FROM THE DAWGHOUSE
SPOTTING A CULT
It came up in our Team Leaders Connect meeting last week. Glen Griffith, one of our Team Leaders asked the question his son brought up, “What’s a cult and how do we know what one is?”
The dictionary defines “cult” this way:
cult
noun
- a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
“the cult of St. Olaf”
- a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.
“a network of Satan-worshiping cults”
That’s a good working definition. What constitutes a Christian cult? Curt Moore gave me this theological/mathematics equation that helps a lot:
Cults Add, subtract, multiply and divide.
Say what?
Anything that adds to God’s Word or the Gospel to change it, can’t be trusted.
Anything that subtracts from God’s Word or the Person of Jesus, is wrong.
Anything that multiplies confusion is going down a wrong road.
Anything that divides the Body of Christ, has got to be unbiblical.
Galatians 1:6-10
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Keep in mind that most cults that stem from Christianity can be exposed right at their view of Jesus. Satan attacks the true nature of Jesus as the eternal Son of God and Savior of sinners so as to take as many as he can to his kingdom below. So you want to know if a group is orthodox and Biblical? Ask for great clarification on the Person of Jesus.
Another note: Some groups are aberrant but not quite heretical. For instance, it is possible to have a high Christology (a high view of Jesus) but also have some unhealthy preoccupations on following Old Testament customs.
How does a DAWG help promote Orthodoxy? Well, the more you are in The Word, the more you will be able to recognize error.
Focus on the Truth, daily, and you will grow, and you will have a nose for what is false!
You take it to heart!
Pete Alwinson
