To being important and influential a sect must have a lot of members. To attract these members, the sects hide their real identity, they use a charming mask to being attractive. They recruit many youngs, vulnerables persons, they are more naives, innocent, they are easy target. They use the web, group sites or they just directly knock at the right door. They just make visible the positives points : the charming, a welcoming group, interestings activities, recovery, promotions or success promises...

   First of all, you have to know there are several steps between the moment when the potential member meets a member and when the potential become a certified member. We will study together all these steps and find the traps.

So, in a first phase, the sect has to attract the people in their nets and this is a delicate thing because everybody knows the existence of the sects and believes being protected. Therefore, the sect is tactful and uses a charming mask to show all the good sides and dissimulates all the bad sides. I will give you some examples of the approach and the arguments used by the sects but first tou have to know who are their favourites victimes:

●The fragils persons (psychologically and physically), in other words the persons in depression, in a bad period (mourning, divorce, unemployment, conflict with the family...). The sect will “help” her to resolve her problems, to have more trust in herself, etc... The person belives that the sect will protect her of a dangerous world.

●A person hungry for power or science, the sects promise a gigantic knowledge, not known by the meres mortals.

●A person friend with a member, this friend will be able to influence the person.

●The 18-25 years, this is the end of teenage, the young become independent, he has to pay the rent and his studies, he is stressed for the exams, etc...

The teenager find a paternal figure in the guru.

●The 40-60 years, the entourage starts to die, the person grows old, she can have regrets, a disease, etc...

●Regularly, all these victims have a comfortable life, in other words the sect will be able to take advantages of their money.

Nevertheless, you have to keep in mind that everybody is a potential victim even if the profiles that I described are the perfect profiles.

Moreover, after the selection of the victims, the members have to approach and to talk to them, and their arguments are prepared and ready:

●The conviviality, they promise a welcoming group away from this dangerous world.

●Promises of a gran knowledge, a knowledge inaccessible by the other persons. They pretend have all the answers.

●Promises of promotions, recovery. They reject the modern medicine, they say that everybody is one day exposed at a disease (by oneself or by a friend/family) and they propose other ways like meditation, prayers, diets... Therefore, they evidence the failures of the medicine and encourage the adept to give up all the aids thus there are many consequences! As an example, the Jehovah's Witnesses forbid the blood transfusions (I recommend you to read our article about them).

●The flattery, this way to approach the victim is really effective, indeed they say things like that “You are exceptional, extraordinary, you are different than the other people and you can accede to an immesureable knowledge”.

●The technical which works really good is without any doubt the usage of stars, celebrities: having stars in a sect will influence a lot of persons: the fans, the curious people, etc... This is a real publicity, a way to be broadcasted, but this stars are not treat like the normal persons, they have a favourable treatment and are member of the “Celebrity Centers”. For example, the sect which understood that is the Scientology (I also recommend you to read our artcile about them) with Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Will Smith, Elvis Presley's wife and daughter. Madonna, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher with the Kabbalah; Michael Jackson with the Jehovah's Witnesses, etc... (I clarify that these informations are founded on rumours even if these stars declare that they are members of these sects).

●Humanitarians causes, help poor peolple.

●Rejection of the religon, they proclaim that they have a difference, innovation, they affirmed that the old systems like the Church don't work.

●Sublimation of the sect to give a bad appearance, a bad vision of the world and the society, the sect becomes the only option.

The place where the member approach the people is also chosed with care, the place has to be not far of one of the sect's office to take easily people there. Nevertheless, the sect can come directly at your door like the Jehovah's Witnesses who do the door-to-door.

They distribute leaflets, flyers...

Furthermore, the members are often wear elegants clothes or are in family in order to give a good image of the sect.

●Some sects use devices, instruments in order to convince the victim, of course these instruments are falsified, and function in favour of the sect. For example, the Scientology uses an instruments called the "electrometer" which serves to detect the emotional charge with the help of a needle, indeed if the needle bends over the right that means the person is worried but the needle always bends over the right, it's a trap, therefore for sure the victim thinks that she has reals problems while she has not! 

●Nowadays, there is a new way to approach new persons, a way very easy: internet.

   So, now that you know how the sects aproach and attack, I have to explain you what happened for a person who was charmed and rejoined the group. Thus, when a person joins the group, a brainwashing directly starts in order to keep the person for a long time. This sort of lobotomy is perfectly organized:

●The objective of the sect is to tire the adpet in order to make disapear his critical mind and to assure that he will not take a global view and leave. So to tire him, he has to work a lot, all the day, a lot of prayers, meditations, food modifications (diets, abstayns from eating...),etc... He accepts to do all of that because this is the beginning and he receives a lot of affection, love by the group, this is a strategy.

●Then starts the separation, the break up with all his family and his friends, the sect takes the pretext that they are an obstacle in his life, for his progression in the sect, so to take him away from them, they encourage him to break up all his links. If the member doesn't frequent persons opposed to the sect, he has no reason to leave it. Therefore, without references the adepts is more fragil.

●The isolation is accentuated by many travels abroad for spirituals trainings... These travels don't give time to the adept to make new acquaintances, new friends.

●The adept is never alone, there is alwais a member with him, his private life is reduced, he can't be tranquil.

●Without friends and family, the adept has no other choice that to follow the sect, there is a real submission. His only reference is the guru. This guru often affirmed that he lived important experiences, he is the way to God, the Messiah.

●The adept is teaching about the way to seduce, this is now his turn to bring new persons.

   To finish, I recommend you to read our article about sectarian drifts because after all this brainwashing, the adepts become the puppets of the guru and accept to do anything and everything for him, therefore this dependence created and carries on to create tragedy like rapes, deaths (because of the abdandment of all the medicals treatments for example, etc...), but also mass suicides... Anyway, you have to keep in mind that the sects are everywhere and nobody is under cover of their danger, even if you have a lot of appreciations about them you are never entirely protected.