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This article is an electronic version of an article originally
published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1998, Volume 15, Number 2, pages 139-150.
Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from
that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic
information in papers that you may write.
Bible-Cult Mind Control 101
David Clark
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
First I'd like to thank the American Family Foundation and Denver Seminary for
giving me this opportunity to share my experience with you. Some personal
background: I have always considered myself to be a Christian. I attended
Methodist and Lutheran churches. I was confirmed and learned the basics of my
faith. Although I was not initially baptized, I later decided to receive
sprinkling baptism in the Methodist Church
Parenthetically, those who have had any experience with Bible cults will
understand the significance of immersion and why these groups typically believe
that one must be immersed. Almost all of the bible-based cults I have been
exposed to in the past twenty three years contend that their organization is the
true restoration of the first century/New Testament Christian church. They all
require baptism by full immersion. Typically, the group does not accept previous
family religious affiliations or non-immersion baptismal experiences as valid.
Families are commonly cut off from group members and do not grasp the magnitude
of this rite of passage.
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