The Most Common Cult Tactics ~ Steer Clear

Deception is the number one tool of the adversary – to include lies, manipulations, cons, exploitation, insincere flattery, trickery, gaslighting, and obvious contradictions.

Domination is about power. They want to gain power over you, especially your mind. These tactics include thought reform, intimidation, shaming, ganging up on you by manipulating others, and by making multiple accusations. They want you to believe you are bad, and only they know what is best for you. Truthfully, they are doing what they think is best for themselves.

Control is their objective. Not only do they want to control your activities. They want to control your thoughts, your mind, and take away your God-given free will.  

Cognitive dissonance is another tactic similar to gaslighting. The objective is to confuse you, and cause you to doubt your own perceptions, faith, thoughts, sanity, and discernment.

Emotional abuse is often used as an alternative to physically attacking you, because there are no laws against it, and it leaves no outward injuries. But emotional abuse takes a toll, and leaves long lasting scars. The intentional infliction of emotional abuse, regardless of where it comes from – is something we need to avoid in order to protect ourselves, just as we take measures to protect ourselves from physical assault. 

They want to keep you busy and distracted, to the extent you will not even have time to take care of yourself, or your own life. They know that as Christians we are inclined to serve others. But there is a difference between serving, and being a malleable people pleaser, at the whim of highly manipulative people.

Staring is another form of intimidation, and is often used to make you feel uncomfortable, or put  you under a microscope. It is an intense and unwavering scrutiny, drilling down to the core of your soul, because you are so bad.

There are many variations of being under the evil eye. It is mentioned in Proverbs 23:6, and refers to those who are greedy, or miserly, because they will not tell you the truth. Staring is another example of being under the evil eye. When someone stares at us without blinking, we instinctively shrink away for very good reasons. 

Singling you out, and targeting you, especially if there is increased vulnerability due to family circumstances, a death in the family, illness, or some other crisis. 

Telling you how special you are. This includes claims you are chosen by God to carry out what they want, or that God has told them something about you. This is also deception. Christ is our intercessor, not some cult teacher. 

They are superior, and never mention the fact that they too, need to repent. They are above the law, above the ten commandments, are judgemental, and do not have a shred of humility. They will never admit wrongdoing, no matter what they do. 

If someone is violating what it says in the bible, and exalting themselves to be some kind of deity or supreme authority, you know it is a con. If they claim they are a Christian, but are lying, or contradicting what it says in the bible, how can you believe them?

Financial gain is a strong motive for people who pretend to be Christians. They are looking for gullible people to send or give them money. Con artists have no guilt because they convince themselves the victim made the choice. They might want your house, your labour, your assets, your abilities, or even the food in your freezer. They are always looking for a mark to exploit. 

Anytime someone says “God told me this or that”, like they are some kind of divine recipient of messages directly from God – don’t believe it.

They want to make you believe you owe them something. You have a debt of gratitude, even though you never asked them for anything. First they create a pretence, a con, or give the impression they did some remarkable thing for you. This is a ploy to create bondage. 

They want to crush your spirit. To do this, they will attack your mind, emotions, and all relationships, especially your relationship with God. 

They want to change your identity, and craft it into their web of lies. They will pretend you are not who you are, were not raised by the family you were raised by etc. They will tell you your mother is wicked, evil and non-redeemable. This is another way of causing shame, with the objective to yank you out of your own identity by the roots.

After all, the the fifth commandment tells us to honour our father and mother. Anyone who defies this commandment, by condemning their own father or mother, or by insisting that your parent is evil – is very unbiblical. 

Spiritual abuse, and the bondage that goes with it – is one of the cruelest, and most sadistic things that can be done to a person. Once you escape the trap, never go back to it. If you open the door a crack, they will push their way in. Let them shun and punish you, because it is nowhere near as damaging, and soul-destroying as it is if you allow the entrapment to continue. 

One of the most sobering realizations about cultish people, is that they know full well what they are doing. Atheists and non-believers may act a certain way, or take advantage of people, but it is strictly based on carnal, worldly desires. They may be ruthless, but they are not trying to destroy your life here on earth, in addition to sending you to hell. 

But the cultist knows there is a spiritual world, and is well aware that God does exist. But for some reason, they choose to use what they know to cause harm, to deceive, and to inflict spiritual abuse.

You only gain a full realization of the scope of their destruction after you get free them, and have the opportunity to reflect, without all the gaslighting, shaming, and lies. Why they would set out to destroy another person’s life both now, and for all eternity is mind boggling. They have a closer connection with the dark side than most of us could ever understand or grasp. They will mock your gullibility. 

God’s word is the bible, and it is there for all of us to read and learn from. Those who make claims to get messages from God about the lives of other people, or world events, are deceiving themselves, and those around them. They have a perfect fallback, because who can deny their secret messages, or dreams, or whatever. They can make up anything they want to make up. Either that, or they could be delusional or psychotic, if they truly believe they are getting commands from God. 

The prophecies are in the bible. If someone tells you a prophecy, it should be backed up with sound doctrine. During biblical times, a prophecy was proven or disproven based on whether or not it came true. Consider how many various cults have set dates for the return of Christ, or other great events. Those dates came and went, which was proof they were false. Yet people will still follow those religions with the same fervour. Ellen White from the SDA church made many such false claims, but regardless, they still have a following. 

There is no doubt – God answers prayers, and gives us internal guidance, because for the believers, he is with us all the time. But there is a difference between being quietly obedient in our own lives, and knowing God, versus proclamations that God is telling us to direct someone else’s life. We all have God-given free will. Ultimately, cults are out to control us, and take away our free will. 

If anyone preaches a different gospel, adds to, or takes away from what is in the bible – they are treading upon cult territory. There are bibles in circulation that have been significantly altered, enough to know they are teaching and preaching a different gospel. This is nothing new. There are many warnings about it throughout the bible. 

Leaders of cults tend to exalt themselves, and are treated with reverence by the followers. Some classic examples are JW, Mormon, Seventh Day Adventist, The Catholic church, and many others. Dispensationalism is also a different doctrine.

It is not for me, or anyone else to say whether or not people who follow a false doctrine will be saved. Countless people have been steeped in religious deception, and eventually saw the light. Only Jesus knows our hearts and our motives. We can’t fool God. People can be deceived, and then learn the truth. It is of utmost importance to genuinely seek and love the truth. 

Christians are not all wonderful. We are all sinners, called to repent and believe in the gospel, and we are saved by the blood of Christ. It is a gift, and is something we did not earn. 

Shunning is another telltale sign of a cult. If they cannot control you, they punish you. They know that relationships, especially family relationships are very important to us. They want to break our hearts, and break our spirit. They are out to steal, and destroy – just as the bible describes. 

This is an important time in history to be wary of cults, and to avoid being deceived. Jesus warned us not to be deceived, and described the end-times deception as being so sophisticated, even the elect can be deceived. 

The best thing we can do for ourselves is to read, or listen to the bible. If we learn what it truly says, we are less likely to be led astray by false teachers. 

There is a spiritual realm, and a great battle going on around us, of which we are all a part of. We need to protect our mind, heart, emotions, and spirit from deception, temptation, vanity, anger, etc. 

Recognizing the gravity of our own sin is quite devastating. It can be overwhelming, and very difficult to forgive ourselves. It humbles us, which is a good thing, because through the process of sanctification, we are given hope, which takes away our shame (Romans 5:5). But even so, we should remain humble. 

The central gospel promise is to believe in, and accept Christ, and our sins will be forgiven. The hope within the gospel message overshadows our own sin, only because of the gift of grace and salvation. Even though we do not deserve it, we are forgiven, if we sincerely repent. 

The bible, especially the New Testament is full of love, guidance, good advice, comfort, assurance, and good will. For those who embrace it early in life, they will be spared a lot of grief. 

Regardless of when we accept Christ, repent, and turn away from our sin, it is the greatest blessing ever bestowed upon us. We may suffer, and be downtrodden, or realize the bondage we were ensnared in for so long – but true freedom comes from Christ. It is liberating. 

We know Christ is the way, the truth and the life. God dwells in the light, not in darkness. 

Anything that is dark, oppressive, coercive, shaming, blaming, accusing, or deceiving – is not of God. 

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2025). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.