The second stage of gaining control of the mind, according to Steven Hassan, is “changing,” which involves imposing a new identity onto a new recruit to replace the old one that was broken down in the “unfreezing” stage.1Steven Hassan, Combating Cult Mind Control, Fourth Edition, Freedom of Mind Press (2018). What follows are techniques used in the “changing” stage to form a new identity in new recruits.
The “changing” stage involves thorough indoctrination by repetitively and monotonously drilling the same materials into the minds of members. Through sermons, studies, and “practice preaching,” WMSCOG members repeat the same studies over and over.
Leaders also emphasize that understanding and enlightenment can only come through God’s blessing, which extends to mean that only the church can impart wisdom and understanding. WMSCOG members are told to put their old self to death and not to have their own mind, but to instead unquestioningly accept and believe what they are taught.
Education materials are doled out slowly, in doses that members are “ready” to accept. Hassan describes that in the Moonies, new recruits are compared to infants who should only be fed formula, not steak. We have heard the same exact rhetoric in the WMSCOG.
Indoctrination sessions are often long and droning to induce hypnotic states, where falling asleep is common—a natural response to hypnosis, a state in which individuals are especially susceptible to suggestion. The WMSCOG often has day-long educations on the Bible or “countermeasures to slander” that go on for six or more hours with only brief breaks.
Hassan speaks of “spiritual experiences” in which leaders are privy to certain information about members that allows them to act as if they have special God-given knowledge, for example by mentioning something that a member has kept secret in a sermon. I’ve already written about how local leaders exploit private “letters to mother” sent through the WMSCOG’s website to gain knowledge about members’ personal situations.
Moreover, the hierarchy within the church—team leaders, group leaders, church leaders etc.—functions as a grapevine through which members’ personal lives are reported to higher-ups, allowing those who deliver service to choose sermons that speak directly to members, and so on. The hierarchy also gives each member mentors through whom to model their behavior and language.
Hassan identifies sharing sessions among members as another technique by which to impart a new persona. In public sharing sessions, behaviors are publicly approved or rejected to teach what is correct and acceptable. This is accomplished through the “fragrance of Zion” in the WMSCOG, as previously described in another post.
The next post will delve into the third and final phase of gaining control of the mind, “refreezing.”