What is a Cult?

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A Cult or a Sect?

Cult: a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object or a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.. (Oxford Languages)

A “kinder, gentler” term for cult is New Religious Movement—NRM

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group

e.g. the varying synods of the Lutheran Church, would be technically sects of Lutheranism

Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism by the Romans

Probably could consider Baptists or Methodists as sects of Christianity

Thus, a Christian “sect” may well fall within “orthodoxy”

A cult, it is argued, has a number of distinctive features which mark it off from a ‘sect’. Perhaps most obvious is the fact that the cult leader becomes God to the movement. Max Weber pointed out that the founder of the sect would hold a certain authority over his followers which was best described in terms of ‘charisma’. The sect leader was not considered to be an ordinary human being but in some sense ‘a man above his fellows’ with special powers and qualities of personality

Marks of a Cult

Authoritarian control: Cultism hinges on encouraging maximum dependency. People in the cult must feel incapable of living an individual life outside the norms of the group. These beliefs often go hand in hand with a worshipful attitude toward the group’s authoritarian leader. The cult leader takes on the sttus of a deity

Extremist beliefs: Cult members hold to very dogmatic and extreme beliefs. They also are unable to question these belief systems without fear of reprisal or punishment from the leader or other group members.

Isolation from society: As soon as new members join a cult, other adherents work hard to isolate them from family members and friends. This helps fulfill the mind control aspirations of the leader. It also creates a hive mind of sorts between the new person and the other members.

Veneration of a single individual: Charismatic leaders are often at the center of most cults. Consider the Manson family of the late 1960s. As their name suggests, they adopted the beliefs of their leader, Charles Manson, and fulfilled his requests. The same pattern repeats in almost all other cults, albeit to less violent ends in many cases.

I would add to these published thoughts:

Any group claiming a source of authority other than Scripture

Any group which diminishes the person and work of Jesus Christ in any way

Another researcher uses the acronym BIT

Behavior control

Information control

Thought control

Emotional control

Based upon those definitions, might we see how churches might be considered “cultic?”

Some Types of Cults

1. Doomsday cults: Certain cults come together to prepare for the allegedly imminent end of the world. For instance, the Branch Davidians stockpiled firearms and explosives in a Waco, Texas, compound over the 1980s and ’90s to prepare for the apocalypse. This led to an infamous standoff with the federal government.

2. Political cults: Political groups on both the left and right can morph into cults. Janja Lalich wrote an entire account of her own experience in such an environment.

3. Religious cults: Spiritual beliefs serve as the bedrock for many cults. Some cults are offshoots of mainline religions while others offer brand-new dogmas and theology.

4. Sex cults: All types of cults might have a component of sexual abuse, but some focus on sex as one of their primary functions. For instance, New York–based NXIVM encouraged rampant sexual behavior between its group members before dissolving.

Some Examples

Scientology; founded by L. Ron Hubbard; The core belief holds that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (thetan) that is resident in a physical body; a religion of self; the Church of Scientology states that it has no set dogma on God and allows individuals to come to their own understanding of God

People’s Temple; founder James Jones who brought us Jonestown in Guyana, claiming to be God’s heir on Earth; he led 918 people to suicide

Unification Church; the founder was a rather ordinary Presbyterian background; later claimed to converse directly with Abraham, Moses, Peter, Paul, Confucius, Wesley, and Budda; claims to be “Lord of the Second Advent”

Children of God, now the Family of Love; founded by David Berg who began as a rather credible evangelist, ended as a global sex cult

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society—JWs; founded by Charles Taze Russell, diminishes God, denies the trinity, has a track record of false prophecy, it offers a works-based salvation

Latter Day Saints—Mormons; founded by Joseph Smith, claimed divine revelation, distorts the nature of God, the person of Jesus and the means of salvation

Branch Davidian—an offshoot (sect (?)) of a sect of the Seventh Day Adventists—probably denied by the main group, brought us Waco; difficult to find any actual doctrinal standard; among other aberrations, have a father/mother god

Avoiding the Call of the Cult

Acts 17:10-11.

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