A Cult of Personality – or is that Cult Pseudo-Personality?

As we dipped our toes into the still-fresh waters of 2023, I took the time to do a little thinking. The past seven years had seemed so strange as to be fictitious, outshone only by the twenty-five-odd years that went before them. Although at the time, that life was all I knew. So how could…

Dominionism in the Era of Trump and ScoMo: the 2019 edition

This article was published last year. That was before a national crisis in Australia (the firestorm we are currently living through), a badly-timed Hawaiian holiday and ill-thought-out ad spruiking the Liberal Party’s response to the crisis (both by our PM if you missed those memos). It was before a Trump’s impeachment and the appearance of increasingly…

The Good Christian Persecution Complex

Hey there bloggerati! It’s been a while. I’m afraid this months blogging effort has lapsed far behind others but I’m telling myself there’s a good reason for that. I’ve finished the first major redraft of a book I’m ghostwriting. I got a short-notice request for a coffee-table book of layman-friendly research articles that ate through…

Riding the Third Wave: The Neo-Charismatic Movement

I feel like this blog post could open with a Matrix pun. In fact, as a kid who grew up in the neo-charismatic movement, I’ve heard a good many youth-centred messages that included the old “red pill, blue pill, choose your reality” message extracted from the wisdom of the Wachowskis (who wrote the screenplay). But…

What is the NAR?

I started writing this kick arse piece on the intersection of Christianity and paganism in modern Christian practices around spiritual warfare (yeah – what a topic, right?), then I realised something: ya’ll really need to know what the NAR is. So here’s a crash course in an unbranded movement that seems to have taken off…

What to do if You or Someone You Love is in a Cult

Hey there world, This series has been somewhat of a surprise to me – not in terms of content, but in terms of readership. Ordinarily, I would have gone off into other topics again by now, but due to the fact that this has been picked up by another blog, I need to finish it where…

Thinking Errors and Thought Stoppers in Cults

Welcome to part 6 of the “Cults and Unhealthy Groups” series. I thought I’d be done by now, but as it turns out there are a few more things that popped up on my radar that made me go “Hmmm. Now that needs a little more awareness.” So we need to talk about cognitive distortions…

What is gaslighting in cults & toxic groups?

What do we do when something upsets our status quo? When it confronts our deepest held ideals, threatens to dethrone our idols, and tarnish our heroes? What do we do when someone comes forward and says “I was a victim of abuse. This person [who you all held in such high regard] took something from…

What Cults Have in Common

Welcome to the third instalment of a series I hate writing. But this topic needs to be talked about – rationally, objectively, and accessibly. Because we are living in an age where anyone can pronounce themself a guru, and anyone with a slick hand at PR and the gift of the gab can amass a…

8 Key Characteristics of Cults

Hello again! This is the second in a series on what is and isn’t a cult. Its a hot topic, a hurtful topic for some and one that I’ve only written because of the overwhelming amount of questions I’ve, well, avoided. Look after yourself as you read. Remember this isn’t about me branding a group…

How Do I Know If I’m in a Cult?

Hey there friend. I hope its morbid curiosity that helped you find this blog piece. I hope its not that you, a friend or family member is questioning whether a group you are involved in is a cult. Because that is hard stuff. If it’s the latter, you have my sympathy. This piece is not…