[Raptor]

Originally Posted by OBW

I know as a young student/career accountant something always seemed a little off to me, but I never asked any questions. Why were the red flags missed or suppressed? how we were unable to spot the kinds of problems that were festering right under our noses?

I believe it is due to a combination of two reasons, 1.) PSYCHOLOGICAL, 2.) SPIRITUAL

1.) PSYCHOLOGICAL - GROUPTHINK

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness, in a group may produce a tendency among its members to agree at all costs.This causes the group to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation. Irving Janis pioneered the initial research on the groupthink theory. Janis identified a number of different "symptoms" that indicate groupthink:

• Illusions of unanimity - lead members to believe that everyone is in agreement and feels the same way. It is often much more difficult to speak out when it seems that everyone else in the group is on the same page.
  
• Unquestioned beliefs - lead members to ignore possible moral problems and not consider the consequences of individual and group actions.
  
• Rationalizing - prevents members from reconsidering their beliefs and causes them to ignore warning signs.
  
• Stereotyping - leads members of the in-group to ignore or even demonize out-group members who may oppose or challenge the group's ideas. This causes members of the group to ignore important ideas or information.
  
• Self-censorship - causes people who might have doubts to hide their fears or misgivings. Rather than sharing what they know, people remain quiet and assume that the group must know best.
  
• "Mindguards" - act as self-appointed censors to hide problematic information from the group. Rather than sharing important information, they keep quiet or actively prevent sharing.
  
• Illusions of invulnerability - lead members of the group to be overly optimistic and engage in risk-taking. When no one speaks out or voices an alternative opinion, it causes people to believe that the group must be right.
  
• Direct pressure - pressure to conform is often placed on members who pose questions, and those who question the group are often seen as disloyal or traitorous.

While groupthink can generate consensus, it is by definition a negative phenomenon that results in faulty or uninformed thinking and decision-making. Some of the problems it can cause include:

• Blindness to potentially negative outcomes
• Failure to listen to people with dissenting opinions
• Lack of creativity
• Lack of preparation to deal with negative outcomes
• Ignoring important information
• Inability to see other solutions
• Not looking for things that might not yet be known to the group
• Obedience to authority without question
• Overconfidence in decisions
• Resistance to new information or ideas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink#Symptoms
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-groupthink-2795213

2.) SPIRITUAL - EVIL SPIRITS

(Read all of Matthew 13). He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32. Here the Lord is emphasizing the amazing growth of a tiny mustard seed. Just one individual seed, such a small thing, quickly grows into a large bush with complicated branches where evil spirits find a base to lodge in and operate, capturing others into the system of the bush, not the normal growth of the wheat crop, and thus usurping the word of God.

• mustard seed - not the grain of wheat of the Lord´s crop in v. 3. Something else, it has life, but not wheat, and not of the Lord.
• man planted in his field - not the Sower, but a man, planting for his own work, own interests, not the Lord´s work
• smallest - just one, small individual can be the source
• quickly grows into large plant- rapid, amazing growth, not into ripe wheat that bears fruit, but into a rough bush, with complicated branches
• birds - evil spirits, as in v. 4, they find a place to hide, to have a base of operations, to get protection, to further the devil´s (v.39) strategy to attack, undermine, steal, damage the word of God, the real seed

Examples:

Charles Taze Russell: in July 1878, Russell (only him, a small mustard seed) started publishing a religious monthly magazine and then:

• wrote many articles, books, booklets, sermons, approximately 50,000 printed pages
• published a series of bible studies, reaching almost 20 million printed copies distributed all over the world in several languages
• in 1909, his writing had become the works in English with most distribution and private production in USA
• his total works became the 3rd most circulated on the planet, after the Bible and the chinese Almanac
• in 1912, Russell´s writings surpassed the circulation "of all the combined writings of all the priests and preachers in North America"
• his followers started dividing and branching out
• one of the groups became Jehovah Witnesses, today 8,695,808 members

See also: Joseph Smith ----- Mormon Church = 16,500,000 members.

CONCLUSION
It is a system of error, designed by the devil to capture believers and deter them from the realites of the Kingdom of the Heavens and thus damage the Lord´s work and purpose. Evil spirits, like strongholds, operate behind the scenes to hold members captive in the "bush" through psychological means and weaknesses such as Groupthink and erroneous Bible teachings as a trap, thus furthering the damage to God´s word and purpose.