file in your computer. We don't want you to be dwelling on the past, as we have already mentioned, but sometimes the past just won't go away, and facing it is an appropriate solution. Also, writing down your thoughts help you to remember what lessons you might have learned.
When going through a deprogramming process, use positive affirmations and keep repeating to yourself that you no longer believe what they taught you. Tell yourself that you are no longer a prisoner of their world of superstition. And don't forget to love yourself, and to thank yourself for getting away, and remind yourself during all of this that you are free and are not a victim anymore.
If the cult was threatening or abusive, then whatever you do, stay away from members of the cult. They will try to bring you back into their world of dangerous superstition and you cannot give in. A good way to help keep you out of the cult and for you to stay within reason, is to try to associate yourself with persons who do not engage in cultic behavior. Stay close to friends, persons who are of a sound nature and are not superstitious. Persons like these will be able to remind you about normalcy, and how superstitions can ruin your life. They can remind you as to why you left your cult in the first place and why you shouldn't go back. If you start to stray, these persons can help talk some sense back into you. And if you're smart, you will listen.
While you're working on deprogramming yourself, do the following:
Think about what possible negative consequences there are in abandoning reason in order to believe in fairytales. Think about what they did to you. How do you feel about being lied to? How do you feel about constantly being told you were a bad person and that you were not worthy of God's love or to live, and that God would put you in Hell if you did not believe in what you were taught to believe? What problems do you believe there could be in putting more hope into prayer than in constructive action? How would you feel about risking your health by believing God will heal you, rather than seek medical help? How do you feel about being tricked into giving up your money, time, and effort for promises that never come true? What do you think about wasting so many days of your life praying and spending your time in church for a god who isn't there, when instead you could be out living your life and doing the world some good? How do you feel about the religious constantly putting your friends down and telling you to stay away from them? What do you think about being exposed to psychological attacks, being subjected to various forms of brainwashing and manipulation? What are your thoughts about being pushed to cry and forced to sing, only to make you more vulnerable to psychological programming? How do you feel about you and your children being taught incorrect Bronze Age ideologies and facts, while rejecting science and thus limiting social progress? Do you want to believe that immoral things like murder, torture, and rape are in fact moral? Would you want to live your life constantly trying to alter your reality in order to defend immorality? How do you suppose you would feel having your heart broken by a fabricated friendship? Would you like to enter a lifestyle in which you might not ever be able to get out of? How do you feel being gossiped about by those who you believed were your friends? Do feelings of depression, sickness, and rape appeal to you? What would you say if you were told that you must believe what someone else believes in or else you'll be thrown in eternal fire? And then, how would you feel if you later found out that all of this which you accepted and embraced in your life was all done for the benefit of one man?; a cult leader...
Ask yourself a very important question. Is this what you want in life? Ask yourself if your life is better inside the cult, or if you could have a potentially better one outside it. Do you really need the cult? Is this really the only way to happiness? Think. Are you happy now? If you are happy, think about those who your cult might be targeting. While you're happy, are the homosexuals who your cult might despise happy? Does your cult hate black persons? While you might be happy, how would these persons feel? These are the kinds of things you need to think about and ask yourself.
And look again at your cult leader. Think long and hard about this. Is this guy really a prophet? Was he really sent by God? Do you honestly believe he is the one true leader of all Christians? Have you ever asked him what makes him qualified for this role? Have you ever questioned his judgment? Have you ever tested him? Think, does he really need your money? When he tells you that giving money to him can bring you miracles, do you honestly believe that is the case, or do you think that maybe he is just another one of the thousands of scam artists out there? Do you really need him?
Deprogramming isn't always easy, but is always necessary for those who lost. One important thing to always remember and to keep in mind is that you can do it. Take the advice given here and never give up!
So now that you've been victimized and have tasted cultic life, you might be fired up and ready to do something about it. So, how do you get involved in preventing cults from practicing their immoralities?
The most obvious thing that comes to mind is once again education. Education is key to preventing and dismantling cults. At one time, perhaps a thousand years or so ago, cults and silly religions might have had their place, but we live in a decent and functioning society now, with no place for superstitious nonsense. The more education that persons receive, the less they will believe in superstitious teachings from cults like the 4th Watch. Promote education wherever you live. Don't be afraid to learn yourself and to teach others. You could even learn about cultic and superstitious activity and start a special school if necessary. And please, do your part in keeping such superstitious teachings out of public schools, such as creation over evolution.
Let your voice be heard! Express your opinions where and when appropriate. If you're part of some sort of gathering where Christians or cult members are talking about their beliefs, politely join in on the discussion and make your own views heard. If someone else starts attempting to impose their beliefs onto you, do not be afraid of them. Speak up and push back. If theists knock on your door in order to tell you about their lord and savior, stop them. Do not give them the chance and instead tell them how you feel about them coming to your place and trying to impose their meaningless beliefs on you. If there are persons trying to push anti-reason legislation, such as to teach Creationism in schools, go to any meetings and speak out! You see, there are things you can do.
Look in your area for any signs of cultic activities. If you know that a cult exists or is emerging in your area, you can help warn the public about them, such as by handing out flyers and spreading the news by word of mouth. Just make sure you tell the truth about what you know or hear, but please, make sure that you are not just giving them free positive publicity.
Join forces with other anti-cult organizations and do your part in helping the public avoid being victimized by cults. Go to schools or set up seminars in which you as a victim can tell your story to educate and warn others about the practices and dangers of cults. You can write articles and submit them to newspapers or online sites. And don't forget, you can even establish your own blog or master website where you can get the word out about cults to the whole world.
As far as getting involved concerning the 4th Watch, you can get involved in this project. If you were a victim, you can send us a testimony about your experience. You are also more than welcome to join our discussions on the billboard, or leave a message on our guestbook. You may also submit articles that you might have written in which case we might publish. And, if you ever hear about any interesting information concerning the 4th Watch, please tell us about it.
Again, there are things you can do. You might still feel victimized and you might feel powerless to do anything, but do not believe that. You are powerful and can make a difference. Again, you just need to take action! Remember, it is up to all of us to stop the evils and dangers of cults, and together, we will succeed.
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