Spotting a Cult
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3 NASB). Cult. The word is certainly used in a wide variety of ways. Some might use it to mean “any group of people with beliefs that I disagree with.” The word can also be used in describing group behavior. People united on certain common ideas and values that are typically outside and, perhaps even, taboo in the mainstream of society may be considered a cult. An avant-garde artist who has a significant number of admirers can be said to have a cult following. A new religious group may be considered a cult in this sense; albeit, if it continues to exists over a long period of time, and it gains significant acceptance from the mainstream, it would no longer be considered a cult. The word cult is used in a different in Christian apologetics. A cult, from this pe...