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We're sure everyone has also heard of mind control. Unlike brainwashing, the term mind control is accurate. Mind control is the ability to control what persons think and do. It is actually the most powerful weapon that a cult leader can have. With mind control, the cult, especially the cult leader, has the ability to control its members in anything they think or do, making them believe in the ridiculous and making them do ridiculous things, all for the church. This of course, usually consists of believing that the cult leader was sent by God and to give the leader money.
Like brainwashing, achieving mind control in your victims is not easy, and is perhaps the most difficult programming technique to accomplish. But just as there are with all programming techniques, there are several ways to try and control one's mind.
As with the previous technique, mind control is achieved by first preying on the young. This is actually pretty easy on younglings, because they are children and children do what adults tell them to. Here, the victims unfortunately do not even have a choice. As a child grows, even with its mind developing and becoming stronger, it is often too diluted with mind control attacks and the child rarely grows to become a normal person. By the time it grows, it is already accustomed to all the beliefs and doctrines of the church, and the victim might not ever know that its mind is being controlled by the cult.
One of the best ways to control the minds of others is to properly brainwash them. Brainwashed victims are much easier to control because they are easier to deal with because they believe in all the same things as the cult does. If you are a mind controlling cult leader, it is far easier to control individuals of those who agree and love you. Additionally, it is easier to control those who are dependent on the cult. Therefore, dependency also plays a role in effective mind control. Again, if you are a cult leader, it is easier to perform mind control when they rely on you for everything, because they are left with few choices than to carry out your will. Conformity also makes it easier to perform mind control. When everybody acts and behaves the same way as the cult, achieving mind control is not as difficult because they are already in a cooperative state.
There is an interesting technique of mind control that is often deployed on purpose, but is often a result of many of the other various methods of programming. This particular technique implants the idea into members' heads that God is their master, and that there is a war going on in the world, and between Heaven and Earth, between good and evil, and that Satan is the master of evil. Christians often have this delusion in their head that there is this huge war going on, that they are the "warriors, or soldiers of God". This is often an idea that is implanted through brainwashing, and once a cult member feels this way, they are no longer regular persons, but "militants in a Christian war for the battle of God and his goodness".
Here, cult members are made to feel like they have something to fight for, which keeps them under the impression that their life has a special purpose, which would normally be good, except that the purpose is a delusion, and such a purpose has often lead to violence against others who don't share their view. All too often, Christians are made to feel that anyone who isn't with them is against them, and when Christians believe that they are in a war, that creates some very dangerous possibilities. But it also helps to keep them under control of the cult leader. As long as they feel that they are warriors in a war for God, and as long as they feel that their leader was sent by God to lead them, then they will pretty much do what the leader says.
An interesting way that the 4th Watch tries to control your mind is with a method that seems harmless, but to educated persons who understand the ways cults work and how they employ programming techniques, we know better. So what technique are we talking about here? Quite simply, singing. Singing ? But how can singing possibly be used to achieve mind control ? It's actually very clever.
Think about it. The very first thing that 4th Watchers do before they do any preaching or praying, is get together and sing songs. What's good about music is that everybody responds well to it. The first thing it accomplishes is that it brings everybody together. They usually start out with very upbeat and catchy music and end with a slower more emotional song. Starting with an upbeat song gets them fired up, ready to engage in church activities. This is very important in getting the members to do the will of the cult. But it is around here when the true technique of mind control begins.
You see, when cult members sing, they enter a new psychological state of mind. They become very emotional, even at times, crying while they sing. Members are actually encouraged to cry while singing. This is because this deep emotional state opens the mind to suggestion. And this is how mind control is achieved through singing. Singing helps to create a hypnotic state of mind for everyone who sings.
Some members are even given shakers and other such instruments that strengthen this hypnotic state and helps put everyone into a slight trance. While you are in this kind of state, what do you think you are singing? You are singing various messages that the 4th Watch teaches which are embedded into the songs that they select. The lyrics are not merely pleasant words in a song, but hidden commands that in such hypnotic states, are more opened to being believed by weakened and fragile minds. Of course, the members are encouraged to not only listen to but to sing along with the songs. Singing messages is more effective than just listening to or saying them. Singing works because not only are you in a suggestive state to begin with, but the melody and lyrics are easier to remember and thus are more easily embedded into the minds of those participating in this mind control exercise.
Further more, the lyrics are often repeated, as music allows you to do this without sounding like a weirdo, and this constant repetition only helps to further inscribe those messages into the brain. And as the music employs harmony, the congregation of the church mimics the harmony of the music. This already makes everyone conform to the church, which helps make controlling minds much easier to do. The 4th Watchers will sing about four songs before the actual preaching begins. They often end with a deep and emotional song. They start with an upbeat song to get them started, but they end with an emotional song to keep their mind in an emotional state in order for the hypnosis to remain. By the time the singing is over, they are still in that state of mind. They have already been programmed somewhat, but now, anything that happens afterwards is a bonus.
And while this hypnotic state is still fresh in your mind, guess what is the first that thing they do. That would be tithing of course! After you have just gone through a deep emotional phase and are left in a slight hypnotic trance with thoughts about loving God and giving to God, you are then treated to your suggestion with a five minute talk from a preacher who orders you to give money, which in that case, a donation bag gets moved down the congregation. It is actually very clever.
You see, whenever you sing at a 4th watch church, you are being programmed and don't even know it! Plus, no one ever thinks of singing as a brainwashing technique. Even rational atheists are not aware of this. The 4th watch might tell you that it's all for the lord, but the truth is, this is for mind control. Now, chanting, singing, and crying can all be used for direct brainwashing as well, but in the 4th Watch, we believe they use it for mind control more than for brainwashing. However, once they start producing their own songs and praise their apostle in those songs, we might change our mind. It is possible that the only reason why they don't do so now is because they only sing songs that are commercially available.
The 4th Watch cult also pushes its members to cry. Yes, the pastors actually tell the congregation to cry when you pray. This achieves the same thing that singing does, as it puts you into a deep emotional state which makes your mind vulnerable to brainwashing and hypnosis. It is common to see 4th Watch members cry while they sing and pray. Crying can help members get more into the hypnotic mood of the songs they sing, and singing can help make them cry even more. They go well together, and the 4th Watch leaders know it.
One additional technique the cult uses as a way to achieve mind control, is a behavior the 4th Watchers practice, known as fasting. Fasting is depriving your body of food for long periods of time. It is actually another technique along with chanting and singing that makes members more susceptible to suggestion. When the body is deprived of food, the brain shifts into various phases that make it more vulnerable to cultic commands. It is also used as an emotional tool that when persons go hungry, they see it as a symbol of hunger for Christ, which ultimately just makes them more of a puppet of the cult leader.
4th Watchers are expected to fast in certain situations, but all youths within the cult are expected to fast at least one day of every week, while adults are not required to fast in this way. I would suspect it is because mind control is most effective with the children, and since fasting is difficult to do, the cult knows that most adults would not engage in it, where as the children of course could be forced to.
4th Watchers are encouraged to also fast in times of need. When they need something but find it difficult to obtain it, they pray to God, and they feel that in order for God to give them what they want, they need to give something to him. In other words, they need to pay him somehow. That's right. God requires payment, just like he always has. The problem is, because they see themselves as imperfect and bad persons, and since God is already perfect and has everything, they feel that they have nothing to offer. Of course, they can always give money, but this is already a requirement just to get into Heaven, so their money is usually already going into that. Additionally, doing good deeds as a way to pay God are also already seen as something everyone should try to be doing to achieve the perfection of Christ, so that won't help either. So the idea is, instead of giving him something, you will deprive yourself of something instead, and suffer for him as a way to "pay" for your answered prayer. Apparently this is because their caring God enjoys it when persons suffer. And this can be achieved in many ways, such as depriving yourself of sex for a week, making the commitment to not play any video games for a month, or depriving yourself of food for a day.
So let's say a member needs money to buy a ticket to fly somewhere to see their sick mother. You'd think the smart thing to do is to save money for it, but in addition to actually giving more money to the church to achieve a miracle, this member might fast for a few days to further help pay for it. While 4th Watchers do deprive themselves of many things, fasting seems to be the most popular, and that is probably no mistake, as it is encouraged by the cult because it makes its members more susceptible to suggestion and thus mind control is more achievable.
Fasting is a very common behavior among cultic environments. There might be certain situations when fasting might be beneficial to one's health, but if done too much and improperly, it can be dangerous and cause harm to your body. In any case, starving yourself and depriving your body of nutrients should never be done to appease God or to pay for a positive answer to a prayer. Children especially should not fast, as they are the most in need of nutrients and are not as strong as adults to battle against the harm it can bring. Yet, children are more expected to fast than anyone else. Fasting is another reason why the 4th Watch cult is dangerous and is of no environment for children.
One of the last methods the 4th Watch resorts to is what is known as fear bombing. If they cannot control your mind through hypnosis, they will do it with fear. Cult members who would otherwise refuse to do the will of the cult will be subjected to go through scare tactics. Scare tactics are threats which will hopefully scare members and non-members into abiding by the will of the cult. Such scare tactics might include the idea that God will kill you if you don't obey the 4th Watch, or that he will torture you forever in Hell after you die if you do not give some of your money to the church. All notions of God being loving are thrown out the window here. In a sense, this is the same method that terrorists use to try to get what they want. Cults like the 4th Watch are in a way, psychological terrorists.
As repetition of mind control techniques is helpful to actually achieve mind control, members are aggressively pushed to worship and pray every day and several times a day. This helps to ensure that they remain in an emotional and slightly hypnotic state. This of course, keeps them easier to control their minds.
As with brainwashing, group reinforcement and repetition of all these techniques help mind control to become a real possibility among all 4th Watch cult members. And when this happens, members become not much more than mindless zombies who are controlled by an organization and its leader.
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