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What makes a cult a cult?

Webster defines a cult as "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also a minority religious group holding beliefs regarded as unorthodox or spurious." So a cult is an organization that has broken away from orthodoxy, or has been organized to oppose orthodoxy.  Many cults have come and gone since the time of Christ. Their names are only found in theology books. Their beliefs are studied by scholars. No doubt the cults we know today will someday be historical curiosities, but since they do exist in our time, we must know what they teach.  Still others are dangerously rising in numbers and trying to hide behind and disguise themselves as Christian, by using some of the terminology known to Christians.
 

Most cults generally hold these views in common:
 

• Cultists believe that all Christian churches are wrong and that their cult is a special group that has the real truth about God.
• Cultists attack the deity of Jesus Christ and either lower Him to the level of man or raise man to the level of Christ.
• Cultists deny that man can be saved by faith in Christ alone. They teach that man can make himself right with God by good works and by obeying the teachings of the cult.
• Cultists believe the statement of their leaders who claim to have new interpretations of the Bible, or valuable additions to it.
• Many cults claim to believe the Bible, but they distort its teachings to suit their own particular beliefs about man, God, the Holy Spirit, heaven and hell, salvation and other vital doctrines.

 

 
 
 

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The term occult is a Latin term occultus, which refers to hidden or secret things. it refers specifically to the incursion of a fourth dimension, a spirit realm, into our three-dimensional world.  In prior times the occult referred to knowledge which was available only by going through some sort of secret initiation rites and which could therefore be obtained by only a select few initiates. Groups like the Freemasons or the Odd Fellows are occult.

Today the word has lost some of its original meaning because you can walk into any bookstore and find an entire shelf on occult books which any kid can purchase.  Nevertheless, the idea still remains that occultism is available to those willing to work for it. Thus we have different types of people being appealed to by occult concepts:
 

• Unchurched people, or those who have little interest in organized religion. The occult often appeals to those raised in churches but who have had a bad experience in them. I knew a guy who drove a church bus, they wanted him to cut his hair, he didn't, he was fired. He now uses that as an excuse not to go to church or worship God. They consult psychics instead of God now.
• Misfits, those who feel alienated from society and seek to know why they feel that way. The occult gives them apparent answers.
• People whose lives are humdrum and who need some sort of glamorous fantasy. They can say to themselves, "These people may think I'm a mere checkout teller, but actually I am Frater Honorius, arch-adept of the cosmos!"
• People who feel lonely or powerless. The occult promises the power to change the universe, and to control the minds and wills of other people. Thus it appeals to those who feel at a loss in their world.
• People who need to feel elite and exclusive, far aove the mundane world. This is why we see so many highly educated, intelligent people get into the occult and the New Age movement. They feel they are on the cutting edge of a new step in human evolution and are far beyond "mere humans."