Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 81
The pyramidal structure of the movement: Kip McKean is self-appointed and not
ordained, and he claims to have an exclusive view of the scriptures.
The nature of the group: It affects every area of the member‘s life, including where to
live and with whom, how to spend one‘s time, whom to date, whom not to date, who
one‘s friends are, personal finances, the marriage relationship, how to discipline one‘s
children ...and on and on.
The isolation of the group: Outside relationships and influences are discouraged and
discredited so that individuals become dependent on the group for their only feedback.
The group becomes the ultimate authority in all areas of members‘ lives.
Phobia induction within the group: It has the Truth. No other religion has the truth, and
if members leave this group, they are leaving God. Individuals begin to fear loss of their
salvation and try even harder to do the work of the group.
The confession of sins/shortcomings: Members confess to their discipling partner, and
often to the family group.
Unhealthy personality changes: These changes are documented in Dr. Flavil Yeakley‘s
book, The Discipling Dilemma.
Consistency with Lifton‘s criteria: The group meets all eight of Lifton‘s criteria for a
thought-reform program: milieu control, mystical manipulation, the demand for purity,
the cult of confession, the ―sacred science‖, loading the language, doctrine over person,
and the dispensing of existence.‖
As some of you may know, I‘ve retired from doing intervention work. But for most of the
years I‘ve done interventions concerning the ICC movement, I‘ve worked with Jeff Davis,
who still does interventions. The last few years we worked together, we concentrated
heavily on family preparation—implementing a family prep session before we even
scheduled an intervention. We expected the entire family team and the intervention team to
take part in the prep session, and we found that doing so enabled the intervention team to
assess the assets of each member of the family team and better determine the roles they
would be able to play during the intervention. This involvement also gave the family a much
better idea of how an intervention worked and the seriousness of undertaking an
intervention. It also better prepared them for the resistance they would meet from the
group member.
I want to point out one particular family we worked with whose daughter was in another
state, deeply involved in the ICC. One brother, a sister-in-law, and her two parents would
be the family team. I‘ve rarely encountered a family who worked harder to prepare
themselves for the intervention. When the intervention team arrived to do the family prep,
the mother handed every member of both teams a notebook. The notebook contained the
following:
all the important documents from the ICC‘s own site that we had asked the family to
read
chapters from Captive Hearts/Captive Minds and Cults In Our Midst that I had asked
them to review
the ―Ethical Standards for Thought Reform Consultants‖
the critique of the movement‘s pre-baptism studies, as well as the movement‘s
documentation on the studies and
The pyramidal structure of the movement: Kip McKean is self-appointed and not
ordained, and he claims to have an exclusive view of the scriptures.
The nature of the group: It affects every area of the member‘s life, including where to
live and with whom, how to spend one‘s time, whom to date, whom not to date, who
one‘s friends are, personal finances, the marriage relationship, how to discipline one‘s
children ...and on and on.
The isolation of the group: Outside relationships and influences are discouraged and
discredited so that individuals become dependent on the group for their only feedback.
The group becomes the ultimate authority in all areas of members‘ lives.
Phobia induction within the group: It has the Truth. No other religion has the truth, and
if members leave this group, they are leaving God. Individuals begin to fear loss of their
salvation and try even harder to do the work of the group.
The confession of sins/shortcomings: Members confess to their discipling partner, and
often to the family group.
Unhealthy personality changes: These changes are documented in Dr. Flavil Yeakley‘s
book, The Discipling Dilemma.
Consistency with Lifton‘s criteria: The group meets all eight of Lifton‘s criteria for a
thought-reform program: milieu control, mystical manipulation, the demand for purity,
the cult of confession, the ―sacred science‖, loading the language, doctrine over person,
and the dispensing of existence.‖
As some of you may know, I‘ve retired from doing intervention work. But for most of the
years I‘ve done interventions concerning the ICC movement, I‘ve worked with Jeff Davis,
who still does interventions. The last few years we worked together, we concentrated
heavily on family preparation—implementing a family prep session before we even
scheduled an intervention. We expected the entire family team and the intervention team to
take part in the prep session, and we found that doing so enabled the intervention team to
assess the assets of each member of the family team and better determine the roles they
would be able to play during the intervention. This involvement also gave the family a much
better idea of how an intervention worked and the seriousness of undertaking an
intervention. It also better prepared them for the resistance they would meet from the
group member.
I want to point out one particular family we worked with whose daughter was in another
state, deeply involved in the ICC. One brother, a sister-in-law, and her two parents would
be the family team. I‘ve rarely encountered a family who worked harder to prepare
themselves for the intervention. When the intervention team arrived to do the family prep,
the mother handed every member of both teams a notebook. The notebook contained the
following:
all the important documents from the ICC‘s own site that we had asked the family to
read
chapters from Captive Hearts/Captive Minds and Cults In Our Midst that I had asked
them to review
the ―Ethical Standards for Thought Reform Consultants‖
the critique of the movement‘s pre-baptism studies, as well as the movement‘s
documentation on the studies and
