Control tactics

I was never a member of Kirkby Christian Fellowship, but a close family member was. I accompanied her to the church a few times. On one of these occasions - and perhaps I should have seen it sooner - the night's message was a classic cultish tactic to control and manipulate people.

The theme of the message was that our minds (our natural sense of reasoning) are fleshly and corrupt, and thus unreliable and untrustworthy. Listening to the "Spirit" was the opposite of listening to the "mind"; thus the mind should always take second place to the Spirit, no matter how foolish or nonsensical or hard-to-take something sounds.

Of course, with this philosophy, I could convince you to do anything. If I can convince you that your common sense, your conscience and your ability to make rational decisions is at fault, then what other option do you have than to believe and do exactly what your spiritual leaders tell you? If something sounds dangerous or destructive, I simply tell you that you're listening to your mind, and not the Spirit. If you are told to do something that defies all reason, I simply remind you that "reason" is corrupt, or even satanic, and that the Spirit (read: Kirkby Fellowship's teachings) is pure.

Is it any wonder, with this kind of teaching being pumped into the congregation, that the Fellowship can get away with dividing families, destroying friendships and leading people into mental breakdown?