[ACuriousFellow]

Originally Posted by aron

Any group that reaches a certain critical mass of mutually reinforcing social interactions can keep it going by feeding members circular reasoning, and cutting them off from outside information. A few will get objective information and leave the group, or will heed the red flags, but most will remain.**

Yeah... but at least I have realized that many college students that initially join the group each semester do end up leaving because they smell something in the air. That gives me a modicum of peace. I do, however, realize that the longer one stays, the harder it will be for them to leave.

A: "Witness Lee is the minister of the age. Look at all the revelations that he saw. Nobody else gave us the lofty vision of God's economy except WL."

Q: "But how do you know his vision of God's economy is according the NT? Have you actually examined it?"

A: "It's from the wise master builder himself! How dare you question God's deputy authority! That would be rebellion against God!"

Ew. Yeah. This sounds about right. As I've mentioned before, this is what stabbed deeply at my heart when I saw the "Special Fellowship" that spoke so harshly against a sister who was crying out for help. I could understand how many of my peers would choose to stay. They don't know many of these things and refuse to do the research when they hear about it. But my mentor? That father figure of mine? My father for all intents an purposes? Can it be that a man who has gone through the full time training and has worked his way up to be an elder is ignorant of such things? The high probability of his complacency and approval regarding these heartbreaking truths shook me to my core, especially after what I myself had witnessed not long before hearing of Jo's story.

So, the teaching carries it's own 'poison pill' that provides a buffer against critical examination and exposure. As long as a sufficient number of people speak this to each other, it can go on indefinitely. Then with Living Stream, there are various campus recruitment teams and post-Uni training centres round the globe, stuffing their brains with this supposed vision, and continually warning them of outsiders.

Yeah. They put a lot of effort into stopping critical thought within their meetings, be they grand or small, with a multitude or just one-on-one. Oftentimes they do it very passively, using excuses like "oh, I have an idea! Let's call on the Lord x number of times!" or "Amen! It's so great that we don't have to worry about such things because we are only about LIFE! Oh Lord Jesus!"

So, the web of mental concepts and social relations are enduring. Additionally, Living Stream operatives can drop hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and real estate investments at Harvard and its environs to aid campus recruiting. They own an apartment building - they must be legit, right? They can buy off former critics like Christian Research Institute. Their leaders host international trade meetings with the likes of Russia's Putin. Surely WN and WL would be pleased with the work of such devoted followers. The entire narrative is that this organizational mass equates to "God's building". Everything useful for today's narrative is shoehorned in, and anything unhelpful is excluded pro forma.

Learning about their pool of wealth and how they use it to exercise influence and silence others also sent shivers of my spine. Once again: that the odds highly favor my mentor's compliance with such things makes me nauseated.