Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Cult by Sarah Ettritch The Cult. Following a succession of name and stylistic changes, the Cult emerged in 1984 as one of England's leading heavy metal revivalists. Picking up the pseudo-mysticism and Native American obsessions of the Doors, the guitar orchestrations of Led Zeppelin, and the three-chord crunch of AC/DC, while adding touches of post-punk goth rock, the Cult gained a dedicated following in their native Britain with mid-'80s singles like "She Sells Sanctuary" before breaking into the American metal market in the late '80s with "Love Removal Machine." Though they managed one Top Ten in America with 1989's Sonic Temple, the Cult were plagued with off-stage tensions and problems that prevented them from retaining their popularity. The band split in 1995 following a pair of unsuccessful records, but returned on an occasional basis for new records -- always anchored by vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy. The origins of the Cult lie in the Southern Death Cult, a goth rock outfit formed by vocalist Ian Astbury (born May 14, 1962) in 1981. Astbury was the son of a merchant navy man, which meant he moved frequently during his youth; at one point in his childhood, his family lived in Canada, where the young Astbury became fascinated with Native Americans, who would become a recurring theme in his songwriting. Astbury eventually settled in Bradford, Yorkshire, where he met a group comprising David Burrows (guitar), Barry Jepson (bass), and Haq Quereshi (drums). Ian joined the group as its lead vocalist (performing with the last name of "Lindsay," which was his mother's maiden name) and had the group renamed the Southern Death Cult. At only its fifth concert, the band was attracting audiences of 2,000. In December 1982, the Southern Death Cult released their first single -- the double A-side "Moya"/"Fatman" -- and the following month, they supported Bauhaus on tour. Though the group's future was looking bright, Astbury pulled the plug on the band because he was frustrated with the positive articles he was receiving in the press. The remaining three members joined Getting the Fear, which eventually became Into a Circle; in the late '80s, Quereshi became a member of Fun^Da^Mental. All of the Southern Death Cult recordings were eventually released in 1986. Following the disbandment of the Southern Death Cult, Astbury shortened the name of the group to Death Cult and recruited guitarist Billy Duffy - - who had previously played with Morrissey in the pre-Smiths band the Nosebleeds, as well as Theatre of Hate -- and drummer Ray Mondo and bassist Jamie Stewart, who had previously played with Ritual. Death Cult released an eponymous EP in the summer of 1983; on the EP, Astbury reverted back to his given name. Later in the year, Mondo was replaced by Nigel Preston, who had previously played with Duffy in Theatre of Hate; coincidentally, Mondo became the drummer for Preston's previous band, Sex Gang Children. In early 1984, the bandmembers decided to excise "Death" from the title, fearing that the word gave them the misleading appearance of being a goth band. Where both Southern Death Cult and Death Cult had been overtly influenced by post-punk, the Cult were a heavy hard rock band with slight psychedelic flourishes. Dreamtime, the group's first album, was released in the fall of 1984, accompanied by the single "Spiritwalker." Dreamtime reached number 21 on the U.K. charts. In the spring of 1985, Preston left the group. For the group's summer single, "She Sells Sanctuary," the band was joined by Big Country's drummer, Mark Brzezicki. "She Sells Sanctuary" became a major U.K. hit, peaking at number 15. During the recording of the group's second album, drummer Les Warner joined the group. Love, released in the fall of 1985, continued the hard rock direction of its teaser single and became a number four hit in Britain. For their third album, the Cult shuffled their lineup -- Stewart moved to rhythm guitar, while former Zodiac Mindwarp bassist Kid Chaos joined the lineup -- and hired Rick Rubin as producer, and the result, Electric, was their hardest, heaviest record to date. The first single from the album, "Love Removal Machine," became a number 18 hit in the spring of 1987, while the album itself reached number four in the U.K. upon its April release. Later that year, Electric gained the Cult a fan base in America, and the album cracked the U.S. Top 40. In 1988, the group fired Chaos and Warner, replacing the latter with Matt Sorum; the band failed to hire another bassist. The new lineup released Sonic Temple, which would prove to be the band's most successful album. The hit single "Fire Woman" helped propel the album into the American Top Ten, and within no time, the Cult were seen hanging out with the likes of Mötley Crüe and Aerosmith, as well as supporting Metallica on the Damaged Justice tour. Though the group was experiencing its best sales, it was fraying behind the scenes, due to infighting and substance abuse. By the time they recorded their follow-up to Sonic Temple, Sorum had left to join Guns N' Roses and Stewart had quit; they were replaced by drummer Mickey Curry and bassist Charlie Drayton. The resulting album, Ceremony, was released in the fall of 1991 to weak reviews and disappointing sales. Following the release of Ceremony, the group took a break for the next three years. In 1993, the band released the U.K.-only hits compilation Pure Cult, which debuted at number one. By summer 1993, the Cult had a new rhythm section, featuring former Mission bassist Craig Adams, second guitarist Mike Dimkich (Channel 3), and drummer Scott Garrett. This lineup recorded The Cult, which was released in late 1994 to poor reviews and sales. In spring 1995, the Cult disbanded, with Ian Astbury forming the Holy Barbarians later in the year. Billy Duffy briefly played with Miles Hunt's Vent 414 before leaving to pursue a solo project. In 2000, the band's catalog was remastered and reissued, and Pure Cult was released in the U.S. (despite a similar compilation, High Octane Cult, having appeared four years earlier). It was followed by Rare Cult, a six-disc box set of rarities. A new Cult, with Matt Sorum, Martyn LeNoble, and Chris Wyse joining Astbury and Duffy, made their debut in June 1999 at the Tibetan Freedom Festival. This band produced the 2001 album Beyond Good and Evil before the Cult were retired again, as Astbury joined former Doors members Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek in the Doors of the 21st Century (later renamed Riders on the Storm). In 2007, it was announced that Astbury had left the band to rejoin Duffy in a new version of the Cult, with Chris Wyse on bass and John Tempesta on drums. They signed to Roadrunner and released Born into This in 2008, which they promoted over the next few years on their highly publicized Love Live tour. They returned to the studio in 2011 after inking a deal with Cooking Vinyl Records and released their ninth studio album, Choice of Weapon, the following year. In 2013, Duffy announced in an interview that the Cult were working on new material for 2015. However, personnel changes put a bit of a damper on the band's plans: after 20 years, Dimkich left to play with Bad Religion and Wyse left for Ace Frehley's band. Longtime friend James Stevenson took the second guitar chair, while Grant Fitzpatrick took over on bass to play the band's 2014 world tour. Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Channey came on board in the studio on the band's tenth studio album. With Bob Rock producing, the Cult completed Hidden City in 2015. The first two singles, "Dark Energy" and "Deeply Ordered Chaos," were issued in November and December, respectively, with a third, "Hinterland," appearing in January of 2016. The album followed in February of that year. 11 Religious Cults That Are Extremely Dangerous For Humanity. And this quote is at it’s starkest true self when it comes to religious cults. The belief in God may have its psychological benefits, but following a religious cult, blinded by superstition and misplaced faith can and has led to massive destructions, and not always moral! Take these 12 religious cults for example. Their practice and belief are heavily contributing superstitious attitude of people, so much that it is actually proving to be dangerous for humanity. 1. Scientology. The infamous Church of Scientology was formed in 1953 by the writer L. Ron Hubbard. Arguably one of the richest cults, with high-profile members like Tom Cruise, it has remained controversial since its origin. This religious cult is based on the idea of clearing the human psyche of ‘negative’ emotions and memories, and bring out it’s full potential, with intense therapy sessions that often rely on the use of lie detectors. Claimed to be based on scientific research and facts, Scientology is known for its official litigations, and murky ways of shutting up its critics and apostates alike, often by killing them, rumour has it. 2. The KKK. With beliefs rooted in white supremacy, the Ku Klux Klan is a particular cult of Christianity. Extremely violent in nature, from arson to cold- blooded murder they do not hesitate to go at lengths to establish its racist attitudes and torture Jews, Blacks and people from other races. Remember the movie A Time to Kill, starring Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey? That did have a pretty accurate depiction of this cult! 3. Children of God. This severely twisted cult, founded by David Berg and also known as Family International, is devoted to pedophilia and sex, to put it bluntly. The followers of this cult believed that sex with children was natural and right. Based on the belief that apocalypse is coming (doomsday cult), this cult uses “flirty fishing”(use of sex) to get new members for it. The children who were born as a result of flirty fishing were referred to as “Jesus Babies”. Rose McGowan, the American actor escaped from this cult and revealed some of its brutality later. It is rumoured that the female members of this cult are also forced to go into prostitution and sex slavery! 4. Raëlism. Also known as Raëlianism, this is a UFO religion (they believe in the existence of extraterrestrial entities flying UFOs) founded in 1974. They believe that life on the earth was created scientifically by extraterrestrials, and prophets like Buddha, Jesus etc are just Elohim (this cult’s name for the ETs). Raelism strives for world peace, sharing, democracy and nonviolence, and also has a very liberal attitude towards sex. The founder of this cult, Claude Vorilhon, also known as Raël, claims to be in touch with ‘God’. According to this cult, through mechanisms like human cloning and mind transfer, humans can achieve eternal life. 5. Bavarian Illuminati. Founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, this cult is one of the main Illuminati groups. Apparently, this cult was opposed superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life and abuses of state power, yet they remain known as the world’s biggest conspirators. Allegedly, there are many big shots in this cult who control world affairs, by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations, in order to gain political power and influence to establish rules of a new world. 6. Aum Shinrikyo. It is a Japanese doomsday cult (the cults that believe in an impending apocalypse) founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. Though the belief system of this cult is based on elements of Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, Asahara’s idiosyncratic interpretations have made this almost equivalent of a terrorist organisation. Claiming their main agenda is to get rid of sin, Asahara claimed that he could transfer to his followers spiritual power and ultimately take away their sins and bad deeds. This cult was responsible for carrying out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 that killed 12 and maimed almost 1000. 7. The People’s temple. ‘The People’s Temple of the Disciples of Christ’, commonly known as the Peoples Temple, is a religious cult founded by Jim Jones in 1955 in America. Jones was a twisted man, and using the idea that the Bible was only white men’s justification to dominate women and coloured people, he preached ‘socialism’ and solidified his ability of fake ‘faith healing.’ The people’s temple is truly a doomsday cult in nature, considering 918 people died at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in a mass murder and suicide, to reach ‘divinity,’ an incident that records the most number of determined civilian death in the USA before 9/11. 8. Heaven’s gate. Heaven’s Gate is another UFO religion cum doomsday cult found in the 70’s. Apparently, the founders of this cult claimed that they have arrived on the Earth in a UFO from another world. They also urged their members “to shed every attachment to the planet” to be eligible for ‘another level,’ as the earth was believed to be ‘wiped clean’ too. In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the cult were found by the police. They had committed mass suicide believing that it would take them to an alien space ship that was behind the comet Hale-Bopp, and which in turn would take them to ‘another level.’ 9. The church of euthanasia. Started by Chris Korda in the Boston, this is a relatively new religious cult. Apparently, the cult is “devoted to restoring the balance between Humans and the remaining species on Earth.” and excessively forbids its members to procreate. This cult also has four chief doctrines – suicide, abortion, cannibalism (of the already dead people) and sodomy (as the sexual act doesn’t lead to procreation). They boast of slogans like “Save the Planet, Kill Yourself”, and “Eat a Queer Fetus for Jesus”, which should give you an idea about how extreme this cult is. 10. Branch Davidians. Also known as the ‘Branch’, this cult was founded in 1955, led by David Koresh, who believed himself to be the ‘final prophet.’ As it was an offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, there were power struggles between Koresh and its leaders. Koresh also had sexual relations with many of the female members of the cult, and sometimes even raped underage girls with their parents’ consent. Stories of acute child abuse by Koresh were also circulated though the state failed to collect enough evidence against him initially. Koresh also made his followers believe that the State was their enemy. In 1993, FBI tried to forcefully bring the Branch Davidians out of their Texas refuge, during which the building caught fire, and 80 members, including several children and Koresh himself, died. 11. Order of the solar temple. Started by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret in 1984 in Geneva, The Order of the Solar Temple cult believes in the existence and ideals of the Knights Templar (an organization of the most powerful of the Western Christian military orders, that existed during 12th to 14th century). They believe in establishing ‘correct notions of authority and power in the world’ and assisting humanity through a great ‘transition’. They also believed in the second coming of Christ as a solar God-king. In 1994, Di Mambro ordered the killing of a 3-month-old infant, identifying him as Antichrist. This cult is known for the execution of mass murders and suicides in Switzerland as part of religious rituals. The dead believers left farewell notes claiming that they were leaving to escape the ‘hypocrisies and oppression of this world.’ Is Scientology a Cult? Scientology was created in 1952 by the charismatic leader and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. It has been designated a religion by the United States and the UK governments for tax purposes. But it has also been called an "anti-constitutional sect" in Germany and a "dangerous cult" in France and in many parts of the United States. However, it is actually a New Religious Movement (NRM), defined as a religious, ethical, or spiritual group or community with relatively modern origins. Scientology Key Takeaways. Scientology is best described as a New Religious Movement. It does not have the extreme violence associated with "dangerous cults." Former members have made a number of disturbing references to conditions within the church; the church agrees with some of those situations but denies others. What Is a Cult? To a sociologist, a cult is a small group of people who lack a distinctive authority structure, often possessing a charismatic leader or group of leaders, and who derive their inspiration and ideology outside of and counter to the predominant religious and social culture. However, in popular usage, a cult is a manipulative and authoritarian group that allegedly employs mind control and poses a threat to mental health. In that usage, a cult is branded as an authoritarian, communal and totalistic entity which is aggressive in proselytizing, systematic in indoctrination, relatively new and unfamiliar, and directed at disrupting the middle class. The term "cult" has been assigned by different people to Scientologists, Satanists, Mormons, The Peoples Church, the Manson Family, Pagans, the Marines, Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics, Trekkies, and Pokemon Go players. Obviously, these different groups do not hold the same level of danger to its adherents or the rest of us. New Religious Movements v. Cults. Because the term "cult" carries with it an extremely negative connotation, sociologists have discarded the term and call non-traditional religious sects such as these New Religious Movements (NRMs). Sociologists study NRMs for several reasons, including to examine the behavioral forces that create negative circumstances for their members. Scientology lacks several of the most common hallmarks of a truly dangerous cult, such as the presence of an adored, living founder; a small, easily controlled number of members; and a history of murders or suicides at the order of the leadership. On the other hand, there is significant concern about the amount of control wielded by the church, and its history of legal trouble can be highly problematic. Here are ten characteristics which are commonly associated with dangerous cults, and how Scientology stacks up. Central Authority in a Single, Charismatic Leader. Scientology was founded by a single, charismatic man, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. His original intent was to set it up as a science, but when that failed he transformed into a religious movement. Hubbard died in 1986, and the current head of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, is too removed from many members to be compared with the charismatic leaders of dangerous cults such as Jim Jones or David Koresh, who ruled their members in large part through a cult of personality. Miscavige is neither a prophet nor a god. However, outspoken critic Jeffrey Augustine says Miscavige keeps all the power and control over the money. And Miscavige's activities in association with the Sea Org community (an ecclesiastical priesthood of Scientology that conducts missionary work aboard a sea-going ship) have been criticized by several former members. Former Sea Org employees Amy Scobee and Mark Rinder have described Miscavige as abusive and tyrannical. Control Over Life and Death. Scientologists are generally not willing to kill for their religion, nor is the Church known for dictating who lives and who dies. The church and its former members report that people do sign "billion-year contracts" to join Scientology because the church believes in reincarnation, and both the church and its former members say it is very difficult to break those contracts and leave. Commission of Felonies. Numerous legal accusations have been leveled at the Church over the years, and some have led to convictions, most notably in connection with Operation Snow White, which included theft of government documents. The most common accusations are fraud, extortion, and harassment, although other accusations such as kidnapping and negligent homicide have also been leveled. According to former members, crimes by members are handled in-house; adherents are told that the criminal justice system does not work and even felonious crimes such as rape and assault committed by members are to be handled by the church, not outside of it. Strict Control Over Lives of Members. Scientology recommends a variety of practices considered strange to outsiders, and there are many rumors of members being forced to subject themselves to things such as silent birth techniques, although evidence is often lacking. The Church insists all of their practices are entirely voluntary. The reality may be too varied to be accurately generalized. Former 35-year member Leah Remini has accused the group of attempting to "control people and how they think." She claims in her 2016 film "Going Clear" that when she asked questions about the whereabouts of David Miscavige's wife, Remini was punished, subjected to interrogations and then billed for them. Separation From Contacts Outside the Group. Scientologists may freely interact with non-Scientologists, with the exception of "suppressive persons" or SPs, which are people who have been deemed by the Church to impede the progress of Scientologists. Scientologists are highly encouraged to "disconnect" from SPs and may be banned from church activities if they continue contact. SPs may include friends and family. There are some reports that family members lose all contact with new Scientology recruits. People who leave Scientology do become SPs, and any family members or friends still in the church are forbidden from contacting them. Former Sea Org employee Chris Collbrans said when she and her husband wanted to leave, the church separated the couple, took their passports, and intercepted their letters. Polarized Worldview. The church is highly aware of groups that are working against them, and they also tend to label groups with which they highly disagree (including the entire psychiatry profession) as working actively against the church, Scientology, and even humanity in general. As such, they certainly do not consider all non-Scientologists to be hostile to them, but they consider themselves part of an epic battle against specific dark forces. Living in Communal Isolation. Scientologists live in a variety of living arrangements. Many live normal lives in homes or apartments with their families. However, there are groups within Scientology (notably Sea Org) that tend to have at least semi-communal arrangements in which families may be separated. There are many accusations from former members that such arrangements could be very isolating. According to both the church and its former members, the Sea Org community travels the World aboard Free Wind , its employees dedicated to spreading the doctrine of Scientology. The church says it is a religious order with a demanding lifestyle: Former employees report they work long hours, are paid very little, and are discouraged from having families. Large Required Donations. The church offers a wide variety of services to its membership that cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Members are encouraged to make use of such services since they are a primary way of achieving the goals of Scientology. There is a wide degree of debate as to how much actual pressure is applied to members to purchase these services, although there are multiple documented cases of Scientologists citing financial pressures as reasons for wanting to leave or for thoughts of suicide. Former Sea Org member Marc Headley says he was paid an average of 39 cents an hour over 15 years, and others have said the same in that they work very hard and are paid very little. The money gathered from donations has allowed the church to build or renovate opulent churches called Ideal Orgs, in Rome, Malmo (Sweden), Milan, Dallas, Nashville, and Washington. There are over 50 hotels and office buildings on the gulf coast of Florida and a 380,000 square foot facility that looks like a convention center. Holdings for Scientology are estimated at $11 billion. Conformity: Subjection of Individual Desires and Thoughts. The main goal of Scientology is to better your own individual soul, so the needs of individuals is very much a focus in Scientology practices. However, critics are quickly labeled as suppressive persons, which enforces conformity. Former Scientology official Mark Rinder reports that in his role he often coerced adherents into staying silent or with the church using blackmail. Members are "audited," a confession of all their secret fears and sins that is videotaped and used for this purpose. Punishment for Defection or Criticism. Defection and criticism can lead to one being labeled a suppressive person from whom other members should disconnect. SPs can become targets of harassment through the church's "fair game" doctrine. Established by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s, the "fair game" doctrine states that anyone identified as an opponent may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. Scientology has sued several of its former members; defectors are shunned or "disconnected." According to the church and former members, leaving is a lengthy process that can take months. The church requires that the leaving members pay "freeloader" bills—former members report bills of tens of thousands of dollars—and sign affidavits which are drawn up by the officials. Mark Rinder reports that one of his main jobs was to discredit and destroy critics, including journalists and former members. Methods include labeling the enemy as a "suppressive person," cutting all contact and "disconnected," and filing lawsuits. In the 1990s, Scientology filed very large lawsuits against Time and The Washington Post. The Time lawsuit was for a 1991 article they wrote called "Scientology: The Cult of Greed," and although the case was dismissed, Time-Warner paid an estimated $3.7 million in legal fees. Group Is Small and Contained. Independent estimates put current membership of the church at roughly 55,000 people, which is far larger than the traditional cult, typically limited to dozens or hundreds of members. The Cult by Sarah Ettritch. Founded in Minnesota in 1965, the Eckankar movement promotes the idea that one can separate their soul from their body and experience the “Light and Sound” of God by journeying beyond the mortal form. The group has been heavily criticized for the fact that nearly all of founder Paul Twichell’s works have been plagiarized from other spiritual material or blatantly fabricated. The group has also come under fire for the fact that the primary spiritual leader is also the CEO of the company that sells the founder’s materials for profit. Raëlism. Raëlism itself began prior to its official 1976 formation during a series of conventions hosted in France. Raëlism devotees believe that extraterrestrials genetically engineered humanity thousands of years ago and have been guiding us throughout history through their representatives on Earth who typically have taken the form of major religious figures such as Buddha and Jesus Christ. Members of Raëlism currently believe that the leaders of the cult are the modern-day versions of past Raël visitors and that they must teach the world to become peaceful enough to allow the Raëlist extraterrestrials to return to Earth and visit humans at embassies the Raëlist members have built around the world. New Mathura Vrindaban. The New Mathura Vrindaban group is an offshoot of Hare Krishna founded in 1968 by Kirtanananda Swami and Hayagriva Swami. Under the leadership of Kirtanananda Swami, the group became infamous for a wide range of multi-million dollar racketing schemes, mail fraud, and the illegal sales of copyrighted material. Using the money earned from illegal business, Kirtanananda Swami was able to greatly expand New Vrindaban and form communities throughout the Northeast and Midwestern United States. Famous Cults In America: The Kashi Ashram. Based in Florida, the movement of Kashi Ashram was founded in 1976 by an individual called Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati who believed that she had received visions first from Jesus Christ and then from several Hindu deities. The group promotes actions of compassion and understanding while also encouraging a community-driven lifestyle. Many former members of the Kashi movement have criticized the group for brainwashing the members of the cult into believing that Ma Jaya was a God and that they should give themselves and their children, in some cases through informal adoption, to her for training. Though Ma Jaya herself died in 2003, the movement continues to this day. The Brethren. Founded in 1971 by American Jimmie T. Roberts, The Brethren exists as a radical group that believes that the only way to prepare for the inevitable end of the world is to purify oneself by giving up all modern comforts and conveniences. Brethren are expected to make or forage for anything they need and live in groups that ignore most modern social conventions. Members of the Brethren are also forbidden from celebrating or playing since it is believed that all forms of celebration should be saved for the return of their savior at the end of the world. Members of the group typically sever all ties to the world upon joining, which has led to movements formed by families trying to find missing family members post-Brethren joining. Enjoyed reading about the most utterly insane cults active today in the United States? Then check out ten insane human records and the most unusual religious rituals and beliefs! Finally, step inside some of the most fascinating hippie communes of the 1970s. The Cult Family. " We introduce chaos into the impurity that is humanity. One must find their mask, in order to truly step into their new identity. We are the awoken, the faithful, the family. " ― Description of The Cult Family. The Cult Family is one of the most well-known groups of myths on Roblox tracing its origins back to June of 2012. They have heavy religious influence, being members of an unknown branch of Christianity, however, this was not apart of their lore until the Reformations (see History). Contents. History. Early History. The Cult Family first grew into fruition with the creation of SmithCult on June 29th of 2012, and the creation of MarthaCult and BrandonCult the day after on the 30th. On the 30th SmithCult would create and make several forum posts with links to decals claiming they were photos of his family (only consisting of MarthaCult and BrandonCult at the time) when there would be no one in the images. They grew to notoriety very quickly as theories sprung forth that SmithCult had killed his entire family. Soon more members would be created, the first of which being DonCult, GrandpaCult, and DavidCult in July of 2012. BrandonCult would claim on the forums that he hated his father(SmithCult) and that his father was a mentally insane man and very dangerous. MarthaCult would also make her only forum post claiming she desired to divorce her husband(SmithCult). This strange and corrupt family would grow very popular with myth hunters, especially Robloxian Myth Hunters as theories on the family's origins and who they were spread like wildfire. Soon members like DavidCult would claim on the forums that the rest of his family had died, with it being theorized that SmithCult had killed MarthaCult for wanting to divorce him, and BrandonCult having had died to unknown causes all the while all of them were still active on the forums for several years. The family would continue to grow with members like ArthurCult and MartinCult being added, in the lore sometime in 2013 MartinCult had summoned the demon AkaManah who is still very closely associated with the family to this day. Few changes continued to happen, however in 2014 SmithCult would be terminated, likely for a series of forum posts he made that year where he bypassed the filter, among other things. He moved on to create the SmithCultsSpirit account later on. That next year BrandonCult would be terminated for unknown reasons as well, him moving to the BrandonOccult account. Reformation I. Things took a few changes over the next few years, including the family having a short-lived association with DrMach in 2015, and a series of changes in 2018 commonly now known as the "Reformations" which lead to the additions of MorsCult, EmmettCult, BobbyCult, and JackCult as Reformation I, which initially was frequently looked down upon and the myth seemed to be going downhill, when famous Roblox YouTuber Flamingo began a video series on the family in August of 2018, causing a massive spike in popularity, which has lead to the Cult Family being the 5th largest myth in the genre at the time of this edit, with over 500,000 place visits combined. Around this time EmmettCult attempted to marry DrForests prompting the other family members to have an argument on the group Discord. Their Discord is currently private and the wedding has been canceled since then. Reformation II. Since the video series, the Family Manor has been shut down with the story taking a drastic change and the second stage of the Reformations taking place in 2019. Little to nothing is known about the upcoming changes as there have been no announcements what so ever. However it was revealed that the family was based in South Carolina, and for some reason they were forced to move to Louisiana, living in a bayou, where they have been taken in by the new members MerleCult, WaldenCult, and AkramCult. The reason for this move, the changes, or even the addition of the new members has had no explanation as of now. Sometime in 2019, EmmettCult had passed away. If you go onto their profile you will find Emmett with a slash across their body. During this time on 11/8/19, Emmett’s Family Manor was burnt down in a public server. Reformation III. On 11/18/19, 3 new members, JimiCult, NickCult, and JasonCult had been added to the Cult Family. Reformation IV. Sometime later, WillCult was confirmed to be a member. Reformation V. After the Kazdam drama in 2020, MartinCult has been cut off from the current family. Making DavidCult the father of the family and also made a new group for the family on Roblox. With the return of EmmettCult. (The current story is to be continued) Members. Active/Confirmed Members. This is the list of the active/confirmed members of The Cult Family in order. Members Date of Joining DavidCult Original Member JoshuaCult Original Member AkaManah Joined in 2013 LenzCult Joined in 2017 JackCult Reformation I MerleCult Reformation II AkramCult Reformation II NickCult Original Member JasonCult Original Member JimiCult Reformation III WillCult Original Member EmmettCult Reformation I; Reformation V. Inactive Members. The following are Confirmed Cult Family members that are currently inactive. For instance, Martha Cult and DonCult are essential members of the Cult Family, and are referenced and confirmed to be actual members of the family, however, are either not active or are not in the group. Members Description ZachCult Inactive since 2012; not dead in the story. Unconfirmed Members. There are those with usernames that end in -Cult(with the exception of AkaManah) that may not be completely canon, to be confirmed, or unconfirmed to be a part of the story. Members Description EudoraCult Ranked in the old group owned by DrMach; Has some connection to MartinCult but is not mentioned after the new Cult Family group was established JimmyCult JohnCult's son, though it is not confirmed if JimmyOccult is cannon. AronCult Was allegedly Jack's babysitter. Hasn't been seen nor mentioned since the manor burnt down. Former/Deceased Members. Members that had left the group, retired, deceased in real life or have deceased in the story. Members Description SmithCult Original Member; terminated, dead in story GrandpaCult Original Member; Departed in 2012; confirmed to be deceased in real life, dead in story as well. MarthaCult Original Member; wife of SmithCult, died in the story in 2012 DonCult Original Member; died in the story in 2012 BrandonCult Original Member; terminated; rejoined as BrandonOccult and has since retired; dead in story ArthurCult Joined in 2018; Departed in 2019; terminated; dead in story MorsCult Joined in Reformation I; Died while defending the Manor from a fire on 11/18/19 BobbyCult Joined in Reformation I; Died while defending the Manor from a fire on 11/18/19 WaldenCult Joined in Reformation II; Later removed for scamming The Family's followers on 4/10/2020 MartinCult Original Member; Retired; Has been cut off from the family in 2020; most likely dead in the story JohnCult Original Member; Terminated; Most likely dead in the story based on a game made by JohnCultsSpirit. Associated Myths. Members that are not completely canon to the story, but have assisted/associated with The Cult Family back and forth.