Latest / Clear Path Christianity / What is a Cult? Biblical Categories, NOT Buzzwords || CPC Podcast Ep. 2
Transcript
- Cole Crone: Okay, so we have these categories. We have savage wolves, we have false teachers, and we have another gospel that is brought by antichrists. So ⁓ these categories are ⁓ very harsh, very in your face. They're warnings, they're meant to be something that we are made very aware of. Okay, so in conclusion, let's reflect. Why does this matter? Why does it matter? Well, as I said at the start, So, ⁓ we see that Paul's talking about these savage wolves from perspectives. ⁓ One, they're gonna come in from the outside. They're gonna come in among you. not spare the flock, and they're also going to arise from among you and speak perverse things to draw away many disciples. So this biblical category, this savage wolf category, is point number one. The Apostle Peter weighs in and he talks about false teachers. there's, you could read all of 2 Peter chapter two and get, I'm just gonna skim a few pieces of it, but. It matters because words matter and the way we use words matters. In a day and age in which we live where everything is racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, and etc. these terms have lost their edge. When you cast that net so wide that everything is One of the thesis statements for me, one of the thesis statements for my podcast, one of the things that I am very passionate about is the idea that words matter. Terms matter. How we use words and terms matter. If Christianity, for example, if Christianity can just He's referring to false teachers. racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, and so on, then nothing is. And I want these terms to have meaning, to continue to have meaning. And in order for that to be the case, we need to use terms properly. We need to be selective about the way we use them. Point number two, I think that theology matters because our view of God matters. Because if you change God, you're not just seeing God differently. referring to Israel's past, says, but there were ⁓ also false prophets among people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will ⁓ secretly bring in destructive even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of the truth will be blasphemed. is a term that can be applied to anyone and everyone who claims to be a disciple of Christ, then Christianity doesn't really mean anything. If Christianity doesn't mean something, then it means nothing, by definition. And I feel like in the Christian church today, the term cult has kind of lost all meaning as well. It's a term that we tend to sort of... by covetousness they will exploit you with deceitful words. you've actually created a different God. If God is, as Saint Anselm said, and I agree, that which no greater thing can be conceived of, then to change God is to diminish Him, right? And thus create something that is other than God. To create our own God. And I think that the Old Testament calls that idolatry. And he just goes on and on and on and on. ⁓ He says, ⁓ he says they are like natural brute beasts to be caught and destroyed. They speak evil things. ⁓ They will utterly perish in their own corruption. They will receive the wages of unrighteousness. It's statement after statement after statement. He mentions ⁓ Balaam the son of Beor from ⁓ the Testament book of Numbers. flippantly use in reference to groups that don't really match the description of a cult. And ⁓ in this episode, we're gonna look at first, what is a cult? What is the of a cult? What type of group might fall under this category? And then we're gonna differentiate that from what I think Christians typically mean when they use the word cult. And we're gonna talk about He just goes on and on on and on on about these false teachers. Having other gods, that's kind of like the top commandment. Have no other gods before me. The third, I think we need to have a greater awareness of abusive and or high control. And the entire chapter is really about this. what I'm defining as counterfeit Christianity or a group that teaches theological heresy, things that have been classically, biblically, historically classified as theological heresy. And then there's a third group, it's a of a gray area group, it's ⁓ a little harder to define, but it doesn't really fall under the umbrella of cult ⁓ or heretical techniques being employed by dangerous groups that I think Christians should be more aware of, speak against more often, and try to get people out of. And I think this because I think discernment matters. I think the Bible calls us to be discerning. And so I think that matters as well. And finally, biblical categories matter. If we are to be people of the word, as Christians are supposed to be, then biblical categories matter. It matters Okay, so we have this category of savage wolves and we have this category of false teachers. Going back to the Apostle Paul in a very controversial passage from Galatians chapter one verses six through nine, but I'm classing it as ⁓ abusive slash high control churches. And so we're gonna distinguish those three and then finally we're gonna look at some biblical categories. What does the Bible actually say about this particular topic? he says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. So now we this other category, this third category of ⁓ another gospel. how we are referring to other people, people who are peddling false gospels, people who are counterfeit Christians, people who are in cults. We need to let the Bible speak where the Bible speaks and not speak where the Bible doesn't speak. I think this is just basic discernment. Okay, step one, what is a cult? I typically, when defining terms, I typically turn to the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's an encyclopedia for one thing, so it's not just a We should be looking out for another gospel. And Paul says, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Now, here he makes the most crazy statement that I think in the New Testament, which is why I love Paul. But he says, even if we, meaning Paul and his team of evangelists, even if we return to Galatia, dictionary. It's my personal favorite place to go for all things definition. And so I think going forward, we would all be ⁓ better equipped And the Encyclopedia Britannica defines a cult as, quote, a small group to a person, ⁓ idea, ⁓ or philosophy. to be a little bit more careful with the terms. And hopefully this episode has provided a little bit more of a clear framework as to how we should be referring to this group or that group. Some of the most obvious examples, depending on where you, how old are, or where you come from, one of the most famous examples would be the Manson and preach a different gospel, or an angel from heaven comes and preaches a different gospel, let that preacher be accursed. Let them be cut off from God. Let them be damned, Paul's saying. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. They were a small group that was devoted to the person of Charles Manson and his ideas and philosophies. And his followers were so radicalized that they actually ended up committing murder, ⁓ high profile murders in a high profile area of our country, Southern California. You have groups like the People's Temple, the Jonestown incident or the Heaven's Gate group. Strong words, strong words from the Apostle Paul. Well, the Apostle of love, the Apostle John, he popped the boxing gloves on and ⁓ got in the ring as well because he goes, I think, a step further and refers to antichrists. I mean, how much more ⁓ of a bold statement could you make about false teachers preaching false gospels than to call them antichrists? He says this in 1 John chapter 2, verses 18. the climax of their story is ⁓ mass suicide. And so surely we can see how that group would ⁓ be classified under this umbrella term of a cult recently, most recently, I guess you would say, ⁓ is the NXIVM. 23 he says, little children it is the last hour and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming ⁓ even now Antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour. So a part ⁓ of John's understanding is that there is an Antichrist coming but that many Antichrists are currently here. ⁓ Sowing and cult, which self-stylized as a leadership development group, but was actually just ⁓ a means by which the cult founder could exploit his followers. ⁓ we'll leave it at that. But these are some very obvious examples of groups that meet this sociological definition. So, I saying sociology. deceiving and dividing and doing the Antichrist's work. And this is one of the ways we know that it's the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest to be not of us. Right? That none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One. And you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth. because the term cult is a sociological term. It is a term that was coined in the science of sociology. And so as Christians ought to use this term as it is defined by the science of sociology and by sociologists. So this has several implications when we misuse the term cult, which again, is not a religious term. Religious studies or theological schools did not create this term. Again, that was created in the science of sociology. So as we leverage the term, we need to leverage it properly. And I kind of have three reasons for this. but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? How much more, John is saying, how much more of ⁓ the epitome of a liar can you be than to say that Jesus is not the Christ? He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father. One, is that when we misuse terms, by we I mean Christians, when Christians misuse terms, we show that we are ignorant of what the term actually means. The second thing is that we use the term, if we use the term improperly, then we are needlessly disparaging groups by using this term in reference to them, right? Also, John says. Take the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for example. Many Christians, maybe even most Christians, would refer to that as a Christian cult, whatever that means. Right? But that doesn't work because that group doesn't fall under the category ⁓ cult. Well, it's not small, for one thing. It's not devoted to a particular person anymore. It's ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ sort of religion. If you could apply the term cult to the LDS church, why couldn't you use that term in reference to any Protestant group, right? So again, we want to be careful with how we use terms, mostly because A, we don't want to show ourselves as ignorant, B, we don't want to needlessly disparage groups, and three, and I think most importantly, did I just go A, B, three? I went A, B, three. We're gonna go with it. A, B, three. Number three. is that it's just bad for evangelism. I can tell you from firsthand experience as a former cultist myself that any time an outsider referred to ⁓ community as a cult, even though it met the definition, it was just a deal breaker term. It was like, okay, I'm not gonna be having a conversation with you if you want to ensure that... the last time you get to speak to the Mormon missionaries at your front door, if you want to make sure that that engagement is the last engagement you get to have with those people, refer to their church as a cult. Hopefully that makes the point of why I think we need to be a little bit more careful with the way we use this term. Okay, so that's now cult defined. Now let's move on to a category where the Mormon church and Jehovah's Witnesses and Oneness Pentecostals and Unitarians and Christian scientists and these other fringe groups belong. They belong in a group that I'm categorizing by under this theological heresy. Now, theological heresy is just a churchy term that refers to teachings. A heresy is a teaching that is not founded biblically and or historically. Okay? So the Christian church believes the Trinity, for example, because Christians have basically always believed that the Bible teaches the Trinity and the early church confirmed that teaching. So those two things. together mean that we affirm the Trinity. Groups that don't affirm the Trinity, Christians have believed, were worshiping a different God. And that placed them in this category of a different religion. It's not Christianity. Whatever it is, it's not Christianity because they've got a different God. And so that's what I mean by theological heresy. And there are a number of ways, I have a forthcoming episode on the different ways that we define theological heresy. Specifically, ⁓ what is the gospel and then what is a false gospel? That's forthcoming. But for now, I'm just gonna say that when we talk about theological heresy, we're referring to these sort of fringe, sort of Christian adjacent, but counterfeit Christian groups, okay? So this sort of umbrella term needs to be our understanding of what these groups are. another example might be groups that teach that works of the law are necessary for salvation. Paul in Galatians, in ⁓ the letter to the Galatians, had a to say about groups that taught that circumcision and kosher diet ⁓ and keeping certain festivals were necessary for Okay. And there have been groups throughout history that have taught some ⁓ some version or another of this works of the law based salvation. Now, this gets a little bit sticky for us Protestants because we tend to associate the gospel with our version of justification. think that's probably all I'm gonna say about that for now. Again, forthcoming episode on what is the gospel and when does the gospel become a false gospel? And again, we're gonna look through biblically what is this supposed to look like. Okay, so we've defined cult, we've defined group teaching theological heresy. Now, what if a group is problematic for different reasons? And there, you probably have groups that are coming to mind even now. as I'm kicking this around before I've even talked about anything specific. I'm classing third group as ⁓ like abusive slash high control church sort of groups. ⁓ These are they don't really fit into the prior two categories. They're not a small group devoted to this ⁓ aberrant. Theology or philosophy. They're not really following a charismatic leader They don't so they don't really fit the cult thing and and maybe they don't teach heresy Maybe they just have other types of very troublesome practices now what I'm not saying is that if a group a Particular group, let's say the Roman Catholic Church for example that had a period of child abuse scandal in their past, that doesn't then necessarily mean that we throw the baby out with the bathwater and the Roman Catholic Church is no longer a viable expression of Christianity. Okay, so it has to be more than just they've had some troubles with certain issues. I'm talking about ongoing, unrepentant, abusive, or high-control behaviors that should be red flags for people that are in these types of churches. Let me just give you a few examples. If your church demands unquestioned obedience, then you might be in an abusive slash high control group. I know from firsthand experience that if people in your community get very, very, very fired up when you ask questions about the teachings, your spidey senses should be tingling. If they leverage isolation, if part of becoming ⁓ member of this community is isolating yourself from people that are outside particularly if they're your family or Lifelong friends or your co-workers or whatever again Your your high your your abusive high-control spidey senses should be tingling if the leadership Particularly if it's a single leader if they surround themselves with quote-unquote. Yes, men Not people who keep them accountable not people who you know people who don't ever disagree with them, people who always put them up on a pedestal and act like they can do no wrong, this type of thing. You know it when you see it. You probably have some examples of it in your brain right now. I'm not gonna name any names, but that could be a problem. If they use threats of guilt, if they leverage guilt or threats of public shame in order to control members, again, that's a problem. If they attempt to wield prophecy in order to get their members to conform to a particular thing, that could be a problem. One of the very popular ones this day and age is if they ask for excessive sums of money. If your pastor flies around in a private jet because he doesn't want to be on planes with regular people, ⁓ then you might... have a problem, especially when he starts asking you for money. It doesn't seem like he's hard pressed for it himself, but he sure needs it. And here's a few other ones. If they coerce congregants into unpaid labor, if they leverage shunning, if there's no leadership accountability, these are just the general sorts of things that we Christians need to be looking out for. Again, that may not classify your church as a cult, and it might not classify your church as being a heresy. know, heresy peddlers or something like that. But it's probably still something that you should be paying attention to. Okay. ⁓ Okay, so differentiated cults from groups that teach theological ⁓ heresy from that have problematic practices. Okay, so there's probably groups, ⁓ individual examples of groups that you would put in each of these various buckets. And hopefully with these definitions in mind, you'll be more equipped to do that. Now, let's take minute to look at what the Bible has to say, because we as Christians should be very concerned with what the word of God has to say and how it bears on a particular situation. So let's look at a few examples. The apostle Paul, just before he departs for the final time from the Ephesians, he calls the Ephesian elders to sort of see him off. And he knows that he's not going to see these people again. And there's this kind of exchange between them. There's obviously a lot of love and care for them. The feeling appears to be mutual from the text, but it's not all. know, sunshine and rainbows. The Apostle Paul has a very particular warning for these people. He warns them of savage wolves. I'm in Acts chapter 20, verses 29 and 30, and the Apostle Paul says this, For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, from among yourselves men will rise up Okay,