>>2479335
It'd actually be pretty simple.
Most people, save for a select few are actually at least a little bit insane. Legitimately. Not in the way that you think, either. It's just that there's a severe disconnect between the subjective interpretation of reality verses what's actually there and the meaning behind it.
So, it'd actually be incredibly simple to make people believe that sacrificing their children leads to good things.
All you have to do is create a problem, tell them to sacrifice their children to fix it, and then fix the problem afterwards. The difference between that and, for instance, actually solving a problem, is that the solution to the problem and the PROBLEM ITSELF aren't actually related. However, people will tend to look at two events and make up a link between them so that it makes sense to them.
If, for some reason, you were carrying around the Anti-Christ inside of you and had to have an abortion to save the world, those two thins aren't disconnected from one another. They're intrinsically related because the Anti-Christ ENDS THE WORLD.
Now, if someone said you have to kill your child in order for the famine to end… that kind of link is iffy at the absolute best, especially when not directly consulting with God.