1The media of Japan chose to use the Japanese rendition for “cult” (“karuto”) instead of a native Japanese word. The word has been popular ever since, being used to refer to any dangerous religious group.

2Webster’s New World Dictionary (Cleveland: Simon & Schuster, 1988), 337.

3American Family Foundation, “Cultism: A Conference for Scholars and Policy Makers,” Cultic Studies Journal 3,1 (1986): 119-20, quoted in Madeline Landau Tobias and Janja Lalich, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds (Alameda, CA: Hunter House, 1994), 12.

4Margaret Thaler Singer, “Cults: Where Are They? Why Now?” Forecast for Home Economics, May/June 1979, 37, quoted in M. Tobias and J. Lalich, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds (Alameda, CA: Hunter House, 1994), 13. Singer is a clinical psychologist who has been researching cults since the 1950s.

5Steven Hassan, Combatting Mind Control (Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 1988), 99.

6Ibid., 80.

7See Jer 17:5, Pro 29:25, Isa 2:22, etc.

8See John 3:30, Acts 14:15, etc.

9See Rom 10:11.

10See 1 Pet 5:2-3. This and all subsequent biblical citations are from The New International Version. This version has been used because of its overall popularity and basic accuracy.

11Hassan, Combatting Mind Control, 79.

12See John 16:13.

13Hassan, Combatting Mind Control, 80.

14It should be noted that the Bible states unequivocally that salvation is not by works (see Eph 2:8-9, Tit 3:5-6).

15Hassan, Combatting Mind Control, 30.

16It is interesting to observe that false teachers in New Testament times consistently worked toward enslaving Christians (see Gal 5:1, Col 2:8, 2 Cor 11:13, 20).

17Mind control will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.

18Followers of the Watchtower are known as “Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

19The Watchtower, January 1, 2000, 20.

20The Watchtower denies the Trinity, the visible return of Christ, and the doctrine of eternal punishment. It teaches that only 144,000 will go to heaven and that all others deemed worthy of salvation will live on a paradise earth. God the Father is referred to by the name “Jehovah,” a modern transliteration of the Tetragrammaton YHWH. The organization also maintains an extensive list of rules that prohibit the celebration of Christmas and birthdays, service in the armed forces, blood transfusions, etc.

21The Watchtower, May 1, 1957, 274.

22The Watchtower, June 15, 1957, 370.

23The Watchtower, March 1, 1979, 1.

24The Watchtower, December 1, 1981, 27.

25The Watchtower, February 15, 1983, 12.

26The Watchtower, January 1, 1996, 30.

27The Watchtower, January 15, 1996, 6.

28The Watchtower, March 15, 1996, 20.

29The Watchtower, July 15, 1996, 20.

30Our Kingdom Ministry, June,1969, p. 3.

31Our Kingdom Ministry, May, 1974, 3.

32Awake!, November 8, 1974, 11.

33The Watchtower July 15, 1976, 441.

34Awake!, May 22, 1994, 2.

35Golden Age, February 4, 1931, 293.

36The Watchtower, November 15, 1967, 702-4.

37The Watchtower, May 15, 1962, 302.

38Awake! July 8, 1969, 30.

39The Watchtower, September 1, 1975, 519.

40The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, 134.

41See Gen 9:3-4 and Lev 17:10-14.

42Acts 15:29. This admonition was given to the Gentile believers so that they might avoid undue friction between themselves and Jewish believers. An appreciation of the kosher diet would further the cause of united Christian fellowship. Obedience to the suggestions of the Jerusalem Council was not a requirement for salvation, as the Jeho-vah’s Witnesses often maintain. Such an interpretation goes against the central conclusion reached at the assembly; namely, Gentiles and Jews alike are saved not by keeping the Mosaic Law but by the grace of Jesus Christ (see Acts 15:7-11).

431 Cor 4:6.

44Mark 2:27.

45Mark 3:4. The September, 1999 issue of Consumer’s Report states that approximately ten thousand lives are saved daily through use of blood transfusions (p. 61).

46John 10:10.

47Ibid.