It is a myth that destructive cults prey on emotionally low people of low intelligence in need of guidance. Through various studies and personality breakdowns of former cult members we can see that an alcoholic divorcee has just as much potential of becoming involved in a life changing movement as a university professor. Although there is not one single personality type for people who join cults, in the West common traits are: middle class, white, non-religious and around 18 to 30 years of age, who are in a transitional phase in their lives.
It could even be argued that cults that embark on mass suicide should be left to it as they are all adults who can think for themselves. But it is never as easy as that as many times children are either brought into a group by their parents or are born into such a movement. It is the children who need rescuing as they know no different and are not able to make their own choices.
The problem with destructive cults is that people can be recruited dishonestly and new members are manipulated into conforming to certain rules and regulations that take away their freedom and interaction with family and friends on the outside. It can be extremely hard to distinguish between a destructive cult and a cult that is in fact just a radical new movement as leaders can come across as very saint-like and angelic who convince their members that they are going to feed the hungry and clothe the poor.
As soon as a group takes away your opinion to exercise your God-given privilege of free-will, it is a cult that definitely has the potential to be destructive and evil.
Section One: Cult Suicides
The Heaven’s Gate Ufo Cult
Mass suicide in San Diego
The hHaven’s Gate were known by various names during their 22 years of existence. At the beginning they did not even have a name, therefore it was people outside the cult who first christened them. A sociologist who studied them in the early years referred to them as the ‘Bo and Peep UFO Cult’ and media articles often referred to them as ‘HIM’ – Human Individual Metamorphosis. Yet it wasn’t until a couple of years prior to the end of their existence in 1997 that the group settled on Heaven’s Gate as a name, the name they had been using for their website.
Marshall Heff Applewhite was born in Spur, Texas in 1931 and had studied at various institutes before finally dropping out to follow a career in music. At the beginning this career path looked rather promising when he became music director at the First Presbyterian Church in Gastonia before obtaining the post Professor of Music at St. Thomas University in Houston. Things took a turn for the worse in 1972 when he was dismissed from his post due to a scandal involving a male student. This incident ruined both his career and his relationship with his family. Applewhite subsequently suffered a mental breakdown and signed himself into a psychiatric ward in order to ‘be cured of his homosexuality’. It was at this vulnerable time in Applewhite’s life that he met nurse Bonnie Lu Nettles. Applewhite felt that his sexuality was secure with Nettles and their relationship, although intense, was strictly platonic.
Bonnie Nettles was born in 1927, little is known about her background apart from her interest in metaphysical studies. She was a member of the Theosophical Society and had an avid interest in channelling. In contrast, Applewhite came from a traditional Christian family upbringing with a father who had been a Presbyterian minister – he had always been interested in religion but it wasn’t until he started hearing voices in his head that he became hungry for more. Nettles used Applewhite’s vulnerability to benefit her thoughts and beliefs by magnifying his delusions and although they had many differences in nurture, they soon discovered a mutual interest in UFOs, the paranormal and science fiction.
BO AND PEEP
A year after their chance encounter the couple began wandering around the American West living a rather nomadic lifestyle. They cut themselves off virtually from all other human existence and submerged themselves in a private world of visions and metaphysics. Having plenty of time for contemplation and reflection it was at this point that they decided they were the two witnesses written about in the Book of Revelations. Their belief drew on an ideology that they were two prophets whose destiny it was to die and be reborn. They had many childlike nicknames for their duo such as ‘Bo and Peep’ ‘Guinea and Pig’ and ‘Ti and Do’ and to this day cult and theological analysts are still trying to work out what the reasons behind the names are.
‘The Two’, as they also referred to themselves, embarked on creating a hybrid religion that was a mixture of Christianity, Theosophical teachings and the paranormal. They often reportedly had contacts with beings from other planets whom would tell them to ‘abandon their worldly pursuits’. The Book of Revelations went on to state that after 1,260 days of showing their witnesses the truth, their enemies would attack and kill them. This event would be followed by their rise to heaven by cloud. The cloud would take the form, Applewhite believed, of a UFO.
TWO BECOME HIM
It didn’t take long for ‘The Two’ to start attracting media attention, many people who had the same thoughts and beliefs as them but who maybe needed a little guidance to act upon it started to join them on their walkabout.
Applewhite educated his followers into believing that himself and Nettles were representatives from the ‘higher level’ of existence who had taken on a human form at this lower level in order to guide aspirants through the journey to the higher level of existence.
At one point, with around 200 recruits in tow, Bo and Peep spilt the members into small groups with vague instructions regarding preparation for the resurrection. Bo and Peep disappeared into the wilderness, and for about six months small groups of their followers were roaming the country awaiting news from their leaders.
After half a year of nomadic wandering, news came that Bo and Peep could be reached at a post office box in Mississippi. Within a few months, around one hundred followers had reassembled behind a much more mature leadership.
By the beginning of the ’80s ‘The Two’ had become ‘HIM’ with around 50 or 60 solid members. The group wandered around the Mid West before making camp near Laramie, Wyoming. They were an extremely peaceful and contemplative group of people who were dedicated to their cause – more likened to monks than a cult. Over time, more and more rules were being thought up by Bo and Peep, and members – their sheep – were strictly regulated by what was termed the ‘Process’. They yearned to eliminate sex and all human emotion from themselves and their followers. It was almost as though because Applewhite had such a problem dealing with his own emotion and desire that he felt such feelings should be deleted from existence.
Followers came and went but ‘HIM’ maintained a hardcore following, and through members inheritances the group managed to set up two residencies, one in Texas and the other in the Rockies.
LIFE AFTER TI
In 1985 Nettles, (who had actually been rechristened ‘Ti’ to Applewhite’s ‘Do’ at this point) at the age of 57, died of liver cancer. In Applewhite’s eyes Nettles had always been his superior and from the day of her death he started to refer to her as his ‘heavenly father’. He told his followers that Nettles was definitely an advanced member of the higher level and reported right up until his own death in 1997 that he was in constant communication with her.