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After the 4th Watch promotes their cult, and once new members go through the initiation process, it is time to start their training. In most Christian churches, pastors teach and members learn. But in cults like the 4th Watch, members are not simply taught, they are trained. To the 4th Watch, being a member is more than just going to church and learning about God. They are molded to be servants of their leader and warriors of his god. All members are expected to come to church several times a week, are required to give money, and they are pushed to recruit new members. Here, persons are not taught to be Christians, they are trained to be 4th Watch cult members.
You can get an idea of this approach from their website:
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Holiness and Service unto the Lord" is PMCC (4th Watch)'s motto. Every member is taught and trained to live their lives free from both spiritual and moral evils plaguing the lives of many today. Members are also constantly encouraged to live with the attitude that they are servants of God and thus, must use every opportunity and means to advance the will God in this world.
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Of course, the main practice of any cult is to teach its members the doctrine of their religion, so that the leaders can make money. As most religious cults do, the 4th Watch ignores scientific facts and downplays the entire concept of science altogether. As discussed in the doctrine piece in this paper, they teach their members many incorrect and outrageous things. Such examples would be that the Earth is only a few thousand years old, that evolution is false, that children who are sick are often possessed by demons, and that natural disasters such as earthquakes are caused by sinning, perhaps by homosexuals. They teach many ridiculous things indeed, and they can do this because this is what their leader says is true. They have absolutely no evidence to support their beliefs and thus nothing to backup their claims.
Many of the falsehoods taught by the 4th Watch are merely concepts which the cult members honestly believe. They have no rational basis for those beliefs, but they do believe them based on irrational thinking, through their leader's teachings. An example is creation verses evolution. As we know, evolution is a fact of nature and there is no evidence of a divine creation. But even though 4th Watchers are incorrect about this, they are not lying, they actually believe this. They are just incorrectly educated. But some of what they teach are just pure lies. Lying mainly comes from the leadership in the cult. Arsenio Ferriol of course is the biggest liar in the entire church. We doubt he believes in much of what he teaches at all. Our belief is that he knows that what he teaches is a lie, but that's the point. If he taught the truth, that he was just a nobody, then he'd have to work for a living, and he can't have that. Therefore, he lies to his people, and tells them that he's God's holy messenger and that he needs money to get them to Heaven. With that lie, come many others, and his family leaders exploit and spread these lies to make them more effective. But whether they're actual incorrect facts or pure lies, members of the cult believe in whatever they are told. Smart.
Once new members have gone through the initiation process, the cult begins by teaching basic concepts that are quite common in general Christianity. This is done deliberately to first disguise the cult as an ordinary church. At first, the 4th Watch religion does seem like a legitimate church. This helps make potentially new members feel like they're in a real Christian church and to feel safe. At this time, members are basically introduced to Jesus, how he died for our sins, and how God loves you. Feeling like you're in a regular church, you might start to see yourself as a real member and you might start to give money in the form of donations.
Later on, as you become more comfortable in the church and have already dedicated money to them, they then start to bring in the more difficult to swallow concepts. This might include the idea that you are robbing God if you do not tithe, that homosexuals deserve to die and to be put in Hell, and that all persons are worthless and evil. At this point, you might already be committed to the church and not see what's actually happening, that it is not a normal church after all.
Quite interesting, is the fact that they often keep their most outrageous beliefs secret until more appropriate times. For instance, they often don't even teach you about their apostle until much later when you have become a more dedicated member. They don't yet teach you that everyone's going to Hell unless they are part of the church. Heck, they don't even tell you that the idea of a "4th Watch" is not even in the Bible. Only once a member's programming has been showing promise, do they then start to tell you these things, because they know that most persons won't buy into it. And they don't want to lose members, because losing members means losing income.
The 4th Watch has a variety of methods and techniques to teach their doctrines. As for methods, of course they have their churches where the majority of members and non-members come to learn about their religion. They also have websites and even a magazine called "The Word", and a short television program seen in the Philippines called "The Surer Word", that helps to spread their garbage. But where they excel the most is in their technique in teaching this nonsense. In addition to the regular sermons given by the pastors, the 4th Watch relies on two ultimate techniques that greatly help to ensure that not only do members and non-members learn the doctrine of the 4th Watch, but that once you are a member, you always stay a member. This is done through the art of irrationality and illogic, and psychological programming, which you will learn about next.
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