How A Catholic Cult Tried to Lure Me In
The day I said no to a cult: a cautionary tale of spiritual deception
The spiritual path is not without its dangers.
For many who prefer to walk alone, delusion is always a possibility.
Others would rather find people with the same interests. They become part of groups looking to make their connection to the sacred deeper.
The danger for the latter is falling into a cult.
I came in contact with a cult once, and my experience might be useful enough to share it.
The Neocatecumenal Way
I had finished my studies and came back to my hometown.
During college, I had been part of a multidenominational Bible reading group.
I had grown up in catholicism but I had never read the Bible in its entirety apart from the Gospels.
Being part of that reading group had been a wonderful experience for me.
I developed a deep love for Christianity while learning to be open to different points of view about its doctrine.
So when I went back to my old town, I wanted to find something similar.
One afternoon, while I was taking a walk I came across a sign with this image:
It announced a catholic study group.
My interest was aroused. Maybe this was what I was looking for.
And so I went to the meeting, which was going to be celebrated in a superb ancient church next Thursday.
I’ve always felt at peace inside of temples, there’s an energy that’s hard to explain in materialistic terms.
Many times I sit inside for a little while trying to understand why we are drawn to the idea of there being a sacred reality.
But this time I didn’t feel any awe, I felt oppression.
Inside the church, there were 5 depressed-looking people in their 50s.
I was immediately greeted and asked about my life and why I decided to go.
I answered and made a little chit-chat waiting for the meeting to start.
Soon, a priest came to the front and started a monologue about the cult’s history and founder.
This was a Neocatecuminst meeting!
There wasn’t going to be Bible study at all, just an introduction about how wonderful the founder was.
I tried to ask a question and the priest told me to remain silent until he was over.
I did so out of politeness and asked again when he had finished his discourse.
The answer?
“I know some things might appear to be difficult to understand, but keep coming and they will make themselves clear”
I guess they saw I was taken aback and got a little worried because they asked if I was going to come back again.
I was honest and said I wouldn’t.
They showed their disappointment at my answer.
One of them told me how his life had improved after attending these meetings, and that they would be waiting for me next Thursday.
“I believe you’ve come for a reason, you should answer that call”.
I never went back.
This experience was impacting for me.
What the hell was that?
As soon as I got back home I jumped on my PC and started researching the the Neocatecumenal way.
It was a cult.
I felt very sad about these people who were there trying to lure others in.
What I learned.
In any case, I decided to extract whatever lessons there were in my experience.
I learned how cults try to lure people in.
They won’t tell you what they are about until you go to their meetings. Remember the sign only talked about learning more about Christianity.
They will try to make you docile and follow their rules from the very beginning. I was denied answers to very simple, amicable questions in a straightforward manner. Total compliance was expected.
They will try to make you feel bad for not wanting to be part of their group. Everyone looked disappointed and sad that I wasn’t going to go back.
They will try to instill a sense of predestination on you being there. The man who talked to me after I said I wouldn’t attend again did everything he could to make me believe God wanted me to be there. He even told me a story about how his life had improved by becoming a part of the cult.
I hope anyone reading this can learn from my experience and be on guard when meeting spiritual groups.
Not every group is a cult, but many are.
Let’s always be alert to these signs so that we don’t get lured into destructive jails for the soul.
Nicely done analysis to the use of the allegedly spiritual to create psychological enslavement to ideas or people who are not God but posit themselves as stand-ins for God. In a word: idolatry.