“Many cults start off with high ideals that get corrupted by leaders or their board of advisors who become power-hungry and dominate and control members’ lives. No group with high ideals starts off as a ‘cult’; they become one when their errant ways are exposed,”
Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University.
Unfortunately, the largest cult in Kenya is one which worships a leader who, like many other cult leaders from history, is leading his people to ruin and destruction.
What also unifies cults is the way in which its members express unyielding devotion to its leaders, regardless of what they say and do, and even if it is contrary to their interests. Another identifying element of a cult is that the leader is frequently raised up the level of a prophet or even a deity, frequently at the urging of the leader himself.
Sometimes, the brainwashing takes time and a few phases to reach its end goal of absolute abeyance.
