The bashing of police officers by an apostolic sect was the subject of debate over the weekend.
Deja Vu with Kamurai Mudzingwa
Judging from comments on the story from readers and general talk in public places, it seems as if many people do not have sympathy for our police.
They were expressing sentiments to the effect that the police got what they deserved. There seems to have been vicarious enjoyment from many quarters of society. However, what many people seem not to understand about this unfortunate incident is the danger that cults pose in society. And in Zimbabwe, the cult problem is on the rise. It is important that people be warned of the dangers of cults lest they become victims.
What was this vicious apostolic sect group protecting? NewsDay (May 31 2014) writes: “According to reports, Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe president Johannes Ndanga, in the company of anti-riot police, had gone to the Madzibaba Ishmael-led shrine seeking to enforce a ban on the church for alleged abuse of women and children.”
If these allegations are true, the vicious men in garments were not amused by people who wanted to protect their victims and potential victims.
This is typical cult thinking — everyone else is wrong except the cult. I read various researches on cults and most of them came up with almost similar characteristics of cults that I will share below.
Divine authority Cults are led by powerful charismatic leaders who claim they have divine authority that legitimizes them to found a church and be a leader. Cult leaders usually convince their followers that they are messiahs, prophets or both.
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They claim they that are God’s representatives on earth, meaning, by implication, that questioning their orders is akin to questioning God.
Their victims, who are cult members, believe that by seeing the cult leader, they are seeing God. So every word he speaks is believed to be divine. So if he comes up with strategies to abuse women and children, his followers won’t question for fear of questioning the divine.
Rationalising to commit crime Cults place themselves above everyone else including the law. Their reasoning is that the “divine law” they follow is more superior than any other law. Cult leaders, as researchers have noted, consistently violate laws to abuse their victims.
To justify their actions, they develop rationale to legitimize their serious illegal acts. Women and children are usually victims as they are easy prey especially under patriarchal cultures like in the case of Zimbabwe.
Promises of salvation Cults lure victims by promises of salvation, making them believe that the whole world is damned except the cult members. Members, most of them victims, are so brainwashed that they see everyone else as wrong.
To them, everyone faces divine wrath except cult members. This is manifest when cult members, based on doctrine, defend and participate in such acts as sexual abuse and refusal to send children to school and other weird anti-social behavior. They believe that such anti-social behavior, as preached by their leaders, lead to salvation and those who do not condone such behavior are lost.
Group isolation One of the most prominent techniques used by cult leaders is group isolation.
It should be noted that the worst abuses take place in isolated or semi isolated places. Victims are fully prepared to accept isolation by first allowing themselves to think that their group is different from the rest of “unclean” society whose ideas “may taint them”.
Members are not allowed to have contact with the outside world hence they are banned from watching television, reading newspapers or books or even the bible. After “mental isolation”, physical isolation would just be a piece of cake and the subsequent abuse the icing.
Apocalyptic teachings Leaders also capture the attention of their followers (the victim) through apocalyptic teachings that “forewarn” them of terrible future events such as the end of the world or great destructions.
This is dangerous especially if the victims are made to believe that they have been called upon to be warriors in the “Lord’s army”. They can behave violently, defending what they believe to be a worthy cause.
Personal and religious “advice” are merged into one, a very complex situation for the brainwashed to extricate themselves from. Leaders, for instance, can discourage sexual activity among some or all of their followers except themselves. New codes of ethics are crafted for the benefit of the leaders. The codes of ethics normally don’t apply to the leaders.
Deception Deception is the hallmark for the sustenance of cults. Deception leads to mind control, the most evil thing that can be done to anyone.
People are deceived into believing that these groups are the panacea to their problems. Cult leaders only draw their victims into the world of deceit, power, intolerance, obsession and hypnosis.
The leaders know that everyone in life has problems and they capitalise on that. They deceive their victims into thinking that they can solve all their problems.
Impressionable people are easily deceived by people who are able to articulate problems they face such as marital problems, unemployment and poverty etc. They are cheated into thinking that cults have the answer and they fall into the trap.
Potential victims Studies have shown that everyone is a potential victim. Cults lure people across the class and ethnic divides. The rich, the poor, and the middle class have fallen victim to the power of cults. It does not matter whether one is educated or not, the emotional and psychological lure of the cults reach to all. Beware!
