Essay 1

There are two essays here, one I wrote before and one after the comments on the outro. I'll explain in the meta-graph but please take whichever one you like better for the assignment. If you need something in between the two I will be happy to oblige I may just need a coupla more days. Thank you.


Number One:

What would cause one to become the willing pawn of an organization that they know means them harm? It's elemental in simplicity. When you grieve, when you worry, when life presents situations beyond your ability to cope you are vulnerable. When any organism is weak parasites are a natural eventuality. That is where [insert cult name here] comes in. They are immediately available and will seek you actively like the lioness hunts the sick and the lame of the herd. They offer salvation for the measly price of fealty. Then the loving and welcoming gestures become orders and demands. Slowly the focus of your life changes and now revolves around them and their wants and needs. It happens gradually, you at first accept the surface doctrines which seem logical and well-presented. The people you meet all have a testimonial of their success with [insert cult name here] and you are lulled into a sense of belonging. Then the threat of removal from the community in which you are now integrated becomes a very real tool of manipulation. Soon you are presented with the real belief system and it starts to get a little scary. It is very far-fetched even for a spiritual doctrine but your too far in and have to commit, hoping that you can fake-it-till-you-make-it. The worst part is that the same tactics are used in sickening similarity by almost all of them. They all have interchangeable parts that can be reassembled in any combination like Mad-Libs but must be used in the right order and measure. The unfortunate end is any one of the same sad finales we have seen in the news day in and day out. So why would we get involved?

People have sought spiritual solace for as long there has been pain. There are many different paths one can take and they all have their appeals. The Christians offer salvation through the Messiah Jesus Christ. Judaism a relationship with God based on obedience to doctrine and laws older than written langauge. Islam is simply the belief that "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." One might argue any of their validity but they all have one thing in common. You can read their books without really getting involved in any organization. You can be a solo practitioner of any of the above religions. You might not reap as much reward doing it alone but you can still achieve salvation or peace on your own. When you become involved with most cults they immediately will attempt to force to enter their organization. They attract you with the offer of something as simple as a free bible but to get it you have to entertain their missionaries. Then the problems start. They show up and are friendly and non-judgemental, they want your confidence. They get you talking and find out what your problems are, then they create solutions with the Church as the sole arbiter of your newfound security and happiness. This is where you get involved. This is why you get involved. You believe that these people are acting out of altruistic kindness and are truly representatives of the living God. No matter what you've heard you put it aside and open your heart and mind to these spiritual ticks.
You are welcomed into the Church and many of the top people in the hierarchy give you quite a bit of positive attention. They talk to you about your future in the organization and how happy they have been. They tell stories of a life lived in pious contemplation of their impending eternity. It is hard to be cynical or to ask questions in an environment full of those who believe so ardently.

It is a natural to want to please your new hosts and you jump in with both feet. You came here to find peace and salvation right? That can't come easy so you persevere. Many days and even weeks can pass as their tried and true methods begin to work on your resistance. They might use Church Services followed by indoctrinational groups masked as Sunday School. They might use moving up in the ranks of Church authority, or in knowledge of their core ideologies as a reward to get more deeply involved. Other organizations less centrally based in traditional Judeo-Christian theology resort almost immediately to separating you from friends and family and immersing you in their community. They cut you off from your lines of support and the only people you have to rely on are in the church. Their methods can then range from the simple threat of excommunication to sequestering you at a 'retreat' where you are deprived of protien and sleep or brow beaten during degrading forced labor in a brainwashing ritual as old as humans. No matter what happens you are expected to keep to a strict schedule of teaching and learning and then eventually recruiting. After you are theirs, after they own your heart and mind, they go after your money. In some organizations you are expected to pay a tithe, a percentage of your gross income, not net, gross. Others ask you pay for progressively more detailed explanations of the 'truth.' The worst thing that can happen is to you in their care is to have to sign power of attorney over to them regarding your total assets. Occasionally maxing out your credit and donating it all to themselves.

So the question persists, why would we do this? The answer is simple. Because their methods work. People are attracted for the same reasons and people are snared by the same gambits. The more important question is why someone would do this to another person. Power, plain and simple. It always begins with an individual who has the 'best intentions' for your soul. They can be a modern day prophet with the revised word of God in hand given to them by the Almighty Himself or the fevered inspirations of a writer mistaken for divine intervention. The ultimate draw is the discovery that with even a pretty thin cover story you can make an awful lot of money and gain power that your state government envies. You don't have to pay taxes, and hey, you are responsible for millions of salvations right? Then the government begins poking around your records and words like racketeering and fraud, kidnapping and misappropriation are tossed around. Your flock begins to thin except for the most 'loyal' and you sequester. This is point at which most of the cult leaders become so mad with their own delusions that we end up with fatal fires, gunshots and suicides directed by your local neighborhood religious icon. Even if they are too big to topple the end is the same, you discover it's bunk and walk away hurt in many ways. The worst part is some get trapped for their whole lives. The greatest cost could be a living death, losing control of your mind while still in it.


It is impossible to prove that one religious belief is more valid than any other with empirical certainty, but if you buy a car you research it a little first, right? I can only offer you my stern admonition against believing anything without doing your homework first. This is your soul we're talking about. Possibly your personal safety as well as that of those you love. Do your homework, please, just do your homework. 'Okay,' you think, 'what is the homework?' What do you look for? What separates the cults from the faiths? The Bible offers hint. Jesus said in Luke 6:43-44 [43] "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. [44] Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers." Many of those I've seen come in contact with these organizations end up estranged from family, friends, entire communities and their own assets for the understandable mistake of simply seeking enlightenment. Congregations of devout Christians have been burned alive and whole villages, women and children forced to commit suicide. People have been kidnapped and forced to believe then forced to surrender their possessions. No matter how hungry you are remember that some fruit is crisp and red on the outside but can be rotten to it's core.

Number Two


The question I still can't really fully answer is what caused me to make the first call to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I called the Mormons because their commercial said that they would give me a free copy of the King James Bible and I thought, hey, I just gave away my last Bible so what's the worst that can happen? My first clue that something was amiss should have been when our friendly-voiced operator said "Just listen to what they have to say with an open mind, please." I shrugged it off and invited the local missionaries over the next day. The next day Elder Krage and Elder Hunstman showed up, one looked like Opie and the other was a non-descript blonde youth. Both seemed beyond reproach and had the confidence and humility of truly holy people. They brought the Bible and said that in return they would like us to simply hear a lesson in LDS (Latter Day Saints) theology. At first they only went into the aspects of the church that mirrored standard Christian faith. I listened with interest. They began to come over with increasing frequency, sometimes not bothering to call first. They were always polite and tried to help with any chores or work around the house that they could. I would cook and then we would have a lesson. After a proscribed number of lessons they invited us to their church. They said that to actually be members we would have to meet with the local leader of the Missionaries and the Bishop of the Local Church, then we had to be baptised. I had wanted to belong so badly to the body of Christ that I simply hadn't been listening to what they all had been saying.

The meetings went well and they seemed to like us so they told us what had to happen next. My live-in Girlfriend and I would have to get married to be baptised. We hastily prepared a ceremony and got married in their church not inviting any of our family on either side, then were baptised. At the time it simply did not occur to us that our families might want to be involved since they were all non-religious. They didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for our families either. It seemed the separation from those who might disagree was a good thing to them. Right after the marriage Petra got pregnant. I told my mother first that she was to be a grandmother and she initially recieved the news with joy. Then the whole family stopped answering their phones. Once they found out what we had done, getting married without inviting them, they all turned their backs on us. So here we are, a young couple with nothing, and now with no one. The only people that we had to turn to now were in the Church. The tapestry of manipulation was stretched wide and beautiful before me yet I still refused to see. Petra was sick all the time from the pregnancy and had just been fired from the restaurant she was working at for being pregnant. Yes it's illegal but only if you can afford a lawyer to sue them, and even then what did you win? We got a job at a telemarketing firm (I'm sorry, world) qualifying mortgage leads all day. It was the only thing she could do in her condition and we only had one car so we had to work together. When the missionaries found out they tried to get us a car from someone in the church and I flatly refused. I was beginning to see the web that was forming in our path. First a car, then a job, then I could not get out if I wanted to. Still I tried to be a dutiful Mormon, telling others of my faith and going on teaching errands with the Missionaries.

Then the Bishop took me in his office. He spoke to me of the joy the Church had given him and how much it could do for me. A long admonition ensued about the danger of apostosy and then he asked, nonchalantly, if I had started tithing yet. I responded in the negative without details. He looked at me disdainfully and said "Why?" as if the notion of not tithing was absurd. My wife and I were poor at that time. We had no family and support, piling bills and were one step above welfare. We were charity cases and he was asking for our money. That was the last straw. I stopped attending services and stopped communication with the missionaries. Then they fought back. The local leader of the 'home teaching' endeavors in my area just happened to get a job at the same telemarketing firm we were at. He would try to chat with us all day and at one point went so far as to say that he was concerned for my spiritual welfare because I continued to drink coffee at work. I was fortunate to find a job shortly after with a fine-dining Italian restaurant that payed enough for Petra to stay home until the baby was born. The missionaries continued to show up uninvited and did everything but put up tents on our front lawn. It was always personal, why are you hurting us this way? So now we were adrift in a very lonely sea. We had been estranged from our families, and had an infant to support with a still small income. Neither of us could sleep and I was working twelve to fourteen hours with only one day off a week. Finally we gave up and decided to move to Maine where my wifes family lived. Then my family decided it was time to reconcile, but things are still not the same almost two years later.

In less than six months just being a dilettante in the LDS church had cost me my family, my security, and forced me five-hundred miles north. This was in a mostly Catholic state, New Jersey. Now imagine our plight if we had lived in a predominately Mormon community like Salt Lake City. I began to research the Church and found out that there are many people who suddenly find out they now have no place to work and no friends yet still have to support their family. I also found out what they really believe and it had very little to do with the Bible. The names remains the same but the theology is totally different. There is a very valid reason that before baptism they make you sign a paper saying that you are not a member or any anti-mormon group. I would advise anyone curious to research beyond the book of Mormon into the true and pivotal doctrine of the faith which is not to be easily found in any of the books they give you at first. Whatever you do don't try and get the word from them. That can be a very costly mistake. They know how to get you in and keep you in. It took less than a year for basic contact with their missionaries to lead to total life crisis. Now I'm just suspicious of all 'new age' faiths. Give me that old timey religion back.

It is impossible to prove that one religious belief is more valid than any other with empirical certainty, but if you buy a car you research it a little first, right? I can only offer you my stern admonition against believing anything without doing your homework first. This is your soul we're talking about. Possibly your personal safety as well as that of those you love. Do your homework, please, just do your homework. 'Okay,' you think, 'what is the homework?' What do you look for? What separates the cults from the faiths? The Bible offers hint. Jesus said in Luke 6:43-44 [43] "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. [44] Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers." Many of those I've seen come in contact with these organizations have ended up estranged from family, friends, entire communities and their own assets for the understandable mistake of simply seeking enlightenment. No matter how hungry you are remember that some fruit is crisp and red on the outside but can be rotten to it's core.