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On September 11th, 2001, America experienced pain and horror at the hands of a terror cult leader, Osama bin Laden and his followers. The malignant charisma of destructive cult leaders, Malignant Pied Pipers, is nothing new on the human scene. However, the exponential proportion of terror cults and their worldwide impact is growing in a frightening way. The terrifying psychological link between destructive apocalyptic cults and Bin Laden's terror cult is their total and massive denial of death (Becker, 1973). These Malignant Pied Pipers project their inner, unresolved narcissistic wounds and attendant rage on to the cult followers. The terror cult death myths serve to promote acted-out murderous or suicidal urges upon the “Evil” they perceive in the external world.
Terrorist bin Laden shows a frighteningly similar pattern to Malignant Cult Leaders. Disappointment in his wealthy, hypocritical Saudi father and father figures led Osama bin Laden in profound rebellion to search for stronger radical Islamic father figures (Mayer, 2001). Azzam of Afghanistan and Turabi of Sudan filled the bill (Bodansky, 1999). Bin Laden now leads his adoring cult of Wahhabism and Islamofascists into the Holy War of WWIII. Bin Laden's relentless Holy War of Apocalypse dwarfs Waco, Uganda, Jonestown, and Asahara's Tokyo gas attack (Van Beima, 1995). Bin Laden, just as each of these apocalyptic cult leaders, creates and then projects external dangers and evils in order to justify suicidal and homicidal death rituals.
Apocalyptic cults are a uniquely malignant form of destructive cults. An ominous element woven into the core of their cult ideology, doctrines and pragmatic day-to-day behavior is the Apocalyptic Group Death Scenario. The leader repeatedly and boldly holds forth the noble and gradually treasured fantasy of dying together or being imprisoned for “The Cause.” Becker (1973) observed that a central human fear is the fear of death, but more important is having lived a life that has no