When most people think of cults they mistakenly think they are a thing of the past, the 60s and 70s, but make no mistake, there are many cults that are alive and well today causing unmeasurable harm to those who have fallen victim to their lies. The thing about cults is that you never know you are joining a cult when you are joining it because no one intentionally and knowingly joins a cult, and once a person is in a cult they refuse to believe they are in a cult because they don’t want to believe they fell for a lie, and also because they have fallen for the lie and are convinced that it is the truth. For people who were raised in a cult than it is all they have ever known and they don’t want to think their entire life was based on a lie. Another major eason people in cults don’t listen to people who say they are in a cult is that the cult leaders always say that anyone who says their religion is a cult is persecuting them and is in league with the devil. Cults have a strong persecution complex, which is something I will talk more in detail about shortly. 

 Have you ever asked yourself whether or not the religion you are in is a cult? Well, I will make it extremely simple for you; if you have to ask whether or not your religion is a cult than it almost certainly is. There are some fairly universal things that all cults do, and if you perform an internet search for what makes a cult you will come up with hundreds of versions of the same basic list. Not all cults will hit every item on the list, but if your religion or the religion of someone you care about fits in with several of the items than it is time to get out or to help your loved ones get out. 

Most cults leaders come from a Christian background, and many of them even started out teaching correct Biblical principles, however, they get to the point where power is more important to them than God and they twist and distort God’s word in dangerous and blasphemous ways to gain control over their congregation. Cults are often, but not always, physically dangerous, but even the cults that are not dangerous physically can do immense spiritual damage, and if their heresy is believed than it can even lead people to hell. Being raised Christian allows cult leaders to know Christian doctrine and culture and to say and do things that are not Christian but appear to be so.

One of the reasons I am always trying to save people from cults is because I have been involved in two cults, one that my father started and one that Joseph Smith started and I want to spare others some of the pain and trouble that I had. If you are coming from a cult it is a lot easier to fall victim to another cult, or to become atheist, both of which I have fallen victim to, and I hope that by sharing this I may save others. My father was an ordained Baptist minister though his doctrine was not even remotely Baptist and was not in line with the Bible, and when I realized my father was lying to me and to everyone else, I met some extremely nice but confused people who belonged to Mormonism and they were able to convince me that their church was the only one true church. Since I had been part of two faiths that claimed to offer the only truth I lost all faith for a while, and if you are interested in either my experiences with my father or why I joined or left Mormonism or why I became atheist and how God reclaimed me, I spoke of all of that in great detail in earlier blog posts and podcast episodes which you can find on the podcast and blog page.

Most cults never get a lot of traction, but a few cults have managed to survive long term and have entrapped many generations. There are many cults that most of us don’t know about because they only make the news when they start breaking the laws, but there are also a few major cults that have been around for a while and almost gained popular acceptance such as Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), Jehovah’s witnesses and Scientology. If I have mentioned your religion please let me make a case for what a cult is before you assume I am persecuting your religion refuse to listen to the rest of what I say. 

My list of common traits of cults is not all inclusive but it your religion hits on several of these than your warning bells should be going off, an if you don’t believe me, please do yourself a favor and investigate what the experts say about cults, both the religious and non-religious experts. First, I will start off with what the dictionary definition of a cult is:

1, A system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.

2, a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister (the Mormons own this and call themselves “a peculiar people.”

3. A misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.

The leader Or leaders have ultimate power

Every cult has a person, or a small group of people, who have ultimate power that you are not allowed to question. Whatever the leader or leader say is taught to be the same as if God himself had said it and to go against the leaders is to go against God. Any attempt by the followers to change the rules or to change the leadership is viewed as rebellion against God.

If you question something one of your leaders said because it does not appear to be in line with the Bible and all of the rest of the congregation acts as if you are speaking blasphemy because there is no way the leader could be wrong than you are probably in a cult.

Cult leaders often come from Christian backgrounds

As I already mentioned, most cults are started by people who were raised Christian and a lot of them outwardly look Christian because they say Christian sounding things, but if careful attention is paid to their doctrines it becomes apparent that they are not Christian at all and differ quite dramatically from traditional Christianity and the Bible. David Koresh, Jim Jones, Joseph Smith and most other charismatic leaders who started religions that contradicted traditional Biblical Christianity were raised Christian.

Cults claim to be the only true Church

pseudo-Christian cult will ALWAYS claim that they are the only true church and offers the only true salvation. The goal in claiming to be the only true church it two fold, to make people believe they have no choice but to adhere to the groups rules, and to ensure they feel if they leave they have no where else to go. The Bible, however, teaches that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that he alone is all we need to get to heaven and that no man and no set of rules will ever or can ever save us. 

Perversion of the true Gospel. 

The most insidious and dastardly mark of a cult is they ignore, deny, ridicule or change the divinity of Jesus. To some degree or another, all cults will deny the deity of Jesus by saying that he was not actually God, that he was not born a virgin birth. Some cults say that the eternal God used to be a man who lived on another planet and that through obedience to his God that he earned the right to be a god himself and start his own universe where those who follow him can eventually be gods as well, following his example. Such teaching will eventually leave a person unsaved and spending eternity in hell, a truly horrendous fate indeed. If the definition or description of God or his gospel given by the religion differs from the Bible than it is not Christianity.

Minimizing or denigrating the divinity of the Bible

In order to get people to believe their heresy all cults will, in some way and to some degree, change the Bible, or outright claim that it is corrupted and can’t be trusted on its own merits. Some cults remove verses from the Bible that doesn’t support their doctrines, some have “inspired translations” that are not supported by any reputable Biblical scholar. Some cults claim that the Bible was altered through the course of history and no longer contains the essential elements of salvation as a way to justify their doctrines that are either not in the Bible or are in contradiction to the Bible.

Pseudo-Christian cults often try to claim they believe in the Bible while at the same time saying it is not reliable and one such example is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints says they believe in the Bible but in The Book of Mormon, the book upon which the entire church’s reputation rests, says what they actually think of the Bible: 

“And after they [the scriptures] go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou sees the formation of that great and abominable church, which is abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many converts of the Lord have they taken away.” -1 Nephi 13:26

The actual teaching in the Mormon Church is that the Bible was originally the word of God but that it was corrupted and many essential doctrines were removed and heresy added, but the evidence does not support that in any way and scholars are confident that what the Bible says today is what it said when it was originally written. 

Works are taught to earn a place in Heaven

The Bible clearly teaches that faith in Christ plus nothing equals salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9) “For it is through grace you have been saved, through faith-and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”

There are many religions that appear outwardly to be Christian but teach that we have to work for our salvation which suggests that Jesus does not have the power to save us without the aid of our works and that his sacrifice was not sufficient on its own. Faith plus anything else is heresy. 

Cults trying to teach that we need something else other than just Jesus to be saved is not a new phenomenon and Paul spoke of it in many of his sermons and was alarmed by the people teaching a distorted gospel that said we had to earn grace: 

“I am amazed that yo are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; . . . But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching a gospel contrary to that which you have received, let him be accursed.” -Galatians 1: 6-9

Paul was explicitly saying that anyone who preached a gospel that is contrary to the Bible will send a person to hell! 

Most cults are led, or at least founded, by dynamic, charismatic leaders who manipulate and control their followers. 

True Christians leaders are humble, but cult leaders will always claim to be superior to their followers in some way, such as being a prophet. Cult leaders will always try to build themselves up, will say the Bible prophecies of them, if they teach the Bible at all. Cult leaders will often refuse to take responsibility for failure or for failed prophecies but will blame it on of their followers or the outside world. Contrast that with the way the Bible says leaders should be: 

“Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.” -1 Timothy 3:1-4

Control

All cults will try to exercise control over their followers, including many mundane elements of their lives, because the more they can control you the more power they have and cults are their leaders are ultimately motivated by power. I am not saying that any religion that has rules is a cult, far from it, and I am certainly not saying that Judaism is a cult for having rules on food or that mainstream Evangelical Christian churches that teach you should not dress in provocative manners are cults, but any rules that are not Biblical or that impose unnecessary control over minor aspects of life are signs of a cult.

Many cults have specific rules to make their members rely on the church, such as saying that you can only reach the highest level of heaven if you wear special underwear that you can only buy from them for instance, or rules that are intrusive on people’s every day private lives. If every aspect of your life, or even most aspects, is determined by your religious leader that you are in a cult

Special privileges or above the rules

Cult leaders will typically be above the rules or have special privileges not granted to their followers. There have been many cult leaders such as Jim Jones, David Koresh and Joseph Smith who claimed to have divine authority to take another man’s daughter, or even his wife, as his wife, even if he already had a wife. If your leader says that your wife or daughter is supposed to be his wife, or if he tells you that you are to leave your husband or that you are to be one of his wives, than you are absolutely positively in a cult. 

Claims of divinity

All cult leaders will have some claim to divinity such as saying that they are a prophet, that they have seen God or that they receive special revelation from God, that they have seen and conversed with angels, that they were spoken of in the Bible, or all of the above. Some cult leaders will even come up with their own set of scripture or divine revelations in order to control their followers and such scriptures will always disagree with the Bible or teach doctrine that is not in the Bible, which is another reason why they will try to minimize or denigrate the Bible. Many cult leaders will not only claim to be a prophet but will claim to be divine themselves and will say they are God or that they have done more for your salvation than anyone else has other than Jesus. 

My father claimed to have been visited by Jesus and given a divine mission, David Koresh claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, and Joseph Smith claimed to have been visited by God and called to be the greatest prophet to ever live, greater than Moses, greater than Abraham and even greater than John the Baptist who Jesus himself said was the greatest man to ever be born (Matthew 11:11). Any claim to divinity is suspect at best and outright heretical at worst. 

False Prophets

The Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, warns of false prophets and even Jesus himself warned us of false prophets. In the time of Jeremiah there were Many false prophets and God said to Jeremiah about them:

“I did not send these prophets, yet they ran with a message I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 

“I have heard what the prophets who prophecies a lie in my name have said, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream! How Long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?” -Jeremiah 23:21, 25,26

Jesus often warned of false prophets and said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but outwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” -Matthew 7:15-20

Taking another man’s wife, telling a teenage girl that her and her family would not be saved unless they married the prophet (Helen Mar Kimball), and teaching that you must give over your property to the Church is bad fruits. 

Also, if even one of the prophet’s prophesies is false than they are a false prophet, so if a prophet says that the end of the world will happen on a specific day and orders his followers to consecrate their property to the church (Harold Camping) or if they prophecy that the US government will fall if they don’t redress the wrongs done to the church (Joseph Smith) and those prophecies don’t come to pass, as they obviously didn’t, than they are a false prophet. 

Consecration of property to the church

God, while he wants us to love him more than we love all things of the world combined, will never force us to give up our property as he values individual freedom; If we love the world more than we love God than he will allow us to make that choice and have it instead of him, but giving up property does not earn us a spot in heaven and is not asked for or required, we just have to love God more than we love our stuff.

Many cults require their members to consecrate their individual property to the religion, sometimes in an effort to enforce communal living, and sometimes out of outright greed, but if your religion asks you to give your property to the church because the world is coming to an end or if they make you promise in a secret ceremony they say is essential for salvation that you have to consecrate, or at least be willing to consecrate, all you possess or may possess, including your very life if required, you can be certain that you are in fact in a cult. 

You should also be highly speciousness of and should avoid religions that require you to give a specific amount of money to them as a tithe, especially if they say you can’t be in good standing with God without doing so.

Us verses them

Cults always have a strong persecution complex, and when they do something that makes outsiders not like them such as make an illegal bank that failed and devastated its shareholders and members,  openly oppose the laws of the country or claim that God gave them an entire state as their new Jerusalem and they are challenged for it that confirms the claim by the leaders that they are being persecuted. 

Cults want their members to believe that they are the only ones who are correct and that the world is agains them because it helps keep the members loyal and thinking they are doing the right thing, and whenever anyone challenges their beliefs they can easily write it off as yet more persecution. 

Cults will convince their members that any information from the outside is lies designed to get people out of the faith, and usually they will say that such information is inspired by the devil. Most cults have their members afraid to read anything about religion from the outside, especially if it contradicts their faith in any way. 

If your religion teaches or implies that everyone, including other faiths, is out to get them/you than you are in a cult.

Cults always claim to be the only way to achieve salvation

As a way to get people join and remain in the religion cults will claim to be the only true religion because if they are the only way to go go heaven or avoid going to hell than people will do whatever they are asked to do, even if it makes them uncomfortable or if it is painful. If you were to study the doctrines of any cult, large of small, they will all say they are the only way to be saved or to be exalted, or whatever the highest ultimate status is they claim, and will say that unless you follow all of their rules you will wind up in hell and that there are no alternatives. 

If your religion claims they are the only one who has all the truth or that they are the only ones to be able to offer salvation, especially if it is through rituals and works, than they are a cult. 

A lot of Christian religions disagree on issues that are not essential for salvation such as whether or not men should have long hair, whether or not alcohol or dancing is allowed, but on matters of salvation true Christianity is agreed because they use the Bible as the ultimate guide. 

Secret or “sacred” things that are hid from the outside. 

Cults are big on secrets and many of them have secret rituals, handshakes, and ordinances they claim are essential for salvation that the members are not allowed to talk about with outsiders, and sometimes they are not even allowed to talk about them among themselves. 

Whenever a religion has secrets, especially if they are secrets that supposedly are important for salvation, remember what Jesus said, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.” -John 18:20

Preoccupation with new members. 

Most, if not all, cults are always trying to bring in new members through proselytize efforts such as going door to door and often tell their followers that missionary work is the greatest and highest calling they can do and that they will be rewarded in heaven for their efforts. It is also of note that most cults do not support their missionaries and instead require them to support themselves financially . 

Financial records are kept secret

If you are not sure whether or not you are in a cult try asking your church for an in depth of their financial spending that shows where every dollar goes, and if they refuse to show that information than you may be in a cult. Some churches will talk about how much money they give to charity, etc., but will refuse to be completely open about where the money comes from and where it goes. In the church I attend they have a quarterly meeting where they go through the details of the budget and tell the members where every cent was spent. 

Preoccupation with money

Speaking of money, if your religion requires you to give a specific amount of your money to the religion, especially if they make you prove that you are giving a specific amount of your money, than you can be relatively certain that you are in a cult and absolutely certain that even if it is not a cult that their money practices are not in line with the Bible. 

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” -2 Corinthians 9:6

If your religion is telling you that in order to be right with God that you have to give a specific amount of money to the organization than you are compelled to give, and that is not Biblical. 

Cults make sure their members stay busy

If you know anything about a prison chain gang you may be wondering why there were chain gangs in the first place, and the reason for that is that people are more easy to control if you are keeping them busy and making them work. Cults keep their members busy for the same reason, control, and often require unreasonable amounts of time commitments to the faith, often giving assignments and making you feel as if refusing the assignment would be the same as refusing a command from God. The assignments may not always be actual work, some of them may just be rituals or ordinances, but most cults will do all they can to keep their followers busy. 

Cults demand obedience without question and the leader is the ultimate authority

It is a lot easier to control people when they believe what you are telling them, so cults don’t want their followers to examine their claims all that closely. Cults don’t want their followers to question their authority or their doctrine and it is a common for cults to tell their followers not to study the faith’s history or their doctrine beyond what they are told to study and are urged, if not outright forbidden, to read anything about the faith from outside sources. Leaders often say things such as, “If you wanted to know about Chevy you would not go to Ford for the information. It is better to get the information from the source.” The problem with that argument is that many people and companies put our misleading or false information that is self-aggrandizing or that hides the more unflattering parts about their practices. Sure, it may not be best to ask Ford about the quality of a Chevy, but it would be wise to consult with people who have driven Chevy and with consumer research companies, and you certainly would want to say what the Federal Transportation Department has to say about their safety.  

Dallin H. Oakes who is believed to be an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said, “It is wrong to criticize leaders of the Church, even if the criticism is true,” (Fireside Salt Lake Tabernacle May 4th 1986). A lot of cults teach that is is sinful to question the leaders and that anything the leader or leaders say is the same as if God himself had said it, but that is not true and you should always question, especially if what they are claiming does not appear to be in line with the Bible. 

If you feel the need to defend the leaders of your faith than you are probably in a cult. 

The group de-legitimizes former members

Cults will say that anyone who leaves the group and speaks out against in is just bitter, dishonest and evil, and they tell their members not to listen to anything said by those who leave and urge them to not associate with them. Those who leave cults are often referred to as “apostates” and the faithful followers are told not to associate with them, and they are often shunned by those who are still believers. 

How to avoid falling victim to a cult

The best way to avoid falling victim to a cult is to study the Bible and take its words on its own merits. The Bible is the word of God and if we carefully read the world and compare the doctrines and practices of religions based on it we will not go astray or believe heresy.