What is a cult and why is it not Christian? The dictionary defines a cult as a sect devoted to a system of religious worship. Christians, however, refer to cults meaning something significantly different from, and doctrinally suspect from normal Christianity. In the large sense, it is a derivation of any major religion to a different one. Hence, Jews may claim that Christianity is a “cult” of Judaism, Catholics may claim that all Protestants are cults of Catholics, and I can even see how Christians could claim Moslems as a cult gone especially astray. But the usage I have today is that which means a sect that mainline Christians would not accept as being foundational. For instance, there is common agreement amongst Christians that both the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are cults. Their doctrine differs significantly from normal theology, and though it may make little difference to an outsider looking in at Christianity, it makes an enormous difference to those within. When I was a mere 19, I found a relationship with God that has continued all these years. As a new Christian, I wondered about all the different groups that “believed” in the Bible, and I wondered if they all knew God. In my naiveté, I thought they were, and my future wife, a lifelong Christian, encouraged me to sign up for a course on cults from Moody Press. What a life-changing course that was! The Bible defines a cult as “another gospel”, saying “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” That makes the question above change a bit, perhaps to: “what makes another gospel?” I think that before we start to define the many other gospels in the world, I might want to define the real gospel first. Fortunately, the Bible does clearly define the real gospel in words which really cannot be changed. Here are two well-known passages that describe the gospel: 1 Cor. 15: 3, 4 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Galatians 3: 7-8, 13, 14 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. These two passages sum up the gospel rather decently. If I had to define the gospel, I might say that it is believing God’s message about his Son. The best short verse for this definition would be John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But I have not really answered the question yet; I have defined the gospel, and given a historical definition of what might be termed a cult. What is a cult? What is it that makes a cult a cult? I know that non-believers tend to lump most religious groups together, and I think that many in our Christian circles have borrowed this “lumping” and are not very good at distinguishing what is Christian and what is not. Some years ago, I heard that banks trained tellers to see counterfeit money, not by giving them samples of counterfeit bills, but rather by teaching them the look and feel of real bills. Supposedly, a teller trained in this fashion would quickly notice the bills which were not real. Of course, this was all in the days before the electronic verifiers were available, and I have no idea whether tellers are still being trained this way. Still, it works for my analogy, at least for a bit. Christians who are trained in the look and feel of the real gospel will automatically sense the counterfeit. I believe the biggest way to defend your faith is to develop Biblically-based doctrine. When something not Biblical comes around, trained Christians would just instantly know something was not right. Am I avoiding the question? Not at all, it just is necessary, I feel, to lay a foundation to get to a proper definition, at least one that believers should understand. I am not sure I can say this about all Christian cults, but all cults that I am aware of, have one common feature. They all teach about a different Jesus than the one presented in the Bible. Let me use another illustration to show how this can so quickly devastate the core of Christianity. Let’s say I have a friend named Fred. Fred is an absolute wonderful fellow. I am such a deep friend with him, and I have known him for so many years, and in all that time Fred shows great and wonderful characteristics: he is kind, gentle, loyal, and trustworthy. Fred sounds good, doesn’t he? But now, let me change Fred a bit. I am going to rename my friend, Fred. I am going to call him Jesus. I am going to present him to you as the Christ, the son of God, “that by believing you may have life in his name”. Now is where the analogy no longer holds, for surely you are saying to yourself that you would never believe Fred could be Jesus. But that is exactly what makes a cult. Every time a cult is formed (again, as far as I know), the Jesus clearly presented in scripture, is redefined in major ways. Instead of being part of the godhead, he is redefined as an angel, or some other being (even the Muslims, I am told, believe he is a prophet), and he is not presented as God incarnate delivering himself to the cross, that he might bear the sins of the world, in order to reconcile man to God. If you decide you believe Fred is Jesus, then you may follow the rest of the Bible generally, and you may be very sincere in your belief, but, at the end of the day, you are trusting Fred for your salvation. As worthy as Fred may be, I am sure you would agree that he is not Jesus. I hope the analogy helps; if not, please discard it at once, but do pick up your Bible and discover the Jesus presented there. Freds will just not do it, for only God himself taking the penalty of sin for you and for me can possibly save us. Do we dare not find the Jesus presented to us? Paul puts it succinctly in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached unto you, let him be eternally condemned.” Perhaps that will explain to you why so many Christians get upset when they hear about Fred rather than Jesus.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 02:17:35 +0000
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