22 ICSA TODAY 2321 VOLUME 10 |ISSUE 3 |2019
As someone who was “in the church” for almost twenty years
before my husband and I became aware of the likelihood that my
former group had been a cult, and who struggled in my attempt to
speak to pastors about it, I grasp how useful this book would have
been to my pastors to help them understand the workings of cult
systems, and how cultic groups compare to scripture. Following my
group experience, I had wondered if my group, The Path, had been
a cult. But not knowing the definition and unfortunately asking the
wrong person, I had to let that question slide, as do many other
former members, until I went to Wellspring for exit counseling after
almost twenty years.
Because former members may not themselves be aware of their
cult involvement, perhaps calling it, as I did, “an ‘off’ group,” it may
be up to a pastor to discern, from church members’ actions and
words, the possibility of their having been cult affiliated.
Those of us who were in cults often have little awareness that
cult defines the group we were in, or know where to go for help,
or to whom to speak after we leave. We try talking to people,
but they don’t understand or pastors ask, “Can’t you just forgive
them?” (as happened with me), not comprehending the strength
of the bondage and the intensity of our pain and the control we
experienced.
I wish this book had been available for me, and for my pastors,
back when I was struggling. That it is available for pastors and
counselors today is a boon. The Heresy of Mind Control… would be
a great assist for all pastors affiliated with SafeHaven, and for those
trying to help former members in their churches.
Full disclosure: I am a Wellspring alum, and I owe a debt of
gratitude to Wellspring and the Martin family for their assistance in
my recovery. n
Educated
By Tara Westover
Random House, New York. 2018. ISBN-13: 978-0399590504
(hardcover) ASIN: 978-039959051 (ebook) ISBN: 978-0-525-51067-3
(international). $13.99 US hardcover $20.92 US paperback $14.99
Kindle $28.45 audio CD (Amazon.com). 352 pages.
Reviewed by Gina Catena
Tara Westover was raised in rural Idaho, by parents who ascribed
to a survivalist interpretation of Mormon doctrine. Her memoir,
Educated, elucidates concerns common to many who were raised
in cultic environments. Even if they are not from such a socially
isolated family, many people who were born or raised in cultic
environments experience intense overriding family judgments,
psychosocial adjustments, awkward anxiety around outsiders, and
personal losses. Westover’s vivid writing helps readers understand
family dynamics common to many extremist families, and also the
degree of inner drive required of any person born or raised in a
cultic group who stumbles her way to assimilate into mainstream
society.
This saga spans the author’s American childhood in the 1990s
through to her graduate studies at Oxford and Harvard. Her
erratic authoritarian father dictated familial self-sufficiency, which
included the family growing its own food and medicinals, stashing
firearms, and storing tanks of fuel in anticipation of her father’s
predicted “Days of Abomination” or a government attack. As one
of seven siblings, Tara Westover was home birthed, homeschooled,
and skilled in tasks ranging from preparation of her mother’s
herbal tinctures to scouring her father’s junkyard for sellable
parts. Her limited exposure to the outside world came through
grandparents and a Mormon church in the nearby town.
Westover knew she was different from other children because
she did not attend school. Instead of school, she learned nature’s
seasonal cycles, how to train wild horses, and her father’s
interpretation of Mormonism.
The Westover family eschewed medical professionals as
untrustworthy. They treated illnesses and injuries with homemade
tinctures selected by their ability to strengthen or weaken an
affected person’s muscular resistance when held in the palm. As a
child, Westover stumbled into heavy grinding machinery, barely
managing to climb out in time to drop onto the ground, flat on her
Book Reviews
The Heresy of Mind Control
By Stephen Martin
ACW Press: Nashville, TN. 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015. ISBN-13: 978-
1-934668-18-4. (paperback). 170 pages. $17.50 (single copy
$12.50 two or more copies. e-book also available. Order online via
recognizeheresy.com).
Reviewed by Diana Pletts
Just suppose the church you unwittingly joined when you moved
to a new location, and which seemed so loving, so giving, and so
great in so many respects, turned out to be the People’s Temple
with leader “Jim Jones who led over 900 of his followers into a
mass suicide murder” (p. 11). Or that, following college, “You find
a new group that welcomes you with open arms. They really care
for people. The leader of this group has fascinating Bible studies”
(p. 11). But this leader turns out to David Koresh, more than eighty
of whose Branch Davidian followers died in a fire at the church
compound. With these chilling opening scenarios, Stephen Martin
introduces his book, The Heresy of Mind Control: Recognizing Con
Artists, Tyrants, and Spiritual Abusers in Leadership, to show how
easy it can be to get involved with a cultic group, and to expose
the deception and brainwashing that draws people in.
Stephen Martin was a cofounder of Wellspring Retreat and
Resource Center in Athens, Ohio in 1986, along with his brother,
Dr. Paul Martin, and Paul’s wife, Barbara Martin. Paul directed the
cult and spiritual-abuse rehabilitation center until his death in
2009. In this book, The Heresy of Mind Control…, Stephen uses his
experience as a workshop leader at Wellspring and his Master of
Divinity ministerial credentials to provide a scriptural overview
of Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s eight psychological themes (Lifton,
1961/1989), which Wellspring used to assist former cult members
in understanding their past cult involvement. Combining the
Lifton criteria with scriptural supporting evidence, Stephen has
provided a useful primer for former cult members, especially
those who have exited from aberrant Christian or Bible-based
groups, and also for counselors and pastors seeking to assist them.
The book’s intent, however, is for all who have been harmed by
authoritarian control. Although it has been a decade since its
release, this comprehensive book on the Lifton psychological
themes remains timely and is well worth a read.
Each of the eight chapters is based on one of the eight criteria for
mind control found in Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s book, Thought Reform
and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China
(Lifton, 1961/1989). Not only are the themes presented through
a scriptural lens, but alternate descriptions are provided in the
chapter headings to deliver clear and concise definitions, such as
“Thinking Inside the Box,” the title for Chapter 1, on Lifton’s milieu
control “Vocal Self-Degradation” for Chapter 4, on Lifton’s cult of
confession and “The Elitists” for Chapter 8, on Lifton’s theme of
dispensing of existence.
Each chapter contains both a summary and a paraphrase of Lifton’s
definition of the psychological theme, and explanatory examples
of the theme in the lives of former cult members. Further, Stephen
breaks down Bible verses that are often used in the control and
manipulation of cult members and explains them in context,
expounding upon, as well, those verses descriptive of cult leaders
and their malicious deeds.
In each chapter, the various aspects of that particular
psychological theme are separated by subheadings that more
easily and completely describe each characteristic. The chapter
“Illusion to Disillusion,” about Lifton’s mystical manipulation
theme, for example, has subheadings of Visions and Revelations,
[Fictitious] Stories, Euphoria-Inducing Techniques, and Misguided
Devotion, among others.
Illustrations from cult life fill out these subsections, enabling former
members to relate their own experiences to the various Lifton
themes. In the chapter on mystical manipulation (Chapter Two),
for example, Steve demonstrates that a “high” occurs when “The
leader induces a false sense of euphoria through certain stimuli in
the group, such as certain breathing exercises, hypnotic or semi-
hypnotic techniques, [or] forms of trance-inducing meditation or
chanting” (p. 33). This high is then explained to the group by the
leader in a way suitable for the group, such as a declaration that it
is “from God,” or the font of “positive energies” (p. 33).
In addition to amplifying Lifton’s psychological themes of mind
control by way of scripture, Stephen also provides solutions to
cult-induced problems, again using the Bible. It’s good to know
that the same thing that may have been used to bring about
the pain can then be used to bring healing from it. As Mary Alice
Chranalogar, whose book Twisted Scriptures: Breaking Free From
Churches That Abuse (1997) Stephen helped edit, notes in her
Acknowledgments, that “Christ’s message is sometimes abused
as a device to gain personal power over others.” Stephen looks
to provide solutions that break that power and set former cult
members free from their psychological harms. In the Restoring
Self-Esteem subsection of “Vocal Self-Degradation” (Chapter Four),
for example, he provides the hopeful verse, “If God is for us, who
can be against us?” (Romans 8:31 [New International Version]).
Rounding out the book are appendices regarding various topics
that former members of aberrant Bible groups often struggle
with, such as “What is Faith?” “Pros and Cons of an Accountability
Partner” and “Comments on Visions.” Illustrations depicting
various aspects of mind control are provided by Stephen’s nephew
and son of his brother Paul, Tim Martin. Tim’s illustrations help
clarify some concepts that are sometimes difficult to comprehend.
20
Educated illustrates the painful
solitude inherent when a person
from cult-based origins becomes a
critically thinking individual…
Stephen has provided a useful
primer for former cult members,
especially those who have exited
from aberrant Christian or Bible-based
groups, and also for counselors and
pastors seeking to assist them.
About the Reviewer
Diana Pletts, MA, has directed and coordinated
The Phoenix Project, an exhibit of former-
cult-member art and literary works, at 10 ICSA
conferences since 2006. This project of artistic
works created by former members provides a
time and space for cult survivors to present their
cult- and recovery-related artwork, and to tell their own stories
in their own ways. Diana is working to regain and work out her
own artistic vision, which she abandoned in 1975 when she left
her BFA film program and became a member of The Path, an end-
times group. Diana went to Wellspring for postcult counseling
help in 1999, and then returned to college to complete her cult-
interrupted undergraduate degree, obtaining a BA in philosophy.
She also earned a master’s degree in communication, writing a cult-
education information campaign as a thesis project. Diana was the
Arts and Literary Editor of ICSA Today for 7 years and was awarded
ICSA’s Margaret Singer Award in 2015. She has worked as a writer
and adjunct college professor and is busy today taking courses
toward an undergraduate BFA in the visual arts. Diana has four
adult children and lives in Maryland with her husband Denny. n
As someone who was “in the church” for almost twenty years
before my husband and I became aware of the likelihood that my
former group had been a cult, and who struggled in my attempt to
speak to pastors about it, I grasp how useful this book would have
been to my pastors to help them understand the workings of cult
systems, and how cultic groups compare to scripture. Following my
group experience, I had wondered if my group, The Path, had been
a cult. But not knowing the definition and unfortunately asking the
wrong person, I had to let that question slide, as do many other
former members, until I went to Wellspring for exit counseling after
almost twenty years.
Because former members may not themselves be aware of their
cult involvement, perhaps calling it, as I did, “an ‘off’ group,” it may
be up to a pastor to discern, from church members’ actions and
words, the possibility of their having been cult affiliated.
Those of us who were in cults often have little awareness that
cult defines the group we were in, or know where to go for help,
or to whom to speak after we leave. We try talking to people,
but they don’t understand or pastors ask, “Can’t you just forgive
them?” (as happened with me), not comprehending the strength
of the bondage and the intensity of our pain and the control we
experienced.
I wish this book had been available for me, and for my pastors,
back when I was struggling. That it is available for pastors and
counselors today is a boon. The Heresy of Mind Control… would be
a great assist for all pastors affiliated with SafeHaven, and for those
trying to help former members in their churches.
Full disclosure: I am a Wellspring alum, and I owe a debt of
gratitude to Wellspring and the Martin family for their assistance in
my recovery. n
Educated
By Tara Westover
Random House, New York. 2018. ISBN-13: 978-0399590504
(hardcover) ASIN: 978-039959051 (ebook) ISBN: 978-0-525-51067-3
(international). $13.99 US hardcover $20.92 US paperback $14.99
Kindle $28.45 audio CD (Amazon.com). 352 pages.
Reviewed by Gina Catena
Tara Westover was raised in rural Idaho, by parents who ascribed
to a survivalist interpretation of Mormon doctrine. Her memoir,
Educated, elucidates concerns common to many who were raised
in cultic environments. Even if they are not from such a socially
isolated family, many people who were born or raised in cultic
environments experience intense overriding family judgments,
psychosocial adjustments, awkward anxiety around outsiders, and
personal losses. Westover’s vivid writing helps readers understand
family dynamics common to many extremist families, and also the
degree of inner drive required of any person born or raised in a
cultic group who stumbles her way to assimilate into mainstream
society.
This saga spans the author’s American childhood in the 1990s
through to her graduate studies at Oxford and Harvard. Her
erratic authoritarian father dictated familial self-sufficiency, which
included the family growing its own food and medicinals, stashing
firearms, and storing tanks of fuel in anticipation of her father’s
predicted “Days of Abomination” or a government attack. As one
of seven siblings, Tara Westover was home birthed, homeschooled,
and skilled in tasks ranging from preparation of her mother’s
herbal tinctures to scouring her father’s junkyard for sellable
parts. Her limited exposure to the outside world came through
grandparents and a Mormon church in the nearby town.
Westover knew she was different from other children because
she did not attend school. Instead of school, she learned nature’s
seasonal cycles, how to train wild horses, and her father’s
interpretation of Mormonism.
The Westover family eschewed medical professionals as
untrustworthy. They treated illnesses and injuries with homemade
tinctures selected by their ability to strengthen or weaken an
affected person’s muscular resistance when held in the palm. As a
child, Westover stumbled into heavy grinding machinery, barely
managing to climb out in time to drop onto the ground, flat on her
Book Reviews
The Heresy of Mind Control
By Stephen Martin
ACW Press: Nashville, TN. 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015. ISBN-13: 978-
1-934668-18-4. (paperback). 170 pages. $17.50 (single copy
$12.50 two or more copies. e-book also available. Order online via
recognizeheresy.com).
Reviewed by Diana Pletts
Just suppose the church you unwittingly joined when you moved
to a new location, and which seemed so loving, so giving, and so
great in so many respects, turned out to be the People’s Temple
with leader “Jim Jones who led over 900 of his followers into a
mass suicide murder” (p. 11). Or that, following college, “You find
a new group that welcomes you with open arms. They really care
for people. The leader of this group has fascinating Bible studies”
(p. 11). But this leader turns out to David Koresh, more than eighty
of whose Branch Davidian followers died in a fire at the church
compound. With these chilling opening scenarios, Stephen Martin
introduces his book, The Heresy of Mind Control: Recognizing Con
Artists, Tyrants, and Spiritual Abusers in Leadership, to show how
easy it can be to get involved with a cultic group, and to expose
the deception and brainwashing that draws people in.
Stephen Martin was a cofounder of Wellspring Retreat and
Resource Center in Athens, Ohio in 1986, along with his brother,
Dr. Paul Martin, and Paul’s wife, Barbara Martin. Paul directed the
cult and spiritual-abuse rehabilitation center until his death in
2009. In this book, The Heresy of Mind Control…, Stephen uses his
experience as a workshop leader at Wellspring and his Master of
Divinity ministerial credentials to provide a scriptural overview
of Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s eight psychological themes (Lifton,
1961/1989), which Wellspring used to assist former cult members
in understanding their past cult involvement. Combining the
Lifton criteria with scriptural supporting evidence, Stephen has
provided a useful primer for former cult members, especially
those who have exited from aberrant Christian or Bible-based
groups, and also for counselors and pastors seeking to assist them.
The book’s intent, however, is for all who have been harmed by
authoritarian control. Although it has been a decade since its
release, this comprehensive book on the Lifton psychological
themes remains timely and is well worth a read.
Each of the eight chapters is based on one of the eight criteria for
mind control found in Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s book, Thought Reform
and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China
(Lifton, 1961/1989). Not only are the themes presented through
a scriptural lens, but alternate descriptions are provided in the
chapter headings to deliver clear and concise definitions, such as
“Thinking Inside the Box,” the title for Chapter 1, on Lifton’s milieu
control “Vocal Self-Degradation” for Chapter 4, on Lifton’s cult of
confession and “The Elitists” for Chapter 8, on Lifton’s theme of
dispensing of existence.
Each chapter contains both a summary and a paraphrase of Lifton’s
definition of the psychological theme, and explanatory examples
of the theme in the lives of former cult members. Further, Stephen
breaks down Bible verses that are often used in the control and
manipulation of cult members and explains them in context,
expounding upon, as well, those verses descriptive of cult leaders
and their malicious deeds.
In each chapter, the various aspects of that particular
psychological theme are separated by subheadings that more
easily and completely describe each characteristic. The chapter
“Illusion to Disillusion,” about Lifton’s mystical manipulation
theme, for example, has subheadings of Visions and Revelations,
[Fictitious] Stories, Euphoria-Inducing Techniques, and Misguided
Devotion, among others.
Illustrations from cult life fill out these subsections, enabling former
members to relate their own experiences to the various Lifton
themes. In the chapter on mystical manipulation (Chapter Two),
for example, Steve demonstrates that a “high” occurs when “The
leader induces a false sense of euphoria through certain stimuli in
the group, such as certain breathing exercises, hypnotic or semi-
hypnotic techniques, [or] forms of trance-inducing meditation or
chanting” (p. 33). This high is then explained to the group by the
leader in a way suitable for the group, such as a declaration that it
is “from God,” or the font of “positive energies” (p. 33).
In addition to amplifying Lifton’s psychological themes of mind
control by way of scripture, Stephen also provides solutions to
cult-induced problems, again using the Bible. It’s good to know
that the same thing that may have been used to bring about
the pain can then be used to bring healing from it. As Mary Alice
Chranalogar, whose book Twisted Scriptures: Breaking Free From
Churches That Abuse (1997) Stephen helped edit, notes in her
Acknowledgments, that “Christ’s message is sometimes abused
as a device to gain personal power over others.” Stephen looks
to provide solutions that break that power and set former cult
members free from their psychological harms. In the Restoring
Self-Esteem subsection of “Vocal Self-Degradation” (Chapter Four),
for example, he provides the hopeful verse, “If God is for us, who
can be against us?” (Romans 8:31 [New International Version]).
Rounding out the book are appendices regarding various topics
that former members of aberrant Bible groups often struggle
with, such as “What is Faith?” “Pros and Cons of an Accountability
Partner” and “Comments on Visions.” Illustrations depicting
various aspects of mind control are provided by Stephen’s nephew
and son of his brother Paul, Tim Martin. Tim’s illustrations help
clarify some concepts that are sometimes difficult to comprehend.
20
Educated illustrates the painful
solitude inherent when a person
from cult-based origins becomes a
critically thinking individual…
Stephen has provided a useful
primer for former cult members,
especially those who have exited
from aberrant Christian or Bible-based
groups, and also for counselors and
pastors seeking to assist them.
About the Reviewer
Diana Pletts, MA, has directed and coordinated
The Phoenix Project, an exhibit of former-
cult-member art and literary works, at 10 ICSA
conferences since 2006. This project of artistic
works created by former members provides a
time and space for cult survivors to present their
cult- and recovery-related artwork, and to tell their own stories
in their own ways. Diana is working to regain and work out her
own artistic vision, which she abandoned in 1975 when she left
her BFA film program and became a member of The Path, an end-
times group. Diana went to Wellspring for postcult counseling
help in 1999, and then returned to college to complete her cult-
interrupted undergraduate degree, obtaining a BA in philosophy.
She also earned a master’s degree in communication, writing a cult-
education information campaign as a thesis project. Diana was the
Arts and Literary Editor of ICSA Today for 7 years and was awarded
ICSA’s Margaret Singer Award in 2015. She has worked as a writer
and adjunct college professor and is busy today taking courses
toward an undergraduate BFA in the visual arts. Diana has four
adult children and lives in Maryland with her husband Denny. n
