I was reading about a cult. It's not necessary to know which one. The article says:

"In a cult, corruption of stated purpose is not the result of an eventual straying from a once noble mission; it is the mission. Greed is not an outcome of avarice resulting from success; rather, the amassing of wealth is essential to ensuring the perpetuation and expansion of the cult. Likewise, leaders of cults don’t fall prey to hubris born of a taste of power. They start a cult because they are already prone to such conceit; the cult simply gives them a voice. Leaders of cults don’t simply have large, jealous egos; they are highly charismatic megalomaniacs and narcissists."

I don't know if that's universally true, but I can think of a lot of instances where it is.

I don't think Joseph Smith ever really intended to start a legit religion. It started with a series of lies and cons.

It makes perfect sense. Jim Jones may have affiliated with mainstream denominations early in his career (initially Methodist, then slightly less-mainstream Seventh-Day Baptist, then Disciples of Christ, where he received full ordination) but even at the time, he had bigger designs and was using the existing churches as a means to an end. You don't just "up and move" a church full of people from Indiana to California, as Jones did in the 1960's, unless you're leading a cult. (A church located less than one hundred miles as a crow flies from where I presently am in California moved en masse to Colorado; it's a cult, too, and some of the former members are back with wild stories to tell.) Then, of course, there was Jones' mass move to Guyana. Smith and Jones may be extreme examples of cult leaders, but I think your source is absolutely on the mark that the intent to create a cult is in the design from the start.

scmd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...A church located less than one hundred
> miles as a crow flies from where I presently am in
> California moved en masse to Colorado; it's a
> cult, too, and some of the former members are back
> with wild stories to tell...

Sounds interesting; more info, please?

He was extremely active in Social Justice activities, such as drug & alcohol rehabilitation, soup kitchens, working with children at risk, the homeless, etc. This gave him a PR smokescreen, and got him accolades from various California political figures.

As I understand it, he kept the People's Temple in San Francisco. The one in Guyana was a satellite. Considering he was at the Guyana location at the time of the mass suicide/massacre, I'm not sure if the Stateside facility had become subordinate to the South American one.

TSCC was started as a conspiracy among Joe’s treasure digging friends. I think Rigdon was the brains of the operation. The original conspirators were excommunicated or apostatized. How many religions do you know of where most of the top founding members were kicked out? There was no honor among thieves then, and there isn’t now.

Joey was not a youth who took pride in pushing a plow or digging with a shovel, but rather took pride in conning, gathering coins the easy way. His buddies were like minded con artists like himself.

I believe Joey, as well as other cult leaders, give thought and time to spinning their game plans, and yes, these plans are not morphed but built swindle upon swindle. The cult leaders are people out for themselves and will push, plunder, and pillage any who get in their way of "getting their way" of grabbing money, power, land, prestige, and women.

But I cant help feeling the SCC leaders seem a pale imitation of the founders B Young, and Smith himself.