Project Megiddo - FBI Cult Test Summary
A passive cult predicts GOD WILL PUNISH. An active cult predicts GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE WILL PUNISH. This should be seen as a threat for the millenium.VII. APOCALYPTIC CULTS
For apocalyptic cults, especially biblically based ones, the millennium is viewed as the time that will signal a major transformation for the world. Many apocalyptic cults share the belief that the battle against Satan, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation, will begin in the years surrounding the millennium and that the federal government is an arm of Satan. Therefore, the millennium will bring about a battle between cult members --- religious martyrs --- and the government.
For law enforcement purposes, a narrower interpretation of groups that qualify as cults is needed. A more useful definition of cults incorporates the term "cultic relationships" to describe the interactions within a cult. Specificaly, a cultic relationship refers to
one in which a person intentionally induces others to become totally or nearly totally dependent on him or her for almost all major life decisions,
and inculcates in these followers a belief that he or she has some special talent, gift, or knowledge."
This definition of cults provides important distinctions that are vital for analyzing a cult's predilection towards violence. The origin of the cult, the role of its leader, and its uniqueness provide a framework for understanding what distinguishes cults from other domestic terrorist groups that otherwise share many similar characteristics. These distinctions are:
(1) cult leaders are self-appointed, persuasive persons who claim to have a special mission in life or have special knowledge;
(2) a cult's ideas and dogma claim to be innovative and exclusive; and
(3) cult leaders focus their members' love, devotion and allegiance on themselves. These characteristics culminate in a group structure that is frequently highly authoritarian in structure.
While predicting violence is extremely difficult and imprecise, there are certain characteristics that make some cults more prone to violence. Law enforcement officials should be aware of the following factors:
¥ Sequestered Groups: Members of sequestered groups lose access to the outside world and information preventing critical evaluation of the ideas being espoused by the leader.
¥ Leader's History: The fantasies, dreams, plans, and ideas of the leader are most likely to become the beliefs of the followers because of the totalitarian and authoritarian nature of cults.
¥ Psychopaths: Control of a group by charismatic psychopaths or those with narcissistic character disorders.
¥ Changes in the Leader: Changes in a leader's personality caused by traumatic events such as death of a spouse or sickness.
¥ Language of the Ideology: Groups that are violent use language in their ideology that contains the seeds of violence.
¥ Implied Directive for Violence: Most frequently, a leader's speeches, rhetoric, and language does not explicitly call for violence, rather it is most often only implied.
¥ Length of Time: The longer the leader's behavior has gone unchecked against outside authority, the less vulnerable the leader feels.
¥ Who Is in the Inner Circle: Cults with violent tendencies often recruit people who are either familiar with weapons or who have military backgrounds to serve as enforcers.
An analysis of millennial cults by the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit describes how rhetoric changes depending on whether the leader's ideology envisions the group
as playing an active role in the coming Apocalypse
or a passive survivalist role:
A cult that predicts that "God will punish" or "evil will be punished" indicates a more passive and less threatening posture
than the cult that predicts that "God's chosen people will punish . . ."
"In 1986, McCartney exhorted his Promise Keepers followers: "Many of you feel like you've been in a war for a long time, yet the fiercest fighting is still ahead. Let's proceed. It's wartime." In recent years, they have toned down the militaristic language. No longer emphasized are the "squads of men" engaging in "spiritual warfare" as "God's army," fighting "a raging battle" with Jesus as their "commander-in-chief" and clergy as "commissioned officers."
Kenneth Sublett http://www.piney.com/PKMegiddo.html